Pumpkin Muffins

Sorry for the lack of posting here recently. I don't know if it is how busy work is, or the cold, nasty, wet weather we have been having...but I am in a funk. A blogging funk that is. Ever happen to you?

Anyways, over the weekend I made some pumpkin muffins that were too good not to share with all of you. So, here I am blogging and sharing just for you...feel special!

These muffins were so incredibly easy to make (really, I can't stress that enough!) They only have 2 ingredients. 2!?!? I did decide to add some extra sweetness, so mine had 3 ingredients but yours could only have 2.

INGREDIENTS: 

1 Box Yellow Cake Mix

1 Can of Pumpkin

Handful of white chocolate chips if you wish :)

Mix all of the ingredients together and spoon into a greased or lined cupcake pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until a knife/toothpick inserted comes out clean. Note: my time varied between batches and I am not sure why, so I recommend baking for 25 minutes and continuing on if necessary.

Let cool before devouring enjoying!

We did some other things this weekend too! Here is the breakdown in pictures:

Saturday we headed to Fort Wayne for a Newsboys concert and a little shopping. Louie was looking too sweet not to take his picture!

Headed to the mall for some shopping. We only wanted to stop a 2 stores and Chipotle for lunch. It was a successful trip and yummy-after this we were onto the concert:

We LOVE the Newsboys. I like their old music and their new music-it is all Jesus filled and great! Michael Tait was pretty hilarious in between songs too. I loved all the references he made to the "chocolate church" and "vanilla people". I am sure someone in the crowd was offended by it, but it was just so funny. The color of our skin does not matter in the least. Jesus love us no matter what! Praise him for that!!!

There were several bands opening for Newsboys too. I really liked Royal Tailor-who I was not familiar with. We ended up buying their CD and it s great. I encourage you to check them out!

We did a little bit of singing and dancing at the concert, too :)

Sorry for the blurry picture, but it was crazy in there!

Our Sunday was spent at church and home. We watched The Amazing Race in the evening while Louie took a nap and made himself comfortable:

Can you believe how he is laying down, and sleeping!? We have a crazy pup in our house. Good thing we love him!

Hope you all are having a great Wednesday and week for that matter!

Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies :)

PUMPKIN SNICKERDOODLE COOKIES!

Via: Pinterest, via: Annies Eats

INGREDIENTS: For the cookies:
3¾ cups all-purpose flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg ( We left this out, too)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
¾ cup pumpkin puree ( I modified this and used 1 heaping cup for extra moistness and pumpkin flavor!)
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the coating:
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground ginger (We did not have this, so I left it out-still tasted delicious!)
Dash of allspice

DIRECTIONS:
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Whisk to blend and set aside.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.  Blend in the pumpkin puree.  Beat in the egg and vanilla until incorporated.  With the mixer on low speed add in the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated.  Cover and chill the dough for at least 1 hour (I only chilled for 10-15 min, and then while I had cookies baking I had the dough in the refrigerator, too).

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.   Combine the sugar and spices for the coating in a bowl and mix to blend.  Scoop the dough (about 2½ tablespoons) and roll into a ball.  Coat the dough ball in the sugar-spice mixture and place on the prepared baking sheet.  Repeat with the remaining dough to fill the sheets, spacing the dough balls 2-3 inches apart.  Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until just set and baked through.  Let cool on the baking sheets about 5 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  Repeat with the remaining dough.  

We baked these cookies this weekend and they were delicious and perfect for the cooler fall weather we are having in Indiana right now! The hubs helped me bake them and we had a great time working in the kitchen together, cooking with your spouse is fun! These cookies were inspired by Pinterest, but I did modify the recipe a little bit. These cookies are the perfect combination of tradition snickerdoodle, with a hint of pumpkin flavor. And you know what? They are delicious with a warm cup of tea! Let me know if you give them a try!

Updates & Crock Pot Peanut Chicken

This week hasn’t been too exciting for us here in IN. My Monday did start out horribly though, as you know if you are friends with me on FB! If you aren’t friends with me on FB, you should be! Anyways, I am so thankful that Monday was the only rough day and the rest of this week has not been too bad!

We tried another new recipe and ended up loving it. We wanted to have it on Monday, and should would have had it on Monday had I remembered to turn the crock pot on in the morning. Thankfully the chicken was frozen, so during the day Monday (when it was NOT cooking) it was just thawing, so it was still safe to cook and eat on Tuesday! We ended up cooking it Monday night while we were home and then all day on Tuesday on low…not ideal I tell you, but it worked! I will share the recipe at the end of this post!

