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  These are the easiest doughnuts I've ever made -- you could whip them up on a Sunday morning before church or, if you're really quick, on a weekday before school. My friends were passing this recipe for Betty Crocker's Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts around Facebook last fall. I baked mine in my Pampered Chef Silicone Floral Cupcake Pan . The photos didn't turn  out well enough for you to see the cool designs. BAKED PUMPKIN DOUGHNUTS 2 cups Bisquick® Complete pancake & waffle mix 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice 1/3 cup milk 1/3 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix) 1 tablespoon real maple or maple-flavored syrup 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/4 cup sugar 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 2 tablespoons butter, melted Heat oven to 425°F. Spray mini do...

Pumpkin spice is out, I heard a trend watcher say. The most popular flavor these days is cake batter. I say time will tell. There are still a lot of links to current products and new recipes starring pumpkin spice on Google. Here's another: Pumpkin Monkey Bread made in a bread machine and published in Country Woman magazine. This is not the fastest way to make monkey bread, but it is the most delicious I’ve found. And, barring the two sticks of butter in the sauce, it might be healthier than quicker versions. Monkey bread is balls of bread dough, coated in butter, sugar and cinnamon and baked in a tube pan. The quickest way to make it may be to use canned biscuits. Monkey bread, especially made that way, is best eaten warm before the biscuit chunks cool and harden. That wasn’t a problem with this version. We had it for dessert one evening, wrapped the leftovers in foil and snacked on it the next day. The sauce does tend to make it a little soggy as the day progresses bu...

Served with bacon, these filling pancakes were a comforting breakfast-for-dinner on a cold, snowy winter night. I took a photo of this one because I thought it kinda looked like ... something ... maybe a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Princess Leia or Nancy from the old comic strip. But instead of selling it on eBay, we ate it. SPICY PUMPKIN PANCAKES 2 1/3   cups Original Bisquick® mix 1/3   cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix) 1 1/4   cups milk ...

This chili is as nutritious as it is delicious. We had it on a cold day and it hit the spot -- very filling. I had leftover roast pork so I cubed it and stirred it in instead of the turkey. The pork, black beans and cumin gave it a Cuban feel. And I served it on cubes of cooked Yukon Gold potatoes from Davis Bros. Farm in Masontown, WV. I didn't have to use the potatoes but I wanted to. The 8-year-old ate it with no complaints. I liked it because it's made in a Crock-Pot for those busy days. BLACK BEAN 'N' PUMPKIN CHILI 1 medium onion, chopped 1 medium sweet yellow pepper, chopped 2 tablespoons olive oil 3 garlic cloves, minced 3 cups chicken broth 2 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained 2 1/2 cups cubed cooked turkey 1 15-ounce can solid-pack pumpkin 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained 2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes 2 teaspoons chili powder 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon salt In a large skillet, saute the onion ...

I was in a better humor on the first snow day of the school year, Oct. 28, when I started this post. I had nothing planned that day, unlike today when I am supposed to be working like a regular person in a city with adults and lunching with a dear friend. But enough about my troubles. The day I was in a good mood I made my daughter and her cousin waffles from-scratch because I had the time and inclination and patience... with the children and circumstances ... not the waffle-making process. Actually homemade waffles are not all that hard to make. Consider treating your family or just yourself this cold, snowy weekend. And if there is just one of you, freeze the extras and pop them in the toaster on the "defrost" setting on weekday mornings. This is where a vacuum sealer comes in handy. I own a Reynolds Handi-Vac and I will review it at the end of this blog and give you the recipe I use for "regular" waffles that you can add blueberries or other mix-ins to or just se...