Pumpkin Cream Sauce and Penne

So I made Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins the other day and had some extra pumpkin and I thought what should I do with this? Make another batch of muffins or make something savory for dinner? And I opted for making something for dinner. Pumpkin Cream Sauce with Penne is absolutely delicious and it's all made in one pot.

What you need:

• 1 pound penne pasta
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon of minced garlic 
• 1 15 ounce can pure pumpkin puree
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, plus more for topping
• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• Salt and Pepper

Directions

In a large pot boil water and cook the penne pasta. Once cooked, drain the water, but keep 1 cup of the pasta water.

In the same pot, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the onion and minced garlic, season with salt and pepper; cook, stirring, until softened, about 5-7 minutes. 

Stir in the pumpkin and heavy cream and bring to a boil. 

Return the pasta to the pot along with the pasta cooking water and toss. 

Stir in the parmesan; season with salt and pepper, and presto chango (yes, we are magicians) you are done!

Top the pasta with the parsley and more parmesan. Heck add any cheese, I bet shredded cheddar or mozzarella would taste amazing on top of this too.

This tastes absolutely delicious with cheesy garlic bread! I happily ate it as leftover for a few days. For the two of us this was lunch and dinner for about 3 days.

Halloween Decorations

Well Halloween has arrived, well it will be in exactly one week. And I was a little late decorating this year. 

This year we did a similar table as last year. Check out last year's Halloween table here. This time we decided to make it a little spookier with a back tablecloth from Target; a huge black felt skull in the backdrop with bats and a haunted village that we made ourselves with little finds from the Dollar store and other little figurines and lit it up with led lights. I still have some work to do on the table. I haven't decided what I was going to put in the crates. So the above picture is just how it is now, but I am hoping to have some more time this week to arrange it differently.

The vampire mug is our best find. We found this super large Dracula mug at a consignment shop a few years ago. The owner was unfortunately closing the store and everything was only $1. My boyfriend loved it as soon as he saw it and I didn't know what he saw in it. 

But now I love it and I use it every Halloween as a vase and I love how Dracula has beautiful roses or marigolds on his head every year.

I made this backdrop for about $1.50. I bought the black felt skull at the Dollar Store, and the bats were from last year's project made out of black cardstock paper. Check out my tutorial here. If you don't have a cricut machine, just cut out bats from construction paper. Use a free template (like this one) online to cut around.

I also found this cute huge cardboard bat that I put in our entryway. I also added a few bats on the walls around the house.

As an unexpected find, and also at a small consignment shop, this past weekend, I saw these adorable little Halloween bears. And I just giggled and giggled when I saw them and how cute they were. My love, snatched up the three little bears, two were Halloween themed and the other was a Thanksgiving themed bear. 

I have to come find out these are Lucy Rigg bears. I never heard of them before. And there are hundreds of them dressed up in all sorts of adorable outfits. There are collectors out there that collect all different types of these cute little bears.

I have never been one to collect little toys, figures, or even stuffed animals. But I was delighted and purely happy when I saw these. And I am so happy my love bought them for me. 

Since then, I may have looked up more little bears and I might have bought a few more for Halloween and the Holidays. 

This is how the haunted village looks with the little lights on. I love how my boyfriend lit up each house with it's own little color. He did this all by himself. We were going to add moss, but we decided to keep the project simple.

Baking always makes me happy. So I have been baking tons lately. My boyfriend absolutely loves chocolate chip cookies, and I always make him a small batch of a dozen cookies so he can enjoy a few during the week.

As soon as Halloween is complete Day of the Dead will be here. I have been working on a few skulls and pieces. I listed this skull and a few others in my art shop.

Enjoy plenty of little treats because you deserve it. If you can't eat candy or chocolates buy yourself some flowers. And when you see them every day, I want you to smile, tell them how beautiful they are, and remind yourself that you are beautiful too. 

Have a wonderful week!

Cinnamon Baked Donuts

These are the perfect morning treat on a fall morning. These are baked, not fried, cinnamon delights.

All you need is:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 1/4 cups whole milk
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 2 teaspoons of syrup

For the cinnamon topping:

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For chocolate ganache topping: 

• 1/2 cup dark or milk chocolate chips 
• 2 Tablespoons of unsalted butter 
• 2 teaspoons of light corn syrup 
• 2 teaspoons water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 doughnut pans well.

Into a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. 

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, melted butter, and vanilla. Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients until just combined.

Spoon the batter into the baking pans, filling each one a little more than three-quarters full. Bake for 17 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then tap the doughnuts out onto a sheet pan.

For the topping, melt the 8 tablespoons of butter in an 8-inch saute pan. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. 

Dip each doughnut first in the butter and then in the cinnamon sugar, either on one side or both sides.

I made 12 donuts, 6 with cinnamon sugar toppings and another 6 with milk chocolate ganache toppings. Both were yummy and a perfect treat to eat in the morning.

