Tasty Tuesdays: Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

a la Rachael Ray.  So easy.  And frikin' delicious.  I just HAD to share.  You will need:

• 1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, 1 stick melted, 1/2 stick softened
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
• 1 cup canned pure pumpkin puree
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon plus 2 pinches salt
• 1-2/3 cups flour
• 4 ounces cream cheese, chilled
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 
  
• 1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and brown sugar until smooth. Whisk in the eggs, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, 1 teaspoon vanilla, the baking powder, the baking soda and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour.
  3. Using an ice cream scoop or tablespoon, drop 12 generous mounds of batter, spaced evenly, onto each baking sheet. Bake until springy to the touch, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.
     
     

     
  4. Meanwhile, using an electric mixer, cream the softened butter with the cream cheese. Add the confectioners' sugar and the remaining 2 pinches salt and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla; mix on low speed until blended, then beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
  5. Spread the flat side of 12 cakes with the cream cheese frosting. Top each with another cake.
     
     

     

     
     

     I was worried because I have never made any kind of whoopie pies before.  I was afraid that they wouldn't be fluffy.  But they are!  And I will be the first person to admit that I am not much of a baker.  And I rarely make desserts, so I don't have much experience.  But these turned out lovely and I will be making them again.

     
     

     

     
     

     And Josh informed me that it is imperative to eat a warm one.  So put that in your books.

     
     

     

     
     

A Hung Jury

The chair came in.  We don't know how we feel.  We have heard great things about ordering Target furniture.  Maybe we got a dud.  Here is our experience:

1. The chair is officially NOT the color that was listed.  It is called "sage" and it is not "sage".
2. The chair took nearly 2 hours to put together (even though there were only 3 simple directions).  This is because the holes drilled into the wood underneath the chair were not lined up properly.  Josh said a lot of curse words in those 2 hours.
3. A small piece of fabric has started to come up underneath the chair.  It's not much of a big deal and can be fixed very easily, but still...
4. And it's not comfortable.  It's over-sized and looks comfortable, but when you sit in it, it kind of creaks like it's supposed to be there for decoration only or something.
5. And the biggest problem:  I really like it!  Just look:

I added the old lamp that I got from a dumpster behind it.  I hope to replace it with another floor lamp someday, but for now, we think this will do. 

The chair is cute.  I like it.  I don't want to take it back.  But it has so many bad qualities.  Yuck.  

And another thing... the gallery wall got scrapped.  Well, not completely scrapped.  But we painted all of the frames, put art in them, arranged them in an awesome set up and then realized we didn't want it in our living room and that it would work better in the office.  So that's what we will do.  More on that later.  Any thoughts about the chair?  

Someone Lives in My House!

First of all, it is 11/11/11 and I am posting this at 11:11am.  By the way, this is officially the best day (and minute) ever because 11 is my favorite number.  Who cares that it was a full moon last night and my students are nutso?  Anyway...

I will be the first to admit:  I'm not much in a garden.  I'm not much of an "outside your house" decorator.  I wish I could do better... maybe next spring and summer.  But it occurred to me the other day as I was driving up to my house on my way home from work that someone could literally walk by my house and assume that it was abandoned.  There is absolutely not one personal "thing" outside our home that would make a passerby assume that someone lived there.  I hope to eventually put a bench or some rocking chairs on the front porch with a tiny end table so I can sit out there in the summer and drink my morning coffee.  Wouldn't that be nice?  But for now I was on a tight budget.  So I thought a wreath would be appropriate.  I love wreaths.  Outside only.  And I would love to have a collection of wreaths that I can swap with seasons/moods.  This is officially Wreath #1 Post.

I was inspired on Pinterest by a bunch of felt rosette wreaths like this one:

and this one:

And believe it or not, I did it! And it cost me less than $6.  I bought one grapevine wreath and 5 pieces of felt, spent about one hour on the floor with scissors and a hot glue gun and I came up with this:

It's so easy.  Cut out a circle of any size.  I chose a few different sizes.  Cut a spiral from the outside and keep going until you get to the middle.

Simply roll it up from the outside in.  Glue it at the end and glue it to the wreath.  It's that easy.  And now it looks like someone lives here:

I love it.  Even Josh loves it.  And he usually thinks that my DIY/craft projects turn out like kindergarten art.  And now it looks like someone lives here.  And I am on my way to having a multitude of wreaths that I can switch out whenever I want.  By the way, did you notice the porch "ceiling"?  Look, it's beautiful:

Beautiful hardwood!  It's awesome and we love to look at it.  We want to stain it next spring. It needs to be kept up so it will stay nice.  Happy weekend!

A Bedroom Idea Was Born on Friday Night

We spent last Friday night watching one of our favorite movies with friends:

 

Hilarious.  Something in one of the scenes caught my eye and I didn't say anything, but I have been doing some research.  I noticed the wall behind the bed in this scene:

This is the best picture I could find, but I LOVE the accent wall behind the bed and how it's textured and kind-of like wallpaper (it actually may be wallpaper)... not sure.  I am also currently in LOVE with this bedside bench from Pier 1:

 Not a great pic, but if you have a Pier 1, go see it. It's beautiful.  It may be my inspiration for re-purposing the old coffee table into a new bench.  I just have to figure out how to do it.  I have been thinking a lot about curtains in our room, too.  We have those nice blinds, but I don't really like them.  We have a weird set of windows: one on each side of the bed and one extra one in the corner.  I thought about floor-length curtains, but that didn't seem like it would work.

So, I thought with some cool accent wall behind the bed, I wouldn't need big textured curtains and I could either keep what I have or get some other plain/solid ones.  So I did some research on non-wall-papered accent walls.  I am not about to attempt any sort of wall-paper-hanging.  I mostly got stenciled ideas, which are great.  Then I found this on Pinterest:

This is officially my bedroom inspiration picture.  I will do this.  And the headboard coordinates with the Pier 1 bench.  And I love gray.  And I promise I can do it without making it girly.  I made a goal for myself to not make my house girly.  I hate going into  other homes and seeing really girly rooms with tons of flower prints and pink striped walls and whatnot.  Dude.  Your husband has to sleep in there!!!!  Not fair.  So, I made it a personal goal to not make any room "girly".  Except my closet.