Pumpkin Pancakes!

I love just about anything with pumpkin in it! I've tried a few pumpkin pancake recipes, but this one from one of my friends at MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) is my favorite. It's a little more time consuming than what I like to cook these days, but well worth it. I usually double the recipe and freeze them for a quick breakfast.

1 cup pumpkin puree (1/2 of 15 oz can)
1 egg
1.5 cup milk
2 T white vinegar
2 T canola oil (I used olive oil)
2 cups flour (I do 1 cup whole wheat, 1 cup white)
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 ts ground ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt

1. Combine the pumpkin, egg, milk, vinegar and oil
2. Combine the remaining ingredients and add to the pumpkin mixture. Stir just until combined. DON'T over mix; a few small lumps are okay
3. Heat griddle over medium/low heat
4. Cook till light golden brown on both sides, about 2-3 minutes.

Makes approx 24 small/medium pancakes

If you like thin pancakes this is NOT the recipe for you. These pancakes are thick and almost doughy (which we love!). I usually try to pat down the batter a little after pouring on the griddle in order for them not to be too doughy. I love these with apple butter and maple syrup....yum!

Note: 1/2 tsp allspice = 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp cloves, 1/8 tsp nutmeg

Naomi usually eats more pancakes than me, but today she wanted oatmeal....go figure!

My little cowgirl!

Pancake Chef

In order to try and save money I found a recipe to make my own pancake mix and it has been pretty good so far. Naomi loves to help me mix up a batch!

4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablesppons baking powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
Store in airtight container for up to 6 months. To prepare add 1 cup mix, 1 egg, 1/2-3/4 cup milk. Our personal favorite is to add in blueberries as well. This makes about 8 large pancakes. Full recipe can be found here

I picked up some flaxseed meal I plan to add in next time for some additional fiber and Omega 3!

Baked Chicken Fajitas

This is my new favorite recipe, thanks to Pinterest. It's so easy and tastes great!

Source

Ingredients

• approx 1 lb boneless chicken breasts
• peppers (I used about a half of 2 different colors, whatever you have on hand)
• onion (I just eye ball it based on how strong the onion is and how much we like)
• 2 T canola oil
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp garlic
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Cut chicken breasts, peppers, onions into strips. Mix spices with oil and coat chicken. Then mix in peppers and onions in a sprayed baking dish. Bake at 400 for approx 20 minutes. There will be a little liquid in the dish after baking, you can either dump it out or it will absorb after standing. The chicken comes out really tender and the peppers and onions will have a little crunch, which is how we like them.

This is my version of a recipe I found here. It is pretty mild, so I've been trying to tweak it to our spicy taste buds.

Egg "McMuffin" in the Freezer

I found this recipe at Once a Month Mom, my freezer meal source, but the original recipe can be found here

Ingredients

Eggs
Shredded Cheese (i used a mild cheddar)
English Muffins
Butter (optional)

Directions

Crack each egg into a muffin tin, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook at 350 for about 15-20 minutes. I tried to make sure my eggs were completely cooked since I would be freezing some of them.

Slice English muffin, butter one side, and place in oven after the eggs have been cooking for about 10 minutes. Put cheese on them the last 3-4 minutes or until melted.

If you want to freeze them, place on a cookie sheet and place in a freezer for about 1 hour. Then wrap them in plastic wrap and place in a Ziploc freezer bag. Put the completely frozen muffins in the oven at 350 for 25 mins.


