Just Call Me Betty Crocker

I was in a major baking mood this weekend. It started with a batch of these pumpkin muffins that I made on Wednesday. They were delicious. The leftovers went to work with hubby because I didn't need that temptation on my kitchen counter, even if they are relatively healthy for a baked good. The moist tasty muffins left me with a Glad container of pumpkin in my fridge, which of course led to more baking. I attempted these Pumpkin Cupcakes with Pumpkin Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting on Saturday. The cupcakes were fluffy and amazing. The frosting, however, was a total flop. While trying to be a rebel and use fat free cream cheese, I found that the recipe clearly declared "DO NOT USE FAT FREE" for a reason. I whipped the heck out of that stuff with my lovely Kitchen Aid stand mixer, but it was useless. I dumped the frosting wreck into a plastic bag and tossed it in the fridge to transform it into something useful at a later date. Instead, I drizzled a sweet pumpkin glaze over the cupcakes. The glaze was simply powdered sugar, pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, and milk. (They were not just for the two of us, fyi. We shared them with hubby's coworkers at a target shooting/dog-playing/Mexican food-eating shin dig at his boss' house.)

The muffin and cupcake recipes are both super easy to make, and they're wonderful for curing carb cravings. So, whip up a batch if you have a can of pumpkin lying around. You won't be disappointed. :)

Back to that frosting mess. I pulled it out of the fridge this afternoon determined that I would make something edible out of it. These are what I came up with!

I'm calling them Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cakies. They're like cookies, but with a fluffy, cake-like texture. And, surprisingly, they're good! Hubby snagged two right off the cookie sheet. ;)

Ingredients:

8 oz. package fat free cream cheese

1/2 c. canned pumpkin

5 T. brown sugar

1/2 c. powdered sugar

1 c. Heart Healthy Bisquick baking mix

1/2 c. All purpose flour

(Measurements are approximate)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix cream cheese, pumpkin and sugars until smooth. Add baking mix and flour. Place by rounded spoonfuls on baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.

Thursday's Series of Unfortunate Events

I nanny on Thursdays from 7am-4pm. This past Thursday, I left the house at 6:30 with my coffee and my phone and drove through light snow to my employer's house. When I arrived, I realized that I had forgotten my purse. Shoot. I received a text from my employer while I was getting the kids ready for preschool. She asked me to take them out for lunch since the cleaners were coming; and let's face it, it's much easier to clean a house without three little hooligans running around and messing it up in a split second. I explained my forgotten wallet predicament to which she suggested that I take a check from her office and cash it at the bank. I loaded the munchkins in the vehicle and dropped them off at school. The needle on the gas gauge was holding steady on E.

I headed a mile or so down the road to my employer's bank to cash the check. No good. The teller explained to me that I could not cash the check without my ID. A verbal confirmation from my employer wouldn't cut it, either. She suggested that I try another bank (the one the check was from). I drove another mile to the second bank hoping I wouldn't run out of gas. I was denied yet again. Here I was in an empty gas-guzzler without a penny. Praying the whole way, I managed to drive back to my employer's house. The snow was falling more rapidly by the second. After telling my sob story to the cleaning lady who only speaks broken English, I decided that I would have to drive my car back to my house to get my wallet. It was the only way I would be able to put gas in the guzzler, pick the munchkins up from preschool, and be able to pay for their lunch. I had well over an hour to complete this task, so I figured I would be fine. I quickly brushed several inches of snow off my car. Then, I quickly brushed several inches of snow off my pants after a pretty epic wipeout. Since nobody else was there to laugh at my expense, I let out a few chuckles. Could the day really get worse? Don't ever ask that question. The answer is almost always, "yes."

I finally pulled into our driveway twenty minutes later than I had expected. The highway was getting pretty nasty, and I learned quickly that Spokane doesn't know the first thing about snow removal. They choose the "ignore it and hope the temperatures go up" option. I ran in the house, grabbed my purse, locked the door and jumped back in my car. "I still have fifty minutes," I thought, "I'm golden." haha. I slipped my shifter into reverse, pressed the gas, and didn't move an inch! The car was completely stuck in our slightly sloped driveway. Ten minutes and a twenty point turn later, I was inching my way back to my employer's house to switch vehicles, get gas, and pick up the kiddos. I had to call their preschool teacher because I was a good fifteen minutes late picking them up. Moral of the story: do not ever forget your wallet because you will not be able to cash a check, you will almost run out of gas, you will be forced to drive in terrible weather conditions, and you will take an epic fall in the snow.

I should also mention that it took an hour and a half for me to drive 15 miles home that afternoon. It was a good time. Fortunately, hubby came to the rescue and switched vehicles with me downtown so I wouldn't have to attempt the steep south hill in my little Malibu. Trust me, a car named after a warm sunny place is probably not going to be a beast in the snow. The Bronco, on the other hand, definitely is.

Puppy Love

Hubby called me from work on Tuesday and told me that he had found a puppy for us! We'd talked about what breeds we like and had done some research, but I had no idea how quickly we would go from talking about a puppy to bringing one home. We decided that we would really like a Weimaraner because they're known for being active, intelligent, and very devoted to their owners. Hubby contacted the breeder, and we drove an hour west of the city on Wednesday to pick out our own puppy! Otto Von Zipper is a big beautiful boy. After picking him up, we drove to the Idaho border to pick up his sof-krate2. Hubby found a great deal on this brand new collapsable crate on Craig's List. We also spent a small fortune at Petsmart on all of the puppy essentials. We literally had nothing for a puppy except a raccoon chew toy that we had received with a shower gift. Said squeaky toy just so happens to be his fave. He's already brought us lots of laughter, snuggles, and frustration. Those of you who have trained a puppy know what I'm talking about. Thank goodness for hard floors.

The first post-holiday post

It's taken me a little longer than I had initially thought it would to get back in the blogging saddle. (I know that sounds incredibly corny, but I couldn't resist). When I started this blog a few weeks ago I thought I'd be posting at least once a week. I'll try harder to make that happen from now on. But as my hubby gently stated a few minutes ago, maybe my life is too boring to blog about. He was kidding.

Our Christmas celebrations included flying East to be with our wonderful families. We saw my parents and brother, sister-in-law, and beautiful niece first. Then, my parents drove us to Bennington, VT where we met up with Russ' parents. We stayed with them in NH until New Year's Day. It was so good to be with our family and see old friends. I knew I missed them, but didn't realize how much until we were all together again. As always, it was over way too quickly. One thing I don't miss, however, is the holiday calorie intake! Oh my goodness, did we eat well (and by well I mean soooo badly). There were too many delicious meals and cookies to count.

After a painfully long day of flying, we opened the door to our humble little house, cranked the heat back up, and plopped down on the couch for the rest of the evening. It was good to be home. Just three short months ago, home was my parents' house in NY. Even when I lived in Michigan last year, I still considered their house my home. But now, that comforting word has a new meaning for me. I saw a quote on Pinterest last month that defines this word so well. It simply says, "Home is where your husband is." So for now, home is with my hubby in Spokane, WA.

We're back to our pre-holiday routine. It's back to work for my hubby and back to nannying for me (sure to be a source of many future blog posts). Plus, now I'm joining my hubby at the Crossfit gym. Oh Crossfit...workouts that have the power to destroy every single muscle in your body. I'm counting on it to destroy the holiday fat, too. ;)

How is the New Year treating you?