Orange Item of the week

I made my first two batches of soup today.  One a chicken and dumpling and the other a butternut squash.  Frankly, they both kind of sucked.  Dumplings are sort of hard to make, and they joined together in the pan into one large morman family sized dumpling.  My squash soup tasted like squash... and nothing else.  My leeks were old, I found them in the back of the fridge.  They might have been left over from last fall.  BUT, fear not, my pumpkin shaped Dutch oven is out and ready for better soups.  This is why it is the Orange Item of the Week! 

Caramel Scones

Last week I made Pumpkin scones from the Alice's Teacup cookbook.  Alice's Teacup is a West Village institution, specializing in scones, cookies, sandwich and soups.  Delish!  Since I have fall  fever (?) I wanted to dive into some new pumpkin recipes.  This one is great: a spicy scone in a sea of caramel sauce.  My mother loved the caramel so much she lied to my father and said they did not turn out.  She felt guilty and finally told him after two days.  By then she had eaten most of it, on scones, ice cream and just dipping her fingers in.  She really is a pirate. 

Caramel sauce is amazing, and not that hard to make.

Yup, full of caramel sauce.

Orange Item of Last Week

Ug, I have been putting in hours like a crazy person at Target.  I missed last week's orange item.  So sad.  This one comes from Aundria, who customized my mom's pumpkin coffee cup with, what else, an orange pumpkin :)  Sine it is Aundria's birthday tomorrow, let's all give her a big shout out! 

Butterscotch Cake

My mother declared her love for me after tasting my Butterscotch Cake.  It is from the Back in the Day cookbook.  Right now I have tried three recipes and two are outstanding.  I can not believe I made butterscotch.  It was amazing!  Joann wants me to think of other uses, ice cream, cookies and maybe pastry.  She even took me to Sephora. 

The Death of my Hats

Yup, Olivia has decided that hats are for her.  That they are the best place to take a summer nap.  I am not thrilled.

Treasures from Target

I could not believe that these were at Target this morning.  There I was, seven am at the end of my shift when I saw these!  There is a huge Andy Warhol exhibit at the Met in honor of the 50th Anniversary of his work.  Campbells jumped in on this too and came out with these special labels-- clearly some one was awake at teh wheel.  I shouted with glee and pointed!  At which point some one said "Whose Andy Warhol?"  A little bit of my soul died.

Donuts

I made these donuts from a mix last sunday.  I know I cheated with the mix, but they were amazing.  Totally worth it and Ina Garten is a freaking genius. You bake the dount, dip it in melted butter and then drag it through sugar.  FREAKING GENIUS.  I plan on tasting other flavors. 

Orange Item of the Week

This week's orange item comes from my mother's closet.  I totally stole it.  It looks cute on me and really what kind of daughter would I be if I did not raid my mother's things.  Best not to let her get too comfortable.