Buttermilk Pumpkin Pie

Hello Friends!

I wanted to share this pie recipe with you today, seeing how pumpkin everything will be here soon!

I found this recipe a few weeks ago when I wanted to use up some stuff in the house!
I had a pie crust, can of pumpkin, and half a bottle of Buttermilk on hand and wanted to throw something together. A quick Google search pulled up this recipe from The Food Network Kitchen.
I skipped the pie crust recipe and just went with the filling.
So here is what I did...

• 1 can pure pumpkin(not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1 stick butter(mine was salted) 
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar 
• 1/4 cup sugar 
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice 
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon 
• 3/4 cup Buttermilk 
• 2 Tbsp all purpose flour 

Preheat oven to 375. 

Mix the pumpkin, butter,eggs,sugars, and spices in a bowl until well combined. 

Add the buttermilk and the flour and mix until smooth. 

Pour in to the pie crust. 

Bake for 1 hour, or until the filling is set. 

Let cool completely before cutting. 

Can put confectioners sugar on top if you want. 

Super easy and delicious! Y'all try this soon! 

October Movies and Pumpkin Bread

October 10, 2014: Today is a rainy gloomy Fall day. A great day for some of YaYa's Tuna Casserole, a little school work,a list of October Movies( 60 to be exact) and some homemade Pumpkin Bread! I love days like this!

Lets start with the list, the kids and I came up with some of our favorite October movies and some that we want to see, so we thought we would share! :-)
(Some of these we own,some we need to buy, some are on Netflix, some are on Youtube!)

*FAVORITES*
  *1* HOCUS POCUS
  *2* DOUBLE DOUBLE TOIL AND TROUBLE
3. Toy Story of Terror
4, Nightmare Before Christmas
5. Adams Family
6. Adams Family Values
7. Casper
8. Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown
9. Coraline
10. Little Monsters
11. Mr. Boogedy
12. Bride of Boogedy
13. Dr, Suess Halloween is Grinch Night
14. The Worst Witch
15. Ghostbusters
16. Ghostbusters II
17. Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
18. Dreamworks Scared Shrekless
19. Dreamworks Monsters vs Aliens Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space
20. Halloweentown
21. Halloweentown High
22. Spooky Buddies
23. Franklin Halloween
24. Alvin and Chipmunks Batmunk
25. Halloween Tree
26. Hotel Transylvania
27. Igor
28. Frankenweenie
29. Paranorman
30. The Witches
31. The Black Cauldren
32. Escape to Witch Mountain
33. Return to Witch Mountain
34. Mickeys House of Villians
35. The Little Vampire
36. Witches in Stitches
37. Spookley the Square Pumpkin
38. Poohs Heffalump Halloween Movie
39. Garfeilds Halloween Adventure
40. Dear Dracula
41. Vampire Dog
42. Mad Monster Party
43. Goonies
44. Young Frankenstein
45. Monster House
46. The Ghost and Mr. Chicken
47. Ernest Scared Stupid
48. Disneys Halloween Treat
49. Once Upon a Halloween
50. Curius George Halloween Boo Fest
51. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
52. Berenstain Bears Trick or Treat
53. Berenstain Bears Spookiest Pumpkin
54. Berenstain Bears Haunted Lighthouse
55. Elmo says Boo
56. Barneys Halloween Party
57. Goosebumps
58. Casper's Scare School
59. Beetlejuice
60. Haunted Mansion


Now on to the Pumpkin Bread! I haven't found a clean pumpkin bread recipe that we all like yet, so this is my go to right now. I got this recipe from a family friend and we all love it! I tweaked it just a bit(as usual-haha).

Pumpkin Bread: From Darlene Derosia

Here is the recipe:

2 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup Vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350.
Beat eggs. Add sugar and beat together.
Add pumpkin, oil, and water and mix well.
Add flour, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Beat until well combined.
Add walnuts and gently mix.
Pour in to a greased and floured bread pan.
Bake around 60 minutes or until knife inserted in middle comes out clean.
When done, turn out on a rack to cool

(I only used 1 cup sugar. I used Coconut oil. And I added 1/3 cup walnuts)

MY HOUSE SMELLS AMAZING Y'ALL!!!


We are ending the day with some Yummy Pizza Soup and Grilled Cheese!

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins(Vegan)

I love Zucchini Bread/Muffins! Great way to use up zucchini from the garden, and a great way to get some veggies in my kids with out a fight! :-) 
This recipe is very simple and so moist and yummy! 

You will need:

• 1.5 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup of grated zucchini
• 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 medium bananas, mashed
• 1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350. 

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Mix together well, then stir in the zucchini and chocolate chips. 

3. In another bowl using a hand mixer or blender,mix together the canola oil,sugar,bananas,and vanilla. Add this mixture to the first and stir until it's an even batter.

4. Pour into a greased/lined muffin tin and bake for about 25 minutes.(Or pour into a greased loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes.

Found this recipe at One Happy Table she has some great ideas over there! 

