Fall Pumpkin Cake

My 21st birthday was a few weeks ago and my parents and grandparents gave me money towards a digital camera, so I pooled that with some of my hard earned money and  headed to Best Buy to purchase a camera of my own.  Upon entering the store two sales people attached themselves to me and told me more than I could ever want to know about cameras.  I eventually picke one, a Nikon Coolpix point and shoot.  It is a wonderful. 

I'm excited to have a camera because now I can show you more of my cooking adventures.

This is my kitchen.  It is small but fierce.  I could do without the oversensitve smoke alarm, but other than that this kitchen ROCKS.

All the ingredients needed for Fall Pumpkin Cake: Flour, sugar, baking soda, pumpkin, roasted salted almonds, vanilla, cinnamon, butter, eggs, cranberries, and butterscotch chips.

This is Esmeralda, my Kitchen Aid mixer.  Isn't she a beauty?

Now that's an action shot!!  Add melted butter, sugar, pumkin, eggs, and vanilla to the mixer.

In another bowl combine flour, baking soda, and cinnamon.

Add the flour to the mixer until combined.  Then fold in craberries, half the almonds, and butterscotch chips.

Pour batter into a 9x13 inch pan...or a 8 inch sqaure and an 8 inch cake pan if your kitchen lacks a 9x13 inch pan. 

It isn't required to store the other half of the almonds in a princess bowl, but it is preferred.

Sprinkle the almonds on top.

Place those beauties in the oven and let the magic happen.

Bake until lightly browned on the edges.

Devour.

Fall Pumpkin Cake

½ cup butter, melted

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

1, 15 oz. can pumpkin

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup butterscotch chips

½ cup dried sweetened cranberries

2/3 cup chopped roasted salted almonds, divided

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a mixing bowl add butter, sugar, pumpkin, eggs and vanilla.  Using a stand mixer or hand mixer beat on medium until combined.  In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, and cinnamon; add to the pumpkin mixture,  mixing on low until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber scraper as needed.  Fold in butterscotch chips, cranberries, and 1/3 cup of almonds.  Pour into a greased 9x13 inch pan, spreading until even.  Sprinkle remaining 1/3 cup almonds on evenly on top of the cake and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned and the cake springs back when pressed lightly.

Baked Oatmeal

We make this recipe a lot at Riverside (the recipe is scaled up considerably), it is simple and quick to make and utterly delicious. 

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
1 1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups oatmeal
1 Tablespoon baking powder

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.  In a bowl whisk butter, brown sugar, eggs, milk, and vanilla until smooth.  Stir in the oatmeal and baking powder, pour into greased dish and bake for  45 minutes or until solid.  Slice and serve.

If you want variations on this recipe you can make apple spice baked oatmeal by adding 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice and 3/4 cup chopped apples.  Or cranberry almond baked oatmeal with 1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries. 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, and 1/2 cup sliced almonds.

I like to eat my Baked Oatmeal by cutting a slice putting it in a bowl and adding a 1/4 cup of milk.  At Riverside we serve it with yogurt, blueberries, chocolate chips, brown sugar and syrup so the kids can dazzle their oatmeal up any way they want.

Cake Mix Rice Crispies

One of my friends posted this recipe on facebook: http://gimmesomeoven.com/cake-batter-rice-crispy-treats/ , I've just adapted it slightly.

When I saw this recipe I was immediately exited to make it.  I love rice crispy bars, especially Rice Krispies Treats, you know, the ones that come in the blue shiny wrapper.  I've never been able to make rice crispy bars like Kellogg does until I made these.

1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup butter yellow cake mix
10 oz. regular marshmallows
6 cups rice crispies
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a large microwaveable bowl add the butter, microwave on high for 45 seconds or until the butter is melted.  Stir in cake mix til no lumps remain.  Add the marshmallows, return to the microwave for 90 seconds or until all the marshmallows are puffed.  Add the rice crispies and vanilla.  Stir until all the rice crispies are coated and pour into a greased 9x13 inch pan.  Press flat with a spatula, let cool, cut into 12 squares and serve.

I've already made this recipe 3 times, once as written above, another time I used pumpkin spice marshmallows and added 1/4 teaspoon almond extract.  Today I made them with chocolate marshmallows and added 1/3 cup nutella to the butter in the beginning of the recipe.

All these variations have turned out well.  This is a seriously AMAZING recipe and it is very versatile.

Congratulations Pie

This weekend one of my good friends is visiting.  She recently got engaged, so I wanted make her and her fiance a special treat.  Her fiancee doesn't like chocolate or frosting.  When I come up with a dessert recipe my first inclination is to make something with both chocolate and frosting so I had to put my thinking cap on to come up with something they both would enjoy.  This is what I came up with:

Congratulations Pie

3 cups citrus pudding (recipe below)
2 small, ripe bananas, sliced
1 cup sliced strawberries, divided
12 individual graham cracker crusts ( just buy these, it will make your life easier)

Place 1 heaping tablespoon of pudding in the bottom of each crust.  Place a couple banana slices on top, then a few strawberry slices, making sure you save 12 slices.  Spoon remaining pudding on top until the fruit is completely covered.  Place 1 sliced strawberry on top of each pie.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap so the pudding doesn't form a skin.

If you happen to have sweetened whipped cream on hand spread some on top of the pudding before adding the last strawberry, then you don't have to worry about the skin forming.  That's what I would have done but, alas, I had no whipping cream.

Citrus Pudding

This recipe is adapted from "My Favorite Lemon Pudding" by Lori Longbotham on foodnetwork.com

1/4 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 cups milk (the more fat in the milk the better it will taste)
3 egg yolks
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 teaspoons orange zest
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup orange juice
2 Tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a 2 quart sauce pan whisk together the cornstarch and sugar.  Slowly pour in the milk while whisking then add the egg yolks and zests.  Whisk until smooth.  Heat on medium whisking constantly until pudding becomes thick (just slightly thinner than normal pudding, it will firm up more after refrigeration) about 10 minutes.  Whisk in the juices, butter, and vanilla.  Cool to room temperature. 

Green Curry Peanut Sauce

Last week one of my roommates and I made a peanut sauce.  It wasn't super amazing because we made it on a whim and didn't really have all the ingredients to make it fabulous.  I went to the grocery store today with the intention of getting the right ingredients so I could make one legit peanut sauce.

I bought Thai Kitchen Green Curry Paste, it  has the perfect balance of lemongrass and ginger.  I used chicken bullion powder because it adds a depth of flavor and salt without adding more liquid to the sauce

1, 14 oz. can coconut milk
1 Tablespoon green curry paste 
1/2 red onion diced
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder

Combine ingredients in a 1 quart sauce pan over medium heat.  Cook, stirring frequently, until onions have softened and sauce is slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.

I poured this sauce over spaghetti and sauteed peas, shredded carrots, the other half of the red onion, and a green pepper.  It was insanely good, my roommates gave it two thumbs up as well.

Chippers

One of the Food Science professors left some chocolate covered potato chips in the Mackay storeroom where I work.  They were delicous.  I don't have enough patience to dip single chips into chocolate, so I decided to make some with crushed chips.  This recipe is super simple, quick, and has that perfect combination of sweet and salty.

Chippers
9 oz. wavy potato chips, crushed into small pieces, but not powder
20 oz. chocolate almond bark, melted
3/4 cup white chocolate chips

Stir crushed chips into almond bark.  Scoop mixture by tablespoonfuls onto waxed paper.  Place white chocolate chips into a ziptop bag.  Microwave until melted, snip a corner of the bag and drizzle over the cookies.  Let sit until the chocolate firms up then store in an air tight container.