Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches

Since today is October 1st and October first in Homemade Cookie Day I decided to try out a recipe for a yummy Fall treat-

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip
Cookie Sandwiches
Ingred;
1/3c. olive oil
7.5 oz (about 3/4c.) pumpkin
1 egg
3/4c. sugar
2t. vanilla
3c. flour
1t. baking soda
1t. baking powder
1/2t. salt
1c. mini chocolate chips :)

Cream Cheese Frosting- I got my recipe from here- What's for Dinner?

Heat oven to 375.
Mix together oil, pumpkin, egg, sugar and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Using a large scoop put scoopfuls onto a greased cookie sheet.
Bake for about 10 minutes. Cool.
Spread cream cheese frosting onto the flat surface of one cookie top with the flat surface of another. Enjoy :)

More Mochi, More 'Shrooms and 5 Words from Willoughby

I made a Pumpkin Mochi Cake, I got the recipe from Allrecipes, there are quite a few Mochi recipes on there. Just type Mochi in the search box and check them all out! The picture isn't all that great but it was definitely a hit here at my house.

Pumpkin Mochi

Ingred;
2-1/2c. mochiko
2t. baking powder
2c. sugar
4 eggs
1- 30 oz can pumpkin
1- 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
1c. melted butter
2t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9x13 pan.
Sift together the mochiko, baking powder, and sugar in a large bowl. Mix together the eggs, pumpkin, milk, butter and vanilla. Stir this mixture into the dry mixture. Pour into the pan.
Bake for 1 hour, cool before serving.

I enjoy pumpkin desserts, and I really liked this but I think the Lemon Mochi is my favorite still :) :) :)


I made some 'shrooms tonight, they got a little overdone but were still tasty. I used the Parmesan puff filling I had leftover from yesterday in them, it worked really well. I wouldn't have overbaked them, they smelled so yummy I knew they were done, but I was distracted by a giant spider in my kiddos game cupboard. Yuck.

I received 5 words from Willoughby to play along in a Game.
If anyone else wants to play let me know and I can give you five words.

#1-Cold, I like the cold, not freezing cold exactly just chilly cold. My Mom has always called me a heater, because from the time I was really small I was always very, very warm blooded. As a Teen my family always made me keep my bedroom door closed because I liked to keep my windows open year round, even in winter. I grew up in Montana remember so it got pretty chilly in there at times.

#2-Light, I am a big fan of natural lighting. I like to leave the lights in my house off until it's almost too dark to see because I don't like the fake light. Hubby thinks I'm strange, so I tell him it only looks so dark because he is getting old, lol.

#3-Painting, I wish I could paint. Landscapes, Seascapes ( anything with escape in it sounds good to me :) I even took painting classes once a week for almost a year. And I still can't paint, I gave up the day I realized Miss B's paintings looked better than mine.

#4-Change, as most of you know I am not a big fan of change. I would like it if things stayed the same, and never changed :)

#5-Inspire, My children are my biggest inspiration. Everyday they inspire me to be better, I am constantly amazed by how giving and sweet they are to each other and those around them. They Inspire me everyday.

Homemade Sugar and Salt Scrubs

Since I had the coconut oil I bought I decided to make some scrubs with it. If you have never used/seen coconut oil is has kind of the same look/consistency as shortening.

I wanted to make a sweeter scrub for a body scrub and also one to keep by the kitchen sink for my hands. So here we have our ingredients-

For the Salt Scrub I used-
Sea Salt
Coconut oil
an oil mixture of grapefruit, eucalyptus, peppermint & lavender.

For the Sugar Scrub-
turbinado or raw sugar
coconut oil
vanilla extract

To make this you need to fill you container about 3/4 of the way full with your sugar or salt. Melt the oil in a glass cup in the microwave, about 30 sec. a little less maybe. Add in your oils(5-10 drops) or extract(1t.) Stir it in. Slowly pour the oil over the salt/sugar and stir it in until you get the consistency that you like. Cover and enjoy! :)

The vanilla sugar one, oh boy this stuff smells good enough to eat :)

I put some of each of these in cute little glass containers that I bought at goodwill. And labeled them to give as a gift.

