Pumpkin Pie Cups

Pumpkin.Pumpkin.Pumpkin.

 That seems to be what everyone has on the brain since pumpkin recipes are becoming very frequent on all of the food sites. I love both the taste of pumpkin and their appearance; we are selling at least 5 different types of squashes at work and all of them look completely different.

Some Turban Squashes from work: My favorite.

Pumpkin Spice (Steel Cut) Oatmeal

 The aroma of cinnamon and nutmeg to me signify that it's time for the weather to cool down, it's getting closer to the holidays, and to add a little spice to almost every recipe I make, especially baked goods. This pumpkin oatmeal has cinnamon, other warm spices, uses maple syrup instead of refined sugar, and fills you up before you head off to work or school. This is the perfect breakfast for the chilly, rainy mornings that we have been having around here lately.

  Up until maybe two years ago, I'd never tried steel cut oats and when I did I wasn't so sure about if I liked the them that much. Steel oats have a very different texture compared to regular oats because of how they are processed and takes about 3 times longer to cook up. About 5 months ago, I used steel cut oats to make overnight cinnamon apple oatmeal  in a slow cooker which everyone enjoyed for breakfast and it made the house smell delicious!

Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

   I love pinterest, but it's kind of being a pain. My most popular board is my food board and the other day my number of followers went down by a few hundred, but after i logged back in it went back to the correct number. Well, this last night the number went form over 1,000 down to 667...not cool. Well I found that if you went through to the help section that you can send them your username so they will look into it. The only problem is that this apparently is happening to a lot of members and it's taking time to fix the error.

 The kittens are getting bigger by the day. Their personalities are very different yet similar. Charlie is the leader and is fearless when it comes to the other cats, she is still smaller than her brother, but can gives as good as she gets. Gus Gus is still a big cuddle bug, is a little more cautious when it comes to doing new things, and likes to chew on my school books. Their new favorite thing to play with are straws and they like to try to steal them from my drinks .

Pumpkin Cake

  A few months ago, I decided to try  find serveral different pumpkin recipes to make during the fall and winter months. I found pumpkin recipes for cookies, pumpkin chip granola bars, a pumpkin roll cake ,muffins and many more that I still haven't tried yet.
I'm a pumpkin addict, I admit it.
 
  A family friend who travels for work recently came home for a short vacation. Dennis (the friend) has a huge sweet tooth- I think that is one reason we get along so well. Well I decided that if we were going to visit them, then I would want to make Dennis a treat. From my search of recipes involving pumpkin, I came across a recipe for Pumpkin Bars with a Cream Cheese Frosting from Sweet Pea's Kitchen. This recipe is called Pumpkin Bars, but it is more of a pumpkin cake than anything else. No matter the name, this recipe is a winner! The batter took only minutes to make and the frosting is addictive without being tooth-rotting sweet like some frostings. Plus, if you make the frosting by hand (which is what I did) it makes wanting another peice of cake less of a bad thing.

I added some orange, red, & yellow sugar sprinkles to make it look pretty

Homemade Turkey Stock & Turkey Pot Pie

   Turkey stock is one mandatory thing we make at our house if we hosted Thanksgiving that year. Its weird how when making the stock, our house smells more like turkey than it did on the day we actually cooked the turkey. We usually make turkey soup, but this time I made a pot pie. After having turkey sandwiches for lunch and saving turkey for the pot pie, there wasn't a lot of  of turkey leftover.

 Pot Pies are classic, whether it be chicken, turkey, or beef. But it seems like every pot pie that I buy in the freezer section at the store nowadays tastes like they added a cup of salt to it. Yuck! Ive made pot pies before and usually I make the pie crust myself, but with my SATs coming up this weekend among a list of other things I have to do, I decided that using store bought pie crust wouldn't hurt any.

 My dad said that this tasted better than the pot pies he used to buy from the store. This pie is packed with vegetables and has a thick, creamy sauce that goes well again the buttery, flaky crust.

Sweet Potato Casserole for Thanksgiving

Sweet Potatoes are good.

