Our Harvest - And some pumpkin Brownies.

Here is a picture of my Pumpkin brownies. I waited till the very last day of the month to make them....but I decided I did it on purpose for a special Halloween treat.

They were delicious! I think I will make them again.

We were able to harvest some of the fruit from our yard this year. Besides drying apricots, we bottled peaches:

And juiced some pomegranates:

This is a picture of our homemade pomegranate juice. It was delicious.....after we added about a cup of sugar to it, because it was originally pretty tart.

Jack-O-Lanterns

The Kids, like always around Halloween time, are very excited. They drew their jack-o-lanterns so that I could carve them. Isabella's is a puppy with floppy ears (and a big seed for its tongue) and Aiden's is a very small face with a hat; mine is the holey one.

A Dress for Bella

Today I felt crafty, so I made a dress for Isabella. It took between two to three hours to complete and I am very happy with the results.

 Pumpkin Brownie
 I liked the recipe it was easy to make and the taste was good. It may have tasted better if I hadn't taken it out 10 minutes too late. Even with that little mishap the final result was not too bad, the middle pieces were actually nice and moist.

Light-to-Medium

Yesterday, while we were watching television, I was told/reminded by Jared that I am a minority. After some contemplation and a lot of laughter I thank him for reminding me, I really did forget that fact. Some times I think of myself as just the weirdo who learned to pronounce words differently.
Every time I'm looking at statistics for anythings, schools, housing districts, etc I look at the percentage of Latinos in that area (note how I wrote "Latinos" instead of "Hispanic" I've decided I don't like the latter term for its discriminative connotations). I want to move to a diversified area, I don't want my kids to be the only...I don't know what really, what are they anyway? So I looked closely and I found a new section when describing kids population in school, there is a subgroup label "multiracial" which is kind of funny to me since I think anybody could be classified as that or is it just me? But if it is me then so could my children. But then again I don't have a race anymore since Hispanic was decided not to be race in the last census, I felt like such a funny going back to marking white for race; I think I would be more comfortable being labeled as "nonracial" or maybe just "light-to-medium",or instead of trying so hard to find a racial label for myself just mark "other" but "other" is so impersonal, it sounds very "I don't belong", so it is back to "light-to-medium" because that is what I look like.

October Pumpkin Brownie Recipe

I decided to go with a festive Pumpkin recipe for October.

Pumpkin Brownies

1 1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 c. pumpkin
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. soda
1/2 c. oil
1/2 c. water
2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
12 oz. chocolate chips

Beat sugar and oil; add eggs, water, and pumpkin. Add rest of ingredients and blend. Stir in 12 ounces chocolate chips. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Use a 9 x 13 inch greased and floured pan.

September Foods

Here is the cake shortly after I made it, and tried to cut part of it. Even though I had put it in the fridge to cool for a while, it was still a gooey mess. I used a 9x13" pan because I don't have a 10x15; and I didn't put pecans in it because I don't like nuts. When I first tried the cake it was mostly just a gooey blob of chocolate that seemed extra rich and I didn't really like it. The next day I gave it a second try before throwing it out, and I liked it. Once I gave it time to set up I could taste the marshmellows and the cake wasn't just a glob of goo anymore it was super yummy....so I would make this again. Maybe the next time I'm in charge of a dessert for pack meeting!

This is the September marinaded chicken. You may notice that it doesn't look like chicken and you're right it doesn't, because it isn't, 'cause if it was, it would. It is pork marinaded in soda. Now, the soda was not Pepsi, it wasn't even coke...it was ginger ale. I know what you are thinking Liz, "What the...Ginger ale?" Well that is all I had since we are not currently keeping any soda at home, and I didn't want to go to the supermarket to buy just one bottle of soda (and chicken) besides I remember the left over ginger ale from a few months ago. Anyways, the pork tasted good and I'm keeping the recipe since it was easy to make I may make it again soon.

Halloween Crafts

It is October which means Halloween Crafts time! I think Halloween is the best time to make craft, it's the first of fall so...the temperatures are dropping, the leaves are falling down and changing colors, and we are getting excited about the new holiday season. From now on it's family, food, and fun.

These are some of the crafts we have made so far, next is monsters and bats!

September's Dessert

We made this cake last weekend, and by "we" I mean Jared. I was going to send the recipe to you then but I was really busy and/or lazy. Here is a picture of it. It was really easy and deliciously decadent.

Mississippi Mud Cake

1 cup chopped pecans                                               

1 cup butter                                                                       

1 (4 oz) semi sweet chocolate baking bar             

2 cups sugar                                                                       

1 ½ cups all purpose flour                                             

½ cup unsweetened cocoa
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 (10.5 oz) bag miniature marshmallow
Chocolate frosting

1.       Place pecans in a single layer on baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes.

2.       Microwave 1 cup butter and semisweet chocolate  in a large bowl at high 1 minute or until melted and smooth, stirring every 30 seconds

3.       Whisk sugar and next 5 ingredients into chocolate mixture. Pour batter into a greased 15x10x1” pan.

4.       Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, and sprinkle evenly with miniature marshmallows; Bake 8 to 10 more minutes or until golden brown. Drizzle warm cake with chocolate frosting (recipe follows) and sprinkle with toasted pecans.

CHOCOLATE FROSTING

½ cup butter

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/3 cup milk

1 (16 oz)package powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Stir together first 3 ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat until butter is melted. Cook, stirring constantly for 2 minutes or until slightly thickened. Remove from heat. Beat in powdered sugar at medium speed with electric mixer until smooth.