Halloween Pumpkin Balloons

How cute are these pumpkin balloons. This is a quick craft for a Halloween party or just to put around the house. I hung a few above my Halloween table this year and they look like they are floating in air. 

All you need are orange balloons, construction paper (green or brown, and orange), scissors, string, and tape.

Blow the balloons with air and then cut out triangle shapes with black construction paper for the eyes and the nose. For the mouth I made this template to make it much easier. You can just print it out, use a pencil to draw around it on black construction paper to simply cut out.

I made a stem and leaf out of green construction paper for the top.

This took me less than 10 minutes to do, so it's a quick, fun, and easy project for you or for kids to do.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Fall is here and I have been craving pumpkin. To be honest, pumpkin isn't my favorite flavor. Every fall I get a craving for it though and I remember how good it is. I have made pumpkin pie and last year I made these pumpkin pancakes, but this season I made chocolate chip muffins and these are my favorite pumpkin creation yet!

These muffins have pumpkin, cinnamon, and a hint of sweetness thanks to the maple syrup and the chocolate chips goes perfectly with it all. I also added some chopped walnuts to a few of them. They make the perfect morning breakfast. The two us of ate one every morning, that would have lasted us for about 6 days, but I also had one or two for a little after dinner treat.

Makes 12 Muffins

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 3/4 sugar
• 8 ounce can of pumpkin
• 1/2 teaspoon of syrup
• 1/2 cup and 4 tablespoons of of butter
• 1 1/2 stick of butter (1/2 cup and 4 tablespoons)
• 1 1/2 cups of flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Chocolate chips
• Chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

In large bowl, beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin, syrup and butter until combined with a whisk. Don't over mix, or the batter might get thick and the muffins could end up being dry.

Mix dry ingredients together and gradually add into pumpkin mixture. Add the chocolate chips. Fill paper-lined muffin cups or greased muffin tin.

Bake at 400 degree for about 18 minutes.

Remove them from the muffin pan and put on a rack to cool off and enjoy with a cup of coffee or a glass of milk. 

My Favorite Things - Fall Edition

Fall is my favorite time of year, as soon as the cool morning and nights start up I start feeling a deeper sense of peace. I have been getting the house ready for Halloween. I am getting ready for fall and surrounding myself with my favorite things.


Wildfox 'Inside Out' Skeleton Sweater. I have been looking for the perfect Skeleton sweater in blue and finally found it. Last Halloween my sister surprised me with a glow-n-dark skeleton top and pants for PJs and you can definitely wear them out, and I have. This Halloween I was looking for a sweater not in black and Wildfox has this in blue, black, and pastel pink.

This sweater is super comfy and has an oversize fit. I could wear this everyday.


Stuart Weitzman Commodore Mule. These are my go to fall shoe, they have a bit of a heel, but it's a chunky heel, so they are comfortable and sturdy to walk in. And they instantly make everything I wear a little bit cooler.


American Eagle Jeans. These jeans are super soft and stretchy and have the ripped jean look I have been looking for. They are my current favorite jean.

The only issue I recently ran into was that they smell like moth balls. I watched them several times and left them out hanging and the smell is starting to fade.


Essie Nail Polish in Wicked. One of the most relaxing things I can do is paint my nails. I usually reserve it for Sunday nights and I usually pick a new color every weekend.


Stranger Things and The Ranch. I have fallen in love with another Netflix Original show, Stranger Things. It's such a 80's horror/sci-fi throw-back and I love it. I don't want to give any of it away, but if you enjoyed movies from the 80's and can watch scary movies you will enjoy this series.

I also recently got into The Ranch which is another Netflix Original show. The Ranch stars Ashton Kutcher, Danny Materson (Both were in the 70's show together and play brothers on this show), and my favorite Sam Elliot, and Debra Winger. It's a comedy/drama/western and I have fallen in love with the show. It's about a father running a ranch with one of his sons, Rooster (played by Danny Materson), and his other son, Colt (Ashton Kutcher), returns back home to the ranch after playing semi-football. Their mother (Debra Winger) plays a free spirit running the only bar in town. The show isn't a typical show I would watch, but I am glad I gave it a chance, because I really enjoy it.

Sam Elliot and Danny Materson both are excellent to watch. Danny's comedic timing is on and he makes me laugh everytime he is on screen. What can I say about Sam Elliot, he is such a natural and is charismatic on the screen. My face lights up every time he enters the room. He plays a tough father, that expects hard work, discipline, and loyalty from his family and his character struggles when he isn't given that 100% of the time. Under his tough exterior and persona lies a caring and sensitive man that he doesn't expose very often, but when he does it's a gem to see for the viewer and his on-screen family. It's a pleasure seeing Sam Elliot play this character.

So these are a few of my favorite things right now. All of these things have been putting a little smile on my face, and it's important to do and be surrounded by things that you like and love.