Trading Up Downtown

After dinner, I always crave something sweet. In an ideal world, I’d eat a piece of cake with a thick layer of frosting every night after dinner, but this neither nutritious or friendly to my waistline. Of course, it would be easy for me to grab a few Oreo Cookies (NuVal score: 4) to satisfy my sweet tooth, but I’d rather have a more nutritious treat to end the day. So, instead, I cook my own baked goods at home. This way, I can control what ingredients go into them.

I love oatmeal (pretty much all varieties), but Quaker Apple Cinnamon Instant Oatmeal (NuVal score: 25) is just not my favorite. I’ve had a box of it in the pantry for months and months now.

I hate letting food go to waste, so these packets of oatmeal inspired me to create a really yummy apple cinnamon muffin.

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Makes 12 mini muffins

Ingredients:

• 5 packets of apple-cinnamon instant oatmeal
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup canola oil

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350*F
• Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl
• Coat a mini muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray
• Pour batter into muffin cups
• Bake for 15-20 minutes
• Allow to cool and enjoy!

These muffins turned out great and they took no time at all to throw together. I bet this recipe would work well with other instant oatmeal flavors too. I can’t wait to try maple-brown sugar with some walnuts and raisins. Doesn’t that sound delicious!?

What are your favorite “instant” recipes?

Call for Guest Bloggers

I’d love to have readers share their recipes, trade ups, and NuVal stories on Trading Up Downtown. If you would like to be featured, just drop me an email at thaupert@nuval.com

Category: Recipes by Tina