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. . . Happy Thanksgiving . . .

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. . . Butterscotch Toffee Pumpkin Spice Pudding Cookies . . .

Ok, so the title of this recipe is a little long but it's worth having it be so long just so you know all the amazing yumminess in these cookies!  So good.  

Once again I am using the Pumpkin Spice pudding mix that Jell-O puts out seasonally.  If you don't have that I would use Butterscotch Pudding mix and then add a dash or two of pumpkin pie spice so it gives it a bit more flavor. 

These will be perfect to have around for all the Thanksgiving company that you might have coming to your house and if you don't have company make them anyway--you won't be sorry.

You will need:

1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 box Pumpkin Spice pudding mix

(If you can’t find this use butterscotch pudding mix and a few dashes of pumpkin pie spice)

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups all purpose flour

½ cup toffee chips (or more if you like a lot of toffee)

1 cup butterscotch chips

 Gather your ingredients

 Mix pudding mix, brown sugar, pumpkin, butter, eggs and vanilla together until smooth

 Add flour, salt and baking soda to the wet ingredients and mix until smooth.  The mixture will be thick and sticky.

 Add your butterscotch chips and toffee chips to the dough and mix in well

 Drop by spoonfuls onto a silpat lined or sprayed cookie sheet

 Bake at 350 for 10 to 12 minutes 

 If you are like me you will want to eat a million of these so consider yourself warned.  They are so good!  Pudding Mix cookies always turn out so yummy and these are no different!

 ENJOY ♥  Happy Thanksgiving!

. . . Easy Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake . . .

I realize that I just shared a recipe for Lemon Pound Cake but I had to share this one because it was so good!  It's the exact same recipe but I used a different flavor cake mix, pudding mix and soda and it's amazeballs!  You will for sure want to add this to your list of things to make this week as we are all preparing for Thanksgiving.  This would be the perfect dessert to have around for your guests that are staying for the long weekend.  

I love pumpkin anything and this recipe I concocted didn't disappoint.  My son isn't as big of a fan of pumpkin but he took one bite and said "Mom, this is the most awesome cake ever!".  Maybe he's a little dramatic but that is a glowing review from him since he never holds back if he doesn't like something.  So, I guess I can call this recipe "Marcus Approved Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake".

You will need:

1 (18.25 ounce) package spice cake mix

1 (3.4 ounce) package instant pumpkin spice pudding mix

3/4 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1 cup cola flavored carbonated beverage (I used generic Coke)

Powdered Sugar Glaze:

2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

a couple shakes of pumpkin pie spice

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon milk

 Gather up your ingredients.  

 I used Pumpkin Spice Pudding mix and the only place I have found it so far is at WalMart.  They may have it other places but wanted to let you know where I have gotten it.  Also the Spice Cake mix seems to be just made by Duncan Hines but there may be other brands.

 Mix your pudding mix and cake mix together before adding liquid.

 Add your oil and mix then add eggs one at a time

 Add your cola flavored soda to the mix and stir until combined.  It will get really foamy but just keep mixing until it smoothes out.

 Pour your cake mix into a greased and floured bundt cake pan.  

 Bake at 325 degrees for about 45 to 50 minutes

 Let the cake cool in the pan for awhile then flip out onto a platter for serving

 Mix up your Pumpkin flavored glaze 

 Drizzle glaze over the entire cake 

 Let the glaze sit for a bit until it started to set and then cut and serve to your guests

So moist and yummy!  Enjoy ♥

. . . Easy Lemon Bundt Cake Recipe . . .

I was sitting in the doctor's office not long ago and picked up the All Recipes magazine and found this amazing recipe!  It almost made the doctor's visit worth it...almost. 

I can't wait for you to try this recipe out because you are going to love it!  I love how simple it is too which is always a big bonus in my opinion.  I am excited to try this with other flavors too.  I was thinking about trying it with chocolate pudding and a cola and also was thinking of orange soda with vanilla pudding.  I would think any flavor pudding/soda would be wonderful so if you try another combo let me know.

You will need:

Cake:

1 package lemon cake mix

1 package instant lemon pudding mix

3/4 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1 cup lemon-lime flavored carbonated beverage (I used generic “Sprite”)

Powdered Sugar Glaze:

2 Tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

1/2 teaspoon grate lemon peel

1 Cup powdered sugar

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

 Gather your ingredients and preheat your oven to 325 degrees

In a large bowl, combine the cake mix and pudding mix to blend well.  Then stir in your oil and beat in eggs one at a time. 

 Stir in your Lemon-Lime Soda until blended

Pour into the greased and floured bundt pan

 Bake at 325 for 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  *You won't want to over bake the cake.

 Allow the cake to cool and then flip it onto a plate making sure you have enough of a "lip" so that your powdered sugar glaze won't spill off the plate.

