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Friday, October 23, 2009

Baking...Baking....Baking

I have been on a baking/cooking frenzy lately. Fall does this to me. I love when the air gets cool enough that you can actually bake in your kitchen without melting. Plus there is something about the scent of the crisp fall air that makes you want to bake.Apples, pumpkins, squash oh my!

Since I have been menu planning for the past month or so I have come across some wonderful recipes that I have been dying to try. I'm also following alot of "frugal/money saving" blogs that have given some great ideas for commercial foods that you can make at home. Breakfast, for instance, is the most trying meal for us. Eric usually stops at Wawa in the morning & gets a breakfast sandwich because he would rather sleep the extra 10 minutes than make a bowl of cereal. (I'm for that line of thinking too). So I went out & bought sausage rounds & 2 packages of Pillsbury biscuits. I had some eggs & cheese mini omelets from the Market Day fundraiser at my daughters school on hand too. I baked the biscuits & then assembled & froze them. Eric loved it!! And it came down to about 60 cents per sandwich.Though next time I will make the biscuits - just need to find a good recipe. And good ones - please leave a comment!!




I then made some Pumpkin waffles. I just love the website Smitten Kitchen. They have the most wonderful recipes and are in English. By that I mean - easy to read understand & uncomplicated. The pumkin waffles were a hit with Emily - who was my taste tester. They have a hint of pumpkiny-goodness without being over-powering which is what I was worried about. I couldn't imagine eating a waffle that tasted like a Pumpkin Latte. It was perfect. I made a batch & frozen them too. I recommend trying the recipe - Pumpkin waffles from Smitten Kitchen.

Another Smitten Kitchen favorite of mine is the Cold Brewed coffee. I've made this with pumpkin flavored coffee & it was terrific!! If you liked iced coffee - this is how you make it without it tasting bitter.




I also baked 2 dozen "Brain" cupcakes for Emily's Harvest Day for school. Nothing from scratch here. Just Duncan Hines Halloween mix (orange with brown swirl) & frosting that is piped on to look like a brain. I made 2 batches of buttercream frosting & they both turned out horrible!! I am suspecting it was because I used margerine & not butter. I ended up running to the store at 8pm to grab frosting. I was exhausted!!.


My last cooking job was Potato Chowder in the crockpot. This was wonderful. Here's the recipe - Slow Cooked Potato Chowder. 

 I made my chunks a bit small for easy eating and used shredded carrots.

I really liked this recipe. Tasty & filling . Though I added some Herbs De Provence for a little added flavor. In a way I was expecting a more creamy soup so I thickened it just a bit. But overall a nice filling meal on a chilly night. Too bad Eric does not like soups - I'd make this for dinner. I put a few servings in freezer bags & froze them. I love tossing stuff in the crockpot!!

Next topic....tea. I found a place to buy tea & I love it!! Have a great day!!

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