Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

So in my annual hunt to find new recipes for one of my favorite flavors: pumpkin, I came across the simple idea of Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls at Taste of Home.

It wasn't a new idea, but it just hit me, that I REALLY needed to make these. Have you ever had a recipe haunt you? Well this was mine.

I took my favorite cinnamon roll recipe, added a dash of pumpkin flavors to it and topped it off with a vanilla bean glaze....ooooh.

These are seriously dangerous. I won't make these unless it's for a crowd because these can VERY easily be gobbled up by one person. And if you are inviting me over, that one person will be me. ;)

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls          Makes 15-20 rolls

Rolls

3/4 cup milk

2 1/2 teaspoon yeast

1/3 cup  sugar

1 cup pumpkin

1/3 cup melted butter

1 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

4- 5 cups all purpose flour

Filling

1/4 cup butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup natural sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg, fresh grated or ground

1/2 tsp cloves, ground

1/2 tsp ginger, ground

Pumpkin Glaze

2 cups confectioner's sugar

1/4-1/2 cup milk
1/2 vanilla bean
4 oz cream cheese

Instructions

1. Heat milk (either in a sauce pan or microwave) until milk begins to simmer- add butter. Let cool until a warm temperature (about 120˚).

2. In a deep bowl, add milk mixture, yeast, and sugar. Let sit for five minutes. Add 3 1/2 cups of flour, salt, pumpkin, eggs and mix until combined. Add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time until the dough forms a nice ball and pulls away from the bowl. Turn out the dough onto a clean surface and knead the dough until smooth and elastic- at least eight minutes.

3. Grab a clean separate bowl, lightly spray the dough with cooking oil and place in a warm draft free spot until dough has doubled in size (around an hour and a half.)

4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out into a 10 by 14 rectangle.

Rub room temperature butter over entire surface and cover with sugar and spice mixture (if it has the words sugar and spice in it, you know it's going to be good!). Roll the dough into a log. Cut into 12-16 1 inch thick pieces. Place in a sprayed pan. I would suggest a 9x13 pan. I myself don't have a pan that big, so I used an 8x8 and a 7x11 pan for 15 rolls.

5. To cook for breakfast the next morning: Cover pans with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator overnight. If you want to continue on, cover and let rise in a warm place for another hour and follow with remaining instructions.

6. The next morning, preheat the oven to 350˚ and remove cinnamon rolls from the fridge and let sit on top of the warm oven to warm and rise to the size you'd like. Mine took longer then I thought, about an hour.

7. Bake for 20-25 minutes until cinnamon rolls are a nice golden brown color. Let cool slightly.

8. While cinnamon rolls bake, take out a small sauce pan and pour in milk. Scrap seeds out of vanilla bean and add to the milk, add vanilla stem too. Cook on low, being careful not to let the milk steam or boil. When the milk begins to smell aromatic, like vanilla turn off the heat. Meanwhile, whip cream cheese until soft and creamy. Mix in sugar slowly until combined. Remove vanilla stem, throw away. Slowly add milk mixture to sugar and cream cheese.

9. Once rolls are out of the oven and while cinnamon rolls are still warm, spoon icing over the rolls. Enjoy while warm (as if there is such a thing as cold cinnamon rolls!)

Calories calculated using Sparkrecipes Calculator: 266.7 calories per roll, with two tablespoons of glaze on top

Cream of Potato and Bacon Soup

As the chill sets in this November, you see people starting to gather towards those warming foods. Potatoes, beef, stews, casseroles...

Foods you can hold under your nose and they immediately warm your face, hands, and once eaten, your whole body. Nothing takes the chill off then a good, warm, bowl of soup. That is exactly what I needed today. I was outside most of the morning picking lemons and almonds off my trees and when I came inside, my hands were freezing and I was hungry.

This is a classic recipe for creamed veggie soup, substitute any vegetable for this recipe and it will still be good. Just vary it a bit according to needs.


I tweaked mine a bit by adding a bit of salty crunch; bacon (and I am Oh So Glad I Did!). Potato and bacon already go great together, but in this soup it's just divine.

