The many uses of pumpkin....

Since we had some more pumpkin to use up and I knew I was going to be making soup tonight, I wanted to find a fun and different bread to make. I came across this recipe last month and pulled it out of the recipe pile to try.

Pumpkin-Walnut Focaccia with Gruyère takes a bit of time to make as it requires 3 different rises but makes plenty so you can freeze the other loaf. This bread was so worth the effort. This is not your traditional foccacia/flatbread type with dimples. I think the recipe name is a little misleading. It has a sweet subtle pumpkin flavor while being slightly chewy and dense. Next time I would increase the cheese amount, I could tell it was there but it could take on more flavor without overpowering the bread.

The bread paired very well with tonight's Creamy Tomato-Balsamic Soup. Roasting the tomatoes, onions and garlic with the other ingredients brought such a depth of flavor to this dish. It has such simple flavors that stand out in each creamy bite. Perfect comfort food on a chilly evening. Grilled cheese would also go so well with this (thinking ahead for the leftovers!)

Recipes

Creamy Tomato-Balsamic Soup
Pumpkin-Walnut Focaccia with Gruyère

Previewing this week

Recapping this past week we made 12 new recipes. If your looking for any of the recipes make sure you take a peek at the left side bar to find them! I update every Sunday with the past week's recipes. You may need to hit refresh to see the additions. The collection is growing pretty big!

This morning was busy as we had to get some stuff done outside before we went grocery shopping. I got the menu for this week done last night and prepared the grocery list. I noticed that *someone* was glancing over what was on it and then commenced the rolling of the eyes as tofu (insert evil laugh here) was spotted. We have used it once before and it turned out very good so this will be round 2!

For the mid-week work treat, it will be a combination of these fun ingredients;
Cream Cheese, Pistachios and Pecans... I'm looking forward to this one!

So Max is here waiting for me to post our entry for the Weekend Dog Blogging #6 that Sweetnicks recaps every Sunday night. This was taken yesterday while he was playing with one of his favorite toys. He's waiting to lick the toy to death as we put just a little peanut butter inside.Our Netflix movie of the night will be Cheaper by the Dozen with Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt. Stay tuned to see what's brewin' in our kitchen this week!

Why have we waited so long?

Everytime we pass a bakery shop, we keep seeing scones and I have been wanting to try to make some so we can see what they are like. I have never had one before (as far as I know) so I am not sure how these compare to "real" scones as they are of a lighter kind. Since we still had some fresh cranberries in the refrigerator I figured it would be a great way to get started!

The dough itself was a little more sticky than I thought it would be, but I find that happens with cooking light bread type recipes. I thought about adding a little more flour, but I did not want to toughen the dough. I figured I might as well press on and just use a little cooking spray on my hands to keep things moving. That worked well and before I placed it in the oven I sprinkled about a tablespoon of raw crystal sugar on top for a little crunch. The inside was light, moist and soft while the golden exterior was nice and crunchy. I tried this warm this morning and then had a snack with one toasted later. Both were very good, but I think warm out of the oven was the best. I can't wait to make more of these!

Tonight our movie from Netflix is I, Robot with Will Smith. Check back tomorrow for the recipe recap from this past week! It has been a busy one in the kitchen!

Recipes
Fresh Cranberry Scones

Soft or Crispy - what do you prefer?

I was not planning on doing any baking today, but yesterday there was some bad news that was given out at Jeff's office. I wanted to make something for them that was comforting but I didn't have time to go shopping so I had to have everything on hand already. I looked though the pantry and saw I had the staples for chocolate chip cookies. I remembered we had made some before for them that were soft and chewy so this time we went with the more crisp kind.

I changed my schedule and got up a little earlier than normal so I could get going on them. After they were done and slightly cooled off I did have to try one before sending them all off. The texture of these golden brown goodies are crisp, slightly chewy and packed with chocolate chips. I think I prefer these over ones I have had in the past as they seem to appeal to more people than the softer kind. Don't get me wrong though... I don't think any kind of chocolate chip cookie could be bad! So what kind do you prefer?

Going into a different realm for dinner tonight. Curried Chicken with Fresh and Dried Cranberries served over brown basmati rice has so many textures and flavors going on. This is a hearty chicken stew type dish that has a spicy background if you use a medium or hot curry powder. I used Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes and then added some green chiles in separatley. This can be made ahead of time and then reheated for a quick dinner. Another great way to use up the fresh cranberries!

