Ridiculously Easy Pumpkin Muffins

Ok, so I'm usually a fan of making things totally from scratch. It makes me feel good about the finished product and I like knowing exactly what is in things. But sometimes, I just want something, and I want it right now with hardly any work.  Bonus points if it isn't filled with oil and butter (mmmm...butter) since it is only October and there are still months of holiday baking ahead!

This morning I wanted to make pumpkin muffins! Then I started looking at recipes, and I realized I didn't really want to make them, I just wanted to eat them.  In the comments of one of the recipes I saw someone say to just mix a box of spice cake mix with a can of pumpkin and bake it! I have been seeing a lot of variations of that on Pinterest lately, and honestly that is the reason I bought that spice cake mix a couple weeks ago. So next time you are feeling lazy, take 3 minutes to mix these up, bake and enjoy!

Ingredients

1 box of spice cake mix (I used Duncan Hines)
1 15 oz can of pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

That's it! No eggs, no oil, no water.


Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place cake mix in a bowl. Add pumpkin. Mix with hand mixer until well blended. Batter will be stiff and lumpy. (If you are worried about there being too many lumps, you can put the cake mix through a mesh strainer so smash out the lumps. The muffins turn out almost exactly the same, but they are a bit prettier.)

Spoon into greased muffin tin. I used a mini muffin tin and filled all the wells completely full and then some. I just kept putting in batter until it was mostly evenly distributed. They did spread a little, but it was mostly up so none of them were touching by the time they finished baking, so don't worry about them being too full!

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 22-25 minutes (for mini muffins, I would say 25-30 for a regular tin) or until a toothpick inserted into the largest muffins comes out clean.

Let cool for 5 minutes and enjoy!  I was really pleased with the texture since I was worried about over mixing, but apparently that wasn't a problem either.

Now my whole house smells like fall!

Chicken Pot Pie Casserole

Fall is officially upon us! Here in Montana it went from 80-90 degree days to 40-60 degree days in the space of a week. We had one night that got down to 16 degrees, just to make sure all the flowers were really dead and so the leaves on the trees would start to fall.

I love having the oven on when it starts to get chilly (although I can't say I ever stopped using it this summer, yay for AC!) Now is the time I make lots of soups, casseroles and slow cooker meals. I recently found a recipe on Pinterest for Easy Chicken and Dumplings, and have converted it into this casserole.  It is warming and filling, although not necessarily low fat.  Leftovers reheat nicely, but casserole does not freeze well

I hope you enjoy this tasty casserole! I haven't been posting as many recipes as I would like to, but if I find things on Pinterest that I enjoy I always repin them to my I Made It! board along with my notes and opinion of the recipe! If you haven't already, check it out!

Ingredients:

• 2-3 cups of cooked chicken
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) of unsalted butter
• 1 cup self-rising flour (To substitute all purpose flour, use 1 cup of flour and add 1-1/4 teaspoon of baking powder plus 1/8 teaspoons of salt.)
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups chicken stock/broth (low sodium preferably)
• 1 can cream of chicken soup (also better if low sodium)
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1/2 a medium onion, chopped
• 1-2 potatoes, diced in small cubes
• 1/2-1 cup frozen peas, thawed under warm water
• fresh ground black pepper

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

You can use rotisserie chicken, leftover precooked chicken, or 2-3 pieces of raw chicken - preferably breasts.  If using raw chicken, poach it in the chicken broth or stock in a medium sized saucepan. Cook on a low simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes or until chicken is mostly done. It will finish cooking in the oven.  Remove the chicken and set aside to cool but reserve the stock.

While chicken is cooking, place the carrot, potatoes and onion in a medium saucepan with enough salted water to cover the veggies and cook until tender.

Melt 1/2 stick of butter and pour into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.

Shred the chicken and spread it on top of the butter.

Distribute the veggie mixture evenly over the chicken.

Sprinkle on the peas.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk and the flour and slowly pour that over the chicken and vegetables, taking care not to disturb the chicken and veggies too much. Do not stir.

Whisk together the chicken broth and the cream of chicken soup. I added some fresh ground black pepper to the mixture as well. Slowly pour that over the flour and milk mixture. Do not stir.

 Bake uncovered at 400 degrees F for 40 to 45 minutes, or until top is light golden brown.

Enjoy!

This last pic was the first time I made it and I forgot to add the peas! I cooked them in the microwave and stirred them in, lol. :)






Original recipe found here.