Another Pinterest Winner and Beading!

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

I know I was going to try doing a Pinterest craft test dummy, but that wasn't going to put food on the table for the boys! 

A friend pinned this recipe, Crockpot Fiesta Chicken, and it was a hit. 

This is her picture, too hungry to take one myself!

*My take on the Fiesta Chicken?  I thought it was quite tasty!  I didn't make the cilantro lime rice, the stink bug invasion has put me off cilantro!  That's another story...

*Others take on the Fiesta Chicken?  The boys said they liked it (the gmen, Nathan wouldn't even try it).  DH liked it, but didn't have it with the rice.

  *Would I make it again?  Yes!  It was very simple to throw together and didn't take that long to shred the chicken.  I also used the low fat cream cheese and it was fine.  I think I'll use "hot" salsa next time to give it a little more umph and I'm wondering if it will be more flavourful tonight for leftovers.

Max doesn't seem too interested in my fairy, but he likes sleeping on the Halloween bag I'm toting it in.  Although Nathan said he caught him sleeping on her this morning and pushed him off - thank you, Nathan.

I finally started beading!  Oh, I am loving the way it looks!  
  

Question for you experienced beaders - I really hate dragging thread underneath from one place to another when I can't hide it, should I being doing those beads individually or just drag it?  You can't really see it for the most part, but I know it's there!  Thoughts? 

Must. Get. Motivated!

I finished the moon using the Petite Treasure Braid as recommended by Jacqui - thanks so much for the suggestion!!!  The colour didn't quite match the Kreinik colour, but I think it will do just fine.  It was so easy to use, I loved it!

Now I'm just slacking, I can't seem to get motivated to finish and add the beads.  My goal is still to finish before Halloween, guess I'll be busy this weekend!

I made more pumpkin donuts this afternoon to take to the boys football dinner and only had one left!  I used the mini pan and I think I need to get at least one more since I could only make 12 at a time.  

   

I saw a pumpkin twinkie recipe on Pinterest and now I must have need a "twinkie" pan!

Winner - Pumpkin Baked Doughnuts!

 

OMGoodness, best purchase EVER!

A couple summers ago at the Clarksville Picnic, I bought this Donut Express kit at the white elephant sale.  I almost didn't get it, but it was only $5 and I love my baking tins!  I used it once last year and then packed it away... until now!

This is where I got the recipe from, but I used regular all-purpose flour and it turned out fine.  I used both sized pans and might look into getting another small one.

Pumpkin Cake Doughnuts via King Arthur Flour

 

I also added some pumpkin spice to the cinnamon-sugar mixture and chose to put it in a bowl instead of in a bag.  The donuts definitely need to be warm so the mixture sticks to it.  I've seen some recipes that you dip the doughnut in melted butter first, but I'm trying to be somewhat healthy.

Here's my finished product, I think the smaller ones are cute!

*My take on the doughnuts?  Wow, amazing!  I don't know what else to say!  They tasted best when warm from the oven, but even the next day they were great.  The perfect amount of pumpkin and not overly sweet.

*Others take on the doughnuts?  The gmen said they were really good and had some for breakfast the next morning and also included some in their lunch.  Nathan had a little one and liked it, but would have preferred it glazed with sprinkles!  DH said they were good, but I think he would have like them glazed as well!

*Would I make them again?  Oh yes, today actually!  Even next week for the football team since this week's dinner was cancelled due to the "big storm" we got.  And especially because when I went to have one for breakfast this morning, they were all gone... thanks boys!

Question - Doughnuts or Donuts?  Tastes the same to me!
 
Next Pinterest Test Dummy - I'm thinking crafty.

Pinterest FAIL!

  I love pumpkin bread.  I love banana bread.  I do not like pumpkin banana bread!
At least not the recipe that I made it with.  I can't find where it was pinned, but since I'm not going to make it again, who cares!

I thought it looked good going in, but I will admit that when I tasted the batter I didn't like it.  I know I shouldn't taste raw batter - eggs - but just can't stop myself!

 When I first took it out of the oven, it looked pretty good.  I let it cool and when I went back to it, it had sunken in.  Should have known then.

*My take on the bread?  I thought I was being healthy by using mainly whole wheat flour and substituting Splenda for sugar, but maybe that's where I went wrong.  It was very dense and disappointing. 

*Others take on the bread?  Garrett said it reminded him of french toast, Griffin and Nathan wouldn't try it, and DH said it was like a brick - uh, that's not good.

*Would I make it again?  No!  At least not this recipe.  But I think I'll stick to my own banana bread recipe and keep making other pumpkin goodies.

More baking to come...

September TUSAL and Hermitting

Wow, is it really mid September already?  I added some to my glass, thanks to the Kreinik moon I removed from my TOT Fairy.  

I didn't get to spend as much time Hermitting as I wanted to, but I did get this one started.  Great, another thing to finish be Halloween! 

Earlier in the month, we were at the lake and started looking for the leaves changing... 

I'm not sure what I love best about the fall, the colours of the trees, the coolness it brings, or all the wonderful things you can make with pumpkins!

Your Pinterest Test Dummy

I don't know about you, but Pinterest can be quite overwhelming.  There are so many amazing ideas - between baking, cooking, and crafting, there's soooo much to choose from. 

My thought here is to show you what I've actually tried and how it worked for me.  My goal is to try doing at LEAST one a week, maybe more... especially with all the holidays coming up. 

The gmen have a pasta dinner the night before their football games and I volunteered to bring dessert every week.  What a great way to test my goodies!

Since pumpkin ideas are coming out of the patch, here's one I tried for them, Pumpkin Pie Croissants.

These looked amazing and if you know me, you know how much I love pumpkin anything. 

Ready for the oven

Baked and smelling yummy

Ready for the boys

*My take on the croissants?  Well, I think because the filling wasn't very thick, I didn't feel like there was enough in them.  I didn't get the pumpkin taste I was looking forward to.  Even if I put more in them, it would have oozed out once I rolled them up.  I did try a batch without cutting them into mini croissants and I thought those tasted better since there seemed to be more filling in them.

*Others take on the croissants?  Only a few came back home.  The boys seemed to like them and the Moms said they did.

*Would I make them again?  Maybe, but not the mini size.  I might even try a different dough method... is there such thing as pumpkin ravioli bites?!

So if you're on Pinterest and see something you'd like someone ELSE to test dummy for you, let me know.  I'll be attempting doing it in between my stitching.  Oh, and I'll work on taking better pictures next time!

Here's another Pinterest idea I made - Daily Calendar.

But please don't ask me if I've kept up with it, I'm a little behind.

August WIPocalypse and a Love/Hate

Since I can't show you what I was working in the beginning of August, I can show you what I was working on at the end of August.

And here is my love/hate relationship - KREINIK!
I ♥love♥ the way it looks, but hate actually using it!  Between the knotting, not looking even and general frustration, I think that's why I've been putting off finishing this.  But I will stitch on, the beading awaits and it must be finished in time for Halloween to hang on my wall!
Any thoughts or suggestions for using this PITA wonderful thread?

WIPocalypse Full Moon dates for 2012:

January 9, February 7, March 8, April 6, May 5, June 4, July 3, August 1, August 31, September 29, October 29, November 28, December 28

Getting Back on Track

Oh my, it's September already... I need to get this finished!