Pumpkin Pie for Halloween

It's raining here today which doesn't bode well for the little ones heading out tonight to Trick or Treat.

Around here October and November mean Thanksgiving, pumpkin pie and my family's tolerance to my nesting.  I love to hunker down after being outside in those perfect and not so perfect weather days of autumn.  My favourite time of year.  It also means a shift in my baking to indulge in the seasonal offerings of apples, pumpkins and squash.

Here is my go-to Pumpkin Pie recipe, tweaked out of a combination of a few recipes I've tried over the years.  Yield is 2 pies.  I use Martha Stewart's Pate Brisee for the crust or when in a rush pick up 2 frozen deep dish frozen pie crusts from the grocer.  This recipe is quick to pull together, easy and oh so delish.

Don's Favourite Pumpkin Pie

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 heaping tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

1/2 - 1 teaspoon cloves (I use 1)

3 eggs, beaten

1-1/2 cups milk (I use 1%)

3-1/4 cups pumpkin puree

(2-1/2 cups pumpkin if using prepared shells that aren't deep dish)

Brush pie shells with beaten egg.  Combine all dry ingredients and mix together.  Add all wet ingredients and whisk together by hand until smooth.  Pour into pie shells.

Bake at 400F for 20 minutes

then reduce heat and bake for an additional

35-39 minutes at 350F
Pie filling should crack open around the
edge to be  baked through to the centre.

Cool and then let set up in refidgerator.
Delicious on it's own or served with fresh whipped cream,
vanilla ice cream or vanilla frozen yogurt.  

  

Wishing you all a very Happy Halloween.  Live, love and laugh much.  Hug those you love.  Renee  

S'more cupcakes

These are decadent.  Oh ~ so good!  Recipe can be found HERE

I brought 2 dozen of them to class to celebrate this. 

My comments on this recipe:  the cupcake itself is really wonderful and one I'll bake again.  The batter is watery and runny - but like the recipe says - it's ok and will bake up nicely.  They did.  Light and firm, tasty and tastes like homemade - very very good!

The icing recipe says it makes enough for 30 cupcakes - the recipe makes 24 cupcakes.  Truth is the icing makes enough for probably 60 or 70 cupcakes!  Even halfing it would be far too much.  I found the icing too sweet for my liking.  The first time I try a recipe I follow the directions as written.  Next time I'll drop the sugar added to 1/3 or 1/4 of recommended and 1/2 the marshmallows. The icing texture is wonderful - light and fluffy, just way too rich for me.

I grated some of the graham crackers over the icing and had no problem making the graham wafers and chocolate stand up in it.  These look even better than they photograph and are going into my recipe file, with the tweeking of the icing.  The cupcakes themselves would be great topped with whip cream and berries, how I plan to serve them next time.

If you like s'mores, you'll love these cupcakes!   They were a big hit at class.  I'm giving them a big thumbs up.  What's your favourite cupcake?  I'm looking for new recipes, I'd love it if you'd share your best with me.  :)

Be well, be happy and take care!  Renee

French Breakfast Muffins

Ryan especially loves these.  He's keen on the sugar and cinnamon topping, I prefer mine plain with my tea so there's always one in the dozen that's not dipped in the sugary stuff.  These store well and freeze well, but don't last long enough at our house for that to matter.

French Breakfast Muffins
Prep: 15 minutes  Bake: 20 - 25 minutes

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (optional)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar

Topping:
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, melted

1. In a mixing bowl combine flour, the 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.

2. In another bowl beat egg slightly; stir in milk and 1/3 cup melted butter.  Add egg mixture to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened ~ the batter may be lumpy.  Lightly grease muffin cups. Fill cups about two-thirds full with batter. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until muffins are golden.

3. Meanwhile, in a shallow bowl combine the 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon. Immediately dip tops of hot muffins into the 1/4 cup melted butter, then into the cinnamon-sugar mixture until coated. Serve warm. 

Yield:  12 small muffins.  This recipe doubles well!!  I pretty much always make a double batch.

Make-Ahead Tip: Bake muffins as directed. Cool completely. Place muffins in freezer containers or bags and freeze for up to 1 month. To reheat, wrap frozen muffins in heavy foil. Heat in a 300 degree F oven for 15 to 18 minutes.

