Catherine & Anne: Have you tried baking with pumpkin yet? I forget where I picked this one up....but as we know...all you need to bake when you use a pre-mixed box is something wet to hold it together. Now I know you are a real baking person..who actually measures and mixes...but in a ppinch...this is good stuff! I have done this now with a myriad of different dry mixes and the results are always delicious.
1) Pumpkin muffins....1 box of pumpkin bread/muffin mix and 1 can of pure pumpkin. Mix Mix, pour bake according to the box. I usually make mini-muffins. In the end they are not always pretty but they are so moist...they get a nice added fiber boost and are very low in calories and have no added fat. I have also added vanilla extract on occasion, or 1/3 cup of cocoa powder, or some extra spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc).
2) Pumpkin chocolate "fudge"....mix one box of chocolate brownie mix (must be brownies and not cake) and 1 box of pure pumpkin and a splash of vaniial extract. Mix, Mix pour into a 9x9 baking dish (pyrex or whatever). Bake for 30 minutes at 350 then take them out to cool on the stove top....when they have cooled enough to touch, cut into 25-36 squares, cover with saran wrap and tin foil and refrigerate. After a few hours you have something totally rich and decadent and the consistenty of fudge. I have honestly never wanted to eat more than 1 piece at a time. I have also taken the "Better than Peanut Butter" and taken 1 serving (2 tbsp) and plopped a little bit over the top of the mix and swirled it around before baking...it adds a niec touch and about 100 calories to the entire thing.
Still no contact from the MIL. We have nothing for which to apologize but are profusely sorry (for her) that the only way to show her we love her is through gifts and materials goods.
Helping my friend move. I forgot that Wendy's place looked like a land mine exploded on a regular basis. I walked in and after running into a lot of stuff and stepping on everything else I reminded myelf that I was here to help her on her terms..not mine (which would have involved a lot of garbage bags and a lot of trips to the garbage). My first task was to take everything on the top of her desk and throw it into a box. Now in my humble estimation this was largely junk...but I am not Wendy...so I did what she asked..cringing all the while. I apologized for being a pain and she said that if I was a pain I wouldn't be there. So I turned to her and saud that if we weren't the kind of friends that we were I wouldn't be there either, I'd just take a match to the place. I did get her to admit that she has far more stuff than necessary...and to her credit she did pack a lot of big storage bins for the storage site....but I was grateful to beg out after about 3 hours. Between being sick stil..and all of the cat hair (allergies) and my back being sore...I was spent and she and her BF were getting more and more tense by the minute.
May God be with them.
Happy Sunday night...DH and I enjoyed a night in and watched the Oscars like good little Angelenos. Hooray for Diablo Cody!
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