Pinterest Craze Pumpkin and Cream Oat Muffins!

So if you've joined the latest Pinterest craze (which I must admit I am officially hooked) then you MUST have seen the recipe for the Pumpkin Cream Cheese bread going around that claims to be 500 calories per loaf.  Well I don't know if I really believe that, but I just HAD to check it out.  Clearly someone doesn't know how to add because under the serving size it says 14 slices per loaf with about 46 calories per slice. Well the loaves turned out to be SUPER SMALL.  So yeah, maybe I do believe, but come on 46 X 14 = 644.  NOT 500.  But so anyway, I love pumpkin. Love doesn't begin to describe my feeling for the over grown squash.  In October when the organic cans were on sale for 2 for $3, I bought about 10 cans.  October is my favorite food month I think just because people start putting pumpkin in EVERYTHING.  

Well so anyway I was examining the recipe more and more and decided to play around with it.  So play around I did.  I made 6 muffins and 1 small loaf.  Moderation is key with anything sweet, so the muffins really help me portion control, but you can use a loaf pan if you want.

You can find the original recipe here.  By all means use that recipe if you want, but here is my variation!  

Yields about 10 medium size muffins (that's a guestimate btw, like I said I made 6 muffins and 1 small loaf).    

Batter:

1 15 oz can pureed pumpkin.
3/4 c. unsweetened cinnamon applecause
1 whole egg
1/2 c. egg whites
1 c. oat flour (just take 1 cup rolled oats and throw them in the blender to create the flour)
2/3 c. whole wheat pastry flour
8 packets stevia in the raw
1/2 c. cane sugar (I went for the lower end of 1/2 c.)
1 t. baking soda
1 tbs. cinnamon
1 t. vanilla extract

Cream filling:
4 oz light cream cheese (I had neufchâtel cheese in my fridge which is basically a very light cream cheese)
1 tbs. whole wheat flour
1/3 c. egg white
1 t. vanilla extract
2 tbs. cane sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

1. Mix the batter:  Use an electric mixer if you want, but I just threw everything into my blender after making the oat flour.  Make sure everything mixes evenly.  A food processor would work better then a blender. I really need to get one of those!

2. For the filling mixture, let the cream cheese get soft then in a mixing bowl, use your electric mixer to beat everything together.

3.  Be sure to grease whatever kind of pan you use!  Pour half of the batter into your pans and then pour the cream cheese mixture over each muffin or loaf.  Lastly cover the cream cheese mixture with the rest of the batter. It's okay if you still see white after covering it with the rest of the batter!

Pop in the over and bake for about 30-40 minutes.  Keep an eye on them because cooking time will vary with whatever size pan you use.

My advice: Make sure you stick to your guns with portion control!  Even too much of a good thing is bad.  I ate the first muffin and wanted to go back for more, but I didn't!  I'm saving them for the next few days!   Gonna share these yummy treats with some friends too.

That's all for now!   ENJOY!  Later I'll post my version of baked oatmeal that I got from Pinterest as well.

Love.

I need to post more....

So I've had all these thoughts lately.  Thoughts where I go, I should really blog about this.  And then I just don't. I get home and I'd rather be lazy or go to bed. Tonight is not one of those nights. We had a wind ensemble concert tonight.  I love performing.  And I use the term love loosely.  It doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about performing.  Performing has taught me so much throughout my meager unimportant life.  It has taught me how to make friends, how to strive for excellence, how to persevere, and the list goes on and on.  Rarely during a performance do I actually have thoughts that I can go back to and meditate on.  Performance thoughts are much like a dream.  You dream so much during any given sleep, but usually you remember one dream, possibly two if any at all.  I usually get done with a performance and can't tell you what I was thinking about throughout the piece.  If I can tell you what I was thinking about it was usually because I was over thinking the piece, which happens a lot.

But tonight I can tell you a little about my thought process and it wasn't because I was over thinking it at all.  We played a piece by Frank Tichelli tonight called "Sanctuary."  You can find a recording of the piece here.   So a few rehearsals ago the graduate student conductor went on about finding what your sanctuary was during this piece.  Most of the time those sort of things don't work for me, unless I'm in a performance setting.  Well tonight, during the concert we were playing and I had all these memories flood my mind.  I can't remember all of them, but the ones that stuck out were like so:  1.  One of the memories was me running in Ohio during the Bluecoats move in for 2010.  2. Another was me having lunch with a friend from my undergraduate while on tour with drum corps.  3.  The last one I remember was me exploring Japan by myself in 2008 when I was performing with Brass Odyssey.  

