What I am Thankful For

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Pumpkin Cider Cupcakes

 

Recently my aunt started to make a monthly newsletter for our family (which is around...60+ people) and she suggested that I contribute a tasty recipe. I could not have agreed more. So for October I decided to test out this new and improved pumpkin cupcake.

Just so you know pumpkin cupcakes are my favorite and this recipe is now my go to for them.

Pumpkin Cider Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. coarse salt
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp. ground allspice
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter (melted and cooled)
• 4 large eggs
• 1 ½ cups pumpkin puree
• ¼ cup apple cider

Directions:

1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liner; set aside.

2.     In a large bowl, beat together brown sugar, granulated sugar and butter until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time until fully mixed.

3.     In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice. Slowly incorporate dry mixture into wet mixture until smooth. Wisk in pumpkin puree and apple cider.

4.     Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about 2/3 the way. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake 25 minutes.

5.     Poke the cupcakes carefully with a fork. Pour Cider Sauce on top of warm cupcakes. Let cool completely before frosting.

Apple Cider Sauce

Ingredients:

• 2 cups apple cider
• ½ tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbs. salted butter
• ¼ cup dark brown sugar

Directions:

1.     In a medium saucepan, bring the cider to a boil, add the vanilla and cinnamon, and cook until the cider reduces to about 1 cups, 20 to 25 minutes.

2.     Add the butter and sugar. Cook until the cider reduces to about 1 1/2 cups, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.

3.     Transfer the mixture to glass bowl. Cover. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or until reduction is cooled completely. Can be made up to 3 days in advance.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. cream cheese
• ½ cup unsalted butter
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 cups confectioner’s sugar

Directions:

1.     Beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Slowly beat in cinnamon and vanilla.

2.     Mix in confectioner’s sugar 1 cup at a time. Add more if you want to increase the thickness.

3.     Spread or pipe onto cupcakes.

 Adapted from:

• Martha Stewart Pumpkin Cupcakes
• Food Network Sweet Potato Cider Cupcake

Adventures in Geekery: V.2 - My very first comic books!

I have read lots of comics (Sunday morning newspaper comics, webcomics, borrowed-from-my-boyfriend comics, graphic novels) but never have I went out and bought a geniune superhero comic book. That is until this past month! My first was Ultimate Comics: Spiderman (part of Marvel's Ultimate Universe re-boot). The following week I bought DC's new Batman (part of their new 52 universe) and Ultimate Comics: X-Men. I really like them all and I am planning on keeping them all nice and pretty in their plastic sleeves. My cousin, Aaron, pointed out that they are no longer collectibles, but I told him that isn't the point. They may be worthless to others but they are special to me.

Let me tell you that now that I have bought comic books of my very own I feel officially cool. :)

Adventures in Geekery: V.1

So here is the deal. This past year (okay, probably more like past 3 years) I have grown more and more interested in all things geeky. I have always love things like Harry Potter (in seventh grade I was in a Harry Potter club) and Lord of the Rings, but I have discovered and a new and true love with science fiction, Marvel comic books, and Dungeons & Dragons. And that is just the beginning of it. Well I really wanted to share with you all that I have learned and become so interested in and so I decided that I could do a weekly feature on my adventures in geekery. Who knows, maybe you will all agree with me that these things are interesting and awesome.

So without further ado:

source

If you had asked my step-dad what my interest in Star Trek was 2 years ago, he would have just laughed because thought of even measuring my interest in such a dorky thing was just silly. I used to make fun of him all the time. But things changed when I saw the trailer for this new movie. My interest shot way up. It looked awesome. And it was awesome. So awesome in fact that two years after it came up, every time Angelo asks what movie I want to watch I say "STAR TREK!" I just loved it.

So I thought that I would start watching the original Star Trek series and may I say that it is quite silly. I have only watched the first few episodes so far (just after I started the series I moved into an apartment with no internet) but they are all pretty interesting. I have noticed a lot of telekinetic and mind control centered episodes so far and my favorite by far is Charlie X. He makes the best faces.

That is all for now. If you have Netflix and some free time I strongly recommend watching either the movie or original series. It's fun!

Till later,
Amanda

I'm Back!!!

I realize that I have been horribly absent from my blog for quite sometime, but my life is falling back into a routine. This summer was pretty crazy between school and well life. But that is just life and this is a new blog and I am back.

I just moved into a new apartment last week and things have been crazy. So crazy, in fact, that I enjoyed going to work just because it was something that I was used to. I also never knew how much work it takes to move into a new apartment, I can only imagine what it is like to move into a house.

School is starting today and I am…well let’s just say I am ready. Mostly I have been excited about today because I am going to play Dungeons and Dragons tonight at the comic book shop downtown and I have been so looking forward to it!

So consider this post an official “I’m Back!” post, and check back regularly for more from me!

<3

Amanda

Book Review!!

 

·      Stardust: This was a wonderful love story and one that leaves you feeling great. It is a story about fate, coincidence, adventure, good and evil, and learning about love and growing up. I have never actually read a book by Neil Gaiman before but I know he has written some awesome episodes of Doctor Who. (My favorite TV show) and I did see the movie version of Stardust, which is a pretty cute movie. I would definitely suggest reading this book if you are feeling something upbeat and happy.

·      Brida: Paulho Coehlo is most definitely one of my favorite authors. His writing forces you to think really think about you life and your beliefs. This book was about a young woman, Brida, who is searching for meaning and for something to believe in all while looking for her soulmate. Many of the ideas presented in this book are things that I have thought about a lot before and this made me think about them even more.

·      Salting Roses: This book had a good story, but to be honest I wasn’t a fan of the writing. It was just…obvious and very cliché. It was a fun story about a girl who discovered that she is actually the heir to a multimillion-dollar estate, but I am not sure I would ever recommend this book.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Soundtrack

I bought the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and I have been listening to it a lot. For every song I try to picture what will be happening in the movie and, frankly, I keep coming close to tears. This one is a favorite so far. Gosh. I love Snape so insanely much. He is by far the most amazing character in the entire book. I cannot tell you how much I admire him. J.K. Rowling is brilliant. For real.