Congratulations to Michelle who will receive the beautiful handmade Cookie Plate from J.Bee Designs and the holiday apron made by me as part of our Buy Handmade Giveaway.

Michelle - please send me your mailing address so Jennie and I can mail you your gifts!  Now

In fact - here is a picture of the “super cute” apron!

I hope you like it!!

Thanks again to Jennie for sharing her talent with us and by sponsoring our giveaway with one of her beautiful plates!  If you need some Christmas gift ideas be sure and check out Jennie’s website !

Thanks to all who entered!  Watch for a few more giveaways later in the month!

I think I have succeeded!

First there were the yummy Pumpkin Bars.

Then there was the creamy and delicious Pumpkin Cheesecake

And on Wednesday there were the amazing Pumpkin Pie Milkshakes!

I have one more pumpkin recipe to share with you and I think you are going to like it as much as the other yummy pumpkin recipes. 

Today’s pumpkin recipe is for Pumpkin Cookies with Maple Frosting.  Just like with the pumpkin bars, I think the best part of this cookie may just be the frosting! Yum!!

These cookies are moist and delicious and the frosting makes them even better.  I put chocolate chips in half the batch which my chocolate loving father adored but I think I actually preferred them without the chips.  Try it both ways and see what you think!

I shared these cookies with two different people and they both called and asked for the recipe - it’s a keeper!

This recipe comes from Melissa, an amazing baker of some pretty amazing cakes and other things, over at The Good Apple. 

What’s your favorite way to eat pumpkin?

One Year Ago: Dinner Time - Sesame Chicken

Pumpkin Cookies with Maple Frosting

1 C butter

1/2 C brown sugar

1/2 C white sugar

1 C canned pumpkin

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 C flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

Cream sugar and butter.  Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla.  Add remaining ingredients.  Drop spoonfuls onto non-greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Frosting:

Boil 3 Tbsp butter and 1/2 C brown sugar until mostly smooth (Approx. 2 to 3 minutes)  Cool and add 1/4 C milk and 2 C powdered sugar or until desired consistency and whip with hand mixer until smooth.  Spread onto cookies.

  

I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with family or friends.

I just wanted to take a quick moment in between all the cooking and fun to share a few things I am thankful for today.  I won’t bore you with the whole long list but just a few:

• I am thankful that I get to set at least 6 plates at my dinner table all this week (more on the nights we have friends or other family over!)
• I am thankful that all 6 members of my family are tucked safe and sound in their beds under one roof again!
• I am thankful for my huge grocery bill this week because it means I have lots of mouths to feed and I am grateful we have lots of good food to share.
• I am thankful for a pile of shoes at my front door!
• 
• I am thankful for you - all of my blog readers.  I am thankful that you take time out of your day to read my blog and that many of you take the opportunity to leave me comments! 

Count your blessings!  Please share something you are thankful for today!

A month or so ago I was reading some of my favorite food blogs and I came across a post on Fashionably Foodie- one of my favorite blogs and saw that Rachelle had posted a recipe for Pumpkin Pie Milkshakes.  I usually love just about everything she posts but my first thought when I saw this post was  - Yuck!  Athough I love my milkshakes I don’t like pumpkin pie and the thought of a piece of pie in a milkshake was just a little too wierd for me - sorry Rachelle.

Well, in October during one of my trips to Utah to see the college kids we had dinner at a little “hole in the wall” hamburger place in downtown Provo, right off Center Street, called Sammy’s.

Sammy’s had amazing hamburgers and great beer batter fries!  Yum!

And also on the menu were Pie Shakes!.   There they were again - what’s the deal?  I had never heard of Pie Shakes and now I had seen them twice within a few weeks!

Well - I couldn’t let the opportunity pass me by and I ordered one.  A oreo mint pie shake. 

The presentation was great and it tasted great too!  Pie Shakes - not too bad!  And just in case you are wondering as my friend Sherra did - yes, they put the whole piece of pie in the blender with ice cream - crust and all!

So maybe Rachelle’s recipe for Pumpkin Pie Milkshakes wasn’t so strange after all?!

I decided I didn’t want to wait until we had leftover Thanksgiving pumpkin pie to give it a try so - shhh - don’t tell anyone, but I bought a frozen Sara Lee Pumpkin Pie!  I baked the pie and then cut it into slices and froze it again.

I chopped up the frozen pie and threw it in the blender along with ice cream, milk and a little sugar and blended it up!

Guess what - Rachelle was right - it is awesome!!  Remember,  I don’t even like pumpkin pie but a pumpkin pie milkshake is amazing! 

Of course being the cook that she is, Rachelle made her pumpkin pie from scratch - including the crust!  I am sure her pumpkin pie milkshakes were better than mine because of that but I have to say - the quick and easy version was pretty great too!

So when you have some leftover pumpkin pie this week - try something new!  Pop it in the freezer and then make yourself a Pumpkin Pie Milkshake - you won’t regret it!!  The possibilities are endless - Banana Cream Pie Shakes, Chocolate Cream, etc….

