Mini Pumpkin Pies, Oh My!

I'm getting my oven mitts ready and my oven turned on, because Thanksgiving is upon us!!! And although it isn't exactly time for me to be exchanging my laptop for a stove top, there are some recipes I've been itching to try this season, like these mini pumpkin pies!

I keep seeing them pop up all over Pinterest, and each time I have to just stop and  admire how cute they are (I'd also say I'm analyzing on how I could make some of my own!). I make the pumpkin pie for my family every year at Thanksgiving, so I'm not really doubting my pumpkin pie culinary skills (as long as I don't burn the little things, I'd say I'm doing alright)

(photo from Home is Where the Boat Is)

I'll probably just use the recipe that's on the back of the Libby's Pumpkin can for pumpkin pie filling and then follow the cooking directions from 'Home is Where the Boat Is' blog. I really hope these turn out! Just have to go on a quest for little cookie cutters now...

Are their any recipes you're wanting to try this Thanksgiving? (or have you tried to make these little pies? If so, I need all the advice I can get!)

Keep Celebrating!

Oh Goodie, Goodie!

I'm pretty sure that one of my love languages is gift giving.

Not only because it's a nice way to show someone that you're thinking of them, but it's also fun to think of gift ideas and pretty packaging (y'all know my love for paper and presentation!). Although most people associate gift giving with Christmas, I also think that Thanksgiving is an opportune time to show people that you are thankful for them and that you appreciate them.

And in my eyes, what better way to show this than by food.

Bake a loaf of pumpkin bread or banana bread! Its super easy to make, and will last quite awhile. I made pumpkin bread for my good friend Mary, and she said that she ate it for breakfast for a few days! As far as gift wrapping a loaf of bread goes, I bout the bread gift bags at Wal-Mart (they'll be located with the extravagant cake decorating supplies, usually close to the craft aisle and wedding aisle), which included the ribbon. I got the free 'Thankful for Sweet Friends Like You!' tag from Lil' Luna {all things good} blog, and wrapped it with white and gold twine that I found at Target.

If you don't quite feel like making bread, or feel like your on a time crunch, there is always that wonderful thing called Nestle Tollhouse Cookie dough. Buy them precut, slap them on a cookie sheet and throw them in the oven for about 10 minutes and voila, you're a domestic goddess.

Obviously, you still want to make it look like you put a lot of time into this gift. Presentation time! I like to find pretty little gift bags and tags to snaz it up a bit.

I found these mint and gold bags from the Oh Joy! collection at Target (I'm obsessed with her stuff and was tempted to buy everything in her little corner of Target!), I also picked up these gold glittered clothe pins from their craft aisle as well. I printed out these pretty little tags from She Wears Many Hats blog, and added a pop of color to them by painting over them with pink watercolor paint.

I hope my friends love how they turned out as much as I do!

Keep Celebrating!

Pumpkin Seed Recipe

Between work, going to my little sister’s soccer games this weekend, and doing piles upon piles of laundry, I was finally able to carve my pumpkin last night! (if you want to see how my pumpkin turned out, follow me on Instagram!)

One of the hardest (not to mention messiest things) about carving a pumpkin is getting all the seeds out. It’s slimy, cold, and there is a ton of it. What are else are you supposed to do with this goop than throw it away?

Stop what you are doing right now!

You are about to throw away perfectly good pumpkin seeds!

Pumpkin seeds are a good source of fiber, vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals. They contain Vitamin E, Vitamin K, copper, manganese, potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, and selenium, along with some other great health benefits (basically this is one Halloween snack you won’t feel guilty indulging on!)

A new tradition I started with my family two years ago was flavoring and toasting the seeds. There are several different recipes you can find online, or you can even experiment with a few of your own favorite seasonings!

Sweet & Spicy Pumpkin Seeds
1 egg white
1/4 cup natural cane sugar
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grained sea salt
1 cup fresh pumpkin seeds

Preheat oven to 375. In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the egg white, sugar, cayenne and salt. Add the pumpkin seeds and toss well. Drain off any excess egg white (using a strainer) and place seeds in a single layer across a baking sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes or until seeds are golden. Sprinkle with a bit more sugar and cayenne pepper when they come out of the oven. Taste and season with more salt if needed.

Makes one cup.

If you want something sweet, you can try this sugar and spice recipe, or if you prefer something salty you can try one of these! My favorite are sweet and spicy pumpkin seeds. I found the recipe here.

If you’re having a pumpkin carving party, toasting everyone’s pumpkin seeds in your favorite seasonings and putting them in little bags for everyone to take home at the end of the night is a great (and cheap!) party favor!


 I hope you enjoy this healthy treat as much as I do!

Keep Celebrating!

I'm Bananas For You

I would like to consider myself a “glass half full” kind of girl. I always try to see the positive side of things and I always try to make sure that my perspective is in check, so when I saw that the bananas I bought were starting to go brown I got a tad bit upset. (Disclaimer: I am one of those strange people who are extremely picky about my bananas. If they aren’t a tad bit green at the top, I don’t like them; so you can only imagine my distraught to see brown spots.)

But before throwing out my three browning bananas, it dawned on me, BANANA BREAD! You have to have browning bananas to make banana bread!

New mantra everybody, “When life gives you browning bananas, make banana bread.”

So I went to my recipe box and pulled the recipe out. (Hey, what do you know? It calls for three bananas. This must have been fate, right?)  I quickly realized that I could make quite a bit of banana bread, so why not give some away to my friends and neighbors while I was at it? Turns out a few browning bananas can feed a small village or an apartment complex in my case.

Want to make some of your own now? Already ahead of you friends!

(click on the recipe card to be redirected to Google Docs for a printable version of the recipe!)

EASY PEASY!

If you want to send them out as gifts like I did, bake them in mini loaf pans. (Just make sure you adjust the cooking time! Otherwise, you’ll end up with bricks for your next home renovation.) And to make things even easier on y’all, we've made some gift tags that you can download and use yourself! Just buy some plastic gift bags and wrap them up!  

(click on the picture to be redirected to Google Docs for downloads!)

Because, let’s be honest, who doesn’t find banana bread “a-peel-ing?”

 Keep Celebrating!