These were so easy to fix and much healthier than the McDonald's variety especially since I used whole wheat English muffins. I was hoping they would be something Spencer could take and eat on the way to work if he was running late, but according to the recipe source they would not be very good warmed up in microwave. Spencer loved them though!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

This morning I scrounged up enough energy to make these yummy muffins. It was a bit more time consuming than I like these days, but they were worth it! I got the idea from Once a Month Mom but the orignally recipe can be found at Meal Makeover Moms

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup ground flaxseed or wheat germ (I used wheat germ)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup canned pure pumpkin
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1.Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly oil or coat muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2.Whisk together the flours, wheat germ, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Combine the pumpkin, eggs, brown sugar, oil, milk, and vanilla in a medium bowl and stir until well combined. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir until just moistened. Stir in the chocolate chips.
3.Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

It made about 14 full-size muffins for me! Naomi loved them (minus the chocolate chips). I can still "fool" her for a little while :)

Blueberry Banana Muffins

I am experimenting with once a month cooking (a.k.a. cooking a bunch of meals ideally once a month and freezing them) and found this great recipe at Once a Month Mom They were delicious and really healthy for you. Naomi ate 2 the other morning!

Blueberry Banana Muffins

Author/Source:
Pam @ Onceamonthmom.com


Ingredients:
2 whole ripe bananas, mashed
0.5 cup plain yogurt
0.5 cup oil or applesauce
1 egg
0.5 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup flour
1 cup oatmeal (rolled oats)
1 cup blueberries

Directions:
Mash bananas. Add yogurt, applesauce, and egg. Mix in baking soda, baking powder, sugar, flour, and oatmeal. Gently fold in blueberries. Spoon into greased or paper-lined muffin tins and bake at 375F for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Homemade Granola Bars

I saw this recipe for Homemade Granola Bar's on a friend's blog. They are more time consuming than opening up the packaged granola bars, but I think they taste better. I cut the brown sugar down to 1/2 cup and it was PLENTY for us. I think next time I may even use less or less honey. I used a mixture of nuts and dried fruits and probably used a little more dried fruit than the recipe called for. I cooked them for 25 mins and they turned out great. I also added the wheat germ. Depending on how big you cut the bars they will probably yield about 15-20 bars. I don't know that it is any cheaper to make your own granola bars, but I am sure they are probably healthier since they don't have any preservatives or artificial ingredients. Enjoy!

Homemade Granola Bars

2 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup crasins (or other dried fruit)
1/2 cup wheat germ (optional)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup honey
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper, and spray with vegetable oil spray.
2. In a large bowl, stir together oats, flour, brown sugar, raisins, wheat germ, salt, cinnamon, and walnuts. In a smaller bowl, thoroughly blend oil, honey, egg, and vanilla; pour into the flour mixture, and mix by hand until the liquid is evenly distributed. Press evenly into the prepared baking pan.
3. Bake 25 to 30 minutes into the preheated oven, or until the edges are golden. Cool completely in pan before turning out onto a cutting board and cutting into bars.

Try it Tuesday is Back

I haven't been trying too many new recipes lately, but we've got some missionary friends coming to visit. I don't really know what this dessert is called, but my Mom made this recently. Here's my version.

Strawberry Blueberry Angel Food Delight

*8oz pkg light cream cheese (softened)
*large tub of cool-whip (16oz)
*pkg angel food cake (i think it's 10oz)
*container of strawberry glaze (found next to the strawberries at the grocery)
*1 quart strawberries sliced
*1 pint of blueberries
*1 cup powdered sugar

1. Mix the softened cream cheese, sugar, and all but enough cool-whip to put on top of the dessert at the end.

2. Mix the strawberries with the glaze

3. Crumble the cake and layer cake, cream cheese mixture, strawberry glaze and blueberries then repeat finishing with cool-whip and strawberries/blueberries to garnish.

This makes a large amount by the way!

Try it Tuesday (on Friday)

Sweet Potatoes were on sale for 57 cents/pound at Walmart. I got some to puree for Naomi and a couple extra for us. I had been wanting to try to make sweet potato fries and found this recipe on countryliving.com. It turned out pretty good. Here's my version:

Baked Sweet Potato Wedges

1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
3 small sweet potatoes

Peel potatoes and cut into wedges. Mix spices and oil and toss with wedges. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

My thoughts
These were good, but they weren't crispy. They were getting pretty brown though after 30 minutes so I don't know how they would ever be crisy like a fry (especially since they aren't fried!) But we enjoyed them. The spice could have been more but it was a good mix with the sweetness of the potato. We served them with Turkey Burgers cooked on our George Foreman. A much healthier alternative to french fries and cheap too! :)

