Thanksgiving Week

I am grateful. SO grateful. For.... not having school for 3 days. :) That was a nice, and much needed break.
Real things that I'm grateful for:
-Health
-Education
-Family
-Nature
-Food

I started the break out with a game of Frisbee golf. It was so much fun!! I played with real Frisbees, so it was LEGIT.


And then I went to the ranch with Suzanne and the Knights. It was so much fun to be with a family and CHILDREN. Kids are so nice.



And Colton is ADORABLE. I love making him laugh and smile... he thinks everything you do is hilarious!


So, dinner was amazing, of course. I felt absolutely NO guilt after Thanksgiving for feeling stuffed to the max. What a wonderful feeling! Eating actual meals becomes a rarity when you are always having to "grab something quick" or eat left overs for a week. So I really don't care if I have to work on that food baby for the next week, because I have made myself happy by eating large amounts of food.


Then I went to Washington DC for a few days with a friend. It was a BLAST! We saw the capital building (which we initially thought was the white house. We were so confused when we saw people on the front lawn! And then we got smart.) and we went to the natural history and airplane/space Smithsonians PLUS the Lincoln, Washington, and Jefferson memorials. And we drove by the white house. It was great fun!


(This picture was taken when we knew that the building was the capital building.)


My love, the toad.




Jefferson Memorial




Washington DC is SUCH a beautiful city! I love it.
And now it's back to school. I CAN DO THIS. Only 2 more weeks of school, then finals. And packing up all of my stuff somehow. No biggie.

Cranberries are in season apparently.

A lot can happen in a week! First of all, let me share my favorite recipes from this week:
Cranberry Scones! Delish. When I moved to the East coast, I quickly learned that "scones" are not fried bread dough with honey butter and cinnamon/sugar on them. They are actually this biscuit-like goodness. Here ya go:


I don't remember what I did with the recipe, so... go look one up. They're really good.

Next:
Ok. This was the BEST idea anybody ever had!

10-minute Apple Crisp Recipe
Ingredients:
Filling-
• 1 apple, peeled and thickly sliced
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon cornstarch
Crisp Topping-
• 1 ½ tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons oats
• 2 tablespoons flour
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Directions:
Starting with the crisp topping: Heat a small frying pan on med-high and cook/fry the all the ingredients for the crisp topping mixture until it is a darkened golden brown making sure to constantly stir so it doesn’t burn (approx. 3 min). Remove from heat and set aside.
In a small mixing bowl combine sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cornstarch. Add sliced apples and with your hand, massage the dry ingredients into the slices until all the dry mix is used up. Place apple mixture in a microwavable cereal bowl, cover with plastic wrap (folding some of it back to vent it), and microwave for 4 minutes. Remove from microwave and add crisp topping and gently press it down into the apple mixture with the back of a spoon. Place the bowl back in the microwave and heat for 30 seconds. Remove from microwave and allow to cool for 2-3 minutes. Top off with vanilla ice cream and enjoy!



And then today I made CRANBERRY BREAD! (I needed to use the rest of the fresh cranberries from the scones). After waiting half a day to find a bread pan, I finally got my hands on one and made THIS:


Cranberry Bread: (makes 1 loaf)
(Adapted from Ocean Spray's Classic Cranberry Nut Bread)
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• 2 tablespoons butter (softened) or vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon grated orange peel
• 1 egg well beaten
• 1 1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh cranberries
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract ( my addition to the recipe)
Preheat the oven to 350F

Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.

Chop the Cranberries and walnuts and set aside.
In a large bowl mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Stir in the orange juice, orange peel, egg and butter.

Then fold in the chopped cranberries and walnuts.

Spread the mixture evenly in the greased loaf pan and bake in the oven at 350F for 55 minutes (or more).

I made SOUP

SO.... it's the weekend. I've been crazy busy all week and haven't really been able to MAKE anything for myself to eat (you know, besides salad, cereal, sandwich, snacks, leftovers etc). So I went all out tonight and made TWO soups! (I couldn't decide between the two:) ). This is what I made:

Madame Sucre's Roasted Tomato Soup
Ingredients
3-4 fresh tomatoes - sliced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 big onion chopped
3 garlic cloves
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp butter
2 tbs cream
2 cups chicken stock
1 tbs basil
olive oil
salt n pepper
1. In a pot, roast the sliced tomatoes, some olive oil, chopped onions, garlic cloves and a drizzle of the balsamic vinegar, and salt n pepper.
2. Roast for 25 minutes , at 200c (medium low-ish heat??).
3. In a sauce pan , melt butter , add flour until a bit browned.
4. Combine the butter and flour mixture to the roasted tomatoes and onions, then add 1 can of diced tomatoes, 2 cups of chicken stock and salt n pepper. Boil for 15 minutes.
5. Remove from heat. Blend together until very smooth and creamy.
6. Add cream and mix together on very low heat for about 2 minutes.
7. Add basil and serve with some garlic bread or something with a lot of delicious carbs. :)

This is my soup! (Excuse my Tupperware)



Blender Black Bean Soup - Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 cans black beans – drained and rinsed
2 cups gluten free chicken or vegetable stock
½ cup prepared salsa
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt & Pepper
1 lime – optional
Garnish:
½ cup sour cream
Juice of ½ a lime
Sliced green onions or cilantro

Directions:

Put 1 can of black beans in a blender with the chicken or vegetable stock, salsa and ground cumin. Blend until smooth. Put into a saucepan with the other can of beans and heat over medium heat. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed. Add the lime juice.
p.s. I added rice and corn. Just because.

