Pumpkin Bundt Cake

Here is yet another one of those easy recipes that starts with a cake mix, adds a few ingredients and ends up with a tasty baked good.  These recipes are great for when you are in a hurry, or just want a way to make a dessert easily.

1 yellow cake mix
1 small box of instant butterscotch pudding
4 eggs
1 c. pumpkin
1/4 c. oil
1/4 c. water
2 t. pumpkin pie spice

Mix all ingredients together on low, then beat on medium speed for 4 minutes.  Pour into a greased Bundt pan.  Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes.  Remove from pan when cool and dust with powdered sugar.

Chicken Avocado Power Salad

Power up!  Have a great big spinach salad for dinner chock full of fresh ingredients that are good for you!  This salad is equally good with any dressing of your choice.  I added in a couple hard boiled eggs as we are always trying to use up extra eggs since our chickens started laying.  Pine nuts are expensive, so I have listed that ingredient as optional.  If you are eating low carb, just leave the corn out.

SALAD:
8 cups chopped spinach (1 bag)
1 cup halved cherry or pear tomatoes
1/2 cup corn (frozen, canned, or cut off the cob)
1 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 large avocado, sliced
1/3 cup crumbled goat or feta cheese
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts(optional)
DRESSING:
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Place spinach in a large salad bowl. add remaining salad ingredients.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients. Pour over the salad and toss (a little at a time... as much dressing as you desire).

Caramel Apple Crisp

Well it is October and apple picking is in full swing.  To celebrate the season of fall, and upcoming October birthdays, I made this dessert this weekend.  It is a great alternative to caramel apples, and just as yummy! 

 

 

Caramel Apple Crisp

makes 12 servings 

• Apple Filling:
• 5 large Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 cup water
•  

• Crumble:
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup quick cooking oats
• 1 cup butter, softened
•   1 jar caramel ice cream topping

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Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F .
2. In a medium size bowl, toss apples with sugar, flour, cinnamon, lemon juice, and water; spread evenly into a 13 x 9 buttered  pan. Pour caramel sauce over the apples.  You may need to warm the sauce to make it more fluid.  In another bowl, mix together flour, brown sugar, oats, and butter; spoon mixture evenly over caramel and the apples.
3. Bake in preheated oven for about 45 minutes (apple mixture will bubble and topping will be golden brown).
4. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream on top.

Simple Pumpkin Bars

There are so many wonderful food blogs out there just brimming with great things to eat.  One of my missions is to save you time, and preview some of the great recipes and share them with you.  Lately, I have been finding some good ones on Pinterest.  Pinterest led me to this blog, "Some the Wiser" and this wonderful recipe.  If you think fall equals pumpkin like I do, you need to make these up tonight!

Crust Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup unbleached white flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

8 tablespoons butter (softened)

3/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Filling Ingredients:

8oz cream cheese, softened_I used a pumpkin flavored cream cheese I found at Safeway

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon vanilla 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

In a food processor, combine crust ingredients and pulse two or three times until mixture is crumbly. Reserve 2/3 cup of the mixture for topping.  Press remaining mixture evenly into the bottom of an 8x11 baking dish.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes. Cool slightly. 

In a medium bowl, combine filling ingredients.  Using an electric mixer at medium speed, blend until mixture is smooth.  Pour mixture over baked crust.  Sprinkle with remaining crust topping. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until firm. 

Smothered Chile colorado Burritos

This is a yummy post I found on Pinterest recently.  I love that it cooks all day in the crockpot...then all you have to do is assemble the burritos and broil until the cheese melts.  Makes for a great workday meal.

Ingredients:
1 1/2# stew meat
1 can red enchilada sauce
2 beef bouillon cubes
Mix all these ingredients together and cook on low in your crockpot for 6-8 hours.

After you get home, shred the meat using a fork.
On each tortilla spread 2 t. refried beans and some of the meat.  Roll up and put in 13 x 9 pan.
After all tortillas are rolled and in the pan, dump the sauce left in the crockpot over the tortillas.  Sprinkle with cheese.  You can either broil them until the cheese melts or put in a 350 oven for 15 minutes.

Now wasn't that easy?

Pumpkin Chocolate chip Granola Bars

Here is my second pumpkin recipe from this weekend. 

3 1/4 c. old fashioned oats
1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. salt
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. pumpkin puree
1/4 t. applesauce
1/4 c. honey
1 t. vanilla
1 c. chocolate chips

In a large bowl mix oats, spices and salt.  In another bowl mix brown sugar, pumpkin, applesauce, honey and vanilla.  Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients.  Add chocolate chips.  Spread into a greased 8 x 8 pan.  Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.  With a sharp knife cut into bars.  Let cool completely.

Pumpkin Granola

Hooray it's October and to me that means all things pumpkin.  So prepare yourself for a lot of great pumpkin recipes this month.  Today I made up two great recipes...pumpkin granola and pumpkin granola bars.  I thought I had to make the granola to make the bars, but it turns out I didn't...oh well now I have this great granola to sprinkle on my yogurt.

