Pumpkin Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Here's a great recipe for a moist pumpkin sheet cake with homemade cream cheese icing. Perfect for the holiday season! ENJOY!

Makes: 20-24 servings

INGREDIENTS:

Cake Ingredients:
16 ounces (2 cups) canned solid-pack pumpkin
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
5 tablespoons melted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 3/4 cups powdered confectioner's sugar
2-4 teaspoons milk

Instructions:
1. Beat pumpkin, sugar, and oil. Add eggs, mixing well.
2. In another bowl, combine dry cake ingredients and stir to mix. Add to pumpkin mixture and beat well.
3. Pour batter into greased 15 x 10 x 1-inch jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until cake tests done with a toothpick. Cool on a wire rack (in the pan); cover with a towel after about 15 minutes of cooling.
4. To make frosting, beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla in a mixing bowl until smooth. Gradually add sugar, mixing well. Add milk until frosting reaches desired thickness.

Green Lemon Roasted Potatoes by Ashley

For activity days, Ashley learned two new recipes which she made for our family. This one is Greek Lemon Roasted Potatoes, which was delicious. Thanks, Ashley, we loved it! Feel free to cook for us anytime!

4 medium baking potatoes, peeled & quartered
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 Tbsp dried oregano
1/2 Tbsp salt
1/8 tsp ground pepper
1/2 cup water.

Heat oven to 500 degrees. Place potatoes in dish. Add all above ingredients. Toss potatoes. Bake 40 minutes, stirring once halfway through. We doubled the recipe and cook for 1 hour.

Chicken Puffs

2 Skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, shredded & cut in small pieces or 2 cans chicken
3 cans refrigerated crescent roll dough
1 package cream cheese
1/2 cup milk
Butter

Cook chicken & shred & cut into small pieces (or lately I've been using canned chicken and it still turns out great.) Stir in milk and cream cheese and mix until mixture is smooth. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Unroll croissants and divide into half to make 12 rectangles. Put one tbsp chicken mixture on each rectangle and fold into balls.

Place the balls on a large baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes till golden brown. One of the kid's favorites.

Best Banana Bread

1 c. margarine
2 c. sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp lemon juice
4 eggs
3 1/2 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 c mashed bananas
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 c sour cream

Mix all of above ingredients. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes. Makes 4 medium loaves. This recipe is also good with chocolate chips.

* This is seriously one of my favorite banana bread recipes. It's super moist because of the sour cream. ENJOY!

Hot Spinach & Artichoke Dip

1 small onion, finely chopped
2 pkgs (10 oz) each frozen chopped spinach, thawed & squeezed dry
1 pkg (8 oz) fat free cream cheese, cubed
1 container (8 oz) reduced fat sour cream
1 can (14 oz) water packed artichoke hearts, drained & chopped
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/8 to 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 c shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese
Bread or crackers for dipping

Cook onion until tender in frying pan. Add spinach; cook and stir over medium heat until heated through. Reduce heat to low, stir in cream cheese and sour cream. Add the artichoke hearts, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Cook for 1-2 minutes or until heated through. Transfer to an ungreased 1 1/2 qt microwave safe dish; sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Cover and microwave on high for 2-3 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve with bread or crackers.

Delicious dip & great appetizer. Love it with baguette-style bread. Thanks Angie for sharing.

Pistachio Salad

1 small pkg pistachio pudding, dry
1 regular size container of cool whip
1 regular size can of crushed pineapple with juice (15 oz or larger)
2 cups of miniature marshmallows

Stir & mix all ingredients together. Chill before serving.

Super easy recipe & great salad! Thanks Margo for sharing!

Holiday Mix

One of my favorite Holiday treats-the famous holiday mix. Thanks to Jason's parents for providing this snack on Christmas Eve.

4 cups corn chex
4 cups rice chex
2 cups coconut, shredded
2 cups slivered almonds

Sauce:
1 cup sugar
1 cup karo syrup
3/4 cup margarine

Mix all ingredients in large bowl. Make sauce in sauce pan. Boil for 2 minutes. Pour over cereal mixture and stir. ENJOY!

Christmas Brunch Delight

One of my favorite Christmas traditions on Christmas morning after the kids open all of their presents is to enjoy a yummy Christmas breakfast together. This is one of my favorites to make on Christmas morning. We also make cinnamon rolls, bacon, and rushti (my Great-Grandma's recipe-delicious hashbrowns). We'll usually serve this all morning since both mine & Jason's families come over Christmas morning to see the kids and their presents. ENJOY!

