We’re doing two recipes this month. I made the muffins at the request of my 9 year old. She likes to help bake and you really can’t get more simple than this recipe. These little muffins would be great to bring to a brunch or to have for breakfast with coffee or tea on Thanksgiving morning. The second recipe is a fall favorite. It is a little more time consuming than the muffins but soooo good for dinner on a cold night!

Chocolate or Spice “Pumpkin” Muffins

1 box chocolate cake mix or 1 box spice cake mix (I used Betty Crocker Spice Cake.)
1 small can pumpkin
1/2 cup water

Mix 3 ingredients together. Divide into muffin tins (24 regular muffins, 48 mini muffins) and bake according to package directions. When I made the mini muffins I put 2 chocolate chips in the tops of each of them. I figure the calories are negligible as long as I’m not eating more than 1 or two muffins.

24 regular Muffins
Calories: 92
Fat: 3g
Fiber: .5g

48 Mini Muffins
Calories: 46
Fat: 1g
Fiber: 0

Points will be the Points for the cake mix (dry) as listed on box. Most likely 2 to 3-Points per regular muffin and 1 Points per mini muffin, but double check on your cake mix box to be sure!

Sausage Minestra Soup

Croutons:

2 tsp olive oil
1 Baguette cubed
1/2 cup parmesan, grated

20 servings of croutons
Nutrition per serving:
Calories: 75
Fat: 1.5g
Carbs: 11g
Fiber: 0g
Protein: 3g

Heat the oil in a saute pan. Add cubed bread, toss until toasted and crisp. Remove from heat toss with parmesan. Set aside.

Soup:

2 cups onion, diced
1TBSP garlic, minced
2 tsp dried italian season
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (I left these out)
1 lbs chicken or turkey italian sausage (remove from casings)
Pam Olive Oil spray
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 cups chicken broth
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup dry orzo pasta (or other tiny shaped pasta. I couldn’t find orzo.)
3 cups fresh spinach, chopped

Spray soup pot with pam. Crumble and saute sausage. Add onion and garlic until onion is soft and sausage is cooked through. Add remaining ingredients; cook 3-4 minutes. Deglaze with wine and reduce until almost evaporated. Add broth, tomatoes and orzo; bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 10 minutes or until pasta is cooked. Stir in spinach until wilted. Serve soup with croutons on top.

8 servings
Nutrition per serving:
Calories: 200
Fat: 7g
Carbs: 20g
Fiber: 1.5g
Protein: 14

Dawn DeVoe is Co-Founder, Staff Photographer, Designer, & Company Mom for Random Ideas. She was the primary designer of Edibles.