Is It Pumpkin Bread? Or Pumpkin Cake? Both!

I think everybody has a favorite pumpkin bread recipe but in case you don’t, here’s a great one for you to try.  (Yes, two recipe posts in a row but I promise I’m not turning this into a cooking blog!)

I’ve been making this recipe forever…so long that I can’t even remember where the recipe came from.  I love it because it’s not only quick, easy and tasty, but it’s versatile too.  The original recipe calls for cooking it in a Bundt pan but I’ve also made it as a sheet cake with the optional frosting recipe below.  Most of the time though, I cook it in loaf pans and leave it unfrosted, like pumpkin bread.

It’s incredibly moist right out of the oven but after a couple days in the refrigerator (if it lasts that long!), it becomes so moist it just melts in your mouth.

PUMPKIN BREAD (OR PUMPKIN CAKE)  

• 1 box yellow cake mix

• 4 eggs

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

• 1/2 cup milk

• 1 cup canned pumpkin (not canned pumpkin pie filling)  We like a stronger pumpkin taste so I usually use more like 1 1/2 cups...almost the whole small can

• 1 large box vanilla instant pudding

• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Dump all ingredients into a bowl and mix well.  Pour into greased & floured pan and bake at 350 degrees.  Bundt pan takes about 1 hour, sheet cake about 25-30 minutes, loaf pans about 30-50 minutes, depending on size.  (One recipe will make at least two loaves, more if you are using smaller loaf pans).  

Frosting (Optional)

• 8 oz. package cream cheese

• 1 stick of butter or margarine

• 1 teaspoon vanilla  (I usually use more)

• 1/2 to 3/4 box powdered sugar

• 1-3 tablespoons milk if necessary to achieve desired consistency

Beat until smooth and creamy.

White Chicken Chili…Heaven in a Bowl!

Right up front I’m going to say, I am not fond of chili. 

I know, I know!  That’s almost un-American, isn’t it?  I can eat a few bites of it but after that……blech!

For some reason, I guess perhaps because I knew we were in store for some cooler weather  this past weekend, white chicken chili popped into my head last week.  I have never had the opportunity to try  it so I turned to the internet to investigate what ingredients go into it.  Not so surprising, there are many variations.  I printed out several different recipes and combined the ingredients I thought my family and I would like best.

Oh! My! 

Where have you been all my life white chicken chili???  

This wasn’t chili;  it was heaven in a bowl!  I’ll definitely be making this again! 

If you don’t already have your own White Chicken Chili recipe, here’s what I came up with.

WHITE CHICKEN CHILI

INGREDIENTS:

• Skinless chicken breasts (about 1 ½ pounds)
• Olive oil to cook chicken in
• 1 stick of butter
• ¼ cup all purpose flour
• 8 oz. chicken broth (use a little less  if you want a thicker chili)
• 2 cups fat free half & half
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons hot sauce (Tabasco, Crystal etc.)
• 1 ½ teaspoons chili powder (plus enough to season chicken before cooking)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• 1 can (16 oz.) of Bush’s great northern beans, slightly drained
• 1 can (4 oz) chopped mild green chilies, drained
• 2 cans corn, drained
• 1 cup  shredded Monterey Jack cheese

DIRECTIONS:

In a large skillet, heat a little olive oil over moderately high heat. Season chicken breasts with salt, pepper and a little chili powder. Cook in skillet until done and nicely browned. Remove chicken from skillet and when cool, chop or shred.

In the same skillet, cook chopped onion in 2 Tablespoons of butter until softened. Add minced garlic and set aside.

In a heavy pot large enough to hold all ingredients, melt 6 Tablespoons of butter over moderately low heat and whisk in flour. Add chicken broth and half & half. Continue whisking until thickened. Stir in hot sauce, chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper and cheese. Add onions, beans, chilies, chicken and corn. Cook over moderately low heat for about 20 minutes. (I skipped this step because I wasn’t serving it until the next day and planned to heat it in my crock pot for several hours instead.)

A Little Purging…A Little Packing…A Little Playing

October 30th was one year  since we bought the house in Hooterville.   It’s hard for me to believe it has been a year already. 

The renovations to the new house are far from done but we’ve made enough progress that the formal move is imminent and it’s now time to start the dreaded chore of packing. 

 

I’m quite sad about leaving My Cottage of Bliss.   Hubby and I have  lived here more than 35 years and  lots of memories have been made in this little house.   My childhood years were also spent  in this neighborhood…just 4 streets away. 

