What's for dinner?

Here is what we are having for dinner this week;

Sunday - Grilled Salmon with Tomato Water (sorry, I know this isn't very fall-ish, but our garden is still producing!)

Monday - Brats with sweet potato fries

Tuesday - Pinnacles Scramble

Wednesday - Date Night - Dinner Out

Thursday - Roasted Vegetable & Quinoa Salad with Pistachios

Friday - Pasta with Caramelized Onions and Bitter Greens

Saturday - TBD - Dinner with friends

Apples and Honey

Tonight marks the beginning of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, and one tradition of the holiday is to eat apples with honey representing hope for a sweet new year. 

In honor of that I bring you some apple and honey recipes...no matter what your faith, these sound good!

Apple Honey Cake from Spice Foodie

Spice Foodie

Apple and Honey Turnovers from couldn't be parve

couldn't be parve



Apple Honey Granola from homemade by holman

homemade by holman

Honey Apple Tea from Finding Joy In My Kitchen

Finding Joy in My Kitchen

Yummy Bread - Week 2

This week's healthy, yummy bread recipe comes courtesy of Parents Magazine and Jaime Oliver

Butternut-Squash Muffins
makes 12 muffins or 36 mini-muffins

Ingredients:

7 oz butternut squash, seeded and roughly chopped, skin on
1 cup light brown sugar (I will cut this in half next time I make these)
2 eggs
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups flour (I will use oatmeal flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
6 Tbsp oil (I will use coconut oil)
Raisins

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.  In a food processor, finely chop the butternut squash

3.  Add the brown sugar and egg and process again to combine.  Add the salt, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and oil and process just until combined.

4.  Line a muffin pan with paper cupcake liners.  Evenly distribute the mixture into the muffin cups and sprinkle with a few raisins.

5.  Bake 20-25 minutes or until a wooden skewer or knife inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Fall is Here!

Fall has finally arrived.  We had such a great weekend full of fall harvest festivals and apple picking.  I found this great list of additional fall family activities from digitalreflections (I promise this will be the last list for a while!)

digitalreflections

Here are a few of the ones I liked the best...

1.  Take a nature walk.

2.  Collect leaves, identify, sort and do leaf rubbings.

4.  Make corn prints or apple prints.

5.  Make applesauce from scratch.

6.  Go to a pumpkin patch.

7.  Make and fly a kite.

8.  Participate in a canned food drive.

9.  Make your own marshmallows (I have been wanting to do this for years now!)

10.  Make hand and feet print art and tuck away after the fall season each year.

Saturday Thoughts

I am thinking positive this weekend.  Especially after being nominated for the Circle of Mom's Top 25 Home Mgmt Blogs.  I was so flattered that they included my blog in the voting.  So please, please if you like this blog please vote for me by clicking on the button to the right.

You can vote DAILY so please exercise your right to vote often! 

Pinterest

What is for dinner?

Here is what we are having for dinner next week...

Sunday - Balsamic Chicken with Roasted Vegetables

Monday - Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Roasted Garlic

Tuesday - Grilled Chicken and Corn Salad with Avocado

Wednesday - Chickpea, Ricotta, and Pesto Pasta (scroll down on this link and you'll find the recipe)

Thursday - Swiss Chard Nest with Poached Egg

Friday - Eggplant Stuffed with Lamb, Rice and Currants

Saturday - Dinner Out

Celebrating Fall

I know, another list, but I can't help myself!

Fall officially arrives tomorrow and Matchbook Magazine has the perfect To Do List of the season!  I really do love a to-do list - nothing like the feeling of crossing something off the list!



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What are your plans for the fall?

Get Ready for Fall!

It is almost here, my favorite season!  I found this fun checklist for the fall, what will you check off?????



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Cupcakes!

I love making cupcakes (and chocolate is a favorite in this house!) but some of the fun liners out there aren't so cute and pretty after baking chocolate cupcakes.  I found these from Sutton Gourmet Papers in this month's House Beautiful and was so thrilled to see that their liners can withstand the discoloration from chocolate batter!  

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And if you need a great way to store all of your liners check this out...use a pasta container!  Genius Idea!







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Yummy Bread

My little one has decided to go on strike when it comes to eating her veggies.  So I have been sneaky and baked various vegetables into her afternoon snack. I got this idea from Deceptively Delicious from Jessica Seinfeld and her applesauce muffins.  Both my daughter and husband love this recipe.

