Pumpkin Muffins

I know, I know.... these recipes are a dime a dozen this time of year but here's another one for free =)  This is a tried and true recipe that we've been using for many years.  This is easy to double (if you want leftovers you better make double!) It also works beautifully with dairy free milk and even vegan egg (flax egg)!  Anyone who has read my posts before knows that I am not a strict recipe type of person.... more of a use whatever you've got on hand kind of person.  I have made this recipe with many different variations out of necessity over the years.  Today I will show you the base recipe and also how today's version was baked.

Let me start by showing you the world's best cookbook!!  This particular cookbook was printed in 1969 and was the property of my mother-in-law.  She passed away before any of our girls had a chance to meet her but things like this give them a glimpse of their Nana.  Written beside recipes are her own notes on how she may have changed a recipe or what to change next time.  This book is filled with notes, stains, old receipts, and magazine clippings.  The binding has been falling off since the book came to us so to me that really shows how much this was a part of Nana's life.  I can't recall a single recipe I have used from this book that hasn't turned out exactly as it should.  It has a plethora of information on basic cooking and lots of pictures and diagrams.  If you ever see one like this at a yard sale or thrift store I would highly recommend picking it up.

Base recipe:
1 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour*
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 egg
1/2 cup raisins

*If using self-rising flour, omit baking powder and salt. 

Today's Version:
1 1/2 cup AP Flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 TB cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground clove
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup salted butter, melted
1 egg
1/4 cup pecans
1/4 cup chocolate chips

(for add-ins just make sure the total volume is 1/2 cup.  Could use all pecans, walnuts, all chocolate, or raisins.  What do you have in your pantry today?)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix all dry ingredients, separately mix all wet ingredients then add wet to the dry.  Mix just until flour is incorporated!  Batter should be lumpy.  Fill muffin tin (lined or greased) 2/3 full and bake for 18-20 minutes depending on your pan.  You can sprinkle tops with more sugar before baking if you want.

This is a simple, plain pumpkin muffin that doesn't fail to impress!  These are great for bake sales and will keep several days at room temperature in an air tight container...... good luck making them last though!   
 

Homemade Ghostbusters

Who ya gonna call?  The thrift store =)  Here's how I was able to make costumes for our whole family for under $25!!

First thing to keep in mind is that it's Halloween not a Hollywood movie set so no one will be critiquing each little aspect of your costumes and it's dark outside so when in doubt just fudge it to work!  So obviously for several reasons these are not exact movie replicas but the entire night no one had to ask, they knew we were Ghostbusters. 

Thrift early and thrift often!  I had an idea of what we wanted for each costume but I went shopping with an open mind and a willingness to see things as how they could be. 

I will start with the Ghostbusters.  I will do my best to be as specific as possible because I did not take step by step pictures.  I had wanted to find Khaki school uniform dresses but I didn't have much luck since very few schools here wear uniforms.  So I was able to snag matching khaki skirts and boy scout shirts.  I made emblems and name tags to cover the existing boy scout patches.  The color was slightly different from the skirt and shirts so I wanted to make a wide belt to take attention away from the colors.  The belts are duct tape, velcro, and printer paper.  Add black leggings and black long sleeve shirts for warmth. 
My husband's was just an Army jumpsuit found at a local military surplus store. 

 Black portion is double wide tape with a half width piece of glow-in-the-dark, back side is also covered in tape then the closure is sticky velcro.  The emblem is just printed and covered in contact paper then affixed with duct tape.  My husband had one too but he forgot to put it on =(

 Name tapes and emblems on the shirt were all just printer paper covered in contact paper, edged with glow-in-the-dark tape then lightly tacked down with white thread.  It held up just fine for a few hours =)

Here's the trial run to make sure everything fit.  Notice the little one had to be bribed to put hers on LOL 

Now I present to you: Stay Puft Marshmallow Girl! 

 

This one took a little while longer to figure out.  My original plan was to find white sweat suits one in the right size and one a few sizes too big and sew them together and stuff them..... then I found a 1 piece bunny costume about 5 sizes too big and had an epihany....  I promptly cut off the tail and realized I could take a pair of footie PJ's and cut out the feet and sew it inside the bunny suit leaving a hole for stuffing.... voila!  I used an old pillow and pulled out the stuffing then set to work getting the stuffing in all of the right places.  The bib was an old baby blanket sewed on and the red tie was made out of duct tape.   I realized on Halloween night the the actual stay puft guy wears a sailor hat, not a chef hat.... but once again no one even noticed. 

 

 



 

I almost forgot about the proton packs!  These were pretty fun to make.... mostly things salvaged from the recycle bin, lots of duct tape, and a hose from the thrift store.  The straps (not pictured here) were also duct tape that I stapled the the cardboard base to make sure it had enough stability.  I even used a shower curtain ring to hold the hose and keep it from falling apart.  The glow sticks were attached on Halloween night by using a piece of styrofoam inside the tube then sticking the glow sticks into the foam to make it look as though they were shooting. 

A few days before Halloween and I still had not found myself a jumpsuit or anything khaki.... but I found this green robe... it had a triangle piece at the front, I believe it was some sort of wizard robe at some point but I just cut off the triangle and made myself the Statue of Liberty..... and yes, technically a different movie than the Stay Puft but it all worked out okay =)

If you have any questions about how to improvise your own just leave me a comment!!