Layered Pumpkin Loaf

I told kraftykash that I had a great pumpkin cream cheese bread recipe and then left town and didn't look back. So sorry! Christmas was crazy this year. I usually refuse to travel, but in a weak moment agreed to go to the in-laws. It went fine, but I just really enjoy staying home and having Santa come to our own house. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. I got this recipe out of the Kraft Food & Family magazine. It is wonderful.

1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar, divided
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
4 egg whites, divided
1/2 cup fat free milk
1/4 cup canola oil
2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp. salt
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese softened

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a nonstick 9x5-inch loaf pan; set aside. Mix pumpkin, 1 cup sugar, the brown sugar, 3 of the egg whites, milk and oil in large bowl. Add flour, baking powder, pie spice and salt; stir just until moistened. Set aside. Beat cream cheese, remaining 2 Tbsp. sugar and the remaining egg white with wire whisk until well blended.

Spoon half of the batter into prepared pan; spoon cream cheese mixture evenly over the batter. Cover with remaining pumpkin batter.

Bake 1 hour to 1 hour 5 min. or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Run knife or thin spatula around edges of pan to loosen bread; cool in pan on wire rack 10 min. Remove bread from pan to wire rack; cool completely.

Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Treats

Yum, my Mom sent me some of these and I ate the whole bag in one sitting. I decided I better make more and take them to my in-laws for Christmas. Everyone should pork out on these. They are so easy and good. My Mom used Rolos, but I found Caramel Kisses for cheaper. They seem to taste the same.

1. Line a baking sheet with foil.

2. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

3. Unwrap candy Kisses and put on foil.

4. Bake for 3 minutes.

5. Press Pretzel onto Kisses.

6. Let cool.

7. Peel off and eat.

So easy, so if you aren't into holiday baking...this may be for you.

Green Tip

I just saw a link to this website through on of my favorite websites. They sell lots of good things, but I love the Rice Hull pots. They are made of Rice Hulls and 100% biodegradable and 100% compostable. I love it!http://www.olivebarn.com/ has lots of great Eco-friendly gifts at reasonable prices and reasonable shipping. I'm definitely going to put them in my faves list. Check them out.

Warm Bread...mmm

Well, it has been so darn cold, I just want to eat pasta and bread non-stop. So, I gave in to temptation and made some bread. I'm not really a bread maker, I wish I were. My bread never turns out quite right. I need some bread help. This recipe requires no kneading and is really pretty fast-right up my ally. I've seen different variations on this recipe, but this is the one I used.

English Muffin Batter Bread

4-41/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons salt

2 pkg active dry yeast or 4 tsp. active dry yeast

1 1/4 cups water

1/2 cup oil

2 eggs

In a large bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. In a small saucepan, heat water and oil to 120-130 degrees. Add liquid and eggs to flour mixture. Blend at low speed until moistened; beat 2 minutes at medium speed. By hand, stir in 2 1/2 to 3 cups flour to form a stiff batter. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and cloth towel. Let rise in warm place (80-85 degrees) until light and doubled in size, about 45-60 minutes. Grease and sprinkle with cornmeal two 8x4 inch loaf pans. Stir batter vigorously 30 seconds; spoon into prepared pans. Cover; let rise in warm place until doubled in size, about 30-45 minutes. Heat oven to 375. Bake 20-30 minutes or until loaves sound hollow when lightly tapped. Remove from pans immediately; cool on wire racks.

They turned our pretty good. I may have left them in a bit too long, the tops got pretty brown, oh yeah, and that big tunnel-darn. I just can't resist warm bread with butter. I could eat the whole loaf!

Another Day, Another Dinner

I made another casserole last night. You will notice that I go a little overboard on the casseroles, but I love the ease of them. I throw veggies in, and it is basically all I need to do for dinner. Well, and they are usually pretty economical. Anyway, here is the recipe.

Pizza Casserole

1 lb. ground beef

1 onion chopped

8oz. rigatoni noodles, cooked

1 pkg pepperoni

8 oz. mozzarella cheese shredded

1 (16 oz.) jar spaghetti sauce or pizza sauce

1 can cream of mushroom soup

2 small jars mushrooms

1 package frozen spinach

Brown and drain ground beef, add onion. Heat spaghetti sauce and mix mushroom soup in with it. Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray. Layer in dish 1/2 ground beef, sauce, noodles, mushrooms, pepperoni, spinach and cheese. Start over using the other 1/2 of the ingredients ending with cheese on top. Cook for 20-30 minutes in a 350 degree oven or until browned and bubbly. You could also layer in a crock pot and cook on low for 3 hours.

note: I used my homemade tomato sauce, so my casserole has tomato chunks in it. Use what you have . :)

Homemade Taco Seasoning

I have this great recipe for homemade taco seasoning, and it is so easy. It tastes great, and you control what goes into it. I have been using it for years, so I never buy the packets anymore. You can make this for just a few cents, and you probably have everything in your cabinets.

1 teaspoon Cumin
1 teaspoon Cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoon Chili Powder
1 teaspoon Red Pepper (optional)
1 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika

Mix all ingredients. Sprinkle mix on cooked hamburger and add 1/2 cup water. You can also add 2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste at this point if you want more tomato flavor. I usually leave out the red pepper, since the kids don't like spicy things. This only takes a couple of minutes, and tastes great. I put shredded carrots and diced boiled potatoes in my taco meat to give it more heft and also to sneak in some veggies. Have fun with this.

