Pumpkin Oatmeal Travelling Cookies (that you could eat for breakfast)

BEST OF THE TASTY CHEAPSKATE

I make these ALL the time. Not only when we're travelling, but also for a healthy snack. Or, heck, breakfast. They're a little sweeter than they should be for one of your day's three meals, but we do it anyway. 

But this week, I really am travelling, and I'm going to make them for that. I believe them to be the perfect travelling food. They hold up well, but even if they get smooshed, they're still amazing (maybe even more amazing). They need no refrigeration, no special love or extra care. They stay moist forever. Yes, yes, there is sugar in them (though not quite as much as a normal cookie). But, no, they are not carrot sticks, quite. Still, they do have a healthy dose of pumpkin. And there are lots of delicious oats and whole grains as well. Happy for the brain, good for the bowels. What more can you ask for? No airport lunch required, thank you very much.

And if you do eat them for breakfast, just remind yourself that It's kind of like pumpkin oatmeal in cookie form. Yeah, you're welcome.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
adapted from  All Recipes
makes 36
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Cost: $3.40 (that's about $.10/cookie; what!!!??? No bowl of cereal can compete with that)
butter: .90, brown sugar: .35, sugar: .15, pumpkin puree: .50, egg: .10, flour: .10, oats: .30, chocolate chips: .90, other stuff: .10

3/4 C butter
1 C brown sugar
1/2 C white sugar
1/2 can pumpkin puree (so about 8 oz or a scant cup)
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 C all-purpose flour
2 C oats, (blended into crumbles or flour; see below)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 C dark chocolate chips (I like 60%), optional, but awesome

Preheat oven to 375.

First of all, you're going to give those oats a whiz in your blender or food processor. They don't have to be a completely smooth flour (though they can be), but these are best when they're at least crumbles instead of regular oats. Set that aside when you're done.

Beat butter and sugars together. Add pumpkin puree, egg, and vanilla.

Add dry ingredients to wet. Blend.

Then add the chocolate chips.

Drop onto baking sheet (my sister sprays hers; she also uses a cookie scoop, which makes these really pretty, but I didn't have one).

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Favorite Pumpkin Recipes

Because it's almost October, here are a few of my favorite pumpkin recipes from the blog.

1. Pumpkin Oat Breakfast Cookies. The BEST.



2. Not-for-breakfast Pumpkin Cookies. (Though if you eat them for breakfast, I won't tell; I'm not your mom.)



3. Pumpkin Refrigerator Oatmeal. And we're back to breakfast.



4. Pumpkin Alfredo. In case you don't just eat breakfast and dessert.



5. Pumpkin Spice Muffins.



6. Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling. Because...more muffins.



7. Self Frosting Nutella and Pumpkin Muffins. Because...even more muffins.



8. that classic...Pumpkin Pie.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

For holy goodness. We didn't originally eat these as breakfast cookies, per se. My sister-in-law brought them to our house. She had used them on the plane. So truly, they're travelling cookies. And the perfect ones at that. There's lots of delicious oat, some pumpkin. Happy for the brain, good for the bowels. What more can you ask for? No airport lunch required, thank you very much.

But we've been eating them for breakfast. And they're good for that too. Truthfully, they'r a tiny bit on the sweeter end, although after all the sweets we've been eating they seem downright virtuous in comparison. And they really are pretty virtuous. I mean, it's kind of like pumpkin oatmeal in cookie form. Yeah, you're welcome.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
adapted from  All Recipes
makes 36
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Cost: $3.40 (that's about $.10/cookie; what!!!??? No bowl of cereal can compete with that)
butter: .90, brown sugar: .35, sugar: .15, pumpkin puree: .50, egg: .10, flour: .10, oats: .30, chocolate chips: .90, other stuff: .10

3/4 C butter
1 C brown sugar
1/2 C white sugar
1/2 can pumpkin puree (so about 8 oz or a scant cup)
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 C all-purpose flour
2 C oats, (blended into crumbles or flour; see below)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 C dark chocolate chips (I like 60%), optional, but awesome

Preheat oven to 375.

