Sunday, August 3, 2008

The Sail Loft and PB Pumpkin Muffins

After a busy morning of cleaning, errands, and organizing, Mal and I met up with a couple of our friends for a late lunch at the Sail Loft on the Boston waterfront. Today was such a wonderful way to enjoy a Sunday afternoon-- strolling around the city, chatting with friends, and dining downtown on the water. Ahhhhh... Sunday afternoons...


For lunch, I ordered the Sail Loft Chicken Salad, which completely surpassed my normal salad expectations! The salad included red onion, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, black olives, rosemary red potatoes, marinated green beans, big chunks of feta, stripes of chicken bread-- all on a bed of lettuce and served with a sweet and sticky honey mustard dressing on the side. I was pleasantly surprised when our waiter delivered my salad to the table-- it was so fresh, colorful, and included such a wide variety of ingredients! I ate all of the veggies, 1/3 of the lettuce, and about half of the chicken (Mal finished off the rest). 


Peanut Butter Pumpkin Muffins


I was craving baked goods all day today! I opened a can of pumpkin yesterday, so I decided it would be part of my baking experiment this afternoon. What I came up with was a peanut butter-pumpkin muffin recipe. 

Peanut Butter Pumpkin Muffins
Approximately 18 mini muffins

1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar 
1/2 cup liquid egg whites
1/4 cup peanut butter 
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
pumpkin seeds (optional) 

1. Preheat over to 350F. 
2. Combine ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
3. Coat muffins cups with non-stick cooking spray.
4. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. 
5. Top muffins with pumpkin seeds (optional)
6. Bake for approximately 20 minutes until muffin tops are firm to the touch.
7. Cool on wire rack.
8. Enjoy! 


We desperately need to go grocery shopping, so dinner tonight was "unconventional" once again. To 3/4 cup of plain yogurt, I added 3 crumbled Peanut Butter Pumpkin muffins. It was a yummy bowl of Sunday comfort food! :)


I have such a love/hate relationship with Sunday nights. They are so relaxing, but at the same time, all I can think about is the upcoming week and all of the stuff (crap) that I have to do at work. Meh. At least I have a few fun things on this week's agenda. Hope everyone enjoys the remaining hours of the weekend!!! 

18 Comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Cute restaurant, and scrumptious muffins!!

I know what you mean - SUnday nights are great, but then that just means that it's closer to Monday :0( Ah well, enjoy it anyways!!

Beth said...

Yeah, I"m starting to have the Sunday blues as well :( Oh well! only a few more days till NEXT weekend :D

Anonymous said...

Tina, those muffins looks amazing. I also love your occassional random dinners of breakfast-type foods. Glad you had a great weekend with the hubby!

Amanda said...

YUMMMMMM I cant wait to find time to make the muffins myself!

Anonymous said...

i am totally the same way about sunday nights... i HATE them b/c of that reason... i <3 fridays & saturdays :)

Trying To Heal said...

yummy muffins! i like the pumpkin seeds on top!

and i feel you on the sunday feelings...i'm starting to get them now...ack.

enjoy the rest of your night though!

Tony said...

WOW those muffins are making me hungry.

miho said...

thank you for the wonderful recipe!!

Anonymous said...

Miss Tina, why did you stop using splenda in your baked goods?

Anonymous said...

What a lovely photo of a beautiful looking salad!

Samantha said...

What a nice relaxing Sunday, baking is always a great way to end the day. Your muffins sound really delicious - thanks for sharing the recipe.

Erica said...

That salad looks just perfect! I love to have a lot of variety in my salads when I eat out. Its fun to see the different items people think to put in salads! Those muffins also look super awesome. I need to get a mini muffin tin!

Unknown said...

I finally made your pumpkin chip muffins and they were gone all to quickly!! Given my penchant for anything PB, I can't wait to give these a try :)

Tina said...

Erin,

To be honest, I don't typically use Splenda in my baking. In the past, I've used brown sugar Splenda, but only because Mr. Mal bought it by mistake and I didn't want it to go to waste. On the Splenda topic in general, I am trying to cut back on my intake of artificial sweeteners, especially in my coffee. I've been such a Splenda "addict" over the past few years, it's been a slow process for me.

Erica,

Yes, you need a mini muffin tray! It will change your life! :)

ttfn300,

I wanted to make those muffins last night too, but we didn't have any chocolate chips. So glad yours came out well! :)

Rose said...

I love Sunday afternoons so much - but I feel the same way about Sunday nights - meh.

Your muffins look really good! I'm not big on pumpkin, but I think the PB + Pumpkin combo has to taste good...

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Anonymous said...

love that bowl! mind if i ask where it's from? thanks!

Tina said...

Liza,

The bowl is from Blue Tulip (www.bluetulip.com/). It's actually part of a chip and dip set!