A new site

What started out as a technical difficulty led to over a year off of blogging.

Now you can find me over here

http://www.thenotsosecretlifeofjules.blogspot.com

Remember Thanksgiving?

Okay so I know everyone has moved on and is in Christmas mode. However, I was having some technical difficulties over here and was unable to post my Thanksgiving Turkey this year.

In the last 10 years, I have roasted 2 whole turkeys. It is fun in the traditional sense, but it is always such a waste. No one here likes dark meat, so that whole half of the bird is wasted.

This year we picked up two turkey breasts. One "fresh" from the butcher, and one seasoned and packaged up from Costco.

We decided to roast one and grill the other one on the BBQ.

And let me tell you, my husband did a great job grilling and we are planning on doing it that way for years to come. Everyone agreed the grilled bird was better.

Oven-roasted turkey 

Grilled turkey

Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Muffins

Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Muffins. Not only did I absolutely love these, but so did my family. That's a win win. As much as I loved the Glazed Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins, these are so much better. Eat them nice and warm on a cold fall evening and you'll love them too.

Original recipe is over at Tidy Mom.

Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Muffins

1 -3/4 cups flour
1 -1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup milk

For Dipping:

1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup white sugar
1 tbspn cinnamon

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon. In a separate bowl mix together oil, sugar, egg and milk. Add dry ingredients.

Fill about 10 sprayed muffin cups. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Melt butter. In a separate bowl mix sugar and cinnamon. Dip muffins into butter, then sugar cinnamon mix.

I only dipped the tops of the muffins so that they would be easier to eat. I thought they were plenty flavorful still. I was left with extra topping, so if you are only planning on dipping the tops you could cut the toppings by about half.


Eat up while they are still warm!

Enjoy!

Glazed Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins

Just because 31 Days of Pumpkin Goodness is over doesn't mean I am done baking with pumpkin!

I found this recipe over at tidy mom and I knew I had to try it. It's a simple if time-consuming recipe, but delicious and warm and perfect as the fall days are getting cooler.

I had some buttermilk left over after making some Irish Soda Bread the other night for dinner, and I thought I'd better put it to use trying out these muffins.

Muffins:

3 cups flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cloves

1/8 tsp allspice

1/3 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 cups pumpkin

3/4 cup room temp butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tbspn milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 tbspn pumpkin

1/4 rounded tsp pumpkin pie spice

2 tbspn melted butter

Whisk together flour, baking soda and powder, salt, and spices.

In a separate small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, vanilla, and pumpkin

In a separate large bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. And eggs one at a time. Add pumpkin mixture. Add flour mixture.

Scoop into 12 lined muffin cups. Fill them all the way up. You'll have plenty and you want a nice rounded top on these for dipping.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Cool for a few minutes.

Whisk vanilla, milk, and powdered sugar. Whisk in pumpkin, spice, and melted butter.

Dip muffin tops into glaze and set on a cooling rack with wax paper underneath. They are going to drip! Delicious but messy.

Dig in and enjoy!

My Favorite New Market

A little while ago a Sprouts Farmer's Market opened in my area. I had been meaning to go there for a while.

Well today was the day. Even in the rain and wind.

And. . .  it's my new favorite store! I will definitely be going back every week.

I didn't check everything out. I decided to mostly check out the produce and bulk items and that I could look into other items as I go back.

I thought the produce was all wonderfully priced. Definitely worth going back, even if that's all I ever buy there.

I tried to take a picture of my purchases. That I got for the amazing price of $17! However, the cocoa roasted almonds (almonds covered with sugar, cocoa, and vanilla) barely made it home. Also, after I took this photo and started putting everything away, I found a bag of apples that someone had pulled out of the bag before I set the picture.

So, for $17 I got:

-a quarter pound of cocoa roasted almonds (not pictured)
-.15 lbs brazil nuts
-.81 pounds of quinoa
-flour
-1 lb baby carrots
-1 cucumber
-3 bell peppers
-1 avocado
-4 honeycrisp apples (not pictured)
-4 kiwis
-3 lemons
-2 tomatoes

I meant to get broccoli. Broccoli crowns were only $.99/lb. I turned my back on them to grab the peppers first, and then somehow forgot. Broccoli is a weekly staple around here, so I'll grab it somewhere else, but good to know I can get it there next week.

And next week, we'll try the cinnamon almonds instead of the cocoa almonds. I'm already wanting to go back.

Fall Festival Cake Pops

I thought that after my 31 Days of Pumpkin I was going to be done baking for a while.

Turns out that 2 days later there was a Fall Festival bake sale I wanted to participate in. I whipped up some Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bars, some cookies with Fall colored M&Ms, and these Fall Cake Pops.

I had a bottle of these Fall sprinkles that I didn't really have plans for, so I decided to use them for cake pops.

I used a yellow cake mix and 3/4 tub of whipped buttercream frosting. I dipped the cake pops in white candy melts (melted of course) and then dipped them in a small bowl of the sprinkles.

When they were set and dried I packaged them up. I tied a few with yellow ribbon, but most were tied with twine. I have been on a twine kick recently (I used it in my party decor for the last two family Birthdays I decorated for), and I thought it was perfect for Fall.

Jack O Lanterns

This is it. The 31st day of 31 Days of Pumpkin Goodness. And I love turning pumpkins into Jack O Lanterns.
It wouldn't feel quite like Halloween without some pumpkin carving.

I love using a pumpkin as decor on the porch all month long and then carving it up for extra Halloween fun (and maybe someday I'll take it to the next level and puree the pumpkin next).



Happy Halloween!