CHRISTMAS BRUNCH DELIGHT

8 slices bread with crusts removed
2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
1 1/2 cups ham chopped or sausage cooked
8 eggs beaten
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 tsp salt
**************
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk

Butter, grease or "pam" a 9 x 13 pan. Line with bread. Sprinkle cheese on top. Sprinkle with the chopped ham or the cooked sausage. Beat eggs with milk and mustard. Pour on top of the bread, cheese and meat. Refrigerate overnight or can bake right then (Best if done overnight) When ready to bake, mix soup with milk and pour on top of mixture. Cook 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 hours at 300 degrees. Serves 12.

Chessman Dessert

Delicious dessert! ENJOY!

2 bags Pepperidge Farms Chessman cookies (at Christmas time they are made with a tree, wreath, candy cane, bells)
1 lg box instant vanilla pudding
8 oz cream cheese
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 8 oz container cool-whip
4-5 bananas
1 pomegranate

Custard:
Mix together softened cream cheese and condensed milk. In separate bowl, mix pudding as instructed on box. Fold first mixture into pudding. Fold cool whip into this.

In 9 x 13 pan, lay on bottom of pan 1 bag of cookies. Put on one layer of bananas. Put on one layer of pomegranate seeds (Open the pomegranate and pull out all of the seeds. Pour custard over the pomegranate seeds. On top, arrange the other bag of cookies in 4 x 5 rows (20 cookies). Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Magic Bars

Need a quick & easy treat for a Christmas party? I just made these last week for a neighborhood Christmas party. Super easy and one of my favorites. 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 (14 ounce) can EAGLE BRAND® Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch flavored chips
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut

Heat oven to 350 degrees F (325 degrees for glass dish). Coat 9 x 13 pan with non-stick cooking spray. Melt butter in 9 x 13 pan. Combine graham cracker crumbs and butter. Press into bottom of pan. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumb mixture. Layer evenly with chocolate chips, butterscotch flavored chips and coconut. Press down firmly with a fork. Bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool. Cut into bars. Store covered at room temperature.

Fabulous Fried Ice Cream Dessert

We made this last week as a FHE treat. The kids LOVED it! Every once in a while when we hit a good Mexican restaurant, we'll splurge and order "fried ice cream." You can't go wrong with this one (another great recipe with my two favorite ingredients-sugar & butter!) ENJOY!

1 half gallon ice cream
3 cups corn flakes (or rice krispies)
1/2 cube butter
2 Tbsp brown sugar

Take ice cream out of the freezer and let soften.

In a pan, melt the butter and brown sugar. Add corn flakes (or rice krispies).

Scoop softened ice cream into individual balls. Roll the ice cream into mixture until well covered. Refreeze for a few minutes. Serve with hot fudge or carmel sauce.

Cafe Rio Recipes

For Ava & Aliza's birthday party, I decided to make dinner & serve Cafe Rio chicken & pork salads. Here's the recipes I promised! ENJOY!

Cafe Rio Sweet Pork

6 lbs pork - I bought it at Sam's Club (pork loin, boneless)
2 16 oz jars of salsa
2 cans of coke
3 cups brown sugar

Place pork in crock pot and fill it with water. Cook on high for 5 hours. Drain liquid & cut off fat. Cut pork in thirds. Mix together sauce and pour over pork. Cook an additional 3 hours on high. Shred pork with forks. Leave on low until ready to serve.

Cafe Rio Chicken

1 bottle Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp cumin
3 Tbsp minced garlic
6 chicken breasts

Cook all together in crock pot on high for 4 hours. Shred meat and cook 1 more hour on high.

Cafe Rio Tomatillo Dressing

1 buttermilk ranch dressing packet (make as per recipe with milk & mayonnaise)
2 tomatillos (peel off dry skins/leaves)
1/2 bunch cilantro
1 clove garlic
juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeno (I removed the seeds, so it wouldn't be too hot)

Blend all ingredients in food processor or blender until smooth. Refrigerate.

Cafe Rio Rice

3 cups water
4 tsp chicken bouillon
4 tsp minced garlic
1/2 bunch cilantro
3/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp butter
4 cups rice

Chop cilantro into fine pieces. Bring water to boil and add all ingredients. Simmer covered 30 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.

