Runs on Coffee and Cream

As a mood reader, the fall season makes me want to deep dive into fantasy books. Something about the dark, fantasy universes fit with the cozy fall season. I also decided to throw in a fall-themed romance book because the title won me over and I can't scroll social media without seeing the book cover. This is my fall book list. 

Are we all rewatching Gilmore Girls again now that fall is here?! I'm halfway through season 1 AGAIN. It's my comfort show and I could honestly have it on constantly. It's crazy that I'm now older that Lorelai when the show started...

Yes, I know it's still August, but I'm already in the fall and Halloween mood. The weather has cooled a bit, Pumpkin Spice Lattes arrive this week at Starbucks, and Homesense is full of fall decor. I can feel my body relaxing as I slowly turn into my cozy basic self. 

Costumes are slowly arriving in stores and Halloween t-shirts and pajamas are popping up too. There are some really cute shirts available for the whole family - from subtle prints to large graphics. 

Before winter is 'officially' here and we get caught up in Christmas, I thought I'd share a bit about our fall. It was a whirlwind full of colds, adjusting to a school routine, a wedding and all things pumpkin!

Fall is upon us! Pumpkin everything is everywhere and Halloween decorations are popping up. I recently received an email from Davids Tea about their new collection and I'm in LOVE. 

The weather changed very quickly here. One day it was summer and the next day we had to dig out our pants because the weather had turned cool. I'm not going to lie, I'm loving it. September is the beginning of my favourite seasons - fall through Christmas. 

The evenings and nights are quite cold already. I'm finding myself pulling out hoodies to wear on the couch and warmer flannel pajamas for bedtime. With cool evenings comes hot drinks while I watch TV or work on the computer. Since I'm no longer pregnant and avoiding herbal teas, I've been drinking through my tea collection. I thought I'd share my favourite hot teas to drink during the cooler months.

Have you ever had banana pancakes? A few friends kept making them and posting them on their Instagram so I finally asked for the recipe and it seems everyone makes them slightly different. Most people try to avoid adding too many grains to them or they try to make them Keto-friendly. But I wasn't necessarily interested in these pancakes to avoid too many carbs, but for something different for breakfast. Especially because at this point Emma was eating finger foods and I thought she'd like these.

Last fall and winter I was pregnant which meant I avoided a lot of treats that could be bad for a pregnant lady (deli meats, unpasteurized treats, highly caffeinated drinks). I avoided apple cider for the most part because typically fresh apple cider is unpasteurized. Now, not all apple cider is unpasteurized; a lot sold in grocery stores actually have the word 'pasteurized' on their jugs. But I just avoided buying it out of the convenience of not having to look for that word on the packaging when grocery shopping.

October is here and the weather is perfect! I'm back to wearing oversized sweaters, chunky knit socks, and drinking all the hot drinks my body can handle. I love this time of year.

This cool weather makes me want to bake. I have a huge list of things I want to try baking this month and I hope I have time to make most of them.

One thing I had an urge to make was fall-decorated sugar cookies. Now, I'm not a huge fan of sugar cookies. They are an absolute pain to make and they're just not my favourite cookie to eat. Adam, however, loves them and they are fun to decorate. So I usually make them once or twice a year. I had some fall sprinkles that I wanted to use so I made a batch of sugar cookies.


The icing and sprinkles were definitely the best part of these cookies. I almost didn't want to eat them because they looked so cute.


Sugar cookie dough works for me sometimes and other times it frustrates me. Because it worked so well this time, I might try my hand at another batch closer to Christmas. Plus, that means I can buy more sprinkles!



What do you plan on baking in October?
xo Jen

Happy fall! Well, it was yesterday but still, it's officially fall!

Want to make a delicious, chewy pumpkin cookie for fall? Check out this easy recipe!


As usual, I used a recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction. Seriously, her recipes are amazing and I know I can trust that they'll work out.


Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 heaping teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (see my previous post for the breakdown of pumpkin pie spice)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup butter - melted (I used 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce, 1/2 cup butter)
1/4 cup dark molasses
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups add-ins (chocolate chips, dried cranberries, nuts, etc.)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease baking sheets.
2. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt together. Fold in oats.
3. Melt butter in medium size bowl and mix in molasses, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Once combined, mix in egg. Add pumpkin and vanilla and mix until just combined.
4. Pour wet mix into dry ingredients and mix. The dough will be quite thick. Once combined, fold in your add-ins. I used mini chocolate chips.
5. Scoop cookie dough onto baking sheets. I used a heaping tablespoon for each cookie.
6. Bake for 13-15 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet or you will end up ripping the cookies apart when trying to move them to a wire rack.


These cookies are super yummy! Very pumpkin-y and the bit of chocolate just adds to it. It's a nice combination.

I'm lucky because Adam's not a huge fan of pumpkin. He eats it and he'll pretty much eat any cookie in front of him. But he doesn't LOVE pumpkin. So he's been leaving these cookies for me and just having the odd one. That's definitely a sign of love! So all the pumpkin for me... or at least most of it!


Definitely give this recipe a try! I love that you can change up the mix-ins too. Dried cranberries and white chocolate chips would be a nice add-in.

I'm now off to enjoy this cool, rainy fall day!

xo Jen

It's bake all the pumpkin things season! The cans of pumpkin puree sold here are gigantic so I always have to be prepared to make a bunch of different recipes once I open a can.

The can I opened made:
- 4 pumpkin flavoured overnight oats
- 3 pumpkin greek yogurts
- batch of pumpkin spice muffins
- batch of pumpkin cookies
- approx. 1/2 cup leftover to make my own pumpkin spice lattes

I bought another can of pumpkin puree the other day so I'll be making more pumpkin recipes over the next couple of weeks including pumpkin biscotti.


Today I'm sharing the pumpkin spice muffins recipe I made. I found it on Pinterest via Princess Pinky Girl. They turned out amazing! Needless to say I froze half the batch and the other half disappeared in a few days between Adam and myself. They were perfect to pair with a coffee in the morning.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used unsweetened applesauce)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree

Topping:
1/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup unsalted butter - melted


Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a large bowl mix together applesauce (or oil), sugars, eggs, vanilla extract, and pumpkin puree.
4. Mix the flour mixture into pumpkin mixture until there's no lumps.
5. Spoon the batter into the muffin liners. The batter made 12 muffins.
6. Bake in oven for 17-22 minutes (mine took 20 minutes) or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.
7. For the topping, mix sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.
8. Dip the top of each muffin into melted butter and then dip into the cinnamon sugar bowl. Shake off excess.
9. Place on plate. Enjoy while butter is still warm and sticky or let them cool and dry.


So pumpkin pie spice... I know it's not available everywhere. I don't always have it on hand. I tend to run out so I make my own.

Pumpkin Pie Spice:
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves


These muffins are the perfect amount of sweetness. The muffin part itself isn't overly sweet, just a nice blend of pumpkin spice so the sugar-cinnamon topping is a perfect bit of sweetness to the muffin.

I'll share my pumpkin cookies recipe next and then I'll be trying out pumpkin biscotti for the first time!

xo Jen

It's been a while since I sat down and wrote anything. September is in full swing and it feels like fall is around the corner. The weather has cooled significantly and the stores are filled with all things pumpkin.

The summer flew by with visits to Hamilton and having company come up to stay with us. It was an exceptionally hot summer. There were heat warnings almost weekly. So both Emma and myself spent a lot of days in light cotton, bare minimal clothing while we hung out at home. I didn't want to overheat her and because she's still too young for sunscreen, we can only spend so much time at the beach.

I originally thought we'd spend a ton of time outside this summer. It was the first summer with Emma and the first summer in this house. I had fantasies of kiddie pools and dinners at a patio table. But again, too hot and Emma is still too young for sunscreen and to sit by herself. We still had fun though and spent some time outside in small intervals.


