Fantastic Food

            If you read my previous post, you "heard" me drool over this recipe in the middle of getting to another recipe.  Yeah, when I mentioned pumpkin it made me think of this coffee cake again, and I couldn't help the dribble of drool that escaped out of the corner of my mouth.  Sorry for the details there...                                         Anyway, this is a great use for any pumpkin puree you have, whether it's opened already or not.  It's seriously good.  My daughter even made the semi-blasphemous statement that we should probably just replace pumpkin pie with this cake at thanksgiving this year!  That's going pretty far of course, because you know....TRADITION! TRADITION! (Fiddler on the Roof anyone?). But she's right that it is that good.        You should give it a shot.  If you don't replace generations-old traditions with it, that's okay, but you should consider making it a tradition to have this coffee cake at some point every

 I did it again.  I opened a big can of pumpkin.  Of course I didn't use it all--I never do unless I'm making pumpkin pie (does anyone  ever use it all?).  I made pumpkin pancakes, then pumpkin spice syrup, then pumpkin coffee cake (drool).  And then I had about 1/3 cup of pumpkin puree left....  It's like it never ends!  And I didn't want anymore sweet pumpkin foods.  So I brainstormed.  I remembered a couple of years ago when I was trying to lose baby weight that I made some sweet potatoes with black beans, green chiles, and lots of cumin.  Well, pumpkin is pretty silimar to sweet potato flavor, so I decided to whip up some quesadillas.  I didn't have black beans on hand, so I pulled out a can of small white beans instead.  A little tillamook cheddar added in there, and it was just delicious! A great use for that leftover, less-than-a-cup pumpkin puree.   Ingredients: Corn Tortillas (12 ish) 4 oz. Diced green chiles (I used canned hot chiles) Cheddar or mexican bl

 So soup is one of my favorite family meals.  Whole meal in one pot? Yes please!  We eat it year-round because it's easy and hearty and delicious.  Even during the peak of summer heat you can bet I'll be cooking soup at least once a week (sooo thankful for AC!).  This particular soup recipe I have cooked a few times, and while I've tried it with a variety of different ingredients, I think I hit on the perfect  combination this last time.  Everyone was raving about it (except my husband, who happens to be trying an all-meat diet currently and had to pass on the soup for a giant steak; yes, he's crazy), and after I finished I was looking forward to eating more of it the next day for lunch (and it did not disappoint the second time either).  Ya'll should give it a try for sure... Ingredients: 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil 1 13 oz. package smoked andouille sausage, thinly sliced 4-5 cloves garlic, chopped 1 yellow onion, diced 2 stalks celery, diced 3 medium carrots, diced 2 c

 Sugar cookies--so buttery and sugary and...well, just super yum.  But who has time for all the work of making sugar cookies?  The dough, the refrigerating, the rolling, cutting, frosting, and decorating....  Blah! Not me!  These bars are our go-to when we need sugar cookies for anything.  And they are a crowd pleaser, let me tell you!  I've had people ask me to make them for wedding receptions.  They are sooo good and sooooooo much easier than making individual sugar cookies.  I don't even remember the last time I made actual sugar cookies because there's really no point anymore when we all love the bars and I love how easy they are.   This recipe is originally from Our Best Bites .  They have great recipes there.  I have tweaked this recipe to my preferences though.   Cookie Ingredients : 1 cup butter, softened 1 cup sugar 1 egg 1 tsp. vanilla extract 1/2 Tbs. almond extract 3 cups flour, lightly spooned  into measuring cup and leveled 1/2 Tbs. baking POWDER 1/2 tsp. tabl

We went to my in-law's home a year ago or so (no I don't hate them, they just live a 10 hour drive from me!) and my MIL made sausage pot pie.  I'd only ever had chicken pot pie, which, most of the time, I thought was just "okay".  The sausage pot pie was yummy.  My kids thought it was a gift sent from God from His own table.  My son loved it so much he requested it for his birthday dinner (a good 10 months from then).  And then every month he would bring it up again that he still wanted that for his birthday.  Well the pie was  really good, so I asked my MIL for the recipe.  I'll give you the bad news first:  It had canned EVERYTHING, the worst being a can of mushroom soup.  And store-bought pie crusts. First of all, store-bought crust tastes like cardboard.  It just does, so no thank you.  Also, I sorta have a thing against cooking with canned soups.  I'm not 100% sure why, but I think it is a "must cook from scratch" code/obsession that I

