Recipe Swap Thursday - Pumpkin Bars

Pumpkin Bars
(This is my mother-in-law's recipe! It's a family favorite!)

1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs (beaten)
1 cup oil
1 15 oz. can pumpkin
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together in large bowl.
Spread batter in ungreased jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 8 oz. pkg cream cheese (softened)
3/4 stick butter or margerine
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix all ingredients together till creamy. Spread over cooled bars.

Head over to Therese's blog for more wonderful recipes for Recipe Swap Thursday!

Summerfest is here!

So my favorite band is playing at Summerfest tonight. They're on stage right now, actually. They Might Be Giants is playing on one of the side stages. For those of you not familiar with it, Summerfest is an 11 day music festival held at the festival grounds on the shores of Lake Michigan here in Milwaukee. You pay one price to get in, and you can wander around a number of different stages and hear some really great bands. You usually have to wade through a sea of drunk people as well as it gets later in the evening, but I digress. There's a headlining act that plays at the Marcus Amphitheater. If you want to see that band you have to buy a ticket, but your admission to the fest is included in the ticket. Each of the smaller side stages also has a headlining act, but that's included in the festival ticket price. So I could have paid $15 to go see TMBG. But I would have had to go solo, because I didn't want to shell out extra for a babysitter. So as I'm typing, they're probably singing "Birdhouse in your Soul," or anyone of their other hilarious, sing-a-long-able song. I have loved them since high school, but they are even more endearing to me now that they have a bunch of really fun kids CDs. So soon enough, I'll be introducing Alex to all things TMBG, although many of the theme songs to the Disney Saturday morning shows are sung by They Might Be Giants. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse... Higglytown Heroes... and there are a couple of videos. I can't wait until I can take him to a concert someday!