Sunday, September 25, 2011

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread

I saw this bread on www.pinterest.com and i just had to try it out myself! If you've never visited that website I highly recommend it for cooking, home decor, and craft ideas! Here are the ingredients and a synopsis with pictures so you can try it yourself! Happy cooking!

Ingredients:

  • Filling:
  • 1 package (8 ounce) cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tablespoon finely grated orange peel
  • .
  • Bread:
  • 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree, canned or homemade
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, optional

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 325°. Lightly grease two 8x4x3-inch loaf pans.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon flour, 1 egg, and the orange peel; beat until smooth and creamy. Set aside.

Into another bowl, sift 1 2/3 cup flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg; set aside.

Put pumpkin puree, vegetable oil, 2 eggs and 1 1/2 cup sugar in a large mixing bowl; beat well.

Stir the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture just until combined. Fold in the pecans or walnuts, if using.






Pour half of the pumpkin bread batter evenly into the two prepared loaf pans. Spoon cream cheese mixture on top of pumpkin batter layer and then pour on the remaining pumpkin batter.


Bake in preheated 325° oven for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool bread in pans for 10 minutes; remove to a rack to cool completely.
Pumpkin bread recipe makes 2 loaves.

It's delicious... I made 4 loaves for bible study!

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Goodwill... Good finds!

It's a gorgeous 80 degree Saturday afternoon in Parker, CO. What else to do but shop! I was on my way home from getting my haircut and my car accidentally pulled in the Goodwill parking lot... on accident I swear! I would this wonderful orange vase ($6) and cute wedge-ish shoes (also $6).












And of course you can't have a vase without some stems... so I went to Hobby Lobby and my lucky day, all stems were 50% off. I got these orange and yellow budded stems that will be a perfect fit for our orange/green bathroom. Here is the final product! I'm loving it!

Friday, September 23, 2011

Make me SMILE :)

Wednesday was Spirit Day... Cherokee Trails HS kids came through for their homecoming to pump up the students at school with a pep rally! I got to wear jeans... that makes it a great day!

Thursday was Jersey day and the kids and I wore our favorites... I didn't own one (though I would've sported the BISON) so I wore Andrew's Golden Gopher's jersey. Yes, it was HUGE on me (and I got to wear jeans)! Here are some of my students:
Friday was a teacher work day so we had meetings until noon and then time to relax! I had a Kohl's cash so I stopped there on my way home. Here is my beautiful purchase. I only had to pay $4.11

To make matters better... it came with an umbrella!

And even better.... I came home, got the mail, and lucky me -- ANOTHER coupon for next week! This weekend is off to a great start :)

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Support Our Troops

Our kids were given the task of writing cards to the military troops in Iraq and Afghanistan on Friday afternoon. Mrs. Marino and I had a good laugh over these on Friday afternoon once the kids were gone for the weekend... here were the top 3 most laughable ones!


#1. This ones a little hard to see:
Thank you for protecting me from Osomobedlodon.
Yes, that is 3rd grade talk for Osama Bin Laden
#2. We told our kids that these were troops stationed overseas.
Mrs. Marino's sweet child wrote the following on her card:

#3. You are my HERO....

Monday, September 5, 2011

Old friends



Katy and Luke were in down from Iowa visiting our college friend Kristi and they got to stop by and see us for a few hours. I had to take some pictures because we haven't seen them since our wedding over 3 years ago. Katy and I lived together in college for over 2 years and she was my first friend at NDSU. It was great to catch up and enjoy their company!

Student Cards

These are some pictures I took of some of the cards my kids made for me for my birthday. They melt my heart. My friend Elizabeth made me this sweet card and got me a beautiful ring from Charming Charlies. Look carefully, it says, "owlstanding birthday" And the one below is because they know how much I love ice cream. The last one makes me smile because he thinks I should be proud now that I'm 27!!





Sunday, September 4, 2011

My 27th Birthday

Happy Birthday to ME!!! I can hardly believe I'm 27!!!

My girlfriend Bree brought me over some beautiful purple mums for my birthday. There is another picture below. At school, I had a family bring be a giant balloon and suckers to pass out to the kids!





Me and the love of my life :) We decided on "Dad's and Dude's Breweria" for some birthday pizza! We joined with some friends and had a wonderful time!



Katie and Tony.. and us. Katie and I met last fall at a bible study and our friendship has grown since. Tony is a med-school student so Katie and I have lots of nights to do just-girls dinners!




Katy and Matt. Katy and I teach 3rd grade together, share a mobile, and talk about everything!



Andrew and I :) Monica, Myself, and Ryan... they teach 2nd at Coyote



Here is Monica and Adam. Andrew and Adam love each other as much as Moni and I do!! A's and M's :)






And last but not least, we finished out our pizza night with dessert pizza. One to share for the whole table and we each got 2 bites! A delicious ending to a perfect celebration! Here is another picture of my flowers with all my thoughtful, love-filled cards.




Thank you to everyone who made my day so very special! From the cards, to text messages, to cake, to calls .... you are all so thoughtful!