The colors of fall help to awaken the senses to delightful aromas of hot apple cider, cocoa and pumpkin spice that surrounds you no matter how hard you try to escape it at this time of year.
Please enjoy the following fall photos.
Luscious Autumn
21 Oct 2018 4 Comments
in Nature, Photography Tags: autumn, autumn leaves, beauty, Fall, fall colors, photography, seasonal
Pumpkin Spice Goodies
12 Oct 2018 4 Comments
in Food & Wine, Photography, recipes, Uncategorized Tags: autumn eating, cheesecake, fall desserts, Instant Pot, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, Pumpkin muffins, Pumpkin Spice, Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake, pumpkins, springform pans
Po’ Girl’s Recipe Page Soon to Come
It’s pumpkin time! I love pumpkin anything, almost. If I get a young, sweet one, I will just eat the flesh with a little butter and salt. Delicious as any good squash. Problem is many don’t eat them til they are older so they think the taste is very blah. It’s OK to eat as a vegetable just as any fresh squash is. It has never gotten proper consideration on the dinner plate.
I always end up sick of Pumpkin Spice by Fall’s end. From the creamers in my coffee to any recipe I can cram it in, I will do just that. Was never a fan of actual Pumpkin Pie, not sure why. I will eat it if it’s offered to me though. A small piece smothered in whipped cream is not bad.
Please enjoy the following Pumpkin recipes with this disclaimer: Results are not guaranteed and be aware that I often use less sugar in my recipes than most conventional recipes contain.
Pumpkin Muffins
1 1/2 C flour (all-purpose or whole wheat)
1/4 C brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
dash of other spices of choice such as
nutmeg, cloves, ginger, turmeric or cardamom
1/3 C oil or melted butter
1 egg
1/4 C vanilla creamer
1/4 C Pumpkin Spice
or any creamer/milk with additional sugar for sweetness
3/4 C Pulp of Pumpkin or Butternut Squash
1/2 C well chopped Walnuts (optional)
1/2 C chocolate chips (optional)
This made a dryer batter with results more like a scone than a muffin when I baked them in muffin top holders. (not pictured)
Bake at 375° for approximately 15 minutes, but keep an eye on them.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/4 C flour of your choice
1/4 C wheat germ
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
dash of nutmeg, cloves, ginger or other spice of choice
1/2 C butter
1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 TB Pumpkin Spice Creamer
2 eggs
3/4 C pulp Pumpkin or similar squash
10 oz Chocolate Chips (optional) for plain pumpkin cookies
Chopped nuts (optional)
Mixing & baking identical to making any chocolate chip cookie. The puree & creamer goes in with the wet ingredients, once all incorporated, then the dry, which should have previously been combined and set aside, is mixed in.
Bake at 350° for approx 9 minutes but keep an eye on them.
Cheesecake
YUMMY!
Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake
Cheesecake
Ritz Cracker crust
42 crackers (crumbled in food processor till done)
2 TB sugar
4-5 TB melted butter
Mix everything in bowl & press in the bottom of an ungreased 8″ Springform Pan with Parchment paper on the bottom. Please click on areas highlighted for more in depth information on how to easily cover the bottom of your pan if you are not familiar with how to do this.
Place the pan in the freezer while you prepare the Cheesecake filling of:
2 – 8 oz pkgs of cream cheese (OK if one is low fat, have not tried all low fat yet per critics)
3/4 C sugar
1/2 C sour cream
2 TB cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
Using a mixer, cream the cheese and the sugar, then add the sour cream and additional ingredients mixing til combined for each one, one at a time.
To make this
Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake
you will merely add 3/4 C pumpkin puree & 1/4 C Pumpkin Spice creamer before adding the eggs AND
place 1 tsp cinnamon & dashes of nutmeg & cloves (spices of your choice) to the cornstarch mixture changing up the amount by 1 TB to a total of 3 TB cornstarch.
Once it’s all combined and smooth, take out the crust and pour in the filling. Place in a pre-heated oven of 325° for approximately 45 minutes but please keep an eye on it, especially when you can begin to smell your baking. One I baked just right, the other slightly over baked but eatable.
Once it’s out, let it cool for at least an hour or two on the stove before trying to remove the springform band around it. The parchment paper allows it to slide onto the plate very nicely (Parchment will remain under the cake). Never cut inside any pans if you can avoid it. I have never had to “slide a knife” around the edge as some instructions have advised. You should not ever have to do this.
Place the cheesecake in the fridge for a number of hours to completely chill. Some swear overnight, but I have not had to wait more than a few hours. Make sure it’s completely chilled before cutting.
Great Instant Pot Cheesecake recipe but you will need a special 6″ pan to fit inside the Instant Pot, plus some are not happy with the condensation that drips onto the cake. Click for more info.
I plan on posting some Instant Pot recipes of my own very soon.
Swan Song
11 Oct 2018 Leave a comment
in Nature, Photography Tags: #Autumn Outdoors, Fall, fall colors, lakes, Mute Swan, nature, swan, Trumpeter Swan
Trumpeter Swan
These are
Trumpeter
Swans
Done with their swim
Mute Swan
These
Swan
don’t
sing.
