What do you do...

...when you're in the middle of baking and realize you're out of an ingredient you need?? I tend to laugh then turn to my handy internet and see what I can use instead! Classic example happened just last night...

...Ethan and I were making Pumpkin Bread from a new recipe. We were both oh-so-excited and we got started. We got the dry ingredients all mixed together and then to mix the sugars and eggs...uh oh. We needed 3 cups of white sugar and we only had 2.5 C - no fear we shall use brown sugar to get to our 3 Cups! Pass me the eggs Ethan...what? we only have 1? ugh. we need two. Hello mr. google - you say I can use applesauce and baking powder instead of an egg? sure! Moving right along...time for the oil - *please let there be 1 C left please* nope. ok....let's use olive oil to make up the difference! Mix everything together - thankfully I actually had a can of pumpkin! Into the oven you go! Now the suspense....

(about 50 minutes later) hmmm sure smells good!

Taste test results: THE BEST PUMPKIN BREAD EVER! SUCCESS!

Here's the original recipe and then in color what I had to substitute:

Mrs. Claus's Old-Fashioned Pumpkin Bread
*found on duncanhines.com/recipes/muffins-loaves

3 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
3 Cups granulated sugar (2.5 C sugar + 1/2 C brown sugar)
1 Cup oil (1/2 C veg. oil + 1/2 C olive oil)
2 eggs (1 egg + 1/2 C unsweetened applesauce + 1/2 tsp baking powder)
1 (15-16 oz) can solid-pack pumpkin

Baking Instructions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 8 x 4 loaf pans (I did one loaf and 12 muffins)
In a bowl, sift flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine sugar and oil. Stir in eggs, mixing well.
Stir in pumpkin. Add flour mixture, stirring just until all is evenly moistened.
Pour batter evenly into pans and bake 45-60 minutes (or 18 min for muffins) until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Loosen loaves from sides of pan with a knife. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then remove and cool completely on racks. (I lined mine with parchment paper so it came out easily)

In conclusion: After all my substitutions I was a little skeptical if this bread would work out....but it did! And far past my expectations..it was delicious!

Family Pic

This year I was alerted to a magnificent deal (ie: FREE with minimal shipping) on Christmas photo cards and jumped on it! I heard about it not to long ago through another blog I follow...and thankfully got a decent family picture taken; designed the card; and got it in on time! I wish I would've posted the link for the deal...but time got away from me and it ended yesterday :(

Anywho - here's the family shot we ended up using for our first ever Christmas card!
Obviously, this isn't the card - because that would ruin all the fun for family that will be getting it in the mail! Maybe after Christmas I'll post the actual card... it was fun to design! It was through Fuji Film. It was nice to design it online - use your own photos - you could save it and return to it later (which is great with kids running around the house!) - and you can customize it to fit you family and personality! I give it a great review:) Now to find all the addresses, find time to write them, buy stamps, and get it out there before Christmas! Updates to come on that...

Pumpkin to the rescue!

Do you ever want to make a cake but don't have all the ingredients? Or you don't want to take the time to measure all those ingredients? Or you have a cake mix but no eggs? or no oil? Or you just want to watch you calories around the holiday time? If you say yes to any of those (even if you didn't) read on!



I discovered a super easy - super healthy - super quick way to make cake! (or any cake like stuff - cupcakes count in my book!)

Take your cake mix...

Take a can of pumpkin (pure pumpkin not pumpkin pie)...

mix the two...

**Bake according to the directions on the box (I'm a cupcake fan!)...

you're done.

Voila. How cool is that? I heard about it from Hungry Girl when she appeared on Rachael Ray a while ago. She was promoting it as an alternative way to make desserts and watch you figure. I'm promoting it as an easy (and yummy) alternative to make desserts! I've done it with a Spice Cake mix (tastes like pumpkin bread then) and I've done it with a German Chocolate cake mix (you can barely taste the pumpkin - it makes it sooo moist) I personally added a little bit of water to make it easier to mix together but according to Hungry Girl it's not necessary.

Enjoy my dessert tip and let me know if you have any 'short cut' tips of your own!

Frugalista

This Christmas we are doing all homemade gifts; to be frugal and to be creative (win-win right?)

I went out to good-ole Joo-Ann Etc this morning to use a coupon I had (that was going to expire on Monday) - oh yeah...and it's the Friday after Thanksgiving!

Ethan and I went out this morning - coupon and list in tow - and got shopping. Since it is Black Friday in the retail world we hit the JACKPOT! All the things I needed for my gifts were on sale plus coupon went on top of that...score!

After waiting in our checkout line for over 40 minutes it was our turn to see the damage...

$30 bucks...ok we can do that...the bottom of the receipt made the morning trip well worth it....

SAVINGS: $66.71

For real? Oh yeah.

Sincerely,
your local Frugalista

Thanksgiving Cranberry Goodness...

Happy Thanksgiving!

We went to my grandparents for dinner and we each brought something to share - my contribution: orange-cranberry relish. yummmmmm. It was absolutely delish atop the turkey - now I want 3rds! (1st for lunch, then 2nd for dinner) I got the idea to jazz up your normal cranberry sauce from Rachael Ray - thanks Rach!

Here's how I did it:
12 oz bag of fresh whole cranberries
1 C water
1 C sugar
zest of 1 orange

boil sugar and water in a pot
add fresh cranberries and bring back to boil
reduce heat and boil lightly for about 10 minutes (or until cranberries pop)
move to a glass dish and cool to room temperature
(after cooled) stir in the zest of one orange
EAT EAT AND EAT SOME MORE!

I put my relish on my turkey, mashed potatoes, and anything else on my fork. It was the perfect combo of cranberry and orange....oh.so.good.

This was my first time working with fresh cranberries; a little intimidated -yes...but it was worth it! Yummy yummy in my tummy:)

Can you tell we're related?

Now that Judah's getting older (he'll be 1 next month!) I can really see the resemblance between my boys. Similar face shape, those big blue eyes, cute little noses, and on and on. Also, now that Judah's getting older and more mobile and interactive you can only imagine what my days look like; Ethan and Judah love to play together and make each other laugh. The other day they created their own version of hide-n-seek. One would go in the kitchen and the other in the bathroom...then they would call for each other (ie: ahhhhhhheeeee) and both run into the hallway; squeal in delight and turn around back to their 'hiding' places! way to cute and way to fun. AND awesome that they were entertaining each other! I can only imagine what it will be like in a few short months....lovely crazy! I LOVE IT.

Long Time No Blog....

Wow how time flies! I just looked and my last post is from July...and now Thanksgiving is in 2 days! You think I was a little busy?? I hope to make more time to blog now that we have a desktop computer. And I know there are like 3 people that read this - but I find it helpful to document little things and to record fun memories of our crazy life!

New things in the Mancuso house:
-desktop computer!
-potty trained Ethan!
-tooth-y Judah!
-Cooking crazed mommy!
-Goofy than ever daddy!
(not that we *me and Joe* were not cooking crazed or goofy before...I just wanted the list to be bigger than 3!)

Soooo, what I hope to do is sit down every few days; type out something new/exciting in our life; and repeat. I actually have a list of things I want to write about: ranging from new recipes to potty training to funny interactions from my boys...now to find time right? I'll check back in 4 months and see how I'm doing! (ha ha my last post was 4 months ago...witty eh?)