Pumpkin Spice Popcorn!

Yum 

 yum  

Yum

It was an experiment that I thought went so wrong.... then I tasted it, and it was so right!

A little sweet and a little salty with a pinch of pumpkin and a whole lot of Fall.  

 

It was a perfect treat for a rainy night in. 

*Angela*

Rainy day love

Personally I LOVE rainy days!

Especially when you don't have to go anywhere or do anything, when you have the option to snuggle up with a cozy cable knit blanket while the baby takes a nap and you can sip on a glass of sweet red wine ( noon is a good wine time for me ) and you can really truly be one hundred percent focused on that really good book that you picked up from the $1.00 table at the flea market the other day. 

Yeah I wish my rainy day was like that too...

Instead my rainy day consisted of a little bundle of joy who just wanted to squeal instead of using her words, who had no interest in taking a nap even though her eyes were bright red, and a crazy puppy dog who is very vocal as well.  

We have a lot of animal drama around these parts. 

Honestly I thought my heart was going to explode from all the pressure building up as I tried my hardest to keep my composure, patience, and temper under control.  

So what do you do when life gives you lemons? 

You tell the baby to "find the puppies" which makes the puppies go into hiding, and also buys you approximately 15 minutes of peace and quiet.  Since the baby loves the puppies more than her own parents this can work a few times as long as you switch out the words "find", "hug", and "kiss".  

In this forty five minute time of bliss, be productive! Do something positive like baking some pretty fantastic Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies that I found on Pinterest.  

Once my brain was put into a state of calm by the sugar endorphins, we all loaded up in the truck to go deliver some happiness and lull the baby to sleep in the backseat.  

WIN / WIN 

I love delivering surprises, and lets face it while eating two dozen cookies on my own is totally possible and has been done before I'm not going to lie, 

it's really not the best idea.  

So while we were out and about in a slow drizzly rain kind of a day I went ahead and raided the chicken coop for some fresh yummies to give to the neighbors.

We never actually buy eggs anymore so I have finally ran out of my egg carton stash.  Luckily I stumbled across this cute method of turning a paper plate into a little basket

I will never again buy gift bags, everyone from here on out will be getting adorable paper plate baskets! 

Hope you have found a way to enjoy your rainy days!

*Angela*

Chocolate Buttered Pecan Cake

This cake was a bit of an experiment... a very yummy experiment!

          Since I was not at work this past Sunday I was finally able to contribute to our Family Night Dinner.  Although there are so many things I want to do on the weekends when I have a chance, whipping up a quick and yummy dessert was the least I could do to help my folks feed the masses. 

Since I am not a avid cook, this beauty started with a box.  Honestly... I'm pretty sure a box cake is way better than anything I could attempt to do from scratch, frosting on the other hand is where I get to play around with it a bit. 

 Really, I just kinda went with what I had in my pantry. 

There was a thought of trying a fancy recipe off Pinterest,  

but that would have required a trip to the grocery store 

and I had a sleeping baby upstairs.

 Out came the meatloaf pan, to give it a little more

 of a "Custom Cake" feel.  

Just a pet Peeve of mine, I line the meatloaf pan 

with wax paper for two reasons

                      1. It makes it easier to lift out the cake 

                      2. It grosses me out to think there was raw meat 

                          in there before, yes I do clean my dishes but 

                          it still creeps me out.

Now the Frosting,  

this is the part that really takes the cake 

(silly I know) 

Ingredients:

                                                                1/2c. Unsalted butter

                                                                8oz Cream cheese

                                                                4oz Sour cream

                                                                2c. Powdered sugar

                                                                8oz Chopped Pecans

                                                                2 tbsp Unsalted butter

                                                                2tsp Vanilla extract

Using a large skillet melt 2tbsp of butter on medium heat and stir in your chopped pecans, it's best to let them sit for a minute to get nice and toasty.  Stir occasionally so they don't burn, this should take about 10 to 15 min.  Toasted butter pecans smell wonderful.  Once they are toasted sit them aside and let them cool down completely.

In a large bowl mix your cream cheese, sour cream, 1/2c butter and vanilla.  Once that is mixed to a creamy consistency,  sift in your sugar until the mix is fluffy.  Then mix in the cooled buttered pecans.  

Let the frosting cool in the fridge for about an hour or so, this will let the flavors settle in and help it to harden a little so it will stick to the cake and not slide off. 

Once your cake is cooled completely slather on all that amazing frosting and stick it back in the fridge until you're ready to serve! 

Yummy

*Angela*

Yummy

Just a tease....

My first venture into cake decorating! 

Made a Birthday cake for my big bro yesterday,
 and man was it yummy!

Sadly I can't take any credit as to how it tasted,  for that it was easy enough to just follow the direction on the box, 
what I did was made it beautiful =) 

umm... sorry...  handsome,  I made it handsome. 

Apparently grown men can't have "beautiful" birthday cakes. 

 

I think she's beautiful

*Angela*