Reunions and Recipes

Happy Monday!

Our weekend started off with lots of downtime, football, and cleaning. This was all well and good until we decided late Saturday morning to road-trip to South Carolina to see Sis and her husband! We haven't seen them since the wedding. While this may not be long time in regular time, in sister time it was forever. Plus, we had lots of celebrate.

They live in this sweet town, so while the boys were golfing on Sunday we baked lots and Sis showed me around. Seriously, sweetest small town ever! Even though I miss her like crazy I'm so happy for everything going on in their lives. They make me so proud!

Like I said, boys golfed; we made treats! 7-Layer Pumpkin Bars and Puppy Chow!

I've been craving a pumpkin treat since Fall started. Growing up we always made 7 layer bars and loved them. When we found this recipe that incorporated 7 layer bars and pumpkin, so we thought we'd give it a shot. So easy and so good!

The crust is just crushed graham crackers and butter. You press it into the pan and pour the pumpkin mixture on top. Then you get to layer all the yummy goodness {coconut, pecans, and chocolate chips}. Finally you add the magic: sweetened condensed milk.

After you bake it you let them cool, cut, and serve with caramel. So yummy!

7-Layer Pumpkin Bars

Adapted slightly from My Sister's Kitchen

1/3 Cup melted butter
1 Cup regular graham cracker crumbs
3 oz softened cream cheese
1 Cup pumpkin puree
3 Tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 Cup chocolate chips
1/2 Cup coarsely chopped pecans
3/4 Cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/2-3/4 Cup sweetened condensed milk (Drizzle till mostly covered)
Caramel topping

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place melted butter and graham cracker crumbs into a bowl; mix to combine. Press into the bottom of an 8x8 pan.
2. In a bowl beat the pumpkin, softened cream cheese, sugar and cinnamon until smooth. Spoon evenly over graham cracker crust. Next layer chocolate chips over pumpkin layer following with pecans, coconut and condensed milk. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until top is golden brown. Remove and let cool. *Before it completely cool, take a plastic knife and run around edges to loosen. It becomes very sticky and difficult to remove from the pan if you do not loosen.*
3. Once cooled, cut bars and arrange onto serving tray. Drizzle with warm caramel and serve.

*These didn't hold up as well as the ones we use to eat, but we just used a fork.*

We also made Puppy Chow aka Muddy Buddies {recipe found here}. Slightly messy, but too easy! We added peanut M&M's and Reese's Pieces just because we could.

The only thing I would do differently next time is double the chocolate peanut butter mixture. You can never have enough peanut butter.

Can we please discuss the incredible lighting in their kitchen!? So much better than our apartment. I was in love. We can also discuss sis' pretty ring; he did good!

Right before we left James and I traveled to the pumpkin patch to pick our carving pumpkin.

Meet Hugh. He's huge and we love him.

My heart is so full after spending a weekend with people we love so much. Best part? 

We get to see them again this weekend when they come home!