Calling all Pumpkin Lovers!

                           

I love, love, love pumpkin! So much so that I only allow myself to eat eat pumpkin pie during he month of November because I've been known to have no problem polishing off an entire pie in one solo sitting. I DO however allow myself other pumpkin baked goods and tonight I made one of my favorites. It's a super simple recipe and I got it from a friends mother last fall. 

Pumpkin Walnut Cake-Muffins (kinda like a cupcake and a muffin blended together)

You need:

One box yellow cake mix

One can pumpkin purée 

Walnuts (totally optional but add great flavor and crunch)

To make:

Preheat oven to 350

Mix together all ingredients (makes a thick batter)

Spoon into lined muffin pan

Bake for 20-25 minutes

Seriously. That's all there is to it. I like these warm with a dollop of cool whip, especially for breakfast. They're also great with cream cheese frosting if you want them to be more dessert like and less muffin like. I love them and plan on making them a regular at my house this Fall!

                    

Time to get real

So I am one of those people who is always either fat or skinny. I'm never really in between and more often than not, I'm on the fat side of things, especially the older I get. I'm lazy and have a strong affinity for junk foods and a genetic predisposition for a short and curvy figure. On occasion, I get in a mood about wanting to lose weight and be healthier and occasionally, if that mood lasts long enough, I actually lose weight. 

Currently, I'm on the fat side and have just booked a vacation for 106 days from now to Punta Cana Dominican Republic. This means I need to drop some weight if I want to be happy with how I'll look in my swimsuit and in the pictures. Enter my new contraption: The Fitbit!  I just got it tonight and don't fully understand it yet but so far, I'm really excited about it and all that it can do. You wear it all the time and it tracks your activity levels and monitors your calories (both intake and burned) and it even monitors your sleep cycles! So basically I won't be able to lie to myself about my efforts. I'll have no choice but to be real with myself about what I've eaten or if I've worked out.  I can't wait to see if this will lure me into a lifestyle change that will hopefully be long lasting!  Watch for future updates as to how this works for me...