A Little Fall Fun

I feel like we haven't been doing much here lately during the week but then again I feel like we have been busy! Make sense?  Not really, right!?! lol!  I have been feeling a little under the weather for the last 2 weeks so we have been trying to keep busy around the house rather than running around, like usual.  I have been baking and crafting like crazy! Even when I don't feel well I find it impossible to just sit still and rest.  Plus, this Mommy no longer gets sick days so I have to pull it together and keep a certain little busy body happy. Henry loves to help me in the kitchen while I am baking.  Which in this case means he loved to try to eat all of the sprinkles for our white chocolate dipped pretzel treats!

The finished product turned out great.  I decided to keep out the cutest ones for some festive decor in the kitchen.

Henry thought it'd be fun to take several bites out of multiple apples while helping with the pretzels so I decided it was a good reason for me to make some homemade Cranberry Applesauce.  I'll share this recipe in a few weeks.  It's so unbelievably easy and makes an awesome side for Thanksgiving.

Over the last month, we have been trying to take Henry to at least one pumpkin patch every weekend. They are everywhere in San Antonio right now!  A few weeks ago we visited our first one, South Texas Maize, and Henry loved it!  There was a corn maze (that we decided not to do), perfect pumpkins everywhere, apple cannons (the coolest part about the patch, in my opinion...and Francis probably agrees!), goats, barrel rides and so much more!

He had a blast just playing with the pumpkins and loading the wagon up with as many as possible!

And this "sunbeam" seemed to be right over him in a ton of the pics that I took...which I think is pretty cool! You can see it in the above picture of him running through the field of pumpkins. 

We left with a perfect, little pumpkin for our little Punkin to help us carve. He wasn't sure about the pumpkin guts! But I think he enjoyed it.   

It is probably safe to say that he enjoyed the caramel apple slices that he got after the pumpkin carving more than the actual carving itself!

This past weekend we visited two more patches.  We have one less than a mile from our house so we decided to walk to it for a few on Saturday.  We weren't there long...it was an unorganized, hot mess (literally, it was in the low 90's!!) but Henry had fun, of course. 

This one that we visited on Sunday was my favorite so far.  It was at a little church and they had a ton of beautiful pumpkins of all shapes and sizes everywhere.  

I wanted Henry to have cute, festive shirts to wear so I made this pumpkin one and the above "Boo" one, which is super cool because it glows in the dark.  They both turned out great!  You can't beat making your own, super cute shirts for less than $7 each!

I always know it's going to be a disaster trying to get a good decent picture with Henry.  You want a wild 2 year old to sit still and smile for 20 seconds??? Yeah right!!!  I'll take what I can get, though! 

And it's all fun and games until someone breaks the scarecrow's head off!  Good job, H!  This little act was our cue to buy our pumpkins and head on home! 

Sorry for the pumpkin patch overload but we have had too much fun to not share!  I already have a couple picked out for this weekend and can't wait.  I know Francis is pumpkin patch'd out already but he's a great sport!  Now it is time to finish...uuuummmmm, I mean start on our Halloween costumes. Only 9 days left to work on them.  And I have a pretty good feeling I will still be working on them come Halloween day!!  

Thanks for stopping by and I hope everyone has a great rest of the week! 

Hugs,

Pumpkin-Cranberry Muffins

Can you believe it is already October?  I.AM.SO.HAPPY!!  I love this month for so many reasons!

It finally feel like Fall here this morning.  I forgot how good 68 feels!  It has been in the high 90's and very humid in San Antonio all week so the cold cool front that came in overnight is welcome!! Though it has been unseasonably warm, Fall is still everywhere.  My house smells amazing like apples (thanks to my BFF, Carrie!!), it's a must that there is some kind of Oktoberfest or pumpkin beer in the fridge, pumpkin patches are open everywhere and my Fall/Halloween decorations are out!  And the only thing that could make my pumpkin and/or Autumn harvest iced coffee better in the mornings are these ahhh-mazing Pumpkin-Cranberry Muffins that I discovered a few weeks ago.  They are so good and so easy!  This time of year I always try to keep at least one can of pumpkin in my pantry because I know there will be a lot of pumpkin treats made over the next two months.  I like to be prepared!!!  So I actually had everything that I needed to make them.  They were so good a few weeks ago that I have been craving them for breakfast since! 

What you'll need...

2 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1 c. canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 c. sweetened dried cranberries, chopped
1/2 c. chopped pecans (optional)
Coarse sugar (optional)

Now what!?!

• Preheat your oven to 400 F and grease 12 regular-size muffin cups with shortening...or line with festive baking cups.
• Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger and salt together in a large bowl.  I had this cute little guy as my helper!  It was all fun and games until he decided that it would be hilarious to dump a big spoonful out on the counter! 

• Stir in pumpkin, oil, eggs, cranberries and pecans until moistened.  The batter is very thick.  

• Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. It is the perfect amount for 12 large muffins. 
• If you have coarse sugar then you can sprinkle it over the batter in each cup.  

• Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  I started checking mine at 15 minutes because they smelled so amazing!  I let them cook for 20 minutes, though, and they were perfect. 
• Immediately remove the muffins from the pan to cool. 

I followed the recipe exactly the first time but this time I used a heaping cup of pumpkin (instead of 1 cup) and 1/2 c. dried cranberries (instead of 1 cup).  I wanted more of a pumpkin flavor with a little less cranberry.  These muffins are great warm, cold and are even still delicious a few days later.

Well, I am off to get the rest of my chores done because we have a busy weekend ahead of us!  TN vs. FL (GO BIG ORANGE!!!!!) on tomorrow then we are taking Henry to the first pumpkin patch of the season on Sunday!  Hay rides, a giant corn maze, games, food and pumpkins...what's not to love!  I hope everyone has a great weekend and be sure to let me know what you think about these Pumpkin-Cranberry Muffins !

Hugs,