Over the Kitchen Counter: Angie's Place for Cooking and Crafts

Pumpkin Nut Bread in the Bread Machine

Pumpkin Nut Bread was one recipe I hadn't tried from my bread maker's cookbook and since I had some leftover canned pumpkin, I thought I'd give it a go.  The recipe is simple enough and the machine does all the work.  The ingredient list calls for ground nuts (no particular nut specified) and I happened to have just the right amount of ground almonds in the freezer.  You can't really identify them in the flavour of the bread, but the texture and overall taste is excellent.  In addition to the pumpkin and ground nuts, the only other thing you'll need to check you have in the pantry is evaporated milk.  I also used ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger for the 'pumpkin pie spice' listed.  If you don't have whole wheat flour you can just substitute white flour.  The recipe yields a 1-1/2 pound loaf.  Enjoy!

P.S. Don't forget to roast your pumpkin seeds tonight!

Pumpkin Nut Bread

1 cup + 2 Tbsp evaporated milk

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup ground nuts

2 Tbsp packed brown sugar

2-3 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1-1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp butter, cut in 4 pieces

1-1/2 tsp fast rise yeast

Memory Boxes

Every home has what I call a 'cubby hole' - a dark, awkward space where people stash all their junk.  For us, it's under the stairs and except for several head-banging injuries, is an excellent storage location for Christmas decorations, suitcases, folding tables, files, and our memory bins.  These are large, heavy-duty, plastic totes where we keep precious memorabilia.  Once in a while, every few years, we venture to the very back of the crawl-space and pull out the bins.  This usually occurs when I get my anti-hoarding instinct and the room needs a clear-out for Goodwill and the landfill.  It is always a side-tracked trip down memory lane when the lid flaps get opened and, after 'coming-to' as the over-powering stink of moth balls begins to dissipate a bit, all the junk from our yester-years gets reviewed.  This last time in particular turned out to be very exciting for my youngest daughter since I uncovered several items of interest to her.  I knew saving those Rocky Horror books and pins for over 30 years would be worth it at some point!  She gladly took everything and proudly showed off her 'vintage' accessories!  I also enjoyed showing her my Doogie Howser, MD t-shirt from way back in the 80s and she thought it was hysterical how young Neil Patrick Harris was (a.k.a. Barney Stinson from her show "How I Met Your Mother").

Of course my DH wanted to revisit all his old memories and while he was counting the MLB hats in his collection I had an interesting look through the baby magazine his mother was given in the hospital when he was born (early 60s).  It is so funny to read (in hind-sight) what was marketed to and advised to new mothers.  Do you know they were encouraged to feed their infants Carnation evaporated milk diluted with water and mixed with sugar!?!?!?!  I can't believe it!

There is also a list of "I never dreamed..." and one that struck me was "that you oil a baby, like a sewing machine."  Pretty funny!  And some hints are just as applicable today as then...such as "don't put anything sharp into the baby's nose or ears"; "don't give the baby tea, coffee, beer, or wine of any kind"; "don't let anyone kiss your baby if you can avoid it but if you cannot, let the kissing be done on the back of the baby's neck"!

Every once in a while it's a good thing to remember our past, how much has changed, and how some things never change!

Halloween Treat Bags

My kids may be too old for trick-or-treating but they still demand request a goody bag!  This year I made up these quick, large cello bags with 'one or two' of everything, plus one full-sized chocolate bar.  I made the topper with one of last year's SU dsp patterns (Wicked Fun), my Drippy Goo punch, and the Dark & Dreary stamp set.  Each kid got a different creepy image (owl, raven, candelabra) stamped in Basic Black and punched out with the Designer Label Punch.

Sour Cream Apple Pie

I heard about this Sour Cream Apple Pie from Amy over at Prairie Paper & Ink and followed her link to get the recipe from Posie Gets Cozy.  Both these ladies raved about this variation on a one-crust pie so I decided to give it a try.  Now, like DH says..."there's no such thing as a bad apple pie" and it certainly did smell inviting!  I used lovely Granny Smith apples and full-fat sour cream.  While this was indeed a tasty dessert, I didn't really like the custard-y filling as much as a traditional sugar/cinnamon/apple filling, as in my apple pie shown in the video below.  The only way to know which version you prefer is to make them both, of course!  You can get the Sour Cream Apple Pie recipe here.  

Pork Roast with Caramelized Parsnips

I shared the Martha Stewart recipe for Braised Chicken with Potatoes, Olives, and Lemon at the beginning of the month and I mentioned I wanted to try the Pork Roast recipe too.  Well, I did try it and it was wonderful.  I used the terrific spice rub ground in the spice grinder I shared with you last week.  I used that all over the roast and added the fresh rosemary under the string.  The roast was flavourful and tender and along with the golden, roasted parsnips, made for a fantastic fall dinner.  It is so easy to prepare home-cooked meals when they are simply roasted meat and vegetables - good old-fashioned family dinners!  You can find the recipe HERE.

