An Early Morning Run

Friday night I was hosting a Caramel Apple Party at my house, so I was trying to figure out when to fit in my run for the day. I knew I needed to do it-- the whole week had been messed up and I had not gotten one in. So much to my dismay, I decided the only solution would be to wake up early and do it before work. Boo! I asked hubby to join me and --thankfully!-- he agreed. I rolled out of bed in the wee hours of the morning (aka 6:10 AM), drank some juice, and stepped outside. My first thought being, "You have got to be kidding me!!" It was SO cold. Yes, my family and friends from up 'north', it was cold, to me. It was only 43 degrees. So I went back in and put on my fleece vest and then we headed out. By the time we made it to our apartment's main gate, I was thinking, "What the heck?!? How do my sister and brother-in-law do this on a regular basis? I just want to go back to bed!" --Can you tell I'm a gem in the mornings?!? We turned down the street and had to run through some sprinklers --awesome-- and continued on in the dark. How can it be so dark at 6:15 AM?!? We ran for about 25 min., my mind focusing on one thing: finishing. It was difficult, but necessary, and in the end I was glad I had pushed myself to do it. Not every run is going to be one you enjoy. Sometimes they are just dreadful, but pushing through to the finish makes you feel better about yourself. You add points to your self-discpline and self-esteem meters. Sometimes Nike has it right, "Just do it!" And there was definitely no time the rest of the day to do it. I ended up getting several compliments on my hair throughout the day though. That was nice, until it crossed my mind that I guess I need to care a little bit more? Wake up early, shower, and do nice things to my hair? Is that what people are telling me? Regardless, we are one run closer to our Warrior Dash coming up in just 20 days now!!

A few pictures from our caramel apple party:





On Saturday night we went to a costume party and I took these:



Aren't they super cute??


Last, but not least, here's the recipe I picked for this week. Gooey Pumpkin Butterscotch Brownies! I think they look wonderful! I picked these for several reasons: 1) I am learning I have quite a love for butterscotch! 2) I love brownies 3) I have pumpkin leftover from last week's recipe 4) I love brownies! 5) I have some of the ingredients on hand. 6) I LOVE brownies! 7) Ever since I saw this recipe on-line, I have thought about it every day and finally, I don't think I've mentioned yet 8) I LOVE BROWNIES! See you again later this week with a review!

To life... full of early morning runs and Halloween weekend sugar comas!

Week #6 - Pumpkin Spice Latte

It worked out that this morning was a bit cooler than ones we've been having earlier in the week. So it was a great day to venture into making the chosen recipe for this week: Pumpkin Spice Lattes!

As my sister gave reason for making it, it was very easy to whip up. Which is fantastic when you're getting ready for work! You simply mix the pumpkin and milk together in a saucepan over medium low heat.



Once these mix and heat through, add cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla.



You let these get hot and steamy :o) and then add in 2 cups of coffee.



Easy peasy, right? Hubby wasn't interested in trying it due to his recent dairy intolerance, so I shared with one of my friends at work. Her review: "i ended up adding a little more coffee to mine... and i don't know which one but one of the spices was a little strong to me... "

I was kind of surprised that no sugar was included in the recipe. So I had to add some to mine. The taste was good overall and it was another good recipe to try, just not my favorite. When Starbucks comes out with the Pumpkin Spice Lattes every fall I get all excited and think, "Oooh, that sounds so festive. I want one!" but then I remember that I don't love them. So being able to make them at home when the occasion strikes is great! I will save this recipe in my folder to use on special occasions. If you're interested in the recipe, go here. Looking forward to hearing what mom and sis think as well!

To life... full of making drinks at home instead of buying them at Starbucks.

Look good?

It's what I'll be making this week. Sis picked out this Pumpkin Spiced Latte for recipe #7. Come back Thursday to find the review!

FFF: Week 5, Recipe 6

Yellow Cake... from scratch!



Ever since I started baking more, especially cakes for other people, I've wanted to find good recipes for cakes. My fall back was always a box because it was dependable and if I haven't tried a recipe out before, I'm hesitant to sell it. And with all the baking I do, I can't just try recipe after recipe of cake from scratch. Hips don't lie ;O) But I've really wanted to conquer the yellow cake and had found a recipe awhile back on Smitten Kitchen that I figured would be awesome, since she made it. There was a birthday at work today, so I decided that if I made cupcakes, I could at least sample one, that way if they weren't good, I would not give them away and no one would know the difference because I hadn't told anyone I would be bringing them.

This was the first cake I've made with cake flour, but I figured it'd be worth buying if it meant it's going to taste like a 'real' cake! So I sifted together the dry ingredients.


And mixed up the wet ingredients...



