Pumpkin Soup

I also have to share another fun Pumpkin recipe I found in a magazine a few years back.  I am actually amazed by the number of pumpkin recipes we actually have.  I am quite excited to gather them all together.  This is a great smooth soup with a real light flavor. 

Pumpkin Soup

3 T. olive oil                                             5 cups chicken stock

1 med. onion, chopped                                1/3 c. grated Parmesan

2 cloves garlic, chopped                            1 can (15 oz) pure pumpkin

1 med. potato diced                                   2 T. Maple syrup

1 tsp. dried sage                                       salt and pepper to taste

¾ tsp. nutmeg

Heat 3 quart sauce pan on medium heat.  Add 2 T. olive oil.  Add onions, garlic, potato, sage, and nutmeg, lightly salt and pepper.  Sautee till onions are translucent (10 min).  Add 3 cups chicken stock and simmer until potatoes are soft (20 min).  In blender, puree potato mixture.  Then whisk in remaining stock, pumpkin, syrup, and Parmesan cheese.  Heat on medium low for 10 minutes.  Top with croutons (optional).

Our Best Bites Guiltless Alfredo Sauce

I just so happen to love Alfredo sauce!  For a while, I would make it often at home from the jar, but then I discovered how high calorie it was.  So it became a once in a while treat.  Well I discovered a great Alfredo sauce that my cousin mentioned on Facebook one day.  It is from an amazing food blog found at www.ourbestbites.com.  It is really, really good food blog!  So since I am in a recipe sharing mood this month, I have to share this recipe.  And the best thing about this one is that it is only about 100 calories per 1/4 a cup!!  Only it doesn't taste low calorie at all.  Enjoy!!  Cause we sure do!

Guiltless Alfredo Sauce

2 c. low fat milk                                        1 T. butter

1/3 c. (3 oz) low fat cream cheese             3 garlic cloves

2 T. flour                                                  1 c. grated parmesan cheese

1 t. salt

Toss the milk, cream cheese, flour, and salt in blender.  Process until smooth.  In a non-stick sauce pan, melt butter on med-high heat and add garlic.  Let the garlic sauté for about 30 seconds, you don’t want to burn it.  Then add milk mixture to the pan.  Stir constantly for about 3 or 4 minutes or until it just comes to a simmer.  Keep stirring and let it cook for a few minutes more.  It should be much thicker now.  When it’s nice and thickened remove the pan from the heat.  Add the cheese, stir it up and then cover immediately.  Let stand for at least 10 minutes before using.  It will continue to thicken upon standing.  Also if you have leftovers in the fridge, the sauce will thicken almost into a solid.  Just re-heat and add a little milk. 

Pumpkin Chili

This is a dish I like to make about once or twice a year. It is really good, surprisingly. We got this recipe from Brydon's Aunt Lou and Uncle Will. I really like it spicy and think it tastes best that way, so you may want to get hot chili sauce.  It is also a great recipe you can just toss into the Crock pot.   

Pumpkin Chili

2 lbs. ground beef                              2 cans (10 ¾ oz) tomato soup

1 med. onion, chopped                          2 cans (12 oz) hot chili beans

1 c. canned pumpkin                            2 bottles (12 oz) chili sauce

1 tsp. salt                                           1 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. pepper                                      1 tsp. chili powder

2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice                      1 lb. country sausage

Brown sausage and ground beef with onion, drain.  In stock pot, add meat and remaining ingredients.  Add water or beef stock, if desired to reduce thickness.  Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer 1 hour.

Pumpkin Pancakes

We love Pumpkin food! We actually have quite a stash of pumpkin in our home at all times because we love to make things with pumpkin so much. So I thought I would share a few of our favorite pumpkin recipes. This happens to be our most popular pumpkin recipe and I often have a some of these frozen in our freezer. They are wonderful and a great way to sneak a veges into your child's diet!  I believe I found this recipe in a magazine at a Doctor's office when I was pregnant with Caleb.

Pumpkin Pancakes

2 cups flour                                                      ½ tsp. ginger

2 Tbs. brown sugar                                           2 cups milk

2 ½ tsp. baking powder                                      1 cup canned pumpkin

½ tsp. salt                                                         1 large egg

1 tsp. cinnamon                                                  1 tsp. vanilla extract

½ tsp. allspice                                                   3 Tbs. vegetable oil

In medium bowl, whisk flour, sugar, salt, spices, and baking powder.  In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin, milk, egg, vanilla, and oil.  Add dry mixture and mix together.  Cook on skillet.  Serve with maple syrup.

Happy Fall! Decorating Here We Come!!!

