Five on Friday | Welcome, November!

When I lose my blogging mojo, I find that a Five on Friday is a good way to just hop back into Blogland without a lot of explanations or fanfare. So here we go . . .

{one}

I happily welcomed November! It is one of my favorite months. It's cozy and comforting and filled with thanksgiving. 

{two}

When November arrives, I start playing my Thanksgiving playlist on Spotify. Around the house. In the car. While I am cooking. While we are eating Thanksgiving dinner, of course. I try to include a little something for everybody. For the little ones, there is Alvin and the Chipmunks' rendition of "Over the River and Through the Woods" and Steve Green's "Give Thanks to the Lord" from one of his Hide 'Em In Your Heart albums. There is a Crowder song for my daughter. Some Michael Card for my son. There are traditional songs like "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come" (which I remember learning in elementary school) and newer songs like Matt Boswell's "O Give Thanks." 

If you have a Spotify account, you can click on the image of my playlist below to listen. 

{three}

I also welcome November with fall foods. This week I made some pumpkin butter (recipe ~ here ~) which is so yummy on hot biscuits or toast. It's easy to make and it fills the house with the spicy aroma of fall. 

{four}

For this week's Bible study, I went November-y with cranberry streusel muffins. The streusel topping is the same one that I use in ~ this ~ recipe, but the muffin itself is a bit different. Maybe you'd like to try them? 

CRANBERRY-OAT MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup oats
1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup fresh (or frozen) cranberries
1/4 cup butter

1 cup milk
1 egg


DIRECTIONS:

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Butter muffin cups.

In a bowl, combine dry ingredients and blend well.

Toss the cranberries with 1 tablespoon of dry ingredients and set aside.

Melt butter. Off heat, stir in milk and egg.

Stir butter mixture into dry ingredients and, when well-mixed, stir in cranberries.

Fill muffin cups. (At this point I added ~ this ~ streusel.)
Bake 15 to 20 minutes until lightly browned and toothpick inserted into muffin comes out clean. Let stand 5 minutes before removing from pan. 

{five}

This past year, our ladies' Sunday School class has chosen a Bible verse each month to memorize. I have created iPhone wallpaper for some of those verses to aid in our memorization. It is helpful to have that little reminder each time you pick up your phone! Here is November's wallpaper:

Happy November, my friends!