This recipe was posted on My Kitchen Cafe. And, they weren’t joking when they named it the PERFECT Pumpkin Roll!  It is the perfect time of year to start cooking up all sorts of yummy pumpkin treats.  I recommend starting with this one.  It is officially the best fall treat on the planet.  

Cake:
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 eggs
2/3 cup mashed pumpkin
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 15 X 10-inch jelly roll pan. Cut wax paper to fit the bottom of the pan and leave an inch overhang on each of the short ends of the pan. Lightly grease the wax paper and sides of the jelly roll pan.

Mix the sugar, flour, salt, soda, cinnamon, eggs and pumpkin in a large bowl. Once mixed, pour mixture over the waxed paper. Sprinkle the walnuts, if using, on top of the mixture. Bake for 14-15 minutes until edges pull away from the sides of the pan and center is done.

Lay a large dishtowel on the counter top (it is best to use a dishtowel without any texture – a tea towel or similar towel works best). Spread a thick dusting of powdered sugar all over the towel. When the cake comes out of the oven, turn the pan upside down on the powdered sugar-laden towel so the wax paper is on the top. Gently peel off the wax paper, being careful not to tear the roll. Starting at one of the short ends, roll the pumpkin cake up with the towel to cool. While the roll is cooling, mix the cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar together until it is light and creamy. Once the roll is cool, unroll and with an offset spatula, carefully spread filling in an even layer over the cake. Roll it up without the towel and place in the refrigerator (covered with plastic wrap or wax paper) for about an hour before serving.

I am determined to find some fun projects to do for the upcoming winter months.  We started by making these little binoculars with empty toilet paper rolls.  I let the boys paint them and then stapled them together, added some yarn and we’ve got ourselves some pretty fun binoculars.

So when the craft bug hit me, I decided to make a little ball for baby A, or Chuggity (new nickname that seems to be sticking) as well.  You can find the pattern and instructions here.  I didn’t have any batting, so I chose to fill it with grocery bags instead.  Baby A loves that it makes the crinkly noise.  It was so easy to make.  It took me maybe 15 minutes TOPS.  Next on the craft bug agenda:  finish my many unfinished projects including birthday blanket for H and the remaining 9 bibs.

I am slowly turning into a gal of tradition.  The older my kids get, the more important it seems to be to have our own family traditions.  So I am wondering what some of your birthday traditions are?  And since I am asking you to share, I will share ours with you….

• The night before the big day, I put the kids to bed and than pull the non birthday boy out of bed to help decorate.  They have both loved it when it has been their turn to help.  
• All meals are the birthday boys choice.  Today we had waffles, peanut butter & jelly (with some carrots. And no, he so didn’t ask for those), and pizza for dinner.  So pretty much the most unhealthy food day ever and I haven’t even gotten to the cake part.  
• The hubster takes the boys to pick out one present.  Usually a movie.  I am a fan of this because the boys always feel so special hanging out with just their dad. 
• A special request cake for chef momma.  H chose spiderman.  I am pretty sure I could have done better had I thought about it more, but H didn’t seem to mind that it doesn’t even compare to the coolness of the pirate cake J had on his big deal.  
• And maybe that is it……..

Here is one that we don’t do, but always did growing up….

• On our big day my sweet parents would always let us choose the resturant of our choice for dinner.  Just me and them.  I loved it, until I became too cool to hang out with the parents.  

Please share some of your fun traditions.  It doesn’t even have to be birthdays.  The holidays are quickly approaching which seem to be a great time for starting new traditions and continuing with the old. Alright, now is when you hit the comment button…yup, right there….perfect!

Well my brain went to brainstorming and I had a crafty bug take over. I decided to make some bibs.  Here is how…

Supplies:  cheap towel ($5 at Wal-Mart), bias tape, and Velcro.  

DISCLAMIER:  Before you begin I feel like I should warn you.  My towel made 15 (FIVETEEN!) bibs!  If you are not feeling quite as ambitious (mine is fading) buy a hand towel instead.  Also, I bought one thing of bias tape and decided it would be too expensive to buy enough for ALL 15 towels, so I ended up using some fabric I had to finish off my edges.  OK, I haven’t done it YET but it is in the plans.  Just need to get a little ambition back.  

Here it goes………..

{Step One}

Use an old bib (pretend like you don’t see the sweet potato stains) for your template.  Pin it onto your towel and pin into place.  Next, cut out your new bib. 

