Pumpkin, and Spice, and Everything Nice

It's Tasty Tuesday! Head over to see Jen at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam for some gourmet inspiration.

This month, we've been looking for simple ways to celebrate Thanksgiving and being grateful for the blessings in our lives. I love it when I find little reminders of Thanksgiving that make my kids smile too.

I found these placemats a few months ago at JoAnn Fabric, on sale for 30% off. They were too cute to pass up.

A month or so after that first purchase, the turkey plates and cups were 50% off, so I brought those home too, and the girls love them.

Michaela Byrd is too little to drink out of the cup without spilling milk everywhere, but she loves talking to the turkey, who she sometimes calls a chicken.

I needed a good, kid-friendly recipe to fill those plates with. My sister dictated her recipe for Pumpkin Spice Muffins over the phone and I promised to give them a try.

{Pumpkin Spice Muffins}

Ingredients:

1 box spice cake mix

1 can pumpkin

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup water

2 eggs

Directions:

Beat all ingredients for 2 minutes on medium speed with an electric hand mixer. Beat at 1 minute on high. Bake according to box directions.

I served mine with cream cheese frosting. Yum!

{Cream Cheese Frosting}

from Williams Sonoma

Directions:

In a bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat 8 oz. cream cheese, 1 stick unsalted butter, 1 cup sifted confectioners sugar, 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (all items should be at room temperature) on medium speed until smooth and creamy (approximately 2 minutes)

To ice our muffins, I spooned some melted frosting into a plastic baggy inside a glass.

Then I snipped an end off:

Then drizzled icing over the muffins. Divine!

Did the same thing with unmelted frosting. Also delicious.

Natalie's preschool teachers were pleased. And they most definitely passed the kid test. My kids were practically dancing in their booster seats when they got a whiff of those babies!

Note: these are a little cakey (since we used a box mix), but really not bad and very simple!

It's Day #24 of 27 Days of Thankful. Click the link to find out what's going on here every day in November until Thanksgiving Day. Only a few mores days to go until Thanksgiving!

Today, I am thankful for new recipes that pass the "kid test."

{What are you thankful for today?}

If you link up, please include a link back to this post. Thanks!