Learning to Live: pumpkin

Showing posts with label pumpkin. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

fall is here

At the beginning of every season I'm always excited for something. When it's spring time I'm excited to see more of the sun and all the beautiful flowers blooming everywhere. When summer comes around I can't wait to wear flip flops and lay out in the sun endlessly reading books. When winter comes...well, I love Christmas so winter is good because of that (however, by the end of January I'm at a loss for things to like about winter). And then there is fall. My favorite of all the seasons. What's not to love about fall? Cooler weather. Boots. Leaves. Scarves. PSL. Fireplace. Thankfulness. Candles. Oh and pumpkin {everything}.

Right now my house smells so lovely ~ coffee beans in my kitchen table centerpiece, new apple ale candle, and pumpkin chocolate chip oatmeal bars baking in the oven. Any time I can use pumpkin, molasses, and fall spices in the same recipe I am a very happy girl! My parents are coming to Seattle tomorrow and the whole family will be here for dinner so I'm breaking out the crock pot again to make a pot roast. Crock pot cooking isn't all that fun when only one person is eating (or I end up with a million freezer meals of the same thing!). I can't wait to have people here to cook for and to eat with. My home feels empty with just one or two people. I crave a crowd.

I blame my mother for this feeling I have. Growing up there were always people in our home- after school, coming over for dinner, holiday meals- everyone came to our house for these things. It wasn't until middle school that I started to realize it wasn't normal to have people over for dinner three or four (or more) times a week. Feeding people is both my mom's love language and her spiritual gift, and I feel that I have inherited these things as well. Making someone a home-cooked meal or bringing treats to work is my way of blessing those around me (and also feeling blessed myself). Why not make someone's day a little bit better if I have the time and ability to?

"...Remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" Acts 20:35b

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Mom's Visit

Thursday morning I picked my mom up at the airport for a weekend visit and we've had lots of fun since she got here! We shopped and went out to dinner with my bro and then Friday we got a tour of Seattle U and got lunch on campus before everyone came over to my apartment for dinner. I made pork chops cooked with apples and onions, mashed potatoes, baked apples, salad, and bread and it turned out pretty yummy. I love to cook from scratch, especially when there are lots of people to eat after its all done!

Serving up dinner.

Love him.

The whole crew. I love having 6 people around our table!

And of course, we can't forget dessert! I was torn between making pumpkin chocolate chip bars and pumpkin spice cake but everyone was leaning toward the chocolate chip bars. SO in order to make it a little more dessert-like I added cream cheese frosting. According to my dad, cream cheese frosting makes everything better, and I tend to agree! They turned out delicious and, after being refrigerated overnight, taste even better.

On a slightly different note, while we were shopping this weekend my mom bought me a crock pot for my birthday!! I'm so excited to get started cooking things in it. I've been researching tons of healthy recipes to stick in it, so if you have any I'd love them. So many crock pot meals contain cream-of soups and packaged dip mixes, and I'd prefer not to add extra sodium or unnecessary preservatives to my meals. I'm thinking of trying a lamb stew on Monday night. We'll see how it goes!

Monday, October 22, 2012

Pumpkin Patch

Saturday was a chilly day to be out at the pumpkin patch, but we stayed dry (which was an answer to prayer!) - as soon as we left and pulled onto the road it started to rain, then hail! The corn maze was a bit of a disappointment, but we were there long enough to take a few pictures, pick out some good pumpkins, and eat some apple cider donuts! I was the most excited about the donuts since the donut machine was broken last year and we had to get kettle corn instead (soooo not the same, when you're expecting delicious donuts!) Overall it was a fun outing, followed up with some carving on Sunday. I always forget about how disgusting the inside of a pumpkin smells and how icky the seeds feel, but I know I'm still going to want to do it again next year. Funny how it works that way.

Also, tonight I was in a baking mood (again!) and made some banana bread and round 2 of the Halloween bark. This time I got the right kind of white chocolate that melted beautifully instead of getting chunky. SO we'll see how this one tastes compared to the last batch.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

company=cupcakes

Last night I was babysitting two boys from church, age 5 and 2 and it was so fun listening to all the things they had to say. The older boy told his mom, while at the grocery store a few days ago, that since I don't come over all the time that means I'm "company." And when you have company over that means you should have dessert after dinner. SO he succeeded in getting his mom to buy yellow cupcakes at the store. Can't disagree with that "company's coming over" logic now can ya? Also, the two year old boy was convinced that his mom and dad were out eating ice cream for dinner, no matter how much I tried to tell him they probably weren't eating ice cream he kept saying "ice cream! dinner!" and then laughing like he knows all the answers :)

My newest Halloween rearrangement.
Thanks, Luke :)

In other news, I'm going to the pumpkin patch today and am very excited! I've been praying all night that it doesn't rain on us while we're there. Then tonight we're carving the pumpkins and making a yummy dinner. It will be a very festive fall day and I can't wait!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

pumpkin pumpkin pumpkin

The past few days have really started to feel like fall in Seattle and I'm loving every second of it. I never thought I would see the day that I was celebrating the sun not shining. It's been cloudy all week and we're supposed to have up to 4 inches of rain this weekend! I'm so excited I could squeal :) All that to say, fall is probably my favorite season. And fall means pumpkin EVERYTHING ~ muffins, bread, lattes, cheesecakes, cookies, etc. Thank you pinterest for supplying me with a lifetime supply of pumpkin recipes!