Try it Tuesday

Unfortunately, I've been slacking on trying new recipes. This week's recipe is from my favorite Crockpot Lady again. Since it's still "soup" kind of weather here I thought I'd try this recipe. A friend of mine tried it and said it was pretty good. It's based on Olive Garden's Pasta E. Fagioli soup. I sort of 'halved' the original recipe and it left us plenty of left overs. Here's my version of the recipe:

Crockpot Pasta Fagioli

1/2 pound round turkey, browned and drained
1 T dried chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped baby carrots
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes (and juice)
1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups chicken broth (sorry I don't do beef! :)
1/2 jar (16.5 oz) pasta sauce (approx. 1 1/2 cups)
1 tsp oregano
1 T generic hot sauce
1/8 tsp celery salt (i didn't have celery)
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup dry pasta, to add at end of cooking time (I used whole wheat penne rigate)

I used a 4 quart crockpot and it filled it about 3/4 the way full.

Brown the meat on the stovetop with onion. Let it cool a bit.

Chop up the carrots and add them to the empty crockpot.
Drain and rinse the beans, and add them. Add the whole can of tomatoes, and the pasta sauce. Add the broth, salt, pepper, oregano, and hot sauce. Stir in meat.

I cooked mine on high for about 4 hours then I added the pasta and cooked on low for another hour. The pasta swells, just so you know.

My thoughts
This is another good, easy soup recipe. I personally thought it was too salty. Spencer liked it fine. We technically 'doubled' the hot sauce, but we didn't notice the soup being spicy at all. Next time I probably wouldn't add any salt. Now that I think about it I think my can of tomatoes had salt (usually I buy unsalted), so that didn't help either. I would definitely make this again, but hopefully warmer weather is on the way and we won't be eating as much soup! :)

Try it Tuesday...on Friday

I know you all have just been dying to see my 'Try it Tuesday' recipe :) This week's recipe comes from Recipezaar and is an Indian dish cooked in the crockpot. Two of my favorite things! We love Indian food, but I've always had a hard time finding good recipes, or at least recipes that taste like the food our Indian friends fix for us! This recipe had 115 reviews with an average of 4.5 out of 5 stars. I read through the reviews and then adapted it some based on the spices I had. Here's my version:

Crockpot Chicken Vindaloo

1 1/2 T vinegar
2 T Brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp minced garlic (3 cloves)
1 T whole mustard seed (I ground mine in our coffee grinder)
1 T curry
1 T cumin (yes a whole T)
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp indian chili powder
1/4 tsp cayene pepper
1 T dried onion (or 1 onion chopped)
1/2 tsp salt
2 T olive oil
1 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1 (15oz) can chick peas drained/rinsed
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts thawed

Mix spices, tomato sauce, water, and olive oil together. Spray crockpot with non-stick cooking spray and cover bottom of crockpot with some of the sauce. Then place the chicken on top of the sauce. Add the chicken peas and the rest of the sauce. Cook on low for about 3.5 hours (in my crockpot, the original recipe suggested 5hrs).

Serve with rice and naan (as a side note I am thrilled that our Walmart sells Naan including one that is Garlic and Cilantro! What in the world...small town Western KY has Indian bread?! The world sure is changing :)) I have made Roti before, another Indian bread, but I have not been successful at making my own naan

My thoughts
This recipe, even with my changes, was pretty good. The original recipe didn't call for water I just added it because we like more sauce with our Indian food and the sauce seemed too thick. I think it was too much though. Next time I might just do 1/8-1/4 cup water. Maybe I would just double the sauce next time overall. The orginial recipe didn't call for garam masala. It called for cinnamon, cloves, ginger, cardamom, etc. I didn't have cardamom, so I thought I would try the garam masala instead. It also has cumin in it and with already 1 T of cumin in the recipe it might have been a little much, so next time I might decrease the cumin if I use garam masala. Most of the reviews suggested adding brown sugar, but I personally think 2 T might be too much. Vindaloos are a favorite of Spencer's because he loves spicy Indian food and Vindaloos are supposed to be spicy. In our opinion this recipe still needed more spice, of course :)

Try it Tuesday

In our Africa days we enjoyed a lot of good Tilapia or fish and chips as they called it. I was intending to bread the filets and bake them, but then I found this recipe on Spark Recipes and thought it sounded good. I actually don't think I've ever had rosemary so I didn't know if I would like it, but I had to try it anyway :) Here's my version of the recipe.

