Pumpkin Fudge-Blondies

I had a happy accident in the kitchen yesterday.  I was trying to bake these really yummy sounding Bombshell Blondies.  I happened to have most of the ingredients called for, so I was good to go.   I decided to cut down on the nuts and use carob chips so they would be a little more low cal, not too much tinkering.   Those were the only changes I was planning on making, but then things went a little awry...

I guess I should have looked at the recipe a bit closer when I needed to add the flour.  It seems I forgot ONE WHOLE CUP of the stuff!!  Oops!  (with me and baking, ya never know what you're gonna get!)  I didn't realize it until they where almost ready to come out of the oven.  Nothing to do about it then, I just had to wait and see.  Happy to report, they turned out great!  Sweet, extra dense, but with a soft, almost  'fudge-y' texture...and with a great flavor!  An unexpected cross between a blondie and fudge.  Roy really liked them, and he is a hard sell when it comes to anything pumpkin ~ so I know they're good.  Here is my distorted version of the adapted recipe.  Enjoy!

Pumpkin Fudge-Blondies
makes 12-16 bars/squares

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/3 cup avocado oil
• 1/2 cup brown rice syrup
• 1/4 cup low fat milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground ginger
• pinch salt
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup carob chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F and oil an 8 x 8 inch brownie pan.  Using a whisk, whip together the first 5 ingredient together. (pumpkin-vanilla extract)

Add in flour, baking powder, spices and salt, folding-in to form a smooth batter.  Then fold in nuts and carob chips. Spread batter evenly in prepared baking pan.  Bake between 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean.

Let the Fudge-Blondies cool in the pan for an hour before cutting into bars/squares.  Store in a covered container, in the fridge.

Vegetarian Mock Lobstah' Rolls ~ Meatless Monday

Mock Lobstah' Roll ~ A fun vegetarian spin using chickpeas as the base for the classic New England seaside salad!  

Way, way back when, I used to live a few towns south of Boston.  I was about equal distance to Boston, Cape Cod and Providence, RI.  Fantastic seafood in every direction!   I would often go to Cape Cod (aka ~ The Cape) for a bike ride along the Cape Cod Canal Bikeway and then head over to one of the many seafood shacks to enjoy a traditional Lobster Roll.  Man, were they good!!  Since I've been tinkering with chickpea salads again, I decided to give my go-to bean the royal treatment and turn them into one of my favorite seafood salads, one that is often served quite simply, usually in a basic hot dog bun ~ the classic Lobster Roll.  I'm calling my vegetarian version a ~ Mock Lobstah' Roll.  (is it just me, or do you hear the B52's song Rock Lobster in your head when you read that? teehee)

For a little special taste treat, I like using dulse flakes in my mock seafood salads since I think it gives a nice, slightly salty, hint of seaside flavor that reminds me of the ocean.  You could easily replace it with your favorite dried seaweed flakes or skip it altogether if you like ~ it'll just change the overall flavor of the salad a little bit.  I like to go a bit heavier than 1/8 tsp on the dulse flakes, more along the 1/4+ tsp lines.  I'm like that ~ in for a penny, in for a pound.  I also like the subtle sweetness the sweet corn and pinch of sugar gives to the salad.  I'm trying to mimic the unmistakeably soft sweet flavor that real lobster chunks have.   :)  Enjoy!

Vegetarian Mock Lobstah' Rolls
makes 2 Lobstah' Rolls

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup canned chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans) ~ drained & slightly smashed
• 2 Tbsp low fat mayo (I only use Hellmann's/Best Foods mayo)
• 2 Tbsp diced celery
• 2 1/2 Tbsps drained canned white sweet corn (or sweet yellow, if you like)
• 1/4 tsp lemon juice, or to taste
• 1/8 tsp onion powder
• 1/8 tsp Old Bay Seasoning, or more to taste
• 1/8 tsp dulse flakes, or more to taste (or your favorite seaweed ~ optional)
• pinch of sugar (optional)
• dash of hot sauce
• dash dill weed
• dash paprika
• salt & pepper, to taste

• 2 basic/cheap hot dog buns
• crisp, fluffy leaf lettuce
• tomato slices, optional ~ (If you were to eat a real lobster roll, you'd probably skip the tomatoes, but, since this is a mock lobster salad, I'd have at it :)

Directions
Mix first 13 ingredients (chickpeas through salt/pepper) in a medium bowl until combined.  Line each hot dog bun with crisp, fluffy lettuce leaves and couple of tomato slices (if using).  Divide the Mock Lobstah' Salad between the two buns and enjoy your Meatless Monday lunch!

