Did You Miss Me?

I haven't posted in a very long time. Life has just been super busy! But now it is fall, the time of year that I love, and now that it is cooler bakiong and crafting are on my agenda!!

Yesterday I made my first "fall recipe", Butternut Squash Soup. It is one of my favorite soups, and I have played around with different ways of making it, and I think I finally got it just right! So here is the recipe!

Welcome Back Fall Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients:
1 Large Butternut squash cut in 1/4s
Olive Oil
salt for sprinkling
1 appled cut in 1/4s
2 shallots with the skin peeled off
1 can chicken broth
1 cup of white wine (or apple juice)
1 tsp ancho chili powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 cup of shredded parmesan cheese (plus more for garnish)
1 cup of milk

Place the squash, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt, apple and shallots in a roasting pan. Pour one cup of water into the pan. Roast at 350 degrees for about an hour, or until squash is tender (keep an eye on the apples, take them out early if they need to be taken out).
When it is cool enough to touch, scoop out the squash and the apples from their skins. Add the squash, apples and shallots into a large saucepan. Pour in chicken broth and wine (or apple juice)simmer for 30 min.
After the 30 minutes are up add 1 tsp ancho chili powder, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1/4 tsp ginger and 1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes, let simmer for 30 min more.
Then blend the ingredients together with an immersion blender or in a blender in batches.
* at this point the soup is great to freeze if you are making this ahead of time*
About 30 minutes before you are going to enjoy the soup, add with milk and shredded parmesan cheese. Heat over low heat until it is heated through. Garnish with more cheese.

A quick side note, I would not try making this recipe in the crockpot. I have tried in previous years, and was disapointed in the texture.

This year I added Martha Stewarts Bacon Jam. However, I did tweak it a bit to make it "paleo friendly" for a few of my friends! If you google it you will find the original recipe, but I will share what I did.

Bacon Jam

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds sliced bacon, cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces
2 medium yellow onions, diced small
3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 cup pure maple syrup
3/4 cup brewed coffee

In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium-high, stirring occasionally, until fat is rendered and bacon is lightly browned, about 20 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels to drain. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat from skillet (reserve for another use); add onions and garlic, and cook until onions are translucent, about 6 minutes. Add vinegar, maple syrup, and coffee and bring to a boil, stirring and scraping up browned bits from skillet with a wooden spoon, about 2 minutes. Add bacon and stir to combine.
Transfer mixture to a 6-quart slow cooker and cook on high, uncovered, until liquid is syrupy, 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Transfer to a food processor; pulse until coarsely chopped. Let cool, then refrigerate in airtight containers, up to 4 weeks.

Making this soup and the jam made my house smell so homey and "fally" yesterday!! What a great way to start the season!

The Good, The Bad and The Party!

There comes a point in every mother's life that you realize, no matter how bad you want to be June Cleaver, you will never be. While I would love to wear pearls while vacuuming they don't really go with pj pants and an oversized shirt. I would love to keep my house as spotless and pristine as she managed to, but really, I don't have stagehands that help out behind the scenes!
So with my new reality check in the front of my mind I would like to share the journey that was my daughters 3 year old birthday party.
It was Christmastime when we first started discussing my little Roo's birthday party. I had already been "planning" a fairy garden party, because isn't that what most girls would want? I must have forgotten who my daughter is, because when asked, she wanted a "Pink Superhero Party".
I was proud...my daughter is an individual, this would be no run of the mill birthday party! A pink superhero party! I could handle this with my eyes closed....everything would go smoothly! I would preside over the party with a calm smile on my face, not breaking a sweat! It would be magical!
I went on Pinterest and got inspired. I loved so many of the decorations, but I am not gifted in graphic design at all, so I called a friend and we brainstormed and she would take care of all of my design needs. I checked that off my list with a smug grin, easy...right? It is all about delegation!
I decided that instead of goody bags, the kids would love handmade superhero capes. I went to the store to by the fabric, pink and turquoise for the girls, red and blue for the boys. Fabric bought, my list for the party was going along swimmingly.
Then low and behold I realized that it was only a week till the party. WHAT? Where had the time gone? Panic mode starting setting in! I decided that I would knock out the capes that morning.
I had made the capes a million times in my head. I knew exactly what I would do. I would be done in 2 hours tops!
This is how the time went....
9:30am-9:45am - cut the fabric for all of the girls capes.
9:45am - 9:50am - sewed the first cape
9:51am - realized that I had sewed the cape in such a way that I could not turn it right side out
9:52am - 10:00am - took out the stitches while listening to my loving husband tell me how I should have done it to save me the frustration of taking out the stitches
10:01am - considered either a) divorcing my loving husband b)throwing my sewing machine at him
10:02am - realized that neither were a viable option.
10:03am - starting sewing the cape for the second time
10:08am - realized I had yet again messed up
10:09am - now thinking murderous thoughts about my sewing machine....it should know what to do right?
10:10am - got some more "suggestions" from loving hubby.....again considered a divorce lawyer
10:15 - started sewing cape for the third time
10:25 - finished cape number 1
10:30 - 10:45 finished cape number 2 and decided that I had PLENTY of time to finish the other 8 capes, after all I had 6 days....easy

