The New Pumpkin Recipe

Every year I seem to find a new favorite pumpkin recipe. It has been pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies made with a cake mix, the pumpkin cookies with a chocolate cake mix. This year it is pumpkin muffins with a cream cheese filling. I found it on Pinterest, well actually two recipes that I combined. According to one of them. Each muffin is under 150 calories. Only problem is I want to eat about 10 a day! So here is this year's recipe:
Mix together 1 block of the 1/3 lower fat cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar.
Then form it into a log shape on plastic wrap and freeze for two hours
Then combine:
1 small can of pumpkin or 1/2 a large can
1 spice cake mix
1 cup water
Remove frosting log from freezer and cut into 24 pieces
Fill each muffin liner a little less than half full then add a piece of the frosting mixture. Top with more muffin mix. The muffins in the picture were topped with cinnamon sugar. The first time I made them I sprinkled a crumble on top made of 1/2 sugar, 4 T butter 5 T flour and 1 1/2 t cinnamon. They really were ultimately more yummy with the crumble topping but I figured the cinnamon sugar saved a few calories. Plus it was faster. Bake for 20 minutes at 350

This is what it looks like inside. Sooooo good!

For my Friend Sarah

It is that time of year when squash abounds. We were talking at lunch the other day about how you can only eat so much Zucchini bread. So for dinner the other night I tried baked Zucchini with mozzarella cheese. Except I used yellow squash instead of zucchini because that is what I had a lot of from the garden this week. I cut them thin, then dipped them in egg then in a mixture of bread crumbs (mine were gluten-free), Mrs. Dash, grated mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese. I sprayed a cookie sheet with Pam before I put them on it. Then I baked them for about 10 minutes at 350.

Girl's Lunch Recipes

I hosted lunch for my girlfriend yesterday. Tried some new recipes from Melskitchencafe. Love her. Had to post them here so I don't forget them. And they turned out pretty good and some of the gang wanted them. This was a Vegetarian Lasagna, I chose it because I could use loads of veggies from my garden in it. I was using a spicy marinara sauce by Barilla but decided it might be too spicy so I finished with just a regular marinara sauce (both from a jar). Oh, and I didn't put it on a cookie sheet to bake like she recommended and now my oven is a mess so do that.

Blueberry fool. Still don't know why it was called that but personally it was my favorite part of the meal.

The food was okay, but I was so happy to be back with my girls after a whole Summer of not getting together that we could have eaten cold cereal and I would have been happy!

Little Fruit Pizzas

I brought the dessert to Women's Shelter lunch last week. I liked how it turned out so I thought I would add it to my recipes here. I just used a sugar cookie recipe that was for drop cookies. I made them slightly larger than usual. Then I made a frosting from softened cream cheese, a little whipping cream and about 1 cup of powdered sugar. Then I arranged cut fruit on top. I drizzled apricot jam that I had thinned on top of the fruit. They were fun, light and Springy.

Pumpkin Bread

We have decided that pumpkin is Brittany's favorite vegetable. Pumpkin bread is her new favorite. She has it almost every morning for breakfast. This is our favorite recipe. 2 1/4 C Sugar 3 Eggs 1/2 C water 1/2 can of pumpkin-the large kind or one small can 3/4 C oil 2 3/4 C Flour 1/4 t. and 1/8 Baking Powder 1 1/2 t baking soda 1 t cinnamon 1 t salt Mix together and pour into two large greased pans. Bake 1 hour in glass pans or 75 minutes metal pans. I add 3/4 C of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips. I also substitute 1 cup of whole wheat flour.

Challah Bread

My friend Vanessa blogged awhile ago about the bread she had been making, Challah bread. I just had to try it. I love the yummy yellow, egginess. I have to say it is more work than my french bread recipe but it was really good. I used the recipe Vanessa used and her changes. This is her post and this is the recipe she used. If you feel like a little bread adventure try it!

English Toffee

Making candy is a huge part of Christmas around here. My friend Mandi gave me a new recipe for English Toffee and I liked it a lot better than my old one. 1 Cup sugar
1 C butter or margarine
1/4 C water
1/2 package of semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 C chopped pecans or walnuts (optional- I leave them out)
Heat sugar, butter and water to boiling in a heavy saucepan, stirring constantly; reduce heat to medium. cook about 13 minutes, stirring constantly, to 300 degrees on candy thermometer. Immediately pour toffee onto a large cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. If necessary, quickly spread mixture to 1/4 inch thickness. Sprinkle with chocolate chips; let stand about 1 minute or until chips are completely softened.

