Pumpkin Cake Promise

Here's the other delish fall recipe I promised. A church member, Jennifer, brought this cake to a luncheon at our church office during October Clergy Appreciation Month a few years ago. It was so delicious that we were all begging for the recipe. It is a very rich cake - the kind you want to save for special occasions, because you'll want to eat the whole thing yourself! I would take pictures of it, but I can't allow myself to make it until Thanksgiving!

Jennifer's Pumpkin Layer Cake

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 3/4 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups pumpkin pie filling
• 1 cup oil
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (I use walnuts)

Mix dry ingredients, then add eggs, pumpkin, & oil. Mix well, then blend in nuts. Grease and flour two 9" cake pans. Divide batter between the two pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 - 2 Tbsp milk

Blend until smooth, add the milk until frosting reaches a "spreadable" consistency. Spread some on top of the bottom layer of cake. Add the top layer, then frost the cake competely. You may wish to garnish with toasted chopped nuts or mellowcreme pumpkins.

Awesome Autumn Pumpkin Bread

vintage pumpkin patch Originally uploaded by thingspondered

OK...I know I promised 2 recipes, and I promised that I'd post them over the weekend. Well, I was busy being creative and I forgot. You'll forgive me, won't you? Especially if I give you the recipe for The. Best. Pumpkin. Bread. Ever.? Well, here it is!

A former coworker shared this recipe with me. She used to bring it to our office in the fall.

Nancy's Pumpkin Bread

• 3 c sugar
• 1 c Crisco oil
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 1-lb can pumpkin
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 3 1/2 c flour
• 2/3 c water
• 1 c raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease pans. Combine sugar & oil. Add beaten eggs & pumpkin. Sift dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture with water. Add raisins. Pour into greased pans & bake for about 1 hour, until done. Use either 2 5x9 loaf pans or 5 mini loaf pans.

Now, I am not a big fan of raisins, but they are perfect in this. You could also add toasted walnuts or pecans. Or leave them all out...if you want to be boring about it. Just make the bread. You'll thank me for it! And since it's so easy that you'll want to make extras, your neighbors will thank me for it, too!

FFF's 10/5/07

FFF's 10/5/07
Originally uploaded by thingspondered

So here are my Flickr Friday Fave's for this week. This collage has a sort of vintage feel to it.

I love, love, love that little embroidered birdie. You must check out LittleLovelies' other lovelies!

And I'm starting to feel the fall love, even though it's still quite balmy here in Texas. I wanna sit in the pumpkin patch and sing with those two cuties! Would you look at those GORGEOUS heirloom tomatoes? Yum. And the litle acorns in the bottom left corner are really sweet glass beads by Lori Flanders. I love them!

So many pretty finds on flickr this week, but my favorites are the puppy dog paw and the 2 hands on the top row.

Tune in this weekend for some seriously yummy autumn recipes!

Music to Blog by

Leigh Ann at Freckled Nest shared this tip to add music to your blog. She explains it far better than I could! I'm not even sure if I've done it correctly! (And while you're at Freckled Nest, drop Leigh Ann a little note and let her know you're praying for her...she just lost her beloved grandpa.) But hopefully you are enjoying some of the music that blesses me & puts a smile on my face! The player is at the bottom of my blog...check it out!

What I Love About Our Home

Romantic Country Party

Karla at Karla's Cottage hosted a party on Wednesday, and I showed up late! But I couldn't resist the opportunity to show you some of my favorite spots in our home and tell you what I love about our house! Be sure you check out Karla's blog & the links to all the lovely homes...you can be late, too!

We have lived in our home for just over 2 years. It is the first home that Adventure Man and I have owned. My favorite part of our home is him and everything he does to make it "home". He is our yard man extraordinaire! He's learning all kinds of new skills as a homeowner, too. Our parents have been very helpful, as well. We're so grateful for our family and the investment they've made in our lives (and our home!).

