Wednesday, November 30, 2016
thanksgiving 2016
We hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving spent with family and friends. We were so excited to host our first Thanksgiving with family as Mike’s parents and brother came to visit. Kensi and Finn loved having time with them since we don’t get to see them often living so far away from each other. They especially loved playing with their Uncle Matt, whom we’re pretty sure was a little overwhelmed by all their energy. He was such a trooper though and spent lots of time playing with them outside and giving should-back rides throughout the house. I know they’re remember their special time with him.
Kensi was able to bake Great Grandma Trumm’s famous sugar cookies. She enjoys baking in general, but she loves when she can use sprinkles. Her little fingers were red and green by the time they were done and we all ate way too many cookies, but they were worth every bite.
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
leftover pumpkins
I officially have a pie pouch. After having Olivia and having to take things slow as I've been going to physical therapy for diastasis recti; I haven't gone back to excersing regularly as I had hope and this past week I ate way too much pie. It’s definitely showing, but I enjoyed every bite I ate. This is not the ideal time of year to kickstart an exercise routine especially when I’m baking in the kitchen, but I'm ready to jump back into my regular schedule. That is after I’m done making all these delicious ingredients for more pie.
Over the weekend we started decorating for Christmas and put away all our fall decor. This year I bought several pie pumpkins for the season and spent the last couple days roasting and making homemade pumpkin purée for all my baking needs in the upcoming year. No joke...I have over 25 bags of pumpkin each filled with 16oz. I have so much pumpkin I could seriously open a bakery with a speciality for pumpkin desserts. If you're reading this and you live near me and need or want pumpkin, please just ask. I'm happy to share!
Making pumpkin purée is simple and makes purchasing pumpkins for the fall season easier on the budget since they pull double duty. I roasted all our pie pumpkins, a cinderella pumpkin and a fairytale pumpkin so far. I still have two other pumpkins but I'm only opening them to clean, dry + freeze the seeds for planting next year.
I start by washing the skin of the pumpkin and slicing off the stem. Then, cut the pumpkin in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds and discard them or set them aside to roast later. Drizzle the inside of each pumpkin half with oil and place face down on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F oven for 50 minutes. For the larger heirloom pumpkins the baking time needs to be adjusted to 60-70 minutes. Remove pumpkins and let cool. Once cooled peel away the skin and discard. Place roasted pumpkin in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Scoop 16 ounces of puréed pumpkin into labeled plastic zip bags and lay flat in the freezer.
Each pie pumpkin is nearly the equivalent to one can of store-bought puréed pumpkin. This is so simple and a great way to use every bit of the gorgeous pumpkin that brought so much warmth and joy during Halloween and thanksgiving!
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
thanksgiving prep + layered pumpkin butter dip
We've been prepping for Thanksgiving all week over here from making paper turkeys for the fridge to preparing all our ingredients for our favorite recipes. I love this sweet time of the year so much, and we feel so blessed to be able to share thanksgiving this year with my in-laws.
Kensi has been busy helping me make our grocery lists and even creating her very own. I just love watching her create and write each day! She loves pretending to be a mommy and often mimics different things I do, it’s so cute when she copy-cats my good qualities. This year I’m being brave and trying a new gratin recipe with brussels sprouts. I’m so hoping it turns out well since I'm finally over my phobia after getting so ill when I was pregnant with Kensi five years ago. Fingers crossed, wish me luck!
Growing up I always spent the morning of Thanksgiving watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, excited to see my favorite boy band perform (NSYNC girl here!), but we didn’t ever have a big breakfast because the day was focused on dinner which was eaten in the late afternoon to allow for grazing into the night. But today that’s just not the case. Since getting married seven years ago and hosting our own Thanksgivings or spending it with my sister and her family in California, there are certain traditions we’ve created together that we carry out for the holiday. One of them being breakfast.
Every year my brother in law Gunth makes eggs benedict and Mike makes his frittata. It’s become quite the tradition for us. However, this year we decided to add a crab cake to our eggs benedict because it’s just plain good and we needed to add a little bit of east coast greatness into the mix. Regardless of what we make for breakfast there is one item on the menu none of us can go without and that’s mimosas. They are a requirement for a festive holiday!