Prime Rib Roast

When I went to the store to get a roast for Sunday dinner I was disappointed that the usual eye of round roast I normally choose was almost $19!  So I went to the actual butcher's counter and ended up selecting a certified Angus prime rib roast and leaving the store with a $40 piece of meat!  This is something I wouldn't often do but since mother was invited to the table...and I had a good bottle of wine...and I reasoned it was less than $10 per person for the protein, I decided to go for it...plus, it's kind of intimidating at the meat counter and getting the butcher to put the joint back didn't seem like an option in the heat of the moment!

Since I didn't want to screw up this expensive cut, I did some research and found a very nice recipe: Roast Prime Rib with Rosemary Jus from the folks at Canadian Living.  I once again used my mini-spice grinder to make a rub of fresh thyme, garlic, salt and pepper.  The roast then lies on a bed of fresh rosemary and thickly sliced onions.  It is slow roasted for a couple of hours and then a delectable pan gravy made with wine is reduced to a glorious au jus.

Of course I made my wonderful popovers (my favourite part of the whole meal) and we enjoyed a superb supper as a family with an extravagant roast as the centre piece.  You can find the recipe for the Roast Prime Rib HERE.

Memorabilia Pockets

I love adding all kinds of memorabilia into my scrapbook albums and these Memorabilia Pockets from Creative Memories are the perfect, photo-safe way to do that.  You get 5 clear plastic pockets per packet (2 small, 2 medium, and one large) and they have adhesive on the back so you can just 'peel and stick'.  They are shaped like an envelope and have a self-adhesive flap closure.

I use these all the time and have 'pocketed' all kinds of stuff on my layouts - from dog teeth to baby hair, tickets, coins, and sand!!

I just added a couple of the Memorabilia Pockets to my Boston album.  One photo is of a building downtown that was designed from the image of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the U.S. penny so I added a penny in the pocket to illustrate that 'fun fact'.

I also used one to hold the gravel from the warning track of Fenway Park...and mounted it right on the photo of the red dirt!  (No, I didn't steal it!  It was part of the vacation package!)

I like having these little trinkets as part of my memories and I know they are safe inside the pockets.  I never have to worry about them having negative effects on my precious photos (from acid or other chemicals, metals, or abrasives) and the pockets are just an easy way to incorporate souvenirs on my scrapbook pages.  They cost US$5.25/CDN$6.00 a package...

Orange Pumpkin Muffins

Today's recipe?  A very nice, tender muffin and a great way to use up any leftover canned pumpkin.  DH loved these!  They smell really nice while baking too...  If you don't have any oranges just leave the grated orange rind out and you'll just have scrumptious Pumpkin Muffins instead.

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Muffins

1-1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 cup raisins

1 egg

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 cup cooked pumpkin

1/2 cup milk

grated rind of one orange

400 degrees F, 12 muffins, greased or lined pan, 15-20 minutes

Baker's Dozen Quilt

You might have caught a glimpse of this Baker's Dozen quilt when I showed you the 505 basting spray technique last weekend.  This is the second real quilt I've made and I adore how it turned out.  Good thing, because it was a bit of a challenge to piece together.  The pattern required 13 (ie. a baker's dozen) fat quarters and I had trouble getting the cuts to equal what I needed.  I did pre-wash my fabric and that may have contributed to the shortage (due to shrinkage) but I sort of assumed that would be taken into account by the author.  As an inexperienced quilter, I followed the directions exactly and although there were enough fabric PIECES to complete the quilt, I had to get help to 'mine' them from the scraps to get long enough pieces to form my blocks.  It's confusing, I know, but I ended up having to take apart blocks and use reserved fabric for the borders to get equal sized squares, and those squares were a good 1/2" smaller than the originally written 10.5" blocks in the pattern.

In the end, I got my quilt top, albeit with a very 'scrappy' border.  I also ended up with a smaller quilt top than anticipated because I had to trim the blocks.  It was a learning experience and taught me to look outside the box.  I used almost every last scrap of fabric (which is good - no waste) but I much prefer having a bit of wiggle room.  This has been my favourite fabric so far and I love the look of the quilt top.  I haven't quilted it yet because I really want to do a good job on it.  I need a bit more practice!

Wish Big Chocolate Bar Bundle

It's fun to figure out a way to decorate and present a little gift of chocolate and this card stock envelope I made worked pretty well.  I folded a trimmed-to-fit sheet around my pair of yummy bars and then made a belly band from dsp.  I added some satin ribbon (in Chocolate Chip, of course) and then used my new Designer Label Punch and Four Frames stamp set to add a tag.  The Wish Big greeting is from the Short and Sweet stamp set.  I added a couple of rhinestones for some bling and backed the tag with another punch of purple card stock, which I simply cut in half to make the mat.  For a final touch I used the crimper to crimp the ends of the bundle but it didn't work as well as I'd hoped because the card stock was so heavy.