Busy Moms Helper

Family fun, food, recipes, crafts, and free printables

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Danielle Hey y'all, I'm Danielle - the crazy behind this blog, where I share my creative life adventures as I survive life as a momma of 5 superheroes & wife to my best friend & fellow nerd. Life doesn't have to be perfect to be GREAT! You can reach me at danielle (at) busymomshelper.com - ABOUT -

Pumpkin Bars

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November is the month for everything pumpkin and I tried some fun recipes one of which is Pumpkin Bars that turned out to be a super moist, melt in your mouth dessert that everyone in my family asked for seconds and thirds on.  Pumpkin Bars are a sweet blend of pumpkin, cinnamon, and a cake like texture, topped with rich cream cheese frosting and is simple to add impressive but quick decorations to.

Pumpkin Bars by Nikki Christiansen for Busy Mom's Helper

I know I said that my Cream Cheese Pumpkin Bread was amazing but these Pumpkin Bars are a whole new kind of amazing.  The bread was great and worked perfectly for a quick breakfast and such but the Pumpkin Bars are an amazing dessert to impress even the pickiest eaters.

Pumpkin Bars by Nikki Christiansen for Busy Mom's Helper

Ingredients

  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup oil
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 15 – oz. can of pumpkin
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon ground cloves

Cream cheese frosting

  • 8 – oz. cream cheese, softened
  • 6 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 4 cups powdered sugar

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Mix together the eggs, oil, sugar, and pumpkin in a mixer.
  3. Add in remaining ingredients and mix well.
  4. Pour batter into a greased and floured 18” x 12” jelly roll pan.
  5. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean and the bars start to pull away from the edges of the pan.
  6. When the Pumpkin Bars are cooled make the cream cheese frosting.
  7. Mix all cream cheese frosting ingredients except the powdered sugar well.
  8. Slowly add in powdered sugar and mix until fluffy.
  9. Spread onto cooled pumpkin bars.
  10. To make a cool design dump some cinnamon onto a plate.
  11. Get any cookie cutter, preferably small, and dip into the cinnamon.
  12. Gently press cookie cutter into the pumpkin bars to make a design.

Pumpkin Bars by Nikki Christiansen for Busy Mom's Helper

These Pumpkin Bars were amazing but did take a little work but don’t let that scare you away trust me, I’m working on a post with pies and wow, those are hard.  This recipe is a little long but completely worth it and the steps are pretty easy just mainly mixing.  I hope this recipe helps out with all your holiday plans and adventures.

Pumpkin Bars by Nikki Christiansen for Busy Mom's Helper

Cream Cheese Pumpkin Bread

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It’s fall and you know what that means? Yes pumpkin everything!  I love pumpkin but not till recently had I ever tried making bread and especially never thought to make pumpkin bread with cream cheese. I now have a new favorite pumpkin recipe of Cream Cheese Pumpkin Bread that is a complete melt in your mouth fall favorite recipe that makes a perfect dessert or even a nice breakfast.

Cream Cheese Pumpkin Bread by Nikki Christiansen for Busy Mom's Helper

Cream Cheese Pumpkin Bread is incredible bread that will be perfect for any dinner, dessert, or even a quick grab and go breakfast, and it is pretty simple to make.  With the recipe it only makes one loaf but I hate putting a partial can of pumpkin in the fridge, well I bought the big can that was 29 ounces, anyways so I ended up tripling the recipe, made three loafs but kept the bread mix in three separate bowls so it was easy to split into the bread pans. If you are good at measuring things out you can triple it in one bowl, make just a single loaf, whatever fits your needs.

Cream Cheese Pumpkin Bread by Nikki Christiansen for Busy Mom's Helper

Cream Cheese Pumpkin Bread by Nikki Christiansen for Busy Mom's Helper

 

Bread – Ingredients

  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • ½ cup packed brown sugar
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup coconut oil, melted
  • ¼ cup sour cream
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 cup flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda

Cream Cheese Filling – Ingredients

  • 1 egg
  • 4 ounces softened cream cheese
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • 3 tablespoons flour

Cream Cheese Pumpkin Bread by Nikki Christiansen for Busy Mom's Helper

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray a  bread loaf pan with non-stick spray and then dust it with flour, the flour makes it a lot easier to get the bread out of the pan.
  2. For the bread, mix the first 10 ingredients well in a large bowl.
  3. Add in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda, gently stir in just until combined; don’t overmix.
  4. Pour about 2/3 of the batter into the prepared pan spreading it smooth and pushing it into the corners. Set aside.
  5. For the cream cheese filling put all ingredients into a mixer and cream until nice and fluffy, usually about five minutes.
  6. Evenly pour the cream cheese filling mixture over the bread, be careful not to push the filling into the pumpkin mixture but getting it to all the edges.
  7. Top the cream cheese layer with the remaining pumpkin batter, smoothing the top without pushing it into the cream cheese layer and again still covering the cream cheese getting the pumpkin mix to all edges.
  8. Bake for about 50 minutes or until the bread slightly starts to pull away from the edges.
  9. Allow the bread to slightly cool in the pan, then gently run a spatula along the edges and turn over onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Enjoy!

Cream Cheese Pumpkin Bread by Nikki Christiansen for Busy Mom's Helper

Blackberry Cream Cheese Spread

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This Blackberry Cream Cheese Spread is the perfect addition to breakfast or brunch. It’s also delicious on crostini or crackers with a glass of red zinfandel.

