Whole Wheat Maple Oatmeal Muffin Recipe

My fiance has been asking me for muffins for a while so last night I had a bit of extra free time & decided to whip up a batch of these maple oatmeal muffins for him. These whole wheat muffins are delicious and good for you too! This recipe creates a hearty, slightly sweet brown muffin that will leave you feeling good about having it for breakfast. Its like a bowl of oatmeal in a muffin =)

Fresh out of the oven!!!

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 & 1/4 cup buttermilk **
3/4 cup maple syrup
1 & 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 & 1/2 cups rolled oats + an extra 3 tablesppons for sprinkling on top of muffins
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 400 & line muffin pan with paper cups ( I highly reccomend that you get the unbleached parchment paper baking cups.. If You Care makes the ones that I use & you can usually buy them at whole foods)
2.  In mixing bowl whisk together brown sugar & eggs.  Add buttermilk & maple syrup and set aside.
3.  In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients (flour, oats, baking soda, baking poweder and salt) Mix with a fork
4. Add dry ingredients to buttermilk mixture and stir until evenly moistened.  The batter will be rather runny at first but will thicken up after a minute or two.
5. Spoon in to muffin cups. ( I got about 2 tablespoons per muffin cup)
6. Sprinkle about a teaspoon of remaining oats onto top of muffins.
7. Bake 20 minutes or until browned and toothpick comes out clean.


**Because I really only use buttermilk for baking and I like to bake on a whim  it is rare that I have it in my fridge. What I recommend is keeping powdered buttermilk on hand and just mixing up what you need for what you are cooking. Bob's Red Mill makes the one that I use (I love all this all natural & organic line. I actually use their whole wheat flour in this recipe as well! They have a wonderful selection of gluten free baking products also.)

What to buy at the Farmers Market

With the arrival of summer and warmer days one thing that I love to do is peruse the local farmers market.  It is important to me to buy organic & locally grown whenever possible. 

Avoiding pesitcides is of key importance because they can have severe lingering effects on your body and on the earth. Pesticides are essentially toxins,  can disrupt endocrine function, and possibly cause cancers.  Through choosing organic fruits and vegetables you can reduce the amount of pesticide residues that build up in your body and reduce your chances of having side effects of pesticide build up.  You can read more about pesticide build up in the body here or here.

So what fruits and vegitables are the most important to purchase as organics? Below is a list that the Environmental Working Group has put together on which fruits and vegitables have the greatest amount of pesticides on them "dirty dozen" and which ones have lower levels of pesticides "clean 15."

Enviromental Working Groups List of foods with most and least pesticides

Environmental Working Groups list of fruits and vegetable with highest & lowest amounts of pesticides.

June's Conscious Box

I just received June's Conscious Box in the mail. 

If you are not familiar with conscious box it is a monthly subscription sample box. Each month the send out a selection of ecofriendly, organic, and healthy products. I personally really enjoy getting this particular box. The reason being that  I am introduced to products that I would not normally purchase when out shopping because of the often higher price of organic product and me not being sure that I would like the product. This way I get to try out samples (usually generously sized) and decide if i really like them before committing to purchasing the full size product.

 

What the box looked liked when I opened it up. That is a pretty postcard lying on the very top.

This months theme seems to center around vitamin supplements and energy bars.  Products included:

 LaraBar, 

Kelp Krunch  Bar

eBoost Energy Shot

Vega One Nutrition Shake

Sattva Cashew Butter

Mighty Leaf Tea  (2 flavors Earl Gray & Jasmine)

Natural Newborn Bug Stopper Soap

KO Lotion

Nuti-Masu Life Ocean Salt (mix into a sport drink)

Natural Vitality 28 Energy Supplement

Overall I am excited to try these samples out. I did take that Kelp Krunch sesame bar in my lunch today & it was surprisingly yummy. As I was eating it I turned it over to read the ingredients which were: Sesame seeds, brown rice syrup, maple syrup, kelp.... That is all! Additionally they donate a portion of their profits to Allied Whale. I think I may have to purchase some more of these. The bar was gluten free which will be great to offer to my friends who  have gluten issues.

June Umba Box..

I am super excited I got home from helping a dear friend prepare for her upcoming nuptials to find June's Umba box on my doorstep!

For those who don't know Umba Box is a monthly subscription box. Each month they send subscribers out a "curated collection of  1 to3 of handmade products."  I am a huge fan of buying handmade whenever possible. There are so many positives in my mind about buying handmade.. from not supporting big box store to supporting artists who put their hearts and souls into their products.  Also, quite often handmade items incorporate recycled, or higher quality materials, and have lower carbon footprints than similar items found on a stores shelf.

So this is what the box looked liked when I opened it up.  Right away I was excited because I loove candy. (a little too much!) & every one knows good things come in tiny boxes....

So here is what I received 2 yummy looking lollipops from the Candied Flower on Etsy.. I am so happy to see that Umba box is  supporting fellow Etsy artisans!  I also got this delicate goldfill necklace from Lucid New York.  I am less excited about the necklace because I could very easily make one like it being a jewelry artist.. however the value of the 14K goldfill necklace alone more than covers the $25 monthly cost of the Umba box.