I’m attempting to lessen the  emotionality of it all  by taking baby steps and packing a little at a time but it’s still a challenge.

The first room to be significantly taken apart was my tiny, but cozy,  family room.   I have to tell you…

when it went from this…

to this…

the reality of the move hit me…hard. 

I am also completely overwhelmed by the amount of stuff we have accumulated in the 35 years we’ve lived here.     Sheeeesh!  It’s unbelievable.  Some days I feel like  it’s going to take another year to empty out this house. 

Knowing I already have way too much stuff I have to either purge or pack has  been  good motivation for me to drastically cut back on  my thrifting trips to  Goodwill,  since that’s where I seem to find things I really don’t need. 

One thing I almost always find impossible to pass up at Goodwill are random china pieces with pink roses.

For example…

               this  round, domed butter dish I found recently. 

Five dollars.

  

TOTALLY unnecessary but I ask you…

              for $5.00, how could I leave this beauty behind?

 

I’ve also developed a weakness for silver flatware, especially spoons.  I found these 7 Wm. Rogers & Son silver soup spoons at Goodwill for just $1.00. 

The pattern is very simple but they are bigger than my everyday flatware soup spoons and have a deeper bowl on them, which I like.   For some reason,  cereal, oatmeal and soup seems to taste a lot better when eaten with one of these spoons.  :)

 

 It was really dreary and rainy here today, which means cooler temperatures are finally on the way for us Floridians.  I had plans to start emptying  my china cabinet  today but I got a little side-tracked and did more playing than packing.   Just for fun, I plopped a few pretties (some of which were previous Goodwill finds) in my old childhood Easter basket and was so pleased with the results, now I don’t want to pack it up! 

Next week, some major changes will be taking place at the farm on the Craigslist barn.

Also, the tile I ordered for the bathroom renovation has come  in and I finally made a decision on a vanity so that project should be getting underway soon. 

Meanwhile, I’m still trying to get the house in Hooterville kitchen  painted and the backsplash done! 

Art For a French Country Inspired Breakfast Room

Last week I popped by one of my favorite antique malls and came across 4 matted and framed companion prints that really caught my eye.  

For some reason, I’m always  drawn to topiaries anyway but the blues and greens seemed perfect for the breakfast room at the house in Hooterville.

In addition, they are 16 inches  x 18 inches and grouping the 4 of them  together would nicely fill the large wall over the breakfast room table.  

The price was right too; $20 each (marked down from $45).

But in my typical fashion, I hem-hawed over whether to buy them.  I walked around the store, came back and looked at them again.  Walked around the store more.  Came back and studied the prints once again.  (No one can ever accuse me of being impulsive.  lol.) 

I was trying to visualize them with the other things I have been picking up for the breakfast room during the past year…

the French Country table and chairs from Craigslist…

the bench from Marshalls…

the blue & white pieces I’m starting to collect…

to go in the Craigslist hutch…

 

the large wall clock from HomeGoods…

 

the iron chandelier from eBay…

the A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E. blue and green bunny tassel sweet Gloria made for me.

and the “Abigail” rug from Ballard Designs 

photo source: Ballard Designs

 

In fact, this photo of the Abigail rug …

photo source: Ballard Designs

and this photo were my inspiration for the breakfast room.

photo source: BHG 

Ultimately, I decided the prints  just seemed a little too “light and fluffy” so I left the store without  them.

Then,  in my oh-so-typical fashion, I continued to think about them for the next 2 days…which is usually a sign I should have bought the very thing(s) I can’t stop thinking about!

Back across town I went, hoping the prints were still there.

Fortunately, they were!

Using  a bottle of acrylic craft paint I already had on hand, I painted the frames black.  But rather than paint them completely,  I was painstakingly careful (with the aid of an itty bitty, teeny, tiny art brush) to leave just a little of the original gold detail so they still had some dimension and interest.

 

To my eyes (which are probably permanently crossed now),  painting the frames black made a huge difference.

 

“BEFORE”

“AFTER”

Now that the frames have had a  little makeover, I think these prints are going to make a great addition to my French Country inspired breakfast room.

 

Linking up to the 43rd Power of Paint Party @ Domestically Speaking

The Roving Rudolph Mystery

Several months ago…it might have been sometime in July…I was driving  through my neighborhood when I spotted a large white wooden reindeer peeking out from behind a tree in someone’s yard. 

I’m sure you know the kind.  This is not the actual reindeer but it looked sort of like this…

Plain.  And white.

