Harvest Pumpkin Roll

My oh my.....but this pumpkin roll is by far one of the BEST desserts that I've had in quite some time.  It was one of several dishes that I brought to the big family Thanksgiving Day celebration at my sister-in-law Vicki's home.....and it was an absolute hit!!!  I was lucky to come out of there with one slice.....which was consumed.....down to the last crumb.....for an early evening dinner.  Yummy!!!

Harvest Pumpkin Roll
adapted from LadyinRed over at Tasty Kitchen
Printable Recipe

You'll Need

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup pecans, chopped
• Confectioners sugar

Cream Cheese Filling

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 4 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 cup Confectioners sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Generously grease and flour your jelly roll pan.

Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs.

Gradually add the sugar.

Add the pumpkin and lemon juice, and continue blending until thoroughly incorporated.

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and the salt.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture, and blend on low speed till completely mixed in, making sure to scrape down the sides.

Pour the mixture into your prepared jelly roll pan, then sprinkle the pecans evenly over the top.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Let cool on a rack for 10 minutes.

Gently run a table knife around the edge to make sure the cake is loosened from the sides of the pan. Place a clean dish towel on top of the pan; while holding the towel securely to the pan, quickly invert the cake onto the counter on top of the dishtowel.  Carefully remove the pan, making sure that the cake is free of the pan. Evenly dust the top of the cake with the confectioners sugar, this will prevent the towel from sticking.  Starting at one end (the shorter side), gently roll the cake along with the towel, then set aside to cool completely.

Beat the cream cheese, butter, sugar, and vanilla until smooth.  Gently unroll the cake, then spread the cream cheese filling on top of the cake.

Carefully re-roll the cake, this time without the towel.  Place on plate, seam side down.  I sliced off the ends for a cleaner presentation...of course we ate them!  Chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Happy Thanksgiving

For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food,

For love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Elegant Wreath

This particular wreath gave me the elegant and sparkly look that I was wanting for my front door.  I started off with a basic green wreath that had its tips flocked.....then I went to town and selected picks that I thought would give it THE LOOK!!!  So with some hot glue here.....and a little more there.....then I found some ribbon that I liked.....made my bow.....and VOILA!!!

Check out these fantastic blogs.....The Shabby Chic Cottage.....Today's Creative Blog.....Reinvented.....A Soft Place to Land.....Cottage and Vine.

 

Fudge Brownies

I've been having a bit of a craving for chocolate lately.....so I finally threw up my hands and decided to make something chocolatey with what I've got in the pantry!  So with a bit of a recipe search.....and a check to make sure I had all the ingredients.....this is what came out of my oven.....in all its chocolatey deliciousness!!!

Fudge Brownies
from La Dame on Tasty Kitchen
Printable Recipe

You'll Need

• 12 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 cup butter
• 1-1/2 cups white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 13 x 9-inch baking dish.

In a large pot over low heat, melt the butter.  Stirring constantly, add the cocoa powder, until well blended.

Stir in the sugar.

Mix in the eggs and vanilla until thoroughly incorporated.

Add the flour, and continue stirring until completely blended.

Pour the batter into your prepared baking dish.  Bake in your pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes (original recipe called for 35 minutes).  Test for doneness with a toothpick inserted in center of brownies.

I Give In...To Christmas

Okay.....it's officially the beginning of Christmas at the Gulch!  After hearing about a friend's daughter who started decorating TWO WEEKS ago.....being inundated by all the Christmas 'grab your wallet and get shopping' commercials.....the HGTV (my favorite channel in all of TV-land) post-Thanksgiving Day specials.....getting the nudge from XM Satellite to set my channels for all the Christmas tunes ASAP.....being surrounded by Holiday craft projects that has gotten me covered in paint and glue.....and having that wreath up above sitting on my dining room table begging to be hung.....I relented!!!  I gave in!!!  I threw up my arms and started singing Fa La La's.....I'm in the absolute beginning stages of a Holly Jolly Christmas at Coyote Gulch!  I subconsciously started egging myself on the other night when I reminded myself that as is always the case.....Christmas officially starts the day AFTER Thanksgiving.....and not a moment before.  Only problem with that scenario.....I ALWAYS get sick the day AFTER Thanksgiving.....and then it's usually a week into December before I get my proverbial ass moving again and put myself into decorating desperation mode!  So for the time being.....that wreath gracing my front door is what you see and what you get.....that is until I can get Santa's only helper that lives at the Gulch to volunteer and drag down enough plastic bins to fill a goodly sized bedroom.  ¡Ay, caramba!.....I mean HO HO HO!!!

