Disclosure: This post is written in partnership with Florida Prepaid College Foundation as a member of their Believer Bloggers program. As always, all opinions here are my own.
If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen my posts about a recent visit to our old stomping grounds -- The University of Florida. We try to go up for one game every year and spend the weekend reliving the college days {as much as you can when you're 30-something, anyway} and enjoying all the thrills of a typical Gainesville game day.
As we walked around campus this year, two thoughts kept coming to mind: "Why do these kids look so young???" and "I'm really glad we've already started saving for Cole's schooling."
College is NOT cheap, guys. I'm still paying for it. This is one of the reasons that Steve and I made up our minds years ago to start a Florida Prepaid College Plan for Cole before he was even old enough to say, "Go Gators." To us, putting aside what we can now is so worthwhile because, no matter what the future brings, we will be as prepared as possible to help Cole when the time comes to make decisions about his education.
I've partnered with FPCP for the second year in a row to share the whats, whys and hows about the program and its benefits over the coming months, and I promise to try to make it as easy-to-digest and entertaining as possible for you Florida folks who are considering nabbing your own plan for the little ones in your lives who you hope will one day don a cap and gown!
That being said, we need to get down to some important business: Florida Prepaid is giving Florida families the opportunity to win one of 10, 2-Year Florida College Plans, as well as a total of 50 weekly prizes!
What, you may be asking, does this have to do with YOU? Well... as one of my wise friends always says, "People win things." {Girlfriend knows what she's talking about because she won herself and her husband a trip to HAWAII... to hang out with OPRAH. On her PRIVATE FARM. And if it wasn't incredibly creepy I'd share her epic pic of Lady O giving her a squeeze right here to drive the point home, but you get my drift.}
Anyway, if you've got a kid {or more!} who you'd like to send to college one day, why wouldn't you enter?
All you have to do is click over to this page and register to enter! There are also other chances to earn extra entries by checking out the information about saving for college, answering questions or sharing on social media -- the more you interact, the better your odds of winning. And to give you a little extra luck, you can also enter the promo code: BLOG1718. That'll let them know I sent ya. 😉
Before you know it, you'll be sending your tiny tots off to college so that they can experience the magic of game day for themselves -- and um, hopefully earn a diploma while they're at it! But while we save our pennies for that moment, I say we sit down and enjoy one of the best parts of game day -- the food! {You didn't think I forgot that this was a food blog, right??}
Y'all. Hold on to your taste buds because I've got a treat for you. You know those droolworthy, baked mini-sliders on those oh-so-soft sweet buns that people go crazy over? Yes, the ones that you pop in the oven to get all warm and toasty and ooey and gooey with cheese and melted butter? Well, I've managed to give them a fall makeover and somehow make them even better. I know. I didn't think it was possible, either, but it is.
BAKED PUMPKIN BUTTER TURKEY & CHEESE SLIDERS. I'm sorry for shouting, but this is worth getting loud over. Heaven help me. Do you know what I did? I took those soft sweet buns I mentioned earlier and I layered oven roasted turkey breast slices and havarti cheese right on top of it. THEN, I slathered pumpkin butter, filled with all of those warm fall spices all over the darn things and sprinkled in toasted pecans for some crunch. Finally, I melted butter with a few sage leaves thrown in just long enough for it to get that browned, nutty flavor and poured that liquid happiness allllll over everything before I stuck it in the oven and baked it to perfection.
It's a little like a "Thanksgiving sandwich" with the cranberry sauce adding that whole sweet/salty thing to the mix, except pumpkin for all you crazy gourd-heads out there. You can hug me now.
On second thought, save your hugs until after your kids graduate from college debt-free because I reminded you to start saving now! Then we'll really have a reason to celebrate. I'll bring the sliders. 😉
Baked Pumpkin Butter, Turkey & Cheese Sliders
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 3 fresh sage leaves
- 1 package sweet rolls such as King's Hawaiian
- 5 slices oven roasted turkey breast
- ¼ cup toasted chopped pecans
- 6 slices havarti cheese {or your favorite melty cheese}
- ⅓ cup pumpkin butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a small baking pan or baking dish with foil, parchment or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. When it begins to bubble, add sage leaves and continue to cook, swirling every so often, until the butter begins to turn golden brown and nutty and the sage is fragrant. Remove the sage leaves and set aside.
- Without separating the rolls, slice the rolls in half crosswise. Place the bottom halves of the rolls onto prepared baking sheet or dish. Place a layer of turkey slices on top. Sprinkle on the pecans and arrange evenly over turkey. Place cheese slices on top to evenly cover.
- Spread the underside of the top halves of the rolls with pumpkin butter all the way to the edges. Flip over onto the rest of the sandwich and press lightly.
- Pour melted butter over top of the rolls evenly, making sure to cover all of them.
- Cover with foil and bake for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly. Uncover and bake for another 5 minutes or until the tops are toasty. Serve hot.
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