Pumpkin Bread

In a standing mixer cream:

2 cups brown sugar

4 large egg whites

1 over-ripe banana

Add:

2 cups pumpkin

1/4 cup oil
1 cup plain yogurt
2 tsp. vanilla

1 Tablespoon baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
a dash of cloves
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup wheat flour
3 cups white flour
1/2 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two pans and one mini loaf pan with Pam and then flour.

In a standing mixer with whisps,  wisk,  brown sugar and egg whites. Add banana, pumpkin, oil, yogurt, and vanilla Stir to combine.
In a medium bowl, combine all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt.
Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture; stir until just combined. Do not overmix.
Add chocolate chips and stir just until mixed.


Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Invert pumpkin bread onto wire rack; cool completely.

This is a recipe from Good Housekeeping November 2009 (Pumpkin Bread). It is a fabulous bread that is low-fat but moist, and tastes great. It bugged me that it only made one loaf--who makes just one loaf of bread? My challenge was, could I keep the fat low, but turn this into a three loaf recipe? I've tried to keep the oil low and add more yogurt and  so it stays low-fat. I've also added chocolate chips, a must, in my opinion.

If you need just one loaf, use the Good Housekeeping recipe but add chocolate chips. If you need more than one, try this one.  I gurantee moisteness,  and flavor.  This is an excellent recipe. Probably one of the best low fat recipes I've ever tried.

Original recipe had 1/4 cup applesauce and 3/4 cup yogurt. But I've tried eliminating the applesauce and adding the 1 cup of yogurt and it worked very well.

This recipe makes 2 decent sized loaves and  one mini loaf.

It can make three, but that third loaf is pretty small, or two nicely full bread pans. I tried to convince myself it would make three, but the loaves were too tiny.

Okay, I figured out how to make three full loaves: One full can of pumpkin, (29oz.) 4to 4 and 1/2 cups flour. An entire bag of chocolate chips. Whew!

Pumpkin Muffins

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 ripe banana
1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar
4 eggs lightly beaten
1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 cups (16oz.) pumpkin
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
 3 and a 1/2 cups white flour
1/2 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pans with paper liners. Bake 20 minutes.

In a medium bowl, mix together butter, pumpkin sugars, yogurt, sour cream, and eggs until well combined. Add spices: salt, soda, and baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Add flours last, mixing well.
 Stir in chocolate chips.

Divide batter evenly between cups. Bake until tops spring back and a toothpick comes out clean.

Transfer to a wire rack and cool.

Yield: 30 muffins

There is a beautiful pumpkin cupcake recipe out there, called Pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes.  They turned out gorgeous. But, with a whole cup of butter, I just felt like it was too much.  My challenge was, could I cut the butter in half and come up with a decent muffin.  I think I did.  If you don't care about calories try hers, but if you do, try these.  Yes, they do have a lot of ingredients but when you are trying to reduce fat, you gotta make up for it somewhere, and it is mainly just spices that require some sprinkling, so it's not that bad.  
Just made these again and they are so incredibly moist. I'm thrilled with the finished product.

Want to make them even more moist? Add 2 heaping cups pumpkin.
 I've tinkered with it so long, I think it's perfect. Made them without the banana and it made a huge difference. Please use your banana.

Michele’s Pumpkin Roll

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3/4 cup pumpkin
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup flour

Filling:
8 ounces soft cream cheese (room temperature)
1 cup powdered sugar
4 tablespoons soft butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a standing mixer, beat eggs for a full 5 minutes on speed 3 or high. Gradually add pumpkin, lemon juice and sugar. This would be on speed 2. Add spices and baking powder. Add flour last, (speed 1)  mixing flour as little as possible.

Pour into well-greased and floured jelly roll pan, 10-inches-by-15-inches. Bake at 375 degrees for 13-15 minutes.

Sprinkle granulated sugar on terry dishcloth. Plop cake onto towel, roll with towel and let cool in towel. Mix filling, Unroll cake carefully and spread filling on cake. Re-roll, wrap and chill.

Waldorf Salad: My way

3 apples diced (leave peel on)

I like to use 1 red delicious, 2 golden delicious
but any combination will work.
1/2 cup chopped pecans
(traditional Waldorf would use walnuts)
1 large celery stalk, diced
2 T raisins,
2 T crasins,
2 T golden raisins,
Toss these ingredients.

