Day 27: Pumpkin Bread

On to some belated creative day activities... this is from October 16th and 22nd!

In past years, I've used various mixes or the BHG pumpkin bread recipe, but given that Joe LOVES anything pumpkin (remember?), I figured I should have a better recipe. If you have any good recipes, do share them with me! I was also helping with a wedding shower today, and they wanted to do pumpkin bread instead of a cake (for a fall theme). So, it was time to try new recipes.

Two blogs I follow recently posted what they said were excellent recipes for pumpkin bread, so the competition began. I baked both recipes and got 6 people to try some of each. One was the clear winner - 5 to 1. Joe took some of the losing bread to work, and people still loved it (even asking for the recipe), so these are both great (but different) breads. I also tried a cream cheese frosting that was EASY and yummy. (A third blogger - the one who got me trying the 30 days of creativity thing - also shared a recipe, but it was very close to one of the others, so I stuck with just the two.)

The losing bread was a lighter color and much more dense. Still tasty, and you may prefer it's recipe if you like your pumpkin bread to have more of a pound cake consistency!

The winning bread actually rose a decent amount, so keep that in mind as you bake. The first batch I did accidentally had too much shortening, but it was good (maybe even better)! I somehow forgot that 1 cup of shortening is NOT the same as 8 oz. Okay, here's the recipe for the winning bread with my notes in italics.

Pumpkin Bread
originally from Michele Smith

3 cups flour
3 cups sugar
1 cup shortening (or 8 oz for a crunchier top)
3 eggs
1 can pumpkin
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon (heaping)
1 tsp. cloves (heaping)
1 tsp. nutmeg (heaping)
1/4 tsp. salt
(note from kathryn: I thought it was a little heavy on the spices the first time, so I recommend what I did the second time - cloves BARELY more than 1 tsp, and cinnamon and nutmeg about halfway between a flat tsp and a full heaping tsp.)

Mix shortening, eggs and pumpkin in large bowl.
(I used a beater for a couple of minutes until it looked like this - no white lumps)In another bowl, mix all dry ingredients. (Really use another bowl - no one wants a clump of nutmeg in a bite!) Then add a little at a time to the liquid ingredients until all is mixed well. Put in loaf pan and bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. (I used cooking spray, but it only semi-worked on the mini-muffins and bundt cake. No problem with the mini-loaves. Makes 2 normal loaves, 6 mini-loaves, 48 mini-muffins, or 1 bundt cake - remember to leave room for it to rise. The top looks done way before the inside is actually cooked, so use a toothpick to be sure.)

it looked better than this in person, and tasted very good
bundt cake is a great option for this recipe - it bakes over an hour

I got the idea for the cream cheese frosting from a few different websites... here's my make-shift recipe.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cream cheese frosting
5 Tbsp butter (unsalted)
vanilla
powdered sugar (3ish cups?)

Melt the butter almost completely in the microwave. Thoroughly mix in the cream cheese (I just used a fork). I use Mexican real vanilla that is much stronger, so it was probably less than 1/4 tsp that I added, but it would be more than that with vanilla extract. I go by how it smells - you want to still smell plenty of cream cheese. Add powdered sugar about 1 cup at a time. I didn't dirty up a measuring cup, and I don't have a sifter - the lumps broke up on their own. I added powdered sugar until the frosting stuck to the sides on the bowl and was almost stringy. I also taste a little to see if it is sweet enough. :)


I tried going old-school with the frosting and put an extra large tip in the cut corner of a plastic bag. I'll admit it was HEB-brand, but it failed miserably. I broke two bags before I switched to a disposable decorating bag from Wilton via Wal-Mart. Ah, so much easier and worth the extra cost for sure! The tip costs less than a dollar (or did when I bought it). I didn't even dirty up a coupler. I highly recommend giving this a try - I got lots of compliments and it was faster and less messy (okay, it would have been less messy had I not tried to use plastic baggies) than trying to ice them like cupcakes.

the two broken zip-lock type bags and the successful Wilton bag

Mythbusters: Lauren's b-day edition

Last Sunday was my little sister's 24th birthday! I think I'm in more denial about her age than she is.

In honor of her birthday, Joe and I had our own special edition of Mythbusters.

My sister teaches at a preschool in San Antonio, and she does a great job! It's not a babysitting-type place, they have strict goals for what the kids will learn. Lauren's done neat stuff for the science part of class. One thing involved the kids trying to break an egg. She said that if you squeeze an egg evenly in your hand (not wearing any rings), that there's not enough pressure in any one spot for the egg to break. You won't be able to break it! She did this with her kids, giving them each a chance to break the egg. No one, including her, could break the egg just by squeezing. They tested other methods and eventually cracked the egg.

