Mandy and Jace

After waiting weeks and weeks I finally put up my fall decorations. I bought them last month and was itching to put them out but it was still 100 degrees and just didn’t feel right.

I also made my first batch of pumpkin bread and it was so good! I love anything with pumpkin. Bread, waffles, cheesecake, soup, it is all wonderful to me. This recipe for pumpkin bread is leaning more toward the healthy side. I plan on trying the non-healthy version very soon!

Almost healthy pumpkin bread
adapted from Bread and Honey
makes one regular loaf or two mini loaves.

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
3 eggs (I used egg beaters and it worked just as well with fewer calories)
1 15oz can unsweetened pumpkin puree
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated if possible)
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the sugar, oil, applesauce, eggs and pumpkin in a bowl and set aside. In a larger bowl combine the flour, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Don’t over-mix or it will come out tough.

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool and enjoy!

Well, I am knocking out my goals one by one. This week I am working on baking breads. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to start on a yummy dessert bread. This one was awesome. It is great for dessert, breakfast or just because you want something to eat.

I have never really been patient enough to bake breads. You have to let them sit and rise for a couple of hours and I tend to get so impatient that I don’t let them rise and they turn out deformed and tough. So the other day I was determined to make this bread exactly like the recipe said, and it turned out beautifully.

This recipe is once again from Pioneer Woman. I haven’t tried a recipe of her’s that I didn’t love and this one didn’t disappoint. If you haven’t started reading her blog daily you must start now. I’m not sure how I cooked without her.

Just a warning. Make sure you have plenty of time to make this before you start baking. You will need about 5 1/2 hours total. And don’t cut corners. It needs all the time that the recipe says.

Cinnamon bread
adapted from Pioneer Woman
1 cup milk
6 tablespoons salted butter
2 1/2 teaspoons Active Dry Yeast
2 eggs
1/3 cups sugar
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons Cinnamon
egg wash (1 egg and a little water mixed together)
2 tablespoons softened butter for greasing

About 30 min to an hour before you start cooking remove your eggs and butter from the refrigerator so the eggs can get to room temperature and the butter can soften.

In a small pan combine the 6 tbs butter and milk and warm but don’t boil. Let it cool to where it is just warm not hot. Add in the yeast and let it sit for about 10 minutes to wake the yeast up.

In a bowl combine the flour and salt.

In your stand mixer with your paddle attachment mix together the sugar and eggs until combined.

Pour in the yeast mixture and stir. When combine pour in half of the flour mixture and beat on medium until it comes together. Pour the remaining flour in and mix it until combined.

Switch to your dough hook and let it knead for 10 minutes. Mine was fine at this point but if it’s too sticky add a couple of tablespoons of flour until it is easier to handle.

Coat a large bowl with oil, put your dough in it and cover it with a damp towel. Place in a warm, draft free place for 2 hours. In my house this is my oven (not turned on).

Combine your cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl.

After it has risen turn it out onto your cabinet and roll it out into a rectangle being sure it isn’t wider than your bread pan.

Cover the dough with your softened butter and then pour the cinnamon/sugar mixture on top of the butter. Roll the dough into a log starting from the far end and rolling it in towards yourself.
Pinch the seam to seal.

Use nonstick spray or butter to grease your loaf pan and place the dough into the pan. Cover again with a damp towel, place it in a warm place and let it rise for another 2 hours.

If your not using your oven to house your rising bread preheat your oven to 350. If you are wait until it is done rising, remove the dough and preheat your oven.

Cook the bread for 40 minutes on the lower rack of your oven.

Allow the bread to cool and try not to eat it all at once.