First of all, you're going to give those oats a whiz in your blender or food processor. They don't have to be a completely smooth flour (though they can be), but these are best when they're at least crumbles instead of regular oats. Set that aside when you're done.

Beat butter and sugars together. Add pumpkin puree, egg, and vanilla.

Add dry ingredients to wet. Blend.

Then add the chocolate chips.

Drop onto baking sheet (my sister sprays hers; she also uses a cookie scoop, which makes these really pretty, but I didn't have one).

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Pumpkin Alfredo with Gnocchi

Hello November. And happy election day. Whether you're elated about your choice for president, or entered your voting location feeling a little conflicted (like I did), I think it's time for some comfort food, don't you? Even better when that comfort food has a sneaky dose of Vitamin A folded into its creamy crevices. And you know what might make it even better. Fifteen minutes. Start to finish. Yeah yeah, you're welcome.

I like to make my own Alfredo and I'm going to tell you straight up that I favor a recipe that is a lot thinner than what most people have come to expect from their Alfredo (because it often uses thickeners to thicken it whereas I prefer to just stick with cream and cheese, if you please). That said, this is easy to thick up if that's your thing. You'll find instructions for both below.

Also, this could easily be served on regular old pasta, but at this time of year I always get a hankering for those thick doughy bites of gnocchi, so that's what I went with. I even found a pumpkin variety at Aldi. Perfect. And to top this off, mushrooms sauteed in butter. It was just the perfect fit, but if mushrooms embody everything that is childhood food angst for you, you can skip them. This is just fantastic on its own.

Pumpkin Alfredo with Gnocchi
Serves 4
Cook time: 15 minutes for everything
Cost: $5.25
gnocchi: 2.00, cream: 1.25, pumpkin: .10, butter: .40, Parmesan cheese: 1.00, mushrooms: .50

1 package gnocchi
1 2/3 C cream
3-4 Tbsp pumpkin puree
5 Tbsp butter
1 C Parmesan cheese
mushrooms, optional
salt to taste

Boil water, then cook gnocchi according to the package directions.


While the gnocchi is cooking, add butter and cream to a pot. Simmer it for several minutes. After 5-8 minutes it will reduce just a bit.

(While it's simmering, you can slice a few mushrooms, and saute them in butter with salt.)

After your cream has reduced, remove it from the heat. Whisk in the pumpkin, then add the Parmesan cheese and some generous sprinkles of salt (taste as you go to get the right amount). Whisk until it's smooth. Then drain your gnocchi and add it to this sauce.

Note: As stated, it will be a thinner sauce. If you must have it thicker, then while the butter/cream mixture is simmering, combine 1 tsp cornstarch and 2 tsp milk in a small cup. Pour that into your simmering cream, whisking as you go. It will thicken slightly. Then continue with the recipe by adding pumpkin, cheese, etc.

Top with sauteed mushrooms if desired.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Pumpkin Refrigerator Oatmeal

Refrigerator oatmeal is the best thing ever in the summer when it's too hot to even think about waking up and ingesting something steamy. Also, they're dumb easy and ready for your to stumble into in the morning. I love this recipe because it also packs this huge Vitamin A, beta carotene pumpkin punch.

And mixed. Not as pretty, but still delicious. 

Pumpkin Refrigerator Oatmeal
adapted from
Prep time: 3 minutes
Cost:  $.57
oatmeal: .05, yogurt: .25, pumpkin: .25, other stuff: .02

Note: The sugar will be high for this if you're used to sweet breakfasts and/or sweet yogurt. Rest assured that if you used sweetened yogurt, you'd be eating at least this much sugar.

1/2 C Greek yogurt (regular works too)
1/2 C pumpkin puree
1/4 C oatmeal
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1-2 Tbsp sugar

Combine all ingredients. Leave in refrigerator overnight. (Note: If you use quick oats, you can leave it for about 30 minutes and eat this.)

Photo Update--Pumpkin Spice Scones

I have so many half-written posts for you guys--things I can't complete because some picture or idea or whatever is still missing. So this week I decided to catch up on an old project and add some extra pictures to our favorite pumpkin scones. I hope this makes it easier to get your pumpkin on one of these crazy snow days. So have a look at the original recipe HERE.