Chicken Casserole

You could easily use leftover chicken for this casserole, but I used boneless skinless thighs. They are cheap, and taste fine when you put them in something. You can also freeze this, if you are into cooking ahead. You will need:

8 oz. whole wheat spaghetti noodles broken into thirds
10 oz. jar Alfredo sauce or make your own (i used the previous post Easy Cheesy recipe and subbed Parmesan for the cheddar)
3 cups shredded chicken
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 c. fresh grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 c. drained sliced green olives
1/4 c. chopped cashew nuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook your pasta until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water, then drain the pasta well. Transfer pasta to a large mixing bowl and add the Alfredo sauce, mushroom soup, reserved water, chicken, Parmesan, and olives. Stir until combined. Pour into a 13x9 inch baking dish. Scatter the nuts on the top. Bake until is is slightly browned and bubbling. Let sit for 5 minutes before scooping out. Serve with a vegetable. Enjoy!

Easy Cheesy Sauce

I made this great cheese sauce the other day. It could be used for many things, but I used it on chili cheese fries. I had leftover chili, cut up potatoes and baked them and then made this great cheese sauce that I got from Rachel Ray http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/food/recipes/dinner-size-texas-chili-cheese-fries/. I changed it a bit, but I like it because the leftovers stayed creamy, and didn't separate like my normal cheese sauce. Here is what I did.

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1 cup milk
1 cup chicken stock
1 1/2 to 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Place a medium-size pot over medium-high heat and melt the butter. Sprinkle the flour over the melted butter and cook it for about a minute. Stir the mustard into the butter-flour mixture, then whisk in the milk and stock. Continue whisking the sauce until it has thickened up, then remove the pot from the heat and stir in the cheese until melted. Season the cheese sauce with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

I put a pile of fries down, a glob of chili and then poured this heavenly sauce over the top. She said to use 3 tablespoons mustard, but I found it way to mustardy. Use what you like, if you like mustard...go crazy with it. The leftover sauce was good cold too. I dipped tortilla chips in it, and it was great. I must make this again. Let me know what you think and if you have any other good ideas for it. ENJOY!

Green Tip

I just saw an segment on the news about green burials. I never thought too much about how toxic the traditional burial is. I have never been a fan of the burying of the body in a casket, I much prefer cremation, but there are some really bad things going into the earth when you do a traditional burial. Green burials are getting more attention. http://www.perfectmemorials.com/blog/back-to-nature-green-burial-movement-gains-favor/ this blog had some good information about the metal, concrete and embalming fluid that go into the earth after a traditional burial. This all goes into our water system and soil. Green burials are often much cheaper than a traditional burial as well. Check out this website for more information. http://www.greenburials.org/. Don't mean to be a downer, but this is a subject that we often overlook when trying to clean up the soil and waterways.

Whipped Up a Little Bag

I did it! I sat down last night and got the teacher's bag done. It was really pretty easy, and only took about 3 hours. It turned out a bit smaller than I had hoped, but you can still fit books or a lunch in it. It only took a yard of material. I'm not crazy about the fabric I used, but my fabric store doesn't have a ton of choices. (the downside of living in the middle of nowhere) I didn't use the fusible interfacing that it called for, so it is more of a floppy bag. I kind of like this kind of bag, because it is easier to stash. I'll try the interfacing next time to see what that looks like. Everyone might be getting these for Christmas!

Leftover Soup

I finally went to the grocery store, but I swear I don't know what I got. I can easily spend $50 and come home with milk and bread. Anyway, I fixed the last of our turkey for dinner. We didn't have our Thanksgiving dinner until Saturday, so our turkey isn't that old and gross. I made a turkey noodle soup, but it could be chicken and noodle just as easy. Also, something you should know about me is I use what I have. I never buy liquid chicken stock. I always use the powder, because it is much cheaper, or I make my own from a carcass. Bottom line...I'm cheap. So, this is how I made my soup which made a little over 4 servings.

2 cups leftover chicken or turkey

2 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup frozen peas and carrot mix

1/2 cup frozen spinach

small bundle broken whole wheat spaghetti noodles

Put stock in a saucepan, cut chicken or turkey up into bite sized pieces and dump into pan. Put in frozen veggies and let cook until veggies are hot. Throw spaghetti noodles in and cook until noodles are soft. Season with salt and pepper if you think it needs it. Enjoy! I am going to make a grocery/stuff bag for my son's teacher tonight. Hope it turns out.

Comfort Food

I decided not to go to the grocery store yesterday, so supper was whatever I could find in the fridge and cabinets. I came up with this German inspired venison summer sausage-kraut dish. I have tons of these babies in my freezer, so I needed something new to do with it.

1 chunk of summer sausage
1 can sauerkraut
1 onion
salt and pepper

I sliced the summer sausage into disks, then cut those into bite sized chunks. Sliced the onion and sauteed it in some oil, added the sausage chunks. I cooked this until onions were soft and sausage was slightly browned. Add the can of sauerkraut and cook until hot. Give it a dash of salt and pepper, and you are done.

Easy and delicious. I served with some green beans and kids and husband ate. (without too much complaining!)

Learning New Things

I feel like I am the last person on earth to start a blog, and I really don't know how to do it at all. It will definately be a learning experience, but I need to have this under my belt. I want this to be a fun site dedicated mostly to crafty things and cooking. These are the things that keep me going while staying home with my kids. My goal for Christmas is to make most of my presents. I better get started. I will be updating on how this goes. Goodby for now and I will be back soon with some content.