Pumpkin Spice Muffins

There are a ton of pumpkin muffin recipes out there.  I tried to find one that was kind of healthy, but not so healthy that they tasted bad.  These muffins were really good have less sugar and oil than a lot of muffins I found.  If you wanted to make them more dessert-like, you could make cream cheese frosting to top them!

 Served with eggs

 I mixed my dry ingredients the night before, then all I had to do was mix my wet ingredients into the dry

 Wet and dry ingredients

 I like to do different toppings!

 Very yummy

Pumpkin Spice Muffins
1/2 cup white flour
1/2 cup oat flour (blend oats in blender until flour consistency)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
4 Tbsp. butter cut into pieces
1 heaping cup pureed pumpkin
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup raisins or chocolate chips (I used golden raisins in half of the batter)

Toppings of choice:  granola, chocolate chips, oats, cinnamon sugar

Preheat oven to 400.  Grease 12 muffin tins.  Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.  Cut butter into batter and mash until it is crumbly.  In a separate bowl, mix together pumpkin, evaporated milk, egg and vanilla.  Pour pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture.  Add raisins and fold until mixture is gently combined.  Pour into a greased muffin pan.  Top as you desire.  Bake for 25 minutes and allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes.  Frost with cream cheese frosting if you wish (really good by the way).

This is how I ate them leftover!

New Favorite Way to Cook Eggs

My Aunt Kathy told me about making eggs like this.  They are so good and very easy to make.  They taste like a poached egg and fried egg combined into one.

 We topped ours with cheese

 Freshly shredded hash browns on the side

 I put a little cottage cheese in before I baked them and it made them a little creamy

 The last few minutes of the bake time I topped them with cheese

Enjoy, these would also be the perfect size for a homemade egg mcmuffin!

Oven Baked Eggs

5 eggs

cooking spray

1/3 cup cottage cheese (optional)

shredded cheese and S&P

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray jumbo muffin tins or a ramekins with nonstick cooking spray.  Crack your eggs into the muffin tins.  Put a little cottage cheese on each egg as seen above.  Bake for 10 minutes, top with cheese and then bake 3-5 more minutes.  The times may vary depending on your oven, but you can tell when they start to harden.  

Enjoy with your favorite breakfast sides.

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

Cliff requested homemade Reese's Cups the other day.  I think he got the craving from watching me eat lots of "instant Reese's" (scroll to bottom of page) I have been hooked on them.  Well, these are a lot more dessert-like.  They are a little tedious, but well worth the effort.  Cliff loved them!  My Dad approves and he is a Reese's connoisseur! 

 YUM

 Spoon chocolate into a muffin paper

 Use your spoon and drag the chocolate up the edges, then freeze

 Put chilled peanut butter mix into the chocolate shell

 Top with melted chocolate and put in freezer until hardened

These are so good, you've got to try them.

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

2 cups chocolate chips

1 cup peanut butter

1/3 cup powdered sugar

pinch of salt

In a double boiler melt chocolate.  While that is melting, mix peanut butter, powdered sugar and salt; place in fridge to chill.  Place muffin papers in a muffin tin and spoon chocolate into muffin papers.  Use your spoon to draw the chocolate up the edges of the paper.  Place those in the freezer until hardened (about 10 minutes).  Dip peanut butter into the chocolate shell and then top with chocolate.  Try to smooth the chocolate over the peanut butter gently until it is fully covered.  Place back in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.  Enjoy:)  I keep mine stored in the refrigerator. 

Creamy Cheese Chicken Bake

I found this delightful recipe on Mels Kitchen Cafe.  I changed up a few things because of cheese preference and it was a winner.  Cliff said it had a lot of flavor and he really liked it.  It was also really easy.  Also, if you follow my blog you know that my Mom was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer in August so I have been very busy with that over the past few months.  This week she got a major surgery to remove her ovaries and all the other cancer.  If you would like to read about that, I will post the details at the bottom of this post.  We are so thankful that God has kept her safe and brought great healing to her body.

 We had oven fries, green beans and skillet corn bread on the side

 You make your creamy mixture, top the chicken and then top it with more cheese and I did green chili on one which turned out really good

Creamy Cheese Chicken Bake
1 pound chicken (I just used 3 large chicken tenders, boneless, skinless)
2 slices provolone cheese
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup yogurt
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup mozzarella
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
green chili (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 and lightly spray a baking dish.  Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season on each side with salt and pepper.  Lay the chicken breast pieces in a single layer on the bottom of the prepared baking pan.  Layer the provolone cheese slices over the chicken.  In a small bowl whisk together the mayo, yogurt, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and garlic powder.  Spread this mixture over the chicken and cheese.  Top with mozzarella.  Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce is hot and bubbly.  Serve with your favorite sides. 

**Update on Mom:
She had a major surgery Monday to remove her ovaries and any other cancer the doctor found.  She got a very large incision down her stomach.  The doctor was very pleased with the surgery.  She removed her omentum, appendix, the cyst, ovaries and part of her colon.  All of those things had cancer on them, and she was able to remove all of the other cancer spots she saw.  We were so happy with the report and so was the doctor.  My Mom has made great progress since surgery.  She has been able to walk and get her drainage tube out of her nose/throat and it feeling pretty good.  She is sore, but overall we are grateful for the great progress.  I will be busy helping her with recovery for the next month, but plan to blog occasionally and also keep you updated on her continued progress.