'HOOAH' Yoga Muffins

My hubby is a soldier here at Fort Benning, GA.  (in case I haven't talked about it enough already for you to know)  Today is his bi-yearly physical test that all soldiers have to take to make sure they're all within limits and standards for the military.  In preparation for his test, he's been going carb crazy all week long.  It just makes me cringe all those carbs so in order to give him some balance, I made these muffins all week long for him to grab at and go at 5 am when he's out the door and on the way to morning exercises with his unit.

I chose these muffins from Tasty Kitchen and they're made by a lovely CarolAllison.  She calls them Yoga Muffins...the Army boys however, call them Hooah Muffins.  If you don't have a solider in your life, let me introduce you to 'hooah'.  Wiki has a nice description of it but in short, hooah is a word that means yes, sure, all right, woot, roger that, copy, yup and everything else you could possibly say to convey excitement and the like.  If you're an Army wife...this is what you hear.  "Honey, can you take out the trash?"....HOOAH!  (as in, sure!) or "We're going to Florida for a weekend getaway."...HOOAH!!!!  (as in, woot!) or he'll say something like "Yeah, that dude is all hooah about regulations and traditions."  (meaning he's all by the book and Army gung ho) You hear it ALL the time.  I have forbidden it in my presence as it drives me bonkers but he still lets it slip quite frequently.

So what's 'hooah' about these muffins?  They are jam packed with yummy healthy stuff to give you lots of energy and keep you going even under rigorous Army PT.  (group exercises)  These fill you up without weighing you down and give you all the *cough* HOOAH *cough* you need to keep yourself going all morning long.  Carbs, fruit and protein all wrapped in a muffin.  And forget all the goodness, they are seriously delicious noms.  Tender, slightly sweet, spicy - Jon describes them as spicy pumpkin bread with bites of yummy, soft baked fruit.  And the house smells positively amazing while baking!  They get you up and keep you going and that's why hubs and the Army boys dubbed them Hooah Muffins.  Carol got a right giggle after I shared that story with her!  She made these for her hubs as well to give him a nutritious breakfast on the go.  :)

Seriously people, make some.  And that's an order!  HOOAH!

'HOOAH' Yoga Muffins

Recipe & Picture (right) From CarolAllison

1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
½ cups Rolled Oats, Slightly Ground (I Give Them A Quick Spin In The Coffee Grinder)
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 heaping teaspoon Cinnamon
¾ teaspoons Salt
¼ teaspoons Allspice
1 cup Canned Pumpkin
¾ cups Applesauce
½ cups Brown Sugar (light Or Dark)
1 whole Egg
½ cups Chopped Apples
½ cups Chopped Walnuts (I used crystallized ginger chips since Jon hates nuts)
½ cups Blueberries, Fresh Or Frozen

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare a 12-cup muffin pan (these also work in a 6-cup jumbo muffin pan.) 

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, ground oats, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and all spice. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin, applesauce, brown sugar and egg. Add flour mixture to the creamed mix and stir to combine. Stirring lightly almost folding, add chopped apples, blueberries and walnuts. (I used frozen blueberries and the batter does turn a purpley shade...its ok! Over-stirring will break open blueberries and color your batter so go lightly!)

Fill each muffin cup completely with big spoonfuls of batter. They might even be heaping with batter.

Bake for about 30 minutes at 350.

Carol's Other Suggestions

-Other kinds of flours, or a blend of flours works. I have used all-purpose and spelt as well as whole wheat.
-1 cup mashed ripe bananas instead of pumpkin
-3/4 cup mashed bananas instead of applesauce (if you use both of these substitutions at the same time, you will definitely have a more banana-y muffin!)
-Applesauce can be either jarred or cook up your own apples and mash ‘em (that’s what I usually do)
-You can vary the amounts of chopped apples, blueberries and walnuts to your own taste, and also leave out or substitute other fruits or nuts as you please. Just go with the flow!