Menu Plan Monday and Pumpkin! (Oct 12-18, 2013)

I've been planning, just not posting. :) Because life, you know?

Saturday: Take out
Sunday: Turkey dinner @ my parents
Monday: Pepperoni pizza macaroni and cheese (if you're a kid or have kids, this will be awesome - for the 'over 10' crowd, it's eatable)
Tuesday: Favourite Tuna Casserole
Wednesday: Hamburger soup and buns
Thursday: Chicken and mushroom linguine
Friday: Oven BBQ pork chops and oven roasted potatoes

Since school started, I've had the privilege of taking TroubleMaker each morning. This has afforded me the chance to meet some really nice Moms. One of which, I accidentally stalked a couple weeks ago. She was chatting, I was chatting, and she made mention that she lived "across from the toboggan hill". While picking TroubleMaker up from the sitter's one afternoon, I told him I figured out where his friend from school lived. He asked to drive past, we did.

Imagine my surprise when they were out in their front yard. I gave the awkward wave and stopped (because by that time, I was committed). We chatted for twenty minutes or so while the kids played. I admitted I was kind of stalking her and she told me she had tried to stalk me too. I realized then we'd be good friends.

Anyway, after several failed attempts to friend each other on Facebook (she couldn't remember my first name and there are 82 people with her name), we connected and I invited TroubleMaker and I over for a play date. That day is tomorrow.

Being the awesome person I am, I offered to bring muffins (pumpkin or carrot). She picked pumpkin and since my first attempt at p'muffins were awful, I decided to spring a new recipe from the vault. Being me, it also meant I had to try it before to make sure it was awesome and it also meant I'd do a bunch of stuff to make it more awesome and then I'd forget what I did.




Enter - "Better Than Starbucks Pumpkin Muffins" by Dinner with Julie! They are really good and they cooked up beautifully!

I did not do the sugar topping nor did I do the cream cheese filling (it kind of squicked me out). I also skipped the pumpkin pie spice and opted for (approximately) the following:

3 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
pinch (small) allspice

Also, which I think made these a 'winner', I used brown sugar in place of the white. I did this because I ran out of white sugar while making brownies and because I thought it might be "more fall" to use brown sugar since it has a richer flavour. I also used a touch more oil (a tablespoon or two) because the batter struck me as being a bit dry. The end result is great - crisp on the outside, moist and tender on the inside. I hope they go over well! PS I had another one after my workout this morning and HOLY COW, I could eat the entire batch!

Sharing my menu with the Org Junkie at Menu Plan Monday!