Quick Pumpkin Bread

I tried a new pumpkin recipe this Fall.  It doesn't have any oil in it and it was so good!  Plus, it's easy for the kids to help make this recipe.  We have already made it twice this Fall.  I started with this recipe from Keeping It Simple Blog and made some changes.

We opted to make 2 loaves instead of 1 and added chocolate chips to one.  Both were so good.

Recipe:

1 2/3 c flour

1 1/4 c sugar

1 c pumpkin

1/2 c melted butter

1/2 c warm milk

2 eggs

2 t cinnamon

2 t pumpkin spice seasoning

1 t vanilla

1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

sprinkle of salt

1/2 c chocolate chips

Mix dry ingredients.  Add in wet ingredients.  Line 2 loaf pans with parchment paper.  Evenly pour batter into two loaf pans.  Add chocolate chips to one and stir around.  Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool and slice.  This bread is so yummy!  Perfect to make with your kids or perfect to share.

Fall Break Faves

We're back to reality of work and school today after a week long fall break.  

The break came at the perfect time.  We all needed some days to rest, recover and enjoy a trip to Wisconsin.  I'm so thankful to be on pretty much the same schedule as my kids so we can all be off together.  It made me so happy to not have to set alarms, get to do what we wanted during the days and enjoy all the extra time together.

I was so excited to:

1. See beautiful fall leaves in Wisconsin.

2. Organize/declutter/clean out our garage.

3. Drop off consignment items to my favorite store that only accepts items during school hours.  It was great to be home during the day to take care of stuff like this.

4. Switch all the kid's closets to Fall/Winter.  Now I need to do mine.

5. Ordered new winter coats for all the kids.

6. Haircuts for several of us and a claw trim for Mr. Mittens.

7. We were home on harvest day for the farm behind our house.  The boys were so excited.

8. We made some fun plans with friends and family.

9. My house got dusted and decorated for Halloween.  The kids love to help decorate.  We dusted together and decorated together.

10. All of my house plants had a spa day where I watered, pruned and gave them some extra love.

11. I prepped a Fall gift for the kid's teachers.  I'll do a blog post about it later this week.  I try to send in something small once a month for the teachers with a note of appreciation.

12. I took care a ton of the to dos I had been putting off like getting an oil change, cleaning out freezers, reorganizing pantries, and taking care of school things for the kids - spirit wear, projects and calendar things.

13. Halloween costumes are finalized, everything has arrived and has been tried on.  We are ready for trick-or-treating.  I even bought our candy and hid it so it lasts until the 31st.

14.Returns are all caught up on, bathrooms are all cleaned and laundry is done.  Whew it feels good to be all caught up at home.

Bring on all the Fall festivities from now through Thanksgiving!

Perfect Pumpkin Muffins

I have a really yummy pumpkin recipe to share with you today.  My family loves all things pumpkin and they agree that these are some of the best pumpkin muffins I have ever made.  They were really easy and I bet you have almost all of the ingredients on hand if you love to bake Fall treats.

I started with this recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction - My Best Pumpkin Muffins Recipe

and made a few changes.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 c flour

1 t baking soda

1 1/2 t ground cinnamon

1 1/2 t pumpkin pie spice 

1/4 t ground ginger

A sprinkle of salt

1/2 c vegetable oil

1/2 c sugar

1/2 c brown sugar

2 eggs

1/4 c Buttermilk*

1 small can of pumpkin (or 1 1/2 c pumpkin puree)

toppings - cinnamon & sugar and chocolate chips*

 * these were my changes to the original recipe

Directions:

Sally has very specific directions, but I just dumped everything into a bowl and mixed it really well.  It turned out great!  I sprinkled some with cinnamon sugar, left some plain and added chocolate chips to the rest.  Spoiler alert: Every muffin variety was delicious.

Scoop into a mini muffin pan.  This recipe made 30+ mini muffins so I had to use two pans.  I did use the original baking directions of starting at 425 for 3 minutes and finishing baking for about 12 minutes at 350.  I almost always make mini muffins because they bake so much faster and this was the perfect bake time for mini muffins.

I made these twice last week and we devoured them!

I bet your crew might enjoy them, too!

Fall Snack Mix

Happy Fall!  Are you a fan of candy corn?  Or maybe the candy corn pumpkins?  I like a little candy corn every fall and my kids LOVE both of them.