Blackberry Cream Cheese Spread

I love recipes that look fancy but really are simple.  This blackberry cream cheese spread is just that – quick and delicious! It makes a great hostess gift whether you’re attending a holiday brunch, or a wine soiree with a few girlfriends. With Thanksgiving and Christmas on the horizon, it’s having ideas like this that I can whip up just before I head out the door to a get together.

This recipe makes enough for two small mason jars, so give one away and keep one for you!

For breakfast or brunch, you can serve the blackberry cream cheese spread alongside bagels. Or, if you’re feeling really inspired, use it to make stuffed french toast!

Blackberry Cream Cheese Spread - elegant with crostini or crackers

As an appetizer, this blackberry cream cheese spread equally good.  Serve it on crostini or crackers with a glass of red zinfandel. It’s a super fast appetizer! Set some honey nearby and let guests drizzle a little honey on top for some extra sweetness. It looks so elegant, but takes only minutes.

If blackberries aren’t your favorite, substitute raspberries instead and add an extra tablespoon of sugar to offset the tartness of the berries.

Blackberry Cream Cheese Spread
Print Recipe

Blackberry Cream Cheese Spread

Ingredients

  • 2 8 oz blocks of cream cheese, softened
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 pint fresh blackberries

Instructions

  • In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the cream cheese until soft and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla, sugar and lemon zest.
  • Remove the bowl and gently fold in the blackberries gently. Store in mason jars for 1-2 weeks.

Blackberry Cream Cheese Spread

I love how beautiful this looks, but it does mean you’ll have a less creamy spread.  If you’d like a smoother cream cheese, add the berries to the blender and beat until well combined.  The mixture will take on the purple color of the berries.

Here are some other fabulous hostess gifts:

Cranberry Butter - Juggling Act Mama

Hostess-Gift-Basil-Pesto-from-Juggling-Act-Mama

Check out my Food Gifts Pinterest Board for more ideas:
Follow Juggling Act Mama – Ang Paris’s board Food Gifts on Pinterest.

Back Your Snack BBQ Chicken Bombs

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This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BackYourSnack #CollectiveBias

Life’s busy, right? Kids, school, work, house chores, cooking – okay, I better stop before I start to cry! Anywho – we need all the help we can get, such as some genius snack hacks. Well right now Farm Rich is having a Back Your Snack contest – so it’s the perfect time to create your own snack hack recipes, plus vote on others! One of my newest favorites that my family has enjoyed are these BBQ Chicken Bombs – delish, quick and only 4 ingredients. That’s what I call a winner!

Back Your Snack / BBQ Chicken Bombs / by Busy Mom's Helper #BackYourSnack #ad

We often use tasty snacks like Farm Rich products to make the after-school rush a little easier, plus it’s so easy to get a variety! For the Chicken Bombs, I just grabbed their Boneless BBQ Chicken Bites in the frozen section at Walmart, a few other items, then whipped it up really quick before the kids got home. It was a hit!

Back Your Snack / BBQ Chicken Bombs / by Busy Mom's Helper #BackYourSnack #ad

Ingredients

  • Farm Rich Boneless BBQ Chicken Bites
  • 1 8-oz package Cream Cheese, softened
  • Green Onions (fresh produce section), diced
  • 1-2 packages refrigerated biscuits or crescents rolls

Back Your Snack / BBQ Chicken Bombs / by Busy Mom's Helper #BackYourSnack #ad

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven according to Chicken Bites instructions and bake as directed – without using the BBQ sauce packet.
  2. In the meantime, spray or line a baking sheet and spread out the biscuits or crescent rolls. Spread some of the BBQ sauce from the packet on each biscuit.
  3. Mix the cream cheese and green onions well. Place a small scoop on each biscuit. When the chicken bites are ready, place one inside each biscuit and wrap up, pinching the edges closed. Back Your Snack / BBQ Chicken Bombs / by Busy Mom's Helper #BackYourSnack #ad
  4. Bake according to biscuit package directions. Allow to cool a bit and ENJOY!

Back Your Snack / BBQ Chicken Bombs / by Busy Mom's Helper #BackYourSnack #ad

Another thing I like about Farm Rich is how easy it is to get the different things ready – then I can offer a variety to my kids, and they have fun picking and choosing their own snack mixes!

Back Your Snack / BBQ Chicken Bombs / by Busy Mom's Helper #BackYourSnack #ad

I sometimes make yummy sauces or dips to go with, and always offer some fresh produce, as well.

Back Your Snack / BBQ Chicken Bombs / by Busy Mom's Helper #BackYourSnack #ad

As amazingly yummy as these BBQ Chicken Bombs are, I bet YOU can do an even better snack hack for the contest! For all of the details, check out the rule book HERE. To see a list of stores where you can find upcoming demos and even vote, see HERE. Semi-finalists voting will be on September 19th and 20th, and finalists on October 9th and 11th. The winner will receive $10,000! Plus 5 winners from the voters ‘sweepstakes’ will get a prize pack containing all of the following items: a tote bag, a meat thermometer, grilling tongs, an oven sheet, an oven mitt, $50 worth of Farm Rich product coupons and a $50 Walmart Gift Card. The ARV of each Sweepstakes Prize is $140. Total ARV of all Sweepstakes Prizes is Seven Hundred Dollars ($700.00). So be sure to opt-in for the sweepstakes when you vote in-store!

Back Your Snack / BBQ Chicken Bombs / by Busy Mom's Helper #BackYourSnack #ad

What Farm Rich product will YOU use to create your own Back Your Snack creation?