There were other memories and thoughts, but much like a night of dreaming where you have multiple dreams but remember few, those are the only ones I can recall now.    

I suppose my subconscious was trying to tell me that those places are my sanctuaries.  One of my sanctuaries involves me taking care of myself.  Running as always been an emotional and spiritual act for myself.  I don't run to go fast, or to prove anything, I run because I can (even thought the past few months I physically have not been able to, I'm working on that!), because it is one thing can do that has absolutely nothing to do with anything else in my life. It makes me feel good. Another one of my sanctuaries is my relationships.  My friends.   What is a career or life if you don't have people that you love to do it with it?  I don't feel like I need to expand more than that.  And the last sanctuary that stood out tonight was me exploring the world, alone.  This may contradict what I just said, but I'm not afraid to search for my life by myself.  That is something that has never been an issue for me.  I have a goal and a dream, and I will continue to explore that area of my life.   Maybe my short responses to these thoughts don't make sense to you, and that's okay.  It's late, and I'm tired, and it mostly makes sense to me.

I have so many other things to say, but that's about it for now.  Hopefully tomorrow I'll post again.  I really do need to be better about posting here...

Love.

2012

I realized something today.   Up until today I thought this year was going to be my year, a year all about me. About my success, my career, my life, my dreams, etc.  But you know what? 2012 is not about me.  2012 is about God.  2012 is about my God, AND my relationship with my savior.  

Clean start

Well we've made it three days into this great new year.  Today someone asked me why I blog.  I mean, its a good question.  Why would anyone put their thoughts and life stories on the internet and then request that people read it?  Who knows... But I do like having the outlet to put down a few thoughts from time to time.  Somethings I put in here I talk to people about all the time, and other things are more personal.  It's good to get thoughts out.  Anybody out there remember live journal? or Xanga? I had a live journal back in the days before Facebook.  Blogging was the social network then.  Everyone had one!  I even started mine out of peer pressure.  After the Facebook phenomena I left the blog world for a while.  I started blogging again when I started eating clean back in 2010.  I started that blog as a food journal to keep me honest.  SO returning to my food journaling days...

I started Cooler 1 (from Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Diet Recharged yesterday. So since I'm laying in my bed about to go to sleep I guess I've made it through 2 days.  2 down, 12 to go.  No refined sugar, no processed foods, lean proteins, lots of veggies, and low complex carbs.  I will have to cheat a little though! haha Bama plays LSU on Monday for the national championship title.  Number 14. Well that's all for now.  Peace.

Happy New Year

I don't really believe in New Years Resolutions.  In my opinion, every day is a new opportunity to make life changes.  That being said, it doesn't mean I don't take the opportunity to think about new goals for a new year.

Goals for 2012:

• Make more random acts of kindness.  
• Think positive.  Start and end the day with one positive affirmation.  
• Run a race with a friend.
• Get a job teaching high school band somewhere in this great country. 
• Floss at least 365 times.  

Well that's it for now.  I'm sure I'll come up with more goals this year.  2012 is my year.  There are good things coming.  I just know it.  

Put your feet up.

Sitting on my couch watching Netflix after a long day.  It sure is nice.  

Woke up and did some cleaning, ran some errands, got my modem and apple airport set up, played a little trombone, and went to work at Buca.   Doesn't really sound like that much but 13 hours later... haha   

I'm amazed at how fast the days go by.  Tomorrow will be insane.  Work at 11:30 am then a women's basketball game at 7pm.   I need to make a to do list for tomorrow.  I can't believe I'm leaving again on Thursday.  At least we'll be back on Saturday night.  I know it will be New Years Eve, but I'll probably spend the night in my apartment.  Maybe not.  But a football and a flight make for a really really long day, and sometimes there is nothing like just chilling out.  

Four days left in this year.  The goal? To simply enjoy.  

The end of the year always brings a time for reflection...well if you ask me, I've reflected enough!  Like I've mentioned before, I wouldn't call 2011 the greatest year in the life of Lisa Tatum.  Don't get me wrong definitely some good stuff in 2011, but I'm not sad to see this year end!  I am so excited for the future.  There's this whole sense of excitement and adventure in not knowing what will happen after May.  I'll end up where I should, I just gotta do it right in order to get there. = )  

Christmas time is here...