One Year Ago:  Taking Time for You

Pumpkin Pie Milkshake

2 C vanilla ice cream
1 C milk
2 Tbsp sugar
1 large slice pumpkin pie, chopped and frozen (can be used unfrozen also)

Whipped cream and nutmeg, for serving

Combine ice cream, milk and sugar in blender. mix. add in pumpkin pie, pulse to blend. put blender in the freezer for a half hour. When ready to serve, stir and scoop with a big spoon into mugs. serve with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg.

This week we have our third Buy Handmade Giveaway!

Jennie from J. Bee Designs is sponsoring this week’s giveaway with one of her darling handpainted holiday plates.  Perfect for those holiday cookies you will be baking soon!  Be sure and check out Jennie’s website and her darling handpainted glassware!

I decided I wanted to get in on the giveaway fun too so in addition to the J. Bee Designs Cookie Plate the winner this week will also win a Handmade by Leigh Anne holiday apron!

The apron will be made from these darling holiday fabrics…

…and will look something like this apron.  I’ll post a photo of the real thing once it’s done!

I am hoping this week’s cookie plate/apron giveaway will get you in the mood for the Virtual Holiday Cookie Exchange I will be kicking off next week.  More details the Monday after Thanksgiving!

I’m happy to introduce Jennie of J.Bee Designs:

“After graduating from Harcum college with a degree in interior design I always knew that I wanted to be involved with the textile portion of design.  Bringing my personal designs to life on glass and being able to share them on my own website has been a dream of mine for a long time.  I hope everyone enjoys all of my designs as much as I enjoy creating them.”

To enter the giveaway leave a comment below.

The giveaway will be open until midnight PST, Friday, November 28, 2008

Buy Handmade Giveaway Guidelines

• Anyone in the U.S. with an email and a name is eligible.
• You can use a code name if you want to.
• One entry per person, please.
• Emails are never published nor is your identity revealed if you choose to use a code name.

Tell your mother, tell your sister, tell your girlfriends so they can enter too!  Share the fun!

Congratulations to Kim who will receive the beautiful handmade Chocolate Sky tote from April at Zinney Lou Totes as part of our Buy Handmade Giveaway

Kim - please send me your mailing address so that April can mail you your darling tote!   Your new tote should bring you up to average!!

Thanks again to April for sharing her talent with us and by sponsoring our giveaway with one of her beautiful totes!  If you need some Christmas gift ideas be sure and check out April’s website!

Watch for another Handmade Giveaway on Monday!

We are on a countdown at our house - only 5 more days until the college kids come home.  Tessa has been keeping track with a countdown on the message board!

I received a cute email from Cali the other day.  She can’t wait to be home where she can sleep in her own bed, doesn’t have to lock her door, doesn’t have to wear shoes in the shower and gets to eat my food!  I can’t wait either.

I have been busy getting the house ready (still need to dig out the boys room which I have taken over as a craft room), stocking the house with food and planning meals.

I have already shared with you our Thanksgiving Menu but I also wanted to share a fun Thanksgiving tradition we have - the Candy Corn Blessing.

At Thanksgiving dinner we place a small bag of candy corn at each person’s plate. 

Before we eat we take turns going around the table having each person share something they are thankful for.  We do it five times - each time they share they can eat one of their candy corn.

It is a nice way to really remember why we celebrate and to focus on what is truly important.  I know three of things I will be thankful for this year - Logan, Clark and Cali are home!!

Here is the Candy Corn Blessing - you might want to start a new family tradition.  Do you have a fun Thanksgiving tradition already?  Please share!

One year ago: The Cookie Jar - A Couple of Classics

 

I have never been a pumpkin fan.  At least I thought I wasn’t.  There is something about the texture of a pumpkin pie that just turns me off.  But last year when my son introduced  me to the Pumpkin Spice Steamer at Starbucks I realized that maybe the flavor of pumpkin wasn’t as bad as I thought

So this fall I decided I needed to learn to embrace pumpkin.  My first step in venturing into the world of pumpkin was to try my friend Sherra’s pumpkin bars  - a  recipe she shared on her blog.  I loved them! Although I must admit that I think the best part was not the pumpkin but the cream cheese frosting!!

My second step was to make a batch of pumpkin cookies - they were amazing!  But again the best part was the yummy maple frosting (this recipe will be coming next week)

My third venture into pumpkin was Pumpkin Cheesecake.

Last week one of my readers, Ellen, emailed me to suggest that if I was still deciding on my Thanksgiving Menu I might want to considering adding her Pumpkin Cheesecake to my menu. 

She is not a pumpkin lover either but said this cheesecake was amazing to taste and eat.  Her friends and family DEMAND that she make it.  She promised me it was as creamy and delicious as any Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake I’ve ever eaten.  She promised I wouldn’t be disappointed.  Those are a lot of promises!

