Saturday, September 25, 2010

Harvest Baking and Good Read

It's officially autumn!  I can't say it really feels like it yet in Missouri, but that doesn't stop me from getting into the spirit of things with a little pumpkin baking!  Here are are a few recipes I tried this afternoon...
Pumpkin Nutella Bread
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/3 cup water
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon hazelnut extract
8 tablespoons Nutella (2 tablespoons per mini loaf)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 4 mini loaf pans with cooking spray. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, water, pumpkin, eggs, and extracts. Whisk until smooth and combined.

4. Slowly stir in the flour mixture. Mix until ingredients are combined.

5. Pour the batter into the mini loaf pans, making sure batter is evenly divided. Drop 2 heaping tablespoons of Nutella onto each loaf pan. Swirl the Nutella into the pumpkin batter with a knife. Place the loaf pans onto a baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

6. Place the loaf pans on a wire rack. Cool for 15 minutes in the pan and then carefully remove the loaves. Cool completely before slicing.

*Note-You can make regular size loaves. This recipe should make 2 8×4 loaves. Adjust baking time to about 60 minutes.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oi
l 2 eggs
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
 
1.Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease and flour muffin pan or use paper liners.

2.Mix sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In separate bowl mix together the baking flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt.. Add wet mixture and stir in chocolate chips.

3.Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.
 
And if you're wondering- yes I staged that picture with the nutella and the apple candle- lol.  What else is new around here... I am reading this-
Those of you who know me realize that I am currently not a Republican and probably never will be.  So why read a book by a Republican politician's daughter?  I saw her interviewed on a late night talk show and was intrigued by her perspective.  This book gives me a little hope for the future of the GOP and my fellow twenty-somethings.  Maybe the Millennial wave of the conservative right will put the elitist and exclusive characteristics of the Republican party to bed for good.  And maybe women in their 20's will progressively refrain from yielding to the cultural insinuation that it's best to be seen or heard.  Cheers to a lady with a lot good things to say.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

About 4 Things...

Nothing reminds me more of fall than the smell of apple cinnamon roasting... er- dehydrating!  Joe and I picked up on my Dad' tradition for the first time this year- on a much smaller scale.  Smaller because Missouri apples are pretty small and we don't really have a desire to run a 3 dehydrator 24/7 apple shop.  If you want to try this- it's pretty easy!  You chop the apples, shake on some cinnamon, and wait for a while for the dehydrator to do it's thing and you're done!


We made some fruit roll-ups too!  I have to be honest here- Joe did all the work while I documented the experience- hehe.  What a guy:)  Here's what I think he did... chopped apples go in the blender along with a package of raspberries and some white grape peach juice.  This mixture gets poured on a fruit roll up tray (you normally have to purchase this separately- you can find them on-line) and put on the dehydrator overnight.

Hmmm- what else have we been doing... here are the 3 pictures I submitted to the photo contest...


We'll see how that goes!  Oh- and here's What I Wore Wednesday- only got one day recorded and it was a Monday, but I give myself an A for that effort...  Linking up with Pleated Poppy again...


Where I wore it:  Work- crazy amounts of meetings that day...
Dress: Target Clearance- bought like 2 or 3 years ago and just took the tags off this week.
Cardi:  Banana Republic
Tank: Target
Belt:  From a bridesmaid dress- shout out to Cat Standfuss!
Necklace- from that same bridesmaid ensemble
Tights- TJ Maxx
Boots: Target on-line

One last thing- Happy Birthday Mom- 29 and fabulous!








Sunday, September 12, 2010

Keeping it Real

Well everybody- if you read my last post, you konw I'm entering a photography contest.  Turns out that if you want to win said contest, you need to start by taking pictures of the right landmark.  LOL- here are some new images- let me know what you think!  I can submit 3.  I didn't get to spend nearly as much time on these- such is life:)









Saturday, September 11, 2010

Need your vote!

I just got a new camera!  I've wanted an SLR for quite a while now and I decided it was finally time to just bite the bullet and buy one.  After doing a lot of research I decided on a Nikon D3000 D-SLR.  I am loving it so far... I'm not so much in love with the amount of money I spent on it though!  So- what better time is there to enter a photography contest.  If I win...maybe the camera will pay for itself.  I can enter 3 images... which ones do you think look the best? 



What is that thing?  It's our campus stonehenge... not quite as attractive as the real thing- but kind of fun to have around.

Here are some other shots I captured today and the haircut pictures my mother requested- hehe:)


Leaves in the nuclear reactor barracade cement planter


My office windows- notice the top of the soil testing trailor right at the bottom of the shot- opps!

Pretty flower!

Stella
Mr Carl- very grumpy about the new camera- all his shots look just like this!
Ta-dah- the back is real short.  I still need to mail off my ponytail to Wigs for Kids.