pumpkin granola 2

Ok, so it was another 2 breakfast morning.  What can I say.  I figured I should use the oven while I already had it on right?  Anyway, I decided to try the  pumpkin granola from baking bites.  It was the link on the site I tried the granola from  the other day.  I liked this granola more than the other.  I had DH buy some regular oats at the store, and I added the rice puffs.  I also added some coconut and pecans.  Very tasty.  I may still toss in a craisin or 2.  Still undecided about that.
I'm slow in posting and I have not tried it with  craisins yet, but it is very good with the pecans and coconuts.  I loved adding them for the last 15-20 minutes of toasting time.  Gave them a wonderful flavor.

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 2 1/2 cups puffed rice cereal
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice mix (see below)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup plain pureed pumpkin
• 1/4 cup plain applesauce
• 1/4 cup maple syrup (I used light)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup coconut

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325.   Line a large cookie sheet with non-stick foil or parchment.  
2. In a large bowl, combine oats and puffed rice.  In a medium bowl, whisk together pumpkin pie spice, salt, sugar, applesauce, pumpkin puree, maple syrup and vanilla.  Whisk until very smooth.
3. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients.  Stir until evenly covered.  Spread on prepared pan in 1 even layer.
4. Bake for 30 minutes, then add nuts and coconut.  Stir, and continue baking for an additional 15 minutes.  (This didn't seem very crisp so I added another 5 minutes.  It still didn't seem very crisp, but it crisped a lot as it cooled.)

Pumpkin pie spice (also from baking bites)

• 1/2 cup cinnamon
• 2 Tablespoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom(optional) -I added a pinch

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients and mix well.  Store in an airtight container.

I saw another pumpkin pie spice recipe that included mace.  I never have that on hand.  I did have some cardamom so I added a pinch to my mix.  I was happy to find this because I had used up the last of my pumpkin pie spice mix just this past week.

donut muffins

This recipe comes from the King Arthur flour website.  I saw it here and here.  Tavio likes a glazed donut so I decided to go with that version although I made my own glaze.  I wanted it a bit thicker, but not as thick as icing.
these turned out delicious.  I think they would also be good with the crumb topping.  It may actually go better with the cakier texture of the muffin.
 I for once didn't change anything.  Left all of the sugar and the oil.  Next time I'd try swapping out the oil for applesauce and sugar for splenda.  I don't think it would make a remarkable change in the texture of the muffin.

Here's the recipe from the King arthur flour website plus my glaze.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 to 1 1/4 teaspoons ground nutmeg, to taste (must have looked elsewhere I used only 3/4 teaspoon.)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 2/3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 cup milk (I used skim)

Directions

1) Preheat the oven to 425°F. Lightly grease a standard muffin tin. Or line with 12 paper or silicone muffin cups, and grease the cups with cooking spray

2) In a medium-sized mixing bowl, cream together the butter, vegetable oil, and sugars till smooth.

3) Add the eggs, beating to combine.

4) Stir in the baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, salt, and vanilla.

5) Stir the flour into the butter mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour and making sure everything is thoroughly combined. (I did 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup milk, 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup milk, 2/3 cup flour)

6) Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared pan, filling the cups nearly full.

7) Bake the muffins for 15 to 17 minutes, or until they're a pale golden brown and a toothpick inserted into one of the center muffins comes out clean. 8) Top with glaze (below) Glaze ingredients 2 Tablespoons butter 3/4 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted 1 Tablespoon milk Directions Whisk all ingredients until smooth. I actually dipped the tops of my muffins in the glaze and rolled them around a bit.  I tried spreading with a knife for 1, but dipping was way easier.

Chicken paninis and chili potato wedges

I was supposed to get something into the slow cooker yesterday, but I didn't ever get it done, so I had to change my idea for dinner.  Luckily it was shopping day.  I wanted to make these paninis close to the day I went shopping so the bread would be fresh anyway.
The recipe idea comes from my taste of home simple and delicious magazine.  I changed a few things out of necessity (tripled the recipe, used a pesto packet rather than actual pesto, adjusted proportions of some items  etc.)  I also made the chili potato wedges from the same magazine.  Both were tasty.  Although the potato wedges were not nearly as spicy as I expected.  I'd give the Panini 4-5 star and the fries 3-4.