Recipes

Crisp Chocolate Chip Cookies
Curried Chicken with Fresh and Dried Cranberries

Calming the tart berries

Happy to see that fresh cranberries had finally arrived in our area it was time to make something with them! I had a couple ideas already and went with Fresh Cranberry and Orange Cookies. These are a soft and chewy cookie that is lightly coated in an orange frosting to help cut the tartness of these berries. Having both orange juice/zest in the cookie dough and frosting brings a bright and subtle flavor and does not overpower the rest of the flavors. I chopped the cranberries by hand but you could easily use a food processor to do the work for you - just leave some bigger chunks.

Fresh Cranberry and Orange Cookies

After enjoying my cookie sample it was time to head off to start dinner. I made Sweet and Crunchy Mustard Chicken with Roasted Potato Salad and the Pumpkin Biscuits from earlier in the week. The tender chicken breasts remain juicy but still have a nice crunch from being baked instead of fried in the oven. Tangy dijon mustard and brown sugar in the coating brings a unique depth of flavor to the chicken.

The potato salad was pretty quick to throw together after being in the oven. There was just enough vinaigrette to coat the potatoes without making them soggy. I got a look like I was destroying it when I threw the roasted potatoes in a bowl with green onions, bacon, parsely and the dressing. Thankfully, everything melded well and got the thumbs up on the salad! I really liked this one.

Sweet and Crunchy Mustard Chicken with Roasted Potato Salad

Recipes

Fresh Cranberry and Orange Cookies
Roasted Potato Salad
Sweet and Crunchy Mustard Chicken

Good use for leftover bread...

The M&M cookie bars went over well at Jeff's office from what I hear. None of them came home so that must be a good sign!

Tonight for dinner we had Bread Pudding Florentine. While I was putting this together this morning I was a little nervous with how it was going to come out. I was thinking it would be better to just cube the bread and mix everything together, but in the end I'm glad I layered it. The bottom layer of bread is not overly soggy as it sometimes can be while the top layer has a nice crispness. The inside of the top slices are still a little soft from the egg mixture. The spinach layer brings both textures together and lends its flavor throughout the dish.

Bread Pudding Florentine

Recipes
Bread Pudding Florentine

It may be cool outside... but inside with dinner it was hot hot hot!

I spied some halloween M&M's in the store on Sunday and picked up a bag knowing I had something already in mind for them. Being Tuesday, I had to come up with something for Jeff to bring into the office tomorrow for treat day so out came the M&M's.

I decided we would try M&M Cookie Bars. These came together pretty easy and since you don't need to shape anything it went by fast too! These chewy bars are just like a slightly crispy yet still soft inside chocolate chip cookie. Well, if it had chocolate chips in it! I did brown the butter a little when I melted it to bring out a depth of flavor that adds to its uniqueness.

Spicy Buffalo Chicken Wraps were on the menu for dinner. Juicy chicken tenders dipped in a spicy hot sauce and mixed with a cool blue cheese dressing all wrapped in a chipotle tortilla. The tangy dressing has just enough flavor to help calm down the heat. Eating them was a little messy as it does drip but it was oh so good and hot!

Recipes

M&M Cookie Bars
Buffalo Chicken Wraps

Down goes the temperature

What a great way to wake up this morning...

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It was a cloudy and mild day with a scattering of raindrops and rainbows. I think I saw at least 4 rainbows throughout the day! The temperature was around 85 and it is suppose to drop to the mid 70's for the next couple days. The AC is off and the windows are open. It finally is starting to feel like fall outside!

We have 3 recipes to get to from dinner tonight. I put together Herb-Coated Pork Tenderloin, Walnut-Crusted Potato and Blue Cheese Cakes, and Pumpkin Drop Biscuits. Even though it may sound like a lot - most of the prep work can be done early and most of the time tonight was just spent waiting around for the stuff to cook!

The Pork Tenderloin is coated in a variety of fresh herbs with olive oil and marinated overnight. It was juicy with just a slight pink in the middle. The fresh herbs brought an extra punch which flowed throughout the tenderloin. While the pork was resting I went to cooking the potato cakes. I was a little worried that these might not hold together, but it went well and had a nice crunchy exterior and a warm creamy center. The blue cheese gave off a subtle tang and went well with the nutty coating.