Stir some lime juice into the sour cream until smooth and swirl some over the top of each serving and garnish with chopped green onions or cilantro.


Go make it.

JOSH IS JACOB BLACK

Does Josh not look IDENTICAL to Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) from Twilight?!?! I never saw it so clearly until this picture was taken:

On Wednesday night I went to the Anberlin/All American Rejects/Taking Back Sunday concert in Fairfax... and some random girl came up to Josh and told him he looked like Jacob. CRAZY. HAHA But ya the concert was freaking AWESOOOOOOME!!! I was really disappointed that Anberlin played so few songs, but they played some of my favorites... (Paperthin Hymn, Time and Confusion, Breaking etc). The lead singer, Steven Christian, used to be sooooo hot. Now he is getting old and chubby. That is not hot. Plus he wore a tight muscle shirt with a skinny tie, which is also not hot. :( AAR was good... but their lead singer is a PSYCHO. He wore white pants, no shirt, and had pink/purple glitter and baby oil plastered on his chest and back. This could have potentially been attractive (minus the glitter), however, he is really just does not have the body required to make the scene enjoyable. ew. anyway.... as for TBS, they were amazing on all levels. I love "Cute without the e"... great song. Here's a pic of the group:

Other things that have happened:
Girls Night:


Made Caramel Apples:
Bought new smell goods (and did a photo shoot with them):

Let me just say that I am so excited that tomorrow is Friday.
The end.

I love everything

I love volleyball
I love volleyball


I love my sisters and my mom


I love being done with my philosophy paper... 1 of 5 major projects all due in the same week
I love being home and able to eat what I want... not what everyone else wants to eat
I love food blogs
I love nature

I love my nephew

And I love orange starbursts

Halloween Weekend

I told you I would make these!

I made these for a Halloween party we went to. They are seriously amazing. I think they're so great because they're like little mini cakes! Haha

I was a Barbie for Halloween. :) It was great to wear pink and be covered in sparkles for a whole night! One of my friends decided he would be "Josh Patino" for Halloween. He stole his BYU soccer gear (Josh's trademark) and sunglasses, and did his hair all sweet (he even sprayed it dark). It was hilarious! He and I arrived to the party together. Everyone loved it! I thought it was very clever.


After the football game with some friends(we only go to support our dear friend David, the kicker. He's actually on the soccer team, but just kicks for the football team).

I Love Salad.

That's my salad. I'm trying to eat as much food as I can before next Tuesday that will be "perished" when I return home from VOLLEYBALL NATIONALS!!! Yea yea yea! I'm so excited! Anyway, I'm pretty impressed with the colors I had available, because I'm getting low on variety. A Wal Mart run is tempting, but I will be strong.
Ingredients: Cabbage, apple, fetta, sesame seeds, yellow peppers, half an egg, unsalted dry-roasted peanuts, dried apples, and some vinaigrette. DELISH.

PUMPKIN EVERYTHING

(Me killing the ball. Or... actually I'm just tipping that one.)

It's official. I'm obsessed. I love anything and everything made with pumpkin. It is a flavor that I cannot and will not resist, no matter how late at night it is. Last night, my good friend, Jessi Gibbons shared with me her amazing idea to make a pumpkin ice cream pie. PERFECT. I'm in. So as soon as we got back from our tri match against Sweet Briar (and all girls school... who would go to an all girls university??) and Randolph College (oh, we swept them both, by the way), we headed on an adventure to find some pumpkin ice cream. Since wal mart did not have any pumpkin ice cream we went to Sweet Things in Lexington to buy a quart or whatever we needed. They were conveniently out. (We still taste tested Ginger and Cinnamon Graham ice cream, of course... delish!) So we went to Alexander's in B.V. They were really nice when they found out we were making a pie with it and sold us the rest of the tub of ice cream for 5 bucks. SAWEET! Here's what it looked like:

Ice cream pie is easy, because all you do is let the ice cream melt a little bit so that you can smooth it around into a pie crust, then freeze it. Then we put whipped cream on top with some pretty ginger cookies I found (not ginger snaps, although that would be good too). Jessi is a pure genius. PLUS, she taught us this amazing "Whipped Cream Game": spray a dollop on your left hand (if you're right handed), slap your wrist with your right hand, launch the dollop up in the air, and catch it in your mouth. SOOO fun and HILARIOUS. My first try was successful, but on my second try, I didn't launch it high enough and..... ya:

