How is it this time again?

To start planning for my annual cookie exchange?

Which just happens to fall one week before my due date?

Am I a lunatic? Yes, I think so.

Menu Planning Monday

This upcoming week is one where I feel will be nonstop. Actually, October in its entirety feels like that. But the quicker these months go by, the sooner Little Dude will be here! Without further ado, here is this week's menu!

Sunday: On my own for dinner; girls came home late from their mom's and C was at a Browns game.
Monday: Spaghetti and salad (hair appointment for Jamie and I will hopefully be visiting my friend and her new bambino in the hospital! She is in labor as we speak!)
Tuesday: Pork tenderloin with roasted potatoes and carrots
Wednesday: Crock Pot Wednesday: Chili and corn bread
Thursday: Shepherd's Pie
Friday: Chicken enchilladas
Saturday: Not sure; we are going to the pumpkin patch in the morning/afternoon and I am going to have to do some grocery shopping after!

What is on your menu this week? Stop by I am an Organizing Junkie and link up with your weekly menu!

7 Days of Pumpkin: Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Another score from Annie's Eats. This girl loves pumpkin as much as I do and her blog is chock full of yummy pumpkin recipes to try. If you are a fan of the Starbucks pumpkin cream cheese muffins, these are very close to that, with the added bonus of a crunchy streusel topping.
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
Makes 24 muffins ( I found this to be exact!)
as seen on Annie's Eats, adapted from BakeSpace

Ingredients:

For the muffins:

3 cups flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. ground cloves

1 tbsp. and 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

4 eggs

1 ¼ cups vegetable oil

2 cups sugar

2 cups pumpkin puree

For the filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

For the streusel topping:

½ cup sugar

¼ cup and 1 tsp. flour

4 tbsp. butter, cubed

1 ½ tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and whip until smooth. Form into a log on plastic wrap or foil, making sure that the diameter is small enough to fit into the well of a muffin pan. Wrap the log up tightly and freeze until slightly hardened, 1-2 hours.

To make the muffins, combine the flour, spices, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl. Mix well and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the eggs, vegetable oil, sugar and pumpkin puree. Mix until well combined. Add in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined.

To make the streusel topping, combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Mix together with a pastry blender or two forks until crumbly.

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line two muffin pans with paper liners. To assemble the muffins, fill each muffin well halfway with batter. Remove the cream cheese log from the freezer and slice into 24 equal slices. Place a slice in each muffin well. Divide the remaining muffin batter evenly among the muffin cups, on top of the cream cheese. Sprinkle the streusel topping over the top of the batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool completely before serving.

7 Days of Pumpkin: Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

Apparently I not only love pancakes, but syrup as well.

Hello, lover.


These were wonderfully delicious. No one else in my household is a huge pumpkin fan, but C did try one. They were a fairly dense pancake and I think are the perfect autumn breakfast.

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes
courtesy of Annie's Eats

Ingredients
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
¾ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
Dash of ground ginger
Dash of ground cloves
1 cup milk
½ cup pumpkin puree
1 large egg
2 tbsp. vegetable oil or melted butter

Directions:
-In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and spices and stir with a fork to combine. Mix together the milk, pumpkin puree, egg and oil or butter in a liquid measuring cup. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk together just until combine. The batter will be lumpy which is a-okay. I think I over-mixed a tad which is why mine were so dense.
-Preheat the oven to 200° F. Have a dish ready for the pancakes as they come off the griddle/skillet to go into the oven to keep toasty.
- Heat a greased skillet or griddle over medium heat. Once the skillet is hot, add a 1/3 cup scoop of batter to the pan. Let cool until bubbles begin to form on the top surface. Carefully flip with a spatula and cook the second side until golden brown, a couple minutes more.
-Transfer the cooked pancake to the oven safe dish, and place in the oven to keep warm. Repeat with the rest of the batter until it has all been cooked, regreasing the pan as needed. Serve with cinnamon sugar, maple syrup, and/or whipped cream.

Weekend Planning

Molly over at My Happy House has once again started blogging her Weekend Planning, so I decided to follow along with her! She is about 10 weeks behind me in pregnancy, and since she seems to have her 2nd tri burst as I enter my 3rd tri downward spiral, maybe she can keep me motivated!

Here is what is on the agenda this weekend!

Friday:

• Doctor's appointment
• Fall party with my fellow teachers

Saturday:

• Clean! This includes:
• Both bathrooms
• Dust and vacuum family room and living room
• Sweep and mop kitchen
• Tackle the master bedroom. I swear a hurricane has gone through there.
• Pack up hardware and paint supplies from nursery and move downstairs.
• Over to a friend's for a birthday gathering

Sunday:

• Grocery shop
• Put out Halloween decorations
• Relax and bake something yummy

What is on your agenda this weekend?

7 Days of Pumpkin: Pumpkin Crunch

In honor of my favorite baking season, FALL!, I decided to dedicate the entire first week of October to all things pumpkin! My first recipe came from my mother-in-law, who knows I adore pumpkin. I have no clue where she originally got the recipe, but it was certainly yummy. The texture of the middle layer is very much like pumpkin pie! How can you go wrong??




Pumpkin Crunch

Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix (I would like to try with spice cake mix)
1 can pumpkin puree
1 can evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 1/2 C sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 C chopped pecans or walnuts
1 C butter, melted

Directions:
-Grease bottom of 9x13 pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees
-Combine pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a bowl with a mixer until well-blended.
-Mix well, pour into pan, and sprinkle dry cake mix on top. Top with nuts and drizzle melted butter on top.
-Bake for 50-55 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm and would be delish with a whipped topping or vanilla ice cream!

Favorite Blogger Friday: Bake at 350

I have decided to feature one of my favorite blogs each Friday.

This week I am loving Bridget at Bake at 350.

I chose Bridget this week because of this picture (courtesy of her blog):
Bridget made these for a teacher-appreciation dinner, and as a teacher, I would definitely appreciate them! She does an AWESOME job of showing her readers step-by-step how to decorate the cookies on her blog. This includes outlining, flooding, and doing the detail work on sugar cookies. I attempt sugar cookies several times a year, and this upcoming baking season, I plan on using her tips as well. She offers not only cookie recipes, but recipes for other yummy treats as well!

One other thing that is awesome about Bridget is that she shares with her readers all of the supplies she uses in an Amazon store. Check it out. I can't wait to get some of these gel colorings!

So stop by Bake at 350 and check out all of Bridget's fabulous cookies! But be sure you have some time, because you could spend hours perusing all of her yummy cookie pictures!