Happy Halloween!

My friends and family know that I am a holiday fanatic! I love any excuse to put up festive decor and Halloween is no exception! My favourite piece of Halloween decor has always been a carved pumpkin.  Below are a few snapshots of this years pumpkin carving. My husband is the designated pumpkin carver in our house, and I am usually in charge of roasting the pumpkin seeds.

As for tonight, the Mr. and I are looking forward to handing out candy, watching a spooky movie and snacking on some pumpkin seeds.

Happy Halloween!!

Muffin Tin Breakfast Quiches

I made these delicious muffin tin quiches for a breakfast date I had with one of my best friends this past Saturday. The great thing about these quiches is that they are super simple to make (no pastry shell required- yay) and they taste amazing!

How To Make: Muffin Tin Quiches

You need:

-       4 Eggs

-       ¼ cup of Milk

-       ½ cup of grated Cheddar Cheese

-       ½ cup of grated White Cheddar Cheese

-       ½ cup of spinach leaves

-       1 Red Pepper - julienned

-       1 Yellow Onion - chopped

Directions:

• -       Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• -       Grease a muffin tin
• -      In a small bowl combine the cheddar and white cheddar cheese and set aside
• -       Saute the chopped onion and julienned pepper in a pan until the onions have caramelized and set aside
• -       Crack 4 eggs and beat with milk and  the seasoning of your choice as if you were making scrambled eggs and set aside
• -       Line the bottom of your muffin tin with the spinach leaves
• -       Add a tablespoon of your caramelized onion and pepper mixture on top of the spinach leaves, followed by a teaspoon of your cheese mixture and top off with your scrambled egg mixture. 
• -       Pop your muffin tin in the oven to bake for 20 mins, then broil on low for an addition 3 minutes.
• -       Carefully pop your quiches out of the muffin tin and ENJOY!

Thanksgiving Wrap-Up: Fall Inspired Birthday Cake

A very special part of my family's Thanksgiving get together is the celebration of my grandmother's birthday. Like me, my grandmother loves to bake, and for as long as I can remember she has whipped up a delicious cake for everyone in my family on their birthday - in fact,  I think she has even baked her own birthday cake on numerous occasions! This year, I decided she needed a break and created this fall inpsired birthday cake to celebrate the beautiful season in which her birthday falls.

I tried a new chocolate cake and peanut buttercream recipe for this cake and I was extremely happy with the results! Look out for a blog post dedicated to these two recipes sometime soon!

Thanksgiving Wrap-up: Pumpkin Floral Arrangements

 If you are looking for simple DIY centerpiece for your fall/thanksgiving table, this pumpkin floral arrangement is absolutely perfect. Not only was this centerpiece super easy to put together, it was also extremely cost effective. In fact it was so easy and cost effective that I created two arrangements for less than $20.

To create my arrangements I purchased two small pumpkins at my grocery store for $1.70 each and one bouqet of country flowers for $11.99. I also used half a block of floral foam (optional) that I had on hand and two recycled candle jars to hold the floral foam/water.

Step 1: Carve the top of your pumpkin and clean out the inside, make sure the hole is large enough to accomodate the candle jar or what ever vessel you are using to hold your flowers.

Step 2: Insert the candle jar/water vessel into your hallowed out pumpkin.

Step 3: Fill your candle jar/vessel with water. If you are using floral foam, insert your foam into the jar/vessel at this point and fill with water.

Step 4: Begin cutting your flowers to size and arrange them to your liking.

Step 5: Place on your table and enjoy!!

NOTE: When I was clearing the table at the end of the night I noticed a few fruit flies around the centerpieces. Spraying the pumpkins with an acrylic sealer after carving might help to reduce the fruit flies!

Leave me a comment below if you decide to create a pumpkin floral centerpiece for your table.

Thanksgiving Wrap-up: Acorn Cookies

We hosted Thanksgiving at our place this year, so I am dedicating my posts this week to some of the homemade elements I created to make our celebration a special and memorable one!

No Thanksgiving dinner is complete without dessert, and to compliment that traditional apple and pumpkin pie, I baked up a batch of these cute and festive acorn cookies.

To make your own batch of acorn cookies, follow my steps below.

You will need:

- Mini peanut butter cookies (I baked a batch using my favourite peanut butter cookie recipe and just rolled the dough into mini sized cookies).
- Unwrapped Hershey's Kisses
- Mini chocolate chips
- Chocolate melts

Directions:

1. Bake your peanut butter cookies, when they are fresh out of the oven, top each one with a mini chocolate chip and then allow the cookies to cool.
2. Once your cookies have cooled, place your chocolate melts in a bowl and melt them in the microwave.
3. Dip the bottom of the Hershey's Kisses in the melted chocolate and attach to it to the bottom of your peanut butter cookie, then set aside to cool.
4. Enjoy!