Fact: I suceeded in eating a 3 lb. butternut squash all by myself over the course of 5 days.

You see … I made soup. I’m normally very intimidated by new recipes, especially if they involve ingredients I’m not familiar with — such as a butternut squash. But when I saw this, I knew it had to happen.

Curried butternut and red lentil soup, from http://www.eatliverun.com/

Looking at this picture makes me so hungry.

It’s hearty, orange-colored, healthy bliss in a bowl. Perfect for wintry days. Husband turned up his nose, but he did help me peel and chop up the squash. I didn’t offer it to my Toddler because it’s really spicy. So … I ate it. All of it. And it was awesome.

Today, my main goal was this: to bake several batches of Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies for a bake sale that we have going on at work this week. 

Personally, I never ever buy items from bake sales if they appear homemade. You never know who made them or what is in their kitchen. But for some reason I felt the need to bake the cookies myself for this event rather than buy them from the store … even though I would never eat them if I wasn’t the one making them. 

AM I HYPOCRITICAL?! 

Back to baking.

I gathered my items. I turned the oven to 375 and watched old episodes of Jersey Shore while it heated. And judge if you must, but that show is addictive. It’s awesomely bad.

Then, our power went off (it was later restored), the Toddler was extra-difficult, I ran behind schedule, and when I finally, FINALLY was ready to begin baking for real … I ran out of vanilla.

Crisco Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 3/4 stick Crisco® Baking Sticks Butter Flavor All-Vegetable Shortening
• OR 3/4 cup Crisco® Butter Flavor All-Vegetable Shortening
• 1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 3/4 cups Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 (6 oz.) package semi-sweet chocolate chips (1 cup)
• 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. HEAT oven to 375ºF.




2. COMBINE shortening, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Beat in egg. Combine flour, salt and baking soda. Mix into shortening mixture until just blended. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.




3. DROP by rounded measuring tablespoonfuls 3 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet. 
    
4. BAKE 8 to 10 minutes for chewy cookies, or 11 to 13 minutes for crisp cookies. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet on a cooling rack. Remove cookies to rack to cool completely.




5. TIP
   * If nuts are omitted, add an additional 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

I just opened a bag of Chocolatey Caramel Crunch Boy Scouts popcorn.

I buy it from a co-worker to give to my dad every year, but in a moment of weakness … I tore into it.

Don’t let these smiling boys fool you.

It looks innocent. In fact, the back of the bag says 100 years of scouting.

This bag contains 3,000 calories worth of chocolate caramel goodness.

WILL SOMEONE PLEASE STOP ME?!

Apparently I didn’t get the memo about how AWESOME angel hair pasta is! How did I not know this?

I. LOVE. IT.

I love that it cooks in 3-4 minutes. 

I love that it makes any meal feel fancy.

I love that it really does look like angel hair and it’s easy for my Toddler to eat.

Now that I have professed my love for this product I am realizing that it has been around for ages and everyone reading this is probably thinking to themselves “did she really not ever try angel hair pasta before?” Well … no. I had not. I was previously a plain ol’ spaghetti girl. 

Bear with me while I make new discoveries in the kitchen.

My parents have a pet name for me: Pumpkin. It sounds more like “Punkin,” actually. I’m not sure if they adopted this name because I was a roly-poly child, or what. 

This season, I’m finding myself to be a bit of a roly-poly adult so I figured I’d just embrace it and get to baking. My friend Courtney brought this divine Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread to work last week and the smell of the cinnamon, nutmeg, chocolate, and of course — pumpkin — inspired me to make it at home.

I’d like to point out that while most of my culinary attempts turn out fine, I am still a very inexperienced baker. Just thinking about making any kind of bread makes me nervous, so I asked the Toddler to give me a pep talk. 

He yelled “gooooo Mommy!” with one fist in the air. 

I like to rock my sheep slippers, jammies and apron when I cook. You can’t see the top half of me, which is for the best.

This recipe makes THREE 9×3 pans full o’ bread. 

Here are my pans.

Cooking with a recipe that is online is a challenge … how do the rest of you do it? I realize I should print out said recipe but our printer is currently buried under a PILE of junk in our hall closet which is another post altogether.

I enjoy the way that raw eggs look before you break the yolk.

The batter smelled, looked, and tasted amazing!

Verdict: this pumpkin bread is easy to put together, makes your house smell great and the final product is impressive enough to give to other people.

I do need someone to tell me how to extract the bread from the pans without tearing them to pieces. Thank you.

Happy baking!