Fall Crafts

I realize we're now nearly a week into December and the weather is fully winter outside, but better late than never, right? Here are some fun fall crafts I did for Thanksgiving, and since I'm so late posting those, a Christmas one too. 

A few years ago I got this idea out of Safeway's quarterly magazine, which featured recipes and craft ideas for each season. These are a bit messy to make, but if you're already carving up jack-o-lanterns it's no biggie to do these at the same time. You'll need a medium sized pumpkin with a stable bottom. Cut out a circle at the top of the pumpkin and gut it as clean as possible. Arrange flowers of your choice in the pumpkin and display! It won't last more than a few days to a week because of the raw pumpkin, but you'll get more time out of it if there's no water inside and it is displayed a cool place.

 The week before Thanksgiving I attended a friend's Friendsgiving dinner. She had a "Thankful Tree" and I thought it was the cutest idea so I made one to take up to my grandparents' house for our family Thanksgiving. You'll need a tall slender flower vase, reeds or branches, ribbon, and scrapbook paper. Look for reeds or branches with small knots in the texture so that the leaves will catch at various heights. Tie ribbon around the vase. Use scissors or a dye cut to cut leaf shapes out of scrapbook paper, making a small hole on one end. Allow guests to write on the leaves what they are thankful for and hang on the branches. 

I had a hard time finding initial ornaments that I liked, so I decided to make my own. You'll need holiday ribbon, wooden letters, and gold leaf paint (can also use gold spray paint but I went with a jar because of the size of the project). Paint the letters, allow to dry, and hot glue the ribbon in a loop to the back of the letter. So easy! I ended up hanging these on our stockings instead of the tree.

Pumpkin Carving

I simply adore all things fall, especially all things holiday, and certainly all things pumpkin!

Just because a girl lives in the city doesn't mean she can't enjoy some good ol' fashion pumpkin patch fun and home cooked yumms! Yesterday after work, a friend and I headed to The Great Pumpkin Patch on Sloat and 19th Ave to goof off and pick up a few mini pumpkins and gourds for my mantle. We bought our carving pumpkins at Safeway - yah yah, I know, I am that cheap.

Low-fat jalapeno poppers from scratch (see recipe below)

Bruschetta (Baguette, basil leaves, tomato slices, mozzarella cheese) 

Blood orange mimosas with black sugar rims

After munching, we carved up these beauties! Okay, well, maybe "beauties" isn't the best way to describe them, but after two bottles of sparkling wine we weren't exactly pro status. 

This morning I seasoned and baked the seeds to take to the office and share! The batch on the left is  cinnamon and sugar, and the batch on the right is salt. Separate seeds from the pumpkin guts and rinse well in strainer, spread seeds on a baking sheet, bake at 325°F for 10 minutes, stir them up and add more seasoning, pop back in for another 10-15 min until they are more crunchy than chewy.

LOW FAT JALAPENO POPPERS

Ingredients: 

6 jalapeno peppers, 1/4 cup reduced-fat cream cheese, 1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream, 1/4 cup diced scallions, 1/2 cup packed reduced-fat shredded cheddar cheese, salt & pepper, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1 1/2 cups whole wheat breadcrumbs, 4 egg whites, nonstick cooking spray.

Directions:

Preheat broiler on high. Wearing gloves - cut stem off of peppers, cut in half length-wise, scrape out seeds and membranes. Place jalapenos on foil covered baking sheet and broil for 2 min to draw out some of the spice. If you don't do this, they'll be WAY too hot! Set aside to cool completely.

Preheat oven to 450°F. In a small bowl mix together cream cheese, sour cream, scallions, and cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Tightly pack mixture in each jalapeno half.

Put flour in shallow dish. Put breadcrumb in small dish. In a bowl, whip egg whites with a whisk until they are foamy but not quite holding peaks. Dredge jalapenos in flour, shaking off excess. Dip in egg whites, being careful not to lose the filling. Place in breadcrumbs and coat completely.

Place on foil covered baking sheet, salt and pepper to taste, spray lightly with cooking spray, and bake around 20 min until golden brown and crispy.

Pumpkin Yogurt

I finally took a stab at my own version of this pumpkin yogurt recipe. It was my first time cooking wheat berries, so I was nervous, but it turned out great! 

I found the wheat berries at Whole Foods and Googled how to properly cook them:
7 cups of water, 2 cups of wheat berries, 1 teaspoon salt, boil for one hour, strain any excess water, refrigerate. Make sure you stir a bit, especially at the beginning, to keep the wheat berries from sticking to each other or to the bottom, but for the most part just leave it be.

I used the entire Greek yogurt, the entire can of pumpkin (NOT the pre-seasoned pumpkin pie mix), and added cinnamon and sugar to taste. If you don't like bitter flavors, try using vanilla yogurt or adding more sugar.

After mixing together the ingredients, I poured it back into the Greek yogurt container for storage. I've been bringing it to work as breakfast and topping with wheat berries and apple cinnamon muesli. DELISH!