perfect little garden…

from tortoiselovesdonkey’s on etsy, these would be the perfect little garden for our tiny little kitchen window sill. I have recently become very interested in making m own terrariums and having them in the house year round. My grandmother used to keep a terrarium in the kitchen and took care of it meticulously. I would love to start my own little terrariums someday….

I am also thinking of using a wall mounted fish bowl to make a terrarium, or maybe these….

from pottery barn. I could see a fee of these on an ornament tree or a strong twig in the house year round.

sweet treats for Halloween

I had yesterday off and today is the Halloween party at Scott’s office,I saw this recipe in a magazine and thought that there was no better time to make it.

cheesecake filled pumpkin cupcakes with brown sugar butter cream frosting.

Silvana Nardone

• 12 Servings
• Prep 45 min
• Bake 25 min

Ingredients:

• One 8-ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 large eggs, plus 5 large egg whites
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• Simmering water
• 3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces and chilled

Directions:

1. Place a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 350°. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with baking liners. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and confectioners' sugar for 3 minutes. Beat in 1 egg white and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.

2. In a bowl, whisk the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt. In another bowl, mix the pumpkin puree, 2 eggs, granulated sugar, oil and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Whisk in the flour mixture.

3. Layer each muffin cup with some of the pumpkin batter, then the cream cheese mixture, then more of the batter. Bake until springy to the touch, 25 minutes. Let cool.

4. Using the electric mixer, beat the brown sugar, remaining 4 egg whites and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Fill a medium saucepan with enough simmering water to reach a depth of 1 inch; place the mixing bowl on top. Whisk the mixture until it registers 160° on an instant-read thermometer.

5. Transfer the bowl back to the mixer and beat at high speed until fluffy; lower the speed and beat to room temperature, about 5 minutes. Add the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, then beat at high speed for 5 minutes. Beat in the remaining 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. 6. Transfer the frosting to a pastry bag; pipe large rosettes on top of the cupcakes.

dinner

dinner this week has been a little sad, my new schedule makes things a bit tough, but we did have a wonderful and super quick dinner one night…..

sautéed shrimp with heirloom cherry tomatoes, basil and garlic on spinach and chive linguine.

elusive espresso cup search

I have been on the hunt for the perfect espresso set since we got our espresso machine and I think I might have found the perfect set in etsy this week. What do you think?

theweeemporium has beautiful vintage items, they are all so dainty.

gardenhomevintage Ilove the color and shape of these.

EmilyLynch I would love to have a chocolate party with this little set!

alyssaettinger I love the texture on these cups

TeddyLemon  I love the classic cafe  feeling that this set has. Definitely my favorite so far.

fall is in the air

Despite the warm temperatures this weekend fall was definitely in the air here. Scott and I spent Sunday cleaning out our gardens front and back to get them ready for fall planting. The pumpkin baking spirit has finally snuck up on me and I made some pumpkin bread Sunday afternoon. This is my favorite pumpkin bread recipe it is moist and delicious… and makes enough to share

Pumpkin Bread
2 large loaves or 8 small
Or 1 large and 4 small

3 c. sugar
1c. Vegetable oil
4 eggs (lightly beaten)
16oz canned pumpkin (plain no spices please)
3 ½ c. flour ( I use half whole wheat)
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. ground cloves
2/3 water

Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour pans. Stir together sugar and oil.Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Stir eggs and pumpkin into sugar oil mixture. Mix dry and wet ingredients alternately. Bake for 30-40 min.

shower recipe # 2

This week I made Aunt Jan’s brownies. They are fudgy and dense and super chocolaty.  

Aunt Jan’s Brownies

Bake at 350 for 30-35 min.

1 cup butter
4 squares unsweetened baker’s chocolate
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. vanilla
½ tsp. salt
2 cups chocolate morsels

( I used half milk and  half  semi-sweet.)

