Browsing the archives for the pumpkin tag.

Deceptively Delicious Doughnuts and My New Canon Rebel

Healthy, Kids, Marriage, Small Town

In this post, I’m participating in Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays, Tuesdays at the Table, Tuesday Night Supper Club, and Hearth ‘n Soul.

During the construction of the new site, I was still cooking and baking up a storm in my kitchen so I have about 5 months of recipes to show you! I wont show you all of them at once, don’t worry! I’m going to stick to one or two a day until I’m caught up. Today I posted the 10th recipe I’ve made from Deceptively Delicious! They are cute and tasty mini doughnuts with sweet potato and pumpkin snuck into them! So yummy! Here is the link to the recipe – Deceptively Delicious Doughnuts and here are a couple of photos:

 

Also during the redesign, just a couple of weeks ago actually, my amazing husband and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. I’ll spare you the painful squinting at my picture to guess how old I am (30) and I’ll save you the math (I was 19 when we got married). Recently my husband bough himself a car he has wanted for years and years and years so for my anniversary gift, he bought me the snazzy camera I have wanted for years and years and years – the Canon Rebel. Since I only got it two weeks ago, most of the upcoming recipes you’ll see photos of were taken with my point and shoot Samsung. I am so excited to share photos from the new camera but I don’t want to spoil surprises for new recipes. What’s an overexcited gal to do? Post pictures of my wee ones of course! Wee ones and silly indoor smores! I haven’t edited these photos in PS at all! They are just raw from the camera. Sooooo lovely. Best gift ever.

Wee One #1 needs a new nickname for the blog because he’s 10 now, and not so wee anymore. He is constantly taking pictures of me (trying to) take pictures of him. His iPod, by the way, he bought with his own money. I am always so proud of him for being such a great saver – but this is the most he has ever saved from allowance and he was so proud of himself when he went out with Dad to buy it. So rad!

Wee One #1

As I have mentioned over and over since we moved out here last year, there is a lake literally across the street from our house. We moved here at the beginning of the fall, and while we’ve enjoyed the outdoors and all the wide open space we have to run around and play we hadn’t been able to play in the water – you know since it’s Canada and all. It’s been nice and warm for the past few weeks though and I’m not exaggerating at all when I say that we’ve been going to the lake pretty much everyday. The kids get off the school bus, run inside for bathing suits and another hit of sunscreen and off we go! We hang out at the water till just before supper, walk back, wash up and eat.

Off to the beach!

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I have to be creative with evening meals now since I am at the beach when I’d usually be prepping. So I tend to prep in the afternoon and just assemble when we get home, or I do the whole meal the night before and just reheat when we get back. It’s no fun to have the oven on in the summer anyway. I am super excited our new house has central air conditioning, but I wont abuse it by cranking the oven on a super hot day. I’ll share some of these easy summery recipes after I’ve caught up with my back posts, I promise. Here is a fun dessert we ‘make’ with the kids! I’ll post the quick little how to this week. Indoor smores!!

Indoor Smores

Tomorrow is Work in Progress Wednesday and I have a new sock to show off! Maybe I’ll even have more of it knitted by then LOL.

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Thanksgiving Baking

Domestic

Thanksgiving has always equated to pumpkins, which I think is pretty traditional and fair. This is the first year in a very long time that I’ve been away from my folks for the prep of Thanksgiving. We made the drive down to their place for actual Thanksgiving supper, but this year I wasn’t there for baking the desserts. I may have gone overboard with the Thanksgiving baking at my house, but is there really ever such a thing?

First up, I asked Twitter what I should bake and Jen from Hollyhouse Studio suggested I try out the Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting from Brown Eyed Baker. Excellent idea. If you’re not following them on Twitter yet, get to it. If you are, then take Jen’s advice if she gives you any, and bake as much of Michelle’s goodies as you can. <3 I didn't have everything I needed for the filling, so I whipped up some classic buttercream frosting to fill them with instead. Whipping cream spiked with cinnamon or nutmeg would have also been pretty amazing. Before this month is over, I will likely have another pumpkin extravaganza and try these with the proper filling. The whoopie pies themselves were wonderful! Not sticky at all, just spongey enough too. When we brought these to Toronto my father inhaled them. 🙂

I have no idea where I found this next recipe. It was in a sheet protector in my kitchen recipe binder, which just means I must have really wanted to try it out if it made it’s way to the kitchen binder.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Mini Loaves
3 cups granulated sugar
15 oz pumpkin puree
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
4 eggs

3 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350. Use either three loaf pans or a pan and a half like the one I used.

2. Sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.

3. Beat sugar, pumpkin puree, oil, water and eggs till smooth. Blend in the flour mixture and fold in chocolate chips

4. Fill each pan 1/2 to 3/4 full.

5. Bake for about 35 minutes if using loaf pans, 20 if using mini pans.

 

These. Oh these ones. My pride and joy. My mini pumpkin tarts. The idea was shamelessly stolen from inspired by Bakerella’s Pumpkin Pie Bites. I love her blog dearly, but I cannot bring myself to use pre-made pie crust. My Granny would be reanimated from the grave and haunt me for the rest of my life. So, I used my 78 year old pie crust recipe. Do you want me to share it with you now? Promise you’ll be good to it? Don’t roll it out too much and for crying out loud, once it’s in the pan leave it be. Okay? Alright then, here you go. It’s really as simple as possible – it is from 1932 after all.

‘Plain Pastry’ from The Art of Cooking and Serving

2 cups flour
2/3 cup butter
3/4 teaspoon salt
cold water

Mix and sift four and salt. Cut in butter with a knife. Add only water enough to hold the ingredients together. Do not knead. Divide dough in 2 parts and roll out thin on a slightly floured board. Line a pie pan with one half the pastry. Pinch pastry with the fingers to make a fancy edge and prick bottom and sides with a fork. Bake in a very hot oven (460) 10 to 15 minutes. For a 2 crust pie, line pie pan with pastry, put in a filling, cover with top crust and bake as directed for pies. If less rich pastry is desired, use only 1/2 cup butter.

I will bake my way through this cookbook as a challenge to myself in the new year. I still have to finish ‘cake year’. 😉

The filling for these little cuties is your standard ‘evaporated milk + egg + pumpkin pie filling’.

I gave them an egg wash, of course. Pies and tarts must have a glossy crust, right? I made the pumpkin pie the same as the mini tarts, and the crust is the same as well. I swear by this crust. It is prefect every time.

 

My full Thanksgiving treat spread, on the beautiful fall harvest platter Gilly gave me a few years ago – thanks Gill!!

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