Monday, October 17, 2011

Little artist


Looks like i have a little artist in my family now :) she has been drawing her family,her dog,little bunnies,rainbows,grass,sunshine,opposites & shapes all over my printer paper,the shower walls(with those tub safe crayons-thank goodness) & in her little notebooks,she is so creative & loves all things crafty,she might get that from me ;) and boy does it make me smile to see these sweet little happy drawings of hers :)

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

pumpkin cream cheese bread

came across this recipe & boy does it look yummy,might have to make this soon & give it a try,we love all things involving pumpkin & cream cheese :)




PUMPKIN CREAM CHEESE BREAD

FILLING:



■1 package (8 ounce) cream cheese, softened
■1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar (depending on how sweet you want the filling to be)
■1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
■1 large egg
■1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

BREAD:




■1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
■1 teaspoon baking soda
■1/2 teaspoon salt
■1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
■1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
■1/4 teaspoon ginger
■1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
■1 to 1 1/4 cup(s) pumpkin puree, canned or homemade
■1/2 cup canola oil
■2 large eggs
■1 1/2 cups sugar
■1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

CINNAMON GLAZE:

■1 cup powdered sugar
■2 to 2 1/2 Tablespoons half & half
■1/2 to 1 teaspoon cinnamon
■1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts for garnish




Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour two 8 x 4 x 3-inch loaf pans. In a medium mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, flour, egg, and vanilla; beat until smooth and creamy. Set aside. In a large bowl, blend 1 2/3 cup flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg; set aside. In another medium bowl, combine the pumpkin puree, canola oil, eggs and sugar; beat well. Stir the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture just until combined. Fold in the chopped pecans or walnuts.

*

Pour half of the pumpkin bread batter evenly into the two prepared loaf pans. Spoon cream cheese mixture on top of the pumpkin batter layers in each loaf pan and then spoon or pour on the remaining pumpkin batter (if you don’t have enough pumpkin batter to cover the cream cheese layer entirely, that’s okay, because you’ll be swirling them together anyway). Take a knife and stick straight down into the top pumpkin batter layer and middle cream cheese layer; swirl the knife around in these two layers, creating a marble effect; this will give the cream cheese filling a nice swirly shape as it bakes.

*

Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool bread in pans for 10 minutes; remove to a rack to cool completely. While waiting for the bread to cool, mix your cinnamon glaze: combine powdered sugar and half & half, blending well; then add cinnamon and mix until smooth and creamy. Note: the cinnamon makes this glaze darker in color, so if you want a lighter, creamy color glaze, just add a dash of cinnamon to the mixture. Drizzle over completely cooled bread loaves and then sprinkle on nuts for garnish.

the magic of disney






we all had such a wonderful time at Disney,going up wednesday late afternoon,hitting downtown Disney,eating a delicious meal at Rainforest cafe,staying at our Disney resort(a 1st time for all of us)getting to the park an hr early for special 'magic hours' the Disney resort offered,so we got to get in the park at 8 am,we got to see & do so much,meet all of the princess's-Rapunzel,belle,sleeping beauty-which ended up being nate's favorite because of how sweet she was to our sleeping beauty,little violet,kissed her on the forehead & everything :)Cinderella,Tinkerbell,Ariel & prince eric-which my daughter who is never shy was actually a little quiet & speechless when she met them.we got a front row seat to the parade where she got to meet woody & jessie from toy story & daddy even was picking up 'fairy dust' after the parade,he loves his girls. lily's favorite part was getting the autographs,she was so excited about that, & we tried chasing down daisy duck twice & both times she disappeared & finally while we were in line to meet Pinocchio,daisy duck was coming back out so daddy waited in line because lily really wanted to meet daisy duck.next time lily said she wants to meet "nuno" the dog,she means pluto so I'm not sure how lily confused that one, but it was a great family vacation even if only for a day or two :)