Making Whoopie Pies

Fall is time for pumpkins and festivals which makes me think of the Covered Bridge Festival.  That festival makes me think of all the places we stop at during our visit to the festival, including some Amish roadside stands.  Amish roadside stands make me think of homebaked goodies.  Homebaked goodies make me think of whoopie pies!  Did you feel like you were reading "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" books or one othe others in that series?  I really wanted to make something special for Carl this was the perfect recipe.  They were very easy to make and didn't last long :) 

PUMPKIN WHOOPIE PIES

Recipe courtesy of Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups solid pack pumpkin puree
2 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease baking sheets.
2.  Combine the oil and brown sugar. Mix in the pumpkin and eggs, beating well. Add the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, 1 teaspoon vanilla, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Mix well.
3.  Drop dough by heaping teaspoons onto the prepared baking sheets. (I used my fingers to slightly flatten the dough before baking otherwise mine ended up looking like little mountains.)  Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cookies cool then make sandwiches from two cookies filled with Whoopie Pie Filling.
4.  To Make Whoopie Pie Filling: Beat egg white and mix with the milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 cup of the confectioners' sugar. Mix well then beat in the shortening and the remaining cup of confectioners' sugar. Beat until light and fluffy.

Sunday Scripture

For a while now, I've noticed that a few blogs I read have "Sunday Scripture" posts and I've really enjoyed what they've posted.  Now they have inspired me to post my own Sunday Scripture and let me share this little story with you.  Several years ago I received a calendar that had scripture cards included that you could use to memorize verses.  Even though the alendar is long gone, I've kept the cards and put up a new card every so often on one of my kitchen cabinets...it's changed periodically...I have the boys or Carl pick a new card....I pray that God will have a verse picked that will really speak to me and our family...something that we can think about, remember, and hide in our hearts.  Here is the card that God chose for me, my family, and you to meditate on this week:

For God has not given us a spirit of fear,

but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

2 Timothy 1:7

Please check out these blogs that have inspired me to be bold in my faith and share God's word with you...Domestically Speaking and Stone Gable.



Pioneer Woman's Marlboro Man Sandwiches

My oldest son recently asked for Pioneer Woman's Marlboro Man sandwiches for dinner and I just had to make them for him.  Speaking of Pioneer Woman, have you seen her new show on the Food Network?  Even though I think most of the recipes she's made so far are from her cookbook, I really enjoy her show.  If you haven't seen it already, check it out - it's a nice change from the usual cooking shows on TV. Anyway, this is what my version of the sandwich looked like, including the bad photography.

This is Pioneer Woman's version of the Marlboro Man sandwich (and she thinks her photography is bad - I'll let you compare the two pictures :)

My picture may not look as good as hers, but based on the smile on my son's face, I think it tasted just as good.  Here's the recipe if you would like to make your own Marlboro Man sandwiches for your son or cowboy.

Marlboro Man Sandwiches

Ingredients:

2 whole Medium Onions, Halved And Sliced

1-¼ stick Butter

2 pounds Cube Steak, Cut Into 1/2-inch Strips

1 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1 teaspoon Black Pepper

¼ cups Worcestershire Sauce

5 dashes Tabasco Sauce

4 whole Deli Rolls (crusty), Split

8 slices (thick) Fresh Mozzarella

8 slices (thick) Ripe Tomato

1-½ cup Arugula

Instructions:

• Season meat with salt and pepper. Set aside.
• Melt 1/3 stick of butter in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Cook onions for several minutes, until golden brown. Remove to a separate plate and set aside.
• Return skillet to stove and increase heat to high. Add another 1/3 stick of butter. When melted, add meat to pan in a single layer. Do not stir. Allow meat to sit, undisturbed, for a minute in order to brown. With a spatula, flip meat to the other side and allow to brown. Reduce heat to low. Add onions back into pan, then add Worcestershire, Tabasco, and remaining 1/3 stick of butter. Stir and allow to simmer, adding more Worcestershire or Tabasco as desired.
• Melt 1/2 stick of butter on griddle or in a separate skillet. Place roll halves, cut side down in butter and brown over medium-low heat until golden brown.
• To serve, spoon meat/onion mixture over bottom half of rolls. Spoon 1-2 tablespoons pan juice over the top. Lay two mozzarella slices on each sandwich, followed by two tomato slices. Top with a generous amount of arugula, then press the top half of the roll on top. Cut in half and serve immediately.

Garlic Ravioli

In my quest to pull together a quick dinner, I found this recipe on the back of a frozen ravioli bag and it was so good.  Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture but hopefully you can see it in your mind and know that you need to make this recipe ;) 

Garlic Ravioli
1 pkg. cheese ravioli
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch green onions
salt & pepper
1 cup mozzarella cheese

Cook ravioli according to package directions and when draining, reserve 1/4 cup cooking liquid.  While ravioli is cooking, add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a skillet and add the garlic, salt and pepper.  Cook just until the garlic starts to brown, then add onions and cook just until the start to soften.  Add drained ravioli and reserved liquid to pan with garlic.  Stir and let cook for a few minutes - just to let ravioli get brown, but not stick to pan.  Transfer to serving platter and top with mozzarella cheese. 

This was so simple and all three of my guys loved it!

This weekend is homecoming at the college I work for and I've been asked to be one of the judges for the festivites.  The first event is at 10:00 tonight....don't they know that I'm old and I'm usually in bed by that time?  Oh to be young again and have tons of energy! 

Racing season is coming to an end - just a few more races in October and one in November.  Carl and Ryan are racing this weekend and I'm looking forward to the day when Kyle gets his cast off and can join them.  I forgot to mention that Ryan won his fourth race this season and also won the points championship for the 65cc class.  Way to go Rocky!!

Lego SUV

I just have to share another Lego creation with you.  No, this one was not built by my son, but I'm sure that he would love to have enough Legos to do this one day.  It's a life-size Lego SUV. 

Here are some factoids about the Lego SUV: 

• It took 22 master builders to complete the SUV.
• 2,500 hours is how long assembly took.
• It weighs over 2,600 pounds, more than half as much as the real car.
• The builders used about 380,000 bricks.

I find it so fascinating to see all of the Lego creations that not only my son has built, but everything you find on the web, such as the Lego bedroom, the Lego hats from the 2010 Royal Ascot, plus a YouTube channel. The creativity that goes into each one of these projects is beyond anything I could think of and I'm looking forward to finding the next cool, unique, new creation and sharing it with Ryan.