I like them mashed, roasted, fried, or just baked and topped with cinnamon and butter.

Sweet potato casserole is one of my favorite things during the holidays.

I got this recipe from Saveur

I loved the fact that this recipe has both a streusel topping and marshmallows.That way the people who like mashmallows on their sweet potato casserole get what they want and the people who prefer nuts can also be happy. My grandma couldn't stop raving about these and of course I gave  her the recipe.

Thanksgiving Dessert: Pumpkin Roll cake

   This year, we had Thanksgiving out at our house and I decided to make everything -except for the turkey; thats my mom's job.
I decided that I would make a pie, but use store bought crust and filling since you generally think of pie for the holidays. I also wanted to make a pumpkin roll cake. I had never before made a roll cake of any kind, but that didn't seem to bother me.

   On thursday (Thanksgiving) I decided to make the pumpkin roll cake. One reason being that they can be chilled or frozen after being prepared and another being if it didn't turn out or it cracked then I would have enough time to either make another cake or go to Plan B (I didn't really have a plan B, but I knew it would be another pumpkin dessert.)
The batter itself was very simple and fast to prepare. Our kitchen was filled with the aroma of pumpkin and nutmeg while the cake was baking.
The filling was very tasty and can be prepared ahead of time and just whipped again before filling the cake. I used vanilla that a friend brought back from a recent trip to mexico. It has a sweeter flavor than the stuff you buy at the store.
But there were some bumps in the road....
1. I kinda went overboard with the powdered sugar on the towel to prevent sticking and ending up getting powdered sugar on one whole side of the kitchen and floor. I later resembled an archaeologist dusting off extra powdered sugar off the nuts (#3) and the outside of the cake with a pastry brush.
2. I hesitated to roll the cake at first due to fear of breaking it, but it turned out good; even though it did have a slight crack- just 1 inch or so,but nothing that anyone, but me would notice.
3. I did roll it "backwards" though- I made the side with the nuts on the outside instead of the inside.
Filling the cake with the cream was actually very easy and I didn't have any cream seeping out the sides when I rolled the cake up again.

Butternut Squash Soup

Things have been busy lately.
I've been 2 differnent doctors this week, got lots of blood drawn, and 2 shots which made my arms sore the next day. This morning I somewhat finished the shopping list for our thanksgiving dinner, made pancakes,study some for my SAT , and roasted a butternut squash for soup (recipe below).

     Thanksgiving this year for our family will not be on Thanksgiving day. My grandparents, aunt, and uncle are going my uncle's sister's for thanksgiving and my mom is going to a friend's daughter's house leaving my dad and I at home. My dad will be cleaning the house while I make and prepare the sides and desserts for the 26th which is when at least 16 people will be crowded into our house talking and eating for our "late" Thanksgiving.
    Then exactly 1 week after that, I have my SAT test to take, a youth breakfast to attend, and will be testing out cookie recipes for both our church lunch in and to give as presents, and making mini loaves of bread because Garden Ridge has holiday mini loaf pans that were only 99 cents each so I bought some.
    Then somehow I have to make a few dozen cookies for our church's Holiday Lunch in, go to another church's camp where they take kids and teens who are underprivaleged to have a good meal, interact with other kids, ride horses, and such, and then wake up extra early the next day to head to church to prepare for the lunch in (and I possibly might have to be in a play on that day too, but I have no clue) all in a 2-3 day time frame.
And that is not nearly everything I have planned or scheduled to do this holiday season.
I might need to hibernate for a few months after this is all over with.

   I have another soup recipe to share. No its not the french onion soup recipe I was going to share first, but this soup is pretty tasty. Its a butternut squash soup recipe that I made up after looking over serveral other recipes for butternut squash soup. This soup doesn't have any dairy or cream in it, but you would never know that by how rich and creamy it is. Also I roasted the squash in the oven first, which took little effort and made peeling the squash extremely easy.

Butternut Squash Soup topped with pepper and bacon -
I added pine nuts too, but I was hungry and chose to eat the soup instead of taking a picture of it.

