Quick Thanksgiving Craft!

I know you have extra glitter hanging around. Don't lie. You went out (just like me) and bought that Martha Stewart glitter in orange, or brown or red. Or all three. You glitterized a bunch of pumpkins and gourds and now, you have a ton of glitter left over... So, use it!! This is the perfect craft to use up that glitter and it might even get you to head out and buy some green, silver or white glitter for Christmas :).

Here is what you need:

• Clear glass votive holders
• Mod podge or other glue that dries clear
• Glitter (I like this kind; use a Michael's coupon for 40% off)
• Tealight or votive candles

To make the votive holders, paint the outside with glue, apply glitter liberally (you can shake off excess and return to the container afterwards) and let dry. Don't make the glue too thick or else it may dry more white than clear and you will be able to see on the inside. You can make designs in the glue (sort of like mine, and although that wasn't on purpose, I like the end result) or just paint it on more evenly. Make sure you only do the sides - leave the bottom without glue/glitter so you have an area to hold on while applying the glue.

I thought a couple of these would even be a nice hostess gift with a set of candles. Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm also going to send these over to Sandi @ WhistleStop Cafe for the November Centerpiece-of-the-Month (COTM). While these could be a centerpiece all on their own - they would be great paired with some fresh flowers or fruits (pears or apples?) as part of a holiday table!

Motivation to...

Clean & Organize! Thanks Katie!

I have really been wanting to get on track with organizing our apartment - so I was so excited when Katie decided to create this challenge. I got a bit of a late start this week because of my obsession with the election coverage and a few meetings after work, but I'm on track now!.

Our apartment is definitely a temporary housing arrangement, so we have not done much of anything to the place, but the bathroom looks so nice and clean and organized after I finished today's tasks. I even spruced up our seriously ugly medicine cabinet with some cool paper :) You can check out a few after photos here - nothing groundbreaking, but better than before!

Back with a good fall dessert recipe this weekend!

Ice cream, Elections & Updates :)

In the few weeks that I have been a non-blogger, I have been collecting a few random thoughts/photos that warrant posting, but maybe not their own post...so here we go!

First - I'm on the east coast - we have only just been exposed to the amazingness that is Pinkberry! Green tea frozen yogurt + fresh mango = amazing. Forget Cold Stone Creamery and get your $5 out to get some. You won't be sorry :).

Tim and I bought some of the super-expensive, elusive, on the "omnivore-100" list :) Jamaican Blue Moutain coffee randomly one day at Citarella. I don't drink coffee, but Tim LOVES coffee, so we bought enough to try it out. Some quick thoughts from Tim:

• Needs to be brewed properly to reach full potential. The first pot he made was a little weak. Ended up reading some of the proper brewing methods for this type of coffee and it came out substantially better, but we're still working on it.
• Overall opinion - super delicious coffee, but not really mind blowing yet (remember, this coffee is $50/lb!)
• Not sure if the home brew really brought out the full potential of the coffee. We bought 1/4 lb. and Tim only brews on special occasions :).

I photographed a 1st birthday party a few weeks ago and they had the cutest cupcakes!! Check them out - turns out they were from Sam's Club. I think they are easily done at home - the flowers were plastic, but you could also make them out of chocolate. So cute.

I'm definitely back to putting my glitterati pumpkins around the house! I did a post on them last year and they are super cute for fall decorating (not just Halloween). I like doing other colors - not just orange, but reds and browns too. Here is a pic from last year, I'll post some updated fall decorating pics soon.

And finally, Happy Election day! I hope everyone voted. I did and it felt great. I'm ecstatic over the outcome and I think it was my cookies that did the trick (what's more American than chocolate-chip cookies, right?:)! I hope this country can come together now, look past the election and transition into something better together.

Apple Streusel Coffeecake

Apple-picking is seriously one of the highlights of my whole year. We always go one of the last Saturdays in September, early enough to make sure that there are apples left, but late enough to get pumpkins the same day :). My mom has totally perfected the organization of the apple-picking day - we are serious about apples around here!