This is one the Go-To staple recipes in my files.  It's easy and quick.  I enjoy one for breakfast cut in half and spread with a bit of jam.  You can also drop any of your favourite fruits into the batter to bake.  Give them a try!  Would love to hear what you think of French Breakfast Muffins. 

Be well, eat well and take care!

Oktoberfest: Schnitzel 101 (and the Giveaway winner!)

Who won, who won??? I'll let you know at the bottom of this post.

Our city population has begun to swell beyond capacity. Kitchener hosts the second largest Oktoberfest in the world running this year from October 9 - 17th. It starts the Friday of our Thanksgiving weekend. Opening day is time to make Schnitzel. It's easy to make, really easy.

Cast of Characters, also known as the Ingredients:

Wiener Schnitzel, flour, eggs, bread crumbs, season salt, salt, pepper and Canola oil. That's it, don't need anything fancy, although a slice of lemon is usually served with each piece and a nice touch to squeeze it fresh on the meat. I'm not keen on the lemon myself, but most everyone else is. Just imagine that the flour is in this picture too, the canister is sitting on the counter just outside of this picture. Had a blond moment ~ what can I say?

Our butcher has a machine that tenderizes the pork. If yours doesn't a good smacking with a tenderizing mallet will do the job or even the flat side of a cleaver and then poke them up with a fork or meat prongs. My dad jokes you can drive over them with a steamroller in the parking lot yet too. Once they're tenderized and we put some weight into them they'll flatten out plenty.

Traditional Wiener Schnitzel is prepared in restaurants in a deep fryer that's shallower than most and has rolled pipes a few inch down in the oil to let the bread crumbs that separate float down into the basin of the fryer, keeping the oil cleaner where the meat is cooking. It used to only be fried in beef fat, but now Canola oil is the accepted healthier substitute. At home a fry pan with just enough oil to cook in and then turning them over works well too, that's how I do it. If I'm making a lot and the oil is starting to darken I'll start with a fresh pan and new oil. Use medium high heat. You want the oil good and hot so it isn't soaked up too much during cooking, but not so hot that it's smoking. I get a good rolling bubble going on in the pan.

Pay attention from here in out ~ because the real way to your loved one's heart is with Schnitzel. Men will be putty in your hands. I wouldn't kid about something like that. The trick to great Schnitzel is a double dip into the flour and eggs and super fine bread crumbs. Double dipping is allowed here. It's a must. This is a traditional flour, egg and bread crumb crust... just a little particular about how it's applied. Get ready to get your hands messy. I keep a big bowl of warm water in my sink and a plastic scrubby to give my hands a quick clean off between each piece. I use a bowl so that I can dump it outside instead of putting that down the drain to avoid any clogging issues. These fried babies will do enough harm to your arteries, don't need to call a plumber too. We don't eat fried food often, but seriously - it's Schnitzel and Oktoberfest ~ some times we need to live a little.

Use plain white bread crumbs available from the grocery store or baker. Now this is a biggy point: if they're a bit coarse, give them a few good rounds in the food processor to make them as fine as flour. There is a big difference in the texture of the crumbs and the texture of the finished Schnitzel breading. The crumbs on the left are straight out of the container and the crumbs on the right have been processed. You can see how the colour has changed too after the darker crust bits got pulverized in the food processor.

Let me apologize right now if you're on dial up... there's plenty of pics coming up next.

Set yourself up a little assembly line: flour, eggs, bread crumbs and your preheated frying pan, as well as a plate or pan on the other side with racks and paper towel to drain the schnitzel on when it's just out of the pan. Ok, here we go.

Start by seasoning the meat. I do this on both sides, unless I'm in a big hurry. To taste use Season Salt, fresh ground pepper and salt. I like to use Kosher or freshly ground sea salt. Tasty.

Press the meat into the flour. Bury it and give it a really good press. Both sides. Then give it a little jiggly-shake to drop off the loose excess flour.

Dip it into the beaten eggs.

Back into the flour. Don't skip this part. They need the double dose of flour and egg bath. Don't be shy, press it in well again on both sides, then shake off the loose flour.

Back into the beaten eggs for dip #2.