*For a sugar-free version

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1.5 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 cups grated zucchini (about 3 medium zucchini)
• 2 large bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, plus a little for greasing the muffin tin
• 1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. 

2. Lightly grease a muffin tin with coconut oil.

3. In a large bowl, combine the whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. 

4. In another bowl, mix together the grated zucchini, mashed banana, coconut oil and vanilla. 

5. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and mix until just combined into an even batter. 

6. Spoon into the muffin tin and bake for 25 minutes.

Chocolate Chess Pie

This is my favorite pie! Sugary top and ooey gooey filling. This is a great pie to make for "get-togethers", potlucks, and holidays!

*1 cup sugar
*3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa
*2 eggs
*2/3 cup Evaporated Milk
*1/4 cup melted butter(half stick)
*1 tsp vanilla
*1 pie crust (Can use refrigerated or frozen) ,unbaked

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees

*Mix sugar and cocoa together, set aside.

*Using an electric mixer beat the eggs,then add the cocoa mixture. Beat in the milk,butter,and vanilla.

*Pour mixture into pie shell.

*Bake for 45 minutes

**Do not over bake, the center will be jiggly and the top cracked when you take it out of oven, it will set as it sits and cools. Let cook completely before serving!(You have to let it cool completely or it will be runny!) The pie will also puff up in the oven and then settle back down upon cooling.

YaYa's Strawberry Jam

I remember my mom making Strawberry Jam when I was a kid, I remember the smell and the "pop,pop,pop" we would hear from the kitchen. I wanted to learn how to do this myself, because #1 I love homemade jam and #2 because I like to know what's in the stuff we eat. So YaYa came and gave Sissy and I a lesson in Jam making!
I loved this recipe because it was very easy! The key is prep work, having everything measured and sanitized and ready to go!

Here is what you will need-

~Strawberries(A batch requires about 5 cups crushed strawberries, so you will need about 10 cups whole raw strawberries) Of course I would love to have strawberries from a "U-pick" farm, maybe next year!
~Sugar(7 cups-Domino Sugar-YaYa says it's better)
~Sure Jell (1 box)
~Butter

*Before you start make sure you have everything ready

~Jars with seals and rings
~Canning Funnel
~Fabric and Labels (optional)
~1 pot for the jars/lids
~1 pot for the jam
~Wooden Spoon
~Ladle
~2 Towels (1 for finished product, and one to use when filling jars)


1. Wash jars/seals and put them in a pot of hot water to sit until ready.

2. Measure out sugar in a separate bowl.

3. Wash your strawberries and hull them (cut off the green part on top, so nothing but fruit remains).

4. Now Crush the Berries. (There are different ways to go about crushing the berries; you can use a potato masher and mash them up OR you can put in a blender/food processor and crush them.)

5. Transfer the berries to a pot,add 1/4 tsp of butter and stir in the pectin,( continue stirring as you are adding the pectin)

(Sissy added pectin while YaYa stirred it up)

6. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil,stirring constantly, now add the sugar,continue stirring, return to a boil.


7. Boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly . Remove from heat. Skim off any foam. (As you’re stirring, a strange pink foam will form on top of your jam. It tastes delicious, but you don’t want that in your jam, ’cause then it won’t be gorgeously translucent. Use a spoon to scoop the foam off the surface of the boiling jam.

8. Ladle jam into jars. Wipe off the rim of the jar with a clean damp paper towel. 

9.Take a lid out if the hot water and place on jar. Screw on the rings. Put the jar upside down on a separate towel. 

Once all the jars are filled, turn them right side up and then leave them alone until they have all popped and set. 

While you are waiting on all those "pops" take the time to pop some biscuits in the oven and put that "foam" you skimmed off to good use...

Homemade Strawberry-Banana Fruit Leather

I love easy homemade recipes that use up items that I already have on hand! The other day I had some strawberries in the fridge that got ignored most of the week due to Spring Break from school, so I decided to do something with them and came up with this recipe by looking at many different ones. These are great for a lunch box treat! :-)

Strawberry-Banana Fruit Leather 

1 Container Strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 Bananas

1. Cut up strawberries and put in a small pot.

2. Add sugar and water and cook on medium heat until mixture is bubbly and strawberries are very soft.

3. Pour mixture into a blender and add bananas, blend until smooth.

4. Preheat oven to 170 degrees.

5. Cover to pans with parchment paper and divide the mixture between the two. Use a spatula to even it out as much as you can on the pan.

6. Put in oven for about 3.5-4 hours, rotating pans every hour.

7. When done it should be slightly sticky but not wet at all.

8. The way you cut it out and wrap it is your preference but this is how I did it, both ways. I also stored these in a ziploc bag in the fridge.