This was so good I may make it again for Valentine's Day!

Gluten-free Peanut Butter Bars

William had been craving the peanut butter bars we all remember from school lunch for awhile now. So I asked my friend Mandi, a known baker around here, if she had a good recipe. Of course she did and I converted it to be gluten-free. I keep losing it and having to ask her for it so I finally am putting it on here so it won't be lost!
Combine:
1 C softened butter
1C sugar
1C brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 t salt
1t soda
2 t vanilla
Add
2C flour
2C Oats
When I make them gluten-free I use rice flour and gluten-free oats. I also make half this batch which fits in a 9X13 pan.If you make the whole batch it fits in a cookie sheet.
Press dough in pan. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. When it comes out of the oven spread with peanut butter. After it has cooled frost with chocolate frosting. I use Mandi's frosting recipe too.
1 stick butter softened
6T milk
4 T cocoa
3 1/2 C powdered sugar.

New Favorite Cookie

I keep forgeting to put this recipe here and then I have to go to my friend
Jennie's blog to find the original. They are made from the basic Pumpkin cookie recipe floating around. I think it is a Weight Watchers recipe and only worth one point per cookie. But my friend Tiffany changed the cake mix to a devil's food cake mix and the result is a yummy, fudgy cookie I don't feel guilty eating or making. In fact my non-veggie eater Brittany loves these so I figure I should keep them around all the time to increase her veggie consumption.

1 cake mix-spice for pumpkin cookies or devil's food for chocolate version

1small can pumpkin

1/2 package of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

I mix the pumpkin and cake mix for a good minute or two, until it is nice and fluffy then add the chips. Bake at 350 for about 13 minutes. I usually like my cookies on the doughy side, these are one exception.

Pasta Shells and Cheese

This is one of my favorite meatless recipes. Unfortunately my family doesn't share the love. I made it to take to some neighbors last week.
I just prepare a package of pasta shells according to the box.
Combine 1 1/2 Cups of cottage cheese
one egg
1 C shredded mozzarella cheese.
Pour some spaghetti sauce in the bottom of the pan. Using a small spoon fill each shell with the cheese mixture. Pour more sauce on top and a little more shredded mozzarella cheese on top. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes until heated through.

Breakfast treat

I made this for breakfast yesterday morning. This is all that was left when I realized we loved it and I would need to record the recipe. It is sort of a cheap version of the "monkey bread" my mom used to make. I have no idea why is was called that by the way. This one is made with those cheap pop-out biscuits. The original recipe was tripled from what I list here and put into a 9x13 pan. I just put mine in a bread pan and it was perfect for my three kids.

1 can refrigerator biscuits
1/3 c brown sugar
3 T butter
1 T water
Cut the biscuits into quarters and put into a greased bread pan. Heat the remaining ingredients, I just put mine all in a glass measuring cup in the microwave for about a minute. Pour over biscuits. Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes. The recipe says to drizzle frosting over the top but we liked ours without. Flip out of pan onto a plate while still warm. Best served warm.

Chocolate Zuchinni Bread

It is that time of year when I start trying to think of new things to do with all of the zuchs coming out of the garden. We love zucchini bread, but really, we needed some variety. So I threw about 3 Tablespoons of Cocoa in the batter and yum! Hey, we are still getting a veggie this way right?

This is my Zucchini recipe that I used.

Mix together

3 eggs

1 C oil

2 C sugar

Add 3 C flour, 1t baking soda, 1 t baking powder, 1 t cinnamon 1 t salt, 1 t vanilla. Add 2 C grated zucchini. For one loaf of regular and one loaf chocolate I added 3 T cocoa after I had poured the first loaf into the greased pan. For two chocolate loaves I added 6 T to the whole mix. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes.

