Wrapping Up November: 2016

How is it December??

This year has simultaneously dragged on, and in the same inexplicable breath, flew by. Where did 2016 go? November was a pretty busy month for us, as it is for most with the Thanksgiving holiday. December is set to fly by too, as the hubby and I are leaving for Oregon in 15 short days!! I'm so excited, I haven't spent a Christmas in Oregon since Christmas 2009. It's definitely time to head home for a holiday!

But in November-

Pumpkin Cognac Cheesecake

Exactly 1 month ago, I was-

• Awakened at 7 am by the hubby getting home from his night shift.

• Kissing the hubby hello and wishing him a Happy Birthday!

• Packing a bag to stay the weekend in Marion, IL.

• Picking up the house, and telling my mother-in-law the dogs' routine as we prepared to leave.

• Taking this mesmerizing cheesecake out of the fridge and putting it in a travel container.

• Beginning the 427 mile trek to Illinois. 

Wrapping Up October: 2016

Ok, I just really wanted to start the post off with a cute puppy picture. Mission accomplished 😁🐶❤️

Can you believe it's November already? In 6 short weeks, the hubby and I will be leaving for Oregon! I'm in shock. I feel like it was just yesterday that I was telling the hubby it was time for a Christmas in Oregon. And now it's almost here! Unbelievable. 

But for now, now it's time to wrap up October! In October...

Pumpkin Spinach Lasagna Rolls

Put down your pumpkin pies, your pumpkin cakes, your pumpkin breads, and your pumpkin muffins. Why not try something new this fall? Something new being pumpkin used in a savory manner, rather than adding the "normal" sugar and pumpkin pie spice. 

I looooooove pumpkin in savory dishes. I'd actually never tried it until 2 years ago when I made Turkey Pumpkin Chili. I don't know if I was expecting my chili to taste like pumpkin pie, but it sooooooo did not. I was instantly hooked on the savory pumpkin 🎃

Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

Thanksgiving might be over, but pumpkin season runs right through December in this house!

Is that true for anyone else? I remember as a kid my mom always made a pumpkin pie for Christmas, as well as Thanksgiving. Needless to say, I associate pumpkin pie with the whole holiday season. I know some people see pumpkin pie as a Thanksgiving or fall recipe, and therefore put away anything pumpkin by December. If you are one of those people, tuck this recipe away in your back pocket for next fall. If you aren't one of those people, well, break out the pumpkin and let's do this!

25 Chocolate Recipes

Thanksgiving is upon us, my friends!

It's true, October would have been the perfect month for  25 Chocolate Recipes. That being said, I think November is a great month for this round-up too. For a couple of reasons-

#1. Not everyone likes Pecan Pie. Or Pumpkin Pie. I guarantee there's people out there that might want a chocolate dessert for Thanksgiving.

#2. Christmas and holiday baking are right around the corner. There are plenty of cookies, candies, and cakes in this round-up to choose for cookie swaps or last minute party gifts.

#3. I mean, it's chocolate. Come on. It's good 12 months out of the year. It's good for 52 weeks out of the year. It's good for 365 days out of the year. You get the picture.

So, yeah. Shall we jump right in?

*Warning- pictures may induce drooling, cravings, and a one-track chocolate brain. Proceed at your own risk :-)

Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts with Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze

Last week I confessed that I'd had a doughnut pan for over 6 months that I hadn't tested out yet. There must be something about putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) that made me want to change that. And since everyone, their mother, their mother's mother, and their 2nd-cousin-twice-removed is posting pumpkin recipes, I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring.

With homemade doughnuts! 

What I Learned In My 2nd Year of Gardening

Well, I think it's time.

I officially put the garden to bed yesterday. Actually, I did most of the work on Friday before our first heavy frost. I was at the gym, walking on the treadmill, minding my own business when the local garden guy came on the news. He advised getting any vegetables you might have in the garden, out of the garden before the cold weather. I still had a few tomatoes and peppers on the vines, so I got to work. 

I pulled the last few green tomatoes, and put them in closed paper bags in the basement. They'll be ripe in a couple of weeks, and that will be a nice treat. I pulled up the tomato and pepper plants, and added them to the compost. 