In a small bowl mix dressing.
Dressing:
1/2 cup mayo
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 Tablespoons of honey

Mix and pour over salad just before serving.
Sprinkle granola over top of salad.

Most Waldorf salads want you to peel your apples, but it is much healthier and easier to leave them on. This is a really delicious salad. Sprinkling some granola over the top, gives it just a bit more crunch, and makes it looks a bit nicer. A Waldorf is a terrific tasting salad any time of year, but during Thanksgiving when apples are on, it can be a tasty addition to your table.  You can also sprinkle pomegranate seeds over the top, for more of a holiday feel.

Pasta Salad

Salad:
Steam 1 cup of each: broccoli, cauliflower and carrots for five minutes.
Cool and add
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup cheddar cheese cubes
1/2 cup sliced, raw, onion
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup diced tomato

1 cup spiral pasta, cooked and cooled
Sprinkle with Italian seasonings

Dressing:
1 can tomato sauce
1/2 can of tomato paste (6 oz.)
1/3 cup canola oil
1/8 cup Catalina dressing
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/2 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/4 cup honey mustard
fresh ground pepper
a sprinkle of garlic powder
Heat*
Place in a blender and mix until creamy and smooth.
This dressing tends to be super thick, so you can add more Catalina or a bit more oil if you need to.
A sprinkling of black pepper adds some color contrast and flavor to this salad.
*This can be hot sauce, hoisin sauce, thai chilli, a sprinkle of cayenne pepper, whatever you have on hand to give it a flavor boost.  Just a bit is all that is required.


Pasta salad, isn't it just the epitome of summer? This one has such a thick dressing, and some spice so it gives this salad some kick. This salad needs to be served cold. I refrigerate the salad and the dressing, but pour dressing over salad just before serving. I would add cheese cubes last, so they don't get soggy.

Asian Veggie Super Salad

Combine in a salad bowl:
4 cups of broccoli florets
4 cups of cauliflower florets
1/4 cup, red onion, diced
2 Tablespoons sunflower seeds, (roasted, salted,)
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup diced, red pepper

Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tablespoon ground flax seed
1 tsp. Mrs. Dash original seasoning
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup Thai chilli sauce

These vegetables are raw.

If you have a low heat tolerance, use a 1/4 cup Thai chilli sauce. If you don't mind some serious kick, use 1/2 cup.

This salad is spicy, healthy and tasty.

Manicotti

1 pkg. Manicotti noodles

Filling:
1 (15oz. container) fat-free cottage cheese
2 cups shredded mozarella cheese
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
2 Tablespoons parsley
1/3 cup bread crumbs
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
Stir gently, to combine

1 (28.oz) jar spaghetti sauce

Cook pasta. Cool. Take filling and spoon into noodles. (This can be done with a regular dinner spoon.)
Spread a thin layer of spaghetti sauce on the bottom of pan. Arrange pasta in a 13x9 inch pan. Pour remaining sauce over pasta.
You may sprinkle additional mozarella cheese, and Parmesan over the top of pasta sauce.

Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Remove foil for an additional 5 minutes to melt cheese on top.

Saturday morning is a great time to get your Sunday dinner going. Your kids are all working and so are you, only in the kitchen, not the play room. I usually under cook my pasta by a few minutes, because it can be hard to work with if your pasta is too soft.

I use cottage cheese instead of ricotta because I found the ricotta was too strong for my family. Manicotti is a great dish, because it looks fancy and tastes so much better than spaghetti.
 

Whole Wheat Bread

8 cups whole wheat flour, divided
1/2 cup wheat gluten
2 Tablespoons yeast

1/3 cup oil
1 Tablespoon salt
3 squirts soy lecithin* (size of a quarter)
1/3 cup honey
2 Tablespoons dough enhancer

4 cups warm water (not warmer than 110 degrees)

Place 2 cups whole wheat flour in a Bosch mixer with dough hooks. Add dry yeast and gluten; give it a quick stir. Add 4 cups water and mix for one minute. Cover and let dough sit for 10 minutes.

Add oil, salt, lecithin, honey, dough enhancer (I like to stir this up in a small bowl.)
Turn on Bosch mixer and stir this together.
Add remaining 6 cups of wheat flour and knead for 8 minutes.
Dough should be smooth and elastic.
Divide and shape dough into 4 loaves and place in greased (Pam) pans.
Place in warm oven on lowest setting (150 degrees) for 25 minutes.
When timer rings, turn oven to 350 degrees and bake for 25 minutes until golden brown.
Turn out of pans onto a wire rack and cover tops with melted butter.

