Autumn has arrived in Kansas!

It is about 40 degrees outside this morning! Unfortunately, we are not entirely ready as there is much wood left to split and stack. My husband's seasonal allergies hit hard at this time of year too so he limits his time outside. I think it may be a cold winter, has anyone heard the rumours?

I've been struggling at work a bit lately with "things" and "people" but God is good and still on the throne -- and everything will work out in the end.

We are all doing well health wise, and I am so thankful for the Lord for that. I have my car back FINALLY -- the shop had it for 24 days. {sigh}

I have been doing a lot of thinking and praying about life and things I need to change and things I need to do -- to be honest, I haven't posted because I was afraid I would just be BLUNT about some things that have gotten under my skin in the hopes it would get back to the people, but ultimately I know that is the wrong attitude.

Our Pastor defined attitude at Bible study on Wednesday -- Attitude is the direction that you want to take."

So -- which direction do I want to take? Enough said. God is good, I hate when I let Him down.

I made these yummy low fat Pumpkin Streusel Muffins. The original recipe came from here, but I changed it a tad. Amy shared that weight watchers skipped the egg and oil completely, and since I have made the Tupperware cakes in the microwave before with no oil, I figured it could work, but opted to add 1 T. of oil because the batter was too dry. Next time I will use a hand mixer instead of mixing by hand. These would freeze great -- and my goal is to stock up on healthy treats to freeze and have available, plus some type of breakfast food that my husband can grab when he runs late. (like this morning!) I have been staying away from processed foods as much as possible, but gave in to this cake mix recipe -- I just wish I could make a cake from scratch with the texture of a box of cake mix. The denser cakes/muffins are NOT my favorite at all.

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

1 package yellow cake mix (you can try different variations with other cake mixes too!)
1 can pumpkin (15 ounces)
1 egg (I used one egg beater)
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used 1 Tablespoon)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (next time I will use an 1/8 -- too much!)
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Crumb Topping:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/8 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1 T butter (I used a T. of Parkay Butter spray adding no fat and still have 1/2 left to make another batch)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all the muffin ingredients together and pour into a greased muffin tin. Combine brown sugar, flour, ground cinnamon, and butter to make the topping. Cut the topping together with a fork until it resembles a coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping on the top of the muffins before baking. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

My plan is to try and make these with a classic white cake mix and lemon filling this weekend. I'll let you know how they come out. For the crumb topping I plan on using white sugar and then some lemon peel and for the batter leaving out all the other spices but maybe adding a teaspoon of lemon flavoring. What do you think?

Also, my son keeps asking me for Pumpkin Roll, Pumpkin Pie, and this Layered Pumpkin loaf that was just in the new Kraft Food and Family and Magazine. This was yummy to my tummy! {grin} And low fat. You can also substitute some of the white flour with wheat.

Have a wonderful Saturday --