thursday latelies

Happy Thursday! Just wanted to pop in to say hello and tell you all what I am enjoying this week...

1. Loose tea from Teavana. I love tea so I was pumped to see a Teavana had opened in the mall near my house. (A F21 is opening soon, as well. Score!). Their tea is so delicious...if you have a Teavana near you and love tea you should definitely check it out.

2. The weather. The last couple of days have been in the 70s. 70s! Thanksgiving is next week and it felt like June yesterday. It was a-ma-zing.

3. My new boots from Payless. I got the last pair in my size and they definitely look like they are more expensive than they really are. {Thank you to Kelly for the heads up on these lovely boots.}

4. My new lip color. Trying to avoid chopping all of my hair off in a "I need a change" moment I headed over to Sephora to look for a new lip color. I had heard good things about Clinique's Almost Lipstick in Black Honey for some time now, but I always thought it would be too dark for my fair skin. I decided to try and and it looked great! Just the berry stain color I was looking for!

What are you loving this week?

monday funday (and apple pie)

Happy Monday, friends! I hope your weekend was fabulous and your week has started off well. I started my week with a lovely 5 mile run (it was 57 degrees when I woke up! It felt great since it has been in the 40's lately in the mornings here) and now I have moved on to some strong coffee.

I must admit I am a little bummed because I wanted to go apple picking this weekend and it appears picking here in NC is over for the season. I follow on Facebook the place I picked apples when I lived in Central New York (Beak and Skiff) and they are still picking away. I am jealous that apple picking won't be in my future this fall (but if anyone in NY wants to send me a bushel of Macintosh apples - my favorite for eating and cooking, let me know). :)

I bought some apples at the store that were grainy and less-than-desirable for eating...so I did what anyone else would do. I made a pie...and it was delicious. Who doesn't love pie? Basically I made an apple crisp pie since we didn't have enough crust for the top.

Here is what I did: really easy - peel and slice 4-5 medium to large apples. Place in a bowl and toss with 1/4 cup each sugar and flour and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Place in your pie crust (we would have made our own but we happened to have a pre-made in the freezer, so we used that). Once apples are in the pie crust I sprinkle a little corn starch (about 1 teaspoon) on top just to make sure the pie isn't too wet. Top with your favorite crisp topping (I used this one a la Betty Crocker and added some chopped pecans we had in our pantry.) Cook at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes (time depends on apples you use...test after 30 minutes to see if apples are soft. If they are still firm, keep on cookin'.)

If this looks like it might be too much sugar for you, you can always reduce or omit the sugar being tossed with the apples.

Happy baking! : )

pumpkin and apple

I don't know about you but when the temperature dips for fall I always crave all things pumpkin and apple. Pumpkin muffins...apple pie...I am getting hungry just thinking about all of the delicious fall goodies I want to make. I even had the pleasure of trying Pumking beer recently and it was really delicious (my favorite fall beer is Samuel Adams Octoberfest...but I think I might now have a new fave).

One thing that is sort of tradition in my husband's family is pumpkin roll. It is so good - and really simple.

Pumpkin Roll (how yummy does this look?)

Here is the recipe for this delicious little dessert:

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup powdered sugar (to sprinkle on towel)
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar (optional)

Directions

1. PREHEAT oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan; line with wax paper. Grease and flour paper. Sprinkle towel with powdered sugar.
2. COMBINE flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with nuts.
3. BAKE for 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack.
4. BEAT cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake; remove towel. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, if desired.

The rolling part takes a little practice but other than that it is one of the best pumpkin desserts around. I even think you can freeze it and save some for later.

Happy baking!

What fall foods are you craving?

Thursday Latelies

This week I am thankful for...

...my crock pot. One of the things I love about the fall (other than getting cozy in some nice warm sweaters) is being able to use my crock pot. I love my crock pot. I also love eating healthy. Since these two don't often go hand in hand I was excited to discover Skinny Crock Pot! I found them on Facebook and then discovered they had a website! I am so excited about this so I wanted to make sure to share it with you. I am totally going to try the bread pudding recipe ASAP.

...Lacrosse season. I play women's lacrosse on the Carolina Heat so I am thankful that the fall season is going to start soon and I can start to play again! Summers are slow for our team since we play local college club teams so once the fall (or spring) season starts, everyone is excited to get back on the field.

...free lightbulbs. I got something in the mail from our local power company saying they were trying to get everyone to switch to more energu efficient light bulbs so they were going to send everyone some of those CFL light bulbs for free! You know the super expensive ones...

 

Free stuff always rocks.

What are you thankful for today?