It's All About The Pumpkin!

I can't leave my other friend out who shared the pumpkin cake recipe with me!  I used to work with Cindy and she made every day a happy one!  She retired at the end of the last school year and now she is living the lifestyle many wish to live.  She lives at the beach and does things at her own pace when she wants to!  I am so happy for her, but I miss her immensely!!!  Work will never be the same without her.  She is what made each day glorious.  I MISS YOU CINDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pumpkin Cake

1 pkg yellow cake mix

1 pkg (3.4 oz) instant butterscotch pudding

4 eggs

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup veg oil

1 cup of canned 100% pure pumpkin

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

½ can cream cheese icing

In large mixing bowl, combine ingredients. Beat on low for 30 sec, then on medium for 4 minutes. Pour into a greased and floured 10 in bundt tube pan.  Bake at 350 for 50-55 min or until wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cool in pan for 15 min.  Remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Microwave icing for 30 seconds.  Spoon over the top of the cake.

Tis The Season!

Pumpkin season that is!  If you go to the store, everywhere you look, you'll see something pumpkiny.  I used to not be a fan of pumpkin, but I can't say that any more.  Last year a friend make a pumpkin spice cake.  It was really good.  Last weekend I made pumpkin spice cookies.  They were good too.  I don't have a recipe for that one because I bought the mix in the bag from the grocery store.  A week or so ago, I had a meeting at school and a friend made the best pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes!  She shared the recipe with me and I'm going to share it with you!  You are going to love how EASY it is!  Let's say this all together ... THANK YOU, KACEY!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

1 15 oz can of pumpkin
1 yellow cake mix
1 egg
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 bag of pumpkin chips
1/2 cup  chocolate chips

Mix first 4 ingredients until blended.  Add in chips. Spoon into a cupcake pan and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.  Frost with cream cheese icing, if desired.

                              

Welcome Fall!

I admit it.  I'm addicted to Facebook.  Sometimes you learn great things.  Sometimes, it's hours of your life you never get back.  I found this recipe on Facebook.  SCORE!  I did make a few changes to it.  I took out the salt because I figured the sausage had enough salt in it.  I also used a vegetable peeler on the celery.  It takes off most of the strings and makes it more tender.  I cut the onion in half and used essential oil instead of fresh Rosemary.  Besides Rachel Ray, who keeps fresh Rosemary around anyway.  Other changes I made were I peeled the apple, used reduced fat sausage and cooked it separately in order to remove more fat, and changed the kind of cheese it called for.  It turned out GREAT!  Hubby didn't care for it, but he's not much of a squash person.  He did like the stuffing though.  I thought it was a nice recipe to welcome the Fall.

 *If you are doing food prep for the freezer, scrape out the Acorn Squash and mix all the ingredients together at the end.  You can put these in aluminum pans from Dollar Tree and store them in the freezer until you are ready to use them.  This makes for a quick, complete, and easy dinner!

Sausage and Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash

 2 medium acorn squash
1/2 chopped onion
2 chopped stalks of celery
1 Tbsp. olive oil
Pepper, to taste
1 drop Rosemary doTERRA essential oil or you can use a Rosemary from your garden
1-2 tsp. chopped garlic
1 lb sausage, cooked – I used lower fat sausage.
1 chopped apple, peeled
3/4 cup of plain breadcrumbs
1/2 cup shredded Italian pizza cheese

Using a sharp knife, cut off the top and bottom of each squash to create a flat base on each side. Slice the squash in half, scrape out seeds to create individual bowls for the stuffing. Drizzle each squash half with olive oil and sprinkle pepper on top.  Bake in a preheated oven at 400˚F for 40 minutes.

While squash is roasting, cook sausage and chop up.  In a large pan over medium heat - heat oil and add onion, celery, garlic, and doTERRA Rosemary essential oil. Cook until onions and celery are soft. Add sausage and apple. Mix in bread crumbs and Italian pizza cheese. Remove from heat.

Once squash has finished roasting, remove from oven and fill each with the prepared stuffing mixture. Return to oven for 20 minutes - adding a little Italian pizza cheese to the top when it comes out of the oven.