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Alana

Roasted Butternut Squash and Arugula Salad

Salads By November 6, 2015 Tags: , , , 7 Comments

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It snowed today. Let me repeat, it snowed today. Now I know that for a lot of people this is not a big deal, however for a girl from Florida it is a huge deal!  Well maybe not a huge deal but it is exciting for me.  Exciting and scary I should say.  This will be my first real winter. Although I have been living in Atlanta for the past two years, which is much colder compared to Florida, I think it’s safe to say that I have not experienced a real winter. I was stuck in the infamous “snowmagedon” two years ago when an ice storm hit Atlanta and the whole city literally and figuratively froze. This made the rest of the country laugh at us, but let me tell you it was scary to be in.  So here I am living in Colorado with the first light dusting of snow on November 5 and I’m ready for winter as I’ll ever be.

So I decided that heating up the oven and roasting some butternut squash was the perfect way to welcome the first snow!

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Roasted butternut squash is one of my favorite fall foods. There are so many ways to use it. In soups, as a side dish, even in dessert, or in this case, in a salad.  If you have not tried it I highly recommend giving it a shot. It’s a little tricky to peel and cut but if you are careful all should go smoothly.

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Pumpkin Bread

Breads By November 1, 2015 Tags: , , 1 Comment

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Tis the season for pumpkin! It’s everywhere these days. In your latte, cereal, ravioli, and bagels. You can’t escape the great pumpkin! And why would you want to? It is delicious, although I do think it may be getting a little out of hand (i.e. pumpkin spice wine). Still I love to cook and bake with pumpkin. My mom sent me this recipe that she has been making for a long, long time. It is simple and scrumptious. The batter is extra good so you’re gonna wanna lick the spatula.

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And the beaters…

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Roasted Turkey Breast

Poultry By November 1, 2015 Tags: , , 2 Comments

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Thanksgiving is coming and I cannot wait! Thanksgiving is a food lovers dream. The mashed potatoes, the gravy, the pies, and of course the turkey. It seems like turkey only makes an appearance on Thanksgiving or on a sandwich throughout the year. I’m not sure I agree with those being the only options so when I saw a nice, big turkey breast for sale in the store I decided that was what’s for dinner!

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Looks good doesn’t it? I only got one breast since I was only feeding two people. It was just under 3 lbs. If you had more people to feed you could just grab another one. Just double the ingredients and cooking time and you should be good to go!

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Halloween Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

Cookies By November 1, 2015 Tags: , , , 5 Comments

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Every holiday I can remember my mother making cut out sugar cookies and decorating them for whatever the season.  She especially always made Halloween cookies and I would help her decorate them.  Now that I am far from home, I am continuing the tradition on my own. I made a big batch of these cookies to send with my boyfriend to work. Of course I wouldn’t let him take all of them because they are too delicious to give away!

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You can really do any shapes sizes, sizes, or colors with this recipe and it’s my go to for a basic sugar cookie.  The recipe itself is actually very simple, and contains cream cheese. Really the hardest part about making these cookies is taking the time to decorate them. I myself get a little bit impatient towards the end of decorating, but hey I think they don’t look too shabby. Of course you can take the time to make them look more refined, but I don’t mind the rustic look to the decorations as that shows they are homemade. I decided to go with a bat, ghost, and pumpkin, classic Halloween!

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Soft Pretzels w/ Beer Cheese Sauce

Breads, Cheese By November 1, 2015 Tags: , , No Comments

Beer & Cheese. Cheese & Beer. No matter what order they come in, two of my favorite things come together in this recipe perfect for a chilly, rainy afternoon or a Sunday spent watching some football.

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Pretzels with cheese dip have long been a favorite of mine. There is a beer garden down the street from where I live and they serve this massive pretzel (like feeds 4 people massive) with cheese dip. It is the perfect complement to a nice cold beer and frequently ordered for only 2 people. So when the mister was craving a pretzel and cheese the other day, the beer garden was an option until he said he was craving a beer cheese sauce. As he searched for a restaurant that had beer cheese sauce, a recipe that I saw a while back came to my mind. Glancing over it again I realized it wouldn’t take long to make and wouldn’t require us to drive 30 minutes across town to order beer cheese sauce. Even more exciting was that the mister told me he would go to the store and get the missing ingredients while I made the pretzel dough. Who could say no to that?!

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