Autumn Amelia

Hello everyone!
Halloween is only a couple of weeks away and I can't wait!
My family has a tradition of enjoying chili and breadsticks on Halloween.
Growing up in the "Midwest" made for some cold Trick or Treat sessions and nothing warmed you up like a hot bowl of chili and breadsticks right outta the oven. 
My mom always made the most delicious and GIGANTIC breadsticks.
And today I am going to share the recipe with you!

You will need:
24 Rhodes Dinner Rolls, Thawed but Cold
1/2 A Cup of Butter
1/2 A Cup of Parmesan Cheese
Garlic Salt, Optional

Roll each roll into a 11 inch rope.
Place butter and cheese in shallow bowls.

Dip each rope into the butter and then into the cheese.

Place breadsticks on an 11x17 inch sprayed baking sheet. 

Sprinkle with garlic salt, if desired.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until double in size.

Remove wrap and bake at 350o for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Enjoy warm!

These breadsticks are DELICIOUS and are pretty easy to whip up.
I seriously dream about them all year long...
I love our twist on the original recipe, making them jumbo breadsticks.
What are some of your family's Halloween traditions?

All my love,
Autumn

Hello everyone!

Last weekend we celebrated our dog Ziggy's first birthday!

As you probably remember from our first puppy Scout, we LOVE to throw themed parties for our pups.

For Ziggy's first birthday we decided to go with a space theme.

He is Ziggy STARdog after all...

I used a black table cloth as a backdrop and set up our banquet table in front of it with a navy tablecloth on top.

On the left side of the table, we placed Ziggy's presents dressed up in dark colors and metallics.

In the middle, his birthday cake.

I displayed it on a silver cake stand to give it an industrial feel and topped it with a number 1 and a few star candles.

In front of the cake, gold plates, and napkins to help us serve. 

On the right side of the table, we have a few random items from around the house that I felt were "spacey."

A gold geometric sculpture, some decorative geodes for moon rocks, and our Google speaker.

I thought it looked like a space communication device?

To the left of the banquet table, we had our letterboard surrounded by a few gold stars.

It read:

3...

2..

One...

Blast off! 

With one spelled out as it is his first birthday.

The thing I was most satisfied with was my balloon garland.

This was the first thing I envisioned when we started planning his birthday.

I placed it above the right side of the table.

I stayed with my deep space colors of black and blue.

To make it feel more space like I added a few star cutouts, 

some metallic accents, star balloons, a moon balloon,

 and I turned one of the balloons into a planet.

This bad boy did not want to stay up but with some persistence (lots of tape and thumbtacks) we got it up for good.

We spent the day opening presents, eating cake and playing at the park.

I think that Ziggy really enjoyed his first birthday.

His tail wouldn't stop wagging and he crashed hard at the end of the day.

I can't wait until he experiences his first Christmas with us.

I think he's gonna love it!

Do you celebrate your furry friends birthdays?

All my love,

Autumn

Paintbrush Strokes

And I did another with lighter strokes that really showcased the brushwork and gave it a more sophisticated feel.

Gold Leaf

Using baking tweezers (NOT your hands as the oil from them will dissolve the gold leaf) take small pieces of edible gold leaf and place them on the macaron.

I kept my pieces small and to one side.

Hello everyone!

Over the weekend my family had its annual progressive dinner.

A progressive dinner is a meal where each course is served at a different house.

The progressive dinner tradition started out with my Dad's family before I was even born!

Now that we are grown we do it within our own little family.

We have four courses; soup, salad, main course and dessert.

This year we started with salad at my sister April's house.

She served it with all the fixings.

And rolls...

Each house always has rolls.

Each house also has a theme and a favor to take home.

Her's was Christmas trees. 

We each left with a beautiful distressed aluminim Christmas tree. 

After her house, we headed to my parent's for soup.

They served ham and bean soup and beef stew.

Have you ever heard of ham and bean soup?

Cause we sure hadn't!

Their theme was the nativity.

They had beautiful nativity themed decorations and we each left with a nativity themed ornament. 

After my parent's, it was off to my sister Heather's house for the main course.

