Happy Halloween...

visions of the holiday in our house....

luminary face bags.......

a yellow cake with chocolate cream cheese filling, chocolate butter cream, royal icing flowers and crazy Pumpkin Peep Head People......it's for work...

No costumes this year....



lv u

k

I made up a new dance....

it's called the "I made a Hat" dance. Now, to join me --throw on your newly knitted stocking hat, that matches your scarf and shake your butt in front of hubby while singing..."i made a haaaat, I made a haaat, I made a hat.".

Good times.

The pattern for this hat is from a Martha Stewart magazine article "Basic Knitting". I have lots of this yarn leftover from my first scarf so I knitted a hat this afternoon. It was simple. Sz 17 needles, 40 stitches, stockinette stitch, decrease, seam, done. Woo hoo. My first hate.

..."i made a haaaat, I made a haaat, I made a hat.".

..."i made a haaaat, I made a haaat, I made a hat.".

..."i made a haaaat, I made a haaat, I made a hat.".

i love this yarn. it's wonky and pretty and BLUE....

love you.

K

P.s. did you see I cut my hair? I actually did it a few months ago it's really short and super cute. No pics of it today as it's sunday - I don't even brush my hair on sunday let a lone 'do it' for a picture.

what to do when the office is closed for a move ...

and you are supposed to work from home...

I know....

preeetttyyyyy.....

perfect.

fall at its best.

in case you were wondering...vanilla cookies bits, m&ms, chocolate chips and Halloween sprinkles top our treats today.
that's funny....looks like someone drug their teeth across that spatula to get the caramel....strange.

love you.

k

ETA: Recipe

1 bag caramels

1 TBSP water

6 medium apples (Granny Smith and Eve apples used here, tart and tangy)

Unwrap caramels.

*Recipe allows for every 4th one to be consumed for energy by the Chef.

Add Water.

Melt.

Dip.

Cool.

Eat.

Repeat.

I love fall for this reason....

Pumpkin, apples, squash...all the things I think of as comfort foods.

For this week's TWD challenge, Kelly of Sounding My Barbaric Gulp chose a recipe for pumpkin muffins. I was so HAPPY to get to dig in to this recipe....

This is one of the recipes I bought the book for.....It is a beloved recipe and is found a lot in food blogger land but I really needed to have it. I wanted to experiment and find the perfect combination for the holiday dinner table. I have to remember, these are MUFFINS, not biscuits so they are meant to be sweet.

I divided the sticky sweet dough into 4 sections and added my own special touches...

From L to R, I added 1/4 tsp of Rubbed sage topped with one walnut half, the middle 2 rows are 'close' to the original as I used craisins in lieu of golden raisins and toasted walnuts in the dough and on top - the far right row I added mini milk chocolate chips and topped with Halloween sprinkles.

I LOVED the sagey ones, they need some texture contrast, I think I'll actually use the raisins in this one. Hubby ate all of the chocolate ones as they were made for him - he loved them and asked for more. My absolute faves were the walnuts and craisins. I'll be using toasted pecans in our next batch too.

This was a warm sweet fall muffin. Another recipe that will get made again. Soon, before fall is over like summer is over...

Love you,

K

Fall in our home...

calls for homemade Apple Pie on a cool afternoon.


Now that is a good looking pie!

Still no rolling pin - I used a tube of saran wrap this time. HA!

I used the same crust recipe from this post. It is so perfect.

The filling is 3lbs red apples from Washington, 1 c sugar, dash of cinnamon, dash of nutmeg, zest of one lemon, squirt of fresh lemon juice, and 2 tbsp fast cooking tapioca. It's an adaption of Dorie's recipe in Baking: from my home to yours. Again, I put of layer of crushed vanilla wafers under the filling. I brushed a mixture of egg white and heavy cream on the top crust and dusted with pearly sugar crystals. I tented it for the entire 65 minutes it baked - the crust was wonderful.

It made for a perfect fall afternoon treat, topped with vanilla bean ice cream.

Who knew I would like to make pies?

Love you,
K

Dorie Deliciousness

I know, that is NOT a word.



This week's TWD recipe was Lenox Almond Biscotti. I, of course, had to tweek the recipe. I do not like almond extract. I know, I know. I didn't realize how picky I was until I started this TWD adventure.

Here are the biscotti before I baked them a second time. Essentially, biscotti are twice baked cookies.



I swapped out the almond extract and sliced almonds for 1/4 c caramels chopped up, 1/2 c milk choc chips and 1/4 c chopped almonds - basically, anything "left over" in my baking draw in small quantities that needed to be used up.



I had one with a cup of hot tea during a knitting break. It made for an indulgent and peaceful afternoon. Hubby finished the rest of them in 2 days with milk - he just thinks they are funny looking cookies.



I made one other change to the recipe - I baked these in 1 log instead of the 2 it calls for. I had to increase baking time by 10 mins each round but they turned our with much Deliciousness.



Love you,
K

Fresh Off The Needles...

MOM! - I've been knitting!....I finally forced myself to learn to purl again and I love it. First up was this cute, cute pair of fingerless gloves. Love them!

I didn't do the pattern justice. It's not complicated but this is my first attempt at anything besides a scarf, purling and ribbing. I already have more yarn (better quality) to make another pair. Here is the pattern - Thanks Anne at Bee Handmade Stuff!

