Pinterest and Yummy Muffins

So I originally took awhile to check out Pinterest. I have a problem with becoming obsessed with checking things on the internet and I didn't need ANOTHER site beckoning me to the computer. Finally, I gave in. I didn't get the hype at first... unfortunately, now I do. I dig it... BIG TIME! It was a great help when I was looking for ideas for the house, but I am really on there for the recipes. I am a cooking blog hound... I LOVE them... as in I can't get enough looking at recipes. I look at so many that when it comes time to bake or cook... I can't decide on what to make because I have seen SO many! Anyway... today I was going to make pumpkin spice mufffins. Its raining here and cool and pumpkin muffins just scream fall to me. So I had planned on making Pioneer Woman's recipe , which are to die for, but I didn't have any evaporated milk in the house. Hoping to find another worthy recipe, I turned to my new friend Pinterest... and there were plenty to check out there. This recipe was the winner...YUM!!! Make these... trust me... you will thank me! SO good!!!! Even my picky 3 year old loved them...which is saying something!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Courtesy of Annie's Eats


Printable recipe here

Yield: 24 muffins
Ingredients:For the filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
For the muffins:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups pumpkin puree
1¼ cups vegetable oil
For the topping:
½ cup sugar
5 tbsp. flour
1½ tsp. ground cinnamon
4 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Directions:
To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar in a medium bowl and mix well until blended and smooth.  Transfer the mixture to a piece of plastic wrap and shape into a log about 1½-inches in diameter.  Smooth the plastic wrap tightly around the log, and reinforce with a piece of foil.  Transfer to the freezer and chill until at least slightly firm, at least 2 hours.
To make the muffins, preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line muffin pans with paper liners.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking soda; whisk to blend.  In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the eggs, sugar, pumpkin puree and oil.  Mix on medium-low speed until blended.  With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated.
To make the topping, combine the sugar, flour and cinnamon in a small bowl; whisk to blend.  Add in the butter pieces and cut into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender or two forks until the mixture is coarse and crumbly.  Transfer to the refrigerator until ready to use.
To assemble the muffins, fill each muffin well with a small amount of batter, just enough to cover the bottom of the liner (1-2 tablespoons).  Slice the log of cream cheese filling into 24 equal pieces.  Place a slice of the cream cheese mixture into each muffin well.  Divide the remaining batter among the muffin cups, placing on top of the cream cheese to cover completely.  Sprinkle a small amount of the topping mixture over each of the muffin wells.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before serving.  (It may be hard to resist immediate consumption, but the cream cheese filling gets very hot!)

**
I didn't have cloves and I couldn't find my nutmeg so I just used 2 Tbsp of Pumpkin Pie spice... still good!!!

Moving!

We have been moving for the past week... it has been SO fun!!!! (sense the sarcasm here). Seriously, though... I do enjoy getting everything settled in and put away. I have been able to make REAL meals... in a NORMAL sized kitchen which has been HEAVEN!!!! I still have my handyman in the house completing all the little projects we have going... they seem to be neverending! I am also proud to say that my not so handy husband has surprised me in the past week. He replaced light switches in all the bedrooms... and he did it CORRECTLY!!!! He also drained and cleaned the spa, replaced outlet covers, and put together furniture, on top of moving all of our stuff from the apartment and storages. I think that there just may be a handy guy in there waiting to come out... or maybe not! :)   As soon as I get most of our junk things put away... I will update with a few pictures! Now back to unpacking!!!!

Remodeling for Dummies

Reminder to me... DO NOT REMODEL HOUSE EVER AGAIN! This is a nightmare! Seriously... I don't have the energy for this. My mother keeps telling me how "fun" this is.  FUN???? I think she may need to check out the definition of fun again.... It just seems like one project turns into 15 other related projects that need to be completed by different people and add more to the cost. So here is a list of a few remodeling do's and  A LOT of don'ts from me:

DON'T let your tile guy talk you into letting him remodel your bathroom without completely finding out ALL ADDITIONAL COSTS!!! He BEGGED me to let him tile the bathroom and shower area in addition to the flooring that I wanted him to do. So I agreed... with the final price in mind. After he rips everything out he starts asking when the plumber will be there. Say what??? The PLUMBER? I didn't call a plumber... I had no idea that I needed to call a plumber! So, apparently, I now need a plumber. Tile Guy recommends one and we call him... plumber crisis resolved for a mere $1000. :(

DON'T anticipate being able to reuse ANYTHING after tile guy gets ahold of it.  I see the shower glass is outside while bathroom is being tiled and it is still is good shape. So I plan to just replace the hardward and reuse the glass. YAY! The next day... GLASS IS BROKEN INTO A GAZILLION PIECES!!! Now I have to get quotes on replacing shower glass... again crisis solved for another $1000!

DON'T assume Tile Guy will replace everything he rips out. Apparently replacing baseboards is NOT in his job description. GRRRRR!

DON'T listen to Tile Guy when he tells you that he has a buddy who will replace the baseboards for "real cheap". Apparently "real cheap" means different things to different people.

DON'T pay Tile Guy for his finished work when he still has to replace a few poorly placed tiles... He may SAY that he will be back on Monday... but he has yet to return a phone call. Hmmmm???

DO find yourself a nice, hardworking handyman that can do multiple things for you when you barely mention it to him. I LOVE the guy installing my new pantry. That was what he was hired for... however our conversations go a little something like this:

Me: "Hey, Sean... Tile Guy left the front door with an inch gap at the bottom and say's he can't fix it... do you know anything about that?"

Sean: "Yeah... I can fix that for you."