My mom started making this snack mix years ago and it just tastes like Fall.

I added the 2 ingredients to my grocery pick up list this week - candy corn and roasted, salted peanuts.

Layer them in a container and enjoy!

I like 2/3 peanuts and 1/3 candy corn.

My kids love the candy corn so it starts out more half and half of each and then ends up peanut heavy after they eat the candy.  It's the perfect snack mix of Fall or for tailgates.

Enjoy the easiest Fall snack!

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, friends!  I hope you've had a good week.  Our week was BUSY.

Did you catch my blog posts this week?

Early Fall Outfit Inspiration

Potty Training the Easy Way

Family Favorite Chicken Fried Rice - my family licks their plates with this meal!

 

Now onto my favorite moments of the week:

1.  Fall Festival

Our city has a giant street fest every Fall and we enjoy stopping in one night every Fall.  The kids weren't very interested in food so we got one snack, did one ride and played some games.  We bumped into some friends and my sister's family and the weather was perfect.  It was such a fun evening!

We tried funnel cake fries for the first time and they were delicious.  We just wish the serving size was bigger :)

2. Fletcher turned 7 1/2!

We celebrated Fletcher's half birthday with a plate of cookie halves.  He loved it!  It's the easiest half birthday tradition.  Grab your kid's favorite treat, cut it in half, add a candle and sing to them.

3. Career Day

Fletcher opted to go as a fisherman.  He said he had no idea what he wanted to be when he grew up because he was only seven, but he did know that he loves to fish.

Olive was torn between a librarian and a 2nd grade teacher so she combined the two.

4. Homemade Salsa

We finally had enough tomatoes, peppers and a few other things from the garden to make salsa.  I still have some kinks to work out, but I love seeing this container of homemade salsa in the fridge.  We're hoping our tomatoes do even better next year to make more salsa.

5. Story time

We had a blast at story time again this week.  Leo is participating more and more and we both look forward to going together.  I love that he gets introduced to new toys, new music and gets practice listening to a teacher for an hour a week.

6. Smiley faces

Remember how I told you last week that Leo could now make smiley faces??  He spent a good portion of this week drawing smiley faces :)

7. Spooky

The kids helped me decorate for Halloween this week!  We do sweet Halloween decorations.  Nothing scary or gross.  The kids love these teeth.  Leo kept asking me to put his teeth in haha.

8. School Lunches

The kids love when I put their favorite foods in their lunch - Cheeto Bones, their favorite sandwiches, cheese cubes, Scotcharoos and caramels.

9. Blankets

Leo loves these two striped blankets.  They're his favorite things to snuggle with.  Both of my boys have opted for special blankets over special stuffed animals and it's my favorite!

10. Helper

Leo is the best shopping helper.  He prefers to sit in the bottom of the cart with all the food.  Then he helps me load and unload the cart.  I know I'll be sad when he's too big to ride in the cart.

11. Favorite Flowers

Our whole property is lined with these sweet little flowers this year!  I know they are a weed, but you can't convince me that they aren't the happiest tiny flowers.

12. Winning

We celebrated one of our cousins turning 16 with family and Notre Dame won!  Win-win.

13. Fall Blast

Our church Fall festival was last weekend.  We had the best time with friends.  The boys loved the first responder section, everyone had fun on the rides and we ended the night with fireworks and candy.  It really was a blast!

This takes me back to Fletcher's toddler days when he was obsessed with fire trucks.  Time flies!!

Olive loves a double decker bus!

14. School Fall Fest

Kevin took the big kids to their school Fall Fest.  It was lots of fun!

 

15. Sunday Snooze.

It got a little too quiet on Sunday afternoon and look where I found Leo...napping in the sunshine.  Sweet guy doesn't nap anymore so he must have been worn out from all the fun this week :)

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!!  My crew is on Fall Break next week so I'm taking a blog break to enjoy them. I'll see you back here on Monday the 16th.

Linking up with Momfessionals

Make Your Own PSL

Are you a fan of pumpkin spice lattes?

I like them, but mocha iced coffee year round is more my taste.

Olive loves PSLs.  Fall flavors are her very favorite.

A PSL at Starbucks is at least $5 a drink so I like to have some at home options for her if she wants a coffee drink in the afternoon.  Kevin loves coffee more than anyone I know so it's only fitting that Olive enjoys coffee, too.

