November 8: Pumpkin Pie Failure and Success

I was in the mood for pumpkin pie, and Ty had been talking about making a pie, so this was a no-brainer.  As always, I'm trying to feed my family in a more healthy manner, so I decided to try the pumpkin pie recipe on the SweetLeaf website (this is stevia in powdered form). 

Unfortunately, the recipe on the website was not super clear on the measurement of the stevia.  It stated that we should use 1/4 cup of the SugarLeaf.  I thought this was odd, but if it was from the product's website why shouldn't I trust it?  I was wrong, though, and over-sweetened the pie which made it bitter so I had to toss the whole thing out!  I'm sure if we had made it the right way it would have been delicious! 

Ty was really disappointed and really wanted pie, so we made another pie!  For this, I just used the recipe on the Libby's canned pumpkin which I'd made before.  I did make the SweetLeaf crust again, though...yummy! (though it wasn't Koen's favorite)

Pumpkin Pie 2 cups pumpkin puree 1/4 cup SugarLeaf™ 2 cups half & half 3 Tbsp. pumpkin spice 4 whole eggs 1 tsp. vanilla 3/4 cup flour 9" pie shell (note: fresh-made or pre-made) Pie Shell (optional) 4 Tbsp. butter 1 cup raw unsalted pecans 1/4 tsp. salt 2 Tbsp. SugarLeaf®

1. (Crust) Process the pecans into meal with your blender, coffee grinder, or food processor.
2. Melt butter in a pan over medium high heat.
3. Once melted, add the remaining ingredients.
4. Stir to combine.
5. Remove from heat and press nut mixture into the bottom of the pie dish.
6. (Pie) Combine all the pie ingredients and stir to combine.
7. Pour mixture into pie shell and bake at 325^oF for 30 minutes.
8. Remove and cool completely.
9. Place into the fridge and allow pie to set overnight.

http://www.sweetleaf.com/desserts/236-pumpkin

November 6: "F" Bible Verse

"For God so loved the world he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life." 

John 3:16

November 1: Graham Cracker Muffins

Placing the muffin liners is an important job!

Crunching the crackers.

Mix, mix, mix!

Who wouldn't want a strainer for a hat?

Mix master. :)

While these are interesting, they weren't a favorite around here.  Ty and Brielle had fun making them, but no one was really interested in eating them...I guess it's hard to improve graham crackers. :)

Graham Cracker Muffins

• 2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 2 Tbs. honey

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Grease 10 muffin cups or line with paper liners.
3. In a large bowl, combine cracker crumbs, sugar, and baking powder.
4. Stir in milk, egg, and honey; mix just until moistened.
5. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
7. Let stand for 5 minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Kaboose.com

October 30: "E" Verse

"Even a child is known by his actions, by whether his conduct is pure and right."

Proverbs 20: 11

October 28: Fall Rocks!

True confessions:  I have never used ModPodge before!  I've heard many rave about it, and I've had it sitting in our craft closet for months!  Today was the day we broke out the ModPodge to make our Autumn Leaf Rocks.  This simple project turned out quite cute!  We grabbed some rocks from outside (Ty found some pieces of wood he wanted to use, too).  We painted the rocks with ModPodge and then used small leaves we'd found on our walk earlier in the week to create designs.  I also had pumpkin stickers that Ty thought would enhance the look of his wood pieces.  After placing our leaves/stickers on, we painted over everything with more ModPodge, let it dry, and viola!  A beautiful fall project!  We placed ours in a basket in the kitchen for all to enjoy and received many compliments on them.

Carefully placing each leaf.

Letting them dry.

November 3: Paper Chain

For the third year running, we put together a paper chain to count down to Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Ty loves ripping a chain off each night before bed and looking at how close we're getting to the holidays!

Ty loves using the paper cutter.

Brielle wanted to try the paper cutter, too.

The finished product!

October 31: Happy Halloween!

The three cutest trick-or-treaters!

Brielle was so taken with the tiger costume that she had to try it on and roar at all of us!