BAKING | BLUEBERRY PIE

Earlier this week, my friend Melissa was my partner-in-crime for my first pie baking experience! Now, I have baked a few things like pumpkin cookies and red velvet cupcakes, but let's be honest.. those were definitely out-of-the-box kind of recipes aside from the made-from-scratch cream cheese frosting (favorittttte).

Baking a pie from scratch just feels more intimate. You literally know every little ingredient that goes into that pie, roll the dough yourself and put it together in the pan. It was quite a messy experience, but the best reward in the end! Also, did you know how soft your hands feel after kneading dough? Long story short, I love pies, I love baking and next time I need to wear an apron :) Of course I had to take photos of my "first" time. I am still trying to get flour off my camera. Oops!

Did I mention our pie was vegan? Here is the book we used!

Go grab a napkin.

I think you may have just drooled all over your keyboard.
You're welcome.

RECIPE: PUMPKIN SPICE COOKIES

WED Oct 3, 2012

It's October and you know what that means...ridiculous amounts of pumpkin-related pins, tweets, lattes, desserts and recipes! In honor of welcoming October - by the way... how the heck is October already here? - I thought it was only appropriate to share my favorite (and easy) pumpkin cookie recipe. Like...really easy.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies (makes about two dozen)

Ingredients
1 box of Spice Cake mix (18 1/4 ounce)
1 can of Pumpkin (15 ounce)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. Spray cookie sheet lightly with vegetable spray, i.e. Pam
3. In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix and pumpkin until well blended
4. Use a spoon to drop large spoonfuls onto cookie sheet
Cookies are soft and cake-like so they don't flatten in the oven. How you put them on the sheet resembles how they will bake
5. Bake for 10-15 minutes
6. Cool before frosting

Cream Cheese Frosting via Sprinkles cupcakes - my favorite recipe!

Ingredients
8 oz Cream Cheese
4 oz Unsalted Butter (1 stick)
3 3/4 Powered Sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions
1. Make sure cream cheese and butter are softened. Stick in the microwave for a few seconds if need be
2. Mix cream cheese, butter and salt until light and fluffy
3. Gradually add powdered sugar until incorporated
4. Add vanilla extract and mix
5. Voila! My favorite cream cheese frosting recipe

Final step: After frosting your cookies, sprinkle a little cinnamon for a little kick!

These go pretty fast at parties so be sure to save yourself a couple cookies ;)
Enjoy!

Did someone say pancakes?

 

the [easy] recipe: via cooks.com

2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
4 eggs, well beaten
2 c. buttermilk
1/2 c. milk

Combine dry ingredients.
Beat eggs and add buttermilk and milk.
Add dry ingredients (a cup at a time) and mix well.
Recipe can also be used for waffles. (definitely doing next time!)

My roommates and I actually doubled the recipe because someone had said it only made nine "small" pancakes. NOT TRUE. We could've had breakfast for days with doubling the recipe, so unless you're the brady brunch, don't double :] These were really yummy. Once our favorite fruits are in season, we are definitely adding it to the recipe next time. Chocolate chips are also on the list.

Oh, and I highly suggest adding a side (or two) of bacon.

Cookies + Cupcakes

What else does a girl need?
Some baking, yummy frosting, an apron, measuring and the scents. Oh the scents!
I got my domestic on and I must say, I have officially jumped on the baking bandwagon.

The pumpkin cookie recipe has been floating around the blogging world for awhile and I must say, it is definitely the easiest recipe ever. Here is the recipe I used. The cream cheese frosting is made from scratch. I'm sure you can find an easy one to find floating on the web. I have already made these cookies four times in the last month. Oops :)

The Sprinkles cupcake mix was sent me from LauraJane for Package Pals 2011 and I finally used it! LauraJane [looks like] an extremely talented baker and since she couldn't send me cupcakes, she sent the next best thing. Ain't she a sweet thang? Well they were delicious! The pinwheels were won from a giveaway from Meg and from Earth Cookie Creations! Aren't they precious?! I made the cupcakes for a potluck and they were a hit! Only have three left. Actually...now there are only going to be two ;)

Keep calm and bake on!

the most important meal of the day

Homemade omelette.

The best way to kick start a day is a great breakfast. Especially when you're trying to fight a cold (like myself.) Here's a little meal I cooked this morning.

ingredients:
- red skin potatoes
- butter
- onion (chopped)
- 3 eggs
- spinach
- sausage
- dollop of sour cream

Most of these ingredients I chose because they currently reside in my pantry. As a college student, you only have so many ingredients in your kitchen. You can truly make any kind of omelette you choose to. It's easy and it lets you be creative with your cooking. No recipe is ever truly needed for an omelette.  
All you need are the basics:

1. Depending on your ingredients, you may need to cook them separately before putting them in the omelette. For example, I boiled the red skin potatoes in a separate pot and cooked the sausage in a different pan.
2. You can make your omelette as large or small as possible. This morning I used 3 eggs. Next, beat your eggs. You can add any herbs/spices. I added pepper and salt.
3. Pour a tablespoon of butter to the pan. Then pour the eggs into the pan (preferably one with the size of your omelette.)
4. After the eggs look firm on the bottom and a little runny on top, pour your ingredients as evenly as possible.
   *you can then add shredded cheese for some extra flavor
5. Make sure your egg isn't sticking to the edges of the pan.
6. Then fold in half! Viola! You've got an omelette.
7. You can add sour cream on top for just a little extra yum!

Remember: You can add any kind of ingredient you'd like to an omelette. The great thing about these is that there is no true recipe to stick by. It is all up to you.

Here's to good, yummy, inexpensive and easy meals!

mv.