Here's our version of a PSL!

This is the easiest recipe for making a PSL at home:

You just need:

Iced coffee

Pumpkin spice creamer

Redi Whip

Ground Cinnamon

& Ice

I love this Not Too Sweet Stok Cold Brew, Pumpkin Pie Spice creamer & if you like mocha this Coffee Mate Cafe Mocha creamer is delish.  I keep this combo in my fridge so we can always make a coffee drink at home instead of running through a drive thru.

Add ice, cold brew, pumpkin creamer and stir really well to blend and get extra cold.  Then top with Redi Whip and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Olive approves!  She's also excited to try a hot version of a make your own PSL once the weather cools down a bit.  

Preteen/teen mom tip: Going out of your way to make them their favorite foods wins you some major  mom points :)

Fletcher is like me and prefers a mocha drink!

If you like fun coffees, finding a way to make them at home wills ave you lots of money.  I only swing through a drive thru if we are out of town.  I always make my coffee drinks at home to save our family money.  

Would anyone at your house like this PSL or mocha drink?

4 Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins

Unpopular opinion: Pumpkin is delicious year round!

My crew loves pumpkin any time of year.

I tried a new muffin recipe for a friend gathering over Thanksgiving break and they were so good!  And who wouldn't be enticed by a 4 ingredient muffin recipe!?  I have these 4 things on hand all the time.  Which means homemade muffins are always an easy breakfast option for me.  This recipe would be so fun to make with your kids.  Or give your older kids the task of making them on their own.  It's so simple!  It would be a great confidence boosting recipe for a new baker.

Look how pretty and tall these muffins turn out!

Ingredients:

1 yellow cake mix

1 15 oz can of pumpkin

1 T cinnamon

Brown sugar

Mix the first 3 ingredients together in a bowl.  It'll be a perfectly fluffy, thick mixture.  Scoop the batter into a mini muffin pan and sprinkle a generous sprinkle of brown sugar on top of them before you pop them in the oven.  Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes.  Let them brown slightly and the muffins should bounce back when you touch the top.

 

 

I was skeptical that this muffin recipe would be delicious because there are no eggs or oils.

Let me assure you - they were SO GOOD!  The kids and adults loved them.  They tasted best the fresh out of the oven/same day, but my kids still ate them on Day 2.

I hope you put this easy recipe on your radar this holiday season!

Would your family enjoy these?

We Almost Missed Apple Picking 2022

Our family has enjoyed apple picking every Fall since 2017.  It's one of our very favorite things to do.  

When we lived in Terre Haute, IN we would always drive north to Ditzler Orchard in Rosedale.  It's an amazing orchard with tons of varieties of apples, pumpkins, treats and the nicest farmers.  That's too far of a drive for us now so we were on the hunt for a new orchard.  My Bible Study friends came through for me and suggested Countryside Orchard.  It was about 10 minutes from our house so we were excited to give it a try.

The apple picking seasons are a little different in Evansville so this was their last weekend for it when we are used to picking all the way through October.  Noted for next year - Apple picking needs to happen sooner!

Countryside Orchard offered Apple Cider Slushies and they were delicious!  You can also buy prepicked, apples, apple cider or grab pumpkins from the field or the stand while you're there.  They have a big peach business, too.  They are still offering peaches so we plan to try that next time.  The day we went they had a big bonfire and s'mores kits you could buy.  We'll definitely go back, but make sure to time our apple picking for earlier in the season next time. 

We picked Golden Delicious & Granny Smith.  The kids were total troopers and enjoyed the hunt of finding apples when there weren't very many left on the trees.

Watching the kids pick, taste and enjoy fresh apples will always be one of my favorite fall memories.

The kids were so excited to find an apple picking tool to use.  We were glad to have Kevin with us to help us reach the apples up high.

We worked hard to fill 2 buckets together.

They loved playing on the tractor at the end pretending to be farmers.

We got one apple cider slushy to share and should have gotten two!

We were near a new to us park so we checked it out.  It was fun, but a little too wooded and secluded for me to feel comfortable taking the kids by myself.

We have big plans for an apple pie, homemade applesauce and lots of apple snacks!  Fletcher's teacher made homemade applesauce with them to celebrate the end of their apple research unit and he loved it.  So she's set the bar high for applesauce :)

Have you been apple picking yet??

We would highly recommend it if you have apple orchards near you!