pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

Why does pumpkin have to be a fall flavor?  I love pumpkin and I am pretty sure I make these cookies year round.  They are super moist and are even better the next day after spending a night in a sealed plastic bag.  They are the perfect cookie for a fall night...or if you're like me, a winter/spring/summer night as well!

 

 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies:

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup pumpkin
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups flour (plus or minus)
• chocolate chips (optional)

Cream together the shortening, sugar, eggs, and pumpkin.  Then add and cream the baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and salt.  Add the flour a little at a time until the dough is thick but still sticky.  Sometimes it will be almost a whole cup more but other times it will barely take the 2 cups.  It all depends on the air pressure and humidity with these cookies.  Add chocolate chips to taste.  Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 12 minutes.  After you get the dough finished, cook just one cookie and then add more flour if needed before you cook the rest.  You want the cookie to stay fluffy instead of falling.

I always hear to cook one cookie before you cook the rest.  And I NEVER do it!  However, I always do it with these cookies.  I always think I have enough flour and I almost always never do.  So please please cook one cookie first!  Usually these cookies only take me about 8 minutes to cook so it doesn't take forever to test the one cookie to get the rest of them perfect :)
 

-Megan 

valentine canvas

Valentine's Day seems to be a love or hate holiday.  You know what I mean?  You either love it or hate it.  Which I don't understand.  I've been single on Valentine's Day before and it didn't depress me or anything.  I look at it as a day to celebrate any relationships you have with someone you love.  That could be a significant other, or you could just let your mom know that you really appreciate and love her.  Maybe I'm just weird, but whatevs.  Anyway, I always want to decorate so here is a fun decoration that comes together really quickly.

The original that I went off of used lipstick.  I wanted something a bit more hardy and that I could keep for more than one year so I used paint.

Here's how to make this valentine canvas:

Buy a canvas in any size you wish (mine is an 8X10).  Lightly trace a heart shape in pencil in the middle of your canvas.  Paint stripes on a diagonal in different pinks and reds.  While that dries, cut out the letters to express whatever Valentine sentiment you'd like.  I used a cricut machine but you can use whatever you'd like, you can even just print them off on a colored card stock so you don't have to cut out each letter.  This is probably the option I would use but I borrowed my mom's cricut for this craft.  Glue the letters to the bottom of the canvas and you're done!  P.S. If you don't want to do the letters you don't have to, the canvas is just as cute without them!  Win win :)

My inspiration is from here

-Megan

schedules, summer, and such

Are you a list maker?  I most certainly am.  I'm one of those people that when I do something, I put it on my list just so I can cross it off.  Call it what you want, it makes my brain happy.  I really want to blog more on this here little space of mine.  But I always think about it when I'm nursing my baby or something and then the thought gets lost somewhere.  So I've made myself a little schedule that is like a list so I have a little bit more organization to what I write about when.  I think it will help.  At least I hope so :)  I'm going to try to blog here on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  Mondays will be about whatever I want, Wednesdays will be craft/DIY centered, and Fridays will be Foodie Fridays!  So here's to lists!

So it's Monday.  What do I write about today?  Today I am wishing for warmer and sunnier weather.  I was looking through pictures and found this one that the hubby took this last summer at work one night.  

I'm excited to not have to bundle up all the time but I'm even more excited for it to start getting lighter in the evenings.  I seriously celebrated on December 21st this year.

-Megan

superbowl treats!

Hey there.  It's been a long time.  But who am I kidding...it's not like I post here daily or something.  Anyway, the reason for my absence is a good one.  I've been enjoying my yummy little one that I just adore!  I mean really, I don't think I could love anything more than I do this little guy.  Because I have a serious phobia of putting pictures up of him where just anyone could see them, I'll let you enjoy a picture of his little totsies :)

The rest of him is just as amazingly cute :)

The SuperBowl is in like 2 weeks or something!  You would think I would know this since my husband is a diehard football fan, but I don't.  Who are you wanting to see in the epic matchup?  Over here we are rooting for the Broncos to smash the Patriots this weekend.  You have to love Peyton Manning, he is pretty much amazing.  I hope he can pull out one of his awesome games!  

What do you cook for the SuperBowl?  We always have lots of delicious food and treats.  Last year, I decided I wanted to something delicious AND fun, and here is what I came up with:

And they were both so easy.

Let me 'splain:

For the rice crispie football: make your rice crispies as you usually would and then shape it into a football.  Once it is all cooled, melt some chocolate and put it into a gallon zip-lock bag (if you have frosting bags and tips then you can use those, I don't so I had to get creative).  Snip off one corner of the bag and "pipe" your football stitching on.  Snip off a bigger corner so the stitching looks big enough.  Here is a time saving tip: if you don't have time to let the rice crispie cool, just stick it in the freezer for a few minutes.

