Fall Foods: Soup and Cheesecake

Today the SITS Girls challenged to share our favorite fall craft or recipe.

I'm really not a very crafty person, but something I love about fall is the return to soup season. Potato soup is one of my favorites, but I'll take just about any kind of warm, liquidy goodness. What I love about making soup is that I don't need a recipe. I just toss about a bunch of stuff in a pot or slow cooker and voila! a wonderful, fill-the-house-with-good-smells soup. Yum!

Since I rarely use a recipe, I'm going to share with you a lovely recipe for squash (pumpkin works, too!) cheesecake that I made last year.

Flying Witch

Yields 2+ cheesecakes

Ingredients:

• 2 ready made graham cracker crust
• 4 8 oz packages of cream cheese, softened
• ¾ c granulated sugar
• ¼ c packed brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 small golden nugget squash
• 4 eggs
• ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice (or ¼ tsp cinnamon, ⅛ tsp nutmeg, ½ of ⅛ tsp each of allspice and cardamom)
• 1/2 c semi sweet chocolate chips, melted
• Pictures of a flying witch or a howling wolf or whatever you'd like on the cheesecake

Directions:
1. Pierce squash a few times with a fork. Soften in microwave for 45-60 secs. Cut in half; remove seeds. Place in a microwaveable dish; cover with plastic wrap. Cook for 9 minutes or until fork tender. Scoop squash into a food processor and blend until smooth. This should give you about 1 cup of purée.

2. While squash is cooking, cream the cream cheese and sugars together in a bowl until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and eggs . Mix until well blended. Reserve 1 cup of batter. Pour remaining evenly between two graham cracker crusts.

3. Add squash purée and pumpkin pie spice to the reserved batter. Mix well. Drop by spoonfuls onto the white batter. Gently swirl with a knife. I swirled in one direction to give the impression of a windy, stormy, scary, Halloween night. I had a LOT of leftover squash batter, so I put it in a small dish to bake a 3rd, smaller, no-crust cheesecake.

4. Bake at 350°F for 40-45 min or until the center is still barely jiggly or right before cracks start to appear. Remove and let cool on cooling rack.

5. While cheesecakes are baking, place pictures under wax paper. Put melted chocolate into a plastic baggie and snip off the corner. Pipe the chocolate over the pictures. I had some extra chocolate, so I hand drew a full moon, a spider web, a spider, and some bats/birds/whatever. Place on a cookie sheet and put in the freezer to harden.

6. Once cheesecakes have cooled, cut the wax paper around the chocolate pictures and place pictures on the cheesecake, wax paper side up. Leave waxed paper on and chill cakes in the fridge for 8+ hours or overnight. Gently pull off waxed paper.

This recipe was originally posted over at my other blog: Tale of Two Sisters and Their Kitchens

What's your favorite fall recipe or craft?
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What a hike!

Today the SITS Girls challenged to share our favorite fall memory.

For some reason, hiking always reminds me of fall. Hiking in the fall in MN is something really special. The crunch of the leaves underfoot. The beautiful colors. The crisp air.

The memory that first came to mind with this prompt was a family hike. It was a long time ago. I'm not sure if was even during the fall, but since hiking seems to equate to fall, it seemed appropriate. :-)

Nestled in central Minnesota is one of the highest points in the state - Inspiration Peak. It was probably about an hour away from where we lived. It was beautiful and not a very strenuous hike. Good for the whole family!

We took family hikes there on several occasions, but one was more memorable than the rest. We'd all piled out of the family sedan. Us kids were playing around, anxious to be out of the car and heading up the mountain hill.

We hiked up to the top. We hung out taking in the beauty around us.

From the top, you can see 9 different lakes and parts of 3 different counties! My memories of this day does not include the lush greenery of this picture, so I really think this may have happened in the fall.

After spending some time at the top, we began our descent back to the car. Once back, my step-dad realized that Oops! He'd locked the keys in the car.

Well, the locking of the keys was intentional, but he had thought he'd removed the key for the doors. Instead, he'd removed the key for the ignition. Do they even make cars with separate keys for doors and ignition anymore?

This was in the days before cell phones, so calling for help wasn't exactly easy. No, it involved a long walk to a nearish cafe to use a pay phone. After trying needlessly to break into our own car, my step-dad and a brother(?) surely, my parents wouldn't have left us kids alone, right? headed to the cafe to call another brother. Meanwhile, us kids continued to play.
Hopscotch.
Tag.
You know, anything to stave off boredom fun kid games. :-)

Eventually, help was on the way! We were all very relieved when the spare keys arrived, and we could start the drive home.

Good thing we'd finished our hike early enough that there was still a bit of daylight when we were finally able to get back on the road.

Phew! What a long day.

What's your favorite fall memory?
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Fall Is...

Today the SITS Girls gave us a photo challenge to share what fall looks like where we live or what fall means to us.

Since I've only lived in Vegas for a few months, and haven't really experienced fall here yet, I'm not entirely sure what a Vegas fall is like.

Being a born and raised Minnesotan, fall to me will always include vibrant colors.

The changing colors of the leaves.
The crisp air.
The switch to sweaters and boots and warmer clothes.

What does fall look like where you live?
What does fall mean to you?
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Thanksgiving 2011 #9 - Snowflakes

I'm not much of a fan of winter at all.

I dislike the cold,
the bare trees,
the late sunrise and early sunset.

I don't like to ski.

However, I do LOVE the snow.

I love to watch it peacefully fall around me.

And above all I love to run during a snowfall.
It's gorgeous.
It's peaceful.
It's quiet.
It's comforting.

Today I'm thankful for the tiniest of snowflakes that were falling when I went for my run. I wasn't really feeling the run, so these delightful little flakes really helped me get through it.