Monday was Presidents Day and I decided that after my tramatic day before I needed to take a day off. So I read books on my Kindle, did any mothering that needed to be done, and played Fruit Ninga. After all I had 5 days!
Tuesday I kept thinking it was Monday, and had no stress, still had 5 days...it wasn't until the afternoon that I realized I had only 4 days! I was so stressed that I had to take a hot bath and drink a glass of wine to calm my nerves.
Wednesday I got organized and made lists of things I needed to get done....remember I still had 8 capes to sew!
Thursday I went to visit my friend who just moved. I brought the capes with me because she is an awesome seamstress and offered to "help" me sew them. She ended up doing all the sewing, because she is so much better at it than I am, and I cleaned the tops of her cabinets.
Friday, the day before the party, full blown panic mode set in! I made my list, checked it twice, loaded up on coffee and went to work.
First on my list....cupackes.
I will admit I used a box mix. I love baking from scratch, but have decided kids don't really appreciate the time and effort, they just want to get sugared up. I found some cool blue sparkles to put into the mix. I put them in the oven, with a smile on my face!

The smile kinda faltered when I took them out of the oven and realized that the blue sprinkles just made them look moldy! Oh well, they were going to get covered with hot pink frosting, no one would see the "mold" spots!
Next I decided that the next thing that should be done was to clean my house. I mean, that makes perfect sense, right? I was having a children's birthday party after all. I am sure the kids will play house inspector and care how the house looks.
I realized the folly of my thinking, but by that time I was too involved to give it up.

You can't really give up when your house looks like this!
I took some breaks in the cleaning to make my city scape. My plan, along with the capes was that each kid would get their picture taken in a "photobooth" that I would set up. I learned the hard way that spray paint doesn't work on cardboard. So I had to move to plan B, and cover the boxes with white paper, while convincing the birthday girl that the boxes weren't presents for her to open.
By then it was about 2 o'clock in the afternoon and I decided that I should really empty the dishwasher and clean up the house so that when my loving husband walks in the place wouldn't be a complete disaster! As I emptied the dishwasher I went to put away a wine glass, but decided that a glass of wine was in order.

By the evening I was exhausted. I knew I still had to blow up balloons for the photos, but decided that could wait till the day of the party!
My cute little "alarm clock" woke me up at 530am. I got my MEGA cup of coffee and went to work. I barreled through the tasks, even having to run to Walmart for a few things that I had forgotten.
By the time guests started arriving I had found my cool and calm attitude. June Cleaver has nothing on me!! Now I get to start planning a Greek Mythology party for my little professor in June.....I have plenty of time!

Quick and Easy and Portable....Oh My!!!

While looking around Pinterest I came across a pin for a "White Bean and Artichoke Spread". It looked very yummy, so I bought some white beans and artichoke hearts awhile back, but finally decided to make it today.
I changed the recipe quite a bit to cover for what I had in the house and leaving out the fat. It came out more of a hummus consistency, rather than the spread the original recipe claimed, but it is alot healthier and flavor packed!

White Bean and Arichoke "Hummus"

2 cans white beans
1 can artichoke heart
1/4 cup bread and butter pickles
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp capers
1 TBSP lemon juice
2 tsp sweet paprika
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
salt to taste

Add all ingredients to your food processor. Blend and enjoy!

My little kitchen helper!!

I am back...did you miss me?

The last part of 2012 went by with a blur. My photography business kept me very busy, and then family time took up the rest.
So now that things have slowed down, as much as life slows down when you are a mom, I hope to have some time to blog a bit more.
While I am not a big New Years Resolution person, I do like to take the new year and use it as a new start for things that got kinda left behind the craziness of the holiday season.
One of the things that got kind of shoved to the side was taking time to just "play" with my kids. During the holiday most of our playing has an "agenda", whether it is crafting holiday gifts or playing "baker" all the playing had a reason. Today I decided to do something that I have wanted to do for awhile, especially since after Christmas we are all "armed" with NERF guns.
Alot of times our games are geared more for my little Roo because she is the youngest. Today I decided to bring out a game specifically for my little Professor.

This is the letter that greeted him when he got home from school today.

And he had plenty of ammo......

These are the dastardly villians who let themselves in while he was in school!!

He had a great time finding them and wiping them out. He and his sister are having a grand time hiding the villians for each other leaving me a few precious moments to write this blog post!

The Simple Life

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8

Lately this verse has been going around and around in my head! This time of the year is really so very busy. Things tend to get "lost in the shuffle", attitudes get a little testy, patience wears thin and the whining and the crying increases. My tendancy is to want to do everything and do everything perfectly.

This verse has reminded me that I put too many expectations on myself. God doesn't expect perfection, He knows His children too well. God doesn't expect my "supermom" cape to always be spot and wrinkle free. God doesn't expect my house to be spotless, my children clean and always in matching outfits, and 5 course dinners on the table every night.

In reading this verse I am reminded of the Pharisees in the New Testement. They added so many expections onto God's instructions. They wanted their inward "godliness" to be "on show" to the outside world. They wanted a checklist that they could check off to prove they were godly.