See, doesn't that make you want to bake something warm and spicy and simple and quick.

Secret Recipe Club--Pumpkin Spice Scones

Ohmyohmyohmy-o.

This month for Secret Recipe Club I had A Spoonful of Thyme for my blog. I'd pinned several salads to try and then I saw these scones and I thought, "Who needs salad? I mean, these have a vegetable in them too, right?" Totes.

And then--I know you drizzle things on your salads, right--well, I figured I better drizzle something on my pumpkin scones as well. A Spoonful of Thyme used a beautiful and delicious-sounding cream cheese drizzle. But then I opened my cupboard and saw that my husband had opened the speculoos cookie spread. And then I realized that maybe a speculoos cookie spread glaze with pumpkin scones might, just might, be the next cure for cancer. So I didn't want to, you know, miss out on that. So then this happened.

It didn't cure cancer (well, not that I know of). But I can't say I regretted the experiment.

My kids didn't either. They wolfed these down and beg beg begged me to make more today. Thanks, Spoonful of Thyme for the perfect fall breakfast/dessert (depending on your standards for such things).

Pumpkin Spice Scones with Speculoos Glaze
adapted from A Spoonful of Thyme
makes 8 large scones
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Cost: $1.85 or about $.22/scone
flour: .15, whole wheat flour: .10, sugar: .10, butter: .40, pumpkin: .35, egg: .10, half and half: .05, spices: .20, powdered sugar: .10, cookie spread: .30 (um, I don't quite remember how much this cost, so I'm sort of making this up)

A few notes:
-Spoonful of Thyme used all all-purpose flour, but I added 1/2 C whole wheat and found it perfectly delightful.
-The risk with scones is having them dry out. To avoid this: 1) DO NOT OVERMIX them. I took mine out when still kind of a crumbly blop and then pressed and formed it into a ball and that was all it needed. 2) DO NOT OVERBAKE them. I went with 10 minutes and it was perfect. This didn't make them golden, so I wouldn't recommend going for golden brown. When they're puffy and look done, take them out. Stick a fork in it if you're worried it's doughy in the middle.

For the scones:

1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C whole wheat flour
7 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp ginger
6 Tbsp cold butter
1/2 C canned pumpkin
3 Tbsp half and half
1 large egg

For the glaze: 

1/3 C powdered sugar
2 Tbsp speculoos cookie spread (this is generally a seasonal item--likes like peanut butter; tastes like cookies in a spoon)
2 Tbsp milk

For the scones:

Combine all dry ingredients. I did this in a food processor. Then add the butter in chunks and process until the big pieces are gone.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, pumpkin, and half and half.

Then add this to the food processor. Do NOT overprocess it.

Process it until it's crumbly and mostly combined-ish. then dump it out and fold it a few times (as in 4 kneads, not 75 kneads) to be sure it's uniform in flour-y-ness. Then form it into a ball. That's it. Do NOT keep messing with it. Gently roll it into a circle on a WELL-FLOURED surface (I hope you're enjoying the caps. I feel strongly about certain aspects of this recipe). Don't skimp on the flour or it will get stuck and you'll have to scrape it up and maybe re-need it and life as you know it will be ruined. Well, probably not, but your scones may be slightly tougher than you prefer.

 Okay--so roll it out into a circle that's about 1/2 inch think. Then cut it into 8 pieces.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Again--don't overbake this. It will be a little too dry and a little too crumbly.

Let cool.

For cookie spread glaze:

Combine all ingredients and whisk.

When your scones are cool, drizzle with the speculoos cookie spread (or Spoonful of Thyme's cream cheese frosting).

PRINTABLE RECIPE

An InLinkz Link-up

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

This is kind of a picture re-do, although when I went to my original post--one of the first posted to this blog, I realized I had done something I often did in that first year of blogging--I'd tinkered with my go-to recipe to give you both a decadent version of what I usually make and a spare "healthy" version of what I make. I still hope that that is useful to some, but--truly--wouldn't it be nice to have the actual recipe I actually make every time I actually bake pumpkin muffins. Yeah, probably. Some decent pictures wouldn't hurt either.

