pumpkin eller pumpa

Pumpkin is on my mind. It's on my mind...a lot. I went on a wild goose chase the other weekend for canned pumpkin. Yea, that ended up as a nervous breakdown thinking ''how can I celebrate fall without pumpkin!?''. But as luck would have it, I have one of the best moms in the whole world. She is my pumpkin savor. Thank you, mom!

So I got off work early on Tuesday and decided to go all out. I boiled up some cider vinegar and plums, started on a pumpkin yeast dough, and started a pot of coffee. How did all of this end up...

Plum Pork Tenderloin

1 lb. pork tenderloin

1\2 c. apple cider vinegar

1\2 c. brown sugar

1\2 tsp. cinnamon

1\4 tsp. salt

1\4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1\8 tsp each ground cloves, cardamom and allspice

1 pork tenderloin (1 pound)

1\2 tsp. pepper

In a sauce pan bring pitted and halved plums and cider to a boil. Let simmer of medium heat for 10 minutes.

Take away from heat and let cool. Pour into a blender and pulse until smooth. Now you can either strain or leave it a bit chunky. Depends on how you like your sauce.

Place back into the pan and add brown sugar and all spices (except pepper). Bring to a boil then reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes occassionally stirring.

Place pork tenderloin in a crock pot or a pan and pour half of the sauce over and then sprinkle with pepper.

In a crock pot cook on low for about 2 hours occassionally basting. If in an oven bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes.

Serve over rice with saved sauce.

Tastes just like fall!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

1\3 c. milk

2 Tbsp. butter

1\2 c. canned pumpkin

2 Tbsp. sugar

1\4 tsp nutmeg

1 1\2 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice

1\2 tsp. salt

1 beaten egg

1 package dry yeast

2 c. flour

1\2 c. packed brown sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 Tbsp. melted butter

In a small bowl, microwave milk and butter until luke warm.

In a large bowl combine, pumpkin, sugar, nutmet, pumpkin pie spice and salt.

Add milk mixture, then beat in egg and yeast.

Add half the flour and mix for 4-5 minutes. Add the rest of the flour.

Place sticky dough in a lightly greased bow and let rise until doubled. (What I do, because I don't have a large microwave, I pre heat the oven at about 100 degrees while I am preparing the dough, then turn it off and put the bowl in).

Once doubled, place dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out in a 10x12 in. square.

Brush with melted butter and then sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon on top.

Roll from the long side.

I used fishing line to cut roll into 12 equal rolls. Super easy.

Place in a prepared 11x17 in. pan. and let almost double in size.

Once doubled bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

OMG, these are good. I love the orangey color and holy moly, they smell good from beginning to end!

Pumpkin spice coffee

I started with an entire mix of ''pumpkin milk''.

1. c milk

1\4 c. canned pumpkin

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. all spice

2 tsp. pumpkin spice

3 Tbsp. sugar

1. tsp. vanilla

I brewed a very strong pot of pumpkin flavored coffee with cinnamon sprinkled ontop of the coffee grounds.

Poured into a glass and added about 3 Tbsp. pumpkin milk and topped off with whipped cream and a little sprinkle of nutmeg. Yea, I almost cried it tasted so good.

Last weekend we celebrated Fredrik's birthday and my birthday with Fred's family. What a wonderful family he has, and now, I have. They are fantastic, kind, fun, loving and just plain amazing. We received some really nice presents and had a really cozy time with them!

In Sweden it is very typical to make your own cake for your birthday. So I made my never fail vanilla cake with butter cream\cream cheese\whipped cream frosting. Yea, it's so good. Unfortunately my decorating skills aren't up to par at 7 am (when I woke up Saturday morning to decorate it). So it's a little bit pathetic, but hey, it tasted fantastic.

We also got to spend some time with Lukas and Agnes, which always make me happy!

I'm a sucker for their big blue eyes!

I also took pictures of logs. Swedish logs are everywhere right now, and they smell good!

This weekend I have no idea what Fred has planned for my birthday. But I am not allowed to make plans for Saturday night. So we will see! Turning 25 feels like a big deal and I don't know why. I guess because in Sweden it is sort of a ''big birthday''. They haven't had a ''big birthday'' since the 20th birthday (the drinking age here). So maybe that is why. But as one of my friends put it I will be ''a quarter of a century old''. Yikes!

Happy Fall Ya'll!

let's talk about pizza, fall and a baby.

This is an almost typical Swedish pizza. This is actually a "family size" but a completely normal pizza would look much the same. Thin, minimal cheese and sauce. Maximum grease. It doesn't look that appetizing, but oh man, it's delicious. I do miss our deep dish, super cheesey, monster pizza's, which are pre-sliced. Yes, in Sweden you have to pay extra to get your pizza sliced. What? Yea, I duno.

Swedish pizza shops have more toppings and options than any American pizza parlor. They have some weird combo's too. Kebab pizza. Lamb meat, salad, cucumbers, tomatoes and garlic sauce. Sometimes you can put french fries on it too. Yea...

My personal favorite is mozarella, parmesan ham and pesto. Yum.

Now this is a super easy pizza that I made myself. Puff pastry with spagetti sauce, cheese, oregano and basil. I usually just put whatever I find in my fridge that suits my fancy. Super easy recipe today! Try it, you won't be sad!

Onto cuter things. How adorable is this bundle of fall goodness. Spent the day with my 2 and a half month old nephew today. Lukas. I love him.

Mr. Josefsson loves him too.

And we love walks in the fall with our fancy Nikon camera.

I love updating my blog from our new fancy computer, too. So easy and goes much faster! Thanks Mr. Josefsson for letting me steal the computer for a few minutes every few days!

Also, today one of my friends from childhood is getting married! Laura and Jake have been together since high shcool, through a long army stay in Germany and now they are going to be happily married! I love them both and they deserve an absolutely perfect, beautiful wedding day!