Gooey Pumpkin Butterscotch Brownies

Yesterday I was just going about my day minding my own business, looking at food blogs when WHAM! I saw these Gooey Pumpkin Butterscotch Brownies at Picky Palate.  Everything stopped.  I did not start making dinner, I went to the store.  I was on a mission to make these brownies.  I love brownies, pumpkin and butterscotch so I knew that I needed to try these out asap!  I mean how could these possibly not be awesome?  They have a whole bag of butterscotch chips and butterscotch ice cream topping plus the brownies!  Man, I may need to eat another one while I write this :)  The hardest part of making these brownies was waiting the HOUR the directions indicate to allow them to cool.  I must say I failed the mission to wait one  hour.  I think I may have last 15 minutes but probably only 12.  Can I still give myself An 'A' For Effort?

I must say however, that I enjoyed the brownies more once they were fully cooled than I did straight out of the oven. If you have the will power to wait the hour it is worth it.  Or you can do like I did and eat some right away and some later so you can decide for yourself :)  Straight out of the oven the brownies are very very gooey and would not hold their shape, once cool you can cut them into squares. They will still be very gooey.  You wouldn't want to try and eat one with out silverware.   

Gooey Pumpkin Butterscotch Brownies  Source: Picky Palate

Ingredients:

1 Box Brownie Mix
1/4 C Water
1/2 C Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs
1 Bag Butterscotch Chips
1 Small box Instant Butterscotch Pudding Mix
1 1/2 C Canned Pumpkin  (I used the whole can which is 1 3/4 C)
1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon

Little holes from melted butterscotch chips

1/2 C Butterscotch Ice Cream Topping  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a bowl mix brownie mix, water, oil, eggs, chips, pudding, pumpkin and cinnamon. Mix until well combined.
3. Pour half of mix into a 11 x 7 (I used a 9 x 13) inch baking pan that has been lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray.
4. Pour 1/2 Cup butterscotch ice cream topping over brownie mix.
5. Pour remaining brownie mix over top.
6. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until toothpick comes mostly clean from center.
7. Let cool for 1 hour before removing from pan and cutting into squares.

Sunny Sunshine!

A compliment is verbal sunshine- Robert Orben

I just love that quote.  A compliment is such a lovely thing.  I was recently blessed by a compliment from a friend and it really made me smile.  It also served as a reminder of the power of the words we speak.  Considering how wonderful it is to receive a thoughtful compliment it is unfortunate that we don't compliment more often.  The tones we use, the choice of words and timing all play into how we make others feel.  I am a big 'feelings' person.  I remember back in high school psychology class we did one of those personality profile tests. I scored the highest possible score for the importance of feelings.  More than anything else feelings matter to me. 

My little sunshine

Would you join me today in spreading a little sunshine through complimenting someone (a true compliment, not just nice comment) and in trying to show love to others in our words?  I am sure my boys will be testing on this today :) 

South of the Border Casserole

If you like Frito's corn chips or corn tortillas you will love this recipe!  My mom is a Frito fan and this casserole comes from her favorite cook book, a collection of recipes from a local Christian radio station.  I really liked it too.  It comes together quickly which is always a good thing on a weeknight :)  The boys enjoyed scooping the casserole up with extra Fritos. 

After dinner we spent some time outside decorating pumpkins with yarn hair, google eyes, stickers and attempted using glitter glue.  I wasn't daring enough to actually carve the pumpkins. Lincoln and Carson like to do everything themselves so I decided carving was not a good option right now.  The pumpkins turned out pretty cute :)

South of the Border Casserole  Source: Good News Radio Family Favorites Cookbook Vol. 1

Ingredients:

1 lb Hamburger
1 Green pepper, chopped
1 Small onion, chopped
2 C Chili with beans (canned is fine)
1 1/3 C Enchilada sauce
1 C Tomato Sauce
2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
5 C Frito corn chips + additional for garnish
1 1/2 C shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 C Sour Cream
Black Olives as garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Brown the hamburger with onion and green pepper.
3. In a separate bowl mix the chili, enchilada sauce, tomato sauce, and brown sugar.
4. Stir in hamburger mixture.
5. Add the Fritos and 1 C cheese.
6. Pour into a 13 x 9 pan and bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
7. Spread sour cream evenly on top. Sprinkle with remaining cheese, Fritos and black olives.
8. Return to the oven and bake 5 minutes longer.

Spicy Grilled Chicken Sandwiches

Have you seen those Rotel commercials where the guy gets thrown backwards into the fence because he is so blown away by the awesomeness of the cheesy Rotel dip?  I always laugh when I see it.  I am not sure why, it's not really that funny but it still makes me smile.  Maybe it is because I love food and have the same reaction in my head to stuff that I think tastes really good :)  These sandwiches use the 'mind-blowing' cheesy Rotel dip.  I make them a little on the spicy side so if you prefer things milder use less of the Rotel or lightly season the chicken.  You won't need use all of the cheese dip for the sandwiches but I'm sure you won't have any trouble using it up with some tortilla chips :)  If you knew I licked the spoon when we were done with the cheese dip you're right :)   

Spicy Grilled Chicken Sandwiches  Source: Abby (An 'A' For Effort) & Rotel (Cheese Dip Recipe)

Ingredients:

1 loaf store bought Garlic Parmesan French Bread

2 Large Chicken Breasts

2 Green Peppers

2 Medium Onions

16 oz. Velveeta

14.5 oz. Can Rotel (or any diced tomatoes with green chilies blend) undrained

Olive Oil for sauteing

Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb Seasoning

Seasoned Salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. 

