The First Saturday Of Autumn 2013/Recipe For Mini Baked Pumpkin Cake Doughnuts



Good Morning, Dear Sisters!

 

On my way home from Pittsburg this morning I noticed the beauty of God's creation all around me. Far overhead a vulture with his wings spread wide circled, glided, and rode the unseen air currents above me, the prairie grasses, their heads heavy with seed, waved in one, continuous, unending billow like waves on a large body of water, sumac blazed fiery red along the roadways, and thick, black clouds overtook the sky.

 

Soon after I got home it began to rain heavy and it's still raining now. The wind is gently blowing and I hear the occasional thud of a walnut as it drops from the tree outside our backdoor and hits the roof above me. All these things signal that autumn has arrived and that winter is just around the corner, and it leaves me thinking of the warm, cozy evenings to come. I'm so glad that the cooler weather has arrived! With it my senses have come alive!

 

I just lit a candle in the kitchen and am going over my menu for company supper tonight...nothing fancy, but very fallish...chili dogs, chips, apples, popcorn, and apple cider. I was hoping for a bonfire tonight, but with the rain now, I doubt that that happens. Oh, well! :)

 

As a last minute afterthought I decided to make another fall family favorite...mini baked pumpkin cake doughnuts. I know I've posted these before, but, it's been a while, so, with the autumn season fresh on everyone's mind, I thought I'd share again. They're so yummy and so easy to make!

 

Enjoy your Saturday and I will talk to you again soon!

 

All My Love,

~Rebecca

 

Mini Baked Pumpkin Cake Doughnuts

 

 

MINI BAKED PUMPKIN CAKE DOUGHNUTS 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil

3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 15-oz. can of pumpkin
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ginger
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 3/4 cups + 2 Tablespoons unbleached flour

COATING

2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray mini doughnut pans with pan spray. Beat together oil, eggs, sugar, pumpkin, spices, salt, and baking powder until smooth. Add flour, stirring just until smooth. Fill the wells of the doughnut pans about 3/4 full. Bake doughnuts for about 8 to 10 minutes or until done. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before transferring them to a cooling rack. While doughnuts are still warm, gently shake them in a bag with cinnamon-sugar coating. Cool completely and wrap airtight; store at room temperature for several days. Makes approximately 3 1/2 dozen. 


One Thousand Gifts - #301 - the stars in the heavens, #305 - pears!, #306 fall rains - so beautiful!

Two-Ingredient Pumpkin Cake With Apple Cider Glaze

There's a recipe going around Facebook right now for Two-Ingredient Pumpkin Cake With Apple Cider Glaze and I've seen it posted several times. In fact, I've reposted it a couple of times myself. It looked absolutely delicious, so, I bought the ingredients and gave it a whirl for my own family last night. And guess what? It IS absolutely delicious! THIS is a recipe that is sure to become a fall family favorite! Here's the recipe for you...

 

Photo Credit

 

TWO-INGREDIENT PUMPKIN CAKE WITH APPLE CIDER GLAZE

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

 For the Cake: 

1 Yellow Cake Mix
1 15-oz can of pumpkin puree

 For the Glaze: 

1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons apple cider
3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Empty the contents of the boxed cake mix and pumpkin puree into a large bowl. Using a mixer beat until well incorporated. The batter will be very thick, but will come together nicely.

Spread batter into a 7 x 11 X 2 pan that has been sprayed with pan spray and bake at 350 degrees for 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Do not over bake.

 Make the glaze while you're waiting.

Combine powdered sugar, apple cider and pumpkin pie spice. Glaze should be thick but pourable. Pour over hot cake reserving a little, if desired, to spoon over each piece when served. Good warm or cold either one!


One Thousand Gifts - #291 - our crooked, little house, #292 - the Authorized King James Bible, #297 - books! and #298 - toilet paper

Cultivating A Grateful Heart Combined With Childhood Memories

One Thousand Gifts Devotional

For over a year now I have purposely been working on cultivating a more grateful heart. There's been plenty of roadblocks and failures along the way, but I will not allow them to stop my pursuit!

This morning I was reading Devotional 4 - Thinking Grace out of Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts Devotional and, in it, Ann was talking about watching her son, Levi, sledding straight out to the sheer edge and going down it "...more than once or twice." She talked about waiting for the tears, and realizing that it wasn't about that. It was about the wonder of it all...seeing it in Levi's eyes...the thrill of trying what doesn't seem possible, and noting that "...that's always where fear meets faith and the face of God."