Originally uploaded by thingspondered

These first three pictures are in our red dining room. My parents blessed us with the lovely end tiger oak pedestal table that was in my family's home when I was growing up. I have always loved the table, and they gave it to me when I was in college. The tiger oak buffet was our "souvenier" from our mini-vacation to Hempstead, TX. It was just what we'd been looking for, and it was the deal of the century! The oval picture was on the wall of our family cabin for years. These pictures were taken last fall...we will get out our fall decorations this weekend, no matter how hot it is!

Adventure Man's grandmother blessed us with these beautiful Johnson Brothers dishes (The Road Home) as a wedding gift. I believe they were her grandmother's dishes. We absolutely love them. We have a few other Johnson Brothers patterns that were hers as well, but we have a complete set of these. The needlework of The Lord's Prayer belonged to AM's grandparents, as well. Some of the letters are faded. Some day I will see about getting it restored and properly mounted and framed.

Originally uploaded by thingspondered

The picture below shows our china cabinet (which belonged to my grandmother), as well as a few favorite pieces of "wall art" - an autumny cross (which we leave up all year) and a piece of oak leaf iron work...you'll see more of that in the next picture.

Originally uploaded by thingspondered

There is another piece of the oak leaf iron. We bought those at Canton, TX. I painted this one after I painted the kitchen walls green so it wouldn't blend in too much. This picture of a corner of our kitchen shows what is now one of my favorite parts of our house. When we moved in, we had old, dark, scarred butcher block formica. My brother gave us some beautiful travertine tile and mesquite trim. We just got the tin backsplashes installed, too. I love the way it all looks now!

Originally uploaded by thingspondered

This is an old pie safe, given to my parents by an old friend, and then they shared it with us! I have no idea how many coats of paint it has on it. I've chosen to leave it "shabby-chic". See that pretty tea (coffee) set? And the Wilma Langhamer print to the left of it? Two of my favorite gifts from Adventure Man. Is he the best, or what?

Originally uploaded by thingspondered
The guest bathroom is nothing fancy...the sink and vanity are in the outer room. But I just love the way the colors and things work together in here. I painted that little shelf years ago...beat it up a little, added a vers. Inside the bottom shelf on the back wall of it there's an impressionist-style river scene, but you can't see it here because of the towels.

Originally uploaded by thingspondered

Here's a tiny peek at our bedroom. I love our bed. AM picked it out in his single days, intending for it to be a gift for his future bride! The dresser came from my family's antique store. The mirror was my grandma's. The topiary was part of our wedding decor, as were the candlesticks and the candle "basket" on the dresser.

Originally uploaded by thingspondered

This is in my craft room, also called the "Grandma Room", because we have so many special treasures from our grandmothers in here! This table, lamp, Baylor bell & rock collection are from AM's grandmother. (She's in the pink dress in the little picture...that's at our wedding...and that's Adventure Man!)

Originally uploaded by thingspondered

This little shelf above the windows has some perfume bottles that were my grandma's. She was an AVON lady. It also has some perfume bottles that AM gave me. The lady head vases were not my grandma's, but she had some like them, so I have these as a reminder! The little Irish girl doll was a gift from Grandma when I was very young.

Originally uploaded by thingspondered

Sorry for such a long post. I hope you enjoyed seeing what I love about our house!

FFF's 9/28/07

FFF's 9/28/07
Originally uploaded by thingspondered

Hmmm...looks like I need to do some creative writing prompts or something! All I seem to post are my Flickr faves! Well, here they are for this week.

Have no fear, I do have some posts up my sleeves...still processing right now!

Go forth and create!

Bird Pillow
Originally uploaded by thingspondered

I love a crafty weekend, don't you? I actually started the weekend with a garage sale spree...more on that later...then spent the afternoon and evening on Saturday working on sewing projects.

Here is one of my weekend projects: another "upcycled" embroidered pillowcase. This one (and it's match) were a special order for my mother-in-law. Adventure Man (my sweet hubby) and I went to JoAnn's together to pick out this beautiful vibrant blue fabric and fun rainbow trim. This pillowcase set belonged to my husband's grandmother. I tried some new techniques this time...I think it came out pretty cute!

I have a nice spread of lovely fabrics hanging over the back of the loveseat in my craft room...so many projects, so little time! I hope to have a new weekend project completed to report next week. Until then, go forth and create!