For the football cupcakes: make your favorite batch of chocolate cupcakes.  Melt white chocolate and put it in a zip-lock bag.  Snip a small corner off and pipe the stitching onto wax paper.  While they dry, frost your cupcakes with chocolate/brown frosting.  You don't want to frost them earlier because you don't want the frosting to dry out on top.  After you frost the cupcakes and the stitchings are all dried, pop them off and gently press them onto your cupcakes.  Another time saving tip: you can easily make the stitchings earlier and just set them in a cool room or the fridge until you need them.

Let me know what yummy things you will be cooking up!

-Megan

BOO pumpkin

Who's ready for an easy and cute Halloween craft?  I made this last year for Halloween and was so excited to get it out again this year!

 

 

Here's how to make your own BOO pumpkin:

You need: a craft pumpkin, black buttons, and ribbon

Steps:

1.  Draw BOO in pencil on your pumpkin to make sure you get the letters right (if you are confident you don't have to do this step, the lines in the pumpkin messed me up on my first try)

2.  Hot glue your buttons over top of your pencil marks

3.  Tie a bow and hot glue it to the stem of your pumpkin

 

You're done!  Easy right?? 

 

-Megan

green chili chicken enchiladas

Yum!  These are some of my favorite enchiladas ever!  They are pretty easy and there are a few shortcuts that if you're short on time will make them even easier.  I'll post the original recipe and then talk about the shortcuts I sometimes take.  They also make an awesome freezer meal!  I'll put those directions at the end as well.

 

This is what the mixture looks like right before you start wrapping the tortillas.



All ready for the oven!

 

 

Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas:

• 4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
• mozzarella cheese (to taste)
• tortillas
• 1 can diced green chilis
• 1 cup white sauce (recipe for this is later in the post)

 

Combine the chicken, green chilis, white sauce, and some of the cheese.  I just use enough cheese that it looks like it will melt nicely inside of the tortillas.  Grease the bottom of a 9X13 pan.  Roll up mixture in tortillas and lay inside pan (I can usually fit around 6 in one pan, sometimes one more or less depending on how chubby I make my enchiladas).  Poor the remaining white sauce over the top of the enchiladas (if I have any leftover chicken mixture I add it to the white sauce).  Cover with tinfoil and bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes or until bubbly.  Then take off the foil, cover with rest of cheese and bake uncovered for 5 to 10 minutes more, or until cheese is nicely melted.

 

Basic White Sauce:

• 1/4 stick of butter
• 2 chicken bullion cubes
• flour, around 1/4 cup
• garlic (to taste)
• onion (to taste)
• milk, about 2 cups
• 1/2 cup sour cream

 

Crush the bullion and put in a sauce pan with the butter.  You'll want a whisk and you'll want to stir continuously so it might help to have another person to poor if you're nervous :)  When melted, add flour, a little at a time until it forms a thick paste (you might use a bit more or less, this part isn't an exact science).  Then add milk, slowly, stirring constantly until boiling (by the time it boils, it should have thickened).  Take off heat and stir in sour cream. 

 

Ok, now for the shortcuts.  If I'm running short on time there are two things I can do.  I will use canned chicken instead of cooking and shredding my own and I will use canned soup instead of the white sauce.  I don't like to use the soup very often because I don't love the taste of it and the white sauce comes together in about 5 minutes so I only use this shortcut if I'm making a ton!

 

If you want to freeze this, cover in cellophane and then tin foil.  Then when you're ready to use them, take them out and let them thaw.  Be sure to remove the cellophane before you bake.  Then just bake according to the recipe! 

 

This is kind of a longer recipe but it really does come together so easily!  I hope you try it and I'd love to hear what you think.  If you have any questions, let me know and I'll try my best to answer them :)

 

-Megan 

 

 

dinner menu

I thought I'd share what I'm making the next week for dinner.  I really love when I plan out our meals; I feel so much more organized, I know which days I have to prepare things ahead of time, and our meals are probably much more nutritional since I'm not just throwing together whatever I have right on hand. 

 

This week we're having:

Today (Wednesday): green chili chicken enchiladas

Thursday: hearty hunter's stew

Friday: This day is actually still up in the air.  It's my birthday and Jared might have to work.  If he works, I'll make myself salmon; if he's off, we'll have steak.  Our sides will be boiled potatoes and steamed broccoli

Saturday: french toast, hashbrowns, and bacon 

Sunday: homemade chicken strips with homemade french fries and steamed cauliflower

Monday: bbq chicken pizza

Tuesday: white chicken chili

 

I can assure you that one of these days will probably end up being a leftover day because with just two of us, we don't often eat everything I fix :)  But just in case, I like to plan it all out still. 

 

Now a question for you!  Out of this menu, which recipe would you like to see next on the blog?

 

-Megan