Here are a few shots from the day --

I always buy a ton of apples (if you pick them, you buy them!) so I'm always looking for new apple recipes. Last year, I made apple bars, apple crostata, and apple butter. The first recipe to get my interest this year is this Apple Streusel Coffeecake - I was a little nervous making this recipe because I didn't have all the ingredients that I needed, but it was my first Sunday morning with no plans in a long time and I didn't feel like hitting up the grocery store for just a few things, so I used a few substitutions. The results were great! Besides tasting good, it also makes a beautiful presentation would be great with coffee for your next brunch or dinner.

Apple Streusel Coffeecake (adapted from Women's Day Magazine)

Ingredients
Streusel
1 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
3/4 cup flour
1 stick cold butter, diced
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup walnuts & pecans, coarsely chopped

Cake
3 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
16 ounces low-fat sour cream
2 Golden Delicious apples, diced

Glaze
Powdered sugar
Water or milk
Splash of apple wine or apple cider (optional)

Steps
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a bundt pan.

2. Make streusel first: stir brown sugar, flour, butter and cinnamon with a fork or rub together with fingertips until crumbly and butter is completely incorporated. Stir in nuts.

3. Cake: mix flour, baking powder and baking soda in a small bowl. Then beat the butter and sugar in a 2nd bowl with a mixer until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each; add in vanilla and sour cream.

4. With mixer on low speed, beat in flour mixture just until blended, scraping down bowl as necessary.

5. Add approximately 3 cups of the cake batter into pan, spreading evenly. Sprinkle with 1/4-1/2 cup of the streusel, then apples, then and additional 1/2 cup of the streusel. Add the remaining batter and spread evenly to cover apples and streusel.

6. Sprinkle batter with remaining streusel, pressing down lightly so it sticks to batter (the streusel will completely cover the batter).

7. Bake approximately 45-55 minutes or until a pick inserted in cake comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 15 minutes before inverting. Remove pan and cool completely.

8. The glaze is optional, but I think it added a nice little bit of sweetness to the cake. I chose to make mine very thin, but if you made it a bit thicker (added more sugar, less liquid), the white glaze would also look very pretty on the cake. Anyway, to make the glaze, I added a bit of water to powdered sugar and stirred until it had an even consistency. Then I added a splash of apple ice wine that I happened to have in the kitchen - I think apple cider or even another dessert wine/extract/liqueur would have the same effect. I strained the mixture and then poured it over the cooled cake. After it seeped in, I also added some sifted powdered sugar to the top.

I'm submitting this recipe to Joelen's Tasty Tools monthly event. I love the theme this month -bakeware! I can't wait to see all the recipes - fall is the perfect month for a baking theme!

Sandi - I'm sending the below photo to you as my COTM - apples everywhere! My tip is, when you pick them, to leave a bit of the leaves and stems attached. They dry nicely and look beautiful as a fall (edible!) centerpiece.

End of Summer Picnic

I have been so behind on my blogging these past two weeks, but hopefully my schedule will be opening up a little this fall. Not that I don't love being busy with my photography business (its awesome!), but fall is my favorite season and I'm psyched to get back to regular food blogging too! Today's post has been in the queue since the end of August. I was going to skip it, but I had to just drop you guys a quick note to recommend this recipe. This focaccia is easy, delicious and perfect with the homegrown tomato crop that I know you have in your kitchen right now :)!

I made this recipe for a picnic a few weeks ago; paired it with a salad and some other things like wine, sparkling lemonade, and some cold shrimp with fresh lemon juice. It was delicious. Enjoy the photos and promise to try this recipe soon! It would work great as a party appetizer too if you cut it into smaller wedges or as a great lunch with a salad or some soup.

Fall in....

Tonight was the first night that it felt like fall was coming...as soon as the sun went down, there was a chill in air and you could just feel it. I'm not complaining :)

Here is a quick idea to get a jump-start on fall without leaving too much summer behind.

Line a clear, straight-edged container with glassine paper, fill with water and add flowers. I used seeded eucalyptus and mini-mums in a small footed trifle bowl. The glassine paper is similar to wax paper and can handle the water without getting moldy (my arrangement lasted more than a week) or breaking apart like tissue paper would. I used a bit of clear tape to hold the paper in place against the glass.

Enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend!

[Don't forget to check out all the centerpiece ideas posted at Whistlestop Cafe each month!]

BBQ Dessert Platter

Hey everyone! Running around like crazy as I have a wedding to shoot tomorrow and some friends coming into town for the holiday weekend, but I wanted to post this super easy and festive dessert platter. I made this for my mother-in-law's July 4th BBQ, but it would easily work for Labor Day too and it feeds a crowd!

Here is what I included on the platter:

Soft & Chewy 10-minute cookies (both the vanilla and chocolate versions)
Mini-cherry crumble tartlets (I used a mini-muffin pan)
Vanilla brownies (cut them fairly small since they are pretty rich-tasting)
Mixed berry cakes (recipe from Everyday with Rachael Ray Magazine)

I own a bunch of plain white ceramic platters from when I used to do some catering - they are perfect for parties and pretty inexpensive at a bunch of different discount stores (I got several of mine from TJMaxx, Marshall's, Target and Homegoods). Arrange all the desserts in groupings in different sections of the platter - it looks great and keeps everything in one place.

Enjoy & Have a great weekend!

Strawberry Jam

I'm sorry if you opened this post thinking there was going to be a recipe...because I don't have one!

But there are some photos of an awesome gift a friend sent me :) I'll call her J. Maybe if we gang up on her, she'll pass around a recipe for one of these:

You're looking at what I found on my doorstep a few days ago - 2 jars of homemade jam: Strawberry Jam and Organic Apricot, Key Lime & Ginger Preserves. She's pretty awesome right? Don't you love her packaging too? Totally simple, but beautiful - I love it and I'm totally stealing her idea (Sorry J!).

I used some of the strawberry jam to make a variation of the ever-popular ___ [insert fruit here] __ crumb bars. I, too, (like Katie) saw them on Smitten Kitchen and was well, smitten :). I changed up the recipe a bit, used strawberry jam instead of fresh blueberries and they were delicious. Seems like you can do pretty much do whatever you like with the recipe and it would hold up well. I burnt the bottom of mine because I was watching the Yankee game and forget about them and they still tasted awesome.

Here is a photo of the J the jam-maker (2nd from right), 2 of our other friends (Hi S & P!) and me (right) at J's wedding a few years ago :)

Thanks J - I love finding packages at my door!

Cheap & Chic

Its been awhile since I've posted something non-food related! I swear, if you read this blog, it must seem like I only eat, sleep and blog.

For new readers of this blog, I actually used to blog cool etsy finds, or neat websites and shopping/crafty links. I'm going to try to get back to that a bit. I love anything design-related - including a serious addiction to unique paper products, cool pottery, dishes and home decor. Tim & I still rent an apartment so I don't have much room or freedom to decorate our space, but I try to do little things around to make it at least a little unique.

Anyway, enough of the intro. Here is a cool centerpiece. All of these flowers were bought at the local regular grocery store - 4 mix & match bunches for $10!

Now, I usually don't like carnations. But when you make an arrangement of almost all carnations tightly packed together, it has a totally different effect than just one or two stuck in. Try it out. It works with all different types of flowers - another one is baby's breath. Normally hate it. But the other day, after arranging some flowers, I had it leftover. I put it in a small pottery cup - just the baby's breath - totally different look.

Back to these flowers. I decided to take the emphasis off the flowers (and how cheap they are) and put it on the style of arrangement - so I made several small arrangements in containers that I had around - a few different size drinking glasses, a beer glass, and one tea cup. An odd number usually works the best - 3, 5, 7.

My table is small and round, but these would work great down the center of a longer table too. I added a small succulent (hens & chicks) to the mix as my 5th piece. I think it looks pretty good! You could also separate the containers and use them around the house as a way to unite the different rooms. Try it out sometime!

I'm also entering this into the Centerpiece of the Month event - a great monthly event now hosted by Sandi at the WhistleStop Cafe. Thanks Sandi!

