Skinny Pumpkin Spice Muffins with Walnut Streusel

October 8, 2013 by Christine Skari

I know, I know, this makes two pumpkin recipes in less than 3 days. If I keep it up, I’ll be turning bright orange and secreting pumpkin spice from my skin (I actually think the second symptom sounds a-okay).

But, YOU GUYS, there are some recipes you just can’t not share, like these Skinny Pumpkin Spice Muffins with Walnut Streusel. I mean, I just want to eat the name of the recipe itself.

These are everything you’d want a muffin to be: moist, dense, bursting with flavor, and topped with a tasty streusel and drizzle of sweetness. And guess what? All for under 150 calories a pop!

This may be a bold statement, but I think that these muffins, along with my Pumpkin Spice Apple Butter recipe, are two of my favorite pumpkin recipes of all time. For me, they both embody the comforts of Fall and I know that they will be making another appearance soon!

If my testimony isn’t enough, my friends are always glad to help. I’m lucky that I have plenty of willing taste testers around me, and none of them guessed that these little jewels were made with almost all whole wheat flour and only two tbsps of butter! The only comments I got on them involved “OMG these are so good” and even my non-pumpkin loving friend said that they were delicious!

As a matter of fact, the entire batch was eaten in one day.

Trust me, these look as good as they do in the pictures. Beauties!

Please pin this image if you’re pinning to Pinterst :)!

I’m also linking up to WIAW to share! Take a look at some other great eats:

Weekend Things and “Kyle Kooks”

October 6, 2013 by Christine Skari

Hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday, mine is going a little slowly due to a late Friday night, but it was worth it for the fun!

My Friday started off with an early 8-9 a.m Biochemistry lecture, but it wasn’t too difficult waking up for class since it was my only one of the day (woohoo!). The lecture takes place in a building that’s only a 30 second bike ride from the campus gym, so I donned my workout clothes to class as to not give myself any time to talk myself out of a much-needed sweat session.

In the end, I’m glad I got myself up and going because I had a great 35 minute elliptical workout followed by leg day and left feeling energized and ready to take on the day!

I spent the rest of my morning on my computer reading blogs (I should have been reading class notes) and browsing possible recipes. At around 12:30, Kyle and I headed over to grab some lunch at one of the closer dining commons in relation to our apartments. While some young adults find it harder to eat healthy at college, I’ve always found in much easier. There are plenty of fresh and healthy options, and the salad bars are stocked with anything and everything you could possibly want in life. It’s a beautiful sight to see.

That afternoon, Tiana and I headed out to play some tennis with two foreign boys who we recently met and also live in our apartment complex. One is English and one is Irish, and I think that all girls can relate when I say accents are the CUTEST thing ever. We didn’t play too seriously and it was a blast getting to know some new friends and talk about the cultural differences they’ve been experiencing!

After coming back home, eating dinner, and getting ready for a fun night out, me and several other friends headed out for a night of dancing! Since we live in a college town, we can easily walk to neighboring parties and party-hop our way to a great time.

Like I mentioned before, my Saturday started off slowly and was pretty uneventful. I spent a few hours studying and reviewing notes, but the highlight of my day was curling up with Kyle to watch a movie (we re-watched Temple Grandin- such a fantastic movie) and eat Mud Pie ice cream. I love documentaries and movies based on true stories that make you think, so this film was a winner!

Tomorrow’s plans include a workout, Farmer’s Market, and studying/completing school work at Starbucks. Fun stuff!

Oh, and before I forget, I’m trying to persuade Kyle to start a mini-series of his adventures in learning how to cook. Primarily because I can then make him feed me and we could call it “Kyle Kooks”. Adorbs.

Pumpkin Spice Apple Butter

October 2, 2013 by Christine Skari

I’ll admit it. I’m a complete Fall snob when it comes to cooking and baking. I’m obnoxiously obsessed with ANYTHING pumpkin spice/apple/salted carmel and embrace the cooler weather (which is relative since I live in California, please don’t hate me if you live anywhere that actually gets cold).

