Halloween Festivities

I’ll be spending Halloween with my husband and best friend from college. We’re going to a Flyers game this afternoon and then will watch the World Series and hand out candy this evening. What a day!

We kicked up our Halloween celebration yesterday with several activities, including a kids’ costume parade in a neighboring town. One of our at-home activities involved making yummy decorated caramel apples. Seriously, this is an easy project if you buy the caramel apple wraps. We rolled the caramel-wrapped-apples when they were warm in toppings like chocolate chips, sprinkles, and nuts. They are so yummy! I recommend cutting them up to eat so you can share!

Martha’s Dinner

Black-eyed Pea Salad and the Cheese Flautas

Have I ever mentioned how lucky I am to be married to my husband? Despite his hectic work schedule, last night he found the time to make the four recipes featured in the “What’s for Dinner?” section of the October Martha Stewart Living. A few weeks ago I commented with glee that the four-recipe cardstock pull out was all vegetarian. And fall themed. Steve took note of my excitement and made the entire meal. It was a very memorable meal, especially for a Friday night.

Roasted Pumpkin Soup

Last night we ate roasted pumpkin soup (from a pumpkin!!!), cheese flautas with cilantro pesto, black-eyed pea salad with baby greens, and apple-cranberry crumble. It was so fall-y and tasty. The cilantro pesto was made with pumpkin seeds instead of pine nuts, and had such a distinct and lovely flavor that I hope to find other recipes to use it. And, of course, the crumble was fantastic, a perfect compliment to my viewing of this week’s Project Runway.

Thanks sweetie!

Lots to Do

My guests left this morning after a fabulous Girls Weekend. Although we had big intentions of driving to the beach, Hurricane Bill got in the way of those plans, so we spent the weekend shopping, eating, and drinking. It was so fun to be surrounded by the strong independent women who were integral parts of my college years.

I had a successful run as host of the weekend. I made a homemade vodka sauce for the first time, served my icebox dessert, and allowed Steve to cook challah french toast. While he was out of the house most of the weekend, I didn’t mind him stepping in for breakfast preparation.

Now that I am left to an empty house, I realize that my amazingly full and fun summer is winding down. For the next few weekends, Steve and I will be home, and I feel like there are so many little things we need to do. For one, every closet in my house needs to be organized. When I was cleaning this weekend and throwing tons of miscellaneous items into close-by closets, I realized we really need to pare down our stuff.

In addition to some summer cleaning, I hope to really start working away at some projects. So far, I have the following on my mind:

• an Amy Butler kimono for my mom;
• quilted pillows for a friend and my house;
• birthday presents galore;
• a window vallance;
• finishing my fall bag.

I am excited to have the rest of today to begin these projects and hope to post some completed ones soon.

Icebox Desserts

Chocolate-Ricotta Icebox Cake

Girls Weekend is upon me! I already have a guest and my other friends are not far behind. I have spruced up the house and started prepping my meals. Last night, I made this Chocolate-Ricotta Icebox Cake, a great looking no-bake dessert. I try to not turn the oven on in the summer, so I have been enjoying several no-bake desserts this summer, including these No-Bake Chocolate and Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars.

Fruit Love

The Colors of the Season

August is a great month for produce. Steve and I are in heaven chomping down sweet, ripe peaches, plums, raspberries, and blueberries. We’re so excited about them that we overloaded our fridge with produce this week (not that I am complaining).

Steve isn’t much of a fruit smoothie person and I did not want to turn the oven on for long (we are finally inundated with humidity) but I wanted to do something fun with all of our bounty. So I made this fruit pizza. Although I had to bake the sugar cookie crust, the oven was only on for about twenty minutes. The pizza was absolutely delicious! Sugar cookie crust, cream cheese/sugar/vanilla sauce, and fruit as the topping. Plus I am in love with how pretty it looks!

My Beautiful Fruit Pizza!

Expect lots of posts this week. I am close to wrapping up the color wheel quilt at any moment, I have finished my crocheted fall bag (sewing the lining in right now), and will have quilted the Amy table runner I discussed. Now that grad school is over, I’ve got to keep busy!

One final note . . . congrats to my bro-in-law at Can I Get a Sample. He was mentioned on this Time blog today.

The Best Summer Idea So Far

Iced Tea from a Jar

I am very excited because, thanks to this Angry Chicken blog post, I am  drinking great homemade iced tea! I’ve been buying my iced tea at Trader Joe’s lately because I am not very good at remembering to make sun tea or plan ahead, but this jar idea is so easy that I had to try it. Now I am hooked! All you have to do is brew a strong tea in a  mason jar, chill it, and pour a small amount into a glass and fill the rest with water and ice. I’ve brewed Red Zinger and a black peppermint tea as the pilot products. So good.

A New Breakfast Treat!

When we were in Minneapolis last month, we encountered a great new breakfast food: the Danish Æbleskiver. These little round fruit-filled (or, in Steve’s case, chocolate-filled) pancakes are delicious! My mom found a pan to make the pancakes and sent it to us this week. To commemorate our kitchen project being finished, we decided to make these for a Friday morning breakfast. We filled them with chocolate chips and blueberry catsup. Yum yum!

Eat Your Veggies!

After nearly six months of not really watching what I eat, I’ve decided that making a better effort to eat healthy is at the top of my priority list. By the end of last weekend, I had made up my mind that vegetables must become a part of my diet everyday and that I can no longer buy containers of candy.

Therefore, I hope to start making more of an effort in the kitchen. I tried a really good Israeli couscous/zucchini/tomato dish yesterday and I enjoyed a large helping of asparagus today. Hopefully in two weeks I won’t have to think twice to convince myself to chow down!

I am a little sad right now because Steve and I will not be doing a CSA for our veggies this summer, but we are traveling too much to really make the share worth it. Those who are doing it, I hope you enjoy!

Good Eats and a Revamped Kitchen

It’s been quite a weekend. Steve and I saw Frost/Nixon last night and then reshuffled our kitchen cabinets, which resulted in our purchasing a new storage unit from Ikea this morning.

We just finished the project (I’ll post a pic later this week) and are hoping to finalize the kitchen by installing a dishwasher in the next few weeks. It’s hard to believe, but I haven’t had a dishwasher in my life for more than seven years.

We’re munching on guacamole (my favorite kind, with scallions, lemon, and cranberries) and awaiting the start of the big game. Brownie sundaes are only a few hours away!

Super Weekend

By mid day today, I will be finished with another one-credit class in my grad school program. I have a few assignments to finish for it later this week, but at least I don’t have to go to Saturday class after this.

After class I am meeting up with a friend to visit my local yarn store because she needs a relaxing project to work on. Hopefully we’ll find something for her to do.

This evening Steve and I will see an Oscar-nominated movie and tomorrow will be all about homework and football. We haven’t even planned a menu yet, likely because we’re still disappointed that the Eagles didn’t make it to the big game.