There was a lot of liquid... and a lot of batter! She hadn't made this recipe into cupcakes before, so she guessed there would be 22-24. I definitely got 24 cupcakes, plus enough batter to make a little 6" cake as well!!

In her instructions she specifically said you needed to drop the pans a few times to get rid of the air bubbles. As I was pouring the batter into the cupcakes liners, there were definitely many bubbles, but I forgot the step of dropping them on the counter. I would wholeheartedly recommend you NOT forget this step. This is what happens if you don't (at least, I'm pretty sure that was the cause for this).






Luckily, some of them still turned out pretty!


Like my Autumn cupcake liners? I picked them up at Michael's last night for $1.99 for 75 of them. They're pretty :o)

Then I whipped up a batch of one of my favorite frostings: Chocolate Cream Cheese. It comes from the Cake Mix Doctor and is wonderful, delicious, divine, every time. Mmmmm! I could eat it by the spoonful, but lucky for me... and my thighs... I used all of it for frosting the 24 cupcakes and the 6" cake. Wanna see?




I enjoy frosting my cupcakes with my 1M tip because it does use more frosting and generally leaves me with zero leftovers. It used to make me sad that it used so much, but I've discovered it is a blessing.

The review? So far I've just had one cupcake and it was warm out of the oven. I feel like that doesn't give the best representation because generally cupcakes are served at room temperature. Regardless, I thought they were wonderful. The tops did get a little bit of crust on them and I'm not sure what caused that. In my opinion, I thought the 'crust' was good. But I'm not sure how others who are used to cupcakes without a 'crust' will respond. They were light and fluffy, like the box cakes typically are. I attribute that to using the cake flour, at least I would imagine that is the reason. I will definitely be eating more to get a good sampling of them at both room temperature and cold (since they're in the fridge due to the cream cheese frosting). But even with my one sample so far, I believe I will be using this recipe again. I'll admit it took more steps and more time than dumping a cake mix, eggs, oil, and water into the mixer and stirring them. So my tendency for when I need something fast may be to still use a box mix from time to time. But I believe that I would feel confident selling this as my yellow cake when people place orders. It's very good.

To life... full of cakes not from a box!

Coming up this week...

Yellow Cake--not from a box!

I'm both excited and nervous. For one, the only time I've tried to make a yellow cake from scratch, I really didn't like it. It made me run back to yellow box cakes for the next year. It just wasn't light and fluffy as I've come to expect from a cake. On the other hand, I'm very excited because I may actually find my new yellow cake recipe! I'm using Smitten Kitchen's recipe because the last time I made her cake from scratch-- it was AMAZING!

On yet another note, many of my posts here recently have been about baking, which is great and really what I've been wanting to do more of. But I wanted to include another update on how my 2010 Goals are going. People seem to be pretty good about them through, maybe February, but I have them hanging up in my bedroom in an effort to work on them all year! A couple more I have been able to accomplish for the year: 1) Go on a mission trip-- woo hoo, Romania! and 2) Save up an emergency fund! God has definitely been providing for us! I am looking into taking a class in the spring semester and that is another one on my list. And I'm also finally finishing up "The Love Dare" so that will get me two closer to completing my goals for this year! I hope this might inspire you to remember and evaluate the goals you set for this year-- only 10 weeks left in 2010! Wow, didn't realize that until I looked it up...

To life... full of taking steps to do what you want in life instead of letting your dreams remain out of reach!

FFF Week #4- Recipes 4 AND 5!!

The recipes for this week are a change-up from our past three weeks of sweets--


I made Indian Corn Stew and Quick Cheese Bread! And let me tell you, both were scrumptious! I will definitely be adding them to our fall rotation! Not only were they tasty, but very quick and easy as well. Enough so to make on a weeknight. Now granted, I did have a little help from hubby with chopping and such, but it really was a snap to put together.

You begin by browning some ground beef in the pan. Now I had a picture of this step, but after looking back... well... you know a picture of pink/red meat that's half cooked just isn't that appetizing. Would ya believe it?

Moving along... you'll chop up some green pepper, onion, and garlic.



After the hamburger's browned, you'll add those in and make a prettier, more colorful composition



Now you can leave this for awhile and start working on the bread. Mix up some flour, sugar, salt, cheese, and baking powder in a bowl.



Then add your wet ingredients, give a good stir, and pour it into a greased loaf pan. You bake it for about 35 min. which is a great amount of time to finish up your soup! Now you add some more vegetables...



worchestershire sauce and chili powder and let simmer for 15 min. Right at the end you slice up a zucchini and toss it in just to soften for a few minutes.



Take your cheese bread out of the oven



Slice it up and serve it along with a bowl of the soup-- a hearty, delicious Fall meal.

