Low Fat Delish Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients


Topping:
1/3 c. chopped pecans
1/4 c. splenda
1/4 c. brown sugar (or you can use splenda brown sugar blend)
1 tb. cinnamon

Batter:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup splenda
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 egg
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup natural applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract

Filling:

1 (8 ounce) package fat free cream cheese
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons splenda

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Pam the muffin pan you plan to use.
Mix topping ingredients together in a separate bowl and set aside.
In a small bowl, beat cream cheese until soft. Add egg, vanilla and splenda. Beat until smooth, then set aside. (Don't worry if it's a little lumpy.)
In a large bowl, mix flour, splenda, baking soda, and spice. Add egg, pumpkin, applesauce and vanilla. Beat together until smooth. Set aside.
Place pumpkin batter in muffin cups about 1/4 full. Then add one to two tablespoons of the cream cheese filling. Top with more pumpkin batter and sprinkle with pecan topping.
Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 15 minutes or until done. Makes 12 moist muffins.

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Enjoying:

This recipe:

Not all of us are Rosie Riches who can afford to eat at The Ritz on a nightly basis, some of us actually cook for ourselves on occasion. Maybe we even cook for our boyfriend after we "accidentally forgot to call him when we got back from happy hour the day before". Whatever the reason is, I've got the recipe to go with it.

I'm not sure how, or even why, but this recipe is idiot proof. It was my Mother's go-to dish for a spontaneous dinner party, for last minute hungry kids, for everything - & now I know why. The best part of the dish isn't how easy the recipe is, or that you probably already have the ingredients - it's that it tastes even BETTER the next day...hello bag lunch for work!

Ingredients:
7 Roma tomatoes
Canned artichoke hearts (not in oil)
> 1 cup grated cheese (parmesan, romano, or asiago)
Linguine pasta
Olive Oil
>4 cloves of garlic
Oregano
Basil (fresh – at least 6 leaves)
Chicken breasts

Sauce:
Wash & chop tomatoes into large chunks.
Add into a large pot with olive oil covering bottom (generous amount).
Stir in chopped garlic cloves, oregano, salt, and chopped basil. Heat low adding artichoke hearts.
Cut two chicken breasts into bite sized chunks, cook in a pan over medium heat with salt & pepper (or our family’s favorite: Goya Adobo)
Bring sauce to a slow boil, stirring occasionally.
20 minutes prior to meal, add cheese to sauce (too soon & it will stick to the bottom of pot). Low heat & let simmer. Add Adobo as needed.

Cook pasta – al dente!
Pour sauce on top of linguine, add chicken, toss & serve.