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Fall Time On My Front Porch.

I really enjoy decorating for each season/holiday.  I will leave my fall/Halloween decor on my porch until Thanksgiving weekend, then I will put winter/Xmas for a few weeks. 

Do you decorate? Which areas, where do you purchase your decor from? Leave me comments below!!

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Pumpkin Spice Monkey Bread-By Bees Adventures!

http://beesadventures.wordpress.com/2013/10/16/pumpkin-spice-monkey-bread-with-caramel-glaze/

I found this amazing recipe on “beesadventures” blog! Easy to make, fun to eat!!

Pumpkin Spice Monkey Bread with Caramel Glaze

Yield: 1 bundt pan

Prep Time: 60 minutes | Bake Time: 20 – 25 minutes

Dough Ingredients

• 3/4 cup Lactaid milk (soy milk would work fine too)
• 1/4 cup vegan margarine or lactose-free butter (Becel or Fleischmann’s are my favorites)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup warm water (between 100 to 105 degrees Farenheit)
• 2 1/4 teaspoons dry active yeast
• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling Ingredients

• 1 cup brown sugar, packed (if you want to make brown sugar yourself, see the recipe below)
• 1 tablespoon ground Pumpkin Spice
• 1/2 cup vegan margarine or lactose-free butter, softened

Glaze Ingredients

• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup lactose-free whipping cream
• 1 tbsp vegan margarine or lactose-free butter, softened

Monkey Bread Preparation

1. Heat the milk in a small saucepan until it is warm to the touch, then remove from heat. Mix in margarine; stir until melted. Leave to cool.
2. Heat water to 100 – 105 degrees Farenheit. Add yeast; stir. Let sit for 5 minutes to activate yeast. Mixture will look foamy on top when yeast has activated.
3. In the bowl of your stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, combine 2 1/4 cup flour, sugar and salt; mix well.
4. Add egg to cooled milk mixture and mix well.
5. Add activated yeast and milk mixture to dry ingredients. Mix until dough comes together in a sticky ball.
6. Add the remaining flour, 1/4 cup at a time, kneading well after each addition until dough is soft and smooth but still a bit sticky.
7. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let rest for 10 minutes.
8. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, pumpkin spice and softened margarine.
9. Tear small, pieces of dough and roll into balls. Toss each into the sugar mixture until coated, then place in a greased baking pan.
10. Cover baking dish and let rise in a warm place for 20 minutes. If you’d like to cook these at a later time, refrigerate or freeze covered and let pan sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before cooking. Don’t be concerned if rolls do not rise too much.
11. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit when ready to bake.
12. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until browned. Let cool for 10 minutes before turning out on a serving dish.
13. Serve warm, drizzled with glaze. Glaze recipe follows below.

(Adapted from 90-Minute Cinnamon Rolls at Chinese Grandma)

Caramel Glaze Preparation

1. Pour the water into a saucepan then pour the sugar in a pile in the middle of the water. Turn the heat to medium-high heat and begin cooking without stirring. The sugar will dissolve in the water and begin to boil.
2. When the sugar begins to lightly brown, gently swirl the pan until all of the sugar is a deep golden brown.
3. Carefully pour in the cream and add the butter. Whisk until smooth.

(Adapted from Chef Michael Smith’s Caramel Sauce at Food Network)

PLEASE LEAVE ME COMMENTS!

Before & After

Yuck! I hated the set up of my closet. It hasn’t been working for me for years, but finally I decided to spend the weekend re-doing it.

Ugly!

Wow! I doubled the space in the closet! Painting the inside of the closet makes me feel clean! Although you can’t see the paint job, I know it’s nice and pretty behind all of my clothes 🙂

We had to pull everything out of the closet-everything.

Lots of time, but only cost about $50.00 The paint ate up most of that budget. A couple shelving supports and an additional dowel.

I don’t have a “honey-do” list, but I do have a “daddy-do” list, haha! My dad is always so eager to help me with my crazy projects that I have going on!

Total time spent, about 10 hours.

Vegan Lentil Loaf

If you are a meat eater, this dish probably isn’t going to look too appetizing to you. But, for us veggie’s, this is a little piece of heaven. Regardless, my carnivorous eating family enjoyed the dish. I’m not vegan, but this recipe happens to be such. Easy to make, serve with a side salad or bowl of soup.

Here’s how to make it:
1 1/2 cups lentils
3 1/2 cups water or vegetable broth (I used broth)
2 onions
2 cloves garlic
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups pre-cooked rice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup ketchup or bbq sauce
1/2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

Pre-heat oven to 350 F degrees.
In a large soup or stock pot, simmer the lentils in water or veggie broth until cooked, about 30 minutes. Drain thoroughly then mash the lentils until they are half mashed.
Saute the onions and garlic in olive oil for 3-5 minutes, or until soft.
Combine the onions, garlic and olive oil with the mashed lentils, rice, salt, sage, ketchup and Italian seasoning.
Gently press the mixture into a lightly greased loaf pan (I used a 9×13 dish). Drizzle a bit of ketchup and bbq sauce on top.
Bake for 1 hour. Allow to cool slightly before serving, as this will help the lentil loaf to firm up. Serves about 6 adults.

