Look Again: Super Healthy Pumpkin Banana Muffins

 

I’ve been at this blogging thing a long time.  I started blogging in January of 2010 as a way to record a month-long “vegan challenge” Tim and I did.  It was basically an online journal for family and friends.  Somewhere in that month I decided I liked writing about food and kept blogging even when the food challenge ended. It was in September 2010 that I moved from my free blogger blog to this space and changed the name to Happy Healthy Mama. My old blog was called Our Daily Bread, which was not available as a domain name, along with my next two hundred choices.  So Happy Healthy Mama it was.

It’s hard to believe I’ve been at this so long because a lot of the time, I still feel like a newbie.  I didn’t come into blogging with a plan.  I was never (and still sometimes am not) certain what I wanted this blog to become. I just knew I wanted to share my passion for healthy living with others.  I knew there were a lot of moms out there who, like me, wanted healthy recipes for their families.

I’ve always maintained that the most difficult part of blogging is photography.  Recipe development is time consuming and at times frustrating, but I’ve never felt overwhelmed in that area.  Writing comes naturally to me; I’ve loved it since I was a young girl.  But photography?  Learning it has been painstakingly hard for me.

When I first started, I didn’t put much thought into photography.  There weren’t many food blogs with stellar photography at that time and in my mind it was about the food, not the pictures.    As I started noticing more and more blogs with beautiful photographs, I almost got mad.  I even rebelled a little and refused to work too much on my photography.  I wanted my time to be spent on recipes, not learning how to take my stupid camera off of auto mode.

Soon enough I realized that if I wanted to make it in the food blogging world (whatever that means) I would have to step up my photography game.  It’s been a slow, hard, work-in-progress since then, but I’ve come oh so far.  And still have miles to go.

I’m such a long-winded fool, aren’t I?  Are you still with me here?  What I’m trying to say is that I have some great old recipes that have absolutely cringe-worthy pictures.  Okay, fine, I’ll show you.  I originally posted the recipe for these Super Healthy Banana Pumpkin Muffins on September 27, 2010. (You can see the original post right here.)

   

The thing is, it’s a good recipe.  A great recipe.  But who in the world would want to take a chance on it based on that picture?  I have so many recipes like this that I still make regularly and have to look at those old, terrible photographs.  So I’m starting a new series called “Look Again” where I reshoot and reintroduce some of my older recipes that deserve a second look.

I’m starting with these muffins because, well, I wanted to make them.  When I opened the page to see the recipe, I winced and knew this was the #1 recipe for my new series.

These muffins are, as the title implies, “super healthy.” They are also super delicious.  They aren’t light-and-fluffy-practically-cupcake type muffins.  No.  These are stick-to-your-ribs-and-fill-you-up muffins. Here’s a look of the inside.

Nice texture, right?  The flavor is lovely, too.  Just sweet enough and with the pumpkin spice we all know and love.  My whole family adores these muffins and I hope you do, too.

If you want to take them up a notch and add some chocolate chips or white chocolate chips, I won’t blame you.  I’ve done that a time or two.  Or, if you feel inclined, add a nice coconut butter glaze, like I did here.

I know! Takes it to a whole new level, doesn’t it?  Luke had one like this and said, “I like this frosting, Mommy.”  Of course you do, buddy.  All you have to do is melt some coconut butter and thin it with a little water as needed.  Do it!

Print

As if this post isn’t already long enough, here are some reviews from people who tried these:

Made these this morning. YUM!

They were delicious! The applesauce didn’t seem to make a difference at all. I actually couldn’t even taste the applesauce. My boys gobbled them up at breakfast this morning, which makes me a very happy mama. [She subbed apple sauce for the oil]

I haven’t posted before but I love your recipes and that they are so simple and fit into a busy lifestyle. I’ve made these pumpkin muffins three times already, once I added in cream cheese and another time I added in white chocolate chips. Heavenly!

I made these this evening with a few tweaks for what I had on hand and they’ve been a huge hit. My 4 year old ran back into the kitchen for another one saying “Yummy, yummy, yummy!”

These were my tweaks/substitutions maple syrup for the agave, bwn sugar for the sucanat, almond meal for the wheat germ and gluten free all purpose flour. I also added a 1/4 c buttermilk to make up for a banana shortage. We’re not gluten free but I’ve considered doing a trial to see if it helps with some issues in our family. I’m glad to know that this will be an option.

These are delicious. I make them using 1/4 c. applesauce in place of the egg to accommodate my daughter’s egg allergy, and it works beautifully. I also sometimes add chocolate chips, which makes them even more irresistible  My 2 year old gobbles them up and so do my husband and I. Yum!

Are there any old recipes of mine you’ve made that have some bad photographs?  Let me know and I’ll put them on my list for this Look Again series! Don’t worry, you won’t hurt my feelings. 🙂