By request, here is the recipe for the healthy, whole-wheat pumpkin bars. My mother suggests whole-wheat pastry flour, but I ground up 1.5 cups of wheat berries in a Bosch mixer (to make 1.75 cups ground flour). A Vita Mixer would work for that, too. Also, I think plain ol’ whole wheat flour would work just fine.

This afternoon I mixed up this same recipe but used mashed bananas instead of a can of pumpkin. I’ll let you know how they turn out that way. If you make any changes or substitutions that you like, give me a holler! I love tweaking recipes, even my mother’s recipes!

PUMPKIN BARS – Nov 15, 2007
1 cup oil
4 lg eggs (or 3 Jumbo)
1 can pumpkin (15 oz)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp cinnamon

Combine all ingredients. Beat till smooth. Pour into a greased jelly roll or stoneware bar-cookie pan. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. (I use my Pampered Chef bar cookie pan with a piece of parchment paper in the bottom. I haven’t greased it, though I might now that I am reading this recipe again more carefully.

Frosting:
Cream Cheese Icing
One 8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
1 lb. pkg. powdered sugar

Beat together vanilla, cream cheese and butter until smooth. Blend powdered sugar using elec mixer on med speed. Spread on bars after they are cool.

P.S.  Banana update:  The pan of bars made with 4 mashed bananas and only a cup of sugar is tasting quite yummy!  I haven’t frosted it yet, and might just serve it with a little butter instead of frosting.  We’ll see. 

When we were at my mother’s house for Thanksgiving, she quietly pulled out some humble-looking pumpkin bars to offer next to the pies for dessert. Much to my amazement, Miguel especially loved those pumpkin bars. They were made with whole wheat flour and not much sugar, but they really caught his fancy, even more than the pies. So when we said goodbye, I asked my mother if she’d send me the recipe for her bars. I’ve been looking for a low-sugar, whole-wheat bar or muffin recipe anyway, and these were delicious.

So by e-mail that night we received a recipe from my mother for the pumpkin bars. I printed it out, and a few days later we were able to get to the store to buy pumpkin for the bars. After a few more days of delays, finally last night Miguel and I worked to mix up our tasty treat. I told him that the bars would be for breakfast, so we wouldn’t be cutting them last night. He was so excited to finally be making this special recipe!

Everything looked like it turned out last night, so before bed, I must confess that I took a sliver from one edge, and it was amazingly delicious already! This morning I put some icing on the bars, and the kids had pumpkin bars for breakfast. Funny how no one complained or asked if there was anything else to eat.

Next on my list is to try the recipe with bananas in place of the pumpkin. I’m sure it will be quite tasty!

This morning I saw my doctor, and then hurried to the Monroe house to help Michael with our project of the day—-plastering the kitchen ceiling. We worked hard from about 11 a.m. until around 4 p.m. spraying the mud and then “knocking it down” (which means smoothing it out a little).

I told Michael that I hope when we walk into the kitchen after the ceiling is dry, we look up and say, “Oh! That’s nice!” rather than, “Oh.”

Even though I was somewhat uncomfortable today while working, I was greatly encouraged by my visit to the doctor. He said that things are looking good and I’m already dilated to 1 cm. Yippee! I’ve never been that dilated before being full-term and ready to be induced. And I still have two more weeks before my due date!

Tonight I’m tired and ready to crawl into bed even though it’s not even 7 pm. Is that allowed? The rest of the gang will watch Monday Night Football, so they’ll never miss me.

It was a good day of work, and we got a major project accomplished. What a wonderful feeling.

Michael has quite a few days off work for the Thanksgiving weekend, so our goal has been to spend as much time as possible over at the Monroe house to make good progress on our projects there. But somehow, we just aren’t moving as diligently as I would like. Thing is, I can’t blame anyone other than myself. Both yesterday morning and this morning I have managed to con the family into letting me take a morning nap before heading to work on the other house. What a luxury to have Michael here so I can catch up on some of the sleep I miss through the night. I can’t figure out why I have to get up so many times in the night to potty, and why my nose and throat is so dry at night, yet my daytime naps are so peaceful and without those same discomforts.

When we finally headed to the Monroe house today, I was well-rested and ready to work. I finished getting some areas ready to paint, and then Michael and I worked on getting the kitchen ceiling “mudded” all the way. Now it just needs to dry so we can do the successive coats of mud. I sincerely hope that things will move along quickly. I have such a limited time left to work on the house before our baby comes. One consolation is that perhaps my focus on the house project will help me to endure more patiently these last days of being uncomfortably pregnant. And if nothing else, the next two weeks should be very interesting.

