Pumpkin Season is Here!

Finally...fall is here. I love everything about fall. The weather is just perfect - in a perfect world, I think the temperature would be 65 degrees. While there are so many things to love about fall - crisp air, colorful leaves, comfy clothes like slouchy sweaters paired with leggings and boots, football, etc...I think my favorite part is the food. (I know...surprise, surprise). I love the fall flavors of pumpkin, apple, cinnamon, and coming home for dinner and making hearty soups, roasts, and using my crockpot for everything possible. So, let the pumpkin recipes begin. On Monday night, I made "Pumpkin Better Than Cake" and Wednesday night, I made "Brown Sugar Glazed Pumpkin Coffee Cake". If I had to choose a favorite, I don't know that I could...they were both delicious and if you like to share your creations like I do (more of a self-control issue than out of the kindness of my heart) both will be a welcome contribution to the office coffee station.

Pumpkin Better Than Cake

Recipe from: Something Swanky

Ingredients:

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 small can pumpkin puree
• 1 - 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 - 8 oz. tub cool whip
• 1/2 bag Heath Bits
• Caramel Sundae Sauce

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix and pumpkin puree until a smooth batter forms.
2. Pour batter into a well greased 9x13 baking dish. Bake at 350º according to the directions for a 9x13 cake on the cake mix box.
3. Let cool for about 10 minutes after baking. Using the bottom of a wooden spoon, poke holes all over the top of the cake.
4. Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the cake, filling the holes. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5. Spread the cool whip over top of cake. Sprinkle on the heath bits, and drizzle caramel over top (just to your liking). Refrigerate for 3-4 hours, or overnight (best).

Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze
Recipe From: Pretty Good Food

Ingredients:

⅓ cups Water 
1 can Pureed Pumpkin (15 Oz) 
2 whole Eggs 
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract 
2 teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice 
1 box Yellow Cake Mix (18 Ounce Box) 
1 teaspoon Baking Soda 
1 cup Brown Sugar, Divided 
½ cups Flour 
4 Tablespoons Butter, Melted 
¼ cups Granulated Sugar 
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract 
¼ cups Heavy Whipping Cream

Directions:

• In a large bowl mix together the water, pumpkin, eggs, 1 Tablespoon of vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice until well combined. Add the cake mix and baking soda and mix until just combined.
• Grease a 9×13 pan with butter and pour batter into pan.
• In a small bowl mix together 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup flour and melted butter. Use your fingers to sprinkle over the top of the cake. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
• For the glaze, combine the other 1/2 cup brown sugar, granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and heavy cream in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and stir until all sugar is dissolved.
• When cake is finished baking, poke holes in the top with a toothpick. Pour glaze over the cake, making sure to cover all surfaces. Serve cake warm or at room temperature.

Strawberry Shortcake Muffins

So all day yesterday I was eager to get home and bake something. I had just bought some strawberries, and we are going out of town this weekend, so I wanted to use them up so my $2.98 wouldn't go to waste...I can be frugal about things like that. If possible, I like to make things that can be served individually, so I can sneak one and then bring the rest to work. That doesn't work well with a pie or cake where it's blatantly obvious that a slice is missing. I decided to make Strawberry Shortcake Muffins, and was able to sample, and I was really happy with them - they are more dense and cake-like than most muffins - but "cake-like" is never a problem in my book! This could be due to the entire cup of heavy whipping cream used...you can use half-and-half if you prefer a less-dense texture. Anyways, these are a perfect summer breakfast food when you feel like treating yourself a little bit!

Strawberry Shortcake Muffins from Seasons & Suppers

Makes 12 muffins



Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, cold and cut into cubes
• 1 egg
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups diced strawberries (they don’t have to be too small)
• Powdered sugar, for dusting

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease or line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
2. In large bowl mix together the flour, baking powder and sugar. Cut in cold butter with a pastry blender (I used my hands to blend -ala Thomas Keller's suggestion) until it is in small pea-size pieces.
3. In small bowl mix the egg, vanilla and cream. Add all at once to flour mixture. Stir with spoon until just blended. Gently mix in the diced strawberries.
4. Spoon into muffin cups, making sure each muffin has some strawberries and bake for about 25 minutes. Cool completely in pan before removing. Sprinkle with confectioners sugar once cooled.