 For another mock vegetarian seafood sandwich filling, check out my recipe for ~ Mock Tuna Salad ~ HERE.

Sirloin Burger with Fried Onion Gravy

For a quick and tasty dinner, I'll often make sirloin burgers, but, without a bun.  To me, it just seems so much more fancy served this way.  We're lucky that our itty-bitty town has a wonderful, little family-run butcher that grinds their own beef, a few times a day.  Their meat takes a hamburger dinner up to the next level. 

Into the sirloin I'll mix ~ whatever spices sound good at the moment, a handful of bread crumbs, shape it into ovals or circles (depending on my mood) and then fry/grill them up.  Then I'll top them with whatever strikes my fancy.  This time I covered the burgers with beef gravy and French's Fried Onions.   Ahh, a simple dinner that satisfies ~ I like that...and so does my family.  :)

Low Fat Snickerdoodle Sugar Cookies

Low Fat Snickerdoodle Sugar Cookies~ A figure-friendly spin on a cookie classic.  (1/2 the batch made with the traditional sugar & cinnamon coating; the other 1/2 made with a few chopped walnuts tossed in instead)

Every so often I get the itch to bake cookies.  I know, I'm a declared 'challenged baker', and it doesn't happen often ~ but, on occasion, it does.  I searched the 'Net and found these great little Low Fat Snickerdoodle Sugar Cookies that are a lot lower in fat than most of the recipes I've seen.  So, I fired up the oven and made some cookies.   :)

I rolled half the batch in the sugar and cinnamon and the other half I skipped the c/s and added a few chopped walnuts instead.  I even cut back a bit on the sugar, so they turned out even lower in calories ~ Yeah!  Super easy, really tasty & just plain old delicious.  Perfect for this gal and her family!  Check out the recipe and all the other neat stuff over on the blog Flour Arrangements ~ HERE.

 

Fresh from the Juicer ~ Eye Opener ~ fruit/veggie juice blend

I love my Hamilton Beach Big Mouth Juice Extractor.  I always have fun when I get out the recipe manual and take it out for a 'spin'.  This juice blend ~ Eye Opener ~ would make a nice start to any morning.  Enjoy! 


Eye Opener
serves one

Ingredients

• 2 carrots
• 1 apple
• 1 tangerine, peeled

Directions

Cut veggie/fruits into chunks that will fit into your juicer, shove the chunks down the chute & juice away. 

Serve straight-up or over ice.

Vegetarian Goulash Soup ~ Meatless Monday

Vegetarian Goulash Soup ~  Where's the beef?  ~  A full flavored, meatless spin of the classic Hungarian dish.  Using TVP 'beef' chunks (& a little liquid smoke) gives this soup the look and taste of a traditional beef goulash ~ but without the meat.  Perfect for your Meatless Monday!

I'm a huge fan of all the different varieties of Paprika ~ hot, sweet, smoked, Spanish, Hungarian, Californian ~ you name it, I love 'em all.   I thought a Hungarian goulash recipe would be a good way to showcase this most vibrantly colored, yet subtle or boldly flavored spice.   I looked around the net & through some of my old cookbooks and ended up taking some of this and a bit of that.  This recipe is more of a soup than a stew, so, I'm calling it ~ Vegetarian Goulash Soup.

Cheesy Broccoli & Winter Squash Soup ~ this time, "Cutting the Cheese" can be a good thing!

Cheesy Broccoli & Winter Squash Soup ~ Using cooked winter squash is such a tasty (and sneaky) way to amp up the veggie count & replace some of the cheese in this soup.  It gives the soup a wonderful thickness and richness, making it seem like there is much more cheese in the soup than there actually is. 

