Pumpkin Bread

 

I don't know about you all, but I love pumpkin bread.  It is not as rich as pumpkin pie, but it is a little spicy and super yummy.   I also love it because it is great to have around for a yummy snack or a quick breakfast on the go.  It also freezes well so I can make 2 loafs and freeze one for later.

This is a recipe I have been making for a couple years now it is moist and has just the right about of spice (well for me anyway) I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do.

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Ingredients

1 (15oz) Can Pumpkin	2 tsp Baking Soda
4 Eggs	1 ½ tsp Salt
1 Cup Vegetable Oil	1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/3 Cup Water	1 tsp Ground Nutmeg
3 Cups White Sugar	1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
3 ½ Cups All-Purpose Flour	¼ tsp Ground Ginger

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray two loaf pans with cooking spray

 In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin, eggs, oil, water, and sugar until well blended.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger.

  Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended.  Pour into pans.

 Bake for 50min, loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

And here is my favorite taste tester, who thinks it is yummy!

Pom Pom Christmas Tree

I was at the dollar store the other day and was surprised when I saw these small cone shaped Styrofoam and then I immediately started to think of different things we could make out of them.  So I bought a few and then saw that they also had pom pom and decided to make little Christmas Tree’s.  

I have to say that if you don’t want to spend a lot of money you really can find a bunch of craft supplies at the dollar store.  I have been so shocked at the stuff they have and truthfully most of my craft supplies I am now getting from the dollar store.

Now back to the craft.  So the other day I decided to put all the supplies needed for this craft on the table and I asked my daughter what color pom pom Christmas tree she wanted to make.  Without hesitation she wanted to make it green and red, so I decided to do mine white and red.  We had such a great time sorting the colors then gluing them onto our trees.  This craft is actually pretty easy and would be a good one for toddlers all the way up to school agers.

Supplies

Small Styrofoam cone

Pom Pom’s

Glue (I used a glue gun but regular glue will work fine)

Directions

Start by deciding what color pom poms you are going to use then sort out your colors.

Glue the pom poms on to the cone starting from the bottom up.

 After you are done you will have a super cute pom pom Christmas tree.

Pinecone Turkey

I saw this craft at Family Fun.Go and I just thought it was so cute I had to try it with my daughter.  And since she went pine cone hunting with grandma a few weeks ago we have a lot of pine cones to use in fun projects.  I must say that they were a little too hard for my 4yr old to do on her own so I ended up doing most of it.  But she did have fun watching our turkey come to life.

Supplies

Large brown pom pom (I did not have one so I glued 3 small black ones together)

Googly eyes

Construction paper

5 Pipe cleaners

Pine cone

Glue (I used a glue gun, but craft glue would work fine)

Directions

 Start by cutting out a nose and wattle from the construction paper.  You can use the pattern we used for our paddle turkeys if you want.  Now glue the googly eyes nose and waddle to your pom pom to make the turkey face.

 Glue your turkey face to the flat part of the pinecone.

 Take one orange pipe cleaner and twist it around the center of your pinecone.  Now take the ends of the pipe cleaner and bend it to make three toes for each end.

 Choose four different color pipe cleaners you want to use for the tail and wrap them around the end of your turkey to form your tail.

Banana Muffins

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One of my all-time favorite things is banana bread.  But my issue is that I can pretty much eat a whole loaf of it in a day or two.  So when I had some very ripe bananas this weekend I decided to do muffins in the hopes of only eating one at a time, you also can't cut your slice to be the size of 1/4 of the loaf with a muffin.

Well it worked, I only ate one muffin at a time and the whole family loved them.  My daughter loved them so much she kept asking for more, but after two I cut her off (I think maybe she has mommies issue with eating the whole loaf).  I did end up freezing a few so my daughter could have them later in the week for breakfast without the risk of all of us eating them if they were left out.  I find that they do freeze well and I have kept whole loafs in the freezer for a couple of weeks and they still taste fresh when we defrost them and eat them up.

PRINT RECIPE

Makes 12 muffins.

Ingredients

1 ½ cup all-purpose flour                                                   2 tbs cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda                                                              1/3 cup vegetable oil

1tsp baking powder                                                          ¼ cup brown sugar

½ tsp salt                                                                          1 tbs cinnamon

3 bananas, mashed                                                            1 tbs white sugar

½ cup white sugar                                                             2 ½ tbs brown sugar

1 egg

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Lightly grease muffin cups or fill with muffin papers.

 In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

 In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, cinnamon, egg, and oil.

 Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture, then spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

In a small bowl, mix together cinnamon, white sugar, and brown sugar.  Sprinkle over top of muffins.

 Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

 

 And here is my favorite taste tester, I had such a hard time getting a good picture this time because she would not stop eating to smile.

Sunshine Award

Wow, my first ever blog award.  I must say I was super excited to open my email and get notified that my fellow blogger at beautyandthegreen awarded me the Sunshine Award.   

The Sunshine Blog Award is awarded to bloggers whose positivity and creativity inspire others in the blogosphere. To some it may not be a big deal, but well I am excited and proud.  Thank you so much for your support, it really does mean a lot!

Here are the rules for accepting this award:

1. Thank the person who gave this award and write a post about it.

2. Answer the following questions below.
3. And pass the award to 10~12 fabulous bloggers, link their blogs and let them know you awarded them. 

My answers to the questions:

Favorite color?  Green.  I have always loved the color green, it makes me think of nature and being outside.

Favorite animal?  Cats.  Although I have both cats and dogs, there is nothing like cuddling with my kitties.  

Favorite number? 2. Since my birthday is 2/2 and I have 2 kids it just seems like my life revolves around that number.

Favorite drink?  Coffee.  I just have to get my coffee every morning and well most afternoons.  I think I could probably drink it all day if it would not keep me up all night.

Facebook or Twitter?  Facebook all the way.

Your passion?  Being a mom and a runner. I was made to be a mom, there has never been anything I wanted more.  And along the way I found my passion for running they are both things I don’t think I could live without.

Giving or getting presents?  Giving, I love to try and find the perfect gift for everyone and I love the look on someone’s face when you give them something they have wanted or needed. 

Favorite day?  Sunday, that is the day my whole family usually piles in to bed after we wake up and giggle and tickle each other till I finally am persuaded to get up and make breakfast. 

Favorite flowers?  Anything that I don’t kill or the bunny in my garden does not eat.

Now I can share the love and nominate some of my favorite bloggers.  Here are some blogs that truly inspire me, check them out I am sure you will get inspired too!

http://wraysist3rs.blogspot.com/ 

http://iheartcraftythings.blogspot.com/

http://novicemama.com/ 

http://miaandowen.blogspot.com/

http://www.peaceloverecipes.com/

http://yellowdandy.blogspot.com/

http://begintocraft.blogspot.com/

 http://loriscraftyspot.blogspot.com/

http://smartypantsfun.com/

http://www.creativitymypassion.blogspot.com/