Easy Pumpkin Spice Muffins

I saw this somewhere and can't remember where, but I thought I'd give these muffins a try. They aren't the prettiest muffins I've ever seen, but they sure were tasty!

1 box spice cake mix

1-15 oz. can pumpkin

1 cup cinnamon chips

Preheat the oven to whatever it says on the cake mix box. I think mine was for 350 degrees F. Mix together the cake mix, pumpkin and cinnamon chips. Drop the mix into cupcake liners and bake for time stated on box for cupcakes. I think mine took about 21 minutes. Enjoy!

Pasta with Pumpkin and Sausage

It was Jim's turn to come up with dinner. We had already taken some Jennie-O hot Italian turkey sausages out of the freezer so that's what he had to work with. Well he found this recipe and it turned out really good! The recipe actually calls for sweet sausage and we used hot, so I would like to try this out with the sweet sausage next time. And the recipe also calls for heavy cream but Jim decided to use Half & Half instead...it worked fine.

1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon
1 pound bulk sweet Italian sausage - we used hot in links but we just removed the casings
4 cloves garlic, cracked and chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
4 to 6 sprigs sage leaves, cut into chiffonade, about 2 tablespoons
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup chicken stock, canned or paper container
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup (3 turns around the pan) heavy cream - we used Half & Half
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg, ground or freshly grated
Coarse salt and black pepper
1 pound penne rigate, cooked to al dente
Romano or Parmigiano, for grating

Heat a large, deep nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and brown the sausage in it. Transfer sausage to paper towel lined plate. Drain fat from skillet and return pan to the stove. Add the remaining tablespoon oil, and then the garlic and onion. Saute 3 to 5 minutes until the onions are tender. Add bay leaf, sage, and wine to the pan. Reduce wine by half, about 2 minutes. Add stock and pumpkin and stir to combine, stirring sauce until it comes to a bubble. Return sausage to pan, reduce heat, and stir in cream. Season the sauce with the cinnamon and nutmeg, and salt and pepper, to taste. Simmer mixture 5 to 10 minutes to thicken sauce. Return drained pasta to the pot you cooked it in. Remove the bay leaf from sauce and pour the sausage pumpkin sauce over pasta. Combine sauce and pasta and toss over low heat for 1 minute. Garnish the pasta with lots of shaved cheese and sage leaves.

Ginger Pumpkin Meringue Pie

I found this in my BH&G magazine and just HAD to make it. I still had a pre-made crust in my freezer so I used that instead of making the gingersnap-graham crust. It was still really good though!

1 pre-made crust or 1 gingersnap-graham crust, below
1 15-oz. can pumpkin
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 Recipe Brown Sugar Meringue, below

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare Gingersnap-Graham Crust; bake 4 minutes. Cool on wire rack. For filling, in bowl combine pumpkin, sugar, ginger, salt and cinnamon. Add eggs.; lightly beat with fork to combine. Gradually stir in milk and maple syrup. Pour filling into pastry shell. To prevent overbrowning, cover edge of pie with foil. Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Uncover edges. Reduce oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Carefully spread Brown Sugar Meringue over hot filling; seal to edge. Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack. Loosely cover and refrigerate within 2 hours.

Gingersnap-Graham Crust:In large bowl combine 3/4 cup finely crushed gingersnaps (12 cookies), 1/2 cup finely crushed graham crackers (7 squares), and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Stir in 1/4 cup melted butter. Spread evenly on bottom and up the sides of 9-inch pie plate.

Brown Sugar Meringue:In large mixing bowl let 3 egg whites stand at room temperature 30 minutes. Add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar, and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Beat on medium until soft peaks form. Gradually add 1/3 cup packed brown sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating on high speed until mixture forms stiff peaks (tips stand straight).

This isn't the greatest picture, but you get the idea. And it was strange...it seems like the brown sugar sort of beaded up on top of the meringue once it cooled.