finding pumpkin & recipes

My friend Beth is really lucky Walmart still had cans of pumpkin on their shelf. The way she made it sound yesterday was that she had cleared every grocery store in central PA of their pumpkin inventory. And I SO needed to make her pumpkin muffins from yesterday. Because  I have desserts on the mind and menu this week. If I couldn't find any cans of pumpkin at the store,  I planned on knocking on Beth's door begging for just one can. But I scored and now have two cans in my pantry. 

Beth also said it was rude of me not to share the recipes I mentioned yesterday. So let's rewind, shall we.

RASPBERRY OATMEAL BARS

1 pkg. yellow cake mix

2 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats

3/4 cup butter, melted

1 jar (12 oz.) seedless raspberry preserves

1 Tbsp. water

Combine the dry cake mix, oats and butter until crumbly. Press 3 cups of the crumb mixture into a greased 13x9 pan. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, stir the preserves and water until blended. Spread over crust. Sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture. Bake 25-28 minutes. Cool on a wire rack . Cut into bars.  Eat and enjoy!!

The main course last night was Sloppy Pizza Joes.

1 lb. lean ground beef

1 jar (14 oz.) pizza sauce

3/4 tsp. of garlic powder, dried rosemary, oregano, basil

1/4 tsp. onion powder, pepper

hamburg buns

slices of mozzarella cheese

Cook the beef, drain. Stir in the pizza sauce & seasonings. Cook & stir until heated. Serve on buns with cheese. 

A very quick meal! Both recipes again are from my favorite cooking magazine Simple & Delicious!

On a totally unrelated note, I literally just bought this dog bed about an hour ago, brought it home and during my lunch/newspaper reading session the dog destroyed it! GRRRRRRR- not happy! He is also working his way through the rug at my back door and the screen door.

He is running up a very expensive tab! Wonder how he's going to pay for this??????

meal planning ......MY WAY

 Sit down with my favorite cookbook magazine (Simple & Delicious)

Choose 3 main course options

Choose 5 desserts to make this week

Doesn't seem balanced does it? You know where my priorities are don't you?

Proceed to grocery store to spend over $100 on mostly ingredients to make dessert. 

(I did buy a pack of chicken breasts and a pack of ground beef too)

Find out that my friend Beth has purchased all the cans of pumpkin on the shelf!

Scratch one dessert off my list.

 Guess I'll just stick to making 

 Creamy Lemon Cake Bars Raspberry Oatmeal Bars Chocolate Candy Clusters

for this week at least!

 A serving of fruit and a whole grain. Why this dessert  could be considered a health food!

I'm sure my friend Mimi could give me a few more ideas for some dinner entrees. She's got a cool little blog all about grilling with some mouth-watering recipes that I've been anxious to try. Go give her some love please.

 

Just had to throw this one in here.

My furry sidekick who literally never leaves my side! Please tell me this is normal dog behavior. If I get up to leave a room even for a moment, he follows. It drives me a little nuts!

Tonight's meal......Sloppy Pizza Joes and Raspberry Oatmeal Bars! Can't make a new dessert until the first one is gone! ( maybe I should think about freezing the leftover bars)
Have a great day everyone! Life is short, eat more dessert!

remember when

Way back when I mentioned we visited a 175 room house, I'm finally going to share some of the pictures. 

Winterthur is located in Wilmington, DE. It houses the world's largest collection of American decorative arts.

What the heck does that mean you ask? Basically it is a collection of American furniture, textiles, dishes...

Henry Francis du Pont,  the former owner of this modest little abode was a hoarder. Luckily, it was all beautiful American made things. As his collection grew, he would just add more wings onto the home. 

Don't think my husband would add on to our house for my ever growing craft supply collection. 

But when you've got money like the du Pont's you can do whatever you feel like.

The home and the grounds are simply stunning. The kids even enjoyed this tour. 

If you are ever in the area, it's definitely worth a visit!

This was part of the Enchanted Forest, a wonderful children's garden.

These are actually speakers behind the beautiful ironwork in the photo above. That was the sound system for around their pool. Pretty fancy! That's not how we roll in the cul-de-sac. I actually had a "boom box" from the 80's out by our pool for a party the other weekend! Old school baby!

A great house for a game of hide & seek, don't you agree!

easy on the eyes

You all know how much I love to look at houses. In fact, if I could have any job in the world  I would want to get paid to look at houses! ( no, don't say real estate agent, I'm not very good at selling things ) The house above just  makes me want to sit on a porch swing with a cup of coffee, green tea, diet coke with lime (insert your favorite drink)  and a book and probably a brownie. And wear an apron, I have no idea why.

 

 I do enjoy a classic stone home!

 

 White picket fence...be still my heart!

 

Cute little Cape, love the bump out front door area. Probably a cute little foyer, which I don't have.

 A very stately home. Looks a little too much like an institution for my taste but grand nonetheless. And lots and lots of windows to clean!!

 

This was the entrance to a detached garage, more like a carriage house. I'll take it!

Which one of these photos doesn't go with the rest? Remember those tests in elementary school? This was in a sculpture garden at an art museum and I just thought it was a hoot. Imagine having something like that in your yard, how could you not laugh every time you went outside!

I've got houses on the brain this weekend. Friday we visited a home with 175 rooms! Hard to call it a home more like an estate and now a museum. I'll share some pictures this week, the grounds were spectacular!!

One more week of summer vacation. I'm not ready for the madness of the school year after such a nice, relaxing summer. Why must it end?????

rough day at the office

My husband had it really rough yesterday! (do I sound bitter)

Look how stressed he looks!

Breakfast with the Philadelphia Eagle cheerleaders at the training camp. Then spent the morning on the field watching the players practice.

Followed by autographs from all the top dogs on the team. What a way to start the work week!

I spent the morning at Walmart......awesome!

things I love

 

Opening up a bag of potatoes and finding this! 

2 eyes, a nose, a mouth with a tongue sticking out...

You just have to love God's sense of humor!

 

Rainy evenings, everyone in the house just relaxing. Love nights like that!

 

Cottages! Got the whole family to watch HGTV with me tonight!

 

This girl, who has discovered a photo editing site!

She is busy turning every picture into something unique.

 I love her style!! Can't wait to see where she takes it!

This boy!!! The sweetest, most loving child ever! I just can't get enough of him!

Good thing he still loves to snuggle with his mama!!

little things

 

Sometimes all it takes to make a teenage girl happy ..............

 

From a very fancy hotel!!

 

Hotel Hershey

 You make yummy cupcakes and are so very lovely! Just wish you were in my budget!!

 

A truly magnificent place!

In this heat and their flowers still look fantastic! Wish I had their grounds crew!