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Happy Halloween Eve! I hope your week is just as festive and Halloween-fun-filled as ours has been.
I have a few great pumpkin recipes that I rounded up on Pinterest to share with you (the last three recipes for this month's seasonal ingredient!).
For breakfast- Pumpkin Nutella Muffins. They are amazing. Tip: I halved the recipe and it made 12 muffins.
Use the other half of your can of puréed pumpkin to make one of the two following pasta recipes for dinner...
Tortellini with Pumpkin Cream Sauce. We have eaten this twice this fall and I forgot to take a picture both times. It is so good.
Pumpkin & Sausage Penne. A heartier (and healthier) alternative to the pumpkin cream sauce- and equally as good. My tip: use sage pork sausage and add kale. I also halved the original recipe and it made 4 good sized servings.
If you missed the other pumpkin recipes this month, check them out here:
Pumpkin Walnut Butterscotch Cookies
Pumpkin Pancakes
Pumpkin Pecan Bread
As for making your little one's Halloween extra festive? Try serving up a jack-o-lantern grilled cheese with a 'ghost' banana.
Stay tuned to see Lu's costume tomorrow!
Happy Friday!
I'll be honest, the Friday Favorites series has been missing for a few weeks because there haven't been any just-can't-live-without-it items that I wanted to share...
But, yesterday I ended up printing out a few cute free printables that I thought I'd share.
In our playroom there is a wall with two large Ikea frames. The frame on the left holds a whimsical floral & rabbit illustration (also Ikea) and the frame on the right I fill with something seasonal and festive. 99% of the time it is a free printable I found via Pinterest or a great blog. There are so many cute things out there, but rather than have a ton of wordy art all over the house I just rotate prints in one frame. Easy and free. Does it get better than that??
This month was Halloween subway art. Source Love it- and it comes in purple and green!
Here are my five favorite free printables that will be gracing the playroom frame as we switch from Halloween to Thanksgiving (really, pre-Christmas!!) festivities.
1. I {Leaf} Fall Source
2. Give Thanks Source
3. Make Believe Source
5. Alphabet I {Heart} U Source
Click the button below to Follow me on Pinterest to see other free printables that I love!
Lu isn't the only baby in the Sparrow family. She was preceeded by one cat and two dogs. Our dog Niles is really our first baby, since we adopted him shortly after getting engaged in 2008. Fun story: we picked him up from the shelter on the day of our engagement party and took him to the party that night (where he stole the show!).
Niles tore his left ACL last year and had to have surgery to fix it. The worst part of this injury in a dog (aside from the cost and recovery time) is that there is a high likelihood that the dog will tear the other ACL as well. Not shockingly, Niles started limping on the right side and x-rays this summer confirmed that he had torn the right ACL too. Not awesome. As the vet said, "the good news is he only has two knees."
Our sweet boy had surgery yesterday and came home last night. I spent about 2 hours on the floor with him before he finally fell into a drugged sleep.
We were worried that it would be hard to keep Lu away from him. To say she loves him is an understatement. Her first words were "dog" and "Ni" and she is always scooting over to pet him. She will lay her head on his belly and hug him. Yesterday, while he was in surgery, she asked for him several times, repeating his name and looking around the room.
But, this morning, when Lu saw Niles with a shaved bum, cast, and cone she was skeptical and keeping a distance. By this afternoon, the sight of him was making her cry. Hopefully we can get back to keeping a distance soon? It is tough taking care of two babies when one is afraid of the other...
Happy Columbus Day!
I'm sharing my interpretation of a classic breakfast bread with this month's seasonal ingredient (pumpkin!). Don't forget to check out my other seasonal ingredient recipes this month for Pumpkin Walnut Butterscotch Cookies and Easy Peasy Pumpkin Pancakes.
I used this recipe as my pumpkin bread base, but changed the seasoning and added a pecan crunch.