* I cooked my rice in the rice cooker and then added all of the boiled ingredients to the rice cooker. Our family loves rice in the rice cooker (so much better than Minute rice).

Peaches 'N Cream Cheesecake

This is truly one of my favorite desserts. I just made it for Thanksgiving. It's supposedly one of my neighbor's family secret recipes and I lost the recipe. So, instead of calling her, I googled it and sure enough there were so many websites with the exact same recipe. Oh, how I love the internet. So much information at my fingertips! ENJOY! Hope you LOVE it!

Peaches 'N Cream Cheesecake

3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 pkg (3 1/4 oz) dry vanilla pudding mix (NOT instant)
3 Tbsp butter, softened
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 (15-20 oz.) can sliced peaches, well drained, reserve juice
1 (8oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp reserved juice
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Combine in large mixer bowl first 7 ingredients. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Pour into greased 9" deep dish or 10" pie pan. Place drained fruit over batter. Combine in small mixer bowl cream cheese, sugar, and reserved juice (3 Tbsp). Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. Spoon to within 1" of edge of batter. Combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over cream cheese filling. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes until crust is golden brown. Filling will appear soft. Store in fridge.

Chicken & Broccoli Braid

I found this recipe in a Pampered Chef cookbook and used to make it all the time, but forgot about it. ENJOY!

Chicken & Broccoli Braid

2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
1 cup broccoli, chopped
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp dill seasoning mix
1/4 tsp salt
2 pkg (8 oz) each refrigerated crescent rolls
1 egg white, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp slivered almonds

Mix chicken, broccoli, cheese, mayonnaise, dill seasoning, and salt. Unroll pkgs of refrigerated crescent roll dough and lay side to side on cookie sheet/baking stone. Spread filling evenly over middle of dough. Cut stripes 1 1/2 inches apart, 3 inches deep. To braid, lift strips of dough across mixture to form a braid. Tuck ends under to seal at end of braid. Brush egg white over dough. Sprinkle with almonds. Bake 25-30 minutes at 375 degrees until golden brown.

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

I've been finding the best new recipes on recipe blogs. I added a few links to some of my favorites (see bottom of sidebar). Another quirk of mine: I have a hard time trying a new recipe unless there's a picture. So here's a picture to entice you to try this new recipe...I promise you won't be disappointed! Jason & the kids LOVED this dinner.

Here's the recipe for sour cream chicken enchiladas. Super easy. In fact, I made it with canned chicken & it turned out delicious! Enjoy!

3-4 chicken breasts, cooked & shredded (or 1-2 cans of canned chicken, depending on how much you like)

12 flour tortillas (I use the uncooked ones from Sam's/Costco)

2 cups shredded cheese (I use the Mexican blend)

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

2 cups chicken broth

1 1/2 cups sour cream

2 (4 oz) cans diced green chilies (I didn't add these-our family doesn't like)

In a large bowl, combine cheese, 1 can chilies, and chicken. Set aside. Cook tortillas on stove top until golden brown. Spoon a good size portion of chicken mixture onto all tortillas, rolling them and placing them seam side down in 9 x 13 baking dish.

In sauce pan, melt butter then blend flour into butter to make a roux. Add chicken broth and cook until mixture thickens and bubbles. Stir in sour cream and 1 can green chilies. Be careful not to boil. Pour sauce over enchiladas and bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Immediately, set oven to BROIL and cook for another 5 minutes (be careful not to burn).

Enchiladas are done when sauce in the center is bubbling. Serve with side of rice or beans.

Sweet & Sour Chicken

One of our family's favorites! I just made this yesterday for dinner. I personally have a hard time trying new recipes unless there's a picture, so I thought I'd include a picture with the recipe. Whenever I take a picture, the kids now ask, "Mom, are you going to put that on your blog?" If you want to score huge points with the hubby & kids, make this for your family. ENJOY!

4 chicken breasts
2 eggs, well beaten
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. cornstarch
salt (a few shakes)
garlic powder (a few shakes)

SAUCE:
1 c. chicken broth
5 Tbsp. ketchup
1/3 c. vinegar
3/4 c. sugar
2 Tbsp. soy sauce

Whip eggs. Mix flour & cornstarch & salt & garlic powder. Dip chicken into eggs and then into flour mixture. Fry chicken in oil until golden brown. Mix sauce. Place chicken in baking dish covered with sauce mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

* Note: I usually double this recipe for our family, which gives us plenty for dinner and leftovers.

