Quick {Pumpkin} Muffins

Oh, Pinterest.  Must you make my days so full of longing for amazing food?

The bigger problem?  Dieting.   It's not that I hate dieting.  At least, no more than the next guy. 

The problem is when you start to scroll Pinterest.  You can enjoy all of these beautiful looking recipes, but then you remember you're in a death match with two friends to see who can lose a certain percentage of body mass the quickest.

The result?  Really random dieting foods.  As we all know by now, breakfast is a problem for me. As in, I don't ever eat it, and that's where your daily diet is supposed to start.

The solution, however, is seemingly more simple than I imagined.  And it tastes SO GOOD.

Imagine the buttery flavor of a classic yellow cake.  Or the more savory richness of devil's food cake.  Now, put those into a muffin.     Bam!  Done!  That's right, no pumpkin flavor, just the box mix.

Ingredients: 1 box mix, 1 (15oz) can of pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie puree, just pumpkin)

Directions: Mix dry cake mix and pureed pumpkin.  Place in greased muffin tins.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes (use a toothpick).  Serve and enjoy.

Nutella Banana Bread

Banana bread kick, still?

*sigh*

Yes.  It's not my fault.  Stores always seem to have really ripe bananas that call out to me.

And I only enjoy green bananas, so mine also get to that point fairly quickly.

 Whatever.  The idea of adding Nutella to my banana bread really appealed to me.

Here's the recipe, please go to see the Six Sisters' for their easy to follow instructions.

 I really enjoy swirling.

The whole concept is fun.

And it's just so pretty!

Just a note - this takes a LONG time to bake.  even at an hour, the middle was liquidy.  Plan for longer, much longer if you want it to stay together when you cut it!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Oat Bars

 Happy Leap Day to All!!

I was on the hunt for an easy to make break fast bar that I could just grab and go throughout the week...  Nothing too...flax-y or granola-y.  I'm not that kind of girl and I'm not going to spend a gazillion dollars on ingredients that are going to be eaten within 3-5 minutes when I'm in my morning daze.

 So, long story short, here's the recipe I found.  So simple.  Took about 7 minutes to prepare (including opening the packages), and then about 30 minutes to an hour to cool.  I sealed it up and have been cutting off bars all week for breakfast.  (Sorry, I was too lazy to cut and store them, I just used my Pyrex cover and stored them on the counter.)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups quick cooking oats {I used instant rolled, even though the recipe said not to)
1 cup crispy rice cereal
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips (I used more and they were full sized. Shoot me.)


Melt, mix and set. Read the full recipe if you need more directions or better pictures.

I was more than a little sad to reach the end of the container. However, I can't wait to use my leftover supplies to make more!!

Cream Cheese Filled Pumpkin Muffins!

 Okay.  Fall and I had a face off and I lost.  We were doing so well with sunny, warm days, that I lived in denial of where it might all be going.  Then, for the past two days, it's been chilly for about 22 hours of the day, then gorgeous for two, late in the afternoon.  Made me feel like a sweatshirt.


And pumpkin muffins.


I have an awesome friend back home, Kara, who makes pumpkin muffins with a cream cheese frosting - to die for!

I have a friend out here, Megan, who just posted this idea for cream cheese filled muffins, and I thought that might be just what I was craving!


I turned to Google, and food.com gave me this recipe.  Sounded good, but I didn't want to make the muffins from scratch, so I grabbed the Pillsbury box and followed the muffin recipe.

Then I made the filling.  SO EASY!!

 Egg yolk, bar of cream cheese, and 2T of sugar.

Beat until it looks amazing.  Like this!!

It's a very firm filling, so it's easy to scoop up a teaspoonful and drop it into the center of your muffins.

(yes, I used way to much Pam, but the cannister was nearly empty, so it was very hit or miss!!)

Now, this is where I'd stray from the recipe a bit.

If it had been up to me, I would have filled it half way, placed the spoonful of stuffing (don't let it touch the paper), then put more pumpkin on top.

I did push it down a bit, and it did bake up around it, but when it was warm, the cream cheese fell and left little divots in the tops of my muffins.

Ugh. More on that later!

So, once everything looks all pretty, you make the crumble topping.  Use 2T of softened butter, 4T of flour, 4T of sugar, and 1/2 t of cinnamon. 

Then just use a fork (or knife) to cut the butter until it's well mixed.

Just sprinkle on the goodness, completely covering the muffins, and bake according to the box directions.  (About 18 minutes at 400).



Turned out amazing, although you can kind of see where the cream cheese is sinking in.

That's the money shot!