Lately: Fall 2014

Happy Sunday!

I thought I'd throw in an extra post this week, just for fun. Plus, it's Sunday morning and I don't have much else to do. The hubby worked last night and as such, is snoring lightly while he naps on the couch next to me. The dogs must be exhausted from guarding the house all night in the hubby's absence because they are passed out as well. Why not sneak in a little blogging time while the rest of the house slumbers? Here's what's been going on lately-

The hubby was synching his phone to the computer after the latest IOS update, and we discovered he had a bunch of photos from when my parents came to visit. I thought I'd share a couple that he took. This one is one of my favorites. Am I a baby? Or a turkey? I can't decide. 

Dad signing the Oregon plate at Hillbilly Hot Dogs.

Family baseball night. Dad making contact with the ball.

This picture makes me laugh, I'm not sure what I'm doing. The hubby commented that I look like I'm doing the Heisman poise. Maybe??

We've still got Sam the Cat living out back. He's gained a decent amount of weight, and still doesn't appear to be leaving the yard. He's become a backyard fixture, I've gotten quite used to him. He's such a good natured cat. I still wonder where he came from.

He loves the sun, he loves to play, and he especially loves rolling around on the cement of back porch. He's not so fond of the dogs, who still haven't learned proper cat socialization yet. Surprisingly, Gizmo is adjusting faster than Haloti. 

But Gizmo still loves to watch Sam out the back door and bark at him. I haven't shook him of that habit yet.

Well, it's fall here so the garden is pretty much done. I say pretty much because I still need to gather what green tomatoes are left and then compost the plants. I've turned what's left of the lettuce out to the wildlife, all the jalapeños have been picked, and my tomatoes look like this-

Pretty much just brown vines. I learned so much this year. I know when to seed next year. I know what I want to grow next year. I know what pests and diseases (ahem, the spotted cucumber beetle, blight, the tomato hornworm, to name a few) I need to combat next year. I'm armed with a list of helpful plants to grow around my garden to attract the right predators. I'm ready, I'm excited, and...  it's still October. In other words, a looooooong ways from Spring :)

One thing I learned this year was the best way to grow cilantro, for us. I started the summer with cilantro starts. I bought 3 and planted them in a row. This wasn't enough cilantro, as I exhausted that supply with 3 batches of salsa. Next, when I went to plant, I only dug 5-6 small holes and dropped a few seeds in each hole. This technique didn't produce enough cilantro for me either, I used it all up with 2 harvests. I finally took a large pot and dumped half a seed packet in the dirt. This resulted in a large, full pot of cilantro. Within 3 weeks. Next year, I'm going to plant a pot and then stagger more pots throughout the summer. The basil and cilantro were the herbs I went to the most. In fact, the herb garden is still going pretty strong-

It's not really starting to brown, either. I love that my herbs are still right out there. Well, except for the basil. I used all that up about a month ago. Which means, the bottom tier of my herb garden is just dirt. One might think it's just dirt, right? Nothing exciting about that. I thought that too, until I looked out in the yard one day and saw this squirrel-

He was furiously burying nuts in yard. All over the yard. I watched him for quite a while. Since I was inside, I wasn't able to get an awesome picture of him, unfortunately. I was shocked when I watched him jump right into the herb garden and start digging where the basil used to be.

Later that day, the hubby and I went to check out the herb garden. The hubby couldn't resist trying to find the hickory nut the squirrel buried in there. To our surprise, we did find it. At the very bottom. The bottom is about 2 feet down, by the way. We couldn't believe how deep the squirrel was able to bury that nut. Crazy! We re-buried the nut, and had a good chuckle over the incident. 

The hubby loves pugs, so I couldn't resist getting this picture to send to him. I was at my sister-in-law's house for her birthday, while the poor hubby had to work. She was dog-sitting for her friends who happened to be out of town. That's a big puggy smile, if you ask me :)

I participated in a 5k last weekend that was my very first trail race. I actually had no idea that it was going to be a trail race, because I'd ran it the year before when it was very much not a trail race. I learned the night before it was a trail race, and I'd chose to make the best of it. I hadn't done any training on trails, mainly because there are none around here, but my plan was to take it slow. Make the best of a bad situation, I told myself. And that's exactly what I did, because I ended up getting 1st in my age group and earning my first medal! It's been a goal of mine to earn a medal, so I'm very proud.

I think I mentioned that the hubby's birthday was last week, and we had the whole family over for cake and ice cream. Here's the whole crazy group, complete with vacant, unhinged gazes.

