Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

This week's pumpkin recipe is pumpkin oatmeal recipes (YUM!) with minor tweaks on Sally's Baking Addiction's recipe.  Her pictures are definitely better than mine, so go check out her site.

2 cups + 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 heaping teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup dark molasses
3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 + 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.

In a large bowl, toss the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt together.  Fold in the oats. Set aside.

Melt the butter in the microwave in a medium size bowl.  Whisk in the molasses, brown sugar, and granulated sugar.  Once combined, whisk in the egg.  Add the pumpkin and vanilla and whisk until thick and combined completely. Pour into dry ingredients and gently mix.  The dough will be very thick, heavy, and sticky,  Keep mixing until just combined, no more.  Fold in chocolate chips.

Scoop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets.  About 2 or 3 Tablespoons of dough per cookie. Slightly flatten the help the cookies spread in the oven.  Do not flatten completely.  If desired, press a few of your add-ins onto the top of the cookie dough balls for looks.

Bake the cookies for 13-15 minutes until very lightly browned on the edges, and still appearing soft in the centers.  My cookies took 14 minutes.  Allow the cookies to cool completely on the baking sheets. The cookies' flavor is best on day 2. Cookies remain fresh and soft stored in an airtight container for 10 days.

Pumpkin Waffles

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Since it's October, that means pumpkin is in everything.  And today at Hannah, Here!, there's pumpkin in your waffles.  Thanks Pinterest for the recipe!  The original recipe is from No. 2 Pencil, here, but I modified it slightly.  {The photo is hers as well.}

2 cups of all-purpose flour  

2 tablespoons of firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of cinnamon 

1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
1 1/2 cups of milk
1 cup of canned 100% pure pumpkin
1 egg yolk plus 3 egg whites
4 tablespoons of melted cooled butter
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip 3 egg whites until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whisk together.
Combine milk, pumpkin, butter, egg yolk and vinegar in a small bowl and stir to combine.
Add pumpkin mixture to dry ingredients and stir to combine.
Gently fold in egg whites.
Use batter immediately in waffle maker. 

Are you a pancake person or a waffle person?

Pumpkin Bread

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On Sunday morning, I made some pumpkin bread from scratch and it was delicious, so I figured I'd share my recipe (again--with some modifications) with you all.  The recipe makes 2 loaves of bread, but be sure to lick the bowl too.

 

1 15-oz can of canned pumpkin

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup water

1 cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs

3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon nutmeg

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

 

In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, sugar, water, oil, and eggs.  Beat until well-mixed.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and cloves.  Stir until combined.  Slowly add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture, beating until smooth.  Spray 2 9x5 loaf pans with Pam and lightly flour.  Evenly divide batter into 2 pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 60-65 minutes.  Cool for 10-15 minutes.  I added a cup of chocolate chips to one loaf and kept one without.

What's your favorite fall recipe?  With pumpkin?

Ten on Ten :: October 2013

10 pictures on the 10th day of the month!

Document a snapshot of your life & find beauty among the ordinary things in your day!

{12:00} The leaves are changing and the clouds are coming!

{1:00} Home for lunch and fall has arrived.

{2:00} For a little afternoon pick-me-up, I may have eaten a sprinkles donut.  But I may not have eaten a sprinkles donut.  (I did.  I did eat a sprinkles donut.)

{3:00} With a busy evening ahead, I had my working shoes, my walking shoes, and my drinking shoes packed.

{4:00} There's nothing like walking on a sidewalk covered in crunchy leaves.

{5:00} Getting my daily walk in for #50MilesInOctober and barely beating the rain.

{6:00} Pure Barre Boulder hosted a Bring the Men class this evening and while we (sadly) couldn't make the class, we joined in for happy hour.

{7:00} Enjoying a brand new brewery in Boulder with this stylish gentleman.

{8:00} There's nothing like coming home to sweet, playful kittens.

{9:00}  The day ends with a hot bath and soothing candles.

Just for fun, here is an ode to Ten on Ten:

I've been participating in Ten on Ten since July 2010.  I haven't remembered every month, but today was my 34th time photographing along (and my 22nd month in a row).  I have worked a lot of those days.  I have seen a lot of movies.  I have drank a lot Starbucks.  I have loved a lot of kittens.  I have eaten a lot of food.  And I've even read a couple books.  But one thing is for certain, I have grown.  I have grown as a photographer.  I have grown from a point and shoot to Instagram to--now--a DSLR.  I have learned to better edit photos.  I have learned to better capture photos.  (And I've even learned to sometimes make plans specifically for the 10th so I'm not always just doing my laundry.)  Ten on Ten has been with me and my blog almost since the beginning.  Sometimes I've wanted to sneak photographs while no one was looking and sometimes I proudly pull out my camera just for a good picture.  I've become more intentional about participating.  I participated every month in 2012 and I'm on track to do it again.  Each month on the tenth, I go through my old posts and see where I've come in my life and on my blog, and that might just be my favorite aspect of Ten on Ten (hence why I always link back to the years before below).

