Family Photo Shoot

This past week a couple friends of mine asked if I could help them out by doing a family photoshoot. They have a son who is 2 and are expecting a daughter in a couple of months, so it was the perfect time to slip in a little shoot before things get too hectic. The weather was gorgeous, we went to the pumpkin patch, and I think some of the photos turned out amazing despite the fact that I was using a new camera that I've never tried before and there was no auto focus!! I thought I'd share them here today. 

Roasted Garlic and Butternut Squash Soup

I remember the first time I tried butternut squash soup. I was in highschool and it was the soup special of the day. I was on a huge soup kick at the time and a vegetarian so I figured I'd try it, I mean, it had butter in the name, how bad could it be? It was love at first bite, and it's been one of my favorite soups ever since. 

This soup turned out super delicious! The garlic added a nice harvest-y touch and the sour cream made it just tart enough to be refreshing. I definitely recommend you give it a go whether you just have a butternut squash laying around, or if you have the yearning to eat for the season!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 large butternut squash
• olive oil
• 1 large onion
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1-2 cups vegetable broth

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cut squash in half and scoop out the insides.
2. Pull all the layers off the outside of a head of garlic and cut 1/2 cm off the top of the entire head.
3. Drizzle oil over the entire squash and into the head of garlic.
4. Bake at 425 F for 45 minutes to an hour, or until soft with pushed with a fork.
5. While the squash is cooking, sautee one large onion.
6. Scoop the squash out of its shell when it is cool enough to handle and into a blender or food processor. Add the sauteed onion and remove the shells from the garlic cloves and blend them all together until smooth. *if you like the texture of squash, feel free to leave a portion of the squash unblended.*
7. Transfer the contents into a large soup pot and simmer on medium low, adding all of the spices.
8. Stir sour cream into soup shortly before serving. *I usually add more sour cream to my individual bowl;)*
9. Enjoy!

Let me know if you give it a try, or if you have any great suggestions!
Thanks for reading :)

XO_BITS

I'm Feeling 22, Scared and Thankful

October 21 officially marks the beginning of my last month as a 22 year old. That means I can only sing "22" for 30 more days and then *poof* I'll be 23. It's okay though, T Swift herself isn't 22 anymore. So there.

 Anywho, this weekend was a bit of a tough one for me. My lovely roommate Abraham left our little town to go get his car which is about 10 hours north east in a town called Revelstoke. It's kind of a long story about how it got there, but the fact remains that he had to go retrieve it, or at least deal with it so that he could stop paying over $100 a month insurance on a car he isn't even driving. We went on a mini road trip to drop him off at the main highway. He's hitch hiking up there to get it, and has brought barely any resources with him in terms of money and food. He's one of those- do it now, deal with the consequences later- kinda guy.

 All in all it makes me worried and a bit sad, I hate saying goodbye, even when it's only temporary. I mean, I know he'll be fine, but all this uncertainty is just unsettling. But then again, I think this is all part of our early 20's. We don't know where we fit in this world, what our roll is supposed to be in it. Sometimes you just have to spread your wings and get out there and feel something new, something raw. Sometimes I wish we could just skip past this scary, mysterious part of life and head straight into full 30 year old adulthood, but the thought of that scares me almost more.

In other news, while I was driving Aber out to the main highway, being all sad and whatnot, my DIY No-Sew Fox Ears pin got repinned 100 times, the blog post itself viewed almost 500 times in one weekend. That, my friends, is a wonderful feeling. It makes me incredibly happy to know that I am creating something inspirational. So thank you so much for reading this little blog I have started. It really fills me with joy, and helps me forget that my dear friend is fending for himself out there in the wild.

I think I'll just try and enjoy this last month as much as possible. And look for a new song about being 23 hehe.

Thanks so much for reading- I mean it.
XO_BITS

A Nearly Disastrous, Yet Succulent Occasion...

