Pumpkin Bread

Last year one of my first blog posts I wrote about how I wanted to bake with pumpkin, well it finally happened! A whole year later..yes guys, this is my second pumpkin related post, and it is so worth it. This was actually requested by Daniel, which was so exciting for me, because this man survives off egg whites and protein shakes. My sister baked a pumpkin bread 2 weeks ago and Daniel fell in love, when I asked her for the recipe...she replied with "it was out of a box" boo :(
So I did what I do best..googled a recipe, and here it is!

1 Can of Pumpkin Puree
4 Eggs
1 cup of Vegetable Oil
2/3 cup Water
3 cups White Sugar
3 1/2 cups of Flour
2 teaspoons of Baking Soda
1 1/2 teaspoon of Salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Begin by mixing the pumpkin puree, eggs, sugar, oil, and water.

In a separate bowl, we mix the dry ingredients

 Flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and ground cloves

..then oh my gosh, you guessed it, we mix the wet and dry mixtures together, and this is your batter!

 Mixing this is definitely an arm workout, so whisk until there are no more lumps

 Pour your batter into a greased loaf pan, I know my loaf looks so lonely & sad, but it is so the opposite, because it is full of - f l a v o r 

side note** this recipe makes enough for 2 loaf pans, though I only had one, I made the rest of the batter into cupcakes / muffins

Bake for 50 minutes -1 hour in your pre-heated 350 degree oven, and enjoy the heavenly smell your oven will be releasing

annd an hour later here it is! I had to poke my loaf 3 times before getting my kabob stick to come out clean, that is when you know it is done.

slice it up, and enjoy. Daniel ate this whole loaf in less than 24 hours. Not joking, so go on and make this for your man, or woman, or just for yourself, just make it!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Oreos

This past Saturday, my family had our Thanksgiving get together. Not because we couldn't wait..which I absolutely couldn't, but because my sisters scheduled c-section was conveniently planned the day before the real Thanksgiving.. But it all worked out for the purpose of this blog! in case anyone wants to make these little guys for their thanksgiving gatherings! 

Initially I wanted to make these because uhm how cute are they? But they ended up being a big hit, super yummy!

You will need..

• 2-8 oz pkgs. cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tbsp. sour cream
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 c. canned pumpkin
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 24 Oreos

*this will make 24 cookie's / cheesecake's I made 12, so you can just half all of the ingredients.

Start by whipping your cream cheese..

After its soft and creamy, add the sugar, eggs, vanilla, sour cream, and pumpkin puree

The original recipe did not have cinnamon or nutmeg, but if you have some handy, I would for sure sprinkle a wee bit in the mix too.

Heat your oven at 350 degrees, place a cupcake liner in your cupcake tin, with 1 of the oreos. I removed the cream because, I'm not a fan of oreo cream..but if you are, hey by all means leave it on.              

scoop each cupcake liner with your mix 3/4 to the top, finally top each with the other half of the oreo.

Bake them in your oven for 20-25 minutes. Let them cool for a few minutes before removing them from the cupcake liners, they come off fairly easily. Keep them refrigerated until ready to eat.

 When cold and ready to eat I added a bit of whipped cream and crumbled oreos!

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving with their loved ones! and to my friends and family in Los Angeles, I love and miss you guys ! 

Pumpkin Cheesecake Oreos

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Egg & Ham cups

Sunday mornings usually consist of Ben and I sending Daniel to pick up breakfast tacos ( texans live off these ). But this morning I wanted something different and figured I can make these little guys with all my left over ham and veggies from the week. If you're on pinterest I'm sure you've come across these. 

So here is my version, you'll need

Cupcake / muffin tin
Ham
Eggs
Cilantro
Green onions
Tomatoes
Mozzarella cheese
Salt & Pepper

You'll start by dicing your veggies and pre heating the oven at 400 degrees.

Spray your cupcake tin with cooking spray and place your square piece of ham in each socket, pushing it down, and cracking an egg over the ham and cracked a bit of pepper over the eggs.

I then topped each one with my diced veggies, and finally a little bit of cheese. Pop them in the oven and let them bake, we're not a fan of runny egg yolks, so I baked them for 18 minutes or so, but if you like that type of thing I'd cook them for about 12-15 minutes.