They were infrequent and barely visible, but it made me just a wee bit excited for the upcoming winter.

Thanksgiving 2011 #8 - Fall Leaves

Soon, all the leaves will be gone.

Today, I am grateful for the beautiful yellow colors right outside my front door.

Every day the temperature is getting colder. The leaves are quickly falling and soon they will be all gone, leaving the bare trees of winter.

So, today, I'm thankful for this last bit of color to make me smile.
Also, I love the crunchy sounds as I walk through a big pile of leaves.

What were you grateful for today?

Where Does the Time Go?

Spring has come and gone and will (hopefully) come again soon. I've been struggling a lot this spring. I blame SAD. I think getting a real taste a warmer weather made it so much more difficult to accept the relapse back into colder temps. I'm hopeful that it will not last long.

In an effort to overcome SAD, I've been attempting (the past few days) to brighten my outlook. I've been trying to wear brighter, more spring-like colors. While this has helped immensely, it has also been a part of the problem. Staring into my closet filled with browns, oranges, and reds, it's becoming more and more diffcult to decide on a cheery outfit.

And so, although April is nearly over, my workout goal for April has been to beef up my exercise schedule. It's kind of a complicated schedule, so let's just simplify it by saying my goal is to exercise 23 days from April 2nd to April 30. I've got it all scheduled out. It's a mix of running, biking, and swimming. So far, I've met this goal. Only one more week to go! :)

My prize for attaining this goal? A SHOPPING SPREE! I get to buy some fun, spring/summer clothes. It's been very motivating. I just know I'll meet this goal.

It had been awhile, so I also decided to update the look of my blog. Let me know what you think.

I'd especially like to point out the addition of a couple widgets in my right sidebar. I've joined a site called Daily Mile (basically a twitter-like site for althetes). I've added a widget that simply states the total miles I've done (since joining the site) and one that gives a snippet of my most recent workout. I only joined the site yesterday, but I'd already recommend it to anyone that wants a nice, easy way to track and reflect on their exercise routine.

For those of you that may celebrate it, HAPPY EASTER tomorrow!

Summer and AC and Running with Friends

I missed posting my Gratitude list last week. :-(

This week, I'm thankful for:

It's been HOT, HOT, HOT this summer.

And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!

I've always been in the "I'd rather be hot than cold" camp, so this summer have been delicious for me!

Even though I like it HOT, I'm still also grateful for AIR CONDITIONING, so I don't have to do this all day.

I'm also grateful to be able to RUN! I love running. There were a couple years when my shins would hurt too much to run, but that has been changing, and I've been forcing myself to run a few times a week. Today I had the wonderful opportunity to run with my friend, Tacy. We ran further and longer than I normally do on a morning run, AND I made it to work on time. Whoo hoo!

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What are you grateful for today?

Baby, it's COLD outside!

When I was getting ready for work this morning, the radio kept saying it was 5-degrees outside. Brrrrrr...

So I got all bundled up--winter coat, hat, gloves, scarf, warm clothes underneath--for my 1 block walk to the train. 5-degrees is cold, any way you look at it. My cheeks tingled, and my eyes burned. I don't think it was that windy, just cold, bitter, bitter cold. It's gonna be a fun winter.

Of course, the best part is when I get downtown. I'm all bundled up, remember? Well, I have a 5+ block walk to work. Minneapolis has this incredible skyway system,so I have the option of walking that 5+ blocks inside. Yeah!

Except....I'm all bundled up for the walk to the train. By the time I get to work, I've generally worked up a pretty good sweat. Today was no exception!

Here's to winter!

Fall Leaves at Minnehaha Falls

Living so close to Minnehaha Park, I couldn't resist going on a little photo shoot one Saturday evening.

Here are my 5 favorites:






If you'd like to see more, you can visit my entire album on Picasa: Minnehaha Falls

Winter in Oregon

Winter in Oregon is unlike winter anywhere else (at least in my experiences).

Growing up in Minnesota (and living in Missouri and New York), I am used to cold weather, snow, and underneath the snow...dead grass.

Here the winter is the beginning of the rainy season, so the grass is a very vibrant green! It is so beautiful! Sometimes I just can't get over it, and I stare out the window at the rich colors of winter. The green grass is complemented by all the evergreen trees. It is truly a sight to see. I should really take some pictures.

Of course it does get cold here and it does snow as well.

I think it has snowed twice this winter so far. It is kind of funny, because it might snow over night and a little in the morning--possibly accumulating 1-inch (tops), and the schools will shut down. By the afternoon, almost all of the snow will have melted, and we'll be left with the brilliant grass peaking through. Gorgeous!!

This is usually accompanied by a cold spell where the temperatures might dip down to the teens--usually just the 20s.

All is all the cold and snow don't seem to last very long (knock on wood as I type, and hopefully as you read, this), which is perfect for me because I only like the cold and snow in small doses.

I have to admit...so far this winter has been quite enjoyable--with the brilliant colors (rainbows, grass, trees, etc) and relatively mild temperatures (remember I'm a MN girl).

Brilliant Rainbows

Yesterday, driving home from the grocery store, I got to behold one of the most brilliant rainbows! After several days of one downpour after another, there was a break in the rains yesterday afternoon. It was so beautiful, I longed to have a camera as part of my phone--or a camera of some sort. Of course a digital pic probably wouldn't have done it the justice it deserved.

Since moved out to the rainy Pacific Northwest, I have seen several rainbows. I guess that is one of the perks of living in an area that rains 8 months out of the year! Growing up in MN, its not like I've never seen a rainbow before, but they're different out here. I can pick out every single color in the ROY G BIV spectrum. They are big and brilliant--and frequent!

Unfortunately, I usually see them while I'm driving. This could cause a problem because I am so drawn to them that I'm not paying as close attention to the road. :-(