These owl cupcakes will make you swoon!

We had a Halloween bake contest at work and I got plenty of inspiration from Pinterest, and landed on making these precious little owl cupcakes. I think they turned out great, and they were a huge hit at the party!! They were super easy to make. I used Double Stufd Oreos for the eyes and Reeses Pieces for the iris and beak. And I used a butter knife to create the owl-like tufts with the frosting!

The best rice dish ever

If there is one recipe you MUST try from this blog, this is it!! I adapted my recipe from  Martha Stewart's, One-pot Curried Cauliflower Rice. Cauliflower is one of my favorite veggies, but I hardly eat it because the hubs despises it. One of his favorite foods is rice. Any type of rice, and he'll be happy. The beauty of this recipe is that I get cauliflower and he gets a yummy rice side - all in the same dish! It's easy, fun, and goes with any dinner.

via MarthaStewart.com

4 teaspoons vegetable oil

As much cauliflower as you want

Coarse salt and ground pepper

1/2 of a yellow onion, diced small

1 cup basmati rice (uncooked)

2 teaspoons cumin powder*

1 tsp garlic pepper

1/2 can of chickpeas (or more if you want), rinsed and drained

About 1 1/2 cups of chicken or vegetable broth

1/4 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a pot** heat 2 teaspoons oil over medium-high. Add cauliflower and cook, stirring frequently, until browned in spots. Transfer to a plate and season with salt and pepper. Add 2 tsp oil and onion back to  pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is translucent, 5 min. Add uncooked rice, cumin, garlic pepper, and chickpeas and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until rice is coated, about 2 min. Add broth and cream and bring to a boil. Scatter cauliflower over top (do not stir to combine). Cover and bake until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed, 15 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before serving. 

*The original recipe calls for curry powder, but I didn't have any. If you'd rather use curry seasonings, use instead of the cumin and garlic pepper.

**I used a large oven-safe saute pan, but in the future, I will probably try this recipe in my new Le Creuset dutch oven.

Makes 3-4 servings depending on the amount of cauliflower and chickpeas you use.

Shucking Corn with Ken

A local AG man teaches us how to shuck corn with ease (and quaintness!) And nearly 4 million hits on You Tube - he's famous! How cute is he?! I am definitely going to use this trick next time I buy corn on the cob!

Alien Onion

Look at the size of this onion we picked from our garden! I think we left it in the ground too long because it was oober slimy..ew.

A Growing Garden

When we moved into our house two years ago, the existing garden area was overgrown with weeds, the fence was falling down, and goat heads ruled the dirt. Last year, Steve cleared out the weeds, built a raised bed, and fixed the fencing to keep safe from the deer. This year, we (Steve) expanded the garden to three raised beds with room to grow. Steve has tweaked the garden with better drip systems, beer holders, climbing wires for the cucumbers and canteloupe, and a cute flower bed to add a touch of color. I wanted to share with you Steve's labor of love and how he got our garden to flourish so wonderfully. 

For the record, I do help! I assisted in attaching the climbing racks for the cucumbers (which is very important for space). I shoveled my share of donkey doo for the compost and I save all of the kitchen scraps to add to the compost bin. All of this, combined with store-bought soil makes for the perfect growing dirt. I also weeded the beds a few times in the early stages, and helped tie off rope to the tomato bed to hold up the growing branches (also very important...you want your tomato plants supported as much as possible!) But, best of all, I cook and prepare the veggies! Nom nom nom..

2010 - One lonely bed:

2011:

One bed for tomatos, one for various veggies, and one for cucumber and cantaloupe

BEST. LETTUCE. EVER.

Bell peppers

Proud papa and his tomatos (and beer shelf!)