Sunday Puffs

I got up a little early this morning to surprise my girls with a delicious batch of these:

they are Pioneer Woman's "French Breakfast Puffs" and they are, in one word, divine!!! They take just a few mintues to whip together...and they bake for 20 minutes, so just enough time to get the dishes washed and the butter and cinnamon melted.

Here's another photo showing them in all their glory:

If you get a chance to pick up Pioneer Woman's book you will find the recipe on page 66....I would encourage you to try them. They are a cross between an airy, puffy muffin and a cinnamon sugar donut. They are a fantastic, once-in-a-while treat!!

**Just as I finished typing I did a search and found the recipe on PW's site.  Here it is....try it, you'll be glad you did!!

A Few of My Favorite Scenes

I know everyone has been on the bandwagon lately with the "I Love Fall" theme, so I thought I would jump on in....because, you know what? I love the fall!!!

We are at home tonight, it's raining, my girls are in their jammies, I'm not far behind....and we have a fresh pot of potato sausage soup cooking, homemade french bread ready to be gobbled up:

and pretty candy corn lights shimmering outside my kitchen window:

and inside I've pulled out some of my favorite fall decorations including these lovelies:

No, they aren't real, but in Florida, we don't get a huge change of colors....in fact, my air conditioner is running right now at 77 degrees...oh well....it will cool down soon enough.  And when it does, I will be sure to make another batch of these yummy treats:

Roast Beef and Argula paninis we cooked up the other night for dinner.  A tasty recipe from one of my favorite cooking shows, Five Ingredient Fix.  I love this show!

Take care....sorry for all the randomness, that is how my mind has been operating lately.

Baking My Way Through

I bought Pioneer Woman's cookbook over the summer and I have just this week tried out two of her recipes. I can attest that both have been extraordinarily yummy!!! Definitely a 10++ on the yumminess scale.

Here's a shot of a "French Breakast Puff" that I made this morning.  This recipe is an easy one and makes 12 really good-sized muffins.

They are also very close to a recipe on her blog called, "Muffins that Taste Like Donuts" which I have also made. In my personal opinion, PW's recipe makes a better muffin.

Here's a shot of the tray before they were devoured:

I think one of the secrets to this recipe may be the melted butter and cinnamon bath the muffins take when they come out of the oven....ooo la la....what a treat these are!!

I also made a batch of her meatballs with egg noodles this week, but honestly, I was w-a-y too hungry when it came dinner time to take a picture...they were sooooo delicious and satisfying!! I know they will become a regular in our house so I'll be sure to take a picture next time.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend!

Oh Henry!

Have you ever eaten an Oh Henry bar? I don't know where I've been all my life, but I have never eaten one, at least not one from a store.

Last week I was browsing through Becky Higgins' blog and browsed through her recipe section. I'm always on the lookout for new and tasty recipes.  She has some really yummy stuff...I've already tried three different things including these bars.

Aside from them being a bit on the sticky side, they were really scrumptious. And, perhaps they should have set up a little better, but I used a natural peanut butter and that might have made a difference.

Have you made anything new in the ktichen lately?

Tasty Almond Butter & An Invitation

One of the things I most enjoy about spending time with friends over the summer break is thinking about what to bring as a "hostess" gift.  I love coming up with little ways to show my friends just how much they mean to me.  The last time I was invited over to a friend's for dinner I brought some homemade pesto fancied up in a little squatty mason jar.  This time I decided to go a little simpler. 

[Changing the subject for just a minute]: Did I ever mention that my husband and I bought ourselves a combined gift this past Christmas? Well, it was the first time I'd ever bought something from a paid commercial, but I was so impressed with this little guy we decided to splurge and buy it. 

Here's a picture of the Healthmaster:

It is similar to a Vitamix (and I've wanted one of those for a l-o-n-g time) in that it will juice and blend with ease and quickness.  We love to make homemade smoothies with it using only fresh and/or frozen fruit, veggies, a little juice and skim milk. And, the reason for telling you all that is....it also makes the most delicious peanut butter and almond butter.

So, for this last get together I knew I wanted to whip up a few batches of homemade almond butter to give out.  It is so yummy and good for you!

I bought two bags of roasted and salted organic almonds from Whole Foods and blended them with three tablespoons of Canola oil. That's it! I poured an equal amount into four containers and fancied them up using a computer-printed label which I attached to a scalloped die cut.

And, because it made four of these 6 oz. containers I was able to keep some for myself which we are enjoying this week for breakfast. (The little house image in the center of the label is a clear rubber stamp from the dollar bin at Michael's.)

I also wanted to invite you back for an "Open House" of sorts. I've been thinking for a long time about giving a tour of my house and some of its thrifted contents. I love seeing my stuff in all its "glory" and remembering back to the time when I purchased each item for just a small amount of money.  I have a mixture of items, some coming from garage sales, thrift stores, hand-me-downs, and even the trash.  I plan to go room-by-room and give you guys the VIP tour. (Because you are all VIPs in my book.)  I'll start off with my kitchen and we'll see where I go from there.  I hope you enjoy it!  Let me know what you think...good or bad. 

Spread Love and Pesto

I don't know about you, but everytime I log on to the computer and go through my blog roll, which always leads to a few links here and there (I never know where I'm going to end up)....I always find new things to do and try. 

