double pumpkin…deleted.

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Did you catch my Round 2 entry for Project Food Blog?  If not, check it out and then go cast your vote, starting Monday at 9am!!  Thanks so much for helping me through Round 1!!

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Well, I had a double pumpkin breakfast this morning, but the photos have been deleted.  Ahhh.  Big deal?  Not really…but I was so excited about it.  I literally consumed 1 full can of pumpkin with my breakfast today. :)

I made the butternut squash smoothie from last week, except this time with pumpkin and it was just as tasty!!  Before eating this morning, I went through my google reader and saw HEAB’s pancake Sunday post.  She made pumpkin pancakes!!  That’s it, I’m making those too!  I followed the recipe exactly.  They were nice + fluffy and obviously had delicious flavor. mmm

So as you can imagine, my breakfast was quite orange and quite delicious.  Boo to no photos!!

I went on a hilly 18m bike ride today.  I think my quads were still a bit tired from last weeks 37m bike ride and a long swim on Friday.  Thanks for all of your helpful tips for being safe while riding.  Most of what you mentioned, I already do, but forgot them on my list.

  • helmet!! always
  • no music – I’m just not a workout with music person..weird I know!  If you do listen to music only wear 1 ear bud so you can hear traffic better.
  • Road ID – I should get one of these for sure!
  • padded shorts + gloves – I had these before my first ride ;)

There were definitely some other helpful tips, so check out the comments if you want to see more!

After my ride today, part of lunch was this PB + J on my favorite, Ezekial sprouted English Muffins. 

Toppings included:

  • cinnamon peanut butter
  • Crofter’s jelly
  • wheat germ
  • coconut
  • hemp seeds

Deeeeericious.

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Saturday was a big day for me!!  I shot the Battle of the Burners event at the Masonic Temple, here in Ft. Collins.  It was such an amazing experience.  I was pretty nervous about the whole thing for a few reasons. 

I didn’t want to disappoint.  Even though I volunteered my time to do this, I was still nervous about getting Beet Street a decent set of photos.

I’ve never photographed an event before.

The only people I’ve photographed are friends + family.  I take photos of food, not moving, cooking people!!

I’ve only used a flash for like 25 photos.  [and sadly the flash has to be returned tomorrow, booo]

I’ll have a slew of photos to show you soon.  It takes awhile to edit 600 photos!  A lot will be deleted, but you still have to go through them all.  The event was amazing.  There were about 250-300 guests, 6 chefs, and a lot of friendly volunteers.  I had a great time and even got to enjoy a few bites of food.  I felt pretty confident with the camera, although man did it get heavy!!!  Holding it up for 4 hours, with a huge flash on top was not easy.  Mad props to wedding + event photographers out there.  Not sure how you do it.  I’ll give more of the details when I post photos. :)

For now, here is the nerdy photographer. 

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Despite deleting my breakfast photos, I have a recipe to show you from last week!

It begins with 2 medium sized acorn squashes.

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Make sure you slice them lengthwise down the middle.  This will make the filling process much easier.  Believe me, I’ve done it the other way and it’s not fun. :)

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Acorn squash.  Chris likes these!!!

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This recipe originally came from 101 Cookbooks.  I adore that blog.  Photography, writing, recipes, just amazing!

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Heidi has a recipe for corn pudding stuffed acorn squash.  It’s delicious!!  I’ve made it at least 3 or 4 times.  I wanted to change things up this time around though.

I was craving broccoli more than corn.  So I just adapted the recipe a bit and it worked perfectly.

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Although my daylight was fading fast…per usual!

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Broccoli Stuffed Acorn Squash [adapted from Roasted Corn Pudding in Acorn Squash]

  • 2-3 medium sized acorn squashes
  • 1T olive oil
  • 1c milk [I used 1%]
  • 1 egg + 2 egg whites, whisked
  • 1.5c chopped broccoli
  • 2 medium cloves garlic, minced
  • ~1/2c onion, diced
  • 1/4t fine grain sea salt
  • black pepper
  • 1/2c grated sharp white cheddar cheese [Organic Valley is the best]
  1. Preheat your oven to 375*
  2. Cut squash in half lengthwise + seed.  I scrape out a little of the flesh as well, so there is more room for the filling. [Cutting the squash is the hardest part of this recipe!]
  3. Rub the squash with a light coating of olive oil.
  4. Place the squash in a deep baking dish, cut side up, covered in foil.  Bake for about 40min or until just tender.
  5. Combine the milk, eggs, broccoli, garlic, onion, salt + pepper in a bowl.
  6. Fill the squash about 3/4 of the way with the filling.  This recipe should fill 3 whole squashes.  *I typically make 2, and fill 2 ramekin dishes [or other small oven safe bowl] with the rest of the filling.
  7. Carefully place the baking dish back in the oven and bake for about 40-50min, or until the pudding is set. 
  8. Just before it’s done, sprinkle with shredded cheese and broil for 2-3min until bubbly + brown.  Watch it closely!

This recipe is not too difficult, as long as you can successfully cut the squash!  It just takes a bit of waiting time.  I try to position the squashes together so they stay upright. If you don’t have enough in your pan, it’s easy to have them tip.  I’ve gotten tricky before, with wadding up foil to keep them in place.

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I loved this new twist on the recipe!  The “pudding” is basically just the milk + eggs that cook together.  It’s a soft texture that sets and should not be runny as you’re eating it.  I’m a huge fan of broccoli and loved the addition of garlic.  The cheese on top is my favorite part though. ;)  The only thing I don’t like about this recipe is that it stays so hot!!!  It’s hard to be patient to eat it, so I usually end up scooping it out and making a huge mess on my plate.

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shower.

search for weekly bread recipe.

Dexter!!!

bed.

<3

me