So, here you go, the recipe I make every time I make pumpkin muffins/bread.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins
Makes 24 muffins
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 20-30 minutes
Cost: $4.40 (or about $.18/muffin)
butter: 1.00, sugar: .25, eggs: .40, flour: .25, whole wheat flour: .25, pumpkin: 1.00, chocolate chips: 1.00, other seasonings: .30(ish--kind of guessing there; sorry)

A few notes:
-You can use cheap pumpkin. Usually this works fine, but if your pumpkin puree is very cheap (or homemade), it will have a higher water content and these will taste a little more sponge-y than usual--still great, but not as perfect. For cheap pumpkin, I like Aldi's brand--it does NOT give me spongy texture.
-For the wheat flour--Sometimes I use up to 1 1/2 C (and scale the white flour back accordingly), so that's your call. If I use too much, these get pretty dense.

1 C (2 sticks) butter, softened significantly
1 3/4 C sugar (or even go for 2 C if you're feeling feisty)
4 eggs
2 1/2 C white flour
1 C whole wheat flour (white whole wheat works best)
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 15 oz can pumpkin
1-2 C chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs. Add the whole wheat flour. Add half the pumpkin. Add 1 1/2 C white flour and all remaining dry ingredients (except chocolate chips if you count that as dry). Add remaining pumpkin. Add remaining cup of white flour. Mix in chocolate chips.

Bake at 325 for 20-30 minutes (mine are usually done at around 26 minutes or so) in muffin tins. Test with a toothpick (or the more barbaric butter knife) to make sure the middles are done.

Allow to cool.

Note: This can be made into two loaves if you wish. You'll cook for 50-60 minutes I believe.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Photo Re-do: Pumpkin Cookies

Once, when this blog was very very young, I posted some recipes for pumpkin cookies--one was a regular cookie; one was a breakfast cookie. They were both delicious. I recently referred a friend to one of the recipes and when I did, I realized that it contained the most repulsive pictures in the universe (well, maybe not quite, but still). Today we'll rectify that a bit. Let us have a pumpkin cookie that looks like something you'd want to eat (because it is).

Here's the link (they're awesome):

And here are some re-do's of the pumpkin breakfast cookies. 

Without chocolate chips:

And with:

Vegan Pumpkin Pie That Non-Vegans Will Love

So vegans, yeah....whenever you post a vegan recipe, there's that little vegan-y minority of the population that does a little vegan dance (not the funky chicken--that's against the rules). And then there's the rest of the population that snorts milk out of their noses and rolls their eyes and just wishes I would post yet another chocolate chip cookie recipe so that they could eat it while watching dancing with the stars. (Nope--no stereotyping here, people.)

I am, in case you haven't noticed from this blog, NOT  a vegan. I do, in all honesty, like vegetables quite a lot, but I like butter too. And chocolate. 

This recipe caught my eye not for its vegan-y-ness, but because of the 4-ingredient list. Seriously. Four ingredients for one of my favorite desserts. And because of these four ingredients (raw cashews, pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, and maple syrup) only one of them was naughty (maple syrup). This meant I could eat this for breakfast, right? Well...I haven't yet, though I wouldn't feel too horribly guilty if I did (though there really is quite a bit of maple syrup in there, although it's probably better than the sugar levels in Yoplait yogurt). 

I've had this recipe pinned for over a year now. I just didn't get to it last year before I got pumpkined out. And the thing is--it's kind of weird sounding. I mean, you take these raw cashews and then you soak them overnight. And then you puree everything in the blender and then you bake it. Weird, right? I just kept thinking to myself--how could that possibly taste like pumpkin pie--you know, real pumpkin pie--the kind that we non-vegans know. 

But this year on Halloween I finally got to it. Why? Because (confession) I don't really love candy and I wanted something sweet to eat on Halloween night (okay, now I'm even starting to talk like a vegan--a weird one). 

