Meal in a Pumpkin

I'm going to try and wrap up all my unpublished posts from 2013 before the month is out... I just came across this one.

On Halloween night, I tried to be festive and made our annual dinner in a pumpkin with apple cider to drink, and my kids wouldn't touch it!  They have eaten it before, but that night it was a no go!

The photo of the meal in a pumpkin was much prettier this particular year...  HERE

I don't really have a recipe for this I just add the following things into a cleaned out pumpkin and bake it in a pumpkin at 350 until the pumpkin forks done like a baked potato.

1 lb. of ground beef
cooked rice
Worcestershire sauce
Salt
Pepper
Cream of Mushroom Soup (This year I made mine from scratch!)

I even scrape the pumpkin out and eat it with the filling!  Yum! 

Using your left over Thanksgiving turkey

Using turkey left overs a few years ago HERE

Even if I don't host Thanksgiving dinner, I always buy a turkey to make a Thanksgiving dinner for just my family usually right after Thanksgiving to ensure I have left over turkey.  At the price they offer turkeys during the holidays, I just can't afford not to buy one.  I love using left over turkey! 

Yesterday, I made some baby food by combining my pumpkin puree (tired of hearing about that yet? Don't answer that...) with turkey and a little bit of water and pureeing it.  Everett loved it.  Yay!

baby food always looks gross....

This week, I'll post a few of my other favorites to make with left over turkey. 

Do you have any favorites recipes you use with your left over turkey?  Please share!!  You can link to them in the comments!! 

Bran Muffins with Pumpkin

I think this will be the year of the pumpkin!  Ha! 

I made some of these bran muffins last week and thought I would try replacing the cup of oil with one cup of my pumpkin puree. 

You couldn't even taste the pumpkin.  The muffins weren't quite as light and fluffy, but they were still good!!

I wonder what other kinds of things I'll be adding pumpkin to...  

RE-POST - Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes with Gingersnap Crust

I just decided that I'm making these again today! Delish!

These were yummy and simple to make!!!  No tricky cheesecake business here, and letting it cool in the oven, etc.  If you make your own cheesecake you know what I'm talking about. 

I didn't have a mini cheesecake pan like the person who originally posted this recipe, so I used my cupcake pan.  I had wanted to do my mini muffin pan, but I didn't have any liners for it (I had Christmas ones, and I wasn't going to take those to a Halloween party...), so I had to use the big muffin pan. 

It worked great - the cupcake liners basically peel off on their own.  I just had to shorten cook time.

The only change I will make to this recipe next time is to leave out the pecans in the crust and sub another graham cracker for them.  I like pecans, but I think this crust would be better with just using the gingersnaps and graham crackers. 

Don't mind the whipped cream that I overbeat (I did end up making more, so only four cheesecakes have smooth whipped cream... that's what happens when you have a 2 year old sous chef...

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes Recipe
Recipe from HERE
*** See serving size below

1 package (8 oz) Cream Cheese, room temperature (I used Neufchatel)
½ c. pumpkin puree
¼ c. + 2 tbsp. sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. heavy cream
¼ tsp. vanilla
¼ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. pumpkin pie spice 
¹⁄₈ tsp. nutmeg

For the crust:
8 gingersnap cookies
1 graham cracker
**1½ tbsp. melted butter**
1½ tsp. brown sugar
¼ c. pecans
pinch of salt

** My gingersnaps were really big, and because gingersnaps really vary in size, you'll have to play it by ear how much butter you'll need - I ended up using 2 T of melted butter

For the whipped cream:
1 1/2 c. heavy cream
1 1/2 tbsp. granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Pumpkin pie spice for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill muffin tins with liners.

2. In the bowl of a food processor, grind all ingredients for crust, except for the melted butter. The mixture should resemble slightly coarse crumbs. Remove mixture and pour melted butter over. Mix until crumbs are wet. Press into the bottom of each hole. Place in oven and bake for 5 minutes. (Just so you know, because the liners aren't full it will seem like they start burning... hence only the 5 minutes...)

