Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Today was our annual Chili Cook-Off Fundraiser for the United Way Campaign at the office. I was planning on making some yummy white bean chili, but due to some recent car trouble ( And by "trouble", I mean, my car is no longer with us. So, yea. We all knew this day would come.) there was no way I was going to lug a giant crockpot to and from the office. So, I decided I was going to make some corn bread.

But then, I never went  to the store. My bad.

So, I bring you, Plan C:

I originally saw the recipe on Pinterest dubbed "The best pumpkin cookies ever." That sounded fairly promising, and I had all the ingredients, so it was a go!

The cookie recipe I used can be found on the House of Hepworth's blog. Click  here for the direct link to the recipe (scroll down to the bottom for the short printable version. Or read through her hilarious instructions. Either way, you win!)

She ices hers with cream cheese frosting. That sounds absolutely divine, but I didn't have ANY of those ingredients on hand. So I used this recipe for Marshmallow Icing (All you need is eggs, sugar and vanilla).

The icing followed the same basic principle as Meringue  topping, so I decided to toast it. Pipe the fluff on, then cook it at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes. The tips will turn a delicious toasty brown. So cute!

Monthly Guide to Fruits and Veggies {FREE PRINTABLE}

So, you know what I've been getting into lately? Fruits and veggies, that's  what.

I love cooking with fresh produce. Love it.

But I had a problem. You see, I never quite knew for sure if I was getting a good deal on my produce.

So I did some research. I read a lot of websites. I compared a lot of charts.

And I'm happy to present to you my first ever Monthly Guide to Seasonal Produce Trends.

My research tells me that this is enough to give you a general idea of what could be in season in your area--well as long are your area falls within or around the continental USA. It varies regionally, of course, but it should help you out, if you're like me and feel completely clueless.

 I think it still needs a little work though. A few sites reported Bananas as a year around fruit because they're always imported from tropical areas. I'm going to watch these "year round" claims, and see what really holds true.

I printed mine out on some card stock and keep it on my fridge. That way I know what to expect from the grocery store that month, and can even scheme up some possible recipes!

 Let me know if you see anything that needs to be corrected.

Cream Puffs for Dummies

Yesterday I plunged into the world of French pastries with this surprisingly easy cream puff recipe.

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1 stick butter
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
4 eggs

Filling Ideas:
Instant pudding
Whipped Topping
Yogurt
Anything creamy, sweet, and delicious

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• In  a medium sauce pan heat water and butter until butter is melted. 
• Mix flour, salt and sugar into water/butter mixture. Should form a doughy ball.
• Let cool (it shouldn't be steaming at this point) and mix in eggs.
• Mixture should form a sticky, paste-like consistency. 
• If you have parchment paper, line your cookie sheet with it. If not, leave the cookie sheet ungreased.
• Drop spoonfuls onto sheet, bake for 20-25 minutes. 

After baking, your dollops should be cute little puffs. Do NOT, under any circumstances, poke warm puffs with a toothpick. If you see someone suggest this on a web forum for cream puff making, do not heed their counsel. I can only assume they want your puffs to deflate and be ruined, so they can keep the title "Best Cream Puff Maker" to themselves. They are NOT your friend.

The puffs should look like this out of the oven:

To fill, you can cut a small slice in one side, and squeeze in your chosen filling. I put vanilla pudding in a gallon sized bag, cut of a corner, and squeezed a little bit of love into each and every one of them. Piping bags filled with pudding, or canned cool whip would also work.

This recipe yields about 24 yummy little puffs.

Good luck, and let us know if you try it!

Easy Peasy Pumpkin Muffins

So, the seasons are changing. In honor of this, and the fact that the giant can of pumpkin puree in my pantry expires next month, I decided to make some muffins.

A few years ago I had a boss who brought in some pumpkin muffins to share. She said that she made them by mixing a can of pumpkin, a cake mix, and a cup of water. They were super de duper moist, and sounded easy enough. I pulled from this vague memory to bring you:

Ingredients:

1 yellow cake mix

1 can pumpkin puree (about 2 cups)

1 cup oatmeal

1/4 cup water

3 dashes cinamon

3 dashes pumpkin pie spices

Mix together thouroughly, fill greased/lined tins up to the brim, and bake for about 20 minutes on 350 degrees. Makes 12 billowing muffins. You could probably make 24 muffins, if you only fill the tins up halfway. But then their not as cute. Just sayin'.

The oatmeal added more texture to the muffins, and I found less water to be more appealing. You could also substitute spice cake mix, or any cake mix for that matter. My options were yellow and funfetti. I opted for yellow. But really, the sky is the limit here. They make your whole house smell delicious and autumn-y.

I made these two days ago, and just barely managed to snap this picture today of the last lonely little muffin. Between two people, thats pretty impressive. They are THAT good.

Try it, you won't be disappointed.

Lindy

I'm going to link up to the CSI project. It's a new blog I just discovered--they schedule themed challenges so everyone brings their A game.  This week is the holiday baking challenge....does it count as baking if the majority of the ingredients are included with the words "Yellow Cake Mix"? Sure...

<a href="http://thecsiproject.com" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter" src="http://thecsiproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/thecsiproject.com-logo-150.png" alt="Visit thecsiproject.com" ></a>

As always, check out the Party Central tab to see what weekly parties we love to link up to!

Fall is in the air!

