Friday Foodie ~ Fun Fall Favorites

After reading the title of this post you may be thinking, "Chili and cornbread?  Soup?  Turkey and dressing?  Pumpkin muffins?"  You would be wrong with all those guesses!  My most recent Fall favorite flavors are in the form of ice cream.   It was in the upper 90s last week, so ice cream was exactly what I wanted.

 

I'm kind of obsessed with making a gallon of vanilla ice cream, then dividing it up in four quarts with four unique flavors.  This time I made Caramel Apple, Chocolate-Hot Tamale, Pumpkin, and Snickerdoodle.

I made a few changes this time and I think it turned out better than ever.  I started with my Old Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream recipe.  Once the ice cream finished churning, I divided it into my four quart size containers.  Instead of adding my flavors, I put the quarts in the freezer for about an hour.  I then pulled one quart out at a time and poured the ice cream into a larger bowl for mixing.  This allowed the ice cream to firm up a little more so when I added in the additional flavors they would not sink to the bottom of the container.  This worked like a charm!  Now on to the flavors...

Caramel Apple

1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and chopped 

1/2 cup Kraft  Caramel Bits

 

This was close to what I wanted.  The apple pieces were tart but the caramel bits got a little too hard after freezing.  I think I could have got the same flavor by adding caramel syrup instead.  Still, it was really good.  I'd say a 7 out of 10.

 

 

 

Chocolate-Hot Tamale

1/2 cup Hot Tamales, chopped

1/2 piece chocolate cake, chopped.

Last year Baskin Robbins carried a flavor called "Spicy 'n Spooky."  This was White Chocolate Ghost Pepper flavored Ice Cream with Dark Chocolate Ice Cream and spicy Blood Orange Flakes and had quite the kick!  I tried to come up with something similar.  The Hot Tamales froze too hard like the caramel bits, but the flavor was good.  I'd call this a 6.5 out of 10.

 

Pumpkin

1 dozen Pumpkin Spice cookies, crushed.

The pumpkin spice cookie mix said that it would make 15 cookies.  They would have been very large cookies.  I made normal size cookies.  My first pan had a dozen and my second pan was a little larger and I was able to get another 20 cookies.  I cooked the pan that I wanted to use in my ice cream longer than normal, I wanted the cookies crunchy instead of soft and chewy like I usually make. This one was exactly what I was looking for!  Definitely a 10 out of 10.   

 

 

Snickerdoodle

Approximately 1/2 tube of sugar cookie dough

1/2 cup cinnamon/sugar mix

I bought a tube of "safe to eat raw" cookie dough.  I have been eating raw cookie dough for over 50 years so I'm sure I could have made this with "not safe to eat raw" dough, too.  I made small balls with the dough, then put them in the freezer until I was ready to add to the ice cream.  I mixed it with the cinnamon/sugar and dumped it all in the ice cream so there was a taste of cinnamon throughout.  This was another winner!  10 out of 10.

In case you're wondering, I plan to do some Christmas baking this year, but I'm pretty sure there will be a batch of Christmas ice cream, too!

Friday Foodie

I sent Les an email on Sunday that said, "Berry or Peach?"  The email contained links to two cobblers I have made in the past.  His response was "Peach."  Of course you can't have peach cobbler without ice cream.  I decided to pull out our ice cream maker.  In the past I've cheated and used a mix to start my homemade ice cream, but I made it from scratch this time.  Six weeks from today is the first day of Fall, so stop thinking about pumpkin and make these!

Old Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream
Makes 4 Quarts
2 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 cups milk
4 eggs, beaten
4 cups whipping cream
2 tablespoons vanilla extract

1.  Combine sugar, flour and salt in saucepan.  Gradually stir in milk.  Cook over medium heat approximately 15 minutes or until thickened, stirring constantly.
2.  Gradually stir about 1 cup of hot mixture into the beaten eggs.  Add egg mixture to remaining hot mixture, stirring constantly.  Cook 1 minute; remove from heat.  Refrigerate 2 hours.
3.  Combine whipping cream and vanilla in large bowl; add chilled mixture, stirring with wire whisk to combine.
4.  Freeze as directed.  Mine churned for 40 minutes.

I made this on Monday afternoon and left it to harden for several hours.  I had moved it to our freezer and was getting ready to make my cobbler when our electricity went out.  According to the Southern California Edison website our power would not be restored until 11:00 p.m.  I quickly revised my dinner and dessert plans since my oven is electric.  The ice cream was frozen enough that we did enjoy our first serving without the cobbler.