Has it really been almost a month since my last post?  I must admit it sure has been one heck of a whirlwind.  It still amazes me how much I change in such a short amount of time.

In less than five months I will be done with graduate school round 1.  I will have a Master of Music in trombone performance.  Even with being so sick and exhausted this past semester I still managed to give school one awesome right hook and land a 4.0.  I'm sitting on a 3.9 right now.  Pretty amazing.  I'm pretty proud of myself.  I really have put some major effort into growing and learning over the past year and a half.  The crazy thing is, the closer I get to finishing this degree the more I'm looking forward to the next steps I have to take to get what I want out of life.  In just a few short weeks I've gone from totally planning a trip overseas to Italy to realizing that is just too expensive (unless I can score a buddy pass for a flight) and coming to terms with the fact that I need to keep on my path right now.  I've also been pretty set on finding a job in the Salt Lake City area for the past few months.  I really do want to stay in the Salt Lake City area, but the closer I get to not having insurance or a full-time job, the more I can't stand the thought of it.  I've decided to broaden my horizons a little bit.  I've decided to look for jobs in the SLC, Chicago, and Washington D.C. areas.  SLC would definitely be my first choice, but I'm not gonna put all of my eggs into one basket.  No dumb girl here, this blonde is a smart one.  I've already started the application process for a school 35 miles north of Chi-town.  I'm not gonna lie, I would absolutely love that.  The idea of teaching high school for 3 years kind of makes me sick to my stomach a little bit, but it is something I've got to do.  Maybe I'll get in there and absolutely love it.  I will definitely make the best out of it no matter what.

Winter Break 2011 has been a whirlwind all in itself.  I finished all of my school work (including a 16 page paper) and it all turned in Tuesday a week ago, went out for an end of the semester  celebration, and then woke up at 6am the next day to hop on a flight to Chicago.  Chicago was glorious.  I absolutely love that place.  I haven't been to Chi-town since 2009 (well I was there for about 6 hours the summer of 2010, but I don't really count that), and I remember after going to Midwest that year how obsessed I was with the city and how I set my mind on living there someday.  I had recently forgotten why I ever thought that was a good idea, but after being there again I remembered my love for the place (thus the plan to look for teaching jobs in the area).  The food was amazing, the company was wonderful, the sights were to die for, and the music was, well inspiring.  I heard the Chicago Symphony perform Mahler 6.  The symphony is 80 minutes long, and let me tell you every minute of it was beyond exhilarating.  After my time in Chicago was up I took the train out to Peoria to see my Aunt Janice.  It was so very good to see her and my cousin while I was there.  I hadn't had the opportunity to see them since my last trip to Midwest in 2009.  Well while I was there my dad had some pretty serious health problems.  He had two blood clots in his leg.  He went to the hospital where they admitted him, which was a very good thing because the next day they had found that multiple clots had traveled to his lungs.  He is going to be okay, but he has some serious life changes to make.  Thanks to all who have been praying for my dad.  There really is nothing like the power of prayer.  God has been looking out for my pops.  I got home late Tuesday night and have been hanging out with him at the hospital quite a bit the past few days.  The good news is he is going home today!  He's getting to go home before Christmas, which is pretty amazing.  Up until 2 days ago they thought he would be here for about another week.  I'm happy he is getting better.  He is gonna have to be on blood thinners for about a year which is a little scary, but it is what he needs.

Being home in Alabama has been nice.  I'm thankful to be with my family this time of year.  I am so thankful for my loved ones.  I have been blessed with so many amazing people in my life.  My heart is overflowing.  I've definitely been living on faith and grace this pass year.  My cousin Jen's husband is a pastor in a baptist church.  I made it to my aunt's in time to go to the Sunday morning service.  Zach mentioned the story where Jesus took 5 loaves and 2 fish and fed thousands of people.  He said that in order for him to feed all those people with that little bit of food was that first he had to break it.  Jesus had to break it before he could use it.  Man did I feel broken this year...but God's grace kept me going.  His grace is like the energizer bunny: it keeps going and going and going and going and going and....well you get the picture. = )

Merry Christmas everyone.

Love.