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Sunday, October 31, 2010

nutella snack & go



Okay, these are just plain amazing. My friend and I went to the bookstore here at the college in town the other day so I could sell a book and we randomly found these! I've seen them online a few times but I've yet to find them in stores until now! I was so excited! We bought 3 and ate 2 right then! They are basically these super crunchy little sweet breadsticks that you dip in the Nutella on the other side of the cup. I adore Nutella. I just tried it a few months ago for the first time and now I want to incorporate it into everything. I'm planning on trying some chocolate macarons with Nutella filling soon. I think they sound super yummy! Anyway, these little snacks are the perfect size and perfectly portioned so you don't run out of Nutella before you finish all the breadsticks. I need to go buy a few more while they still have them. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow...

Saturday, October 30, 2010

pumpkin pie


Pumpkin pie reminds me of my childhood. I've always loved it for as long as I can remember and it's always been present every year at Thanksgiving and Christmas time. This may explain a bit of my love of the winter holidays. They are my favorite. Maybe it's because of the amazingly scrumptious treats that are constantly being made around that time of year. It could also be that my birthday is in November and that means 2 months with presents for me! I do love the family togetherness of the two holidays. I am all about family. It is my favorite thing so that probably has the most to do with it. I know that when Thanksgiving and Christmas come around not only do I get to see all of my family but I get to bake for them too! I love baking for them because they are my favorite people and baking them something special and seeing them smile because of it warms my heart just like the warmth of the hot cocoa and the fireplace that we all gather around. Needless to say I think you understand that my favorite time of year is arriving slowly but surely and I'm very excited.

I've already made one of these this year and I'm working on coming up with a pumpkin pie cheesecake recipe! YUM!



Pumpkin Pie
1 (9 inch) unbaked deep dish pie crust
3/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 (15 ounce) can Pure Pumpkin puree
1 (12 fluid ounce) can Evaporated Milk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Combine sugar, salt, and pumpkin pie spice in small bowl. Beat eggs lightly in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

Friday, October 29, 2010

pumpkins


I love carving pumpkins. We haven't done it the past few years and I kind of forgot how much I loved it.

Here are the pumpkins we did last night.


My cousin and I made these two. He carved the little guy and I carved the big one.


Look at how cute that little guy is!!


This is Fletcher's pumpkin. He's goofy. Just like Fletcher. :)

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Mac & Greens


I was very excited about this recipe when I first saw it. I'm a pasta person and any pasta pretty much sounds like heaven to me so, of course, this being pasta with cheese (which is my other favorite thing) and then adding some spinach, I was dead set on trying it asap! I decided to make this for dinner one night and just have this as the main dish. I'm perfectly okay with this. The hubs on the other hand wasn't too excited so he was planning on having a sandwich also. Well, once he tried this and liked it a lot and finished his salad he didn't want anything else! This is a huge accomplishment for him. I've never once seen him eat a whole salad or even try spinach! He hates vegetables very much and always has. I guess his Mom never made him finish his veggies as a kid. I've been trying to get him to eat more greens and dishes like this are helping! It's exciting!

Healthy Mac and Cheese with Sneaky Greens

1 pkg. egg noodles (I used large shells)
3 c. fresh spinach, diced
2 T. butter
2 T. flour
1 1/2 c. chicken broth (vegetable broth is a good substitute if you want to make this vegetarian)
1 c. cheddar cheese
1 c. asiago cheese (or another sharp cheese of your choice)
1/2 c. diced ham
1 c. green peas, frozen

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add noodles and cook according to package directions.

While noodles are cooking, melt butter in a large skillet, over medium-high heat. Stir flour into melted butter then slowly add the broth and whisk until flour & butter are completely dissolved. Cook just until mixture starts to boil. Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients.

Three to four minutes before the noodles are finished, add the peas to the pot of water. One minute before noodles are finished, add spinach and diced ham to the pot of water. Drain noodles, peas, & spinach, then transfer to a large serving bowl. Pour cheese mixture atop and stir. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Formspring

I made a Formspring! You should ask me questions. :)

http://www.formspring.me/honeyandthread

I put a little box on the side bar of the blog so you can ask questions there too!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Dujour magazine

Here's the latest issue. Flip through it, read it, love it!


I am totally in love with this magazine! It's any fashionista or foodie's dream mag! I highly suggest you all check it out!
You can also check out their website to subscribe and you can follow their awesome blog too!

pumpkin spice whoopie pie


To be honest, I completely forgot where I got the recipe for these. Oops! They were delicious though. The icing in the middle was my absolute favorite! It was super sweet but not too sweet, just perfect. I'm going to do some searching and find this recipe again because they were pretty awesome. If anyone wants the recipe just shoot me an email and I'll find it and send it to ya!

Monday, October 25, 2010

photography tips?

I am in desperate need of some photography tips! I have been working on my food photography but something just isn't right. I seem to have the composition of the shot down but the quality of my pictures just isn't great. I think it's my lighting? I have been having some trouble figuring out the dang secret to good food photography lighting. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Here are my top 3 food photography inspirations:



Here is one of my recent photos so you can all see what I mean about the lighting and such.
PLEASE HELP!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Je ne sais pas...

This song reminds me of last winter. I love this girl and this song is one of my favorites! I haven't listened to much other stuff by her but I'm sure any Francophile will love this and the video is pretty cute too!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Holiday cookies

I realize Christmas is a couple of months away but these cookies from Martha Stewart look amazing!

Cocoa Shortbread Diamonds

Iced Oatmeal Applesauce Cookies

Checkerboard Cookies

Chocolate-Espresso Snowcaps

Peanut-Toffee Chip Bars

Cut-Out Butter Cookies

Holiday Icebox Cookies

Friday, October 22, 2010

Thursday, October 21, 2010

macaron overload












My absolute favorite!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Homemade is Best


"Homemade is Best" is the super cool baking book from Ikea. I am soo upset that it is not available in the states. Alas, it is only available in the Ikea stores in Sweden. They are free too! That's even more amazing and sad since there's no way for me to get to Sweden to get one! If anyone is reading from Sweden it would be awesome if you could send me one! I'd be forever grateful!

Just check out these amazing images!






Tuesday, October 19, 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!


This blog has been a wonderful way to make some new friends. I just want to wish my dear friend Leti from Becoming Lola a wonderful birthday today! I recently met her through a little challenge she hosted on her lovely blog and we have become great friends. I can't wait to someday meet her in person and sit and talk about food and Paris for hours!

Leti, I hope today is absolutely amazing for you and someday we will get to hang out in Paris and enjoy some lovely macarons that we found while exploring cute little patisseries and see the pretty lights of the Eiffel Tower. Have a wonderful birthday girl!

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Hooray for awesome new friends!
Ciao!