Now the fine bread crumbs. Press and cover it well. Turn it over and press it in again. Shake and jiggle off any loose bread crumbs. At this point you can either keep assembly lining the schnitzel and stack them up to cook, or keep it rolling and cook as you go. I start cooking right away. My family is starving the instant they smell the first one start to sizzle.

Into the hot oil.

Turn them over when they're a nice golden brown underneath.

As they're done you can put them on your waiting rack. I put a jelly roll sheet under the wire racks and paper towel on top. See those bubbles? The oil is nice and hot, but not smoking.

I did 3 layers of these. See how they're a little darker on the edges... that's what happens when your camera battery dies and you start rushing around looking for a new battery as the schnitzel keeps cooking. No worries, they're fine. They smell good. Mmm...

Ryan likes his plain on a bun. He's got 2 on there. See that smile, he learned that from his daddy. His mouth is full right now and he's making Mmm, mmm sounds.

Wiener Schnitzel 101. Enjoy!!

* * *

Thank you so very much everyone for the kind get well wishes. I love hearing from you all. I admit it, I adore comments. Love them. I'm happy to report that we're all feeling better. Thank you also for entering my First Blogaversary giveaway. I really enjoy having Giveaways and will do lots more.

By drawing from my favourite mixing bowl the winner of the books is: Celtic Cast On. Congratulations! If you could email me your address to rycole at hotmail dot com I'll mail them off as soon as the Post Office opens again on Tuesday morning. I enjoyed this Giveaway so much that I pulled a second name as well!! Second prize goes to Dandy. If you can send me your address at the email I just mentioned I'll ship a copy of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's Knitting Rules your way.

Have a terrific weekend everyone! Enjoy Oktoberfest and to all my fellow Canadians Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Columbus day to our American neighbours as well. :)

Best,
Renee

Tasty Kitchen

Tasty Kitchen is a brilliant site created by Ree Drummond, aka Pioneer Woman. Tasty Recipes from Real Kitchens. You can keep a recipe box of your own and/or other people's favourites in your profile. Recipes can be searches by category, ingredient or by name. There's also a chat wire, user feedback, a rating system, plus member profiles and links to their blogs. And it's free. There's photos of lots of delicious food. Think Ravelry for recipes. It's brilliant and wonderful. It's inspiring. Go check it out, you won't be sorry ~ you'll thank me ~ so will the people you cook for.

I've been spending a lot of time there. The recipes are printable. Categories and tags help you search for any recipe you could possibly want like chicken, chocolate, glutton-free, desserts, main courses, soups, salads, sides, canning. The list goes on and on and the data base is being updated constantly.

Every so often I find I've fallen into a culinary rut. Tasty Kitchen is a great resource to get me out of that. It's fun, it's free and maybe just a bit addictive.

Autumn sees the gourmand wanna be in me take a firm hold, happens every year. I spend more time in the kitchen cooking and baking. Like most people we barbecue less and eat heartier foods during cold weather. I've been checking out slow cooker recipes on TK, love those. Coming home after a long day at work in the fall or winter to a house that smells wonderful feels like walking into a favourite restaurant where I don't need to be the one doing the cooking. I'll often set the table for supper before I go to work so it's ready for us to just sit and dine at the end of the day. Tasty Kitchen is expanding our eating pleasures one recipe at a time.


It's been comfort type knitting on the couch while checking out the new season of tv for me. I'm not a tv watcher most of the year, but I'm hopeful of something I'll enjoy at the beginning of the new season that will hook me. Rowan Felted Tweed as Celeste's beautiful Wandering the Moor shawl is on my needles right now. On Rav you can find it here. I can hardly wait to get to the lace border. This pattern is going to be my Christmas knit gift of choice this year. Ssh, don't tell.



Be good and scoot yourself over to Tasty Kitchen!
Best,
Renee

Homemade Chunky Salsa

Smells and tastes so good. We use this for more than just dipping corn chips. I'll add a jar of this to tomato paste for lasagna and to ground beef with spaghetti sauce for over spaghetti. It can be used to doctor up all sorts of different dishes.

We're really lucky that Don's parents have huge vegetable gardens on their 86 acres beef and hay farm (2 hours away). What we don't grow here at home in our yard or at my parents farm (2 minutes away) is supplemented by them. Homemade salsa just tastes so much better than store bought.

