Pumpkin Time...and I am SO happy!!

Well it's that time of year again--PUMPKIN TIME!! I love pumpkin. Pumpkin anything. So when I found a pumpkin brownie recipe last year I was ecstatic. Well just a while ago, I thought, "What if I combine the pumpkin brownie recipe and the baked oatmeal recipe I love so much?" 

The answer--MAGIC! Yummy, yummy magic!!

I make my baked oatmeal in a muffin pan. It's just easier that way to pop them out and grab one on the go in the mornings. (But you can make yours in a baking dish if you just have to--I won't mind).

So here's the recipe:

Cocoa-Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal
(makes 18 "muffins")

Ingredients:
3 cups old fashioned oats
2 large eggs, beaten
1/4 cup cooking oil
1 cup milk
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup pumpkin puree (I use Libby's)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt
2 or 3 tsp vanilla (your choice--I use about 2 1/2 normally)
2-3 tsp pumpkin pie spice (level tsp)
2-3 tsp cocoa powder (heaping tsp)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray muffin pans with cooking spray. 
Whisk together the eggs, oil, sugar, pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, and vanilla until smooth.
Add the oats, baking powder, salt, and milk. Stir thoroughly.
Spoon mixture into muffin pan wells. Bake 20-25 minutes, until cooked through. (Generally I end up cooking it closer to 25 minutes, just because the bottom of the "muffins" doesn't like to set without 25 minutes of cooking).
Remove from oven and let cool. Eat and enjoy! 

(just hit me--what else would be good in these? semisweet chocolate chips from Ghirardelli mixed in!)

And just FYI--I have some new patterns in my Etsy shop! Go here to see them.

Thanks for stopping by!

Dolphins galore...

Well, maybe not galore--but more than I normally see in a day's time *grin*

Coming up first today are the dolphins I saw on my last trip to Belize. That was almost a year ago! I really, really would like to go back...especially if I got to see these beauties again (and all the other lovelies I got to swim with--except for that one fish that pooped right in front of me--I don't care to see him again...)

And now for the other dolphin in my life. This one I made for my niece E. 

(The hedgehog from my last post went to niece R)

I just love these designs I've come up with! I know--I'm not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition, and if someone else had done that, my inner grammar nazi would be raging right now! Also, it may be a little iffy to toot my own horn by saying how much I love my own designs. Ha! Oh well! I can't help it. I do love them.

You can purchase the dolphin pattern at my Etsy shop: DesiBlue. I've also added a listing for my sunset-on-water embroidery--the completed item, not the pattern! So pop on over and check everything out.

On other news, I don't make New Year's Resolutions. But I do make some goals sometimes (not every year). This year one of my goals is to learn a new passage of scripture every month. I got this idea from Mandisa's blog (thanks!)

So January (and I know I'm late on posting about this) was 1 Corinthians 13 (NIV). So here goes--from memory!

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, 

I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge,

and I have a faith that can move mountains, 

but do not have love, I am nothing.

If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, 

it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.

But where there are prophecies, they will cease; 

where there are tongues, they will be stilled;

where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 

For we see in part and we prophesy in part,

but when completeness comes, what is in part will disappear.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, 

I reasoned like a child.

When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; 

then we shall see face to face.

Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain:

faith, hope, and love.

But the greatest of these is love.

February: Ephesians 6: 10-20. Here's what I have committed to memory thus far...

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his might power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground, and when you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, and the breastplate of righteousness in place,

Not sure which verse I've ended with there. Not even completely positive I haven't left something out. I'm still learning it...so I'll have to go back and check in a bit, but I'm gonna go ahead and put it out there!

What were your goals for the new year?? I'd love to hear some of them! Leave me some comments!!

Thanks for stopping by! (also, I didn't proof read this before I posted it because I'm super tired and just ready to go to bed! So forgive any typos, unintentional grammar mistakes, etc)

My Etsy Shop...

...is now OPEN!!!

Finally, I have a listing in my Etsy shop. It's only been "open" since, oh, I think April of this year...and completely empty!

But, as promised, I now have a listing for the pattern of the Calavera Owl Embroidery I did for my friend Heather for Christmas.

Please check out my shop here. I hope to have another new embroidery pattern listed soon (hopefully within the next 3-4 days). I also plan on having some other items for purchase sometime in January. I'll keep you all updated here.

Thanks for stopping by!