Poke-nom-nom-mon?

I had originally planned to post this yesterday, but i have to admit, I've gotten carried away with an old love of mine. A few months ago my friends Rachel, Erika, and Heather all posted links on my facebook to various ROM and Emulator websites where you could download a few tiny programs and actually play all of your old favorite videogames... (atari, nintendo 64, sega, sega dreamcast, etc.) and of course -- Gameboy. All of them XD you simply have to download the emulator (the gameboy, Visualboy Advance in my case...) and then download your desired game, open them up, and play away.

I've personally been playing Pokemon Emerald.

If you could see a pokemon from your party following you like in yellow (pikachu) you would totally see my badass Ralts and all their bowl-haircut glory. lol.

But enough about pokemon! ON TO THE FOOD!


As i said in the last post, i've been doing a LOT of cooking lately. like, enough to feed a ravenous gang of angry hobos. So what have i been cooking?

Pumpkin and lots of it. (although not specifically just pumpkin...)

• Pumpkin pie
• Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
• Pumpkin Butter (reserved for another post, as it's still in testing...)
• Pumpkin Muffins (Jim didn't follow a recipe, so i can't provide that one, sorry!)
• Pumpkin Cookies
• Pumpkin Soup
• Roasted Pumpkin Seeds (failure T.T)
• Cinnamon Swirl Bread (my first!)
• Butternut Squash Soup
• Halloween Cake (not really a recipe, just us playing around with icing and food coloring)
• Butternut Squash Risotto (no pictures sorry! it went too fast!)
• Quiche (another first!)

 All this has been in the past week, haha. our kitchen was a MESS. (but we're awesome and used our super-powers to clean it and make it sparkly, and once again we have ugly red countertops)

So to start things off, we're going to post the scrumptious recipe for homemade pumpkin puree -- which helps you make awesome "canned pumpkin" recipes from scratch!

First off, cut your pumpkin open and scoop out the guts and seeds (set those aside if you want to make roasted pumpkin seeds later). Chop the pumpkin into large-ish chunks (use everything but the stem and the butt piece on the bottom) and place them in the largest pot you have.

Fill said pot with enough water to cover the pieces of pumpkin. Boil it until you can stick a fork (or knife, but i think a fork works better) into the pieces and the texture is that of a baked potato. (don't stick it through the skin o.O skin will STILL be quite tough.)

Peel (or scoop) the pumpkin away from the skin and place it in a bowl. There will be a LOT of pumpkin o.O Mash it the best you can with either a fork, a spoon, a potato masher -- what have you.

 (For those of you who are lucky enough to actually own a working food processor, that's probably your best bet.. lol) For those of you unlucky enough to own nothing more than a temperamental blender, then feel free to scoop pumpkin mash into the pitcher (about halfway) and moisten with about a cup of water. Pulse until smooth and puree'd and place in a freeze-safe container (because trust me... this will make a ton of pies.)

Freezes practically indefinitely.

 Unfortunately, i don't have the word-for-word recipe my boy used to make his super awesome homemade pumpkin pies...So you'll have to deal with another pumpkin-related recipe instead. (or five... lol)

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Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread 

(recipe from {here})

Ingredients

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 3 cups white sugar
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
•  (i added chocolate chips to mine)

(This makes about two loaves)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. (I usually use the hand mixer here for a little bit because my flour mixture always clumps.  I only mix it until most of the clumps are out.) (This is the point where i folded in the chocolate chips -- about a cup less than a 12oz bag) Pour into the prepared pans.
3. Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

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Next posts will contain the remaining recipes and a few updates here and there. (it's kind of hectic around here at the moment, we just got a visit from my Uncle coming all the way from Florida and we haven't seen him in years... so yeah, haha.)

 -Cake42

Does this cake make me look fat?

Okay, bear with me guys, haha.

I've been going a little camera-happy lately... All that weight i lost, is most likely going to come right back lol.

I've made tons of muffins, cakes, breads, soups, all kinds of yummy amazing things XD

muahahahaha.

So be patient with me, and i'm going to post them ALL on here tomorrow. Promise.

If not, there will be spankings. and after the spankings? the ORAL SEX! okay maybe not that... that might get a little awkward o.O

but definitely spankings. ;-)

-Cake42

Considerably lighter this time...

Yes yes i know, i deleted the previous post. Not because i got hatemail from it, or because i didn't like comments left there... (on the contrary, i didn't receive anything about it o.O) but because i realized it doesn't matter. My family and my friends (and especially my fiance...) all read this blog. Whether or not they choose to comment on things, is their own thing... but they still read it.

As Jim told me last night, i can talk to him about anything. anything. After all, "that's what we're here for." and he's right. If i plan on marrying this man someday, then i need to be able to confide in him my every problem without feeling guilty. If he rolls his eyes and thinks to himself "Dear god, not again..." that's his own thing. but as long as he listens to me and hugs me -- pets my hair and tells me he loves me no matter what i look like or how i act... that's all that matters.