I love a traditional ~ Broccoli-Cheese Soup ~, but I'm not as fond of all the calories that can come along with it.  I decided there must be a better way.  When I came across a couple of boxes of frozen Cooked Winter Squash in my freezer, I knew what I was going to make, my own veggie packed spin.  I'm calling it my ~ Cheesy Broccoli & Winter Squash Soup.  I feel that it's a much more figure-friendly take on the usually high fat/calorie soup classic.

Desy's Country Potatoes & Cheesy Scrambled Egg Skillet Breakfast

My niece, Desy, recently posted this picture to Facebook.  It's a satisfying, home cooked skillet breakfast, full of ~ diced golden fried potatoes, eggs, onions and cheese.  It was one of her dad's favorite breakfasts.  I asked, and she gave me the recipe, so I thought I'd share it on the blog.  (she adds mushrooms, but, her dad preferred his without)  Enjoy!

Desy's Country Potatoes & Cheesy Scrambled Egg Skillet Breakfast
 serves 3~5

 Ingredients

• 6 medium russet potatoes, diced
• 1 small purple onion, minced*
• 4 green onions, minced*
• 1 cup mushrooms, diced
• 6 eggs, well beaten
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• cooking oil
• salt/pepper, to taste

Almond-Maple Cookies ~ Flour, Dairy & Egg Free!

My friend, Sarah, is off of gluten and mentioned she is missing cookies.  No one should be without cookies!!  So, I searched around the web and found this recipe that sounded good.  I tweaked it a bit (as I almost always do) and came up with these tasty treats.  They are crispy the first day and get just a bit softer as they hangout around the kitchen.  They're not a traditional cookie ~ since there is no flour, dairy or egg ~ but, one that might be for you if you're off the wheat flour bandwagon.  I used Trader Joe's brand of almond meal, which is ground from almonds with the skins left on.  If you use a blanched almond meal, the cookies should come out even lighter in color & look more like a sugar cookie.

Sweetheart Apple-Caramel Cupcakes

Sweetheart Apple-Caramel Cupcakes ~  Super quick & easy, made from a box of Duncan Hines Decadent Apple Caramel Cake Mix.  Perfect for any occasion, but really pretty when dolled up for Valentine's Day!

Today, when Roy and I returned from a pre-Valentine's Day lunch date, we found a sweet surprise waiting for us on our front porch.  Our dear family friend, Dick, had brought over a plate full of Sweetheart Apple-Caramel Cupcakes! (that's my name for them, since he is such a sweetheart!)

Pancake Day ~ Let's eat pancakes all day long!

Today is Pancake Day, aka Shrove Tuesday, aka Fat Tuesday.  Here are some of my favorite pancake recipes that I've posted about from over the last year or so.  Any one of them would be a perfect choice for one of our meals today.  (or maybe all!)  I wonder which one I'll pick...

Red Chili Bean Stuffed Sweet Potato ~ Just in time for Mardi Gras ~ Meatless Monday

Getting a bit bored with eating regular baked potatoes?  Yeah, me too.  To get out of my spud rut,  I've started  baking/nuking sweet potatoes.  I really like their semi-sweet flavor and bright orange color.  They always make me smile when I split them open and see all that bright, fluffy neon-orange interior, AND they're super good for you, too!

Quick Chicken-Cilantro Wonton Soup ~ ready in minutes

Quick Chicken-Cilantro Wonton Soup ~ Using Trader Joe's Frozen Chicken-Cilantro Wontons makes creating this soup a pleasure!

The Chinese New Year is being celebrated today ~ Sunday, February 10th.  The year 2013, is the ~ Year of the Snake.  I thought I'd share my really quick and super easy version of the ever-popular Chinese Wonton Soup.   I use frozen wontons in my spin and call it ~ Quick Chicken-Cilantro Wonton Soup.  I love making it because it tastes so good, I can get it on the table in minutes and it makes me feel like I'm enjoying a meal in a Chinese restaurant.

Light as a Feather Lemon Cookies ~ recipe from the South Beach Diet Cookbook

I picked up a copy of the South Beach Diet Cookbook at Goodwill the other day.  I was drawn to the lemon cookie recipe since I've got some Meyer Lemons, sitting in my fridge, just begging to be turned into tasty treats.