The chunks of potato are so nice and tender to bite into

I LOVED the creaminess of the potato soup and the bursts of bacon flavor fill your mouth. I enjoyed every bite of this soup that left me very full afterwards.

But, I still found myself sneaking spoonfuls of the soup a few hours later, Yum!

Cream of Potato and Bacon                Serves 4

6 medium potatoes (or a mix of small and large to fit 6 med potatoes worth)
1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped roughly
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
2 tbl butter
1 cup milk or half and half
4 strips of bacon

1. Fill a medium sized pot full of water and set on stove top on high. While water is heating up, peel and cube potatoes, add to water. Once water boils, set the timer for 7 mins.

2. Meanwhile, in a medium sauce pan, cook your bacon until crispy, drain on paper towels and set aside. Drain almost all bacon fat from pan, sautee onions until aromatic. Remove from heat.

3. Potatoes should be tender after 7 mins, drain water, reserve 1 1/2 cups of cubed potatoes. Take out your food processor or a good quality blender (I have the Jack LeLane one); add remaining potatoes, onions, and vegetable broth. Cover; process about a minute or until smooth.

4. In your sauce pan, wipe out any remaining bacon grease. Add butter and melt. Stir in flour, a good amount of salt and pepper, and stir until combined. Be careful not to burn the butter or flour. Add milk all at once.  Cook and stir until slightly thick and bubbly.

5. Add potato-onion puree and reserved potatoes to sauce. Crumble cooked bacon into the soup and mix gently. Cook until heated through. If necessary add additional milk to reach the consistency you prefer. Season with more salt and pepper if desired.

6. Garnish with, what else? More Bacon! Enjoy!

Calories calculated using SparkRecipes Calculator: 195 calories per 1 cup serving

Pumpkin Party

Fall is here and it's the perfect time to get your friends together; have great food and enjoy each others company.

I have what I have so lovingly call "The Party Curse." See I love to entertain and host, but the people I invite either end up going out of town, family matters, or my party coincides with flu season (even my own wedding was sparse!)

Alas, the same thing happened this time. My best friend, her sister, and her daughters came, which was great, but not what I had planned for.

So, here is my party set up to help give ideas if anyone else is thinking of throwing a Pumpkin Party next year. Who knows? Maybe I'll put myself through this again and it will be different.

Pumpkin Party Intimate Get Together 2011


Decorations

I borrowed a long table from my local church and set up two working tables, one for adults/older kids and one for younger kids.

I had a left over tablecloth roll from my sons birthday so I covered all the tables in that. My mom is a teacher so I went to her school and took about 6 feet of orange paper. I cut that to make a runner to go down the middle of the table. Then I had two pumpkin luminaries which I placed pumpkin carving tools inside.

I also had two bowls available for pulp and seeds.

The kids table was my sons work table, covered with table cloth. I set out tempera (washable) paints, brushes, disposable plates and some push in decorations for the non-carving table. 

The backyard so far...

Besides the tables I also made a pumpkin pennant which I posted about here, and these adorable corn husk pom-poms

I got this idea from one of my favorite blogs CentsationalGirl, she gives a good tutorial on her page here.

Food

The party was in the afternoon, so I only served munchie foods.

Dish 1: Apple slices and Pumpkin Dip. 

The apples were served with the cores cut out using a mini cookie cutter. Served alongside with a pumpkin dip. This went the fastest, between my family coming by and munching, I was out of apples and dip :) 

I got about 5-6 slices from each medium fuji apple, then they took a bath in some pineapple juice. I wrapped them up and put them in the fridge a few hours before the party.

Pumpkin dip

8oz cream cheese

1/4 c brown sugar

15 oz pure pumpkin

spices to taste (ginger, cinnamon, cloves)

Cream together ingredients until smooth, place in serving container and chill at least an hour before serving. Also great with gingersnaps, carrot sticks and honey pretzels.

Dish 2: Veggie Tray. Easy. Simple.

I took a wide, clear platter and spread out a 16oz bag of baby carrots. Sliced up some cucumber eyes, a celery stalk for a stem and snap peas arranged in the shape of a mouth.

