Tag Archives: fall

thursday things

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God bless Trader Joes: I finally found a delicious turkey bacon.  The most delicious turkey bacon in all the land.  I used it to make this “healthy” breakfast with a fat free english muffin, and a perfectly-poached egg.

Drooling?

Side note: What’s the deal with measuring cups these days? My recent guest star, Kabrina, and I were discussing these recently. Here is her measuring cup, less than one year old and my measuring cup, also very young:

      

The difference?

I can see the faint lines in mine (if I hold it up to the window) and then draw them on with a marker. I essentially paid for a blank piece of glass. Thanks.

I know for a fact that when I was a child, we had one measuring cup, and it lasted for my entire childhood. So what gives? The cup has one job: measure things. And it fails. It fails at its ONLY REASON FOR EXISTING.

Ok Pyrex, whatever cheap paint you’ve switched to, I’m sure it’s saving you buttloads of money, but it’s time to stop. I promise that I will drop my measuring cup and it will shatter into 1,000 pieces and I will have to buy a new one… eventually. You don’t have to attempt to expedite the process with horrible paint.

Know what else has to stop? Communal tables in restaurants. Oh, how they fill me with a fiery rage. I am happy to see that I am not the only one who despises communal seating at restaurants… I realize it saves you money, and I realize that it’s “convenient” (for the restaurant) but it’s SO UNCOMFORTABLE! It’s like being on an airplane, you’re surrounded on either side with people you don’t know and you have to decide which is more awkward: ignoring the people two inches away, or interrupting their dinner by talking to them.  Let’s just stop the madness now.

On a much happier note, there’s a new video of my golf boyfriend (that’s two links btw). I’ve never been a fan of golf, but I would watch it if he was my man. How could you say no to charm like that?

This insanely cute pillow from A Beautiful Mess almost motivates me to be crafty enough to make it. I’ll put that on my pinboard to forget about and probably never make…

Speaking of pins, the Fall Flavors board is up and running! Which means that this is basically me for the next three to four months:

… Like my pumpkin muffins with cream cheese filling or the best pumpkin cheesecake in the world! (yes, i stand by that statement)

    

Speaking of pumpkin, my friend posted this hilarious picture on Facebook. I promptly died from laughter.

That’s all for this week, have a fabulous weekend!

Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispy Treats

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So I’m on a little bit of a pumpkin kick, so sue me. Get off my back, it’s fall and, honestly, this isn’t the last pumpkin recipe you’re going to see up here…

I was having a really off day in the kitchen this Sunday, so I decided it was probably in my best interest to stick to “simple” recipes. Isn’t it weird how that happens? Some days it’s just like no matter what you make, even if it’s a recipe you’ve made 100 times before, something is just… off. Like I had kitchen amnesia or something… it was really annoying. Eventually I just gave up and sat on the couch for the rest of the day. Upsetting.

Once I saw this autumn twist on a classic treat I just had to try it. It looks easy enough, relatively difficult to mess up, I mean… it is a rice krispy treat, after all. Given my list of other krispy treat creations, how could I pass it up? Plus, um hello – PUMPKIN!

If you want an easy treat to take to a work potluck or just want a creative way to use up the rest of your crisp rice cereal (or leftover pumpkin puree), go ahead and give these bars a whirl.

Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispies

[ Printable Recipe ]

  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
  • 1 (10 ounce) bag mini marshmallows plus one cup
  • 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • Pinch of allspice
  • Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
  • Pinch of kosher salt
  • 6 cups puffed rice cereal

Butter a 9×13-inch baking dish (I like to line mine in plastic wrap – no mess to clean up!)

Melt butter over medium-low heat. Add the pumpkin puree and continue to cook until it is warmed through. Fold in 10 ounces of the marshmallows, stirring frequently until almost completely melted. Stir in vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and salt, and remove from heat.

THIS NEXT PART IS IMPORTANT…

Allow the marshmallow mixture to cool 10 minutes; fold in the remaining cup of marshmallows. Continue to cool the mixture for another 20 to 25 minutes until it is room temperature (failure to cool the mixture will result in soggy rice crispy treats.)

