Friday Favorites

I've joined a group of my friends in doing a Friday Favorites post. What is my favorite thing this Friday, my dear ones? Here are some hints that I've given my students about the mystery item in our classroom, the same one I'll post about today. 1. It's heavy. 2. It has ridges. 3. It's round. 4. It has seeds. If you're smarter than a four year old you will not have gotten stumped on the "ridges" part, and BINGO! It's a pumpkin! What is my favorite pumpkin recipe this year? This is a hard one because I love me a good pumpkin recipe, and for some reason these pumpkin foods just don't taste the same if it's, say, July. I'm weird like that. Ok, focus. Favorite pumpkin recipe:

Pumpkin Snack Bars!
Prep Time: 20 min.
Ready in: 40 min.

Ingredients:
1 pkg. (2 layer size) spice cake mix
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin
1 cup Miracle Whip dressing
3 eggs
1/2 c (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Preparation:
Blend cake mix, pumpkin, Miracle Whip and eggs with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Pour into greased 15x10x1 inch baking pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely on wire rack.

Blend butter, powdered sugar, milk and vanilla with electric mixer on low speed until moistened. Beat on high speed until light and fluffy. Spread over cake.

Ok. Ignore the pain that is shooting down your left arm for a moment. My new favorite baking ingredient is Smart Balance. I would always stand in the dairy aisle pondering the pros and cons of margarine vs. butter. (Not really, but let's just imagine I did.) Of course, I always went with butter but now I can go with Smart Balance! Why? I don't know. But I have reasons... for real, I do.

This recipe came for Kraft Food and Family. Another favorite of mine. It's a FREE magazine from Kraft. It comes out every quarter. Some of the recipes can be repetitive, but come on! How can you go wrong with a magazine that gives you Pumpkin Snack Bars??? Enjoy! Check out some more pumpkin favs here, here, here, here, and here.