Preparing for Autumn-Pumpkin Pie Chia Pudding

Forgive me, I totally forgot to take any pictures of this before we ate it all up, but it's too good not to share.  I'm sure I'll be making it again soon and I'll try to take a picture and post it before it's gobbled up.

Recently, W and I have been eating Greek yogurt with a little granola, chia seeds and walnuts for breakfast.  It's been one of the few breakfasts that seems to fill him up and stay with him for any period of time.  Anything else and he's hungry again in 15 minutes.  Second and third breakfasts were becoming common place at our house because W was just always hungry till we started on the Greek yogurt/granola combo.  So yesterday I found this recipe for Pumpkin pie chia pudding and it sounded so, so good, but I knew to meet our current  nutritional needs, it needed some changes.  I'd been craving pumpkin pie for some reason all day and had bought a little canned pumpkin thinking I'd try to make myself something to quell that craving.

So, I came up with my version of Pumpkin Pie Chia Pudding, made with W's beloved Greek Yogurt, and using stevia to replace much of the maple syrup (I left a little in just for some lovely maple flavor).

The verdict is that this is some seriously yummy stuff!  Perfect for fall!  W ate his with his usual granola and walnuts (I just had walnuts to top mine).  W told me that "It is spicy but it's my favorite!" It also seemed to fill him up adequately enough to make another good breakfast choice for our family.  It's nice to have a little variety from time to time, so I'm working on variations of our basic tried and true breakfast.

Pumpkin Pie Chia Pudding
(makes three servings)

1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup Greek yogurt
3 Tablespoons chia seeds
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (ours is from Frontier)
3-4 drops liquid stevia (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon maple syrup

Mix all ingredients, pour into single serving dishes and refrigeration overnight.  Top with your favorite granola and walnuts if desired.

A Family Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

This past week we made a trip to Gallmeyer Farms to visit the pumpkin patch.  We had a great time and W and I really enjoyed having Daddy come with us this year!   We told W he needed to wear a hat so he insisted on wearing his fabulous gnome hat made by by very talented friend over at Blue Iris Hand Crafts (she is the friend I have shared a booth with at our Waldorf School's Holiday Bizarre/Fest of Fall for the past two years and her things are beautiful)!  I love this hat and I think W chose the perfect hat for the pumpkin patch!   Daddy of course picked out a huge pumpkin which our little gnome had quite a time trying to push in the wheelbarrow!

W also picked out his own smaller pumpkin which he tried to carry around himself...but it was really heavy!

So we put it in the wheelbarrow with Daddy's and let him try to push both pumpkins.

We also took a family trip through the hay maze.

And ended our trip with hayride.  W especially loved riding behind the tractor and getting to see the turkeys they keep at the farm.

We are eagerly awaiting carving our pumpkins for Halloween but enjoying them while they grace our front steps!

A Lovely Oak Tree For Our Autumn Nature Table

I've been trying to involve W and A in decorating the tree on our nature table this autumn.  We have been going on daily nature walks and mostly have been bringing in  lots and lots of acorns.  I'm honestly wondering if the neighborhood squirrels will go hungry this year because these two little ones have brought so many acorns into our house.  We have also collected lots of leaves and sticks and gum balls and rocks, but acorns are definitely their favorite think to collect on our walks!  Luckily, our outdoor play area is a little oak grove with several lovely big oak trees.  Unfortunately, part of the area used to be the neighborhood basketball court and is paved.  Still, there's lots of nature there for our enjoyment and we spend lots of time there!

To reflect this we decided that our nature table tree for fall should be decorated as an oak tree.  We started out by hanging some extra leaves from  our autumnal wreath on the bare tree.  We then added some lovely acorns.

I then had the kids paint with red and orange water colors on both sides of some card stock. Once the paintings dried, I traced my oak leaf cookie cutters and cut out lots of paper leaves in different sizes.  W and I rubbed the leaves with some cooking oil which really made the colors pop and we hung them on the tree.

We also added my sample of the wood pumpkins I'm going to have them paint next week.

Now I just have to figure out where I "put away" the other nature table items from last fall so that we can finish decorating our nature table.

Rhythm Thursday-Our Baking Day is Saturday

After a crazy July that included three nights in a hotel because of fumes in our apartment from renovations being done next door, a week of Vacation Bible School, a trip to visit family in NJ and a longer trip down the Blue Ridge Parkway, through the Great Smokey Mountains , to Norris Damn in Tennessee and side trips to Cumberland Gap and Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge TN, we are back home and slowly settling in and getting back into our family rhythm.  Bed times are getting earlier, I’m babysitting again after a three week break and things are going more smoothly.  While most of our July activities were pretty fun, they did leave our whole family feeling really unbalanced and out of sync and I think we have all welcomed our return to rhythm. 

One big thing that I had been wanting to implement in terms of rhythm, but  had not been completely successful with was establishing a baking day.  I decided that our baking day should be on Saturday so that we can have some fresh baked cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Sunday mornings as we are heading off to church.  This also is an effort to get us to eat a little healthier on Sunday mornings.  Cinnamon rolls made with xylitol and whole wheat bread seem a bit healthier to me than the doughnuts we are otherwise tempted to grab at church.  They also make a quick easy breakfast for the one day of the week that we tend to sleep in a little.  This week W and I made pumpkin pie brioche dough from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  I also used their recipe for cream cheese and honey frosting, but used maple syrup instead.  For the cinnamon roll filling I used a mixture of xylitol, cinnamon and coconut oil.  Because the dough needs to set, I ended up making the bread (for French toast) and the cinnamon rolls out and baking them in the evening after W was in bed.  W and I did however also make a queens cake which is a type of pound cake that is flavored with citrus and has currants mixed all though the batter.  The recipe comes from a little cookbook sold at Colonial Williamsburg.  It’s a special cake to me since the favors at my wedding included a little package of mini queen’s cakes.

W loves  “baking day” and I realized it was really the first time I’d done very much baking with him.  He thought the mixing and stirring was so much fun and he is such a little helper in the kitchen.  Ultimately my goal is to make up the bread dough for sandwich bread and brioche the evening before so that W can help shape and bake our bread and treats, and then to make one other item that he can help me to mix up on baking day.  I think this stands to be a really wonderful part of our family’s weekly rhythm!

Oh, and the cinnamon rolls were sooooo good!!!

Happy October! Pumpkin Granola Bars

Happy October! I just love this time of year with the cool mornings and beautiful afternoons! In honor of the month, I made some pumpkin granola bars this afternoon. Here's the recipe as closely as I can figure out to what I did. I have a bad habit of just throwing in a handful of this or that when I cook. I'll test this exactly next time and then make any necessary edits.

This is my own recipe loosely based on a couple of other granola bar recipes I found. Hope you enjoy them!

Pumpkin Granola Bars
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup flour
1/2 cup oat bran
3/4 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup sugar
1 t salt
2 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1 cup raisins
1 egg
1/3 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 T molasses
2t vanilla extract

Mix first 9 ingredients in a large bowl and make a well in the center. mix wet ingredients together and then add to the dry ingredients. Mix well. Pat into a greased 9x13 baking pan. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Cool for 8 minutes and then cut into bars.