I enjoyed the soup immensely. I loved how many vegetables it included, that it had many ingredients that I regularly keep on hand, it didn't use any broth, so there was no unnecessary sodium, and one batch makes enough for several meals. I will definitely be making it again. The bread was awesome as well! I grew up eating bread with most meals, so often I miss it. Knowing that this bread is easy to put together, bakes in the amount of time it takes to make most meals, and, once again, I had the ingredients on hand, makes me excited about making it again as well as trying more bread recipes out. I've always had it in my mind that making bread is a time-consuming, tedious process, but especially with quick breads, there is no reason to think that! If you're interested in either recipe, please just let me know!

A couple more pictures to add... I had printed off a recipe for Blondies a long time ago and had been waiting to have a reason to make them. I finally did when we worked at the nursery last Saturday and she said we could bring a dessert. I was looking for something quick and easy and I didn't want to have to buy any ingredients. Voila! Blondies! Extremely simple ingredients-- butter, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, salt, and flour. There's a variety of mix-ins you can add, but this time I was wanting to use up the rest of a bag of chocolate chips. So I poured those in and baked it. They turned out great!



I see many blondies in my future-- and that brings a smile to my face. I'm thinking next time, I'm going to try topping them with peanut butter cream cheese frosting. **Wipes off mouth** yep, going to have to give that one a try!

Last, but certainly not least, I needed to use up the rest of the pumpkin in my fridge from last week's scones. So I made more harvest loaf--except this time I turned them into harvest MUFFINS!



I was a bit nervous about how they'd turn out in a different form, but there was no need to be. I loved them and it definitely helped with the portion control as when you eat a muffin you know that's all you get. But with that loaf, you keep slicing off another sliver, and another, and another, until wait a second, why is only half of the loaf left?!? Harvest Loaf-- if you like pumpkin and chocolate, you definitely need to make this!

All right, I guess I'll be signing off. Tonight I'm making Monster Munch for a Halloween Party we're attending tomorrow night as well as another half batch of cinnamon rolls to bring to work tomorrow for Bosses' Day! Should be a fun evening!

To life... full of adding new Autumn recipes to my repertoire!

Oooh, so --embarrasingly-- as I was typing this post I was trying to remember what the first 'F' in my FFF challenge was, and then I remembered "Fourteen" recipes! Which, then I realized, I made TWO new recipes this week! So without even trying, I have completed recipe four AND five this week which means, I should easily be able to complete my challenge! Woot!

Week 3: Pumpkin Scones with Spiced Glaze

So sorry to keep you all waiting. I forgot my camera yesterday so didn't have a chance to get the post written.

Mmmm, this week's recipe was another great experience and a hit with those who tried it! I had never made scones before so was a bit nervous about them. Honestly, I wasn't super excited about them either because I always associate scones with the words-- dry, dense, crumbly, plain. But I can assure you, these were not. If anything, they were fairly moist, just a bit heavier than a biscuit, they held together well, and had very nice spices. And the glaze added a little something special.

The recipe was pretty straight-forward and mixing it all up was easy.


Next up came the rolling out. The dough was pretty sticky and a bit hard to work with. I haven't done too much rolling out in my life, but it was definitely helpful to keep everything well-floured. I rolled it out too thin the first time -- it was supposed to be about 1" thick-- so had to start over. The second time I think I got the thickness about right. The recipe said to cut it into triangles, but as you can see in this picture, a few of them looked a bit more like boomerangs!



They baked for about 15 min. Then I let them cool on a wire rack.



As they were cooling I whipped up the first glaze. It was a simple mixture of powdered sugar and milk.



I thought this step was the most fun because I got to "paint" the glaze onto the scones with a pastry brush. See my beautiful works of art?!?



Then as the first glaze was setting up, I mixed up the spiced glaze. See the flecks of cinnamon-nutmeg-ginger-cloves spicy goodness?



Then this glaze was drizzled over the top and that was it!



I shared a scone that night with hubby and then I had one for breakfast the next morning. I thought they were definitely better after having a chance to set up over night. Considering scones are not my favorite breakfast food or snack, I really enjoyed this one! I liked the pumpkin and spices. They smelled wonderful! They had a great texture and the amount of glaze seemed just about right. I definitely have a sweet tooth, so it surprised me that I liked these so well because they were not overly sweet. I brought them to work the next day for a meeting and everyone in there gave high compliments and expect me to bring something to every meeting now! They ate all the scones, so I take that as a good sign! I consider week #3's recipe another success! Thanks for picking a great recipe, sis!



One last picture for you who read my blog--here's the Christmas apron I made! I finished it just in time to wear tonight for the Holiday Fair at church. What do you think?



To life... currently full of pumpkin!