I'm coming to you from a cold and snowy, yet sunny town of Philip! Last night after being home for an hour from our Rapid City shopping excursion, it started to snow. I mean it was snowing, completely white outside! Yes, I'm ready to put up the Christmas tree and start playing Christmas tunes at work but this snow business is way too early.

I made a phone call to my mom this morning says, "Don't worry! We only got three inches! I think you can still make it out here!" I'm really looking forward to having my family visit us and the small, but warming town of Philip. I realized though while walking to work this morning, this town doesn't have snow plows. They use rather larger skidsteers! And, they don't do a very good job of clean the roads in town, let's just say they only do two giant strips down the middle of the road and call it good! The town must be lacking snow removal funding this year, it's just a guess! But, this is what I dealt with this morning!

Besides the snow, there have been a few other things that have happened since I last blogged.

1. I won a turkey through the town drawing!
2. We went shopping in Rapid City.
3. I baked on Saturday, only because we were gone yesterday!
4. Did I mention I won a turkey?!?!

So to elaborate on my list of happenings. Yes, we went to Rapid City yesterday. I THINK I got everything for my Thanksgiving cooking plan. It's going to be a feast! Later last week, I talked over my game plan with Grandma and she informed she was going to buy pies instead of make homemade ones. And, after I got off the phone with her and told Dustin, he had a hard time pondering on the thought of eating store bought pies. So Grandma, I know you are reading this but I'm making semi-homemade pies and you don't need to worry about it!

With us spending money yesterday and Sundays are usually my day to bake, I decided to do it on Saturday. I made pumpkin creme pies. They are ubber delicious! It's like a pumpkin bar with cream cheese frosting but only better. Since Thanksgiving is upon us, I'm going to share my recipe because if you are thinking out of the box this year on desserts, I suggest to bake these.

Recipe: Pumpkin Creme Pies
Ingredients:
FOR CREME PIE:
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Vegetable Oil
1 can Pumpkin (15 Oz.)
2 whole Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
3 cups All-purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Ground Ginger
½ teaspoons Salt
½ teaspoons Ground Nutmeg
¼ teaspoons Ground Cloves

FOR FILLING:
1 package Cream Cheese Softened (8 Oz.)
1 stick Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
1 package Powdered Sugar (16 Oz.)
3 drops Vanilla Extract
2 dashes Cinnamon

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Pumpkin Creme Pies: Beat together brown sugar, sugar, oil and pumpkin. Add eggs one at time, mixing well after each addition, followed by the vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.
4. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.
5. Cut 3 inch squares of parchment paper, about 24. Using a pastry bag with a round tip, or a big zip top plastic bag with one corner snipped, squeeze out concentric circles of batter, starting from the middle and working outward until the circles are about 2 inches in diameter. (Note that the squares allow the baker to move the square while keeping the bag in the same spot. Just squeeze for easy circle making!)
6. Transfer each square to a baking sheet. Bake for 11 minutes, or until firm, and cool on a rack.
7. Cream Cheese Filling: Beat together cream cheese and butter. Add powdered sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Frost flat side of half the pies and top with another piece.
8. Enjoy right away, or chill overnight. These keep very nicely in the fridge for at least a few days.


Anyways, I think that's about it! I hope the weather gets a little bit warmer so we aren't having a completely cold winter. I wouldn't mind it because it would give me a reason to cuddle up with a cup of coffee, or hot coco, or maybe apple cider (depending on the day), and watch Christmas movies! Have a wonderful day and I'll be back soon to tell you something interesting again!