I soaked my cashews and blended it up. I was worried it'd taste weird. I was worried it'd taste all maple-syrup-y (I like maple syrup, but I don't like it when sweets that aren't supposed to taste maple-y taste maple-y--whew, now I'm sounding like a non-vegan again). In fact, I halved the recipe and made it in ramekins because I was worried I'd hate it. 

And then I tasted it nice and raw. (One great thing about vegan recipes is that you can do that without worrying about salmonella.) And--oh man--I could have just eaten it straight out of that blender. It was delicious. Absolutely delicious. If I'd wanted to (and I might...) I could have added some milk and made myself a killer pumpkin smoothie. But I didn't. I faithfully cooked it--the batter was much thicker than a normal batter and didn't bake like a custardy pumpkin pie would have. The vegan pie just kind of got darker and firmer. Also, my instant read thermometer broke (the horror) so I had to figure out when to take the dern things out. I let it cool. And tasted it. And I'll be darned if the whole thing didn't taste like pumpkin pie. It didn't even taste like healthy pie. I couldn't taste nut. I couldn't taste maple. I could just taste pumpkin pie. Now, it was a little different than my staple pie, but no more different than when you go to somebody else's house and try their recipe for pumpkin pie. It was delicious. And kind of sort of, comparatively nutritious. 

Vegan Pumpkin Pie that Non-Vegans Will Love

adapted from Healthy Happy Life

prep time: 7 minute (plus, um, 8-18 hours of cashew soaking)

cook time: 1 hour (plus, um, 3 hours cooling time)

Cost: $6.00 ($1/slice--not bad baby)

pumpkin: 1.00, maple syrup: 2.00, cashews: (I bought mine forever ago and froze them and can't remember--I'm going to guess 3.00 and will check next time I go to the natural foods store)

1 C RAW cashews (which should be about 1 1/4 C after it's soaked)

16 oz (or 1 small can--it's okay if it's 15 oz) pumpkin puree

1 C maple syrup (told you it was a lot: I actually used about 3/4 C and mine was still good)

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

salt to taste, optional

Note on maple syrup: This isn't the corn syrup stuff you buy for a buck. It's got to be the real stuff. I'm sorry, but this is so. To cheapen this pie, you could try subbing sugar for the syrup, but I'm not sure what would happen. Let me know if you give it a go. 

Note: I made mine crust-less. I just wanted a little pumpkin-y treat, not a full on pie. If you want full-on pie, make a vegan or regular crust and par-bake it for 15 minutes before adding the pumpkin filling. 

Soak your cashews. This was new to me. In fact, raw cashews were new to me period and I tasted them and realized they're one of the best things I've ever eaten, but I resisted the urge to just eat them all and I soaked them. You'll soak 1 C cashews in enough water to cover with a bit of salt. Do this for 8-18 hours--just leave it on the counter. When you're ready to make your pie, DRAIN THE CASHEWS. They should be tender. 

Put cashews, pumpkin, maple syrup, and pumpkin pie spice in blender or food processor and blend away. This is going to take a few minutes. You want your mixture nice and creamy, not lumpy bumpy nutty. If you have a really nice blender you'll probably get yours to a velvety smooth stage. I confess that I got mine fairly smooth, but never perfectly smooth, and I worried about that, but all was still right with my pie. When it's smooth taste it and add a bit of salt if you wish. I added 1/4 tsp.

Put this mixture in a greased pie pan (with or without a par-baked crust--see note) and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 350 and continue baking for another 30-40 minutes or until the pie has darkened and firmed up. A toothpick inserted will come out a bit wet, but the batter should have darkened up and the edges should be firm. It will continue to firm and set as it cools. 

Let it cool for at least 3 hours. It's just better. 

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Self Frosting Nutella and Pumpkin Muffins

Guess what? I'm not hosting Thanksgiving this year. And while I always enjoy hosting it, I'm kind of enjoying the break too. But it's made me a little lazy. I've barely been shopping at all the last couple of weeks, I haven't been obsessively perusing the blogosphere looking for fun new recipes or tips for perfect turkeys, I haven't even reviewed my notes from last year's big day, and I haven't sent my sister's their annual packet of fresh herbs because we'll all be together (come to think of it, I ought to get a packet of herbs to my sister-in-law). One thing I have been doing here in lazy mode is thinking of easy dessert recipes--things that can be made well in advance, please a crowd, and contain pumpkin.