Sunday Morning Muffins, Doctor visits, and Tigger the chirping cat

An updated picture from 10-21-12. I used raw sugar instead of the streusel. 

>This post has a few different topics because I decided instead of posting 2 different posts, to just combine them and make it a big post. So sorry in advance for my rambling.

Its 11 pm Saturday night as I'm writing this and I just finished making 3 dozen muffins.
3 dozen pumpkin, cream cheese filled and streusel topped muffins.
Our house smells amazing right now.
Why did I make 3 dozen muffins?
Well this Sunday it was my mom's turn to bring breakfast for her class and I agreed to make it. Plus, some of those muffins are for my class. I didn't know if I wanted to make pumpkin muffins or if i wanted to try something else, but it being last minute I didn't want to try out a new recipe especially on a church full of people.So I went with the pumpkin muffins I posted a while back, but I added some things.
I didn't add nuts to the streusel this time because I don't know if anyone has nut allergies and I really do not not want someone to turn purple and their throat and tongue swelling on a Sunday morning because of me. I would never be able to live it down and I would feel horrible. So no nuts this time. The cream cheese filling is sweet, but not overly sweet and stills has that tang that only cream cheese has.
The cream cheese filling and the streusel topping make enough to fill & top 2-3 batches of  muffins. Extra streusel can be stored in your fridge for at least 4 days.

Practice makes perfect. This was the first time I made muffins with a filling.
The 1st batch I made looked like something you would make for a Halloween party (they looked creepy but tasted yummy), luckily the next two turned out looking a lot better.

Sunday Morning Muffins  (pumpkin muffins with cream cheese and a streusel topping)

Adapted: A Cozy Kitchen (muffin recipe)

Yields: 12 muffins, but enough filling & streusel for 2 1/2- 3 dozen

Muffins:
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup canned solid packed pumpkin
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp pumpkin or apple pie spice
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Cream Cheese Filling:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp pumpkin or apple pie spice

Streusel:
4 tbsp. butter, softened
1/2 cup a.p flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 nuts, chopped (optional)
1/2 tsp. pumpkin spice or cinnamon


For Cream Cheese Filling: Makes enough to fill 2 1/2- 3 dozen muffins
1. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, vanilla, spice/cinnamon, and cream cheese and mix until well combined and smooth.
2. Using a teaspoon, I added about 1/2 tsp. of the cream cheese mix on the batter per muffin.




For the streusel topping: Makes enough for 2 1/2- 3 dozen muffins
1. In a small bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, nuts, pie spice (or cinnamon), and butter.
2. I use a tablespoon measure to distribute the streusel on each muffin.


Muffins:  yields 12 muffins
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line 12 muffin tin with liners.
2. Combine the flour and baking powder.
3. Combine the pumpkin, oil, eggs, pie spice, sugar, baking soda, and salt until smooth.
4. Slowly whisk the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture. Fill each muffin cup 1/2 full (I use a ice cream scoop), add 1/2 tsp of cream cheese mixture, and then cover that with some more batter so it is 3/4 full. Sprinkle streusel over each muffin.
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the muffin comes out clean.
6. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then transfer the muffins from the pan to rack and cool completely.

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Then I have doctors appointments both Monday and Tuesday. One is a hematologist (blood doctor) and then Tuesdays its down to Children's Medical to see my Rheumatologist. So depending how this week goes, depends on what and how often I post. Maybe I'll make french onion soup(one of my mom's favorite) and I might even try out some cookie recipes that I'll will be making for holiday gifts.