CHUNKY SALSA (use plum or Roma tomatoes if possible)

8 quarts tomatoes, diced (you can peel them too if you want, we don't)
1 quart chopped celery
1 quart chopped sweet peppers
1 quart chopped onions
1 quart cider vinegar
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/3 cup canning salt (not iodized)
1 tablespoon whole picking spice (tie in a cloth)
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 to 3 teaspoons cayenne pepper (more for hotter sauce)
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:
Combine all ingredients in a large, heavy kettle. Bring to a boil; simmer 3 to 3-1/2 hours.
Pour hot sauce into clean, sterilized pint jars. Process in a pressure canner at 10 lbs. pressure for 30 minutes.
YIELD: 14 pints

tomatoes

...and there's more. Lots more. There's also sweet peppers, onions and fresh garlic harvested from my in laws farm garden. This box full will be salsa...

Happy long weekend everyone ~ I'm off to start chopping.

Sunday Morning Pancakes

Mmm, fresh wild blueberries from Mosborough Market picked up yesterday while I was out all day with the dogs tracking. That can only mean one thing Sunday morning: pancakes. Delicious plain, but the pancakes taste best with fruit in or on them.


SUNDAY MORNING PANCAKES

In a mixer or by hand whisk together:

2 eggs
1-1/2 cups milk
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

To this add the combined dry ingredients a little at a time until smooth and light. (I use my electric mixer with the wire whisk attachment to make them light and fluffy.)

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (the salt enhances the flavours, the pancakes are better when you don't omit it)

To this batter add blueberries, shredded apples or fruit of your choice. If adding frozen instead of fresh berries, toss them until coated in flour before adding to the batter. These pancakes stay warm for a surprisingly long time.


There's been spinning too. I haven't spun all of the natural undyed brown bfl yet, I was too eager to try some colour. This is Pigeonroof Studios "Greener Celadon" in bfl. I wish there was more of it. I haven't decided to ply it on itself from both ends of a wound cake (how I think it'll look bettter) or if I might spin some undyed white Falkland I have and ply it to that (there'd be more yardage).

I'm ~as in handsome hubby Don I hope ~ going to make a Niddy Noddy with the directions from Celeste at Nebula Designs to skein up my home spun. Oh geez, 'my homespun', hang on - I need second to savour that though... Ah. Thanks Celeste, I really appreciate the instructions and dimensions!

Enjoy your Sunday everyone!

Ryan's Favourite Oatmeal Cookies

I enjoy baking instead of buying cookies for my appreciative teenagers and husband. This recipe is from Dawn's mom's 5-Star Recipe file. If you like you can add 1 cup of chocolate chips to the mix before they go on the baking sheet. Ryan is thrilled she shared the recipe with us. Thanks Dawn!! I'll try to eat just one, honest... After a long, cold day outside in the snow tracking with my friends and Chase I'm sure I burned off enough calories to indulge in a cookie. Or two...

5 STAR OATMEAL COOKIES

½ cup butter, softened
½ cup shortening
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup all purpose flour
2-½ cups 3-to-5 minute rolled oats
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt

Cream together butter and shortening; add brown sugar and white sugar, egg and vanilla. Mix in blender until well combined.

In a separate bowl, mix together flour, rolled oats, baking soda and salt. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture in 3 instalments, mixing well after each addition.

Drop by teaspoonfuls for small cookies or a filled and levelled ice cream scoop for large "Ryan sized cookies" onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven 8 – 12 minutes for small cookies, 16 minutes for the large sized cookies. Let cool completely on a rack.

Christmas No-Bake Recipe #4

You are the nicest people! Thank you so much for all of the very sweet and kind comments to the Christmas Yarn Giveaway!! It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy to read your comments and to send one of you out this scrumptious skein of fingering Plucky goodness. Hugs and good Christmas cheer to you ~ you are really the BEST! If you haven't left a comment yet and would enjoy giving this green yarn a new home then please leave a comment on the giveaway post by Christmas Day.