Joe and I decided to test her "fact" that you couldn't break an egg by squeezing. I was making pumpkin bread and really didn't want to have to pick shell out of the bowl, so I honestly didn't try as hard as I could. I DID try harder than I thought it would take, though. Next, Joe squeezed an egg over the sink. He took off his ring and applied pressure evenly, and here's the result:
That's some serious distance! So, Lauren, I'm afraid to say...

BUSTED!

Happy (now belated) Birthday, Lauren! :)

Mom, you know I'm still alive.

Okay, I'll post an update. My mom seems to think that something's wrong if I don't post, so here goes.

I do have some neat updates for creative days (which I didn't finish within the allotted 30 days, so it's more like "30 out of 45 days of creativity" but it was still fun! I just need to upload pictures to go along with those posts.

Last week (November 9th - 14th), Joe and I were in Dallas. He had a another computer training that was Monday - Friday, and we both decided it'd be better for me to take off work for the week and get away with him instead of staying in town by myself. (I just looked for my post about last time Joe went on a trip, and the surprise I worked on, but I couldn't find it... have I been that bad about blogging?) While in Dallas, I spent time with my parents, some friends from church who are planting a church up there, and a couple of good high school friends I haven't seen since my wedding (almost 7 years ago). I also did some shopping. I spent almost 4 hours at Ikea with my mom and dad (on his day off, sorry Dad!), and I thought I was rushing through. The coolest thing I found (and bought) is this:
It's a magnetic trivet (hot pad)! If I set one of our pots on it and put it on the table, we can pass the gravy (or whatever is in the pot) around the table without passing it all the way back to put it on the hot pad. This is one of those ideas that I wish I had thought of - how smart! We've already used it and I like it a lot.

This week that we've been back has gone by fast!

We got in Friday night, and Saturday our friend Danny came over and got us started tiling some of our floor. He returned Sunday with his new bride, Jordan, who helped me paint one of the last remaining unpainted rooms (just some second coats and a bathroom to go).

Monday, we were with the kiddos and mainly worked on separating clothes (as well as eating a gumbo that turned out spicier than we intended). Tuesday was our small group for church. I don't remember what Wednesday night was. Joe, help? Oh, I think we watched a movie that I wouldn't really recommend unless you're particularly interested in wine. Last night was our appointed date night (we're just starting to do Thursday night as date nights). We stayed in, but it was nice.

I get emails from World Market, and today they sent one saying that Beaujolais nouvaeu was now here, and it goes great with Turkey!!! (their enthusiasm, not mine) I looked it up, and it's a type of wine (from a certain grape in France) that they only allow to ferment a few weeks before selling. Even though it's a red wine, it has very little tannins (from the grape skin - so it's not so bitter... thanks Fall Creek Vinyards for teaching me some about the wine-making process). I was thinking "this might be a fun wine to try," when I read this on Wikipedia: "Wine critic Karen MacNeil has compared drinking Beaujolais Nouveau to eating cookie dough." I'm pretty sure that was a jab at this wine that is not given time to mature, but now I totally want to try it.

I'll try to update with some of the creativity days really soon!

Obama is President Elect

Late last night, they officially announced that Obama was elected president I am amazed by the vastly different reactions of my friends - most obviously my friends on facebook. If you are unfamiliar with Facebook, there is a status update that you can change. For example, mine recently said "Kathryn Anne Vickery Peebles is sick of being sick." You can change the part after your name to say whatever you want and all your friends can read it. (By the way, "Vickery" is not actually part of my legal name, I just left it in there so that friends from before I was married would know who I am.)

I think looking back on this in a few years will help me remember the strange mixture of reactions - I think the status updates reveal more than any article I've read so far.

