Celebrating a Fall Morning

Colors in Toledo on Tuesday

Good morning!

It’s such a very fall morning this morning. Last night’s rain brought down a lot of leaves. David commented that he hasn’t seen this many leaves on the lawn this early in a long time. I hope it doesn’t mean we’re ushering in winter too soon! The oak tree in our front yard has been a highway of squirrels and chipmunks for the last month. I think I enjoy watching "Oak Highway” better than the kids do on Cat TV, but Chipmunk does his show right up by the screen so that holds their interest longer.

Pumpkins ready to harvest

In honor of the nice fall day, and the fact that David likes to sleep with the window in the bedroom open and it makes for a chilling exit from bed, I made a yummy hot breakfast! I put the recipe together last week and repeated it today to make sure the measurements were good. This breakfast is SO GOOD! I’m not sure if I should call it a breakfast cake or a bread pudding. It stands up on its own but it’s incredibly moist. It’s made with Greek yogurt, so it’s very high in protein. With the exception of 2 packets of Splenda, the sweetness is all natural and very low sugar. The pancake mix I usually use is Big Train low carb pancake and waffle mix. You could add a flavorless tablespoon of Benefiber to add some fiber to it too. I’m contractually not allowed to post the actual number of Weight Watchers Points Plus points on my blog, even on the Weight Watchers message boards. I guess that’s so no one "fudges” the points and people take them as gospel. I will say that I allow myself 10 points for breakfast and this with a Pumpkin Spice K-Cup fits. The nuts and raisins puts it negligibly over, but this cake is great without them too.

Here’s my recipe for the cake. I’ll be putting it on Davlicious too.

Super Moist Pumpkin Breakfast Cake

½ cup canned pumpkin
1 single-serve container Dannon Vanilla Oikos Greek yogurt
½ cup pancake mix
½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 packets Splenda
2 TBS raisins
1TBS chopped walnuts

Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Fold in yogurt and pumpkin. Mix well

Add walnuts and raisins.

Pour into a microwave-safe bowl that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Microwave on high 5 minutes

Serves 1, caution: raisins will be hotter than rest of cake


It’s a gray day today, a few peeks of sunshine, but one of the best things about fall is that even on gray days the yellow and rust colors from the trees I can see through the windows by my computer keep it from being so dreary. I have to go out to see oranges and reds, but even those, going out is just peering out the door. Those trees just aren’t by the computer windows. Fall is a perennial sunshine all on its own.