Pumpkin Pie Dessert

The family I grew up in is slightly obsessed with pumpkin pie. We often requested round pieces of pumpkin pie...meaning the whole pie. And it wouldn't be unheard of someone eating their own pumpkin pie by them self or having leftover pie for breakfast, after all it is healthy with pumpkin!! Unfortunately my husband and girls don't like pumpkin pie...so crazy. They do however enjoy this pumpkin pie dessert, so I will probably make this for Thanksgiving and save the pumpkin pie for Christmas time when my sister is here to help me eat it! Hope you give it a try sometime and enjoy it too!

Pumpkin Pie Dessert

Crust:
1 Package yellow cake mix, keep one cup out and set to the side
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 egg
Grease the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Combine cake mix, butter and egg. Press evenly into pan.

Filling:
3 cups (1 lb. 14 oz. can) Pumpkin Pie Mix (I'm a Libby's fan)
2 eggs
2/3 cup Evaporated Milk (or you could use regular milk)
Combine ingredients with beater until smooth. Pour over crust

Topping:
1 cup reserved cake mix
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup cold butter
Cut all ingredients together with a pastry cutter until crumbly. Sprinkle over filling evenly.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes, until sharp knife inserted near center comes out nearly clean. Cool. Serve warm or cook with whipped cream, ice cream, or plain! Enjoy!

This also makes a great morning after Thanksgiving (or any day) breakfast!!

Yummy!

Okay...last night we tried the black bean salsa chicken that Guinevere posted awhile ago. It is under the crock pot section on the right. It was REALLY good and soooo easy! We used pinto beans instead of black beans and I added extra cheese to the top as we served it. One of my girls used chips to scoop up the dinner instead of eating it with rice!! I say try it...I think it was totally worth it!

Sweet Potato Casserole

1 ½ cups mashed sweet potatoes

½ cup sugar

4 Tablespoons melted butter

1 egg

½ cup flaked coconut

1/3 cup milk

½ teaspoon vanilla

Topping: ½ cup brown sugar

½ cup nuts

¼ cup flour

4 Tablespoons butter, melted

Dash salt

Combine ingredients and pour into a 1-1/2 quart buttered casserole. Mix topping and pour sprinkle over the top. Bake at 350 for 20 to 30 minutes.

Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls... Delicous!

I dont know anyone who doesnt LOVE cinnamon rolls... so warm and gooey!!! But I must admit some are much better than others... this recipe is one of my faves and it really not all that difficult!

Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls


Rolls:
1 4oz pkg active dry yeast
1 c warm milk
1/2c sugar
1/3 c margarine, melted
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
4 c. flour


Filling:
1 c packed brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 c margarine, softend(leave on counter till no longer cold to touch, do not heat in microwave)

For Rolls:
1. Dissolve yeast in warm milk, in lg bowl. Add sugar, margarine, salt, egg & flour (one cup at a time) and mix well.

2. Knead dough into a large ball, dust dough and bowl with flour. return dough to bowl, cover with towel and place in a warm place and let rise for 1 hr.

3. After 1hr roll out dough on a floured surface. Roll flat to aprox 21" long and 16" wide and abt 1/4" thick.

4. preheat oven to 400

For Filling:
5. Spread softened butter on dough, mix brown sugar and cinnamon and spread mixture on dough.

6. Roll dough long ways (21" side)

7. Once dough is all rolled slide non flavored dental floss under the roll (about 1 3/4" pieces) cross ends of floss and pull tight to cut dough. Repeat until entire roll is cut (makes about 12).

8. Place 6 rolls on a greased baking pan and cook for 10 min.

9. Let cool till rolls are cool to the touch but not cold and coat generously with frosting.


Cinnabon Cream Cheese Frosting

8Tbs ( 1 stick) margarine, softened
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
1/4 c (2 oz) cream cheese
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine ALL ingredients in a large bowl. Beat on med and increase speed till fluffy.

Chicken, Broccoli & Cheddar Soup

It is getting colder and colder everyday which makes it the perfect time to make soup! I love making soup and wanted to tackle making my husbands favorite. I had never made Broccoli Cheddar before and decided that last night would be a good night to try!

I could not find an easy Broccoli Cheddar soup recipe to save my life! So I had to combine two different recipes and came up with this!

Chicken Broccoli & Cheddar Soup

3 boiled & shredded chicken breast
1 32oz bag of Broccoli Florettes
1 1/2c cheddar shredded
1 1/2c velveta cheese cubed
1 1/2c mozzarella shredded
1/2 c Parmesan cheese
2 1/2c chicken broth
2 1/2c milk
4Tbs instant potatoes
4Tbs flour
Pepper
2 Tbs chopped dried onion
2 tsp granulated garlic


Spray with cooking spray large pot. Add in Dried onion, garlic, broccoli, chicken broth & shredded chicken. Bring to a boil till broccoli is tender and remove from heat. Remove 2/3 of mixture and puree in blender and add back to pot.

On the side warm milk in microwave in a med size bowl for abt 1 min. Whisk in one Tbs at a time dried mashed potatoes & flour into warm milk.

Add milk mixture to soup and bring to boil for 1 min. Add in cheeses & Stir frequently.

Once cheese has melted add in pepper to taste and serve!

Enjoy!!

nonna fiorentino's meat sauce

4 lbs. ground veal or beef

8 carrots

4 stalks of celery

1 green bell pepper

1 medium onion

1 can san marzano italian whole plum tomatoes, peeled (the big size can, not the 14 oz.)

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 c. white wine

1/2 c. milk

salt to taste

chop all of the vegetables finely in a food processor. combine in a large pan and sautee in olive oil until soft.  in another large stock pot brown the meat until cooked through.  once veggies are soft, add them to the meat.  puree the tomatoes and add to veggies and meat.  add wine and nutmeg.  let simmer on low heat for one hour.

after an hour, add the milk and let simmer for at least another half an hour.  salt to taste before serving.  it's best served over wide noodles of some sort.

this sauce is delicious and super easy to make.  it freezes really well, so making such a large quantity is a good thing.

Zucchini Bread... or Muffins ~

We have had a lot of success this year gardening our zucchini.

It's become a family favorite (as a vegetable and a treat)!

3 Eggs

2 C Sugar

1 C Vegetable Oil

2 tsp Vanilla

2 C Zucchini, grated

3 C Flour

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Nutmeg

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs until flight and fluffy. Add sugar and continue to beat until well blended. Stir in oil (1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup applesauce if you want to lower the calories and make it a bit healthier), vanilla and zucchini. Sift together the dry ingredients and stir into zucchini mixture. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes for muffins (longer for loaves - until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean).

* My kids loved adding 1 cup chocolate chips.

* Samson and I prefer adding 1 cup chopped walnuts!