Go Red Wings! A Detroit Tradition!

We got a chance to go see the Red Wings play the other night. It is HUGE here and a lot of fun. They are a great team.

We met up with our friends Courtney and Jamie down in Greektown after the game. Fun times!

Christmas Time Is Here

I love Christmas time and couldn't wait to decorate our little home. We graduated to a full size tree this year and even have a mantle to hang our stockings with care.

Merry Christmas!!! Detroit pride!

At Lisa's work Christmas party- very fun!

Turkey Time

Rick and I got to escape to California for Thanksgiving time- it was wonderful fun and sooo warm! I was seriously like sweating from the 80-degree weather- not that I'm complaining though!

First thing- the Annual Turkey Trot- "fitness before the feast"- here's the kids 1K, and then the rest of us did the 5K.

Jaden and Hannad running with Rick and Jaden through the finish line

Another soon-to-be tradition- Rick cooking the meal. haha- he loves it!

I made my cute little neices as pilgrims and indians for the occasion

Chris and Elizabeth

Spent Saturday morning at the temple with my parents

Then we did a family photo shoot at CLU

Monday in Santa Barbara

Rick discovered these HUGE starfish and sea creatures under the pier- the kids loved it

Lots to be Thankful For!!!

Petra the Puppy!!!

As a lot of you know- we got a wonderful little puppy last week! She is a Schnoddle (Schnauzer and Poddle) mix, and is 10 weeks old. Her name is Petra. Petra likes to follow people around, cuddle, and falling asleep in blankets. Here are some pictures of her in her favorite red blanket.

Pumpkin Ganachness- The Recipe for the below Pictures!

This is Rick. Those who know me know that confections are a small hobby of mine, and that making chocolates is a passion. The scent of a freshly opened package, the mixture of sweet and bitter flavors, the perfectly smooth texture...chocolate, I'm convinced, was brought to earth by divine influence.

Not only do I love chocolate, but I also love pumpkin, especially pumpkin pie. Given that this is the time of year when pumpkin make up an increasingly large potion of our daily food pyramid, I figured that there had to be some way of infusing that amazing pumpkin pie flavor into a seasonal bonbon.

The difficulty with using pumkin puree is that the liquid content of the ganache (the truffle center) increases dramatically, necessitating a decrease in cream volume. The liquid of a ganache is usually maintained in a 1:3 ratio with the chocolate (a little less with white chocolate). This requires that the pumpkin puree must be heated along with the cream, as the liquid is the source of the heat needed to melt the chocolate. Using white chocolate as the ganache base sweetens the pumpkin mixture, and sour cream provides a thick, rich flavor balancer to the sweetness of the chocolate. Even with all of these amazing elements, the ganache was still a little too soft, and required refrigeration in order for the ganache to firm up.

I hope this recipe is as enjoyable for you as it was for me!

Pupkin Pie Truffles

“Pumpkin Pie” Ganache
1 oz. heavy cream

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

⅛ tsp. ground cloves
¼ tsp. ground ginger

8-9 oz. white chocolate, chips or coarsely chopped (add more if ganache has too much liquid)
3 oz. pumpkin pie filling/puree
2 oz. crème fraîche or sour cream

½ oz. unsalted butter, cut into cubes

Cocoa powder/powdered sugar blend for rolling

1. Heat cream, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger over medium until boiling; do not burn.
2. Stir in sour cream and pumpkin puree, and continue to heat until bubbling
3. Immediately pour hot pumpkin/cream mixture over white chocolate, and let sit for 5 min.
4. Wisk chocolate into cream mixture until fully melted.
5. Add butter and mix slowly until fully melted and incorporated.
6. Cover with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator until firm enough to roll into balls.
7. Pipe or scoop ganache into balls and enrobe in dark chocolate.
8. Option 1: Immediately roll dipped truffles in cocoa power mixture until evenly coated.
9. Option 2: Immediately set on parchment/silpat; if desired, top each truffle with a cocoa dusted pumkin seed (See below).
10. Allow to cool completely before serving

The Backyardigans

So our little backyard has been our project over the last several months- here is a documentation of the progression. This is how it started (actually it was even worse- this is what was underneath all the debris we cleared away)

Then we further cleared away all the weeds and relayed the stones- we are going to plant vegetable boxes in the squares come spring.

Then today we planted some bulbs (gotta get them in before the first frost!), mowed the grass we planted for the last time before the winter, and raked all the leaves away (oh! so many leaves!)

Marten having free run of the yard- he was soo happy

And taa-daa!! Transformation?

The leaves! Oh wonderful pear tree- first you dump all your fruit, now all your leaves!

Such a big pile of leaves- only one thing to do!