Trick or Treat!

This year we went to Ryan's school again for trick-or-treating!

The Garden Gnome (who refused to leave his beard on over his chin and who refused to smile for every single one of the 30 pictures I took of him, but who had a really fun time and is really enjoying his candy):

With his buddy, Brady, the Chicken (who we are so glad we got to trick or treat with this year!):

The Baseball Player (who refused to leave his hat on any longer than it took to take this picture, with one of his eye blacks already rubbed off, and who got tired of being in his stroller about half way through):

The Whole Family (who are all really enjoying the candy!!):

Pull-Apart Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Bread

This time of year continues to have me yearning for all things pumpkin. I'm a huge fan of pumpkin quick breads, but I had never attempted a yeast bread that incorporated pumpkin. So, when I saw this recipe, I was excited to give it a try. Mmmm...this bread was so good! The pumpkin flavor is quite subtle, but it contributed a soft, moist quality to the bread that was just wonderful.

The dough was so easy to work with, not the least bit sticky. I did bake ours a bit differently, because when it was time to bake the bread, I realized that I didn't time my baking quite right and still had some whole wheat bread in the oven. Since I only have 1 large loaf pan, I ended up placing the pumpkin dough into mini loaf pans. This gave our bread a more "straight" appearance, but had I used a larger pan, I could have "staggered" the dough more. I think this would have made it prettier (you can see what I mean by clicking here for the original recipe). Still, it was fun to reach in and pull off a small piece, no knife or fork required!

While still delicious the next day, it's definitely best warm and gooey!

Pull-Apart Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:
Bread:
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup milk, warmed slightly in the microwave
2 1/4 teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups bread flour

Filling:
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
2 Tbsp unsalted butter

Glaze:
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp milk
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp rum (I ommitted this)

Directions:

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, brown 2 tablespoons of butter, taking care to develop a nice caramel color. Once browned, remove the pan from the heat and carefully add the warm milk, return to stove and heat through. Pour the milk and butter into the bowl of stand mixer (fitted with a dough hook) and allow to cool to 100-110 degrees F. Once cooled, add the yeast and 1/4 cup of sugar and allow to proof (become foamy on top, around 8 minutes). Then add the the pumpkin, salt, and 1 cup of flour. Stir until combined then add remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time and knead on low speed for 6 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic and just slightly sticky. If the dough is too moist, add extra flour 1 tablespoon at a time.

Move dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a clean towel. Allow to rise in a warm place for 60-90 minutes or until doubled in size.

While dough is rising, brown another 2 tablespoons of butter. Combine cinnamon, sugar, and nutmeg. Set both aside. Next, grease and flour a 9×5 loaf pan and set aside.

When the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and flip out onto a clean floured surface and knead with hands for 1-2 minutes. Roll dough into a 20×12 inch rectangle. If dough is difficult to roll out, cover with a towel and allow to relax for a few minutes then try again. Brush browned butter over the surface of the dough and sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Cut the rectangle into 6 strips. Lay strips on top of each other and cut each strip into 6 even squares. Stack strips vertically into the loaf pan. Cover the pan with a clean towel and let rise for 30-45 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. After rising in the pan, bake for 30-40 minutes or until top is a very deep golden brown.

To prepare the glaze, heat the butter, milk, and brown sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to boil then immediately remove the pan from the heat and stir in the rum and powdered sugar.

Drizze over bread shortly after removing from oven.

source: Sunny Side Up

Our Golden Weekend

This past weekend, Ryan was free since he had exams all last week. We thought golden weekends were a things of the past, since the M2 exam schedule is staggered more than it was last year, so we were so excited when we discovered his exams were all last week! We definitely made the most of our weekend.

Friday night, we had a celebration dinner. Ryan is so good at making things special, for all of us, but it's especially fun for Abe. He put on some soft music and placed a candle in the middle of the table. He really talked it up and made a big deal about our special "restaurant at home". He even tucked a white napkin on Abe's lap! Abe was so well behaved at our "fancy" restaurant!

After dinner, Ryan surprised me by sending me out for the evening. He had a bit of money left on a Starbucks gift card he had received for his birthday, so he gave it to me and told me to enjoy myself! I was stunned--usually, my outings alone consist of a mad dash to the grocery store, hoping to get back home before the boys wake up from their naps so Ryan can keep studying! And when we do have some down time, we usually try to spend it together. In fact, after I arrived and ordered my pumpkin spice latte (YUM!!), I sat down with a book and was tempted to leave after 15 minutes. I just didn't know what to do with myself all alone!