At the time, I assumed someone was getting a jump on their Christmas decorating, albeit a bit early, but hey, some people leave their Christmas lights up all year so why not put a Christmas reindeer out in the heat of summer?  Whatever floats your boat, right?

The next time I drove down that street, I noticed the reindeer was in a different  yard.  “Hmmm…that’s odd,” I thought. 

A few days later, the reindeer had moved again and was  in yet another yard…several blocks down the street from where I had seen him last!

Then I noticed “Rudolph” had a red nose.  And then at some point, he started wearing clothes!  It would appear that every time he moves to a different yard, he is adorned with some type of apparel or “fashionable accessory.” 

Finally, a few weeks ago I decided to start taking pictures of Rudolph when I see him in a new location.

Here he is wearing a straw hat, a colorful tropical shirt, and a Tampa Bay Rays (our baseball team) bandana.  (Doesn’t he look like he’s on vacation?  But what better place to vacation than Florida before it’s time to head back to the North Pole to help Santa in a couple months?)

 

Here he is in another yard wearing furry white slippers (or gloves?) on his hind feet, pink and white striped socks on his front feet, “Groucho” glasses, and someone has added a Tampa Bay Rays flag.

 

Here he seems to have lost the furry slippers and the Tampa Bay Rays flag but he gained a red feather in his hat, a black Halloween flag (or cape?), orange garland, and a  University of Florida gator mascot sticker or decal on his side.

Last week, Rudolph appeared to be missing for a few days…or at least I wasn’t able to  spot him.  Perhaps he had traveled to one of the yards on one of the adjacent streets, I don’t know. 

But today he was back, wearing something blue and yellow and feathery on his head.  He’s starting to look a bit scary, don’t you think?

This Roving Rudolph is a mystery and certainly leaves me wondering several things like…

Who is the person with the sense of humor who started this? 

Who moves him?  When he has a layover in someone’s yard, does the homeowner move him to a different yard of their choice?

Or… does some unknown person come in the cover of darkness and move him from yard to yard? 

And will Rudolph disappear on Christmas Eve, never to be seen again?

If that happens, I’ll be sort of sad to see him go.  I’ve started to look forward to seeing if I can  find Rudolph  and spot his newest accessory every time I drive down this particular street.

Metamorphosis of a Kitchen: From “Heartburn” to “Heart of the Home”

The kitchen renovation at the house in Hooterville is almost done.  (Day 1 can be seen here.  Days 2, 3, 4 & 5 can be seen in this post.)

On Day 6, my kitchen guy laid my wood laminate floor and finished up some little details and then his role in the project was complete.

Hubby and I are  still  working on the new  lighting,  backsplash and the painting. 

I wish everything was  finished and all prettified  but  nevertheless,  I’m going to join the “Heart of the Home” kitchen party Shelia @ Note Songs is hosting and reveal what has been accomplished.  I’ll also be linking up to the 92nd Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch, and Saturday Nite Special #57 (The White Edition) @ Funky Junk Interiors.

WARNING:  Picture laden post ahead.

If you are new to my blog,  this is the  “before” photo of the kitchen at the house in Hooterville.  Trust me, it looks a whole lot better in this picture than it actually did in person.

 

My hubby really didn’t see anything particularly wrong with the old kitchen.   “Orange” and very rustic aren’t really my favorite color or style,  but my issues with the kitchen went far deeper than its appearance.  The layout was terribly inefficient and the cabinets were poorly constructed so let’s just say I might have stomped my foot and told Hubby I wasn’t cooking in this kitchen everyday for the rest of my life.  ::wink wink::  

End result:    the whole kitchen was gutted so the appliances could be relocated to make the efficient and pretty, light, bright kitchen I longed for.

And here it is,  just one week after it was gutted.

Remember, our new lighting is not in yet so please ignore the ugly homemade light fixture which is still hanging around from the old kitchen.  It really sticks out like a sore thumb now and unfortunately, it managed to find its way into most every  photo I tried to take of the new kitchen.   When that fixture comes down, I told my hubby I want to throw it on the burn pile and rejoice as it is reduced to nothing but ashes.  Burn baby, burn!

Allow me give you a little tour of each side of the kitchen.  I didn’t opt to have a lot of fancy features built in the new kitchen but I will point out a few special customizations I asked my cabinet guy to incorporate. 

The sink wall “before”…

 

and the sink wall “after.”  

Not replacing the island really opened up the kitchen and made it feel so much more spacious.  I’ve always wanted a kitchen with an island but it just didn’t work in here.  I know I won’t miss walking circles around it every time I move from one side of the kitchen to another.

