Sunday Sweetness: Pumpkin Cake

Y. U. M.

These are so good! Paula Deen knows her stuff ;-)  I was on Pinterest and spotted these pretty pumpkin bars and since I had a can of pumpkin in the pantry, I decided to give them a try! You should try them too!  I've been on a pumpkin kick lately... a pumpkin sweet tooth apparently.

I think that this is more like a cake, it's not as dense as what you would think of as a "bar".  But I also altered the original recipe slightly.  Whatever the name, they are delicious.

Pumpkin Cake
(adapted from Paula Deen's Pumpkin Bars)

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup cinnamon applesauce
15-ounce can pumpkin
1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil, applesauce and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Whisk together the flours, baking powder, cinnamon, and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth.

Spread the batter into a greased 9 by 13-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes.

Let cool completely before frosting.

Paula Deen's Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients:
8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again.

Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

We've been eating this for the past 2 days... and it's almost gone.  There may be a race to the last piece :-)

Sunday Sweetness: Pumpkin Sandwich Cookies

FALL IS HERE!

I love fall!

To celebrate the cooler weather, warmer colors, and change in the seasons, I made Pumpkin Sandwich Cookies. They are delicious.  The recipe makes a lot of cookies. Lots. So I made them into sandwich cookies that ended up looking like pumpkins without stems. Completely unintentional, but, if I were a decorator {sadly I'm not}, I would have added a stem and maybe a leaf/vine? Instead, I just ate them. Yum!

Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients:

2 c. sugar

2 c. shortening {I used 11/2 c margarine and 1/2 c apple sauce}

1 can {16 oz} pumpkin

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. allspice

4 c. flour

2 tsp. baking soda

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix sugar, shortening, eggs, pumpkin and vanilla {in that order} until combined.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice with a whisk.  Add dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix until combined.

When I put mine on the cookie sheet, I used the PC medium scoop to make them uniform in size.  Bake 12-15 minutes.

While the cookies are baking and cooling, whip up some icing.  Combine 3 oz. cream cheese with 2 cups powdered sugar and 1 tsp. vanilla.  If you want to thin the icing out a little {personally, I don't like mine too thick} use a splash of milk.

When the cookies have completely cooled put a dollop of icing between two of them! *These cookies freeze well just in case you don't want to eat all of them... I usually eat all of them, but when I do freeze them, I freeze without icing.

 Enjoy a little taste of fall!!

Chili-Lime Chicken and Sausage

In a previous post I told you about Pinterest and how much I love it. Well, I found a recipe for shrimp "boil" kabobs and I decided to adapt it.  It was too hot to grill, and I had chicken instead of shrimp... so here's what happened!

I cut up one package of Eckridge Sausage and one pound of chicken breasts into 1-1/2 in. pieces.  I put them in a bowl and tossed them with:

1 tbs. Pampered Chef Chili Lime Rub

1 tbs. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

The juice from 2 limes

Then I put them in a skillet {sprayed with Pam} over medium heat.

While they started cooking, I chopped up half an onion {if you like onion, you could use the whole thing}.  Once the chicken was almost cooked {after about 7-10 minutes} I added the onion to the pan.

Meanwhile, I had a few ears of corn boiling.  Once the corn was cooked, and the chicken+sausage+onion was done {5-7 minutes after adding the onion}, I added the corn to the skillet, turned the heat to low, and covered the pan.  This lets the flavor of the sausage, etc. mix with the corn.

 While this marinated {10 minutes, stir after 5 minutes}, I sauteed some zucchini in olive oil and the chili lime rub {cook over medium heat, about 3-4 minutes per side}.

Kenny said this was the best new recipe yet ;) I think he just likes it 'cause it's different. Anyway, I liked it and I hope you do too!

Fried Shrimp

For some reason I have been craving shrimp. Maybe it's because it's so hot that all I can think about is getting away to a beach somewhere. Who knows. But I decided to make some fried shrimp.  There is a recipe on the Kikkoman's Panko Bread Crumbs box. I added a little extra flavor, and they turned out very crunchy and very yummy!

Kikkoman's Crunchy Fried Shrimp

3 large eggs

1/3 cup all purpose flour

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

{1/2 tsp chili powder}

1 pound jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined, leave tails on *very important

1-1/2 cups Kikkoman Panko Bread Crumbs

Vegetable Oil for frying

If you have the Pampered Chef Coating Trays use them to dredge the shrimp {4-5 at a time} in the flour, salt, pepper, and chili powder (all mixed together), then in the eggs, and then coat in the Panko Crumbs.

 If you're lucky you will have a cute 3 year old to help you.