Pumpkin Spice Oreo Cookies

Please forgive me. I'm all about the cookie lately. There's something about fall that makes me want to break out the pumpkin, the cinnamon, the spicy spices that make Spice Cake magical... so when I saw Pumpkin Spice Oreo's at the grocery store, I jumped. I grabbed 2 packages to put in the cart as the hubby rolled his eyes.

"More truffles?" He said, eyeing the cream cheese that was also in the cart.

"No," I said, nose in air. "I'll make something else."

In my head, I racked my brain. I had been planning on truffles. Now what?

25 Muffin and Quick Bread Recipes

Happy Friday everyone!

It's been a long time since I posted a round-up, so I thought, why the heck not? Time to get back to my round-up's. First up, muffins and quick breads. I heart muffins and quick breads. I feel like muffins are the perfect jumping off point for someone just learning to bake. The recipes are simple and most of the time, forgiving. If there was one tip I could offer for the muffin newbie, it's this- mixing is not your friend. Cakes and cupcakes differ from muffins in the fact that mixing is paramount to the quality of your final product. Air is usually incorporated into those baked goods by creaming the butter and sugar. Most muffin recipes use baking powder or baking soda to cause the muffin to rise. Therefore, mixing until your arm falls off is not required. In fact, most of the time you'll find that the more you mix a muffin, the denser and tougher the muffin will be. Therefore, you'll want to mix the muffin ingredients just until the elements are moistened, but no more. Some of the recipes can even be made in one bowl. 

25 Deliciously Cheesy Recipes

You guys.

We are less than 24 hours away from the hubby and I hitting the road to go pick up our little man. To say I'm excited would be an understatement of mammoth proportions. I'm counting down the minutes till it's 8 am here, and I can call the puppy's foster mother to finalize our arrangements. Not that it will help. My brain is all like, "Puppy, puppy, puppy, puppy, puppy... Is it time to leave yet? No? Puppy, puppy, puppy, puppy..."

25 Delicious Cookie Recipes

Time for this month's roundup!

Sure cookies are the hip thing at Christmas, and around Valentine's Day, but if we are going to be really honest, cookies are good all the time. They have been the bane of my existence since I've learned how to bake, the reason those last 3 stubborn pounds hang on.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

It's just another Manic Monday...

No, not really. It's an absolutely peaceful Monday morning around here. The hubby worked the night shift last night and as such, is tranquilly snoring in the bedroom. Miraculously, the dogs let me sleep until the hubby got home, so I didn't even have to drag my sleepy butt out of bed, into my winter coat, and out into the harsh, biting morning air. It's a rare day when I rise from bed to simply grab a cup of coffee and sit down to watch the news. Yes indeed, it's a blissfully slow morning around these parts.

Now, I know Thanksgiving is over and some people have packed the pumpkin away until next year. I am not one of those people. December is still a pumpkin month for me. As a child, there never failed to be a pumpkin pie at Christmas. And pumpkin pie is my favorite. Therefore, I still love that big, round, orange squash all through the Christmas season. One of my favorite pairings in the world is pumpkin and chocolate. When I was in high school, my mom started making Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies and I became addicted. It was always a good day when I came home from school to find the house smelling like chocolate and pumpkin. They are a perfect match. If it's good in a cookie, why wouldn't it be good in a quick bread?

You want to hear something funny? I didn't really like quick breads when I was growing up. I wasn't especially fond of banana or zucchini bread. I think for me, it's in the name. Anything with "banana" or "zucchini" in the title couldn't really be dessert, could it? I can still hear the word "healthy" rattling around my teenage brain whenever I came face to face with zucchini bread. 

That being said, this bread is not particularly healthy. Due to the sheer amount of pumpkin, I'm sure there is plenty of fiber in the bread. However, there is quite a bit of chocolate to offset that fiber. And plenty of spicy cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger to make the bread taste like spice cake. It's the perfect bread for curling up with a blanket on the couch on a cold winter's day.

Something exciting happened over the weekend. And it has to do with these pictures. Some of these photos were taken in natural light, but I wasn't entirely happy with all the photos I'd chosen for this post. So, on Saturday night after the hubby left for work, I got out my photography light. This happens periodically as I'm still learning how to use it. It's been a mostly frustrating process, but any process where you are learning as you go can be infuriating. Something clicked on Saturday though. I was fresh off reading a Pinch of Yum's post about using artificial light in food photography, and I was bound and determined to get good results. And...