She was right.

And my friends who  enjoyed it at the potluck we went to last Friday weren’t disappointed either!  It is a very light, creamy and delicious cheesecake!

It is best chilled for several hours or overnight so be sure and make it ahead of time.  Ellen shared that she also likes to serve it with whipped cream with a spash of maple syrup in it - yum!! 

Pumpkin Cheesecake 

Crust:
1 1/2 C graham cracker crumbs
5 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 Tbsp. sugar
Filling:
3- 8oz.pkgs. cream cheese, softened
1 C sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 C canned pumpkin
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. allspice
Whipped Cream

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Make the crust by combining the graham cracker crumbs with the melted butter and one tablespoon sugar in a medium bowl. Stir well enough to coat all of the crumbs with the butter, but not so much as to turn the  mixture into paste. Keep it crumbly.

3. Press the crumbs onto the bottom and about two-thirds of the way up the sides of a springform pan. You don’t want the crust to form all of the way up the back of each slice of cheesecake. Bake the crust for 5 minutes, then set it aside until you are ready to fill it.

4. In a large mixing bowl combine the cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, and vanilla. Mix with an electric mixer until smooth.

5. Add the pumpkin, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice and continue to beat until smooth and creamy.

6. Pour the filling into the pan.   I wrapped the bottom and sides of the springform pan with foil and then placed it in a glass 9 x 13 pan.  I then filled the pan with hot water until the water reached about 1/3 - 1/2 way up the springform pan.  Placing your cheesecake in a water bath helps prevent the outside of the cheesecake from cooking faster than the inside which can cause it to crack.

Bake for 60 to 70 minutes. The top will turn a bit darker at this point. Remove from the oven and allow the cheesecake to cool.

7. When the cheesecake has come to room temperature, put it into the refrigerator. When the cheesecake has chilled, remove the pan sides and cut the cake into 8 equal pieces. Use dental floss to make a clean cut.

Serve with a generous portion of whipped cream on top.

Serves 8.

Note:  Today I did a guest post over at  Makes and Takes    It is a very fun site that shares great craft ideas and other fun things to do at home with your kids.  Be sure and check it out.  I shared my Easy Apple Pie recipe - a great  mom/child project for the kitchen!

Appetizers are my favorite part of a meal.  Many times it is an overlooked part of a meal but I love to fix a couple of really good appetizers to have for people to snack on while dinner is finishing up.  It also helps keep the masses under control if dinner is delayed at all!

For Thanksgiving Dinner I will be fixing my stand by appetizer - Roasted Garlic and Artichoke Dip   I love this dip and could eat the whole thing myself!!

The other appetizer I will be fixing this year is a new recipe for me.  My friend Sherra was raving about it on the phone the other day so I decided I needed to give it a try. 

She was right - it is yummy!   I test drove the recipe this week and everyone loved it.  Jim even ate the leftovers for breakfast the next morning.

I will be doing a couple of things different when I make it next week for Thanksgiving Dinner.  I will use a little less cranberry.  I think I got a little heavy handed and actually used more than the recipe calls for.  I will make my bits of Brie a little bigger.  I also chopped my pecans fairly fine because I don’t like big pieces of nuts.  You may want to leave your nuts larger - like Sherra does.

Do you have a favorite appetizer you will be serving for Thanksgiving Dinner?  Please share!

Cranberry Brie Pizza

1 8 oz. can crescent rolls

3/4 C whole berry cranberry sauce

8 oz. cubed Brie cheese

1/2 C chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 425.  Use a lightly greased pizza pan or a pizza stone.  Unroll crescent rolls and separate into triangles.  Arrange on pan with tips towards the center and lightly press together.  Forming a circle with the dough.  Bake 5 minutes or until lightly brown.  Remove from the oven and sprinkle with pieces of Brie.  Spoon the cranberry sauce over the cheese.  Top with pecans.  Bake an additional 8 minutes or until cheese is melted and the crust is golden brown.  Cool 5 minutes and cut into wedges or squares.

The best part of Thanksgiving Dinner this year is that all my children will be home to enjoy it with us!!!

Like many of you I have been planning our menu for a while now.  I think it’s about finalized  and I will be posting some of the recipes in the next couple of days so be sure and check back!!  My friend Marsha and my mom are helping out with the cooking too! 

I’d love to hear what you’ll be enjoying for Thanksgiving Dinner - leave a comment and share your favorite Thanksgiving recipe with us!

Cranberry Brie Pizza (recipe on Wednesday)

Roasted Garlic and Artichoke Dip 

Turkey

Cornbread and Sausage Dressing 

Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

Mom’s Homemade Rolls

Spinach Salad

Grandma’s Favorite Jello

Herb Roasted Onions

Parmesan-Roasted Broccoli (from Ina Garten’s new Back to Basics cookbook)

Apple Pie

Marionberry Pie

Pumpkin Cheesecake (recipe on Thursday)

What’s for dinner at your house???