Herb-Coated Pork Tenderloin with Walnut-Crusted Potato and Blue Cheese Cakes

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I had more pumpkin to get used up so I found a biscuit recipe that sounded good. The orginial one called for them to be rolled out but I am fond of drop biscuits so I changed it a bit. I'm glad I did as it was a little too sticky to roll out and I would have had to use too much flour to try to. This way was faster and easier to deal with! The pumpkin taste is not overly pronounced but you can tell it is there. They are light biscuit reminiscent of fall flavors.

Pumpkin Drop Biscuits

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Recipes
Pumpkin Drop Biscuits
Herb-Coated Pork Tenderloin
Walnut-Crusted Potato and Blue Cheese Cakes

Let's take a look at what is comming....

Busy day today! Went grocery shopping early so we could hit a couple different stores looking for specific ingredients. I went through the recipe binders and cookbooks to pick out new ones last night and looking at the stack now it should be another busy week!

I was very happy to see it is finally time for fresh cranberries! I mentioned earlier that I needed some but could not find any (fresh or frozen!) After hitting the stores today I found them to be quite abundant! I think at least 3 recipes this week include them.

Another great item we will be using at least a couple times is a crumbly, tangy, and sharp blue cheese.The movie last night from Netflix was awesome! Great movie! Tonight they bring us A Lot Like Love with Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet. I don't have high hopes for this one, but who knows!

Before I forget, make sure to TiVO or watch FoodTV tonight. They are showing the Cupcake Challenge which we attended. I'm not sure when they are showing the Chocolate Fantasy that we were also at. They held these a few months ago in Phoenix. Here's a glimpse of a piece from one.

Recapping a busy week

Another busy week has passed with 11 new recipes being made. Even though we end up making quite a few new recipes each week the pile of untried recipes just does not go down. I need to stop adding to it... but that's no fun! The pumpkin bars from yesterday have been calling to me all day. The right about of spice and pumpkin flavor went so well with the cream cheese frosting... it is hard to keep my hands out of them!

Since it is the weekend, I suppose we should get our picture of one doggy to join in the fun over at Sweetnicks for Weekend Dog Blogging #5. If you would like more information about it - Sweetnicks should have the round up posted sometime tomorrow! We caught Max sitting out by the pool early this morning trying to relax before the temperature went to warm for him.

DVD's arrived from Netflix today (cutting it close I say!) so tonight's flick will be Sin City starring Bruce Willis and Jessica Alba.

Don't forget to check out the recipe section in the left hand collum. I update every sunday night with the previous weeks recipes. Each one has a picture to go with it!

Squashy kind of Friday...

Since I still had some leftover mashed pumpkin from last Friday I went looking for a bar type recipe and the KA Cookie Companion came through again. Harvest Pumpkin Bars keep that classic pumpkin orange color after baking. They are very moist, dense, and have a generous layer of a delicious cream cheese frosting. To make the frosting a little more interesting I finely diced crystallized ginger to sprinkle on top. These are pretty addiciting!

Harvest Pumpkin Bars
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Cavatappi Pasta Salad with Walnut-Sage Pesto was on tap for dinner tonight. I love this grooved spiral pasta. Roasting the butternut squash helps bring out a little sweetness and gives the outside a nice caramalized finish. The pesto is pretty light with only 2 tablepoons oil and the rest of the liquid coming from chicken broth. I liked how the majority of the pesto was parsley and sage as we tend to have a lot of that around. The orginial recipe called for torn Arugla, but we prefer Spinach so that is what I used. Overall this was a nice and light dish where the suggested servings were actually a nice size!

Cavatappi Pasta Salad with Walnut-Sage Pesto
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Recipes
Cavatappi Pasta Salad with Walnut-Sage Pesto
Harvest Pumpkin Bars

Playin' with some green ingredients

Biscotti.... these crunchy little cookies can be made into so many different tasty treats. The version I made today is an Italian type as there is no butter in the recipe. These are more on the dry side and usually do not have a lot of extra stuff mixed in. They are denser and have more crunch than an American style where the dough is softer and able to accept more mix-ins.

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Double Chocolate Pistachio Biscotti have a very deep and rich chocolate flavor from dutch cocoa with melted unsweetend chocolate mixed in. These would be great little cookies to dip into your favorite coffee drink. The Pistachios bring a slightly nutty essence and visual interest to the biscotti.

