comfort food

i love this time of year, because that means hot cocoa, stews, soups ect... I have been very busy trying to get creative and save myself some time and money lately. I have made a few batches of spaghetti sauce and out it in gallon sized freezer bags. laid it flat and let it freeze. so easy to stack..and then i take tape and label the end with the month so i know what to used first. and it defrosts super fast this. i had boiled a chicken with some veggies and then shredded the meat and added back to my stock and cooked for awhile longer and added some whole wheat egg noodles and viola..homemade chicken soup! i put it into snack sized ziploc bags and it is just enough for one bowl of soup. one of my favorite recipes riley and I have been making lately are some chocolate cookies.

i box chocolate cake mix (the darker the better)
2 cups pureed pumpkin ( not pumpkin pie filling)
a half a bag of semi sweet chocolate chips

mix and drop by the spoonfuls and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. let cool before eating. you cant taste the pumpkin i promise. it just replaces the oil and eggs. they cookies have more of a cake texture than a cookie texture. soo yummy. and easy for riley to help mix and dump together.