These
are
Mute
Swan
Panoramic Photography
04 Oct 2018 Leave a comment
in Nature, Photography Tags: autumn, Dearborn, Edward Hines Park, Fall, fall colors, geese, Greenfield Village, Liberty Craftworks, Martha-Mary Chapel, Michigan, photography, Sunset, water, Wayne County Michigan, Wilcox Lake
I’m sure you could crop regular photos to appear more panoramic but I used to have a cheap camera that did this. It was so expensive to develop the photos I stopped using it & sold it at a yard sale. Not to mention the practicality of this size picture. The finished size, without enlargement, is approx 3″ x 10.” I finally got around scanning these so I could post them. I hope they upload in a manner that enhances this effect without much cropping.
Sunset view from my condo years ago.
A few from Greenfield Village in Dearborn Michigan during the fall.
Many people still get married in the Martha-Mary Chapel.
View of the Liberty Craftworks area in the distance.
Ackley Covered Bridge.
The remaining photos are of a trip my friend & I took to Wilcox Lake in Edward Hines Park located in Wayne County Michigan to get some reflective fall colors in the lake. Please click on each photo to enlarge.
Drizzly Day in the Country
25 Sep 2018 5 Comments
in Food & Wine, Frugal living, Nature, Photography Tags: Blue Jays, cappuccino, cappuccino foam art, cheesecake, coffee, deer, fawns, rain
Just before 7:00 am this morning, I’ve always been an early riser, more Blue Jays than I had ever seen before swooped down in the drive to begin eating and drinking. It was sprinkling and still very dark but I was able to make all of them out. Knew that it would make an awesome picture with well over 10 Blue Jays only in this tight group. Of course when I came back to that window after fetching my camera, at least half of them had flown away. I quickly set the ISO to 800 but realized it was not working after the first two shots. Not much better at 1600 ISO. Hand held, dark and rainy.
I have been ill for over a week now with some kind of viral sore throat, bronchitis deal. I do get allergies around this time and I came down with it after running errands a couple of days in a row in thick fog. Even when I try to breathe through a scarf, it can still effect me adversely.
My apartment backs up to woods with all kinds of wildlife out here. Before I became ill I took pictures of some deer grazing right outside my window. I apologize for the poor quality of shooting through my screen. The windows have a special immovable screening that covers the entire window for safety and security or they are just cheap.
These are some shots I got a month or two before when I was outside, which are a little clearer. I try not to get to close and spook them as I did this fawn. His brother could care less I was there, he was hungry!
Sees me…
There’s his brother…
Both…
Starts to run…
Still running…
Going…
Going…
Gone!
These are even earlier still.
Notice me taking pictures..
keep eating…
Little one in the shrubs
Pops out…
Notices people coming…
They start to run away…
My next post I will be sharing my Cheesecake recipe with you all! First Cheesecake in a very long time and sadly it will not be my last! Next one will be Pumpkin Cheesecake. Forgot to take a picture of a mock pumpkin mug cake that I nuked in 90 seconds. Came out perfect. Just a plain cake replaced liquid with Coffee-mate Pumpkin Spice. I will include this recipe when I complete the Pumpkin one within the next couple weeks only adding some actual pumpkin pulp next time. I just purchased the sugar pumpkin to pressure cook in my Instant Pot. I prefer fresh pumpkin to the canned any day.
Sunflowers
19 Sep 2018 5 Comments
in Computer graphics, Flowers, Nature, Organic Gardening, Photography Tags: flowers, gardening, hulless popcorn, late summer garden, nature, organic gardening, photography, popcorn, summer, Sunflowers, sweetcorn, Yellow
Sunflowers are very striking flowers and fields of them are so impressive to behold. I have seen only two such fields that I can remember. I used to grow a row of Sunflowers in my garden along the edge where our small cornfield was. I really wish I would have taken pictures of that garden and many other things. Photography was not a priority back then and was expensive to develop.
My post is dedicated to Sunflowers but I am thinking about my cornfields right now. One year was dedicated to what I believe was the “Silver Queen” late corn, very sweet and tender, and another year we planted hulless popcorn. Never together because of possible cross-pollination issues. I have since found “hulless” at markets, but not often and none has ever been as tender as the popcorn we grew so many years ago. We hung the ears out to dry and then stored them in large mason jars still on the ears, kernels removed right before popping. Not sure of how to do this at first, we somehow dried them to perfection because they popped beautifully.
One of Those Nights
05 Sep 2018 2 Comments
in Frugal living, Photography Tags: apples, autumn, changing seasons, Fall, family, moving, musings, pumpkins, seasons, summer
Wondering if I should move again. Just not happy here but not unhappy either.
My wanderlust knows no bounds! Wish I had wings.
I think I need to start drinking, lol! So jealous of those that can drink, enjoy it. I never have. It burns my mouth, I start to feel tired after a few sips, too many calories and a waste of money.
Love it out in the country, but sometimes I miss the noise, pollution and crime of the cities. Wait, no I don’t. I do miss the ability to shop and socialize with certain people that were always too busy for me even when I lived near them. To be fair, I was always too busy myself.
I really miss my sister!
As a writer and an artist, I am an introvert and empathic by nature. It’s actually painful for me to socialize at times. I love a good conversation with the right person but frankly most people bore me to tears or scare me. Very few know how to actually converse about anything interesting, myself included unless I’m in the mood. My sister was the extrovert and how I met some in my life that I would not have made the effort had she not been a part of my life and reached out to them.
Soon the summer will end….
and fall will begin….
My favorite time for some reason. Maybe all the pretty colors?
There’s that, Autumn colors, Pumpkin Spice, Pumpkin everything, warm woolen sweaters, bonfires, apples, cool crisp air that is so welcome after hot, humid summers.
