Pumpkin Cake

Last week we had a potluck to celebrate the end of the fiscal year and reward ourselves for working hard and doing a great job (I have a feeling this'll be the last potluck for a while). Because it's fall I decided to make something pumpkin flavored. After a bit of debate over what kind of dessert to make (bars, cookies, cake, cupcakes...) I finally decided on making a cake since I hadn't made one in a while and I wanted to use up the the last of the caramel cream cheese frosting (based on some of the pins on my Pumpkin/Fall board, caramel goes just as good with pumpkin as it does with apple). I finally decided on a Pumpkin Snack Cake from Kitchen Meets Girl.

Fireworks Cookies & Cream Cookies

A few years ago I had a temp job gave employees a 4-day weekend because the 4th of July was on a Thursday that year. They probably did the same this year since the holiday was on a Tuesday. My current job isn't that generous (government/federal jobs must be like this in general since I had to work the day after Thanksgiving when I had a temp job at a bank one year). So to make up for it I decided to make some patriotic cookies to take into work on Monday. After looking at my patriotic treats Pinterest board (because really, where else do I have to look? 😏) I decided on Fireworks Cookies & Cream Cookies from Inside Bru Crew Life.

Red, White, and Blue Cheesecake

I kinda, sorta have two jobs right now. Last year I was hired by a recruiting company called Mountain LTD to work for CenturyLink in north Seattle. Earlier this year, one of my contacts from Mountain called to say that Mountain wanted all their Engineer Assistants (my position) working from Mountain's office in Renton. I am one of two EAs who can't because everything I need is at the CenturyLink office. So we figured out a way for me and the other EA to have work to do when not in Seattle: the other EA and I each spend two days a week in Seattle.

Why am I telling you this? Because I wouldn't be posting this if that hadn't happened. One of my co-workers in the Renton office decided to have a potluck for Memorial Day on the Friday before Memorial Day. As soon as she told me about it I immediately started searching for patriotic-colored desserts. As much as I wanted to, I had to stay away from desserts with fruit since I would be doing my shopping the Saturday before and most fruit (including strawberries, the red part of the dessert) doesn't last long. I finally decided on a three "layer" cheesecake from Tablespoon, a community of and for foodies.

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Sometimes you wanna bake just because. Yesterday was one of those times. Earlier this month I got the urge to bake cupcakes while watching Cupcake Wars (honestly, this never really happens). I decided on Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting since it's fall and I kinda prefer pumpkin-flavored things to apple-flavored things (cream cheese frosting just sounded like a good partner for pumpkin). So while I was looking for cupcakes for my grandma's birthday, I kept an eye out for pumpkin ones. I had to wait a few weeks because my parents (although it might just be my mother) fulfilled a long-time wish and got granite countertops in our kitchen (with subway tiled-walls to match), leaving the kitchen unavailable for baking. Finally the kitchen was (somewhat) back to normal by this weekend so after a little searching par deux, I found a unique recipe in Taste of Home's Cupcakes for Every Season (released in spring 2011).