Citrus-glazed Pumpkin Carrot Cake

I was browsing Martha Stewart's website(one of my faves) and found this amazing recipe perfect for fall I could not resist sharing.  I want to make it hopefully next weekend for my friends!  I will let you know how it goes.

Citrus-glazed Pumpkin Carrot Cake

Scones, Biscotti & MORE Baking!

I have done some more baking these past to weeks and here are photos and recipes!

Honey and Bran Muffins

 With these muffins I substituted chopped walnuts for chopped almonds.  They turned out really good but they don't have very much flavor.  I put some butter on them when I ate them.  I took them to work and ate them on break.  Because I opened almost every day this week, they were a nice breakfast to eat on my break.

Lemon Blueberry Bread

 This bread is more like a cake than bread but it turned out delicious!  I followed the recipe exactly.  When I make it again, I will probably cut down the sugar.  It is definitely worth making for yourself!

Now for my baking that I did last night...  My parents were out of town so I had the whole house to myself and of coarse I chose to bake.  These are my creations!

Raspberry Chocolate Tea Scones

 These are AMAZING scones!  I used white chocolate instead of milk chocolate and they turned out so good!  These are must to make  :)

I burned myself on the oven which hurt really bad!

Dark Chocolate Chip and Currant Biscotti

 This was the first time I have ever made biscotti.  It turned out really good!  I didn't use currants, Only Dark Chocolate Chips.  I had to put them in the oven about 10 minutes more than the recipe says.  They turned out great!

These are definitely recipes to try!!
I also found this awesome website to use while baking... Ingredient Substitutions!

I am 100 pages away from being done with Spoken From The Heart!  I am loving every page of it  :)

Baking, Reading, and DIYs

Baking...

I made a coffee cake!  I used a basic coffee cake recipe and added about 1/2 cup of sour cream to make it more creamy.  It turned out very good and the good thing was that my dad liked it probably more than all of us.  That is surprising because my dad is not one to eat homemade food.  I know, completely opposite from me, but the fact that he liked it says something!

Mixing in the sour cream

Reading...

I am still reading Spoken From The Heart!

DIYs...

#1  I needed to still unpack all of my jewelry from moving back to California.  I had nowhere to put it and it was time to figure something out.  So I found an old cork board in my sister's old closet.  I covered it with some extra white fabric I had and just tacked on the back.  The fabric was actually left over from some curtains I cut from Ikea.  So the fabric on the board matches my curtains.  I used tacks and hung my jewelry throughout the board.  I added a fabric flower I made a couple weeks ago to the corner to add some flair!  THis project only took about 30 minutes.

#2  This next project was a little more involved.  So I wanted a bedside table that would fit in my room really well, was very practical and cheap!  The cheapest one I could find that I liked was from Ikea for $40.00.  I was opposed to spending that much money but I was hoping to find something else.  I went to Micheal's and got some ideas white I was there.  This is what I came up with.
The items...
- 1 sturdy basket which was on sale and was the perfect size to store books but not big enough to get cluttered
- 1 small square piece of wood
- 2 long wood decorative border pieces
- 1 small bottle of white paint
- 1 bottle of light yellow paint
- 1 large fake decorative flower
Here is the finished project with help from my dad!

Painting the square piece

Waiting for the paint to dry

Finished project!

The beautiful flower I couldn't pass up!

Other Fun Things...

#1  Adorable new Tea Pot and matching cup from Cost Plus World Market!  

#2  To go with my new tea pot I bought some tea which should be here in the next few days.  I bought the tea online at Teavana.  I bought Cacao Mint Black Tea and Cocoa Praline Tart Rooibos Tea.  They are both dessert teas which are perfect for me and my sweet tooth!  I will let you know how they are when I get them!

#3  My to dos for the weekend...

-  Get hangers to for the rest of my clothes!  I have no where to put them and my room is too messy.

-  Bake chocolate and pecan scones

-  Wash my car

-  Finish cleaning my room

- Read, exercise, and have fun!!

My mom is in Wisconsin until tuesday and boy do I miss her!  I love her so much  :)

Small Updates

A few things I have been doing lately.....

Finishing invitations for my cousins baby shower that I am throwing for her!

I made some wonderful scones!  I got the recipe HERE!  They are from one of my friends blog.  I used whole wheat flour and dark chocolate chips.  They turned out great!
To make them last longer, I wrapped them individually in plastic wrap and put them in the freezer.  In the mornings, I would take one out and put it in the microwave to warm in up.  That worked perfectly!