I forced myself to relax and read my book, and after a while, I was able to really to enjoy my time. The only noises were the whirr of the coffee machine, the soft murmur of voices, and the occasional jingle of the door. I cozied up on a comfortable chair near the fire for over 2 hours. I even finished my book! I came back home to sleeping little boys and a clean house. I smile now as I reflect on my husband blessing me in that way. I simply adore him and am so blessed!

The next day, we had a leisurely morning, and after a light lunch, we headed out to a pumpkin patch at a gorgeous home in the country. Abe had been looking forward to this all week long!

A group of financial advisors had come to Ryan's school to speak to the students and invited anyone with children out to their event. These advisors mainly target area physicians, managing their assets, helping pay down their debt quickly whilst making the most of investments. There were a small number of students and residents, but mostly doctors who are already their clients. Of course, their goal is to "win over" the students, so when they're finally done and earning money, they'll continue to use the company. And I must say, they do a very good job! Wow, this event was fabulous.

Everything was free of charge. We were able to pick out as many pumpkins as we wanted. There were inflatable slides and bouncy houses, a clown who did face painting and balloon animals, crafts, plentiful snacks, a bonfire with s'mores, and fall photos in the orchard. We were also invited to a Physician Spa Day in a few weeks, where both Ryan and I can choose from a complementary manicure, pedicure, facial, massage, make up application, or hair style. Of course I want to do this! But I haven't decided yet if I will--I feel badly, because we aren't actually clients. They assured us that it's just "all part of the game" and we are very welcome, but I just don't know. We'll see.

Some photos from the day:

As we headed home, our boys zonked out in the back seat, Ryan and I discussed the irony of it: the people who need it least are the ones who are targeted and seem to get it most. None of those families really need such luxurious treatment. Their children have easy access to fun events such as that. All of those families can easily afford to buy pumpkins to carve each fall. But how special would it be for a child from the inner-city to go out to a pumpkin patch in the beautiful countryside and enjoy the games, crafts, and s'mores?

The discussion then turned to equal opportunity and whether or not our lives are merely what we work for or if some people are just destined to live impoverished due to their circumstances. Having worked in foster care and as a substitute teacher in "inner-city" Peoria, my heart is drawn toward this. It's certainly a whole blog post in itself, one that I'm not sure I'm qualified to write about, but I do think it's something to really consider.

Anyway, that evening we watched the movie "Cars" with the boys. Such a cute movie! Sunday, we decided to just stay home and call into Peoria for church. Sometimes it's just such a comfort, to be as close as can to "home." We ran a few errands that afternoon and just relaxed that evening.

Oh, it was such a wonderful weekend! I was sad to see it come to a close. I'm deeply humbled by the blessings God has given us and pray that I might live a life truly worthy of Him.

Thanks for reading!

Moroccan Stew with Pita Bread

I was intrigued by this recipe the moment I saw it. For one, I just thought the combination of ingredients sounded good. For two (and probably what spiked my curiosity the most) was that the original post states, "I can’t even describe how delicious this was." Wow. Wouldn't that make you want to try it to?!

So I did. And she was right. The combination of flavors was just extraordinary. The spices merry together to add a depth of flavor that is just difficult to describe. We served homemade pita bread alongside to soak up the broth, and this worked together really well too.

Now, for the sake of honesty, I must tell you that the butternut squash and whole chick peas were a bit on the "edge" for my hubby, and he probably wouldn't request this dish often because of those components. However, he did agree that the overall flavor of the dish was fabulous. So, if you aren't afraid of butternut squash and chick peas, try this dish!

Moroccan Vegetable Stew with Pita Bread

1 medium onion, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small butternut squash, peeled and chopped (about 1 1/2 cups worth)
1 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
3/4 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped celery
3 plum tomatoes, chopped (*I used 1 28 oz. can, drained)
1 can garbanzo beans
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups water
salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons coconut milk per bowl, to serve

In a large saucepan, heat olive oil on medium heat and add onions, sauteing until soft. Add spices and cook for another minute.

Stir in squash, potatoes, carrots, celery, tomatoes, broth and water. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and let simmer for 20-25 minutes. Add garbanzo beans and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Drizzle about 2 tablespoons coconut milk over each bowl before serving. (Don't skip this!! It adds a lot to the dish).


Homemade Pita Bread

This is quite easy and fun to make and results in a very soft, tender pita! Abe especially thought it was neat to see the "pillows" of bread in the oven! These are also delicious for sandwiches and are by far one of the most economical breads to make at home. My estimation is that I spent around 30 cents for this batch of pita bread, and store bought breads are around $3 on average. If you decide to go the whole wheat route, I would personally recommend using a combination of whole wheat and white flours. I've made them both ways, and a 100% whole wheat pita is significantly drier and less tender. Of course, using all white flour will yield a softer pita still. Well wrapped, the pitas freeze very well!

