This giveaway is now closed. Congrats to Tania of Love Big Bake Often for the winning comment chosen through Random.org. Thanks for participating!

Today I am sharing a combination of two of my very favorite things with you!

You all know I love Instagram. In fact, I love Instagram so much people have started to take notice of my obsession. I’ve now had the opportunity to speak at conferences about my love for Instagram, which is kind of cool. Sharing my love for a platform that helps people capture and share the everyday life moments they come across in life makes me happy!

When my friend Sylvie from Gourmande in the Kitchen asked me to contribute to her Summer Photography Series with a post about how I use Instagram, I happily obliged. If you haven’t checked out Sylvie’s photography series, you must. I’m honored to be included among such talented people. I hope you’ll hop on over to my post on her blog to see what I have to share. But first, wait… read here about my 2nd love… Keepsy Photo Albums (and stay until the end for a 20% off discount code and giveaway!)

You know when people ask you the question… “If your house was on fire and you could only grab one thing, what would it be?” Well, if we weren’t including my family in the answer, my response would probably be my 2011 in an Instagram Keepsy photo album. This album of Instagram photos has quickly become one of my most prized possessions. What do I love so much about my Keepsy album? Well, let me tell you!…

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One bite was all it took for me to be sitting around our dining room table in my childhood home, nylons still on my feet, shoes off, my parents nagging at me that I’m ruining my nylons because I am not wearing shoes… “Do you know how much nylons cost? You are running around the house with them still on with no shoes, ruining them.”

Church had just gotten out and upon returning home, my mom had baked the wheat bread that had been rising while we were gone. Fresh from the oven, we all gathered around the table for the first slice. The first slice was always the best… smothered in her homemade honey butter and still warm to the touch. “Don’t ruin your lunch,” my mom would say. But she knew better. Attempting to keep us from ruining our lunch was fruitless. We couldn’t help ourselves. One slice simply was not enough and our family would eat her bread until we couldn’t take another bite. As often happened on those Sunday’s, a loaf of bread would be be our lunch.

These biscuits are not my mom’s homemade wheat bread nor is the honey butter just any plain old honey butter, but even still…upon first bite the food time machine took me away to days already gone. What food transports you on a time machine back to your childhood?

If you are looking for something incredibly special to put on your table this holiday season, this recipe for Pumpkin Biscuits with Orange-Honey Butter is certain to enhance your holiday table. With flavors so subtle and rich at the same time, this is one combination that is sure to make a lasting impression.

Pumpkin Biscuits with Orange-Honey Butter from My Recipes and Cooking Light

Yield:  12 servings (serving size: 1 biscuit and 1 teaspoon butter)

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup chilled butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup fat-free buttermilk
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
Cooking spray
1/4 cup Orange-Honey Butter

Preheat oven to 450º.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour and next 6 ingredients (flour through nutmeg); cut in chilled butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Combine buttermilk and pumpkin; add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead lightly 5 times. Roll dough to about 1/2-inch thickness. Cut into 12 biscuits with a 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter. Place the biscuits on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 450° for 11 minutes or until golden. Serve warm with 1/4 cup Orange-Honey Butter.

Orange-Honey Butter

Yield:  1 1/4 cups (serving size: 1 teaspoon)

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended.

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I spent a good part of my childhood in a little town in the Southeast corner of Kansas. Altamont had a population of 1,000, 1 tiny grocery store where you could add things to your “tab” and a Post Office where you could find old men and towns folks standing outside and sharing the days news with each other. We parked our cars in the middle of main street, rode our bikes outside until late without our parents having to worry about us, and pretty much knew everything about everyone and everything happening to everyone in the little town.

Although I didn’t move to Altamont until my 5th grade year, it is the place I think back to when I think about my life growing up. I’m often nostalgic for my kids to experience the kind of growing up I experienced, which is funny considering I couldn’t wait to leave that town when I graduated from high school.

Altamont Grade School was the school I attended from 5th – 8th grade. It was a great little school… safe and comfortable… just like you would expect in a small Kansas town. My classmates were the same all four years and many of them had been friends sharing the same classrooms since Kindergarten. Even though I came in during the 5th grade, I never felt like an outsider. The town was welcoming and my classmates were special. We were often told by teachers that we were the best class they had ever taught.

One thing I remember about the grade school I attended was that we always had the very best hot lunches. Most people complain about school lunch… not us. Our school cooks fed us well! The most popular school lunch was always The Poor Boy. When Poor Boy’s were on the menu, you could bet most everyone would go back for seconds. About a year ago, I was feeling nostalgic about the Poor Boy and posted something about it on Facebook. The flood of responses from former classmates prompted my mom to call one of the former cooks and get the recipe. I promised a year ago to post about the recipe, and then… had the baby, had all the stuff that went along with it, and then, a year later, could not find the recipe.

I was able to remember most of what my mom told me, so I made the Poor Boy’s with my own improvising. I am fairly certain this is close to how you make the Altamont Grade School Poor Boy’s.