*soy lecithin is too sticky to measure. You have to squirt it right out of the bottle. I make three quarter size circles, right into the mixer. I have found the lecithin lightens this bread and also has turned a three loaf recipe into a four. (You can buy it at Macey's.)

Wheat bread can be really tricky. The usual problem is of course, too much flour. But too little is a problem as well. I usually look at the texture. You want a little shine to begin with. That means you don't have too much flour. You have to remember that 8 minutes of mixing will change the consistency of your dough. This recipe originally had 10 cups of flour. By reducing that, I think you are a lot more likely to get the right results.

This is Julie O's recipe with my few changes.

I have been using honey powder to save a bit of money. You add 1/3 cup honey powder then enough liquid to make it look like the consistency of honey.

The lecithin makes this the best and softest wheat bread I have ever had. Trust me and try it.

Play Dough

1 cup water (add a few drops of food coloring of your choice)
1/2 cup plain salt
2 tsp. cream of tartar
2 Tablespoons oil
1 cup flour
Mix and stir in a pan on medium heat until dough starts to pull away from pan.
Put on counter top and knead with more flour if necessary.

The cream of tartar is the preservative and helps this play dough last a long time. Our kids have enojoyed this recipe many times. Easily doubled. I usually make two colors and let them play and have fun. This is not to eat, it is to play with.

Homemade Honey Butter

1 cup soft butter
1 cup honey
1 Tablespoon powdered sugar
1 pkg mini marshmallows (melted in micowave)

Beat until fluffy.

I melted the marshmallows in a small bowl, in three batches and gradually worked them in.
I set microwave on defrost so they didn't get too hot or too hard.
My picture is just horrible but this is really delicious, I promise.

Thai Chilli Cream Cheese Appetizer

Juice of one small lemon

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. lemon peel
1 cup Thai chilli sauce

1 8oz. cream cheese brick

Mix lemon juice, thai chilli sauce and sugar. Pour over cream cheese brick.
Serve with crackers.

This looks gorgeous and has lots of kick. It's a great way to use Thai chilli sauce, which I adore.

Easy to pull off, yet it looks complicated. If you like something spicy and your are tired of cheese balls, try it. My picture doesn't do the food justice.  

A bit better for you, Key Lime Pie

1-9" prepared graham cracker crust

2 cans sweetened condensed milk (that would be a total of 28oz.) This makes a bit more than 2 cups.

Enough plain yogurt to make three cups (this is usually a little less than one cup.) 

1/2 cup sour cream

3/4 cup key lime juice

1 Tablespoon grated lime zest (optional)

In a medium bowl, combine condensed milk, yogurt, sour cream, lime juice and lime zest. Beat well with a hand mixer and pour into graham cracker crust.

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. Do not brown, but look for pinhole bubbles to pop.

Chill before serving.

If you are serving this for dinner, make it before lunch.

When I have made this, it has been too much for the pie crust. I've filled the crust then poured the excess into two custard cups and baked them for a crustless pie.

The traditional recipe calls for three cans of sweetened condensed milk. With this recipe you throw in a little yogurt so you can feel "a bit better" about eating it.

The original recipe is here:
Key Lime Pie VII


Just a side note: Last year on April 26, 2011 I started my recipe blog.  If you would have asked me if I had 52 recipes to share, I would have said, "of course not!" What a surprise to find I'm still going. Not sure how many more are there, but we'll see. Thanks to all who have come along on this journey with me. Discovering the "candy cane cookie" was  a big highlight for sure. Happy one  year mark!

Michele's honey-mustard and poppyseed dressing

Honey mustard dressing
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup honey mustard
1 tsp. poppy seeds
3/4 tsp. salt
Fresh ground pepper

Prepare a green salad:
Torn Romaine lettuce
Green pepper
tomatoes
cucumbers
carrots
celery
handful of frozen peas
1-2 chopped, boiled egg
sprinkling of crasins
sprinkling of sunflower seeds
Fresh ground pepper

Pour and toss dressing with salad just before serving.
Serves 8-10

It took me quite a while to realize that this recipe doesn't have honey in it! But, if you use honey mustard you can count it right? This is dressing that anyone can make and it has just enough kick. It is a lot of mustard but you will love it.