Heather lives the furthest away so we try not to make her drive back and forth too much.
So, Erik and I share their house for dessert.

That way they don't have to drive down and up and then down and up again. 

Before heading to her house we made a quick stop at our house to pick up the trifles we made.

Trifles are not the easiest thing to transport...

I ended up holding them on my lap the entire forty-minute drive and am proud to say they made it!

We arrived at Heather's house to a full-blown Christmas cookout.

It was decorated in red and black gingham, we each got a festive mug to drink out of and they served pulled pork sandwiches with mac and cheese and potato casserole.

SO yummy!

We each were given a gingham stocking filled with candy and a gingham sign that read Merry Christmas.

We also got to take our mugs home.

After the main course, Erik and I pulled out our trifles. 

We brought our own plates and napkins to serve them on.

Our favors were whisks with instant pudding, a play on figgy pudding.

It was such a fun evening and I can't believe another year has come and gone.

I am already counting down the days till next year!

Have you ever attended a progressive dinner?

All my love,

Autumn

Hello everyone!

Today is my family's annual progressive dinner, a Christmas tradition we have done for years.

A progressive dinner is a meal where each course is served at a different house.

This year Erik and I were in charge of dessert.

I always try to come up with somewhat original ideas for our theme.
I thought a play on figgy pudding would be fun.

I have never seen or eaten figgy pudding.

The only reason I know that it exists is because of the song "We wish you a Merry Christmas."

Also, if chocolate is not involved in the dessert my family will riot, myself included. 😉

So, I thought a chocolate trifle would be the way to go.

It's English and includes pudding (like the song!) and I included cake (and brownies!) like an actual figgy pudding. 

I also wanted to include some Christmas flavor for those who were interested so, I decided to make two different trifles.

Chocolate Raspberry Trifle

You will need:

Brownies, Cut into 1-inch squares

Instant Chocolate Pudding

Raspberries

Whipped Cream

Prepare the pudding according to the directions on the box.

Refrigerate until ready to use.

Place half of the brownie pieces on the bottom of a trifle dish.

Add a layer of chocolate pudding on top.

Add a layer of raspberries.

Add a layer of whipped cream.

Repeat the layers.

Brownie, pudding, raspberries and whipped cream.

Chill for one hour before serving.

Enjoy!

Vanilla Orange Cranberry Trifle

You will need:

White Cake, cut into 1-inch squares

12 Ounces of Fresh Cranberries

1 and 1/4 Cups of Sugar

1 Cup of Orange Juice

1 Teaspoon of Orange Zest
Instant Vanilla Pudding
Whipped Cream

Prepare the cranberry filling.

In a medium saucepan, add the cranberries, sugar, orange juice and orange zest.

Cook on medium-high heat, stirring occasionally until it reaches a boil.

Once it has reached a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook until all of the cranberries pop, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Set aside to cool and thicken.

Prepare the pudding according to the directions on the box.

Refrigerate until ready to usee.

Place half of the cake pieces on the bottom of a trifle dish.

Add a layer of vanilla pudding on top.

Add a layer of cranberry filling.

Add a layer of whipped cream.

Repeat the layers.

Cake, pudding, cranberry filling, whipped cream.

Chill for one hour before serving.

Enjoy!

I love trifles!
They are easy to make and act as a decoration with all of their pretty layers displayed.
The best part is that you can use all premade ingredients or make it all from scratch if you desire.
I went with homemade cake and brownies and instant pudding for ours.

But, you can use premade cake and brownies or make your pudding from scratch.
It's up to you how simple or sophisticated you want to go!

We usually include favors for each member of the family to take home that goes with the theme of our meal.

This year, I grabbed some fun festive red whisks from Target and stuck a box of instant chocolate pudding inside.

I then added tags that said "We "whisk" you a Merry Christmas!"



and "Oh, bring us some figgy chocolate pudding!" to tie it into the theme.

These were such quick and inexpensive favors.


I am so excited to present these to my family tonight and enjoy another year of progressive dinner together.
What are some of your family's holiday traditions?

All my love,
Autumn