Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Milkshake

It's safe to say, I will be putting my Pumpkin Spice on almost everything this season! Boyfriend and I were relaxing on the couch, watching RV, and I got some inspiration. I put chocolate icecream, a splash of milk, a dash of pumpkin spice, and a few dollops of whipped cream in the blender, and Ta-Da! A nice treat to end the weekend. There were no exact measurments, whatever suits you. It was so good! I will definitely be eating my ice cream this way for a while.

Bring on fall!

Make it at Home: Frozen Hot Chocolate

I was browsing Pinterest this morning and came across a recipe for Frozen Hot Chocolate, I was going grocery shopping today anyway, so I went ahead and picked up a few extra ingredients to make this yummy treat at home.

Here is where the original recipe comes from.

** A little note before starting, this recipe makes A LOT of Frozen Hot Chocolate, I recommend splitting it with a friend or if you're indulging in a treat alone, make half of what the recipe calls for.

 

Start by putting three cups of ice and one cup of milk in your blender, and set it a side.

 

 

 

In a double boiler melt 5-6 pieces of your favorite chocolate. I melted five sections of a milk chocolate Hershey's bar and one Reese's. When the chocolate it melted, add 2 teaspoons of store bought hot chocolate mix and 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar.

 

 

 

 When the hot chocolate and sugar are mixed into the melted chocolate, add half a cup of milk and mix it all together really well until it's smooth.

 



 

Put this mixture into the blender with the ice and milk and blend until there are no large chunks of ice left.

 

 

Add your favorite toppings, I put a dollop of whipped cream and a Reese's, Bryan opted for whipped cream and shaved pieces of dark chocolate.

 

 

This was a great addition to an already wonderful reading of lighting our jack-o-lanterns for the first time, and finding Nancy Drew books at the library.

 



 

 



Make it at Home: Peach Pie

Peach PIE? I know more often than not peaches are made into a cobbler, but with all of the yummy peaches I got at the market, I wanted to do something a little less "run of the mill". And let me tell you, this pie was darn good for my first one, if I do say so myself. Of course, I can't take all the credit, boyfriend did help, he was making the crust while I was on peach duty.

Here's what you'll need:

• 6-7 peaches
• Sugar
• Flour
• Lemon juice
• Water
• Butter
• Salt

I started by peeling and dicing my peaches. I know normally the peaches are in slices, but I liked the idea of diced. When they were all peeled and diced, I put them in a small amount of water and sugar in a boiling pot on the stove. I wanted to make sure they were sweet! I let them simmer for 20 to 30 minutes and then I strained them. I put the strainer over the bowl because I wanted to save the peach juice for later. When the peaches were cooled, I put them in a mixing bowl with 1 cup of sugar, 4 tablespoons of flour, and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Set it in the fridge while the dough is being made.

I think one of the reasons I've never made a pie before is because I thought making the dough would be complicated. I've helped my dad make a few pies before and he uses a recipe from my great grandmother with lard and all these other complicated ingredients and it has to set and rise and blah, blah, blah. Don't get me wrong, the pie crust made that way is delicious, but we found a simple four ingredient dough recipe. Bryan mixed together 1 1/3 cups of flour and 1/2 a tablespoon of salt. Cut 4 ounces of butter in until the mixture is nice and crumbly. Then add 5 tablespoons of ice water until it's doughy and can be rolled out. Bryan did say that he wished he couldn've added a little sugar to the dough. I liked it the way it was, but if you want a sweet dough, I would add some sugar, at most 1/2 a cup- probably a little less. Then we floured the counter so he could stretch and roll the dough. He put the dough on a sheet pan and put it in the fridge for 15 minutes. Last, he cut the dough into long thin strips so we could make a lattice crust on top.

I bought just a regular graham cracker pie crust from the store, and Bryan's crust went on top, but if you want to make the top and bottom, just double the ingredients for the dough and make two. So, I put the peaches in the graham cracker crust and we started weaving the dough strips on top to make the lattice crust.

It's easy if you lay out several strips all in one direction and then fold back every other one to lay a strip going in the opposite direction (startng in the middle) down and then fold back the alternating strips. That soulds a little complicated as I type it, I know. But look how pretty the top is! If you're just going to make a flat pie crust on top, cut a few holes in the middle.

