Pumpkin Muffins and Pumpkin Pancakes

Apples and pumpkins are probably my favorite cooking ingredients at this time of year.  Here are a couple of my favorite pumpkin recipes.  I post them together because one can of pumpkin is all you will need to make both together!  I actually found the pancake recipe by searching online for a recipe that used just the amount of pumpkin I had leftover from the muffin recipe.  Both of these recipes are amazing and I wouldn't change a thing from the original recipes (I will include the links below).

Pumpkin Muffins
(original recipe can be found here)


Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin (from 15 ounce can)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon



Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees


Put liners in muffin cups

Whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, 1 1/4 cups sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until smooth

Whisk in the flour and baking powder mixture until just combined

Stir together cinnamon and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in another bowl

Divide batter among muffin cups (about 3/4 full)

Sprinkle tops with cinnamon sugar mixture

Bake 25-30 minutes until puffed and golden brown and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean

Cool in pan for five minutes and then transfer from pan to cooling rack



Pumpkin Pancakes
(original recipe can be found here)

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/2 cup milk or buttermilk
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 eggs

Directions:
Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in medium bowl
Whisk together milk, pumpkin, and eggs in separate bowl
Gradually whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until incorporated
Drop mixture by tablespoonfuls onto a hot, buttered griddle
Cook for a couple of minutes before flipping to cook the other side
Repeat with remainder of batter
Serve with butter and maple syrup

Homemade Play Dough

I guarantee to you that once you make your own play dough at home, you will never go back to store bought again!  Homemade is just all around better.  Here are a couple of my current favorite play dough recipes...



Kool-Aid Play Dough
(original recipe can be found here)

Ingredients:
1 cup flour (I used extra)
1 cup boiling water (be careful of little hands!)
3 tablespoons oil
1/2 cup salt
1 packet of Kool-Aid (I used Tropical Punch)

Directions:
Mix all ingredients except water
Add the water and mix thoroughly
Knead together, adding more flour if necessary
Store in a ziplock bag or plastic container

This recipe is great!  It uses Kool-Aid for scent and color and does not call for cream of tarter (I was looking for this specifically because we were almost out).  This play dough smells amazing, has bright color, and is perfectly squishy!  I added about a half cup more flour after mixing in the original cup because it was a bit too sticky.




Play Dough
(original recipe can be found here)

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup water
1/4 cup salt
1 tablespoon oil
2 teaspoons cream of tarter
food coloring (about 4 drops)

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan
Once the mixture is mostly clump free, heat over medium heat
Stir constantly until the dough starts to stick together into one big clump (it doesn't take long)
Remove from heat and knead by hand
Once it's cool enough for little hands, it's ready to go!
Store in a ziplock bag or plastic container

I have made this recipe all one color and multiple colors.  If you cook up everything without the food coloring, you can separate out your dough after cooking and add a few drops to each separate ball and knead the color in at that point.  I wasn't crazy about the nasty brownish color that was left after all the colored dough was played with and squished together but I didn't have the heart to require my child to not mix them up while playing.  So, now we just stick to one color at a time.

I actually think this is probably my favorite recipe but the next time I make it I will use Kool-Aid in place of food coloring so I can have the best of both worlds.  The scented dough is so wonderful but the texture of this recipe really is great and it uses less salt and less oil.  If you don't have cream of tarter, stick with the first recipe.  I have read that you can substitute vinegar for cream of tarter but it will obviously change the smell of your dough.

Have fun!

Melted Crayon Drawings

Drawing with melting crayons is a simple but great activity that takes just a little bit of preparation, and only if you don't already have your crayons separated out and peeled.  We now just peel the paper from all of our broken crayons and store them all together for activities like this.

Here's what to do:

Remove the paper from your crayons.

Heat a plate in the microwave or under hot water.  I start at 30 seconds in the microwave but typically have to heat a bit more.  Just don't do a long time at once.

Draw on the plate with the crayons.

The crayons melt as you draw with them, slipping and sliding, and making very fun colors!

I really love this activity and I thought my daughter loved it too but I will admit that after one or two times doing it, she now refuses it every time I offer.  I'm not exactly sure why, but apparently it is not one of her favorites.  Regardless, it still comes highly recommended!

A couple of notes:

Of course you will need to be careful not to give your child a plate that is so hot it is going to burn them so test it out yourself first.  It should be very warm, but not hot.  If the crayons aren't melting well, put the plate in the microwave for a few more seconds.  The warmer the plate, the brighter the colors and easier the drawing/painting.

The crayon should wash off the plate with soap and hot water when you are done but if you have little grooves or scratches in your plate, it might take a little scrubbing.  I tested a plate first just in case!

I originally read about this activity here.

Apple Pie Oatmeal in the Crock Pot

We really enjoyed our apple picking trip to Parlee Farms this year (thank you Amy for the recommendation!).  It was a very fun place with gigantic apples, tons of pumpkins, yummy treats, lots of animals and a very fun hay play area!  It didn't take long to pick the apples because with them being so big the bag filled up in no time at all.  But, it was a perfect outing with a 2 year old for sure.

I used up the last of our apple picking apples on this delicious recipe.  Well, all except one apple.  I saved the one that is absolutely perfect and wish I could just preserve it to look at!  Isn't it amazing?  Leaf and all!  I picked that one myself!

Anyway, I made this breakfast recipe last night in preparation for today.  My husband eats breakfast at 4:30 in the morning and as much as I love him, there was slim to no chance that I was getting up at 2:00 to prepare this.  But the thought of some hearty warm oatmeal to start his day was worth making it the night before and warming it over this morning and it tastes great!

I found this recipe here at Kalyn's Kitchen.  I found my favorite, previously shared Sausage Soup recipe on the same blog so as soon as I found this I knew it was going to be a success!