September Meal

Grilled Chicken Cola Marinade

2 C (16 oz) Coke or Pepsi

1/3 C soy sauce

1 T minced garlic

1/2 C brown sugar

1 T balsamic vinegar

1 T lime juice

6 chicken breasts

1. Combine all ingredients but the chicken in a medium sized bowl. Stir to incorporate well.

2. Place chicken in a large gallon sized Ziploc bag. Pour marinade over the chicken. Seal tightly and store in the fridge for 4-24 hours (The longer the better in my book).

3. Discard marinade and grill until cooked through.

Birds and Butterflies

After I saw Liz's mobile craft a while back I decided to make one myself. I did it one night a few weeks ago and finally took a couple of pictures of it to post. Thank you Liz for your idea. It was simple and fun. Now I will try to make some ceramic "thing". I haven't yet decided if I will go for the normal pot or bowl or if I will try some other object. Either way I will start to work on it this week.

August Food - Created by Liz

The Chicken Broccoli Wraps were DELICIOUS! (At least according to me, if not to everyone who ate it.) Andrew wasn't home, so I decided to make it for my parents. I already knew that Dad wasn't a big fan of broccoli, so my mom suggested we make his without. Of course, he is very polite and would never tell me he didn't like the food, I noticed that he didn't eat the chicken.....and without chicken or broccoli, all you really have is a soggy tortilla. Oh well, my mom said that she liked it....and she did have half of a second one, so I think I will believe her. I am planning on making them again for Andrew, hopefully he will like them because they are super yummy and super easy to make.



The Chocolate Zucchini Cake was a pretty standard Chocolate Cake, I don't think it stood out to me in any way as special or as disgusting. As I was making the cake I noticed that I was short 1 egg....so I substituted for 1 tablespoon of light miracle whip. It seemed to work out all right. For frosting I bought a "fudge Chocolate w/ mini chocolate chips" frosting. I think it may have been a touch too much and if I make this cake again, I will use a lighter frosting.

Baby Blanket

Here is a blanket I crocheted for Karston. I started it last Fall, right after we found out we were having a boy. I was almost finished with it at Christmas, but when we brought home a puppy, I put it away. I had heard that yarn was really dangerous for puppies since they like to chew and eat EVERYTHING and yarn could get wrapped around their intestines and whatnot.....so this project got put away and forgotten about. Then last month I decided it was time to finish it. It's fairly skiwampish, however every time I try to crochet a blanket I do get a little bit better and this is my best so far. I remember the first time I tried to make a baby blanket, it was the FUGLIEST thing I had ever seen. No way did I want to keep it, but it seemed sad to throw all of that hard work away, so I gave it to my sister-in-law after her baby was born. I do hope she did what I couldn't, and threw it away the first chance she got. This is my first real attempt at "granny squares" it was easier to attach them then I had thought it was going to be. All in all I do enjoy crocheting, hopefully someday I'll be FREAKIN' AWESOME at it!


PS - When I bought the yarn, I didn't buy baby yarn because they didn't have baby yarn in the colors I wanted, so I bought other yarn that I thought was soft.....turns out the yarn is not very much on the soft side. Do you think if I rinse it in Deft and Fabric Softener the yarn will become soft?

Works in progress

It seems to me that my crafts are all very similar, maybe in the future I should try something different...but for now here is more stuff I have been doing... A few weeks ago while Jared and his coworkers where doing some training in Washington DC, and I was dog-sitting moo, I decided to sketch the dogs. The blue one is tiny, the green one is Moo.


Now I'm sketching Aiden. His picture is not done yet, it is actually a work in progress...if I ever finish it, I'll post the finished product...

My Simple Little Craft

I realize that my crafts won't really be anything compared to Edda's crafts....however, I had fun making this mobile....

and Karston seems to like it as much as he would have liked any that I could have bought for him. At first I was hesitant to make my own, since it wouldn't spin around, but the breeze from the swamp cooler and the ceiling fan spin it around! All together it only cost $8 (Shiny cardstock, and new fishing line). So I suppose I can give myself a mark for provident living! I did get lazy at the end, and as you can see I didn't thread any string through the center of the top circle, and now it bends in the middle. I may or may not care enough to go back and fix it in the future. If I had to bet on it, I would say I won't be caring enough to do anything about it.

August Dessert Recipe

Because I'm going to have a lot of Zucchini, I decided to go with a Chocolate Zucchini Cake Recipe:

Recipe Photos

Posted:

Photographer:

ProfileProfile | RecipesRecipes | Photos

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: CityCity, StateState, Country Country

Living In: CityCity, StateState, Country Country

| View All »

left

1 of 15

right

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups white sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 3 cups grated zucchini
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add the eggs and oil, mix well. Fold in the nuts and zucchini until they are evenly distributed. Pour into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool cake completely before frosting with your favorite frosting.

These are cute "pets" that I made for the children. The first 2 (from left) have buttons for eyes since my kids are big and won't be mouthing them. The 3rd one is for Liz's baby so instead of buttons I just sewed fabric eyes. I like them because of their simple shape. Let me know if you like them.

Happy Valentine's Day!
This week we were very lucky to have 4 to 5 inches of snow here in Georgia. We were able to make a snowman and a snowpuppy. The last time Georgia had that much snow was approximately 39 years ago.

This is a blog-spot where we can display the things we make. I'll start with something of mine.
Titled: Bella encontro una mariquita (Bella found a ladybug).


I think we can also add our dessert club as a monthly posting. I'll work on it.