Dish 3: Pumpkin Empanadas

I made these about 2 weeks ago and just popped them into the freezer. I took them out the night before and they were just as good. I'll post a recipe for these soon.

Dish 4: CROQUEMBOUCHE

or literally, “crunch in the mouth”. This piece is the traditional wedding cake in France, and is often served at baptisms and communions as well. The classic piece montée is a high pyramid/cone made of profiteroles (cream-filled puff pastries) sometimes dipped in chocolate, bound with caramel, and usually decorated with threads of caramel, sugared almonds, chocolate, flowers, or ribbons.

I had been waiting to do something big and fun and DIFFERENT, so I attempted the CROQUEMBOUCHE (I love saying it). I filled mine with a custard, which is traditional for most creme filled desserts, and of course mine had to be pumpkin for my pumpkin party. I found a pretty good recipe here.

I doubled my recipe and made two batches, one of just pumpkin and one of pumpkin-chai (this one is a winner). I'll post a recipe of my adventures in this piece later too.

Snack Table

Games

Because the bulk of the party I figured was going to be for carving pumpkins, I didn't want to go overboard by planning a lot of games. But I did make one easy one, kids of all ages enjoy (even if they say they are too old for those kid games).

Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin

I bought a poster board from the dollar store and cut out a pumpkin from the orange paper I brought home from school. Then out of black card stock I cut out a mouth and eyes then made about 12 noses or so (more or less depending on how many kids are playing). Keep a blindfold or a sleeping mask handy and you're ready to play.

What does the winner get to take home?

This Pumpkin trophy!

Ding! Ding! We have a Winner!

I bought a small fake pumpkin at Micheal's Crafts and carved "Winner" into it, then filled it with candy. I love it. It's a memorable prize and it's a pumpkin!

Because I only had two kids at the party (my son and my friends daughter, both 2 yrs old) I gave my game and prize to my mom who is a teacher so she can use it in her classroom on Halloween.

Goodie Pumpkins

Finally, before everyone leaves, they were to take home a goodie pumpkin basket. I found these babies at a yard sale, I grabbed all 20 for $5!

Each one was to be filled with some candy, a pumpkin scented candle (dollar store) and....

Once everyone gutted their pumpkins and they gave me all their seeds, I was going to wash, dry, spice, and bake them while they carved their pumpkin faces. Then I had some small candy wrappers on hand to wrap them up so everyone could take home a pumpkin treat from their own pumpkin!

I thought it was a nice personal treat. Alas, my friend who did come didn't want her seeds so I still have them. I'll post that recipe later.

At the end of the day, I was tired; but I had this to show for it.

In some small way, it's goofy, smiling face makes me feel better about my "party curse." There is always another holiday or birthday to plan for and get together.

Simply "Batty" Halloween

So this year I'm not really feeling the Halloween "vibe." I usually don't decorate for Halloween anyways, just a seasonal Fall kind of decorating that I can leave up September through November.

This year I was inspired to do a bit more. Keeping it simple and still nature inspired. I also needed a spash of something to welcome my guests for my upcoming Pumpkin Party.

I have to say, I love this a lot. It was also a lot of fun to see cars slowing down as they drove by to look at it.

Inspiration came from MADE and Country Living (they used stiff felt, if I could afford it, so would I)

please ignore my awful landscaping

Total cost of project: $4.80

Halloween Bat Decoration

Materials:

Black 8 1/2 x 11" Cardstock
Bat Template
Sharp Scissors
Glue Dots or scotch tape
Preserve-It (Krylon) -Optional

1. Take tracing paper and enlarged the bat, 100%, 75% and 50% tracing it each time (paper against the computer screen) to get three different sizes.

2. Cut out templates and fold a black piece of paper in half. Hold one of your templates over the folded side of the paper and just cut around the pattern, don't bother tracing at all. No one will know if they are not perfect.

I am against wasting paper. I just can't do it, so I used as much space as I could on each sheet. I got 8 bats out of the small, 6 from the medium and 3 from the large.

Half my bats were traced on the UNFOLDED side, making them two pieces. I was OK with that. I played around and liked how the pieces also looked like bats flying and not just the part of a wing.

