Tasty Tuesdays: Easy Pumpkin Bread

Welcome to Tasty Tuesdays!

I made this super easy pumpkin bread over the weekend.  What is it about fall that brings on the pumpkin cravings?  I could care less about it any other time of year, but October and November are all about pumpkin!

{ Recipe adapted from one I found here on Allrecipes }

Ingredients:
- 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree

- 4 eggs

- 1 cup vegetable oil

- 2/3 cup water

- 1 1/2 cup dark brown sugar

- 1 cups white sugar

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

- 2 teaspoons baking soda

- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

For Glaze:

- 2 cups confectioners sugar

- milk or water

- 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour two 7x9 bread loaf pans

2.  In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water, sugars, and vanilla until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.

3.  Bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center of bread comes out clean.

4.  Let bread cool in pans for 15 -20 minutes.  When pans are cool enough to handle, turn out bread and let finish cooling on wire racks.

5.  For glaze:  Put 2 cups of confectioners sugar in mixing bowl.  Slowly add milk or water while stirring until glaze is the consistency of pancake batter.  Add vanilla and stir until combined.

6.  Place wax paper under cooling racks and drizzle glaze over bread.

What did you cook this week?

Party Rules:

1.  Add a link in your post back to this post

OR

2.  Add the Tasty Tuesdays button to your post.  You will find the button on my sidebar.

Thanks!

I May Become Additcted to Sewing Baby Quilts...

I made this baby quilt for my cousin who is expecting her first baby next month.  I had so much fun making this and I am really happy with how it turned out.  I am seriously thinking about starting another one even though I don't need another baby gift at the moment!

You may have seen the pattern for this quilt out in blogland.  It was designed by Vanessa Christenson of  V and Co. and was featured on Moda Bake Shop. 

My cousin isn't finding out what she is having, so I tried to make this pretty gender neutral - which is much easier said than done!  It's so hard to find fabrics that work for both a boy or a girl.  It looks a little more "boyish" than I wanted, but hopefully if it's a little girl she won't mind!

This wasn't hard to make - just took a little time.

I had heard good things about spray basting and decided to give the 505 spray a try after reading great reviews online.  I LOVED it.  So much easier than pinning together all the layers.  And especially great for free motion quilting becasue you don't need to keep taking out the pins to quilt.

Do you quilters get nervous when you put your finished quilts in the wash machine?  I think I was praying the whole time it was in there that it would come out OK!  It did, thank goodness!  I love the puckered look the quilt has after if comes out of the wash machine.

My free motion quilting could use a little practice!

Here is the back:

Do you recognize the Amy Butler fabric?  I've used it on so many projects.  It's a favorite, for sure.

Hopefully my cousin and the baby like it as much as I do!

Tasty Tuesdays: Beer Cheese Dip

Welcome to Tasty Tuesdays!

Thanks again to all of you who stopped over from Bloggers Blog of Note - I'm so glad you are here!  Tasty Tuesdays is weekly recipe link party I host.  Feel free to link up your recipes or just check out all the great ones linked up!

I have a super easy and really delicious appetizer for you today:  Beer Cheese Dip.  Now if that doesn't sound perfect for Fall, I don't know what does!

This recipe was published in the October 2011 issue of Grand Rapids Magazine and is from Chef Justin Golinski of Founders Brewing Co.  I adapted it slightly, just changing a few quantities.

I didn't have any Founders beer so I used a pale ale from Bell's.

This recipe is so easy - it only takes a few minutes to put it all together

Ingredients:

- 1 pound cream cheese, softened

- 1 cup smoked Gouda, shredded

- 6 oz of beer, your choice.  The original recipe calls for an IPA

- 1 cup baby spinach, rough chopped

- 1/2 medium-sized red bell pepper, diced

- 1 clove garlic, minced

- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

- 1 teaspoon Italian seasonings

Preheat oven to 325.  Combine and mix all of the ingredients thoroughly in a medium sized mixing bowl.  Transfer to baking dish.  Bake 35-40 minutes.  Stir once, halfway through cooking time.  If desired, set under broiled for a minute to brown top of dip.  Serves with tortilla chips, pita chips, or toast point.

See, I told you it was easy!

What did you cook this week?

Party Rules:

1.  Add a link in your post back to this post.

OR

2.  Add the Tasty Tuesday button to your post.  You will find the button on my sidebar.

Thanks!

Pure Michigan: Sleeping Bear Dunes

Happy Friday!  I don't know about you, but it's been a long week and I am so happy to see the weekend.

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On Wednesday, 33 Shades of Green was Bloggers "Blog of Note".  Wow.  Thank you Blogger!  Welcome to all of you who are new followers and stopped by to check out 33 Shades of Green.  I'm really glad you're here! 

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A couple of weeks ago I posted about the weekend trip  I took up North (in Michigan) wine tasting.  This is the second part of the trip - the beautiful Sleeping Bear Dunes.

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In August, Sleeping Bear Dunes was voted the Most Beautiful Place in America, by Good Morning America.  And, I have to agree, it is breathtaking.  It's been a few years since I was up to SBD, so it was nice to have another chance to enjoy it.

The drive from Traverse City, where we spent the night, over to the Dunes was just beautiful.  Fall color was a week or two away from peak, but it was still gorgeous.

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First stop was at the visitors center to pick up a map.

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All of my photos are from the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive area of the park.  It is a 7.4 mile drive through the forest and dunes with several spots to park the car and get out and walk around. 
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The first stop overlooks Glen Lake.  So pretty.

The next photos are all from the Lake Michigan Overlook.  The overlook is 450 feet above Lake Michigan and it's steep - almost straight down!  Lots of people actually climb down to the bottom and then have to come all the way back up.

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{ my always stylish Baby Sister }

{ me & Mom }

In this same area there is a boardwalk that leads to some really pretty look-outs.

This awesome pic courtesy of Baby Sister:

After Sleeping Bear Dunes, we made a stop in the city of Glen Arbor, home of Cherry Republic and then also at a lighthouse.

That concludes our tour of Sleeping Bear Dunes - I hope you enjoyed it!

I'm going to work on my pillow + invisible zipper + piping tutorial this weekend and hope to have it up soon.  Enjoy the weekend!