Exciting News and Delicious Muffins

I have a few exciting things to share with you this first day of November. Firstly, I'm going to San Francisco this weekend for the 2nd Annual Foodbuzz Blogger Fest! I am beyond thrilled to be heading out west. Obviously there will be cooler weather in California than in Texas, but also because I know I'm in for a fabulous weekend filled with beautiful sights, bloggie friends and food! My partner in crime for the duration of the weekend is going to be the lovely Debby of A Feast For The Eyes. I'm been chatting with Debby for a year and a half now and I'm thrilled to finally meet her. I only wish I was going to meet all of you there. If you are going, please let me know! After the Blogger Fest is over, Mr. H will be joining me for a couple days of rest and relaxation. I can't wait!

The second wonderful bit of news I have to share with you is that I got a new camera! Can I get a woot woot?! I had been saving up for several months and I am now a proud owner of a Canon EOS Rebel T1i. I got it a little over a week ago and I've been having fun with it. It is definitely an upgrade from my point and shoot Sony but there is a lot to learn. A lot. I did a lot of research to find the best deal and the internet pointed me to one of my favorite stores- Costco. The package I got isn't available on Costco. com anymore but it's still in stores. I'm not giving up on my Sony, because it's been a great camera but I will shoot more often with my new side kick. These photos were taken with the new camera. Hope you like them.

I put a few extra white chips on top of the muffins before they baked and they got overly brown in the oven. So while they were still warm, I flicked them off and replaced them with even more white chocolate pieces. Much better!

Now onto the goods. These are pumpkin white chocolate chip muffins and they were incredible. There are only 4 ingredients in this muffins (one of them is water) and they start off with a box mix (don't hate!) and I will definitely be making them again- they were that good! My husband is not a huge fan of pumpkin so they weren't his favorite, but I loved them. So much that I had second thoughts about sending them with him and his Dad to the YMCA for their Seniors with Alzheimer's group. I really wanted to keep at least half a dozen home with me so I could gorge, but I only had one. They were moist and sweet, spicy, fluffy and tender- everything a muffin should be. Please make these soon and enjoy!

Ooh, one more thing before you go...I now have a categorized and alphabetized Recipe Index on the tabs right underneath my header. So now you can search for a recipe with ease. If you use it (and I hope you will), let me know what you think!

Pumpkin Spice Muffins adapted from Cutting Edge of Ordinary

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• 1 box (18.25 oz) spice cake mix*
• 1-15 oz. can of pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup white or semi sweet chocolate chips (optional)

In a large bowl, combine the dry cake mix, the pumpkin puree and the water in a bowl and mix til well combined. Mix them up by hand, no electric mixer needed. Stir in the chocolate chips if using.

Scoop batter into lined muffins pan and fill 3/4 of the way full. Bake at 400 degrees F for approximately 20 minutes.

Makes about 18 muffins.

NOTE: You can use yellow cake mix but the spice cake has so much more flavor. Also if you choose, you can use sugar-free cake mix but it will produce denser, less tender muffins.

See you in a couple days for an anniversary giveaway!