New Ideas

Today, we tried something new for lunch, thanks to MOMables, and something new for dessert/breakfast, thanks to King Arthur Flour. I love the fresh, new ideas we get from MOMables. If you haven't already, be sure and enter our giveaway for your own free 3-month subscription! I should say too that I did something new today too.. a guest post with one of our favorite companies, Melissa & Doug! It's been a great day!

MOMables turkey avocado melt, red grapes, dry roasted peanuts, and super salad (kale, tomatoes, red onion, carrot, edamame, blueberries, dry cranberries, sunflower seeds & vinaigrette).

And the dessert/breakfast we tried?? This year, due to illnesses running rampant in our household, we completely missed our trips to the local pumpkin farm. Part of that adventure is the glorious fried cider donuts. They close on October 31st every year, so there is no going late for our goodies. I've been craving fall donuts all fall it seems though, and I finally broke down and bought a real 'unitasker' .. the doughnut pan. It will never offer full replacement of those fried, hot cider donuts, but I was determined to make a doughnut that was still delicious, yet a bit better for me too. I came across a pumpkin doughnut on KAF's blog over a month ago, and finally decided to give it a whirl! Wow, am I glad I did. Again, if you are anticipating what you get out of a fryer, you may be a bit disappointed, but if you are after a delicious, dense cakey doughnut that delivers in full on flavor and texture, then you will be thrilled with this recipe! My only regret was that I only had the one pan, so had to run 3 batches in the oven. Thankfully, they only take about 15 minutes per batch! The original recipe said it makes 12 doughnuts, but for better or worse, I easily got 17 out of the recipe. Bonus!

Baked Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts
Ingredients - 1/2 c canola oil, 3 large eggs, 1 1/2 c sugar, 15oz can pumpkin puree, 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 3/4 c plus 2 Tbsp all purpose flour, sugar and cinnamon for dusting
Set your oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease your doughnut pan(s).
Beat together everything but the flour and dusting ingredients. Add flour and stir just until smooth. Spoon batter into pan, filling about 3/4 full. Bake 15 -18 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let them cool in the pan briefly before loosening them and gently removing them from the pan. While the original instructions suggested tossing in the cinnamon sugar while still warm, I had much more luck waiting until they were completely cool and sitting out a bit longer as they tend to get a slightly sticky exterior that made the sugar spice mix stick fantastic! I may or may not have dipped my doughnut in more cinnamon sugar as I ate it.. not telling.. Yum!!

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