See what I have to deal with?  :)

I hope you are enjoying your weekend! Have a great week!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Ah, the first pumpkin recipe of the season. Fall truly has descended upon us. On this day in NE Kentucky,  this means the humidity is gone, there's a crisp chill in the air, the leaves are falling at an alarming rate, and... pumpkin recipes are all the rage. And I love me some pumpkin. Pumpkin pie is one of my most favorite pies. It's right up there with cherry and raspberry pies. Oh, and chocolate pie. Blueberry. Mmmmm. Ok, maybe I just like pie. Good thing, because these little muffins truly taste like pumpkin pie. 

These muffins are so perfectly moist and tasty. The vanilla-cream cheese topping makes it taste like a dollop of whip cream on a slice of pie. I wasn't expecting such WOW results, but hey, I'll take it. The recipes makes a fairly large batch, about 18 muffins, but I had no trouble pawning these off on family members. They were gone in the blink of an eye. Well, excluding the ones I saved for hubby, but let me tell you, those are long gone too.

Making and devouring these were a little like dipping my toe into the water. I'm fully ready to be submerged in pumpkin now. I'm craving pumpkin bread, pumpkin cupcakes, pumpkin smoothies- doesn't a pumpkin pie smoothie sound to-die-for?? Meaning, this is only the beginning. Beware-plenty of pumpkin recipes to follow...

I am feeling a little pep in my step this morning. I just got word from my mom, who was waiting on results from a bone density test, that her scan was clear! This news made my morning. On top of that, it's a perfectly, crisp fall morning without rain. One thing I'm seriously enjoying about this fall is running. It was a difficult, struggle-some summer running in the humidity. Where I thought I'd gotten out of shape because I could only run 2.5 miles without getting dizzy, lightheaded, nauseous, and cold, I've realized I was overheating. Simply due to the weather, not to my conditioning. But running in this cool weather, I feel like a million bucks. I ran 5 miles in 48 minutes yesterday, definitely a feat for me. And not something I could accomplish at 75º with 90% humidity. Most of my miles were sub-10's. I'm pretty darn slow, so I'm super-proud I was able to do this. 

One other fact that has me in the groove this morning? The hubby and I leave for Cancun in 9 days! Holy moly. I've still got a few items to pick up for the trip (i.e. 20 bottles of SPF, please) but I've got the essentials. A million swimsuits, since I'll be living in them. Plenty of sundresses. Flippy floppies. A house sitter :) Yep, I think we are set and I'm just counting down the days till the hubby and I fly out of Cincinnati. Finally, 5 years later, we are getting the honeymoon done. 

So, yay, it's almost the weekend! Truth be told, the hubby's had the whole week off and we have been maximizing his down time. Lots of movies. Bingeing on TV shows. Making homemade Chinese food. Devouring carrot cake. And for the hubby, an abundance of video games. We love making the most of our relaxation time. Sadly though, he has to work all weekend, so I'll be left to my own devices. I'm halfway through "Divergent" (I know, I'm so behind the times) so finishing that book and moving on to the next is numero uno on my list.

After baking something pumpkin, of course :)

Happy Thursday!

Ingredients (makes 18 muffins):

Muffins-

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup canola oil

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree

2 eggs, room temp

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 cups flour

1/4 cup milk

Cream Cheese Topping-

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Line 2 cupcake pans with liners (18 liners). Set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, oil, and pumpkin. Mix with a whisk by hand until combined. Mix in eggs. Mix in cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.

3. In a separate bowl, combine baking soda and flour. Mix in one cup of flour mixture. Mix in milk. Mix in remaining flour mixture. Do not over mix, mix until just combined. Divide batter equally among liners.

4.  In another bowl, mix together cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla with a hand mixer. Mix until completely smooth. Drop 1 tbsp of cream cheese mixture onto each muffin.

5. Bake in preheated oven for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack. Cool completely before storage. I stored mine in a bowl with a kitchen towel over them due to how moist they turned out. Store in the fridge if you are not eating all the muffins within the first day or two.

Printable Recipe

Recipe adapted from Crazy for Crust.

Looking for other fall recipes? Try these!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Snickerdoodle Blondies

Creamy Pumpkin Custard

Linked to: Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Foodie Friend's Friday Linky Party, Treasure Box Tuesday

Banana Split Truffles

It happened one day at the store.