Here are some of my friends' recent statuses (stati?) starting Tuesday morning until now:
...is voting for Monty Brewster.
...can't wait for the election to be overwith. SO tired of hearing about it.
...VOTED this morning! Yea for democracy!!
...is glad she voted early and won't be standing in long lines today.
...voted for Barack Obama this morning.
...is Palin 2012 baby!
...already voted and is totally taking advantage of free coffee at starbucks and a free cone at Ben and Jerry's!
...is voting...go ______ ! May peace and love prevail!
...is ready for a change.
...is proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free.
...is hopeful...
...voted today! And it took way less time than it did for everyone who voted early!
...just made the "vote" ticker go up!...;)
...voted today
...is "Bob Barr for America!"
...thinks that Karl Marx may become our new "friend", or else!
...is the 1,707,453rd person to donate their status to get out the vote for John McCain today. Donate yours: http://causes.com/election/27577504.
... reminds you that polls close soon, so please go vote for John McCain. Remind your friends: http://causes.com/election?m=33479262.
... is remembering that the lORD remains the same as he did yesterday, as he is today and as he will be tomorrow.
...is looking on the bright side … at least we won't have to worry about putting gas in our cars or paying our mortgages now.
...wishes people wouldn't say such ugly things about either future president.
...is excited to watch our country go to crap.
...is so elated Pres. Obama time for a change history has just happend.
...is beyond words...it's an amazing and promising night.
...is speechless (literally and figuatively)...
...is home and watching history unfold.
...is grinnin'. :-].
...is not a socialist. Neither is Barack Obama: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-obama-chicago-socialist,0,4048540.story.
...is.. i don't know.
...is kinda bored.
...is yeah!
...is excited about the prospect of having presidential addresses that are worth listening to for the next four years!
... is excited that I can now tell my 4 year old, "You can be anything you want to be and here's proof."
...is looking for the handbasket to get inside of...
...is stoked his boy won.
...is glad he no longer has to see political advertisements!
...Disappointed but not surprised. Fortunately my hope doesn't lie in any man or man-made institution. Blessings have abounded this week.
...is hopeful that we will all understand that reasonable times are not created by unreasonable people. Rationality and reactivity do not go hand in hand.
...wishes President Obama well, and his hope and faith and trust are for God.
..."Hamas fires 35 rockets into Israel"...great, they must have heard Obama was cutting military budget 25%.
....is thankful that no matter who wins elections, God is ultimately in charge!
...is glad the elections are over and hopes everyone can find peace and unity with the decision.
...is so emotional and proud to be able to raise her daughter who will always believe that her skin color will not dampen her dreams!
...i dare not trust the sweetest frame.
...knows that Harold is smiling where ever he is... Now time for some post-partisan appointees and a combined effort to lessen the impact of the recession.
...loved the patriotic connection with her 976 customers on 11/4. {this person works for Starbucks - they gave out free coffee to voters}
...is wondering if Oprah is going to miss the additional 16 million dollars she is estimated to pay under Barak's proposed tax plan.
...Yes. They did. http://thad.typepad.com/
...thinks Thad is awesome: http://thad.typepad.com/homeanywhere/
...dreams of a day where no one will be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
...will be living in the USSA - The United Socialist States of America - in 2009. :(

(please note: I just went in order of posting until the time I posted THIS and included every political status update, even the many that do not personally hold true. I would recommend reading Thad's blog that was referred to twice.)

Voting!

It's almost time to vote! Sadly, I'm not yet 100% sure who I'll vote for in the presidential election... lots to think about there. I will figure something out and vote tomorrow, though. And I'll get a cavity filled (less exciting, equally painful).

If you're in the Brazos county, here's a link to the sample ballot which includes the propositions we'll be voting on (if you haven't already voted).

Several places seem to offer free stuff to people who vote, so I thought I might share a few. Do leave a comment if you know of other places! And I think if you voted early, it'd still be fair to take advantage of these offers.

Free Election Day Stuff:

Starbucks - free 12 oz cup of coffee (just tell them you voted)
Ben & Jerry's - free scoop of ice cream for anyone from 5-8 pm

update: Joe went to Starbucks and got a free coffee after voting this morning - you don't need an "I voted" sticker like they said on KBTX.

Not in BCS:
Krispy Kreme : free star-shaped doughnut and "I voted" sticker (perhaps with purchase?)
Chick-fil-A: some locations are giving away free chicken strips or chicken sandwiches - look for signs advertising it at the location

My First Louisianan Wedding

Last weekend we got to see our friends Britt and Jen get married! The wedding was in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Krista made the drive with us and we spent the night with Joe's aunt and uncle in Nacogdoches, Texas. The wedding was at a historic home in this very old town. Steel Magnolias was filmed in this town, for all you trivia buffs. Also, it's pronounced "Nack-a-tish" by locals.I didn't take many pictures, but I suprised myself by actually snapping the bouquet catch! My camera has about a 2 second delay, so this was particularly lucky:Oh - and they worked the Cajun thing into their food! There were several shrimp and crawfish dishes. But they still stayed true to Texas - they had the biggest hunk of beef that I've ever eaten off of, and the groom's cake was red velvet and shaped like Texas with a Texas flag on top.

Congrats, Britt and Jen! I look forward to hanging out as married couples now!

(edit: Here's a better picture of them, thanks to facebook and another wedding guest - her dress was beautiful!)

