I made these high fiber muffins this morning using a recipe from Bob Greene's The Best Life Diet copyright 2006 that I snagged at a yard sale for a song. You may recall that he has been Oprah Winfrey's personal fitness trainer and nutrition counselor for quite a number of years. He is the author of several books. This particular one is filled with nutritious recipes and loads of information on "claiming the life you deserve... a three-phase plan for losing weight and keeping it off". Maple syrup... the real deal... sweetens the muffins with a little help from grated pears and prunes. They are very moist with just the right amount of natural sweetness in each bite.
Bran Pear Prune Muffins
Makes 12 reg-size muffins or 6 jumbo. (I like to make jumbo-size then cut each into quarters.)
1 ¼ cups nonfat milk
1/3 cup maple syrup
¼ cup canola oil (expeller pressed… preferably organic)
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cups All-Bran Cereal (I used Nature’s Path Organic Smart Bran with psyllium & oatbran.)
¾ cup whole wheat flour + ½ cup all-purpose flour (I used 1 ¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour instead.)
1 tbsp baking powder
¾ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp salt
1 large unpeeled pear, shredded (about 1 cup)
½ cup chopped prunes with orange essence (I used Newman’s Own Organic Prunes which doesn’t offer an “orange essence” variety.)
Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly coat muffin pans with oil. In a medium bowl, mix the milk, maple syrup, oil, and egg. Stir in the All-Bran and let stand 5 minutes. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the bran mixture. Stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Don’t overmix. Fold in the pear and prunes. Divide the batter equally among the muffin pans. (They will be very full but rising is minimal so they won’t overflow when baking, or you can extend the batter to make 14 reg-size or 7 jumbo.) Bake 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and allow the muffins to cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing them from the pan. Serve warm or cool. Per serving: Calories: 184, Protein: 5 g, Carbs: 32g, Dietary Fiber: 5g, Total Fat: 6g, Saturated fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 18 mg, Calcium: 155 mg, Sodium: 211mg.
Mar. 26, 2009
Today's mileage: 2-mile walk
Total monthly mileage for March: 59.75 miles
Bible reading? Yes.