Yummy Pumpkin Pancakes with apple cider syrup

I got this recipe off Allrecipes.com. We knew we wanted to have breakfast for dinner and Kevin wanted pancakes so I said "pumpkin pancakes" since I have been on such a pumpkin kick lately. He said sure, so I had to search for a recipe, man am I happy I came across this one!

INGREDIENTS
HOT CIDER SYRUP:
3/4 cup apple cider or apple juice
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup (I used Karo dark as it's all I had)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice (I used lime as I didn't have lemon)
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

PANCAKES:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 eggs, separated
1 cup milk
1/2 cup cooked or canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons vegetable oil


DIRECTIONS
In a saucepan, combine the syrup ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 20-25 minutes or until slightly thickened. Let stand for 30 minutes before serving.
For pancakes, combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, pumpkin and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto a hot greased griddle. Turn when bubbles form on top of pancakes. Cook until second side is golden brown. Serve with the syrup.

Spider web pumpkin cheesecake

My mom had a little get together for Halloween and to wish my grandpa luck as he is moving to South Padre Texas. I made this cheesecake for dessert.

The cheesecake is from Philadelphia Cream Cheese on KraftFoods.com.

18 OREO Cookies, finely crushed (about 1-1/2 cups)
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
3 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin
1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
3 eggs

PREHEAT oven to 350°F if using a silver 9-inch springform pan (or 325°F if using a dark 9-inch nonstick springform pan). Mix cookie crumbs and 2 Tbsp. butter; press firmly onto bottom of pan. Set aside.

BEAT cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice; mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Pour over crust.

BAKE 50 to 55 min. or until center is almost set; cool slightly. Run knife or metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim of pan.


I then melted 6 squares Bakers semi-sweet chocolate and then stired in about a 1/4 cup of whipping cream. Spread the chocolate over the cheesecake. Melt white chocolate and then place in a baggie and cut off the corner. Starting at the center of the cheesecake spiral the chocolate around the top of the cheesecake, then using a toothpick or knife pull the chocolate from the center to make spiderweb.

I then put a plastic spider on the top!

Pumpkin Corn Bread Muffins

My mom made these Saturday night, she pulled the recipe off all recipes.com. I then made them Sunday. They are wonderful! The original recipe did warn only make these as muffins as it is so dense you can't get it done in a pan. The recipe makes 12. I doubled it and used a whole can of pumpkin and got 24.

1 cup flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs, well beaten
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.

In a large bowl stir dry ingredients together. In a small bowl stir together the eggs, pumpkin, brown sugar and oil.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet mixture. Stir just until blended; do not overmix. Fold in pecans. Divide evenly among prepared muffin tins.

Bake in preheated oven for 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

I love my "hand me down" bread maker that I got from my parents. The picture is on the mac n cheese plate! This is a really good bread. Once again the recipe came from Allrecipes!

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup bread flour
1/4 cup honey
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1 1/8 cup warm water
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbl butter

Put all ingredients in Bread Maker and put on light setting.

Homemade Mac N Cheese

This is a mixture of recipes I found on Allrecipes. I tweaked it to what I had on hand.

16 oz bag of small shells
1 box of Velvetta Cheese
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1 cup 1/2 and 1/2
1 package of ham
1 can of peas
1/2cup italian bread crumbs

1. Bring pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and boil about 8 mins. till al dente.

2. Place 1/2 and 1/2 with the soup in a pot and heat through, then add Velvetta cut into cubes, heat through, add ham and peas.

3. Pour cheese mixture into the pasta and then transfer all of it to a buttered dish, I used a glass 9X13 pan. Sprinkle bread crumbs all over the top of the mixture.

4. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 mins.

Carmel Apple Pork Chops

This is another Allrecipes, recipe. I followed alot of the other reviewers and marinated my pork chops overnight and didn't bother to pan fry them, just baked them. My instructions are at the bottom, but I also inclosed the original as well. This is an excellent recipe and I would tell everyone to try it!!!

INGREDIENTS
4 (3/4 inch) thick pork chops
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tart apples - peeled, cored and sliced
3 tablespoons pecans (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 175 degrees F (80 degrees C). Place a medium dish in the oven to warm.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brush chops lightly with oil and place in hot pan. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes, turning occasionally, or until done. Transfer to the warm dish, and keep warm in the preheated oven.
In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, salt and pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add butter to skillet, and stir in brown sugar mixture and apples. Cover and cook until apples are just tender. Remove apples with a slotted spoon and arrange on top of chops. Keep warm in the preheated oven.
Continue cooking sauce uncovered in skillet, until thickened slightly. Spoon sauce over apples and chops. Sprinkle with pecans.

This is the original post, but here is how I made it:
Marinated pork chops over night in a mixture of apple cider, cinamon and nutmeg.
Cooked carmel sauce in saucepan. Placed apples over pork chops in casserole dish, poured carmel sauce over the apples. Covered and baked for 35 minutes. When it came out I served with stuffing and biscuits. I sprinkled pecans over mine.

This is the best dish EVER. It was incredible and so easy. I will make this again and again, it will soon become a fall favorite, I am sure!