Photo of the Day - Friday

Check out some more photographs from my day up in Rhinebeck with my mom. The Beekman Arms is America's oldest continuously-operating inn. Great spot for an overnight stay or stop in for lunch.

This store was so cool - we wanted to buy everything! Really unique artist designs and home furnishings. Check out this great frame wall arrangement.

Photo of the Day - Wednesday

Today's photo is random - my current cookbook collection. I have a ton more packed up in boxes, but here is what is on my shelf right now in our apartment. So let's hear the comments :) I know you see that Rachael Ray cookbook there (I actually have not used that one much, but I have made several recipes from her original cookbook)!

My favorites of the bunch are probably the Ina Garten book and Martha's Baking Handbook. Dorie Greenspan's Paris Sweets book and Nigella Lawson's Domestic Goddess book are more recent additions that I have not had a chance to get into yet.

5-ingredient Appetizer

This is seriously so good and so easy. Tim and I love appetizers - we always order one when we are eating out and love to make them at home with some wine or just as a snack. I would so much rather have an appetizer than a dessert. Don't ask me why I don't have more appetizer recipes - probably because we eat them too fast to get a good shot.

Anyway - here it is - the 5-ingredient appetizer!

Mushroom or Tomato Cheesy Triangles (photos of tomato version)

Ingredients

Pita bread (4 rounds)

Shredded Parmesan and/or mozzarella cheese

Extra virgin olive oil

Baby bella mushrooms or grape tomatoes

Kosher salt/fresh pepper

Steps

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

2. Decide if you are going to use mushrooms or tomatoes :) If you are using mushrooms, put a bit of olive oil in a pan on medium heat and saute those babies up! Takes a few minutes, swirl them around once in a while. I like the mushrooms to get brown, so make sure you don't add any more liquid to the pan! If you are using grape tomatoes, you can halve them or put them in the pan whole and do the same thing. They take a few more minutes if you use them whole because you want them to pop and get a little broken up. Salt/pepper to taste when they are almost done.

3. While the vegetables are cooking, cut each pita into 4 wedges and put on a parchment-lined or foil-lined baking sheet. Put a drop of olive oil on each one and put into the oven for a few minutes - let them get a little toasty, but not brown. Take them out of the oven and let them sit until the vegetables are ready.

4. When the vegetables are done cooking, spoon a bit onto each wedge. Don't be shy - load them up! After you use up all the vegetables, add the cheese on top - I like to use a mozzarella and Parmesan combo. Pop them back into the oven until the cheese is melted. Remove and EAT!

[Sorry that my photos were taken before the cheese was melted, but if not, I probably would have nothing to post!]

Photo of the Day - Tuesday

Check out my mom's birthday cake - doctored-up cake mix with homemade frosting = totally delicious! I only make it once a year because its kind of annoying to make, but what my mom wants, she gets.... :)

I have to get to sleep right now, but if anyone is interested in the recipe (strawberry cake with awesome cream cheese frosting), leave me a message in the comments or drop me a line and I'll pass it along!

I love Sundays

Don't you? Except for the fact that Monday is right around the corner, Sundays are just perfect. Usually, in our house, Sundays consist of grabbing the newspaper, getting a few garlic bagels and a coffee (for Tim), maybe heading over to Stew Leonard's, making something really good for dinner (recently, that has been Seafood Sundays), usually editing some photos and getting all my stuff together for the week.

It was supposed to rain today, but its holding off just long enough to enjoy the day. I thought I would post a few pictures of my latest Sunday activity - my new "garden" (or rather, my 4 pots)! I wish I had more space... a few years ago, I had a fairly large garden and it was so amazing - cucumbers, squash, herbs galore, tomatoes, etc. I guess you have to take what you can get when you live in an apartment. I just planted a few things so far - some lettuce and parsley plus some marigolds to keep the bugs/animals away. I'm working on some others that will be filled with some interesting herb combinations and other lettuces/flowers.

There are so many flowering trees out right now in our area - I love this shot of my neighbor's house through the forsythia.

I will have a recipe/product review later on as well! Have a great Sunday!