We had a 3rd major snow storm yesterday and there's another forecast for Christmas Eve. The pristine whiteness of the snow cover is so clean and bright it just puts me into a good mood. Too bad it takes us hours of shoveling, plowing and using the tractor and giant blower to dig out from under all this stuff. Nicole went tobogganing with friends and was chilled but had a great time. The city is glistening and the farm it looks like a post card Winter Wonderland. This morning has been chores, errands and grocery shopping. I just made up more cookies and plan to spend a much anticipated afternoon of knitting and watching tv and listening to Christmas CD's. This no-bake is a great bite-sized treat.


QUICK DROP COOKIES

Melt in a bowl over hot water:

1 cup chocolate chips
3 tablespoons butter or margarine

Blend in 1/4 cup of sifted icing sugar.

Add 2 cups of desiccated coconut.

Drop from teaspoons onto wax paper. Chill for 30 minutes. Store at room temperature.

Makes approximately 2-1/2 dozen cookies. Enjoy!

Christmas Baking Recipe #3

Lemon Cake is great for any season and is my only not-made-from-scratch recipe. This cake has been a staple in my baking repertoire for over 25 years. Brand names are really important ~ I've substituted other cake mixes and pudding brands ~ it's the Duncan Hines and Jello together that result in the best taste and texture. These instructions are not the ones printed on the cake box ~ but they should be!

LEMON PUDDING CAKE:

1 Duncan Hines Super Moist (Extra Moist) Lemon Cake Mix (used to be called Supreme)
1 Jello Brand Instant Lemon Pudding mix
4 eggs
1 cup water
1/2 cup Mazola Oil (you can substitute vegetable oil if you want)

Combine all of the ingredients in a mixer on low for 1 minute, then on high for an additional 2 minutes.
Bake in a lightly sprayed spring form Bundt pan (so the centre bakes done or it stays wet). It doesn't always bake through in the centre in a sheet pan but does make nice cup cakes.
Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 46 - 50 minutes or until the cake top cracks open and a cake tester comes out clean.

ICING options:
1. Leave it plain.
2. Sifting icing sugar over the top of the completely cooled cake.
3. Make icing by combining icing sugar and lemon juice. Make it thick so it will drizzle off a spoon over the top and sides of the completely cooled cake.


Mom's lace scarf is about 20" long now unblocked and there will be a knitting frenzy this weekend to complete it. I used fingering instead of lace weight so it's growing quickly. It's so nice that another skein or 2 of my sock yarn will be knit in this pattern again.


There's a fun Christmas Carol Quiz on Teresa's Knitting The Blues. Give it a try, I scored 90%. Do You Know Your Christmas Carols? Test

We're in the midst of our 2nd major snow storm today. It just keeps coming down and has started to drift with another blizzard expected on Sunday. I have some new books to keep me company during this storm: It Itches from Franklin Habit as recommended to read by Norma, Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders and I've pre-ordered Knitted Lace of Estonia by Nancy Bush. I plan to curl up with them and my knitting this afternoon. It Itches is hysterically funny and the perfect stocking stuffer for a knitter, I have yet to have a chance to check out the One Skein Wonders. Be well and hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

ETA: Ryan wanted to me add that Lemon Pudding Cake is his all-time favourite cake EVER! I've also made this recipe by using Duncan Hines Chocolate Devil's Food Cake mix and Jello Brand Instant Chocolate pudding mix. It is the best chocolate cake ever too.

Christmas Baking Recipe #2

Christmas cake ~ do you love it or do you hate it? This recipe is not the typical Christmas cake served as it's a light coloured cake. I've made this recipe every year that we're married except last Christmas. I thought people had had enough of it and last year we only baked cookies. I was wrong. My mom, brother and husband each asked me to make Christmas cake again and not miss any more years.

LIGHT CHRISTMAS CAKE

Preheat oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 6 small 3 x 6 inch or 2 regular sized loaf pans with waxed paper.

In a large bowl combine:
2 cups slivered citron
2-1/2 cups Sultana raisins
1 cup candied red cherries, halved (for more colour you can use 1/2 cup each red & green cherries)
1 cup blanched, slivered almonds

Sift over the above mixture and toss until well covered with flour:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

In a mixer cream together:
1 cup softened butter
1/2 cup sugar
5 eggs (add one at a time until well combined)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup undrained crushed pineapple

Add the wet ingredients by hand into the dry mixture. Combine well, spoon into loaf pans and press down to level. Bake at 275F for about 2 hours or until the cakes are lightly golden on top and a cake tester comes out clean. Wrap cooled cakes in foil and keep refrigerated until serving. They will be ready in 7 days.