When I took my first bite into the Poor Boy that I made at home, I was slightly surprised. I mean, it was good… but at Altamont Grade School they were GREAT. So great that I craved them 20+ years later and they elicited such a huge response on Facebook of people who had the same fond memories as I did. Funny how nostalgia can change things, isn’t it? Makes me wonder if I had my kids growing up in Altamont now, if it would be like I remembered, or if just liked the Poor Boy, through the years the nostalgia has fogged what reality really was.

Either way…grade school friends, the secret mystery to “what is in a Poor Boy” has been solved. My kids loved this meal. My tastes have evolved some, and like I said before, they weren’t as great as I remembered, but still really good. I hope you enjoy them!

The Altamont Grade School Poor Boy

• 2 loaves of Rhodes frozen bread dough, thawed
• 10-15 slices bologna, cut into small pieces
• 2 cups Shredded American Cheese (or you can use kitchen shears to cut American Cheese Slices)
• 2 Tbs butter, melted

Place bologna in a small skillet and fry until heated through. Set aside.

Roll out one of the thawed bread doughs onto a sprayed cookie sheet. Spread American cheese evenly over the dough. Next, spread the bologna evenly over the top of the American cheese. Roll out the other bread dough and place over the top of the cheese and bologna. Pinch the edges closed. Cut several small slits in the top of the bread dough. Brush the top with melted butter.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the poor boy is cooked all the way through. Cut into squares and serve. Finally, let the flood of school lunch memories begin and enjoy.

The winner of the Bertolli Date Night Prize Package is…Angelina mommybee17. Angelina, I will be in touch to get your address for Bertolli to send you your prize package. Thanks for participating!!

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•  First off, Kelly  has been inspired by a book she received from her Aunt Molly on her birthday. As if my 3 year old needs any other excuse to be a Diva, the book “Fancy Nancy” has brought out the inner fashionista in her. Today we went to see Charlotte’s Web at the movie theatre and Kelly insisted on wearing her black patant shoes, pink sunglasses, a fuzzy hair pretty and a leopard print purse. Oh my! (By the way… the movie was great!)
• Ella turned 7 months old today. She’s going to be crawling before we know it, but right now she is working on doing a little wave when you wave to her. Too cute
• Jacob is starting to scare me with his photogenic memory and his ability to remember every single slogan for a company that he hears on TV when he and Nick are watching football games. We were driving to the mall tonight and he saw signs of various establishments (Circuit City, Best Buy, Kohl’s, Wal-Mart, etc) and as we passed them I heard him in the backseat saying each places slogan or tag line.
• Kelly, out of the blue today, asked if Ella was a boy or a girl. Has she really been wondering this for the past 7 months and just got around to asking?? This is the same girl who this week, after our fish passed away a month ago and she participated in the funeral, asked when passing by the tank “Where’s flower the fish?” like she just realized he/she wasn’t there. Oh Kelly.. you’ve just got to love her little spacey mind sometimes!
• Jacob has been a little obsessed with death this week. After Charlotte’s web we had a conversation about death and he said “Mom, everyone dies eventually. In fact, you and dad are pretty old so I think you’ll probably die soon.” No sadness or remorse in his voice at all. At the ripe old age of 33, I’m suddenly over the hill to him!
• The kids have loved playing with their Chrismtas presents. I think I’ve played more games with them this week than I have since they were born. If you are looking for some great kid friendly games, Sorry is a good one. Any of the Cranium games are great too. We played a new Discovery Toys game today that was great as well…from A to Z. Very fun! I love playing games, so like my parents had me to wash their dishes and change their TV station before the remotes came along, I had kids so I could have constant board game companions.

Oh the memories! I’ll post pictures tomorrow, I promise. Until then, have a great night!

Kristen

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Three presents come to mind when I think about my childhood. One of my favorite presents, although I don’t remember ever asking for it was an electronic type toy with penguins. The penguins would climb up a mountain and then slide down a slide and skate around to climb up the mountain again. I don’t remember anything about this present except for playing with it over and over on Christmas day. I have no memories of it other than that one day. Maybe it broke? Maybe it was one of those gifts that quickly lost it’s luster after a day? Who knows… it’s so strange to me that I remember it so vividly.

Another gift that I wanted badly and Santa brought was a big Barbie swimming pool. I remember the “working” shower, the inner tube for barbie to float around in, and the little hot tub that was included. I remember playing with that toy constantly.

The last gift I really remember getting was a brown Fisher Price cassette player. The only cassette I had at the time was “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause”. I listened to that song non-stop and remember very clearly singing it to my second cousin Richard, who happened to be visiting.

All of these memories are from the house on 30th Drive which means they were between birth and 2nd grade.

I wonder what, if anything, my kids will remember about this Christmas. With all the effort I’m sure my parents put into finding the “perfect” gift back then, I’m sure they never thought that the skating penguin gift would be the one gift I have the most memories about!

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