A Little Bit of Everything

Hello Sweets,

Saturday is coming up super fast :D, thankfully Nathan will be here tomorrow to take all my last minute stress away.  I've been making daily trips to my new place, bringing over any small items that I can manage.  I even picked up a step ladder today, that way I can reach everything in my apartment without hurting myself more.  I am super excited and cannot contain it anymore!!!  The only thing that would make it better is going to be here tomorrow, until then I will just keep doing busy work.

Even though most of my groceries are now at my new place, I was smart enough to leave the basics behind.  Of course that means, baking supplies!  I cannot have people helping me move without supplying some treats, but I can't just do what I've done before lol.  Y'all know me, I've just got to try something new :)  Tonight's treat is something really unique, and something that would be perfect in the fall during harvest season.  The main ingredient is something I love working with and have done a few different recipes, can you guess what the main ingredient is?  It's pumpkin!!  I love pumpkin so much, but as you may or may not recall I do not care for pumpkin pie >_<  But what if I turned to whole pumpkin pie upside down and inside out?  That is almost what this recipe is like, but at the same time it's not lol.  How about I let y'all judge it for yourself.

Pumpkin Pie Bars

Ingredients

1 1/3C flour

3/4C sugar, divided

1/2C brown sugar

3/4C butter, cold

1C quick cooking oats, uncooked

1/2C pecans, chopped

1 pkg brick cream cheese, softened

3 eggs

1 can (19oz) pumpkin

1Tbs pumpkin pie spice (I mix my own)

 

Directions:

 1)  Preheat oven to 350F.  Line a 13"x9" pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over the sides; spray foil with cooking spray.  Mix flour, 1/4C sugar, and brown sugar in medium bowl until blended.

 

2)  Cut in butter with pasty blender or with 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

 

3)  Stir in oats and nuts.

 

4)  Reserve 1C oat mixture and set aside.  Press the remaining mixture into the bottom of the  prepared pan.  Bake for 15 minutes

5)  Beat cream cheese, remaining sugar, eggs, pumpkin, and spices with mixer until blended.

 

 

6)  Pour over crust; sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture.

 

 

7)  Bake for 25 minutes, cool for 10 minutes.  Use foil handles to remove dessert from the pan.  Transfer to wire rack, all to cool completely before cutting.

  

Although the name says pie in it, the only real pie part about it is the pumpkin layer.  The top is like a steussel, but the bottom taste closer to a shortbread cookie.  My nephew even gobbled it down, so it's kid approved.  If you're getting sick of having traditional pumpkin pie year in and year out, try this out for a change.  It's definitely a crowd pleaser, not to mention it's easy on the pocket book.  I want to thank Philadelphia cream cheese for the amazing recipe.

Well I am down to the final box and I couldn't be more thankful.  The worst part about this whole moving thing, like I've been saying for the last few weeks, packing is the worst!  At least Nathan will be here tomorrow, eeekkkkk I can't wait.  All I have to do is get through the next 18 hours, *tick tock* *tick tock*Until next time...

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo

Not Your Average Country Pumpkin!

Hello Sweets,

Guess what this smarty pants did this morning, I fell down the dang stairs :(  Yup queen of balance herself fell from the very top all the way to the bottom, all with a glass in my hand.  Ironically the glass made it down unscathed, me on the other hand, I'm bruised all over my left side.  Some are even raised.  Ah well what am I going to do right?  Thankfully I was already scheduled to see my doctor this afternoon, but I hadn't done any serious damage to myself besides my ego :p  Well that, and my toush hurts....a lot lol.

Yesterday I promised a trip back to the American Thanksgiving, with a sweet little treat to make the whole thing worth while!  There are staples to every Thanksgiving meal, turkey and mashed potatoes are obviously number one and two.  But that's where all roads take different turns, every family has their own special recipes, whether it's with the main meal or with dessert.  However there is always one dessert that is almost always present at any Thanksgiving meal, pumpkin pie!  Most people don't bake their own but instead buy it, but we all know that is not my style.  I personally don't particularly care for pumpkin pie so I made a coconut meringue pie for Nathan and I (and a few other family members thoroughly enjoyed it lol), but Nathan's mother and Granny both like pumpkin pie so I was going to make it for them.  In true Canuckette form I couldn't just make a traditional pumpkin pie, I had to jazz it up and make it extra special.  Trust me when I say this, it is worth the work and it tastes even better then your regular old pumpkin pie.