 To make the powdered sugar glaze you will just mix all the ingredients together until you get a liquid.  If you think it's too thick then add a little more liquid and if it's too runny add a little more powdered sugar. 

 Pour the glaze over the entire cake making sure it's well covered.  Let it sit to dry a bit and then serve it up and Enjoy! ♥

. . . Oven Baked Tacos . . .

I know this isn't exactly a creative idea or a real recipe but if you are like me you will be so impressed with how well these turn out.  I don't think we will ever eat Tacos any other way now.  Thanks to Pinterest I have a new way to make our Taco Night even easier!

When I make tacos I always just put out all the toppings and we make them as we go but this made things so much easier because the tacos were already partially done when they came out of the oven and everyone got to top them with what they wanted.  So easy!

Simple and Quick Oven Baked Tacos

 You will need:

Hard Taco Shells--I like the Stand 'N Stuff Taco Shells by Old El Paso

Seasoned Taco Meat (chicken, beans, ground beef etc.)

Sour Cream

Taco Sauce

Shredded Lettuce

Cheese

Tomatoes

Any other toppings you and your family like!

 Place your tacos in a 9x13 pan

 Fill your tacos with the seasoned meat

 Add cheese (we love cheese so we stuffed ours)

 Pour some taco sauce over the top and bake in the oven at 350 just until the cheese has melted and the tacos are warm

 Now you are all set to stuff them with your cold toppings

 We like sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, peppers etc.  Yum!

 Oven Baked Tacos will make your life super easy and your family will love them!  My son thought these were great because he enjoyed helping stuff them so anything that gets him in the kitchen makes me happy too!

Enjoy! ♥

. . . Painted Mason Jar Christmas Arrangements . . .

I love all things Mason Jars but don't have a lot of them sitting around my house but if you walk into my garage I have them all over the place just waiting to be used in a project like this one.  It's like they keep calling my name in desperation so my husband won't throw them all away.  Believe me he has threatened to just trash all my little jars and containers that I now hoard but luckily he is too nice to do it for real.  Phew!

These are going to add such a great "pop" in your house and the best is that they can be used for any season!  It's as easy as buying some paint and a few little inexpensive items that you might just have around the house. 

 I have painted glass coffee bottles and loved how they turned out but always hated how the craft acrylic paint chipped right off when I would try to put flowers or something in them.  This time I had a brainstorm to use latex paint that I had in the garage to paint my jars and I loved how these turned out!  Believe me it's worth using the latex paint because once it's dry it doesn't just chip off--at least mine hasn't.  I don't want to make any promises in case you come back and tell me yours chipped but so far so good with mine.

This project really couldn't be easier and you will love getting compliments from everyone about how creative and crafty you are.  I promise I won't tell anyone that these are super simple and require very little effort.

You will need:

Clear Glass jars--these are Walmart brand canning jars so there was no logo on them

Paint--acrylic craft paint or latex paint in the color of your choice

Lids for your jars

Washi tape

Ribbon

Floral sprigs

Cardboard or heavy paper to drain the paint 

Wooden Skewers to keep the bottles up off the cardboard or paper (Brilliant Tip thanks to Landee See Landee Do)

 Prepare your work area with a piece of cardboard or heavy paper to drain the paint out of the bottles

 I used white latex paint with primer that I had leftover from some painting projects I recently finished.  I just spooned it into the jars and then swirled the paint to coat all the sides of the jars and then slowly let it drain to the very top of the jar and then flipped them upside down on my skewers so they would drain out.

 I left my jars to drain for the morning and then flipped them upright and let them dry overnight so they would be good and "Set" so they wouldn't chip when I put my floral arrangements together.

 I used the lid rims and covered them with washi tape and then screwed them on the jars.  My original plan was to use several thin pieces of ribbon to hang these glittery ornaments from the jar but I didn't end up liking the look of that.

 When the tape is on you are ready to work on the arrangement which is super simple!

 I decided to use sheer organza ribbon in red and just tied a piece around the jar just under the lid.

 To help old the floral sprigs in place I filled each jar with black beans but you could use rice or any floral foam to help hold them in place.  I just filled the jar 3/4 the way full of black beans.

 Then stick your floral arrangement in the jar making sure the "stems" are in the beans or rice or foam to make sure they stay put.  I just used 2 prearranged floral sprigs from the craft store so there was very very little work involved in this but they look so pretty!

 Easy as pie, right?  Nothing to it!

 So pretty for the holidays.

 Because I wanted the tape to show up I didn't fold the pine down around the lip of the jar but you could easily have something "draping" down over the sides of the jar if you didn't care to show the lid.

 These are now on a shelf I have on the landing of my steps and just add a nice pop of color to that small space.

I hope you enjoy making these too!  I love painting glass from the inside so it looks shiny and almost takes on a faux milk glass look.  Don't be afraid to use lots of fun colors too--it doesn't have to be just white paint.