bagels!

 i ain't no lenny. 

but at least making them was fun.

and at least those two, right-out-of-the-oven bites,

before they turned chewy to the max,

was worth it :)

-yeh!

this punkin bread i made

is in fact more of a pumpkin cake.

 and the ultimate sign that fall is looking us straight in the eye.

{but calling it bread makes me feel less bad about eating 12 pieces in one day} 

...and sweet cheeses i love fall. 

i love sweaters and scarves and not feeling like i should be at an outdoor bar every night. i love beginning the fiscal year, cloves, and the pumpkin water ice at rita's. but you know what is also silly: i love spring, too. and summer, and winter. seasons rock so much! but i also love california, and its year-round warmness. so therefore... everything rocks! except rain. 

i digress. 

here's the recipe for the above pumpkin bread:

ingredients: 1/2 a can of pumpkin puree + 2 eggs + 1/2 cup vegetable oil + 1/3 cup water + 1 1/2 cups sugar + 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger + 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour + 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour + 1 teaspoon baking powder + 3/4 teaspoon salt + 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon + 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg + 1/4 teaspoon allspice +  1 cup chocolate chips 

clues: mix together the pumpkin + eggs + oil + water + sugar + ginger. in a separate bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients. combine the two. bake in a greased 7 x 3 loaf pan at 350 for 50ish minutes. 

-yeh!

fig newtons

{and fig newtons with nutella}

lance brought in office figs last week.

and i said, "lance, you have a thing for figs."

and he said, "yeah."

so i made office fig newtons. 

i used this recipe,

which combines my recent ventures in jam with a basic-ish orangey sugar cookie. it isn't the dark brown cake-y cookie in a real fig newton that makes you feel like you're doing good by eating whole wheat or whatever. but it's good. 

and they're good. 

and naturally, one third of them are spiked with nutella.

how is that for getting figgy with it?

-yeh!!

french toast smoothie

{ok tell me if this sounds gross}

my breakfasts as of late are in smoothie form. 

i roll out of bed, stand in my kitchen, and just put whatever looks good into the magic bullet blender cup. 

it's usually frozen strawbees, bluebees, greek yogurt, cocoa powder... 

if i'm feeling like a badass i put some jiff or almond syrup in.  

then i blender it all up.

and while it's blendering i look for whatever bready-type thing is lying around. 

last week it was cornbread, today it was leftover french toast.

and then i break it up into little pieces and throw it on top.

it's kind of like a chocolate cake shake, but less fat butt-enducing.

try it.

-yeh!