Bites of My Life

One week down with the new site design up! You guys probably aren't as obsessed with the new site as I am because it's a little weird to be obsessed with a website, but I still hope you love it. Thank you thank you thank you for all the sweet notes and compliments about the new site. This was a long time coming, so to finally see it in action is extremely exciting. Besides getting a fresh new look, this was just the motivation I needed for all things blog related. 

After the excitement from the new blog launch, my week went running downhill pretty fast. Nothing extravagant just several little things that built up to have a few crappy days in a row. Brushed it off toward the end of the week. Made a little extra cash turning my trash into others treasures, spent Friday night on the couch with Scandal on the DVR and an Irish coffee in hand, had the most fun with a packed house and full tummy on Saturday, and finished the week with a Thunder game!

-Monday morning the new Take A Bite went live and it was a hands in the air all day kind of day.
-First bite of the site was this recipe for Upside Down Pumpkin Crumb Cake. 
-Mushroom spaghetti squash with parmesan and herbs. On repeat for dinner twice last week and can't wait to make it again. Seriously so good and satisfying. Adapted from this recipe.
-With all the new happenings with Take A Bite, I threw it back to a super old recipe. Can't wait for leftover Thanksgiving turkey to make this again. 
-Did you catch my review of The Homemade Kitchen last week, as well as the recipe for some killer jambalaya?
-My favorite kind of lunch is easily a version of sweet and salty toast. This week was avocado toast with a poached egg and pumpkin butter toast with granola sprinkled on top. 
-Finally made it into Provision Kitchen. Stopped in for their Thanksgiving tasting and got to catch up with my favorite employee/best friend.
-After showing up Sunday to see they were closed, Dad and I redeemed ourselves with lunch Friday from the new sandwich shop in town!
-Hoestesses with the mostesses.
-Two words, Baked Havarti. My favorite dish out of all the cheese options to choose from.
-A full spread to celebrate a big birthday and an OU win! 
-It's not a true birthday celebration without a little cake. Skillet baked chocolate cobbler served with lots of ice cream. Used this recipe but baked it in a skillet instead!

Annie

What I'm Listening To

Between Adele's "Hello" and "Bieber's" Sorry, "Easy Love" by Sigala is on repeat. I'm a top 40 junkie, can't help it. Easy Love is one of those guaranteed good mood songs. It heavily resembles Jackson 5's "ABC," so after about two times of listening to it you will probably know all the words. If you see me in my car in the next few days I will probably be obnoxiously singing and attempting to steering wheel dance while listening to Easy Love. 

Annie

Let's Jam

Bring on the soup, stew, chili and now, jambalayaaaa! My favorite kind of foods. I tried to convince my family to let me make this jambalaya back when it was still hitting 100, they didn't go for it.  Now that it's relatively chilly most days, I jumped on my chance again. 

Alana from Eating From The Ground Up is the mind behind my new cookbook, The Homemade Kitchen. The book is stocked with recipes using fresh and delicious ingredients. This is one of my favorite Blogging for Books cookbooks I have received. I love how real the recipes are. No crazy ingredients, nothing too fussy. Alana has specific mantras she lives by while in the kitchen. Feed yourself, eat outside, start where you are, be a beginner, and more. My favorite is "do your best and then let go."

Jambalaya from The Homemade Kitchen
serves 6-8

Ingredients:
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 Tbsp. paprika
1 tsp. salt
6 oz. chopped bacon
2-3 leeks, cut in half and thinly sliced
3/4 cup finely chopped yellow onion (1 small onion)
2 large red bell peppers, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
2 Tbsp. finely chopped garlic
3 cups hot chicken stock
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 cup uncooked rice
12 oz cooked, andouille sausage, cut and cooked into 1/2-inch rounds
1 lb. fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup chopped scallions
1/4 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions:
Toss the chicken with the paprika and salt and set aside. heat a large heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook, stiffing often until crispy about 10 minutes. Transfer the bacon to a medium bowl, leaving the bacon fat in the pot. Cook the chicken in the fat, stirring occasionally until brown, about 5 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pot and add to the bacon bowl. 

If you don't have enough bacon grease leftover, add oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Add the leeks and onion to the pot and cook, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Add the red peppers, jalapeno, garlic and cook over medium heat. Stir occasionally until the whole mixture is cooked down, slightly brown and smells delicious.

Heat your stock in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add the bay leaves, rice and sausage and continue to cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes.  Add the hot stock as well as the reserved bacon and chicken, bring to a boil, lower the heat and cover the pot. Cook undisturbed until the rice is tinder and the stock is mostly absorbed, about 30 to 45 minutes. It may take longer depending on your rice. If you are using shrimp, add it during the last 5 minutes of cooking. Once the shrimp is pink, remove the bay leaves, top with scallions and parsley and serve immediately. Best with with a little hot sauce and some cornbread!

I got a little frustrated while I was cooking this dish because the rice wasn't cooking, and it was taking much longer. I tend to get flustered when I'm cooking for others. With a little patience I finally got it finished. I wish I had Alana with me saying, "do your best and then let go." Once the dish got to the table everyone loved it. 

You can purchase The Homemade Kitchen here and make sure to check out Alana's blog for more of her recipes!

Annie

I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review. If you are a also a blogger make sure to check out their site on how you too can start Blogging for Books!

Fall Vibes

pumpkin bread // friendly gatherings // campfires
fall fashion // pumpkins // turtlenecks
pumpkin head // homemade pumpkin latte // figs

Who doesn't love fall? Pretty sure it is collectively the most beloved season. Chilly mornings, fall baking, sweaters and scarves, soup instead of smoothies and football every Saturday. Fall is in full swing and I'm feeling all it's vibes.

Annie

Upside Down Pumpkin Crumb Cake

Between all of our back and forth emails and texts about implementing MailChimp, importing Disquis, editing URLs and formatting posts, Peyton and I exchanged a few non-blog related conversations. She told me she had a great recipe for me if I wasn't pumpkin-ed out yet. Pumpkin-ed out, ha never. This recipe is decades old and comes from an old church cookbook of her mom's. All good recipes derive from some old church pot-luck party.

I made this cake to pair with Sunday night dinner. And it's just like oh so dang amazing. I think it even converted my brother-in-law into a pumpkin fan. He says he doesn't like "orange food"... we don't claim him sometimes. Pumpkin, sweet potatoes and butternut squash are all very important foods in my life. 

The whole cake gets flipped over making the buttery pecan crumb layer the base. The pumpkin cake layer gets sandwiched in the middle and is almost like a layer of pumpkin pie. Slap on cream cheese whipped frosting and you've got a cherry on top. This cake is getting put in the repeat recipe box ASAP.

Upside Down Pumpkin Crumb Cake
yields 1 9x13 cake

Ingredients:
1 can of pumpkin puree
1 can of evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
1/s tsp. cinnamon
3 eggs
1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup chopped pecans, plus more for decoration
2 sticks melted butter, cooled

Frosting:
1 8oz stick of cream cheese, room temp
3/4 cup Cool Whip, thawed
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13 dish with wax paper. Melt your butter and set aside to let cool. Whisk the first five ingredients together and pour into your dish. Evenly distribute the dry cake mix over the pumpkin mixture. Sprinkle in the chopped pecans and lightly pat them into the cake mix. Pour your cooled butter over the nuts then bake for 50-60 minutes. Let cool. 

Using an electric mixer combine the frosting ingredients. Once the cake is cooled, run a knife along the edges. Invert on to a tray and remove the wax paper. The crumb part will now be on the bottom. Frost and decorate with pecans!

Thumbs up to upside down pumpkin crumb cake!

Annie