Some of the pieces I doubled up when hanging, so in the end had 5 different looking bats!

3. Cut and cut until you have a nice variety of bats. My house took 100 bats or about 15 pieces of paper.

4. Once done cutting (or tired of cutting), pull out your glue dots, push and stick to any surface. These wonderful time savers are removable, but use common sense when hanging them.

5. For the pieces of bat wings, hold them to the side and see how they look like flying bats, or double them up and use one glue dot for both so you can see two wings. These are great filler space bats!

I bought some Preserve-It (Krylon) which is used to preserve photos and paper. I don't want to be cutting out bats each year! So I gave my bats a spray before hanging to give them a little defense against the evening dew and daytime humidity. I'll update on how they survived after Halloween (8 days away).

I hung my bats wanting them to look natural, flying in a smooth stream across my house. We have bats around here in California, but not the kind thay fly like these. Oh how I'd love to witness something like that!

Enjoy this project and have fun with it. You've got to love those easy, thrifty and big impact ones!

Pumpkin Butter

Dear Pumpkin, I'm so glad its Fall so that we get to hang out for the next few months. We're going to have so much fun together! But please, try not to make me fat, okay? xoxo, Sarah


Oh, hello. My pal, Pumpkin, and I were just having a little chat. You see, I love pumpkin, and it's actually really good for you but its often paired with things like butter, cream, sugar and other items that stick to your booty like a magnet. Making it...not so good for you. But have no fear, I am about to show you that you can still satisfy your pumpkin pie craving without having to break out your fat pants! (And don't act like you don't have fat pants.)

I recently discovered Pumpkin Butter.

Read this post carefully.

If you enjoy pumpkin flavored goodies but not all the taxing calories (or dollars) usually associated with that yummy pumpkin fix, Pumpkin Butter is your new (healthy) friend.

The limits to this goody are seemingly endless, I am VERY excited to show you all the yummy things you can use this pumpkin butter in besides simply just eating it!

For example...does someone reading this blog enjoy pumpkin spiced lattes? I thought so.

Read on, my friend. Read on.

Pumpkin Butter                 Makes 12+ servings

3 1/2 cups pumpkin puree, or 1 -29 ounce can (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup apple cider or juice
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp Saigon Cinnamon
1 tsp ginger, ground
1 tsp freshly grated (or ground) nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves, ground

1. Combine pumpkin, vanilla, apple juice, spices, and sugar in a large saucepan; mix well.

2. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30-40 minutes or until thickened. Stir frequently! Sorry, this is one of those, "slave over a hot stove" kind of investment recipes. But, I promise, it's totally worth it! The mixture is going to burp and spit a little as the heat rises up and tries to find it's way out. If you walk away even just for 5 mins, I would recommend you put a splatter guard over your pot.

3. Remove from heat and let cool slightly, serve warm on toast. Store in the refrigerator, in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

It is NOT recommended that you can pumpkin butter or pureed pumpkin at any time. There is no proven method to preserve the acidity of the pumpkin.

Using SparkRecipes calculator: 83.6 calories per serving

Pumpkin Chai Ice Cream

I had some left over pumpkin from the pumpkin-lavender bread I made almost 2 weeks ago, and I needed to use it fast or I would lose it.

I had just made Lavender Ice Cream last night, so I thought I should use this pumpkin and make Pumpkin-Chai Ice Cream (it's more like soft serve since I'm not making it like real ice cream).

I have to say this ice cream is delicious. If your looking for a pumpkin ice cream recipe, this is it. Within 10 minutes half of my ice cream was gone after I gave some taste tests to my family!

They rated it "20 out of 2 thumbs up" :)

Pumpkin Chai Ice Cream
2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 c sugar
1 c heavy whipping cream
1 c canned pure pumpkin
1 tbl molasses
1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 bag of Vanilla Chai Tea (Bigelow)
Pinch of salt
1. In a large bowl combine the milk, sugar, vanilla. Stir until combined and sugar is dissolved. Mix in heavy cream. Cover bowl and let sit in the refrigerator overnight.