3. While crust is baking prepare filling beating together cream cheese, sugar and pumpkin puree until smooth. Add spices, vanilla, heavy cream and egg.  Beat until combined.  (Always beat your cream cheese alone first before adding anything to it to help prevent lumps)

4. Pour filling over each crust, dividing evenly. Place in oven and bake for 10 minutes or until puffed and kind of firm. Remove from oven and cool in pan for 20 minutes before removing cheesecakes (yes your cheesecakes will sink a little, this is normal).

5. Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.

6. While cheesecakes are cooling, prepare vanilla bean whipped cream by fitting a chilled mixing bowl into your stand mixer. Add heavy cream, sugar and vanilla. Using the whisk attachment beat on high for 2-3 minutes until stiff peaks begin to form. Return to refrigerator until cheesecakes are ready to be served.

7. To assemble, remove cheesecakes from muffin liners.  Then, using a mesh sieve, lightly dust cheesecakes with pumpkin pie spice before or after topping with a swirl of whipped cream.

8.  Enjoy!

****  I think the original serving size is for 12.  But, I wanted to make it stretch farter, and I made 18.  (That is what these pictures show)  I have made it again and doubled the recipe so the cupcakes were fuller (18).  You could really make 24 and be fine with the doubled recipe too. 

You can see how the wrappers just peel off by themselves practically.  Don't mind my really old cookie sheet that I use for purposes such as these...

Pumpkin Biscuits

So, I've been adding all my pumpkin puree to random things... I thought, why not biscuits?  Most of the recipes I found had spices in them - and from the pictures seemed like they would be dense and/or dry.  I know, I know, you can't tell from a picture necessarily, but I just wanted a plain biscuit using some pumpkin.  So, I just adapted my regular biscuit recipe and made a few changes, and they turned out!  Yay!  I believe that Everett had his first biscuits this morning - he decided to fore-go his pincer grasp and full fisted the yumminess!

Remember, my home made pumpkin puree is a lot lighter than what you buy in the store, so if you made this with store bought canned pumpkin, your biscuits will turn out darker (prettier!). 

Pumpkin Biscuit Recipe:

2 c. flour

3/4 tsp. salt (If I use salted butter, I don't always add the salt)

5 tsp. baking powder

6 T. butter

1/2 c. buttermilk*

1/2 c. pumpkin puree

1.  Mix dry ingredients together. Cut in butter until the size of oatmeal or a little larger.

2.  Make a hole in your flour mixture (or volcano as my son says) and pour in your buttermilk and pumpkin puree. (A method I learned from watching my dad.) Mix until dough comes together.  If the biscuit dough is still pretty wet, sprinkle just a little bit of flour until it is not so sticky.

3.  Knead your dough together a little bit with your hands.

4.  Roll or spread out the dough with your hands on a floured surface. Cut to desired sizes (Make sure they are pretty thick!) (If you don't have a biscuit cutter - my family often uses the tops glasses to cut biscuits).

5.  Place biscuits, touching, on greased pan. TOUCHING.  My husband had a hard time with this when he first starting making this recipe.  They rise taller if they are touching.  (If you are making these to bake the next day, cover and place in your fridge.)

6.  Bake at 425 degrees for about 10 minutes or until very lightly browned.

This recipe makes about 10 biscuits, depending on how thick you cut out your biscuits, or how much dough you ate! :)

* I didn't have any buttermilk on hand (this RARELY happens!)  So, I just put 1/2 T. white vinegar in a 1/2 cup size measuring cup and then filled the rest with milk until it equaled 1/2 cup.  Let it sit 5-10 minutes and there is your buttermilk substitute! 

Soft and yummy!

Touching!

