Best Pumpkin Pancakes EVER.

Yup, I said it. They were amazing. Behold...

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 cups milk
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons melted butter (I used salted, otherwise add a pinch of salt to your dry ingredients.)
2 eggs

Optional: chocolate chips

Instructions

1) Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.

2) Mix wet ingredients together in a small bowl and fold into dry ingredients.

3) Fold in chocolate chips.

4) Using 1/4 cup measuring cup, pour onto warm pan or griddle.


These were so damn good, we had them for dinner! This recipe makes a lot of pancakes. I like to make extra and feed them to the kids for a few days. You are welcome to cut it in half!

xoxo
jill

Frozen Cake

I don't know how I did it.

But I did it. 

Here is my take on the ice castle. I would be happy to answer any questions about what I used and how I assembled it. 

For now, here is a few pictures. Happy birthday my sweet Gemma Bleu. 

Pumpkins on candlesticks.

My grandmother was going to throw away these candlesticks a few falls ago. I must have seen on Pinterest or something someone putting pumpkins on candlesticks, so I took them home and I've been doing it every fall since!

Gemma painted the purple one with a face and did the jewels on the white pumpkin. (Got a little set of jewels specifically for pumpkin decorating at Target!) The chevron one is mine. It's always a fun little project that we enjoy all fall! Gems wants to make some for her family and friends, too. :)

Greek yogurt, pumpkin, oatmeal, low fat, chocolate chip mini muffins!

Hot damn. It's been awhile! I decided to finally log back in to share this awesome mini muffin recipe that I've been using for Gemma's snacks at school. She only goes for 3 hours a day but since it's in the afternoon (her hungriest time) she needed a tasty snack with some protein to really get her through.

It's really bothering me how off center the muffins are in this picture, btw. 

I've combined various recipes to come up with this one. It's everything I ever wanted in a muffin! Enjoy!

Ingredients
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup plain oats (I use old fashioned)
1/3 cup sugar (I find this to be enough with the honey and chocolate chips)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons of wheat germ just for kicks (optional)
1 6 oz container nonfat Greek yogurt
1/2 can (roughly: see instructions) plain pumpkin.
2 tablespoons honey
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Instructions
1. Preheat at 350. Combine flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.

2. Put 6 oz container of greek yogurt in a Pyrex type measuring cup. Fill up to the 1 1/2 cup line with pumpkin. (I am way too lazy to figure out how much pumpkin that is. Sorry.) You can either transfer this to a bowl to add the rest of the ingredients or just keep adding to the Pyrex (what I do.) Add honey, eggs, butter, and vanilla to pumpkin/yogurt mixture. Mix all wet ingredients.

3. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients until well mixed. Fold in chocolate chips.

4. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes in greased muffin tin.

***Obligatory photos of cute child with muffins***




I told her to sniff them like they were delicious. Apparently this is what that looks like.

Mostly adapted from See Aimee Cook

self portrait

<3

More drawing...

I'm kind of addicted to this now!

I drew a ship tonight and I'm so proud. The proportions and shading could use work, but I'm happy with it!

Wanted to draw a little..

I am super inspired by traditional tattoo art. Specifically naked mermaids. So I took a crack at it and was pleasantly surprised! I used Pastels and very fine tip Sharpies :)