Last month was the annual Westminster Village Pumpkin Contest, and as usual, the children had a blast getting ready for this tradition. You can see the photos here.

Yesterday we had a wonderful day at my parents’ house celebrating Thanksgiving. The children were helpful, the food was delicious, and we had a very nice time. Photos of the day are here.

Enjoy!

Love, Christie

Tomorrow we will spend the day at my parents’ house here in town celebrating Thanksgiving. So today we are getting ready. Actually, our preparation started several days ago when I made my list and did the shopping for it.

My mother and I agreed that it would be wonderful if the children could contribute to the meal somehow, so I gave them each a cooking assignment. Laura will make the Cranberry Jello Salad, Isaac is in charge of the pecan pies, Luke is the pumpkin pie master, Amelia will assemble the corn dish, and Miguel will be Grandma’s biscuit helper.

Last night the boys and I made two pecan pies and two pumpkin pies, since I can only bake two pies at a time in the oven. This morning Isaac assembled his second set of pecan pies and they are in the oven as we speak. Luke is terribly eager to get his last two pumpkin pies made, but we are waiting for some fresh pumpkin-pie spice to be brought home by Michael and Miguel who are out running errands right now.

It has been very interesting for me to watch my boys work so diligently on their pie projects. They are reading menus, learning about proper mixing techniques, setting timers, and in general learning lots of things they didn’t know before. I feel quite confident that they will beam with pride when it’s time to serve dessert tomorrow. And you know what? I think I’m going to be doing a bit of “beaming” myself.

P.S.  Evening update:  Isaac finished his pecan pies this morning, Luke finished his pumpkin pies tonight, and Laura made the cranberry jello salad tonight.  It’s really happening!  Tomorrow all that is left is Amelia’s corn dish and my mashed potatoes…along with all the dirty dishes from our cooking projects tonight.  I just didn’t have the gumption to tackle dishes tonight, and my dish fairy had to go to bed.  I’m eager to see and hear the children tomorrow as they present their food to their grandma.  I have a strange feeling that I’m not going to be able to get away with making this a one-time event.  The kids are way too proud of their achievements.  I’m thinking I have created a monster… a good monster, of course.

Written in an e-mail from me to Michael today:

There’s not much of anything funnier than watching a little 2-yr-old cowboy run with only one boot on.  :-)  Then again, that same little cowboy had toe socks on his hands a while ago, and THAT was pretty funny too.

Ya’ gotta’ enjoy the little things about your day! 

Tomorrow morning Michael will leave for a week. What a strange feeling. Most of the day Michael isn’t home anyway, but at least he’s still close by.

I’m trying to think of what we can do for the week that he’s gone. Some old Cary Grant movies are coming from Netflix, so maybe I’ll have some movie times with the kids and introduce them to some of my favorite oldies. I also want to work on getting some areas of the house more organized and cleaned up. All in all, I’m not really looking forward to being a single parent for a week, but we’ll make the best of it.  Maybe we’ll think of some fun ways to make the week special.

Yesterday we received word that Michael’s grandmother died.  She has been failing for some time, so it wasn’t a surprise, but we are still sorry to say good-bye.

Michael and his brother, Todd, will leave Friday morning for Virginia and stay for about a week.  They’ll attend the funeral and help their mother settle whatever affairs need to be settled before heading home late next week.

Not only will Michael be gone most of next week, but my doctor will also be gone most of next week.  So Baby Lilly is forbidden from making her appearance until all the important men in her life return to town.

Last night I was rehearsing to Michael all the things that we still need to finish at the Monroe house before the baby is born.  After my recitation, I decided that it’s just not going to happen, outside of a miracle.  Still, we will work hard and do our best.

I sometimes question God’s timing, with life, death and houses, but Michael and I keep repeating to one another, “God’s timing is perfect.”  He knows our situation.  So, we will work hard and accept His timing.

This evening Isaac’s bird, Jack Sparrow, died.

When we got home from church today, Jack was not himself. Isaac held him much of the afternoon and evening, and we hoped that Jack would recover. Tonight Jack died in Isaac’s hands.

Jack was a good little friend to Isaac, and Isaac loved Jack dearly. It’s amazing how interesting and friendly a bird can be.

We are all sorry with Isaac for his loss.