2. In another bowl combine pumpkin, molasses, salt, all the spices, and half the chai tea bag contents. You can add all of it, but I think it would be too strong. Mix well. Cover bowl and let sit in the refrigerator overnight.

3. When ready to make ice cream, mix the two bowls contents together and freeze according to your manufacturers instructions.

ten minutes later...

Pumpkin Patch

In case you havn't made it to the Pumpkin Patch yet this Autumn. Enjoy a look at my favorite locally grown and family run stand.

I love visiting this place during the year, especially in Autumn when there is such a wonderful vatiety of colors, sizes, shapes and textures to see.

The wonderful works of God.

Psalm 65:11

You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.

Pumpkin Pennant

I'm hosting a pumpkin party at my house in a few weeks. "A Pumpkin Party? What is that?" you say. Well...basically its an excuse to hang out and have a party. I know most people go out on Halloween and I am NOT a Halloween party person- I am a Fall person. But that doesn't mean I can't find a way to combine them!

A Pumpkin Party at my house means: Come over, BYOB (bring your own pumpkin), eat pumpkin tasting goodies (will post more later) and carve your pumpkins at my house. I deal with the pumpkin mess, kids can have fun with a few simple games, and adults can spend time together laughing and probably taking over their kids carving :)

I'll be gone for a week right before the date, so I have started making decorations. A few weeks ago I walked around Target and picked up some plates that I thought were cute and that sort of set my party color scheme right off: Orange, Black, Brown and this Teal Blue <3.

Anyways...if your coming to the party, this is a spoiler. You get a look at what is to come (so maybe you'll be more excited to come!).

Pumpkin Pennant

Materials Needed

printer paper
pencil
ruler
scissors
1/2 yard sturdy fabric, I used burlap
approx 3 glue sticks
glue gun
newspaper
10 ft twine, ribbon, yarn etc...
Various color-complimentary scraps of fabric. You can also buy some pre arranged coordinating fabric at any craft store area: Walmart, Micheal's, Hobby Lobby...
small pumpkin cookie cutter
Stitch Witchery (optional)
needle and thread (optional)

1. Take 1 piece of printer paper and fold in half like a book. Using your ruler and pencil make the size pennant you would like. I made mine 5 1/2" wide by 7 1/2" long. Cut out template and trace on fabric. Cut pennants out.

2.  I cut out 12 pennants. I did the math to calculate a good foot length for my garland. 5.5 (pennant width) x 12 (cut out)= 66in. or 5.5 feet so far.

I wanted my pennant to have some hanging room so I added a foot to each end making it now 7.5 feet (90 in).

Lastly, I wanted the pennants to be evenly spaced so I figured I could round out the garland to 10 feet. 10-7.5=2.5feet or 30in. 30/12= 2.6 inch spaces between pennants.

Long story short, cut your twine 10 ft long if you want it like mine, otherwise you can do your own math.

3. Plug in the glue gun, lay out newspaper. Measure 12 inches of twine (or whatever your using), mark with pencil. Lay pennant under twine and add a zig-zag across the top. Line up mark at end of pennant, fold fabric over twine, pinch with fingers until set. If you are using burlap, I would suggest you get a cold glue gun so you don't burn your fingers as the glue may squeeze through.

4. Measure out 2.6in, mark and repeat until you have glued all your pennants to the twine. If you want some added cuteness and security, sew a running stitch through the folded fabric.

5. Get out your scraps, get comfortable, and trace. Trace 12-36 pumpkins (it's up to you how many you want to cut out and glue on pennants). I wanted a good variety of different shapes and sized pumpkins. Nature doesn't come in just one shape and size...so I found a lot of different kinds online and traced them right off my screen. If you want the same pumpkins that I used, I have a PDF file you can print out here.

Now cut out your pumpkins. You should have a nice variety of eclectic pumpkins.

6. Lay out your garland, and arrange pumpkins in a way you like. Hot glue them in place (or use some stitch witchery and iron them in place). Again, added cuteness/security, put a running stitch on pumpkins in contrasting colors.

7. Hang and get ready to make the next party decoration!