2. Heavily season the chicken on both sides with the Garlic & Herb Seasoning and Seasoned Salt and cook on the grill.

3. While the chicken grills, slice the green peppers and onions and saute with a little olive oil.

4. Cube the Velveeta and melt in the microwave for 1 minute.

5. Add the undrained Rotel to the Velveeta and microwave at 1 minute intervals stirring to combine until all cheese is melted.

6. Cut the grilled chicken into small pieces.

7. Place 1/2 of the bread on a cookie sheet and top with the sauteed vegetables, chicken and cheese sauce. 

You can really stuff the sandwiches onto the tray

8. Add the top slice of bread.

9. Bake in the oven for 7 minutes.  Check the top piece of bread to see if it is toasted.  If it is, take the pan out, put another cookie sheet on top and flip all the sandwiches onto the new pan in one quick motion.

10. Return to the oven for 7 minutes more or until the new piece of bread on top is toasted.

Glamour Boy?!?

Not every man can smile like this in a dress!


Lincoln is a true boy. Dirt, bugs, swords, tools, and wrestling.  The cool thing is he is also completely open to traditional 'girl' things too.  Without shame he likes to play with baby dolls, the color pink and apparently princess dresses!  We were at a friend's house and things were a little too quiet in the playroom.  So like any mom, I think something is up.  As I enter the room I see Lincoln trying to put on a princess dress!  I knew Matt would just love it (wink, wink) if I had Lincoln in dresses!  So I carefully helped him into the dress :)

Showing off his high heels

Lincoln didn't stop there.  The next thing I knew he was sticking his feet into the matching high heels!  I had visions of Cinderella's evil step-sisters going through my head knowing full well that regardless of what Lincoln is wearing he is still my crazy boy :) 

Don't you just love how his 'My Dad is the Man' shirt with a wrench on it is showing with his dress?!?

Pizza Casserole

Did you know that October is National Pizza & Pasta month?  It is also the National month for about 50 other things, but we won't get into all that right now :)  I've already confessed that pizza is my favorite food.  When Matt and I were first married Matt worked at a pizza place.  At closing the mistakes and left over pizzas were free for the employees to take home.  That first year of marriage we were really poor and ate a LOT of free left over and mistake pizza.  For a while there we were eating pizza about 4 times a week and it remains my favorite food!  That is love for you :) 


In honor of National Pizza & Pasta month I have an easy recipe that combines pizza and pasta into one yummy dish.  Lincoln and Carson gobble this up and I'm sure your family will too.  Add and subtract the ingredients to personalize the casserole with your favorite pizza toppings.

Pizza Casserole Source: My sister, Lydia

Ingredients:

1 lb Ground beef 
3 C Shredded mozzarella, divided
3 C Elbow macaroni
28 oz Spaghetti sauce
1 C Parmesan cheese
4 oz Pepperoni, chopped
Onion, chopped
Mushrooms, sliced
Green & Red pepper, chopped
Additional Pizza toppings to taste

Directions:

1. Cook the macaroni.
2. Brown and drain the ground beef.
3. Mix all of the ingredients together, reserving 2 C of mozzarella.
4. Spread mixture in a 13 x 19 baking pan and top with remaining mozzarella. 
5. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

Miko's

Last week was 'birthday week' for my family.  Dad's birthday was 10/13, my brother, Sam's 10/14, Joe's 10/15 and Kael's on 10/16.  To celebrate we went out to Miko's, one of my Dad's favorite restaurants.  Miko's is a Japanese sushi bar that also offers Teppanyaki.  To quote their website, Teppanyaki is "an entertaining, spectacular and savory Japanese dining experience."  The food is prepared in front of you in a show format.  Teppanyaki is actually the reason we like Miko's because I am still too scared to try sushi.  Something about the texture I am imagining it to have... 

Scary big fire

My two boys really liked the chef's show, although they both were afraid during the part with a the big fire.  Miko's not exactly a kid friendly restaurant, it was hard to keep two very hungry children happy while waiting nearly an hour for our Teppanyaki to start!  They discovered that the floor to ceiling cylinder tubes with orange bubble lights also had fish in them!  It was very exciting, but I'm not sure the other guests wanted to hear their shouts of glee... Oh well, I guess I'll give myself An 'A' for Effort :) 

Flipping a bowl full of rice



Heart made from Fried Rice



Have you ever seen a Teppanyaki show?  Should I get over my fears and try sushi?