I was reading my Family Chef cookbook (a must have in the kitchen) the other day that gave me the best idea. She keeps a small bowl with a lid in her refrigerator for small pieces of leftovers that weren’t big enough to make another meal out of. Then at the end of the week or on a busy night she pulls them out and makes something out of them. I read this and a huge light bulb came on for me. We are always throwing little bits and pieces of food away because there isn’t enough to keep, and I always felt really bad doing it. So, this week I saved our leftover pork chops from Tuesday night and made burritos on Wednesday night out of them. They were delicious and I didn’t waste any food. I did these because I knew we would be on a strict time schedule between work, hair cuts and church, and I didn’t want fast food. So, I had plans to make these and wrap them in foil for easy travel but it turns out we had time at home to sit down and eat them.
You don’t have to stop at burritos though, I found out there are tons of ways to use your leftovers. Stir fry, fried rice, fajitas, salads, stew, open faced sandwiches (yum!). The ideas are endless. I’m going to give you the recipe for the burritos I made but feel free to run with this. Be as creative as you can be.

On-the-go burritos
adapted from the Family Chef Cookbook

leftover meat (pork, beef, chicken…)
1 tbs canola oil (or whatever oil you have)
1 bell pepper
1/2 onion
1 tomato
1 cup chicken broth
fajita seasoning, salt and pepper, to taste
tortillas

This recipe depends on the amount of leftovers you have so feel free to give and take.
In a pot or dutch oven, heat the oil. When hot throw in the onions and a little salt. When they are starting to get soft, put in the bell peppers. Cook until soft.
Add the tomato, leftover meat, chicken broth and seasonings and cook until hot or if you have time let it cook down until the liquid gets thick.
Roll the meat mixture into burritos and eat, wrap up and take with you, or put in the fridge for later.

Last week was Jace’s grandparent’s 60th wedding anniversary. 60 years, I can barely imagine past next week much less where we will be in 60 years. I can tell you that I will still probably be annoyingly OCD about organizing things and every piece of artwork in our house will be hung incredibly straight, thanks to my husband who is outrageously picky about things being straight and center on the wall (more on that later).

We decided to make them a nice meal and take it to them in Andrews. We made grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cobb and the most amazing banana pudding ever. I’m not sure why I wanted to make banana pudding in the first place seeing as I have never liked it, but for some reason it sounded really good. So, I found a recipe online and got to work. The problem was the recipe was very vague, and I don’t work well when you use words like dash and stir until something happens. So, thankfully despite the weird recipe it worked beautifully and it was amazing. I don’t normally lick the spoon after I make something but this custard was so good I cleaned that pot up. Healthy it is not, amazingly tasty it is.

Banana Pudding

1 box Nilla Wafers, 12 Ounce Box
4 whole bananas
4 egg yolks
2 cups milk
4 tablespoons flour
1½ cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick butter, cubed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a bowl or casserole dish, cover the bottom with the Nilla wafers and banana’s and set aside.
Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl.
In a large pot combine the egg yolks and milk (don’t turn on the heat yet). Slowly add the dry ingredients and the butter and combine with a whisk. Turn on the heat to medium and whisk until the custard gets thick. Mine took about 6 minutes. Mix in the vanilla.
Let the custard cool completely then pour the custard over the banana and cookie mixture.
If you’re not serving immediately store in the refrigerator.

I have been on this never-ending quest to make the perfect blueberry muffin. I am in love with the blueberry muffins at Starbucks. Like, holy cow I will take them all now, love. They are super sweet and lick the plate good. Lady like goes out the window when I eat these. Now, I can’t afford to eat these every day so I need to find one that I can make and like as much. I have to say I’m on my way. These are not as cakey as Starbucks but they are just as tasty, and actually much healthier.

I got this recipe from my friend Sommer, who got the recipe from her sweet mother-in-law Ann. I knew they had to be good if the recipe came from Ann and Sommer’s prego taste buds loved them. By the way, Sommer has the most adorable blog that everyone should check out and add to their google reader. It is called My Precious Family and it’s a great read.

Bledsoe’s blueberry muffins
1 1/2 cups Flour (I’ve used whole wheat and white flour and both work beautifully)
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup orange Juice
1/2 cup vegetable Oil
1 egg beaten
1 1/2 C Blueberries (If you use frozen your muffins will be a blue color)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
In a bowl combine the flour, oatmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Add orange juice, oil and egg and stir just until combined. Overmixing=tough muffins! Fold in the blueberries and fill lined or greased muffin tins with the batter until 3/4 full. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.