(See what I mean about the hanging light getting in the new photos?)

 

Psssst…do you see that darn hanging light again?

 

Here’s just one example of how poorly constructed the old kitchen was.  Unfinished plywood bottom in the pantry and ooops, I think somebody mis-measured because look at that gapping hole between the dishwasher and the pantry.  Or maybe that was suppose to be for cookie sheets?

I think I’m going to love the  pretty new pantry with fully adjustable shelves and a place on the right to store my broom, mop, and electric broom.  There’s even an electrical plug in the cabinet for the electric broom charger.

I was fighting the sun shining in  my naked window when I was trying to photograph the new Moen faucet with a pull down sprayer so this picture does not do this lovely faucet justice.   Since we have “righties” and “lefties” in our family, my cabinet guy suggested installing the handle toward the front, instead of to the side. 

 

I do a lot of cutting, chopping and food prep right next to the sink so I had a black surface saver cutting board  with a black stainless steel frame mounted into the LG Hi-Macs solid surface countertop.  I have two of these surface savers in my kitchen at the house we are in the process of moving from  and LOVE them.   It’s a great convenience not having to pull out a cutting board every time I want to cut something but these surface savers also do double duty because you can set hot pots and pans on them too.

 

Second wall…“Before”

Second wall…“After”

The refrigerator will be relocated from its previous location on the sink wall to the  open space on the left side of the cabinets .  A trash compactor will slide into that open space on the right end of the lower cabinet.  I’ve had a trash compactor for 30 years and it’s a “absolutely must have”  convenience for me.  I think I’d give up my dishwasher before I’d give up my trash compactor.  :)

 

Third wall…“Before”

Did you notice?  Whoever installed these upper cabinets didn’t even get them centered on the wall.

Third wall…“After”

Built-in wall oven at eye level.  No more stooping to check on food and no more hot air rising up to blast me in the face every time I bend over to take something out of the oven.

 

Below the built-in wall oven is a cabinet with 4 pull out drawers.

 

4th side (open to family room)… “Before”

4th side…”After”

A smooth surface cook top was inserted into the countertop and a raised half wall was built on the back side of this bank of cabinets to help keep any cooking spills or splatters in the kitchen.

 

Under the cook top, there are three pull-out drawers of varying depths for pots, pans and lids.

To the right of the cook top is a corner carousel to maximize storage in what would be an otherwise dead space.

The photo below is the view standing in the doorway to the breakfast room, looking back through the kitchen.  I mentioned in my last post that once the cabinets were installed, I didn’t like the way that far  wall between the kitchen and family room stuck out into the pathway.  I don’t know why I didn’t notice the wall before with the old cabinets.

A little hacking, sawing, relocating the light switch to the family room side of the wall, a little dry wall and…

Voila!   Cutting the wall back 8 inches ended up being much better!  In a perfect world, I would have liked the wall cut back even a few inches more  but that would have opened up a can of worms with potential structural issues.

So there you have it…my almost done kitchen remodel.  I think I’m really going to enjoy cooking in here for many years to come. 

Okay, so now I want to give a shameless plug for my AWESOME cabinet guy, Rodney Ford of Ford Refacing.  If any of my readers in the Tampa Bay area of Florida are contemplating kitchen or bathroom cabinet refacing, new cabinets, countertops etc., I HIGHLY recommend Rodney (813-659-0124).

He’s fast.  He won’t leave your kitchen  in an unusable state for weeks.    He demo’d the old kitchen on a Friday and the following Friday, I was putting food, dishes, etc., back in the new kitchen cabinets.    It went quickly because he  had already built all of the cabinets,  countertops, and the frame for the half wall in his shop  before he came to tear out my old kitchen.  He (and one helper) worked steady from 8:00 a.m until after 5:00 p.m. every day with only a 10 or 15 minute lunch break.

He’s meticulous.  Super meticulous.  I saw absolutely no evidence of shoddy work or shortcuts anywhere.

His prices are extremely reasonable.  More like dirt cheap.  From Rodney I  got custom made cabinets with extra features like the pull-out shelves under the oven  and the corner carousel,  crown moldings, solid surface countertops, an extra deep stainless steel sink, the half-wall, and he installed the wood laminate floor, all for $8,000 less than another company was going to charge  just for cabinets and countertops alone!   

You will be seeing more of Rodney’s work on my blog in the coming weeks because he’ll be building cabinets for two of the bathrooms at the house in Hooterville.