Pumpkin Bread

The final moist and delicious product!

The other day I got really upset about something that went down and instead of moping and crying I used the negative energy (anger) to create good things.
I fixed my hair, put on makeup, washed up some dishes and made pumpkin bread. Instead of having sore fists or tear streaked cheeks I had an amazing smelling house and pumpkin bread to share with Kit and friends.

Here is the recipe I found in a book-this is weird for me. Most recipes I find online nowadays. What isn’t weird is how I always tweak a recipe. Below are my adjustments.

I added 2 cups of pumpkin (3/4 cups baked cushaw from farm and 1 1/4 cup canned pumpkin).

I also only added 1/2 cup water instead of a full cup because it wasn’t a very thick batter already.

I baked it for about 1 hour.
On the top I added almond bits and chocolate chips.

Next time I make this recipe, I will substitute 1 cup applesauce instead of oil or at least a half and half substitution. I have done it before with banana bread and I really like it.

This VIP Cookbook was written in 1979 with the intent that proceeds benefit the American Cancer Society and their research.

I picked this up at a library book sale for less than $2 so don’t think I was being noble. There are some things in there that may be out of date but I figure a good recipe is almost always a good recipe.

One loaf got devoured by my husband and me. The other loaf I took to a wedding shower and gave to the bride to be, who just happened to love anything pumpkin. Score!

My mouth us watering just looking at the pictures again. Kit found three more huge chushaw from our volunteer plant in the compost pile and I have tons of canned pumpkin too. I know what I’m doing come Monday!

Day 346: Meat n’ Veggies

Cooked up a bunch of veggies and a pound of lamb (on sale). I did a lazy shepherd’s pie for supper because I didn’t want to chop all those vegetables.

Peeled and boiled potatoes for the mashed potato topping. Thawed and cooked two bags of veggies. I chopped and sautéd mushrooms and an onion in the grease leftover from the lamb and a dash of olive oil.

The taters got a half stick of butter, salt and pepper. The veggies got salt and a Mediterranean seasoning and the meat got a mesquite grinder seasoning mix.

Mixed the veg and meat together, put it in a dish, layer of mashed potatoes and topped with Cheddar cheese. Baked for 20 minutes on 350. Boom.

I am melting. It was awesome!

Day 337: Treats for Tybs {Recipe revealed!!}

Checking on the dog treats baking away in the oven. This is a great recipe that I’ve been using for my dogs for about a year now.

They are fairly simple and all the ingredients are doggie safe. [I’m not a vet or pet nutritionist].

Doggie Treats (makes ~2 dozen)
1 cup wheat flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
1 TBSP oil
1/4 cup low sodium chicken/beef broth
1 egg
1/8 cup low or fat free milk

1 egg, beaten for egg wash
Oil for cookie sheet

Method
Whisk together flour and cornmeal then add wet ingredients. Mix thoroughly.
Roll out into floured surface 1/4 inch thick and cut out shapes.
Grease cookie sheet and brush each cookie with egg wash.
Bake 350 for 20-30 minutes.
Allow to cool and freeze extra.

Kat’s V-Day 2013

This Valentine’s Day went pretty well. I was very pleased that Kit and I decided to stay at home. I hate the stress of going out for a fancy dinner only to find every restaurant over-packed with other noisy people. Besides our food was better. First, we got semi-dressed up and were witnesses at a friend’s wedding. We had lunch with the happy couple and then went trudging to do the V-day shopping we should have done days before.
I was surprised how many men were snatching flowers with a desperate look in their eyes and how many folk there were in the grocery store.

This is a hugely popular DIY gift on Pinterest. The project is called 52 Things I Love About You. On each card I wrote something that I love about Kit. I copied some from another crafter, but I found that the ones that meant more were the personal ones. My Kit rarely wears pants. He is a shorts-man. Because of that fact I wanted him to wear shorts for our wedding. The phrase “Two Wild Banshees” is one of those things I catch him saying all the time.

When Kit looked through the cards on Vday, he was chuckling and smiling all the way through. Because I wrote on the face of the cards, they can still be played with normally.

Supper started the only way it could; with wine. I bought a bottle of the same wine we had for our wedding (a peach chardonnay) and threw some frozen peaches into it. Perfecto.

Honestly, the first thing I did was begin marinating the shrimp and steak. The shrimp was medium, fully-cooked and frozen. I used a lemon ginger marinade that I should have started the night before, but the hours run away from me. The marinade for 1 pound of shrimp is:

• 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 3/8 onion, chopped
• 5/8 clove garlic, peeled
• 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger root
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh cilantro leaves (I used cubed bouillon style cilantro)
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika (dash)
• 1/8 teaspoon salt (dash)
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper (dash)

I cubed up a steak and threw it into a gallon bag and tried to follow this steak marinade recipe: (I didn’t have W-sauce, oops!)

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 1/2 onion diced
• 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• dash of pepper

As you can see in the photo above, I skewered quartered small sweet onions, whole mushrooms (baby portabellas were on sale), whole grape tomatoes, and fat slices of red and green bell peppers. I baked these kabobs on a cookie sheet (I recommend putting aluminum foil on the trays to help with cleanup). Bake them for 10-12 minutes at 450F, flip them over and bake an additional 7-8 minutes. Thanks for the oven kabobs recipe, Sarra!

I made coca-cola cake for dessert. I failed to check my stock of butter and only had enough to make the cake and not the glaze that went on top. What makes coca-cola cake special or different from a regular chocolate cake? I honestly have no clue. Google is not helping a sister out either. It was a good recipe that I have to try again when I can do the glaze as well. I honestly love my mom’s recipe for crazy cake. This was more moist…almost like a light brownie.

The rest of the evening was spent enjoying our present that we gave to each other. Our Roku is so much better than jewelry I may never wear. Tons of Netflix TV shows at our fingertips. In one month, the Roku has already paid for itself several times over because we were frequent users of Redbox.