Cheddar, Oats & Pumpkin (Oh My!) Meatloaf

I love meatloaf.  I also love that you can't really mess up a meatloaf!  It really isn't an exact science - you can add a variety of ingredients and make totally different meatloaf every time.  You could even add some quinoa to this recipe too, like this turkey meatloaf.

This is my basic meatloaf recipe with a few extras!

You know how I have some extra pumpkin puree in my freezer?  Well, I thought I could add some to my regular meat loaf recipe for added goodness and it turned out great.  Actually, it was so super moist!!

Another thing I add to my meatloaf instead of the regular bread crumbs that are common in many recipes, are oats that have been blended to an oat flour-like substance.  Here's the thing with oats - I use the quick cooking kind because I know they won't be crunchy and they will cook for sure.  However, I think you can use regular oats too, but you just wouldn't add as much.


Cheddar Meat Loaf Recipe

1.5 lbs. lean ground beef  (with cooking it on a rack like I do you can use fattier meat if that's what you have because it just drains below it)
1 egg
1/2 c. pumpkin puree
1/4 c. milk
1/4 c. onion minced (or grated) (or 1 T. dried minced onion)
1 c. quick oats
1 -2 tsp. salt (to taste)
1/2 tsp. black pepper (or to taste)
1 clove garlic minced
1 c. cheddar cheese

Sauce

2/3 c. ketchup
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. prepared mustard

Directions

1.  Put oats in food processor and blend until fine.
2.  Make sauce by combining sauce ingredients - whisk until smooth.  Set aside.
3.  Grease cookie sheet.  Place rack on top of cookie sheet and grease rack.  Set aside.
4.  Beat egg with milk and pumpkin puree.  Add seasonings and mix.  Add all other ingredients and mix together well with hands.
5.  Form into five small loafs. I use a spoon and make a shallow indentation (or boat) on the top of the meatloaf so that when I pour sauce on top it doesn't just fall down the side. 
6.  Spread sauce on meatloaves.
7.  Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until meat thermometer reads 160 degrees.

* If not using pumpkin puree just add equal amount of milk

I like cooking meatloaf on a rack so any extra grease drains - instead of it cooking in it's own grease

You can kind of see the indentions to hold more sauce

You can see the cheddar cheese... Yum!

Homemade Pumpkin Puree

You guys know I'm crazy.  Well, this might be crazier than the time I went shopping the day after I came home from the hospital when Jonah was born...  This was a 9 hour project!!  By myself, while taking care of my kids!!!!!!!  But, I'm not going to lie, on days like that I wish I had a farm and was Amish (but with electricity and such....)  Oh, the simpler life...

Anyway, the day before Halloween I took my kids to the Pumpkin Patch to pick out their pumpkins to carve.  (Better late than never, right???)  The lady was super nice and I got a steal for three pumpkins (I thought I would have to pay more!).  I was chatting with her about what they do with the pumpkins after Halloween and she said they just throw them away!

My mouth probably hit the ground!  She told me if I came back the next night after six I could just have whatever I wanted.  I probably dreamed about pumpkins that night and could not wait until the next evening. Who cared about candy??!!  I was going to make pumpkin puree!!!

I went on Halloween night to get my pumpkins (of course after I took the obligatory photos of my own trick or treat-ers, put candy on my door step, and agreed to meet up with my husband and kids after getting the pumpkins only five minutes down the road).  There were two men there (surrounded by the aroma of alcohol I might add...)  getting free pumpkins and such for their chickens and hogs.  They were a little to chatty and I loaded up my trunk with pumpkins as fast as I could!  The lady was so nice and I told her if she was there when they sold Christmas trees (same farmer uses same lot) I would bring her some pumpkin goodies in December!

I had originally thought I would can it, but turns out the FDA says not to do that.  In fact, you shouldn't even eat pumpkin butter that was canned.  (Pumpkin puree you can can pumpkin chunks if you pressure cook the crazy out of it!)  Anyway, I was a little bummed when I read about it (and researched it a lot just to be sure!).  Turns out I could have asked my Grandma, because she told me when she was young she canned pumpkin puree and her aunt told her it would go bad, and it did!