One thing I learned about my husband right after we were married is that he really loves to decorate and especially LOVES to decorate for the HOLIDAYS! He loves Holidays! Since we were married right before Christmas, we had a lot of fun shopping the after Christmas sales and planning out our holiday schemes very early in our marriage. Halloween is so much fun and we love getting to pull out the Holiday tubbies. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are some of our favorite times, and we have had so much fun collecting decorations. So last weekend, we could officially pull out the Halloween decor and let the Fall Season begin!

One tradition in our home is that we pack away all holiday items, including books and movies.  So opening the tubs is so much fun and holds so many fun treasures!  Caleb loves reading the Halloween books and just pulling everything he can out of the tubs.

Having lots of fun!

Our Haunted Village!  We love these village pieces and were excited to add a new piece to it this year.  We love Department 56 and this is one of our little splurges in life. 

These pumpkins are one of Brydon's pride and joys and have their own special tubby and method of packing so they could survive all our moves.  (So far so good!)  We found these in Denver before our first Halloween married and passed them up the first time we saw them.  But a while later Brydon was able to go back to Denver with his family and made a special trip to pick up these guys.  We ADORE them. 

Last year life was a bit crazy during the Holiday season, due to our new job and moving.  Brydon actually missed Halloween while he was at Officer Training School.  So I have to share just a few memories from last year.

Caleb was the cutest Scooby Doo ever!  My mom was able to spend Halloween with us and we all went along with the Scooby Doo theme.  I was Daphne, Grandma was Velma and then of course the great Scooby Doo!  Caleb still can't decide what to be this year.

We made sugar cookies and then decided to decorate them with black frosting.  Well we all got black!  We love you grandma!!

We will most definitely miss Fall in the East!  It is so beautiful there and we have so many great memories.   

OnE YeAr!!

I just realized that it was ONE YEAR ago today that we officially joined the Air Force!  Brydon was commissioned a year ago.  He has had a pretty amazing year and is sure doing some great things.  Sure am proud of you, babe!  We love you!

In honor of our one year, I want to share this poem that was given to me at one of my "introduction to military life" classes.  It is one of my favorite Military Wife's Poems.  I am so grateful for all the mentors and amazing people we have met that have helped us on our military journey.  We have worked for some of the best Commanders and have the best Flight.  We could not have asked for a better year or to have been surrounded by better people.  We could not have done it without you all!

When God Created The Military Wife The Good Lord was creating a model for military wives and was into his sixth day of overtime when an angel appeared. She said, "Lord, you seem to be having a lot of trouble with this one. What’s wrong with the standard model?" The Lord replied, "Have you seen the specs on this order? She has to be completely independent, possess the qualities of both father and mother, be a perfect hostess to 4 or 40 with an hour’s notice, run on black coffee, handle every emergency imaginable without a manual, be able to carry on cheerfully, even if she is pregnant and has the flu, and she must be willing to move to a new location 10 times in 17 years. And oh yes, she must have six pairs of hands." The angel shook her head, "Six pair of hands? No way!" The Lord continued, "Don’t worry, we will make other military wives to help her. And we will give her an unusually strong heart so it can swell with pride in her husband’s achievements, sustain the pain of separations, beat soundly when it is overworked and tired, and be large enough to say "I understand" when she doesn’t and say, ‘I love you’ regardless". "Lord," said the angel, touching his arm gently "Go to bed and get some rest. You can finish this tomorrow". "I can’t stop now", said the Lord "I am so close to creating something unique. Already this model heals herself when she is sick, can put up six unexpected guests for the weekend, wave goodbye to her husband from a depot, pier or runway and understand why it’s important that he leave." The angel circled the model of the military wife, looked at it closely and sighed, "It looks fine, but it’s too soft". "She might look soft", replied the Lord, "but she has the strength of a lion. You would not believe what she can endure."

Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the Lord’s creation. "There’s a leak", she announced. "Something is wrong with the construction. You are trying to put too much into this model." The Lord appeared offended at the angel’s lack of confidence. "What you see is not a leak", he said, "It’s a tear." "A tear? What is it there for?", asked the angel. The Lord replied, "It’s for joy, sadness, pain, disappointment, loneliness, pride and a dedication to all the values that she and her husband hold dear." "You are a genius!" exclaimed the angel. The Lord looked puzzled and replied, "I didn’t put it there".

Hurray for Baby Girls!

My Sister-in-Law is expecting a baby girl in a little over a month, so it gave me a chance to make some girly stuff.  I got to make her some fun, pretty bows and then learned how to make these really cute flowers.  The rolled fabric flowers are so easy to make and I love them!  I even made a couple for myself.  The pink fluffy flower is made out of fabric as well and was a lot easier than I thought to make.  I am anxious to make more and really want to make a Fall Wreath out of these flowers.  We will see if I manage to get it done.  I think this a great way to use up all those fabric scraps!