Applesauce Muffins (with Butternut Squash or Carrot) - adapted from Deceptively Delicious

Makes 12 muffins

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Ingredients

Topping

      2/3 cup old-fashioned oats

      1/4 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar

      1 teaspoon cinnamon

      2 tablespoons of coconut oil, melted

Muffin Batter

1 1/2	cups all-purpose whole wheat flour
1	cup oats
1	teaspoon baking powder
1/2	teaspoon baking soda
1/2	teaspoon cinnamon
1	cup applesauce
1/2	cup skim milk
1/2	cup butternut squash or carrot puree
1/2	cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
1/4	cup coconut oil (melted)
1	large egg

Directions

1.  Preheat oven 400F and Coat a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray or line with paper baking cups.

2.  To make the topping, stir together the oats, sugar and cinnamon on in a bowl.  Stir in the oil.


3.  To make the batter, combine the flour, oats, baking, powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl and stir to mix. In a second bowl, mix the applesauce with the milk, vegetable puree, sugar, oil, and egg with a wooden spoon. Add the flour mixture slowly, stirring until just moistened. DO NOT OVERMIX....the batter is suppose to be lumpy.


4.  Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle with the streusel topping. Bake until the topping is lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean from center of muffin. Bakes 18-20 minutes and then cool on cooling rack or serve warm.

Stop by next Monday for another great yummy bread recipe!

What's for dinner?

Here is what we are having for dinner next week (Dad is traveling so it is heavy on soup, easy to make, and I need a little detoxing!)

Sunday - Summer Corn Soup

Monday - Cold Cream of Tomato and Peach Soup

Tuesday - Roasted Yellow Pepper Soup

Wednesday - Tomato Soup with Crispy Capers and Oregano

Thursday - Dinner Out

Friday - Dumplings

Saturday - Jerk Pork Tenderloin with Swiss Chard

Wipes, Mommy, Mess

This is what I heard from my little one when i rushed into her room yesterday towards the end of her nap.  I saw a mysterious spot on her bed from the monitor as I was doing dishes and I zipped up to her room in no time.  Yes, she needed wipes, she had made a mess.  My little one had dug into her diaper and flung it around her bed, with bits on the floor. 

What to do...first I pleaded with her to stay in the one corner of her crib until I came back, and please, please, please don't move!  I then sprang into action, getting ready to clean up.  After making a few mistakes in my readiness to clean, I think I have figured out the steps in case this happens again.

1.  Tie back your hair (you don't want it in your face as you hose down the offender!)

2.  Grab any items needed for a bath, diaper, onesie, towel and at least TWO washcloths and put them in the bathroom.  Make sure you have a trash bin close by.  Also, if you have an old plastic bag from the grocery make sure it is handy too.

3.  Take the child (clothes and all) in the bathroom and place in an empty tub.  Make sure to shut the bedroom door, you don't want any pets in there adding to the mess!

4.  Peel the clothes and diaper off of the offender, placing the diaper in the trash and the soiled clothes in the plastic bag and tie off.

5.  Run some water in the tub and use one washcloth to start rinsing the child. 

6.  Once the bits and bobs have been removed, wipe out tub with cleaning wipes (if handy) and then run a bath for the babe.

7.  Once done bathing and dressing, place the child in a safe place and turn on the tv (we only allow tv in emergencies right now, and believe me, this is one!). 

8.  Proceed to clean the bed and begin laundering the linens.  I found it easier to do a preliminary wipe down of the bed first, then pull off the linens - but it is going to depend on the mess you have!

9.  Once everything is clean, enjoy a treat for yourself!

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Fall Boots

The weather is getting cooler, and all of the fall clothes are coming out.  I found these outfits on Pinterest and it just screams fall, maybe something I should plan on wearing one of these for apple picking in a few weeks!

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The only piece I am missing are the riding boots.  I have been wanting to get a pair for a few years now and this is the season to do it!  Here are a few that I am eyeing to buy...we'll see which one I end up getting!

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Crayon Fun!

I found this easy project on Pinterest and think it would be perfect for all of those left over bits of crayon.  I also love that the pictures speak for themselves!  So easy, and using fun silicon muffin/cookie forms you have would make great, crazy, crayons!

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What is for dinner?

We are back from vacation and as nice as it was to get away, it is lovely being home too!

Here is what we are having the rest of this week:

Monday - Fig and Goat's Cheese Tart

Tuesday - Eggplant Salad with Israeli Couscous and Basil

Wednesday - Swiss Chard Quiche

Thursday - Polenta and Spinach Soup

Friday - Dinner Out

Saturday - Wild Salmon with Grilled Sweet Onion and Corn Relish