recipe week : sweet & sausage one-dish dinner

Source: peanutblossom.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

This week is all about real recipes. We're keeping it approachable and in season, so everything I highlight this week might be just the ticket right now in your own home.

We have a one-dish dinner, a sweet dessert sauce, a surprising souffle, the perfect fall cookies, and vegetable chips, not to mention three links per day of food we haven't yet tried!

Our first recipe is the one-dish dinner:

The recipe as given below is what our family adjusted and prepared from the original peanutblossom recipe. 


SWEET & SAUSAGE ONE-DISH DINNER 
INGREDIENTS

4 sweet Italian sausages
1-2 lb. small red and gold potatoes
1 sweet potato
1-2 honeycrisp apple
Olive oil, course kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
1 tsp dried thyme (recommend crushing it)

METHOD:

Set your oven to 425.

Peel the sweet potato. Chop into large chunks. Quarter the red and gold potatoes (don't peel). Chop the onion into larger strips/chunks.

Place potatoes into your baking dish (ours is 9 x 13 metal) and coat with olive oil, salt, & pepper. Add onions on top. Repeat salt & pepper. Lay sausages directly on top of the bed of potatoes and onions. Place in the oven for 40 minutes.

Chop apple(s).

At the buzzer, turn the sausages over to brown on the other side & give the potatoes & onions a little movement to prohibit sticking & burning. Sprinkle apples on the very top. Add olive oil, salt, & pepper as desired. Bake 10 minutes.

Serve warm. Reheats well.

The original recipe calls for spicy mustard as a dip. We didn't do this but will try it next time.


We LOVED this dish. The perfect blend of flavors. I normally don't like one-dish dinners, but this will be a repeat for sure this season!


THREE ADDITIONAL RECIPES:
Roasted Chicken with Green Beans
Chicken, Snow Pea & Cashew Fried Rice
Pan-Roasted Chicken with Lemon-Garlic Green Beans

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A couple Fridays ago, we threw a small dessert-and-drinks party for our single neighbors or those with young children. It was really hard to limit the guest list, but we wanted it to be personal. I spent the day before and the afternoon of baking orange-ginger scones, iced pumpkin cookies (the best!!!), triple-berry bran muffins, and a raspberry-apple pie. 

I've found I'm happier at a party when there is a little extra decoration and soothing, appropriate aromas. We lit that favorite candle of mine, Autumn by Slatkin, and I set up limited decor around the first floor to create just enough of that autumn feel without being overwhelming.

Here is my list of supplies:

• Big white pumpkin, and 9 small orange pumpkins and gourds from Stein's Gardens & Gifts (total cost, $9.00).
• Red leaves purchased from Michael's after last autumn's season. Cost under $2.00.
• Fresh apples from Sendik's. Whatever looked festive and was still under $1.39 per lb.
• Mason jars at $6.99 for a dozen 16 oz. jars at Pick'N'Save. $6.99!
• Strips of muslin fabric left over from previous projects over the years.
• Two dozen white and orange-flame roses from Sendik's for $5.00 per dozen. Total of $10.00 for 24 roses!
• Fresh cranberries from Sendik's for 2 for $5.00.
• Small glass globe vases from a rummage sale in August. 4 for $2.00.

Here is the centerpiece in our dining room. Note, this was clearly taken the day after the party. You can see our leftover scones and the remnants from the iced pumpkin cookies in the background (for shame!).

We positioned pumpkins in groupings in only three areas so they would stand out, but again, refrain from overwhelming our visual senses. So one bowl of 4 roses when on the living room hutch.

The majority of the roses when in the dining room on the buffet to add color.

And another small bunch went in the living room nearest the door seating area. Still leaves enough room for people to put drinks down, but brightens up that corner.

And here is a glimpse of my first-ever raspberry-apple pie! 

I thought I overfilled it, so I removed some of the filling prior to baking. Good to know for the future. And I chose not to cover the top with a full layer of pie crust because I didn't have a rolling pin or enough time. And yes, a few tiny portions are perhaps a little crisp. But all in all, it was delicious and made me happy to eat. I firmly believe that in baking items like this, an 80% success is a complete success. It improves from there, and it's still edible and mostly pretty!

Hopefully tonight I'll be finishing our first DIY nursery art project so I can show you in the morning. 

Happy Wednesday!

icj,

~j

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this says it all

Everything is great, just been one of those weeks you wish you never lived through. Nothing catastrophic, just sour. I think this says it all. See Jenny's full post here for the sweetest Halloween homes.

icj,
j

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autumn audobon

Do you have a place you can get to within minutes and feel like you're away from it all? With everything we've been doing to prepare for Ace's official "arrival," with our work schedules and other events, we desperately needed an afternoon for our couple selves. Something where we weren't working on the house, weren't really spending a ton of money ($6 total), and could actually expend energy rather than take it in.


We have one a few special places within a 45 minute drive, but one very special place just up the road.

