A Brilliant Pinterest Idea

I am addicted to Pinterest; those of you who follow my boards on Pinterest already know that.  What you might not know is that I actually plan to use, pass on, or complete every pin... eventually.  Very eventually.  This one has worked out better than I even dreamed.  You can find really sweet photos and munchy ideas here or you can just mix and match your own like I did! It's the simple idea of using an ice cube tray as a lunch tray so that little fingers can pick and choose what little mouths want to munch.  Avery and Braelin love it and it's always a surprise to see what I've put in the squares.  I just got these on Sunday and we've used them for two lunches and two dinners... we'll see how long it lasts, but for now it's a wonderful way to get them to munch and crunch!

Here we have today's selection: string cheese, crunchers, grapes, graham crackers, gold fish and chinese crackers.

As Joey from "Blossom" once said, WHOA!

OCTOBER?!?! Many adventures have taken place at our home since October.  I've learned to crochet (minimally), I've made the best vegan chocolate chip cookies yet (DR-OOOOOL), the boy and I ran a marathon (and had a blast doing it), and we made a trip to Mickey's House - let the posting begin!!

I can't blame my laziness on Zoo Days - it's been closed since the beginning of December!

CranBourbon

Without a doubt, THE best cranberry sauce you will ever have.  Even if you don't like cranberry sauce, you will drool at the very thought of cranbourbon sauce after just one tiny smackerel.

You will need a bag of cranberries, two cups of sugar, a sprinkling of cinnamon and a quarter cup of Maker's Mark. 


Oven to 350.  Combine first three ingredients in an oven-safe dish. 

Cover the dish and cook for one hour - stirring halfway through to combine.  When you first uncover the dish after a half hour, it won't look like much has happened, but give in a little stir and you'll end up with a sugary cranberry mix. 

After one hour, remove from oven and pour in the Maker's Mark - the bubbling and popping and wafting of Maker's makes Adam smile every time, it was a shame to make it while he was working, but that's what Thanksgiving is really for: The Smell of Bourbon in the Morning.

Cover and refrigerate until well chilled.  You can even make it a day or two ahead of time and it tastes just fine.  Serve with turkey, tofurkey, mashed potatoes, cereal, ice cream, etc.

Welcome, Fall!

I am embracing fall this year.  Fall being my favorite season, it wasn't so hard to do.  Loving it from right after Labor Day until the day after Thanksgiving.  Though these are not the traditional breaking points, they make much better markers than the 21st of September and December.

Labor Day is seemingly the celebration of the end of summer.  Kids are back in school.  Apples are ready for eating and cider.  And, more importantly, the days are noticeably shorter bringing along that first fall chill. No one thinks you're strange if you put away your summer clothes at that time, so I decided that we'd had a fantastically marvelous summer and it was time to put away my summer thoughts as well. 

Traditionally Fall ends on the 21st of December... but, really?  Who are we trying to kid?  With all the talk of "Black Friday", no one is talking about going out and getting more autumnal decorations... it's all about Christmas.  I have never ventured out for shopping on Black Friday, preferring to savor gift buying and making, while holding on to the idea that people are full of good will at that time of year; not trying to run each other over as can be seen on the 6 o'clock news every Friday following Thanksgiving. 

As a celebration of the middle of fall, I decided to make a Thanksgiving Preview - Turkey Sandwiches!  Okay, doesn't sound SO Thanksgiving-y, but wait... just wait.

Pinned There, Done That - Smashed Taters

Seriously, could not be easier and they are D-Lish... as long as you keep in mind my love of all things potato.  Originally from America's Test Kitchen.

2lbs Red Potatoes
2/3 C Water
Olive Oil
Thyme
Salt n' Pepper

Oven to 500 - yes, 500 degrees.  Oven racks should be placed on the tippy top and the very bottom.

Place potatoes on a baking sheet and pour water into the bottom. Tightly cover with foil and bake for about 30min.

Remove from oven, discard foil and allow to cool for about 10min.  If any water remains in the bottom of pan, use paper towels to remove.  Sprinkle with olive oil and roll to coat (about 3Tbsp). Using the bottom of a measuring cup, squash each potato until they are about 1/2" thick. Sprinkle with thyme, salt and pepper and then add about 3 more Tbsps of olive oil.

Return potatoes to the oven on the top rack for 15 minutes. Then Bottom rack for 20-30 minutes or until they are golden brown. 

Serve immediately. 

SO creamy and crunchy and delicious.  Seriously, the best red tater ever.

Nifty Gifty - Erika's Birthday

This year we went to the Cleveland Zoo with my best friend, Erika.  The girls love her and we were all excited about seeing the new elephant exhibit... the only problem was that we planned the trip for literally the hottest day of the hot hot summer.  I mean, HOT.  We went ahead with our plans and had a marvelous time.  The elephants were sauntering, the giraffes were eating out of our hands and the girls had a blast.  To remember this wonderful day, the girls made her a very special birthday present... with a little help from me.

Pinned There, Done That - Pumpkin Scones

Pumpkin Scones and Coffee

(Yes, scones - I dare you to eat just one!)

Drooling over photos on Pinterest is a new hobby of mine; one of my favorite photos being the one of pumpkin scones dripping with sweet sugary glaze.  But, keep in mind, I'm trying to ditch the baby weight (even a year later... sigh) and I didn't want all of the extra calories that the gooey topping brings with it.  If you are looking for a better sugarier topping, check out my source for the recipe at The Shoebox Kitchen.

For the scones:

• 2 cups all purpose flour - my dough was pretty gooey, but it worked out alright
• 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into 1-inch cubes - I used EarthBalance and it worked just fine
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin 
• 3 tablespoons soy creamer
• 1 large egg

Powdered Sugar Glaze (same credit with a bit of a twist)

• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 2 tablespoons soy creamer

Oven to 425 - line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk pumpkin, creamer (you could use milk or half-and-half like the original recipe suggests), and egg together in small bowl.

Sift dry ingredients into mixing bowl and add butter cut into small cubes on top of dry ingredients.  Mix with paddle attachment at a low/medium speed until no clumps of butter remain.  Avery and Braelin and I danced one dance to "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain." So it probably mixed for two minutes.

Cut out the mixer-ing and use a wooden spoon to mix in the dry ingredients.  It's kind of a work out but if you sing a song about shortnin' bread it goes much faster.

Shape the dough into a loaf roughly one inch thick and eight inches long and three inches wide.  Use a cookie cutter to cut the dough into three rectangles.  Then make an X in each rectangle to gie you three sets of four triangle shaped scones. 

Arrange scones on cookie sheet and bake for about 15 minutes.  I got sucked in to a game of peek-a-boo and didn't check on them, so they baked for the full 15 minutes and were a bit too brown.

Allow to cool and then brush with glaze.  Allow glaze to dry (if you can) and then enjoy with a cuppa coffee or tea or milk or water or whatever.  I don't recommend having it with lemonade, however, Avery was not a fan.

Enjoy!