Five Minutes (Give or Take)

I am going to only spend five minutes on this post.  I have my stopwatch running.  That's the only way it will take less than an hour and I have to learn to be less perfectionistic and less editorial of myself.  And I hardly ever post because I don't have time to do it perfectly, but really, Nana and Grammie just want to hear about their grandbabies, so here we go! 

Lately I have done this in the kitchen (hah, I must have a dirty mind b/c I instantly didn't think of recipes but that was SO not where I was going.  I try to follow Pioneer Woman's tip about not talking about that on my blog. . . ).

Pumpkin pie spice that i didn't find here, but I can't find where I did find it (it was somewhere on Channeling Contessa and I have no idea how I found it there, b/c I've never even looked at her blog before).  So i found  a different one for you that i think is like the one i found.  Lost?

I made my own taco seasoning, which then caused both of my kids to cry (I don't consider that a real success--so if any of you have an EDIBLE taco seasoning recipe, send it my way--I've decided that is one EASY way to save some money since the packets are not $.97 here!).

I made this recipe that a friend gave me for pumpkin bars: (I followed her directions but added vanilla and they are yummy, kind of like half cake/half bar, lighter than a bread):
1.5 c sugar
2 eggs
1 c pumpkin
1 c oil
1/3 c water
1 tsp salt
1 3/4 c flour
1/2 tsp b powder
1 tsp b soda
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix all ingredients, pour into baking dish, bake 20-25 mins at around 180 C (350C).

she says: I never actually follow the recipe exactly.. substitutions and different amounts of spices, but these are YUMMO! I put a cream cheese frosting on them this time, but they are good enough that you can just eat them plain.

In order to make that yummy-ness, I prepared pumpkins, which pioneer woman has good instructions for.  It's kind of a fun activity to do with the little shadow in your life.  I also made these pumpkin chocolate chip muffins which were wildly popular. 

While I was over at Our Best Bites, looking for the pumpkin chocolate chip muffin recipe, I got distracted and read all about this, pumpkin chocolate chip bread, so I'll probably be making it next.  It looks really yummy.  But that means gutting and cooking a whole 'nother pumpkin cause I gave my stash away.  Why did I do that?

I have also always been on the hunt for a new banana bread recipe.  the original one I used to use had crisco, which i could always feel on my tongue when I ate it.  And no one wants to feel Crisco on their tongue.  So I searched.  I used this one from my friend Kelli posted here on our cooking blog, but I didn't like how dark (almost burnt) it was on the outside every time I made it (it did have good flavor though, and I like a crunchy crust on my banana bread, plus it could have been user error.  So i tried Ree's recipe (when all else fails, go to Ree.  She'll save you (in the kitchen)).  Matt asked me to not forget how I made it.  That's his way of saying, please don't be airheaded and make this thing that I really really like and then never be able to make it quite the same again b/c you can't remember where you found it, or how you improvised and made it up.  I do both quite often.  Never fear hubs, here it is.

I made German potato salad from my betty crocker cookbook (after traveling to Austria the week before last I want to learn to make all things Austrian/German, so if you have an awesome recipe for Spietzal, good German p. salad, etc., let me know--this one was just ok. 

I tried my hand at a local salad called tabbouleh, and I realized I should have been making it at home for years (hubs orders it EVERY time we eat out at a Lebanese restaurant)!  It is easy once you have all the ingredients on hand (and it's always cheaper to cook local and with fresh veggies here).  I tried Ina Garten's recipe here, then my battery died halfway through so I finished it on my own, and it turned out bad, plus she puts a lot of stuff in it that they don't usually put in it here, so next time I will go back to the original recipe that I found here, but we like it without the mint, without the onion, and light on the lemon juice.  Also, if you dump the liquids and the tomatoes onto the bulgher and let it sit there and soak that stuff up while you are chopping the other stuff, it doesn't take 2 hours to be ready (but it tastes even better after it's been mingling a bit, BUT it's not as good like 2 days later).  I tried another local salad that I found here.  Her version was VERY wet, so next time I won't use as much oil or lemon, and I left out the onions because I don't always love that raw onion crunch.  She has a LOT of great recipes from this part of the world, and has videos, which I really really like b/c I think my learning style requires being able to see it and not just read about it (another reason I love the Pioneer Woman).

I've now been working on this post for 41 minutes.  But my kids are still playing nicely, so let's just keep going with this! 

Okay, still can't find the chocolate chip pumpkin muffin recipe, but re-discovered this low fat recipe that I knew about once and if ever I see a spice cake cake mix at the store again, I'll snatch it up.  But, if you want to make it from scratch, here is the recipe.  Sorry I still don't know where I got it (see, hubs has a reason for always asking, "This is really good, please tell me you remember how you made it").  BUT I have it saved in the recipe file on my computer so here it is:
Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins
1 & 2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 TBS pumpkin pie spice
1/2 TBS cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup butter
1 cup chocolate chips

Mix dry ingredients. Melt butter & add eggs and pumpkin. Pour into dry ingredients. Add chocolate chips. Bake at 350 "until done". (Don't you just hate that? The trouble is, I can't remember how long it took to get them "done". Sorry about that!)  My sister gave me this recipe years ago. These muffins are a delicious way to welcome fall, and to bless the fam! Hope you enjoy.

So there it is.  That's what we've been up to in the kitchen. 

This morning in the kitchen we are listening to this guy, who I've never heard before and know nothing about (Channeling Contessa liked him but called him a little too "religious" for her, so i thought, huh, I'll probably like him, and wow, boy do i!).

And for anyone who wants to know, Zain has been doing GREAT at gaining weight slowly and learning to eat more foods and I've been learning how to be more persistent and patient while feeding him :).  Think he's even above the 25th percentile now, woo hoo Zain!  He is also "saying" Mama, Dada, hi, and I think even something that resembles Maya.  No walking yet, but he's close.

Maya is prematurely aging me with her potty training stubornness (the only thing that has kept her from popping her pants has been to just not let her wear pants until she poops--this slightly limits our social outtings as well as posing a problem now that the weather has finally cooled off).  And if the whining of a not quite three year old could kill a mom, I'd be dead three times over.  But that's for another post about parenthood, which this one is NOT!

:) interrupted many times and it took way more than five minutes, but there you go.  THE END