So, I made the Light as a Feather Lemon Cookies.  They were OK, but, not my favorite lemon cookie that I've ever made.  They just weren't 'lemony' enough for my tastes.  I added some pureed Meyer Lemon peel to the cookie dough, to help boost the lemon flavor.  The cookies were well received, but, I'm still on the lookout for another lemon cookie that really rocks my world.   If anyone has a favorite lemon cookie recipe they'd like to share, I'd love to hear from you!  To view the South Beach Diet lemon cookie recipe, just click ~ HERE. 

Feeling & Feeding the Spirit of Mardi Gras ~ Getting my party on!

Dressing the house up for Mardi Gras!  There are lots of fun, pretty things to get you into the party mood ~ I had to look no further than to our local dollar store.  For $5 I've got strings-upon-strings of Mardi Gras beads, feather & jeweled masks and other New Orleans inspired goodies.  I just love an excuse to buy colorful, sparkly & feathery things!  How about you?  Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Must have a Creole Coffee!

In just a few more days, it'll be Mardi Gras!   I'm starting to feel the spirit, and have been looking at some of my old posts that feature the flavors of Creole and Cajun spices ~ just searching for a little cooking inspiration for the coming days.  Here are some of the dishes that I've made last year, that might just make an encore appearance in my kitchen this weekend...

Super Easy Chocolate Cherry Cordial Brownie ~ Perfect for Valentine's Day!

I fell head-over-heels in love with the Chocolate Cherry Cordials Cookies that Kathleen baked for the TWIGS Soup Dinner I went to (& posted about) recently.  So much so, that I decided to tweak my favorite Trader Joe's boxed brownie mix to see if I could get a similar flavor.

Mike's Game Day Shrimp & Oyster Gumbo

My friend, Sharon, shared some food pictures on Facebook during Super Bowl weekend ~ there was some serious cooking going on over at her house!  Last time I saw some of her food photos, I posted her recipe for No-Bake Double Decker White Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cracker Cookies on the blog.  This time the photos that caught my eye were of her husband's ~ Shrimp and Oyster Gumbo.  Mike made a huge ~ Vat 'o' Gumbo for their Super Bowl party.  That's one party I would have loved to attend!  :)

Vegetarian Mock Smoky Chicken Salad Wrap ~ Meatless Monday

 

I'm having fun coming up with new ways to spin one of my favorite beans, the ever popular and versatile ~ chickpea. (aka ~ garbanzo beans)  I usually turn them into a tasty Mock Tuna Salad (see my recipe ~ here), but, I was getting bored with that sandwich flavor, so...

This time I decided to spin them into a Vegetarian Mock Smoky Chicken Salad.  Using toasted walnuts and a little liquid smoke really gives this vegetarian salad a 'meaty' flavor boost.  To me, the toasted walnuts, when paired with a hint of liquid smoke, really gives a bit of bacon-y flavor.  Oh, yeah!  The cranberries add a nice sweet/tart accent and the other veggies provide a nice, cool finish.  Layer it all in a low carb tortilla, wrap it up and you've got a super lunch for your Meatless Monday.  Enjoy!

Jen's 'Little Treasures' Carrot Cake ~ Celebrating National Carrot Cake Day, February 3rd! ~ a Guest Cook Post from Jennifer's Kitchen

My friend, Jennifer, shared her family's favorite carrot cake recipe with me, complete with photos.  Since February 3rd is National Carrot Cake Day, I thought today would be the perfect day to post her recipe on the blog.  So, here it is, in her own words on how her traditional, tempting, fruity, rich and spicy carrot cake came to be.  Enjoy!

Kathleen's Gourmet Cookies ~ Snowflake Whoopie Pies and Chocolate Cherry Cordials Cookie ~ Perfect sweet treats to share with the ones you love!

Last week (at the TWIGS Soup Dinner that I recently wrote about) I was introduced to Kathleen ~ a fantastic lady who's a gourmet baker/cook.  I'm totally in awe of all the incredible cookies that she created for the dinner party.  Her 3-Tier Towering Assortment of Gourmet Cookies was a real thing of beauty and it would've been right at home in the fanciest of Parisian bakeries.  I was so impressed with her cookies that I just had to do a separate post on them, because the photos of her cookies are some of my all-time favorites that I've taken...

