Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Butter Cream Frosting

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My sister recent made these, and oh my YUM! They are a new fall/winter favorite. The cupcake is perfectly seasoned and the frosting is so soft and creamy… and full of cinnamon. YUM!
Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Butter Cream Frosting 

Cupcakes
 
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and eggs. Add dry ingredients, and whisk until smooth. Whisk in pumpkin puree.
3. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about halfway. Bake until tops spring back when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pans once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

Frosting

Ingredients 
1 pound minus ½ cup powdered sugar
½ cup softened butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
3-4 Tbs Heavy cream

Directions
Combine all ingredients and whip until creamy. Add additional cream if necessary to achieve desired consistency. Makes 24 cupcakes

Garnish
If desired, top cupcakes with a few gingersnap cookie crumbles.

Pumpkin Pancakes

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These delicious pancakes are especially good in the fall, for Christmas breakfast, or a regular day of the week–pretty much ANY TIME! Our nieces stayed with us over Thanksgiving and they gobbled these up! No pun intended…

Ingredients:
2 Cups Flour
2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
2 tsp Cinnamon
3 tsp Baking Powder
2 Eggs
1.5 Cups Evaporated Milk
1/2 Cup Pumpkin (we use canned–refrigerate unused portion for later)
2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 tsp Vanilla

1. Sift together all dry ingredients.
2. Add all wet ingredients and stir until well incorporated.
3. Bake in 6″ diameter rounds in a frying pan or on a griddle over MEDIUM-LOW heat.  We make ours using a griddle and set it to 325.

Serve with apple sauce (pictured above), maple syrup, whipped cream, or whatever seems good to you!

*Halves easily.

Source: My aunt, Eileen

~Kara

Peanut Butter Balls

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No fancy intro here. I just have to say that these are awesome!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (it’s best to use a name brand such as Jif)
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
Melting Chocolate (I use the 70z. container of Baker’s Dipping Chocolate)
Plastic wrap

1. Cream together peanut butter and butter until smooth.
2. Add powdered sugar and beat slowly until incorporated.
3. Spread peanut butter mixture on to plastic wrap, a layer about 1 inch thick. Cover with a second layer of plastic wrap and refriderate atleast 4 hours.
4. When firm, use a knife to cut flattened mixture into 1 inch squares. Quickly roll each square into a ball.
5. Place shaped balls on a cookie sheet lined with wax or parchment paper. Insert a toothpick into each and place in freezer until very firm.
6. Dip frozen peanut butter balls into melted chocolate. Allow chocolate to harden at room temperature or in the fridge if you just can’t wait!

*It’s best to try and roll peanut butter balls when they are very cold. If they become too messy, allow to chill longer and dust your hands with powdered sugar.
**You may as well double or triple this recipe. Take my word for it.

Cookie Cake

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Who doesn’t love to see a giant chocolate chip cookie sitting on the table in front of them!? Everyone loves a giant cookie! Try this, it’s this is really delicious!

1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
2/4 cup brown sugar
1 (8oz) package cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking oda
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease two 12 inch pizza pans. (or just grease one and plan to save half of the dough for later.)

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar, until smooth. Beat in the cream cheese, then the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually stir into the creamed mixture. Fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Divide the dough in half and press each half onto a prepared pizza pan.

Bake for 20 – 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden at the edges. Cool completely in pans. Cut into wedges like a pizza and serve. Don’t forget the frosting! Chocolate and or buttercream.

allrecipes.com

Hungry Jack Casserole

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I made this hearty dish for a “Girls Night In” I hosted a few weeks ago and everyone seemed to like it (because a few actually said so). I recommend sides that go well with BBQ–like broccoli slaw and potato salad.

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

1 t salt

16-oz. can pork and beans

3/4 C Kraft BBQ sauce

2 T brown sugar

1 T instant minced onion (I used dehydrated)

1 can flaky biscuits

1 C grated cheese (I used cheddar)

1. Preheat oven to 375. Brown beef; drain. (Remember not to pour the grease down your sink!)

2. Stir in salt, beans, BBQ sauce, sugar, and onion. Heat until bubbly; pour into a 2-quart casserole dish.

3. Cut biscuits in half. Place cut side down around edge of casserole.

4. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake until biscuits are golden (20-30 minutes).

Source: my mom

Creamy Italian Tomato Sauce

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Here’s another new recipe from the Worldwide Ward Cookbook that I reviewed here a little while back.  I’m not a big fan of red sauces, in general, so when I saw a creamy version I was very interested.  It’s got a nice flavor and is a perfect replacement for marinara or spaghetti sauce.  It also made a LOT.  I served my family a generous portion of rotini pasta and still had two quarts to spare.  Those went straight to the freezer for future meals.  My next adventure with this sauce will be to try it on pizza in place of traditional pizza sauce!

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. dried basil
pinch of red pepper flakes
3 medium onions, chopped
1 tsp. minced garlic
dash salt
3 (29 ounce) cans tomato sauce
7 ounces Gouda cheese
1 pint heavy cream

1.  Heat olive oil and butter in large pot over medium to medium-high heat.  Add basil, red pepper flakes, onion, garlic, and salt and cook until onion is tender.
2.  Add tomato sauce and simmer over medium heat for at least 20 minutes.
3.  Cut Gouda cheese into chunks and add to sauce, stirring until melted.  Add heavy cream and remove from heat, stirring until well combined.
4.  Serve over pasta and top with grated Parmesan cheese.