Then Shanny bo Banny called me and we chatted. Of course we talked about food for the majority of our 25 minute conversation. Somewhere in there she told me about the pumpkin pancakes she made from Natalie Fairboure's Blog (http://hobblecreekkitchen.blogspot.com/ ) I like to make breakfast on Sunday mornings, and so I made them this morning. Of COURSE. No words can explain the heavenly taste that was in my mouth. I'm stuffed, but there is nothing I want more in my mouth right now than these pumpkin pancakes. Oh, I like this recipe because it's based on a basic home made pancake mix. Alterations I made: I put 1/2 cup rolled oats in the pancake mixture instead of using oat flour, used half the sugar, and didn't use the butter. THESE ARE MY FAVORITE.
DIVINITY

(I'm super happy to have a happy pumpkin pancake with soy milk)
p.s. top this with buttermilk syrup, not maple.

And the other pumpkin recipe: I have made this twice this month(that's saying a lot, because usually when I a legit dinner, I have to eat it again and again for lunch and dinner for almost a week. HAHA). It's called Pumpkin Turkey Chili (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pumpkin-turkey-chili/detail.aspx) I like this web site because at the bottom of all the recipes, people comment on what they changed and if it was good etc. My comments would be: Don't accidentally put sour cream in the concoction. Smoked chicken is a good alternative to turkey, for those of you who have a freezer FULL of chicken breasts (ME), add any and all veggies, ie red, yellow, orange peppers, celery, zucchini, yellow squash, probably even potatoes, if you don't mind adding carbs to your already EXTREMELY LOW CARB dinner. And I added tofu, because I love it. Stuff like that. Also, add seasoning. It needs it. Like... nutmeg, ginger, allspice, ground cloves, cinnamon - ?, I dunno, whatever is good with pumpkin. It's low fat, low carb, has lots of protein, and it's full of veggies. Perfect! Make it. Tonight. Then comment. Please.
Sorry I don't have a picture, the stuff looks like orange/brown poopie. But I assure you, it's great.

Next pumpkin recipe I will make:

Pumpkin rice pudding
Ingredients:
• 1 cup leftover rice
• 3 cups whole milk
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 3/4 cup canned or mashed pumpkin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• cinnamon or whipped topping and pecans for garnish, optional
Preparation:
In a medium saucepan over medium high heat, combine the rice, 3 cups of milk, and brown sugar. Cook, stirring, until the mixture begins to boil and is thick and creamy.
Meanwhile, combine the pumpkin with vanilla, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and salt. When the rice is done, remove from heat and stir in the pumpkin mixture. Cover and refrigerate until serving time. To warm the pudding, stir in about 1/2 cup of milk or half and half and warm over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. Serve with a sprinkling of cinnamon and brown sugar, or top with a dollop of whipped cream or whipped topping and chopped pecans and chopped dried cranberries.
Serves 4 to 6. Serve in a baby pumpkin.

....Or maybe these cookies: (they're Suzanne's sister in law's:)
Pumpkin Cookies – Amy
(Bake 375 10-12 min)
1 c shortening
1 c sugar
1 c. pumpkin
Cream together and add 1 beaten egg

Blend in dry ingredients:
2 c. flour
1 tsp soda
1tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt

Frosting: heat together the following:
3 tbsp butter
4 tsp milk
½ c. brown sugar
¾ tsp vanilla
1.c powdered sugar

Homecoming

Homecoming was sweet! I love love loved seeing Suzanne and Nelson and the babe... even if it was only for a few hours! We had a great time chatting and dining at the "Livery Inn". Weird name, awesome food. Or at least I thought so.

And then the dance. I was surprised at how fun it was. They played like... all my favorite songs. ie Down, VANILLA TWILIGHT, Party In the U.S.A. (I hate to admit that), and others. :) oh, joy. Ok, let's talk about Pary in the U.S.A. I used to hate the song. I thought it was sooo annoying. Then my friends started playing it all then time, and then I started to like it. And now it is apparently completely TAKING OVER the city of Provo??? I just don't understand. Why does this song make me want to dance? Why do I get so pumped when they play it during warm ups at a volleyball game???? It's pretty much a lame-ish song. Irregardless (yes, that's a word), I love it. But not as much as Vanilla Twilight. Picture: (The theme was "Black and White, so I took my pictures in b+w... clever, clever, clever me.)

Fall Break

The temple was so great! As I said previously, I've never done baptisms in the Washington D.C. temple before, so it was such a fun experience. I love how HUGE that temple is! It's amazing!


So because of fall break and the temple trip, we only had 3 days of school this week. Buuuutttttttttt, it still felt like a full week. And I'm tired. However, I am so excited to chill with Nelson and Suzanne this weekend! Unfortunately, we have a couple volleyball games in freaking Bristol (3 hours away) which will keep us from all the Homecoming festivities on Saturday :(. We MIGHT be back in time for the dance. Whatever. GIRLS NIGHT (my new favorite thing..... after hot chocolate :) ). ANYWAY, I hunger. I must eat now. Happy weekend.