Healthy Husband Approved Recipe: Chocolate Pumpkin Banana Chip Muffins

At our house, we're always looking for ways to

A.  Save money

B. Eat Healthy

C. Eat Chocolate for breakfast

D. Save time

E.  All of the Above

 

If you are a decent test taker, you went straight for option E.  All of the Above, and you are correct!  In this house we are always rushing out the door--which can lead to some pretty poor choices in food, most often at breakfast.  So when this school year began, I set a goal to stop buying breakfast at Dunkin Donuts  eat healthier breakfasts.  With a one year old, everything needs to be simple, fast, portable, and delicious. 

 

I was inspired by  this pin from Pinterest. Every morning in September I enjoyed these muffins and my cup of coffee in the car on the way to work (because you know there is no way I'd be able to squeeze in breakfast before I left--and really what else is there to do during a 30 minute commute?).   Adding about a 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/4 of a teaspoon of nutmeg made these muffins  absolutely delicious.  My baby would actually ask for them!  I also tried them with chocolate cake mix which was pretty good, but not quite rich enough to satisfy my chocoholic tendencies. 

 

Although this was a good start, my tastebuds were demanding some variety.  This Sunday night I had a stroke of genius when I spied the mini chocolate chips in my pantry.  The only complaint I really had about the recipe above is that when you make 24 muffins from them, they don't really fill up the tins.  Right as the overripe banana was on it way to the trash, I realized I could give it one more chance so I threw it in the mixer with the other three ingredients to bulk up my muffins. 

 

 

Ingredients:

• One Box Devil's food cake mix (I used Pillsbury because it was on sale for $1.00)
• 15-16 ounces of Libby's Pure Pumpkin.  It's very important to buy Libby's.  I know the store brands are cheaper, but take a look at the nutrion info and you will see why immediately!  Libby's has far more fiber and less water than any other brand.  Also, a money saving tip is to buy the 30 ounce can, split it in half and freeze the rest to use in the future. 
• One banana
• One Cup (about 1/2 a package) of Mini Chocolate Chips

Put the pumpkin, banana, and cake mix in your mixer and mix on medium for 3 minutes or until well blended.  Then add the chocolate chips and mix for another minute.  Spoon the mix into greased or lined cupcake tins.  Bake at 350'F for 20-22 minutes.  Voila! 

 

Here is some nutritional information--not bad for a chocolate treat in the morning! 

Column1	Calories	Calories From Fat	Grams of Fat	Grams of Fiber	Grams of Sugar	Grams of Carbohydrates	Grams of Protein
Cake Mix	55.00	10.00	2.50	1.00	7.00	14.00	1.00
Banana	4.38	0.13	0.02	0.13	0.60	1.12	0.05
Pumpkin	5.83	1.00	0.08	0.75	0.58	1.33	0.29
Chocolate Chips	46.90	23.45	2.68	0.00	5.36	6.03	0.00
Total	112.11	34.58	5.28	1.88	13.54	22.49	1.35

 

And here is a terrible picture of the last surviving muffin.  I thought a few more would survive the day so I could make a nice little picture for my blog.  This is my proof of their deliciousness!