Mama Beege's Pumpkin Bars

Fall brings on the best food in the Cass home. I tend to go in soup, baking, crockpot overload once September hits Minnesota! A Cass fav is my mom's recipe for pumpkin bars! They are devine! Cream cheese frosting and pumpkin.....need I say more? Today, I am sharing with you the amazing recipe! I make this every couple of weeks for our youth kids this time of year! I don't trust myself making them for us just my family. I need the help from others to eat these bad boys! YUM!

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a jelly roll pan for the bars.

Ingredients:

4 eggs

1 c. oil (I use whatever I have on hand)

2 c. sugar ( I have halved the sugar/ 1 part white and 1 part brown)

1 15 oz can of pumpkin

2 c. flour (you can use whole wheat or white)

2 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

2 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. ginger

1/2 t. clove

1/2 t. nutmeg (the seasonings make these bars!) 

bake for 25-30 min

Frosting: 

8 oz cream cheese 

3/4 stick of butter (unsalted) 

---I put out the cream cheese and butter at room temp---

4 c. of powdered sugar 

1 T. milk (I use almond milk)

Frost the bars at room temp! One thing that you can do is sprinkle/sift on cinnamon to the top of the frosting! It looks and tastes pretty. 

Welcome to the best fall treat ever!

Do you have a favorite dessert? Please share!!!! 

Happy Tuesday!

Best Chive & Gorgonzola Dip!

Are you ready to taste the best dip ever? I cannot take credit for this fabulous recipe, Tyler Florence, a famous chef, had this bad boy in my People magazine. I made it Sunday night for our youth bible study and it was a H.I.T. 

We served it with sweet potato chips, blue corn chips and pretzels. Heaven. Seriously, a new fav, at the Cass Casa. I want to serve this with veggies too!

It is the perfect season for dips! Football, Cozy time, hosting friends and family!

Chive and Gorgonzola Dip Recipe

1 cup of mayo

1 cup of sour cream

1 container of Bleu Cheese ( I heart Gorgonzola)

1/2 of squeezed lemon

1/4 cup of chopped chives (fresh)

salt/pepper

1 T. honey

(tyler's recipe varies slightly, i dumped my ingredients) I want to try it with garlic and dill too! Oh the possibilites!

Let me know if it is a hit! You will thank me. 

Happy Wednesday friends.

Cass Cakes

Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved pancakes! I used to spend the night at my Grandma and Grandpa's and we would often times have apple pancakes! Yum. So it only seemed natural to continue the tradition in my family. Andy and I partake in this glorious meal at least 1/2 times a week. Praise! I have tried many recipes but this one has become our recipe! Our fav! Our speciality. CASS CAKES!  I was originally inspired by good ole Pioneer Woman for her pancakes but have tweaked them along the way. Pioneer Woman uses sour cream in her pancakes, but we use greek yogurt. We opted for a fluffier and a more healthy version..... I would double the recipe if its for 3/4 adults. 

Cass Cakes:

1 cup of Greek yogurt ( I use plain, honey, or nonfat. whatever you prefer)

7 T. flour (we use 1/2 WW and 1/2 AP)

1 T. sugar (we use cane sugar)

1 t. Baking Soda

1 t. Baking Powder

1/2 t. salt (we use Kosher)

2 eggs

1 T. vanilla

mix with a spatula the white ingredients. in a seperate bowl stir the eggs and vanilla. add the eggs/vanilla to the other ingredients. stir in the eggs until they are mixed in. then pour the batter on the griddle. I use a 1/4 cup for measuring the cakes. We are a big fan of maple syrup with our cass cakes. I always serve them with butter/ warmed up syrup. You can add bananas, blueberries or apples to the batter too. Hint: When I use apples and bananas; I put them in the batter while on the griddle. 

all the ingredients

mix together the white ingredients

stir the eggs and vanilla

add egg mix to the white ingredients

stir in until evenly mixed

pour batter on the griddle

when bubbling, flip the cakes

ready to eat

Your welcome! They are the best!!!! Happy Tuesday folks! Thought I would share with you some cuties below. They were apart of the Cass Cake action today. Yes, Kiyah is wearing Christmas jammies in March. But, hey, its a storm out.....it's allowed in MinneSnowta land. 

Wedding Weekend! Part 1

Life for us is always crazy! But we are in the midst of a wedding week right now. Tomorrow our dear friends, Katherine and Cordie are tying the knot. We are so excited for all of the festivities. It is always a whirlwind of chaos and celebrations. Last night I hosted a Bachelorette party for the bride. We all wore black with the bride wearing white. It was a fun group of ladies.