Before they go into the oven

All done and delicious!

I picked some beautiful roses from the garden!

I also noticed that my cat found a new bed in our flower pot!

Other than these things, I have just been working a lot and spending time with family and friends.  I am planning on doing some more baking this week so look for that!
Currently reading:  Spoken from the Heart(still, because it is so long) and Charlotte's Web
New fave website:  pinterest.com

Needed Changes

Since starting my job, I have failed to continue with some other important things this summer.  This includes reading, keeping my room and things organized, journaling and spending time with God.  Because I have been really tired when I come home from work, all I am motivated to do it sit on the couch and watch TV.  Friday was a little different.  I was rushed when I came home from work because I had a skype date with a friend from Seattle.  Then I went to the gym for just a little bit.  After that I came home and watched TV because I was very exhausted.
I have noticed a lot thought that the more I watch TV, the more exhausted I am.  I want to try and go to bed early(around 10pm), wake up around 6am and be productive with my days.  I really need to get back into reading and baking and doing other important things rather than wasting time watching TV.  Exercise is a whole other story.  I get unmotivated to exercise the more I am out of shape.  Now that I am pretty out of shape, I need to make my self go to the gym and run because the more I go and do it, the more I enjoy it.  I am really enjoying working at the coffee house!  Because that gives me a little structure in my days, I need to focus on creating structure for the rest of my time.
I am still in the beginnings of reading 2 books, Spoken From the Heart and Beautiful Things Happen When a Woman Trusts God.  After I finish with these two books, I want to begin reading youth novels and kid's books to prepare for teaching.  I want to begin building my library for when I teach in the next few years!
Lots of things to reshape in my life but they will all improve me as a person which I want!
God Bless and Thank You for Reading!!!

Substitutions in Baking

Last night I made Mini Pies and they turned out great and wanted to share the recipe and pictures.  Summer has been so much fun and I am learning the more I bake the more I love it!
It was a bit of an adventure regarding ingredients.  I began with the crust which calls for 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 3/4 cup sliced butter, and 4 tablespoons of water.  Depending on what I am making, I try and do half all-purpose flour and half whole wheat flour.  So I proceeded to do that with the pie crust.  Although after measuring out the flours I realized that it was not whole wheat flour that I measured but rather wheat bran.  I called my mother and she said to just use what I measured and it would turn out fine.  So that is what I did.  I proceeded to make the crust and then put it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
While the crust was in the fridge, I made the pie filling.  My original plan was to make apple pie.  But then I saw that we only had one apple so that would not work.  I had a recipe for filling which included raspberries and blueberries which I had but it called for cornstarch which I did not have.  I looked up on the internet and saw that I could use flour instead if I use double the amount.  So for the filling I used 3/4 a bag or frozen raspberries, 1/2 bag of frozen blueberries, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and 8 tablespoons of flour.  I mixed it all together.
I used mini pie dishes that we had but you could also used cupcake pans.  I rolled the crust out and cut them into the correct size circles.  Then I filled with pie filling and covered them with another circle with a slit in the top.  Right before I put them in the oven, I brushed egg on the tops of them.  I cooked them for 25 minutes on 375 degrees.
They turned out VERY good!  I like using whole wheat flour because it gives a lot more flavor to the baked goods and the wheat bran did the same.  If I made these again I will use the wheat bran again just because they turned out with a lot of added flavor(and fiber!).  We had them with Trader Joe's vanilla ice cream and whip cream.  They were great!
Here are some pictures!!

Cutting out the pie crust

Mini pie pans filled with crust

Pie Filling!

Before the go into the oven

All done and ready to eat!

Finally Baking!

It's summer time and I am HOME!
I am still unpacking but it is slowly coming along really well.  I have sooo many clothes!!  Today I got to bake some cupcakes.  I tried one recipe and they turned out awful.  I had to throw all of them away.  I then tried a different recipe and they turned out better then I hoped.  They are lemon cupcakes.  Here is the recipe! 

Cake Batter...  Yumm!

First batch in the oven

Lemon Frosting

Lemon Rind for the top of the cupcakes

This mornings baking playlist!  Lots of country :)

All done!

I used a different recipe for the frosting.  I used a butter cream frosting(butter and powder sugar) and added lemon extract.  I used a ziplock bag to ice the cupcakes.  Just cut the corner off and it works almost as good as the real thing.
I also got an iphone yesterday which has been fun  :)