Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Let me just start by saying that i am obsessed with pumpkin... I love the colors of them, I love the time of year they represent and I especially LOVE any food containing pumpkin!!!

So I started a Pinterest board dedicated to All Things Pumpkin.

I have an old family recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, which is probably where my pumpkin obsession started. These cookies are a right of passage each year in ringing in the fall season, which if you haven't guessed, is my FAVORITE time of year....

well, almost!

Christmas is actually my favorite time of year, so I sort of consider Fall, the beginning of the Christmas season. In fact, I have already added my Christmas playlist back on the ipod.

But I digress....

back to the reason you are here...LOL!

I decided to try a few new recipes this year to see if anything could possibly live up to the childhood memories I have of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

Oh.My.Gravy... YES!!!!

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles combine TWO of my favorite things into one little ball of awesomeness!

Since I don't have to eat a snickerdoodle AND a pumpkin cookie, I figure with this creation, I can simply have TWICE as many!!!

So here it is exactly like I found it on 

Recipe Girl

pumpkin snickerdoodles

Yield: 3 dozen cookies

Prep Time: 25 min (plus chill time)

Cook Time: 10 min

ingredients:

COOKIES:
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup pure unsweetened pumpkin puree
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

ROLLING SUGAR:
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice

directions:

1. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream the butter until fluffy. Add sugars and pumpkin puree and beat well. Mix in egg and vanilla, scraping down sides of the bowl to incorporate all of the ingredients.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and ground cinnamon. Beat flour mixture into liquid mixture a little at a time just until incorporated.

3. Cover dough with plastic and chill at least an hour, or until dough becomes slightly firm.

4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper (or spray with nonstick spray). Mix rolling sugar ingredients in a small bowl.

5. Remove cookie dough from refrigerator. Use a medium cookie scoop (1 1/2 Tablespoons) or a large spoon to scoop out dough and roll into balls. Use your hands to roll the balls in the cinnamon sugar and make sure they're coated really well. Place 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Use a glass with a nice, flat bottom to dip in sugar and flatten the balls.

6. Bake at 350°F. for 10 to 14 minutes, or until they are slightly firm to the touch. Let cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes or so, then remove them to a wire rack to cool completely.

tips:

*Store in an airtight container. These cookies freeze well too. Place them in freezer zip bag and remove from freezer when the craving hits.

Source: RecipeGirl.com (Adapted from dlynz.com)

Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce

I ran across this recipe by clicking on a link in a link from a link kind of thing....

Let me just say ..I'm in Heaven!!!

This is so easy and I totally nailed it the first time.

I have included a link  in case you want to look at the actual site where I ultimately found the recipe.

Bakers Royale 

They have fabulous pictures and it only took me about 15 minutes to whip this up!

I am thinking it will be great in hot chocolate, hot cider, in cupcakes, the possibilities are ENDLESS!!!!

Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce

Makes approximately 14-16oz

1 cup sugar

6 tablespoons water

4 tablespoon butter

¼ c heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon salt (optional, for salted caramel sauce)

Instructions:

Place sugar and water into a saucepan over medium low heat and stir the  until sugar has dissolved. Dissolve any crystals forming on the side with a wet pastry brush.

Once sugar has dissolved increase heat to high.

At this point do not stir the mixture directly. Now and then, using the handle, give the pot a swirl to keep the mixture moving. The mixture will start to bubble after a minute or so.

After 3-4 minutes the mixture will turn from a light amber to medium amber and then finally to a dark reddish brown color. Once the mixture starts to smoke, add the butter and heavy cream. The mixture will bubble wildly. Whisk to combine (bubbles will subside upon cooling). Set aside to cool completely.

Notes:

The longer the caramel cooks the harder it will become as it cools.

If after cooling the caramel is too hard, re-heat it and add more water, milk  or heavy cream to thin it.

If after cooling the caramel is too liquid-y, make a second batch and cook the caramel slightly longer, then mix the two together.