Now that it’s finally October, I can launch myself completely into the spirit of Fall-cooking without getting ostracized by my friends for being THAT girl who orders a pumpkin spice latte in September.

And man, do I have a fantastic recipe for you guys today! Think pumpkin spice. Think apples. Think butter! That’s right, pumpkin spice apple butter!

I can’t get over how delicious this recipe turned out. Honestly, it’s perfection! It has a sweet flavor that embodies the flavors of Fall and tastes like the inside of an apple pie. Another bonus? It goes fantastically on anything! Toast, bananas, oatmeal, ice-cream, you name it! I couldn’t help but sneak bites as it was cooking and loved the texture and flavor.

If the “it tastes like the inside of an apple pie” hasn’t convinced you, take the testimonies of a half dozen friends that randomly walked into my apartment as it was cooking. The air was thick with “oh my god”, “that’s DELICIOUS”, and “hold on, I need to make a bowl of oatmeal!”

The last one being my friend Ryan. I think that when a recipe can convince a 6″3 male college student that the thing he needs to do most in the world is make a bowl of oatmeal to top with your creation, it can be called a success. ;). This is him proceeding to feed everyone in his vicinity some of his oats hahah. Look at the glee on that boy’s face!

MAKE THIS. Then eat all of it.

If you’re going to pin this recipe, please pin this picture!

MIMM: In Pictures!

September 30, 2013 by Christine Skari

Marvelous is… church with Kyle!

Followed by extra-marvelous ice-cream. English toffee crunch and chocolate espresso!

Marvelous is… starting a Facebook page for Apple of My Eye. It would make my day if you “liked” it!

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Apple of My Eye facebook page!

Marvelous is… getting back into running!

Marvelous is… the most delicious homemade pumpkin spice apple butter!

Recipe coming later today!

Not so marvelous? 8 a.m class. Yikes- I got to get ready!

What’s marvelous in your Monday?

Back to School We Go!

September 27, 2013 by Christine Skari

Hey all you party people! Hope life is treatin’ ya kindly.

My long summer finally came to an end with the start of classes yesterday. I have a pretty killer schedule that leaves me with only one class on Thursday and Friday, so I was eased back in to college. Yesterday, I only had a physics lecture from 12:30-1:45. I spent the morning with my girlfriends, then came back to a delicious leftover macaroni and cheese lunch with Kyle!

The rest of my afternoon was spent making pumpkin spice apple butter. You guys. O EM GEE. It’s SO freakin’ delicious! I gave a bite to my friend Ryan, who promptly ran back to his apartment to make a batch of oatmeal so he could top his with some. He then proceeded to feed everyone around him bites and make almost obscene noises as he ate. I guess I can call the recipe a success!

Later on in the day, my legs were absolutely itching to move, so Kyle and I went on a short walk around our town. We are so lucky to have the beach basically in our backyard! The walk ended with an impromptu trip to the gym to get in a workout before going out to one of our favorite dinner places. I was in one of those weird moods where I actually felt like working out, so it made sense to take advantage of those moments when they come!

I ended up just doing a cardio medley of 30 minutes on the elliptical doing HITT training and 10 minutes of incline walking. I had grand notions of doing some weights as well, but Kyle showed me some new tricep moves a few days ago that have left me incapacitated of even lifting me arms in the air without feeling the soreness haha.

Dinner was at our local Vietnamese restaurant. Last year, we probably ate there at least once a week (usually after getting out from our 6-10 p.m labs, ick), so we were both excited to go back! We chatted with the lady who owned the place, who then came to our table and asked us if we were getting our usual. I love being considered a regular and having the hostess remember our orders, even after three months of not coming in to eat!

I got the pineapple combo fried rice, which comes with pork, marinated steak (drool), and shrimp. So good! Egg rolls and Thai iced tea were both a must as well.

So that’s my first day back in a nutshell! It’s nice to have more routine in my life and with college starting, I feel like I have so much more to blog about! Tomorrow morning I’ll be doing a massive catchup on blog reading and I’m looking forward to hearing about all of your adventures as well!