So, I got 21 pumpkins and had to throw away two by the time I was able to get to them.  I still have two more to do actually that are just sitting in my kitchen floor...  I just can't bring myself to do them.

You guys... there was pumpkin from one spot of my kitchen to the other - pumpkin was absolutely, insanely  everywhere!!  It was such a ginormous mess!

17 pumpkins made 38 - 2 cup bags full for my freezer!  Can you even believe I almost bought some canned pumpkin at the store today knowing that?  It was only 89 cents a can though!! I did refrain however.

Anyway, I use the puree as baby food for Everett, and I've already made some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.  However, cooking with this pumpkin puree doesn't give the cookies that darker color that canned pumpkins give your cookies.  But, they were still delicious!!!

Can you even believe all that meat??  It would have just been thrown away, I can't even believe it!

Okay, so there are a few ways to make pumpkin puree.  I did most of them.  I cooked some in the oven (Please use a cookie tray under yours....  just a tip...).

Then peeled off the peeling, then had to cook some a little more on the stove, then puree...  I did both ways since I was doing so much and my pots could only hold so much at a time.  My preferred method is below. 

You guys, that was only a VERY SMALL portion of all the pumpkin...

Homemade Pumpkin Puree How To

1.  Cut your pumpkin in half or really however you want to.  Clean out the inside guts and seeds.

2.  Peel the skin off of your pumpkin.  Cut your pumpkin into pieces.  (like how you make mashed potatoes)

3.  Put just a little bit of water in a large stockpot.  Put pumpkin in pot and cover with lid.

4.  Boil and steam until pumpkin is super soft and well cooked.

5.  Drain liquid.

6.  Puree pumpkin pieces. (I used my immersion blender)

7.  Line strainers with paper towels, pour in pumpkin puree, and allow to drain.  Repeat to get more liquid out.  I use fresh paper towels each time.

8.  Allow to cool, then put in bags or containers to freeze! 

Pumpkin before drained

Getting the liquid off

Look at all that pumpkin puree ready to be bagged!!!! 

Some of the bags... 

I actually overworked my small chest freezer by putting too much in at a time... Now I know for next time!!

Yay!! I can make pumpkin whatever without having to run to the store!!!!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

I've made a few different recipes for pumpkin cinnamon rolls two Thanksgivings in a row for breakfast, but this year couldn't find my recipes, so I found a new one from Taste of Home to try.  I added pumpkin pie spice (an addition I wanted to add to one of my other recipes), and next time will double the frosting (yummy!!!!!!)!  Just typing this makes me want to make them now....

Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Recipe:

• 2-3/4 to 3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup solid-pack pumpkin
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 4 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

 

• CARAMEL FROSTING:  (trust me... double this!)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Dash salt
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar

1.  In a bowl, combine 1-1/2 cups flour and yeast; set aside.

2.  In a saucepan, heat and stir pumpkin, milk, sugar, 2 tablespoons butter and salt until warm (120°-130°) and butter is almost melted.

3.  Add to flour/yeast mixture along with egg to milk mixture. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Stir in enough remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough.

4. Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

5. Roll into a 12-in. x 10-in. rectangle. Melt remaining butter; brush on dough. C

6. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over dough. Roll dough, jelly roll style, starting with the longer side. Cut into 12 slices, 1 in. each. Place rolls, cut side down, in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

7.  For frosting, melt butter in a saucepan; stir in brown sugar and milk. Cook and stir over medium-low heat for 1 minute. Stir in vanilla, salt and 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar; beat until well blended. Add more sugar, if necessary, to achieve desired consistency. Drizzle over rolls.

8.  Enjoy!!!

Yield: 1 dozen.

