I rarely eat breakfast. I know. That’s bad. It’s the most important meal of the day. I know all the science. It’s just that…I’m busy. My mornings are crazy. I’m not hungry ’til lunch. And…and… I know. Whiny much?
It’s because I know I need to eat something in the morning that I started making these Oat Bran Muffins on Sunday afternoons. My dad gave me the recipe after his doctor told him he needed to lower his cholesterol and recommended these muffins as an easy way to do that.
I love that these little guys pack a fiber punch that I can use. But, what I really love is:
- they’re quick to make.
- they’re even quicker to eat. I grab one on my way out the door and it keeps me full and focused (where have I heard that phrase?) until lunch time.
- they have so many powerhouse ingredients: olive oil, oat bran, walnuts, raisins, honey. All good stuff. (By the way, walnuts can increase your sex drive, in addition to everything else they do for you. For a stressed out Penelope, that’s a God send, right?)
- they’re low in fat and sugar.
For all those reasons, I decided to share this not-so-groundbreaking-and-yet-useful recipe with you.
Kick Hiney Oat Bran Muffins
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly spray muffin tin(s) with light cooking spray.
Dry Ingredients:
2 Cups Oat Bran (you can usually find it in the hot cereal section)
1/4 C brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
Wet Ingredients:
3/4 cup lowfat milk
2 egg whites
1/4 C honey OR molasses
2 tbs olive oil
Extras:
1/4 C raisins
1/4 C chopped walnuts
1/8 cup chocolate chips (if you’re trying to trick your kids into eating them)
Combine dry ingredients, mix well with fork. In separate bowl, combine web ingredients, mix with fork. Add dry ingredients to the wet ones and mix just until moistened. Be aware it’s a fairly moist batter. Add in any extras you’re using. (I highly recommend the walnuts and raisins.) Fill muffin tins with batter.
Bake at 425 degrees for 15-17 minutes. Allow to cool. Store in refrigerator. Makes 12 muffins.
Penelope Tip #1: this isn’t environmentally conscious, but, I HATE washing muffin tins. So, for ease, for just this recipe, I use disposable muffin tins. Please don’t send me hate letters. I’m trying to save on paper towels and to compost, I promise.
Penelope Tip #2: double the recipe and freeze half. They freeze well and it’s a total time saver. Sort of a “duh” tip, though.
Penelope Tip #3: add in just a few chocolate chips and include a muffin in your kids’ lunches for a morning snack at school. Their long-term energy will keep the kids’ attention from waning as lunchtime nears.
Penelope Challenge: the muffins bake for 15 minutes. See what you can accomplish in that time. I wrote this entire post, including finding images, in the time it took to bake one batch. Nothing like working against a loud, annoying timer.
Image credits: Brook Farm and Foodista Blog’s Flickr Stream
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This recipe sounds pretty yummy! I’m not a breakfast person either so I’ll have to give this a go and see how I do!! Thanks for sharing
Hope you’re haveing a lovely weekend!
I don’t eat breakfast either. I know, bad but I just want my coffee and then around 11 I want a bite of something.
My worst thing is that I LOVE to snack at night while watching tv. LOL! Remember the age 42 thing? It just gets harder and harder.
P.S. I just wanted to write you to say how much I love love love your blog! Everything from the design, the beautiful colors to all the great posts! It’s such a clean and uncluttered design – I definitely want something like it for a future blog design.
They sound super yummy to me, definitely going to try them!
Yum! Do I get to to trick myself with the chocolate chips too?
Hope you are feeling much, MUCH better!!
I think these sound delicious, but I rarely have a bread product for breakfast. I’m going to try the chocolate chips and feed them to my kiddos!
Meredith–you have to start eating breakfast (speeds up your metabolism:). Thanks for the recipe–will definitely be making these soon when we’re hosting out-of-towners.
ps; glad you’re feeling better
These are so much better for you than that yucky over-processed instant oatmeal. You have a real winner here!
Oh Meredith, those look yummy!
You wouldn’t happen to have any ideas for fast lunches, now would you? I have no problem with breakfast — lunch is my problem — I just never know what to eat and wind up with a yogurt and an apple. I guess there are worse things I could eat for lunch, but still…!
mmmmm these look delicious and so simple to make! my husband is a huge fan of muffins. we hardly have time to eat breakfast at all either… it’s soo bad!! i need to get back into eating breakfasts!!
This headline CRACKED me up (no pun intended).
Hope you’re feeling better!
Glad I’m not alone in this bad habit! I keep making that my mission – to eat breakfast. Simple enough…except I rarely do it. I’m either not hungry, too busy to make it or too busy period! These sound great though – and easy for me to grab and go (yay!). Hope you’re feeling better
My husband and I have a long running joke about cupcakes – I actually meant to type muffins and I’ve now given away the punchline (I’m going to skip editing my comment!). We were on a long car drive with an acquaintance that we find a bit annoying and he went on for 30 minutes, “Did you know that muffins aren’t actually healthy… most ppl don’t know that…” Over and over again.
Anyways – you did it – you found healthy muffins! These sound delicious and nutritious and I think I’m going to send my husband back to Workville on Monday with a dozen of these. Thanks!
I finally broke down (my husband wore me down) and added the chocolate chips (just a few) and they really did make a nice difference.
I especially like this chocolatey version warmed up with just a touch of raspberry jam.
Yum!! Sounds good (sounds better with chocolate chips!). I will have ot try these out for my hubby!!! Always eating on the go in the morning!!!!!
This recipe is plagiarized off the back of the Quaker Oat Bran box
Oh, Kate, thanks!!!! THAT must be where my Dad’s doc got it! Mystery solved.
I need to make some of these stat! I haven’t had a muffin in so long. These sound delicious!
Perfectly easy and delish! Thanks so much
I bet they might even be great with flax in them or some Kamut flakes! Love it!
Oh, good idea! I think I’ll add some flax next time.
must try these (w/ flaxseed) – thanks for sharing! ps – love your blog too!
Just found your website and am enjoying it very much.
This recipe for muffins looks great and I’m going to get the ingredients today; gotta add the chocolate chips for sure. They’ll balance out the raisins. Raisins are OK but….
thanks!
This is my first visit here, but I can already tell you that I love it! Keep up the awesome work!