Orange You Glad You Tried It?!

Okay, that's a super corny title - but fitting! Last week I decided to try picking up a few new-to-me vegetables. I'm trying to remember to buy what's in season in order to keep my grocery bill down (read here for some other helpful hints from Sarah). So, I came home with a spaghetti squash and butternut squash in my ugly reusable grocery bag. The only problem: I had no idea what to do with them! After a few searches, I found a butternut squash recipe that I just happened to have all of the ingredients to, so of course I had to try it!

Mashed Butternut Squash and Pears

Adapted from: Food Network

1 large butternut squash

2 Anjou pears

4 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp ground ginger

Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Peel the pears, cut in half and remove the core. Place the pears and squash, cut side up, on a foil-lined baking sheet.

In a small saucepan, over low heat, melt the butter. Whisk in the vanilla extract, brown sugar and ginger, and remove from the heat. Brush this mixture onto the squash and pears, then season with salt and pepper. Set the remaining mixture back over low heat. Roast the squash and pears until soft, about 45-60 min (mine went 55 min), when a knife can be inserted easily into the flesh. Scoop out the flesh of the squash and place into a large bowl with the pears. Mash them with a fork and stir in the remaining butter mixture.

So, the mash may not look all that appetizing, but I promise it was delicious! It had the sweetness from the brown sugar, but all of the nutrients of the squash that you just can't find in a regular old potato. The pears added a nice and unexpected touch. I could eat this stuff every night!

And while I was waiting for the squash in the oven, I decided to try another recipe that would help clean out my fridge. I saw cream cheese frosting (which I never have on hand, but I had a coupon that made it free!) and some leftover carrots. Carrot cupcakes? I think so!! Only problem? The recipe called for whole-wheat pastry flour. What the heck is that? I did have some healthy flours leftover from my homemade protein bars. However, I have yet to label my fancy flour containers, so regrettably I cannot tell you what I added! I'm guessing that it was spelt flour. Lesson here - it seems that any wheat flour will do as they turned out delicious!

Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted From: Food Network

3/4 cup spelt flour

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon (I love this stuff!)

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 cup natural applesauce

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups finely shredded carrots

1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 muffin cups. Sift together the first 6 ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk the oil, brown sugar and eggs until well combined. Whisk in the applesauce, vanilla and carrots. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Stir in the walnuts. Divide the batter between the muffin cups and bake about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and cool.

Happy Anniversary Home Sweet Home!

It has been one year this week since we moved into our first house. Not only were there ups and downs in the house searching process (a cinder block house, a haunted one, and even one with the world's first microwave), but in home owning as well:

• We moved into the house hoping to take nice warm bath, but discovered that our lovely white tub was actually spray painted (remember this?) and bubbled when hot water hit it. After many, many, many hours of scraping the tub (thanks mom!!), we can now enjoy a relaxing bath.
• We found ourselves shop vac-ing up buckets of water from our basement drain, only to find out that we had a collapsed sewer line. We chose the short-term solution for now and are holding off as long as we can to fix it due to the $10,000 price tag to replace it.
• We also survived our first winter in a house without insulation by wearing layers upon layers of socks, slippers, hoodies and robes, but still found ourselves freezing! Seriously. It was a constant 55 degrees in our great room - if we were lucky!

So, what did we do for our house after it has done so much for us?? We bought him a new coat (in the form of insulation in the attic), and a face lift (in the form of many, many gallons of paint throughout the house). This month's project was the great room. We have been dying to get this makeover underway, but we could not settle on what we wanted. Finally, with my parents coming to town for a few days, I took the reins and made a plan. We wanted something that was classic and we could easily update with the new "in" accent colors to keep it fresh.

The Before: It was a BLANK slate. The only color in the room was the fireplace and matching carpet, and while we don't yet have the funds for new carpet, we could do something about the fireplace and walls.

Note: Previous owner's furniture

The AFTER: A tan color on the walls, rich chocolate brown drapes (thermal backed to keep the cold out), and a drastically different fireplace (I'm still not sure about the color, but it's growing on me) really warmed up the room. A $3 garage sale mirror and $5 can of brown paint from the mistint section at Lowes = a lovely addition to set apart the two spaces.

We also moved in our bookcase from our old office (now nursery) and transformed it into a dining room-ish display on the top, with our "junk drawer" in the bottom. I shopped around my house for things to display, and while I admit that it's not all that stunning, it is a heckuvalot better than the junk that used to be stored in the open shelving. Plus, I can still keep all of my odds-ands-ends hidden in the bottom half thanks to Chris' brilliant idea of lining the see-through glass doors. I shopped around my house again and found some wrapping paper that looked modern and still enabled us to see the etched detail in the glass. It may have been a free makeover, but it made a big impact nonetheless!

The BEFORE: Again, it was a super plain and boring space and even though the room was cold in the winter, we could at least try to warm it up with color and fabric.

The AFTER: Some Craigslist furniture, more drapes, and no more ugly blinds on the French door took the space from bland to cozy. We're still looking for the perfect art to hang on either side of the window, and a new end table, but it is definitely an improvement.

Besides all of the great aesthetic changes, my dad also donated his talent by ripping down all of the trim to insulate behind the wood work as well as properly rehung the doors. In addition, we stuffed some old blankets up the fireplace to stop any airflow there. We now have less cold air coming in and less warm air escaping. While the robe and slippers were comfy, our new great room is cozy even without all of the layers.

Beggar's Night vs Halloween

This was our second Halloween here in Des Moines, but this year was the first that we actually celebrated. Last year was spent with Chinese food and an episode of Ghost Adventures in the loft. Some might think this was a pretty uneventful way to spend Halloween - and they'd be right. The Chinese food was sub par at best, and halfway through the night long Ghost Adventures Live episode, we found out it was all a hoax. BOO!

Now that we have a child, we can actually participate in trick-or-treating without strange looks! Only we couldn't participate in trick-or-treating, but rather begging. The Des Moines area celebrates two holidays for some reason - Halloween and Beggar's Night. The latter is very similar to the trick-or-treating on Halloween night back in Nebraska. Rather than say "trick-or-treat," beggars are supposed to do a trick or joke in return for a treat. Des Moines is apparently extremely proud of this as all you hear on the radio or read in the newspaper is about how you'd better have your joke ready for Beggar's Night. I can appreciate how the native Des Moinesians are attempting to keep the tradition alive, but it doesn't seem to be working. We spent Beggar's Night at our friends' house and most of the beggars would fore go the joke and go straight for the candy bowl.

We decided to take our little ones out to beg at a few houses to tell a joke or two (probably more so for candy for us to eat rather then their first experience in a costume). Azra went as a banana, but I can't say that she enjoyed it too much:

Once she was next to her boyfriend Cavan, then she was much more content:

All-in-all it was a good night, and Halloween night at another friend's house was fun as well. However, an eve to the eve of All Saints Day seems to be a little unnecessary. Let's just stick to good ol' Halloween.