Caramel Chocolate pecan bars

Crust:
2 c. all purpose flour
1 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 c butter or margarine,softened
1 c. pecan halves

Caramel:
2/3 cup butter or margarine
1/2 c firmly packed brown sugar
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350. In large mixer bowl combine all crust ingredients except the pecans. Beat at medium speed. make sure you scrap the sides of the bowl often. mix until well combined and particles are fine about 2 to 3 minutes. Press on bottom of a 13 x 9 inch baking pan. Sprinkle pecans evenly over the unbaked crust. In a 1 quart saucepan combine 2/3 cup butter and 1/2 brown sugar.Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until mixture comes to a full boil. Boil stirring constantly until small amounts of mixture dropped into ice water form a firm ball or with a candy thermometer reaches 242 degrees F. Pour evenly over the pecans and crust. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes or until entire caramel layer is bubbly. Remove and Immediately sprinkle the top with chocolate chips allow them to melt slightly and swirl chips leaving some whole for a marbled look..Let cool completely before cutting into pieces..Great for gifts..very yummy and very easy to make..

Pumpkin Bundle Cake

cake:
1/2 c.butter melted(margarine can be used)
1 c all purpose flour
1 c sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Filling:
3 c canned pumpkin
1 c evaporated milk
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 c packed brown sugar
1 tbls all purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp each,ground ginger,cloves and nutmeg

Topping:
1 Tbls butter or margarine
2 Tbls sugar

Pour butter into a 13x9x2 inch baking dish"set aside. Ina bowl,combine the four,sugar,baking power and salt. Stir in milk and vanilla until smooth..Pour into the prepared baking dish.In a mixing bowl beat the pumpkin,milk and eggs. Combine the remaining filling ingrediants,add pumpkin mixture.Pour over the crust misture (do not stir) Dot the butter and sprinkle the sugar ontop.Bake at 350 for 55 to 60 minutes or until a knife inserted near center comes out clean and the top is golden brown..yields 12 servings..

The cake will bundle up over the pumpkin filling and will be ontop of this cake..I like to top mine with whipping cream or Pecan Ice Cream it's very yummy...

FALL CLEANING

Hi everyone..I'm sorry I've been lost for several months but life has thrown me a curve ball and I'm so trying to hit it back but keep striking out..

Well Fall is here...I'm so excited it's my favorite time of year the colors here are unbelievable and it's also time for burning firewood and I love the smells that seep from our wood stove and fireplace. I also love the smells of Fall. But most of all Halloween is on it's way very soon and it's my Ute most favorite Holiday of the year. I can't wait..

So to start Fall process it's time to pull the plastic bins or bags out and put the shorts,tees and flip flops away. I say guys and gals lets do this country a huge favor and get organized in our closets. No wire hangers please..LOL..I am a true believer in this to but do get good quality hangers and get your closets in shape not only by the items but by color to it's so much easier to find and organize if you follow color..I know this to be true for I worked in clothing retail and we had to constantly organize by item and color and it works to find things and put them back this way. I also must stress not only closets but your dressers. Get those rags thrown out or donated now. Take used unwanted winter coats and boots to a thrift shop cause there are many families that need and can use them. Coats and boots are not cheap items..

Now for closing..all you gals with crafting rooms hide your Tim Holtz scissors from the hubbys. Mine found my favorite expensive pair used them on his project and now he can't find them. I'm not a happy camper they are my favorite crafting scissors and I'm so upset he lost them. They are not cheap to replace either but hubby of mine is going to have to buy me another pair and extremely soon to..LOL..really don't let that DH in your craft room while you're gone lock it up or this will happen to you to..LOL..what disappointment this was for me to find mine missing tonight..and no where in the house..I think he took them outside in his hobby shed and they are now full of motorcycle grease..ugh the nerve..

Well that's all I gotta say tonight..when I find my scissors I'll be back and going with my crafts soon..until then good luck with organizing..Happy FALL!!!

POOR MANS LASAGNA

For starters I'm not a professional food photographer..I do my best with my tiny digital camera so this is all I can do to share this yummy with you..

1 jar of any Spaghetti sauce or make your own sauce

1lbs hamburger meat

1 cup Cheddar cheese

4 Tbls Parmesan cheese

1 16 oz container cottage cheese

3 medium eggs or 2 large eggs

1 tsp Italian spice

3 Tbls parsley flakes

1/2 cup diced onion

salt and pepper to taste

10-12 Lasagna Noodles uncooked

Fry hamburger meat,onion,Italian spices,salt and pepper to taste in a fry pan. Then mix together in medium size bowl cottage cheese,Cheddar cheese,Parmesan cheese,parsley flakes,salt and pepper to taste and eggs. set aside. Begin your lasagna layers by adding a small coating of spaghetti sauce to the 8x8 glass baking pan then layer uncooked lasagna noodles on top add hamburger mixture then cheese mixture then noodles,some more sauce hamburger mixture,cheese mixture,noodles and then sauce you should have two very thick layers make sure you end with noodles and sauce. Cover with tin foil and bake in oven at 350 for 1 hour. Take out of oven remove foil let sit for at least 20 to 30 minutes to set up so it won't sog out on the plate. Serve with a nice green tossed salad. YUMMY..

now because of budget this is a cheap way to make Lasagna and truth is you won't even know the difference really. I like mine with 7 different kinds of cheeses and no meat but to get the volume to this I added meat and when I fried the meat I fried it in big chunks. I really thought it was going to taste something awful but low and behold I was extra surprised it came out good. Really super good..You must try..I dare you..

Cute Shaped Cards

These are so cute..if you want the patterns go to paperwishes.com and they have videos and the downloads for these patterns..way cute..I used an array of papers,Doodle bug paper,lasting impressions,TAC,Papertrey Ink polka dots,DCWV and my minds eye. The birthday stamp is from TAC it's from the chicken scratch collection..They took me awhile to do because they are paper pieced and the papers were not easy for me to coordinate but I did my best. Next time I make the bday gift card I won't use the strips for the base it just doesn't look that good..but I tried that all that matters..good luck..feel free to leave an email for me if you want the web site..

Baked Potato Picnic Salad

6-8 medium size Russet Potatoes
8 strips of crispy cooked bacon (break up into tiny pieces)
chives as much as you prefer
8 oz of sour cream
salt and pepper to taste.

optional but good is shredded chedder cheese added

Bake potatoes until cooked. Let cool then cut into cubes put in large bowl add broken bacon pieces and finely chopped chives,salt and pepper and sour cream..stir all together let sit in fridge for at least an hour..This is also served warm and very good cold or warm..

Crayon Resist Card

This was not easy to do not for me it's my first try at crayon resist and glossy paper. I like it's untidiness and the fact I smeared the ink by accident not enough gold so I used a piece of grosgrain ribbon to fix that..I used a piece of glossy photo paper and stampin up ink spots with a ginak design flower stamp. the sentiment is from TAC (The Angel Company). I'm a sales rep for TAC if you'd like to order from me. I've not posted much the past few weeks been sort of Craft dead. But today I'm actually making scrapbook pages for my 8x8 outdoor album.. I hope everyone had a very nice 4th of July..We had a fest at my house. Next I'll post a recipe that I did on my own for a baked potato picnic salad...Have a Great Day!!!