I am participating in a Bible study of Beth Moore's study of Daniel. This past week we have been in Daniel chapter 3, talking about the golden image good 'ol Neb had built, leanding up to the story of the firey furnace. Beth Moore spoke about how we need to be careful in our lives not to "build images" of ourselves. That we need to be genuine.

Yes, I will admit, I would love for the world to think that I am the modern day June Cleaver....but try as I might, that is never going to be the genuine me. The genuine me has "hidey holes of clutter" in my house. (For those of you who watch the show FRIENDS, my garage is Monica's closet) The genuine me likes to ignore the areas of the house that I don't always see. I long for a clutter and completely organized house, but I think that is just going to have to wait until my mansion in heaven!

What God requires is a just life. God is more concerned over how I treat people. To me that is saying that I need to treat all people justly, whether I know them or not. So the driver that cuts me off needs to be given the same benefit of doubt that a close friend of mine would be given. Sitting here drinking my coffee in my rarely quiet house it is easy to type those words, but it is really hard to put them in practice!

I think living justly also applies to how I treat myself. Do I treat myself fairly? No I really don't, I am tougher on myself than anyone else. It is a daily battle, that I hope someday I can win!

God also requires us to love mercy. In our own lives of course we love mercy! Mercy is what spares us from a life without God! Mercy rescued us....Mercy is awesome!! Then someone comes along and "wrongs" us....how we LOVE to bring out the fire and brimstone! How we love to make that person grovel and rain down judgement! We forget that every breath we take is because of God's mercy.

Walking humbly with God. To me this is saying to live our lives in such a way that it is God who gets the glory. God delights in giving His children gifts and talents, but it is our job to use them in such a way that it is God's image that is shown not our own "golden images".

I love this verse for its simplicity. It is a concise outline of God's expectations. I hope to live out this verse in this hectic holiday season. I pray that God would show me my "Pharisee clutter" and that I will become more genuine, more refined and just a tad saner!

A time....

As the seasons are changing I am reminded of Ecclesiastes 3.
"There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace."

This summer, for me, was a time to tear down. There was alot of upheaval in our lives, alot of fear, alot of things that really shook me to my core. I didn't handle the stress in the best way, I kind of fell apart. But as the seasons are changing outside, the seasons of my heart of changing on the inside. It is a time to heal, a time to laugh and a time to mend.

This morning I embraced my new attitude and the changing of the seasons doing some things that I love to do. Fall is my favorite season, the smells, the colors, the weather and the food.

I looked out my window and saw a rainy fall day. So I lit some candles and got to work!
I went into my kitchen and pulled out my favorite fall spices:

With some help from my little Roo we made some yummy pumpkin scones.

Here is the recipe!

Ingredients:

For the Scones:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup and 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
1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
3 tablespoons half-and-half
1 large egg
For the Powdered Sugar Glaze:
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons milk
For the Spiced Glaze:
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pinch ground ginger
1 pinch ground cloves
Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with fit the paddle attachment, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Add the butter and toss with a fork to coat with the flour mixture. Mix on medium-low speed until the texture resembles coarse cornmeal, with the butter pieces no larger than small peas.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, half-and-half and egg. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients, and form the dough into a ball. Pat out dough onto a lightly floured surface and form into a 1-inch thick rectangle about 4 inches by 12 inches. Use a large knife to slice the dough making three equal portions. Cut each of the portions in an X pattern (four pieces) so you end up with 12 triangular slices of dough. Place on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until light brown. Place on wire rack to cool.
While the scones are cooling, make the powdered sugar glaze by mixing the powdered sugar and milk together until smooth. When scones are cool, use a pastry brush to spread plain glaze over the top of each scone. Allow to firm.
While the powdered sugar glaze is firming, combine all of the ingredients for the spiced glaze. Drizzle over each scone and allow the icing to dry before serving (about an hour).

Recipe Note: you can freeze unbaked scones and enjoy hot from the oven scones any day of the week. Just freeze on a baking sheet until firm, tightly wrap in plastic wrap and place in a ziploc freezer bag. When ready to bake just pop into the oven straight from the freezer, no need to thaw. Just add a few more minutes to the baking time.


I found it on Pinterest on a great blog called Sweet Pea's Kitchen. We taste tested them and they were met with rave reviews!

The rest of the day holds some crafts, some sewing and a wonderful soup for dinner!

A Peachy Keen Dinner

Peaches are hands down, my favorite fruit. I love peach season and can never get enough! I had some local peaches that I needed to use yesterday, so I came up with a wonderful french toast cassarole which we gobbled down for dinner!

Ingredients 3 cups cubed bread (I used cinnamon raisin bread) 6 eggs 2 cups milk 2 tsp vanilla 1 tsp cinnamon 4 peaches chopped sugar for sprinkling Mix eggs, milk, vanilla and cinnamon in a bowl, add your bread and stir till the bread is fully coated. Put in a 13x9 pan sprayed with a non stick cooking spray, sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake at 350 for about 30 min, or until the eggs are set. When it comes out sprinkle with powdered sugar. I topped ours with whipped cream, but it is just as yummy with syrup