The best pumpkin muffins ever!

I wanted to bring a treat to Patty's to thank her for hosting me this weekend. Since it's practically September and the weather is turning fall-like here anyway (blech), I thought I'd make pumpkin muffins.

Besides being completely awesome, your house will smell heavenly when you bake these. Little kids love them and they also freeze really well.


4 1/2 cups sugar
1 large can of pumpkin puree (or 3 cups)
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup water
5 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tab cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking soda
2 + cups chocolate chips (as much or as little as you like)
1 cup chopped nuts (opt)

Whisk together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt & baking soda, set aside. Mix sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil and water. Add flour mixture. Stir in chips and nuts. Spoon into lined muffin trays. Bake 15-20 minutes in 350 degree oven or until a tester comes out clean.

Notes:

• This recipe makes a whole lot of muffins so I usually half it. I halved the recipe this time and it made two dozen regular sized muffins and four dozen mini muffins.
• You could also put some of the batter into a greased/floured loaf pan. If so, bake for about an hour or until the tester comes out clean.
• I used too many chocolate chips this time, which was one whole package of mini chocolate chips but they still totally rock.
• If you half the recipe, you just use a small can of pumpkin puree instead of the big one. I saved you from dirtying a measuring cup! You are SO welcome! :)

What makes a good road trip?

I'm going on a little road trip to visit this fabulous friend and her family:

What makes a road trip by yourself bearable and maybe even a little fun?

You must have one of these:


Which in turn is loaded up with a playlist including these three, sing-it-loud-and-proud CDs:




And you have to have some snacks right? In my family, we always went with this:

and some of these:

What do YOU need for a successful road trip????

It's Monday so that means I must be thinking!

I'm making cookies for some friends (nobody who reads this blog so don't get excited) and of course, I have all sorts of random thoughts running through my brain as I bake. So here ya go:

• August 25, 2008 -- the date I started wearing my Ugg slippers again. Oh summer, where art thou???
• Here is the easiest chocolate cake recipe: 1 chocolate cake mix, 1 large box chocolate instant pudding, 1 3/4 cups milk, 2 eggs and one bag of mini chocolate chips. Mix it all together and spoon (it's kind of thick) into a greased & floured bundt pan. Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes or until the tester tells you it's done. Let it cool, remove from pan & sprinkle with sifted powdered sugar. Teenaged boys love this. I brought this to an open house last night and got requests from no less than three of them to make this cake for their birthdays.
• Why is it so hard for me to trust my own promptings from the Spirit? I nearly always second guess myself. On this latest one, I thought I was just feeling bad because I was being lazy and wasn't up to a challenge that I was possibly going to face. But no, it wasn't that at all -- it was just that yucky feeling that "this is wrong, Jeanelle." I'm grateful for situations that remind me I need to trust myself more.
• I am seriously obsessed with the Aida (Broadway version) soundtrack. I have listened to it every day at work, all day, for the last week (since I saw the opera version.) I cannot get enough. It's playing right now, in fact. I think if I saw the Broadway musical now, I would probably cry. I do that when I see things I love on stage -- mostly at the beginning. Like I cried when I saw Les Miserables, Lion King, Wicked and Ragtime. I also cried during the Dancing Queen portion of Mamma Mia -- when all of the women are going together to dance down on the dock. There is something about the beauty of people singing and dancing, doing what they love. Does that make any sense at all???
• Back to baking - if you don't bake your cookies on parchment paper, you totally should. I also love my pampered chef digital timer. It soothes my anal retentive heart. Plus you can hear it when it goes off. Exactly what you want in a timer, right?
• So I know I've talked about this alot lately but please go read this post by C Jane today. She's a fairly new mom to a baby boy and is now taking care of three of her sister's four kids while her sister and brother-in-law are in the hospital being treated for serious burns. Her day one experience with her nieces and nephew in her home really made me think about how I would handle this if I were in her situation. I can't imagine how it would be for my life to go from the way it is now to one with three more children.
• Jason (single dad from Seattle area) is the new Bachelor. Hmm. You know what this means, don't you? I'm going to end up not liking him now.
• I booked a trip to Hawaii for later this fall. I hope to recreate this picture but with me in it too (note the totally awesome turtles behind the way cute kids.) And maybe without Matthew making a weird face and also without Natalie trying some America's Next Top Model pose. I'm just sayin'... ;)

Sixteen Candles

I spent most of this afternoon watching movies and making note card sets for some friends. It was such a fun and relaxing afternoon! I flipped channels and found the movie "16 Candles" to have on in the background while I worked. I was so happy (or to quote the Dong'er, I've never been so happy in my whole life!)