In other news: Louie needed a haircut. His fur around his face was getting so long that I was afraid it was interfering with his sight. I thought about taking him to a groomer, but since we need to keep him calm and as stress free as possible for a month post his heartworm treatment we decided that leaving him for a day with a stranger would just be too much for him. I talked to my friend Brooke who grooms her dog herself for some tips and convinced myself that I could do this. Stephen held Louie still and I trimmed away. He was just a good boy, AND he looks so different post cut. I really think that trimming him up made him look so much younger.  We love our little puppy child! Also, he is showing signs of playful activity and It is just precious. He still shows no interest in his puppy toy, but he does run around wagging his tail and jumping playfully when I get home from work each day. It just melts my heart! Oh, and he gave me my first Louie kisses yesterday! He just started licking my hand and it was so sweet!

Yesterday at work we had a carry-in party to celebrate all the September birthdays in our department. Since I am in charge of planning and organizing these events, I decided this one would be a football themed party, complete with tailgate style foods and dips. I scoured the internet for cute cupcake ideas and decided to make these cupcakes:

Honestly, I was not totally overjoyed with how they turned out and they were kind of difficult. Well, not really difficult-just time consuming and I did not plan ahead well. I was up pretty late decorating cupcakes after they cooled from baking. Next week I will be making rock star microphone cupcakes for our nieces birthday party, and I will plan ahead better!

I almost forgot to mention Pinterest! I finally joined, and after only 3 days I am totally, utterly addicted. This site is so cool, but so bad for me! Stephen is already concerned with the amount of DIY and craft projects I have on my radar to complete! I can’t wait to get started on things like: a unique headboard out of an outdoor seating cushion, making a daybed out of old doors, ribbon wreaths and so many more things, too! I will be sure to share our projects and whatever we complete!

I am looking forward to this weekend…wait, who isn’t!? We plan on working in the yard some more and getting the flower beds ready for fall bulb planting. We also have some grass seed to spread, too. I hope that we will have nice, full, green grass like our neighbors do! Seriously, their grass is beautiful. I keep praying for some of their grass to spread into ours and take over. I might ask them what seed and fertilizer they use!

Here is the new recipe:

Crock Pot Peanut Chicken

Ingredients:

·        4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

·        1/3 cup peanut butter

·        1 cup chunky salsa

·        2 tablespoon lemon juice

·        1 tablespoon soy sauce

·        2 teaspoon finely minced ginger root (optional; we left this out)

·        1/4 cup chopped peanuts

Directions:

In a 3-5 quart crockpot/slow cooker, mix all ingredients except chicken and chopped peanuts. Add chicken and stir to coat. Cover crockpot and cook on LOW for 8-9 hours or until chicken is no longer pink in the center. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts as a garnish.

We served this with white rice and it was very yummy. It will be on our menu meal plan again next month!

 

Let me know if you try this recipe and how you like it, I would love to hear your feedback! Bon Appetite and Happy (almost) Friday!!

Layered Turtle Cheesecake

LAYERED TURTLE CHEESECAKE

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
• 6 tablespoons cold butter, chopped

FILLING:

• 4 packages (8 ounces each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese (softened or cubed), softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour, divided
• 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips, melted and cooled
• 1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans

GANACHE:

• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons chopped pecans
• Optional garnish: pecan halves and additional caramel ice cream topping

DIRECTIONS:

• Place a greased 9-in. springform pan on a double thickness of heavy-duty foil (about 18 in. square). Securely wrap foil around pan.
• In a small bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar and pecans; cut in butter until crumbly. Press onto the bottom of prepared pan. Place pan on a baking sheet. Bake at 325° for 12-15 minutes or until set. Cool on a wire rack.
• In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugars until smooth. Beat in 1/4 cup flour, cream and vanilla. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Remove 1 cup batter to a small bowl; stir in melted chocolate until blended. Spread over crust.
• Combine caramel topping and remaining flour; stir in pecans. Drop by tablespoonfuls over chocolate batter. Top with remaining batter. Place springform pan in a large baking pan; add 1 in. of hot water to larger pan.
• Bake at 325° for 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours or until center is just set and top appears dull. Remove springform pan from water bath. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight.
• Place chips in a small bowl. In a small saucepan, bring cream just to a boil. Pour over chips; whisk until smooth. Cool slightly, stirring occasionally.
• Spread over cheesecake. Sprinkle with chopped pecans. Refrigerate until set. Remove sides of pan. Garnish with pecan halves and additional caramel topping if desired. 

When I say that this was a hit, I am totally not kidding. In fact, Stephen took the leftovers to work because we did not need to eat them at home gain 10 pounds and the guys gobbled it up. One of the fellas even told Stephen that he thinks I missed my calling. Ha. Why thank you, I will take that compliment!

