Pumpkin Pancakes with Pumpkin Butter Glazed Plums

The tradition of weekend pancakes continues, and this past weekend two types of pumpkin definitely made their way into my breakfast!

I use the Trader Joe's multi-grain pancake mix, add some almond meal and ground flax.
Then, instead of the oil, I added 1/3 cup pumpkin puree, and 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce.
Add 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, and start flippin the 'cakes!

As a topping, I knew I wanted to use my pumpkin butter I had, but I also wanted to add something with some texture. Enter: plums.  I deemed them a fall fruit, acceptable to pair with pumpkin.
Cooked apples would also work nicely.

Saute 1 sliced plum with 1 heaping Tbsp pumpkin butter, and 3 Tbsp water.

Let this bubble and reduce, and pull it off the heat, right when it starts to look like a caramel sauce, but before it burns!

Top warm pancakes with pumpkin glazed plums.
Yum.

Happy Fall :)

Homemade Lavender Sugar Scrub

For my friend's Baby Shower, I made little jars of lavender-scented coconut sugar scrub as party favors.
These were super simple to make, and make great gifts!

This recipe makes 4 jars of sugar scrub. Adjust accordingly. I multiplied this recipe by 2, to get 8 jars, then made 3 batches of that, so I ended up with 24 favors. (Did I lose you on the math?!)

I love these little jars - they are so cute: short and fat!  
They actually have Ball canning jars at Target and Hobby Lobby lately, which is so convenient!  I found them in the kitchen aisle of Target, at about $1/jar:  Ball 4ct Platinum Wide Mouth Jars (8oz)

Ingredients:

1  16oz jar of organic virgin unrefined Coconut Oil - melted. (It is usually cheapest at Trader Joe's or online)
4 cups white granulated sugar
16 drops of lavender essential oil

Recipe:

Stir lavender oil into the melted, liquid coconut oil.
Pour into mixing bowl.
Add sugar, and stir until completely moistened and combined.

That's it!!

Scoop scrub neatly into jars, and seal with lid.

I bought some Avery printer labels that are sized correctly for the tops of canning jars, and designed a little label for the favors.
The exact labels I used are these: Avery #22818 in brown paper color.  They make white ones, too, but they were so shiny, I didn't like them.  Luckily the font colors I chose was still able to be seen when printed on brown kraft paper, instead of white.

Avery.com actually has a design program (here) where you can design a label, from scratch or a template.
I printed out these labels, and added them to the filled jars.

The little guys, all lined up.

We placed the jars into Chinese takeout boxes, lined with tissue paper, and added a Thank You printable card to the fronts of the boxes, to finished off the baby shower favors.

These favors were a hit, and they are such a fun gift!
You can make just one for yourself, or make several to give to friends as party favors or holiday gifts!

So There.

Giveaway for a $300 Amazon Gift Card!

My friend Kayla over at Say Not Sweet Anne is celebrating her 2 Year Blog Anniversary with an awesome giveaway!

Check out her awesome 2014 Printable Planner Here, or her cute Guest Bedroom Decor Here.

Enter below for your chance to win a $300 Amazon gift card!!

Amazon is my favorite - you can really buy almost anything on there! This would be great for Christmas shopping!!

Good Luck and Congrats again to Anne!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hosting a Baby Shower!

I was given the honor of throwing one of my best friends a Baby Shower a couple weeks ago, and I was so excited!

I have attended many friends' baby showers, and thanks to those, and Pinterest, I came up with some great ideas for decor, food, games, and favors!

My friend and her husband decided not to find out the gender of baby, so we used their nursery colors of turquoise, yellow, and grey, with a Twinkle Twinkle Little Star theme.

I bought the printed paper straws from a great Etsy shop: Loollipop!

I did a candy bar, mostly to add color, but I made sure we had favor bags with twist ties, and a little candy scoop (from Party City!), so guests could take home all the candy at the party's end.

Note: don't order fragile, melt-able candy online. It is heavy, so shipping is expensive, and a lot of those candy broke or melted.  Party City has a decent selection of pretty colored candy.

I set out a basket of diapers with Sharpie markers for guests to write a little sentimental, or funny note on the diapers, to make those late night diaper changes a little more bearable!

So excited for my beautiful friend! I can't wait to meet their little one soon!!

Bonjour!!

So after London, then, it was off to Paris!

The land of cheese, wine, chocolates, and macarons!

Ah, the macarons! The Lauduree shop was so, so adorable!

As were the little chocolate shops we found, and visited a couple different times!

I loved these chocolate covered almonds, colored to look like olives! It really looked like the Olive Bar at Whole Foods! Ha ha.

The only thing better than the macarons...and all the cheese!... was the creme brulee!
ehr mer gerd...!!

...and the crepes!!

...and the quiche!!

...and the wine :)

Ah, you guys! Paris was just sooo amazinggggg!!!

And the oh so romantic Lock Bridge!

Dat, da, daaaaa!!! The Mona Lisa.

...and now I want to go back!
So There.