 

 

We had a little bit of dough leftover to make some jelly turnovers. All we did was roll out a little bit of dough again and fill it with some jelly we had in the fridge. We made three all together, two apple and one strawberry preserve. Make sure to slit some holes in the top so the steam can get out while it's baking. These turnovers only need to bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until the crust is golden.

 

 

Put it in the oven at 375 for 30 or so minutes, or until the top is golden. Just make sure not to burn the bottom.

It was sooo good. I must confess I may have eaten a few warm slices for breakfast with a glass of milk...

The Friendly Market

I recently rediscovered a local farmer's market in our small town. I've seen it before, but I'd never been to it. It's actually been here for five or so years, but it's on a back street that I don't go on often, so I had forgotten all about it. Since I've been cooking more and more in the past few months I've noticed that veggies and other produce at the store are expensive, and while reading other blogs saw a few posts here and there about trips to a market and I was so jealous, but now I don't have to be because I have one! It's called The Friendly Market in Morehead City. I was so excited when we stopped while running some other errands. It's full of produce and plants, and they even have a small kitchen, sadly when we went the kitchen was closed so I didn't get to go in, but it's adorable.

They even placed little picnic tables outside. All of the plants there are so pretty. I found some beautiful balloon flowers and they also had a little waterfall/pond area too.

The waterfall/pond is small, but it's in the bottom right picture.

 

 Top left: Balloon Flower

Top right: mums! (fall is coming!)

 

Bryan looking at plants

 

I think what I was most excited about was the produce that Quinn's farm brings to the market. The lady there said that she wished I could take pictures on a different day because she would be getting more of a variety later in the week, but I loved what I saw.

 

 Everything looked so yummy.

 

 

I was amazed at the prices too. Bryan and I ended up getting two large, beautiful onions, three bell peppers, seven peaches, and a bunch of chili's and jalapenos. We only spent ten bucks! You can't beat that, I know at a grocery store I probably would have paid double that.


















All in all, we had a great visit to The Friendly Market, and I can't wait to go back.

Who Knew We Actually had Good Food Around Here?!

As I mentioned in my review of Twisted Spoon Frozen Yogurt and Desserts, they are owned by another local, successful restaurant. When I sent the review of Twisted Spoon to the manager there, he found out I'd never tried Circa 81 (the place that owns TS), he gave me a coupon for a free appetizer to go try Circa. I was psyched. I immediately went to Circa 81's website to check out their menu. They are unlike anything we have around here, and you can tell just by looking online. Not only is the name itself unique, but the dining experience is as well. The restaurant is filled with beautiful tables and romantic lighting.

As you can see through the entryway, there is a full bar with seating. It's a small space, but I think they placed everything well so you aren't tripping over tables.

For our free appetizer, we got a plate of pork pot stickers, and let me tell you, they were divine. There were five on the plate, and we fought over the last one, before cutting it in half and splitting it. We demolished all five in about two minutes.

We were deciding what to eat and we had previously noticed they had small, medium, and large plates listed online. We both thought some of the sandwiches on the medium plate menu looked good. We got the menu and there was no medium section to be found, we asked the waitress and she explained that the medium plates were generally a lunch menu, but she was nice enough to let us order anyway. I will take this time to also explain how great the staff was too, I always say thank you to drink refills and such, cause my momma taught me manners, and at most places I get a passing glance, but our waitress was very genuine. I settled on The Havana which is described on their menu as "Thinly sliced ham and turkey with cream cheese and spicy fruit jelly, served on a sub roll and grilled Cuban style" I was a little apprehensive, I've never tried anything like this. Meat with cream cheese and jelly? I got it with a side of potato salad. Bryan got the Circa 81 club which is "Your choice of turkey, roast beef, or chicken with lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, mustard, onion, bacon, and Havarti cheese, on grilled white bread" he chose roast beef, and got a side of homemade fries, I was also a little nervous about these too, because homemade fries are easy to screw up and become to crunchy and inedible. When Bryan and I got our sandwiches the were already neatly cut in half, so we traded one half each so we could have some of both. These were the best sandwiches I've ever eaten! I'm not lying. I cannot describe the party in my mouth when I bit into my sandwich and got some ham, turkey, jelly, and cream cheese. So good. SO GOOD! And the heartiness of Bryan's pick was awesome. Oh, and the potato fries? Perfect! Great prices for their lunch menu, and I can't wait to try the dinner menu.

