Summer squash makes a good oatmeal muffin better

I’ve always loved zucchini bread and zucchini muffins, but thanks to a friend’s generosity, yellow summer squash was what lined my refrigerator shelves.

Was a summer squash muffin something you do?

A brief Internet search turned up a recipe for these Oatmeal Summer Squash Muffins. A little oatmeal and a little whole wheat flour (my recipe said you could make the entire 1 1/2 cups of flour whole wheat if you wanted to skip the all-purpose-flour route) were nice additions to make this food item super-healthy.

Hubby and I enjoyed these for Saturday morning breakfast; then they were destined for freezer bags to be popped out for road trips or another time.

Oatmeal Summer Squash Muffins

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup rolled oats

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

scant 1/2 teaspoon mace

1 egg (or 1/4 cup egg substitute)

1 cup milk (I use skim)

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup honey

1 1/2 cup grated summer squash or zucchini

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium-large bowl combine flour, oats, baking powder, salt or salt substitute, cinnamon, and mace. In a medium bowl combine egg, milk, oil, and honey. Mix well. Add moist ingredients to dry ingredients; stir just until moistened. Gently fold in squash. Fill lined or well-greased muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into center emerges clean. Makes 12-14 muffins. (Source: www.modernbeet.com, as adapted from the cookbook, Simply in Season)

Apple-pear cobbler with an oatmeal muffin on top—that's the idea of this great dessert

Baked apples and baked pears—doesn’t that sound as though it would be a divine combination in a cobbler? Then top it with a crust that tastes like a warm oatmeal muffin—how absolutely scrumptious!

That was what I thought when I read the recipe for Caramel Apple-Pear Cobbler with Oatmeal Muffin Crust. I couldn’t wait to get it all whipped up and ready to stick into the oven. The results indeed were heavenly—as good as it gets where fall desserts are concerned.

One of the neat things about this cobbler idea is that its topping, the Oatmeal Muffin Crust, can just as easily be used to make regular oatmeal muffins. If you take the batter and spoon it into greased muffin cups in a muffin pan and alter the cooking time just slightly, some flavorful muffins will appear from the oven. But as a top layer for the combined apples and pears, it was just too good to be believed. Dig down past the oatmeal-muffin layer; you’ll find some tender apples and pears that have been merged to make a terrific filling.

The mixture is great with sugar-free ice cream or sugar-free whipped topping. All the thanks go to www.myrecipes.com, which reprinted the instructions for this wonderful cobbler from the September 2004 issue of Southern Living.

Caramel Apple-Pear Cobbler

3 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced (about 1 1/2 pounds)

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup butter

3 large pears, peeled and sliced

Oatmeal Muffin Batter (see below)

Garnish: toasted pecan halves

Combine first three ingredients in a large bowl. Stir to coat apples. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add apple mixture; bring to a boil and cook, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Add pears to skillet and cook, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Spoon the hot fruit mixture into a lightly greased 10-inch (8-cup) deep-dish pie plate or shallow 2-quart baking dish. Spoon Oatmeal Muffin Batter evenly over fruit mixture. Bake at 425 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Garnish with toasted pecan halves if you desire.

Oatmeal Muffin Batter

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup uncooked regular oats

1/2 cup chopped dates (I subbed raisins)

1/4 cup sugar (or sugar substitute)

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

3/4 cup milk (I used skim)

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1 large egg, lightly beaten (or 1/4 cup egg substitute)

In a large mixing bowl combine flour and next 5 ingredients. Make a well in center of mixture. Stir together milk, melted butter, and lightly beaten egg; add to dry ingredients. Stir just until moistened. (If you want to use the batter for oatmeal muffins, spoon batter evenly into lightly greased muffin cups in a muffin pan. Fill them 2/3 full. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Makes 10 muffins.)