For a deeper caramel flavor add your butter and cream after the mixture has smoked for about 30 seconds. 

Grandma Maxine

I was cleaning out some old notebooks and I ran across the notes that I wrote for the life sketch that I gave at my grandma's funeral. So I thought I would post here, mostly so I can remember, but also for those of you who knew my Grandma Maxine. We sure do miss you!

Grandma's life taught us many lessons by the way she lived her life & by her example.

One Man's Junk is Another Man's Treasure

She gave new meaning to dumpster diving by purchasing the junk yard where she collected old bottles.

She also taught us about Consequences when certain grandsons (Jordon and Thad perhaps?), took their BB guns to the junk yard & shot up all her old bottles that she was aging in the sun.

Over the years her kids and grandkids learned what a "Scotch Blessing" was, but she always disciplined with love.

She taught us to be Competitive. She kept a  notebook which contained an official "Rummy Record" of the many, many games over the years... who played, who won (mostly her) and who lost (mostly everyone else).

She even kept score when she played solitaire.

she taught us the importance of Supporting one another and the importance of having a "fan in the stands" by making it a point to attend many ball games over the years of her kids and grandkids.

She taught us Moderation by warning against the "ginger quick step" if you eat too many of her famous ginger cookies.... trust me, I learned this lesson the hard way.... more than once!!!

She taught her kids to Work Hard & then Play Hard. If they got the cows taken care of and the housework done, they could go into town for iron port & cherry. Her kids in turn taught their kids the same lessons about balancing work & play.

She taught us to be Frugal by burning mail & tree clippings for heat. She saved melted ice to water the plants. Her most famous "recycling" was for old polyester fabric in the many quilts she made. She made nearly 100 quilts for family members, plus the many quilts she made for others and for the hospital auxiliary. Landis called her finished quilts the "mysteries of the basement". If you had ever been in her basement you will truly understand what that means..LOL!

 She taught us to be Self Sufficient. Many times she suffered in silence because she would do anything to NOT inconvenience others. when she was 90 years old, her furnace went out and instead of telling someone so they could have it repaired, she just built herself a fire to keep warm. When people would ask how she was doing, her favorite reply was "I'll be better tomorrow"

She taught us Dedication by decorating the graves of family members... even relatives she didn't know. She also taught this by her faithful church attendance and supporting meetings when she didn't feel well, just because someone made the effort to plan it.  

She taught us to be Creative  and what Imagination was all about by building small animal pens out of sticks in the dirt. She also mesmerized us grand kids for hours with matchbox cars, crayons and 

who can forget the marbles.....

She taught us to Share  by never taking the last cookie or piece of pie.

She taught us about Organization when she misplaced my parents wedding license by moving the day before their wedding.... ok, that was an example of what NOT to do :)

She taught us to be Fearless  and to Persevere with her saying "This too shall pass"

She taught us Determination  when she mistakenly brought a cow home from the bottoms

 to milk that turned out to be a range cow... but she milked it!!!

Grandma taught us to be Thankful & Grateful.  

Thankful is from the head and Grateful is from the heart.

She taught us about Patience & Reward  in the huckleberry patch. She picked berries until she was 89 years old and she somehow ALWAYS had huckleberries in the freezer.

She taught us the Law of Viva . That is the benefit of Viva paper

towels over a tissue....

 just as soft and much more absorbent!

She taught us the importance of Family.

She made a promise to Everett that she would keep the family close & she did indeed keep that promise. even though the family was scattered about the country, the cousins were able to become friends. It seems the more we lose, the closer we get. Her family and the church were so important to her & she proved this one Christmas by giving all the grandkids their own set of scriptures. I still use mine today over 30 years later.

I think the biggest life lesson she taught us was Unconditional Love by always standing by her family and fighting for them through the many trials and hard times. every member of her family - either by birth or marriage knows they were special to her in their own unique way.

