A taste of fall....

Every year, I help organize the annual cookie swap at school.  Right before Christmas, we all make about 6 dozen cookies of our favorite recipe.  Then the fun part.  Everyone trades and walks away with 6 dozen cookies, usually 6 cookies from each person.  Oh Baby....Cookie Swap day might just be one of Tim's favorite days of the year!

One of the secretaries at school made white chocolate chip pumpkin cookies last year and they had me at hello.  Since "bake something pumpkin" was on my bucket list, and I had friends coming over for a little Oktoberfest get-together, there was no better time to bake these yummy cookies.  These pumpkin chippers couldn't scream FALL loud enough...

These were deee-lish with some fresh apple cider  =)

The recipe makes a lot (about 6 dozen!), which makes it perfect for a cookie swap.  

I halved the ingredients when I made it this past weekend, and it made about 3 dozen cookies.

Mary's Pumpkin White Chocolate Drops

2 cups sugar

2 cups (4 sticks) butter

1 can (about 16oz.) solid pack pumpkin

2 eggs

4 cups flour

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2  teaspoon baking soda

1 package (12 oz) white chocolate chips

1 container (16 oz) cream cheese frosting

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

*Preheat to 375 degrees and grease cookie sheets

*Beat white sugar and butter until light and fluffy.  Add pumpkin and eggs.  Beat until well-blended.

*Add flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, and baking soda, beat until blended.  

*Stir in the chocolate chips

*Drop by teaspoonfuls on prepared baking sheets 

*Bake about 16 minutes (until set and lightly brown)  Remove to wire racks to cool

* Combine frosting and brown sugar in small bowl.  Spread on warm cookies

My latest read...

Just finished The Light Between Oceans which is about a lightkeeper, Tom, and his wife on a 3 year post on a remote island off the coast of Australia.  Isabella, the usually vivacious and fun-loving wife, suffers two miscarriages and a still birth, and is on the brink of losing it, when a boat washes up on shore carrying a dead man and a newborn baby.  She convinces her straight-edge, meticulous husband to ditch the body and keep the child to raise it as though she was their own.  He uneasily agrees to keep the child knowing the woman he loves needs the baby to crawl out of her anguish and depression.  Time slowly goes on with the three of them alone on their island of Janus,  and a few years later, on leave visiting the mainland, they realize that their "gift from God" was another woman's tragic loss.

The book starts off strong.  I felt "invested" in the main characters and so sad when Isabella began her downward spiral after the loss of her babies.  It felt a little slow-going in the middle of the book, but once the action began to pick up again, I was sucked right in.  I found myself torn between the two sides of an impossible situation.   It was painful to see the main characters in such agony, because as a mother, I could relate on such a deep level.

Anyway, I thought it was a good read.  Definitely not a "light" book, but I would recommend it :)

It's the little things....

Back to school, back to the grind... I already miss the lazy days of summer.  And I especially miss being able to run errands whenever I want.  T is great at picking up the groceries to help out, but it requires a very SPECIFIC list.  I always tell him that its a given that he will either forget something entirely, or call me 3 times to ask questions while shopping.

I'm ridiculously anal about putting together a grocery list/meal plan for the week.  We stop at the store once on the weekend, that's it.  So I plan my meals for the whole week around what's on sale, what we've got stocked in the freezer, and their "Maggie Approval Rating".

To streamline the grocery shopping, I made a word doc that lists common items on our shopping list in our store's aisle order.  It makes it sooo much easier to cross things off as we go, because everything is grouped according to our path through the store.

Here's this week's list, unfolded after coming back from the store... I write the week's dishes in the top right corner of the paper.  This week, I had some Crock-pot pulled pork left over from the weekend, and plan to defrost a Mexican Lasagna that I made and froze right before school started.  The chicken parm recipe I use is from skinnytaste and the Lil Cheddar Meatloaves can be found on TastyKitchen

 (two of my GO-TO sites for new recipes).  

Sometimes it's the littlest things that make a big difference... I really wish I had made this list-system sooner!!

Back to school, back to schoooool....