Since we moved here there is a lady from church that made an extremely kind and thoughtful gesture to my family. Long story short she arranged a big get together, spur of the moment, to introduce Mr. K to some other boys his age so he would feel more comfortable here- which he now does.
So I packaged these up with the body butter I made,

and a couple loaves of Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread.

To give to her as a Thank You. When someone does something like that to help your child it really touches your heart.

Graduation Fun

Graduation was Wonderful, the BBQ was a bunch of fun, AND we found a house, whew- big sigh of relief. Now I just have to pack up our 5 bedroom, 2 story house in 2 weeks, no biggie, cause I'm super mom ;)

I actually have a lot of the packing done already, so there isn't too much left, I have a few fun pictures to share.


Also three quick recipes-
BBQ Shredded Chicken
This is just the crockpot bbq chicken recipe I have posted here.

Parmesan Garlic Orzo with Grilled Chicken
The recipe for the Orzo is on allrecipes, I topped it with grilled chicken.

Garlic Chicken Marinade
1T. white vinegar
2T. olive oil
1T. minced garlic
1T. Johnny's garlic spread mix
1/2c. warm water

Mix all together and marinate chicken for 4-12 hours.



Pumpkin Pancakes
Ingred;
3c. flour
1/2c. sugar
4t. baking soda
1t. baking soda
1t.cinnamon
3T. oil
2 eggs
1/2c. pumpkin
1 1/2c. milk

Whisk together the dry ingred. Slowly incorporate the wet ingred. Cook on a hot griddle :)

Happy Thursday!! :) :) :)

In the Mood for some Bakin'

There are SO many cooking/baking/food blogs out there, it's too much fun :) I have googled several things like baking blogspot and cooking blogspot ect..... I'm sure you get the picture, and now have a pile of recipes tagged to try- It's almost worst than my All Recipes recipe box, Almost ;)
Anyway one that I have come across a couple times and always catches my eye is called
The Sisters' Cafe

Part of my fascination with this blog is the wish that I could get all my sisters to do a cooking blog with me, how fun would that be!!! I love the idea & will begin asking/begging them right away :) The other part would be, of course, the FOOD! They have tons of great recipes and pictures, Yum, Yumm, Yummy!! I actually made 2 of theirs today, I have been going through cooking/baking withdrawal. And my poor family is having a hard time remembering what a home-made treat/dinner tastes like! While I have been down my Hubby has mostly done instant or fast food- although one night he did make a pretty good Goulash- Kudos to my Honey.

Anyway I thought I would surprise the Kiddos with some Pumpkin Bars as an after-school treat. Shepherds Pie for Dinner, and for Breakfast tomorrow- Home Made Cinnamon Rolls. That should hold them for awhile.


















So here we have the Link for the Pumpkin Bars Recipe. And here is the link to the
Cinnamon Rolls Recipe. The Shepherds Pie one is in my head, I will try to post it for you, although I'm pretty sure most of you probably already have your standard go to recipe for that :) :)

Shepherds Pie
Ingred;
1 lb extra lean ground beef
1 can each corn, peas, beans
1 can cream of mushroom soup-(shhhhh... this is a secret from my Family, they are not mushroom fans)
2 pkts brown gravy mix- equal to making 2 cups gravy
1-1/2c. cool water
3c. mashed potatoes
1c. shredded cheddar cheese

Brown your beef, when cooked through add vegies, & soup, whisk together the water & gravy mix & add to the rest. Cook until thick & bubbly. Pour into a 9x13 pan, spread the potatoes over top and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 for about 30 min.
This is my families favorite variation of Shepherds Pie, so there ya go.
Happy Wednesday All!!!