Panini Ingredients
Serves 5-6

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 3 Tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese 
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice (1/2 a lemon)
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest (zest of 1 lemon)
• 1 teaspoon pesto mix seasoning
• dash pepper
• 1 loaf sourdough bread (I got the bakery kind that I had to slice.)
• 12-16 oz. chicken (book says rotisserie chicken, I used my precooked.)
• 2 slices ready-to-serve fully cooked bacon per sandwich
• mozzarella cheese
• 2-4 slices red onion slices and separated into rings (I used sweet onions - not as pretty but tasty.)
• 1-2 tomatoes sliced

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, combine the first 6 ingredients.  
2. To make each sandwich (I actually did 2 at a time.)  Spread 1 side of bread with mayo mix.  Layer with chicken, bacon, cheese, onion and tomato.  (Original recipe had you spread more sauce on the other side of the bread.  I was afraid I'd run out of sauce, so I put the cheese on the bread so it would melt into the bread.  I did have some sauce left over which I served on the side.  I liked it with the extra sauce, but I'm not sure if I would choose to spread it on the bread next time.  I think I'd still serve it to the side.)
3. Cook on a panini maker 3-4 minutes or until bread is brown and cheese is melted.

Chili potato wedges 

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 large baking potato (I used 2 small to medium)
• Cooking spray

Directions

1. In a small bowl combine the chili powder, garlic powder and salt.  Cut the potato lengthwise into 8 wedges.  Spray wedges with cooking spray, then coat with seasoning mixture.  
2. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray.  Bake uncovered at 450 for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.  

I made a second batch of fries but just seasoned them with garlic herb mix and salt.  I cooked them on 1 half of the baking sheet and the chili fries on the other.  Worked well, and it used up 4 potatoes I needed to used. Plus it was just enough for everyone in the family.

Menu 10/14/2010

Breakfasts

http://recipeshoebox.blogspot.com/2009/07/sugar-free-peanut-butter-and-jelly.html

http://www.multiplydelicious.com/thefood/2010/08/doughnut-muffins%20/

pumpkin granola

dinner
Lemon herb roast chicken with pan gravy TOH p.44-green beans
Simple sweet pork chops HC p. 56 with confetti rice
Inside out stuffed cabbage S&D p. 11
Panini chicken S&D p. 24 with potato wedges
German style roast (slow cooker) S&D p. 16 with cheddar mashed potatoes (HC p. 34) & sweet potato biscuits (HC p. 35)
Slow cooker coconut red beans and rice

Pumpkin granola

I was a cooking fool yesterday morning - ok, maybe yesterday in general.  I ended up making 2 breakfasts.  We only ate one, but I made 2.  I had made the pumpkin bagels, and that used only part of a can of pumpkin so I had seen a recipe for pumpkin granola that used canned pumpkin so I decided to make that as well.  I still didn't use up all of the pumpkin.  I need to find another recipe to try.
 I didn't have the pumpkin seeds, but I think I will pick them up today and add them.  This granola took a bit longer than I expected to cook, and didn't crisp up as much as I expected.  I think part of my problem with the last 2 granolas I have made is that I have used fresh rolled oats.  They are a lot heartier than regular oats, and I think it changes my results.  I'm also putting regular oats on my shopping list for granola and cookie making.  Still love my fresh oats for oatmeal though.
Other notes on this granola - it wasn't as sweet as I expected.  I almost cut back on the sugar a bit, but I'm really glad I didn't.  It wasn't overly sweet.  I still haven't eaten this with milk.  I'm sure that will make it better.  (Solve some of my fresh oats problems.)  It will have to wait until tomorrow though.  I'm eating another pumpkin bagel today.  YUM.
Oh, didn't give credit where credit was due.  I found this at two peas and their pod.  I didn't change anything. Oops as I type I see that I did change some things - I added a bit of cloves and allspice because my pumpkin pie mix seemed old and lacking in smell and therefore flavor.  Not including that in the recipe though.    I did  add a bit more dried cranberries which I did add to the recipe.
Just found out they got the recipe from here.  I like the addition of puffed rice to change things up a bit.  now I want to try that as well.

Ingredients

• 5 cups oats
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 3/4 teaspoon salt 
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or foil.  
2. In a large bowl, combine oats, spices and salt.  Mix well.
3. In a medium bowl whisk together brown sugar, pumpkin, applesauce, maple syrup and vanilla.  
4. Pour wet mix into oats and stir until the oats are evenly coated.  Spread onto prepared pan.
5. Bake for 20 minutes.  Remove pan from oven and stir.  Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes or until granola is golden and crisp.  (I baked mine for the additional 20 and it didn't seem crisp, but I needed to go somewhere so I took it out.  It did crisp up a bit.)  Remove from oven and stir in cranberries and seeds.  Let cool.  

Balsamic chicken with potatoes and carrots

This recipe came from a book I checked out of the library long ago, and just recently checked out again to try some things that I wanted to try.  It is a slow cooker book.  I did not follow the directions exactly on this recipe. They had you cook everything in bacon grease.  I did cook some bacon first, but I used turkey bacon.  Sadly I forgot to add it to the finished meal sprinkled on top like I was supposed to.  I also added a bit more chicken broth, and think I could have added even more.  Other wise the vinegar flavor was a bit too strong.  I didn't think the flavor was too strong for the chicken, just the potatoes.  I also added carrots not in the original and wasn't particularly pleased by their flavor cooked in that much vinegar either.  DH said he thought they were really good.  I loved the chicken.  I wished I would have put more of it in.
Update - horrible heartburn this morning.  I don't think I can handle that much vinegar anymore.  It just knocked this rating down 1/2 a star.  The chicken was still smashing.
This is what I did.

Ingredients

• 6 medium russet potatoes, quartered
• 4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-1 inch slices
• 8 strips bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces.  (I used turkey bacon)
• 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs (I used 2 lbs - 6 thighs I think.  I should have used more, but they wouldn't fit in my frying pan.)
• 2  Tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 cup chicken stock
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Put the potatoes and carrots in the bottom of a 5-7 quart slow cooker.  Cook bacon in a large frying pan over medium heat until crisp and remove to paper towels to drain, leaving drippings in the pan.  (Using turkey bacon I had none.  I did spray the pan with cooking spray.
2. Sprinkle chicken evenly with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.  Add to the pan.
3. Brown the chicken on all sides, 12-15 minutes.  (I started from pretty frozen and cooked until browned with not much juice left.  Not sure how long it took - I was also trying to peal and cut my garlic and rosemary at this time.)  Deglaze the skillet with vinegar, scraping any browned bits from the bottom.  Pour contents of the pan into the slow cooker. 
4. Add the chicken stock.  Cover and cook on high for 3 hours or low for 5-6.  Season with salt and pepper.
5. sprinkle bacon on top of chicken to serve.

meatballs

I so should have posted this yesterday.  I had wanted to do some barbecue meatballs but when I went to make them I realized they were supposed to cook in the slow cooker.  So I kind of made up my own meal.  In the past I have tried a meatball recipe from a Kraft Food and Family magazine.  I really like the meatballs because they are super simple.  Just meat, stove top, an egg and water.  The meatball get their bread crumbs and flavoring from the stove top.  Super simple.  The recipe I found from my magazine even had 2 options of sauce.  One was like spaghetti with some spaghetti sauce and cream cheese.  The other was with beef gravy and sour cream.  I didn't want the spaghetti one since we just had spaghetti for Aaron's birthday, but I didn't have beef gravy so I made up a sauce that was similar to my mom's stroganoff base.  For the meatballs I will give you Kraft's recipe, then what I did in parenthesis.  The sauce I made up.  I served this over a funny little egg noodle.  Real short and skinny.  My hope was that picky 2 year old would decide it was an edible pasta shape (seems to only go for elbow or spaghetti shape noodles go figure.)  Seemed to work OK.  I rate it 4.5 star for the meatballs.  Not really sure about the sauce because I didn't eat at home.  Brandon said it was fine.

Meatball ingredients

• 2 lbs ground beef (I had 1.2 lbs.)
• 1 pkg (6 oz.) Stove top (I used 1 1/2 cups -6 oz. was about 2 cups)
• 1 1/4 cup water (I used 3/4 cup)
• 2 eggs (I used only 1)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400.  Line 2 (only 1 in my case) 15 X 10 X 1 inch pans with foil.  Spray with cooking spray (I just used the no-stick foil.)  Mix all ingredients until blended. Shape into 32 (1 1/2 inch) balls using 1/4 cup for each.  (I only made 16 and that was pushing it using 1/4 cup.  You have to go a bit smaller than that to get this yield.)
2. Place meatballs on pan and bake 16-18 minutes or until done (160.)

Sauce Ingredients

• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 Tablespoon steak sauce

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan.  Stir until smooth and heated through.