Pumpkin Pie Bars

I love pumpkin pie and I always crave pumpkin around this time of the year. I also had some pumpkin to use up in the fridge so in honor of the coming holiday, I decided to make these bars. They are fantastic! I also made homemade whipped cream to go on top of them...so good.

Pumpkin Pie Bars
Adapted from Kraft.com as seen on Delicious Melicious

Ingredients:
1-1/3 cups flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) cold butter or margarine
1 cup old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats, uncooked
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I don't like nuts in my baked goods so I omitted)
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin
1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons bourbon (optional) (I didn't use)
a handful of butterscotch or chocolate chips for sprinkling on top (optional)

Directions:
HEAT oven to 350°F. Line 13×9-inch pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides; grease foil. Mix flour, 1/4 granulated sugar and brown sugar in medium bowl; cut in butter with pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in oats and nuts.

RESERVE 1 cup oat mixture; press remaining onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake 15 min. Beat cream cheese, remaining sugar, eggs, vanilla, bourbon, pumpkin and spice with mixer until well blended. Pour over crust; sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture and a handful of butterscotch or chocolate chips (if desired).

BAKE 25 min.; cool 10 min. Use foil to transfer dessert from pan to wire rack; cool completely.

Whipped Cream
Adapted from my memory

Ingredients:
Heavy whipping cream (I used half a small container)
Tablespoon of sugar (Jon said more could have been added though)
Dash of vanilla

Directions:
Pour whipping cream into mixer and mix until soft peaks form. Start mixing slowly and then increase speed as it becomes thicker. Add in the sugar and vanilla just as the soft peaks are forming.
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Creamy Potato Soup

I LOVE potato soup. It definitely is a comfort food for me. I've also never made it by pureeing it first...I usually just have potato chunks in mine. I'm actually not sure which kind I prefer now - I loved the creaminess of this recipe though.

Creamy Potato Soup with Chives
Adapted from Loves to Eat (from Cook's Illustrated)


Ingredients:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, or the same amount of vegetable or olive oil
1 medium onion, 3 medium shallots, or 1 medium leek (white and light green parts only), chopped
2 tablespoons dry sherry or white wine
2 large russet potatoes, peeled and diced
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth or low-fat vegetable broth
1 teaspoon table salt
ground black pepper
1 1/4 cups milk
2 teaspoons minced fresh chives (I omitted because I didn't have any)

Directions:
Heat butter or oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté until golden, about 5 minutes. Add sherry and potato; stir-cook until sherry evaporates, about 30 seconds.
Add stock, salt and pepper to taste to saucepan; bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer; cover and cook until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.
Ladle potato mixture into blender. Add 1 cup milk; blend until very smooth. Return soup to saucepan; cook over low heat until warmed through. If soup is too thick, stir in additional milk to thin consistency. Adjust seasonings. (Soup can be refrigerated for 3 days and reheated just before serving.)
Ladle soup into individual bowls. Garnish with minced chives and serve immediately.Pin It

Snowy Days

In honor of our first real snow fall of the year, I took some pictures. This is what I woke up to on Sunday morning.

Our pumpkins were looking bad to begin with, but then they got filled with snow. Jon discarded them soon after this picture was taken.

This is the view from our deck. If you squint you can see the snow falling!

Some snow topped roofs of the condos around us...and a snow-covered railing.

I think we need to take our summer furniture in!

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Meat Goulash

Does anyone else find the process of cooking relaxing? I used to get really frustrated in the kitchen, especially if things weren't going the way I wanted them to. I have definitely gotten more comfortable in the kitchen since then, and now I look forward to moments in the kitchen. I think I am turning more into my mother everyday! Anyway, Mondays are always a busy day for me and I usually don't get to cook dinner until after 9pm. Yeah, I know...but this is the way my schedule must be at least until I am done with school. Fortunately, my husband works at night so dinner is always done before he gets home! :) Even though I didn't start dinner until 9:45pm I still felt relaxed and liked the fact that I was making dinner instead of grabbing fast food. I got the idea for this meal from one of the girls on the message board...you can read her blog here. I liked this meal because it's definite comfort food and after some snow flurries today it was needed! I think if I make this again I will add some kind of vegetable - like some canned tomatoes because it needed some veggies!