Have a Movingly Merry Monday!!!

Pardon Me, But Your Ass Is Hanging Out

Please don't tell me that I'm the ONLY one on this planet that can't wait for the above fashion misstatement to be over and done with!!!  Now don't get me wrong.....I'm a strong supporter of self-expression.....but not when you're waddling around, tugging and pulling to keep your pants up.....and the worst yet.....it looks like you've got a load in your pants!  Call it sexy.....nope!  Call it cool.....puh-leeze!  Call it dumb.....ya think!  These poor misguided lads who think they're Rico Suave look-alikes, don't even realize that they can't even walk normally when their pants are just barely clinging on to their gluteus maximus.....thankfully though, for all of us who have to bring up the rear (no pun intended), they do respect us enough to remember to put on their boxers before they leave home to strut waddle their stuff......a small miracle at best!  The other thing I've noticed about these fashion plates.....they're usually in the company of others that find this look so alluring.....but if you've noticed, you never see the ladies lining up behind them now do you!  So as I sit and wait for this "craze" to go by the wayside.....there will still be those occasional moments where I throw my arm up over my eyes and plead for the next fashion craze to come along stat!

So do you think this fetching look will be the next fashion buzz.....

Cold Lime Soufflé

Man, I was only 12 years old when my Mom first made this recipe.....you can do your math.....and yes, that'd be 40 years ago!  Personally I'm of the thinking that a nice cold dessert is excellent no matter what season we're in.....so indulge in the sweet sensation that this dessert will impart in your mouth (sheesh.....that last line sounds like something out of a Harlequin novel)!

Cold Lime Soufflé
from Mom's Recipe Vault
Printable Recipe

You'll Need

• 1 envelope gelatin
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup lime juice
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon lime rind, grated
• 6 egg whites
• 1 cup heavy cream

Sprinkle 1 envelope of gelatin over 1/4 cup of cold water to soften.  In top of a double-boiler, mix 4 egg yolks with 1/2 cup each of lime juice and sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Cook the mixture over simmering water, stirring constantly until it is slightly thickened.  Remove from heat and stir in the softened gelatin and 1 tablespoon grated lime rind.  Stir the mixture until the gelatin is completely dissolved, and let it cool.

Beat 6 egg whites until they hold a soft peak, then beat in the remaining 1/2 cup sugar until it holds a definitive peak.  Beat in 1 cup heavy cream until it holds a stiff peak.  Then fold the cream and egg whites mixture gently but thoroughly into the lime mixture.  Spoon the soufflé mixture into the prepared dish and chill until firm.

Gone Fishin'

Many, many years ago I wore that necklace up above just about every day during my cruise agent days.  It was such a part of me and who I represented that I'd feel like I was missing something on my person if I didn't have it on when I headed out to work or some cruise event.  Once it was around my neck I didn't really notice what it was doing when I bent over, or turned this way or that.....it truly was a part of my daily get-up.  Then there was THAT day.....the day my anchor became a fish hook.....or better known as the kiddo hook.  This freak accident happened way back in the day when the Big Skinnie was just a tweenager.....you know that gray area where they're not quite a kid anymore, but definitely not a teenager.  On this day he still wasn't too old for good ol' Mom to give him a hug and a kiss.....so I leaned over and gave him a big ol' kiss on his cheek.....and when I stood back up I felt some serious resistance.....as in I hooked my kid.....as in the anchor caught his nostril hook, line, and sinker!  The two of us were frozen in shock at that exact moment.....seriously though.....what are the odds for a Cruise Agent mother wearing an anchor around her neck able to snag her son's nostril?  I can swear up and down that for me and the Big Skinnie it was damn near infinitesimally rare!  Once the realization came to the forefront of my mind that I actually hooked my son.....I carefully unanchored him.....pled a zillion of I'm so sorry.....gave him big mama bear hugs.....and then started to laugh!   That was the moment when I stepped outside of my body and became the observer.....I saw the big picture.....I saw how ridiculous it looked.....and I knew that if anything crazily out of the norm would happen to anyone.....that anyone would be me!  Unfortunately, the Big Skinnie had to be the unwilling participant in this one in a zillion chance accident.  Sad to say, but I won the award that day as the Queen Don't Bee!!!