And that is it! Easiest, cutest breakfast ever, something I would definitely make again and for a healthier option I'd use turkey over ham ;)

Spinach Lasagna Rolls

Well, well well...I am finally back! Sorry guys, but I actually have a life, its called Real Housewives of New Jersey...Besides that, I've been attempting to cook "healthier" dishes, and I've been mehhh about most of them, and I won't blog anything that I do not like, but luckily, tonight's dish was a huge success, considering Daniel (hubs) is a huge meat lover, and this dish is vegetarian friendly, he loved this one. I tweaked it a little to my personal liking, but here it is guysss.


Ingredients: 

• 9 lasagna noodles, cooked
• 10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and completely drained
• 15 oz fat free or low fat ricotta cheese 
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 egg
• salt and fresh pepper
• spaghetti sauce ( I looove Ragu)
• 9 tbsp (about 3 oz) part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
• Garlic Powder

Start by boiling, your spinach in one pot, and the pasta in another

 

Mean while that boils, set your oven at 350 degrees, and start mixing the rest of the ingredients; egg, ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and garlic powder

Once lasagna pasta is ready, lay them out on wax paper and let them air dry a bit. Mince the boiled spinach and mix into cheese mixture.

                                 

Spread the cheese/spinach mix over the pasta, and roll

In a casserole, add a layer of the spaghetti sauce, and set each roll down over, with the seam side facing down. 

You can now add more sauce over each roll, and top it with a tablespoon of mozzarella cheese.

..Finally bake them in the oven for 40 minutes with a foil cover.

Paired with a small salad, it was perfect!

Skinny Taste!

Best Salmon..Ever

Seriously, this is the best salmon I have ever made. I've also tried the herb mix with chicken breasts, but really the salmon takes the cake, no doubt about it. You all must try this.

 

You will need..

 

1 medium size salmon fillet, cut in 3 portions

3 garlic cloves

2 tbs. of fresh Sage

1 tbs. of fresh Rosemary

1 tsp. of Crushed Red Pepper

1/2 tsp of black pepper

1/2 tsp of Kosher Salt..or Regular Salt will do

Olive Oil

 

In my gift bank that I have with Daniel, I am still owed my mothers day gift which is a food processor, so if you are lucky enough to have one, blend the ingredients together, minus the Olive Oil & Salmon. If you do not have one, do as I did, chop everything and mix together.

 

 

Pour a bit of Olive Oil on each filet, and rub it uhmm hmm, then top it with the herb mixture, and rub that in.

 

 

Heat your skillet, spray a bit of cooking spray, and grill away, I grilled about 6-7 minutes per side

 

..and there you have it, thee best salmon. I made a side of sauteed brocolli with sesame seed oil and asian chili garlic sauce.

 

 

 

 

So delushious

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spicy Lo Mein

Got this kind of weird craving for noodles at 10:00 am this morning, so I stopped at Whole Foods and got what I needed, and you know what.. I aint even mad at you carbs, I love you actually. 

This has got to be one of the easiest & tastiest noodle recipes I've ever made...aaand extremely budget friendly, since I had everything minus the noodles in my pantry. 

What you will need..

Pack of Lo Mein Noodles / 8 oz.

4 tbs. of Butter

1/2 tbs of red pepper

2 large eggs

1 minced garlic clove

2 tbs. of brown sugar

2 tbs. of soy sauce

2 tbs. of sriracha

2 green onions

1-2 handfuls of chopped cilantro

The above amounts are for 3-4 people..But I ended up having to make another batch for Daniel & friends..so feel free to double or triple it, really.

These are the noodles I used, I'm sure any lo mein would do

So start by boiling your water, you want it to be super boily ( is this a word?) before you throw in the noodles, they cook extremely fast, so they will get mushy if the water is not hot enough.

Mix the Brown sugar, sriracha, and soy sauce..

 chop your cilantro, garlic & green onions

 in a separate bowl whisk up your eggs

Grab your butter, melt it with the garlic, and red pepper flakes, once its hot and melted, go ahead and toss your eggs in the skillet

Like I said the noodles cook extremely fast, anywhere from 4-6 minutes, so once your egg is done, your noodles will be done if not very close.

drain & rinse with cold water

throw noodles into skillet with egg & butter mixture, along with your sriracha / soy sauce, then top with the onions & cilantro

Mix everything together on medium heat..and that is it! This will seriously take you 15-20 minutes to cook, no excuse to not cook, ah I love cooking..on my days off at least ;)

I paired this with an extremely girly strawberry beer my best friend picked out for me. It was delicious.