I had this planter on my back porch that held an array of succulents and that was accidentally broken this week. After a short panic that I had no suitable planters, I remembered that I have been planning to use eggshells as mini planters for propagating succulents. I figured they would work perfectly for the poor little succulents that had just been uprooted and really in need of a new home. It's getting a little cold out anyway, and as most of them are still pretty little, it's probably a good thing that I was forced to find them a new home. You know, silver lining.

 

I had one globe light fixture laying around to use for the bigger plants, and the little ones fit perfectly in their new homes. I'm still going to propagate some of my other succulents though. If you don't know what propagating is, it's basically a process that involves removing all of the individual leaves of one succulent plant, and creating new little plants out of each one of them. Succulents are amazing that way, an entire new plant can be grown from one little leaf. It literally enables you to multiply your garden without spending any money. Add some cute planters and you have amazing gifts too! 

I'm happy they are all okay, or at least seem to be so far. I've moved them inside to a new home at the windowsill next to this lovely lady:

They seem like the perfect match! I hope I my new windowsill garden will remind me to get on some propagation this weekend! Is that even a word? I dunno. I do know that the weather has been absolutely gorgeous on the west coast lately, I'm thrift shopping for costume bits tomorrow, and I got to get to a pumpkin patch stat!

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you all have marvelous weekends!
XO_BITS

FREE DOWNLOAD: Autumn Wallpapers!

Today was a good day. I cleaned my house, I drank a homemade pumpkin spice latte, I ate sushi with Joel, and I watched the leaves fall from the trees outside my apartment. It was the perfect fall day: cloudy skies, a little windy, leaves falling everywhere. I got the autumn flutters. They inspired me to make some autumn wallpapers to share. So here they are, four wallpapers for screens everywhere to remind you of what's going on outside, while you sit bundled with a latte and some netflix.

CLICK ON THE IMAGE YOU WISH TO DOWNLOAD TO GET FULL RESOLUTION:

*Sigh* Autumn has got to be the coziest time of the year <3 Enjoy!

XO_BITS

Happiness is a Warm (pumpkin spice) Latte

Coffee in the morning. Probably one of my favorite parts of life. Add some homemade pumpkin spice latte syrup and I will never have to leave home! Seriously though, this syrup is absolutely amazing-- so pumpkiny but not too bitter and the perfect amount of sweet and spice. I got the recipe over at A Beautiful Mess. Those ladies seriously know how to put a smile on my face.

SPICES:

NOT SHOWN: The ABM girls also suggest using 1/2 tsp ground ginger, I didn't have any

OTHER INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups Water
• 4 heaping tbsp Pumpin Puree

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine all ingredients in a small pot allowing all the spices and sugars to dissolve. Continue to cook at lowish-medium heat for about 5 minutes without allowing the mixture to boil.
2. The ABM girls suggest straining your mixture through a fine metal mesh sieve, I don't have anything of the sort and tried to use muslin but it was just too fine so I just left it chunky. It hasn't bothered me yet but I'll probably leave the bottom inch of the bottle unused where all the chunks settled.
3. Put in an airtight container and store in the fridge. The ABM girls suggest that it will stay fresh for about 2 weeks in the fridge.

NOW FOR THE LATTE PART:

I don't have an espresso machine so I had to get creative for this part. I fill my mug about half-full with milk and put it in the microwave for a minute (you can also use the stove top if microwaves freak you out). When it's all hot I add about a tablespoon of the syrup and whisk it all good so it gets foamy. Meanwhile I brew a nice strong pot of coffee. Then I top off my half-full foamy mug of pumpkin milk with the strong coffee while continuing to whisk. YUM. Pumpkin Perfection.

I love this spice, it's almost perfect (probably would  be if I had ginger haha). I think it would probably also taste good with milk and Kahlua for a Thanksgiving drink! Don't forget to visit A Beautiful Mess to see all of the other amazing projects they come up with.

Thanks for reading, let me know if this works for you, or if you have any other pumpkin spice tricks up your sleeve that you're willing to share!

