Recipe: Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes (Pretend it's Fall)

Ok, mine DO NOT look as good as the one's from this post. I'm still learning, so ya know. Anyway I love love love pumpkin recipes, even when it's not Fall. It's definitely harder to get a hold of pumpkin when it's not close to the holidays, but if you stock up ahead of time, you're good to go. I found the recipe online (here) and thought I would give it a shot for dessert one night.

stuffs for the crusts 

 line cupcake liners with the graham mixture

mixing up the filling in my poorly lit kitchen

Here is what you need for this recipe:

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1⁄4 teaspoon table salt
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 8 ounces light cream cheese, softened (approximately 1 cup)
• 1 cup plain canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

And here's what you do:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a standard-sized cupcake pan with 12 liners.
2. In a small bowl, toss together melted butter, salt, and graham crumbs. Use a tablespoon measure to spoon 1 heaping tablespoons crumb mixture into each liner. Press down with back of spoon to flatten. Bake crusts for 5 minutes or until lightly browned.
3. Combine cream cheese, pumpkin, brown sugar, eggs, and pumpkin pie spice in a medium bowl. Beat on high with mixer for 2-3 minutes or until smooth. Spoon batter evenly into cups and bake for 20-25 minute or until set. Serve warm, room temperature, or chilled. Cheesecakes may be made up to 4 days before serving.

THIS CONTENT IS FROM THE BB&B WEBSITE. IT IS NOT MY OWN RECIPE.

Instead of buying graham cracker crumbs, I used some I already had and just crumbled them up myself. You just put them in a bag and basically pound on it. It's quite a stress reliever! haha

Sorry this is kind of out of season, but I just love pumpkin recipes, I couldn't resist! Maybe you can just save it for later this year :) I hope you're all having a wonderful week!

Easy Mexican Pork Wraps

Now that it's finally Spring, and Summer is around the corner, I'll be getting busier. I feel like I'm always busy in the summer, even though it's really the most relaxing time of year (work-wise). Since I'm always busy though, I like to have some easy-ish recipes to fall back on when I don't have time for a big meal. Mexican pork wraps (above) are one of my favs! There are several different recipes you could try. I used one from my Better Homes and Garden cookbook. You can pretty much just add whatever you like to it, and that's what makes it so easy! I might make some guacamole to go along with it next time.

Mexi-Pork Wraps

Ingredients-
8 ounces lean boneless pork, cut into thin bite-sized strips
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 cup frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
1/2 cup chopped roasted red sweet peppers (I left mine raw and they were fine)
1/4 cup sliced green onion
3 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional...we always put a little extra cayenne!)
1/2 cup refried black beans (or buy regular black beans and mash them)
9-10 inch whole grain tortillas
1/2 cup shredded romaine
1/2 cup chopped tomato
(sour cream, optional)

1. In a skillet cook and stir pork strips and garlic in hot oil over medium-high heat for 4-5 minutes or until pork is no longer pink. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl stir together corn, red peppers, green onion, 2 tbsp of the lime juice, cumin and cayenne. In another smaller bowl combine black beans and the other tbsp of lime juice.
3. Spread 2 tbsp of black bean mixture down the center of each tortilla , top with pork strips, corn mixture, romaine and tomato. Fold bottom edge of each tortilla up and over the filling. Roll up tortillas around filling.

You could also do this with chicken! I honestly don't measure out all the stuff like the spices, lettuce, tomato and onion. I just kind of use however much I want. Other easy dishes along the same line include tacos (duh), beef enchiladas (which we enjoyed last night. Used a recipe on the back of a can of enchilada sauce), and fajitas. Fajitas are a bit more work as you have to do quite a bit of chopping.

