Glitzy Pinecones

I'm baaaaack! After being out of town, and dealing with a one year old's molars coming in, I've been MIA. But good news is that during the Great Nap of December 2011 at our house, I was able to get the pinecone project done! Yea.
Okay, it's super simple and only took a couple minutes. BUT what a difference it made. It definitely changed the atmosphere of my dining room.
If you remember last month, C and I went pinecone picking and then made a November centerpiece with the pinecones we found. All I did was take those same pinecones and spray painted them silver!

After letting them dry for a few hours (one good coat was enough), I refilled the pillars and added a red table runner, and woh-lah! I was done!

TOTAL = $3 (the cost of the spray paint)!

Pumpkin Pie Doggie Treats

As a family, we refuse to give our dog table scraps. Although this is nice because she doesn't beg, it gives me an awful guilt complex. Every year on Thanksgiving we stuff our faces with food while my poor dog stares at us and licks her jowls. Every year, you see a little glimmer of hope in her eyes, and you know that it is her thinking that maybe, just maybe this one time she'll get to partake in some of the wondrous gluttony that is going on and alas, each year she is disappointed. 

Sure she gets treats every now and then, but they have to be few and far between (she has a bit of a weight problem and she's apparently grown sensitive to the allergens in the dog food) and plus, who wants the same ole' same ole'???


So this year I decided to look far and wide for EASY, healthy Thanksgiving treats for my Clover that I could make! I finally found a great recipe on squidoo.com!


Here are Clover's Pumpkin Pie Biscuits:
(Who knew pumpkin helps calm doggies' tummies too???)

You'll need:
1 1/2 cups of Whole Wheat Flour
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
Mix of 1 cube of chicken bouillon and 1 cup water *(original recipe called for 1/2 cup broth instead)
3/4 cup of canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie mix)
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon maple syrup or pancake syrup
1 egg
Non-Stick Foil


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
3. Blend the broth, pumpkin, oil, syrup and egg in a blender or food processor.

4. Add the blended mixture to the dry ingredients and mix together with a spoon.
5. Use your hand to mix well and form a dough. You'll have to REALLY work it!

6. Here is where I did my own thing to help with clean up. 

      (a) Put the dough onto saran wrap.

                                                   

    (b) Put another piece of wrap on top to prevent sticking to the rolling pin. Roll out to 1/2 inch thickness. You will actually roll on top of the saran wrap.

           

       (c) Pick up saran wrap and throw away with no left-over mess!

                  

       No extra flour to keep sprinkling on....AND look at how clean my rolling pin is!! :)

7. Use cookie cutters to cut out the biscuits and place on a baking sheet with non-stick foil.

OPTIONAL STEP  - At this point, I took a fork and poked four little center holes in the middle of each biscuit just for looks.

8. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until brown.

9. Store biscuits in the refrigerator in an air-tight container. 
I decided to give some of our other doggie friends the same treat, so I made these cute baggies for Clover to give them on Thursday. I put 4-5 biscuits in each Ziploc sandwich bag and added the topper! You can download the bag topper I made here. 


This recipe made around 25 biscuits. The wheat flour makes these a little chewy, Clover was the first to volunteer of course, and she loved them! 

Simple Thanksgiving Centerpiece

Okay, since we are forbidden to put up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving at our house, I haven't been able to do my little Christmas project yet with those pinecones we picked a couple weeks ago. (Not to mention that the warm weather we've had recently hasn't really helped spread the Christmas spirit much either.)

So I wanted to do something with the pinecones, so I put together a real quick, simple Thanksgiving centerpiece.

I just threw some acorns in the bottom of the glass pillars and then threw the pinecones on top. It's not much, but I think simplicity goes a long way. And plus, it's a great holding place until I'm ready to reuse them for Christmas!
It looks festive and literally took a couple minutes to accomplish...which on some days, a couple minutes is all I have!

Open-faced Breakfast Sandwich

Good Morning! If you're like me, you value sleep. A LOT. I usually like to sleep until I absolutely have to get up. So getting up early to cook a complicated breakfast is out of the question for me. So this was quick and easy for breakfast...my OPEN-FACED BREAKFAST SANDWICH.

First I just grilled some sourdough bread. While that was browning, I poured out some Egg Beaters egg whites into a pan.

Then I threw a piece of low fat cheddar cheese on top of the bread while it was still hot and in the pan so it could melt a bit.
I put the egg whites on top and topped with some Raspberry Chipotle Sauce.

And you could throw whatever else you wanted on top...I'm thinking a couple strips of VEGGIE BACON would be great! (Although I'm sure I stand with the few in agreeing with anything having veggie bacon in it, but trust me, if you haven't tried it, don't knock it. It's really good. In fact, with veggie bacon, I don't even miss the real stuff anymore!)