Both kids loved these! I will be experimenting with more soon too! :-)

**Bunny Bait**

**Bunny Bait**

2 cups pretzel sticks

2 cups rice chex

1 bag microwave popcorn

4 cubes of white chocolate

Easter sprinkles

1. Put chocolate in a bowl, put in microwave, 30 second intervals until completely melted.

2. Lay out pretzels,chex, and popcorn on a cookie sheet with wax paper.

3. Once the chocolate is melted, pour over the mix and stir, add sprinkles. Do not stir after adding sprinkles or they will turn white too  :-)

Holiday Popcorn

This is my go to treat when I want something quick to make for school/family parties. All you have to do is change the sprinkles to match the holiday.  :-)

Ingredients:

1 bag butter flavored popcorn
3 pieces almond bark(white chocolate)
Nonpareils Sprinkles (per holiday)

1. Pop the popcorn

2. Put Almond Bark in a bowl and microwave in 30 second intervals until melted.

3. Add some sprinkles to the melted chocolate.

4. Add popcorn to chocolate and stir well until all popcorn is coated. Add more sprinkles

5. Spread out on a wax paper lined sheet pan, and let sit 5 minutes to harden up.

Once it has hardened you can break it up and put in Ziploc bags to store.
I put it in Valentines bags and made some Strawberry muffins and that's what Sissy took for her Valentines party for school this year! :-)

Greek Spice Cake

Greek Spice Cake

1Tbsp Shortening
2 Tbsp + 2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup canola oil
1 cup buttermilk
3 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 tap baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup pecan chips
Confectioners' sugar

Grease 10-in. fluted tube pan with shortening; lightly coat with 2 tablespoons flour. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the sugars, oil, buttermilk, eggs and extracts until well blended. Combine the remaining flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves and baking soda; gradually beat into the sugar mixture until blended. Stir in pecans.

Transfer to prepared pan. Bake at 325° for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire rack to cool completely. Dust with confectioners' sugar.

Oh-My-Goodness!! This cake is going to be a Christmas tradition in our house!! The almond flavor really makes this cake! Yum Yum Yum!

I found this recipe at TasteofHome.com

Cake Batter Blondies

Have I mentioned my love for Pinterest? These are awesome! If  you are like me and can not resist licking the spoon while making a cake...even though you know you aren't supposed to, then these are for you!! They are so good...in moderation, much like the Toffee Bars they are very sweet.

 Here is what you will need:

1 box yellow cake mix
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg, beaten
1/4 – 1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup rainbow sprinkles
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine the cake mix and sprinkles in a large bowl, then mix in the oil and egg.
Add the milk slowly just until the batter is combined.
Place better in a greased 8×8 pan or 8-inch cake pan.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or just until the edges turn golden.
Let cool for 20 minutes before cutting because the gooey center needs to set.

 As far as I can tell this recipe came from here, hard to tell with Pinterest!

Chocolate Toffee Bars

These are so good! Very rich, I could only eat half of a square at one time...

1/2 C butter, melted
2 C graham cracker crumbs (32 squares)
1 8 oz. bag toffee bits
1 roll refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough
1 12oz. bag chocolate chips
1 14oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 T butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

Grease 13x9 baking dish and heat oven to 350.

Have the roll of cookie dough sitting out for around 10 minutes to soften up.

In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the 1/2 cup of melted butter, 1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs and 1/2 bag of toffee bits. Pour mixture into the greased pan and press evenly until mixture covers bottom of pan. Refrigerate for around 15 minutes.

In a 2 qt saucepan, heat the milk, chocolate chips and the tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Stir frequently until the chips are melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Spread the mixture over the graham cracker crumb mixture.

In another medium mixing bowl, break up the cookie dough and stir in the remaining 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs until blended. Crumble the mixture evenly over the chocolate layer and the sprinkle the remaining 1/2 bag toffee bits on top.

Bake for about 20-22 minutes or until it's golden brown. Cool completely before cutting, probably around 2 or more hours.


From: Pillsbury

Chocolate No-Bake Cookies

Chocolate No-Bake Cookies

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 stick butter
1/4 cup peanut butter
3 cups oatmeal
1tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Boil sugar,cocoa,milk,and butter for 3 minutes.

Take off of heat and add remaining ingredients. Mix well.

Drop by spoonfuls on wax paper, allow to set until cool.

These are favorites in our house and can be devoured in 1 night...I don't make them often  :-)

Yum Yum Pudding

This is my Grandma Monje's recipe(Sissy calls her Grandma Polk-a-Dotty). Some people call this Chocolate Delight..We call it Yum Yum pudding because it is SO YUMMY!

Here is what you will need:

1 cup flour
1 stick butter, melted
1 cup chopped walnuts
8oz block cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
Tub of Cool Whip
3oz pkg chocolate pudding
3 cups cold milk

Mix flour, butter and nuts.

Spray a 13x9 casserole dish with Pam. Press mixture in bottom of dish.

Bake at 350 degrees until brown. About 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Blend cream cheese and powdered sugar. Then fold in 1 cup cool whip.

Spread cream cheese mixture on top of crust. Be very gentle or you will pull up the bottom crust. I used a little Pam on my finger tips to help spread it around better.

Mix pudding with milk, until thick.  Spread on top of cheese layer.

Spread remaining cool whip on top of pudding. I also add chopped walnuts on top of that.

Chill overnight until set.

This was YaYa's birthday cake this year! :-)