Blueberries, oatmeal, walnuts, sweet topping: these muffin gems have it all

I could barely believe it: four years had gone by since I last made Oatmeal Blueberry Muffins. The notation on my recipe card recorded that I previously had baked these for our family to enjoy while we were on the way to Renée and Andy’s wedding in the summer of 2007. The roommate of our daughter was marrying her sweetie in Colorado Springs. Our daughter and son-in-law in the back seat and Hubby and I in the front of our car had munched on Oatmeal Blueberry Muffins while we motored up to the lovely setting for the nuptials.

Now the newlyweds are about to celebrate theirfourth wedding anniversary. Time to dust off the muffin recipe and prepare this delicious treat again. Far too much time had lapsed since we’d enjoyed these goodies.

I loved these muffins because they were stuffed with healthy blueberries, had some oatmeal and walnuts stirred in, and were topped with a dusting of brown sugar. (I cannot tell a lie: in my first recent attempt, I got distracted and left out the 1/2 cup brown sugar from the ingredients. I remembered to sprinkle the brown sugar on for the topping, but I knew the insides would be a little lacking. Guess what? They were just as good without it—at least that’s how Hubby consoled me. But I did turn around and make a remediated batch, since we knew Hubby’s brother would be in town last weekend. Wouldn’t want our guest to be served muffins that were less than the best.)

I have a few muffins left over, so I’ve stored them away to pop out for Easter-morning breakfast on Sunday. Oatmeal Blueberry Muffins make a dandy treat that suits for many occasions.

Oatmeal Blueberry Muffins

1 cup flour

1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats, uncooked

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

1 cup low-fat buttermilk (or 1 tablespoon vinegar mixed with enough skim milk to make 1 cup)

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed (or 1/4 cup brown-sugar substitute)

1/4 cup oil

1 egg, beaten (or 1/4 cup egg substitute)

1 cup frozen blueberries

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

2 tablespoons brown sugar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine flour, oats, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a medium mixing bowl combine buttermilk (or skim milk mixed with vinegar), 1/2 cup brown sugar, oil, and egg; add to flour mixture. Mix just until moist. Fold in blueberries and nuts. Pour batter into greased muffin cups to 2/3 full; sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons brown sugar. Bake 20-25 minutes or until done.

Christmas-morning breakfast to get boost from these Chocolate-Chip Oatmeal Apple Muffins

We have some big kids who like to be little kids on Christmas morning.

Even though they now have a munchkin of their own, our grown daughter and her husband haven't outgrown the desire to see whether Santa has left something in their stockings as well.

So they're loading up Baby and baby equipment and traveling across town to spend Christmas Eve at our place on the slight chance that Baby isn't the only one Santa remembers on Christmas morning.

Now that special treat calls for a special breakfast, so I've been baking and freezing breakfast dishes to pop out and reheat so we can have some delectable Christmas-morning goodies.

One of those menu items is Chocolate-Chip Oatmeal Apple Muffins. With cholesterol-lowering oatmeal plus healthy apples plus chocolate chips, these muffins had nothing not to like about them. Although I used applesauce from a jar of the unsweetened variety, a cook could just as easily puree some fresh (peeled and cored) apples in a food processor and sub that in for the applesauce, which makes the mixture plenty moist.

Along with a hash-brown breakfast casserole, sausage balls, Cherry Cream-Cheese Almond Muffins, and some cut-up fresh fruit, I'm armed and ready for Christmas morning. Hopefully Santa will do his part as well, so our little family's cross-town trip to the parents' house reaps all kinds of benefits!

Oatmeal Chocolate-Chip Apple Muffins

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar packed (if using brown-sugar substitute, use 3/8 cup)

1 egg (or 1/4 cup egg substitute)

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

3/4 cup applesauce (or apples peeled, cored, and pureed in a food processor to make 3/4 cup)

1 cup oats

1 (6-ounce) package chocolate chips

Cream butter and brown sugar. Beat in egg. Combine dry ingredients; add alternately with applesauce to the creamed mixture. Stir in oats and chocolate chips. Fill prepared muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.