Yay for Fall! Living in Utah, I actually get to experience a true Fall. Leaves changing colors, crisp Autumn air, fruit trees ripening, pumpkin fields ablaze with color. One thing that also gets me excited about this time of year is being able to make warm, comforting food. I am in love with this Sweet Potato and Black Bean chili recipe. It truly is the essence of all things wonderful and Fall-ish. Also, it ranks as one of my super food recipes and takes less than an hour to make from start to finish (much of that is simmer time). Can't get much much better than that!

I hope you enjoy this fall dish as much as my family does! It's great with corn bread or warm homemade bread from the oven. Drained leftovers (if you have enough) can also be put in tortillas and topped with cheese and enchilada sauce for something totally different another day.

ETA: The black beans are already a wonderful source of low-fat protein, but for an extra special twist, try adding some cooked shredded chicken or sliced sausage to the pot when adding the beans and corn. My family also is not big on diced tomatoes, so I just add a can of tomato sauce instead.

Pile o' Cake!

We're back! Well, somewhat.

Cory and I got married on July 2nd, 2010. My whole family came down to the Florida (minus Elder Sambo--he's currently away for two years on business in Brazil) and had a whole lot of fun going crazy together! I love them. A lot o f the aspects of the wedding were DIY, and it really made every detail more meaningful to us to see all the love everyone put in to make it work.

I was going to wait for Jackie to put this one up, but it seems she is preoccupied with raising Jefferson, running a household, redecorating, hand crafting baby girl bedding, and generally getting ready for little Jane to arrive in November (some people are just sooo busy)...so here it is:

Jackie flew down here to Florida a week early so she could get started on this little beauty. I'm not a huge fondant fan, but this home made marshmallow stuff actually isn't bad at all. I would even go so far to say that it is...really good! Which feels wrong to me, a staunch fondant hater. But hey--these hips don't lie.

 I'm sure Jackie would love to post her recipe! Right, Jackie??

{Insert your recipe HERE...}

I'll be posting a few more projects from the wedding, and a few things we've been working on as we set up shop in our first little apartment together!

On a side note, now that all of us sisters are married, we now have different last names! A friend suggested the tagline: "The sisters formerly known as Hansen". Ha!

Until next time,

Lindy

Cake decorating

To get you excited about my upcoming post on cake decorating, here are a few pictures of cakes I've done in the past.


Marshmallow fondant, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting on top tier, peanut butter rice crispies on bottom

Spice cake with cream cheese frosting, marshmallow fondant decoration
Vanilla cake with Jam and buttercream filling, royal frosting and buttercream decorations
Chocolate cake with chocolate fudge pudding filling, chocolate cream cheese icing and royal icing flowers.
Chocolate cake with buttercream icing, marshmellow fondant decorations

Super tasty spinach bowtie salad

I get to make this salad for a bridal shower brunch. It is super tasty and healthy to boot! I couldn't find my usual recipe, so I googled it and found this variation which I edited to make my own. I haven't tried the craisins yet, but I am going to add them this Saturday. I also am making a not-so-healthy cake, and I'll post about that later to describe some basic cake decorating techniques. This salad is great for a quick, well-rounded dinner too!

Spinach Bowtie Salad

16 oz. Bowtie pasta, cooked and cooled (I use whole wheat)
1 bag of fresh baby Spinach
2 small cans Mandarin Oranges
1 cup Craisins
1 bunch Green Onions, chopped
1 cup Honey Roasted Peanuts or Cashews
1/4 cup Sesame Seeds, toasted (optional)
2 cups torn cooked Chicken (optional) (I personally like shrimp in this salad better)

Dressing:
1 cup Vegetable Oil
2/3 cup Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Black Pepper
2/3 C. Teriyaki Sauce
5 Tbs. Sugar

Cook bowtie pasta according to directions, drain and cool while whisking the dressing together in a large bowl. Marinate cooked bowtie pasta in the dressing for 1 hour or longer in the fridge. Combine salad ingredients in a large bowl and pour the teriyaki sauce and pasta over the salad, toss together and serve. If it's just a few of you, make individual salad servings; keeping the salad and bowtie sauce separate for the rest of the week (no one likes a soggy salad).

Spice it up

First order of business: I told a few very special people that I would post the recipe for delicious, fresh, and all together amazing homemade fresh Salsa. I learned to make this from my roommate Kristen, who learned it from her previous room mate, who is rumored to have learned it from mouth of Martha Stewart herself. I later saw a recipe note card for the almost same exact stuff in Becca's super de duper cute recipe cards, so I'll post that for you and note the variations I made.

(Isn't that the cutest little card you've ever seen?? And she has dozens of them! Dozens! Check out The Renfroe Scoop for more of her amazing recipes, stories, and opinions. If you want. I don't wannna be pushy.)

Now, I don't have a cute card prepared for ya'll, but the recipe I actually use goes more like this:

5 fresh and firm red tomatoes, diced and drained (Two cans of Rotel work in a pinch)

2 cans black beans, drained

1 can corn, drained (or 2 cups frozen corn is super delish)

1 bunch of cilantro (chop off the stems and remember: you can never have enough of this)

2 fresh limes or lemons

1/2 cup chopped onion

2-3 avocados, diced

2-3 gloves of garlic, chopped

Salt & pepper to taste

To make: Drain all juicy ingredients--and mix together. Add avocado last, and mix gently. Squeeze lemon/lime juice over the whole thing, and enjoy! My roommates and I have found that a giant size plastic ice cream container works excellently for storage. If you don't happen to buy ice cream by the giant plastic caseful...well, congratulations. But I don't know what you're going to store this dip in.

I'm partying with: