Pumpkin Cookie Recipe

I think it's safe to say I'm slightly pumpkin obsessed!  But with good reason, it's delicious in more than just pie.  It goes great in various baked goods and smoothies. (See my take on a pumpkin smoothie in the "Pumpkin Smoothie" post.) Not to mention they have great health benefits too, rich in antioxidants and vitamins.  So today I figured I'd share one of my kitchen experiments that turned out pretty scrumptious.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp ground cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice. 

I mixed the wet ingredients first and then mixed in the dry.  Then I baked them for about 10-12 minutes at 350. They're really fluffy, kind of like pumpkin pancakes (another one of my pumpkin favorites) in cookie form.  To see if they're finished I poke them with a toothpick in the center until the toothpick is clean.  They're a healthy sweet snack at 2 ww points a piece or taste really delicious with chocolate frosting on top if you want to make them more of a treat.  The recipe only makes about 16 cookies, so if you're making them for a crowd you may want to consider doubling the recipe.  I like to make them just to have around the house because I have such a bad sweet tooth!  Hope you enjoy!

Update: I baked this recipe in a shallow polish pottery dish and it made a delicious pumpkin dessert bread! The texture is closer to bread than cookies and I think I prefer it in loaf form! :) 

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Why do I feel so alone when my husband's out of town? I'm not exactly by myself while he's gone. I have our son and our brittany spaniel to keep me company (and busy), and I can see friends and family during the day. But despite the company they provide, there's a special connection between spouses that can't be fulfilled by anyone else. He's my best friend, my support, my parter, my joy, my vocation, my true love and my son's father. Without him coming home after work, the day seems to blur into a never ending time continuum. Ok that may be dramatic, but taking care of an 8 month old all by yourself for 24 hours and on can be a tedious task that could drive even the sanest of minds a little crazy.  Of course I love staying home with him, but a big part of that lifestyle is being able to cook my husband his meals, welcome him home and help him take a load off.   And in turn, he is able to help me by simply playing with our son while I get a few things done and also delighting me with a little adult conversation.  Our family dynamic and rituals are so precious to me and give me such a sense of wholeness and joy, so I guess it's only natural that things feel off-balanced when he's not around for a few days. In a way I'm glad to have him go away, so I can remind myself how good and complete my life is when he is home. 

My Little Papoose

Before I had my son I never imagined that I would one day become a baby-wearin' fool. It's something I hadn't experienced in my past and for the most part it seemed to only belong to people in foreign countries or hippies.  I had this image in my head of a primitive sack thrown over someone's back, with a tiny face sticking out.  Adorable, but still foreign to myself. Come to find out these "hippies" are basically geniuses! I can't count how many times baby-wearing has saved us from missing out on parties and family get togethers, not to mention that we get to take our 9 month old out on hikes! Since toting around a baby can often feel like an endless journey, with lots of suitcases, it's nice to have a hands-free option. Our son also loves to nap while in our Moby and backpack, so we kill two birds with one stone.  In fact, sometimes we put him in specifically to put him to sleep. I'm a little shocked that baby-wearing has taken so long to become so widely used. Or is it just that I never noticed before I had a kid? Either way, it's obviously brilliant.  Aside from it allowing us to socialize more, I also use it at home when I'm desperate to get things done but baby doesn't want to be put down. If I ever get the money I think I'll spring for the high end baby pack, it's well worth the investment.  If you're considering getting a pack for your baby I obviously strongly recommend! You won't regret it! 

And what's sexier than a baby-wearing Dad? Am I right ladies? 

Pumpkin Oatmeal Smoothie

1/4 cup raw whole grain oats

1/2 cup canned pumpkin purée 

1/4 tsp vanilla extract 

2 tablespoons brown sugar (or less if you prefer) 

1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk 

1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon 

They're only 5 ww points and it's delicious and filling! 

I love to drink them in the morning with my coffee, but I also use them as a meal replacement for lunch sometimes. 

I usually put the oats in first to grind them up a bit before adding the rest of the ingredients. I make mine in my super sweet Ninja, but I'm sure any blender will do. Enjoy! 

Shout out to my Hubby for giving me the Ninja for my birthday this year! ;) 

Fishing For Common Ground

One of my husbands favorite pastimes is fishing. The patience he has to stand on a bank for hours with hopes of catching something is beyond my comprehension. Nonetheless, I've been working on taking an interest in his hobbies. (And dang he has a few! As my friends and family can attest to.) The reason being, that in the past few months I realized how much I really wanted him to be interested in the things I enjoy doing for fun. I thought maybe if I was interested in his hobbies, it would make him as happy as it would have made me.  And in a more selfish sense, maybe one day he'd be willing to invest a little more time doing what I love. So I gave it a whirl and decided to ask him to go fishing one Monday night after he got home from work. (He usually has to beg me go.) He was stoked! And now it's become a Monday night ritual to meet my brother and his girlfriend for some after work fishing at some ponds not too far from home.  It works perfectly because I am able to get out of the house and my hubby gets to do what he loves once a week! Funny thing is, I'm starting to enjoy it. Will I ever have the stamina to fish for countless hours on end in my free time? Probably not, but we'll leave it at "to be determined." After all, I married into a fishing family, I might as well enjoy the ride. 

