its the most wonderful time of the year....

so has anyone else heard the extremely annoying comcast commercial on the radio lately? you know, the one with the raspy deep men singing "its the most wonderful time of the year" due to the arrival of football season? well, even though it drives me crazy, i must agree- it IS the most wonderful time of year! and not just because of football- because of PUMPKIN! i am quite a fan of pumpkin, and this is the first of MANY pumpkiny recipes i intend to share this autumn season. if you want a peek, check out my pumkpin pinboard here. i love pumpkin anything- bread, candles, lattes, pies, cookies, cakes, soup, the color, the smell, the flavor, the warmth, the seeds, the carving, the small ones, the big ones- anything pumpkin!! i've often said if i had to live on one food for the rest of my life, it would be pumpkin pie. i mean it too!

so nevertheless, with much anticipation and eager excitement for the arrival of cooler weather, freshly sharpened pencils, and all things pumpkin, i went to my kitchen, ipad with recipe in hand, and got out a can of pumpkin.

then, i got to work. i used this recipe here. to start, i combined the sugar, eggs, and water with my handy dandy pink kitchenaid whisk in my le creuset batter bowl (love)

to that, i added my pumpkin and some oil

next, i combined the dry ingredients- i should note here that i doubled the recipe because i wanted 24 muffins instead of 12. i used 1 cup of whole wheat flour, 2 cups unbleached all purpose white flour, then i added everything else it called for- baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, salt, and then to that, i also added in about 1/4 cup flax seed and oatmeal. i think i could have added even more of those, but was worried about the texture.

i used my new large 4-qt pyrex bowl which was perfect! this was a lot of stuff! next, i tossed in the chocolate chips so they would get coated and not sink in the muffin mix.  i used mini chocolate chips, mostly because thats all i had, but i think they were a good choice- more distrubition of the chocolately goodness.

then, i dumped the liquidy pumpkiny stuff right on in. i stirred just until everything was mixed. it looked great!

then, i scooped it out in my muffin tins and it was ready to go in the oven

i should add here, i have learned my lesson about cheap muffin papers. see what happens? they bunch up. and they burn. and they stick. yuck. no good. so, i plan on investing in good muffin papers soon.

while these looked super yum, i decided they needed a little something else. maybe a dip in cinnamon sugar when they come out? some sort of glaze? no- i got it, streusel! so i quickly looked up a streusel recipe and got to work. i chopped up 1 stick of butter like so and tossed it in the food processor, then added 1/2 cup flour, a big dash of cinnamon, and 1/4 cup sugar. i processed until crumbly, then poured on top of my muffins.

20 minutes at 400 and these babies were perfect!

i made a few without streusel, and they were pretty too

so there you go! pumpkin streusel muffins. they were delish- and quite hearty & healthy, with the addition of flax and oatmeal. here's to autumn- and lots more pumpkiny perfection!!!

pound cake & a meal for a friend

every southern girl knows that there are just some things that you must do, such as:

• waiting to wear white until after easter, and not wearing it after labor day (same with open toe shoes)
• how to set the table
• how to make sweet tea
• of course you must have at least one casserole or salad recipe that you are a master of
• have your bridesmaids' dresses shoes match the punch at your wedding (mine technically did, since we served coffee in lieu of punch)

and of course, along with that casserole recipe, every southern girl knows that you must take meal when a dear friend (or anyone at the church) has a baby. i blogged a link the other day that someone i dont know posted about taking meals to new moms, and while it was pure coincidence, i used some of that advice today when i took a meal from nathan and i to a couple who had a baby about two weeks ago. kristen & craig welcomed little lincoln in the world (they were also the ones that ash & i made cake pops for) and we were more than excited to celebrate with them. so i spent last night cooking up a storm. in addition to the main topic of the blog for today (pound cake!), i made blueberry muffins, homemade salsa, mimi's rice, broccoli slaw, and packed some sweet potatoes to bake as well as i marinated some chicken to bake/grill, and of course some of our favorite mission brand chips for the salsa. an odd assortment, but i knew they liked the broccoli slaw & salsa, so thats why those got added in. it was of course a much appreciated addition to the fridge, and it was good to check in on kristen & even get to hold little lincoln for a bit. i've never seen a new born look more like their parent than lincoln does of craig! baby & mom are both doing great.

