Pumpkin Sheet Cake

I am sharing this recipe a the Foodie Friends Friday Link Party.

Hop over and find some great recipes......

 Is there anything that screams FALL any more louder than Pumpkin?

I have a very large collection of food fan pages in my Facebook feed.

And when this pumpkin sheet cake came through my feed

I switched on my scratch-n-sniff mode on my lap top.

What?

You don't have a scratch-n-sniff mode?

Don't tell anyone,

but I also have flash drive that will turn things into 

a taste-test mode.

These flash drives are very hard to find and I had to

travel many, many, many miles to find mine.

(I have a pet elephant too)

 One thing that I love about blog recipes is,

usually the recipes have been tested and are true.

I use the word "usually" very lightly.

There are some food blogs out there that will just post a recipe 

without trying it first.

My form of food blogging.....

I will NOT present you something that I have not tried myself first.

And if I get the recipe/inspiration from another source 

I will let you in on that too.

Blogging is all about creating, sharing, and of course honest opinions.

That is why I am not going to post the recipe here.

I did not create this cake.

I made it, photographed it, and voiced my opinion.

Wait!

I haven't voiced my opinion yet.

This is the BEST pumpkin sheet cake I have ever had in my life.

Sheet cakes are very easy to throw together,

and they are perfect for crowd feeding.

So keep in mind your Fall parties this year.

This pumpkin sheet cake would be the perfect treat.

Now for the source:

I found this recipe at Skip to my Lou.

CLICK HERE

The only thing I did differently is, I added 1 tsp. of vanilla to the pumpkin mixture.

The butter-cream maple frosting.....

I am one that just dumps when making frosting.

So I can't really put a recipe to the frosting.

You can easily do an internet search for butter-cream frosting.

I flavored mine with maple extract. 

I strongly recommend that you make this cake.

It is fantastic!

A huge Thank You goes out to Skip to my Lou.

21 Fall Recipes Just For You

 I really hate to say this,

but you do know Fall is on its way.

That means:

Apples

Pumpkins

Squash

Spices

and all the other good things the Fall season brings.

I took some time to put together 21 Fall recipes for you.

These are some of my favorites that I know you will just love.

ENJOY!

 Dutch Apple Cake

 Apple Crisp

 Caramel Apple Turkey Panini

 Jack'O Cran Muffins

 Applesauce Bars

 Applesauce Muffins

 Crunchy Pumpkin Bars

 Butterscotch Apple Mousse

 Pumpkin Cupcakes

 Dutch Apple Pie

 Pumpkin Banana Oatmeal Muffins

 Apple Sour Cream Cake

 Pumpkin Carrot Cupcakes

 Pumpkin Cheesecake in Gingerbread Cups

 Snicker Apple Salad

 Piped Pumpkin Pie

 Pumpkin Bread

 Pumpkin Bars

 Butternut Pound Cake

 Pumpkin Cookies

Acorn Squash Spinach Lasagna Roll-Ups

Garlic Bread Bruschetta

 Have you ever gone to a fine restaurant and they offer bruschetta 

as one of their appetizers?

You order it, it comes to the table, you dig in, 

and......

it's tasteless!

This garlic bread bruschetta is far from being tasteless.

As my base I used Schwan's garlic texas toast.

 I thawed it completely before assembling the rest of the ingredients.

 The rest of the ingredients are items you should already have on hand.

So when you want a quick side for any meal this is perfect.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

I used pesto smeared on each garlic bread piece.

I used about 1 - 1 1/2 tsp. per slice.

 I then topped the pesto with mozzarella cheese.

Use as much or as little as you like. 

 Then on top of the cheese I placed a slice of yellow tomato.

You can use red if you like.

Sprinkle with parm cheese.

And bake for about 18 - 20 minutes.

Keep an eye on them.

They are done when the cheese is brown and tomato is roasted.

The feedback on these:

"They taste like a mini pizza."

They were very well liked in this little country kitchen.

Pork Loin Sliders on Mini Pretzel Buns

 I have got to get this recipe down before it leaves my memory.

Have you been seeing those cute little mini pretzel buns in the grocery stores?

I have been wanting to try and make a slider.

You know, the ones you get at the sports bars, or really great pubs?

The ones that drip to your elbows when you eat them?

I have managed to create those exact descriptions.

And one of my favorite sloppy sandwich is the Philly Cheese Steak.

So that is where this recipe is heading.

But I ran into a dilemma.

I love dilemmas though.

Dilemmas mean CHALLENGES.

I have been hooked on the Aldi supermarket.

I have been doing a good job at trying to purchase all of my groceries from there.

Now there are some things that I just can't bring myself to replace with off brand.

Things like toilet paper, paper towels, dish soap, laundry soap, trash bags, etc...

But food items are being used and tested.

And I love to test products.

I made these sliders with a pork loin. 

Yes, I know, a Philly Cheese Steak is made of beef.....

I will just go ahead and tell you what I did.

If you try this recipe, I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

I found a pork loin at Aldi's.

I cut it in half.

I placed the unused half in a freezer bag and froze it for later use.

The other half:

I used a very sharp knife and sliced it as thin as I could get it.

As you can see from the pictures I managed to slice it pretty thin.

 I used French's Flavor infuser (Classic Steakhouse) as a marinade.

I mixed in a tablespoon of dry ranch dressing mix.

 I put this together around lunchtime. 

I let the flavors mix together and soak until it was time to prepare dinner.

 I used 1 TBS of butter and 1 TBS of pesto to soften my onion and green pepper.

I used 1 small green pepper, sliced thin.

And 1 small sweet onion sliced thin.

Cook them in the butter/pesto until they are tender and slightly brown.

The meat: I cooked that in a skillet with 1 TBS butter and 1 TBS Worcestershire sauce.

Cook the meat until it is done.

You can even let it simmer for a while if you want.

It makes a really nice sauce when cooking.

Here is where my dilemma comes in.

I wanted to get some cream cheese to mix with the meat. 

What do you think I forgot at Aldi's?

Yup, the cream cheese.

So I did what any chef would do.....

I tore apart my kitchen looking for something to use in place of the cream cheese.

Guess what I found?

Velveeta Mac & Cheese.

The cheese sauce will work wonderful.

But what will I do with the pasta?

When my meat was done I squeezed in half of the cheese sauce

from the mac & cheese kit.

Stirred it up.....and talk about creamy.

The pasta.....I boiled it up, used the remaining cheese sauce and 

added about three tablespoons of pesto.

Perfect side to serve with the sliders.

But anyway, I buttered cut sides of my pretzel rolls. 

I topped the bottom halves with onion mixture, meat,

and topped them with provolone cheese.

The top buns I placed buttered side up on the pan.

 I stuck them under the broiler until the cheese was melted and buns were toasted.

Keep and eye on things. 

You don't want your buns to burn.

Mine took about 5-7 minutes.

 This is what my dinner looked like.

See, I told you dilemmas create challenge.

And challenge creates results.

 Do you see the drippings and goopiness from these sliders?

The perfect club/pub/sports bar sandwich.

You can't get any sloppier than that.

Don't wear white!! Just say'n.....

I shared this recipe at Foodie Friends Friday Link Party.

Always a great party.

Make sure you give them a visit.