My very best Chicken Panini

Top View

Artisan bread
Kirkland Pesto
Guacamole
Fresh ricotta
Tender cooked chicken
Fresh ground pepper
Weber Kick'N Chicken spice
Juice of 1 lime

Marinate cooked chicken for 1 hour in lime juice and spices.

Take two pieces of artisan bread. On one side spread pesto, then ricotta cheese. Place guacamole on top then chicken. You may add cheddar or pepperjack cheese but this is optional.
Take your second piece of bread and spread some pesto on this piece as well. (The inside of the bread not the side you will be grilling.)
Brush the top and bottom of both sides of sandwich with olive oil and sprinkle with cheese (cheddar looks great, pepperjack gives it a kick).
Grill in a panini maker 2-3 minutes.


Side view


This sandwich is just so warm, toasty, and tasty. Made it for book group and it was a huge hit. Something about the soft inside with the crunchy outside is what made it work so well.

If I were making this today, I would make the ricotta and bread in the morning. (You could also make your bread earlier and pull it out of the freezer the morning of your party.) Getting your chicken cooked and ready will mean all you have to do is assemble your panini the night of your dinner. Then it is just a matter of grilling them.
It took me a good 20 min. to grill 15 paninis.

For book group, I warmed some fresh rosemary in the oil, on the stove, until fragrant and then strained it before brushing on the top of the bread for grilling. It added even more flavor, if that is possible.

You could also cook your chicken in a crock pot and freeze it, or keep it in the fridge until you are ready to assemble. Rotisserie chicken will make this a bit easier to make. It is a bit of work to get ready but then it's a breeze to assemble and cook.
I seasoned my chicken with the spices and lime juice and let it marinate until dinner.
You can see from the picture I stuck a piece of cheddar cheese in this sandwich.  Not sure it's necessary with all the other good stuff.
Have made this a few times since and I wouldn't bother putting cheese inside, but I did find if I sprinkled some cheese on top of the bread , it helped it brown.
You could probably buy your ricotta, but I think the Barefoot Contessa's recipe is just so amazing.  It turns our perfectly everytime I make it, and it tastes fabulous.  You should try it and see how easy it is.

German Pancakes

8 eggs
10 egg whites
2 cups flour
2 tsp. salt
2 cups milk
1/4 cup melted butter

Melt butter and pour into a 9x13" pan. Spray the rest of the pan and sides with Pam.
Place all other ingredients in a bowl and mix with an immersion blender until smooth.
Bake at 425 degrees for 26-28 minutes.

I used to use 12 eggs. Why 18? Not sure, it must be because I had so many eggs, I was trying to use them up. This will be very high and poofy. My only problem is the last two times I've made them, the tops have actually touched my oven coils. My kids love to eat German pancakes. Talking to a cousin, she told me in Germany they use lemon juice.

Lower fat version
8 eggs
10 egg whites
2 cups flour
2 tsp. salt
2 cups milk
no butter

This was a bit more springy but I couldn't tell a difference taste wise.  Still good and without the butter.

Lowfat Quiche

1 uncooked pie crust
(see blog if you need a recipe for pie crust)

3/4 cup milk
3 eggs
1 egg white
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup cottage cheese
1 heaping cup cheese (pepperjack or cheddar)
1 pkg. knox gelatin
1/2 cup diced spinach (optional)

With an immersion blender, beat eggs and milk until frothy.
Stir in cottage cheese and 1 cup pepper jack cheese
Sprinkle diced spinach on bottom of crust, then egg mixture,
Sprinkle the top with salt, pepper and a little chilli powder.
Bake at 375 for 45-50 minutes, until middle is set.

  I added jalapenos and some diced red pepper  to bump the heat up a bit more.

I also like to add a bit of cheddar cheese as I feel it browns so nicely. So add some to your one cup of pepper jack. I know a decent cook would not put a package of gelatin in there, but when I tried it without it didn't hold up as well.  By eliminating the yolk and taking out some of the fat, it needed something to firm it up.

Taco soup (mild version)

1 can tomato soup

2 cans kidney beans

1 can black beans

1 can garbanzo beans
1 can corn
2 cans stewed tomatoes
1 lb. hamburger (optional)
1 cup salsa
1 pkt. taco seasoning
(I measured this and it is about 1/4 cup if you are using a dry mix)
Throw into a crockpot and stir. 
Bring to a boil and turn down to low once you see bubbling.

Serve with Fritos corn chips.

I drain the corn and all beans.
You can make this vegetarian by omitting the hamburger and you won't notice any flavor difference.