It's the Simple Things in Life

I don't know if I have mentioned this before...but I love, love, love Trader Joes. I have a tendency to go overboard with talking about how much I "love" something, but this is legit. To some (normal) people it's "just a grocery store" but to be honest, when forced to decide between Short Pump and Trader Joes when we are in Richmond (and I love me some Short Pump) I would opt for TJs. Just FYI...this isn't a paid endorsement...I think I would need a few more readers for that. Anyways, all of that aside, why I'm talking about Trader Joes is that they sell the most amazing spread there...cookie butter...as if the name isn't enough to sell you on it, it's similar to biscoff spread...which is that amazing little cookie they give you on Delta flights. As soon as I got back from Richmond, I started scouring the internet for a recipe that would let me use my cookie butter...but not like a whole jar of cookie butter...valuable commodity here. I found a snickerdoodle sandwich recipe that uses a cookie butter mixture to sandwich together two snickerdoodles...and I had to give it a shot. The result was incredible...much better than I had even expected. I tend to bring things into work once in a while mainly to get them out of my house so I don't gain exorbitant amounts of weight...and these cookies were met with rave reviews. Funny how one of the recipes that I spent the least amount of time and effort on was met with such high praise. Anyways, I want to share the recipe for these cookies, and convince you to make them! If there isn't a Trader Joe's around, I saw some Biscoff spread in the cookie aisle at Walmart which is virtually the same thing. Bon Appetit!

Snickerdoodle Sandwiches from Two Peas and Their Pod

For the cookies:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

For the Biscoff Cinnamon Filling:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup Biscoff Spread
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. Put butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs, one at a time. Reduce speed to low and gradually mix in flour mixture.
3. Stir together cinnamon and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl. Shape dough into balls, I used a heaping teaspoon of dough. Roll balls in cinnamon and sugar. Place cookie dough balls on prepared baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes, until edges are golden. Let cookies cool on baking sheet for 3 minutes and then transfer to a wire cooling rack. Let cookies cool completely before filling.
4. To make the Biscoff cinnamon filling: Combine the butter, Biscoff Spread, confectioners' sugar, and cinnamon in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until smooth. Add the milk and beat until fluffy.
5. To assemble the cookies, find two cookies that are similar in size. Using a knife, spread about a tablespoon of the Biscoff filling on the inside of one cookie. Sandwich the cookies together.

The Best Chocolate Cake

I wanted to write a quick post about my favorite chocolate cake. We made one tonight to take over to a cookout at my in-laws house. My mother-in-law is a big fan of dark chocolate, so I thought this would be the perfect dessert. It was a last minute decision, and I forgot to take a picture. If you're anything like me, you probably won't try it because there is no picture, but I promise it's worth it. Honestly, it's nothing to look at, just a regular chocolate layer cake, but it's so good - rich, moist, and delicious! I like to pair it with a vanilla bean buttercream, but it would lend itself to any frosting that you like. The recipe is from the back of a Hershey Cocoa box where sometimes you can find the best ones, and I'm going to do the best that I can to recall it from memory... 

Hershey Black Magic Cake - Hershey Co.

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup flour
2 cup sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking power
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup strong brewed coffee
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt) in a large bowl.
Make a well in the center and add eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil, vanilla.
Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour into two 9 inch round cake pans or one 9x13 pan - batter will be runny.
Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream - from Brown Eyed Baker
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 1/2 sticks butter
2 tbsp. heavy whipping cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1 vanilla bean.

Directions:
Mix butter in stand mixer until light and fluffy.
Split vanilla bean in half and run knife down each half to put the beans into the butter and mix until combined.
Add powdered sugar and mix until combined.
Add vanilla and whipping cream and mix for 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy.
Once cake is cooled, spread on frosting.

Vegan...say what???

So, this might be hard to believe...but Nathan and I are attempting to go vegan...for a week. We vowed to eat a vegan diet for a week and then evaluate how we felt about it. I want to see if I feel healthier, more energized, not as sluggish, etc. I will have to post the results, I am a little nervous about making a big commitment, but if we feel much better eating this way, we would be silly not to!

This all started this weekend when we went to our friends house for dinner. I had been noticing that my friend Lindsay had been pinning vegan recipes on pinterest, so when we made plans for dinner, I asked her if she had "converted" and if we needed to make a vegan meal. She said that if we wanted to try to eat vegan that would work, but they were fine with eating "normal" every once in a while also. I agreed to give it a shot, I was curious to see how hard it really would be to come up with a yummy meal that was vegan-approved. When we got there, she offered us some vegan peanut butter cups and cookie dough dip that were SO yummy. It was weird though, because after we ate them, we didn't get that all-too-familiar lethargic feeling that comes after eating mass quanities of sugar...because there wasn't added sugar! The peanut butter cups were using natural peanut butter, and the cookie dough dip was made out of chickpeas (and yes, it actually was delicious). For dinner, we had macaroni and "cheese" (the cheese was made from veggies & cashews bleneded together) and sweet potato fries with pumpkin spice ice cream (made with coconut and almond milk) for dessert. I promise you that had I had the vegan macaroni and cheese side-by-side with the regular stuff, I could hardly have told a difference! Lindsay said that since eating vegan she has felt more energized, is running 6 miles (wow!), and has even lost weight! With a testimonial like that, how could I not try it?!?

When we got home, I asked Nathan how he would feel about going vegan. We both agreed that we would try it for a week - I mean really commit to following it, no cheats allowed, and then decide. Even if we do decide to eat vegan...we won't be pretentious about it, I promise. In social situations where it would be awkward to say "we don't eat animal products" we will probably cheat a little, and of course on special occassions. I suggested maybe doing one "normal" day a week...or even one "normal" meal a week...but we will make up our mind once we decide on if we want to really pursue this or not.

