This is a delicious, healthy, and EASY side dish- perfect for Thanksgiving and the holiday season. If you’re looking for a no-fail side dish, this is the one. It’s gluten-free, Paleo, high in nutrients, and tastes amazing.

Hi friends! How’s the day going? Hope you’re having a wonderful morning. Yesterday was a whirlwind of fun: Anne and I filmed 3 of the Winter Shape-up videos with Grant. It was so great to catch up with Anne, and also see Grant again. He’s the mastermind behind many of my YouTube videos and also Soli Beat. We cranked through pure strength, strength + HIIT, + warmup video for the challenge. I’m so excited!!

After filming, Anne and I headed over to Fig Tree to grab lunch. I always get scared-stoked to tell visitors about Liberty Station and all it has to offer. “So it has the best coffee shop, a hot yoga studio, a Trader Joe’s, market, brewery, juice bar, basically everything you could wish for.”

I almost always get the portobello mushroom sandwich, but then I saw breakfast on the menu and that happened immediately.

With kombucha:

Anne and I enjoyed lunch (it was so good!) and chatted about all things life and blogging. We hobbled out of there because after filming workouts + sitting for a while, the soreness started to kick in. #buckleup

Last night, one of the worst things that could have happened during Spin happened. (When I got home, I told the Pilot that THE WORST THING HAPPENED while I was teaching and he thought I peed during class so no. Apparently, it was not the worst thing that could happen haha.)

I had to connect to Bluetooth for the music, and once I finally got it connected, I went to start my playlist, and… nothing. It was a blank white screen. I p

Paula Deen’s Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

Paula Deen’s Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake is a yellow cake crust topped with a creamy pumpkin layer and the most popular pumpkin dessert at our Thanksgiving table.

This is the very first recipe I had ever made from the Food Network. Paula Deen inspired something in Cade and I and that is the only reason this blog exists.

Cade’s from the South and as super poor newlyweds we didn’t have much entertainment that didn’t cost money and since cable was free in our apartment we would watch Paula cook up delicious foods and I got to learn about Cade’s Southern side.

It was so fun to surprise him with classic southern dishes like, Fried Chicken, Southern Macaroni and Cheese, Perfect Pecan Pie and Tomato Basil Pie. But then we saw a few pumpkin recipes using pumpkin puree like, pumpkin cake, pumpkin gooey butter cake and other pumpkin dessert recipes.

We just knew Thanksgiving was going to be extra special.

Our First Thanksgiving Home as Newlyweds

Cade and I had been married for just shy of a year and we had gone home to Washington for the holidays. It felt so special to finally be a married couple enjoying the time with family. We had been thinking up pumpkin ideas for weeks.

I can’t remember why I was making pumpkin recipes, it must have been that we decided to not do pumpkin pie or something but either way this gooey butter cake ended up being what I chose and my whole family has been hooked on Paula Deen’s Gooey Butter Cake recipe ever since.

Now, I’ve waited this whole time, choosing to not post any Food Network recipes because I totally get how hard those chefs work, but after almost 12 years I decided that:

• it’s one of our favorites
• it’s already all over the web
• you want to know the recipes that people are obsessed with so you can make it a family favorite too!

What Ingredients for Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake Crust

• Egg
• Butter
• Cake Mix

Start off by making the crust with the above in

The Creamiest Pumpkin Ice Cream

The Creamiest Pumpkin Ice Cream absolutely must be made with two ingredients or it will not be thick, rich and creamy like you get from a fancy store.

Homemade ice cream doesn’t just have to be ice cream flavors like, vanilla or strawberry. I’d guess 90% of the world loves ice cream and it’s a favorite all year round, so how much would your guests love a fall-inspired flavor?

Must Have Tools for the BEST Homemade Ice Cream

1. Best Ice Cream Machine under $100
2. Best Ice Cream Machine without Freezer Bowl
3. Candy Thermometer
4. Mesh Sieve 
5. Best Ice Cream Scoop

The Creamiest Pumpkin Ice Cream

Have you ever had the creamiest milk shake and once you have had it you can never settle for just any milkshake again? That’s what happened to me. 

Cade and I took our little girl out for her very first milkshake.

I believe she chose bubblegum. 

I cannot ever decide which is worse, cotton candy ice cream or bubblegum. 

Either way, I went for a pumpkin ice cream shake because it was October and that just felt so darn right.