Carmel Apples

Thanks Amy for posting this delicious recipe for carmel apples. We improvised on the recipe since I didn't have a candy thermometer or wax paper and they still turned out so good! The kids all loved this yummy fall treat! Enjoy!

Ashley hard at work dipping the apples into the delicious homemade carmel sauce. We also didn't have craft sticks or dowels, notice our lovely plastic knives.

Abbey & Aliza with the carmel apples. Notice the post-it notes in both pictures. Yes, Ashley is the most like me, she labeled which apples are hers.

Carmel Apple Recipe

1 lb brown sugar
2 sticks butter
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 c. light corn syrup
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
12 apples
12 dowels or craft sticks

Combine ingredients in a 2-3 quart saucepan. Heat at medium low temp, stirring constantly but slowly and frequently scraping the bottom of the pan. Cook caramel to the soft ball stage (236) degrees. Pour into a small deep metal or heat proof bowl and let cool to 200 degrees. Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Push a dowel or stick into the top of each apple. Dip apples into caramel using a straight up and down motion. Place dipped apples on baking sheet and place in the fridge for 15 - 20 min.

*After making the apples, you'll still have plenty of carmel sauce which I've been eating by the spoonfuls! Maybe I should skip Weigh In Wednesday this week!

BUNKO (Girl's Night Out at my house)

Last Thursday, I hosted BUNKO at my house. There are 12 of us in our group that meet monthly and have a great time playing bunko. I've been in this group 5 years now and I always look forward to bunko night. We each take a turn hosting. When it's your turn, you make the dinner and pick out the prizes. Bunko is a dice game that you play with teams of 2 and keep track of your points. A bunko is rolling 3 6's.

Here's Stephanie, Kim & Jessie (all great friends & neighbors):

7 of the 12 of us: Stephanie, Donna, Jessie, Angie, Janene, me & Stephanie. Kristy took this picture before everyone left. Someone said, "Since when do we take pictures at bunko?" That's what happens when you have a blog, I guess. I'm finding myself taking so many pictures.

Here's the prizes I picked out. A friend of mine sells rustic home decor. She's clearancing out her inventory so I was able to pick out these great prizes. We have $60 to spend (each person pays $5 each).

I found these cute napkins & plates at Target.

Just a picture taken before everyone came and the action began. This is what happens when you don't read the owner's manual of your new camera like Jason does. A few of these pictures are out of focus because I had the setting on "panoramic" instead of "auto."

And I won "biggest loser" of the night for having the least amount of wins, so I won the cute LOVE letters.

Thanks Missy, my sister-in-law, who truly is an amazing cook, for sharing the recipe to this delicious pumpkin trifle. It was a HUGE hit with everyone and I had so many requests for the recipe. Once again, this is another picture out of focus, but if you have a trifle dish & you want a dessert with amazing flavor, try this one. Also, you can just make the pumpkin bread, it really is so good! I also made my garlic chicken farfalle (see recipe below), breadsticks, salad, apples with carmel dip (carmel, sour cream & heath bar pieces), and we had sodas (rootbeer & fanta orange-halloween colors) in a black witch cauldron.

Grand Champion Pumpkin Bread
From “Farm Journal’s Complete Home Baking Book”

3 1/3 cups sifted flour
2/3 cups cooking oil
4 tsp. pumpkin spice
4 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
1 (1-lb) can mashed pumpkin (2 cups)
1 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup water
1 ½ tsp salt
2 2/3 cup sugar

Sift together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.

Beat together sugar and oil in bowl until light and fluffy, using electric mixer at high speed. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in pumpkin.

Add dry ingredients alternately with water to sugar mixture, beating well after each addition, using electric mixer at low speed. Pour batter into 2 greased 9x5x3-inch loaf pans.

Bake in 325 degree oven for 55 minutes, or until cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans; cool on racks. Makes 2 loaves.

Whipped Topping
Whip 2 pints heavy whipping cream until it stiffens. (I whip mine in my Kitchen Aid mixer and I really whip it a long time on a high speed. I make it a bit stiffer then you would usually do it if was just going to be a topping.)
Gradually add 1 ½ cups brown sugar and 1 tsp. vanilla.

