Why I Love Fall

Head over to my new website; http://www.candidrd.com/ 

See you there!

I'm taking a little break from blogging (1-2 weeks) because I'm switching over to Wordpress finally.  Yep, I've made the decision to give Blogspot the much-needed boot and start using Wordpress instead, which from what I hear is much better (and to be honest, from what I see on other blogs).  There are actually three other reasons I'm taking a little break from blogging; my feed isn't working (super annoying), I'm going on vacation soon, and I just started a new job that seems to be keeping me quite busy lately (the vacation was planned before I started my job, wahoo!).  But don't you worry (because I'm sure you are very, very worried) I'll be back in no time at all!  Until then, let me share with you some of the reasons I absolutely love Fall.

The Holidays are officially almost here.

I know, I'm crazy, but now that I don't work in retail I may start to LOVE the holidays again!

I married the love of my life in the fall.  

Yep, our anniversary (one year) is September 29th.  

It's butternut squash harvest time!  

I hope you love butternut squash as much as we do in this house, because in the coming months you will be bombarded with butternut squash recipes.

It's college football season.

Need I say more?

And here are some of my favorite fall recipes from the past....

Butternut Squash Sauce served over Spice-Rubbed Grilled Chicken

Butternut Squash and Duxelles Casserole

Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese

Pumpkin-Rocotta Stuffed Shells

Pumpkin Black Bean Soup

Butternut and Acorn Squash Soup

Pumpkin Turkey Chili

Pumpkin Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Whole Grain Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread (Gluten Free)

Apple "Crisp", with Gluten Free Option

Alright friends, I'll see you in a couple weeks.  For now, it's time to celebrate one year with the man of my dreams!  Thanks for reading, and enjoy this beautiful time of year, ok?!

The Candid Rd

Cinnamon Walnut Ice Cream

I had some cinnamon ice cream this weekend at Nick's mom's house, and fell in love. When I got home I set out to make my own, and must say I was pretty successful!

Cinnamon Walnut Ice Cream

INGREDIENTS
(Makes about 12-half cup servings)

2 cups chilled half and half
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts


DIRECTIONS

1. Mix the milk and sugar together in a bowl until sugar is well blended. Add the half and half and the spices, mix well (I use a whisk).

2. Put in an ice cream maker (after it's been frozen according to directions) and churn for about 20 minutes.

** If you don't have an ice cream maker add it to a popsicle mold and make cinnamon popsicles! Or you could make this into a milkshake by adding some vanilla frozen yogurt, pre-made, and blending. Yum, right?!**

3. Once the ice cream is done, add the chopped walnuts and blend well.




Nutrition Facts
(Serving Size, 1/2 cup)


Ok, so it's loaded with calories, but you could lighten it up by doing the following;

• Use fat free half and half
• Use a calorie free sugar, such as NuNaturals
• Simple use a bit less sugar (maybe 2 T less)
  
• Omit the walnuts
  

Or you could just ENJOY! We all need a splurge every once in a while, and it's nice when your ice cream splurge is made with only seven ingredients, all of which you can pronounce :)

QUESTION: What's your favorite flavor of ice cream this time of year? Another of my favorites is this butternut squash ice cream, which can also be made with pumpkin.

Did you see my butternut squash fries I posted on Saturday? We just picked the last of the squash from our garden so I have 2 or 3 more recipes to post, including butternut squash pizza and butternut squash spoon bread. Enjoy your Monday!

Peanut Butter Pumpkin Bread (Wheat Free!)

It's October and I'm in heaven. I have my never-ending stash of pureed pumpkin and I'm a happy girl. The only bad thing is that I found out, despite having read something different, pumpkin doesn't freeze well. In fact, I had to throw away three pounds of my pumpkin because it was ruined after I froze it. Sad.

Now I must go through my six pound cans of pumpkin within a week, because it really shouldn't be in the fridge for longer. I wanted to make a new pumpkin bread with all of my canned pumpkin, so I found this recipe and went to work. But of course, I didn't follow the recipe 100%, I never do. Here are my modifications:

3 cups of sugar ----> 1.5 cups of Splenda for baking

1 can pureed pumpkin ----> No change
4 eggs ----> No change
1 cup vegetable oil ----> 1 chose Smart Balance canola oil
3/4 cup water ----> vitamin water. HA! JK
2/3 cup peanut butter ----> SoyNut butter

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour ----> brown rice flour (wheat free and gluten free)
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg


I also added walnuts on top.



It's a good sign that your final product will taste amazing when you find yourself licking the batter bowl clean.....

And of course, the final product did taste amazing.

I could have very easily made more modifications, but I wanted this to be extremely moist. After all, I haven't had bread in a very long time and I was ready for some heaven in my mouth.

Last night Nick said, "It's the best bread I've ever had". Wow, really Nick?! I'm flattered!

Some Nutrition Info.
(Serving size; 1/18 slice)

180 calories, 3 grams fiber



Other Modifications I Could Have Made

- 1 cup of egg beaters instead of 4 eggs

- 4 T ground flaxseed + 3/4 cups water instead of 4 eggs

- 1 1/2 cups Splenda sugar for baking, instead of 3 cups sugar

- 1 cup applesauce instead of 1 cup canola oil


Question: Can you think of any other possible modifications? Do you like pumpkin bread?

Previous Fall Recipes


Butternut Squash and Duxelles

Pumpkin Soup

Gina's Psuedo Apple Cobbler

Last year's Pumpkin Bread

My first attempt at pumpkin fro yo

Before pumpkin season ends I plan on making Anthony's pumpkin bars, pumpkin ravioli (wheat free), and also some pumpkin custard (idea from Melinda). And after that? I plan on turning into a pumpkin.