This movie is chock full of memories for me. My sisters and I quote memorable lines from it all the time. My friend Marielle and I even made up a trivia quiz for this cute boy in our stake. I really wish I still had a copy of it. When I was a senior in high school, this was our favorite movie to watch during our Laurel slumber parties.

Now I know what you're thinking. How could our YW leaders let us watch that movie? I KNOW! That's exactly what I'm thinking and have thought every time I watch it. I don't know how in 1984/1985 that watching this kind of movie was acceptable for a youth activity. Do you think we just didn't notice the bad language back then?

I love that our youth today have much higher standards than I ever did when I was their age. I love that they are careful and particular about the movies they see. I also love that I can watch the edited version of this movie often, thanks to the wonderful world of cable television.

Almost as much as I love Jake Ryan.

Almost.

What I can't stop thinking about this week...

If anyone reading this feels so inclined and has the means to give to the fund supporting the Stephanie & Christian Nielson family, please click the donate button on the right (read why here.)

Read a little (or a lot) of the NieNie dialogues and I promise you will fall in love with this amazing family. And even if you don't have the means to give, just read and be inspired. I love how Stephanie lives her life to the fullest, is proud to be an LDS wife & mother and does it all with impeccable grace and style.

Crush

There's a crush-worthy boy at work and he's called a couple of times this week. So fun!

Sigh.

No, there is no hope and no I'm not going into detail but a crush is kinda nice once in awhile.

And I'll say it again: sigh.

Some Monday Night Why's...

• Why is it so hard to make stupid little decisions sometimes?
• Why did the temperature drop like 25 degrees in the last two days?
• Why do the track and field people seem much more cocky than the swimmers?
• And speaking of track and field, why does that guy from Jamaica start slowing down BEFORE his race is even over? I can see trying to save yourself for the actual race but seriously? You are THAT amazing that you just have to slow down a little, look around at the losers you're beating and bask in your own greatness? I don't like him.
• I know I've asked this before but why do bad things keep happening to good people?? I finally was able to do something for Michelle & Rick (my friends who are dealing with lung cancer.) She isn't able to talk to people without crying so I called her housekeeper to let her know they wouldn't be needing her for awhile. I was THRILLED to be able to do SOMETHING and told Michelle I would happily be her personal secretary. The other bad thing I'm thinking about is C Jane's sister Stephanie, who was in a plane crash with her husband and his flight instructor (who did not survive.) They have four children at home. I can't even imagine this kind of pain and I don't even know these people except through their blogs. :( Lots of prayers are needed...we could seriously pray for days to include everyone who needs prayers, couldn't we??
• To lighten things up a little, why oh WHY does my upstairs neighbor have to slam her toilet lid down EVERY time she goes to the bathroom? Ah, the joys of condo living... I'm about ready to buy her one of those non-slamable toilet seat thingys my friend has at her house (they are way cool if you haven't seen them before.)
• Why did I worry even a minute about the judgemental guy from last week? His sister-in-law (who was also on the addressee list) shared the email with her other sisters-in-law, his brothers and mother-in-law and let's just say that he got a lot of helpful feedback from his family this weekend.
• Why does it seem impossible at times to get people to serve in Primary? It's like people do not understand that the children are our future, treat them well and let them lead the way (and if you're not singing like Whitney Houston right now, then you've got somethin' wrong with you!) But seriously, we cannot run the Primary with like 1/2 of the needed staff. I've got to find 1-2 subs this Sunday and then starting next Sunday I'll need to find 2 more on top of that. That's just for Junior Primary and Music!
• Why does Google Reader sometimes take FOREVER to post new items (like 12 or more hours?) What is up with that anyway?
• Why can't I finish "Breaking Dawn?" I seriously have no interest in what happens.
• And finally, why have I still not made a dentist appt? I am beyond lame.