Pumpkin Week Wrap Up

So, with all the recipes I posted this week I almost used up all the pumpkin I bought at the end of the fall last year...  I'm not sick of eating pumpkin stuff yet either!

I thought I had already posted some of my favorite pumpkin recipes with you, but when I checked my blog, I had just posted pictures of them!  What?!? That's no fun! 

So, I'll wrap up this week by giving you a link to my favorite pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that I posted last year, and I think I'll do another pumpkin week in the near future with some of my pumpkin favs! 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies..... Yummy!!

Pumpkin Donuts

These were yummy - even with my mess ups... So, when you have a two year old "helping" you cook it does distract you a little bit, but if he knows I'm cooking he has to be right there with me.  Therefore, where it called for pumpkin pie spice I put allspice instead, oops!  They were still yummy, but I can't wait to make them with pumpkin pie spice! 

These are more like old fashioned donuts (cake like), and they are delicious!  Even if I overcooked some a tad bit...  :)

PUMPKIN DONUT RECIPE

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I ended up using a little bit more to make the dough a little less sticky)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup pumpkin puree

For the buttermilk glaze:

3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Canola oil for frying

1.  In a large bowl, (I used my kitchen aid with whisk attachment) whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, spice and sugar. Whisk together all of the remaining ingredients (except for the canola oil) in a second, medium bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and stir them around the bowl until the mixture is well combined.

2.  I actually put my dough in the fridge and it worked out well too, maybe even better because the dough was a little easier to work with cold (because I was trying to get my two year old to sleep before frying them). Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, rolling the donut dough to approximately1/4-1/2″ thick. (This will seem quite thin, but the donuts puff up immensely while frying). Cut with a donut cutter.  (I use a biscuit cutter, and a random lid for the hole.)

3.  Meanwhile, whisk the glaze ingredients together in a small bowl until smooth.

4.  Heat 2 inches of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, gently slide the donuts into the oil, frying on the first side until the edges of the donut are lightly browned, and the tops puff up, flip carefully and allow to cook on the other side until lightly browned. Remove onto paper towel briefly then dunk immediately into buttermilk glaze.

5.  Allow to air dry on a cooling rack before serving.  (Who really will do this step - eat them hot off the press!!) 

6.  Enjoy!!

**  Link to Recipe HERE.  This is why I put the recipes on my blog because I went to go back to find the original recipe and the blog site it was published on seemed to disappear.  So, the link takes you to the same recipe on a different blog, which has a link to the original, if that ever works again... 

Oatmeal Pumpkin Bread

My friend posted on her blog that she tried this recipe, and it only called for a cup of pumpkin (which all of these pumpkin recipes have called for) which I had, so I thought I would try it.  Bad idea - I ate that whole loaf you see sliced above minus two pieces... Yikes!! 

This recipe makes yummy, yummy bread!  It's a super simple recipe, quick to throw together, and no kneading necessary!  If you are afraid of making bread - try this recipe!  It has the perfect consistency and everything!!!  The pumpkin just makes it more moist you can't really taste it.  When I was making it I had to fight the urge to put in more flour so the dough wasn't so sticky...   The dough even tasted good!

Oatmeal Pumpkin Bread Recipe
Recipe from HERE

2 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 Tablespoons yeast
1/3 cup honey
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
1 cup pumpkin puree
5 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup rye flour (I used whole wheat flour here)
4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Directions

1.  The original directions say to simply stir the above ingredients together and let ‘rest’ on the counter for 2 hours.  I had to follow bread protocol and do the water and yeast first with the honey to make sure the yeast was working, then I addded the rest of the ingredients in order.  I used my kitchen aid with the paddle attachment to mix the bread.