    I might regret this, but I'm going to be baking like a crazy person this holiday. I am making the desserts for our "late" Thanksgiving dinner along with all the side dishes, Christmas cookies with icing (all from scratch) for our church's holiday dinner (and maybe some other desserts), pumpkin granola bars among other things for some friends coming into town,  and different cookies and goodies to give as gifts for family and friends. I think this will be a very big test for me. I like baking, but I don't always have the patience for it, especially after having disasters -Once I had 3 baking disasters right after each other and I didn't bake again for 2 weeks; so hopefully all goes well- And I want to bake like a lunatic because its something I've never done before. In our family we don't bake and decorate Christmas cookies or having dessert exchanges during the holidays (or ever) so this will be my time to make up for that. I have a feeling that my dad won't be complaining about the high amount of sweet treats that will be made in our house either.
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Here are some pictures of my cat Tigger. Our neighbor found Tigger in their tree when he was only a few weeks old. Since we only have 1 neighbor and both theirs and our cats were fixed and our dogs would have treed a stray cat, we didn't know where he came from.
Tigger isn't your ordinary cat .

see # 10

Tigger playing with a chicken  that I bought @ World Market

  Facts About Tigger:
1. He is terrified of strangers- the only people to see him is my mom, my dad, and I. No one else-we aren't real sure why because we did get him when he was young and he was exposed to many different people and animals, but he is a big scary cat and hides as soon as he hears other people in the house.
2. He hates dogs- he gets all puffed up and looks like a raccoon.
3. He used to be a great bird hunter, but after loosing some cats to coyotes that live in the back of our property my mom made him and Chex (our other cat) exclusive indoor cats. So now he sits on my couch cushion and watches the birds fly around.
4. Since he is an indoor only cat now, he has become an avid t.v watcher. One of his favorite channels to watch the national geographic channel. He sits on the couch and will watch until he falls asleep or I turn off the t.v.
5. He is a very vocal cat! He chirps like a bird when he gets excited and will talk to me through the day.
6. He is very needy and if he doesn't get attention he will bite or put his paw on my face to get my attention.
7. He is very jealous and whenever I have to become "mom" to orphan baby animals, he will not come into my room (which is where most of them stay if I have to raise them) or let me pet him until that animal is either old enough to not need me anymore or is gone to a new home.
8. He hates being brushed out so I have to use a lint roller to when he sheds.
9. His favorite thing to play with are pipe cleaners and my socks.
10. He has cheek bones that women would die for. And when he sleeps, he looks like a chipmunk.
11. He doesn't like "regular" human food like chicken, but he will gladly eat the ends of toast, apple sauce, and leftover soy milk from my cereal bowl. I can honestly say that out of all the animals we have owned and I've known- Tigger is truly one of a kind.

Lupus. Writing. Baking. And Pumpkin Muffins with Streusel Topping

  A lot has been going on latley.

             I've sat in more waiting rooms, had more blood drawn, and seen so many doctors in the last 4 months alone than I think I have in the last year combined. It turns out that I have lupus, but the doctors are still running more tests to see if there is anything else going on because my blood is showing abnormalities. So needless to say, it has been a rough few months.
            I know to a degree what is happening to my body, but at the same time I am absolutly clueless.I've had  the symptoms like the swelling and the butterfly rash for years, but we never put 2 and 2 together. One thing I have noticed though is that I have been writing more. I told my mom that she may be right. She always said that I was a good writer and that I may even make a career out of it, but I never saw it. I usually dread writing essays for school, and yet I find myself writing at 2am because my brain won't shut off. I never really know what im going to write about at the time, I just have this urge.  I guess writing is how I vent. How I let go. You could say that Im a very private person, sure I have a blog and all, but at the same time I hate having attention on me. I don't like to talk about whats really going on, I usually just change the subject to something safe, like cooking or animals.

 

Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal

Originally, I was going to post a pretzel crusted chicken tenders recipe, but they didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. They weren't bad, but they weren't great.

So.... instead I am posting a recipe for oatmeal.
Oatmeal with brown sugar and apples.
There is something about having a bowl of hot creamy oatmeal on a very chilly Autumn morning that I find very comforting.  Im glad Autumn is here, especially after the hot, dry, and very dreadful summer we had just  experienced here in Texas. Autumn is my favorite season. I love the chilly days,wearing comfy sweaters, the colors of the leaves, the aroma of cinnamon and freshly baked pumkin pie, and just the time of relaxation before the holidays arrive.