I will say though, that this cheesecake was not a walk in the park to make. It took lots of time and several days, and my arm may have cramped up a couple times from mixing things. Yes, I have a kitchenaid, but I needed man power for some parts of this delicious desert. Was it worth it? Totally. While this will probably not make my list of easy things to throw together for parties, it will (and has) made my list of things to serve on special occasions.

So, enjoy and let me know if you give it a try! I would love to hear how it turns out!

Bacon Ranch Chicken = YUM!!

 We made this recipe last night and it was oh so yummy. I adapted the recipe from Crock Pot Girls, if you have not checked out their website you really should. Seriously. They have so many crock pot recipes listed and many great ideas for mostly quick and easy dinners! I have a couple others that I want to try in the coming weeks, so I will let you know how those go!

Bacon Ranch Chicken

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 Tbsp real bacon bits

1 tsp minced garlic

1 package ranch dressing mix

1 can of cream of chicken soup

1 cup of sour cream

1 package of egg noodles

Directions:

Combine bacon, garlic, ranch dressing mix, soup and sour cream; mix well. Pour over chicken in crock pot. Cook on high for 3-4 hours, or low for 6-7 hours. Shred chicken with forks and place back in crock pot with sauce. Boil egg noodles according to directions on package, drain and add noodles to crock pot. Stir noodles, chicken and sauce together to mix well. Allow dish to warm up in crock pot before serving.

This was a very filling meal and it made quite a bit of food. In fact, the hubs and I will be eating the leftovers for a couple of days! The only thing I might modify some next time is the amount of bacon. The bacon really make this dish so delicious and adding an extra Tbsp couldn’t hurt!

Let me know if you make this dish, I really think you will enjoy it!

Bon Appetite!

Blueberry Muffins!

Since we moved into our house I have been a baking fool. Oh wait, I have always been a baking fool...that's right. Anyways, I whipped up some blueberry muffins last week and they were a hit! After testing and approving the recipe, it is time to share it!

 Here ya go:

Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients:

• 3 cups  flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 canola oil
• 2 eggs, beaten

Directions:
 In a large bowl, combine the flour and sugar. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil and eggs. Stir dry ingredients into moist until just moistened. Slowly stir in the blueberries. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 400degrees for 14-18 minutes or until golden brown. A toothpick should could out clean when inserted near the center of a muffin when they are finished. Sprinkle tops with white sugar or powdered sugar when cooling off if you'd like!

Note: I filled my muffins almost completely full before baking because I wanted big, fluffy muffins. This worked well and produced just over a dozen muffins. I believe these would freeze well if needed, or you could always cut the recipe in half! :)

Enjoy!

Easy Peasy Banana Bread (or muffins!)

 

Ingredients

• 4 oz. butter (room temperature
• 3 over ripe (read: black) bananas (I only used two)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1.5 cups  flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 eggs
• pinch of salt (I just shook the shaker a few times)
• cinnamon (totally optional)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F

2. Using a wooden spoon, work the sugar and butter in a bowl until smooth.

3. Add eggs, one at a time, and stir well until the batter is completely smooth.

4. In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
5. Then, slowly incorporate the flour into the batter.
6. Stir until smooth, you may want to use your hands to knead the dough so that bumps do not appear.

7. In another bowl, mush bananas completely with a fork. Add vanilla extract if you want and stir. * I also added quite a bit of cinnamon at this point. We like it and together with bananas it is perfection!

8. Slowly incorporate the bananas into the dough and stir well until smooth.

9. Butter and flour your baking dish or use cooking spray if you are like me!

10. Pour the batter into the dish and put in the oven for about 55 minutes for loafs and 35ish for muffins.
11. You know the banana bread is cooked when the tip of a knife or toothpick comes out clean and dry.
12. Let cool off for about ten minutes and then remove from baking dish. You can serve this warm or room temperature. *I took mine out of the baking dish right away and let them cool, but be careful because it was hard on my fingertips! :)

I made these having never made banana bread before (other than from a box) and they turned out great...unlike my first attempt at blueberry muffins! I had read several different recipes online and adapted several of them to add my own touch. What was my touch? Cinnamon. Feel free to leave this out if you are not a lover, but I promise it is good. Also good is banana cinnamon pancakes. Yum! You could obviously use this recipe for either a loaf or muffins. I choose muffins because they are easier to grab and eat in the car on the way to work and they cook faster. Win-win, right? I think so! If you make muffins, fill the muffins almost completely. I used cupcake liners also, to keep the pan clean. The muffins puffed up so nicely and look pretty in the liners...but you can do whatever you want! Here is a tip though: you don't need to grease the pan if you use liners, but because I filled the cups so much and I wanted them to poof up, I greased the top of the pan so the overflow would not stick. It worked perfectly!