I did!

Most of these photos were taken in artificial light! This is a first for me, and I'm so darn excited. This opens up so many possibilities for me. It's true, I've had the light for quite a while. Due to my inexperience with it, I haven't considered it a weapon in my arsenal until now. I've now opened up hours and hours of usable photography time thanks to conquering that technique. And I'm thrilled. Ecstatic. On Cloud 9, if you will. 

I hope everyone had a great weekend, probably working on Christmas shopping. I know whenever I left the house this weekend, there were wall-to-wall people everywhere. Tis' the holiday season! :)

Have a great day everyone!

Ingredients (makes 1 loaf):

1 3/4 cup flour

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp cloves

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed

1 cup canola oil

2 eggs

1/2 cup almond milk

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Lightly coat a loaf pan with cooking spray, set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour though salt. Whisk to combine.

3. In a separate mixing bowl, combine pumpkin puree through almond milk. Whisk thoroughly to combine, until there are no lumps. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture, folding until just barely mixed. Do not overmix. Fold in chocolate chips.

4. Pour batter into loaf pan. Bake in preheated oven for 50 min to 70 min. If top of loaf gets too brown, cover with aluminum foil. I covered mine at 45 minutes and let it cook for 70 minutes. Remove from oven, and allow to cool in pan for 30 minutes. Turn bread out, and allow to cool completely before storage. Store in an airtight container.

Printable Recipe

Recipe adapted from AllRecipes.

If you liked this recipe, you may enjoy these:

Mini Chocolate Chip Zucchini Loaves

Nutella Swirled Banana Bread

Oatmeal Raisin Quick Bread

Linked to: Treasure Box Tuesday, Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party, Snickerdoodle Sunday

25 Winter Soup Recipes

Hap, hap, happy Friday folks!

I know, I know, I told you I was either bringing you a pumpkin recipe or DIY gift idea today. Well, guess what? I lied! Both posts need more work, so I'm here with another round-up. I think I'm going to be doing round-up's once a month from now on, they have been going over really well. People seem to like them, and I'm going to keep giving the people what they want. And as we march further and further into winter, soup becomes a very popular menu item. I can't count how many times the hubby has come home from a very cold day, and been utterly delighted to find cozy soup and crusty french bread for dinner. Indeed, I think we have soup and bread at least once a week in the winter. I end up making tons of soups to freeze, and then I pretty much just pull a meal from the freezer once a week. I love it. 

Soup is one of those things that pretty much anyone can make. You don't need to be a gourmet chef. It doesn't take much technique. In fact, I've found almost every soup has a similar preparation process. For most soups, you heat a little bit of oil or butter to sauté your mirepoix. Mirepoix is French for "onions, carrots, and celery". Not every soup has that exact combination, but almost every soup starts out by sautéing some vegetables. It could be onions and peppers. Onions, carrots, celery, and shallot. Garlic. You name it. After sautéing the mirepoix, it seems everything else goes. Except if it's dairy based. I'm talking wine, broth, vegetables that aren't as hard as onions and carrots, beans, meat, spices. After you throw everything else in, you simmer for any given amount of time. Next would come the aforementioned dairy, if you are making a creamy soup. And last, but certainly not least, you would throw in any fresh parsley, basil, or cilantro you would be using. Again, if any. It's really pretty simple. Never fear the soup recipe, my friends. 

Another benefit of soup--It can be prepared early, or even a day in advance. Soup always seems to come together the day after it's made to make extraordinary flavors. 

One more thing before I go... Most of you know I link my weekly recipes at the end of the week to several different "linky" parties. All in the hopes of driving traffic. I have a near-constant goal of getting featured on said parties, and sometimes, I reach my goal. Today is one of those days! My General Tso's Chicken was the most viewed recipe of the week over on The Country Cook's Weekly Potluck! This is huge honor, as the last time this happened (for my Pecan Pie Cake) I ended up with a ton of new readers, followers on Pinterest, and FaceBook likes. For the smallest of small blogs, this is  super-exciting and keeps me in a tizzy all weekend. I'll have a smile on my face for the next couple of days for sure! :)

There you have it folks. I'll leave you with 25 scrumptious soup recipes to try. Have a great weekend!