Left side: The Havana

Right side: Circa 81 Club

Back: Yummy Potato salad

Perfectly cooked home fries

 

Bryan double fisting the sandwiches. He was

trying to figure out which was better.

He couldn't decide.

 

I am delighted that we have such a unique locally owned place. Most of what we do have are chain restaurants, not the best either. Circa 81 is definitely a must try!

 

Post mouth party bliss



 

Our Small Town is Getting Bigger, Bigger

Last night was date night! Boyfriend and I went to Kyoto Asian Cuisine for appetizers and sushi, our favorites there!

I got Krab Rangoons, and Dumplings for appetizers. For my sushi choices I got:

1. Eel Cucumber Roll
2. Philidelphia Roll- Cream Cheese and Smoked Salmon
3. California Roll

Now onto the purpose of my post, my review of where we had dessert: Twisted Spoon Frozen Yogurt and Desserts. As I've written before, we have a small town, hence Small Town Finds, but, in the past few years we've been getting more and more stores. Back in March I noticed that we were getting two frozen yogurt bars at once! One called BrrrBerry (I haven't been there yet and I likely won't go, because my first experience at Twisted Spoon was sooooo good!), and one called Twisted Spoon. Twisted Spoon is owned by a local restaurant, and it's the one and only, not a chain. Bryan and I were both Froyo virgins, and the ladies in there last night were so nice and walked us through everything! They even let me take pictures for my blog! I will definitely be going back again and again.

 

First you get your bowl. You can get a waffle bowl in Sprinkle, Chocolate, and Rice Crispy flavor. Then you load on the yogurt, they had Chocolate, Vanilla, Luscious Lemon, Pomegranite Raspberry, EuroTart, Peanut Butter, Pecan Praline, and Cake Batter were "on tap", but the flavors can change as well, so there are more than eight kinds. We were able to sample all the flavors, and Bryan got Chocolate and I got Chocolate and Vanilla.

 



Next we went to the topping bar! They had tons of countless toppings to choose from, I believe I got Cookie Dough pieces, M&M's, White Chocolate kisses, Nutter Butter Bar pieces, and Oreos, and topped it with Reddi Whip, I couldn't tell you what all Bryan got on his, I do remember Swedish Fish and Fruity Pebbles. I even tried these little things I'd never heard of before that are called "Bobas", the lady behind the counter described them as Gushers, they're very interesting.

 

Last you go to the weighing station, you put all of the yogurt you're paying for on the scale and you pay according to how many ounces it weighs. I think the price is pretty reasonable at .45 an ounce. The lovely ladies also gave me a punch card, every time you get Froyo they punch it and the tenth time you get a free ten ounce!

 

 





The also have other desserts available, we came in pretty late, so most of their selection had been put away for the night.

 

These pictures show a little of the character of their shop, they have adorable rocking chairs and cornhole games outside, decorative spoons on the walls, a huge chalk board where they keep up with their newest Froyo record holder, and they used the space very well for the tables and chairs for customers.

 

 

My Froyo loyalty lies with Twisted Spoon! I was very satisfied with my first visit and I can't wait to visit again. 



Make it at Home: French Onion Chicken

I've been making super awesome meals a lot lately, and I'm finding that I like creating my own recipes and cooking. Anyway, here's how I made French Onion Chicken:

You'll need:

• One Lemon
• One Lime
• Four Chicken Breasts
• Half of a Large Onion
• Baby Carrots
• Half of a Pepper
• Three Medium to Large Potatoes
• Six Mushrooms
• Rosemary Seasoning
• Garlic Seasoning
• Salt
• One can of Campbell's French Onion Soup/Gravy

 

Chop up the potatoes and boil the pieces with the carrots for 5-7 minutes. Chop the mushrooms, onions, and the pepper and put in the bottom of a large greased pan. You can add some spices if desired. Also, cut the lemon and lime in half. Take one half of each and slice it up.