We all met at my house and hit up a local restaurant- City Cafe. It is a local fav in Rochester. I am obsessed with the blue cheese ball appetizer. So yummy! It was such a treat to go out with the girls without my babies. Don't get me wrong, I love my girls but it is so fun to dress up and laugh with friends. So I left the hus with the z babes to go out on the town. Well, for 2 hours at least. The bride is one of our old youth gals from The Gate back in the day. But Katherine has turned into a dear friend to our family. There was even a season where she lived with our family. Her entire family means a lot to us. Back at our wedding, her parents made Beef Brisket for our wedding reception, all 500 people that came. :) Last night was about celebrating HER. We had 2 gals from Canada, 1 from Florida, 1 from NYC and the rest of us are MN folk. 

After din, we came back for dessert- Cass Casa style. I had cozy socks for my peeps to put on to stay warm. Fire place on. Keurig ready to rock it out. Trader Joes Italian Sodas ready to be made. and many desserts.....

I LOVE HOSTING! Seriously, it is the best excuse to clean, decorate and whip up desserts. I love baking. I made two of my favs....Tres Leches cake and Espresso Torte from Test Kitchen. I also had

Cookie Butter out from Trader Joes....making peeps try it for the first time ;)

Speaking of Tres Leches Cake.... Here is my recipe for you. It is soooooooo good and supa easy!

You will need:

 1 box of Yellow cake mix

 1 can of sweet and condensed milk

 1 cup of milk (I use almond milk)

 whipped cream or cool whip-- i make homemade with vanilla and sugar:)

 1 pint of strawberries- cut into 1/4  pieces. (sometimes I add raspberries too)

Preheat oven to 350. 

bake the cake in a 9x13 pan. 

once out of oven. poke holes and pour the S&C milk and almond milk over the cake. allow cake to cool. I usually keep it on the counter for an hr and then put it in the fridge. 

Make the whipped cream and put it on the cake. top it off with the berries! Easy, right.....and heaven!!!!

Last night, we also had two babies celebrating with us for the festivities.... Baby Kiyah (2 months) and Baby Inez (6 days old). So prec. 

Look at Inez's hair...so cute! Isn't it crazy how big Zakiyah looks compared to Inez. I love babies....so stinkin cute. It never gets old. They were precious.  I thought I would show you some Throwback pix from KO and I....... I met katherine when she was only going into her 11th grade year and now she is 25. crazy town. She is like a sister to me. We have stayed close while she was over seas for 5 years, through many life changes, and periods of growth. We worked together at two salons. She has been a auntie "tia" to my babies and another daughter to my ma-pa. We love you! 

This pix is taken in Duluth, the summer of 2009 with Katherine and Elizabeth (sisters). We went up to D town to stay with my college friends. I was pregnant with Zion here...found out right when I got back from this trip. ;)

  Chicago baby! We went on a youth trip to chicago. Katherine was home from YWAM for a few weeks and got to go...I think this is circa 2006! Love. so many mems on this one...

My Wedding....xoxoxo 08-07-2005 Katherine was serving us at the head table.... I am sitting with my sisters....Cara and Chels! 

This is 2005! I think this was taken at Chelcy Walkers high school grad! crazy!!!

Let the party weekend begin. I am a bridesmaid...Andy-officating....Zion-flowergirl and Zakiyah gets to be held and spoiled. more on the wknd on Sunday! loves. 

Zucchini Banana Coconut Bread

I just have to say that I love zucchini desserts. It is crazy how many recipes there are out there with this fab. veg. The other night I created a mighty good loaf of bread. I loved it so much that I thought I would share:)

Preheat oven at 350. grease (2) 9x5 bread pans. 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. all purpose flour

1 1/2 c. almond flour

1 t. baking soda

1 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

1 t. cinnamon

1 t. nutmeg

3 c. shredded zucchini ( dry the shredded zucchini)

1 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. sugar

2 ripe bananas

1/2 c. melted coconut oil

2 eggs at room temp.
1 c. greek yogurt (i used greek gods plain 2%) at room temp.

1 t. vanilla extract

I mixed the dry ingredients together and added them in 1/3 increments to the remaining ingredients. Then pour the batter into 2 pans!! 

Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. Enjoy! It is defnitley a Cass fav! Make sure you let the bread cool before serving!