2.  After 2 hours, it’s either ready to form into a loaf (this recipe makes 3 loaves, but they don’t have to be baked at the same time) or stick in the refrigerator. With this recipe, I usually refrigerate it, as the dough is very sticky and hard to work with if you don’t. However, if you choose to bake now, grab a ‘cantaloupe-sized’ piece of the dough, dust it with flour, shape it into a ball as you stretch the dough down around to the bottom on all sides. Place this ball in a lightly greased nonstick loaf pan. Let it ‘rest’ again. If you’re using un-refrigerated dough, rest time is only 40 minutes. If it’s refrigerated, let it rest for 2 hours.

3.  Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes (mine didn't take this long - 35-40 min. depending on your loaf pan size)

** I didn't put my dough in the fridge. I baked it right after it rose the 40 minutes. 

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

 

 

These were yummy!  I was taking them to a fall themed event, so I thought I would roll some out like sugar cookies and cut them with a pumpkin cutter.  It was hard to cover them with the coating this way, and I only did two pans worth, and then did the rest the way the directions say to - like normal snickerdoodles.  This recipe turns out very fluffy cookies. 

 

Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Recipe

Original Recipe HERE

 

For the cookies:

3 3/4 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the coating:

1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Dash of allspice

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk together to blend. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugars on medium speed until well combined. Next, still on medium speed, beat in pumpkin. Then, add the egg and vanilla extract. Lastly, add in the dry ingredients. Beat until combined, but do not over mix. Cover the dough, and refrigerate for one hour, until firm.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, mix together the sugar and spices for the sugar coating. Scoop dough (approximately 2 1/2 tablespoons) and roll into a ball. Roll the dough ball in the sugar mixture, and place on the lined baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. Take a drinking glass with a flat bottom and moisten with water. Dip the glass in the sugar mixture, and use it to flatten the dough balls. Re-sugar the glass as needed.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes. Remove when the centers of the cookies have set. Let cool on the baking pan for approximately 5 minutes, and then transfer to wire cooling racks to cool completely.

Mini Pumpkin Muffins

Okay, for the record, this recipe was a recipe for baked doughnuts, but I don't have a doughnut pan, so it turned into muffins.  The consistency did not even look like it turned out the same as the doughnuts, and I'm not really sure what I did to make it that way, but they were still delicious!!!  These were gobbled up really fast! 

Mini Pumpkin Muffins Recipe
Original Recipe HERE 

For Donuts:

 1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoons ground cloves
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup milk

For Coating:

 1/2 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup sugar
1-2 tablespoons cinnamon (more if you're a cinnamon lover)

1.  Preheat oven 350 F.  Grease muffin tin, or line with wrappers and set aside.

2. In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt and spices together and set aside.

3. In a large bowl (or the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment) whisk together oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin and milk until combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the mixture and stir until just combined, careful not to over mix.

4. Fill muffin tin with the batter - should be fairly full, but not overflowing. Bake for 10 -12 minutes, until muffins spring back when gently pressed or you can do the tooth pick test.  Put muffins onto a wire rack and allow to cool for a few minutes.

5. While the muffins are cooling, melt butter in one bowl and combine the sugar and cinnamon in another. When muffins are still hot (but not too hot to touch), quickly dip each donut in melted butter, then coat in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Serve immediately.

*Note: If you're not going to serve the muffins immediately, you can bake them up to a day in advance and store them in an airtight container. Do not coat them in the butter/cinnamon-sugar mixture until just before serving or they may get soggy.

Pumpkin Alfredo Tortellini

I've decided that this will be pumpkin week!  There are so many yummy pumpkin recipes out there, and so short of fall to try them all! 

This was a simple, yummy meal.  My kids even ate it! 

Pumpkin Alfredo Tortellini Recipe:
Recipe from HERE

Salt
2 (9-ounce) packages cheese tortellini (I used a 20 oz. package)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 small shallot, finely chopped (I didn't use)
1/2 cup canned pure pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1 1/4 cups heavy cream (I didn't use straight cream - I used some milk to make it a little healthier...)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
Freshly ground black pepper
Chopped fresh Italian parsley, for garnish (optional)

Directions:

1.  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the tortellini and cook according to label directions, then drain the pasta.