Rosemary & Tomato Tilapia with Parmesean Basil Noodles

4 (4 oz) Tilapia filets
1 (14.5oz) can diced tomatoes
1/2 tbsp dry rosemary
6oz pasta (i used penne)
4 tbsp butter
1 tbsp dry basil
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/4 cup parmesean cheese
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400. Place tilapia filets in a 9X13 baking dish, sprinkle with rosemary and cover with 1/2 can of tomatoes. Bake 15 minutes until fish is moist but done.
2. While fish is baking boil noodles in a medium sauce pan, cook to package directions. Drain leaving in the colander. In sauce pan melt butter, add basil and garlic. Cook garlic in butter for 2 minutes on medium low heat. Add pasta and toss. sprinkle in cheese and the remaining tomatoes and toss.

My thoughts
This was a good recipe, but of course I would make some changes. It definitely needs a good bit of salt and pepper and we thought it needed more garlic. We sprinkled some garlic powder on it and that seemed to help some. I am not a fan of rosemary personally. It's not the flavor but the texture...felt like I was eating hard grass. We love basil so next time I would only use basil. I would also put salt, pepper, and garlic powder as well as basil and tomatoes on the tilapia. I think basting with some olive oil would help too. It seems like it is hard to find good recipes with the right amount of seasoning. I would definitely make this again with the adjustments mentioned.

Try it Tuesday

So I initially was planning to make a Indian Chicken Curry dish, but I bought Cream of Coconut instead of Coconut milk (not knowing that there was a difference). Well, apparently there is :) I started searching for recipes for cream of coconut and found this one on allrecipes It's supposed to be an Indonesian recipe.

Chicken in Coconut Sauce

1 (15 ounce) can cream of coconut
1 cup hot water
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 tablespoon lemon juice (I used lime instead)
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 onions,chopped (the review said this was too much, so I only did one)
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

1.)Mix the cream of coconut with the hot water until smooth and well blended, and set aside.

2.)Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, and place the chicken breasts into the hot oil. Pan-fry the chicken breasts until they have begun to brown but are still pink inside, about 5 minutes per side. Remove the chicken breasts to paper towels, and sprinkle them with lemon juice, ginger, chili powder, salt, and pepper.

3.)Place the onions and garlic into the skillet over medium heat, and cook and stir until they are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Return the chicken breasts to the skillet on top of the cooked onions and garlic, and pour the coconut cream mixture over the chicken. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened, about 35 minutes.

My thoughts
This was a pretty good recipe. It was pretty sweet though and I really don't know why you couldn't make it with coconut milk instead (just omitting the water). Spencer and I felt like the chicken needed some marinade because inside the chicken wasn't seasoned of course. I was thinking maybe next time I would cut up the chicken breasts and cook them so it gets mixed in the sauce more. Overall I would make this recipe again with some minor touches.

Try it Tuesday

This week Spencer is working a lot of evenings so I am actually posting a recipe I tried a couple weeks ago. I got it from the blogging friend who I got the idea from to start Try it Tuesday.

Turkey-Black Bean Chili
(from Southern Living)

2 (15 oz.) cans of black beans (or any beans you have on hand)
1 onion, chopped
1 lb. ground turkey
1 T. olive oil
4 t. chili powder
1 t. ground cumin
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 (14 oz.) can low-sodium fat-free chicken broth
2 (14.5 oz.) cans petite diced tomatoes with jalapeno peppers

Drain and rinse beans. Saute onion and ground turkey in oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Stir in chili powder and seasonings ; saute 1 minute. Stir in drained and undrained beans, chicken broth, and diced tomatoes. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 10 minutes.