Simple Adventures

I'm a stay at home mom, so I don't get the typical daily sense of accomplishment that comes along with working outside the home. For me it usually comes down to the small, yet measurable things that give that feeling of satisfaction. I try to do things that I enjoy that can also be viewed as useful.  I like to bake and try to make new recipes, sew (somewhat poorly), cook, and work in the yard. They all sound pretty house-wifey when you write them out... But! Anything can be turned into an adventure depending on the attitude you have going into it. In fact life is one big adventure, but that can be easy to forget when you're stuck home doing laundry all day.  When I successfully bake something delicious or sew something cute for my Davey I can't help but feel a little pride in a job well done. Of course everyday I take pride in raising such a cool little guy, but it's a constant work in progress and sometimes it's not easy to notice results of all the work put in. Therefore I find it very important to my mental health/sanity and self-esteem to congratulate myself on accomplishments, no matter how insignificant they seem.  This is a practice that I plan to pass down to my son and future children, to hopefully prepare them for a big world that can often make you feel small. In time I believe the pride achieved through accomplishing something small will transfer to a craving to accomplish something great. As great things most often start out small, I'll hope for successful futures for my kids. (And maybe myself too.) In the meantime I'll dream of my blog turning into someday writing a best seller, and keep baking pumpkin cookies and sewing cutsey bibs. 

A Little Garden, a Lot of Life

After talking about it for months, we finally decided today was the day we would put in our garden. After all, it is pumpkin planting season! There's something about gardening that reminds me so much of my childhood. Everything is fresh and the weather is amazing, but it is also really special to me because it was something our family did together outside.  We never went on walks or bike rides all together, but we could all find something to do in the backyard. It helps that we had a pretty sweet backyard; we had gardens, a basketball hoop, a deck, a patio, a swing set, and plenty of green grass to run in. As an adult, I'm looking forward to having our backyard/garden bring my family together to spend time outdoors. At this point most of our family time includes watching TV or a trip to the store, or a walk all together if I'm lucky. And it makes me nervous. I'm afraid that my terrible TV watching habits will be passed down to my kids. I don't want them to have the burden of TV addiction like I do, that feeling that I have to turn it on whether I'm watching it or not. Darn you Netflix! Now there's no limit to how many times I can watch The Office. (And trust me, that's dangerous.) Even so, I'm trying to find more things that get my family out of the house and moving, living, breathing, and experiencing life beyond the great box on the wall. We live in such a beautiful state and it seems a pity to waste our lives watching other places on TV. So I guess a garden can be a lot of work, and I know it definitely will be initially, but what's so wrong with a little work? Am I worried I'll get too much exercise?  I've found it best to stop thinking about how much work or effort something might entail and just act. If I can just find that motivation to get up and do something worth doing, I find I don't need my TV to keep me company. And who would, when I have the best company in the world: my family. 

Prepping Vs. Planning

      When I got married there were so many details to keep track of I thought my wedding would take years to plan.  Luckily, my mom is an ace party planner and quickly took control of tracking all the craziness. But even with my mom as my wedding planner I still felt the stress of making a memorable wedding day. That's where my husband came in. (Well fiance at the time.). He reminded me that the wedding is not what is important, but the marriage.  Ah what a concept! But somehow the idea of putting more work into your marriage preparation than your wedding planning is an idea that seems to be lost today, and let's face it, it sounds a lot less fun. So is this why the two priorities have gotten flip-flopped?  Weddings have become dazzling productions, instead of a true reflection of the couples love and commitment to each other before God.  I do understand anticipating the perfect day, but I also truly believe that if you want to succeed in any venture in your life, it makes good sense to prepare for it.  Having confidence in your future marriage makes the rest of the wedding details become less and less important.  In my case, the preparation we recieved from a counselor at our church left me equipped to put stress behind me every time something didn't go according to plan.  I was able to remind myself how unimportant the little things are, and thank God for giving me such a wonderful husband. A husband clever enough to use his lack of interest in wedding planning to benefit us both.

The Most Precious Weight I Lift

    As a mother of an infant I am becoming very familiar with the concept of caring beyond convenience.  I stay at home to care for my son and keep house for my family.  It's not the most glamorous job I've ever had, but it certainly is the most fulfilling.  Knowing what my son is up to and in to at all times gives me a certain peace of mind, but it's also an enormous responsibility! Every time he almost rolls off the bed or picks up something small enough to choke on, I feel the weight of the fact that his life is in my hands.  Nevertheless, it's a weight I voluntarily picked up. (Pun intended because he's huge!)  So why do i do it?  It's not just because I have a soft spot for babies(pun), it's because, as cliche as it sounds, there is no greater job in the world.  By staying home with my son I can instill in him the values and truths that the world will try to lead him away from.  I can give him the gifts of joy, love, health, and the knowledge that these all come from God.  With work and prayer, I hope to someday help him discover God's plan for his life and help him have the courage to say yes to that plan.  It the meantime I will continue to mush his bananas and change his pants, and definitely have some fun in between.

Shout out to my hubby who works hard, so I can stay at home!