Simply Delicious Cranberry Bread

I bought a bag of fresh cranberries a week ago and hadn't used them yet. I had made cranberry bread before, but wanted to try a new recipe and see how they compared.

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup oil

1/2 cup milk

2 Tbsp lemon zest (I used 2 Tbsp dried lemon zest from Watkins)

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups plus 2 Tbsp all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup fresh cranberries

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a loaf pan with cooking spray (or 4 mini loaf pans).

In a large bowl, add sugars and oil and mix until very well combined. Mixing while incorporating, add milk, zest, egg, and vanilla. Mix to combine well.

Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt over wet ingredients.Fold dry ingredients in until half way combined, about 5 full strokes. Add cranberries and walnuts and fold in. (Batter should be just barely combined)

Spoon batter into loaf pan(s) and tap to release air pockets. Place pan(s) into oven and bake until toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out clean, about 50-55 minutes for regular loaf and 25-30 minutes for mini loaves.

Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 15 minutes. Turn loaf out onto wire rack and let cool completely before slicing.

Adapted from Good Things Catered

Pumpkin Cheescake Pie

Happy Thanksgiving! I made this pie for dinner at my in-laws and it was a hit - to say the least. :)

9 inch graham cracker crust

2 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream sugar and cream cheese together until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and mix by hand until well blended.

Pour mixture into crust and bake for 30 minutes or until top looks dry with only a small damp spot remaining in the center.

Cool completely before serving by refrigerating.

If using a hand mixer, take care not to beat too much air into the batter. Air will cause the batter to rise during baking and then crack when cooling.

Sausage & Pumpkin Pasta

I've been wanting to try a savory dish with pumpkin and was excited when I saw this recipe in the December/January 2010 issue of Taste of Home Heathly Cooking magazine. My daughter loved it, but my husband and are weren't sold on it. It needs something, but neither one of us could figure out what was missing - so I'm putting it out there to my readers to try to figure out what will make this recipe better.

2 cups uncooked multigrain pasta (I used fusilli)

1/2 lb sweet italian turkey sausage, casing removed

1/2 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced

1 medium onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 tsp rubbed sage

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheee

fresh parsley to taste

Cook pasta according to package. In the meantime, in a large nonstick skillet (coated with cooking spray), cook the sausage, mushrooms, onions and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink, drain.

Stir in chicken broth, pumpkin, sage, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer for 5 to 6 minutes uncovered, until slightly thickened.

Drain pasta, add to skillet and heat through. Just before serving, sprinkle with cheese and parsley.

Apple, Raisin & Walnut French Toast

I picked up a loaf of Apple, Raisin and Walnut bread the other day at our local Farmer's Market from St. Peter's Bakery. I knew immediately I wanted to make french toast with it! YUMMM!!

Mini Veggie Frittatas

I've been looking for a way to add some protein to my daughter's breakfast during the week when she's at daycare. I came across this recipe in the November issue of Parents Magazine. I used green peppers and mushrooms since that's what I had in the house. I'm thinking about adding diced potatoes and sausage to the next batch.

4 eggs

3 Tbsp low-fat milk

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/3 cup cheese, shredded (any kind will work)

1/3 cup green pepper, diced

1/3 cup mushrooms, diced

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 12-16 mini muffin tins with cooking spray. In a bowl, whisk eggs, milk and pepper. Add cheese and vegetables.

Spoon a tablespoon into each muffin cup. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes.

Chocolate Chip Cake

I'm amazed that I never posted this recipe since I make it so often! It's one my family's favorite.

¼ lb butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
2 cup flour
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 ½ Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 – 1 ½ cup chocolate chips

Sugar/Cinnamon Mixture:
½ cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x13 pan.

Cream together the first three ingredients. Add the remaining ingredients. Pour half the cake batter into the prepared pan.

Make the sugar and cinnamon mixture in a small bowl. Sprinkle half the sugar/cinnamon mixture and chocolate chips over the cake batter.

