Fall and Pumpkins. . .Oh my!

Fall is by far my favorite time of year.  I love the cooler temps, the changing leaves, football and of course pumpkins!!  So many yummy pumpkin recipes and so little time.  My go to favorite recipe and the one my friends and family can't seem to get enough of is pumpkin bars.  So moist, full of flavor and who can say no to cream cheese frosting?

I've had this recipe for what seems an eternity and I do not remember where I found it.  Could have been a website or one of my little grandma's old cookbooks that I've 'borrowed' over the years.  Oh my little grandma how I miss you and you were another reason to love fall because October was your birth month and I loved celebrating with you.  I'm sure my love of baking, at the very least my love of sugar, came from my little grandma.  She is gone but never forgotten!

Now for my go to fall pumpkin bars. . . . .

ALWAYS start with Libby's 100% pure pumpkin (make sure not pie filling).  I do make my own pumpkin filling but I save that for pumpkin pies and have never tried in my pumpkin bars.  I know how yummy these turn out with Libby's so why stray?

Libby's pure pumpkin a MUST for yummy pumpkin bars

wet ingredients mixed separately

dry ingredients mixed separately



Ingredients mixed together.  Isn't that a beautiful fall color?

Baked, frosted and ready to eat!

Pumpkin Bars

4 eggs

1 2/3 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

15-ounce can of pumpkin

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pre-heat oven to 350.

Spray a 10 x 13 pan with cooking spray and set aside.

Combine eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin and mix with electric mixer at medium speed.  Mix until well combined.  In a separate bowl stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda.  Add the dry mix to wet ingredients and mix at low speed until combined.  Pour batter into prepared pan and place in oven to bake for 30 minutes.  If toothpick comes out clean it's ready to removed if not put back in oven for 3 - 4 minutes.  I've never had to bake for over 35 minutes but oven temps vary so just be sure to keep a close eye on it that it doesn't burn.  Once cooked remove from oven and let cool completely before cutting into bars or frosting.

Cream Cheese frosting

8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine cream cheese and butter and mix at low speed until smooth.  Slowly add powdered sugar and mix at low until well combined, add vanilla and mix again.  Spread or pipe frosting onto cooled bars.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do!

Unitl next time,

Newman

Watermelon Jam

Have I ever mentioned how much I love the art of canning?  It's something I just started doing last fall and after the first batch of salsa I made and canned I was hooked!  At Christmas I canned strawberry jam that I gave as gifts and everyone loved them.  I also tried my hand at jalapeno jelly (not a success like strawberry jam) and this weekend gave it a whirl at watermelon jam.  Watermelon jam?  Yes you read correctly.  I found a really easy to follow receipe on pinterest posted from Blondies Cakes website.  Find the site and the receipe here:  http://blondiescakes.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-09-12T21%3A01%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=5

Of course step one is to buy a watermelon.  Isn't it a lovely watermelon? 

Then of course you want to wash and sterlize your canning jars.  I always include bands in my washing and sterlizing.  A lot of people say you don't need to do this but I just believe in better safe than sorry.  I picked up the tiny 4 oz jars for the watermelon jam.  Aren't they adorable?

I won't go into all the details on how much of anything you need since you can click on link above to get all the details.  Instead I'll let you know of a couple of tweeks I made and a trick or two I used. 

I went from puree to cooking on the stove in just a few easy steps and my kitchen smelled like summer fun.  The aromas took me back to family summer BBQ's when I was a little girl and we'd run around all day long playing, chasing ducks (poor ducks) and riding our bikes trying to do daredevil stunts.  We'd come in for a break and there was always a cold watermelon cut up for us to munch on.  Aww. . .simpler times.

While the jam is cooking I've got a spoon sitting in a glass of ice water (kind of hard to see but it's behind the pot) and I use this spoon to test the consistency of the jam.  When it's boiled long enough or to the temperature needed I put a little jam on the spoon and let it cool.  My batch was still too runny for my liking so I added a little more pectin then the receipe called for.  This is after all watermelon jam and not jelly.  Another trick to make note of if I reserve about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the sugar it calls for and mix it with my pectin.  This may be something taught to me by my grandma or something I picked up off the Ball canning site.  Not sure I just know I do it.

Jars are filled and ready for their bath.  The jam turned out to be a rather large batch and I ran out of the cute tiny jars so I had to use some of my larger jam jars in order to finish canning.  No worries because I've got a nephew that loves watermelon so he'll devour the large jar all on his own.  Make sure you wipe rims of jars real good before you seal them and put in the water bath.

