halloween

I love halloween...I was one of those kids who dressed up and went trick or treating way past the point where it was socially akward. So I busted out my knife and went to work on our pumpkin, made roasted pumpkin seeds and spiced pumpkin cupcakes and I was back in my groove. My favorite adult Halloween treat is pumpkin beer. Mmmmm. Yum.
Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes -
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/prod/R100662.jsp
**I initially saw this recipe in Annie's Eats blog(linked in favorites to the right). I love her blog! I cut the oil in half and added 1/2 cup of all natural applesauce to lighten these a bit. Turned out great! **

Dave wanted to put braces on my pumpkin's teeth. No seriously, he tried.

And just for kicks - a hurried sunset pic I snapped outside our place:

Pumpkins and Apple Cider

Saturday Dave and I drove up to our favorite Indiana orchard to get our fill of pumpkins and apples. I think Dave mainly goes for the hot apple cider they make fresh on the farm and I like to see the trees changing colors. We got a huge pumpkin that I cant wait to dig into to make roasted pumpkin seeds. Yum!

sweet potato chili w/ crunchy pea salad

Usually I forget to snap a pic of the meals I make before I inhale them....but tonight I managed to remember about 1/4 of the way through my salad. I wanted to use up the fresh cucumbers and radishes I got from our CSA program so I tried a recipe Daf found and it was awesome:
(originally from Cooking Light)

Crunchy Pea Salad

2 1/4 cups shelled green peas
1 1/4 cups diced cucumber
1/2 cup thinly sliced radishes
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt

Steam peas, covered, 6 minutes or until tender. Rinse under cold water; drain well.

Combine peas, diced cucumber, radishes, and green onions in a bowl. Combine vinegar and remaining ingredients in a small bowl; stir with a whisk. Pour over vegetable mixture; toss well.

Yield: 5 servings (serving size: 1 cup)

CALORIES 101 (28% from fat); FAT 3.1g (sat 0.4g,mono 2g,poly 0.4g); PROTEIN 4.2g; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 32mg; SODIUM 127mg; FIBER 2.9g; IRON 1.4mg; CARBOHYDRATE 15.2g

I omitted the green onion b/c I didnt have any - oh and I microwaved the peas.



The entree was Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili. I didnt follow this recipe exactly - but it's pretty close:
http://www.recipezaar.com/15503

taking a break

Life has gotten pretty hectic for me lately. Lots of work, business trips, blah blah blah. I havnt had much time to relax but I wanted to make sure to post this weekend so here i am! We're dog watching our little dog nephew Rocky while Bro/Sis in law are in Baltimore visiting the city and going on interviews. Rocky's such a great dog and we really are enjoying having him. We've kept the cats in 1 bedroom just to avoid pet drama, which worked until this morning Mellow escaped and a chase ensued. Rocky chased Mellow, I chased Rocky, and Dave chased us all trying to get one of them to stop. All ended well - but we've made sure to be more careful about shutting the doors tightly! Here are some pics of the little cutie:

laces out

the streak is over. I finally managed to make a good batch of cookies. And these are damn good cookies if I do say so myself. :) After many, many years of failed attempts at baking(you actually have to measure - shocking) I bought all fresh ingredients and went to work on allrecipes.com's 'outrageous cookies'. I added some craisins just for fun and they were a great addition. Dave usually calls my cookies 'sugar bread' - but these actually turned out good.



The rest of the day was spent watching football - Mellow was rooting for Peyton.

M&M's beautiful wedding

This weekend Dave and I drove(dont recommend that form of travel btw) to Winston-Salem, NC to attend our friends' wedding. It was one of the most beautiful weddings we've attended and it was great to see all our friends again. One thing I learned - aside from that our backup QB isnt very good - is that it's difficult to take pictures when you're drunk. Good to know.

Here's a few I tried to salvage. Focus was my main problem....shocking.

Labor Day weekend in DC

Dave and I flew home to my parents home in Frederick, MD to catch up with friends and family, eat some great bluefin crabs, drink fantastic wine, and drive around the NOVA and DC area checking out possible places to move eventually. We had the most beautiful weather and learned a lot about what we want/dont want in a place to move. It was great seeing Christina and Pat - why did we think it was a good idea to go in the pool? :)

Here are some pics from our trip! My parents new kitchen that's only taken them 2 years to finish...shots of their garden and horses, and the mountain: