Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Have I mentioned how much I love pumpkin-flavored treats?

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

{from Barefoot in the Kitchen}

Cookie Ingredients:

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/3 cup butter, softened
1 package spice cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk

Cookie Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or foil (grease foil, if using).
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat pumpkin and butter on medium until smooth. Add cake mix, eggs, and milk; beat on low speed until combined, and then on medium speed for one minute.
3. By the heaping tablespoon, drop mounds of batter on cookie sheet; keep remaining batter chilled. Bake for fifteen minutes or until set and lightly browned around edges. Carefully remove from parchment or foil; cool on wire rack. Repeat with remaining batter, using new parchment paper for each batch.

Icing Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
Half a 7-oz. jar marshmallow cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Icing Directions:
1. Beat 1/2 cup softened butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add powdered sugar, marshmallow cream, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Beat until well combined.
2. Spread about 2 1/2 tablespoons filling on flat side of one cookie; top with a second cookie. Makes about 16 whoopie pies.

I also made a double batch of pumpkin chocolate chip squares to bring to some Halloween parties this weekend. And I still have a can of pumpkin left! These cookies are calling my name, but maybe I'll just whip up a batch of pumpkin pancakes. Oh, the possibilities!

Decor Dreams

Adam and I probably won't be able to buy a house for at least ten years but, in my opinion, it's never to early to start collecting decor ideas.

{images via house beautiful}

So, when I got an email from Amazon annoucing their magazine sale, I had to snag a subscription to House Beautiful for only $6.99. The sale is on until Friday, so you can too!

Also, as you can tell, I like blue. It's so calming.

Wedding Wednesday: Source List + A Few Tips

I've gotten a few questions about wedding planning lately, so I decided to put together a little source list.

Venues
Ceremony: Saint Mary Magdalene Church
Reception: Redstone Golf Club
Rehearsal Dinner: Italiano's
Bridesmaid Luncheon: Humble City Cafe

Vendors
Photography: Amy Jo Bland and Tracey Ivy {Engagements}
Invitations: Sweet Penelope {printed at Office Depot}
Flowers: Kroger

Attire
Wedding Dress: Dolly Couture
Lace Shrug: Rohm Bridal
Shoes: Zappo's
Earrings & Flower Hair Clip: Steinmart
Bridesmaid Dresses: Adrianna Papel
Groomsmen Ties: JC Penney's
Bridesmaid Gifts: Earrings from JC Penney's {Allie's from Nest Pretty Things} and Hair Clips from Bando
Groomsmen Gifts: Personalized Water Bottles from Greensender

Decor
Pew Bows: Romance Ribbon
Cake Stand: Home Goods
Cake Toppers: The Pretty Pixie
Pillar Candles: Barn Loft Candles
Bubbles: Oriental Trading
Sweetheart Table Letters: Joyful Etsy Shop
Signature Frame: Michael's
Other Frames: Ikea Ribba Series

Travel
Wedding Night Hotel: The Houstonian
Honeymoon: Rio Palace Las Americas in Cancun {Booked through Cheap Caribbean}

I'd also like to leave you with some advice for planning an-almost-stress-free wedding. Not for planning the cutest, most original wedding in the world, but for keeping stress to a minimum throughout the process.

• Stay organized. I kept a huge to-do list on Google Docs with headings for the ceremony, reception, attire, miscellaenous, and married life {like an apartment and health insurance}. I was constantly crossing off items and adding more. I also used Google Docs for a spreadsheet with the guest list {and an extra column for gifts recevied}, a seating chart, and a list of expenses. Finally, I had a wedding binder to house all the important paperwork.
• Choose a reception venue that does everything for you. It was so nice to have an event planner to coordinate everything, worry about all the details and, most importantly, decorate. Your options aren't necessarily limited to country clubs or fancy banquet facilities. We seriously considered having the reception at Italiano's, the restaurant where the rehearsal dinner ended up at.
• Don't read too many wedding magazines/blogs. If you become too obsessed with reading those great sources of inspiration, you will become consumed with wedding ideas and end up taking on way more than you can handle. The only wedding magazine I purchased was the Real Simple guide {of course} and I avoided looking online unless I needed a specific idea, like for the seating chart or centerpieces.
• Shop online. It saves so much time and usually money. Plus, there's just tons of great options out there, especially on etsy. We took this to an extreme, even buying the wedding and bridesmaid dresses online.
• Don't be too proud to ask for or accept help. I couldn't have survived without the help of Adam, my mom and, especially, Allison. They helped address the invitations, tie all those darn programs, and fluff all the pew bows. My mom saved the day when a flower crisis arose, the one stressful incident. Allison, my style guru, found the bridesmaid dresses, my lace shrug, and the cute "mr. and mrs." letters. She came up with our favor idea and even gave us a gift cerfiticate for engagement pictures.