Source:  adapted from Worldwide Ward Cookbook

Ranch Slow Cooker Chicken

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I love my crock pot.  I love how easy it is to throw a few ingredients in it in the morning and have a yummy dinner that night. I love how ‘homey’ this dish tastes. I know you’ll enjoy it too!

Ranch Slow Cooker Chicken
Ingredients:
2 pounds chicken (you could easily substitute with pork chops)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 ranch dressing packet (or 3 Tbsp. if you have the shaker)

Directions:
1. Combine soups and seasoning in your slow cooker.
2. Add chicken, mix until chicken is coated.
3. Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 4 hours.

To serve, prepare some mashed potatoes, make your little pool in the potatoes and fill it with this yummy goodness. Enjoy!

Grilled Asparagus

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These look so much better than mine!
Image by Tina Phillips/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I bought 2 lbs. of fresh asparagus this weekend to have with some leftover brisket–hmmm…need to post that recipe one day–anyway, it looked kind of sketchy but I got the best two bunches I could at Walmart.  I planned on grilling them on my George Foreman grill but knew they would just roll off and there were too many spears, so then I remembered that I bought a stove top grill last year and had not used it but once.  Well, here was a perfect opportunity to try it again.  It worked perfectly!  And OhMyGosh…that asparagus was awesome.  Here is what I did…

Ingredients:
Fresh asparagus spears
Olive Oil
Sea salt
Garlic Salt
1.  Wash and trim ends of asparagus stalks. 
2.  Place in a gallon-size plastic reclosable bag along with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a few shakes of garlic salt. 
3.   Close the bag and “moosh” the asparagus around in the bag and get it well-coated with the oil mixture.
4.   Place on a preheated stove top grill and sprinkle with the salt.  Grill until the asparagus is just flexible but not mushy.  You want it to have a little crunch when you bite into it.  You can also just saute the asparagus in a non-stick skillet if you don’t want the grilled effect, but really…grilled is sooooo good…
Source: Original

Mini Pumpkin Spice Cakes

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Let me begin by saying that this recipe was created after I tried THIS recipe by our very own Kara.  Can I say YUM!!!  It turned out we wanted more and the only box of cake mix I had was Spice Cake.  Hmmm…I thought.  And then remembering a cake recipe my sister gave me I decided to give it a shot!

Ingredients:  
1 box of Spice Cake mix (I used Duncan Hines) 
1 15oz can pumpkin

  1. Preheat oven to 350*
  2. Mix together the cake mix and canned pumpkin
  3. Drop by spoonfulls (about 1T) onto a cookie sheet, slightly flatten
  4. Bake 7-10 min, remove from oven and cool completely
Frosting:  
4 oz Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 Stick (1/4 Cup) Butter or Margarine, softened
1/2 tsp Vanilla
2 – 2.5 Cups Powdered Sugar
  1. Mix all the ingredients together until nice and creamy
  2. When the cookies are completely cooled, smother the frosting between 2 cookies and…voila! A fall version of the “oreo”!   

Fried Rice

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This is my fried rice recipe. It is still a work in progress. But, I thought I’d share it now since it was especially yummy this go round. I think the trick was cooking my rice in beef broth. We love this stuff. Its easy and filling!

3 cups rice, cooked and cooled
1-2 cups of beef broth

3-4 slices of bacon
1 Tbsp. garlic, minced
2-3 Tbsp. onion, chopped fine
1/3 c. carrots, chopped into pea size pieces
1/3 c. frozen peas
1/2 cup ham, chopped pea size pieces
(or package of chopped ham for salads and use half)
1-2 eggs, (your preference)
low sodium soy sauce, to taste
1-2 scallions, chopped
salt
pepper
garlic powder
onion powder

Cook rice according to directions of package. BUT, use beef broth for part (or all) of the liquid when cooking the rice. Set aside, and leave the lid off of the pot. You want the rice to cool! You could even dump it into a baking dish and spread it out so it cools quicker.

Prepare all ingredients and have them ready to add to the pan.

Cook bacon in a BIG pan. Remove the bacon and set aside. Lower temperature and add the garlic and onion. Saute. Then add the rice to the pan. (if you need to, add a bit of extra bacon grease so it doesn’t stick) Stir the rice, incorporating the garlic and onion. Add in the carrots, peas, and ham. Stir. Push all ingredients to one side of the pan, making room to scramble your egg. Add egg to the space provided and stir quickly. When done, stir all the rice mixture together. Add some salt, pepper to taste and stir. Add in a sprinkling of garlic powder, and onion powder and stir. (just sprinkle them over the top…but easy! not too much!) Also, add in some soy sauce to taste. You can continue to stir this in the pan on low until the carrots and peas are to your liking. We like them with a bite to them. Serve with a bit of scallions on top! Delicous!

This is even better as leftovers!

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