I wasn't in a hurry, and that's always a bad idea for me. When you are obsessed with food, the grocery store can be a dangerous thing. All the sights and sounds make my creativity swirl, and I get too many ideas. I spend way too long perusing the fruit and veggies, occasionally putting something that looks really fresh in my cart. The baking aisle is another aisle I get into trouble in. There's always newer, cuter cupcake liners to snatch up. A great sale on sugar or flour will move me.  I've also been know to acquire cake mixes on occasion. While I bake mostly from scratch, you can really doctor cake mix into something amazing. Or donate it to charity. The cookie aisle (i.e. the Oreo aisle) is another problem area for me. My family (ok, the hubby's family) is obsessed with Oreo truffles. They love these things. I've made countless batches since I debuted this recipe in December. I'll be making some today, in fact. So when I saw a package of Banana Split Oreo's, I could not resist. I would not resist. 

And I went for it.

And wow! These taste exactly like a banana split! While I thought they would be good, and might taste something like banana, I had no idea just how good they would be. Or how much they would taste like a banana split. Have no fear, these are perfectly banana-y. If you have a banana split lover in the house, they will luuuuurve these. Luckily, I was able to take most of the batch out to my sister-in-law's for her birthday, so I was saved from what would doubtlessly have been a binge-fest on Oreo truffles. 

I've mentioned before, these are completely easy-peasy to make. There's no baking! I think that's the best part. All you need is a food processor, a microwave, and a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Actually, I used a little bit of gel food color, but that's totally optional. And technically,  technically, you could make these without the food processor. It would just take a bit longer and some elbow grease to mix them by hand. But on the bright side, hey, you could totally crush the Oreo's by putting them in a ziploc bag and beating the crap out of them. A good exercise in releasing some negative juju, if you will. 

Someday, I will have made truffles from all the Oreo flavors. Mwhahahha! I already have Pumpkin Spice Truffles on tap, followed by Berry Truffles. All in good time my friends, all in good time. 

Total change of subject time. Here in NE Kentucky, we were treated to some spectacularly bad weather yesterday. First of all, I woke up to my back porch in complete and total disarray. All of the chairs had been blown over. Gusts of wind had knocked half my plants over. Rain had gotten in the kitty box. I cleaned everything up, righted my plants, and shook out the kitty blankets. I've turned the kitty box, so I'm pretty sure rain won't be getting in there again. The hubby is also going to build an extremely small lean-to to protect Sam's food from rain. Right now, we have a tote on its side that Sam can crawl into to eat his food. Something permanent is in order, though. After cleaning everything up, wouldn't you know, more severe weather rolled in that afternoon. The news hadn't exactly prepared us for this weather pattern, we usually have several days warning. Luckily, the hubby and I were both home when the sky turned black and a tornado watch was issued. We spent a little time in the basement during one squall, but as usual, we ended up being safe. For the severity of the storms, there wasn't a lot of damage in our area. We never even lost power. It still ended up being a pretty crazy afternoon.

And now today? It's supposed to be clear and sunny. Crazy weather. Crazy good running weather :)

So, in conclusion, if you see Banana Split Oreos at the store, I highly recommend picking up a package and giving these a whirl. You will not regret it.

Have a great Hump Day friends!

Ingredients (makes ~20 truffles):

1 (18 oz) package Banana Split Oreos

4 ounces cream cheese

1 (16 oz) package of Vanilla Melting Candy

yellow gel food coloring (optional)

Directions:

1. Remove 2 cookies from package. Place in a ziploc bag and crush. Set aside.

2. Place remaining cookies in food processor. Pulse until cookies are crumbs. Add cream cheese to the food processor, and pulse until you have one solid chunk of "dough".

3. Scoop out balls of dough using a 1-tbsp cookie scoop. Place balls on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. 

4. Melt candy according to package directions. Add desired amount of food coloring, if using. Dip balls into melted candy, then place back on the cookie sheet. Dust truffles with crushed cookie crumbs before the melted candy sets. Let truffles sit for 30-60 minutes before digging in. Store in an airtight container. 

Printable Recipe

Love Oreo truffles? Try these recipes!

Oreo-Reese's Peanut Butter Truffles

Mint Chocolate Truffles

Oreo Birthday Cake Bites

Linked to: Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Foodie Friend's Friday Linky Party, Treasure Box Tuesday

Chicken Burritos with Spanish Rice & Fresh Salsa

Just one more Spanish Rice recipe! It's conceivable, after eating Spanish Rice for dinner, lunch, and then making soup out of it, that you might have a little bit leftover. Fajitas would be fun, but burritos? I can make burritos in my sleep. One of my favorite foods to eat. In fact, I'll make this confession- it's not an unusual week for me to open a can of refried beans and have bean burritos all week for lunch. A nice warm tortilla, creamy beans, cheese, and sour cream, all topped with freshly made salsa? Yes, please! "Yes, please!" all week long. However, it's always nice to change up the burrito and fill it with out-of-the-ordinary deliciousness. For me, that's adding chicken, as we don't keep chicken meat on hand 24/7. However, roasting a chicken last week left me some leftover morsels. And then, there's rice. Because it's not every day I have Spanish Rice in the fridge. Salsa, on the other hand, you will always find in my fridge.

So, with these chicken burritos, I finally bid adieu to the Spanish Rice. If you've been reading the last couple of posts, you're probably sick and tired of Spanish Rice. I hope I've convinced you of 2 things-

1. How economical making a batch of Spanish Rice is- A recipe utilizing pantry ingredients that most people keep on hand. Plus, using the rice for multiple recipes and dinners saves moola as well.

2. How much of a time saver this could be- Make this one night and save time later in the week!

All right, I can promise you, you've seen the last of the Spanish Rice for awhile. I cannot promise you won't see any more Mexican recipes though. The hubby and I are heading out soon for Cancun, after all. I must prepare my stomach for the festivities. Or at least that's what I keep telling myself!

Today is the hubby's birthday so I can assure you, there will be no Mexican food today. We had his family over yesterday to celebrate with cake and ice cream. I mentioned earlier I was hoping he would choose the Boston Cream Pie. He did not. Alas, he chose Carrot Cake. It turned out fabulously, by the way. I'll be sure to share the recipe later in the week, or maybe next week if other recipes take priority. Last week was fantastic for light as far as photography goes, so I've got a few recipes in the pipeline. I love having recipes in the pipeline. It's a much better feeling to open the blog and choose from several recipes to feature vs. opening the blog and panicking over having nothing to post. Or fretting about the fact that dark clouds have converged around my house at the perfect photography time. In the meantime, today is the hubby's day. We have nothing planned yet, so we'll see what that kid wants to do today. I mean, besides devouring the last of his Carrot Cake :)

Happy Birthday Hubby! And Happy Monday friends!

Ingredients (makes 2 burritos):

1 cup Spanish Rice

1/2 cup cooked chicken, shredded

2 tortillas

2 tbsp sour cream

1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

1/2 cup lettuce, thinly sliced

1/4 cup Fresh Salsa

Directions:

1. Place Spanish Rice in a microwave-safe dish and heat until warm, stirring once.

2. Place chicken in a small skillet over medium heat. Toss until warm. Remove from heat. (You can heat the chicken in the microwave if desired, but I think it gives the chicken a weird flavor.)

3. Place tortillas on a microwave safe plate. Cover with a damp paper towel. Microwave for 30-45 seconds.

4. Spread 1 tbsp sour cream on warm tortilla. Top with 1/4 cup of chicken, 1/2 cup rice, 1/2 the cheese, lettuce, and salsa. Roll tortilla to wrap it up. Repeat with 2nd tortilla. Serve immediately!

Printable Recipe

If you liked this recipe, you may enjoy these:

Black Bean Flautas with Avocado Dipping Sauce

Seviche-Style Shrimp and Avocado Tacos

Red Bean and Rice Tacos

Linked to: Treasure Box Tuesdays, Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Foodie Friend's Friday Linky Party

Spanish Rice Soup

Well, I promised you a follow-up to that Spanish Rice recipe. And here it is! Turn leftover rice into a hearty and delicious soup. It is soooooo easy. I simply sautéed onions, celery, and garlic, and when softened, I added the rest of the ingredients- excluding the rice. The rice I dumped in a few minutes prior to serving. You know, since it was already cooked. The whole soup took about 30 minutes. It really is a one-pot meal, I had one bowl and I was stuffed. I can't recommend this recipe enough. Even the hubby (not the mightiest fan of Mexican food) gave the soup rave reviews. Phew. Cleared that hurdle!

So turn this...

Into this! Even leftover-haters will have to swallow their haterade for this soup :)

Plus- I noticed the soup had even more flavor the next day when I had it for lunch. Leftovers making great leftovers.

So what do you have on tap for the weekend? The hubby was supposed to have the weekend off. However, he got a call at 10:30 last night that he was going to be needed this weekend. Hard to turn down the overtime money. We were still awake, as the Ducks didn't play until 10:30 last night. I'm really loathing Oregon's decision to only play games at 7:30 Pacific time. Not cool Oregon, not cool at all. I'm glad I didn't stay up to watch the whole game, not a favorable result. Our loss to an unranked Arizona has me in a bit of sour mood this morning. Grrr. 

