Sunday, October 25, 2009

Laura

Peanut and I (and Daddy but he might deny it if you asked him ;) have been watching Little House on the Prairie quite a bit (I usually watch and then pick which ones she can watch as some are really intense and way too much for a 3 year old. I am pretty picky about what I allow her to watch.). We discovered our library has all of the seasons. I thought Peanut might fall in love with it and sure enough, she did. She loves Laura, Mary, Carrie and baby Grace.
Happy trick or treating!  Cora is Laura Ingalls.
For her costume this year for Halloween I thought it would be fun to have her dress up as Laura and she LOVED the idea. I found a pattern for a prairie dress and bonnet, picked out some pretty blue and cream flower print, and got to work last week. Peanut was so excited about her Laura dress. This was my first experience at making a dress and really using a pattern by myself. Patterns are so tricky if you aren't really sure what you are doing. I certainly would not want an experienced seamstress to look at my work because when I wasn't sure what to do, I kind of did my own thing and made it work. I was tickled when I was finished and so was Peanut. I also learned that patterns run a bit big at least this one did. Oh well...she'll be able to play in it for quite a while.
Trick or Treat Trail
We got to test the dress out this past Friday night at a Trick or Treat trail at a local park. She was so excited to get dressed up and wear braids just like Laura. (Speaking of the braids, we just started watching Sesaon 7 (had to skip Season 6 as it was checked out) and Laura wears her hair up. Peanut noticed right away and said, "Mom, wear are her pony tails?" I think she likes the young Laura more than the older Laura.
Trick or Treat Trail
It felt so good to have my sewing machine out again. I haven't sewed in ages! Hoping to do some more stuff here and there.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Fall Enjoyment

Yesterday my dad and his "special" friend ;) came down to visit us and see our new home. We were so glad to have them. I gave them a tour of our community and we visited a local small town that is full of gift shops. It was a beautiful day out, a bit chilly, but the leaves are just gorgeous right now. It was such a fun time together. When we got back to our house, we enjoyed a yummy fall supper together of Old Fashioned Beef and Noodles, corn, homemade bread and Chocolate Chip Pumpkin cake. The cake was so easy and really nice way to end a beautiful fall day.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cake
3 c. flour
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
2 c. pumpkin
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 c. chocolate chips
2 c. walnuts
1 c. oil

Mix all ingredients together. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

***I didn't have any walnuts so I didn't add those and it was just fine without.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Yummy Supper Side and Dessert

Tonight I tried out another new recipe for supper and it was a hit. I LOVE onion rings but have never made them at home because it just seems to messy. I hate frying things due the mess and smell so when I stumbled on a recipe for Baked Onion Rings I thought, "Why not?" We had them tonight for supper and I will be making these again. I do have to admit that prior to the baking process, they sure didn't look like they were going to be any good.

Baked Onion Rings
1 1/2 c. cornflakes
1/2 c. dried breadcrumbs, plain
1 egg
1/2 c. buttermilk
1/4 c. flour
1/8 t. cayenne pepper
1 medium Vidalia onion, quartered crosswise, broken into rings
(discard small center rings)
2 T. olive oil
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Run cornflakes and bread crumbs through food processor and put in pie plate. Whisk together egg, buttermilk, flour, cayenne pepper. Season with salt and pepper. Drop onion rings in egg mixture. Dredge in crumb mixture. Place on large plate. Pour oil on rimmed baking sheet. Place sheet in oven for 2 min. Remove and tilt so oil coats sheet evenly. Arrange onion rings on sheet. Bake, turning once for 16 min. Season with salt.

I don't have a food processor, so I ground the cornflakes in my mini-food chopper and mixed them with the bread crumbs. This seemed to work fine. I also didn't have any buttermilk, but made my own by putting 1 T. vinegar in my glass measuring cup then adding enough milk to make 1 cup of liquid. Mix this together and let sit for a 5 minutes so it thickens.

I also made an onion ring sauce to go along with the onion rings. Yum!

Onion Ring Sauce
1/2 c. mayo
1 1/2 t. ketchup
1 1/2 t. horseradish
1/2 t. sugar
1/2 t. lemon juice
1/4 t. ground cayenne pepper
Combine all of the ingredients. Chill at least one hour before serving.

And for dessert our favorite Blueberry Pie recipe. A friend of mine from church made this for us after we had our first daughter and we were in Blueberry Heaven. I had forgotten about it until another friend from church made the same pie for us this summer when we were in the midst of packing boxes before our move. I finally got around to getting the recipe. We have been enjoying this recipe as I am trying to use up our frozen blueberries.

Pie Crust
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. oil
1 t. salt
2 T. sugar
2 T. milk
Mix together all ingredients with pastry blender. Pat into pie plate. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until golden brown.

Blueberry Filling
Bring 1 c. blueberries and 1/2 c. water to boil on stove top. Simmer for 2 min.
Mix 3/4 c. sugar and 2 T. cornstarch together. Stir into blueberry mixture. Stir until thick and bring to boil for a few minutes. Remove from heat and add 2 T. lemon juice. Let cool.
Add 3 c. fresh blueberries. Pour into pie crust. Chill in fridge.

This is MUCH better with fresh berries, but it's yummy with frozen also!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Cinnamon Oat Pancakes

Hubby usually has to head out for classes and work before lunch so I try to make a late breakfast for us that is filling. That way he isn't starving during his class. Today I made a batch of Cinnamon Oat Pancakes for us. I found the recipe in Everyday Food. This little magazine is one of my favorite recipe magazines. I check them out of the library and scour them for new recipes. This is a keeper! I will be writing this one on a recipe card and filing it.

Cinnamon Oat Pancakes

2 c. flour
1/4 c. brown sugar, packed
1 T. baking powder
1 t. salt
1/2 t. cinnamon
2 c. old fashioned rolled oats
2 c. milk
2 large eggs
1/4 c. vegetable oil

Grind 1 cup of the oats in a food processor. Combine ground oats with flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. In another large bowl whisk milk, eggs, and oil. Add dry ingredients to the liquid ingredients and 1 cup oats.

I do not have a food processor but a mini food chopper. It worked fine to grind the 1 cup of oats in that. I also used quick oats, which is all I had on hand. These were so yummy! I made all of the pancakes and froze the leftovers. You just layer on a cookie sheet, freeze 30 minutes, then put into freezer bags. When you want to use them, warm them in a toaster over or in 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.