The Pampered Puppy Pacer

I have read a handful of articles and blogs where an individual or group goes running on a weekend then has a brunch at someone's house. The brunch is often very fancy (by my standards) with mixed beverages and brie. It's fun to see what other people do, but it's very distant from my own reality! (Typically, I go out, get nasty gross then shower fast to go get a bagel and Diet Coke with the Pit Crew ... excellent!)

We all have what we love whether its really dress-down casual (like myself) or fancy pants (like Pit Crew #2). On this Rest Day, PC2 hosted a family tea party featuring a latest discovery from Hungry Girl: Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge. Check it out!

All you need is a can of pumpkin, a box of
fudge brownie mix and a little peanut butter.
We saw Hungry Girl make this on her show
where she also used about 3T of chocolate
syrup. PC2 and I swapped that for about the
same amount of melted chocolate chips.

There goes the grody pumpkin! Did I mention I can't stand pumpkin
unless it's really buried to the point you can't taste it?

PC2 had never before tried canned pumpkin.
I warned her ...

Just mix the brownie mix, pumpkin and chocolate. Hey, her stirring
looks a lot like Elly's waggy tail when it's in action!

Warm the peanut butter to make it melty, pour in lines across the
batter then run a toothpick up and down to make it look swirly. Ish.

The batter tasted okay ... but let's see what baking it does to really
hide that pumpkin taste!

The outcome ... they were definitely pretty!
But, here's the thing ... for us, if you want a
piece of fudge, then you want a piece of fudge.
This was more of a brownie-fudge hybrid with
a little too much lingering pumpkin taste and not
enough sweet if it's going to be a fudge. It was
good substitute effort for sure, but we voted
e'd rather have the real thing or nothing.

Hey! Here's our host!

She also made finger sandwiches (turkey, tomato - if you're a fan,
without if you're not - , lettuce & cucumber on wheat) and yummy
good fruit salad (grapefruit -- how I love you in season! --
oranges, apples and banana slices! Not so much fancy as fabulous!)

She also made us party favors -- remember the jackpot of an idea
to make popcorn in a paper bag in the microwave? Mmm, mmm!!
(And, in a bag with a Peanuts sticker and a popcorn sticker?! That
beats a try of brie any day for me!)

That was a seriously great way to spend some time on this Rest Day!! Hooray for being pampered! Thanks, PC2!! I'll be thinking about this while out running tomorrow!! See you after!