Along with a great breakfast I like to have something prepared for grazing purposes between meals. I’m making a pumpkin butter dip we first tasted at William Sonoma earlier this season. I know the kids will become hungry throughout the day and having a tasty + fun snack is a must. This dip works great for grazing or even an appetizer. If you decide to make it, I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Along with a great breakfast I like to have something prepared for grazing purposes between meals. I’m making a pumpkin butter dip we first tasted at William Sonoma earlier this season. I know the kids will become hungry throughout the day and having a tasty + fun snack is a must. This dip works great for grazing or even an appetizer. If you decide to make it, I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Layered Pumpkin Butter Dip
8 oz Cream Cheese [one brick], room temperature
1/2 jar Pumpkin Butter
1/2 cup Pecans, chopped + roasted
4 slices Bacon, crisp & crumbled
1 Green Onion, chopped
Spread cream cheese in small baking dish. Top with pumpkin butter, then bacon, pecans & green onion. Serve with crackers or celery sticks.
Wishing you a very blessed Thanksgiving.Monday, November 21, 2016
dull to rad bathroom makeover
Before we begin our overhaul on painting the kitchen cabinets, we decided to work on a much smaller space, the kids’ shared bathroom. This gave us the perfect opportunity to try our hands at painting the small single bathroom vanity cabinet before the kitchen cabinets. It was pretty much our guinea pig; and the results were fantastic!
Mike and I originally had plans to keep this bathroom neutral, but we needed color and since this is the kids’ bathroom, we couldn’t keep it boring. I’ve been pinning bathroom design ideas for years and decided it was time to create a bathroom we all could love. One of my favorite bathroom pins is this one. I love the color combination and knew I had to incorporate this beautiful design somewhere, somehow in our home and it just so happens this bathroom has quite a bit of light and needed some life breathed into it. After trying a couple different paint samples we decided to go with black, white and teal.
The Process
Mike and I originally had plans to keep this bathroom neutral, but we needed color and since this is the kids’ bathroom, we couldn’t keep it boring. I’ve been pinning bathroom design ideas for years and decided it was time to create a bathroom we all could love. One of my favorite bathroom pins is this one. I love the color combination and knew I had to incorporate this beautiful design somewhere, somehow in our home and it just so happens this bathroom has quite a bit of light and needed some life breathed into it. After trying a couple different paint samples we decided to go with black, white and teal.
The Process
I always love seeing before, during and after photos of a space. The transformations can be astonishing. I snapped these ‘before’ photos just after we had taken down the towel bars and we were getting ready to remove the cabinet doors for sanding. Our cabinets are basic cabinets we chose when building. They’re not our style, but they fit into our budget at the time and they function well so there was no point in ripping everything out.
Mike and I decided to put some sweat into this mini renovation and painted the cabinets the good ol’ fashion way by cleaning, sanding, cleaning, priming, sanding, cleaning, painting, sanding, cleaning and finally painting a final coat. It sounds much worse than it actually was. Yes it is a process, and yes after each coat of paint we let everything sit for an entire day, but it works very well.
I love the bold style this bathroom now has. It was a little risky to paint the walls black and the vanity a pop of color, but we love it. This was a great space to add color and hopefully soon some pattern. I love the colored vanity so much because it’s versatile, gender neutral and modern + classy all at the same time. Aside from painting, we swapped out the chrome faucet for oil rubbed bronze. We also took down the boring rectangular mirror for a brass round one. We removed the single towel rack which wasn’t functional for this bathroom and put up individual monogrammed hooks for each of the babes. It works great because now everything is at their level.
As for most of the decor pieces, we repurposed things we had on hand. Shopping around the house is a simple way to reinvent decor we already own. It keeps us on budget and makes the pieces that seem tired, new again. However, I am on the search for new towels and a few fun accessories to finish off the space.
This was a simple update to a dull bathroom and to make it even better we really want to rip out the flooring and replace it with tile, but it’s just not in the budget right now. Hopefully, we can do it in the coming months! All these pieces and small changes carry a big punch and now give this bathroom so much more character. It goes to show we don’t have to completely gut a bathroom to give it style and flare. The kids love this space and it’s a place all their own.
\\Source List\\
Wall Paint Color - Benjamin Moore Black Jack
Vanity Paint Color - Benjamin Moore Pacific Rim
Mirror - Target
Boat - Oil & Carol
Wall Shelf (old, but similar here)
Bath & Shower Curtain - Target
Monogrammed Hooks - Anthropology
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