Perfect for a sandwich filling:

2 1/4 tsp. yeast
1/2 cup warm water
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 cup lukewarm water

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Let sit for 10-15 minutes until water is frothy.

Combine flour and salt in large bowl, then make a small well in the middle of flour and pour yeast water in depression.

Slowly add 1 cup of warm water, and stir with wooden spoon or rubber spatula until elastic.

Place dough on floured surface and knead for 10-15 minutes or until dough is smooth and is no longer sticky.

Coat a large bowl with vegetable oil and place dough in bowl. Turn dough upside down so all of the dough is coated. Cover and allow to sit in a warm place for 2-3 hours, or until it has doubled in size.

Once doubled, punch down and then roll out in a rope and pinch off 10-12 small pieces. Place balls on floured surface. Let sit covered for 10 minutes. Place rack in lowest rung of oven and place baking sheet on rack. Preheat oven to 500 F.

Roll out each ball of dough with a rolling pin into circles. Each should be about 5-6 inches across and 1/4 inch thick.

Quickly place each circle onto the hot baking sheet. Bake for 4 minutes (bread should puff up). Turn over and bake for 2 minutes.

Puffed up in the oven:

Remove each pita with a spatula from the baking sheet and repeat with additional dough.

Use spatula to gently push down puff.


sources: Stew: How Sweet It Is ; Pitas: Mid East Food

Sugar Rush

Oven Roasted Chicken

If you remember back to when I started the "Food on Friday" posts, the intent was to share new recipes I've recently tried that my family really enjoyed. Well, today's recipe isn't necessarily new to us, but we love it so much that I wanted to share it.

Although my hubby is usually on board with the "adventurous" recipes I try from time to time, this is a classic that remains one of his favorites. It's simple and consistently good. Plus, if you can get your chicken on sale (I buy a ton of birds when they go on sale for $0.88 per pound), it's a very frugal meal as well. We can eat to our fill for dinner the first night, have enough chicken left to use in another dish, and boil the carcass for free, low sodium, flavorful broth.

Now beware: prepare for a bit of smoke and a splattered oven. This is due to cooking the chicken at such a high heat. You could roast it longer and lower, with less mess, but that high heat is what makes the skin paper thin and crispy. While I usually am one to pull off the skin, I leave a bit of it on when eating this chicken--it is SO good!


Oven Roasted Chicken

Ingredients:

One 4-pound (approx.) chicken
course salt and freshly ground black pepper
lemon, garlic, or herbs for stuffing the cavity (optional)


Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450°F.

Remove neck and giblets from the cavity of the chicken. Thoroughly rinse the chicken with cold water, then dry it very well with paper towels, inside and out. This creates less steam while it roasts which results in a crispier skin.

Salt and pepper the cavity, then truss the bird using kitchen string (or if you don't have any, like me, use kite string!). Trussing helps the chicken to cook evenly and stay moist.

Next, generously salt the chicken (I use about 1 tablespoon). When it's cooked, you want to be able to see the salt baked onto the crisp skin. Season to taste with pepper. If desired, stuff the cavity with whole garlic cloves, lemon, thyme, etc. I often use garlic and lemon, but honestly, it's delicious without anything.

Place the chicken breast side up in a deep roasting pan and place in the oven. There is no need to baste the chicken. Just let the dry heat crisp up the skin! Roast the chicken until it's done, around one hour or until a thermometer inserted in the thigh reaches 165 degrees. Remove it from the oven and baste the chicken with its juices. Allow it to rest for 15 minutes on a cutting board.

Carve and serve.

Fun in the Leaves!

Last week, the boys and I headed over to the park near our home to play teeball. As it turned out, the day was so windy that it was tough to play ball, but it was just perfect for playing in the leaves! The weather was crisp but comfortable, and from the vantage point of a 3-year-old (have you ever tried walking around on your knees for a while? The world looks much different from their perspective!), it was magical, with the leaves falling down on us in a rainbow of colors. The park has a lot of large trees and the city is quite slow in sweeping them up, so there was a very thick blanket covering the grass. Abe and I scooped the leaves into a huge pile while Charlie attempted to feast on them.

The boys had so much fun, and I was beyond bummed that I didn't bring my camera! We were expecting a cold front and rain that evening, ushering in much cooler temperatures and wet leaves, so I thought I had missed my chance. (Unless, I wanted red noses in the pictures, which I didn't!). SO, after their naps and to Abe's delight, we loaded up the wagon and headed back over!