I should tell you that in addition to pumpkin, these contain Nutella. I love Nutella, but I've been slow to hop on the Nutella bandwagon--you know, the one where you make everything with Nutella and everyone goes blissfully insane. 

Why so slow to join that party? you're probably asking. Well, logical or not, I do have my reasons. One is that at about $3.50 for a small jar, Nutella isn't exactly a cheap condiment. Two is that I was kind of afraid that if I ate it on everything, I wouldn't really appreciate it as much as I do when it comes once a year to us in Kip's stocking. Three is that I sometimes feel like people take a mediocre recipe, add Nutella to it, and badaboom, everyone loves them. Maybe I'm just jealous, but that kind of bothers me.

In a way, I guess it almost seems like the Nutella takes all the glory from the recipe. Like you could combine Nutella with dirt or you could combine Nutella with the best chocolate cake ever and you'd still get the same gaga response from the masses. Does that make sense? No. Okay, well we'll chalk it up to my own personal insanity.

 But when I saw this recipe, I just couldn't hold out any longer, especially when knock-off Nutella went on sale at Aldi for $1.19 (yes, especially then).

I love chocolate and pumpkin together. And I just had to see if these really did "self frost." (THEY DO.)

Although I actually found that I prefer the Nutella stuck into the middle of the muffin providing a sort of Nutella-filled doughnut effect (sorry, forgot the pictures for those)--also having it in the middle means my kids can't quite as easily just eat the Nutella part off the muffin, not that they would ever do such a thing. At any rate, I'll give instructions for both the self-frosting and the cream-filled varieties of muffin. 

Make them for Thanksgiving. Even if you don't want to depart from the pumpkin pie these can feed all those voracious nieces and nephews for breakfast when you all get together crazy style in the same house.

Self Frosting Nutella and Pumpkin Muffins
idea adapted from A Feast for the Eyes, muffin recipe adapted from Food
makes 24 muffins
Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Cost: $2.40 without the Nutella; it will cost you another .50-1.00, depending on whether you can find a good knock off brand or not.
flour: .30, eggs: .40, sugar: .35, pumpkin: 1.00, oil: .20, spices. 15

Note: You can use all white flour if you want; it's delish, but the white whole wheat doesn't hurt either.

2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C white whole wheat flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cloves
4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 pinch cardamom (you can skip if you don't have)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
4 eggs
2 C sugar
2 C pumpkin (about a 15 oz can--it's not quite exact, but if you don't have 2 C, the can works fine)
1 1/4 C vegetable oil (I use canola)

To frost or fill:
1--1 1/2 C Nutella

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix all ingredients (except Nutella) together. Don't you just love instructions like that? I mentioned my lazy style Thanksgiving attitude, right?

To do self-frosting muffins:

Put batter in muffin tins--you're going to fill them nearly to the top. Then plop on 1 (generous if you will) Tbsp Nutella onto each muffin. Use your finger (or a spoon if you were not raised in a barn) to sort of swirl it so that it's just combining on the edges with the pumpkin batter. You just kind of want to connect the pumpkin to the Nutella--you don't want to swirl batter into the Nutella in a way that would mix them.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into muffin part comes out clean.

Allow to cool before eating (I really prefer these cool to warm). You'll bite on and voila, you'll have a Nutella frosting on top. Yeah, it's pretty awesome. (See, there goes the Nutella stealing all the glory; these muffins rock on their own just for the record).

To do Nutella-filled muffins:

Put batter halfway up the muffin cup. Add 1 (generous if you will) Tbsp Nutella. Cover with batter so that muffin cup is filled. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. It's a little trickier to test these for doneness--just do your best to make sure the batter isn't gooey. For me, this is almost always at 20 minutes.

Allow to cool and eat. (Again I must reiterate that I really prefer these cool to warm. Both are good, but I love love love them once cooled.)

