Pumpkin Spice Bread

Just another reason for me to love fall. Bake this delicious bread and your kitchen and whole house will smell divine! Plus, the added ginger and orange give a special twist to the old fashioned pumpkin bread! (I've made it without the ginger and orange and it is just as delicious too)

BREAD

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened, cut up
1 cup canned pure pumpkin
2 eggs
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons grated orange peel

GLAZE

1 cup powdered sugar
1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon grated orange peel

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom of 9x5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and baking powder in medium bowl.
2. Beat sugar and butter in large bowl at medium-high speed 4 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add pumpkin, eggs, ginger and 2 teaspoons orange peel; beat at medium speed until well-blended. (Batter may look curdled.) Slowly beat in flour mixture at low speed just until blended. Spoon batter into pan.
3. Bake 60 to 65 minutes or until edges pull away slightly from sides of pan and center springs back when lightly touched. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely. (Bread can be made to this point 2 weeks ahead and frozen.)
4. Whisk all glaze ingredients in small bowl. Pour into small resealable plastic bag; cut off small corner of bag. Drizzle glaze over bread; let stand until set.

Tofu Scramble

I am not a huge fan of tofu. It has to be just right for me to eat it. And, with celiac, I am finding it harder and harder to find cheap and easy meal ideas. I purchased one of the frozen meals that was "tofu scramble" and thought I would try it. It was so good, but pricey for such a small portion. I realized, there has to be an easy way to make this at home, for a fraction of the cost. And so, I made it. Same price as the frozen meal, but I can get 7 meals out of the ingredients I bought. Easy.

Serves 1
1/8 cup diced green pepper
1/4 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup baby spinach
1/4 cup firm tofu
2 tbsp olive oil
1/8 tsp ground ginger

Heat a medium sauce pan with olive oil on med heat. Add mushrooms and peppers, saute about 3 minutes. Add crumbled tofu, spinach, and ground ginger. Saute, stirring occasionally, 5-7 minutes.
Serve alone or with hash browns

Pumpkin Cookies with cream cheese frosting

Its almost fall....
Like I need another reason to make something pumpkin. I think, no, I KNOW Bryan is getting tired of it. He HATES fall only because he knows everything I bake has pumpkin in it and he is not a fan of pumpkin.

But I am. And the kids are.

So, I found a recipe for pumpkin cookies a little while back. Tweaked it and perfected it, made it a little easier, and here we go!



Pumpkin Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 egg
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar and pumpkin. Add egg.
In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
Add flour mix to pumpkin mix.
Here is where I like to add 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. Everything is better with chocolate.
Drop spoonful on to greased cookie sheet. They don't rise much or change shape, so if you are concerned how they look, fix them before you cook them.
Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes. Let cool before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 lb powdered sugar
1 stick butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
Beat all ingredients together until creamy. Frost cooled cookies.

Smores bars

Growing up, my mom always made the best treats. We always had friends over and she was always on top of things making the latest recipe. When she found this one, we constantly asked for it. I remember one friend in particular, Jenna, and I could eat an entire pan of these. We never waited for them to cool. I dont think we even let them make it into a pan! 

These are super easy, super good, and a definite crowd, or kid, pleaser.

1 bag miniature marshmallows
1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
5 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/4 cup corn syrup
1 box Golden Grahams (8 cups)

1. Grease 13x9-inch pan with butter. Reserve 1 cup of the marshmallows. In 3-quart saucepan, melt chocolate chips, butter, corn syrup and remaining 4 1/2 cups marshmallowsover low heat, stirring occasionally, until completely melted. Remove from heat.

2. Pour cereal into large bowl. Pour marshmallow mixture over cereal; stir until evenly coated. Stir in remaining 1 cup marshmallows.

3.With buttered back of spoon, press mixture in pan. Cool at least 1 hour or until firm. Or, do as I do and eat them warm!!!

Fruity Oat Bars

I am always looking for healthy, yet fun, snacks for the girls for when they come home from school. They always come home "so hungry", even if they just had a snack at school. And, of course, they rush for candy or fruit snacks. Which, of course, will make them crash and burn during homework time. These bars are perfect. They give them that boost of energy they need, plus, they have the little bit of sweet that they crave, and they are good for them. Bonus...they are easy.

Ingredients:

1 cup dried apricots (or 1 cup sugar-free preserves)

1/4 cup water

2 1/3 whole wheat flour

1 cup oats

1/2 tsp salt

1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp light corn syrup

Preheat oven to 400F. Grease and line bottom of square cake pan with parchment paper. Add apricots and water to blender. (If using preserves, do not add water) Process the apricots until they are smooth (add more or less water, depending on the consistancy you like). Put the flour, oats, and salt in a mixing bowl and stir until combined. Melt the butter, sugar, and syrup in a saucepan over low heat. Stir until butter has completely melted. Pour the butter mixture into the mixing bowl with the oats and flour. Stir until everything is combined. Press half of the mixture into cake pan and smooth it to make an even layer. Spread apricots (or preserves) over oat layer. Press the rest of the oat mixture on top. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the oats on top are golden. Let cool for 5 minutes. Divide the bars into squares and leave them to cool completely in the pan before removing.

Sweet Coleslaw

I know, this is more of a summer dish and I should have posted it ages ago. Sorry. It still is summer here in Florida.
I never was a big coleslaw person. This recipe has taken me a while to perfect to make it the right consistency and the right amount of sweet. Perfect for any cookout or party!

1 16oz bag coleslaw mix
2/3 cup mayo (Duke's is always the best)
-note, if you like it a little more tangy, I sometimes do 1/3 cup mayo 1/3 cup miracle whip, but using all Miracle whip makes it way too sweet, in my opinion
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
optional- 1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds

Mix all ingredients in large bowl, cover, refrigerate at least 4 hours.