As much as I love the fall, I dread those first few days of going back to school.... Getting to know the kids, getting them to learn how I operate and what will or won't fly with me... Then there's Back to School Night nerves and worst of all, leaving my baby-girl again all day, every day :(

Sometimes I wish I could just skip the first two weeks of September, snap my fingers and already be in my "school groove"... I could do without the stress of transitioning back to work, and instead focus on the fun things that I love about the fall.

Soooo... I made a fall bucket list!
It's attached to our calendar, so I'll be looking at it often... Let's hope it helps me focus less on the stress of back-to-school-back-to-work, and more on the autumn activities that make me smile  =)

Amazing French Bread...

Nothing beats the smell of fresh bread baking in the oven... I found a great, easy french bread recipe on Tastykitchen.com.  It. tastes. awesome.
Clink on the link for ingredients.

After combining all of the ingredients, this is what I had.  not appetizing.

Then I covered it a bit with plastic wrap, leaving one side kind of open, and turned my oven to 175 to allow some warmth to help my dough rise on the stovetop.

I let it sit for 10 minutes and then came in to stir it.  I repeated that a total of 5 times.

Next, I divided the dough in half and rolled it out on my floured countertop.

I got it into a rectangle=ish shape, rolled it up like a jelly roll and placed it on a greased baking sheet, repeating with the second half of dough.

I was supposed to let it rise for 30 minutes, but Mags and I were playing in the yard, so it ended up being more like 45, just to show that this doesn't have to be super exact.

It rose quite a bit, so much that I actually had to move one of the loaves onto its own baking sheet.

I cut 3 diagonal slits into the bread and brushed it with egg wash, then I sprinkled on some salt, oregano, and basil (that part wasn't in the recipe, but I like a nice salted/flavored crust)

I popped the loaves in the oven for 25 minutes at 400F

and....... oh baby!

It smelled AMAZING!  I couldn't wait for it to cool off... I cut the end off almost immediately.  

Then I topped another piece with some deelish olive tapenade that I picked up at Price Chopper last weekend.      O. M. G.  

I swear Maggie and I ate half a loaf of bread by mid afternoon!  The best part is I wrapped the 2nd loaf up and stuck it in the freezer for next week.  I've got a quart of T's homemade sauce with meatballs and sausage in the freezer for the crazy first few days of back-to-school, this bread will be perfect on the side =)

Busy Toddler = Happy Mommy

This is one way I keep Mags busy in the kitchen when I've got my hands full cooking or baking... I saw this on Pinterest (of course) a long time ago and now I whip pipe cleaners and a colander out on random occasions when I need Maggie occupied (and out of trouble!)

You know she's focused when her tongue's out in concentration lol

While she's busy creating her masterpiece, I ask her what colors she's adding and have her count the pipe cleaners... she stays engaged with it for a while

Love simple things that make my girl (and me) happy!  =)

Another FUN salad =)

I'm making good on my word and making fun salads more often!  

Actually, this was the perfect accompaniment to a nice "meatless Monday" meal I conjured up for this week... broccoli and cheddar quiche!

It's one of my goals for this school year...

 1.  use my crockpot more often

2.  prepare more "freezable" make-ahead meals

3.  try to do a night or 2 a week of meatless meals

Anywho... the salad is a store-bought bagged mix of 1/2 baby spinach and 1/2 mixed greens, topped with 3 tomatoes from our garden, sliced pepperoni, a few slices of rolled up genoa salami, and some fresh mozzarella.

The quiche is 7 eggs, a crown of chopped, blanched broccoli, a nice handful (or 2) of shredded cheddar, salt, pepper, a dash of nutmeg, and a 1/2 cup of half and half whisked together... First, butter 2-3 Corningware 8-to-16 oz bakeware dishes (I used 2 16oz ones, and 1 8 oz one for Mags), and pour in the egg mix.  Bake at 350F for about 35-40 minutes.  Then serve with the salad and some nice crusty bread.

I love that there are 2 big ones for me and T and a little one for Magpies :)

The perfect trifecta of 

Deelish!  Easy! and  Cheap!