Peach Cobbler (previously posted on August 6, 2010)

4 Tablespoons Butter
3/4 cup All-purpose Flour
3/4 cup Sugar, Plus 1 Tablespoon
1 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoons Salt
3/4 cup Milk
1/2 teaspoon Almond Extract, Divided
1 pounds Peaches, Peeled And Sliced (3-4 peaches)

1.  Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Put butter in a 13- by 9-inch baking pan; set in the oven to melt.
2.  Meanwhile, whisk flour, 1 1/2 cups of sugar, baking powder, and salt in small bowl. Whisk in milk and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract until smooth. Toss peaches with remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract. When butter has melted, remove pan from oven. Pour batter into pan; arrange fruit over batter.
3.  Bake until batter turns golden brown, 45 to 50 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I was able to make this on Tuesday and it was worth waiting for!

The cobbler is going to be gone before the ice cream, but we have chocolate syrup and root beer on hand so it will not go to waste... although it may go to waist...

October Seasonal Confusion

The calendar says, "October."  I have ingredients for pumpkin muffins and my Fall decorations are out.

The weather for Simi Valley is still Summer-like with highs in the upper 80s to low 90s for the next few days. Our current humidity is 3%, with gusty northeast winds, putting us in extreme fire danger.

And at the local Walmart, Christmas has arrived!

Anyone else find October confusing?

Friday Fall Florals (Hawaiian Style)

I was out for a walk this morning and stopped a bunch of times because the flowers were so pretty!  We won't be seeing leaves turn red and orange, but there is a lot of beauty here.

Friday Foodie Fall Favorite

We flew home from Hawaii on Wednesday night.  We got off the island ahead of two hurricanes and a visit from President Obama!  The first days of September in California are teasing us with beautiful weather.  It was 58 when I got up this morning.  We head back to Hawaii next week, so I'm soaking in as much of this weather as I can. 

My list for the grocery store yesterday included ingredients for my favorite Fall muffins - Weight Watchers Pumpkin Muffins.  Unfortunately, the shelf space for canned pumpkin was empty.  This happened once before and I improvised by making Spice Muffins with canned sweet potatoes, and that's what I did again yesterday.  It's been so long since I posted these I thought I'd share them again.

Pumpkin or Spice Muffins

Makes 18 muffins
1 Spice Cake Mix
1 15 oz. can Pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) OR
1 15 oz. can Sweet potatoes in light syrup


Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325.

Grease cupcake pans.  Puree sweet potatoes in the blender for about 30 seconds.  Mix ingredients (no egg or oil, just the cake mix and pumpkin or sweet potatoes) and pour in prepared pans.  Bake according to mix instructions for cupcakes, using the full amount of time (approximately 25 minutes).

Remove from oven and enjoy while still warm!


These will be long gone before we need to pack for our next trip!

Jet Lag, Domestic Recovery, Fall Envy, and Puzzle Prayer Time

I have several things to blog about that will take a bit more thought, but I wanted to pop in today with just a few short thoughts:

We flew home on Friday night.  Les needed to be in the office the entire day on Friday, so we took the red eye, leaving Honolulu at 11:10 p.m. and arriving in Los Angeles at 7:40 a.m.  Those flights are painful!  I think I slept off and on for about an hour and Les got about a 20 minute catnap.  We crashed as soon as we got home, spent Saturday afternoon unpacking and, unfortunately for Les, repacking.  We were in bed by 9:00 (6:00 Hawaii time) and slept straight through until our alarm went off at 5:30 Sunday morning.  Les had to fly three more time zones east for a conference in Philadelphia this week.  So while I'm dealing with a three time zone difference, he's dealing with six!  I got a text from him this morning letting me know he had won a drone, so it wasn't all in vain!

After getting Les off to the airport, Sunday was filled with church with a nap sandwiched between services.  Pastor White preached two fabulous message and Sunday night's was off the charts!  I finally made it to the grocery store yesterday, along with the dry cleaners.  Today is Domestic Recovery Day Two while I clean house and do laundry.  I don't have too much laundry since I washed all our clothes in Hawaii on Friday morning before we packed. 

While I'm cleaning, I'm trying to decide if I want to bring out my Fall/Thanksgiving decorations.  I usually do this mid-September, but we were gone.  It has been in the 90s every day since we got home, so it's hard to get motivated.  Maybe I'll put them out by faith!  I've yet to have pumpkin spice anything.  I'm envious of those who are enjoying beautiful 40 degree Fall mornings, but won't be when 40 is their high in a few months!

Finally, if you have not read the latest post on The Ballestro Blog, you need to!  It's one of the neatest, sweetest posts ever!  Click here now!

A Splash of Fall

I woke up to a chill in the air this morning...

49 Outside, 63 Inside

So I knew it was time to pull out a few decorations...

 

We fly back to Hawaii on Friday, so I'm going to enjoy Fall while I can!

Happy October!

We are in the final quarter of 2013 - it's been a whirlwind year and I don't think it's going to slow down now!  We're heading into the danger zone known as the holidays for those who are watching their weight.  But don't get too discouraged...

My voice still isn't completely back!  I could only whisper for 48 hours and now it's slowly improving.  I have a bunch of posts bouncing around in my head, but haven't had the mental energy to get them written up.  What's new in your world?

So Long Summer!

