Monthly Archives: November 2011

November 5, 2011 · 1:35 pm

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

If these don’t say fall, then I don’t know what does. We had these for lunch today with some scrambled eggs, breakfast sausage and fruit salad. It was a perfect warm fall lunch on a very chilly rainy day.

Ingredients:
For the filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners’ sugar

For the muffins:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
4 large eggs
1 2/3 cups sugar
2 cups pumpkin puree
1¼ cups vegetable oil

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar in a medium bowl and mix well until blended and smooth. Set aside.

To make the muffins, preheat the oven to 350Ëš F. Line muffin pans with paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking soda; whisk to blend. In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the eggs, sugar, pumpkin puree and oil. Mix on medium-low speed until blended. With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated.

To assemble the muffins, fill each muffin well with a small amount of batter, just enough to cover the bottom of the liner (1-2 tablespoons). Place a dollop of the cream cheese mixture into each muffin well. Divide the remaining batter among the muffin cups, placing on top of the cream cheese to cover completely.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before serving. (It may be hard to resist immediate consumption, but the cream cheese filling gets very hot!)

Did I change anything? I used less sugar than the original recipe called for and I made the filling procedures a lot easier and a lot less time consuming. I also left off the topping that was supposed to go on top of the muffins and I only made half of the recipe. The recipe above will make about 24 muffins. I didn’t want to make that many.

What did the family think? Everyone that has had one loves them.

Where did this recipe come from? Annie’s Eats

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Filed under After School Snacks, Bread, Breakfast, Definitely Making it Again, Desserts, Vegetarian

November 4, 2011 · 1:53 pm

The Best Homemade Sloppy Joes I’ve Ever Made

I have several homemade sloppy joe recipes on Mommacooks, but this is the best one by far. Our youngest was telling me the other day how much he loves sloppy joes and we were reminiscing about how when he was toddler he could down a whole entire sloppy joe and how cute it was…yada, yada, yada. Fast forward to last night when I actually made the sloppy joes. Turns out he doesn’t like them. Why didn’t I see that coming?

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 onions, roughly chopped
2 ½ pounds ground beef
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2/3 cup BBQ sauce
½ cup ketchup
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup soy sauce
8 to 12 potato rolls (These are my absolute favorite kind of roll/bun.)
Cheddar cheese slices, optional

Instructions:
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until they start to turn translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the beef and cook, stirring and breaking up the meat, until it is finely crumbled, the liquid boils off and the meat begins to brown, about 10 minutes.

Drain the grease off the meat and onions.

Stir in the tomato paste, and keep stirring until the meat is coated. Add the BBQ sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire, soy sauce, and pepper, and bring to a boil. Cook until the sauce is slightly thickened, 4 to 5 minutes.

Did I change anything? I only made 1/2 the recipe which was a mistake. We wanted seconds and there weren’t any. I also added cheddar cheese onto the recipe. I like cheese on my sloppy joe.

What did the family think? Everyone (but the person who was telling me how much they loved sloppy joes last weekend) loved this recipe and was ready for seconds.

Where did this recipe come from? Mel’s Kitchen Cafe

Photo from LiveCookLove

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Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Sandwich, Super Easy to Make

November 3, 2011 · 10:51 am

Pizza Casserole

In my weekly challenge of taking some sort of noodle and combining it with red sauce and some sort of Italian-type of meat (think meatballs or Italian sausage) and coming up with something new so that my children will eat without complaining, I give you (drumroll please) the pizza casserole from For Mamas.

Ingredients:
2 jars pasta sauce
1 bag egg noodles
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 1/2 lbs. crumbled Italian sausage or hamburger
1 package pepperonis

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook the egg noodles according to package directions and drain.

Cook sausage and drain off fat.

Using a casserole dish begin layering ingredients. First pour about 1 1/2 cups pasta sauce in the bottom of the casserole dish. Then put half of the meat, then half the cheese, then half the noodles and then more sauce and repeat until you end up with the last layer being sauce.

Place the pepperonis on top.

Bake for about 20-30 minutes, until cheese is melted and it’s bubbling. Let it rest for a few minutes before serving.

Did I change anything? I didn’t use any pepperoni. I think it would be have been super tasty that way, but certain people in our family would have had a fit. In retrospect, they could have just picked them off.

What did the family think? This made quite a bit of food, but after having seconds and eating it for lunch in leftovers for a couple of days, it’s now all gone. They must like it if they keep eating it. 🙂

Where did this recipe come from? For Mamas

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Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Everybody Ate It, Italian, Six Ingredients or Less

November 2, 2011 · 11:08 am

Jaime Oliver’s Chicken Fajitas

This is the last recipe I got to make from Jaime Oliver’s new cookbook before I had to take it back to the library. There were several more recipes that I had bookmarked, but I guess I will have to wait and see if I can check it back out again later. In the meantime, enjoy these scrumptious fajitas.

Ingredients:
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and cut in thin strips
• 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 skinless, boneless chicken breast, sliced
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• a small pinch of ground cumin
• 2 limes
• olive oil
• freshly ground black pepper
• 4-6 flour tortillas
• good-quality low-fat natural yogurt, salsa, guacamole, cheddar cheese

Instructions:
Add peppers, onions and chicken to a medium bowl with the paprika and cumin. Squeeze over the juice of one lime, drizzle over a lug of olive oil, season with a good pinch of pepper and mix well.

Let marinate for five-ten minutes. Preheat skillet/pan.

Use a pair of tongs to put all the pieces of pepper, onion and chicken into your preheated pan to cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until the chicken is golden and cooked through.

As the pan will be really hot, keep turning the pieces of chicken and vegetables over so they don’t burn – you just want them to lightly chargrill to give you a lovely flavor.

Warm your tortillas up in a microwave.

Divide your warmed tortillas between your serving plates.

Halve your remaining lime and squeeze the juices over the sizzling pan.

Serve with yogurt, salsa, cheese and guacamole.

Did I change anything? The original recipe came with another recipe for homemade salsa which I did not make.

What did the family think? The kids just ate the chicken parts with their tortillas, cheese and yogurt…no onions and peppers. Hubby and I really like it and I was so happy to find a fajita recipe that I like, that has taste and doesn’t require a packet of fajita seasoning.

Where did this recipe come from? Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution

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Filed under Chicken, Definitely Making it Again, Mexican