I really like muffins, but I rarely feel like making them when I get up in the morning.  Every time I do end up making them, though, I always decide I am going to make them every week because they're so good!  Obviously I am a lazy person (isn't it obvious?!), so that inevitably falls through by the time "next week" comes around...  But I'm here today because I, of course, again loved the muffins I got up and made after not making muffins for several months.  Truth:  I only made them this time because of the riiiipe bananas rotting on my counter and no other ideas on what to make that day.  You should make them though--every week :). I'm going to.  Maybe... Craisin Pecan Banana Muffins with Whole Wheat Ingredients: 1 1/3 cups whole wheat flour 2/3 cup white flour 1/2 cup rolled oats 2 tsp. cinnamon  1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. coarse salt (or a little less than 1/2 tsp of table salt) 3 mashed bananas (about 1 1/4 cup

"Hmmm, two pasta recipes in a row?" you say.  You must say that because you haven't been following every post and don't already know from the previous post that I accidentally-on-purpose bought too much tortellini at the store.  While Carbonara is most often made with long, slender pasta like spaghetti, linguine, fettucine, etc.....well, I had to do something  with that tortellini!  I therefore give you use #2 for cheese tortellini you need to use up--Carbonara. Now don't get too wigged out by the fact that the sauce in this recipe is made from eggs that will  appear to not be cooked.  We don't judge based on looks around here, so I'll thank you to conform to that while using this recipe.  The eggs are tempered , which essentially means that they are not raw, but sorta look that way still.  I promise it is delicious.  But if you need the reassurance, mentally, that you aren't eating raw eggs, I give you my solemn assurance.  Now you may consider your

You know that time when you went to Costco and....  Need I say more?  Don't you always buy something you didn't intend to buy when you go there?  Those darn samples, they get me every time!  So there was this time I went to that accursed place that I both love and hate, and I ended up buying a huge package of fresh cheese tortellini.  The package was so big they had to split it into two packages.  Oh America...  Anyway, I had to come up with a great idea for this pasta, because of course I bought it impulsively with no plan whatsoever besides, "this is good.  must eat again."  (Sometimes when I eat delicious food, it takes over brain function and I sound a little bit like a caveman...)  Everyone knows that when you need a good idea, you go to the World of Good Ideas Only (aka Pinterest), where anything you try will always turn out (I realize it's hard to sense sarcasm through text, but I'm counting on your common sense to know when I'm being facetious). 

You know that elusive, best-ever, chocolate chip cookie recipe?  Yeah I don't know where that is because everyone has a different idea of what the best cookie is.  And that's okay!  Variety is the spice of life.  If you don't love what I love, that's fine! I'll judge and think you're crazy, but we will both survive.  You'll go on loving gross cookies, and I'll go on loving the good stuff.  And we will both, somehow, be happy with that.  If you ever want to try the good stuff, it'll be right here for you.  And so will I.  Maybe.  I'm not as forgiving as these best-ever chocolate chip cookies.... INGREDIENTS: 4 cups all-purpose flour 1 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. kosher salt 3 sticks (or 1 1/2 cups) butter, softened 1 cup granulated suger 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed 2 eggs 1 Tbs vanilla extract 1 cup dark chocolate chips 1 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips DIRECTIONS: 1) Preheat oven to 350/375 F.  (My oven coo

Spinach in waffles?  Gross, right? Only for people trying to lose weight, right?  WRONG.  Right? Okay, I see how thoroughly confused you are now.  And I know what you're thinking: "wait, she can see me?? Creep!"  Oh, you weren't thinking that? Weird, you should be--that IS creepy.  But I digress...we were speaking of spinach in a standard, non-spinachy food.  The thing is, it's SOOOO good you guys!  I even made regular waffles side by side to compare, and my kids (my KIDS!) said the spinach ones were better (cue jaw drop, gasp, and fake fainting spell).  Full disclosure, one (out of 6) of the kids said they were gross, but she refused to actually taste any, so we just won't pay any attention to her.  She's kind of in the middle anyway, so she's used to it.... (cue awkward, judging silence from the reader).  Even if you're kids refuse to taste them, though, you have to be a grown-up and at least try them.  Try them, you will see.  They are yum, yum