Day 1: The Season of Pumpkin Spice Ends

It's a sad time for many women.  The season of pumpkin spice everything is coming to a close.  And on that note, I decided to start my Christmas baking project with pumpkin spice.  I had this extra bag of Pumpkin Spice kisses and since I didn't have the time to make the cheesecake recipe on the back last week, I saved it for tonight.

It was a recipe worth saving.  It was worth making.  That is, if I actually liked eating pumpkin spice Hershey kisses, which I don't.  But this cheesecake smelled divine.  And it was certainly fun to swirl.  Fortunately, it's for Mister Man's office.  I don't doubt at all that it will be eaten.

Off to the Yule Ball

Our little Harry Potter fanatic went to the Yule Ball tonight.  Her friend was hosting a Yule Ball for her eleventh birthday.  We too will be hosting some Harry Potter madness for The Redhead's eleventh in July, but until then, we gladly joined in on the festivities.  At least The Redhead did.  Mister Man and I headed off to our favorite Mexican restaurant for a date night.  So while we do not have photos from the party, we took some before she left.

The unicorn is a pop up.

Thanks Be!

Another successful Californian Thanksgiving!  We had our second annual incredible Thanksgiving at John's Incredible Pizza.  We avoided the Thanksgiving shopping crowds and instead spent our day with a buffet, games, and rides.  I think we made the best choice for us.  While we didn't take any photos there, we did snap a few tonight.

She won her new friend Hipster today!

Two years ago, I was working on Thanksgiving.  In fact, I volunteered to work.  I'm kind of glad I didn't have that option this year.  I would have missed this smile.

Feta for Dinner

This week, I knew we would have pulled pork on Monday.  Steak tacos on Tuesday.  And feta Wednesday. I only knew we'd have feta.  That's it.  Just feta.



I had no idea what exactly I'd make using that feta.




This all came to be because I bought a 16 ounce container of feta cheese at the 99 cent store last week.  I've perused feta cheese recipes on Pinterest numerous times, but had yet to settle on one.  So I started my search again this evening after 5:30.  Which is long after I normally would start dinner.


After determining I didn't want to go buy extra ingredients that I would need, I finally found a recipe that used items I had.  And with luck, I still have plenty of feta left for next week.  My cheese expires on the 6th, so I have time to try another recipe!  Which also means I have plenty of time to buy the extra ingredients I needed.  Like spinach.  And heavy cream.

While my dish doesn't exactly look like the picture on the website, I can report to you that it was indeed safe for consumption and that no one has died yet.  I'm hoping I will continue to finally make these things from the Pinterestese and report back to you.  If you too want to try your hand at this concoction, you can find the recipe here:  Chicken with Feta Cheese Sauce

I'm just glad I finally made something to go with that feta.  Only feta for dinner wouldn't have been the same.

Pumpkin Spice Frenzy

Mister Man's office had a potluck of sorts on Tuesday, so I spent my Monday making pumpkin spice messes in my kitchen.  Massive messes.  And so, so, so much food.  

I tried this recipe from the Pinterestese: Mini Pumpkin Pies

These were such a splendid idea!  I've been wanting to make them for quite some time and they were my first choice.

Of course, I couldn't make only one thing though.

I had some pumpkin spice kisses I bought for 90 cents a bag during Halloween clearance at Target.  I bought these knowing I would make some sort of treats out of them.  So I made some cookies.  Also from the Pinterestese.  Pumpkin Spice Kiss Cookies

Taking them out of the wrappers took forever.

 Knowing I would be baking all day, I had dinner going in the slow cooker.

Dinner already in the works gave me plenty of time to focus on the beauties brewing in my kitchen.

Then, I made some Snickerdoodles.  I was going to try some caramel stuffed Snickerdoodles as well, but I ran out of time.

Then, determined to use all of the pumpkin spice kisses, I started another batch of cookies.

They were from yet another recipe from the Pinterestese.  They had a kiss stuffed inside.
Stuffed Pumpkin Spice Kiss Cookies

I did start to get tired though, and although the new recipes started going well, things I make weekly, started to go awry.  Like brownies.  Since when do my brownies crumble????

Regardless, I managed to make these Pumpkin Spice Brownie bites.  And I'm so glad I did!  I had almost given up on them as my brownies were crumbling when they never do.  Mister Man even told me not to bother, how I had plenty of food.  Guess which items went first?? That's right!  AND....I finally managed to use the whole bag of kisses.

It was all so very worth it.  And next week?  My Christmas baking project begins!