I felt like I was back in Paris when I first saw this gorgeous display of gourmet cookies...

Chocolate Cherry Cordials Cookies

Kathleen was kind enough to share the recipes for my two favorite cookies of the evening ~ Snowflake Whoopie Pies & Chocolate Cherry Cordials Cookie.  She's been making the recipe for Snowflake Whoopie Pies for such a long time that she no longer remembers which cookbook she originally found the recipe in.  The whoopie pie's almond flavor is so enticing, the filling so creamy and decadent ~ I dare you to eat only one! 

This is the link for the Chocolate Cherry Cordials Cookie recipe.  It's full of all the flavors that I love ~ chocolate, cherries and rum ~ all rolled up into a cookie.  Absolutely delicious and truly a winner!

Snowflake Whoopie Pies, Chocolate Cherry Cordials Cookie, Pecan Cookies and homemade Turkish Delight.

Is it just me, or does the name Whoopie Pie make you giggle?  I just love the name ~ Whoopie Pie!  It makes me smile every time I hear it. (I guess that's the little kid in me)  I think you could easily change up the icing design on these Whoopie Pies to suit your mood ~ a red heart for Valentine's Day, a green shamrock for St. Patrick's Day, etc.  It's a universal Whoopie ~ how cool is that?!  teehee  :)

SNOWFLAKE WHOOPIE PIES

Makes 14

Ingredients

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

Large pinch of salt

½ cup unsalted ground almonds

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup superfine sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

1 large egg

1 tsp almond extract

½ cup milk

1tbsp edible silver balls

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.  Line 2-3 large cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Sift together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.  Stir in the ground almonds.

Place the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy.  Beat in the egg and almond extract followed by half of the flour mixture and then the milk.  Stir in the rest of the flour mixture and beat until thoroughly incorporated.

Pipe or spoon 28 mounds of the batter onto the prepared cookie sheets, spaced well apart to allow for spreading.  Bake in the preheated oven, one sheet at a time, for 10-12 minutes until risen and just firm to the touch.  Cool for 5 minutes, then using a palette knife transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

Buttercream Filling

6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

½ cup heavy cream

2 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

For the filling, place the butter in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes until pale and creamy.  Beat in the cream, then gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar and continue beating for 2-3 minutes until the buttercream is very light and fluffy.

Icing

For the icing, sift the confectioners’ sugar into a bowl and gradually stir in enough water to make a smooth, thick icing.

To assemble, pipe or spread the buttercream on the flat side of half of the cakes.  Top with the rest of the cakes.  Spoon the icing into a small paper pastry bag, snip the end, and pipe snowflake patterns on the top of the whoopie pies.  Decorate with silver balls and sprinkle with superfine sugar.  Let set.  Enjoy!

The cookies all looked so lovely and smelled simply divine, I had such a hard time choosing!

All of Kathleen's cookies were so lovely to look at and were so luscious to bite into, that I'm even tempted to try making them myself.  It takes a lot to get me to venture beyond my 'comfort baking zone' (me being a challenged baker and all), but I think I must with these two recipes.  I just can't imagine not having them again.  Hmm...my birthday is coming up soon, maybe this year I'll make cookies instead of a cake for our little celebration...  OR, I keep thinking that these two cookie recipes would be perfect for a Valentine's Day sweet treat.  Roy and J would be thrilled (me, too!) to have a plate of either (or better yet, both!) of these cookies instead of the old standby ~ a boring box of chocolates.  I think I just talked myself into making these cookies sooner, rather than later! 

Shortbread Jam Sandwich Cookies, Pecan Tassies, Turkish Delights & Red Cinnamon Cookies

Hope these pictures of Kathleen's cookies inspire you as much as they do me.  I'm ready to get out all my baking supplies and make them right now.  How about you?  :)

Quinoa, Kale, Walnut & Cranberry Salad

When I'm trying to get more greens into my diet, kale is one of the first veggies I head for.  I really enjoy eating raw kale in salads, especially when I have some leftover quinoa in the fridge.  Throw in a handful of walnuts and cranberries, a big spoonful of quinoa, then drizzle on some olive oil and balsamic vinegar, give it all a toss and I'm good to go.  Who says eating your greens has to be boring?  Certainly not me!