Monthly Archives: October 2010

Pumpkin-palooza Day 3: Pumpkin Waffles

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Posted by on in Kitchen
My sister is awesome.  She’s awesome for many reasons but today she is primarily awesome because she brought pumpkin waffles into my life.  I definitely had reservations about making these, assuming they’d be too rich but let me tell you something, I had no problem consuming them and I would’ve had another if I didn’t have to go to work this morning.  That’s right, I made these this morning!  Today I woke up 30 minutes earlier than usual so I could make us pumpkin waffles for breakfast.  James has never been much of a breakfast person but after the pumpkin waffles he is that much closer to converting.
These waffles are delicious!  I followed this recipe, courtesy the wonderful and amazing Mark Bittman.  Seriously both he and his cookbooks are good stuff.  I did incorporate a few adaptations to the recipe that my sister suggested and the results were amazing.  I fear this has fueled my pumpkin obsession even further.  Now, I wasn’t able to make the suggested syrup for this recipe because I didn’t have cream cheese.  Despite my sister telling me hers looked like “infant poo” when she made it, I will try the syrup in the near future only because she felt the consistency issue would be resolved by using an immersion blender, and lets face it, I will cook/bake just about anything if it means I get to use my immersion blender! 
Enough with the commentary though. Here’s the recipe so you can try it for yourself.  It gets 8.5 out of 10 on the pumpkin rating system!

Pumpkin Waffles and Maple Cream Cheese Sauce

Courtesy Mark Bittman, adapted by the Ness family
½ cup cream cheese, room temp

½ cup maple syrup
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 ¾ cup all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp salt
Add spices to your desired taste: cinnamon, ginger, cloves, all spice, nutmeg

1 ½ cups milk, preferably whole
3 eggs, separated
4 tbsp butter, melted and cooled

Neutral oil for brushing the waffle iron

Directions
Whisk the cream cheese and maple syrup together until completely blended. Put in a small pitcher.
Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. In another bowl, whisk the milk and eggs together. Stir in the melted butter and the pumpkin.
Brush the waffle iron lightly with oil and heat it. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry. Beat the egg whites until they hold a soft peak. Fold them gently into the batter.

Spread a ladleful or so of batter onto the waffle iron and bake until the waffle is done, usually 3-5 minutes. Enjoy!
Mmmm!

Pumpkin-palooza Day 2: Pumpkin Scones

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Ohhhh joy I love scones!  I remember being on a scone kick in college during finals one year.  In fact, that might have been the reason I gained the dreaded “freshman fifteen.”  I could easily digress here and talk about how I wasn’t a healthy eater from about 2003-2008 due to college and working on a never ending campaign…but instead I’ll just get to the good stuff: talking about baked goods!

I blogged several weeks ago about being utterly distraught over a certain coffee chain (I won’t name any names) not having a certain pumpkin scone on the menu when I really wanted one.  So I found a similar recipe online and posted for all the world to see, as if I was taking away from this store’s world domination somehow.  I decided to save this recipe for my planned “pumpkin-palooza” so I patiently kept it waiting for approximately 60 days!  Let me tell you something, that was hard.  THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID!  I can’t believe I just did that but I had to.  Enough digressions.  Without further adieu, here is the step by step of the Definitely-Not-Trademarked-Mermaid-Dollar-Pumpkin-Scones.

Scones
2 cups all-purpose flour
7 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
6 tablespoons cold butter
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
3 tablespoons half-and-half
1 large egg

Spiced Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 tablespoons whole milk
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pinch ginger
1 pinch ground cloves

Powdered Sugar Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
2 tablespoons whole milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet or line with parchment paper.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices in a large bowl. Using a pastry knife, fork, or food processor, cut butter into the dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly and no chunks of butter are obvious. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, half and half, and egg. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Form the dough into a ball.
Pat out dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a 1-inch thick rectangle (about 9 inches long and 3 inches wide). Use a large knife or a pizza cutter to slice the dough twice through the width, making three equal portions. Cut those three slices diagonally so that you have 6 triangular slices of dough. Place on prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes. Scones should begin to turn light brown. Place on wire rack to cool.

Icing:
Combine the ingredient for the spiced icing together. Drizzle this thicker icing over each scone and allow the icing to dry before serving (at least 1 hour). A squirt bottle works great for this, or you can drizzle with a whisk.