One day last week I went to one of my favorite places, giverslog.com and found this cool post about the most delicious homemade pesto.  And, better than just a recipe and amazing photos, she shared a really awesome download for your own printable labels. Well, with homegrown basil in my backyard (we finally tried basil AND tomatoes this year) I couldn't resist....I had to put some together.

I followed the recipe exactly, using my Cuisinart and it was so simple...and tasty!

And, it couldn't have come at a better time, because I needed a quick and pretty hostess gift to bring to a dinner on Saturday night.  This recipe actually made three jars so I was able to keep one for myself. We are sampling it tomorrow night over some pasta and shrimp. Here's a shot of the label I used....I love the sentiment... "spread love and pesto"

See you later!

New Kitchen Toy

We did some shopping over Spring Break and I got my hands on this lovely new "toy" for my kitchen:

We have a couple of waffle lovers in our house so making belgian waffles from this lovely was really a treat. Today was the first morning we had a chance to try it out since purchasing it on Tuesday.  Let me just say...."They were great!"

No, that wasn't my plate....but I could have certainly eaten that many....actually, that is a picture of what was left once everyone was done.  And, another good thing we found out, they are the perfect size for our T-fal toaster.  We will be popping these babies in the toaster tomorrow before school for a quick and delicious breakfast treat. 

I also heard that you can use it to bake brownies and quick breads, so you know I'll be trying out that feature as well.

Money Well Spent

We visited the Riverside Arts Market again this weekend and I found a local farmer selling these gorgeous blueberries freshly picked and straight out of a freezer.

When we got them home, I dumped them out and started picking out stems and re-bagging them into smaller bags. At the Market I bought a gallon-sized freezer bag, approximately 4 1/2 pounds of berries for $8.00.  I thought it was a great deal. By the time I re-bagged them I ended up having 15 cups of berries!

I can't wait to make a new blueberry coffee cake recipe along with some fresh smoothies and maybe blueberry scones. As my good friend Debbi used to say, "De-lish!"

When Life Gives You Lemons

Our neighbor gave us the most delicious blood oranges and lemons over the holiday break. They were straight out of his backyard and he was so generous by giving us several sackfuls.

Did you know that you can freeze lemon slices to use later on? My neighbor's Mom shared that tip with me several years ago and I'm so glad she did.

I decided not to let these juicy babies go to waste, so I sliced them up and flash froze them in my freezer.
Now I've got a big bag of lemons for lemonade, pound cake, cooking, whatever! Try it when you have too much to eat at one time, or when a friendly neighbor gives you lemons the size of mini footballs.

One of my Favorite Gifts

One of my favorite little gifts to give is homemade bread. I made these little loaves on Sunday to give out to my teachers at school. I thought they would be perfect little breakfast treats or simply something for them to tuck into their freezers to snack on later.

My original plan was to sew up a few bread bags but I ran out of time. So, last night I prettied up the loaves using some freezer paper (love that stuff), twine and a few scalloped circles in patterned paper from Making Memories Autumn Splendor.
I also used a Spellbinders tag die and a stamped image from PTI's Rustic Branches stamp set.

It was nice to put a smile on everyone's face with this simple surprise. After all, we are very thankful for our elementary school teachers.

Fall Baking Favorites

One of my favorite things about the Fall season is being in my kitchen and baking some of my favorite treats....here are a few that I've made in the past couple of days...

Organic Maple Brown Granola Raisin Cookies

and Pumpkin Bread (with a side of chocolate)

Both of these treats are so easy to make and loved by all. If you want the recipes, let me know and I'll post them. The aroma in your kitchen can't be beat!! Yum!

Blackberry Dump Cake

I went to a new "Green Market" yesterday and found the most gorgeous fresh blackberries. I had never seen ones so large!!! Here's a shot of them sitting all clean and gorgeous in my colander...I knew the second I laid eyes on them exactly what I wanted to do with them.
Have you ever tried Dump Cake? If not, you're in for a treat. It's the easiest of desserts to prepare....you need some kind of fresh fruit, or you can use canned cherries or peaches, yellow cake mix, a 9x11 casserole dish and one stick of butter (which I forgot to put in my picture). That's it....no other added ingredients.

First, I washed my berries. Next, I sprayed my casserole dish with a little non-stick cooking spray. After that, just layer in your fruit, cake mix and then....

cut up your stick of butter into little "pats" and dot them on top of the cake mix. Spread them out as best as you can.

To bake, just place the casserole dish in the oven at 350 degrees for one (1) hour. I also lined my sheet pan with foil in case there were any spill overs from the berries.

Here's what it looks like when it comes out of the oven. And, you should smell the kitchen while it's baking.....yummmm! I've always said that it would be great if Yankee Candle came out with a "Dump Cake" scented candle.

Try one today!

Can you say Loom-Pee-Ah?

I went to a girlfriend's house Friday to make homemade Lumpia - pronounced "loom-pee-ah" and boy did they turn out yummy!

Here's the filling which consisted of lean ground beef, garlic, green onions, shredded carrots, one egg and some seasonings:
Next we filled the lumpia wrappers and rolled them up like little cigars. We used a tucking-in method (on the left) as well as an easier and faster method of rolling with no tucking in which you can see on the right.

To cook the lumpia and get the wrappers nice and crispy, we cooked them in oil on the stovetop. This took a little bit of time and it's important to make sure the oil isn't too hot. You don't want your wrappers to burn.

Here's our finished plate, along with another dish we made called Pancit, which is like the Chinese version of Lo-Mein.

Talk about yummy....these were both delicious and I can't wait to make more for me and my friends!