Also I updated my About page if you wanted to check it out ;)

XO_BITS

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Okay so, before I start telling you how to make these, you should first know that I am by no means any sort of a professional, as a matter of fact, this was my first try at making pumpkin cupcakes. I just follow rules fairly well (edit: after writing the ingredients I realized I don't actually follow rules very well, but these still turned out great... so just follow your heart.) And you can too! And then we can be novice bakers who make delicious pumpkin cupcakes together! YAY!

I pinned this recipe the other day from The Spiced Life, who strongly based the recipe on  Martha Stewart's Cupcakes. That's how you know it's gonna be delicious, Martha doesn't muck about!

CUPCAKE INGREDIENTS:

• 4 cups flour (The Spiced Life recommends 'Cake Flour', I don't know what that is and used regular flour)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon (She recommends Ceylon Cinnamon, but I ain't that fancy)
• 1 tbsp ground ginger (I skipped this and it was still delicious)
• 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg (She recommends fresh, ain't nobody got time for that)
• 1/2 ground cloves
• 1 cup butter, room temperature. (She actually recommends using unsalted butter and then adding "1 tsp of finely ground sea salt, but I just skipped the salt and used regular butter and they are delish)
• 2 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup full fat buttermilk
• 1 1/2 cans pumpkin puree (The recipe actually calls for 1 1/2 cups of canned puree.. I thought it said 1 1/2 cans, so I added about 600 ml which is actually over two cups.... but I promise they turned out perfect!)

FROSTING INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup butter (again, she recommends unsalted, I used salted)
• 16 oz cream cheese, room temp (16oz = 2 cups)
• 4 cups confectioners sugar (aka icing sugar)
• 1 tsp vanilla

These things are amazing, seriously NO cupcake is stuck to the liners when you remove them, it's magical 

INSTRUCTIONS: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line your muffin tins with liners, Spiced Life recommends spraying lined tins with a non-stick spray, I used Paper Chefs Parchment paper liners which are super non-stick so I skipped that step.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside.
3. Beat the butter until creamy with the spices. Add the brown sugar and beat until lightened and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. FYI I don't have a stand or hand mixer and did all of the mixing with my own arms.. okay I used Joel's arms. 
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla and beat that in.
5. Add the flour mixture in 4 additions, the buttermilk in 3 additions, alternating, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Keep the mixer speed at low for this. Or tell your bf to mix slower.
6. Add the pumpkin puree. Beat until just combined.
7. Fill the liners ¾ full. (It is fine if some of the batter needs to wait on the counter because you don’t have enough muffin pans for all of the cupcakes to bake at once.)
8. Bake for 15-18 minutes, rotating front to back and top to bottom halfway through. The cupcakes are ready when they are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean or with only a few crumbs attached.
9. Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for 5 minutes and then turn them out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
10. FROSTING: beat the softened butter and cream cheese until creamy and completely blended. Add the vanilla and beat in. Then add the powdered sugar, ½ cup at a time, beating until the frosting is creamy, somewhat fluffy.
11. Frost the completely cooled cupcakes. I added "Autumn Mix" candies to the top, which I found in the bulk section at my local Canadian Superstore.

Seriously, these turned out so delicious. Which is surprising to me now that I'm re-reading and realizing I did so much wrong! Perhaps it's an autumn miracle! No complaints here! Try these out my way, or follow the original  recipe with probably better results!

Happy Autumn everyone, and happy baking!

XO_BITS

Almost-Autumn Roasted Pototoes and Yams

Soo, I know it's not technically autumn yet. As a matter-of-fact I downright defend summer's last stand against all fall-faring naysayers! However, Joel loves yams. And yams are defs an autumn food. 

Which brings us to Almost-Autumn Roasted 'Tates. These bad boys are some of the best comfort food. But be warned! They will make your house smell like autumn, and you may find yourself going autumn-crazy just from the smell! Scarves! Boots! Pumpkin Spice Lattes! I swear I still love you summer... (I'd also like to take this time to apologize for the bad quality photos... my camera fell off the coffee table lens-first and is having a real hard time focusing. It's heartbreaking but I think it's just a lens issue.. which isn't soooo bad, so I'm using an iphone).