I don't follow a lot of bloggers who participate in Ten on Ten each month, but if you don't participate already, I urge you to start participating now and for months to come!  Finally, I owe all my Ten on Ten love to Mel from The Larson Lingo who posts every month and always has the best set of photos!

October 2012

Christian Hits the Barre

Last week, Christian went to Pure Barre with me for the first time.  Ever since I started in July, I've been wanting to share it with him, mostly because he's a fitness instructor and we met through his boot camp class.  I wanted to share my new favorite exercise with him, of course!  Pure Barre and Pure Barre Boulder post testimonials each week and a few weeks ago, they posted a testimonial from a guy who's girlfriend invited him to class one day and now he goes a couple times a week.  Of course I dreamed that would one day be Christian, but it at least gave me an idea.  See, he and I play a lot of board games and we usually bet on them (lunch, dinner, a movie, a car wash, a massage, etc).  I decided to play for Pure Barre and I won!

H: What made you try Pure Barre?
C: I lost a bet.  That was the punishment.

 H: Were you nervous about going to Pure Barre?

C: Yes because I knew it was going to be mostly women.  I knew it was going to be very difficult and involve muscles that I don't normally exercise.

 H: How does Pure Barre compare to your typical work out?

C: Harder.  It involves a lot of isometric holds, which are not something I normally do.  It was fast-paced so my muscles never got a chance to recover all the way since it's a full body work out.  Five pound weights was way too much for the arm work; my biceps were super sore the next day.  I normally teach boot camp style fitness classes that involve a lot of push ups and sit ups, plyometrics, and sprints.  Most of the things we do are intervals as well.  My classes are an hour long, but there's more downtime than there is in Pure Barre.  In Pure Barre, you're basically working the whole hour.

 H: What was your favorite part of the class?

C: I liked the things next to the barre because it was new to me.  It works your arms and legs at the same time.  Stretches--yoga type stuff--were good too.
H: The studio just got a new piece of equipment that makes your arms work even harder at the barre.  You'd like it.

H: What was your least favorite part of the class?
 C: Being the only guy there, especially during abs when I had to sit next to the teacher and everyone was looking at me.  I was sweating like an Amazon river boat captain.

H: Were you sore the next day?
C: Not really.  My calves were a little bit.  Oh yeah, my biceps too.  So yes.

H: Would you go back?
C: Yes, I'd love to.  It was super fun.  Alex [the instructor] was really nice.
H: Great, because I signed us up for the Bring Your Man class on Thursday!

I gotta give it to him, going to Pure Barre as a guy probably wasn't easy.  Since Fridays are free for brand new people at my studio, it was a full class and he was the only guy.  He's not flexible and he doesn't have a dancer's background, plus, there's a lot of hip tucking.  He's a total champ for going and I really appreciate his willingness to share something I enjoy with me.  It was awesome!

 Pure Barre Boulder is hosting a Bring Your Man to class on Thursday and I was able to convince Christian to go again with the lure of free class, a free beer, and a special note from Alex, who taught the first class he went to.  Pure Barre is such a great experience for staying healthy, and beyond that!  What a great and supportive group of women (and sometimes men) in class and at the studio!

 

Breaking Bad Finale Party

Like so many people, I was looking forward to, yet dreading the series finale of Breaking Bad.  The week before, Dexter's 8 season run ended with major disappointments, but I trusted the showrunners for Breaking Bad and after the penultimate episode, I had faith it would end satisfyingly.

 

Christian and I planned to host a watch party for people we know who were caught up with the series, which turned out to be my family and his mom.  Hey, any excuse to make a cake!  We served eggs, bacon, waffles, and breakfast potatoes (Walt Jr. would be so proud), and I made a Breaking Bad cake and a "blue sky" cocktail.  It was a lot of fun and we were all pretty happy with the ending, I think.  My dad showed up in a hazmat suit and gas mask and started yelling "WE'RE A FAMILY!"  Priceless.

What did you think of the Breaking Bad series finale? Will you watch the prequel, Better Call Saul?