When life gives you pumpkins.............

You turn them into an amazing mouth watering Pumpkin Gingerbread Cake....and I'm not just saying that because I gave you the recipe, but because I made it last night and after one bite I literally felt like I was floating towards heaven. Well, not really, but it was THAT good.

You eat it warm or cold, of course the aroma in the house was the determining factor because by the time the cake came out of the oven, the only thing that kept me from shoving my face into the cake pan was the heat....oh and the fact that it would be socially unacceptable?!?!? LOL

See the whipping cream dripping as it melts???? Tell me you don't want to just stick a fork in it and take a big bite??? I have yet to find a cake that screams Fall as this one does, it's going to become one of our family favorites, that's for sure.

But you can't have cake without some kind of beverage to go along, so I reached for a Viennese Coffee and again, the floating and heaven thing happened all over again.

VIENNESE COFFEE

3 c. strong brewed coffee
3 T. chocolate syrup
1 t. sugar
1/3 c. whipping cream

Optional: 1/3 c. chocolate liqueur
Garnish: whipped topping, chocolate shavings.

Combine coffee, syrup and sugar in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on low setting for 2 to 2- 1/2 hours. Stir in cream and liqueur, if using. Cover and cook on low setting for an additional 30 minutes, or until heated through. Ladle into mugs, garnish with dollops of whipped topping and chocolate shavings. Makes 4 servings.

*********************

I must say, it was a great day in the kitchen, let's not forget that for dinner I fixed Johnny Marzetti and it was SO good, Nicholas who is the picky-never-hungry eater, had two servings and mmmm'd and ooooo'd throughout the meal.


I still haven't had the chance to go blog hopping, so I know a lot of you are wondering where I am or if I just forgot about you but I didn't and as a matter of fact, I've allocated myself time tonight to do it.

As a matter of fact there's a couple new blogs I found that I'm loving and want to share with you all, so I'll do that soon, maybe tomorrow morning, hopefully, if I remember LOL

Jasmine's reading corner was the best idea I could have had, I just wish I had thought of it a year or two ago but hey, better late then never right? Here she is, actually enjoying reading and as she put it "this is so comfy, I like it now".


I just recently got her into the Junie B. Jones books, she was never interested before even though she has pretty much the whole collection, but last week thursday I took one off the shelf and started reading it and laughing, not faked laughing because if you've read Junie B. Jones you KNOW that is hilarious. She came up to me and asked what I was doing and before long she had taken off with the book herself to read.....can't tell you how happy it made me :)

Here's the best part though, through the Junie B. Jones website I found a link to another one called Teachers@Random and what it is, is different activities and ideas to do with the kids in the classroom, now of course I'm NO teacher but I can still use these for Jasmine. They even have it set up by the different books, like for example, Jasmine is busy reading "Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus" so they have a page for it with different activities that go along with the book. I am so thrilled you can't even understand, I almost want to dress as a teacher and set up a classroom just so I can play "school" LOL

Of course I won't do that, but I will be working with her and doing the different activities, I think she'll enjoy it. But don't think it's just for Junie B. Jones, you can pick what grade you're looking for and what books you want to work with etc......seriously, take some time and browse through the site, it's fascinating.

Feeling - Inspired

Drinking - Viennese Coffee

Writing - Grocery lists and menus for the week to come

Thinking - that I need to get some crafting done

Contemplating - Sewing or knitting

Knowing - that I'll probably start the knitting before the sewing

Listening - to cartoons on the tv

Jumping - everytime one of the kids runs up to me and yells in my ears

Savoring - Audio book of Pride & Prejudice (via Librivox), can't tell you how happy I am to have found that website

Resisting - the temptation to have yet another slice of Pumpkin Gingerbread Cake

Eating - Nothing right now

Hiding - my fast break candy bar so the kids don't eat it

Feeling - impatient for the fall weather to finally arrive in Arizona