3 months and I already caught the oven on fire

While I was taking the incredible carmel cookies out of the oven the back row slid off my parchment paper lined cookie sheet. I tried to clean it up as much as I could while trying to keep the dog out of the chocolate. I went in to pull out the next batch, and yep the oven was on fire. We got this new oven in August, that's a record for me!

Chocolate covered Carmel Cookies

Okay this was my redeming dish this week. I had made some brownies that kinda failed and well I had to make something yummy to take the place of the bad brownies. I searched Allrecipes and came up with this dish. They are so freakin good!!!

INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup chopped pecans, divided
1 tablespoon white sugar
5 rolls chocolate-covered caramel candies

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, 1 cup white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, and baking soda; stir into the sugar mixture until well blended. Stir in 1/2 cup of the pecans. Cover, and refrigerate dough for 1 hour, or until firm.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a shallow bowl, combine the remaining 1/2 cup pecans and 1 tablespoon of sugar; set aside.
Press 1 tablespoon of cookie dough around each chocolate coated caramel, forming a ball. Dip one side of each ball into the pecan mixture; and place pecan side up, 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
Bake for 8 minutes in the preheated oven (the cookies will look soft). Cool on the pans for one minute before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

I made half of mine with the pecans just on the outside and half with no pecans at all because hubby doesn't like them. I made all but 10 of them with Rolos the other ones I just used plain carmels because I ran out of the Rolos. The ones with the plain carmels are good...almost better because you get more carmel in them!

These are the best cookies I have made in a long time and they are going on my list for possibilites for our Christmas cookie exchange.

Garlic Knots

Update: I made these again 11/14/08 and since I didn't have any biscuits but I always have the new crescent recipe dough on hand I made them with those. I cut them in strips both ways and then kinda knotted them and then did the same butter and garlic powder...they were so good! I love the crescent dough!

This is my homemade take on those lovely little bites called Garlic Knots. We had the best ones at Sonny's Pizza in Eureka Springs on our Honeymoon. That's where the picture came from!

They were easy to make.

1 can refrigerated biscuits (I used a store brand can)
1 cup butter or margarine
probably about 2 Tbl Garlic Powder

Heat oven at 350, put the 1 cup of butter or margarine on pan with sides and melt in oven. In the meantime, cut biscuits in fourths. Sprinkle Garlic Powder over the melted butter. Roll cut biscuits in melted butter. Bake about 10 mins til golden brown.

My new pumpkin chocolate bread

I had used 1/2 a cup of pumpkin for some pumpkin brownies and needed something to do with the rest of the can. I thought I could change my mom's banana bread recipe into pumpkin, this was my take on it!

1 cup pumpkin
3/4 cup milk
2 1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp cinamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
3 tbl baking soda
1 egg
1 tsp salt
3 Tbl oil (they are a little dry the next day, may use like 1/4 cup next time)
1 cup chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients. Pour into a loaf pan or muffins. I used a couple of pans I hadn't used in awhile. One was a silicone pan that was rosettes (picture) and a cast iron pan my mother-in-law gave me of mini bundt pans.

Bake at 350 for 16-18 mins until toothpick comes out clean.

Hot Crash Potatoes

This recipe originated on Pioneer Woman's Blog and has been flying around the board I frequent. Here is my take on it!

Preheat oven to 425:

1 stock pot of boiling salted water
As many potatoes as you'd like (I've done new and regular potatoes cut in 1/2)
As soon as water boils, throw the potaotes in and boil until they are fork tender, it took about 25 mins.
In the meantime spray Olive Oil all over a pan. Once potatoes are done place them on pan. Smash potatoes with a potatoe masher if you have one, I do not so I use the bottom of a glass. Coat potatoes in plenty of Olive Oil. Cover in Salt. I have done both Kosher and Regular Salt and preferred the regular, but that is just me. Place in pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until they are browned.

These are delicious in fact I had to have Kevin take the pan away from me last night! They will be a staple in our kitchen!!!

My version of Mojo Chicken

I have a big time girl crush on Angie of this blog: http://angiessimplecooking.wordpress.com/

She had a marinade for Mojo Chicken on her blog that made me drool. So here is my version:

3/4 cup orange juice (I used straight from the carton juice)
1/2 cup lime juice
2 Tbl Si Si Cilantro (from Tastefully Simple)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp salt
1 tbl lemon pepper

I marniated 3 chicken breasts in a baggie for about 5 hours.

I then baked at 425 until my thermometer said it was done, it took about 18-20 mins.

It was so moist I could cut it with a fork! So good!!!

Weekly Menu 10/13-10/18

Mon: Mojo Chicken, Krashed potatoes, creamed corn
Tues: Breakfast for dinner
Wed: Oven fried pork chops, rice, green beans
Thurs:Dinner with my grandpa
Fri: Some type of home made pizza or calzones (depending on where Kevin is)
Sat: Probably out somewhere

A new beginning

With a new job for Kevin and me getting settled in to not working, here is a new start to the new blog. I am wanting to get a little more polished in my recipes and pictures. I want to make at least one new recipe a week and bake something new a week. I want to learn more about the computer to properly site where I get some things from.

Thank you to my mom and my best friend who got on me about not updating my blog since July. I hope you like the new format!

Love,
Crys