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Pumpkin Crepes (with Whole Wheat)

I've mentioned before that we usually eat breakfast for dinner at least once a week. It saves money, time, sanity--that sort of thing. And it can be perfectly nutritious and well-rounded if you make, say, a breakfast casserole or an omelette with veggies. Unfortunately for us, we usually end up making something that can have a syrup of some sort drizzled upon it. Sometimes I worry about this and thus worry about my qualifications as a nice healthy mom in general. But then I go to the gym and see that half the parents have left cheeseballs and crackers in their kids' cubbies for a snack and I get back on my high horse. (Don't you just love your high horse. I know I do. Until it bucks me off.)

Anyway, so Mark noticed a jar of (generic) Nutella in the cupboard this week and was bugging me to make crepes for dinner. Crepes. Which really shouldn't even count as a breakfast, only a dessert. At least the way we eat them, which is with jam or syrup or Nutella and then topped with whipped cream. Yup.

But I made them anyway. However. I put in a cup of whole wheat and added some pumpkin. I wasn't sure how they would turn out. I consider crepes a little persnickety in that you can't just go messing with the recipe willy nilly and expect them to have that crepe-y texture and taste. But I figured that since they were going to be slathered in Nutella, now was as good a time as any to do a little experimentation.

I was richly rewarded. They were delicious. No one--even super tasting Mark--could tell they had had anything done to them. And I felt a little better about myself as a person. I was so proud of myself that I even sauteed some mushrooms for myself so I could have a savory crepe before moving on to the dessert course. Mushrooms and pumpkin. High horse--I do love you.

Oh, and when I found Emma on the floor after dinner, licking out the Nutella jar, well, that sound you heard was me falling off the high horse.

Pumpkin Crepes (with Whole Wheat)
Makes: 20-ish large crepes (truthfully I always lose count--all that crepe flipping)
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes flipping crepes
Cost: $1.35
eggs: .10, milk: .60, pumpkin: .15, flour: .20, whole wheat flour: .20

Whip together:

4 eggs
3 C milk
1/4 C pumpkin

Add (and whisk in): 

2 Tbsp sugar
2 C flour
1 C whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Whisk in:

1 C milk
1 tsp vanilla (optional, but I love it)

Heat skillet on medium heat.

Spread a large (I think a 12-inch) skillet with a generous amount of butter. Pour about 1/2 C batter into pan and tilt the pan around so that your batter spreads out in a thin circle (or circle-like shape). It should be quite thin, but not paper thin or anything--a couple millimeters tops.

Allow it to cook so that there is just a touch of not-quite-cooked batter at the center. Then flip it and let it cook another 30-60 seconds more.

Put it on a plate. For some law of cosmic whateverlyness, the first crepe always comes out a little funny. Don't worry; you're second one will be better.

Add more butter, pour more batter and keep going.

When you're done, top it however you like, roll it up, and eat it.

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Pumpkin Smoothie: A Comparison

Throughout the winter we tend to eat a bunch of pumpkin-y things. Most of them aren't really that healthy, but we like to pretend that they're just bursting with nutritiousness on account of their being orange and all. And I do make pumpkin smoothies, which really are pretty darn nutritious. My go-to is a pumpkin smoothie with a bit of banana and a lot of room for experimentation and interpretation. It is good, but it is not perfectly perfect in every way. There is a part of me that suspects that the flavor I'm looking for in my smoothie is really the flavor you find in milkshakes not smoothies. And, yeah, it'd be nice to replicate that in a perfectly virtuous, non-iced-dessert environment, but I'm not quite sure it's ever going to happen. Still I'm not one to shut my eyes to opportunity.

Several months ago, I noticed this smoothie on Pioneer Woman's blog. It used pumpkin pie filling which, while not my nemesis, is far from being my favorite thing. Foods that contain liquid syrup--I don't know--they're just not the kinds of pumpkin foods you can settle down with and make a life together. So I dismissed her recipe and figured I could do even better with a few small tweaks. My first batch was made with pumpkin, plain yogurt, milk, and even a bit of kefir. It ended up needing some serious love--love to the tune of 1/2 C extra sugar.

