Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

This is the perfect thing to make if you have some leftover pumpkin puree. I first thought about making some mini pumpkin pies (maybe later), but then breakfast happened first and I was craving steel cut oats. Just throw in some pumpkin, spices, and brown sugar and you have a delicious start to your day! I topped mine with some chopped pecans from the pecan tree in my backyard that’s been good to me this year. Hope you get to eat as much pumpkin as you can this time of year – enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

Ingredients:
1/2 cup steel cut oats
1 3/4 cups water
Dash of salt
2 Tbsp milk
1/2 cup pumpkin
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Yield: 2 large servings

Directions:
Boil the water in a large pot. Add the oats and salt, stir together. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 30 minutes. Make sure to stir the oats occasionally so they don’t stick to the bottom of the pot. After 30 minutes, add the pumpkin, milk, brown sugar, vanilla, and spice. Stir together and cook another 10 minutes. Spoon the oatmeal into a ramekin or small bowl and top with chopped pecans and a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice. Serve while hot and enjoy!

Source: A Beckster Original

Pumpkin Spice Funnel Cake w/Nutmeg Powdered Sugar

So, this item has a bit of a back story…

1. My husband challenged me to create a food item completely on my own. I get so busy trying other people’s recipes that I find, that I forget to be creative myself!

2. One of my favorite food blogs, Kitchen Corners, posted a cook-off challenge for October with a pumpkin theme.

So, I decided to combine the two challenges into one MEGA challenge for myself! I knew I needed to include pumpkin, so that narrowed my scope. Then I started to daydream about the Texas State Fair and yummy fair food, which led me to (of course) think about funnel cakes. Immediately, my idea formed. I’d create a pumpkin packed funnel cake topped with a nutmeg laced powdered sugar. How perfect for this time of year!

Though I’m sure others have made these before in some shape or form, I made this recipe myself and am very proud of it. Here you have it folks…a Beckster original recipe:

Pumpkin Spice Funnel Cake with Nutmeg Powdered Sugar

Ingredients:
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 and 1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Cooking oil of some sort
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp ground nutmeg

Directions:
Beat the egg, brown sugar, milk, and pumpkin together in a bowl. Add the flour, salt, baking powder, and pumpkin pie spice and continue to mix until combined. Heat some cooking oil in a pan on the stove at medium heat. When hot, use a funnel (or whatever you might have) to pour the batter into the pan. (If batter is too thick, add more milk until it reaches the desired consistency) Cook until light brown, then carefully flip and cook the other side until done. Remove funnel cake from pan and dab excess oil as needed.

Combine the powdered sugar and nutmeg in a bowl and sprinkle on top of the funnel cake. Enjoy!

A Tale of Two Breads

One day, I decided to try my luck at making homemade bread. I’d seen my aunt do it before and have used yeast countless times to make pizza dough…so it couldn’t be TOO hard, right? Ha. Haha. Hahaha.

My first attempt was ok, but rather disappointing. It didn’t rise as tall as I wanted and was rather dense. It was edible and perfect to use up on things like French Toast, but definitely not sandwich quality. I’ve gotten some pointers from my talented bread making aunt, so hopefully next time will be better. I plan to try it again very soon and will share the recipe then. And hopefully some photos of the perfect bread!

I also learned (the hard way) that my thermometer is NOT oven proof. Oops : )

After feeling a little bummed about the failed bread, I decided to make some easy pumpkin bread to make me happier! Any yeast-less bread is obviously much easier to make, so I was a feeling better afterwards. Here’s my favorite pumpkin bread recipe, that I got from my mom:

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs
2/3 cup water
2 cups canned pumpkin

Directions:
Combine sugar, oil, and eggs in bowl and mix together. Add other ingredients and mix only until dry particles are moist. Pour into two 9x5x3 loaf pans. Bake at 350 F for 60-70 minutes. (or until toothpick comes out clean) Cool on wire racks.

*Note, this recipe makes TWO loafs. I halved the recipe and just made one. Enjoy!