Minneapolis/St. Paul Restaurant Week

Yay! Fixed price menus galore this week only! The Twin Cities celebrates it's expansive culinary offerings with special menus all week long. Check out Minneapolis St. Paul Mag's site listing all the participating restaurants and their menus. Pick lunch or dinner with prices ranging from $10-$30. This is such a great way to try new things...now which restaurant to choose...

http://www.mspmag.com/promotions/wherewe'llbe/RestaurantWeekFall11/RW_Fall2011.asp

Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Well looky here - it's Fall! While looking for a way to use up an opened can of pumpkin puree, I stumbled upon this recipe from PumpkinRecipes.org. I accidentally made this healthier by omitting the melted butter and they still tasted great (go figure, I realized it was still in the microwave an hour later!).

1-1/2 C. flour
1/2 C. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 C. milk
1/2 C. pumpkin puree
1 egg
3/4 C. chocolate chunks
1/3 C. chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 400 degrees or 375 degrees if using dark non-stick pans. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In another medium sized bowl, whisk together the milk, pumpkin, and egg. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients. Barely stir together, then add in chocolate chunks. Try to not over stir the batter and allow for visible pockets of flour. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Top with chopped nuts. Bake 15-18 minutes until slightly golden.