Pumpkin Protein Muffins with Oatmeal

One of my favorite fall foods is pumpkin.  I love pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, you name it!  And, one of my favorite muffin recipes is an Oatmeal Muffin recipe from a cookbook I picked up at Naniboujou Lodge in Grand Marais, Minnesota. So, from some Naniboujou inspiration and some putzing around in my kitchen came this hearty, wholesome muffin recipe.  Quick and simple to throw together in the morning before the kids race off to school; and, makes a great recovery snack for athletes on the go.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups Oats
1 cup Whole wheat flour
1 (15 oz.) can Pumpkin
½ cup Protein powder (unflavored or vanilla)*
¾ Brown sugar, packed
1 ½ tsp Baking soda
¾ tsp Baking powder
¾ tsp salt
¾ cup Canola oil
2 large Eggs
1 ¼ tsp Pumpkin spice (ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon)
1/3 cup (plus 1 tbsp) Chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Directions:
1.    Preheat oven to 375 Degrees.
2.    In a large mixing bowl beat the brown sugar, oil and eggs together.
3.    Add in the oats and pumpkin.
4.    In a small bowl, combine the dry ingredients.
5.    Gently mix dry ingredients into oat mixture, mixing as little as possible.
6.    Fold in 1/3 cup nuts (if desired).
7.    Pour batter into paper lined muffin tins, filling each muffin cup approximately 2/3 full.
8.    Sprinkle tops of muffins with remaining chopped nuts (if desired).
9.    Bake about 12-15 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Yield: approximately 18 muffins.

* Note:  If you don’t have protein powder on hand, or would rather not use it, just replace the ½ cup protein powder with an additional ½ cup whole wheat flour.