**This recipe will make enough for one trifle dish- plus you will probably have some left over.

For 2 trifle dishes, I use 3 pints of heavy whipping cream, 2 ¼ cups brown sugar 1 ½ tsp vanilla.

Pumpkin Trifle
Cut one loaf of the pumpkin bread into cubes. Place half of the bread in the bottom of the trifle dish. Next drizzle caramel sauce (I used Smuckers caramel topping for ice cream) over the pumpkin bread. Next sprinkle Heath toffee bits (the Heath brand are chocolate and toffee pieces) over the bread and caramel. Spread a generous layer of the whipped topping over the pumpkin bread. Repeat all of the above for the second layer.
The pumpkin bread and the whipped topping can easily be made a day or two ahead and then just assemble the trifle right before you serve it.

Sunday Dinner-delicious!

GARLIC CHICKEN FARFALLE

I've been finding so many new, delicious recipes through blogs. This one was found on Becky Higgin's blog. After church, when I was cooking this recipe, Alex said, "Let me guess, you found this recipe on someone's blog." But once he saw the bacon come out of the oven, he was jumping up & down and then gave me a huge hug! Let's just say Alex LOVES bacon!

If you're interested in a pasta dish with serious flavor, give this a try! My whole entire family LOVED this meal.

GARLIC CHICKEN FARFALLE

16 oz. Farfalle pasta

1 c. heavy whipping cream

3-4 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)

2 to 3 cloves garlic, crushed OR garlic salt (I just did a little garlic salt)

1 Tbsp. pepper* (I only did about 1 tsp of pepper)

1/2 c. butter

1 lb. bacon, crumpled**

1/2 c. shredded Parmesan cheese

1 (12 oz) Lawry’s mesquite marinade with lime juice

*Seems like a lot of pepper, but it has a wonderful flavor when everything mixes together. If you're apprehensive, do less pepper. You can always add more.

**We like to cook our bacon in the oven (400 degrees). Way less messy. And it's crispy every time. It took exactly 30 minutes. Allow to cool and then crumple.

Crock pot chicken and bottle of marinade on low for 6 hours. Pull marinated chicken out of the juices, allow to cool a little bit, and shred (I pull it apart). Set this aside. About a half-hour before serving, boil the pasta. In a small saucepan, melt butter, add garlic, whipping cream, pepper, parmesan cheese, and crumpled bacon. Whisk together on low heat for 3-4 minutes. In a large bowl, pour over cooked, drained pasta, add chicken and stir through. Sprinkle a little bit more shredded parmesan cheese on top. ENJOY!

Preschool & Playdough

Aliza started preschool this month at our kid's elementary school. I couldn't decide if I should start her in preschool this year or wait until next year. She still has 2 years before Kindergarten, since she'll turn 4 in December. The preschool at our elementary school is so hard to get into. In fact, they do a lottery to determine who gets into the program. I had made the decision in the springtime when they held the lottery, to wait until next year for preschool. However, one day in August, I had the thought pop into my head about 5 times to call the school & see if they had any openings. I finally called & the lady told me they had a long waiting list, so she probably wouldn't get in. Then a week later, the lady called me & said they had a spot for her. I guess she kept calling everyone on the waiting list until she reached someone that was home. I happened to be here & answered the phone the day she called. I'm still not sure as to the reason why Aliza needs to be in preschool this year, but everything came together so smoothly, that it really feels like it's meant to be for her.

Aliza has really enjoyed this month of preschool. However, she's such a night owl that waking her up on Tuesday & Thursday mornings is like waking her up out of a coma.

With the preschool, if you volunteer 1 day/month or make playdough for the preschool, they take $20 off the monthly tuition. So of course, I gladly volunteered to make the playdough each month! Sign me up!

This playdough is extremely easy to make. So for any of you needing a good playdough recipe, enjoy!

Preschool Playdough

2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
2 pkg unsweetened koolaid
2 Tbsp cream of tartar
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 cups water

In large pot, combine all dry ingredients. Mix well. Add the oil & water. Stir over medium heat until the mixture is firm and hard to stir. (The mixture changes consistency & look as it cooks). Do not overcook. Dump out of pan on lightly floured surface. When cool, knead until smooth & pliable. Store in airtight container. Refrigerate between uses.