1. Roasted Fennel, Chickpea, and Tomato Soup

2. Winter Minestrone

3. Vegetable Beef

4. Creamy Broccoli and Cheese Soup

5. Creamy Chicken, White Bean, and Green Chile Soup

6. Semi-Homemade Chicken and Dumplins'

7. Chickpea Minestrone

8. Caprese Soup

9. Chicken Soup with Egg Noodles

10. New England Clam Chowder

11. Chicken Soup with Shells and Kale

12. Chicken Taco Soup

13. Eggplant and Orzo Casserole Soup

14. Loaded Baked Potato Soup

15. Lentil Soup with Spicy Sausage and Kale

16. Oktoberfest Stew

17. Pasta Fagoli

18. Skinny Potato Soup

19. Roasted Cauliflower Soup

20. Smoky Black Bean Soup

21. Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili

22. Spanish Rice Soup

23. Turkey Pumpkin Chili

24. Tortilla Soup

25. White Bean and Spinach Soup

Linked to: Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party, Snickerdoodle Sunday, Treasure Box Tuesday

Turkey Pumpkin Chili

Oh, heyyyyy!

My, my, this week has gotten away from me. Isn't that how it always is during the holiday season? Between family time and the extra time required for running errands due to sheer mass of people out and about this time of year, I haven't found the time to blog. The hubby and I spent all weekend with family, while I spent no quality time with my camera. Or creativity, for that matter. Eh, it happens. I feel like I've been recovering from the weekend all week. This also happens occasionally :)

Let's talk chili. While my absolute favorite chili is my Dad's, this doesn't mean I shun all other chilies (chilis? chili's?). I like tomato-based chili, white chili, chicken chili, quinoa chili, turkey chili, etc. Well, go ahead and add Turkey Pumpkin Chili to the list. 

This is a really healthy chili, filled with vegetables and good-for-you fiber. The chili is thickened by 2 cups of pumpkin puree. I know a lot of Americans only think of pumpkin in terms of pie crust, condensed milk, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg... you know, dessert-y.  But pumpkin is really a vegetable, and in the squash family. It has a very mild flavor that doesn't take over the chili so you'd never know your eating a bowl full of pumpkin, veggies, and beans. The hubby gave me an awfully strange look when I first told him I was making this, as he too shares the American mentality of pumpkin as dessert. He came around at first bite, though.

By the way, here's a great article on why you should eat more pumpkin :)

I can't believe it's December already! Seriously, I feel like I was just making Christmas cookies and now I'm about to make another round. The hubby and I hit up the craft store yesterday to pick up some Christmas items. As relatively new homeowners, our strategy has to been to take small steps each year in the decoration department. So, we went a picked up a few more Christmas decorations to add to our collection this year. I also picked up my cookie tins and treat bags that family and friends will be receiving soon.

The hubby and I realized another "first" this year. It's our first year of putting up Christmas lights! We were oh-so excited about this one as we realized, in 8 years together, we've never put up Christmas lights. Well, done and done. Not only did we put up lights, we put red bows on the porch and even bought a wreath. We are 100% in the Christmas spirit this year!

Don't worry, I'll post some pictures soon!

Now, go forth and make this chili. It's perfect for the cold, miserable weather we've all been having lately. Especially if you have to go out in said cold :)

Happy Wednesday!

Ingredients (serves 6):

1 tbsp olive oil

1 lb ground turkey

1 onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

2 cloves garlic

1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained

2 cups pumpkin puree

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup darker beer (I used an IPA)

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp cumin

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 (15.5 oz) can Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained

toppings: shredded cheddar cheese, minced red onion, chopped cilantro

Directions:

1. In a stockpot, heat oil over medium heat. When warm, add ground turkey. Sauté, stirring to crumble, for 2-3 minutes, or until turkey is no longer pink. Add onion and red pepper. Sauté for another 2-3 minutes. Add garlic to the pot, and sauté for 30 seconds. 

2. Add tomatoes through pepper to the pot. Bring to a boil, stir in beans, and lower heat to a simmer. Simmer for 30 minutes. Season to taste with more salt and pepper. 

3. Ladle into bowls, and serve with desired toppings. 

Printable Recipe

Recipe adapted from All You. 

If you enjoyed this recipe, you may enjoy these:

Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili

My Dad's Famous Chili

Creamy Chicken, White Bean, and Green Chile Soup

Linked to: Treasure Box Tuesday, Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party