Meat Goulash
Adapted from Rachael Ray

Ingredients:
Salt
1 pound short pasta, such as macaroni, ziti rigate or gemelli (I used elbow macaroni)
1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
2 slices lean bacon, chopped (I used turkey bacon)
1 pound ground meat (a mixture of beef, pork and veal) (I did NOT use this because frankly, it sounds pretty gross to me - I used ground turkey instead)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped (I used jarred garlic)
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 teaspoons smoked sweet paprika (I don't have this so I used a combination of paprika and cumin to get the smoky flavor)
Freshly ground pepper
3 large jarred roasted red peppers, drained (The jarred peppers I had were in pieces and not whole so I used about 3/4 of a jar)
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups beef broth
1/2 cup sour cream
A generous handful of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped (I used dried parsley)
A generous handful of fresh dill, chopped (I used dried dill)

Directions:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt the water, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain the pasta and set aside.

While the pasta cooks, heat the EVOO, half a turn of the pan, in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook until crisp, about 3 minutes, then move the bacon to the side of the pan and add the ground meat, crumbling it. Brown the meat for 3-4 minutes, then add the garlic and onion; season with the paprika and salt and pepper, to taste. Cook until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes.

In a food processor, puree the peppers until smooth and stir into the meat. Add the tomato paste and cook for 2-3 minutes, then stir in the beef broth and simmer for a couple of minutes. Stir in the sour cream and cooked pasta. Top with the parsley and dill.

It kinda looks like slop, but I promise it's good!

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Pumpkin White Chocolate Blondies

The fall season is coming to a quick close this year, so I figured I would get a few more pumpkin recipes in before switching over to "Christmasy" foods. These are excellent - they taste more like a cake than a bar type of blondie.

Pumpkin White Chocolate Blondies
Adapted from Fresh From Cate's Kitchen, originally from Martha Stewart

Sorry for the picture - I was trying to get a quick one so I could update the blog!

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 tablespoon pumpkin-pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature (I used light margarine because that's all I had and they came out fine)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 package (12 ounces) white chocolate chips (I only had half a bag left)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang on all sides.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pie spice, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in pumpkin puree (mixture may appear curdled).

Reduce speed to low, and mix in dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake until edges begin to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 30 to 40 minutes. Cool completely in pan.

Lift cake from pan (using foil as an aid). Peel off foil, and use a serrated knife to cut into squares.

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Pepperoni Rolls

My mom always makes pepperoni rolls & I love them! Recently I saw her make them this way so I figured I would give it a try. So technically, I did not come up with the "recipe" on my own so thank you to my mom who inspired these!

Pepperoni Rolls
Inspired by my mother, Debby

A little cheese escaped on this one!

Ingredients:
Dinner roll dough
Pepperoni
Mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Prepare dough according to package directions. (For mine, I greased a muffin pan and allowed the dough to rise for at least 3 hours with a greased piece of plastic wrap over it.) Once the dough has risen, pull it apart a little bit and put pieces of pepperoni (I used 3 pieces each) and a small handful of mozzarella cheese in the dough. Then pull the dough back around the filling and pinch it together. Bake according to package directions.

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Cheddar-topped shepard's pie

I don't normally make casseroles, but this one looked pretty good so I decided to try it. The combination of flavors in this is great! It didn't taste bland at all which is something I was worried about. It even heated up really well a couple of days later which is nice because I HATE wasting leftovers. Funny, when I lived with my parents I refused to eat them. Additionally, sorry for the crappy pictures but I can't seem to get good light now that it's getting dark earlier.

Cheddar-Topped Shepard's Pie
Adapted from Cooking This and That, originally from Everyday Food


Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds white baking potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
1 1/3 pounds ground beef (I only used 1 pound which was plenty)
6-8 ounces baby carrots, sliced
1/2 large onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup whole milk (I used non-fat milk)
1 cup shredded white cheddar cheese (I used mild cheddar cheese)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Place potatoes in a large saucepan, and cover by 1 inch with salted water. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer. Cook until potatoes are easily pierced with the tip of a paring knife, 10 to 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add ground beef and cook until no longer pink, about 6 to 8 minutes. Remove beef with slotted spoon to separate bowl and drain saute pan.

Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in same saute pan and add carrots, onion, and thyme. Cook until tender, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add flour and tomato paste; cook, stirring, 1 minute.

Add beef back into saute pan. Add 3/4 cup water, corn , and peas. Bring to a boil and simmer 1 minute. Season generously with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Drain potatoes, return to saucepan. Cook over medium, stirring, until liquid had evaporated and a thin film covers bottom of pan, about 1 minute. Remove pan from heat; add milk and 1/2 cup cheese. Mash until smooth and season with salt and pepper.

Pour beef filling into greased 2 1/2 quart baking dish. (I used an 8x8 pan because I only have a 1.5 quart baking dish) Drop spoonfuls of potatoes over beef; spread to edges with spatula. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese.

Bake until topping is browned and filling is bubbling, about 20 minutes. (Topping and filling can be made ahead and stored separately.)

Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Reheated 2 days later!

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Shrimp & Brie Linguine

I found this recipe and thought it sounded great because I REALLY love cheese. However, I guess I am not a fan of brie. I probably should have tried it before I made an entire meal out of it, but that's my own fault. I did get some other tips on how to make a sweeter type of dish from brie so I may try it one more time doing it that way. I did heat this up the next day and I actually liked it better because it melted on the pasta more and it didn't do that the first time around.

Shrimp and Brie Linguine
Adapted from Cooking This & That - from Coastal Living


Ingredients:
8 ounces Brie cheese, rind removed, if desired (I left it on because it seemed like too much work to take it off!)
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, coarsely chopped (I used roasted red peppers)
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped (I just used a can of tomatoes I already had on hand)
1/3 cup pitted Kalamata olives, chopped (Omitted)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup chopped fresh basil (I used dry basil)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
8 ounces uncooked linguine (I used one pound)
1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Cube Brie and combine with next 7 ingredients in a bowl. Cover and let stand about 1 hour.

Cook pasta in boiling salted water according to package directions. Two minutes before pasta is al dente, add shrimp. Cook 2 minutes or until shrimp are done.

Drain pasta and shrimp, and immediately toss with Brie mixture. Serve immediately with fresh Parmesan.Pin It

Pasta Dish & White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

I wanted to try this recipe because the combination of white wine and white cheddar sounded really good. However, this didn't turn out as good as I thought it was going to be. The sauce just did not get thick for me, but I think it might be because I didn't use the roasted garlic paste. Jon said that he liked it, but wished there was some sauce on it...and I knew that the sauce didn't pull through then! So if you decide to make this, I would recommend using the garlic paste to see if that makes the sauce thicker.

Ziti with Chicken in a White Wine Cheddar Sauce
Adapted from Good Things Catered as seen on Just 2 Good

Ingredients:
1 lb ziti or other pasta (I used rotini)
3 Tbsp butter
1/2 Cup Roasted garlic paste (I didn't have any of this so I just used 2 cloves of minced garlic)
3 Tbsp flour
1/2 Cup white wine
2 Cups chicken broth
2 Cups broccoli, cooked
2 Cups chicken, cooked and cubed
1 1/2 Cups white cheddar cheese, grated (I used sharp white cheddar parmesan cheese)
Salt and Pepper

Directions:
Cook pasta to al dente and set aside. Melt butter in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. When butter begins to foam, add roasted garlic paste and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add wine and cook until reduced, about 2 minutes. Add broth and simmer until slightly thickend, about 2 minutes. (I added the flour in here to try to thicken it up more) Add cheese and stir constantly while returning to a boil. Add Ziti, turning to coat. Add chicken and broccoli and serve.

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I have been craving cookies with oatmeal, white chocolate chips & cranberries...and this recipe was starred in my Google reader. These were SO good. I will definitely make them again someday. It's just a great combination of flavors!

White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
Source: Adapted from Recipezaar as seen on Fresh from Cate's Kitchen

(adapted from RecipeZaar)

Ingredients:
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats (not instant)
3/4 cup dried cranberries
6 ounces white chocolate chips

Directions:

* Preheat oven to 350 and line two baking sheets with silpats (I don't have these, but I should!)

* In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.

* In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter with the sugars until fluffy.