Me: "Hey, Sean... I really would like to remove the flourescent lighting in the kitchen and put in canned lighting and finish off the ceiling... do you  know anyone who does that?"

Sean: "Yeah, I can do that for you"

Me: "Hey, Sean... the previous owners ripped out this cabinet and left this awful looking space here... do you know where we could get a matching cabinet and have it installed?"

Sean:" Yeah... I can get you a matching cabinet and install it."

Do you see the pattern here??? I LOVE this guy! :)

He is doing all of this, plus installing the granite in my bathrooms and later he said he would come back in put in invisible hinges on my kitchen cabinets, because we currently have exposed ones and they don't look that great with the new paint.

Here are a few pics of the project that is still underway...

Kitchen with painted cabinets

Still need to get rid of the hinges and replace the hardware

Removed the wood desk and installed a BIG pantry... Woohoo!!! Mama likes her some storage space!

Master shower (sans shower glass... grrrr and tub)

Middle of the backyard and built in kitchen

Pool

Front

Front

So there it is... this has been an UTTER and COMPLETE... PAIN. IN. MY. HINEY. I am praying that we will be able to move in this weekend. We will see. :)

Paige at 15 months

Our sweet little girl is 15 months!

Paige...

You are a walking machine now. You didn't start walking until about 2 weeks ago, and now you can't be stopped. We think you are so cute when you toddle around.

You like to talk now... A LOT. You can say Mommy, Dada, Hailey, Jack, Nana, Pop, Hi, Bye, dog, duck, thank you, ball, baba, night-night, no, mine... (and more)

You love to suck your thumb... :)

You weigh about 22 lbs and wear 12- 18 month clothes

You are starting to be a picky eater. You used to eat EVERYTHING... but now you turn your head when I offer you food. Right now you will eat cereal, yogurt, grilled cheese sandwich bits, peas, nilla wafers, graham crackers, applesauce, bananas, refried beans, rice, raviolis, and sometimes squash and sweet potatoes. You love to have little samples of my food and have eaten lasagna and fish if I feed you off of my fork... but NOT if I put it on your tray.

You are sassy and sweet. Your sweet smile can charm anyone... but you sometimes make people work to see it! :) I guess you got some of mommy's attitude! haha

You love to play with your brother and sister... one of your favorite things is when they come into the room in the morning... you light up when you see them... it melts my heart!

Paige, you are such a precious baby and such a wonderful addition to our family. We all love you so much!

Happy 15 months!

P.S. Taking pictures of you is nearly impossible right now... you DO NOT like to pose... we will have to remedy this soon! :)

Gymnastics for the WILD man

In my last post, I spoke of taking Jack to gymnastics. He LOVES it! He goes once a week with his little friend Natalie and they are SO CUTE! We were worried that he would run around doing his own thing and not listen to the teacher, but he has done a great job!

Mama's sweet boy!

Being a good listener!

Floor time

Backward somersault... He gets his skills from me! HA! The little girl behind him likes him... a lot. She is always trying to sit next to him and he just pushes her away... its tough being a ladies man!

Waiting for his stamp and sticker

The coolest sticker EVER!!!! :)

I have enjoyed watching him grow and learn to listen to others. I hope he continues to do great job.

How I get through the day...

My existence today is brought to you by the letter C and the number 2. Do you ever have those days where you wonder if you can make it through the day??? I do. That's why coffee is my friend. He gets me through the day.Today was a home brewed day... I am partial to Folgers French Roast (ahhh... can you smell it???) with a splash of Coffee Mates Italian Sweet Cream... (I am actually drooling right now!). If you haven't tried it... DO! It is fabulous! If its a Starbucks kind of day, I am all about the Skinny Vanilla Latte... YUM!

It has been a rough week... and it shows no sign of stopping. I am currently watching my 3 year old undress himself for the third time today so he can wear his beloved Thomas pajamas...

Me: Jack, we are leaving for gym class in a minute... keep your clothes on.

Jack: (pointing to his Thomas pj shirt) This is mine outfit.

Me: No,(holding up normal shirt that I dressed him in this morning) THIS is your shirt.

Jack: (Pointing again) THIS is mine outfit.

Me: You can't wear pajamas to class... let's put on your shirt now.

Jack: YES! THIS IS MINE OUTFIT!!!!

Three year olds are nothing if not persistent...  I think it may be time for a third cup!

Living La Vida Loca

As the title of this post suggests... life has been CRAZY!!!! The week after school started, the house closed escrow and the fun began! We are redoing A LOT inside this house. The people who owned it before us obviously had NO IDEA how to treat a house as it was pretty beat up. We are installing all new flooring, new paint everywhere, new bathroom tile and granite, installing a pantry, etc. It has become a fairly costly large  project... and that doesn't even begin to describe the little things that you don't think of, like drawer pulls, and fixtures, and baseboards, and fans. It is all a bit overwhelming for someone used to moving into a "new" new house! But I am SUPER excited to see how it all looks when we finish. Mind you I say "we" are doing all of these things, but "we" are not so handy... okay not handy AT. ALL. Jason tries... he really tries... and I love him for it.... but... well... let's just say Ty Pennington won't be recruiting him to help on Extreme Makeover... (unless they need help on the demolition crew! ) HA!
Here are some "before" pics of the house...

I wanted to redo the cabinets, but OH MY is THAT ever expensive. So for now they are getting painted! :)

Living and Dining Room... can't wait to see the new floors!

HUGE Master Bedroom

The family room... it is getting new flooring and the wood cabinets will be painted.

I can't believe that I didn't take a picture of the front or the back. The back yard is what sold me on the house. It is great! So far, all of the flooring has been cleared out and the painter begins today! I'll update the pics soon ...