As Ann talked about this wondrous winter scene, she challenged me, once again, to be grateful in all things. As I read, my mind wandered back to a day long ago, when I was just a girl myself. I was 11, I think.

We had one of those really snowy winters and it lasted long, and the snow was deep. I remember bundling up warm one day and traipsing through the nearly foot-deep snow...out the gate...across the lot...down the winding path...past the old oak tree that marked the spot where my childhood pet, Frisky, was buried...and round the hill to the open field where we gardened in summer.

I remember the open, empty space stretching out before me. It was edged with autumn's weeds along two sides, but now they were caked in icy whiteness. The highway lay beyond and below the old garden spot and fencerow. The bluebird houses that my dad had stationed along the path and on the fence posts were empty now...their summer residences flown away, and the forested hill rose high above me.

I grew up under this hill and I loved it! Every season it offered up new and wondrous gifts to anyone who would take the time to enjoy them, and it offered quiet solitude and solace to all who chose to partake of it. But I had never seen the hill like this!

The whole wintery scene lay open, yet covered, before me! The garden area was one solid blanket of deep, undisturbed, whiteness. The forest trees, each outlined in thick, icy hoariness stood tall above me and beyond that and overhead was the brilliant blueness of a cloudless sky. Below the trees the forest floor lay hidden except for an occasional twig or bush that stubbornly protruded through here or there. Grape vines looped and wound through the trees, hanging low in places, as did bittersweet and other vining plants, but they, too, were outlined in thick, icy hoariness.

And oh! How it sparkled! Everything sparkled! Everything sparkled because the sun was shining and God's creation hadn't been disturbed! I remember stopping right then and there...thanking God for allowing me to witness the beauty of His creation in such a new and wondrous way!

Everything was so still! So un-messed up! So clean! So fresh! And I'm thinking now...just like the start of each new day. Just like a clean heart before God (Psalm 51).

And, yes, I was grateful! I have carried the memory (and the quiet, and the solitude) of that one beautiful day that was, and it has been, literally, etched in my heart, for over 40 years now and, still, I am grateful to God for it! I will continue to be grateful for it, and will visit as often as the Lord allows it to enter my mind, for as long as I live!

Have a blessed day!

~Rebecca <3

One Thousand Gifts - #283 - lost ground (reclaiming it), #284 - Christ's work on the cross, #288 - mosquitoes in the back yard (Are they really a gift? Oh, yes! Bat food!) :)
 

Monday's 'Home Blessing' Routine

Good Morning, Sweet Sisters!

I've got a few extra minutes this morning so I thought I'd drop in and say, "Hello!" How are you this morning?

Yesterday was the first full day of fall here in the Midwest. After taking my son to work I came home and got started on my Monday morning 'home blessing'. Due to visitors my 'home blessing' went on well into the afternoon, but that was more than okay. I enjoyed the unexpected company!

"What is a 'home blessing'?" you might ask. Well, the idea originated with Flylady, and, while my house will never be CLEAN clean, I am working on it and have developed my own routine. The 'home blessing' comes on Monday, and, before doing anything, I light scented candles in the living room and kitchen, and turn on Pandora Radio on my computer, which I have tuned to a Celtic music shuffle. It's the Celtic music station shuffled and mixed with the Celtic Woman station. (So beautiful!) For me, the Monday 'home blessing' looks like this:

     - Go through the whole house and, using a feather duster, dust all vertical and horizontal surfaces in each room. This includes pictures and things hanging on the wall, lamps, knick-knacks on the piano, etc. I don't fuss over this. I just do a quick run through of each room and be done with it.

     - Spritz and clean all mirrors and the front door glass using the homemade glass cleaner that I have used for years and love!

    - Gather all laundry and start beginning with the rug out of the bathroom, towels, and washrags.

    - Spritz down the bathroom sink, toilet, and floor surrounding the toilet with all-purpose cleaner (here again...homemade, used for years, and love!) and wipe with paper towels or cleaning rags. While I'm in the bathroom I go ahead and clean the toilet bowl and Comet the tub. When I'm done everything is clean and sparkling and ready for the fresh rug and towels to be replaced as soon as they come out of the dryer or off the line.

    - Dust all wooden surfaces using a rag and a mixture of equal parts olive oil and lemon juice.

    - Vacuum whole house.

    - Do any dishes that might have accumulated.

    - Hang, fold, and put away laundry.

