Thursday, October 30, 2008

Can You Tell I am Hungry?

Hee Hee...yeah, I am so stinking hungry right now, and what do you find me doing, surfing recipes... Now my stomach is really growling... and unfortuntaly I left lunch at home...

When will I stop torturing myself?

Another recipe that sounds just amazing!

Pumpkin Pecan Chocolate Chunk Cookies

2 1/4 cup self-rising flour
3 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup chopped pecans
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chunks

Whisk together flour and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter.
Add both sugars and beat until light and fluffy.
Add vanilla.
Add eggs one at a time and beat until combined.
Add flour/spice mixture to sugar mixture in three additions. Alternate with pumpkin in two additions, ending with flour mixture.
Stir in chopped pecans and chocolate chunks.
Drop on cookie tray lined with parchment paper.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Makes about four dozen cookies.
Let cool.

Maple Brown Butter Frosting

3 cups sifted confectioners sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
2 tsp maple flavoring
Sift sugar and set aside.
Melt butter over medium heat until golden brown. Watch closely so it does not burn.
Add butter to sugar, scraping all the butter into the bowl.
Add milk and maple flavoring. Stir until smooth.
Spread on top of cookies with an knife or offset spatula.

Yummy Twist To The Ordinary Roasted Pumpkin Seed.

I found this really yummy recipe for Spiced Pumpkin Seeds... So good, thought ya'll might want to try it! Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

1 cup raw pumpkin seeds, rinsed and dried
(you may choose to only partially rinse them, since they tend to have a bit more flavor with some of the pumpkin still on them)
6 tablespoons white sugar, divided (4 Tbs. is sufficient if you don't like your seeds overly sweet)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Spread pumpkin seeds in a single layer on a baking sheet. Toast for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until dry and toasted. Larger seeds may take longer.
In a large bowl, stir together 2 tablespoons of white sugar, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pumpkin seeds and sprinkle the remaining sugar over them. Stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar melts, about 45 seconds. Pour seeds into the bowl with the spiced sugar and stir until coated. Allow to cool before serving. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Homecoming at Creek.

So now that football is in full swing... 5 weeks and counting... and Homecoming week is here, I can honestly say that I am simply Exhausted. Most of the exhaustion stems not so much from football itself, but rather from Iain, and the fact that when I get home from practice he is ready to play. Would I trade the playtime for rest... absolutely not, but it still doesn't make it any easier to get up in the morning and get going.

Yeah, so homecoming week is here, and my oh my what an interesting week it has been... luckily the first three days of dressing up is over and there are only 2 more to go.... we have seen bananas, referees, Reno 911 officers, superheroes, Sara Palin lookalikes, Barbie Dolls (in their boxes!) Elvis, hippies, Richard Simmons, '80's jazzercizers and breakdancers, and those are the VERY tame ones. Tomorrow is spirit day and I am sure we will be seeing TONS of orange and black, but Friday... OH FRIDAY....the day of all homecoming spirit days. Yes... it is the dreaded, but HILARIOUS (and perfect for blackmail later on) Senior Cross-dress day. Oh to see the guys decked out in mini-skirts, pantyhose, tube-tops and caked on make-up. Sometimes I wonder if this is the image they have in their mind of how girls really are, (which is a very sad statement in and of itself) or if this is hopefully the OVERDONE spoof of todays in-your face fashion statements. Either way, it is fun to watch, and especially fun when some of the guys can actually pass for girls in the hall... I passed one young man last year who I REALLY thought was a girl. THAT my friend, is a very successful senior cross-dress attempt! However, I think my favorite is to see my senior football players... all 6'5" 250 lbs of them squeezed into hose and skirts, wigs and make-up. Very, very entertaining!

So here is a video I found on YouTube that some of my former weightlifters posted of this fully entertaining day at our school. (Imagine trying to teach with these kids in your class... HA!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2c94aT2rTk

Anyhoo...Here's to the game tomorrow night, and hopes of a winning streak continued!