The next time I went to the store, I bought some pumpkin pie filling. It was just one of those things I had to do. I had to see if I'd been outdone by a slightly grody prepared food product. Answer: Yes, I had been outdone by a slightly grody prepared food product. With the help of Pioneer Woman of course--I have to admit she's pretty good at helping a lot of foods along into something really good. At any rate her version was way better than mine. Okay, okay, I thought, maybe I should just throw in the towel and accept defeat. Her smoothie was, after all, still loaded with vitamin A, not to mention the protein, calcium, and even some good bacterial cultures from the yogurt.

However, when I did a little number crunching I noticed that her pumpkin pie filling version contained less Vitamin A than mine--about half as much. Yes, both were loaded with it, but mine was double loaded (100% of the daily recommendation/serving as opposed to 50% of the daily recommendation/serving). Also, hers had  more sugar. This gave me the motivation to give my smoothie a few more tries.

The result: If I added a bunch of sugar I got mine pretty darn close to her version and still with double the Vitamin A. However, in the end I just accepted less sweetness and used a bit less sugar and felt less guilty and I guess that's just how I roll.

Pumpkin Smoothie
adapted from Pioneer Woman
Serves 4
Prep time: 3 minutes
Cost: $1.65
(pumpkin: 1.00, milk: .40, yogurt: .25)

1 small (15 oz) can pureed pumpkin
1/2 C vanilla yogurt (you can use plain, but to compete with Pioneer Woman's smoothie, you'll have to add another Tbsp or 2 of sugar)
3 C milk (it's best with whole or raw)
4-6 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Freeze pumpkin in a plastic container (or in ice cube trays).

Put frozen pumpkin, yogurt, sugar, and milk in blender. Blend until smooth. Blend in pumpkin pie spice and garnish with another sprinkle of it or a sprinkle of nutmeg.

Pumpkin Pancakes

Usually when I make "pumpkin pancakes" I throw a few spoonfuls of pumpkin puree into my normal 100% whole wheat pancakes. It adds a little vitamin A to our lives, which is sometimes woefully needed, but it doesn't otherwise add anything really special to our lives, like amazing taste. Fortunately for you, this recipe does.

This recipe came from my friend Pilar. It's one of those recipes that you make and love, but that is a little more than the absolute minimum you usually do for breakfast so you kind of forget about it. And then one day you stumble upon it and wonder why it's been so long since you made it. And then you make it and you really wonder what your darn problem was all those months because these are really good. Yes, that type of recipe.

P.S. Aren't those pictures up top nice. I assure you that that's how my table always looks--with, um, breezes blowing in from the seaside and stuff. The following pictures of a table a family actually ate at are not at all representative of what my table/house look like on pancake morning (or any other morning for that matter).

This isn't my floor on pancake morning either. I swear it. My floor is always clean. In fact, I'm perfectly confident that there isn't popcorn left from lunch all over it right now as I type this. Definitely not.

Pumpkin Pancakes
Makes 15-20 4-inch pancakes
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes for the whole lot, but only about 4 minutes per pan of pancakes
Cost: $1.69
(whole wheat flour: .20, flour: .10, brown sugar: .05, eggs: .20, evaporated milk: .79, pumpkin puree: .30, other stuff: .05)

1 C all-purpose flour
1 C whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk (you can sub in regular milk, but the evaporated milk do give the pancakes a little more richness so if you've got some or it's in your budget you might want to splurge a bit)
1/2 C pumpkin puree
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (optional)

In large bowl, combine eggs, milk, pumpkin, oil, and vanilla.

Stir in dry ingredients. Mix well, but don't get your batter completely smooth (a few lumps in your pancake batter are a good thing, especially if you like fluffy pancakes). Note: These make thick pancakes. If you want them less thick, add more milk or forego the canned milk and use regular or do both.

Pour onto lightly greased griddle (at medium heat). Turn when bubbles form or when the bottom of your pancake is golden brown.

We served it with homemade maple syrup, though apple syrup and walnut syrup are supposed to be really awesome with it as well. Oh, and I threw about 4 dark chocolate chips into each pancake, just for some extra Sunday morning specialness.

These are best on the first day, but they do keep for a day or two and warm up into a pretty good leftover pancake.

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