Poppy Seed Cake

Moist, dense, and delicious! This is worth every calorie 🙂

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup vegetable oil
13 fluid ounces evaporated milk
1/4 cup poppy seeds

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan.

In a large bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and add eggs, vanilla, oil and milk. Mix well and fold in the poppy seeds. Pour into a 10 inch tube pan.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Place cool cake on a pretty plate or cake stand. Using 1/2 container of store bought frosting (vanilla), place frosting in microwavable measuring cup and heat for approximately 20 seconds. Drizzle over cake. I added a few extra poppy seeds on top for decoration.

Eat and enjoy!!

Spaghetti in Browned Butter and Myzithra Cheese

What you will need:

Spaghetti-16 oz box/package
Basil-fresh, chopped, 1/2 cup
Garlic-crushed, 1/2 teaspoon
Butter-1 stick (1/2 cup)
Myzithra cheese-grated, 4 oz

Cook one 16 oz. package of spaghetti, follow directions on box.   Drain, put back in pot, set aside.

To brown the butter and add cheese takes only about 5 minutes.  In a white frying pan place 1 stick (or half a cup) of butter. Don’t use margarine or butter substitutes. Keep heat on medium heat, stirring constantly. It takes only a couple of minutes, you will start to see the butter turn brown. Once a medium brown, take off heat. Add 1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic, and 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil, pour over pasta. Stir, mix thoroughly. Last step, pour all 4 oz of cheese into pot, toss pasta. Serve and enjoy!

A nice soft roll or French bread would be nice with this. I would also serve a fresh vegetable on the side. 🙂

Peanut Butter Cookie

Hands-down the best cookie I’ve ever had in my life!

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter. I used chunky
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 tablespoon milk (I used half-and-half)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Set aside a small bowl with 1/4 cup white sugar, for sprinkling.

Preheat oven to 350 F, no need to grease cookie sheet. I lined pan with wax paper.

Add all dry ingredients, mix as you go. Add remaining ingredients. I use my hands to mix the dough well, I prefer hands versus a mixer.

Form 1″ balls of dough, then roll in the white sugar, then place on cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 min, or until the cookie is slightly firm to the touch. Remove from cookie sheet, allow to cool.

Try not to eat ALL the cookies at once! Yes, they are that good, at least to me 🙂

Vegetarian does NOT = Boring!

Tofu chili, with a delicious “sweet” tamale.
My tummy is happy after eating this veggie chili. I grabbed a home made tamale out of the freezer and threw it on top of the chili, yum!!

TOFU CHILI
1 package of tofu, baked (see recipe below)
2 15 oz cans of pinto beans (or refried beans) (do not drain)
2 15 oz cans of red kidney beans (do not drain)
1 15 oz can of of diced tomatoes
1 medium sliced zucchini
1 2.25 oz can of sliced olives
1 packet of taco seasoning (1 tsp for tofu, the rest for the pot)
1/3 cup of whole grain brown rice (any rice is fine though)
1/2 tsp crushed garlic
2 green onions diced
3 TBsp olive oil.

Baked tofu:
Drain tofu and lightly press with paper towel to absorb a little of the water. Slice tofu length wise and place on greased cookie sheet. Using about 1 teaspoon of the packet of taco seasoning, Light dust top and sides of tofu with taco seasoning. Safe the rest of the taco seasoning for the cooking process. Place in pre-heated over 400 degrees, for 20 min. After 20 min, turn tofu to brown on another side, bake for another 15, repeat one more time. Total baking time about an hour. Let tofu cool and dice into small chunks. Set aside. You can bake up to a day ahead of time.

Heat olive oil on high, until hot. Toss in the onions, garlic, rice and cooked tofu. Stir constantly while browning, about 2 min. Turn heat down to medium heat. Put in all ingredients except the zucchini. Bring to a quick boil, then put on low heat. Cook for five minutes, then toss in the sliced zucchini, then turn off heat. DONE! Let sit for up to half hour before serving, it will thicken up nicely while waiting. Salt to taste 🙂 Even better the next day!!
Enjoy!

Quick & Easy Pizza-Audrey Briggs

What you will need
1 can of crescent dough
1/2 cup chopped pineapple
1/2 cup chopped artichoke hearts
1 tiny can of sliced olives (just about 1/4 cup)
5 large basil basil leafs, minced
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Other toppings you can add; crushed garlic, sliced tomatoes, peppers, onions, zucchini, pretty much anything that you like to eat.

Heat oven to 400 Fahrenheit

Spray pizza pan with oil spray.
Pop open canned dough, lay on pan and use a rolling pin make the dough larger.
Spread cheese over entire dough
One at a time, spread remaining toppings.
Place in the middle of your oven. Check after 10 minutes for doneness. The pizza is done once the dough is a nice soft brown. Slice immediately. Serves about 4 adults, or 1 hungry teen-aged boy! Hahaha!