 

 

 

 

In a small frying pan, let the gravy simmer with about 1/3 of a can of milk. The milk makes more gravy and helps thicken it a little. I also added about a tablespoon of butter, but that's optional. Put the spices in the gravy as well. I like to season each component a little bit so that everything has a common flavor.

 





Slice each chicken breast in half sideways and put in two slices each of lemon and lime, and you guessed it, spice it up. I put all of the breasts on our George Foreman grill for about a minute, but if you don't have one, you can just pan fry it for a minute or two on each side. I didn't cook it all the way through, I just wanted to get the outside started.

 

Then it's everything into the pan topped in gravy to bake at 375 degrees or until chicken is cooked through.

 

 

 

Make it at Home: Chicken and Veggie Roast

I know I haven't posted a lot else besides food lately, but hopefully I'll be able to get some outfits up soon.
Anyway, last night I had some left over ingredients from the meatloaf recipe, so I made this Chicken and Veggie Roast.

I got my recipe base from here, but I tweaked it a little and made it my own. The actual recipe calls for asparagus and peppers, but I improvised.

For my recipe you'll need:

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 large potatoe cut into bite sized squares
• 1 large lemon
• 1 container of whole mushrooms (just becaus I don't like canned, if you do, by all means)
• 1 bag of baby carrots
• 1 meduim/large onion
• 1 bag of shredded cheese
• 1 bottle of Zesty Italian Salad Dressing
• Olive Oil
• Rosemary and Basil spices

Turn on your oven to about 375. I put two pots of water on to boil one for the chicken, one for the potatoes and carrots. I just wanted to start the cooking process for these things. I cut the chicken into pieces a little larger than bite sized and cut all the fat off. The chicken only needs to boil for like 45 seconds to a minute til the outsides of ever piece is white. The potatoes and carrots take a little longer than that, probably 5-7 minutes.

Drain your chicken and while the potatoes and carrots finish boiling slice up your mushrooms (I used about 5 from my bucket) and onions (I only used about half). Spray your pan for the oven and put the mushrooms and onions in the bottom, layer the chicken on top. Squeeze the lemon juice onto the chicken, sprinkle the rosemary on generously, and a little of the basil (I didn't like the smell of it so I only put a little on).

 



When you drain the potatoes and carrots on top of everything, put more spices on top, a little olive oil, and some of the zesty italian dressing.

Bake for about 35 minutes, turning the veggies and stuff every 15 minutes or so, after 35 minutes sprinkle some cheese on the top and bake for another 15-20 and then it should be done!

It is very tasty, enjoy!



Make it at Home: Meatloaf and Baked Mac and Cheese

Last night I wanted to make boyfriend a nice home cooked meal, so I decided to make a meatloaf with potatoes and some baked mac and cheese. Here's how I did it:

I first cut the potatoes into bit sized wedges, peels still on, and started to boil them. I wanted to make sure they didn't come out of the oven still hard that's why I boiled.

Then I put some spices in with the meat and formed it into a loaf. I put in:

• Italian Bread Crumbs
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic
• Worcestershire

After I added the boiled potatoes with the meat, I put Cream of Mushroom soup all over the top of everything. I know that most meatloaf is made with ketchup and tomatos on top, but I like this, it makes it more savory.

I put it in the oven to bake at 425 for about an hour.

Make your mac and cheese according to box instructions and put it in a small pan and cover with bread crumbs. When your meat loaf has about 20 minutes left, put the mac and cheese, that way both things come out at the same time. As you can probably see the meatloaf had a lot of grease, so you'll either need to get really lean meat or cook the meatloaf in another seperate pan.

A little ambiance:

The finished product:

We drained most of the grease, so it tasted pretty good, but tonight I'm making something "cleaner".

 

***A little revision from "What I Learned from My Cosmo": I said that there was a Pinterest app by using the Digimarc app, but I downloaded it and found it difficult to use. But, good news, there actually is a Pinterest app now! I couldn't find it when looking in the app shop, but if you use your smart phone and search Pinterest in the Facebook search bar, the app should be one of the top results, just click it and it will bring you to a place to download, happy pinning!