My Best Friend's Wedding...Oh and some pumpkins!

     The past week has been filled with many tears and laughs all combined into one. Last Saturday, my best friend got married and I was beyond blessed to stand by her side on her big day! What a fun weekend it was celebrating Andrea & Jaz with all of our closest friends! The next day she whipped off to Texas to start her new journey and needless to say I am having separation anxiety, so in honor of Andrea's one week wedding anniversary, I made a recipe that she gave me! Pumpkin Crunch Cake... the perfect fall dessert!
 But first, I have to show off some wedding pictures of course!

Isn't she the most beautiful bride you have ever seen? I'm still in awe! 

Now onto this yummy Pumpkin Crunch Cake! This recipe is so easy and full of flavor! (Recipe below)

Serve warm or chilled with whipped cream! 

Pumpkin Crunch Cake

1 15oz. can pumpkin puree

1 12oz. can evaporated milk

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 box yellow cake mix

1 cup pecans, chopped

1 cup butter/margarine (melted)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Pour into a greased 9x13 baking dish. 

Layer dry cake mix evenly on top of pumpkin mixture.

Sprinkle pecans on top of cake mix.

Drizzle melted butter evenly over the top and bake for 50-55 minutes or until golden brown.

Good news! We can all officially start decorating for fall at 10:29pm tonight! Finally!

Pumpkin...It's What's For Breakfast

   

    

     

      This post contains two recipes and three of my favorite things in life...Breakfast, pumpkins, and the CrockPot. I am convinced, thanks to my mother, the CrockPot is the greatest invention to this day. And I have learned to appreciate much more the day I stepped into this thing called "adulthood."

     Onto one of my other favorites...breakfast. It is my favorite meal of the day. I look forward to waking up (not so much the waking up part), drinking my coffee and having breakfast. I could eat breakfast food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but for some reason my breakfast choices always resort to oatmeal. I have been eating oatmeal for breakfast every single day for a long time now and somehow have not gotten sick of it. Well to mix up my Kroger brand Low Sugar Brown Sugar & Cinnamon Oatmeal a little, what better way to combine my love of pumpkin and breakfast than Crockpot Pumpkin Oatmeal. Yummy in my tummy! And no, this isn't quite as low sugar as my regular oatmeal. 

     I threw this easy recipe together at night and the next morning, my house was filled with the smell of cinnamon and pumpkin spice. What a great way to wake up! 

Overnight Crockpot Pumpkin Oatmeal (recipe below)

The before product looked a whole lot like pumpkin soup

 

(I had to steal this picture from the blog I found the recipe on because I forgot to take a picture of my finished product! Whoops!)

     My second recipe this week was Pumpkin Pie French Toast. Now as I said, I usually don't take the time to cook a breakfast and stick to my microwave oatmeal, but this particular morning I had the day off, so I decided to cook a big breakfast! I made mine a tiny bit healthier using Organic Almond Milk & Ezekiel bread, but boy was it a treat! :) 

Pumpkin Pie French Toast (recipe below Oatmeal)

Overnight Pumpkin Oatmeal
Ingredients:
1 cup steel cut oats (you must use steel cut oats because they’re the only kind that will work)
2 cups apple juice (I actually would leave this out next time and substitute with water)
2 and 1/2 cups milk
2 15 oz cans pumpkin
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup water
pinch of salt

Directions: Step 1:  Place all the above ingredients in a ceramic bowl that will fit inside your crock pot.  Stir all the ingredients until blended.

Step 2: Place the ceramic bowl inside your crockpot.  Slowly pour some water in the crockpot until it reaches the middle of the ceramic bowl.  This will create a ‘water bath’ for your oatmeal. This prevents the oatmeal from overcooking and sticking to the sides of the bowl. 

Step 3:  Cook on low for 8-9 hours. 

Quick tip: Pour a little french vanilla coffee creamer or milk on top of your oatmeal.  This adds a creamy flavor with a touch of sweetness & it’s simply divine!


Pumpkin Pie French Toast
Ingredients:

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup pumpkin

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons brown sugar

8 slices bread (I used a nice, hearty wheat bread)

Directions:

Beat eggs and milk in a shallow bowl. Stir in pumpkin, brown sugar, and spices until well combined. Make sure there are no clumps of pumpkin left. 

Spray griddle with non stick spray. Dip bread into egg mixture, turning to coat each side, and allowing excess to drip off back into bowl. Cook over medium-low heat, about 2 minutes for each side of bread. Serve with syrup.

Stay tuned for next week! 

Welcome to my Pumpkin Obsession

     As I sit here this morning drinking my Dunkin Donuts Pumpkin Spice coffee, reading my devotion, and smelling my Tailgate candle from Bath & Body Works (If your football tailgate has a smell-this is it! A must have candle this year), I can't help but think of this picture that keeps popping up on social media. Most people have seen it on Pinterest, Instagram, or Facebook by now, but I am convinced it was designed for me.

    I know according to the calendar it isn't technically fall, but in my mind, September 1st means fall. Although I am waiting until "real fall" to put up my decorations, the long awaited time has come where I can drink Pumpkin Spice Lattes, fill my house with the smell of pumpkin scented candles and Glade Plug-in's, and bake everything on my "Pumpkin Obsession" Pinterest page. If you come to my house, in each room is a fall-scented candle and in each bathroom you wash your hands with pumpkin soap and moisturize with pumpkin lotion.

     I have always had a love for fall, pumpkins, hiking, football season, and cuddling up on the couch with apple cider, but over the past few years as the pumpkin industry has expanded, I have become more obsessed than the average white girl. (I have a feeling my friends would agree and are probably shaking their heads at the fact that I've even started a blog about this- but I bet they aren't surprised). 

    Over the course of this fall, I am going to make one (some weeks more than one) pumpkin inspired recipe per week. My KitchenAid (one of the best Christmas presents my adult self has ever received from mom and dad) is going to be put to serious use over the next few months! I will post the recipes on here for my fellow pumpkin lovers :) I am also in the beginning of training for my next half marathon, so I am going to need test dummies for these goodies! Now accepting applications.

Sooo... here goes my first recipe! 

Oatmeal Pumpkin Creme Pies (recipe below) 

 The final product. It made two platefuls! And yes, I saved one for myself! 

Ingredients:

OATMEAL SANDWICH COOKIES

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 and 2/3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup all-purpose flour

PUMPKIN CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

• 4 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg(or 3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice)- I used 3/4tsp pumpkin pie spice. 
• 2 – 2.5 cups powdered sugar, sifted- I used 2 cups and it was sweet enough! 
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (to thicken, as needed)
• salt, to taste

Directions:

1. In a large bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment or with a handheld mixer, cream the softened butter and sugars until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well. Slowly stir in the baking soda, cinnamon, oats, and flour. Mix together until just combined. Do not overmix.
2. Chill the dough for at least one hour in the fridge. Cookies will be very flat if the dough is not cold.
3. Preheat oven to 325F degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Roll 2 teaspoons of dough into a ball and place onto prepared sheet. Bake for 9 minutes and let cool on cookie sheet for a minute or two before transferring to a wire rack.
4. While the cookies are cooling, prepare the pumpkin frosting. Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, mix the cream cheese, butter, pumpkin, and spices on medium speed until creamy. Add 2-2.5 cups of sifted powdered sugar depending how sweet you’d like it. If frosting is much too thin, add in the flour to thicken it. Add salt to cut the sweetness, if you prefer.
5. Spread a generous amount of frosting on the underside of a cooled cookie and sandwich another cookie on top. Cookies stay fresh for up to 5 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

ENJOY!! Next week.... A breakfast item!