Pour the remaining batter over the mixture and cover with remaining sugar/cinnamon and chocolate chips. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Buffalo Blue Cheese Chicken Burgers

I bought some ground chicken the other weekend and wanted to make chicken burgers, but not plain chicken burgers. I ran across this recipe on allrecipes.com and gave it a try. I made a couple of tweaks based on what I had available in the cabinets, but it still came out good!

1 lb ground chicken

1 cup panko bread crumbs (recipe calls for dry bread crumbs)

3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

1 large egg (recipe calls for 1 XL egg)

1/3 cup buffalo wing sauce

1/4 cup onion, chopped (optional - I didn't add any to my burgers)

Mix together the chicken, bread crumbs, blue cheese, egg, onion and wing sauce in a mixing bowl until evenly combined. Form into 4 patties and place between 2 sheets of wax paper or plastic wrap. Place in an airtight container and refrigerate overnight. I didn't read the instructions before making my burgers. I put them in the freezer for 10 minutes to set up and they worked fine.

Preheat grill for medium-high heat and lightly oil grates. Cook the patties until no longer pink in the center and the juices run clear, about 3 minutes on each side. Serve on toasted buns with more crumbled blue cheese on top.

They're great to dip into ranch dressing too! :)

Italian Meatball Soup

I've been trying to find new recipes to get my daughter to eat meat. She's not a big fan of any type of meat and would rather eat salads. What 2 year old prefers salad over chicken nuggets or hot dogs?!!?!?

Anyways, I was searching this weekend and looked through my Pampered Chef 29 Minutes to Dinner cookbook and found a recipe for Italian Meatball Soup and gave it a try. She ate the entire bowl!

2 medium carrots, finely chopped

2 celery stalks, finely chopped

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 Tbsp tomato paste

4 garlic cloves, pressed

1 Tbsp oregano

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes in puree

2 cups beef broth

box frozen cooked meatballs

salt & pepper to taste

Lightly spray a heavy duty sauce pan with cooking spray and add carrots, onion and celery. Cook over medium heat 4 to 5 minutes or until vegetables begin to brown, stirring occasionally. Push the vegetables aside to one side of the pan. Add tomato paste; cook and stir 1 to 2 minutes or until tomato paste begins to caramelize.

Add garlic and seasoning. Mix well. Stir in tomatoes and broth, bring to a simmer. Cut meatballs in half and add to soup. Simmer an additional 10 to 12 minutes; season to taste with salt and pepper.

The recipe also calls for 1 1/2 cups of water in addition to the beef broth. I wanted a thicker soup and omitted the water.

Sugar & Spice Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

After all these years of carving pumpkins, I decided to roast the seeds from our pumpkin this year.

To clean pumpkin seeds, rinse under cold water and remove all the pulpy string (before it dries). Dry seeds throughly. Toss seeds with the following ingredients:

3 Tbsp melted unsalted butter

3 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

pinch of kosher salt

Heat oven to 350 degress and line a baking sheet with nonstick foil. Mix 1 cup of seeds with the ingredients in a medium bowl. Place on prepared baking sheet and roast 15 to 20 minutes or until brown, stirring and turning seeds halfway through roasting.

Other flavor combinations:

Parmesan-herb: Toss seeds with 1 Tbsp olive oil, 2 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese, 1/4 tsp crumbled thyme and salt to taste. Halfway through roasting, toss seeds with another 2 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese and 1/4 tsp crumbled thyme.

Curry: Toss seeds with 1 Tbsp canola oil, 1 1/2 tsp curry powder and salt to taste. Halfway through roasting, toss seeds with another 1 1/2 tsp curry powder.

Spanish Paprika: Toss seeds with 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp spanish paprika and salt to taste. Halfway through roasting, toss seeds with another 1 tsp spanish paprika.

Recipe from October 2009 Redbook Magazine