so on to the goods- the pound cake! now, this is truly my moms speciality. there are two smells i strongly associate to growing up- the smell of pot roast (still gets me!) and the smell of freshly baking pound cake. where some of my friends moms baked bread, mine baked pound cake. and i love it. so does pretty much anyone else that eats it. its good fresh out of the oven with strawberries & whipped cream, the next morning for breakfast with coffee, and as a snack any time of day. is it healthy? definitely not. but its good for the soul, i'm convinced!!

i love this recipe because its consistent- just like a box cake mix, you always know what you are going to get. it dense, moist, not too sweet but just a touch, and its got a perfectly crunchy crust. it always rises, always has great color, and always tastes fresh. is your mouth watering yet? it should be!

i'll share the recipe with you, but you have to promise to never bring it to a function that i'm at (or that my moms at) because most likely, we'll be bringing it! i keep it in my awesome recipe book that mom got me when i was a little girl- its one of my favorite things in my kitchen, and i love how vintage it looks

so to get started, here's what you need:

• a kitchenaid mixer (this is actually quite essential to getting the right consistency)

• a few ingredients:
• 2 sticks softened unsalted butter
• 1 stick crisco (NOT butter flavored)
• 3 cups white sugar
• 6 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup milk (i always use whole milk
• a bundt pan with lots of pam

• an oven (preferably one that maintains temperature a little better than ours!)

so to start, you're going to make sure you butter is soft (but not melted!) and you want to whip it with the crisco

you want it to end up looking like this

next, add in the sugar and beat until fluffy

once fluffy, add in one egg at a time, beating well in between. i use some cage free eggs from a local farmer- they make everything i bake even better! once all the eggs are added, add in the vanilla, and then alternate adding in the flour and milk. once all ingredients are added beat for 2-5 minutes. be sure to scrap the bowl real good! your goodness should end up looking like this:

and yes, it already tastes fantastic!!

get that goodness into your bundt pan, and get it into a cold oven (not sure why, just do it!)

bake at 325 for around an hour and 25 minutes- start watching after an hour, and don't go by the color on top. you'll have to stick a fork or knife in one of the cracks to test for doneness inside. when a knife comes out clean, its time to take out! let cool for about 5 minutes, and then invert onto a pan.

this one ended up a little more done than i would have liked, but i know it will still be good.

enjoy! i hope kristen and craig will!

Baking night!

So last night, I got in the baking mood and for once had everything I needed to bake a few things. We have a surplus of eggs right now, so I had already planned on making breakfast for dinner. To go with, I had been wanting to try a recipe for white chocolate chip raspberry muffins. Additionally, we are hanging out with some friends tomorrow so I wanted to make some chocolate chips cookies.

So we will start with the muffins. The recipe can be found here http://gimmesomeoven.com/raspberry-and-white-chocolate-muffins/

So I followed the recipe, using a mix of fresh and frozen berries. I think I would just use frozen berries, as the fresh ones quickly broke up while I was stirring. I used a mix of white and whole wheat flour but I don't think that is what led to my disappointment. Honestly, they just were not worth the effort. The taste was off and they werent pretty. We ate them anyways, but not a keeper.

Following that, I made some of our favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies, following a recipe my dear friend Ash gave me. These are always a hit and always turn out perfect! I have tweaked her recipe a bit, using half whole wheat flour and half normal flour, so they are the perfect brown color, plus have some healthy whole wheat in them!

Recipe:

2 sticks softened butter (I always bake with unsalted butter)

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

2 eggs

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I do 1 1/4 whole wheat, 1 1/4 white flour)

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 12oz. bags of semisweet chocolate chips (Ash uses milk chocolate, but I like the semi-sweet better)

Preheat oven to 350.

In mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugars, eggs, vanilla, and salt.

In another bowl, mix all of the dry ingredients except for the chips.

Combine the dry ingredients into the wet mix, and stir in chips.

Using a cookie scoop, scoop out your cookies onto a greased pan or a pan with parchment paper (my new fav). I only bake 9 at a time, regardless of pan size.

Bake for 9-10 mins (in my oven, more like 8) until edges are just turning light brown. They will look not finished when you pull them out. Let them rest on the pan for a few minutes, then move them to a cooling rack.

These are the yummiest things ever!! I threw in some Reese's peanut butter chips in a few which was a fun mix it up thing.

To store, keep in an airtight container with 1-2 pieces of bread. Change bread daily to keep cookies soft and chewy.

Yum! Ready for another baking night real soon!!