Grandma, we continue to miss you every day, but your life lessons will always be with us.

Dragonfly

Several weeks ago, S was headed out the back door to do her best imitation of a sun goddess. 

She opened the back door and stopped DEAD in her tracks. 

On the rug was a perfectly intact DEAD dragonfly with about a 6 inch wingspan! 

I touched it and it didn't move.

 She was a still a little reluctant to step outside for fear it would fly up her pant leg...  

but she mustered up enough courage to leap over it and out the door.

Once she was comfortable settled with her sunglasses and ipod, I thought to myself... 

Self.... it would be a shame to waste a perfectly good dragonfly..

(insert evil laugh here)

So I scooped it up and carefully placed it in the shower on top of her shampoo bottle...

oh ya... you know what's coming don't you???

Most of the family was over for dinner that afternoon and 

everyone but S knew what was waiting upstairs....hehehe!!!

Later in the evening, she went up to take a shower...

hehehe.....

We all waited....

and waited....

and waited.....

for a reaction

 and NOTHING.... NADA!!!!

Then I hear the water shut off and immediately the bathroom door opens and she yells....

"WHO DID IT?!?!"

SCORE!!!!

Crash, Bang, Boom

E is an accident magnet!

If any altercation involving a motor vehicle is going to happen to one of my kids,
 it will happen to E.

(Except for the three bumpers that D replaced on the Probe)

She has had several incidents of "contact"... 5 to be exact!

The latest was the worse, since it pretty much totalled her car.

She was stopped at a traffic light with one car in front of her when
another car hit her from behind....

HARD.... like didn't even kind of slow down.

The freaky thing is, this is the SECOND time that has happened to her,
 so this time, she watched it happen in her rear view mirror,
since she is paranoid about that from the first time.
The other odd thing is that when she got in her car, she thought to herself,
"what if I get in an accident?"
Then a couple of minutes later, that very thing happened!

So the car hits her from behind, which propelled her into the car in front of her,
which deployed the air bags, which exploded the windshield!

She had three different impacts!

She doesn't remember the bags deploying, so she lost consciousness after the first impact and woke up in the middle of the intersection with the air bags deployed and the windshield in a million pieces.

The car she hit fled the scene... cowards or criminals.... not sure which!

And to make matters worse....

 the girl who hit her lied to her insurance company by telling them a contrary story to what she told the cops and what actually happened, so now there is a discrepancy with the insurance comp paying her which delays closure and that is a problem since they are headed back to Idaho in a few days :(

After seeing the car in person, I am absolutely convinced

 that there are guardian angels looking out for her

because she only ended up with a twisted pelvis that can be fixed with

 massage, chiropractic, and a little PT.

(I have to admit, I am a little jealous of the required daily massage part)

 But thankful that nothing was broken, nothing was bloody and nothing was worse!

Flavored Syrup Racks

Let me just say that my hubs is freaking amazing.

He tolerates a whole new level of crazy by patronizing my wild ideas 

and they usually turn out WAY better than I ever imagined.

I brought home some wooden pallets from work because I was inspired by all the cool pallet ideas on Pinterest and my friend, Mandi has this really cool rack in her kitchen made out of pallet wood, that she keeps her bottle of flavored syrup in....

So the intention today was to make something like that 

...or rather let my hubs make something for me :)

Then I was out in the back yard and I spied with my little eye....

My old antique Pepsi crates that I bought about 15 yrs ago on Ebay thinking that someday I would do something really cool with them.

They have mostly sat around collecting spider webs and dirt and rotting.

But today....

A couple of them found a higher purpose!

Meet my new racks to hold my flavored syrup, 

my cinnamon Dolce and my favorite balsamic vinegar...

It was sooooo freakin simple I can't believe I didn't think of it YEARS ago!

He removed the metal hardware that was holding one side on the crate and moved the side to the top of the crate and re-attached with the original metal hardware....

BOOM.... 10 minutes... no power tools required!!