Pickin' Pinecones

I'm so happy November is here, but you as well as I know that November flies by without even a second belch after Thanksgiving. Now, I LOVE Christmas, but I also would like to savor all November and its holiday has to offer. It's practically Christmas...as much as I hate to think so.  So I started thinking I needed to be proactive and at least start thinking about Christmas decor. So with a project idea in mind, C & I went out on a mission...pinecone pickin'.

Now pinecone picking is super easy because well, this time of year, they are already "picked" for you. We grabbed only a backpack to put the pinecones in and set out. (Well, I don't have to have to mention that of course the backpack also held diapers, wipes, snacks, milk, extra clothes, his lovey and more, do I??? And keep in mind we only traveled a mile away from our house!)

 As we were going along on our nature walk, we'd stop and look at the pinecones.

 Some were too broken, and others were just right!

 We found some pretty good pinecones that would be great for the project!

 We had a great time pinecone pickin' and my sweet son had a blast helping out in my project! Stayed tuned for how my project turns out!

Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese

Sadly when I became pregnant with Clark, I had too few food aversions and too many food cravings. And sadly still, one of those cravings still has not left - JALAPENOS! So when I saw this on pinterest, I HAD to try it!
I read the original recipe off bsinthekitchen.com and just tweaked it a bit to fit me.

Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwich
For 2 sandwiches:
6 large jalapenos
2 tbsp cream cheese
1 tbsp ranch dressing
3 tbsp chopped chives
1 tbsp sun-dried tomatoes (julienne cut)
8 slices of cheese (I used 4 cheddar and 4 colby jack)
Butter
4 slices of sourdough bread


1. I always start by getting the butter out of the refrigerator first so that way, when I'm ready to spread it on the bread, it'll be nice and soft.

2. Go ahead and roast the jalapenos. I am by no means an expert on roasting jalapenos. I really had no idea what I was doing, so I'm determine to perfect this and try again on another day!

I just sprayed a pan with some PAM and roasted for about 15 minutes on medium heat.
(Okay, so I didn't really roast them, but I made do...)

After this, you're supposed to put the jalapenos in a paper bag to "steam" so you can easily pull the skins off. Well, I was pressed for time, so I skipped this step and left the skins on....again, I'll try again later.

3. While the jalapenos were roasting, I combined the cream cheese, chives, ranch, & tomatoes.

4. Cut the jalapenos in half and remove the seeds and spines.

5. On one slice of bread, spread the cream cheese mixture and lay out your jalapenos.

6. Then top with cheese. I used 2 slices of colby jack and 2 slices of cheddar.

7. Generously butter the outside of the sandwich and heat in panini grill at 375 degrees. If you don't have a panini grill, you can grill in a pan on medium heat until golden brown.

 Serve with a beer (or two) and enjoy! It was VERY good and next time I will try to REALLY roast the jalapenos AND take the skins off, but even pressed for time without doing those things, this was a yummy yummy lunch!

Sausage Bread (VEGETARIAN version!!)

You have no idea how excited I am about this. Being a vegetarian, I am always looking for new recipes that I can cook, whether they are strictly veggies or something that I can swap the meat out for tofu or soy. But really that part is easy; it's the characteristic of TASTING GOOD that is the tricky part.

I am lucky enough to have my cooperative husband. Me being a devout veg-head and my husband being a hungry hunter, doesn't always make the decision of what's for dinner that easy. He is very good about trying my meat substituted meals with a smile. (Although the line between a smile and a stomach pained grimace is very fine.) And my poor son doesn't know any better (nor have a choice).

So I totally stole my friend Susie's sausage bread recipe and did the ole' switcheroo!
Note: For all you meat lovers out there, you can see her original yummy recipe with the ACTUAL sausage on her blog at www.thedomesticdarlin.com

I will use "sausage" in quotes to refer to my meat-free sausage throughout this post so as not to offend any meat lovers.  ;)

Vegetarian "Sausage" Bread

-1 package of Gimme Lean -Ground Sausage style
-1/2 cup green onions 
-1/2 cup parmesan cheese 
-1/2 cup Swiss cheese
-1/4 cup canned jalapenos (optional)
-1 tsp salt 
-2/3 cup milk
-2 1/2 cup HeartSmart Bisquick mix 
-1 tsp butter (melted)

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray PAM on a pan and brown the sausage and onions together.

 The sausage will be in very large clumps at first, so as you are browning, chop the "sausage" up using your spatula, spoon, etc.

(As you can see, the "sausage" clumps are getting smaller and smaller)

And it's done!

2. Put the "sausage" in a bowl and mix in all the other ingredients.

3. I rolled mine into balls (only because that is what Susie did. When I steal, I steal.) but she says you can put into muffin tins or loaf pans.

4. I popped these in and waited 18 minutes and I was done! (I have a convectional oven so these took 18 minutes.. If you have a regular oven, I would do the full 20 minutes.)

These turned out great! They were great for my husband to take on the way out the door for work while I got to sit down and enjoy the fresh baked bread. Not to mention the sausage...oops, excuse me, the "sausage" has 7 grams of protein per serving and ZERO fat! Now, there's a guilt free breakfast! :)