10/4/10

this morning

Once we finish up a breakfast of Marshmallow Mateys, A and I will be off on a morning adventure. My mom was so sweet as to send us $40.00 in Kohl’s cash which I can spend starting today. What is lucky about today is that I also have a 30% off coupon that expires today. So the overlap brings me about $55.00 to spend at Kohl's.

I have a whole list of possibilities of what we would best like to spend our money on. I spent hours online the other night scouting things out. My finds include:

boots that I am obsessed with

a projector for my hubby for Christmas

the beginnings of a bedding set

some absolutely yummy waffle weave bath towels and curtain and rug

or a cool Christmas present for A

What would you choose for me? What would you buy yourself?

Happy Shopping! I will let you know what goes down!

10/3/10

hair

These are some haircuts that I am obsessed with. I think is has to do with the side-swept bangs and layers. So cute! I have to be careful because I have really thick frizzy hair, but the majority of these cuts and styles would work, if my hair is cut right. Aania is my hairdresser and is AMAZING! Check her out here http://prohairaania.blogspot.com/.

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10/2/10

Pumpkin Banana Bread – Moist Goodness

I looked all over for a good recipe that called for bananas and pumpkin because I had a dilemma. I went to make banana bread with my 4 bananas but one was WAY beyond eating (maggots and all). So I only had three, but I did have a can of pumpkin in the pantry. So I mixed a whole bunch of recipes together and got this--- see my daughter eyeing yet another piece?

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Ingredients
  • 3 ripe bananas
  • 4 eggs
  • 2/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 whole big can of pumpkin puree
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
  • 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 bag of white chocolate chips
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 2- 9x5 inch loaf pans.
  2. In a large bowl, stir together the banana, eggs, oil, pumpkin, brown sugar and sugar with electric mixer. I usually put the bananas in first and turn on the mixer to get them mashed. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pie spice and cinnamon, stir into the banana mixture until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips if desired. Pour batter into the prepared pans.
  3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool loaf in the pan for 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

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Usually I think bread like this need to be adorned with a heap of butter, but this… nope, none at all! It is SO moist and yummy! Enjoy

10/1/10

tomorrow

This is what my family and I will be watching tomorrow! I am so excited!

If you are of the LDS faith, what kinds of traditions or things did your family do on conference weekend?

If you would like to find our about my faith, read more about on Mormon.org.

bagels

This is such an easy recipe and so good! Bagels that are home made are so much better than anything I have ever bought. To add a bonus- we priced them out and they cost about 17 cents each! Better than anything you can find at the store. Plus, you know what’s in them, you can make your own toppings, and what I like to do, make two batches and freeze the other half for after your hubby eats them all! It can be daunting looking at these instructions, but it truly is easy. I love having A help roll and shape the bagels too. Great kid friendly recipe!

A’s and Clarissa’s Bagels

 

Ingredients

2 cups of warm water

4 tbsp of sugar

2 packets of active yeast (4 1/2 teaspoons total)

5-6 cups of flour (try whole wheat!!!)

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons of olive oil

1 large egg yolk lightly beaten with 1 tbsp water

Directions

In a large bowl combine water, 3 tbsp of sugar, and yeast. Stir and let stand until foamy, about 5 mins.

Gradually add flour 1/2 cup at a time, until a stiff dough is formed.

turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead with your hands until smooth and no longer sticky, about 5 mins. This should be a very stiff and heavy dough.

lightly oil a large bowl with 1 tsp of oil and place the dough in a bowl, turn to coat. Cover the bowl with a damp clean kitchen towel and set aside to rise in a warm, draft-free area until dough has doubled in size, about an hour.

Remove the dough from the bowl and punch dough down with your fist.

Divide dough into 12 equal pieces and form each piece of dough into a ball. stick you finger in the middle and make a hole. using your fingers, smooth the top and sides of the dough and pull the sides gently apart to enlarge the hole and make a circle about 3 inches in diameter. Repeat with remaining pieces of dough.

Place the bagels on a lightly floured surface, cover with a damp clean kitchen towel and set aside to rest (about 15-20 minutes).

Position the rack in center of the over and preheat the oven to 400*F. Lightly grease a baking sheet with the remaining teaspoon of oil.

In a large, heavy pot bring 12 cups of water to boil with 1 tbsp of sugar.

carefully put bagels in boiling water  in batches, leaving enough room for them to expand as they cook (usually 3-4 a batch). cook for five minutes, turning once midway through with a slotted spoon.

using the spoon, remove the bagels and set aside on a paper towel to drain.

transfer bagels to the prepared baking sheet with the slotted spoon and brush each with the beaten egg mixture. sprinkle the toppings if desires and bake until golden brown and crusty (25-30 minues).

Transfer to bagels from oven to a wire rack to cool when done.

Optional Toppings

Poppy seed

sautéed onions

sesame seeds

kosher salt and pepper

shredded parmesan cheese

craisins (we add while mixing dough)

sugar and cinnamon

Makes about 12-15 bagels

others welcoming october

I wanted to feature some of my favorite fall crafts from some other amazing ladies…

Ashley over at Make It and Love It makes a table runner with amazing texture!

Kelly at Sewing in No Mans Land makes these tin can luminaries that would be great to line your sidewalk for your fall get together or incorporated into a table centerpiece.

Katie at Sew Woodsy makes this cute Halloween Coaster set for under $10.00

And last but never least is Jen at Tatertots and Jello welcoming October with some creepy Bug Specimen art. I want to make one of these that I can interchange out for holidays.

welcoming october

Today I welcomed October by:

  • Paying rent (and they all rejoiced!)
  • Bringing out my fall/winter clothes and putting away most of my summer clothes. This time of year leads to a shortage of hangars in my house. I also cleaned out more clothes. Isn’t it amazing that we seem to be able to always get rid of something in our closets? But at the same time, I have pieces that I just can’t get rid of even if I don’t wear them too often.
  • Putting this beautiful wreath on my door. I love it because it has asymmetry and some bling on it too. Everything needs a little somethin’ somethin’ once in a while.

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  • Shopping for some new colors of fall yarn – I got a mustard yellow and gray – in a soft wool
  • Making butternut squash soup! – This is our family favorite! We make it AT LEAST every Sunday in Sept, Oct, and half of November. We have used corn and shredded chicken to change it up.
  • lbs of butternut squash (about 2 squash)
    2 - 8 oz packages of cream cheese
    2 cups apple juice
    5 cups water
    1 apple peeled, cored, and chopped
    1/2 cup chopped onion
    1 cube butter
    5 chicken bouillon cubes
    1/2 tsp Marjoram
    1/8 tsp Cayenne Pepper
    Pepper and salt
    Half squash horizontally and clean leaving in skins. Put on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, black pepper, and course salt. Bake at 350* for an hour.
    In a large pot, sauté onions in butter over medium heat. Add apple juice, water, the apple, bouillon, Marjoram, Cayenne pepper, and ground pepper and salt. Remove squash from skins and put squash in the soup. Let boil for 20 minutes.
    Puree soup in blender (be careful, it's hot!) with cream cheese. Return to stove and heat through...
    We served ours with French bread... you could also get some great soup bowls. It made enough for about 8 bowls. Enjoy!

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What are you doing to welcome in October?