Grease 13”x9” pan. Melt bakers chocolate and butter, Stir in sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well blended. Add flour, salt and vanilla. Stir in morsels. Bake at 350 for 30-35 min.

dinner last night

dinner was a butternut squash and caramelized onion pizza with feta and  chicken and apple sausage.

super simple… roast sliced squash,  onions, garlic some fresh sage and rosemary and olive oil for  45 min. at 325.  Then spread over a pizza crust coated in olive oil salt, paper and minced garlic. Then top with feta and a little parmesan cheese and bake at 450 for 15 min.

absolutely adorable advent calendar

from BakerGirlDesignCo on etsy, I would love to have this hanging in my kitchen!!!

Christmas ornaments

I have already begun shopping for Christmas and have run across some adorable ornaments. Scott and I buy our ornaments in January, when they are all on sale so we already have our ornaments for this year. Maybe next years tree will be a bit like this...

paper-mache  ornaments from Crate and Barrel

12 days of Christmas ornaments from Crate and Barrel

owl ornaments from ohmiroir on etsy

rusted tin ornaments from NestaHome on etsy

little house ornaments from littlepinkhouse on etsy

marshmallows!!!!!

   Sunday  I made marshmallows! They may not be the most beautiful marshmallows ever but I was super excited to be able to make them at home. Armed with my trusty mixer and whisk attachment I got started. The ingredient list is simple enough… sugar, gelatin, corn syrup, vanilla ( I also used a little almond extract) and a bit of salt…Start by sprinkling the gelatin packets over the water and let stand for 30 min. Then combine the sugar some water , corn syrup and a bit of salt, stir to combine. Then slowly bring to 245 on a candy thermometer. Pour into gelatin at slow speed on a stand mixer.

  Increase speed to high and mix for 12 min. The mixture will triple in size by the end of the 12 min.

3 minutes

6 minutes 9 minutes 12 minutes

After 12 minutes add the vanilla extract and fully combine. I added half vanilla and half almond. This is one spot that the next time I think I will adjust and add the flavoring to the sugar mixture before mixing with gelatin. the texture changed quite a bit after adding the extract. Once you have added the extract, the fun truly begins… scrape it into a sugar dusted   13x9 pan, it is sticky and gloppy, just a warning. This is another step I will change next time too. I am going to use a square cake pan and some dusted parchment to make removal a little easier.    After that it just goes into the fridge over night, I think I would dust the top of the pan before the fridge too.the next day you have a sticky task…. cut and dust with powdered sugar. I cut them into strips then cubes and tossed them in  a bag with powdered sugar.

 

After that you have marshmallows. Enjoy!!! Next time I am going to coat them in chocolate and some pistachios.  Just don’t forget to store them in an airtight container.

  

Marshmallows

ingredients:

• 3 packets (3/4 ounce) unflavored gelatin
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions:

1. Using a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the gelatin and 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon cold water; let stand for 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in a small, heavy saucepan, combine the granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt and 1/2 cup water and cook over low heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to high and cook the syrup until it registers 245° on a candy thermometer, about 12 minutes. Remove from the heat.

3. With the standing mixer on low speed, slowly pour the hot syrup into the softened gelatin. Increase the speed to high and beat until the mixture is very thick, white and has almost tripled in volume, about 12 minutes. Beat in the vanilla.

4. Meanwhile, dust an 8-by-12-inch glass baking dish with confectioners' sugar. Scrape the marshmallow mixture into the pan and sprinkle with more confectioners' sugar. Refrigerate, uncovered, overnight. Cut into 1-inch squares.

shower recipes

for my bridal shower everyone brought a different dessert recipe to share with me, I am going to try to make one a week. Here is the first… from Scott’s Aunt Barbara

Oatmeal coconut cookies, I hope these stacked up to the version that her kids used to love!

last week, lets catch up

Last week we had baked chicken with lemon potatoes and green beans…

  spiced pork chops with sweet potatoes and lemon green beans… and Sunday Scott made chili…

Etsy Site of the Day

I love these plates and redecorated items at Ninainvorm’s Shop, they have such a bright a cheerful feeling.

special

S & I just want to say a special thank you to the guy on the left. A thank you for going above and beyond your duties and for making the trip to help make Saturday the best it could have been. We both loved having  you here and being able to share our weekend with you!