And a few cost-saving tips for good measure:

• Don't have an evening wedding. The food at our reception was literally half the price because it was at lunch time. And since the wedding was over around four, we got to spend extra time at the Houstonian!
• Don't serve alcohol. Having an open bar could almost double the cost of your reception. Since Adam isn't 21 yet, we had the perfect excuse to avoid alcohol.
• Use a grocery store instead of a florist. They did a fantastic job for a much, much better price. So, that's pretty much a no-brainer.
• Get the boxed invitations from a craft store. I didn't want the cookie-cutter invitations you can find at Michael's or Hobby Lobby, so I ordered an invitation template from an awesome graphic designer for $75. Envelopes and paper brought the total cost to $150. While I love how the wedding stationery turned out, those generic invitations {especially with 40% coupons} would have been about a third of the price.

Those are just some things that worked for us. But every wedding is beautiful and there's definitely no right way to throw one! Although a few Bridezilla episodes come to mind that disprove that statement.

Gift of the Magi Situation

Speaking of blessings, I recently found out that I won a $1,000 scholarship from the business school for a new computer. So, Adam and I are planning on getting a fancy new desktop!

A desktop computer that meets all our needs will only be around $650. So, that leaves a nice chunk of change that we're required to spend on some type of technology purchase.

I think we should spend the surplus funds on a netbook for Adam. A lot of his homework and research require a computer and a laptop {although supposedly portable} is pretty heavy to carry around all day. He'll be in school for six more years and a netbook would make that time a little easier.

But, Adam says that he doesn't really need a netbook and would rather spend the extra money on a digital SLR camera. Blogging and traveling around Europe got me pretty interested in photography, and my current digital camera is definitely limiting the quality of my pictures.

Normally, we just wouldn't buy a netbook or a new camera, since neither are really necessities. What do you do in a situation when one person in the relationship has to man up and be selfish? 

{I'm going to open up comments on this post because we need some advice!}

School Spirit

On Friday night, Adam and I went to the first basketball event of the year, the Blue & Gold Scrimmage. The highlight of the night was a slam-dunk contest, judged by some Steelers players!

On Saturday afternoon, we headed down to Heinz Field to watch Pitt play Rutgers.

Pitt won 41-21, but the real highlight of the day was finding out that Syracuse {aka the worst school in the Big East, which is, let's face it, one of the worst football confereces} beat our rival, West Virginia. Hahaha!



Did you know the Pitt made CBS Sport's "Flourshing Five", or the top combined football/basketball programs in the country? It's definitely rare for Pitt to be mentioned in the same list as Florida, Texas, and Ohio State.

Blessings

One year ago today, Adam asked me to marry him. Saying yes was the easiest decision I've ever made, but deciding when to get married {in college or after graduation} was definitely the hardest. We prayed about it, figured out our financial situation, talked to our priest and our parents, and finally decided to take the plunge. Ever since we set the date for July 31st, God has blessed us in so many ways and really affirmed that we are following His will. Here are just some of the amazing things, big and small, that have happened over the last year.

At our home parish, the first step in the marriage prep process is going to an orientation, held the fourth Tuesday of every month. So the only monthly meeting we could attend {which would be before the required six month time frame and while we were home from school} was over Thanksgiving Break. Well, when we arrived at the church that Tuesday evening, it turns out that the meeting was actually moved to the previous week because of Thanksgiving. But a Deacon just happened to have stayed late that night and agreed to meet with us anyway. And he actually got married when he was twenty, so he had tons of great advice about getting married young. 

We didn't start looking for a place to live until the last week of the fall semester. We only looked at one apartment because it's probably the cheapest one-bedroom apartment in our neighborhood, at only $450 a month, and it's way, way nicer than we were expecting. {it has a dishwasher!}

One door closes and another door opens. When we got stuck in London over Spring Break because of the Icelandic volcano eruption, we were so worried about how we'd pay for the extra expense. That very same day, Adam found out that he won an award from the Physics department that came with a $500 check. In August, I got my schedule for my job in the computer lab and discovered that I'd only be working twelve hours a week, not the twenty I'd been counting on. But a few hours later, I got an email from a professor I worked as a TA for last year, asking me to help with his class again.

And that's just the beginning.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11

God is so good.

Key Lime Pie

Also known as the best dessert ever. Even though it's not very fall-ish, we had to make it one more time before winter set in.

Key Lime Pie

{From the Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook, Of Course}

Ingredients:

1 Graham Cracker Pie Crust

3 Eggs

1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1/2 Cup Key Lime Juice

1/3 Cup Powdered Sugar

1/4 Teaspoon Cream of Tartar

1/3 Cup Sugar

1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Directions:

1. Separate egg yolks from egg whites. Reserve whites for the meringue.

2. Beat egg yolks, condensed milk, key lime juice, and powdered sugar in a bowl at medium speed with an electric mixer 1 minute or until well blended. Spoon into graham cracker crust.

3. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in a clean bowl at medium speed with an electric mixer until soft peaks form.

4. Gradually add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating at high speed until stiff peaks form and sugar dissolves. Add vanilla, beating just until blended.

5. Spread meringue over filling, sealing to edge of pastry. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden.

Meal Planning

{apron from anthropologie}

On Sunday, Adam and I reserved a Zipcar and embarked on our monthly grocery shopping expedition. We absolutely hate crowded grocery stores, so our system {one big monthly trip and a smaller weekly trips to our little neighborhood market} is working wonderfully so far. 