That's pretty much it. It doesn't take long and when I'm done the entire atmosphere of our home is brighter and more cheerful!

In addition to yesterday's 'home blessing' my husband brought in my 'autumn box' and I pulled out all my fall decorations and used them to accentuate the season. I also changed the curtains in the kitchen from my summer blue and white ginghams to my winter northwoods bears. The whole place feels cozy and ready for winter!

It's time to go! Have a blessed day and I will talk with you again soon!

All My Love,
~Rebecca




'One Thousand Gifts' - #222 - sun-drenched mornings dipped in dew, #224 - apples!, #251 - Living Water from the Word, #254 - socks, #266 - our home without television, #276 - healing...physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual

Recipe: Skinny Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars

Skinny Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars

UPDATE: The secret to this recipe is to let the bars set overnight in the fridge! It makes all the difference in the world! YES!!! I WILL be making them again! Will just do it the day BEFORE I need them instead of the day of! Please ignore my comments below! :)

 

I posted in a previous post that I first saw this recipe on Facebook and have been waiting to make it. I got the ingredients to do so, but, to be honest, after making it, I'm not sure that I even like the recipe. It's not at all what I expected. My husband likes it, but, to me, there's just not a whole lot of flavor. I am posting the recipe anyway for those who might like to try it.

 

SKINNY PUMPKIN CREAM CHEESE BARS

 

1 box angel food cake mix - the one-step kind

1 15-oz. can pumpkin

3/4 cup water

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 8 oz. reduced-fat cream cheese

a few tablespoons water to be mixed with cream cheese

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

 

Let the cream cheese soften on the counter for a while. Then, use a mixer and beat it with a couple of tablespoons of water until smooth.

 

In a separate bowl, mix the cake mix, pumpkin, 3/4 cup water, and cinnamon together until it is smooth and well mixed.

 

Spray a 9" x 13" glass pan with cooking spray. Add half of the cake and pumpkin mixture and smooth out evenly with a spatula. Drizzle half of the cream cheese over the top of it and smooth. Add remaining cake and pumpkin mixture and then the remaining cream cheese in layers. Finally, take a butter knife and stick it into the mix and move it back and forth in figure eights to blend it in a bit.

 

Bake for 35 minutes at 375 degrees or until a toothpick comes out clean.

 

 

 

 

 



 

Welcome, Autumn!

Autumn has officially arrived and, here in Southwest Missouri, we couldn't have asked a lovelier day! The sun was shining, the humidity was low, temps were in the mid- to upper-70's, and there is a chill in the air this evening as we head for an overnight low of around 50. Absolutely perfect!

We had a good church service this morning. Through the study of the scriptures we were encouraged to readily forgive others and love more. I was greatly encouraged in my own faith in ways that I have not been in ages and, in the process, personally challenged to new heights concerning ministry opportunities within the home. I am anxious to see what the Lord brings my way!

After lunch I enjoyed an old Charlie Chan mystery on Netflix while I did a little handiwork. (When I was a kid I used to love those old movies and, I must confess, as corny as they are, I still do!) I had lost a button on one leg of a pair of capris. Since I didn't know what happened to the missing button, I removed its mate and replaced the two of them with cute little matching bear buttons that I found in a box of buttons given to me by a friend recently. Here is the result...

Old Button

New Button

 I think the bears are really cute! :)

Later in the afternoon today our youngest son came over and we welcomed in the tastes of autumn with a big bowl of popcorn and cold apple cider from the Louisburg Cider Mill. It's always so good! We ate the popcorn and sipped cider while we played a rousing game of Skip Bo!

Other than that it's been a fairly quiet day. A friend dropped in and visited for an hour or so, I worked on the computer a little while John visited with our son, and I had a nice visit with our youngest daughter on the telephone.

(9/23/13 - UPDATE ON THE PUMPKIN BARS!!! The secret is let them set overnight in the fridge! It makes all the difference in the world! YES!!! I WILL be making them again! Will just do it the day BEFORE I need them instead of the day of! Please ignore my comments below!)

After supper this evening I tried a new recipe for Skinny Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars. I first saw the recipe on Facebook and have been waiting to make it. I finally got the ingredients, but, to be honest, after making it, I'm not sure that I even like the recipe. It's not at all what I expected. My husband likes it, but, to me, there's just not a whole lot of flavor. I will post the recipe anyway for those who might like to try it.

Well, I need to be going for now. You all have a great evening and a wonderful week ahead! God bless one and all!
All My Love,
~Rebecca <3