Notes: We brush some of the loaves in rum every few days or wrap them in cheese cloth soaked in rum before wrapping in the foil.
This recipe doubles extremely well and can be kept in the freezer after baking for a few months.

I've also being doing some knitting and sewing. My sock got frogged back to the heel turn and I'm working on that again, love this yarn! It was too big for my tiny feet so I've got a much better fit going on now. My Urban Sweater sleeve is slow going, I seem to just get started into it and something else keeps coming up. I intend to wear this sweater soon so it's going to get more attention in the next few days. Like Kelly at Celtic Cast On I would really like to finish up my started projects before the end of 2008.

Sewing has produced 19 blocks and there's 11 more to sew. I've been calling this my Latte quilt because there's a coffee bean motif in some of the fabrics. The black/brown colour combo is a pleasure to work with. The black fabrics are kept diagonally on the left side and brown fabrics are on the right. This block has a traditional log cabin centre with star points and then 2 more rows of log cabin on the outside. I plan to assemble the blocks with a 3-column sashing and 9-patch corners. The finished top will nicely cover a queen sized bed.

Only 2 more weeks until the kids are on Christmas vacation! Yeah!! The Christmas cake will be aged and ready to eat by then.

Christmas Baking Recipe #1

Sweet Marie Bars are the ultimate Rice Crispy treat without the usual sticky marshmallow mess to clean up after.

SWEET MARIE BARS:

Melt together and stir until smooth in a double boiler:
(I use a ceramic bowl over a little sauce pan with about an inch or 2-1/2cm of water in it on medium-low heat.)

1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 brown sugar
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

Remove from heat and mix in:

3 cups Rice Crispies and 1 cup of salted peanuts

Press firmly into a 9 x 13 inch or 8 x 8 inch buttered or non-stick sprayed pan. Compress them really well so they hold together nicely after they've been cut.

Topping:
Also melt and stir until smooth in the double boiler.

3/4 cup chocolate chips and 3/4 cup butterscotch chips if you use a 9 x 13 inch sized pan.
1/2 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 cup butterscotch chips if you use an 8 x 8 inch sized pan.

Let them set in the refrigerator to make them easy to cut. Store at room temperature. These are easy to put together and oh so delicious.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We've had a few dustings of snow around here already and it's beginning to look and feel a lot like Christmas ~ my favourite time of the year! This photos is taken part way down the lane of my parents century stone farm house just after the sun rose. We have Christmas parties marked on our calendar, days set aside for baking, decorating and some serious knitting and sewing. My friends come for a lasagna dinner and visit. This year it's going to be after the last day of the Caledon Dog Show and Obedience Trials the end of this month, all of their poodles are invited too. It's so much fun to fill the house with so many great friends and a herd of poodles. It's delightful to see the dogs all getting along so well, enjoying the event as much as we do. These are the same women and dogs I spent a weekend with last July at a cottage in the Muskokas. That was blissful, I can hardly wait for next year's trip there!


The kids, dogs and horses love the new snow, but Bonnie especially. She snuffles and plays with it with her muzzle.

I feel the Christmas spirit earlier each year. It's hard to resist bringing out all the decorations too early. We wait until after my dad's birthday on November 13th and then it's daily bits of preparation so we're in full swing by the first Advent. Christmas planning, shopping, list making, organizing and purging the house and getting ready to decorate. Some people have a big spring cleaning, I dig in more just before December. All this snow has me ready to go. I've cut evergreen branches from the farm to add to our front porch urns with funky outdoor LED lit branches.

This year I bought The Holiday DVD to add to our holiday collection. Between the fun storyline and great locations ~ not to mention Cameron Diaz's character wears some amazing knits ~ it'll be a great movie to knit to while the Christmas spirit nestles in to our home. And Jude Law - yum!! Yeah, after this weekend I'm going to start Christmas decorating a little at a time and the trees goes up just before our first party in 2 weeks. I usually like things more minimalist, neat and tidy, but at Christmas it's decorations in overdrive. Trees, the mantle and window are all adorned.

