Playing with Fire

I made the pumpkin spice bars, and I ate one. Or six. I forget. The picture below is the actual result of my efforts. Not bad. I took them to work to ensure they wouldn't all be cluttering up my belly. People seem to like them.

This recipe calls for a 15-oz. can of pure pumpkin and one box of spice cake mix. Stir it all together and bake in a greased (or Pammed, in my case) 13x9 in. cake pan at 350 for 38 minutes. Couldn't be simpler, and they turned out...okay. A friend suggested adding raisins to the mix, which I think is a great idea.

The one thing I didn't like about working with the pumpkin was the sticky factor. It finally occurred to me after I had wrestled the batter into the pan (not an easy task) that Pamming the spatula would have helped. Live and learn.

Thank you to those of you who offered additional pumpkin recipes. I may try a pumpkin smoothie at some point. I've also heard of just stirring yogurt and pumpkin together for a treat.

You might think that pumpkin bars were enough kitchen excitement for one night, but the fun didn't stop there. I didn't exactly "cook" my dinner, but it did involve reheating and stirring and, you know, multiple ingredients. To me, that's cooking.

My other culinary masterpiece was a healthy barbecue sandwich with coleslaw. I had some leftover barbecued pork loin from the weekend, and I wanted to make a sandwich with it. Unfortunately, I also love coleslaw on my bbq, but it's so calorific that I usually avoid it. It's just not a barbecue sandwich without coleslaw! It occurred to me on my way home from work that I could make my own coleslaw. Imagine that! So I stirred up some shredded cabbage, carrots, Light Miracle Whip (just a dab), mustard, celery seed, and fresh-cracked black pepper--voila!--healthy coleslaw! I had about a cup of it for 30-40 calories and loads of healthy fiber. (I'll be having it again this weekend with turkey dogs.)

Since I didn't have any sandwich buns, I used whole wheat hot dog buns for assembling my masterpiece, thus inventing The 'Cue Dog. (I had already invented The BBQ Taco and The 'Cue-rrito several years ago.) I tugged some of the "inside bread" out and filled the hole with coleslaw. Then a layer of meat, a layer of bbq sauce, and I was set. I wish I had thought to take a picture of it, because it was delicious!

All that cooking wore me out, and I went to bed early. :) It could've been the 11 flights of stairs I walked yesterday or the 2 miles I walked after that, but my money's on the extensive-for-me kitchen work. :)

I hope you all had a great day and an even better one today! And thanks again for the yummy pumpkin suggestions and other kindnesses!

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