The hubby's birthday is on Monday! I'm getting excited to make him a cake. I haven't been able to make a cake since the last family birthday. I'm curious what cake he'll choose, I'm secretly hoping he chooses Boston Cream Pie. I still feel like there's more work to be done in my mastery of that pastry. The hubby's sister's birthday is today though, so I'm headed out for a family day. We (minus the poor enslaved hubby) are meeting out for lunch, and then headed back to my sister-in-law's for cake and ice cream. I'm never one to turn down a restaurant meal, or cake and ice cream, so I'm ready. What I'm not ready for? It's supposed to be 38º tomorrow morning. Ick! The official start of fall weather is here. With the threat of an extremely nasty winter, I'm feeling bummed. Summer is gone. 

On the bright side- I have a Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin recipe that is going to knock your socks off! Stay tuned for that recipe next week!

Have a great weekend friends!

Ingredients (serves 6-8):

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

5-6 medium size tomatoes, deseeded and chopped

2 cups corn kernels (I used frozen)

8 cups chicken broth

2 tbsp taco seasoning

2 cups Spanish Rice

2 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped

toppings: shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, chopped romaine lettuce, and crumbled tortilla chips

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. When warm, add onion and celery. Sauté for 5-7 minutes, or until softened. Add garlic, and sauté for 30 seconds.

2. Add tomatoes through taco seasoning to pot. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes.

3. Add Spanish Rice and cilantro. Stir to combine. Heat for 1-2 minutes, or until rice is warm. 

4. Remove from heat. Ladle soup into bowls, and top with desired toppings. Serve immediately.

Printable Recipe

Recipe adapted from Never Enough Thyme.

If you liked this recipe, you may enjoy these!

Chicken Taco Soup

Tortilla Soup

Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili

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

Spanish Rice

Happy Thursday! It's almost the weekend, yahoo! Typing that sentence just reminded me that I need to set my fantasy football lineup... Anyhoo, I love this recipe for Spanish Rice I'm sharing. It's flavorful and as you'll see later, so very versatile. In fact, I've got 2 follow-up recipes that you can make with the leftovers! If you are like me (i.e. cooking for 2) you've probably discovered it's hard to find recipes proportioned for two people. Casseroles, unless you have cassolet pans, are practically impossible to make for two. This rice recipe? Produced 4 cups of cooked rice. Talk about rice coming out your ears. Panic I did not though, and I can tell you all the rice has left the building. Does it count as leaving the building if a cup or two made it into the freezer? I'm going to go ahead and say yes :)

But seriously, let me outline how far this rice went. I served it for dinner one night, I had it for lunch the next day, I made burritos and soup out of it, and then I froze some for later. Economical for sure. And talk about a time saver, to already have seasoned, cooked rice to use in several recipes. Boo yah! I changed the original recipe slightly, mainly because I didn't feel it had enough flavor. It needed more tomato paste, more oregano, and most importantly, more seasoning. Seasoning is Gordon Ramsey speak for "salt". I firmly believe in less salt, but not when it means eating bland food. Bland food is the bane of my existence. It takes me back to college sorority days when the cook had to prepare meals for 80 whiny girls. Nothing in college had flavor, and I've spent my times since then avoiding tasteless food like the plague. 

Can I tell you how much I love Spanish Rice? It's one of my favorite things about Mexican restaurants. I'll admit, I am that girl that will choose a dish based on whether it comes with beans and rice or not. I don't know what it is, I can walk into the restaurant fully intent on ordering tacos. But once I open that menu, and I see enchiladas served with beans and rice, I'm a goner. All this talk of Mexican food is reminding me I'll be in Mexico in 16 days! I told the hubby I'll be eating Mexican food for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, and fourth meal while we are in Mexico. I may gain 20 pounds and he might have to roll me onto the plane, but I will have had my fill of Mexican food. Fresh seafood. Tortillas. Huevos Rancheros. The cheeses. Tequila. Dos Equis. Guacamole!! I. Can't. Wait.

Until then, I'll just have to eat regular food. Or Mexican food that I've made :)

Have a great day everyone!

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

2 cups white rice

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tsp garlic, minded

4 cups chicken broth

2 heaping tbsp tomato paste

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp Mexican oregano (you can use regular)

chopped cilantro (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat. When hot, add white rice. Cook the rice until it's almost completely brown and toasted, stirring often. This takes about 5-7 minutes. Add the onions, cook another 3-4 minutes, or until they begin to soften. Add the garlic, sauté for 30 seconds. 

2. Add the chicken broth through oregano to the pan. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then cover and lower heat to a simmer. Simmer for 17-25 minutes, depending on the type of rice you use. 

3. Remove cover. Fluff rice with a fork. Sprinkle with cilantro, if desired. Serve immediately. 

Printable Recipe

Recipe adapted from Simply Recipes. 

Looking for other Mexican-inspired recipes? Try these! 

Fresh Guacamole

Spanish Orzo

Chipotle Shrimp Tacos with Lime Sour Crema

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