If anything, I felt like I had gotten into quite the routine and flow with Emma. Things felt 'easy' the past couple of months, if you will. But this month has brought on a new challenge... it's time to introduce her to solid foods. So far it's been a fun process but I feel like I'm doing way more research than I should have to about foods and purees and recipes, etc. Once we have her 6 month check up, I'm hoping to feel better when I can ask the doctor some questions.



As usual I've embraced fall with open arms. A break from the heat plus pumpkin spice lattes make fall such a lovely welcome.

I've been busy baking pumpkin things already and I've had more pumpkin spice lattes than I care to count (I'm making up for last year when I was pregnant...). It's our first fall with Emma but what do you do with a 6-8 month old in the fall? She's too young for pumpkin picking and to eat a Thanksgiving meal. Besides dressing her up for Halloween and some fall walks, I can't think of anything else we can do as a family for the fall season.


I'll be sure to share my successful pumpkin recipes on here. And if you don't follow me on Instagram already, you can see random pics of cats and babies and sweets @sparklegirljen since I post more regularly on there.


Have a great day!
xo Jen

Fall is great for all the yummy limited edition food!

Bath and Body Works is my weakness all year round but their cold-weather scents (pumpkin, apple, peppermint) are my absolute favourite.

I finally purchased Movie Night tea from Davids Tea and I love it!

Coffee all the time to keep me warm.

Smoothie from Tutti Fruitti

Sour Pumpkin Saison that was so tasty!

Now that fall is over I'm officially in the holiday spirit! My house is almost completely decorated for Christmas, a good chunk of my gifts have been purchased, and I'm starting my baking list this week to plan out all the holiday cookies I want to bake.

How's November been treating you?
xo Jen

I've been a busy bee and trying hard to keep up with my books, television shows, and new movies. It's been tough trying to balance everything though.

Gwen Stefani

I was obsessed with Gwen's new album back in the summer but my love for it was reignited recently. It puts me in a great mood and I find myself belting out to the songs whenever I can. It's definitely become my go-to album when I need to lift my spirits, find energy to clean, or want to dance around.


The Mindy Project

The newest season of The Mindy Project has been airing this fall and I'm loving the story line.
*SPOILERS*

They've changed things up a bit in the love department for Mindy and I'm a fan! The actor playing Ben was on One Tree Hill for a while. I loved his character on One Tree Hill and he's just as sweet on The Mindy Project. I love how this show has evolved since airing on Hulu. And can I please move into Mindy's apartment?!?

Source

What are you loving lately?
xo Jen

It's the weekend before Halloween! Time for pumpkins, mini candy bars, and dressing up!

To celebrate this holiday, I put together some of my favourite Halloween things right now:


Clockwise from top left:
1. Spell on Wheels - a new comic book series that just sounds absolutely fantastic. It's described as "Supernatural meets Buffy and The Craft".
2. Dark Night Leggings - I think this pattern from Sweet Legs is gorgeous and would be perfect to wear with a witch costume and then with every dress I own.
3. Haunted Castle Mug - Davids Tea released a great Halloween collection this year and I'm so loving the Haunted Castle mug and travel mug.
4. Current Mood: Halloween Pullover - As usual Look Human has some fun Halloween-inspired designs which are perfect for this time of year. I would definitely wear this sweater throughout October.

What tops your favourite Halloween things now?
xo Jen

Our lawn is full of giant mushrooms right now.

We finally had a bonfire in our yard and ate s'mores!

Seymore's nightly ritual.

Latte date at Kuppajo Espresso Bar with Adam.

Golden trees are all over the neighbourhood right now.

My table at Northern Game Expo last weekend.

Wearing my Pac-man leggings at Northern Game Expo.

How's October been for you?
xo Jen

We were able to squeeze in a hike at Laurentian Conservation Area last week. It was a bit overcast out but the temperature was perfect. I love our yearly tradition of going for fall hikes here because the colours of the trees are just gorgeous.








Leaves are falling like crazy right now and I know the trees will be bare soon and then winter will be right around the corner. I find fall is super short here because winter tends to arrive early so we try to make the most out of the fall weather. We're hoping to squeeze in one more hike at a new park before snow shows up.... yes, snow because I know it's not far off.

xo Jen