Tomorrow is the first day of Fall and it felt like it this morning.  There was a heavy mist in the air, about 63 degrees when I headed out for my run.  A perfect morning for pumpkin muffins!

1 Spice Cake Mix
1 15 oz. can pumpkin
1/4 cup light vanilla soy milk

Heat oven to 325.

Mix ingredients (no egg or oil, just the cake mix and pumpkin).  Batter will be very thick.

Grease muffin pan. Pour in pan. Bake 28-30 minutes.  Pull out of the oven and enjoy one while they're still warm!

3 WW Points Plus per muffin.

Friday Foodie ~ Pumpkin Time

I wish I could say we're having lovely Fall weather here, but we're just having typical Fall weather.  Highs in the 90s, a slight Santa Ana condition, abundant sunshine.  But that doesn't stop me from loving all things pumpkin that are out right now!

Of course there's Pumpkin Pie:

Pumpkin Muffins:

Yoplait has pumpkin pie yogurt.  Toss in a few graham cracker crumbs for a special treat.
 

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Or just make a drink of your own with pumpkin spice creamer

Pumpkin Spice Waffles by Eggo!  I spotted these in Target the other day.  Yummo!

 
Are you a pumpkin fan or would you rather just carve one or use them to decorate?

As you can see, I use them to decorate too!  Updated from flowers a few months ago.

A Wedding, Friends, and Family

 

Confession:  I did not take any pictures at the wedding last week.  As a matter of fact, I took very few pictures the entire time we were gone.  Sometimes the camera gets in the way of an enjoyable visit!

The main purpose of our visit was for the wedding of Craig and Danielle.  That took place on Friday night and it was beautiful.  The Nashville Chamber Players performed all the music.  It was so classy - a string quartet, playing classical pieces.  Pastor Ron Becton did a great job with the ceremony.  It seemed a blessing was on this couple who had followed their parents' counsel, both finishing college before they embarked upon their new life together.  The reception was a dessert buffet - a wide variety of sweets that included Ben and Jerry's ice cream!  Danielle doesn't like cake, so the ice cream was for her, but we enjoyed it too.

Since we were arriving on Thursday, we knew we had an evening free.  Les planned a mini reunion with friends from Pioneer Christian Academy, the school he attended in grades 6-9.  He hadn't seen some of his former classmates in over 30 years.  We had a really enjoyable evening.  I think we closed out the restaurant!

Class of 1981

For the first part of our visit we stayed with Josh and Rachel Farmer.  Rachel is one of Danielle's best friends.  Several people asked how we old folks end up at this young couple's house - Rachel, along with Doug, Lori, and Danielle had gone on a cruise to Mexico with us several years ago.  We normally stay with Doug and Lori, but didn't want to intrude on all they had going on.  Josh and Rachel were kind enough to invite us.  It was great to catch up with her and to see the home God has blessed them with.  Friday morning we ran the Riverwalk Trail that starts in their development and runs along the Harpeth River.

On Sunday morning we made our way to Franklin, Tennessee.  We visited Life Change United Pentecostal Church pastored by Les' cousin, Jonathan.  Jonathan was in our wedding and was also our first guest shortly after we were married.  We enjoyed a great service with them and lunch with Jonathan and Mitzi, along with their four kids.  Les' uncle Jim and aunt Marilyn also attend there and aunt Marilyn joined us for lunch as well.  (And I didn't take a single picture of any of them.)

Next up was a trip to Cookeville, Tennessee.  Home to the Wearing family - Les' sister, Lisa, her husband, Rick and their four kids. (Yes, we visited with 8 children in one day!!)  It had been three years since I had seen them.  Wesley, their oldest, is now 14 and almost as tall as me.  Reese, at almost 11, isn't far behind.  I had a fun time with Galina and Leksi, as they played on the trampoline and showed me their rooms.

Galina

Leksi

Les' parents are in the process of moving to Cookeville.  They have been in eastern Tennessee for many years, but are downsizing and moving to a condo close to Lisa and her family.  Monday and Tuesday we enjoyed more visits, plus some running (for me) and cycling (for Les) in the hills of Cookeville.

Our final stop before heading back to Nashville and on to LAX was Tennessee Tech University - where Les spent four years getting his Mechanical Engineering degree.  I had only been there one other time and we didn't get out of the car.  We walked all over this time.

University Center with the Cafeteria, Post Office, Book Store

Looking for long lost mail

Derryberry Hall

Entering the old library

Every where we went on campus, everyone was so nice.  First they would look at us, wondering if we were lost or looking for our child.  When asked, Les would say, "I graduated from here in 1987."  That brought so many nice comments.  The Alumni Association even gave him a backpack!

Hooper-Eblen Center - The "Hoop"

Basketball Court with a Tech Golden Eagle

We really packed a lot in a short amount of time!  And it felt like Fall.  Cool mornings, mild throughout the day.  My dream of what Fall should be... unlike the 90 degrees temps we're anticipating this weekend.