Honey Lime Enchiladas

It was my turn to host our girls lunch yesterday. I can't believe we have managed to have lunch every Wednesday since school started except I think once when everyone had the flu. It is the high point of my week, these amazing women are helping me be a better woman not to mention the help they are giving me raising my kids. So I made Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas. I saw this recipe on Good Things Utah, I think it was actually a food blogger that was demoing it. I have to post it so I won't lose it. •1/3 cup honey
•1/4 cup lime juice (about 2 large limes)
•2 teaspoons to 1 Tablespoon chili powder
•2 large cloves of garlic, finely minced or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
•1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 2 large breasts), cooked and shredded
•12 corn tortillas
•2 cups of Mexican cheese blend, shredded (1 small bag usually is 2 cups)
•1 14-oz can of green enchilada sauce (mild or medium, to your taste)
•1/2 to 3/4 cup of heavy cream
•nonstick cooking spray
•1 Tablespoon of chopped cilantro, to garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place the cooked and shredded chicken in a medium sized bowl. Set aside. In a small bowl, place the honey, lime juice, chili powder and minced garlic or garlic powder. Whisk together thoroughly to combine. Pour this mixture over the chicken and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to marinate while you prepare the tortillas, 30 minutes or up to 1 hour, in the refrigerator.

Heat a large griddle till a drop of water skitters across (about 350 degrees F). Spray the surface with non-stick cooking spray or a oil it with a little bit of canola oil in between each round of tortillas. Heat tortillas about 20 seconds on each side till warm and flexible and some golden brown spots have appeared. Remove the tortillas from the griddle and keep them between a couple of paper towels until ready to use.

Spray the sides and bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish lightly with cooking spray.
In a medium bowl combine the enchilada sauce and the heavy cream. Spread about 1/2 cup of the mixture in the bottom of the oiled baking dish.
Add a large spoonful (about 2 tablespoons) of the chicken mixture to the center of each tortilla in a line. Cover the chicken with a large tablespoon (or big pinch) of cheese, then roll the tortilla up from one side to make a rolled enchilada - it will be more of an over lap on the seam side that rolled tightly. Place the enchilada seam side down in the baking dish starting at one end with the long edge parallel to the longest side of the pan so that you end up with two columns of six enchiladas each.

Repeat with the remaining chicken, cheese and tortillas. You will use about 1 1/2 cups of the cheese for the filling and set the remainder aside for topping the enchiladas in the pan. Add the remaining marinade mixture to the enchilada sauce and cream mixture, if desired. Pour this mixture over the top of all the enchiladas. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Bake the enchiladas for 30 to 35 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbly and starting to brown on top. Serve with sour cream, black beans, and rice or a green salad for a great meal. I made them the day ahead and it worked great.
This is my other favorite part of Wednesday lunch. The kids. None of these are actually mine because Josh was too busy running around with the boys, it is his favorite day of the week too. These girls make me so happy playing with Brittany's old dolls. Oh and that is an actual baby there in the red, we have a few of those-another fun thing about Wednesday lunch!

Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup

This is my new favorite soup! I only wish it looked as good as it tastes. I think that is the problem I have with trying to get my kids to eat soup, really it doesn't look so great sometimes. I loved this one so much I will probably be serving it at lunch for my girlfriends this week. So if you are one of my lunch girls, consider this a preview and let me know if anyone hates mushrooms.

1 6 oz box of Uncle Ben's Long grain and wild rice mix
1 T Olive Oil
1 C chopped red onion
1 C celery (I left this out)
1 C carrot chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
1 pkg mushrooms quartered(I added more because I love mushrooms)
1/4 C flour
1/4 Thyme
2 C water
2 T cooking sherry
2 C chicken broth
1 can evaporated milk
2 C chopped chicken (optional-I like it with and without the chicken)
Prepare rice according to package directions; set aside. Saute the vegetables in the olive oil for 6 minutes. Add flour and thyme, cook for 1 minute stirring constantly. Add water, sherry, broth and milk. Return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in rice and chicken if desired. Cook until heated through.

Pear Pie

Would you believe we actually do eat things besides desserts? You wouldn't really know it to read this blog. I guess it is just that the desserts are more fun. This is a favorite, my mom makes it for Thanksgiving. It is fun to make in the winter when the winter pears are available. So I adapted it to make it gluten-free. I guess it is really more of ta tart since it is missing a top crust.

First make the crust.

1 C rice flower

1 C powdered sugar

1/2 C melted butter

Press into a pie plate.

Cover it with sliced and peeled pears. Then mix the following together.

1/2 C sugar

2 T corn starch

1/2 C cream

2T of frozen orange juice concentrate

1 T lemon juice

Pour this over the top. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the top. Bake at 400 for 20-30 minutes

Sweets

This is the yummy breakfast my nice husband made me for Valentine's Day. See the new measuring cups and spoons? Clever isn't he?

This is the treat I made him. Flourless Chocolate Torte. Or Death by Chocolate because I am pretty sure if you eat too much it could wipe you out. It is gluten-free. Here is the recipe.

