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Friday, November 26, 2010

Just a little more pumpkin please!


Even though we are moving into the tail end of winter, the leaves are falling, and the chill is no longer comforting after the hot summer, but now makes you wear your weight in clothing, I am STILL craving pumpkin. Some of you may be sick of it after the holidays but I keep cravings. So I made these pumpkin muffins



They sat in my kitchen overnight and if I had not put a "Do Not Eat" sign in front of them, I'm certain my roommates would have devoured them. But they were a special gift for my boyfriend. However, I made the mistake of bringing them to his parents house and soon learned that out of the eleven I made (well I ate one of course) he only ate ONE! poor guy...

Anyways enjoy!

Recipe from The Pioneer Woman


Muffins:

1 cup All-purpose Flour
½ cups Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1-½ teaspoon Cinnamon
¼ teaspoons Ground Ginger
½ teaspoons Nutmeg
½ teaspoons Salt
4 Tablespoons Butter, cut into pieces
1 cup (heaping) Pumpkin Puree
½ cups Evaporated Milk
1 whole Egg
1-½ teaspoon Vanilla

Frosting:

1/2 cup of butter (1 stick), room temperature
8 oz of Philly cream cheese (1 package), room temperature
2 - 3 cups of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Sweet (or savory) Dreams

Today, I had three projects due, THREE!! ok one got canceled, but lets just say I have been really overwhelmed. Also I am frustrated, because when I am stressed all I want to do is cook. I'll sit in class and scour the food blogs for delicious, seasonal, and mouth-watering recipes and yet I have no time to cook them. So, today I am going to post five recipes that eventually I will cook.

1. Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Apple Cider Sauce

2. Sesame Shrimp

3. Veggie & Quinoa Pot Pie

4. Blueberry Breakfast Buckle

5. Butternut Squash Soup



Any recipes or food you have been dreaming about lately???

Monday, November 8, 2010

Earrings for the BIG day...

Happy Monday! I hope you had a nice weekend. I'm not necessarily ready for another week of papers and exams so I thought I would procrastinate with searching for earrings to wear on my wedding day and I need your opinion!

I discovered Carolee through a bride on Wedding Bee and could not get over all the pretty options! I'm thinking about putting some of these on my Christmas list so tell me which one is your favorite...

 Option #1: I love this pair because I will have blue accents in my bouquet.
 Option #2: This pair is dainty and pearls just seem like a classic wedding choice!
 Option #3: Does this pair seem too glam or could they be pulled off as rustic?
 Option #4: I like these because they seem like a hybrid of choice 2 and 3 :)

If you have any other jewelry recommendations or Etsy shops I should check out let me know! Thanks for your help.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

apples


photo courtesy of lovin' from the oven

One of my favorite things about fall is apples! Marilisa and I took a road trip up to Hillcrest Orchards in North Georgia with our significant others to do a little apple picking last weekend. Unfortunately we missed the actual "picking season," but we still had a great time eating all sorts of treats, buying about 10lbs of different types of apples and listening to some bluegrass in Taylor's jeep.


Apple strudel bars are one of my favorite things to make when I have a couple extra apples on hand. The last time I made them, I sent the treats in the mail to my boyfriend Blake from Austin and he called to tell me he "straight up ate the entire batch in about 3 minutes" and that I needed to make more and send them stat... So I guess they are pretty good :)


Here's the recipe (adapted from here):
SWEET PASTRY:
  • 2 c. flour
  • 1/2 c. sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 c. real butter, softened (no substitutions!)
  • 1 egg, beaten
APPLE FILLING:
  • 1/2 c. white sugar
  • 1/4 c. flour
  • 2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 4 c. (about 3 medium) sliced, peeled baking apples (I used macintosh)
GLAZE:
  • 2 c. powdered sugar
  • About 3 Tbsp. milk or coffee creamer (I love using flavored coffee creamer)
  • 1 tsp. almond or vanilla extract (which ever one suits you better)
  • 1 dash cinnamon
To prepare crust, mix flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or two knives until you have pea-sized crumbles. Gently mix in beaten egg.

Spray a 9x9 baking dish
with non-stick cooking spray. Gently pat about 2/3 of the crumb mixture onto the bottom of the dish. Preheat oven to 350 and set aside.
 

To prepare apple filling, combine flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Toss with apples and spread apples out on prepared crust. Sprinkle reserved crust mixture over apples evenly and bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes (mine took a little longer to cook in the middle). When finished, allow to cool completely.

To prepare glaze, whisk together powdered sugar, almond extract, and enough milk to achieve desired consistency. Place glaze in a Ziploc bag and cut off a very small portion of one of the corners. Drizzle glaze over cooled pastry and allow to harden (you can place it in the freezer to hurry things along). Cut into bars and serve!



Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Feelin' crafty

It's been a very chilly and rainy day in Athens. The buses were late, the Learning Center was packed, and the line for Jittery Joe's was extra long...but coming home to a warm, cozy house put me in the mood to make something pretty with supplies from around the house. Erin collected the leaves and berries when she went on a walk the other day.

 Supplies:
mason or jam jar
tea light
leaves
berries
or anything pretty from nature :)

 I assembled some of the leaves at the bottom of the jar, placed the tea light in the center and added the greenery and berries.

Ta da! Instant mini fall centerpiece! Hopefully nothing will catch on fire...What do rainy days inspire you to do?

Monday, November 1, 2010

Duover - A Delightful Duet



I am still planning on doing a post to explain our blog name, but I just had to share this band I heard today. They are Duover from Portland, OR. They have a lovely folksy, mellow sound and they are the perfect band to study to. You can download their album and "name your price," for free if you want! Enjoy!