On Oct. 4, my family stepped out into a cloudy morning. We loaded our single and double jogging stroller and all three kids into the car and drove to Simard-Payne Police Memorial Park in Lewiston for the Dempsey Challenge.

I snuggled the girls into the double jogging stroller and gave Emily, my 4-year-old, a special photo. She looked at the framed photo and said, “This is you and Aunt Karen when you were little, and there is Grammy and Poppa.” I felt tears welling up in my eyes as I nodded and managed to say, “Yes, sweetie. I loved Poppa very much. He died from cancer when I was 16.” To which she asked, “How come the doctors helped Grampy with his cancer, but couldn’t help Poppa?”

My family has dealt with its fair share of cancer, and the amazing crowd at the challenge demonstrated to my children that we are not alone. I felt this wonderful sense of community as we walked through Lewiston and Auburn honoring my beloved Poppa and my stepfather, who is, thankfully, a survivor of the most dangerous form of skin cancer.

We never needed that single stroller for Matthew, who surprised us and walked the whole distance. At the end of the walk, the kids were rewarded with time to play in the KidZone constructed by event organizers. After several minutes in the bouncy houses, Emily and I discovered a place where she could make a cookbook full of healthy muffin recipes. Emily decorated the outside of her book with foam stickers, buttons, fabric, crayons and markers.

A few weeks after the event, I found myself with a large amount of cooked pumpkin. Emily and I found a recipe in her special book for pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. Pumpkin and chocolate — what a great combination!

Pumpkin is full of beta carotene, which helps reduce the risk of cancer. It also helps with hypertension. The high fiber in pumpkin helps curb the appetite and reduce fat absorption. Furthermore, this pumpkin recipe contains ground flaxseed, which contains omega-3 fatty acids. Studies show that a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids can help fight heart disease, arthritis, asthma, diabetes and some cancers.

I was grateful for the challenge, which gave my family an opportunity to honor the people in my life who have had cancer and to support the Dempsey Center. And as a bonus, we walked away from the event with some yummy, healthy muffin recipes.

Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins
Ingredients:
1 cup canned or fresh pumpkin
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/3 cup chocolate chips or carob chips
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a nonstick muffin tin with nonstick spray or line the tin with paper muffin cups and spray the cups with nonstick spray. Set aside.

Put the pumpkin, water, canola oil, ground flaxseed and vanilla in a blender and process on high for at least 1 minute, until light in color and well blended. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the whole wheat pastry flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the pumpkin mixture and mix well with a wooden spoon or large spatula until well blended. If the mixture seems a little dry, add extra water. Fold in the chocolate chips or carob chips and nuts.

Spoon the batter into the muffin tin, distributing evenly to make 12 muffins. Sprinkle the top of each muffin with sugar, if desired.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then use a spatula to gently lift each muffin from the tin. Finish cooling on a wire rack.

Copy the Story Link