Pumpkin Pie Spectacular

Ingredients

(filling)

 2C gingersnaps, crushed

1C pecans, chopped

1/2C powdered sugar

1/4C butter, melted

1 (15oz) can pumpkin puree

1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk

2 large eggs, beaten

1/2C sour cream

1tsp cinnamon

1/2tsp vanilla

1/4tsp ginger

7 thin ginger cookies, halved

(streusel)

 1/2C light brown sugar

1/2C flour

1/4C butter, firm

1/4C pecans, chopped

 

Directions:

1)  Preheat oven to 350F.  Fit pie crust into a 9" deep dish plate; fold edges under and crimp.

2)  Stir together; crushed ginger snaps, pecans, powdered sugar, and butter.

 

 

3)  Press into bottom of pie crust and 1/2" up the sides.  Bake for 10 minutes, cool completely on a wire rack for 30 minutes.

4)  Stir together; pumpkin puree, milk, eggs, sour cream, cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla until well blended.

  

 

5)  Pour into prepared pie crust.  Place on an aluminum foil lined baking sheet, baking for 30 minutes.

 

6)  Mix the streusel ingredients together, and sprinkle edges of the crust.

 

I had a little extra pie dough, so I created a cute little pumpkin :)

  

7)  Bake for 40-45 minutes or until set.  Shield edges with tin foil for the last 25-30 minutes if necessary.

 

 

8)  Insert ginger cookies around edges of crust.  Cool completely on wire rack for one hour. (I chose not to add the extra cookies, it was too pretty to add anything else).

Look at those lovely layers!

Perfectly set!! Love it when it all works out

  

This was my first and only attempt I've made at a pumpkin pie, and I am so glad that it turned out perfectly!  The layer of sweetened pecans and ginger snaps give the pie a whole new dimension, dare I say even a more grown up twist to the traditional Thanksgiving dessert :)

My lovely Thanksgiving day duo

  

In addition to these two lovely sweets, I also was in charge of the gravy, potatoes, and another dinner accompaniment.  Yes I know I'm being very secretive about what it is, but that's only because I haven't blogged about it yet and I don't want to spoil it for y'all!  Y'all know that's how I do this lol, but only because I love y'all so much.

Since I have about one more week left before I have to move to my new place *happy dance*, I really need to finish up my packing.  I don't have much left to do, but I'd rather finish everything I am not using before, so that way I am pretty much done and nothing is left but my daily items.  Ah the joys of moving, worse part is the packing!  Remember to check back tomorrow for another Thanksgiving addition :)  Until next time....

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo

Why Did the Turkey Cross the Road Eh?

Hello Sweets,

Happy Thanksgiving!! To all the Canadians that is lol, and yes I know the Mayflower landed in November but since it gets cold so early here we celebrate the harvest.  With my family we do the dinner on the Sunday because lets face it no one wants to spend Monday doing the clean up lol.  As my regular readers know, sleep for me never comes easy, but last night I was so "turkey tired", I crashed early and got at least 8 hours of solid sleep!!  I was trying to talk to Nathan last night but I kept yawning and he told me to go to sleep because he had a good feeling about my likelihood for achieving it.  As much as I hate to admit when he's right, he was dead on this time lol.

So yesterday we all traveled out to my mothers house, she lives about 45 minutes from where we are.  Since we were going to her house, she was doing most of the cooking.  My responsibility was desserts (of course), and since I had made cupcakes for a birthday I had some left over.  What's more thanksgiving festive than Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes?  However, my mom really wanted to try the Chocolate Mud Pie I had made Nathan for our anniversary.  I made some small changes to the recipe though, instead of using boxed chocolate pudding and cool whip I made everything from scratch.  I used the chocolate pudding recipe from earlier this month, then I made some whipped cream from scratch.  Let me give you the recipe for the whipped cream and then I'll share some pictures from our family fun day!

Whipped Cream

Ingredients

1C heavy cream

1tsp vanilla

1Tbs confectioner's sugar

 

**DO NOT use a light cream as it will take forever to whip**

Directions:
1)  In a large cold bowl, whip cream until stiff peaks just begin to form.

 

  
 2)  Beat in vanilla and sugar until stiff peaks form.

 

3)  Make sure to not over beat cream or it will become lumpy and butter like.

 

Everything I read online about subbing real whipped cream for cool whip said it would be too heavy and it may change the structure.  However I did not seem to have that problem, I actually felt that it was the same consistency as cool whip.  When I subbed all the homemade ingredients into the recipe I actually felt the structure was better than it was with all fake stuff.

 

It was so full I had to wait to put the whipped cream on at my moms or it would have gotten squished!

  

see how the layers are nice and strong :)

I was very proud that it turned out, even better, than the original!!  Needless to say I won't be making it the old way ever again :)  Now let's see some thanksgiving pictures!!