The creamy oatmeal with the sweetness from both the apples and brown sugar and a crunch from pecans is like heaven in a bowl. There was once a time when I gave up on oatmeal because of those little instant packages. I hated it, especially since I usually was sick and had to take medicine. But my grandma started making oatmeal- its not Quaker, I forgot the name, but I know she has to place a big order to be sent here to Texas-and my love for oatmeal was renewed. She makes her oatmeal with soy milk, brown sugar, and raisins. I made this oatmeal kinda like how she makes her, but with Quaker.

Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal

Adapted from: 5dollardinners

serves: 2

• 2 cp. water (or milk)
• 1 cp. old fashioned oats
• 1 large apple (I used 2 small Jonathon apples)
• about 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 
• a pinch of salt
• 3 tbsp. brown sugar

1. Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan; add the cinnamon. Add the oats- cook according to the directions on package.
2. Core and chop the apples into bite-sized pieces.
3. Once the oatmeal has thickened & is gently boiling, stir in the apples and brown sugar. Cook for a few more minutes; if you like softer apples, then cook for about 3-4 minutes.
4. Serve.

I like to top mine with some chopped pecans and extra brown sugar.
Bananas would also be good to top each bowl with, if desired.

Lila Mae's Taco Soup

Well the family came out tonight and we ate taco soup.

Lila Mae is my grandma.
She has a soup recipe.
Its called Taco Soup.
Its Amazing.
Even people who aren't big soup fans (me being one) crave it.
End of Story.

Every year, just as Autumn begins my Grandma makes her famous Taco Soup.
Well its famous in our family.
We love it!
Its kind of sad how much we enjoy this soup. What makes it better, it that it freezes well so we can eat it anytime.

Taco Soup

Serves: 12-16 serving

·         2 lbs. ground sirloin

·         1 large onion, diced

·         2 tsp. salt

·         Ground Cumin (starts with 1 teaspoon)

·         Chili Powder (starts with 1 teaspoon*)

·         3 cans Whole Kernel Corn

·         3 cans Pinto Beans (I use Ranch-style)

·         3 cans Ortega diced green chilis

·         3 cans Stewed diced tomatoes (use small diced tomatoes)

·         3 pkg. Hidden Valley original Ranch mix

·         3 pkg. Lawry’s Taco Mix (mild or medium heat)

·         6-8 cp. water

1.      Brown the sirloin and onion in a large skillet. (I soak up any leftover grease with paper towels)

2.      Transfer the browned beef and onions to a large slow cooker or a stockpot.

3.      Add in the corn, beans, chilies, and tomatoes.

4.      Add the salt, cumin, and chili powder to taste.

5.      Add in the Lawry’s and Ranch packages and 6 cups of water.

6.      Let simmer for several hours, stirring every so often so nothing sticks to the bottom.

7.      As it cooks down, taste it to see if it needs more salt, cumin, or chili powder.

We top our soup with tortilla chips and shredded cheese, but you could add sour cream or jalapenos.

*If you have people who do not like their food hot then 1 tsp. in enough, but if they do enjoy their food hotter, then you could add more.

-- Usually my grandma doubles the recipe so we can have 1 big family dinner together(usually 9-12 people) and then 3 households (each house has less than 4 people) can freeze the leftovers to eat whenever.

Baked Apple for One

I made a quiche about a year ago and it was good.

So good that I ate 2 slices.

And coming from someone who generally dislikes eggs (except for develed eggs during the holidays or if i completly cover scrambled eggs in salsa); its kinda a big thing.

But I can't find the recipe; so I used one from Food Network.

I usually read recipe reviews, but thought that since it had a good rating, I didn't need to.

Unfortunately, either someone didn't test the recipe or accidently mistyped it.
I thought 1 1/2 cps. of heavy cream was too much, but I followed the recipe anyway.
And instead of 30-40 minutes, I cooked it for at least 1 hour and it was still a runny gooey mess.

So that is why there is no quiche recipe.

Instead ......
Im sharing a Baked Apple recipe (homemade whipped cream)

topped with fresh cinnamon whipped cream

YUM!