Day 26 - A Safe Place

Tonight was another night with the kids. I can take no credit for the actual creativity - I just helped. The youngest (9) enlisted my help decorating her "safe place." She had a whole vision worked out for what it would look like. She explained that when she got angry (as someone with 3 older brothers is bound to do sometimes), she could go to her room and close the door. She can sit in front of the closed door and use that time to calm down. And she calls it her "safe place." She wants to decorate it with things that will help her calm down. She also had a special notebook she plans to write out why she is angry. She has another notebook that will be for images that help her calm down - like happy pictures of herself. There is an area of the door for games. She explained that the game she wanted was one they did at school to practice their drills for calming down. You turn over a card that says "go forward one space" and one that space would be instructions like "Take a deep, slow breath." She said that by the time you reach the end of the board, you're calm. It seems like a neat tool. Hopefully I can continue to be a part of creating her vision.

Day 23 - Pumpkin Tortellini

(I'm almost caught up with writing about what I've done as a part of the creative challenge.)

Joe LOVES pumpkin. He'll like pumpkin-anything, as long as people didn't overdo the spices (especially cinnamon). When we saw pumpkin tortellini in the frozen section at HEB, we knew we had to try it. But what type of sauce goes on it? On Halloween we tried a yummy sauce that is similar to a few recipes Joe found online. We just boiled some chicken, cut it into small pieces and let the sauce coat it along with the tortellini. Here's what we did, and I highly recommend it - even if it's just on some other pasta!

Butter Sage Sauce
2.5 Tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons rubbed sage
18ish oz shredded parmesan reggiano
pasta (pumpkin tortellini!)

Start boiling the pasta. Melt the butter in a pan large enough to hold all of the cooked pasta. Add the rubbed sage and let it soak in the butter. Almost a minute before the pasta is done, remove almost a cup of the water it boiled in (save it) and then drain the pasta. Add the reserved (almost a cup) water to the butter / sage. Add the pasta and mix well. Allow the pasta to soak up some of the water and finish cooking. Add the cheese to the pasta, mix well. The cheese melts and seems to disappear. Enjoy!

Days 16, 17, 18, 22 - Prayer Tree project

A few years ago Joe and I had what we called a prayer tree in our house. It went from floor to ceiling in our bedroom and looked like this:We would write things we were praying for on "leaves" (you can see the yellow paper on leaf-shapes). It helped to write out prayers, and also served as a reminder to be praying for things (especially specific things for each other). The idea was to take the leaves off and put them in a book with the way God answered that prayer. We weren't good about following through with that last part, but it was still neat to look at things we had written and think about it (even if we didn't record it). I've missed us doing that, so we're recreating a prayer tree. This time I'm making a smaller (and more 3D) one, but we still plan to put prayer leaves on it.

Here were the supplies I started with: (the newspaper and packing paper missed the photo op)

It was cool, I said "Joe, I need a piece of wood about this long" and in about two minutes he busted out the saw we're borrowing to install our wood floors (thanks Brock!) and cut one for me!

I used mostly coat hangers to make the frame, the covered that with packing paper and tape...

And then added a few layers of paper mache.
Joe helped on the last day - we had a really good conversation while working on it. I think I need to reinforce the base a bit more, and I'll add more (smaller) branches. It's bonsai-ish since our house has a bit of an Asian theme (at least, it will once we get enough done on it to decorate).

Day 19 - Cupcakes with kiddos

I finally did a project with the kids we're with Monday nights. We decorated cupcakes to share with our small group who meets the next night. Joe and I also did some, and here are how the ones that didn't get eaten right away looked:I had considered using ziplock bags instead of real decorating bags and tips, but they all learned how to use them fairly well - there was only one casualty of frosting coming out the end of the decorating bag, which is better than most beginners! Fun!

Days 15, 20, 24, 25 - Embroidery project

I busted out a project I had the idea for and got started on a long time ago. Basically, I'm working on a quilt for our bed. On the middle of our quilt, I'll have our namesake's crest (Peebles, Scotland) with "Peebles" above it (hand embroidered) and the town / shire motto "Contra Nando Incrementum" below it. The Latin motto means something like "increase by swimming against the flow." Even though it's original reference is to the nearby salmon that go upstream to mate / increase, I think the idea of gaining something by going against the norm fits us pretty well. (At least the last half does!)

So I'm trying to hurry up and finish the name embroidery! It takes a long time, and I've spent quite a while several days working on it. On day 20 I was actually sick and stayed home from work, but this was something I could do while lying in bed. On the 24th and 25th days (yesterday and today), we drove to and from a wedding in Louisana, so this was a car-friendly project.

I'll post more pictures of my plan for the quilt and the embroidery as it gets done. Here's a little sneak peak: