Pumpkin Muffins

I picked up these cute muffin liners after Halloween last year. Goodwill had a huge selection of items from a major discount store. You just have to keep your eyes open. (Hanging out at Goodwill a few times a week helps too.)

September is a great time to start making everything pumpkin!

Like pumpkin muffins for example...

I used Elie Kreiger's Recipe

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole-grain pastry flour (I used White Whole Wheat Flour) *worked great
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons unsulphered molasses (I only used 1 tablespoon)
  
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
• 1/4 cup raw, unsalted pumpkin seeds (I used mini chocolate chips instead)
  

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and whole-wheat flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.

In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, molasses, oil and 1 egg until combined. Add the other egg and whisk well. Whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla. Whisk in the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Whisk just until combined. (Add mini chocolate chips here)

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan (I used liners instead) and sprinkle with the pumpkin seeds. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of 1 of the muffins comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the muffins to loosen them and unmold. Cool completely on the rack.

They went in one day. Enjoy!!

Just Lounging Around

About a year ago I saw a pair of metal lounge chairs at Goodwill. As I was walking toward them I saw another lady approach them as well. I sped up a little...she sped up..she happens to be on her cell phone asking someone if she should buy them. We got to them at the same time, she politely took the tag (whoever gets the tag gets it) and said, "Would you like one of them?" I said no because I didn't want to to break the set. Then I became obsessed with finding another one. Maybe I should clarify...I became obsessed with finding another one (or two) at Goodwill.

Finally! I came across another one the other day...you can bet I snatched the tag right away. If you shop thrift you know that for some reason $24.99 seems like waaaaay to much. But I had been pricing them and realized that you couldn't even find a cushion for $24.99. So I brought it home with me.

Here it is in its kelly green glory. Very 1990.

Remember the decade of the ivy leaf? Me too. Don't worry, I'm going to cover that bit up.

*HOT TIP Use Petroleum Jelly to cover the parts that you don't want the paint to stick to.

This job took a lot of spray paint! I think I used six or seven cans.

Ahhh what a perfect dog bed.

You are not going to believe this but after looking all over town for a chair cushion....I came across a brand new one at Goodwill for $2.99!

Ahhh....we have another month before the snow will begin to fall. What a perfect spot all for less than $30.00.

Cherry Pie...

This is why I Zumba five days a week. I really want to eat whatever I want and basically I do. I whipped up this little cherry pie for one. It came out beautifully, and tasted really great!

I used a handfull of Frozen Organic Dark Cherries (from Costo) a tablespoon of sugar (could have used less) a tablespoon of flour, and the juice and zest of one lemon. I just cut out a circle of Pillsbury pie dough and brushed the top with an egg wash. Then I baked it at 425 for about 20 minutes....I just waited until the top was nice and brown. The crust is my favorite!!

The beauty of making of a single pie is that you don't have an entire pie sitting around calling your name, the second thing is that it is nice to control what ingredients go into it! It is so easy and delicious...give it a try!

This is what I've been working on...

More to come!

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Since I've been working on a little project, I thought I would re-post my Pumpkin Spice Latte recipe for you to try while I am hard working at my J-O-B. My sweet, adorable, kind, loving, civic minded, and extremely generous friend Lisa (not to be confused with my sweet cousin Lisa)gave me this amazing espresso machine for my birthday. I use it almost everyday. (but had to switch to decaf...dang it)

I made a label for my to-go cup. I like to coordinate, and to make labels.

Since it is September I am compelled to make everything pumpkin.
I decided to make a Pumpkin Spice Latte. Yummmm.

Use your choice of milk and add 2 tablespoons of Tazo Chai concentrate and 1 1/2 tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk. Steam them all together. You can add more or less chai concentrate or sweetened condensed milk, but I like just a hint of flavor.
AHHHHhhhhhhh espresso. This is my Anthropologie mini espresso bowl in orange. I love it!


Grate some fresh nutmeg on top, or sprinkle a little pumpkin spice or both. (go crazy it's your latte.)
Deeeelicious.

No it doesn't actually have pumpkin in it, and I guess you could throw some in, but the thought of drinking a chunk of pumpkin accidentally completely scares me to death. Icccckkk! Love to eat pumpkin--do not want to drink it. If you don't have an espresso machine just throw some into your regular coffee! Enjoy.

The elusive Burberry Trench...

Yes, Burberry changed their tags from Burberry's to Burberry sometime in the 90's.

I have heard of thrifters coming across Burberry Trench Coats......in New York...where people donate them and get new ones I guess....But until recently I thought the stories were fabrications to turn me green with envy....
That is until yesterday when I found one at my local Goodwill haunt. I didn't even yell or jump up and down in fear of having the $10.99 price tag revoked....I calmly purchased it along with a hula hoop, potato masher and an outdoor chair cushion. You know, it is like filling your basket up at the drug store to cover up "unmentionables" yeah, like that.

Oh, did I mention it is fully lined?

And it actually fits me perfectly? I know, what are the chances! Eeeeeeeeeee!

*Ok let's get to the downside....It kind of smells like "Off!" mosquito repellent. Let me just tell you that I have a bionic nose and can smell fingernail polish from 5 miles away....so there's that.

**Funny story....I dated this guy one summer in college. Every time we were together I would wonder aloud,..."Who is wearing Off!", "Hey why does it smell like Off?"...over and over....(slow learner here) Then I just thought dang this guy is seriously afraid of mosquitoes!! So then I'm at his house and he sprays on this cologne that smells exactly like...you guessed it Off!......There you have it....my weird nose makes cologne smell like Off! not a good smell if you ask me.

So I took it to the dry-cleaners and I had to pay $18.00 to get it cleaned. You know that I hate the dry cleaners but I didn't want to risk any "Off!" flashbacks! Oh and I didn't want to jack up my new Burberry coat by washing it myself.

Hot Off the Presses!

and by presses I mean the Goodwill truck.
I came across this boot in the September 2011 Anthropologie mailer....it kind of looks familiar.....

it looks a lot like some of the boots I have found at various Goodwill stores around the Denver area...

love these.......(too big for me, but stay tuned for my epic Halloween post coming up in the next few weeks. Think Water for Elephants...Big Fish....Our Gang.....)

Where is John Travolta in his white suit when you need him? 70's style is making a huge comeback this fall!

Catrina just took these babies off my hands....yes I am a personal shopper with a built in delivery service....my son acts as the "mule". It is all on the up and up.

Makes you want to go to Goodwill doesn't it? Thought so.

One Happy Baby!

My mom nearly had a nervous breakdown when she saw a picture of my son about to eat shrimp when he was a baby. Some of my family members have some serious allergies to shellfish. It is so bad for my mom that she has to wear a medical alert bracelet. no joke. So basically my boys were banned from then on.

Is that the happiest baby you have ever seen?

So what is this... an art installation? Me going crazy with the label maker? No, it is just what has been keeping me from blogging lately.....

My sons have an allergy disorder that is being studied at the moment. I had to bring in 30 different foods that are common and uncommon triggers. For their entire lives we thought that they were allergic to shrimp and any sort of shellfish.....so they haven't been able to eat shrimp or clam chowder...(even though we lived in San Francisco and it was their favorite food.)


It turns out he was allergic to every single thing on the list BUT...you guessed it...SHELLFISH! Yes he is allergic to ranch dressing, carrots, cucumbers, melon, and the WORST trigger on the list? Broccoli! he wasn't sad about that....the list goes on and on and on, but not shrimp. Who would have thought.
The good news is that he still is a happy baby and can amuse himself in the doctors office. Which is good since we were there three days this week. So he ate about a pound of shrimp when we got home...one happy boy.