I doubled the recipe so I'll list below what I did.  I will be honest that I did not do any fancy math or conversions so I'm sure there may be a better way to list these ingredients but oh well...


Ingredients:

4 large apples, seeds removed and coarsely chopped, no need to peel them) - I used gigantic apples so you may need to add more

6 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

6 cups water (more if you like thinner oatmeal)

3 cups rolled oats (I used Old Fashioned Quaker Oats)


Directions:

Cut apples into pieces (original recipe suggests cutting them into different sizes so some will dissolve while others stay chunky).  My apples were pretty chunky so I'll probably cut about half of them a bit smaller next time.  They really don't get mushy with the short cooking time.

Spray crock pot with nonstick spray.

Add the apples, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt.

Add 6 cups of water (a little more if you want your oatmeal more runny, mine was pretty thick).

Stir together and cook on high for 1 hour 15 minutes.

Add oatmeal and stir.

Cook on high for an additional 45 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes depending on how soft you want your oatmeal to be.  I cooked mine for an hour.

Serve warm.

I stored mine in the fridge and heated bowlfuls in the microwave for about a minute.  You can add a little water to the bowl before heating if the oatmeal seems too thick.  You could also heat in a pan on the stove if you prefer.

Cash Back When You Shop!

I'm sure many of you have already started thinking about your holiday shopping this year and some of you may already be done (definitely not me)!  Last year we learned about a great program that gives you cash back for shopping and we were able to get a portion of what we paid on holiday gifts back in a check!  Not only did we get money back, we saved ourselves the annoyance of standing in lines and searching through shelves in crowded stores.  I know some of you are totally into this chaos, but I'm kind of done with it after one trip and would be just fine doing the rest of my holiday shopping from home!

Ebates is a website that connects you with the website of the store you want to shop and if you make your purchase through their link, you will get a percentage back.  These percentages fluctuate.  Sometimes it might be 1% or 2%, sometimes there will be a promotion where you will get double cash back, etc.  They also show you any coupon codes available (such as a percentage off or free shipping). You can make your purchase online by connecting to your store through their website and either have the items shipped to you or pick up in the store.  We did online purchases through Ebates and in-store pick-up for most of our gifts last year and were very pleased to get a portion of the money we spent back in our pockets at the end of the season!

Ebates works with tons of stores including Sears, Babies R Us, Toys R Us, Amazon, Sephora, JC Penny, Kohl's, Home Depot, Overstock.com, Groupon, Walmart, you name it, so you are sure to find your favorites.  Membership is totally free.  You simply get paid cash back for shopping (by check or paypal).  You will also each get a $5 bonus from when you make your first purchase.

There is nothing to lose with this program.  Anytime I am making a purchase I try to remember to check Ebates first to see if the store has an account with them and go through them to earn a little extra back.  We're not talking millions of dollars here (unless you are spending millions of dollars I suppose) but every little bit makes a difference.

Click here to sign up for Ebates today!

As an aside, I would give the following recommendations regarding in-store pick-up...

• Check your items before you leave.  I had to go back to Sears twice last year due to a broken item and a missing piece to another item that I would have noticed right away if I had checked them out before I left.  That was kind of a hassle but probably no worse than standing in long lines.  
• Make your Toys R Us purchases ASAP!  Do not wait until the middle of December!  We stood in line for AGES and then had to wait for the guys to bring our stuff up from the back.  Now granted, it was also a weekend if I remember correctly - very poor planning on my part.  I suppose we would have stood in line for a while and had to weed through other crazy parents if we were browsing the store as well but this was nuts.  Probably like 2 hours waiting.  If you order through Toys R Us / Babies R Us and are given the option to pick up at one or the other, definitely choose Babies R Us.  

Easiest and Yummiest Apple Crisp

Every fall I find myself searching for and trying many different recipes with apples but we always come to the conclusion that the best fall dessert is the tried and true apple crisp!  I actually have no idea where this recipe came from as it has just been in my recipe book for as long as I can remember.  If I ever find the source, I will be sure to give credit where credit is due.  I don't think I will ever try another apple crisp recipe because this one is so delicious and so easy.  The only downside is that it never lasts more than a day or two around here.  I imagine you will have the same problem...

Ingredients:

• 8 apples - peeled, cored, sliced (if you have gigantic apples like I did this week, you can use 4... you'll know where there is enough in the pan)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup butter

Directions:

• Place sliced apples in a buttered baking dish
• Mix white sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle over apples
• Blend brown sugar, flour, and butter together for topping (I usually soften the butter a bit - not melted - and then just use my hands to squish it all up until it's combined)
• Sprinkle over top of cinnamon sugar apples
• Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until golden brown

Of course I think this tastes best served warm and you can add some cool whip or ice cream if you're in the mood.  Coffee on the side is also definitely recommended!

Baking Soda and Vinegar Bubbles

I'm sure most of you have heard of science experiments such as making volcanos with baking soda and vinegar.  Well, our daughter loves this little activity and will work at it for quite a long time without getting bored.  We call it "bubbles."

Just put some baking soda in a dish or tray.
Drop some food coloring in small bowls with vinegar.
Combine the two any way you'd like, and enjoy the fizzy bubbles!
We use spoons to drop the vinegar into the baking soda but a medicine dropper would work too (that was a little bit too complicated for us to figure out how to use at this age).
Beware that if you put the baking soda into the bowl of vinegar instead of the other way around, your fizzy bubbles will be totally fantastic but will most certainly overflow so be ready for a mess!

After a while, when the baking soda is totally saturated, the bubbles no longer work but then we have a great dish full of goopy yuckiness that is perfect for pretend cooking so we usually break out some measuring cups and extra water to finish up our play.

Have fun!