Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

This is one of my favorite fall recipes! And in case you doubting the truthfulness of this statement take the fact that this is second time in less than a week that I have made this!!

Ingredients:
2 cup flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 stick butter
11 ounces cream cheese
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
3/4 cup pumpkin
2 eggs

To make:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine flour and brown sugar. Cut in the butter until coarse crumbs. (You can use a fork for this but it won't set up as well - I recommend using a pastry cutter).
Reserve 1 1/2 cup and set aside.
Press the remaining amount into a pan.
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

In the meantime beat cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and allspice. Add in pumpkin and eggs.

Take the crust out of the oven and spread pumpkin mixture over the crust.

Sprinkle the set aside flour mixture over the top.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Chill in fridge for several hours.

Enjoy!

Something to Ponder

What if you woke up tomorrow and only had the things that you are thankful for today?

Someone mentioned this quote to me at small group the other night and since then it has caused me to count my blessings a little more each day. Sometimes we just need a gentle reminder of all that God has given us and that we can never take any of the things in our life for granted.

Bee Sting

This past weekend I went to my alma mater for homecoming. It was a perfect day, beautiful weather, good food, and good conversations with several people that I don't get to see very often. All in all it was a pretty enjoyable day. However, within the first five minutes of sitting down at the football game I got stung by a bee. This was not just any sting, but is possibly the first bee sting of my life (I cannot recall another time I have been stung). And it was on the palm of my hand! Three days later the stinger is still in my hand. I have tried Benadryl, baking soda and vinegar, and finally tobacco and water. Although the last one got the actual painful stinging sensation out of my hand, it did not get the stinger. So I am embarrasingly headed to the doctor today to get some medical advice!

It seemed very strange that tobacco and water would do the trick, but amazingly enough it worked and I finally was able to use my hand again properly! Yesterday Coy picked up the cheapest can of chewing tobacco he could find and can see what happened from there below...

So, the next time you get stung by a bee just hit up your local gas station for some relief.

Work Field Trip

Yesterday, the Catholic Charities Refugee Staff took a field trip to the Heartland Film Festival to see Crossing Salween. This is a short film about a young Karen girl running through the jungle in an attempt to escape Burma and get to safety in neighboring Thailand. It was such a good movie. After talking with one of my Burmese coworkers it was also good to know that the movie is very realistic to know what life can be like for the minority ethnicities living in Burma.
I would highly recommend seeing this movie!

 Here are some of the staff on our way to the movie!

 For some, this was their first time in a movie theatre!

Buffalo Chicken Soup

In recent months I have gained an obsession of buffalo cheese dip. I love. I dream about it. I make it (and eat it in large quanities). So when I came upon this recipe I was instantly intrigued. And it did not disappoint. I am a huge soup fan anyways, especially as fall and winter roll in. So last night was my official kick off to soup season...and it couldn't have started with a more delicious soup.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 to 2 1/2 pound of deli roasted chicken, skinned, boned, and shredded

(One of my favorite tricks my mom taught me was to put chicken breasts in the crock pot on low, along with some water, in the morning. When I came home from work then to make the the soup all I had to do was pull the chicken out of the crock pot and shred it - although it doesn't even really need shredded, because generally it falls apart on its own.)

2 TB butter

1/2 cup coarsely chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 14 oz cans reduced sodium chicken broth

1 1/2 cups milk

1 tsp. bottled hot pepper sauce

1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese

1 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

1/3 cup flour

 

Directions:

- In large pot, melt butter and add celery and onion. Cook until the onion is tender. Stir in the broth (I also added in the broth left over from cooking my chicken in the crockpot), milk, and 1 tsp hot pepper sauce.

- In bowl, mix together mozzarella and parmesean cheese, 1 cup of the blue cheese, and flour. Add gradually to the soup, mixing in between until the cheese is melted. Stir in 3/4 of the chicken and heat through. Serve.

- Add the remaining chicken and blue cheese. (When I made this I actually added all of the chicken and blue cheese to the large soup pot. This works as well.)

