Gooey Butter Pumpkin Cake

This blog post is going to be about a dessert….one of my favs, in fact.  But first I have to mention something about hair….my hair, in fact.  ( Am I allowed to use “in fact” like that in a sentence?) 

I have fairly curly hair.  Back in the day when I was a cosmetologist, people used to want a perm just like mine….but mine wasn’t a perm.  It was totally cool in the 90’s to have big curly hair like mine.  But now it’s just a mess.  Here’s a picture of me and my hair in Hawaii.

Sometimes I try and straighten my hair.  It’s pretty cool when I do that, but it takes me about an hour and that makes me crazy.

Mostly I just throw it up in a messy pony.  Like this morning, when my husband and I took the dog for a walk and I was thinking it looked pretty good…..ponytail with loose curly tendrils gently blowing in the breeze.  My husband even commented, “Nice hair.”  Evidently, I missed the sarcasm in his voice because when I looked in the mirror when I got home, this is what I witnessed……

Looks like I need a cup of coffee and some of the Gooey Butter Pumpkin Cake that I made last night, for breakfast.

Gooey Butter Pumpkin Cake

TGFPD (That’s Thank Goodness for PaulaDeen)

Printable Recipe

Ingredients 

Cake:
1 18 1/4-ounce package yellow cake mix 
1 egg
8 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling:
1 15-ounce can of pumpkin
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened 
3 eggs 
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 16-ounce box powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To make the cake, combine all of the ingredients and mix well.  Pat the mixture into a lightly greased 13x9-inch baking pan. 

Prepare filling:
In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth.  Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes.  Make sure not to over bake as the center should be a little gooey.

Serve with fresh whipped cream.  

Making a bad hair day better.....one blog post at a time.  Enjoy!

Linking up with:

You're So Lucky I Made This

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I am a little ashamed to admit that I have no idea why we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.  Other than the wearing of green, the pinching, and the green beer of course, I am at a loss.  I will have to Google it as soon as I finish this blog post.

If you are looking around the blogosphere however, you may find that St. Patrick’s day is all about the Shamrock Shake at McDonald’s.  They are evidently pretty good and now available at ALL McDonald’s this year.  Except, dear dear Ronald, you seem to have forgotten all the McDonald’s in Japan.  What’s up with that?

Lucky for us, there is no shortage of “copy-cat” recipes on the internet.  And as usual, I am adding my own special touches, which will undoubtedly make them much much better than the real thing.  Plus, it will be much much easier than driving three arguing sisters through the drive-thru at Micky D’s……which I probably wouldn’t do even if I could.

So here they are folks! My…………

You’re So Lucky I Made These For You Mint Milkshakes

Ingredients:

·        2 cups of vanilla ice cream (I used Dryer's 1/2 Fat Vanilla)

·        1 cup milk

·        ½ tsp peppermint extract

·        ¼ tsp green food coloring

·        Whipped topping

·        Shaved or chopped up Andes mints

Put the ice cream, milk, peppermint, and food coloring in a blender.  Blend until smooth.  Pour into glasses.  Top with whipped cream.  I chose Reddi Whip because I NEVER buy it and the girls are always begging for it. 

Don't forget the green fingernails.

Finally, sprinkle on the mint chocolate bits.

Drink it right away.  Don’t take pictures for your blog or you have to drink the melted one.  Boo. 

Goal #13.  Make a “green” lunch or special treat for Brian and the girls on St. Patrick’s Day.  Complete! (101 Goals in 2012)

PS  By using the ½ Fat Vanilla Ice Cream the Mint Milkshake recipe is only 275 calories vs. 423 for a medium McDonalds Shamrock Shake!  This recipe makes two servings.

Sticky Quickies

Kids are finally back in school.  Hot coffee.  Warm puppy next to me. Quiet.

It’s wonderful.

But in the back of my head I know I should get up and go EXERCISE.

It’s so hard.  I want to eat.

Sigh.