Now, I'm not much of a photographer, and our on-its-last-leg basic Canon probably isn't the best tool, but I managed to get a few cute ones! Abe was far more interested in buliding another leaf pile than in taking photos, but Charlie, the charmer, was full of smiles!


Abe:

Charlie:

The best of MANY! of them together. Most of them include a 3-year-old making goofy faces!

Action Shot!

I hope you're enjoying fall as much as we are!

Pumpkin Spice Granola

Happy Friday! My apologies for my delinquency in posting last Friday--no good excuses, I just lost track of time before we had to leave for the retreat! Hopefully you'll pardon my neglect of the clock...Anyway, on with today's recipe:

I am SO excited about this granola. For starters, it smelled AMAZING while it was baking; I was nearly won just by the scent! Secondly, I've been searching for the perfect homemade granola recipe for a long time now, and finally, I think this is it! I think I can easily omit the seasonal spices and swap the maple and pumpkin for honey and a bit of oil to make it a year-round recipe. It's the first granola I've made that actually clusters together, is crispy without becoming burnt, and is perfectly sweet! It does contain a bit more sugar than most recipes I've used in the past, but for me, this is just right! Delicious over yogurt, with cold milk, or by the handful--Abe and I have been snacking on it all morning long!

Pumpkin Spice Granola

Ingredients:

3 ½ cups rolled oats
2 ½ cups puffed rice cereal
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
¾ tsp. salt
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup pumpkin puree
¼ cup applesauce
¼ cup maple syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract
up to 1 ½ cups chopped nuts (I used slivered almonds)
up to 1 cup dried fruit (I used golden raisins)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325°. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine oats and puffed rice cereal. In a medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin pie spice, salt, sugar, pumpkin puree, applesauce, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Whisk until very smooth. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until the oat mixture is evenly coated. Spread on the prepared baking sheet in an even layer.

Bake for 30 minutes. Then turn over the granola using a large, wide spatula. Sprinkle the nuts onto the granola and bake for an additional 15 minutes, until crisp and golden. Depending on the size of your baking sheet, the center may not be fully dried if your granola layer is thick, so if necessary remove the edges of the cooked granola and let the rest cook until done, 10-15 more minutes. Cool on pan or on a fine wire rack.

Break up granola as desired and toss with dried fruit. Store in an airtight container.

Source: Annie's Eats

CMA Retreat

This past weekend, we were blessed to be able to go on the Christian Medical Association student retreat. Good talks, fun games, great food, gorgeous scenery, and perfect weather all contributed to a wonderful weekend!

We stayed at a beautiful house in Lake Mills, Wisconsin. A local doctor offers up his lake home for the group to use each year; from what I understand, we aren't the only group to benefit from the family's generosity. Our boys tagged along (the only children there), but there were other wives in the bunch! Sometimes, when you're in a room packed with doctors-to-be, you just have to laugh--it's crazy the way their language and common knowledge permeates their conversation without them even realizing it!

Anyway, we arrived Friday evening and just hung out until the entire group arrived. Ryan's co-president, Erin, gave a devotion, and then we spent the remainder of the evening talking, playing games, and of course, snacking :)

The next morning, every one woke and ate breakfast at their leisure. Following, Ryan led a devotion, and then we split off into small groups for time to pray and share together. Ryan exhorted the group to be open, raw, and real, that we might truly be able to know one another and encourage one another. Our group time was amazing, and it sounded as though a common theme was woven throughout many of the group discussions: this world is not our home; these blessings and resources we have received are not ours to selfishly consume.

As you might imagine, it's a difficult subject to broach with a room full of medical students. So many of us are currently maintaining a tight budget while at the same time accumulating a large amount of student debt, pursuing a career with a large income potential. It's not difficult to understand why we might nearly drool over the thought of eliminating our debt and tight budgets, and after so much hard work, to look forward to an income with much more flexibility. The thought of abandoning the comforts that money can buy is sometimes hard to consider, especially as we live in a world that constantly pushes consumerism and materialism. But, what a testimony it would be, if all of us sought to live simple, modest lives, giving not just out of our surplus, but dipping into our own comforts, for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Moving on with our weekend, following group time, we enjoyed some free time. At 1 PM, a general surgeon who has done a lot of short term mission work came and spoke to us. After his talk, most of the group headed out for a game of ultimate frisbee, while a few hung back at the house.

The evening consisted of dinner, devotion, bonfire, s'mores, singing, and more games. And more snacks... So fun!

Sunday morning, we ate breakfast, listened to a Sermon Index message for church, banded together to clean the house, and then headed back home mid-day.

What a refreshing getaway with so many other individuals who love Jesus!

Abe's name-tag, written with no help or instruction! I thought he did such a good job!

Canoeing with daddy:

Group photo: