Grain-Free Pumpkin Bars

  Since Thanksgiving is in a few days I thought it would be a good time to share this delicious dessert recipe that also happens to be healthy{which can't be said for many holiday desserts.}This Thanksgiving we are gathering at my aunt's house and I'm in charge of bringing the stuffing, mashed sweet potatoes, and a dessert which will be these bars. Even if you don't have anyone in your family that has to follow special dietary needs {I'm the only one in my family} these bars will pass the taste test.  

  The texture of these bars is a mixture between the creamy custard  like these pumpkin pie cups and a soft cake. When you take a bite of the soft bars you will first notice the creamy pumpkin flavor paired with the spices before tasting the nutty almond butter. I have made this twice since I found the recipe online and both times the bars were gone in less than 2 days. You could even try using pureed acorn squash or sweet potato instead of pumpkin and pecan butter would give the bars a nuttier, richer taste.

Pumpkin Pie Cups

Pumpkin.Pumpkin.Pumpkin.

 That seems to be what everyone has on the brain since pumpkin recipes are becoming very frequent on all of the food sites. I love both the taste of pumpkin and their appearance; we are selling at least 5 different types of squashes at work and all of them look completely different.

Some Turban Squashes from work: My favorite.

Pumpkin Spice (Steel Cut) Oatmeal

 The aroma of cinnamon and nutmeg to me signify that it's time for the weather to cool down, it's getting closer to the holidays, and to add a little spice to almost every recipe I make, especially baked goods. This pumpkin oatmeal has cinnamon, other warm spices, uses maple syrup instead of refined sugar, and fills you up before you head off to work or school. This is the perfect breakfast for the chilly, rainy mornings that we have been having around here lately.

  Up until maybe two years ago, I'd never tried steel cut oats and when I did I wasn't so sure about if I liked the them that much. Steel oats have a very different texture compared to regular oats because of how they are processed and takes about 3 times longer to cook up. About 5 months ago, I used steel cut oats to make overnight cinnamon apple oatmeal  in a slow cooker which everyone enjoyed for breakfast and it made the house smell delicious!

Pumpkin PB Dog Treats

 It's been a while since I have made any homemade dog treats so I looked up and found a really good recipe. These are actually okay for a wide variety of animals. I split 1 4'' heart treat between our 2 goats & chicken, and another treat for our 2 horses and they all enjoyed their little snack.

When I was making these, I had 4 of our 6 dogs in the house with me because we had some guys come out to remove a few dead trees on our property. Marley and Oddball {my dogs} are the rambunctious ones, especially when they get to come in the house, but they are generally good when I'm in the kitchen cooking or baking. Once they figure out that i'm not going to give them anything they usually go to take a nap, but that doesn't mean that they won't sniff around to see if they could grab a bite.

Pumpkin Cake

  A few months ago, I decided to try  find serveral different pumpkin recipes to make during the fall and winter months. I found pumpkin recipes for cookies, pumpkin chip granola bars, a pumpkin roll cake ,muffins and many more that I still haven't tried yet.
I'm a pumpkin addict, I admit it.
 
  A family friend who travels for work recently came home for a short vacation. Dennis (the friend) has a huge sweet tooth- I think that is one reason we get along so well. Well I decided that if we were going to visit them, then I would want to make Dennis a treat. From my search of recipes involving pumpkin, I came across a recipe for Pumpkin Bars with a Cream Cheese Frosting from Sweet Pea's Kitchen. This recipe is called Pumpkin Bars, but it is more of a pumpkin cake than anything else. No matter the name, this recipe is a winner! The batter took only minutes to make and the frosting is addictive without being tooth-rotting sweet like some frostings. Plus, if you make the frosting by hand (which is what I did) it makes wanting another peice of cake less of a bad thing.

I added some orange, red, & yellow sugar sprinkles to make it look pretty

Thanksgiving Dessert: Pumpkin Roll cake

   This year, we had Thanksgiving out at our house and I decided to make everything -except for the turkey; thats my mom's job.
I decided that I would make a pie, but use store bought crust and filling since you generally think of pie for the holidays. I also wanted to make a pumpkin roll cake. I had never before made a roll cake of any kind, but that didn't seem to bother me.

   On thursday (Thanksgiving) I decided to make the pumpkin roll cake. One reason being that they can be chilled or frozen after being prepared and another being if it didn't turn out or it cracked then I would have enough time to either make another cake or go to Plan B (I didn't really have a plan B, but I knew it would be another pumpkin dessert.)
The batter itself was very simple and fast to prepare. Our kitchen was filled with the aroma of pumpkin and nutmeg while the cake was baking.
The filling was very tasty and can be prepared ahead of time and just whipped again before filling the cake. I used vanilla that a friend brought back from a recent trip to mexico. It has a sweeter flavor than the stuff you buy at the store.
But there were some bumps in the road....
1. I kinda went overboard with the powdered sugar on the towel to prevent sticking and ending up getting powdered sugar on one whole side of the kitchen and floor. I later resembled an archaeologist dusting off extra powdered sugar off the nuts (#3) and the outside of the cake with a pastry brush.
2. I hesitated to roll the cake at first due to fear of breaking it, but it turned out good; even though it did have a slight crack- just 1 inch or so,but nothing that anyone, but me would notice.
3. I did roll it "backwards" though- I made the side with the nuts on the outside instead of the inside.
Filling the cake with the cream was actually very easy and I didn't have any cream seeping out the sides when I rolled the cake up again.

Sunday Morning Muffins, Doctor visits, and Tigger the chirping cat

An updated picture from 10-21-12. I used raw sugar instead of the streusel. 

>This post has a few different topics because I decided instead of posting 2 different posts, to just combine them and make it a big post. So sorry in advance for my rambling.

Its 11 pm Saturday night as I'm writing this and I just finished making 3 dozen muffins.
3 dozen pumpkin, cream cheese filled and streusel topped muffins.
Our house smells amazing right now.
Why did I make 3 dozen muffins?
Well this Sunday it was my mom's turn to bring breakfast for her class and I agreed to make it. Plus, some of those muffins are for my class. I didn't know if I wanted to make pumpkin muffins or if i wanted to try something else, but it being last minute I didn't want to try out a new recipe especially on a church full of people.So I went with the pumpkin muffins I posted a while back, but I added some things.
I didn't add nuts to the streusel this time because I don't know if anyone has nut allergies and I really do not not want someone to turn purple and their throat and tongue swelling on a Sunday morning because of me. I would never be able to live it down and I would feel horrible. So no nuts this time. The cream cheese filling is sweet, but not overly sweet and stills has that tang that only cream cheese has.
The cream cheese filling and the streusel topping make enough to fill & top 2-3 batches of  muffins. Extra streusel can be stored in your fridge for at least 4 days.

Practice makes perfect. This was the first time I made muffins with a filling.
The 1st batch I made looked like something you would make for a Halloween party (they looked creepy but tasted yummy), luckily the next two turned out looking a lot better.

Sunday Morning Muffins  (pumpkin muffins with cream cheese and a streusel topping)

Adapted: A Cozy Kitchen (muffin recipe)

Yields: 12 muffins, but enough filling & streusel for 2 1/2- 3 dozen

Muffins:
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup canned solid packed pumpkin
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp pumpkin or apple pie spice
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Cream Cheese Filling:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp pumpkin or apple pie spice

Streusel:
4 tbsp. butter, softened
1/2 cup a.p flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 nuts, chopped (optional)
1/2 tsp. pumpkin spice or cinnamon


For Cream Cheese Filling: Makes enough to fill 2 1/2- 3 dozen muffins
1. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, vanilla, spice/cinnamon, and cream cheese and mix until well combined and smooth.
2. Using a teaspoon, I added about 1/2 tsp. of the cream cheese mix on the batter per muffin.




For the streusel topping: Makes enough for 2 1/2- 3 dozen muffins
1. In a small bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, nuts, pie spice (or cinnamon), and butter.
2. I use a tablespoon measure to distribute the streusel on each muffin.


Muffins:  yields 12 muffins
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line 12 muffin tin with liners.
2. Combine the flour and baking powder.
3. Combine the pumpkin, oil, eggs, pie spice, sugar, baking soda, and salt until smooth.
4. Slowly whisk the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture. Fill each muffin cup 1/2 full (I use a ice cream scoop), add 1/2 tsp of cream cheese mixture, and then cover that with some more batter so it is 3/4 full. Sprinkle streusel over each muffin.
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the muffin comes out clean.
6. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then transfer the muffins from the pan to rack and cool completely.