So, in honor of not bailing on several of my 101 Goals for 2012 in just the first week of January, I just poured myself a protein shake and I will blog about one of my family’s favorite breakfast treats.  Sticky Quickies.  If I can’t eat it, I might as well dream about it.....right? 

I got this recipe from my good friend years ago.  I usually save it for company or holidays not because they are hard to make, but because they are so gooey good in your tummy, but not quite as good stuck to your behind and thighs. 

My friend noted on the recipe that “you’ll never slave over cinnamon rolls again” and that “they remind her husband of sex.”  She was right.  I have never made cinnamon rolls since and somehow the word “quickie” in a recipe is never overlooked by my husband either. 

*Note:  You will just have to deal with the pictures.  Try as I might, I cannot seem to get the full caramely, sticky, gooey, delightfulness, to present well in a photograph.  You will just have to trust me on this one.

Sticky Quickies

Ingredients:

·       1 1/2 cup flour

·        2 pkgs rapid rise yeast

·        ¾ cup milk

·        ½ cup water

·        ¼ cup margarine or butter

·        ¼ cup sugar

·        1 tsp. salt

·        1 egg

·        1 ¾ cup flour

Topping:

·        ¾ margarine

·        1 cup brown sugar

·        1 tsp. cinnamon

·        5 Tbls. White syrup

·        1 Tbls. Water

·        ¾ cup chopped nuts (optional....I don’t use them.)

Combine in a large bowl 1 ½ cup flour and yeast.  Set aside.  In a small saucepan, heat milk, water, margarine, sugar, & salt, till warm.  Pour into yeast and flour; add egg.  Beat on high speed for 3 minutes.  Stir in the remaining 1 ¾ cup flour by hand.  Dough will be sticky and look like this.  

Cover and let rise for 30 minutes.

Combine topping ingredients in saucepan.  Heat until melted.  Pour this into a 9 x 13 casserole pan.  Stir down the batter when it is finished rising & drop by large tablespoons onto topping. (Like this...about 5 or 6 rows of 4)

Bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees.   Cool one minute, then invert onto serving tray. (I use a cookie sheet with sides.) 

I also serve with a powdered sugar/milk/drop of vanilla drizzle for those in my family who like that….EVERYONE.

So, there it is.  Make it.  You’ll love it.  I promise.  Now I am off to go on a run!  Oh wait!  No way could I end this post without the picture that my husband decided to "stage"....because he was sure he could get a better photo than I could.  Thanks Honey!  Gotta love you!

Christmas Tree Shortbread Cookies

Lights are twinkling, Christmas music is jingling, and the hot buttered rum is errrr…….rumming.  Yes, the hot buttered rum is rumming.  Excitement and anticipation abounds at our house because it is Christmas Eve!

Amber, my youngest, is the most excited of us all.  Early this morning she sat at the table making a letter/picture for Santa.  (From the picture above you may note that we also need to do some spelling practice over this Christmas break.)

I made some cookies yesterday just so Amber could leave some with her note.  I have it on good authority that Santa often prefers a shortbread type of cookie…..like what you might have with some SleepyTime tea.  These cookies from Better Homes and Gardens looked like a good choice.  

Well HO-HO-HO to BHG!  Thanks for telling me that it will take about 2 hours to roll 396 little balls to complete the entire recipe!  After rolling 166, I gave up and settled for just fifteen cookies instead of three dozen.

Regardless of the effort, they are a perfect little buttery cookie and they are very cute, don’t you think?

Christmas Tree Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients:

·        1 cup butter softened

·        ½ cup sugar

·        1 Tablespoon milk

·        1 teaspoon vanilla

·        2 ¼ cups flour

·        Powdered sugar icing to drizzle

·        Decorative candies

In a large bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in milk and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour. Remove 1/2 cup of the dough. Tint the remaining dough with green food coloring.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. For each cookie, use the green dough to shape ten 1/2-inch balls. On an ungreased cookie sheet, arrange balls in a row of four, topped by a row of three, then two, then one on top. As you arrange the balls, gently press them into each other. Use the plain dough to make a 3/4-inch ball and place it at the bottom of the tree for a trunk. Repeat with the remaining dough, leaving 2 inches between cookies on cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are light brown.  Cool on cookie sheet for 2  minutes. Carefully transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool.  Drizzle icing back and forth over cookies to look like strings for lights.  Add decorative candies to icing.  Let stand until icing sets.