Pour enough oil into a large pot or deep pan so that you have about 2 inches of oil.  Heat the oil to 350* {I used the "medium-high" setting on my stovetop}.  Fry the shrimp in small batches until they are cooked through.  Mine took about 3-4 minutes to get golden brown, but the recipe says 1 minute. So I would suggest watching your shrimp.

Remove and drain shrimp on a paper towel.

I served mine with steamed rice and soy sauce.  Next time I think I will make fried rice :) These are very good!

New Obsession, New Meals

I have been obsessed with Pinterest lately! It's an amazing place that captures all of the fun things you find online and keeps them for you in an organized way. It's wonderful.

Thanks to Pinterest, we have had some yummy new-to-us dinners lately.  I hate that "dinner slump" where you get sick of making and eating the same stuff over and over.  Now I have a few new recipes to add to the rotation.  I liked a few of them so much I thought I'd share {the pictures are not mine, they are way better than I could do... they came from the site of the original recipe}!

These Ham and Cheese Sliders from The Girl Who Ate Everything were delish! I served them with Sweet Potato Fries {cut up a sweet potato into french fry sized pieces, toss in 2 tbs. extra virgin olive oil, season with salt and pepper to taste, bake at 400 degrees until desired crispiness}.  One thing I altered about the recipe- I omitted the mayo and miracle whip. I'm not a mayo fan. I'm not a fan of anything that even resembles mayo. It grosses me out. But these Sliders didn't need it anyway- they were so good! I've had them twice already.

Kenny's favorite new recipe is from Our Best Bites.  Their Baked Chicken Penne was pretty good. I didn't bake it, so technically I didn't follow the recipe all the way through. We just used the cheese sauce like any other sauce and it worked fine.

This Lemon Rosemary chicken from Sparkling Ink was yummy! It was perfect for summer- very light and fresh! I actually followed this recipe as written :)  I served this with Paula Deen's Cheese Biscuits and they were delish too!!

The last "new" meal we have had was the Honey Chicken from Blog Chef.  If you like Pei Wei's Honey Seared Chicken, you'll love this!! It is so good! I would recommend adding bell peppers and onions {like they do at Pei Wei} and serve it over steamed of fried rice. Yum!

I have a feeling that this is the first of many posts inspired by Pinterest :)

Enjoy!

Chocolate Rice Krispies Treats

I think the most basic sweet treat is the Rice Krispies Treat.  It's simple and super easy to make (and eat).  I remember making them in the summer at the cabin with my grandma.  The are perfect for summer days because you don't have to turn on the oven!

Yesterday, I was in the mood for something sweet (no surprise), not messy, and chocolaty (no surprise).  Rice Krispies + chocolate chips. Done.

Ingredients:
3 Tbs. butter or margarine
10 oz. marshmallows
6 cups of Rice Krispies Cereal {for my gluten free friend- they make these gluten free now!}
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips {you can also use Coco Krispies, but I prefer this method}

Directions:
In a saucepan, over medium heat, melt margarine.  Add marshmallows and chocolate chips to melted butter and stir constantly {no burned chocolate here} until melted and smooth.

Remove from heat and stir in Rice Krispies.  Pour mix into a well greased 9x13 pan.  Sprinkle a few chocolate chips on top then press the mix into the pan.

I use a freezer bag to "protect" my hand as I smooth and press the treats into the pan, my grandma used the paper wrapper from the butter, you can also use a spatula.

Let cool. Cut into bars. Enjoy!

There are a million other ways to make these... for more inspiration check here: Kellog's Website

Snap. Crackle. Pop. :-)

Grandma's Banana Bread

My Grandma's Banana Bread is the best. I love it. It never lasts long in our house.  It makes a great "housewarming" treat, it's great for breakfast, it's great for a snack. It's just great. It's so easy too!

I love bananas, I usually buy some every week at the grocery store.  Sometimes I buy extra so I can make banana bread.  The best bananas to use for this are the over ripe ones. If you're like me this could be the ones that have lost the green color by the stem... or you could wait until they are slightly brown.  The riper they are the more banana flavor they will add to the banana bread.

Ingredients:

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. Vegetable Oil

2 eggs

3 bananas- smushed up

2 c. flour {I use 3/4 c. whole wheat flour and 1 1/4 c. all purpose flour}

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 c. wheat germ {this is optional, if you use wheat germ, don't use whole wheat flour}

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine ingredients in the above order, add the baking soda before the flour though.  Add the flour 1/2 c at a time to make sure it is well incorporated.

Pour batter into a well greased 10" loaf pan. Bake for an hour {check it after 50 minutes though}.

This is how quickly banana bread disappears at my house... delish!!