The fit is great. I used size 7 needles, medium weight cotton yarn. My cast off is too TIGHT. I blocked these - first time for that too - and that helped but not perfect. I will still where these A LOT.

This the Neck Warmer from Knit 2 Together - it's my first project from this book. I had ISSUES but I love the finished project. My Right Side got reversed to the wrong side about half way and I didn't notice. I had an issue with a certain English Cocker Spaniel = ahem. Turbo. = wanting to help by jumping on me and running away with the ball of yarn and I dropped a whole row. I am sure this is where problem happened. I guess it's reversible now ?? This pattern includes yarn over, purl, knit2together - yikes, it was FUN. This too will be done again. Cast off was MUCH softer this time....

This was supposed to be done on circular needles but I opted for my size 10 needles and I whip stitched this together - the mitts where whipped stitched too. That was SO easy. I did not block the neck warmer - it falls nicely and fits perfect. AND - the pattern is NOT right so I don't' want to "open" it up any more.

I am looking forwarding to knowing what I am doing now....these will be *perfect* next time. I'll be putting the warmer on circular needles for #2...it might help the pattern and NOT dropping and entire row.

That's what I love about knitting and all crafting - it doesn't have to be perfect and I still love it. Only, I know the secrets...and it's my *perfect*.

Love you

K

Speaking of YUMA.....

Yuma and Pancakes - stay with me, it will make sense...

When you and Dad started to talk about wintering in the Desert AKA YUMA. I began to think......First, you need to watch the movie 3:10 to Yuma. It will show how Yuma really looks - minus the cowboys and indians today. Well, at least the desert. Not sure if it was filmed there but sure looks like it.

Second, it triggered my memory that what-seems-like-years-ago , I picked up an article and recipe from their paper on Flat-Out Perfect Pancakes.

I dug this out this morning at 5 am. Hubby worked overnight and I thought he'd enjoy a nice round of pancakes before heading to bed for the night errr day.

It was a pretty involved recipe. Seriously, WAY too involved at 5 in the morning. Overall, I did really like it. I need to make it again before it goes in the permanent and official recipe book. It seems like we eat pancakes a lot - but, it really is for special occasions like when you visit, The Boy's birthdays, etc so it is only 4-5 times a year.

I think this recipe could be one of those "one time a year, only on the holidays" recipe. Simply because, I don't mind a mix. I can toss in milk and go...this required thought and several bowls....I hate emptying the dishwasher to make room for more dirty dishes before coffee.

Make this, share it......tell me what you think.

CloudCakes

As Published 3/21/2007 in the Yuma Sun.

Story by Cathy Thomas.

Yield: Makes 25 (3 in) pancakes, 6 servings

1 1/4 c flour

1 1/2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 c low-fat buttermilk

1/4 c sour cream

2 large eggs separated PLUS 2 extra egg whites

2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted, cooled

1 to 2 tsp vegetable oil for skillet

Whisk together the dry ingredients.
In separate bowl, stir buttermilk and sour cream. Add egg YOLKS and butter. Still well.

Whisk 4 egg whites into soft peaks in separate bowl.

(if you are counting, that is 3 bowls so far.....Dorie?, Dorie Greenspan? is that you?)

Pour buttermilk mixture over dry, whisk until just combined - there should be visible flour and a lumpy batter.

Fold in egg whites with rubber spatula. Do not over mix - a few streaks of whites should be visible.

Heat oil on nonstick skillet, pour 1/8 cup batter onto pan, cook until evenly brown on both sides, about 2-3 minutes per side. (i put my stove on medium for 5 mins before first batch and continue to turn it down with each rotation on skillet).

I topped mine with real butter and powder sugar...hubby went straight to bed without CloudCakes, I'll give you his review of warmed-up CloudCakes later today.

love you

k

I refuse to be friends with...

homemade caramel. It is evil and vicious - I have a few other CHOICE words for it but let's get started with today's TWD. Caramel Peanut Brownies....

I was SO close. Look at my progression during the caramel boiling......beautiful, perfect amber hues. THEN, I forget to turn down the heat when I turned to grab my butter and cream..which I had measured and ready. sad.





It went from perfect to burnt in less than 1 second. I prayed I was wrong. I tented and added the butter & cream.

I tented as to prevent burns. I have burnt myself a few times in the kitchen lately and I was hesitant to try the caramel - the tent was protective. (see the steam) I waited for the sauce to cool and tasted it. Yep, Burnt. Just enough to have a burnt after taste. Since I intend on sharing this, I had to go to my backup plan.

30 unwrapped caramels from the bulk candy section. HEY - don't judge me. I tried. I am not ashamed. I threw in 2 tbsp of butter and about 1/4 cup cream - I nuked it for 90 seconds and stirred it every 20 seconds. It is good.

I baked the cake/brownie in 3 disposable loaf pans for 28 minutes - 2 are going to work with Hubby and 1 is for taste testing. They sunk in the middle - which I expected from reading others' comments and blogs. I switched the bittersweet chocolate in the recipe for milk chocolate chips. I poked holes in them as I wanted the caramel to drain into the cake a little. I heard from other TWD members that the cake was dry. The middle cake is missing it's top right corner - I pulled it off taste. It was YUMTUMRUM!

With peanuts and sauce......

A few halloween sparkles.....

and, a piece for me. It was so good.........my cake was moist and just the right the flavor to really taste the **homemade** caramel sauce. I think the hard working boys on the Hubby's job site will appreciate this.....I know I did. (both pieces).

LYK.