Give yourself a big gold star if you rolled ALL the little balls and made the 3 dozen cookies.  You are my hero.

Yesterday I Got My Craft On

I used to be really really crafty.  I say “used” to be, because all of my stamps, scrapbooking supplies, beads, paint, glitter and more are all in storage…….in Texas.  Since moving to Japan I now only have one small cupboard allotted for craft storage, and Hobby Lobby has yet to become an international sensation.

Lucky for me, I have a few friends who, despite the lack of space, have Modge Podge, acrylic paint, and sparkly embossing powder, oozing out of their windows.  AND they are nice enough to share. Plus….this is hard for me to say….they are much more creative and crafty then I will ever be.

Yesterday our culture group and these super crafty creative ladies, got together for our Christmas party.  We made these……

Wonderful don’t you think?

To make one you will need:

·        A piece of wood. (Size depends on what size your letters are.)

·        Acrylic paint (any color you love)

·        Die cut letters (the crafters had a die cut machine)

·        Transfer paper (so your letters stick to the board)

·        Some glossy varnish ( just in case you hang it outside)

·        Glue gun

·        Pretty wired Christmas ribbon

First, paint the wood on the edges and one side.  Any color will do.  I chose red, but one of the Japanese ladies chose a pale purple and it was lovely.  You may need to do several coats depending how porous your wood is.

Once it is dried, attach your letters to the transfer paper.

Place the transfer paper sticky side down on your painted board, and rub the letters firmly with a scraper.

Gently peel back the transfer paper to reveal the letters sticking neatly on your board.

Cover the sides and edges with a coat of varnish.

Glue on a Christmas ribbon to the back with a glue gun.  We used a 2 ½ inch wired ribbon cut into two lengths.  Again, the size/length of your ribbon will depend on the size of your board.  Tie in a bow.  

All finished!  Now now you have a cute and easy Christmas hanging.  The Japanese ladies LOVED theirs!

And I love mine too!

Linking With:

The Power of Paint Party at Domestically-Speaking



Reindeer Poo and Grinch Pills

Because my two oldest girlies are in middle school this year, they each have seven or eight teachers.  My normal go-to gift of a Barnes and Nobles gift card multiplied by sixteen, just isn’t going to fly financially…….no matter how much of Santa’s magical reindeer dust I use.

The girls are old enough to understand that presents cost money, but they are also old enough that they really enjoy giving their teachers a little something.  So, via ideas from Pinterest, the girlies got a little crafty and made their teachers and friends Reindeer Poop and Grinch Pills!

For the Reindeer Poop (found on Blooming Where I'm Planted) Abbey made her own toppers and filled cellophane bags with Whoppers candy. 

The poem reads,

Santa looked at his list.

He even checked it twice.

And he did find out,

You haven't been too nice.

Since coal is so expensive,

Here's the inside scoop....

Santa is filling your stocking,

With lots of Reindeer Poop.

She added a “thumbprint” reindeer head, drew on the antlers and eyes, and stuck a pom-pom nose on with a glue gun, and stuck on a Santa sticker.

Cute huh?

Allie sort of thought the poop was gross, so she went with the Grinch Pills.

We found this idea on Custom Creations by Tamera Bennett but we couldn’t find green Tic-Tacs in Japan so we improvised with Eclipse gum.   Allie made a simple card to stick on the cover and tied it with shiny red curling ribbon.  (Right click on the image and save, to print your own.)

 

Both girls stuck a To/From tag on the bag of their little treats and the projects were complete!

Merry Christmas everyone, from the Three Girlies!  Abbey, Allison, and Amber!

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