2.  Meanwhile, heat the butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the shallot and cook, stirring, until slightly softened, about 2 minutes.

3.  Add the pumpkin and nutmeg and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Stir in the cream and bring to a low boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer, stirring, until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.

4. Stir in the cheese and cook until thick, about 1 minute more. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

5.  Add the tortellini to the skillet and toss with the sauce.   Serve.

6.  Enjoy!

I was not thankful for pie

I love trying new recipes. 'Love,' probably being an understatement.

There are about twenty pumpkin dessert recipes I had cut out of magazines and put in my 'TO TRY' cookbook, so this year I wanted to try I few... I chose six, and then narrowed it down to four. I was so excited, these pies looked so yummy. However, and unfortunately, I was unimpressed. The pies all turned out well, but I would have rather just made my normal pumpkin cheesecake.

Here is the pie rundown:

PIE #1: Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Pie - Recipe HERE


The only thing I did different than the recipe was cover the top with melted chocolate instead of drizzling...

Dear Martha,

I love you... but, did you even try this recipe before putting it in your magazine????

PIE #2: Sweet Potato Pie with Marshmallow Meringue (from this years Southern Living November magazine) - Recipe HERE


Now, this pie wasn't a total loss. It tasted fine, just different. It was a lemony - sweet potato pie. However, I LOVED the meringue, and will probably substitute this meringue for any other meringue in the future.

PIE #3: Pumpkin Chiffon Pie - Similar Recipe HERE


This pie was okay too, it just didn't WOW me. I cut this recipe out in 2004 so, I couldn't find the exact recipe online. The one I posted is similar except the recipe I used wasn't low fat, mine had a cream cheese layer underneath the pumpkin chiffon layer, and I used whipping cream instead of Cool Whip.

PIE #4: Eggnog Pumpkin Pie - Recipe HERE


This recipe I cut out in 2008 from Taste of Home. I liked this pie the best. This pie also made my house smell so yummy when it was baking in the oven! This recipe won't get thrown in the trash like the chocolate, and chiffon one, but it probably won't be a Thanksgiving regular.

I do love trying new recipes, but it's so sad when they end up not meeting your expectations. But, that's okay; four recipes down, one hundred bajillion million to go.

Ooey-Gooey Pumpkin Butter Cake

My sister in law, Cheryl, made a yummy dessert last year, and shared the recipe with me; it's from Paula Dean. It was a German Chocolate Butter Cake. It was sooo yummy. There were other variations that you could do with it as well, one of them being pumpkin. I made the pumpkin recipe yesterday. It was good, but I like the German Chocolate recipe better!!

This recipe uses a cake mix as one ingredient for the crust. I'm all about cooking from scratch, but I have a few great recipes where some ingredients are pre-made from a box. So, this is my first Boost from a Box recipe that I'm sharing with you. It's nice to be able to cut out a step in cooking sometimes!!

German Chocolate Recipe found HERE.

Pumpkin Recipe found HERE.

(I did cut out 2 Tablespoons of butter from the filling, you might even be able to get away with cutting out more...)

Annual Pumpkin Favorites

John has been requesting our annual casserole baked in a pumpkin, and last week I finally delivered. It's the easiest meal ever, and Mallary loved it! My favorite is still the baked pumpkin custard cooked in a pumpkin that I made last year. Delicious!!

Healthier pumpkin bread pudding

I remember watching my mom make bread pudding more than once, and I don't remember her measuring her bread. The first time I made this pumpkin bread pudding recipe, she tried to add other bread, besides the french bread that I had purchased. She didn't think I had enough bread it it. My poor mother. I gave her such a hard time about substituting and experimenting, and now I totally do it. She'd be proud. Or she could be saying, 'I told you so..." (though she was never really and 'I told you so' kind of person...)