- Top with hot sauce.

 

6 servings...490 calories per serving.

 

 Sorry for the poor lighting. Although it doesn't show it in this picture,

this is actually a fairly thick soup.

This is after I sprinkled on extra hot sauce before I ate.

 

Hopefully you enjoy this meal as much as hubs and I did!

A perfect fall weekend!

This weekend was a perfect combination of so many things! For starters, my dear friend Mary came into town from Nashville. We went to one of my favorite restaurants, The Ram, Friday night where Coy's friend Derek met us, who was in town from Nashville. We headed back to the house and the boys attempted to have our first fire of the season...

I say attempted because the wood was wet and it didn't stay going long enough to amount to anything. But I still look at it as the official start of the fall season! After our adult slumber party Mary and I spent the morning lounging around and then later headed to Mallow Run with Christy. It was a gorgeous day, despite the wind, and we couldn't have asked for more!

The night ended with a gourmet pasta dish, made by myself, breadsticks from Jockamo's, and watching Bridesmaids.

It was one of those weekends where you are just left wanting more...

Movie Review

 I have been obsessed with this movie from the first momentI saw the trailer.

And it did not disappoint! In reality, how can you really go wrong when you put Ryan Gosling and George Cloony in the same movie, both in leading roles. It was a star cast and a great story, with several twists and turns. It was one of those movies that needed some extended conversation afterwards to disect some of the overarching themes of the movie. It was a good reminder of what the world of politics is really about...although most already know, sometimes we just need that reality check of what goes on behind the scenes in the political world. You know it had to be good when it held the attention of hubs, who would be completely content never hearing or talking about anything to do with politics.

This is a must see!

A day at the Park!

Friday I spent the morning at the park with my niece and nephew. It was a beautiful day to be outside. I picked up McDonalds and Starbucks (of course), ate breakfast and then spent several hours outside playing.
Fall is my favorite season of all and I will be so sad when it finally goes away.

Keira on the monkey bars for the first time! So proud I could be here for this moment!

A Tribute to MY Mom!

Saturday is my sweet mom's birthday! Being unbiased, she is one of the most precious people I know.
At any second of any day, she would drop whatever she is doing for any one in her family.
She is sacrificial, almost to a fault, and loves uncondiontionally.
If something amazing happens in your life she will be the most excited person in the room.
If you are in pain she will be right there beside you doing whatever she can to ease that pain.
She is a prayer warrior.
She places her relationship with God above all else and this evident in her daily life.
She loves my husband like he is her own and from day one welcomed him in the family as one of her sons.
As a child I depended on her for everything; as an adult I still depend on her for many things.
Of course we still argue occassionally (because she's a mom and that's what mom and daughter's do, especially a daughter as outspoken as myself) but I love her beyond words and know that I was given the best mom in the entire history of the world!! : )
Anyone who knows her can testify that she is an amazing mother, wife, nana, daughter, sister, and friend.

Happy Birthday Mom! You are SO loved!

Some food for thought...

Mallow Run 5K

This weekend I attempted my first 5k EVER! One of my best friends had mentioned it to me a few weeks ago and a few days before the race I finally signed up! It was a huge crowd...I think there ended up being over 3000 participants, which is great because last year this same race only had 1200.

Wine at the Line at Mallow Run Winery in Bargersville.



Although I can't say it was my most pleasant experience, I can't complain too much after completing it after having only run about 1 time in the past 6 months. Of course, I didn't run the whole thing (probably only half if that even) I am just pleased I finished. After mile 1 I thought I was on my death bed and couldn't go another foot. With the help and encouragement of Christy (along with the fact that I was determined not to allow the gentleman with a cane to beat me), I finished around 43 minutes. Not too shabby for someone who hasn't trained a second in their life.

As for next year's Wine at the Line, or any other running event for that matter, I'm not sure I'll be a participant...at least not without a few months of training. But, I'm glad I did. It was a great time and great experience!