I'm looking forward to Summer a lot now that it's finally getting warmer! I really hate when it gets super hot, but I still prefer it to the cold. I will be outside a lot this year now that we have Chipper. He just loves to play in the back yard and go for walks! I can't believe how fast he's growing up. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend planned. We're looking forward to a trip to the zoo with Rhett's family! There are several grandchildren now, so it should be interesting. haha

Recipe: Lavender Lemonade

I mentioned back in my wedding posts that I served lavender lemonade at my reception. I used lavender as much as possible in the wedding because I LOVE the smell. I thought I would share how to make the lavender lemonade on here, even though it's so easy I almost feel like it's not worth sharing! Hopefully some of you will be inspired to try it :)

I bought a kit on Etsy from a seller who appears to have switched focus to vintage toys (? don't ask me...). I don't think you need a kit AT ALL though. All you need is stuff to make lemonade, some culinary lavender buds (angustifolia is what I used) and patience. The first thing you need to do is soak your buds in a covered container in the fridge for about 10-14 days. Do 1/8 cup buds to a 1/2 gallon of water (cold water is preferable. Using boiling water will expedite the process to less than 10 days).

That's all I took pictures of because I was so busy getting everything done for the wedding! It's been almost 5 months now. Wow does time fly! Ok, that's off topic, so back to the lemonade. Once your buds have soaked, you can start making the lemonade. I would do this a day or two before you plan to serve it, so the flavors have time to mix. Make the lemonade by combining 1/2 gallon of water and 2 cups of sugar (or less if you don't want it overpoweringly sweet). This is where hot water is nice because the sugar will dissolve quickly for you. Once the sugar is dissolved in the water add 1 cup of lemon juice and stir.

Finally, pour the 1/2 gallon of lavender water (with the buds strained out) in with the 1/2 gallon of lemonade and mix well. You'll have a little bit of lemonade left over because you added that cup of lemon juice, just drink it plain or toss it. Refrigerate immediately and drink within 3 weeks. It's delicious!

You can also experiment with your amounts of sugar, lemon juice and lavender to get the perfect taste for you. It's a really fun drink to make, and I promise it will be gone within a couple of days if you're anything like me. I can't get enough of the stuff! Let me know if any of you give it a shot! I hope you're all having a fantastic weekend so far.

Eat Up: Parmesan Potatoes

One of Rhett's favorite foods (possibly his #1) is the potato. It's not the most nutritious vegetable, but I like them too, so I enjoy cooking them. I went to Trader Joe's with my friend Emily and she introduced me to the teeny tiny potatoes. They're so adorable! I went ahead and bought a couple of bags then searched for a recipe to try with them. In my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, I found a recipe for parmesan potato wedges. I used the little potatoes cut in half instead of wedges and they turned out awesome!

Here's what you need:

• 6 medium baking potatoes (about 2 pounds...or in my case a couple bags of teeny tiny potatoes)
• 1/3 cup of butter, melted
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning, crushed

First you line a 15x10x1 pan with parchment paper (I used foil). Cut each potato however you want (wedges, halved, etc). In a large bowl stir together butter, garlic, Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper. Add potato wedges and stir to coat. Place the potatoes on the pan. 

Bake, uncovered in a 425 degree (F) oven about 30 minutes or until tender. 

I served them with some tilapia filets and it was a good dinner! Of course you'll notice there is a lack of non-starchy vegetables. I realized that I've been slacking in that area a few weeks ago, so I've been trying to be better about having greens and other veggies with our dinner. Some of our favorite options are okra, green beans, salad, and peppers (mainly in soup and chili).

If you guys like potatoes, you should seriously try this! It's super easy and really delicious. I put ketchup on some of them :) 

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Yesterday was our office holiday breakfast party! It's something we've done the past few years (except sometimes it's lunch) and I've grown to really love it. We all bring a dish and meet at someone's house to eat and play games. This year I decided to make pumpkin cinnamon rolls, and I was really pleased with how they turned out! I'm planning on making them again for Christmas morning.

