I think it’s safe to say that it’s quite obvious why I’m posting this Flavors To Follow today, we’re in the middle of fall where pumpkin patches and cider mills are  in full force.  I’ve not always been a huge fan of orange, but I have always been a huge fan of pumpkin flavored foods!  But don’t worry, the color orange is really growing on my lately since I’m seeing it all over.  So here are some fabulous finds for this week, and a special thanks to Brandi from Not Your Average Ordinary for sending me some of these!  If you ever have Flavors To Follow ideas or links for me, don’t hesitate to contact me about them!

1 keep your lips moisturized with some pumpkin spice lip balm by natures lip stuff
2 learn how to make a cute pumpkin cupcake on hoosier homemade
3 delicious pumpkin spice latte cheesecake by sprinkle bakes? yes please!
4 give a pumpkin pie card made by friends again
5 spice up a cup of hot cocoa with these  pumpkin spice marshmallows by sweet lydias
6 decorate with elegant lace cut out pumpkins seen on happiness is…
7 send a note to a loved one with a vintage harvest card set by georgianna lane
8 learn how to make a fall pumpkin book by craftberry bush on love stiched
9 jump into fall with this beautiful typographic fall pumpkin print by i shoot nouns
10 and finally make your own fabric pumpkin with thompson family-life’s tutorial seen on yellow songbird

Did you know that my etsy shop is being featured in yellow songbird’s blogiversary giveaway party, yay!  I’m giving away some of my NEW items that I’ll be posting in my shop soon!  Here’s a look at what you could win!  Click here to hop on over to enter!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!  I’m pretty much just going to be relaxing, crafting and baking the whole time.  And we’re finally getting AT&T U-verse, exciting!!

CUPCAKE LOVERS! Have you entered my GIVEAWAY for three sets of moonbeamwishes cards yet?

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I don’t usually do Sunday blog posts, but I thought this was the perfect recipe for a lazy Sunday!

*BEWARE OF DROOL*

A few weeks ago, I had an immense craving for sweet potatoes.  But not just plain sweet potatoes, I wanted Sweet Potato Bread.  My first instinct was to check Allrecipes and to my excitement I found the perfect recipe!  And the reason I am posting it here, is because it is MOIST, DELICIOUS, SEMI-HEALTHY, AND PERFECT FOR AUTUMN!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 cup cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup golden raisins (I left these out because I didn’t have any)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F ( 165 degrees C ). Grease an 8×4 inch loaf pan.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg cinnamon, and sugar. Add the eggs, oil, and milk; mix until well blended. Finally, stir in the mashed sweet potatoes, pecans, and golden raisins. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow bread to cool in the pan at least 15 minutes before removing. For best flavor, store overnight before serving.

For the DOG LOVER, we still have the scratch and sniff custom dog silhouette print giveaway going on~!!  Make sure to head on over to this post and enter if you haven’t already!

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One of my favorite things about home ownership is the fact that we have a yard, and in that yard we can grow whatever we want!  A tiny basil plant picked up at a Farmer’s Market a few months ago has turned into this!!

We decided to hang the basil to dry so that it would be one less spice container that we need to purchase!  I just love this photo which I’ll be linking up to…

And to go along with it, I came up with two fabulous recipes where the basil really adds a nice kick of flavor!  We’re still happily eating the leftovers!

Caprese Salad

Ingredients


2 large tomatoes
1 package mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon basil
Pinch of salt and pepper

Directions

1. Slice tomato and mozzarella cheese into 1/4 inch thick rounds.
2. Layer tomato and mozzarella on serving plate.
3. Mix together olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Pour mixture over tomato and mozzarella.
4. Sprinkle basil on top.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Mushroom Flatbread with Cheese and Herbs

Ingredients

3 mini pizza crusts (pre-packaged)
8 oz. assorted shitake mushrooms, cleaned and cut
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1/2 medium onion, sliced
2 tablespoons basil pesto sauce
4 oz. romano cheese
3 oz. goat cheese
1 tablespoon thyme
caprese salad from above, cut (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Heat skillet over medium high heat.  Add olive oil, garlic, and onions.  Stir in mushrooms and season with salt and pepper.
3. Spread basil pesto sauce on pizza crusts and sprinkle on romano cheese.
4. Add mushroom mixture to pizza crusts as well as goat cheese.
5. Sprinkle thyme on top.
6. I felt like adding the chopped caprese salad mixture on top (tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, balsamic vinegar). It added more dimension and taste to the flatbreads.
7. Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

What is your favorite recipe that contains basil?  I still have a lot left so I can sure use some more ideas!

*SIGH* I just heart you all!  You, my blog friends, make my world (and my husband and my coworkers and my friends worlds) soooo much yummier!  I’m a huge advocate of finding new recipes to concoct.  There’s nothing more boring than eating the same foods over and over again (trust me, that was totally me a few years ago).  So yes, I scour books, magazines, allrecipes.com, other online recipe websites, but what I really love trying is my BLOG FRIENDS’ RECIPES!  Why do I love trying your recipes, because I totally and completely trust you, your expertise and opinions!    Can I get “Awww”?!?  So here’s just a few of the things I’ve made recently…

1) Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread by

I didn’t get to take a picture of the one I made, but let me tell you, it was gobbled up by my coworkers in a matter of minutes!  This picture is taken from Chelsea’s blog, she has some very unique and delicious recipes on there all the time, so you must follow her if you love food!

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2) Fresh Corn and Avocado Salad by Happiness Is…

The perfect refreshing Summer salad!

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3) German Pancakes by

first seen on

I changed things up a bit and baked the pancakes in mini muffin tins.  As for topping I used:
a) maple syrup and powdered sugar b) peanut butter and honey c) strawberry jam

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4) Beanless Chili Cheese Dip by Much Love Illy

One day I sent out a twitter message asking for a good appetizer recipe and this is what I got back from Ilene @muchloveilly: beanless chili at the bottom of a pan, cream cheese, and LOTS of cheese. bake for 250 degrees, 7-9 min. absolute heaven!

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5) Cake Mix Ice Cream Sandwiches by Small Burst

Took this picture right before freezing!  My husband’s favorite flavor of ice cream is mint chocolate chip so he was very pleased with this treat!  We still have some frozen ones in our freezer! 

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Thanks again to Chelsea, Shannon, Dee Dee, Megan + Kristin, Ilene and Gena for sharing these recipes!  Hope that the rest of you get to try out these recipes sometime!

I was never really a fan of spicy food until I met my husband, and seeing that a lot of Indian food is generally spicy, I was never really a fan… until a few years back when I met Chicken Tikka Masala, nom nom!  And now, every time I go to an Indian restaurant, which isn’t THAT often, no fail, I will order Chicken Tikka Masala + Garlic Naan.  When I’ve gone to buffets, I’ve had Tandoori Chicken, Lamb Vindaloo, Saag Paneer… but of course, I am not satisfied until I get my Chicken Tikka Masala.  So I figured, since I LOVE this dish so much, why not try and make it??  And lucky for me, my favorite online recipe site, allrecipes.com, had a 4.5/5 rated Chicken Tikka Masala recipe posted, and let me tell you, it is WORTH a try, a la mode promise!  The recipe below has been adapted because I chose not to grill it, but rather just mix it in a saucepan.

Chicken Marinade Ingredients