{Step Two}

Using lots and lots of pins, pin your bias tape into place around the edges.  Make sure you use enough pins to hold it into place really good.  There are lots of little curves and if you don’t pin it well enough your bias tape will move and you won’t get a finished edge, or it might just look crappy.  

{Step Three}

Sew your bias tape.  Take your time!  It’s easy to get going fast and than miss your back edge of the tape.  Your have to make sure you get both sides in every spot or else your towel will fray like crazy.  

{Step Four}

Sew your Velcro on and you’ve got yourself a handy dandy little bib.  Sorry about the sideways pictures.  I can’t get it to stay the right way.  But you get the idea.  I have loved using these babies.  The towel soaks up all the nasties and wipes baby A’s face clean is a jiffy.  

Best part: They wash up beautifully aka no sweet potato stains. 

{Army Toast}

Use a cup to cut a hole in the middle of your bread.  Put your bread in your skillet/pan and then crack your egg into the hole.  Cook on each side for a few minutes or until your yoke is how you like it.  While your eggs are cooking, toast the middle piece and use for dipping.  

My boys were giddy with excitement.  They ate like champs (unusual) and ask for it ALL. OF. THE. TIME. 

I may be a bit of a clean freak.  Ok, not a bit, maybe a little OCD-ish would be more appropriate?  My morning routine consists of this: clean the kitchen, clean the bathrooms, start some laundry, vacuum, make sure kids rooms are clean, make sure all the toys are cleaned up….oh the list could go on and on. It’s never ending and I often find myself feeling like that lady looks.  UGG!  The only time my house stays clean is when my kids and husband aren’t home.  

As I was scanning through my Woman’s Day magazine (somehow I managed to get a free subscription and I love it!) I found an article titled “Countdown to Clean”.  It is full of tips on keeping your house clean and only spending 15 minutes doing it.  Do you hear the angels singing??  Wouldn’t that be joyous?  Only 15 minutes?  Really?  

Here’s how you can accomplish a clean house in 15 minutes:

Step 1:  Make the beds.

Step 2:  Make sure dirty clothes are all in hampers.  Do a quick room-by-room pickup, putting items back in place.

Step 3:  Wipe dirty counters in the bathroom and kitchen.

Step 4:  Put away all dishes.

Step 5:  Sweep the kitchen floor.

Obviously that is not a deep clean, but it will certainly help you feel less like pulling your hair out in between those deep cleanings.  There were also some great tips to help accomplish those deep cleans without taking the whole dang day.  Stay tuned.

 2 c. flour
¾ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 c. sugar
¼ c. butter, softened
1 ½ c. mashed ripe bananas (about 3-4 medium bananas)
2 eggs
1/3 c. plain lowfat yogurt or sour cream
½ c. chocolate chips

{Step 1} Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

{Step 2} Cream sugar and butter. Add bananas, eggs, and yogurt, beating until just blended. Add flour, baking soda, and salt. Beat on low until just moistened.

{Step 3} Microwave chocolate chips in a medium bowl for 1 minute. Stir until smooth. Cool slightly. Add 1 c. batter to chocolate, stirring until well-combined. Spoon chocolate batter alternately with plain batter (so you have stripes of plain and chocolate batter) in an 8 ½” x 4 ½” loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Swirl batters with a knife.

{Step 4} Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 15 minutes (give or take a little; I’d probably set your timer for 1 hour and 10 minutes to be safe) or until a knife comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan and then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.

Check this out….you’re mouth is totally watering isn’t it?

I should add that I cooked mine in 4 mini bread loaves and it turned out fabulously well.  I cooked it a little less than the recommended time, about an hour.  It was a little harder to swirl it without mixing, but I really liked the idea of being able to pig out 4 times on 4 different loaves rather than just once.  

The latest and greatest….CROCKPOT LASAGNA.

6 lasagna noodles
1 lb. ground beef, browned and seasoned with Italian seasoning
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 16 oz. carton cottage cheese
2 cups mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup water

Spray crockpot with cooking spray. Take 3 lasagnas noodles, break them in half and put them on the bottom of the crockpot. Spread half the hamburger on top of the noodles. Pour half of the spaghetti sauce and half of the water on top of that. Place half of the cottage cheese, followed by half of the mozzarella cheese on top. Repeat layers one more time. Cook on low 4-5 hours or on high 3 hours.