 

pre-dinner play time!

 

 

 

 

 

He decided to sit at the cool kids table ;)

 

mmm my yummy dinner, and there are even more brussels sprouts under the bread!

now you see it...

now you don't!!

 

this is sugar pie, never heard/had it before but it is soooo good :D

 

 

a little after dinner transformer play!

Needless to say it was a wonderful day full of family, fun, and laughs.  Of course everyone left with full bellies and a package of leftovers (my favorite part!), I was so full I actually dozed off a little with Miguel on the drive home.  It was sort of cute, I helped him get comfy on his doggy pillow which made him lean to my side.  Then when I fell asleep I was leaned up against his car seat, so it looks like we were resting on each other :D  I love my little monkey!

I'm thinking tomorrow I will do a small post on what I do with leftovers, other than the obvious of reheating it as is lol.  But I do have a couple of ideas in the works, and my mother gave me some old school cookbooks so you know I'll be baking something out of there too!  Until next time....

Stay sweet,



Jennifer xoxoxo

  

Chocolate, Chocolate, and More Chocolate.........Did I MentionChocolate???

Hello Sweets,

Well if you haven't guessed by the title of the post, we are talking about CHOCOLATE!!!!  And lots of it too :)  Tonight I bring you the anniversary dessert that got me a wide eyed smile from my handsome love, and I wanted to also share our amazing date.

Since Nathan is preparing to finish up all his commercial pilot requirements, he's been flying, like a lot.  Which means early mornings...like before dawn early lol, only because by 9-9:30am the temperature is already in the mid to high 90F.  However, the views you get are worth every yawn and every bag under your eye lol. They're also some of the prettiest colors.  I've always been a lover of nature, and I am very fond of any natural beauty, but these views........well check them out for yourself :)

 

 2 years together, but only feels like minutes have gone by

 

 Taxiing over to the strip and the colors start to form :)

 

 

 absolutely breath taking

 

 I need a better camera, because if I can take this with my phone imagine the possibilities

 

my personal pilot, so handsome when he concentrates

 

 

Love this profile shot <3  

 

There is nothing better in the world then sharing a view as beautiful with the one you love.  To be honest, after the first breath taking ride, I've had no problem dragging my butt out of bed ;)  I've missed one flight thus far, and I felt guilty that I did lol, I know crazy right?

So you can see how amazing the gift that he gave me was, so naturally I was very excited that I got the same excitement from him with the dessert :p  Yesterday we made the base for our dessert, the chocolatey goodness of Oreos!!  Well today we are going to fill that puppy up with.....you guessed it chocolate!!  I wasn't sure what to look for or what to expect with a chocolate pie but that wasn't going to stop me ;)  Then I came across a recipe that embodied both chocolate and a Texan favorite, pecans! 

Triple Layer Mud Pie

Ingredients

3sqrs Baker's semi-sweet chocolate, melted

1/4C sweetened condensed milk

1 Oreo Pie Crust (6oz)
1/2C pecans, chopped
2pkgs (3.9oz) Jell-O instant chocolate pudding
2C cold 2% milk
1 tub Cool Whip, thawed

Directions:

1)  Mix the melted chocolate with the condensed milk.

 

 2)  Pour into the pie crust and sprinkle with the pecans.

 

3)  Beat pudding mixes with the cold milk with a whisk for 2 minutes; spooning 1 1/2C onto the pecans

*I would recommend piping the pudding mixture on, as it is quite thick and frustrated me lol*

 

 

4)  Stir half of the Cool Whip into the remaining pudding.  Spread over the pudding layer.

 

5)  Top with remaining Cool Whip and refrigerate for a minimum of 3 hours.

 

2 years of nothing but LOVE!!

 

Not the prettiest, but heck it's damn tasty!

In addition this delicious dessert, Nathan made his Signature Steaks (mmmmmm) and we paired it with my amazing Twice Baked Potatoes and the super yummy Corn on the Cob (which Nathan and I have updated since then and will share soon!).  I also made a fresh loaf of Whole Wheat Honey Bread, almost identical to the bread from the Cheesecake Factory :)  Paired with a lovely glass of red wine

 

Sorry about the half eaten dinner, but it smelt so good I dove right in lol

As you can see the little puppy Bear was mooching, but I was in a particularly good mood (love and all) so she got some steak.......and fillet.

That's a few snap shots into our loving day of celebration, I hope you enjoyed it as much as Nathan and I did :)  Until next time...........................................



Stay sweet,



Jennifer xoxoxoxo