Back to our regularly scheduled programming....

Discussing what frustrates me helps me to put it all in perspective. This is precisely what happened last night, all night. As much as I hate to say I was awake most of the night, I feel a little more clear headed. I feel most comfortable to be myself. If my craftiness or yummyness is needed, then I am more than happy to oblige. If it isn't, I am not going to draw attention to it. With Ella starting kindy, I am trying hard to provide her with a great friend base that she will have for the rest of her life. This includes us moms trying to be friends. I want this to happen. So the way to achieve this is with my decision. Did you hear it? The sigh of relief? Yep, that was me.

Alright who is ready for some yummyness.



I have some great homemade pumpkin puree that I want to use so what better to make than pumpkin donuts for breakfast!! I found a recipe here at Blue Eyed Bakers. This was a great recipe with nothing too crazy in it. The donuts turned out great. They were super moist and flavor"full" of fall!! Here are few tips after making a few batches:

* using homemade pumpkin puree gives the donuts a more spice flavor, not so much pumpkin flavor. Using canned pumpkin will give these more of a pumpkin flavor.

* I used 1 1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice instead of all of the spices

* This recipe made 6 regular sized donuts (I don't have a mini donut pan, but I will, oh yes, I will!) so I made another batch. This way I can freeze some for another morning when I don't have the brain capacity to make breakfast. Which is a lot these days!

* I used shortening to grease my pan instead of butter. The donuts still took a little finagling to get out but none broke or tore. Just be patient and coax them out.

* I am already planning on using this same recipe for some apple donuts after our trip to the apple orchard tomorrow. Instead of pumpkin, I will use some homemade apple sauce with some big chunks. Should be super delicious with some of those lovely winesaps I plan on picking!!



Here is my new find that I just adore, King Arthur's White Whole Wheat Flour. It bakes up just like white flour. And here is something I have found in my kitchen. This flour is not that expensive but more expensive than the white flour at Aldi's. This bag runs me $4.35 at my grocery store. I have found that when I spend that money on this flour, I don't bake near as much. Whatever I do make, is a real treat.


Here is Tuesday's Tip
I love my donut pan but filling it is a little crazy. You could put your batter in a old ketchup bottle but that always causes more of a mess for me. I fill a ziploc bag, usually a freezer one which are more substantial, with my batter. Cut a pretty big piece off of one corner. Then just squeeze it in. But that isn't really my tip. As I said earlier, I made one batch of donuts only to realize I was going to need to make another. I didn't want to waste another ziploc bag so here is what I did....


I squeezed a little of the batter back away from the tip and then put a chip clip on the tip so it wouldn't come out. Then opened up my bag on my favorite pitcher and refilled it with the new batch of batter. This worked like a gem!! I know its not rocket science but it made me happy that I didn't end up mopping up my entire floor!

Happy Baking Readers!!