Forget bacon- Isn't everything better with pecans?! :)
Pumpkin Pecan Bread (makes 2 large loaves)
Ingredients:
3 cups sugar
1 cup veg. oil
4 eggs lightly beaten
1 can pumpkin purée
3 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
2/3 cup water
1 cup chopped pecans
Preheat your oven to 350 and spray 2 loaf pans with nonstick spray. Combine dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl and set aside. In a large bowl stir together the sugar and oil. Add eggs and pumpkin. Slowly add the dry blend and water, alternating back and forth. (A little dry, a little water, a little dry...) Last, add your pecans then divide the batter between the 2 prepared pans. Cook for approximately 45 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Fair warning: I gave a loaf to a friend (who happens to be pregnant) and she texted me to say it was "like crack" and she couldn't stop eating it. Pregnancy binge or is it really that good?? Answer: It really is that good.
Enjoy!
This month's seasonal ingredient is pumpkin and today I'm sharing the easiest no-brainer recipe for pumpkin pancakes. So easy that the recipe in fact is two lines:
Add 1/3 can puréed pumpkin to your pancake batter. Cook pancakes as usual and sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice before flipping.
That's it!
Ridiculously easy, but it makes the perfect fall breakfast. I served them with sliced cantaloupe to boost the orange fall vibe.
We'll pretend that the toddler was impressed...
Don't forget to use the other 2/3 can of pumpkin purée in my Pumpkin Walnut Butterscotch Cookie recipe.
Enjoy!
This little novice blog is swelling with pride because it has been featured...TWICE... in one week!!
I'm kind of a big deal. ;)
Apparently I am not the only one who loves my Herringbone wall Mudroom makeover. I was featured over at Sumo's Sweet Stuff and Dimples and Pigtails in two incredibly inspiring link parties. Thank you, ladies! I am so humbled and honored to be picked when there are so many great projects out there.
Aside from being simultaneously shocked and giddy, I've realized two things:
1. I need to do more makeovers to turn our house into what we want it to be- not a bland version of what it should be. We're young(ish?) and our lovely home should reflect that.
2. I need to trust my gut and just go with it. Much, much more.
So, you can anticipate more inspired makeover posts this winter. Are you as excited as I am?!
In the meantime, one honest shot of our Mudroom (rainy day clutter and all) because I really do love it that much.
Let me start by saying, I love reading another blog getting inspired and thinking, "I should do that!"
This happened a few weeks ago when I read about an annual scarf exchange over at Mix and Match Mama. While reading her post my mind immediately started racing with thoughts of how quickly I could organize this with my own friends... we all love a cute scarf... and it was such a clever idea!
Side note: When I told my husband this idea his reaction was, "if I wanted a new tie, I'd just buy it myself." Girls' night it is!
I sent out an evite and the Sassy Scarf Swap was born. It works like a Yankee swap, but everyone was instructed to bring a new wrapped scarf to swap (steal). I also suggested a $20 spending range- to keep everyone on the same page!
We all have such good taste (or are too polite?) that only one person swapped her scarf!
I would highly recommend this as a festive fall girls' night, or even a good theme for a holiday season Yankee swap.
It was a great excuse to get together on a Tuesday night and sip wine and hot cider! Of course I had to throw together some fall treats, like chili-biscuits and individual apple tarts. Yum!
Happy October!
In my opinion, there is no better way to get into the spirit of the season (any season, really) than fiddling around in the kitchen. Think beautiful summertime salads to Christmas cookies. Can you see where I'm going with this??
To boost the seasonal vibe in your kitchen, I am going to highlight one seasonal ingredient each month. I'll work to give you a set of easy recipes using that seasonal ingredient.
Let's kick it off with pumpkin! (It is October, after all.)
Of course the first recipe has to be a sweet one. :)
Pumpkin Walnut Butterscotch Cookies
Ingredients:
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
2/3 can puréed pumpkin (save the last 1/3 for another recipe!)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 350. In a small bowl combine flour, soda, salt, pie spice and set aside. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Add egg and then pumpkin and continue beating until combined. Slowly add dry mix. Now, I split my batter and added the walnuts to one half and the butterscotch to the other half. You can mix both ingredients into the entire batch if you prefer. Spoon onto greased baking sheet and bake 9-11 minutes, or until browning on bottom edge. Set on cooling racks until you can't wait any longer!
These still taste great after they are frozen- you can make a large batch and save some for later.
And share with your child guilt-free because this cookie includes a vegetable. ;)
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