Mr. Squmpkin

Working very hard at trying to finish up some projects for the Etsy shop. I just have so many things floating around in my head that I want to create. Hopefully by this weekend I can figure out all the ends and outs of Etsy. I need to get organized.
This weekend we are going to bonfire and Hayride with our Lifegroup Class (this is our Sunday School Class, but now they call it Lifegroups). I can't wait. We have become such great/close friends with everyone in the class. I plan on bringing my Rotel Dip and Fritos along with some Kettle Corn. I will share the recipes in the next couple of days along with some pictures of the Bonfire Party. Family fun for sure! Just loving this time of the year.
There are some mini projects around the house that I need to finish:
1. Head for scarecrow out front.
2. Clean cobwebs off the front porch.
3. Rake leaves.
4. Finish folding clothes, or rather start.
5. Numerous craft projects.
6. Buy candy for trick or treaters.
7. Boo some neighbors.
8. Post some Etsy stuff.

Here's the recipe of the week. Dear Son did not care for it but the rest of us loved it. He said the consistency was all wrong. Not sure what that meant, but he ate most of it. To me it has the consistency of potato soup, which I love. We call it Squmpkin Soup, because his mother was a pumpkin and his father was a squash according to my Dear D2. She talked to Mr. Squmpkin for about 10 minutes. I put on my best ventriloquist voice and Mr. Squmpkin came to life. This tickled D2. She had never talked to a Squmpkin. Mr. Squmpkin told her how delicious he is and that she should eat every bite because he worked so hard to grow up so big and full of vitamins. She was very intriqued and told him that she could never eat something so cute. He finally convinced her that he is indeed very delicious and it would greatly please him if she would eat her soup. She agreed and made a happy bowl. Maybe next time Mr. Squmpkin will talk to Dear Son.....
Anyway here's Squmpkin  (aka butternut squash) Soup.


Squmpkin Soup
2 TBS olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 medium potato, cubed
1 medium butternut squash-peeled,seeded and cubed
1 (32 oz) container of chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp cinnamon
little bit of chopped garlic
dash nutmeg
1/2 cup half-half


*Cook onion, celery, carrot, potato and squash in hot olive oil for 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Pour enough of chicken stock to cover vegetables. Add the spices. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, add half-half and simmer 40 minutes. Milk will cook and look funny, but don't worry it will all get blended together.
*Transfer soup to blender and blend until smooth. Return to pot and mix in any remaining stock to attain desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper.
*You can also add a dollop of sour cream to a bowl of soup.
This makes alot of soup. I served it with banana bread and pumpkin bread.

Have a great weekend and enjoy your Squmpkin Soup.

Just Another Fallish Day

Wow! Didn't mean to be gone so long. Fall is coming and we are seeing the signs. It's getting cooler here in North Carolina and the leaves are changing color and falling off the trees. We have been very busy around these parts. We have had birthday parties, football games, fall festivals, and lots of other fun busy stuff. I have still been crocheting and find it very relaxing. I made this cute little guy for D2, actually it was for my niece's birthday, but D2 fell in love with it. He is a bear pattern that I turned into a kitty cat. The pumpkin was an apple pattern, I just changed the color of the yarn and added a stem. The patterns are from a book called Amigurumi World by Ana Paula Rimoli. On her blog, she even has some free patterns.

Such a cute little guy. You can't see it, but he has a tail.

He really does fit into the pumpkin, you just kind of have to stuff him.

See, I told you he fits.

This is some seriously wonderful caramel dip. I love it with these fresh mountain apples. It is very buttery and creamy.

Sad to say, but it is not my recipe. I borrowed it from another blog. Try it, you won't be disappointed. It is rather rich, so do use some restraint when eating.

Caramel dip

1 bag Kraft Caramels (unwrapped-yeah, I know....you do have to unwrap all of them)

1 can of Sweetened Condensed Milk (my personal fav)

1 stick of real butter-no fake stuff here

Add everything to a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes,stir about 1 minute. Microwave for 1 more minute and stir again for 1 minute. Do not microwave anymore, even if caramels are not all melted. Just leave it on the counter for a little while and keep coming back and stirring it. Even if caramels don't all melt, the dip is out of this world! Store left overs in the refrigerator. To reheat, just scoop some out into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for about 20-30 seconds.

That's all for tonight. I promise that I will be back soon with the promised recipes from last post. And i will show you what I made for my 2 year old niece. Of course after she has opened her package. And to let you know what a forgetful Aunt I am, I forgot, well not actually forgot, just misdated my sweet nephew's birthday. For some reason I always think that it is in October, when actually it is in September. Since I am coming clean, I owe my other nieces a big apology. I  completely forgot their birthdays this year, yeah, I said year, the whole year. What's wrong with me? Maybe it is the getting older thing, yeah....I will blame it that. Sorry nieces. Your presents are in the mail.
-H

Lost Tooth

It was an exciting time today at church. D2 lost her tooth in Sunday School. She is so excited, even though this is the 2nd tooth that she has lost. Hopefully the Tooth Fairy will remember to come tonight. She use to forget a lot when the other kids were little. And miraculously mom would always find the money under the bed. Go figure.

Last night we had nice little hot dog roast in the fire pit. The big kids each had a friend over to roast hot dogs and eat. The weather is so nice and cool now. I know it won't be long until cold weather is here, so we need to enjoy this while we can.

Hope y'all had an awesome weekend. I promise to get the recipes up in the next couple of days.

Getting ready for Fall--Bake Sale!

Thursday I spent the day baking for D2's preschool bake sale. Now that Fall is in the air, I was ready to start baking something made with pumpkin. So I made Grandma's Pumpkin Spice Cake. It was sooo delicious. Of course I had to have a little bite. This past week I crocheted a patch of pumpkins to go on top of the cakes for a little extra oomph. Not really a patch, more like 4, but they turned out so cute. I am just learning how to crochet and this project was perfect. They were so little I could actually finish one in a day!

I also made Hershey Bar Pie and After the Hayride Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Cake. I'll share those recipes in the next couple of days, along with pictures too.



Sorry, this picture was before I frosted the cake.


Grandma's Pumpkin Spice Cake
1 pkg. spice cake mix (I used Duncan Hines)
1 sm. can pumpkin (I believe it was the 15oz can)
1 pkg. instant vanilla pudding
1/2 cup oil
3 eggs
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp water (yes, that's right, 1/2 tsp.)
1/2 cup nuts (I used pecans)

Combine all but nuts and mix well. Add nuts. Bake in well greased and floured bundt pan
at 350* for 40-45 minutes. Cool about 10 minutes before removing from pan. Frost cooled
cake.

Lip Smacking Cream Cheese Frosting
3 oz cream cheese-room temperature
3/4 cup soft butter
1 tsp vanilla
2  1/2 cup powdered sugar

Beat well.



Cute little pumpkins.

 
Here are the 4 half cakes. For the bake sale, they wanted us to cut the cakes into large chunks. They tend to sell better that way.

Have an AWESOME Saturday!