Pumpkinland

Every fall I look fwd to going to the Pumpkin Patch & now Breanna is getting older, its more fun. Unfortunately the day we decided to go, it was 85 degrees!!! Thankfully we went early so it wasn't TOO hot....definitely way too hot for October but we had fun!

This year we went back to Janoskis PumpkinLand  and a group of friends meet us. Last year was fun but Breanna was still a little too young to realize what was going on. Her best buddy Harper was with us this year (let me tell you when these 2 get together, they could run around for hours just chasing each other) and two of our other friends have younger boys. It was nice to be able to see everyone!

This place is awesome. You pay $5/person and they have a bunch of activities. Pony rides, Face/Pumpkin painting, corn maze, and a bunch of other things. While we waited for everyone to arrive, we let the kids run around and play, went on pony ride, and grabbed some food then headed to the tractor to get our pumpkins. I tried to get some pictures like last year but....not so easy...all Breanna wanted to do was run and try and pick up every pumpkin....but I did get a few! Once we picked our pumpkin we headed back and over to the market and greenhouse. I got a few mums and a few more smaller pumpkins for the front porch.

All in all it was a wonderful day spent with friends-

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

Now that fall is in full swing...I decided I needed to make some kind of pumpkin something so I went searching and found this amazing recipe for Iced Pumpkin Cookies on AllRecipe


Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar   
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
   
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.
4. To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.

I have to say these are probably the best cookies I have made from scratch! If you love anything pumpkin...definitely make these!!

just call me betty crocker...

ok not really but....I have never been much of a baker (or even a cook) well now that I am a SAHM...I decided I should atleast TRY right?!?!?

Well we had to go get some groceries over the weekend so I figured I would get some stuff to make cookies and muffins...go to SAMs and B finds a pumpkin bread kit...so we bought it...well we got home and I decided to make some cookies (ok so I cheated a little and bought the pre-made cookie dough), so I made those and they turned out pretty damn good if I say so myself (but I guess you cant really screw them up unless you burn them right!??!)

So yesterday decided to make some of the punpkin bread...and boy oh boy did my house smell amaaaaazing just like a fall afternoon (even tho it was about 77 yesterday...it is OFFICIALLY fall so I figured why not)...I had some this morning with my coffee & pumpkin spice creamer (which is AMAZING) and it tastes so delish...and very moist...(prob should've taken pics BEFORE we cut into it but we just couldnt wait it smelled too good...)

 This is the kit....it comes with 2 pks....each batch makes 2 loaves (as you can see above- or there is a chart to make muffins, bundt cake etc) and we got it @ SAMs Club...and I HIGHLY recommend it if you like pumpkin bread..

so my next baking project will be cinamon struessel muffins... :-)