Have a Wildly Wacky Wednesday

Cream of Cauliflower and Stilton Soup

It's been 13 years since I first made this delicious soup.....and luckily I found the recipe not in my recipe files, but in my mother's recipe vault!!!  I can't tell you how thrilled I was to find it, and even more thrilled that I'll be whipping up a pot ASAP!!!

Cream of Cauliflower and Stilton Soup
adapted from Bon Appétit
Printable Recipe

You'll Need

• 1 1-pound head cauliflower, cut into small florets
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 leek (white and pale green parts only), chopped
• 3/4 cup chopped celery
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 3 cups canned vegetable broth
• 1 cup (or more) milk
• 3 ounces Stilton cheese, crumbled
• Salt (to taste)
• Ground white pepper (to taste) 

Blanch 1 cup of the cauliflower florets over high heat in a medium pot of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, roughly 2 minutes. Drain into a colander, then rinse under cold water; draining well. Set aside.

In a large heavy saucepan over medium heat melt the butter.  Add the onion, leek, celery, and the rest of the cauliflower. Cover and cook until the onion is tender, but not brown, stirring frequently for about 8 minutes. Add the flour and stir for 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in the vegetable broth. Add 1 cup of milk. Bring the soup mixture to a boil; then reduce heat and partially cover. Stirring occasionally, simmer until the vegetables are tender and the soup thickens, about 20 minutes. In a blender, puree the soup in batches until smooth. Return the soup to the same saucepan.

Bring the soup to a simmer, thinning with more milk, if desired. Gradually add the Stilton cheese, stirring until melted. Season to taste with salt and white pepper.

Ladle soup into bowls, and garnish with reserved cauliflower and enjoy!!!

Serves 4

The BIG M

That picture up above says it all for me when it comes to hot flashes.....a bunch of menopausal women stampeding for the chilly waters to cool off their burning brows.  Thankfully, I'm in the final chapter of this event that only humans of a feminine nature are unfortunately blessed cursed with.  Speaking of curses.....haven't us gals gotten the short end of the stick in that department.....periods, birthing, shaving legs and pits, plucking, and the list goes on!  Who decided that the fairer sex would have to pay until the end of time for man's sins???  Sucks doesn't it!  Anywho.....I digress.....for the longest time I was the ONLY one of my gal pals going through the BIG M.....in fact, I took on the role of poster child for menopause.  Being the first of my friends to tap dance with the BIG M.....I felt like I now was officially a senior citizen.....that my friends were now all of a younger generation than myself.....that everything I did from that point on in my life wouldn't be earning a jewel in my crown, but earning another gray hair for all the crap that crosses my path.  I went from 'one of the gals' to 'that ol' gal'.  Today I'm starting to feel like my old self again for the first time in 2 years......the hot flashes are down to one a day.....my bitchiness is starting to mellow out (I love you honey).....I don't have to shave my legs as frequently (now that's an upside when you got legs that go all the way up and make a total ass of themselves).....my energy is FINALLY starting to come back.....and I don't have to keep Playtex afloat (no pun intended) ever again!  Now it's my dear friends turn to go through THE CHANGE.....and now I'm no longer the only member of the daily fluster cluck!

So ladies.....menopause is like an annoying acquaintance that won't go away.....with patience and a lot of floor fans.....this acquaintance enemy will go away.....and life as you once knew it will be waiting at the end of that hot tunnel for you to embrace it once again.  I promise!!!

Have a Melodically Mellow Monday