If you have a low heat tolerance, change to 2 Tablespoons taco seasoning powder.

Calzones

3 Tablespoons active dry yeast

3 cups warm water
3 Tablespoons sugar

Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water in a stand mixer using dough hooks (Bosch or KitchenAid).
When you see action and yeast has bubbled then...

Add:
2 Tablespoons honey
6 Tablespoons oil
1 Tablespoon salt
3 cups flour (plus additional flour, up to 3 cups)

After you have stirred in honey, oil, and salt, add 3 cups flour (pluse additional flour if necessary) and beat until smooth, 5 minutes.
Mix in enough flour to make dough easy to handle and watch to see it begin to pull away from sides.  When dough starts to pull away from bowl and you hear your mixer gear down, you are ready.

Place in a greased bowl then rotate greased side up. Cover and let rise until double in bulk, about 30 minutes.  Punch dough down, then let rise again for another 30 minutes to make a light and fluffy dough.


dough rolled out

Prepare dough:
Punch down dough and divide into 8-10 equal parts.
Place on a lightly floured surface.
Roll each part into a 7" circle.

On one half of the dough place:
Toppings of your choice:



yummy example

Here's an example:
1 can tomato sauce mixed with 1 Tablespoon Shirley J pizza seasoning
mozarella cheese
peppers
ham
pineapple
olives
Fold empty half over top of toppings.  Pinch edges to seal.

Place calzones on cookie sheet sprayed with Pam.



ready for egg wash

Brush calzones with egg wash.
(egg wash is an egg beaten in a small bowl)
A neighbor just called to say that without a pastry
brush the egg wash is impossible to place. So do
get one of these handy tools.



ready to eat



Let dough rest for 15 minutes.
Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.



This will make 8-10 big calzones.

The original recipe is from Laura Sparks from the good ol' Idaho cookbook.  I have tripled the recipe as it never makes enough for our family of six.  We just had these for our special Valentines dinner tonight. I usually make extra and freeze for later occasions. This is a family favorite.

I basically just added honey to her recipe.  Her original is for 4 calzones and looks like this.

1 pkg. dry yeast

1 cup warm water

1 Tablespoon sugar

2 Tablespoons oil

1 tsp. salt

2 3/4 cup flour to 3 1/4 cup flour.

Putting in too much flour will make your Calzones tough and hard to work with.  I put the three cups of flour in the mixer, then add flour until I see it pull away from the sides and start to look like dough.  I do not measure this but I make sure it is not more than an additional three cups, if that makes sense.  It's usually one to two cups.

Calzones are  a lot of work.  If I were making them tonight, I would start my dough at 3:00 p.m.  Punch down twice and by 4:00 I am ready to start rolling out dough and getting them ready.  They rest for 15 minutes on the cookie sheet and I'm usually ready to start baking at 5:00p.m.  They do take time, but I think they are worth it.

Super Soft Valentine Cookies

1/2 cup soft butter
1/2 cup crisco
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
2 teaspoons soda disolved in 2 Tablespoons water.
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
6 heaping cups flour

Cream butter, crisco and sugar very well in a Bosch mixer, 2-3 minutes.
Add eggs, milk, soda/water, baking powder, salt, vanilla.
Mixture is very wet at this point.
Switch to dough hooks and add 6 heaping cups flour.

Refrigerate dough until firm, at least two hours.

Take half the dough and roll out with extra flour on your cutting surface. Can add extra flour if needed to roll out dough.

Place cut out cookies on cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

This is a great cookie because it has lots of height and is really so soft. Honestly, I've never had a cookie that beats it.

When mixing, you know your dough is ready when you see it begin to pull away from the sides of the bowl. You can add flour later when you roll them out, so it's okay if dough is a little sticky. It will taste better if it is. But on the other hand, you need to be able to get it out of the bowl and have it be workable. The six heaping cups should work for you.

Basic Brownies

1 cup (two sticks) soft butter
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour

Melt butter in saucepan. Add sugar and cocoa and stir together. Remove from heat and let cool a few minutes. Add eggs, vanilla and mix well. Add flour. Mix with a hand mixer and pour into pan. Mixture will be very thick.
Pour into a 9x13 pan and bake @350 degrees for 30 minutes. (I would check this at 25 min.)

I usually end up doubling this recipe and using a cookie sheet. Bake for 30 minutes. This is a basic brownie but still, very tasty. It is one of my favorites. It beats brownies in a box anyday and it is so simple to make.