Glaze:
Mix the powdered sugar and 2 tbsp milk together until smooth.  *Tip: Slowly add the powdered sugar to the milk to avoid lumps.
When scones are cool, use a brush to paint plain glaze over the top of each scone.

Pumpkin-palooza Day 1: Pumpkin Bread

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Okay so day one of Pumpkin-palooza actually started last week.  I was in search of a pumpkin bread recipe and stumbled across this widely praised version on AllRecipes.  The first time I make most recipes I like to try it as is and then make changes the next time around.  You really can’t go wrong with this recipe but I’ll be baking this again in the next few weeks to adapt the recipe to my liking.   

For those of you wanting to give a pumpkin bread recipe a try, here is the link to the recipe from AllRecipes for the Downeast Main Pumpkin Bread.  In addition, here is the text for another version of the recipe found on Epicurious–which I’ll be using as the base for my next round of pumpkin bread baking.  Really though, all you have to do is spread a little butter on it and the quality of the bread and your overall experience goes up 10 points!  I find I’m like Julie Child in that way.  Now all I need is a cooking catch phrase… 

Spiced Pumpkin Bread
Courtesy of Epicurious.com 

3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 16-oz can solid pack pumpkin
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans. Beat sugar and oil in large bowl to blend. Mix in eggs and pumpkin. Sift flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and baking powder into another large bowl. Stir into pumpkin mixture in 2 additions. Mix in walnuts, if desired.
Divide batter equally between prepared pans. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool 10 minutes. Using sharp knife, cut around edge of loaves. Turn loaves out onto racks and cool completely.

First Signs of Christmas

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Posted by on in Design

Did anyone else notice this week that Target added a “Christmas” tab to their website? Am I the only one who visits it daily?  I might have a sickness… Anyway I’m here to share the good news that most of our favorite websites have officially transitioned to include holiday decorations and it makes me so happy!  I’ve already been sending website links to James of ways I’d love to decorate our apartment.  This year we’re staying in DC for Christmas and going back to Iowa for Thanksgiving.  The trade off seemed like a good idea last year when I won and got the side of the coin that said Christmas in Iowa but my perspective has since changed being on the opposite end of the deal.  I am looking forward to seeing some of James’ Christmas traditions and hopefully getting to meet some of his family.  There’s also a possibility that I might go skiing but there’s an equal liklihood that I’ll just stay indoors by a fireplace and cozy up in a blanket with a good book and some spiked hot chocolate.  :) So now that I have fully digressed into the Christmas mindset I thought I’d share a few of the adorable Christmas decorations I’ve had my eye on this past week. Shall we?

I can’t pinpoint exactly why I like these so much but I do.  I like their rustic antique-ness, that pretty much sums it up. 
Lori Mitchell Christmas figurines 
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m obsessed with Lori Mitchell. Her replicas are so darn cute and it is my mission in life to get a matching set for Christmas just like I have for Halloween.  You can bet that I will be visiting the fun little Iowa shops when I’m home next month to pick up some of these to bring back to DC.

I am torn on this one.  I love the leaf ornament as it’s lying flat but I suspect it looks a little less cool when it’s vertical.  I also think I could easily make this myself so this might be a crafty project instead of a mass-produced purchase. 

So pretty.  Don’t know where I’d put it.  But it’s pretty.

James and I need these to hang our invisible stockings on asap.  I’ve been looking for stockings online too but haven’t found any I like. The search continues…

Not specifically Christmasy but I had to include something awesome from Anthropologie. 
We are in need of rug for the front door and I’ve put off purchasing one specifically so I can justify buying a seasonal rug…such as this one. :)
 
 

 Are you thinking of Christmas yet or am I just projecting some unfulfilled need I have to plan and anticipate for a holiday months ahead of it actually taking place?  Don’t answer that James…

An Unlikely Choice

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Posted by on in Design

So yesterday as I was purusing my usual design sites I came across a link to Urban Outfitters “apartment” selections. I can honestly say I’ve never been to Urban Outfitters, bought anything there, or expected to ever buy anything from this store…but they have some great affordable stuff! 

Look at these cute curtain tie-backs.
Or how about this cute owl rug
Ahhh and this tree shower curtain!

But what I ended up buying was the songbird pillowcase set.  Aren’t they fun?  A great way to dress up and change up the bedding without spending a lot of money.  :)
Are you going to check out Urban Outfitters?