Pumpkin Spice Cake Cookies

These three ingredient cookies are amazing. They are also super easy and versatile. They are a slightly lighter option because they contain no oil or eggs!

Pumpkin Spice Cake Cookies
1 box of spice cake mix (dry without any of the usual ingredients)
1 standard can of pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 tablespoons of applesauce

Optional: cream cheese frosting

Preheat oven to 350•. Mix dry cake mix, pumpkin, and applesauce. Use a cookie scoop or drop rounded tablespoon onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. (The will not spread much at all.) Bake for 8-12 minutes until lightly browned.

They will be moist and slightly doughy. They are amazing plain or frosted. We’ve frosted them with dark chocolate icing, but went with cream cheese frosting today. I used a small cupcake corer to take a bit from the middle of each cookie.

I used a freezer bag instead of messing with a piping bag.

I saved the cores for toddler snacks! They are the perfect size for little fingers.

Here is E chowing down on a couple of her pumpkin treats…

The picture shows them plain, cut in half and filled, cored and filled, and just frosted.

The batter can be eaten raw because there are no eggs. The batter is great with graham crackers. Can’t you picture a hollowed out pumpkin filled with tasty dip?

I also want to try adding pecans and dipping them in white chocolate make cake balls.

I love pumpkins!

Mama Miller’s Pasta Soup

Be warned, I am not an exact recipe person. I come from a strong southern tradition of throwing whatever you have in a pot and calling it soup or throwing it in the oven for casserole. We tend to view recipes as general guidelines as opposed to precise directions. If you like to know exactly what minuscule fraction of each spice to use, run away now!

Mama Miller’s Pasta Soup

2 32oz cans/boxes of broth (I use fat free chicken)
1-2 package(s) of your favorite pasta (gnocchi, tortellini, or ravioli work best)
1 lb ground turkey or ground beef
1 7.5 oz jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce ( or 2 cups of homemade)
1 6oz can tomato paste
1 tablespoon minced garlic
mushrooms, minced onion, bell peppers, olives, or any other favorite veggies (optional)
Garlic salt, cumin, pepper, parsley, Italian seasoning, or whatever you favorite spices to taste are (this is what I mean by not specific)
olive oil

Bring your broth to a boil in a large pot and add a splash of olive oil, salt, and pasta. (I sometimes add a third can of broth to make it go further.)

While the pasta boils, brown your meat in a skillet. I add a splash of olive oil when using ground turkey. I add my garlic to the meat and the spices I like. Don’t over spice. You can add more later. When the meat is mostly done, I add the veggies and continue to cook until the noodles are done.

When the noodles are al dente, I add the spaghetti sauce, tomato paste, and meat/veggie mix to the pot and let it simmer together for about 30 minutes to an hour (read until we are ready to eat).

The noodles finish cooking through as it simmers. I taste before serving and add any additional spice. We usually serve with bread, salad, and a little Parmesan on top.

Big ol’ pot of soup:

Tonight’s soup has three cans of broth, gnocchi, purple bowtie pasta that K dyed earlier in the week, and ground turkey. K is excited about purple pasta and Andy promised to bring his co-worker lunch.

Have a great night!

Bonus: E eating her soup:

She is very into feeding herself, so she gets good stuff on a plate without much broth.

Neon Noodle Activity

Sorry for the lapse for the past few days.

Friday we did E’s 1 year old photos, shopping, E’s 12 month check-up, E’s 12 month blood work, grocery shopping, and Family Game Night at church. Poor baby girl was pretty chipper for a kid without enough naps, 4 shots, and having blood drawn.

Yesterday was my cleaning and my brother’s birthday party.

We’ve had a busy busy weekend.

We started this activity on Saturday morning. K has had a great time with it.

Neon Noodle Activity:

You will need a bag of Italian Trio Pasta, food coloring, and white vinegar. (We try to do natural foods and whole wheat pastas, but we made an exception for this activity.)

First I opened the bag of pasta for K and set up three bowls and a pair of tongs. I had him sort the different types into the bowls. He made up a story about the seashells noodles (shells), wiggly noodles (rigatoni), and stick noodles (penne) going to school together. They went to school but it was time to go home to their families.

After sorting we put them in separate baggies and K added several drops of neon food coloring and a splash of white vinegar (about 1 tbsp). He shook it up and we let them soak for about an hour.

We spread them out on foil covered in paper towel for a couple hours to dry. At bed time I folded them up in the foil and put them in the fridge until this afternoon.

This afternoon I boiled the noodles. I wanted to make sure the colors came out really vibrant, so I did each one separately and added a few drops of color to the water. After draining them, I tossed them together in a bit of olive oil. K was really proud of his noodles.

We served our neon noodles with Alfredo sauce, pork roast, and salad. It was a big hit.