This is a good easy chili recipe. I used a can of black beans and a can of pinto beans. I did learn however that Indian chili powder CANNOT be used interchangeably for regular chili powder :) Even the sour cream I added couldn't tame down the heat and that's coming from a person who loves spicy food! I would imagine even with 4 tsp of regular chili powder this might be a little hot so if you don't like spice you might opt for just plain diced tomatoes.

Try it Tuesday! (Updated)

So I got the idea from another friend in the blogging world to try a new recipe each week and post it on Tuesdays. I probably won't be able to do it every Tuesday, but I love trying new recipes. Today's recipe is actually in my crockpot cooking right now so I can't give you a verdict of whether I think it's a 'keeper' or not, but it comes from my favorite recipe website by The Crockpot Lady

Crockpot Applesauce Chicken

-4 small frozen chicken breast halves
-1 cup natural (no sugar added) applesauce
-1/2 cup water
-1 T dried onion flakes
-1 T apple cider vinegar (or white vinegar)
-1/4 tsp cinnamon
-1/2 tsp black pepper
-1 tsp minced garlic
-1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Spray crockpot stoneware with non-stick cooking spray then place frozen chicken breasts in the bottom. Mix applesauce, vinegar, and spices together and put over the chicken. Then cover with 1/2 cup water. (The Crockpot Lady used 1 1/2 cups of applesauce and no water so you could try that too...I was afraid it might be too dry and I'd like to have a little 'sauce' with it).

Cook on low for 5-7 hours or high 3-4 hours.

I have a 4 quart Rival crockpot that cooks rather fast so I'm probably going to cook on high for an hour then cook on low for about 3-4 hours. I plan to serve it with some brown rice and salad. We like spicy food so I have a feeling 1/4 tsp red pepper won't be enough for us, but we'll just add on more at the end if we need it. We seriously need to buy red peper flakes in bulk...we go through it fast!

If anybody (I don't even know if very many people read my blog :)) actually tries this recipe let me know what you think or what you would do different. I'll try to post an update later about how I think it turned out.

**UPDATE**
So I should have listend to Crockpot Lady and done 1 1/2 cups of applesauce and no water. My 'sauce' turned out too watery and ironically the chicken was kind of dry (but that's probably because my crockpot cooks fast and I left it in too long). The seasoning was decent so I think with more applesauce and no water it would be an 'ok' recipe. More than likely I won't make this again unless I need something quick and easy to cook and don't have time to go to the grocery :)

Blueberry/Blackberry Zucchini Bread

While being pregnant I haven't enjoyed cooking as much as I usually do, but normally I enjoy trying out new recipes and have always enjoyed baking (because I love sweets of course! :)) I especially like to cook healthy and 'low fat'. Since moving to Henderson we have access to lots of free vegetables from my families' gardens. There's always lots of Zucchini so I thought I'd bake up some zucchini bread since I'm just 'nesting' now till Naomi comes. Got this recipe from my mom and kind of 'tweaked' it a bit.

Ingredients

3 eggs (I did 4 egg whites and 1 whole egg)
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (my mom cuts up apples instead)
3 cups grated zucchini
3 cups flour (I did 1c whole wheat, 1c quick oats, 1c white flour)
2 cups sugar (I used more like 1 3/4cup; you can use white or brown sugar)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 T cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 pint (2 cup) blueberries (i only had about 1/2 cup blueberries so I used that for half the mixture then I chopped up some blackberries into a puree almost and used that for the rest. The seeds from the blackberries are small that way and you don't notice them very much)

*You can also do a crumb topping with a couple tablespoons each of flour, oats, sugar, and softened butter. But I didn't on this batch.

Mix dry ingredients together then add in the 'wet' ingredients. Makes 2 loaves. Make 50-55 mins at 350 degrees.


The bigger loaf has the blueberries and the two mini loaves has the blackberries. Notice the missing 'piece'. This is why I can't bake very often! :)