Category Archives: etc.

Pumpkin Spice Scones

November 8, 2011

One of my favorite things to make and eat is scones. They are fast and easy. You can whip them up for breakfast in no time, and everyone is always impressed. I have quite a few scone recipes I have worked on, this is my latest – Pumpkin Spice Scones.

Pumpkin Spice Scones
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/3 cup cold butter
1 cup pumpkin puree
3 tbsp. milk

Combine first six dry ingredients in a bowl. Using a pastry knife, cut in the cold butter. Add milk to the pumpkin puree and then add the pumpkin mixture to the dry ingredients. Mix until it all comes together. Do not over mix (this will make the scones tough). Divide the dough into two portions. On a parchment lined baking sheet form the dough into two 5-6″ rounds. You may need to flour your hands because the dough is quite sticky. Then take a floured knife and cut each round into 6 pieces. This will make it easier to cut and separate them after baking. Bake at 350 F for about 20 mins. Cool on a baking rack for 5 mins. before cutting them.

Brown Sugar Icing
3 tbsp. butter
1/4 cup cream
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
about 1 cup powdered sugar

In a small sauce pan, melt butter. Add the cream, sugar and vanilla and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and whisk in the powdered sugar. You may need a little more or a little less then 1 cup of powdered sugar. Dip the tops of the warm scones in the icing and allow to cool completely.

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Pumpkin Spice Sugar Scrub

The weather had finally cooled down here in California. We went from 80’s last week to the high 50’s this week. The air feels cool and dry. My skin is feeling and showing the lack of moisture. I made this Pumpkin Spice Body Sugar Scrub this weekend to offer my skin some relief. It gently exfoliates and has a warm spicy scent.

Pumpkin Spice Sugar Scrub
2 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 cup vegetable oil

Combine in a bowl and pack into airtight jars.

I found both the jars and the mini wooden spoons at World Market. I think these are going to make great gifts.

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Make your own Pumpkin Pie Spice

November 4, 2011

Have you noticed how expensive it is to buy a tiny jar of Pumpkin Pie Spice? I love the convenience of having the spices all mixed together for recipes like Pumpkin Apple Muffins and others. So, I decided I would mix my own Pumpkin Pie Spice. It was a lot cheaper to buy the spices individually and mix them myself. I’m really happy with the end result. I’ve been using it all week in my Pumpkin Spice Week Recipes.

Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/4 cup ground cinnamon
2 tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp all spice

Mix together and store in an airtight container.

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Pumpkin Spice Poppycock (Caramel Corn)

October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween – what I great day to kick off Pumpkin Spice Week. And let’s start the week with off with a snack that can be munched on all week long.

My husband likes to make fun of the name, Poppycock. But, that’s what my mom called it, and it’s her recipe. It’s really just very yummy caramel corn. This is my fall version – Pumpkin Spice Poppycock. I added pecans as well, because I think they pair well with Pumpkin Spice and they are my favorite nut.

Pumpkin Spice Poppycock (Caramel Corn)

6 quarts popped popcorn

1 cup butter

2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup corn syrup

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. vanilla

2 tbsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice

1 cup pecans (optional)

Melt butter, stir in sugar, syrup and salt. Boil 5 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla, then stir in baking soda and pumpkin pie spice. Then stir in the pecans. Pour over popcorn and mix well to all kernels are coated. Spread onto two cookie sheets and bake 1 hour at 250 F. Stir every 15 minutes. Cool completely. Store in airtight containers.

I’m had a little Halloween Party for my kids and their friends last week. I think that it’s fun to have another chance to wear your costume. When you hand make your kids costumes, you want them to get more use out of them then just Halloween night. This caramel corn was definitely served at the party. But, I changed the name to Cockroach Nests – kind of gross I know, but I was quite proud of my clever name.

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Halloween Party Food

October 28, 2011

Here’s some of the fun food I served at our Halloween Party. I have linked the recipes for you. The Pumpkin Spice Poppycock and Donuts were apart of Oleander and Palm’s Pumpkin Spice Week. I have also included a free printable download of the food labels at the end of this post.

Black Cats and Bats and Pumpkin Sugar Cookies

Cockroach Nests (Pumpkin Spice Poppycock with Pecans)

Pumpkin Spice Donuts (recipe will be shared during Pumpkin Spice Week)

Bare Bones

Mini Mummies (Pigs in blankets)

Bat Wings (Honey BBQ Chicken Wings)

Eye Balls (Meat Balls)

Goblin Goo (Orange and black Chips and Nacho Cheese Sauce)

Halloween Party Food Labels

Feel free to print these labels for your next Halloween Party.

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Halloween Decorations

October 25, 2011

Here are a few pictures of some of my Halloween Decorations around the house. I shared yesterday that I’m not a fan of the scary or spooky, so this is my type of mild Halloween. More Spunk, less Spook.

Mini Pumpkins in a row with a deer antler (from my father in laws garden)

Orange Mercury Glass Owl (Homegoods)

Mini Pumpkins perched on candle sticks.

Cupcake Paper Garland on mantel (instructions will be posted soon)

China Cabinet decorated with Pedestal Candy Jars, Silver Pumpkins, and spiders.

How do you decorate for Halloween? Do you decorate with Spunk or Spook?

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Olivia’s Birthday!

October 18, 2011

I wanted to share a few of my favorite pictures from Olivia’s 1st day with us.

Here we go!

Nice to meet you.

The Girls

Daddy’s first kiss

Olivia being comforted by her big bro and sis.

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Pedestal Candy Jars

October 17, 2011

Can’t get enough Halloween candy, especially when you are preggo or nursing. I’m embarrassed to say that I had to refill the Peanut Butter M&M’s three times before I got a picture of these pedestal candy jars I made. I did have some help eating them, but I’m pretty sure it was mostly me that ate them. Should have bought something yucky, like black licorice.

I have to give credit to this fantastic blog, for the inspiration. They had made these jars for Easter Candy. I decided to make a Halloween version.

Supplies:
glass candle sticks (I got mine at a thrift store for 25c each)
assorted jars (I used a pickle jar, a pesto jar, and a pasta sauce jar)
E 6000 glue
Martha Stewart Crafts Glossy Black paint
glittered plastic spiders
spanish moss
candy

To make these jars, paint the candle sticks and the jar lids with the black paint. It may take a couple of coats. Let dry over night. Then attach the candle sticks to the bottom of the jars with E 6000 glue. Let dry overnight again. Fill with assorted candy. Oh, and I glued a few spiders to the jars (I got the spiders at Michaels for $1). For some spooky, I displayed these on a tray with some spanish moss.

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Before and After

Well, I’m sure you have guessed by my absence in posting that I had a baby. Olivia Cali McConnel was born or Sept. 29th at 3:59pm. She was a healthy 9 lbs. 2 oz. and 21 1/2 inches. We are so blessed to have her in our lives.

Here’s my Before and After. We took the “before” picture the morning I went into labor and the “after” is our cute Olivia at two weeks old. She was really packed in there.

It’s been a long two weeks, so I will try to summarize as much as possible. She did have a bit of a rough start to life. We ended up spending two nights in the hospital and then she was admitted to the NICU for another three days. Olivia was very jaundice and had to have light therapy. She was a precipitous, face up birth (that means really fast). So, she had a lot of bruising on her face which made her jaundice spike even more. It was a very stressful and emotional time. Leaving the hospital without your baby is a very hard thing to do. I cried all the way home and most of the time I was home without her. Looking back at the empty car seat was really painful. I spent very little time at home, mostly just the pump and then I was back at the hospital by her side. It is truly amazing how much love you can have for your baby when you really have only known her for just mere hours. Life without her seemed totally impossible as soon as our eyes met.

Once we finally got her home she was not gaining weight and was dehydrated, so I had to stop nursing and start pumping and giving her bottles (so we could monitor exactly how much she was getting). The poor little girl had to be at the hospital, doctors office, and lab everyday of the first two weeks of life. In the middle of all this, I lost my milk supply due to acute stress the doctor believes. So, I have been pumping to bring back my supply for over a week now (it’s like a full time job). But, we are so thankful that she is healthy now and we are trying to get into a routine of some kind. We appreciate all the prayers and support from friends and family. I have shed a lot of tears, but God is good, and he has carried us through this.

Needless to say, blogging has not been on my to do list. We are kind of in survival mode still. I have lots of ideas, but just not enough hands or time it feels like. Hopefully with posting this, I’ve given myself a kick start. I have a week of Pumpkin Spice recipes coming very soon. Thanks for reading.

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Freezer Paper Stencils on Vintage Fabric

September 26, 2011

When I first started blogging, I shared pictures of a quilt that I made for my youngest brother. He had found some great vintage fabric for the back of the quilt.

I finally made a throw pillow with some of the left over fabric. Oh, this is for my bro too, he needs a pillow to go with the quilt, right?

Using my cricut, I cut out a stencil on freezer paper. This is the first time I’ve worked with freezer paper, and it’s fantastic! Then I ironed the stencil onto the fabric (plastic side down). I used Martha Stewarts new paints and fabric medium. I ended up applying one coat of paint, letting it dry and then applying a second. Then, I just peeled off the stencil. To set the paint, I ironed it once it was completely dry.

The Supplies

I think it turned out pretty fun. I’ve got lots of ideas for cute stenciling projects in my head now. I love learning and trying something new. Anyone else out there ever tried freezer paper stencils on fabric?

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