I recently made bread pudding using all the old packages of wheat bread that were in my refrigerator. I'm not sure why I had so many packages almost empty in there, and was a little leery about using only wheat bread... but it turned out great! Really, it was quite a healthy dish, because I only buy the double fiber, high in protein, low in sugar wheat bread. So, a dish of this stuff was very filling! But, also very tasty! So I felt little guilt while eating this for breakfast. (and still lost weight the week I made and ate it...)

This is also a great dessert to bake in ramekins. (You do know of my love for things served in ramekins, right?) I did bake mine in a square pan though, and just cut out circle servings.

So, you can totally make your bread puddings healthier by not only using wheat bread, but by cutting back on the cream, and using half and half and regular milk. Mine still tasted wonderful!

A "healthier," festive treat!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I once asked my husband what his favorite foods were that I cook. He told me it was hard to decide, because I'll make something he likes, but won't make it again for two years because I experiment with new recipes so much.

A perfect example of that are these cookies. My mom made them often when I was in high school, but I have only made these maybe twice since I've been married (in eight years!), maybe... I just found this recipe tucked away, and I think it was my mom's. But, I'm not sure!!!

These cookies are dangerous!! They are so light and fluffy, (especially right out of the oven! I personally like them better warm.) you can eat ten before it feels like you have eaten one! Consider yourself warned!

Fluffy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 c. softened butter (but not melted)

1/4 c. brown sugar

3/4 c. white sugar

1 egg

1 c. canned pumpkin

2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

In large bowl, beat butter and sugar. Add egg and beat. Add pumpkin and beat. Combine dry ingredients and add to pumpkin mixture. Stir in vanilla and chips. Scoop dough with small cookie scooper onto *greased pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes.

*I was making cookies with some friends, and they had never seen someone grease their cookie sheet like I do. It's what my mom did, and honestly, I thought everyone did. Once you unwrap your butter to use in your baking, don't throw the wrapper away! You wipe your wrapper (butter side down) onto your cookie sheet. There is usually always enough butter remnants left to grease at least two cookie sheets. You can save your non stick spray for another time... plus it tastes a lot better than your non stick spray.

**Also, recently I made these and only had 1/2 c. of canned pumpkin in my fridge, and I went ahead and used that not even having a full cup and they turned out just fine!

Please pass the pumpkin

I enjoy trying new pumpkin recipes (evidence of that statement shown HERE), and Thanksgiving day is the perfect opportunity to do so. This Turkey day was no exception.

I started off the morning making pumpkin cinnamon rolls. I made these last year, and I loved them and wanted to make them again. I don't think I used the same recipe though (still unsure), but they seemed similar even though the texture on these were a little different. Still good, still eaten.

Well, these took so long to make that we needed to make something else for breakfast while these were rising. So my sister saw the recipe for pumpkin pancakes on the same page as the cinnamon rolls and tried out the recipe.

I made the cranberry maple butter to go on top of them which we also used later for our rolls during Thanksgiving dinner.

The last pumpkin dish I made the night before Thanksgiving - a pumpkin cheesecake (second to the left). I have been making pumpkin cheesecakes every year now for at least six years, and I don't think I have used the same recipe twice (maybe one time, but I don't even know). I can never remember what recipe I used. I really liked how this year's turned out though. No cracks on the top, flavorful crust, yummy texture. And really, in my family, no one even eats the desserts on Thanksgiving day - everyone is literally too stuffed...

I was adventuresome and steered away from pumpkin briefly to try another new recipe for cranberry mousse. I wanted to use my jell-o mold for the first time, and this recipe seemed like a good one to break it in. Unfortunately, it wasn't a success story. It tasted great, but it looked a little less than appetizing. Sometimes my lack of patience carries over into my cooking. I didn't wait for the main mixture to gel until adding the fruit, etc. So, my bad. I'll try again.

Hope your Turkey day was delicious!

Mine was!