And he knows i'll do exactly the same for him each and every time. (I would insert a "less-than-three" heart here, but apparently my blog hates the less-than sign... lol)

So going with a considerably lighter theme this time... ( i mean, how on earth can crafts be depressing? o.O -- don't answer that...) I've decided to post on what we've been up to.

Jim -- who's been able to visit a LOT more often lately, has (as always) been bringing his gigantic basket-o'-yarn literally overflowing with skeins of various colors (most from his Tom Baker scarf...). He's also been super awesome, and has comissions for his nifty hats and scarves from the people at the station! Woohoo!

So far He's managed to finish a German flag scarf (pictured above) and his "nightcrawler" hat (also pictured above) both done on a knitting loom (as he does not crochet, lol).

He's also worked on one of the most awesome scarves in history.

The Sushi scarf. (which unfortunately i don't have a finished picture of... But just picture the salmon pink in the middle, surrounded by this yummy mustardy yellow, with wasabi green highlights wrapped in rice white, all rolled up in a comfy nori green. When unrolled, it looks like an abstract scarf. When rolled up, it looks like sushi! He got his inspiration from here. and i lurve it.

He's also working on a pair of socks on the loom using his kool-aid dyed wool...

I personally, have been working on lots of things to sell on our Etsy shop -- which is not up and running yet, as i'd like to have things to sell on there first, lol.

So far? I've finished the Camo Set:

Which is entirely hand-crocheted with a size K hook, using sport-weight 100% cotton yarn in what was supposed to be "earthy" tones... it wasn't until *after* i'd gotten halfway through the hat, did i realize it looks like Camoflouge.... bleh. (Which for those of you who don't know, i do NOT like hunting... and living in rural Indiana, that and paintball are the only pasttimes when one is not attending redneck lawnmower demolition derbies and nickel beer night...) So chances are, these are going up on the Etsy shop. (Unless i can't get over how incredibly and awesomely soft they are. which they totally are. and they fit. and they're awesome. Did i mention how amazing they are??)

As i mentioned above, Jim and I dye yarn with kool-aid. (not a lot mind you, the wool skeins are expensive, and we just discovered how much cheaper yarn at Walmart is than Hobby Lobby... go us... lol) So i felt like showing off our wonderful dye projects: (I will *probably* be posting some awesome DIY things soon... so beware!)

These were once gigantic 8oz skeins of yummy cream colored wool yarn. (70% wool, 30% acrylic which makes it stripe awesomely) They have since been rolled into my first yarn balls. (Which now makes me want some super sweet yarnbowls... but i are poor, so a-covet-ing i shall go, lol.) I have yet to decide what these two balls are destined for. Probably another matching scarf/hat combo... but we shall see.

we shall see!

other than that, we haven't done much else. I did however participate in the "to write love on her arms" event, which promotes National Suicide Prevention Week where you pick up a sharpie and write the word "LOVE" all over your forearm(s) to show that you care.

You're there to give comfort to those who are going through a rough time, or those who need support. It's also to show that may have known someone that was a 'victim' of suicide and it's a way to remember them. Unfortunately my design wasn't as complex and pretty as i had origionally hoped, but i discovered i'm not very talented writing on myself as i had hoped. So i threw on some fancy writing and wore it proudly.

Also wishing my dad a Happy 49th birthday as of yesterday. I may not always agree with him and i may not always like him... but he's still my dad. So happy birthday dad. I'm still not making you a vagina hat so get over it. :-)

-Cake42

Bonny Brides Abound!

I know i know, finally a bridal post!

Don't have a heart attack lovelies, i know it's a rare occasion i actually post something related to my wedding as of late, but i've been feeling girly.

As some of you know, i've yet to find my wedding dress as it's hard to find one that comes in my size and price range, but those i've come to love have all come from (mostly) the same designer!

Well, guess what i found out?

THEY'RE HAVING A CONTEST! :-D

that's right, they're holding a contest to win one of their UH-MAZE-ING couture gowns! -- although their "Essence" line isn't exactly to my tastes, i wouldn't exactly say no to this,

or this...



*sigh* gorgeous!

But the contest is super simple -- if you yourself are interested in entering ;-)


First off, there's a few ways you can win!

1) Fill out their super-simple survey found [here].
2) Follow their awesome blog [here].
3) Write your own blog post about their super-awesome contest and let them know!
4) Tweet about the contest, and let them know! (but i'm boycotting twitter, so i missed out on that one, lol)
5) Follow them on Facebook [here] and let them know!

You can also get 5 extra entries by taking the button to the right on THEIR PAGE and posting it on your blog (and letting them know of course) and then ta-da! :-D

Don't forget to skim through their fantastic galleries of dresses, and bring a drool cloth. You'll need one. ;-)

Unfortunately it seems i missed their contest for a dress from their "Bliss" collection. T.T If i had a chance to enter that one? I'd totally have joined twitter for a chance at this beauty,

I'm not a "bow" kind of girl.... but that bow on her hip is too-freaking-cute. It makes the dress IMHO.

-Cake42