This is the before shot of our family room mantle, next week I'll post the 'after' when it's all decked out. Tradition dictates the mantle is the first thing decorated in the house. favourite recipes only made at this holiday, places we shop only before Christmas, movies and music, decorations that hold wonderful memories, the candle light service on Christmas Eve and cookie baking on a huge scale... I love the familiarity of it all. We spend Christmas Eve with my family and after everyone has gone to bed I stay up late to watch White Christmas on the VCR.

I'll post a Cookie of the Week in December to share our most favourite Christmas baking recipes. I love to collect new tried-and-true cookie recipes and would love to get some new ones from other blogs. I scored a fantastic one last year from Norma! Love these Dutch Letter Cookies!!! Not really a true cookie, I guess. Don't believe the title or first line in her post ~ these are so good they're angelic. They're the first people reach for on the assorted cookie plates I bring everywhere we visit and serve to guests in our home. I can resist most temptations during the holidays, except the cookies...

Dawn is coming over for a day of baking and sock knitting and I'll get to add new recipes to my repertoire from her. We're also planning to make Claudia and Mr. Puffy's Almond Crescents, my husband Don's favourite holiday cookie.

Seeing the evergreen pine bush at the farm tipped in snow brings on my festive mood! Christmas day we drive to Don's family a few hours away. Boxing Day is crashed at home ~ just the 4 of us and the dogs ~ I knit and watching way too much TV. New Year's Eve is a fondue supper followed by a big pancake/bacon/eggs and goodies brunch at our house to bring in the New Year on Jan.1. It's a lot about the food and completely about guests and going visiting with family and friends.

I edited and still used the word Christmas 11 times not including the title in this post! Oops, that's 12. It really is my favourite time of the year. I love our traditions during the whole of December. What are your favourite traditions and cookies?

Pumpkin latte 'n muffins

With October in full swing, Thanksgiving last weekend and Halloween just around the corner at Chez Koch there's been eating, knitting and enjoying of many things pumpkin. It's cozy to be surrounded by the colour orange during this season, it's supposed to evoke energy and calmness at the same time.


The yarn is 140 yards of 100% Merino Superwash bulky from The Plucky Knitter Sarah. It's called Pumpkin Latte and looks good enough to eat. It's destined to become another Luxe Neck Warmer, the Tudora from Knitty.com (I've been itching to try that pattern) or Cap'n Crunch by Jennifer Adams. I'm leaning towards the Cap'n Crunch, especially if I find the right buttons.

Pumpkin Chip Muffins are pure pumpkin bliss. Ryan likes them with cream cheese icing. This is the Grand Prize winner from the May/June 1995 Country Woman Magazine pumpkin recipe contest. I usually mess with ingredient amounts after I try a new recipe -- replacing oil with applesauce, lowering the amount of sugar -- but I haven't changed this one except for using fewer chocolate chips. The original amount calls for 2 whole cups. If you're a fan of pumpkin these are a winner.

PUMPKIN CHIP MUFFINS
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 can pure pumpkin (16 ounces)
1-1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin and oil until smooth. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt; add to pumpkin mixture and mix well. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill sprayed or paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 400F for 16 - 20 minutes or until muffins test done. Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack. Yield: about 24 standard sized muffins.
***For an interesting change in flavour switch out the chocolate chips for pecans, yum!

In the Heart of Waterloo County

We live in beautiful Kitchener, Ontario which is in the heart of Waterloo County. Our city is best known for the Waterloo Farmers Market, Oktoberfest, The Knitters Fair and maple syrup. We enjoy the Farmers Market year round, but it's best now during the harvest.


I bake a lot and plan to post some of my family's favourite recipes on this blog. Easy Apple Cake is a simple, 6 ingredient recipe. Try substituting the apples with other fruits. It's great with blueberries or plums.


EASY APPLE CAKE
2 cups flour
1-1/4 cups white sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup melted butter
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 or 3 apples, thickly sliced or chopped
In a large bowl with a wooden spoon mix together all ingredients (except apples) until it crumbles. Reserve 1 cup of the crumb mixture. Place crumbs in an 8" sprayed baking pan or pie plate, don't press the crumbs down. Cover with apples. Sprinkle the reserved crumbs over the fruit. Dust the top of cake with cinnamon. Bake at 350F for 40 minutes.