It's not a particularly easy recipe for me, but I really enjoyed the process anyway. You basically make the dough, then make the cinnamon mixture for the middle. You flatten the dough into a rectangle and spread the mixture on before rolling it all up. Slice, bake, drizzle on the glaze you mix up and you're done! I woke up at 5:45 to get started....so it wasn't quick. You can make the roll ahead of time though and just do the slice and bake right before you need them. Here's the recipe if you're interested: http://kneadtocook.com/?p=2225

I didn't make the healthy substitutions...mainly because I don't think substituting something fake for butter is healthy. It might save you some calories, but there's no sense in using something more processed if you don't have to (if you have to because you can't do dairy, that's a different story). I also used whole milk because that's what Rhett drinks.

I would love to know if any of you try this recipe! They turned out really delicious, in my opinion. At first I thought they might have been a little too doughy, but I didn't mind. I might add an extra few minutes to the baking process next time though.

Eggplant Mozzarella Melts

When I went to the store the other day, I bought a nice big eggplant to eat. I do this all the time...I buy an eggplant, then I don't know what to do with it so I just let it rot. Shame! I was determined not to let that happen this time, so I found a recipe that I thought Rhett might like (he's not crazy about eggplant). I stumbled upon this one from Martha Stewart: Eggplant and Mozzarella Melt. It was ridiculous how easy it was! I have tried breading and baking eggplant before and kind of failed, but it worked a lot better in rounds rather than long slices. Making a pizza-type dish with a french loaf is no new thing, but I never thought to do it with eggplant. Next time I buy eggplant, I might just tackle eggplant parm (one of my favs!)

Instagram of our pizzas

As you can see, I left it in a little longer than it needed. But a little browned cheese never hurt anyone, right? At least it didn't have a charred taste. Have any of you tried this recipe? If you like eggplant and don't mind a bread-y meal, I highly recommend it!

Culinary Adventures with Margaret

What do you do when you find yourself with a free Saturday evening? (This happens NEVER, by the way) You call up a friend of course! Margaret and I decided to get together Saturday and rustle up some dinner. I happened to have some quinoa that I've been needing to cook so we decided to try a black bean and quinoa "burger." I put burger in quotations because I don't want any of you to think they are actually supposed to taste like a hamburger. It's a patty, but that's about the only similarity!

Here's the recipe we used on Allrecipes.com

It's so stinking easy! You just cook the quinoa first, mash up the black beans, mix in the quinoa and other ingredients (minced peppers and onions, garlic, cumin, salt, bread crumbs, and egg, hot sauce) and form into patties. They cook for about 5 minutes in oil on each side and you're done! I cooked mine on medium/high and they got just crisp enough for my taste on the outside. You can totally tell they are bean burgers because they still have that bean consistency, but as long as you expect that, it's all good!

Margaret had the bright idea to add feta cheese, which is ALWAYS delicious, and I added lettuce for some crunch. It turned out to be a pretty yummy dinner! If any of you try it, I'd love to know. I want to make them again and play with the ingredients a little to make the patties a little less smushy!

Greek Quinoa with Avocados

This has become one of my favorite things to make lately. It is in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, but the same recipe can be found online. I made it because I had a lot of quinoa and I love love love avocados. The Feta cheese is ESSENTIAL!  You absolutely cannot leave that off.

 serve the quinoa mixture over a bed of spinach and avocado. mmmmm...

 it doesn't look terribly appetizing in my pictures, but it surely is!

Give it a try, if you like avocados and quinoa! I might try it without the onion next time because I end up smelling like a big onion after chopping them up, and I think it would be just as good without it.

Happy friday, everyone!

"Tomorrow is Saturday
And Sunday comes after...wards"

(look it up)

Basil Pan Burgers

I'm home alone for most of today, so I decided to cook myself some lunch. I had some ground beef, so I decided on these burgers from my new cookbook (Better Homes and Gardens!) They turned out really well! If you click on the photo, it will bring up the full res image so you can read it and try it out yourself.

Since it's the end of the month, I haven't been to the grocery store in a while, so I had to just use the stuff I had. I substituted a lot of things that I didn't have, so I'm sure the actual recipe is quite different. Experimenting with different things is more fun anyway!

Well, now that I've finished my lunch, I'm off to take down my Christmas stuff. Hopefully it won't take me all day!