Pepper Paints

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Perfect Pumpkin Cake

This is a perfectly moist, perfectly spiced (not too much) pumpkin cake.Perfect for Halloween or Thanksgiving or breakfast for those who can’t wait until then!

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350 degrees

12 x 18 would work  I used a Bundt pan–greased and floured

Beat:

1 1/4 cups oil

2 cups brown sugar

Add:

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups canned pumpkin (or one 15 oz can)

4 eggs–beat in 1 at a time

Gradually beat in:

2 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Bake 30 minutes or longer for Bundt pan

When cool can be frosted or left as is. I whipped up a cream cheese frosting that I could eat all by itself by the bowl full!! I tinted it orange for a festive touch!

 

Posted October 22nd, 2011.

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Cheap and Easy Homemade Cleaners

Spring is just around the corner (thank the heavens above)!!!! I love Spring cleaning. Strike that-I love my house when I am done Spring cleaning. I purge and scrub and always move things around for a fresh new look. I am not big on buying lots of cleaning supplies. They are super simple to make and I almost always have the ingredients on hand.

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Here are two easy and cheap  homemade cleaners that contain no harmful chemicals and still smell good!

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Homemade Soft Scrub

Mix together

1/4 cup borax

1 cup baking soda

1 T biodegradable liquid soap (I use citrus castille)

Add enough water to make a pasty consistency

add 10 drops essential oils ( I like the smell of lemon and orange for cleaning)

If the scrub gets dry add a few more drops of water.

Anti-Bacterial Spray

To 1 cup white vinegar add

3 cups water

10 drops grapefruit seed extract

10 drops tea tree oil

1 teaspoon castille soap

10 to 20 drops lemon, lavender and/or orange essential oils

I am hoping to find my blogging mojo again. We are still creating messes all over the place–I promise to share more soon!!

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Posted March 4th, 2011.

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Building With Leftovers

Back in December when we finished making our gingerbread houses I really wanted to just throw all the extra candy away but instead I saved it for a rainy day activity. (or a sick day or a snowy day …)

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I think I should change the title to “An Overabundance Of Brightly Colored Photos On Another Gloomy Day!”

Posted February 7th, 2011.

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Thursday’s Recipe … Mini Fruited Cheesecake Bites

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Last weekend I had a family brunch at our house. The girls and I made these mini frozen fruited cheesecakes. The vanilla wafer crusts were supposed to fit neatly inside a mini muffin liner but that wasn’t the case at all. Maybe it had something to do with the Whole Foods brand vanilla wafers I bought as opposed to the vanilla wafer brand.

Anyways, other than being a little buried in a large paper liner, these little bites were a perfect addition to our brunch.

Place 12 vanilla wafers in the bottom of your muffin liners, flat side up

Whisk together 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt ( Seven Stars Maple YUM!), 1/2 cup  softened cream cheese, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon honey

Plop a spoonful on each wafer

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At this point you could top with fruit or put the mini’s straight into the freezer for 1 to 1 1/2  hours then remove and top with fruit. (depending on how cold you want your fruit) Let them sit out about 15-25 minutes before serving–but not longer they need to be a little frozen to stay firm.

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We used some very mini chocolate chips on ours too. Any leftovers we popped right back in the freezer for later.

I linked to Seven Stars above. I LOVE this yogurt. If I am not making my own this is what I am eating! Next week I will tell you all about a keifer and yogurt making workshop I attended this week with Warren Taylor of Snowville Creamery—oooh ahhh!! Very exciting stuff!

Posted January 20th, 2011.

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Thursday’s Recipe – Holy $hit, That’s Hotter Than Hell, Hot Sauce!(aka fermented hot peppers)

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I LOVE hot and spicy food.  I saw a recipe for Fermented Hot Chili Sauce at Nourished Kitchen and thought it would make tasty gifts to share.

Holy crap–this is some hot, hot sauce!

I bought just about all the habanaro peppers at our grocery along with a few jalapenos and a couple of pablanos for flavor. I cut the stems off and threw them into the food processor with a few sweet onions, several cloves of garlic and a few handfuls of basil and salt and a little sugar. I mixed up the only living cultures I had-keifer starter-with a little water and threw that in too. I put everything into a mason jar–it took several tries as just inhaling the fumes were tough! I let it sit on my counter for about 12 days. There wasn’t much bubbling and not much liquid so I ended up just bottling it up seeds and all.

The brave decided to try it yesterday………….

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I ate some on tortilla chips and yes it was hot but super tasty. I love the taste of habaneros!  I think it will be really good in a bowl of beans and rice topped with some yogurt! Mmmmm

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The Nourished Kitchen blog is loaded with really delicious recipes!! Be sure to check them out.

Posted January 6th, 2011.

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Thursday’s Recipe … Overnight Coffee Cake

Years ago I followed a “large family blog”. Not that my family is all that large but she posted hints and tips and recipes. I used to half this recipe but with 2 working teen aged boys in my home these days–plus a zillion friends that seem to be here eating several days a week, a double recipe worked out just fine.

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The Hoover at work!

Luckily there was still this pan full for the rest of us!

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Overnight Coffee Cake

Beat the following until fluffy–

4 eggs, 2 cups sugar, 1 1/2 cups coconut oil, 2 t vanilla  (I used 1/2 coconut oil and 1/2 butter)

Mix with a whisk–

6 cups pastry flour, 8 t baking powder, 2 t salt  ( I also added cinnamon)

Add dry alternately with 2 cups of milk or buttermilk (I used plain yogurt)

Pour into 2 oiled 9x 13 pans  (I used 1 9x 13 and 1 deep dish pie pan)

Lay fruit on top ( I used a  frozen berry mixture)

Topping– 1 1/2 c sugar, 1 1/3 c flour, 2t cinnamon, cut in enough butter to make it crumbly)

Put in fridge overnight

Bake 350 for 40 minutes

Posted December 9th, 2010.

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Thursday’s Recipe …. Raw Butternut Squash Rice

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Isn’t this the most beautiful dish?? And it’s tasty too!

1 small butternut squash peeled and seeded and cut into 2 inch cubes

1/2 an onion

1 T cumin seeds **** see my senior moment note below

1 T corriander

1/2 cup cilantro

1 cup dry cranberries

1 cup crushed walnuts

salt

So I mixed up this wonderful mixture and ate it. And it was really good. BUT because I just copied the ingredients from the Crunchy Bits (Fall Harvest Squash Rice) post and didn’t pay attention to the fact that it called for cumin seeds –mine did taste a bit dusty! -and that she also put her squash in the food processor! As you can see-I did not. But still it was good. I did think it needed something wet with it or on it. I bet processing the squash made it more moist. Today I may add some cut up apple or an orange to my bowl full. Mmmmm (also I skipped the walnuts because we are sensitive to them)

Either way–a beautiful dish to eat!

Posted December 2nd, 2010.

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