My Very Own Signature Cookie

Long time no blog! I've been away being a good graduate student... sort of. I've still been cooking and baking and taking pictures, I just haven't been blogging about my kitchen adventures the past few weeks.  Now that the semester is done, and summer is (pretty much) upon us I have a lot of catching up to do!!

I decided to post this recipe because I've decided it is my Signature Cookie. I altered one of my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes to be more than a chocolate chip cookie. It is a chocolate mint chocolate chip masterpiece :-) They are chewy, gooey, minty, chocolate-y, and amazing {everything I look for in a cookie}.  Make sure you've got plenty of milk... enjoy!

Chocolate Mint Chocolate Chippers

Ingredients:
1 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp water
1 c. cocoa powder
1 1/2 c. flour
3/4 c. chopped Andes Mints
1 c. chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375.

Cream butter and brown sugar in mixer.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing well.  Mix in vanilla and cocoa powder. {at this point you will think to yourself "I think I'm making brownies", but I promise you're not} Mix in the water and then add the flour 1/2 cup at a time.  If you bought the Andes mints that are already chopped- great.  If you're like me and appreciate an after-dinner, pre-dessert mint and bought a bag-o-mints {hello, leftover chocolate}, unwrap about 18 and chop em up.

I prefer to use the Pampered Chef Food Chopper ;-).  Fold in the Andes mints and chocolate chips with a spatula.

Place dough on a cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes. {Chill unused dough in the fridge in between batches} Yields 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

Brain Food. Sort of.

Not really. I've been studying and researching for a paper I have to write for school. What goes well with reading and researching? Brownies! Specifically Dark Chocolate and Mint Chip Brownies.

I turn to Tollhouse for the recipe for these yummy treats. The Dark Chocolate Mint Chips were my own addition because they were in my pantry and I couldn't resist.

Ingredients
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, melted
2 tablespoons water
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour (or 2/3 c. all purpose flour + 2/3 c. whole wheat flour)
3/4 cup NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Baking Cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

6 oz. Dark Chocolate Mint Chips
*I leave out the salt, nuts, and powdered sugar from the original recipe

Back in the day when I was in college I would have eaten this (the batter) as a study snack. Really.

Directions
PREHEAT oven to 350º F. Grease 13 x 9-inch baking pan. I like a thicker, chewier brownie so I use a 9x9 pan.

COMBINE granulated sugar, butter and water in large bowl. Stir in eggs and vanilla extract. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder in medium bowl; stir into sugar mixture. Stir in chips. Spread into prepared baking pan.

BAKE for 18 to 25 minutes (30-35 minutes if you use a 9x9) or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out slightly sticky. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired. Cut into bars.

I could eat these all day. I've almost eaten the whole pan, but I probably shouldn't confess that. I've had a little help. A little.

So when pages and pages of this gets to be overwhelming...

These "brain food brownies" make it much better!

What's For Dinner: Meatloaf

When I got married I knew there would be certain things Kenny would want to eat that I either didn't know how to make or didn't like (I'm picky).  Well, meatloaf was one of the things that I didn't know how to make, and I thought I didn't like it.  Like the good wife I am ;-) I agreed to try my hand at meatloaf and my mother-in-law was kind enough to fill me in on how she makes her meatloaf. It's delicious!  I also like to make this because we get at least 2 meals out of it- bonus.

Another thing that I love is having fresh beef.  We have recently replenished our stock of frozen meat from a guy Kenny works with who has cows and knows a butcher... in other words, we have fresh beef.  I love restocking our freezer because I feel like we are doing one more thing to be healthy, and it tastes SO GOOD. There is a difference. A big difference.

So this week I made meatloaf. Here's how:

Ingredients
2 lbs ground beef
About a cup of Italian bread crumbs
About 1/2 a cup of tomato sauce
1 egg
1/2 an onion- roughly chopped
(there are many, many variations where you can add ingredients such as corn, rice, bell pepper, bacon, whatever... I made plain ol' meatloaf this time)

Directions
Place all ingredients in a bowl (I leave the onion out of this step and save it for later, you can add the onion in now if you want) and mix by hand until just combined.

Place the mixture on a baking sheet if you want a "crispier" outside, or in a loaf pan if you want a softer texture on the outside.  I shape mine into 3 smaller loaves because 1) my oven cooks slow, 2) we always have leftovers and they are easier to store this way, and 3) I don't like onion but my husband does :-) If you've left the onion out, now is the time to add it in. Put the onion on top of the loaf.

Bake at 375F (or 400F if your oven is slow, like mine) for about an hour or until desired doneness- we prefer ours well done, some people like a little pink. Still takes about an hour.

