Its Almost Pumpkin Season!

I love fall.
The colors are so rich (orange leaves bring out my eyes).
The air is crisp (goodbye humidity, and goodbye frizzy hair)!
And PUMPKINS are everywhere... time for pumpkin bread (traditionally, not so good for the hips...)!



Here's is my famous pumpkin bread recipe (well, famous to me because I love to eat it). I've tweeked some basic recipes to make it a little healthier. NO taste was compromised in the making of this bread!

* 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 2 teaspoons salt
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
* 2 cups white sugar
* 1 cup brown sugar
* 1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
* 2 eggs
* 2 egg whites
* 2 cups pumpkin puree
* 2/3 cup water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two loaf pans.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon and cloves.

3. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, blend sugar, oil and eggs. Stir in pumpkin. Slowly blend the flour mixture into pumpkin mixture. While blending the mixture add water incrementally. Pour the batter into the two loaf pans.

4. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for 80-90 minutes - do the fork test to be sure they are done. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pans.

Makes 2 loaves. This recipe is easily halved, but the pumpkin comes in a can of 16 oz. so I just covered it with plastic wrap and popped the rest in the fridge.

Cellulite Wooooaaaahs?

Found this interesting article about how coffee can help you get rid of cellulite. Maybe worth a shot? Some say drinking it helps enough because of its antioxidants, but others say grinding it up, adding olive oil, and rubbing it on is more effective. Any takers?

Totaled

Bah. So my 1996 Acura Integra with 160K+ miles on it was in an accident (everybody is fine!). A lady ran a red light and I hit her, low speed for me, but not her. She drove away, we got her plate numbers, filed a report and called Geico right away.

She called Geico a day or two later with no plate numbers (couldn't even describe my car), didn't know what the intersection was, nor could she tell them the time of day it happened. So, we win! Kind of... My car is totaled so the insurance company won't fix it. They are giving us a little money (blue book) though which is good.

I offered to Nick to get the car he has been pining over and I'll drive his. But since he is an adorable loving and amazing hubbs, he said I should get a new car since I have never had one. Yay! Kinda...

Great, now I have to make a decision. Essentially, I feel like I am wedding planning all over again. I mean, its pretty much the same amount of money and its something exciting and fun and great but important and thus a little stressful (just like marriage).

I want a hybrid. I have compared the Prius and the Insight. The Prius is the nicer car with the better hybrid system and better mileage (although the cost of the car does not make up for its fuel economy compared to the cost of the Insight in 10 years). The Insight is more of a car. Its drives like a regular car and has a clutch based engine like a regular car. The Prius is quiet and you do not feel it shift or convert from gas to electric the same as in the Insight.

Another cool feature about the Prius is that you can use electric only for short trips. You can use Power mode (more gas) for highway, i.e. when you need to merge. And Eco mode for when you want to use more battery than gas.

Nick wants me to look at other cars too to compare them too, but I want to make a socially responsible and ecologically responsible decision and even if I can get a slightly less expensive car, I feel that being ecoconscious is important to me. (Its funny b/c I said the same thing over wedding details).

More details to come.

Turkey Burger Heaven

Ok, so I made these amazing turkey burgers, but we ate them too fast and I was not able to get pictures. I regret this because they looked good and tasted better.

So I had a pound of ground turkey, threw it in a bowl. Sprinkled some salt-n-peppa, a little oregano and a bunch of rosemary. I crushed two garlic cloves and tossed those in too. Took my wedding ring off then dug in and mixed it all up.

I made three burgers out of a pound, but I probably could have made four. I put them on a skillet, but on the grill might even be better.

I sauteed some red and yellow peppers with spinach and artichokes in a chili pepper infused olive oil. For those of you not fortunate enough to own this amazing olive oil, you can use the plain Jane kind. (and no I did not pay that price for mine, got it on a Woot deal)

When the burgers were ready I put some provolone on top. I piled the veggies, the burger and some thick cut tomatoes on whole wheat buns and then enhaled. It was colorful and easy on the eyes, while definitely drool worthy.

Not Coach, Not Louis Vitton... But way cuter!

My first project of something substantial made from scratch: purses! The pattern came from a Simply Made Easy packet. I switched things up a little and changed some of the patterns to give them more of a modern design.

I got some cute buttons from Joann's to top them off for a finishing touch. Also, I improvised and gave them both a little cell phone pocket inside.

Snuggle Blankies and Designer Burp Diapers

Finally my computer has enough memory to down and up load some pics! Blogs aren't much fun with out pics so I refrained from posting for awhile.

Who'd have thought styling up some burp rags would be such a hit. Even if babies are just going to drool on them, they are totally cute and worth it. I used yellows, browns, and greens, trying to keep things gender neutral (its for my brother's kid (due August) and they aren't going to find out the gender - or at least not tell us).

Pretty easy to do. I bought some organic diapers from Target and then some fabric scraps and fat quarters from Joann's. I ironed the fabric and aligned it on the diaper and let Bessy (the sewing machine) stitch away!

The blankie was super easy - I have Carlos the tiger cub here modeling one for us. The design on the blankie is Hey Diddle Diddle. Really cute (has a slight bit of blue in it, but I'm hoping my brother's kid is a girl). ;)

Sew Sew Sew

I need a name for my sewing machine. Something awesome, because it is awesome. I mean seriously, the thing doesn't even need me, it just makes stuff.

It has the coolest stitches! And it threads itself!



I need to get an iron so I can finally get started on my first project - baby blankie for new niece/nephew. Any iron suggestions?