The hard part is planning out all of our meals for the next four to five weeks.  As the planner in our marriage, this task falls to me. For our first few months of married life, I stuck to really basic no-recipe-required meals, like tacos, fried rice, and quiche. 

But from now on, I've challenged myself to find five new recipes each month. I searched my favorite food sites  and came up with some pretty tasty ideas.

BBQ Chicken Wings
Southwest Chili
Pulled Pork Sandwiches
Pesto Ravioli Gratin
Swiss Cheese Chicken

And you can't forget about dessert! Especially with all the delicious autumn-themed recipes out there.

Oatmeal Raspberry Bars
Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares
Caramel Apple Pie
Chocolate Cupcakes with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

Yum, yum, yum. I keep track of our menu and shopping list using Google Calendar and Google Docs, bascially my favorite things ever. And a chalkboard in our kitchen gets updated every Sunday.

Barn Dance

Since I've moved to Pittsburgh, fall has become my favorite season. I love the crisp temperatures, the amazing changing leaves, and everything pumpkin flavored. So far, I've tried a pumpkin bagel, a pumpkin doughnut, pumpkin frozen yogurt, and even pumpkin popcorn.

Saturday was the Newman Center's annual Barn Dance, basically the social event of the year. It's held at their retreat center about a ninety miles outside of Pittsburgh. We have a hayride, football/frisbee, dinner, square dancing and an apple bobbing contest. Perfect activities for a beautiful fall day in the country.

Adam and our friend, Lars, also held their annual Barn Dance wrestling match. Adam won last year and Lars won this year, bringing the score to 1-1. The winner of the series will be decided at next year's Barn Dance.

Clam Chowder & Garlic Cheese Biscuits

Adam and I like to make a fancy meal for dinner on Saturday nights. By fancy, I really mean just slightly more complicated than usual. Here's what we whipped up last weekend:

Clam Chowder

{From my favorite Southern Living Cookbook}

Ingredients:

2 Chicken Bouillon Cubes

4 Medium Red Potatoes

4 Slices Bacon 

1/2 Onion, Diced

2 Cans Minced Clams

1/2 Stick Butter

1/4 Cup Flour

3 Cups Milk 

Directions: 

1. Peel potatoes and chop into cubes. Add to a large pot with four cups water and bouillon cubes. Bring to a boil and simmer for ten minutes. Drain potatoes and set aside. 

2. Cut the bacon into one inch strips. Saute with diced onion in a small frying pan.

3. Drain clams, reserving clam juice. 

4. On low heat,  melt butter in the same large pot used in step one. Slowly add flour.

5. On medium heat, slowly add milk and reserved clam juice, alternating between the two. Stir until soup thickens. 

6. Add clams, potatoes, onion, and bacon. Cook until all ingredients are thoroughly heated. Serves four. 

Garlic Cheese Biscuits

{From Your Homebased Mom}

Ingredients:

2 Cups Bisquick

2/3 Cup Milk

1 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1/2 Stick Butter

1/4 Teaspoon Garlic Powder

Directions:

1. Mix Bisquick and cheese. Add milk. 

2. Spoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 425 for eight to ten minutes.

3. Brush with melted butter and garlic powder. Makes 12 - we halved the recipe for our dinner. 

Arm Chair: Before & After

Well, folks. We reupholstered our chair this weekend.

Our arm chair and side table {both found on Craig's List} started out like this:

And after a little love, fabric, and spray paint, they ended up looking like this:

Not bad, huh? Here's the cost breakdown of our little reading nook.

Arm Chair - $40

Side Table - $15

Fabric - $65

Staple Gun - $20

Spray Paint - $4

New Desk Lamp - $30

For a grand total of 174 buckaroos. Which is just a bit more than half the cost of my beloved Target slipper chairs.

The makeover isn't quite done yet, though. I love the black and white theme we've got going on, but the space really needs a pop of color in the form of a pillow or throw. And, I also think the lamp {leftover from Adam's dorm days} is a tad tall for the side table. I'd like to find transform one from Goodwill with some spray paint magic. But this little guy might just show up on my Christmas list.

Carnival

On Saturday night, Adam and I went to a little carnival on campus.

We rode the ferris wheel, which looked kind of dinky compared to the Cathedral of Learning.

We seriously contemplated purchasing some fried oreos.

But ultimately went with chocolate-covered strawberries and bananas.

Back at home, we ended the evening with a few too many episodes of The Big Bang Theory. You were right, Scott, it's a hilarious show!

Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday, Adam and I celebrated Fall Break by taking a trip to a pumpkin patch with our friends, Pete and Clare.

First, we wandered through a scary cornstalk maze because Pete and Clare are both from Iowa but have never participated in this autumn activity.

We posed with a very surprised pumpkin.

We bought some fresh apple cider and some pumpkin doughnut holes.

We marveled at precious baby pumpkins and weirdly-shaped gourds.

We took a hay ride and my face didn't even swell up.

We arrived at the pumpkin patch and were faced with the challenge of picking out the perfect pumpkin for our jack-o-lantern.

We had wonderful Saturday afternoon!