Add the puffed rice cereal and stir, using a silicone spatula, until combined.

Press the mixture into the greased rectangular baking dish. Let set for 30 minutes before cutting and serving.

* I suspect the world will not come to a screeching halt if you use pumpkin pie filling, just reduce or omit the other spices (except vanilla)

halloween (vegan) cupcakes

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vegan cupcakes

No, I’m not vegan. Or vegetarian. I just like to experiment. I didn’t even realize these cupcakes were vegan when I first chose the recipe. I was merely intrigued that it relied solely on baking soda and vinegar for the leavening, so I had to try it. With a work potluck coming up, what a great time to experiment… My unknowing test subjects would be none the wiser… MWAHAHAHAHA (that’s my evil laugh, in case you were wondering… it was Halloween after all).

I was really excited for some reason when the batter bubbled up. Like, really excited. Filled with childhood glee excitement. Remember when you were little and you had to make that volcano for science class? Pretty much the same concept: baking soda + acid = bubbles. I wish I’d gotten a picture, but I was too busy staring at the mixture in excitement. Plus, I wanted to hurry and get them in the oven before it was too late…

(Side note about leavening agents. Baking soda is “single acting”, while baking powder is “double acting”. Because baking soda is “single” acting, had I stared in awe until all of the bubbles stopped before baking them, my cupcakes would not have risen so beautifully. Especially since there were no other ingredients in the recipe for them to rely on for rising. Baking powder, on the other hand, both reacts when mixed, and then again when heated. So if you ever wondered what that meant on the can, now you know… I’m just chock-full of useless information.)

Anyway, the recipe is simple. Step one: Sift dry ingredients. Sifting is a good idea here, just because cocoa tends to clump together, and we want to have all of the baking soda (and everything else) evenly distributed. If you don’t have a fine mesh sieve, just whisk vigorously… but not too vigorously or you’ll end up covering your kitchen (and yourself) in flour. Not as pretty as covering either in flowers, unfortunately.

Step 2 – 4: Stir wet ingredients, fold wet into dry, bake!

 

The result is a light, moist cupcake with a subtle chocolate flavor. Quite subtle. Red velvet subtle. BF’s brother said if he were blindfolded, he wouldn’t be sure that they were even chocolate cupcakes. So yes, very subtle, but I thought it was a pleasant subtle. Texture was great, flavor was good, but subtle.

You can turn up your chocolate volume by adding a little more cocoa (I think you could easily up it to a 1/2 cup), chocolate chips, or even chocolate frosting. I had done quite a bit of baking that day, so I actually cheated and used my favorite store-bought frosting: Party rainbow chip (NOT the same as funfetti. Funfetti is garbage and this is delicious). My orange cupcakes are actually just party rainbow chip dyed orange.

I mean, I enjoy baking, but I’m not a caterer. I’m not wasting allll that time making cupcakes and decorating them just to have them destroyed minutes into a work potluck. Let’s be realistic here. Plus, I was really craving rainbow chip cupcakes… now that I think of, I don’t know if I even ate one. Darnit! >.< Oh well, maybe I’ll have to make another batch…

“Vegan” Chocolate Cupcakes

[ Printable Recipe ]

  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup brewed coffee (or 1 cup of warm water mixed with 1 1/2 teaspoons of espresso powder or instant coffee granules)
  • 1 Tbsp white vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 6 Tbsp olive oil

1 Preheat oven to 350°F with a rack in the middle position. Prepare a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
2 In a large bowl, vigorously whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt until there are no visible clumps (cocoa tends to clump up).
3 In a separate bowl, mix together the coffee (or water plus coffee granules), vinegar, vanilla extract, and olive oil.
4 Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir only until they just come together. The mixture should be thin and rather lumpy.
5 Ladle the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about two-thirds of the way full. Place in oven and bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until a bamboo skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
6 Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool on a rack. Once cool, you can eat plain, sprinkle with powdered sugar, or drizzle or coat with frosting.

*If you want to make a cake instead of cupcakes, double the recipe and use two 8-inch round cake pans and cook for 35-40 minutes.

[ Adapted from Simply Recipes ]