Ingredients:
5 cups rolled oats
1 t. pumpkin pie spice
1 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
3/4 t. salt
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. pumpkin puree
1/4 c. maple syrup
1 t. vanilla extract
3/4 c. dried cranberries
1/2 c. pepitas

Mix rolled oats, spices and salt in a large bowl.  In another bowl mix the brown sugar, pumpkin, maple syrup, and vanilla.  Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients.  Spread on a parchment or silicone covered cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.  Stir and bake an additional 15 minutes.  Mix in cranberries and pepitas.

Simpliest Yummy Muffins Ever!

I heard about these muffins from my daughter...she made them with a chocolate cake mix, chocolate chips and pumpkin....that's it.  Yup, that's all the ingredients.  They are light, they are yummy and oh so good.  I decided to make mine with a spice cake mix.  You can use any flavor of cake mix you desire and get as creative as you want.  Believe me it doesn't get any easier than this.  People will rave about your cooking...and you can act like you slaved over the oven for hours.  Well..or you can tell them how easy it was and share this recipe.  Here is how I made mine:

1 spice flavored cake mix
1 15 oz. can pumpkin
This is the basic recipe...I added in 1 1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice
I didn't have any chopped walnuts but they would be fantastic to add in.

Mix the ingredients well. Put in a greased muffin tin--don't use papers or they will stick.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

That's it!  Happy baking:)

Tamarind Chicken Stir Fry

My favorite Thai restaurant serves this dish, and so tonight I decided to try to make it on my own.  The only unusual ingredient is the tamarind paste, which I was able to find the Asian food section of my local grocery store.  You could also find it in any Asian grocery store.

 Ingredients:

• 4 chicken thighs, OR 2 chicken breasts, sliced into bite-size pieces
• 1-2 c. chopped veggies:  your choice whatever you like in a stir fry
• 1/4 cup chopped shallots or purple onion
• 2 thumb-size pieces galangal or ginger, sliced into matchstick-like pieces
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 fresh red or green chilies, or 1/4 to 3/4 tsp. chili flakes (1/4 tsp. = mild)
• 1 tsp. cornstarch powder dissolved in 3 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp. sherry
• handful fresh basil (or substitute fresh coriander)
• TAMARIND SAUCE:
• 2 tsp. tamarind paste
• 1/3 cup chicken stock
• 2+1/2 Tbsp. fish sauce
• 2 Tbsp. sugar

Preparation:

1. Place sliced chicken in a bowl and pour over the cornstarch and soy sauce mixture. Stir well to saturate chicken with the sauce. Set near the stove to marinate while you make the tamarind sauce.
2. Make the tamarind sauce by mixing all sauce ingredients together in a cup (the tamarind paste and sugar should more or less dissolve in the water and fish sauce. If your paste is very thick, you may want to heat up the stock to help dissolve it). Also set near the stove.
3. Heat a wok or large frying pan over high or medium-high heat. Drizzle in 2-3 Tbsp. oil, then add the garlic, ginger, and chicken (together with its cornstarch/soy sauce marinade).
4. Stir-fry about 2-3 minutes, or until chicken is opaque when sliced through. Add a little sherry (1 Tbsp. at a time) as you stir-fry, whenever the pan starts to become dry.
5. Add the vegetables, plus start adding the tamarind sauce 2-3 Tbsp. at a time. Continue stir-frying in this way until all the sauce has been added and the chicken/mushrooms are cooked (4-5 minutes).
6. Remove from heat. Now, very importantly, you need to taste-test and adjust the seasonings. What you're looking for is a taste similar to "sweet & sour" - a pleasantly tangy flavor. You may have to add up to 1 Tbsp. fish sauce (instead of salt) and another Tbsp. or two of sugar in order to take the sour edge off the tamarind flavor, which is very strong, but excellent once balanced with sweet and salty flavors! This is a very individual kind of preference - if you like "sour", you may not need to add more sugar. If the dish isn't spicy enough for you, add a little more fresh chili (or chili sauce). If it turns out too salty, add a squeeze of fresh lime or lemon juice. Note that the sourness factor also depends on how thick or strong your tamarind paste is.
7. Serve with plenty of Thai jasmine rice and fresh basil sprinkled over. ENJOY!!

Steak and Veggies with Balsamic Vinegar

This is a great little dinner that comes together very quickly.  I served it with a nice spinach salad, and it would be great with a baked potato.

1 1/2 # sirloin steak
1 t. Monterey steak seasoning
2 c. fresh or frozen green beans
2 c. sliced yellow squash (I used little patty pans)
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1 1/2 t. balsamic vinegar
1 T. olive oil
Sprinkle the steak with the seasoning and grill until medium rare.  Take off grill and let rest for 5 minutes.  Slice into strips.  In a large saucepan put olive oil, heat to medium high.  Add all the vegetables and cook until almost al dente.  Add steak strips and balsamic vinegar.  Heat thru.