Healthy Peach Pantry Muffins

I (Mama Bear) wanted to make something that we could have for breakfast all week. I also wanted to use only items I had on hand in our pantry. It kind of amazes me that if you are resourceful enough, you can take pantry items and create a food product virtually from nothing except effort, heat and know-how.

I found a base recipe from Paula Deen and adapted it to make it healthier. These muffins are DELICIOUS! The have fruit, some whole grain and they are very filling.

1 cup whole wheat flour
Add in 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder and 1/2 tsp of salt
1 cup self rising flour
1 cup 2% milk
1 cup of melted margarine
1/4 cup of rolled oats
1/4 cup of chopped almonds
1/3 cup of Splenda
1/8 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 can (15 oz) of sliced peaches (chopped to 1/4 inch thick chunks) I used the No Sugar Added variety.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all of the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add all of the wet ingredients. Mix til wet through without overmixing. Fold in peaches and almonds.

Divide into 12 muffin cups (greased with Pam or similar). Bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes til toothpick test comes out clean. Let sit in hot pan on stovetop for 10 more minutes.

You can freeze these in a ziploc bag and reheat them in an oven or toaster oven so you have them all week.

Enjoy!

I also did a version of this that substituted pineapple chunks for the peaches and cashews for the almonds and it was also very tasty. Another version that works well is to chop up candied ginger and use it instead of the almonds. The basic idea of these muffins can be endlessly adapted to what the pantry has to offer.

Best thing is that I used a lot of items from my pantry that don't often get used and I will have breakfast on hand all week. I can even eat my breakfast while I walk to work. Yum!

So, I will have a healthy breakfast on hand all week which I can eat while exercising (walking to work) and I didn't have to spend a dime in order to create it. Plus, because I did not buy anything new, I reduce my environmental impact by not buying a package of pre-made muffins and creating more waste. Pre-made muffins would also have been much less healthy too!