Combine in a sauce pan:

1 pkg. Semi-sweet Chocolate chips

1 1/2 C butter

1 C sugar

1/2 C light cream

Beat 6 large eggs until frothy. Slowly whisk chocolate mixture into the eggs. Pour the whole thing into a 9" spring-form pan which has been lined with foil. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes until toothpick inserted 1" from edge comes out clean. Cool completely. I topped with whipped cream and fruit but you can also make a glaze:

Combine in sauce pan:

1 C semi sweet chocolate chips

2 T butter

Add:

3 T light cream

2 T karo syrup

Soup

I have been in the mood for soup lately. My lunch girls have been serving soup lately and I really like it. I had to try and make Sarah's Squash soup and since I liked the way it turned out I need to put it here so that maybe I can do it again sometime.

I baked two big pieces of butternut squash the night before and then chilled it. I sauteed a chopped onion in butter then added the scooped out squash. Then I added about 1 1/2 to 2 C chicken broth and a few shakes of nutmeg. This isn't a very exact recipe is it? Then I blended the whole thing in my blender. Returned it to the pan and added a little (probably 1/2 cup) of cream. It was really yummy!

I also tried a creamy cauliflower soup. I used the Pioneer Woman's recipe that I found here. Only instead of the veggies she used I used the cauliflower, leeks and half an onion. Then I blended the whole thing in the blender. It was really yummy, but my kids objected to the way it made our house smell.

I also tried Julia Child's potato and leek soup. I didn't take a picture but to be honest it didn't look too much different than the cauliflower and leek soup. I am about to return Julia's book to the library so for my own benefit here is the recipe.

2 T Butter

3 chopped leeks

2 T flour

1 chopped onion

6 cups chicken stock

4 cups chopped potatoes

Melt the butter in large pan, saute leeks and onions, cover and cook on low heat for 10 to 15 minutes. Sprinkle with flour and cook for two more minutes. Stirring continually add 1 1/2 cups chicken stock. When the liquid is smooth and starts to thicken add the rest of stock then add potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Heat to boil and then lower the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes until potatoes are tender. Puree in blender and then add about 1/2 cup cream.

Mary's Hot Fudge

Valentine's Day will be here before you know it so I thought I would share one of our favorite sweet treats that I think will be perfect for a sweetheart. Hot Fudge!

See don't you wish you had a spoon? It is soooo good.

They had these jars at our dollar store so I bought a few and we will tie on a bow and give these to our teachers for Valentine's Day.

When I was growing up one of our favorite neighbor ladies use to make this for a neighbor gift every year. So it is called Mary's Hot Fudge. Really it is so easy and really only takes about 20 minutes to make.
1 cup butter
1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cans of evaporated milk
4 C powdered sugar
2 t vanilla
In a heavy sauce pan melt butter. Add chips. Add milk and sugar. Cook over med high heat. When it boils turn it down a little. Cook for 8 minutes stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add vanilla.
That is it! Enjoy!

The Marshmellow Creme Frosting

My nice husband made me dinner last night. He is big on presentation. It was so pretty I had to take its picture. Then I ate every last morsel.

Frosting break-through. I saw this recipe in a magazine and thought it sounded yummy. It was. I am not sure whether it was the large ratio of butter or the marshmallow creme but I have to make sure it is in my recipe archives here on the blog because everyone now wants it on their birthday cake. It was sooooo good!

2 sticks of butter softened

1 jar of Marshmallow Fluff

3/4 C powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Beat butter until light and fluffy. Beat in marshmallow cream then sugar and vanilla.

Super Yummy Crispy Treats

It is the time of year that we are all looking for good treats for the neighbors, teachers and friends. So I thought I would share this one, I will be making this for teachers I think this year. I had this at a chocolate shop at The Gateway in the fall and thought it couldn't be that hard to make and it isn't.

First I made up a batch of Rice Crispy Treats just the way it says on the box. Only I spread it thinner on a cookie sheet so that it was about an inch thick. I let that cool while I melted a whole package of Kraft caramels plus two teaspoons of water. I spread that over the top of the crispies. Then melted one cup of white chocolate chips, drizzled that. Then melted one cup of milk chocolate chips and drizzled that. Let the whole thing cool and then cut big slabs, about 6X6 inches. They look really pretty in a cellophane bag. What are you giving to teachers and neighbors?