Paula Deen Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

I was craving pumpkin the other day (okay, I crave pumpkin all the time in the fall) and found a recipe online for Paula Deen's Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake. As the name suggests, it's super buttery and guaranteed to give you diabetes if you eat enough of it. However, it was AMAZING. I took it to the in laws house for dinner and it was a hit; I will be making this instead of my annual pie for Thanksgiving this year.

Recipe:

Cake:

• 1 18 1/4-ounce package yellow cake mix
• 1 egg
• 8 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling:

• 1 15-ounce can of pumpkin
• 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened  
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 8 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 16-ounce box powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To make the cake, combine all of the ingredients and mix well. Pat the mixture into a lightly greased 13x9-inch baking pan. Do NOT use the directions on the cake box. Mixture will be very dry.

Prepare filling:

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter and beat together.

Add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well.

Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to over bake as the center should be a little gooey. When testing the center, it is okay if it's still slightly "wet". The cake will firm up as it cools.

I don't have a picture of the final product; it was eaten too quickly.

1 Year Anniversary

Although tomorrow is our actual 1 year anniversary, AB and I decided to go ahead and celebrate this weekend since we're both off of work. Last night we went to his parent's house and were treated to steak, baked potato, salad, and homemade peach cobbler. His mom made us a gorgeous quilt and shams for our bedroom which I promptly came home and put on the bed.

This evening we ordered take out sushi since our first date ever was at a sushi restaurant in Denver. The 1 year anniversary is a "paper" one so we bought each other a magazine subscription; I know, very original! We also thawed out our leftover wedding cake from last year- my cousin had baked us a mimosa cake and it survived the freezing surprisingly well. I doubt the ENTIRE thing will get eaten but we're definitely enjoying a few slices.

As for the running, I've been having a LOT of trouble breathing while running. I've tried slowing down (and I already run really slowly), breathing on different foot strokes, AB's inhaler- everything. A friend of mine mentioned trying more cardio exercises because my body may just be too out of shape so I've added in more power walking and elliptical. I've also been reading about target heart rates and needless to say, my heart rate has been in the 180's even with moderate exercise (which is too high for what I'm doing). I'm going to try increasing my cardio for a few more weeks, but if the HR doesn't lower then I may have to go see a doctor. My sister has been doing awesome with her 5K training program so I need to get my butt in shape before she smokes me at the run in October!