 Into the bath they go!  If you don't already have a jar lifter you really should invest the couple of dollars it'll take to purchase one.  I don't know how you'd do this without one.  Ouch!  After the appropriate time in the bath I take them out and put on the counter on a towel to cool.  You can hear them popping with delight for awhile. I always go back and wipe jars, bands and top of lids clean otherwise they end up with an almost chaulk like finish to them.  Could be that I have some hard water.

The finished product!  I couldn't be happier with my lovely watermelon jam jars.  Let me know how yours turn out or if you've got some canning tips to share.

Until next time,

Newman

Buffalo Chicken fiend

For the last week or two I have been craving anything and every thing Buffalo Chicken.  I've wanted wings, boneless wings, sandwiches, ice cream - okay maybe I'm exaggerating on the ice cream but not by much.  I was so excited to come across a Buffalo Chicken wrap via Kraft foods and wanted to share with everyone.  It was so simple to make and so dang good!!  I could easily eat this once a week and never tire of it.  So if you are a Buffalo Chicken fiend like I am I give this recipe two thumbs up.  A five star rating.  An 11 on a scale of 1 to 10.  I say make it and eat it!

http://kraft-food-recipes.blogspot.com/2009/12/buffalo-chicken-wraps.html

I hope you enjoy!

Until next time,

Newman

My newest decoration

It was a crazy busy week at work. . .yet again.  However, I did find time to work on a new decoration at the beginning of the week.  I was getting tired of the candle holder and faded light blue candles in the hall bath and really wanted to add some type of floral decoration.  So I started by going to Dollar General and I picked up a couple of clear vases.


My Dollar General vase with tag still on it





Now as I mentioned before my Fuji digital camera is on its last leg and I've not had time to start my research on what would be a good replacement.  All the pictures I'm posting were taken with my camera phone so they are not as clear and sharp as I'd like them.

Lovely painted blue vase

After making my expensive purchase at Dollar General I ran by Hobby Lobby and picked up some floral arrangements, paint and sponge brushes.  I then painted by vase a lovely shade of blue.  It's hard to tell with the picture I'm posting but trust me it is quite a lovely shade.  Left it to dry overnight and then made a few touch ups the next morning.

Next step was by far the easiest.  I dropped in floral arrangement and tied a bow to vase and viola!  A lovely new decoration to put in my hall bath.  Colors go great with the blue, tan and brown colors I have in this bathroom and it looks so much nicer than the black candle holder I used to have.  That has been temporarily transplanted on the TV in the living room.  That poor candle holder needs a make over too.  Hmm. . . .maybe a project for next week.


My finished decoration

Hope you enjoy!

Newman

Vase: $1.00 (Dollar General)
Floral arrangement: $5.00 (half off at Hobby Lobby)
Paint: $0.65 (half off at Hobby Lobby)
Sponge brush: $1.00 (Hobby Lobby)
Total cost: $7.65 (+/-)

First blog ever!

I am a virgin to the world of blogging but I thank you for taking the time to read my blog and follow along.  I'm an avid, nay junkie, pinner on pinterest and I'm always amazed by the woman that blog so much!  I doubt I'll be on here daily and in some cases it might not even be weekly but I will try my best to make my info colorful, helpful and interesting. 

Once I figure out how to post pics I'll post my newest bathroom floral arrangement I finished today.  It was for my partners bathroom and I think it turned out beautiful.  He seemed to like it too and that's what really matters. . .I guess.  I tried to snap pictures as I went along but I'm not sure how they turned out so we'll see if they ever hit my blog.  I think my ancient Fuji camera may have clicked it's last click.  I've been fighting the need to buy a new digital camera but I guess I'm going to have to cave and buy one.  Any suggestions on what to buy?  I admit I can not buy anything without doing research on it first.  This is why it takes months for me to make a purchase.  Just thinking about the fact that I need to purchase a vehicle gives me a headache!  Of course this rule does not hold true to buying shoes!

I also recently came across a lemon cupcake recipe that I can't wait to try!  If work isn't a killer tomorrow I'll be purchasing supplies and trying those out tomorrow night.  I'll try to take pictures to post but this of course depends on the Fuji and its desire to work.  I have loved baking cookies and cupcakes since as far back as I can remember.  Way before Sprinkles and the whole cupcake craze began.  I do love all the jazzed up cupcakes that are being created now. 

I hope you've enjoyed my first blog and that I didn't bore you too much. I promise to learn to add pictures and links so that you'll have something interesting to look at.

Until next time!

Newman