After about 30 minutes of cooking, take the meatloaf out and top it with a sauce made by combining 1/4 cup of tomato sauce, 2-3 tbs. each of ketchup and mustard, 2 tsp brown sugar.  Return it to the oven to finish baking.

The perfect side dish to meatloaf: mashed potatoes.  I mash my potatoes with milk, butter, and sometimes, sour cream. I usually don't measure... I just add what I feel like. Not too helpful, I know. You can also make brown gravy- my husband likes McCormick's brown gravy and I prefer to add a little extra butter to my potatoes instead :-)

So good! Leftovers make great sandwiches too.

Dinner: Super Easy BBQ Pork Sandwiches

I saw a Pampered Chef recipe and decided that it sounded yummy, but I needed to alter it a bit. The biggest change I made was that the original recipe had microwave directions and I had enough time to use the oven. I also used our favorite rub and sauce instead of the suggested PC ones.  So here's my take on PC's Mini BBQ Pork Sandwiches... mine weren't mini, so I guess I should just call them
Super Easy BBQ Pork Sandwiches.

Ingredients
1/2 an onion
1 tbs. oil
2 tbs. BBQ Rub (I used McCormick Grill Mates- Barbeque)
1 Pork Tenderloin (between 1 and 2 lbs.)
BBQ Sauce (our favorite is Kraft Original)
8 Rolls or Hamburger Buns

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 350F.

Slice the onion into 1/4 inch thick slices and place in the bottom of the baking dish.

Trim the silver skin and fat off the pork tenderloin. Brush the tenderloin with the oil and then rub with the BBQ Rub.  Place the tenderloin in the baking dish, on top of the onion. Now I know that you want the onion to be covered by the pork. :-)

Cooking times will vary, follow the directions on the tenderloin package (that is, if you're like me and buy a packaged pork tenderloin).  The 1-1/2 lb. one that I made took about an hour and 15 minutes, but our oven is slow.  Make sure the internal temp is at least 160F.

Let the pork rest for 5 minutes.  While it is resting, slice the rolls. Then, slice the pork thin and arrange on the buns, top with BBQ Sauce and some of the onion slices.

I served mine with green beans sautéed with bacon bits and onion, and Ruffles.  That's what we always have with BBQ :-)

This is the first time I've made this recipe, and it was so good! My house smells amazing too!

Saturday Sweet Tooth: Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies

These cookies are brought to you by Pampered Chef. They are delicious! This was the first time I tried the recipe so I didn't alter it, and honestly, I probably won't change anything except using butter instead of vegetable shortening.  I do have a few recommendations that I've noted... consider them lessons I learned while baking.

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients:
1/2 cup crunchy-style peanut butter (all I had was creamy and it worked fine, the crunchy texture would be good though)
3/4 cup vegetable shortening (all I had was butter)
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 package (6 ounces) chocolate morsels

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°F. Measure peanut butter, shortening and brown sugar into Classic Batter Bowl using Measure-All® Cup. Here's why the Measure-All Cup is p-e-r-f-e-c-t...

 ...no "left overs", no mess!

Add granulated sugar, egg and vanilla; beat until thoroughly combined.
In Small Batter Bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and salt. Add to peanut butter mixture; mix well. Stir in chocolate morsels.

Using Medium Scoop, drop batter 2 inches apart onto Rectangle Stone (keep the dough in the fridge in between batches). Bake 10-15 minutes. Let stand 2 minutes (make sure you leave them on the cookie sheet for the full 2 minutes, they are very crumbly until they cool); remove cookies to Stackable Cooling Rack to cool (let them cool completely :)).

Yield: 4 dozen cookies

Paula's Blueberry Muffins

Paula Deen is fantastic. So are her blueberry muffins. I have made these almost every weekend for the past month- I blame the craving on this pregnancy, but I think it could also be because they are really good muffins.

So yummy.

I found this recipe at pauladeen.com I decided to make a couple of changes to the recipe- indicated in italics :)


Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 egg, slightly beaten
3/4 cup whole milk
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup granulated brown sugar or white sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin.

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and sugar. In another bowl, combine butter, egg, almond extract, and milk and mix well. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and with a spatula, stir until just combined. Do not beat or over mix; it’s okay if there are lumps in the batter. Gently fold the blueberries into the batter.

(how do you like that product placement?)

Spoon the batter into the muffin tray, filling each cup about 2/3 full.

Bake for 10 minutes and remove from the oven. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with the granulated brown or white sugar and return the muffins to the oven to bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool for about 10 minutes in the pan before turning the muffins out.

You can also put the sugar on top of the muffins before you put them in the oven.  I have done it both ways and they turn out great whatever you decide to do.

Delicious.