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Then I have doctors appointments both Monday and Tuesday. One is a hematologist (blood doctor) and then Tuesdays its down to Children's Medical to see my Rheumatologist. So depending how this week goes, depends on what and how often I post. Maybe I'll make french onion soup(one of my mom's favorite) and I might even try out some cookie recipes that I'll will be making for holiday gifts.

    I might regret this, but I'm going to be baking like a crazy person this holiday. I am making the desserts for our "late" Thanksgiving dinner along with all the side dishes, Christmas cookies with icing (all from scratch) for our church's holiday dinner (and maybe some other desserts), pumpkin granola bars among other things for some friends coming into town,  and different cookies and goodies to give as gifts for family and friends. I think this will be a very big test for me. I like baking, but I don't always have the patience for it, especially after having disasters -Once I had 3 baking disasters right after each other and I didn't bake again for 2 weeks; so hopefully all goes well- And I want to bake like a lunatic because its something I've never done before. In our family we don't bake and decorate Christmas cookies or having dessert exchanges during the holidays (or ever) so this will be my time to make up for that. I have a feeling that my dad won't be complaining about the high amount of sweet treats that will be made in our house either.
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Here are some pictures of my cat Tigger. Our neighbor found Tigger in their tree when he was only a few weeks old. Since we only have 1 neighbor and both theirs and our cats were fixed and our dogs would have treed a stray cat, we didn't know where he came from.
Tigger isn't your ordinary cat .

see # 10

Tigger playing with a chicken  that I bought @ World Market

  Facts About Tigger:
1. He is terrified of strangers- the only people to see him is my mom, my dad, and I. No one else-we aren't real sure why because we did get him when he was young and he was exposed to many different people and animals, but he is a big scary cat and hides as soon as he hears other people in the house.
2. He hates dogs- he gets all puffed up and looks like a raccoon.
3. He used to be a great bird hunter, but after loosing some cats to coyotes that live in the back of our property my mom made him and Chex (our other cat) exclusive indoor cats. So now he sits on my couch cushion and watches the birds fly around.
4. Since he is an indoor only cat now, he has become an avid t.v watcher. One of his favorite channels to watch the national geographic channel. He sits on the couch and will watch until he falls asleep or I turn off the t.v.
5. He is a very vocal cat! He chirps like a bird when he gets excited and will talk to me through the day.
6. He is very needy and if he doesn't get attention he will bite or put his paw on my face to get my attention.
7. He is very jealous and whenever I have to become "mom" to orphan baby animals, he will not come into my room (which is where most of them stay if I have to raise them) or let me pet him until that animal is either old enough to not need me anymore or is gone to a new home.
8. He hates being brushed out so I have to use a lint roller to when he sheds.
9. His favorite thing to play with are pipe cleaners and my socks.
10. He has cheek bones that women would die for. And when he sleeps, he looks like a chipmunk.
11. He doesn't like "regular" human food like chicken, but he will gladly eat the ends of toast, apple sauce, and leftover soy milk from my cereal bowl. I can honestly say that out of all the animals we have owned and I've known- Tigger is truly one of a kind.

Lupus. Writing. Baking. And Pumpkin Muffins with Streusel Topping

  A lot has been going on latley.

             I've sat in more waiting rooms, had more blood drawn, and seen so many doctors in the last 4 months alone than I think I have in the last year combined. It turns out that I have lupus, but the doctors are still running more tests to see if there is anything else going on because my blood is showing abnormalities. So needless to say, it has been a rough few months.
            I know to a degree what is happening to my body, but at the same time I am absolutly clueless.I've had  the symptoms like the swelling and the butterfly rash for years, but we never put 2 and 2 together. One thing I have noticed though is that I have been writing more. I told my mom that she may be right. She always said that I was a good writer and that I may even make a career out of it, but I never saw it. I usually dread writing essays for school, and yet I find myself writing at 2am because my brain won't shut off. I never really know what im going to write about at the time, I just have this urge.  I guess writing is how I vent. How I let go. You could say that Im a very private person, sure I have a blog and all, but at the same time I hate having attention on me. I don't like to talk about whats really going on, I usually just change the subject to something safe, like cooking or animals.