Double Chocolate Pistachio Biscotti
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Dinner tonight was Honey-Hoisin Pork Tenderloin with Wasabi Mashed Potatoes . The ingredients of each dish went together so well and had many different flavors going on. The pork was slightly sweet and had a nice depth of flavor from the sage honey. I did have a tough time finding the honey but finally found some yesterday. I was just going to go with regular desert honey but wanted to see if I could find what was suggested in the recipe. I'm glad I did!

Honey-Hoisin Pork Tenderloin

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The Wasabi potatoes kept me waiting for a kick of heat, but I think it could use another 1/2 teaspoon or so. I did increase from what CL suggested but even so I think there was a lot of potatoes to try and flavor. I like that the only added liquid to mash them was the low-fat yogurt which kept them creamy and quite fluffy without going gummy. I really don't like gummy mashed potatoes. They do take on a very very slight green hue from the Wasabi powder.

Wasabi Mashed Potatoes

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Recipes
Double Chocolate Pistachio Biscotti
Honey-Hoisin Pork Tenderloin

Wasabi Mashed Potatoes

Great way to wake up in the morning....

As I was saying yesterday, I had made something that was waiting for me in the refrigerator to finish this morning. Old-Fashioned Cinnamon Rolls were slowly rising over night in the chilly air so I could bake them off early. I wanted them to be fresh and still warm from the oven when Jeff brought them in. After a quick 30 minutes of being in the warm air they started to begin their final rise and minutes after being in the oven the sweet cinnamon scent went throughout our house.

I very impatiently waited by the oven door so they didn't over bake. It was hard to resist the urge to open the door and peak in but at least I could cheat and see through the glass window with the oven light on. The buzzer went off, the glaze was mixed up and out they came to cool off slightly. I drizzled the sweet vanilla glaze and watched it slowly melt into the cracks and crevices of the very tender dough.

To keep them warm I wrapped each pan with tin foil and sent them on their way. I hope they were as good as they smelled!

Old-Fashioned Cinnamon Rolls

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And for anyone wondering I did hear back and they went over well!

On to dinner... We had Peppered Pork and Pears served with a Sweet-Potato Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing. I really enjoyed the pork/bartlett pear combination. I used pears that were just still firm and not overly ripe. The quick sauce that goes along top went very well and gave just enough extra juice to swirl the pork in. The sweet-potato salad lived up to its name and was pretty darn spicy! While eating, I thought I could have handled a little more heat but thinking back it was just right. Some peanuts at the end helped add a little crunch and interest to the tender potatoes. The sauce had just enough peanut butter taste to bring the sweetness in the potatoes down and unlike some past recipes I think the sauce amount was pretty generous.

Peppered Pork and Pears with a Sweet-Potato Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing

Recipes
Old-Fashioned Cinnamon Rolls
Peppered Pork and Pears
Sweet-Potato Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing

A little tease for tomorrow's treats...

As many of you know, Tuesday is the day I make some sort of treats for Jeff's co-workers to have on Wednesday. I did make it today, but you will have to wait until tomorrow to see what it is! I wanted it to be very fresh and still warm when he brings it in so they won't go into the oven until tomorrow morning. Until then, they are relaxin' in the nice cool fridge so they will not get too "excited". Stay tuned to see how they "develop".

I had two recipes planned for dinner tonight - I'm not sure I would normally pair these together but they both looked good and wanted to try them! Spinach Custard Pie along with Autumn Apple, Pear, and Cheddar Salad with Pecans were on tap.

The Spinach Pie was pretty interesting and had quite a lot of flavor. This has basic ingredients that combine into a great tasting dish. The sour cream brings a nice tang in the background while the spinach and eggs help hold its shape so that the pie cuts pretty clean. I used a smokey paprika from Penzeys to sprinkle on top before baking.

Spinach Custard Pie

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The salad tonight was the clear winner though. The combination of the light dressing (which I thought there could of been a little more of as it just barely coated everything) with the fresh, juicy, and crisp fruit balanced each other out so well. Toasting the pecans just adds to the great flavor and another angle of crunch to the dish. I used a microplane to do the cheese but next time I might just cube the it and add a little more as it seemed to just get lost in the salad.

Autumn Apple, Pear, and Cheddar Salad with Pecans

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Recipes
Autumn Apple, Pear, and Cheddar Salad with Pecans
Spinach Custard Pie

What is it about Monday's....

