Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

People call my sister Becky Crocker. She's one of the best bakers. Ever. She also opens her home to me for long periods of time and I can't ever thank her enough. The only trouble is that I eat too many of her baked goods. Its SO HARD to resist the mini version of these...one fits right into your mouth, full of yummy pumpkinny, chocolate deliciousness.

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin
1 ½ cups vegetable oil
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1-2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (2 cups)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a large bowl beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin and oil until smooth.
Add dry ingredients to wet and mix well.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Bake standard muffins for 16-20 minutes. Bake mini muffins for about 11-13 minutes.
Cool in pan briefly before removing.
Yields about 24 standard size muffins. Yields 90 mini muffins.

Sweet Potato Lasagna

This recipe is a lovely autumn treat. Its meat free and not so heavy as a traditional lasagna. Hope you enjoy!

2 medium orange-fleshed sweet potatoes
3 medium zucchini
500 g spinach, well-washed
200 g fresh ricotta, crumbled
10 to 12 instant lasagne sheets
4 fresh mozzarella balls, thickly sliced
400g canned, chopped tomatoes
2 T basil leaves
Sea salt and pepper
1 T olive oil
3 T grated parmesan

METHOD

Peel and thickly slice the sweet potatoes and cook in simmering salted water for 15min.

Slice the courgettes on the diagonal and add to the pot for the last 2min.

Drain and cool. Wilt the spinach in a hot pan until soft, then cool, squeeze dry and mix with the ricotta.

Preheat Oven to 400 F. Lightly oil a baking dish (25cm x 20cm) and arrange a layer of pasta on the base.

Arrange layers of sweet potato, half the mozzarella, spinach and ricotta, half the tomatoes, basil, pasta, courgettes, and the remaining mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, and the pasta, scattering with sea salt and pepper as you go.

Drizzle with olive oil, cover with foil and bake for 40min.

Remove the foil, scatter with parmesan and bake for 15min more.

Adapted from the TimesOnline.co.uk