Guest Blogger KATY: Adventures in Cooking #4

Hi all! First off, let me introduce myself for those of you who may not know me :) I am Abby's younger sister, Katy. When Abby approached me about being her "guest blogger", I was so excited! I think her blog site is pretty frequented, so I hope I can do a decent post!

I am going to share another recipe with you, including step-by-step instructions on how to make Pumpkin Pie Bars! This delightful fall/winter treat brings back childhood memories from when I would spend the night at one of my best friends Laura's house growing up. Therefore, this recipe is courtesy of Liz Williams :) We brought this recipe out during our wonderful trip to Wimberley during the Thanksgiving holiday. It continues to satisfy our taste buds during our fall/winter cravings!

Okay, let's begin! You will need the following ingredients:

• 1 3/4 c. brown sugar, packed firmly
• 1/2 c. butter or margarine, softened
• (1) 16 oz. can pumpkin
• 4 eggs
• 2 1/4 c. buttermilk baking mix
• 2 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 c. powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp. grated orange peel
• 2 tsp. milk

Also, hopefully the pictures will assist you in understanding the following instructions :)

Step One: In a large bowl, combine brown sugar* and butter. *Make sure when measuring out the brown sugar to pack it tightly in the measuring cup by pressing it firmly with your fingers. A helpful tip I would recommend is to put the measuring cup inside the bag and pound it with your fist.

Option one ^ (packing b. sugar with your hands)

Option 2 ^ Pounding b. sugar with fist inside bag

^Combining b. sugar with melted butter/margarine

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Step Two: Beat the above ingredients until light and fluffy.

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Step Three: Add pumpkin, eggs, baking mix, and spice.

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Step Four: Beat at low speed until blended.

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Step Five: Turn batter in lightly-greased 13 x 9 in. pan.

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Step Six: Bake at 350 degrees for 30 min.

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Instructions for making the Glaze (to drizzle on top of pumpkin pie bars-yum!)

Step One: Combine sugar and orange peel in a medium-sized bowl.

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Step Two: Stir in milk to make glaze you can drizzle. Let it stand for 30 min. to set glaze.

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Step Three: Drizzle the glaze on top of the cooled pumpkin bars.

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I hope this recipe helps you in celebrating holidays and creating special memories like it has for me! Enjoy!

Happy baking!

Katy :)

12 Photos from 2010 (Year in Review)

I got this idea from my muse Elsie, of course! I was only allowed to choose 1 memory from each month which was HARD b/c I feel like several big things happened in multiple months this year... so here is my best shot :)

January - One of my besties, Josh...turned the big 3-0 and had a blowout celebration!

February- My hubby outdid himself for Valentines Day. I'm blessed.

March- Grandpa Moose got remarried at Lakewood Country Club. Logan's mom Sheri was able to fly in from France for the celebration so it was a real treat to get to spend time with her while she was here :)

April - I turned 26! We had several celebrations...one at my fave, Benihanas!

May- Katy graduated from Baylor!

June- We moved into this adorable house in Lakewood.

July- My BEST friends wedding in Fort Worth. (and they moved back to Texas after a 3 year stint in San Fran)

August- Road trip to Houston to help the Williams finish their house/ get ready to move to North Dakota! (+ we got to meet our new niece Nora)

September- Jayne and Dac got married in Indiana! Such a memorable weekend.

October- Our BIG 1 Year anniversary trip to Boston

November- Logan's Best Friends Wedding...this one in Eureka Springs, Arkansas

December - At my mom's house on Christmas Eve :)

Happy New Years Eve!!!! I hope everyone has a wonderful and SAFE evening. We are having a fun Lakewood Progressive Dinner with some friends. Logan and I are hosting the main course...so we currently have 3 crock pots with yummy roasts cooking and making our home smell lovely. I am going to post New Years Resolutions and such in the next few days. It has been a WONDERFUL year.

Christmas Celebrations

Christmas 2010

On Christmas Eve we started the evening off at my moms house and snacked on some appetizers including 7 layer dip and shrimp, yum! Then we attended the Watermark Christmas Eve service which was really good this year.

After church, we came back to my mom's to do gifts, have a HUGE dinner, and hang out! It was really funny- every single person that opened a piece of clothing had try it on and to do a runway show complete with a catwalk and pose :) Loved it! Here are a few more pics from our evening.

My most FAVORITE gift was the baby cross necklace that Logan gave me :) I must have been a good girl this year. I got almost every single thing on my list- lucky girl!

Christmas morning we woke up and Logan and I made a HUGE breakfast complete with eggs, biscuits, bacon, apple cider, coffee, and OJ. Then Logan, Caleb, and I opened our stockings. Logan accidentally got me XXL panties.... that was a hard hole to dig out of... but I forgave him eventually ;)

Later on Christmas Day, we headed over to my Dad and Kelley's house for more family, feasting, and gifts! It was so fun because both my uncles both got to drop by as well as my sweet Mammaw. We hung out there until late in the evening and then came back home and crashed.

This is our whole sibling/ cousin clan (minus Dylan)... pretty good looking crew huh? It was a really fun day!

This post wouldn't be complete if I didn't mention the mini frenchies who came over a few weeks before Christmas. They wanted to see our house and opened a few gifts from Uncle Logan and Aunt Abby. It was such a treat to spend some quality time with them and watch their faces light up after they opened their gifts. They have grown SO much since we saw them at our wedding last year.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. We had a wonderful and memorable time and I got lots of treats (too many). I feel very lucky to have such an amazing family.