Let me know if you make these, and what you change if you change anything! I am interested to see what personal spin you can put on the recipe!

Enjoy!

Randoms & A Recipe

Last night, Stephen and I finally made it down the street to the Wednesday night farmers market. This happens each week, on Wednesdays in the evenings until 7pm. Each week since we moved into our house we have wanted to go, but always ran out of time. This week, that was not the story! We walked down the street shortly after I arrived home from work. Can I just say how cool I think it is that we live in a community where we can walk almost anywhere, and how cool is it that the farmers market is at the end of our street!? Pretty cool if you ask me!

These onions were picked last night from our potted garden, and I used them in dinner. They were tiny, but very yummy!

There were several families set up with all kinds of veggies, fruit and even meat. The best part was that everything was totally organic and home grown, plus affordable! We decided to purchase sweet corn, green beans, cantaloupe and tomatoes. Yummy!

Our bounty from the farmers market, all fresh and organic for $11!

We started dinner after walking home and I tried a new recipe. (I actually found this recipe on a blog months ago, but can't remember whose blog it was to give them credit. If this is your recipe leave me a comment so I can give you credit!) The dish is called Hawaiian Meatloaf and oh my goodness is it good! Stephen and I both love pineapple, so adding it in our meatloaf was a great idea! I modified the recipe a little and added a touch of sweet BBQ sauce on top. Verdict? Delicious!

You want me to share the recipe? Of course I will share the recipe with you all!

Hawaiian Meatloaf

• 1lb ground beef
• 2Tbsp chopped onions
• 1tsp salt
• 1/3cup breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• 1/2can shredded pineapple ** I used the other half can of pineapple for some cookies that are great. I will post that recipe later, too!
• Dash of brown sugar

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Next, sprinkle by hand brown sugar over the top of the loaf. Bake at 350 degrees until cooked through. I always bake my meatloaf in a cupcake or muffin pan because it cooks way faster and then the servings are individual. I bakes mine last night for 30 minutes. As soon as I took these out of the oven, I put a dollop of sweet BBQ sauce on top. Because the loafs were still piping hot from the over, it simmered all over and added a lot of flavor. It was really delicious! 

Let me know if you make this recipe for your family, and/or what variations you add.

 I would be interested to hear how you spin it! :)  



Mexican Fruit Cake

This recipe was a hit with all the adults, but the kids did not like it too much. They did eat all the frosting though :) We paired it with a Mexican dinner and it was delicious! Actually, we still have some leftover in the fridge and it works great as a breakfast too with a little glass of milk. The cake is rich, so we have only been eating tiny pieces! Let me know if you make it, or have a spin on this recipe. I'd love to hear!

 Cake Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple in juice
1 cup pecans,  chopped

Frosting Ingredients:
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 stick unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F.

In large bowl, stir all cake ingredients together by hand. I mixed mine with my Kitchenaid stand mixer and it worked perfectly. Spread evenly in 9x13-inch glass baking dish and bake for about 40 minutes. Do not to the toothpick test, because the cake will remain moist with the pineapple juice, that's how you want it!

While cake is baking, make frosting.

In large bowl, using electric mixer, beat cream cheese, margarine, and vanilla until smooth. Add sugar and continue to beat until well combined.

Pour frosting over the cake immediately upon taking the cake out of the oven. Cool the frosted cake in the refrigerator.

Bon Appetit!

Pasta Salad!

I made this recipe for our 4th of July pool party and it turned out so great! The only negative thing might have been the dressing...it was a little too lemony for us, so we will modify how much lemon juice we use next time! I would love to know if anyone makes this and/or what variations you use!

Enjoy!

Creamy Bacon Tomato Avocado Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

6 slices bacon, chopped into one inch pieces

1/2 pound dried rotini pasta

1/2 cup mayonnaise

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1 teaspoon dried dill

1 cup halved cherry tomatoes

1 avocado pitted and sliced

Directions:

Cook bacon until crisp. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate.  Cook pasta according to package directions. Strain. Run cold water over the top until the pasta is cooled.

While your bacon and pasta are cooking, whisk mayonnaise, lemon, salt, garlic powder, pepper and dill together in a bowl.  Stir cooled pasta, cherry tomatoes, sliced avocado and reserved bacon into the dressing. Toss to combine. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Serve.  [This recipe serves 4 people.]