On Sunday we headed out to Long Island to go pumpkin picking at Stakey’s Pumpkin Farm. Going to Stakey’s with Tommy’s goddaughter has become a family tradition and every single year, it seems that the weather stinks. Either way we always have a blast, and what kid doesn’t like getting muddy, right?

I love Stakey’s because you get to actually go out into the field and pick your pumpkins off the vine, they have a ton of different varieties and their fields are huge. You could walk around for hours picking out pumpkins and if you’re like me, you find way too many perfect pumpkins and have a hard time choosing which ones to bring home. My favorite part is that you can pay for your pumpkin by the pound or do the all you can carry option, which is just what it sounds like. For $25 you can take home anything you can carry. We got 84 pounds of pumpkin!

No trip to the pumpkin farm is complete without some Apple Cider donuts. These were made while we waited and the little hands couldn’t wait for them to cool.

Now to carve the pumpkins!

Do you have any fall traditions? Do you go pumpkin picking?

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After many Facebook convos back and forth regarding whether it was right to go trick or treating, we decided it was a go. I had been hyping up Halloween for Alex for almost a month and I knew that he deserved to have fun and get some candy in the process. But before we set out to get sugar high, we ate a good breakfast – Blender Pumpkin Oat Pancakes. Pancakes are a breakfast that we love, so I always try to starts off exciting days with pancakes. Check out last year’s Halloween pancakes.

I had originally wanted to make Banana Oatmeal Pancakes that I saw in Fitness magazines, but after blending together my milk and oats I realized that we were out of bananas and pumpkin came to the rescue.

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Pumpkin Oatmeal Pancakes

 

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Ingredients

• 1½-C Skim Milk
• 1 C Rolled Oats
• ¾ C Pumpkin Puree
• ½-C Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 T + 1 t Baking Powder

Instructions

1. In a blender, puree milk and oats until smooth.
2. Add pumpkin puree, flour, and baking powder and puree a few seconds more.
3. Let batter rest for 10 minutes.
4. Heat a griddle over medium heat. Mist with nonstick cooking spray, then scoop batter into pan in ¼-Cup increments.
5. Reduce heat to medium low and cook pancakes until air bubbles appear and underside is golden brown, about 5 minutes.
6. Flip and cook about 5 minutes more.

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And at the end of the evening Buzz Lightyear was so tired that he couldn’t fly home…he had to be carried.

Do you have any special holiday breakfasts?

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Stakey’s has a flat rate for all you can carry, so we loaded up all eight pumpkin and had Tommy carry them. He almost lost a few along the way, but luckily they all made it to the register in one piece. The kiddies also got to jump in the bouncy castle before the rain returned. I was hoping on getting into the corn maze, but we had to get going and out of the rain. All in all, we had a great time, and got a great deal on our pumpkins!

I love these little traditions that we are starting with Munchkin and I cannot wait to decorate our pumpkins and the rest of the house.

What are your fall traditions?

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Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

40 mins

 

Serves: 24

Ingredients

• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 cups pumpkin
• 1 cup coconut oil

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Cover cream cheese in plastic wrap and shape into a log. Place in freezer for up to one hour.
3. Sift together all the dry ingredients.
4. If a large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, pumpkin and oil and mix well.
5. Add in dry ingredients, bit by bit, mixing in between.
6. Remove the cream cheese from freezer and cut into slices.
7. Fill muffin tins halfway and place a cream cheese slice onto each muffin and press into the batter.
8. Bake at 350F for 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean from the muffin part. Do not touch the cream cheese until it cooks.

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Try to eat just one…I dare you!

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I threw together one of my favorite waffle combos from last fall – Pumpkin Cream Waffles. All you need is a tablespoon of pumpkin, tablespoon of Chobani, some pumpkin spice and some maple syrup and viola!

 The next thing that I am dying to make are a healthier version of Starbucks’ pumpkin cream cheese muffins. Those babies were my BFFs when I was pregnant with Munchkin, but since then I’ve tried to stay away since they aren’t exactly the healthiest thing on the Starbucks menu.  Every time I step foot into Starbucks, I swear that I hear them calling my name from the pastry case! 

What pumpkin goodies do you want to try this season?

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