Memphis is Generous - Thank You!

Thank you to everyone who came out and donated to the Mid-South Food Bank and thanks to Memphis Memorial Park Funeral Home and the Memphis Farmers Market for giving us a space and time to host the our food drive. Because of you all, we have had a very successful food drive, collecting 15+ large boxes of food and personal items and $200 in cash donations for those in need.  Because of your generosity, the Mid-South Food Bank will be able to make 741 meals for people who otherwise would have gone without.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!

Pumpkin Muffins are an Autumn Necessity

I love every season for about 5 minutes before I start finding things to hate.  It's like this, I LOVE Autumn: cooler air, changing leaves, Halloween, my son's birthday, Thanksgiving, fires, boots, s'mores, hot tea, fall crops, and pumpkin flavored EVERYTHING.  On the other hand, Autumn means: cold, wet weather and fall allergy season.  So on the cold, wet days that I spend sneezing and wheezing, I try to whip up something warm and tasty and yes, usually pumpkin flavored.  We spent a little time the other day making jack-o-lanterns.  I ended up with about 3 lbs of cooked, pureed pumpkin to make stuff with.  So today I decided to make Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins.  I found a few recipes to use for inspiration and then gave them a little tweaking (you all know that I cannot leave a recipe alone, even on the first try).  So for your palate's pleasure, here is my version of Autumnal happiness:

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
Yield: 24
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons cloves
1/4 teaspoon ginger
4 medium eggs

2 cups pumpkin, cooked and pureed (or 1 can of pure pumpkin)
1 1/4 cups oil

8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup of confectioner's sugar

1 cup pecans, chopped
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 tablespoon of melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix cream cheese and confectioner's sugar in set in the refrigerator while you're making the muffin mix.  Mix melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon and add chopped pecans.  In a large mixing bowl, add all dry ingredients and stir until mixed.  Add eggs, oil, and pumpkin and mix until combined.  Put liners in a muffin tin and fill them 3/4 full with muffin mix.  Using a teaspoon, add a small dollop of cream cheese mixture onto the center of each.  Top with a small handful of pecans.  Cook for 20-25 minutes.  (Mine took 23 minutes)