* Add egg and vanilla and mix well.

* Stir in oats, flour mixture, white chocolate, and cranberries and mix until combined.

* Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets and bake for about 10 minutes, until just beginning to get a little color.

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Chili!

So even though it's been in the 70s here this week, I still really wanted chili. Plus it's quick & easy and I love how Jon makes it. So technically, this recipe is his but is going in my blog. Oh, and we don't really measure things so I'll just list what he put it in and you can adjust according to your taste!

Jon's Chili



Ingredients:
1 pound of ground turkey, browned
1 can of diced tomatoes, with liquid
1 small can of tomato sauce
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of black beans
1/3 carton of chicken broth (you can use more if you like your chili less chunky)
Brown sugar
Cayenne pepper
Chili powder
Crushed red pepper flakes
Salt & pepper

Combine all ingredients in dutch oven and simmer on stove.



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Lemon Spaghetti with Shrimp & Peas

After seeing this recipe for lemon spaghetti, I knew I had to make it because I've had a slight obsession with lemon flavors ever since I made that lemon chicken a couple of months ago. The original recipe was made with parmesan chicken, but we just had chicken a couple of nights ago so I decided to make it with shrimp and some peas that I had in my freezer. This was a good recipe, although I do have some suggestions. First, I made the 1/2 pound as recommended, but I think I could have made a whole pound and still have enough sauce to coat the spaghetti. Then again, I did use thin spaghetti so that could have played a factor. Also, I ran out of lemon juice and only filled a little over half of a 2/3 cup so I supplemented extra olive oil for the lemon juice, but still had a very distinct lemon flavor shine through. I would probably use these amounts next time too.

Lemon Spaghetti
Source: ...and a cookie for dessert, originally from Lovestoeat's blog

So I added a lot of peas! Haha.

Ingredients:
1/2 box spaghetti (I used thin spaghetti)
2/3 cup lemon juice (I used a little over half of 2/3 cup and supplemented olive oil for the rest)
2/3 cup olive oil
2 tbsp dried basil
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp garlic powder

Directions:
Prepare pasta according to package directions. Whisk all other ingredients together. Toss pasta with the lemon sauce and serve immediately.

For the shrimp & peas mixture - I added some olive oil to a pan and sauteed a clove of garlic, the shrimp & peas until the shrimp were pink and the peas were heated through.Pin It

Laughing Cow Chicken & Brown Sugar Carrots

I feel like I haven't made dinner in awhile. We ate our Halloween party food for dinner on Friday & leftovers on Saturday so today I finally got to cook a real meal again. I finally bought Laughing Cow cheese (after I couldn't find it in the grocery store in the cheese section...it's in the deli section) but I am so glad I did. This cheese is fantastic. I can see why people have been talking it up! I have had a bag of carrots in my fridge for a couple of weeks now and needed to use them up by the expiration date tomorrow so I figured I would test-run a Thanksgiving recipe to see how they would turn out. Wow. These were so good! I'm pretty sure this will be the recipe I use for our Thanksgiving dinner at my in-laws' house.

Laughing Cow Chicken
Source: Love Deliciousness

I could not get a good picture of the chicken! But here is an idea.

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts, cut in half horizontally 3/4 of the way through (so you can stuff the inside)

2 wedges Laughing Cow light cheese (one per breast)

Italian seasoning to taste

1/4 cup dried bread crumbs
Handful grated Parmesan cheese

Cooking spray

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Open each chicken breast up and spread one wedge of Laughing Cow inside the middle. Sprinkle Italian seasoning inside to taste. Fold chicken back over to original shape.

3. Mix together bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese in a shallow dish. Spray each chicken breast with cooking spray and then dip in bread crumb mixture to coat. Place on baking sheet.

4. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. (I baked mine for way longer because they weren't done in only 15 minutes - I would say at least 25-30 minutes)

Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots
Source: Southernfood.About.com


Ingredients:
16 ounces baby carrots
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup water
dash salt
pepper, to taste

Directions:
In a medium saucepan, combine the baby carrots with remaining ingredients. Stir to blend ingredients. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and continue boiling (uncovered) for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until carrots are tender and the liquid has evaporated.

Here are the carrots boiling in the pot!

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