I have been reading The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone that Lindsay let me borrow and I have really learned a lot about nutrition and even (Nathan told me not to talk to people about this because I would seem like a nut) animal cruelty. Right now, the vegan decision is based primarily on my health, but if I can help animals in the meantime...great!

To be honest with you, the thing that is holding me back from really committing is my love of cooking and my dream of having a catering business. I think that I just need to have the attitude that if I eat 90% healthy and then sample my treats 10% of the time...I will be doing good. Did I tell you guys that I am in week two of the Gourmet Cooking & Catering Management program at Ashworth College? Well, I am, and I'm loving it!

Anyways, here is today's vegan menu - maybe this will help you realize that it really can be enjoyable and delicious!

Breakfast: Mom's Best Oat & Honey Blend Naturals Cereal with 1 cup of Silk Original Pure Almond Milk
Snack: Pear
Lunch: Boca Spicy "Chicken" Patty and 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce
Snack: Banana Bread flavor Lara Bar
Dinner: Black Bean and Butternut Squash Burritos
Snack: Peanut Butter Babies

I'll keep you posted on how the week assessment goes!

Fall Food - Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle



It has been WAY too long since I last blogged - so to all two of you, sorry! Anyways, it is finally official - fall is here. With fall comes some of my favorite things...football, boots, sweaters, pumpkins, cool weather, lattes, and fall foods! When I think fall foods, I think about pumpkin primarily (one of my favorite flavors for anything), soups, breads, and pretty much anything warm and hearty. Unfortunately most of those foods are also associated with weight gain...but this post isn't about feeling bad about weight gain, I would advise to just deal with it because the fall foods are worth it (Jillian Michaels would be screaming in my face right now).
We had a work party today, and the theme was "September Spectacular" - I decided to make a Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle that I saw on Pinterest awhile back. My new plan is to go through all of my hundreds of pins and favorites in Food Gawker and actually make what I have intended to make.
The trifle turned out great - I wouldn't change a thing, but be aware that some of the layers might need to be made bigger or smaller depending on the size of your trifle dish. Mine was smaller so I ended up only needing 1 1/2 cakes and 1 tub of Cool Whip.
Try this for yourself and see what you think, I thought it was simple to make and everyone at work seemed pleased with the taste!

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle

Recipe from: Taste of Home

 



Directions

• Prepare and bake gingerbread according to package directions, using two greased 9-in. round baking pans. Cool completely on wire racks.
• Meanwhile, for pudding, in a large saucepan, combine pudding mix and milk; stir until smooth. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Cook and stir 1-2 minutes longer or until thickened. Remove from the heat; cool to room temperature. Combine pumpkin and brown sugar; stir into pudding.
• In a 4-qt. glass serving bowl, crumble one gingerbread cake; gently press down. Top with half of pudding mixture and whipped topping. Repeat layers. Cover and refrigerate overnight. 

Yield: 25 servings (1 cup each).

Ingredients

• 2 packages (14-1/2 ounces each) gingerbread cake mix
• 1 package (4.6 ounces) cook-and-serve vanilla pudding mix
• 3 cups 2% milk
• 1 can (29 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 carton (12 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided

A Sandwich for Supper



I noticed that a lot of times when we go somewhere casual for dinner, Nathan orders a French Dip. So in wanting to prepare a weekly dinner menu that he would enjoy, I put them on the menu. These turned out so much better than either of us expected, and I would take this over the ones in the restaurants any day. As you can tell in the picture, we like lots of the au jus, kind of at a 2:1 ratio of jus to sandwich. The seasoning on the roast was great, and the best part was that you can put it all in the crock pot in the morning, come home after work and slap it on some sandwich bread with provolone and voila a simple, delicious dinner.

French Dip Sandwiches

Adapted from: http://blogchef.net/?s=french+dip

Ingredients:

Ingredients:1 boneless beef roast
½ cup soy sauce
1 beef bouillon cube
1 tsp. pepper
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Sub rolls (we used wheat hoagie rolls from Kroger)
Provolone cheese
We also spread some Marzetti Chipotle Ranch on half of the bread - totally optional

Instructions:

Remove any visible fat from the roast and discard the fat. Place the roast into a slow cooker. In a medium bowl combine soy sauce, beef bouillon cube, black pepper, rosemary, thyme, and garlic powder. Pour the mixture over the roast. Add enough water to almost cover the roast. Cook on low for 8 hours
Remove the roast from the broth (reserving the broth). Shred the roast with two forks. Place the reserved broth into cups or small bowls for dipping.
We cut our hoagies open, put the provolone on, and broiled them for about 3 minutes at 425 to get them toasted and the cheese melted
Place shredded beef onto sandwiches.
Serve with the au jus sauce for dipping!