The Audobon. Only 2 miles up the road. A pretty road, with wealthy old houses to look at on the way. We wanted to get out before the baby "arrives," before the colors are lost, before the cold snap snaps us. And autumn is really one of the best times of the year, whether you're a summer or winter buff. I prefer the winter, and Hawk prefers the summer, so this is the one time of year we're both really happy.

Shot looking down into one of the small ravines.

A selfie. I seriously look best in selfies. I'm not saying I look great. Just that in every other photo? Not so much. So on a scale, these are my best. Maybe because I'm partially hidden:)

Small creek...

Very fun bridge down into a ravine and back up the other side.

Ohhh, yellow...

We found this over-turned tree. I was joking about how Sleepy Hollow it looks. My first pose was much more appropriate, but Hawk said I looked stupid. He was probably right. But it would have been funny. We want Ace to think we're funny. 

Love this! So many of the trees had a sort of shading effect, moving from bright yellow to deep oranges and reds near the branch tips.

Oh, it's like a couple of leaves. As in a "couple," like a dating relationship. (I'm a dork).

The Audobon main building is swell. We've been to a couple of weddings there, and I like how simple it is.

After a bit more walking, we encountered a very nice, though perhaps overly thorough kind stranger who encouraged us to hit the look-out tower. We found it pretty fast. So here's me endangering our unborn child checking out the view by climbing way too high and standing near a solid railing above the tree line.

Notice how the railing is much more suited for my safety than for those tall people out there:

Pretty shot overlooking Lake Michigan.

And last but not least, turkeys. That's right folks, all around the Audobn, there are wild turkeys. This happened to be in someone's lawn at the edge of the park. They're bigger than they look here!

Hope this finds you well!

icj,

~j

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Fall, Farewell

photo by nocturna

Yikes! It's been a week since I last posted, and my google.analytics tells me that you're all still poppin' in to read the blog...and I've had little for you to find. 


Well, November is coming to a close. I have a few things on the horizon including a couple guest posts from my favorite bloggers, a snazzy little muffin recipe Hawk found and made for his coworkers' Thanksgiving smorgasboard party, the wedding shower favor Steph and I made Monday night, amongst others. 


And as I said, November is coming to a close. We're finally nearing winter(!), and I couldn't be more pleased. Hawk helped me pick out cozy boots that resemble the silly Ugg-fest my teenagers wear everywhere, but are thankfully more mature (trust me, I asked. Given that I look like a teenager, I need to encourage public opinion to the contrary). So now I can walk to work in style and comfort. And warmth. No more work trousers (yes, I said trousers) dragging on the sidewalk... {Aren't they adorable, Mama?}

Back to November coming to a close. Here are our final images of autumn. I sincerely wish autumn would take a little longer to expire...


We have a large back yard. A couple of weeks ago when the weather was surprisingly temperate, Hawk and I gave a weekend to fall cleaning. We raked,

I shot two last photos of the previously-considered-hideous bushes between our house and driveway, which during fall appear vibrant and beautiful,

especially this little fella:

Feeling so grateful I live in such a quaint, front-yard community,

Cleaning out all my old clothes,

While watching Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boreman traverse two hemispheres on motorbikes,

Wishing I could buy this instead of sort my clothing,

But we know that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, so we later hit our first Marquette game with very good friends in particularly excellent seats

mourned yet another Aaron-Rodgers-and-the-defense-from-hell loss to the Vikings, where at least we got to eat great chili (Wendy's recipe!)

and laugh at the staredown between Buddy & Jack,

That last one is a keeper.  Thank you for not giving up on me despite my absence!

Next post: Muffins!

icj,

~j

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Behind & Before You

Behind...
So I'm a little behind in posting about paint. I'll get there, I promise! A reader from Las Vegas has been asking for more pics of our house and now that the first level is clean and semi-decorated, I'll be posting more of those.


Before...
It's autumn and today in WFB, it is gloomy. Quite appropriate for late October. Rainy. Dark. Overcast. Cold. And I love it! I think it's my eastern European & Scottish roots--I've never been one for a week of sunshine, I find that very boring. Hawk wholeheartedly disagrees and thinks we should move to North Carolina. Don't they have hurricanes? (any readers from NC?)


So in honor of this weather and our recent housewarming weekend, I'm including a few great finds from my favorite "little" shop: Etsy. I purchased as much as possible from this shop for our wedding, including all my jewelry, and I'm scanning anew it for home decor. If I could, I'd snatch up one of these little numbers.


First, the wreath the conveys today's October day--bright & strawlike against a dark but cozy backdrop:

toinspireyou

Next, a fun wreath that takes the typical and gives it a slightly celebratory feel (shiny, pretty, Yay! come inside!)

KypresjackDesigns

And my personal favorite, perhaps in part because of the door:

thekeepershouse

Watch out, if you check out Etsy, you'll find yourself an addict...

icj,

~j

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