What a crazy day today! It started this morning when an accident near a major highway started a brushfire that came too close to us - if the wind would have picked up who knows what might of happened! This created lots of traffic so it was hard to get anywhere. Thankfully the firefighters got it out quick enough so no major damage was done. What a start to the morning huh?

Tomato-Basil Lasagna with Prosciutto was on the menu for tonight. This lasanga has thinner layers than what we are used to so it is harder to see the filling. We often get bulk Prosciutto from Costco (until they decided to stop carrying it this past week... boo!) and when I saw this included it between the layers I knew we would love this. It has a nice kick to it from the red pepper flakes while the cheese mixture layers stays creamy. I was afraid the pasta might be a little dry, but we found this just saucy enough for us. I served simple salad greens along with a side of whole wheat garlic toast.

Tomato-Basil Lasagna with Prosciutto

Recipes
Tomato-Basil Lasagna with Prosciutto

What to come this week...

Grocery list was done early this morning so I could finish going through the recipes to make sure I had everything down I needed for this week. There should be quite a few new dishes to keep me busy in the kitchen. I thought I would give a couple previews of what ingredients we will be using later in the week.

Roasted Pistachio's

Wasabi Powder

Since it is Sunday already we should get a picture of at least one doggie up for the Weekend Dog Blogging event that Sweetnicks hosts. With the weather cooling down finally (85 today - woohoo!) Spike was out enjoying the nice weather in our brittle grass. The grass is slowly starting to green up again and soften some. Make sure to head on over and check out the rest of the cute dogs - she should have the wrap up posted sometime tonight!

Netflix brings us Identity tonight which is a thiller with Ray Liotta, John Cusack, and Rebecca De Mornay.

Check back with us each day to see what we manage to make next in the kitchen!

Weekend Cat Blogging 18

It's that time again when food bloggers from all over the world show off their kitty friends. Clare over at Eat Stuff usually hosts this, but I think this weekend Farmgirl Fare has taken over the duties.

If we can't find Miss Kitty, then this is the one place she is sure to be. She took this spot over almost a year ago and we caught her red handed waking up from one of her many naps. Look at her eyes, I think she had a little too much cat nip this morning...


On to the week in review... We made 10 new recipes this week, but I think the standouts for us were the Pumpkin Doughnuts and Apple Cinnamon Chip Granola Squares. Since it is Saturday, chicken salads as normal for dinner tonight. We will be having the apple version since we have plenty of them leftover.

DVD selection for us from Netflix tonight will be Fahrenheit 9/11. I was not sure that I was ready to watch this but it popped up in our queue and figured we might as well see what all the talk was about. I will be going through and searching the cookbooks and recipe stacks to see what will be on the upcoming menu after the movie. Stay tuned to see what we can come up with for new ones this week!

More from the pumpkin patch...

*Click on the photos to enlarge

Pumpkin doughnuts I thought would be a good way today to use up some of the pumpkin puree we had from roasting the ones we got from a local farm a few days ago. If you've never made your own before it is actually quite simple - look below the pictures for instructions.

These delicious doughnuts are baked, rather than fried, in a doughnut pan. I have had these pans laying around for the longest time calling to me "use me, please use me!" The have a mild pumpkin flavor and I used a simple powdered sugar glaze to play around with some orange designs. I didn't have much time so it was kind of a rushed job in decorating them. I made 6 large and 12 mini doughnuts with enough batter leftover to make 2 cute mini muffins. I can't wait to make these again - fun stuff!

After a visit to a local asian market to get some ingredients, I was ready to make dinner tonight. Florentine Rice Noodle Gratin is a silky, comforting, and filling meal. I served some steamed broccoli along side. The noodles are fast to cook and hold together well after being cut. Next time I might add in some minced garlic into the onion mixture - other than that I don't think I would change anything else! This would be great to make ahead and then reheat to serve later.

Recipes
Make your own pumpkin puree
Pumpkin Doughnuts
Florentine Rice Noodle Gratin

I'll take that healthy snack to go please...

Sometimes if I don't have enough time to make breakfast or when I need a snack that will actually fill me up for awhile I turned in the past to granola bars or fruit - as long as it was easy to eat on the go. I wanted to make something that would be healthy, filling, and could travel well if needed. I think I finally made the one we will stick with today. Apple Cinnamon Chip Granola Squares remind me of the Quaker square breakfast bars. When I put these in the oven I started thinking the possibilities of different dried fruit/chips and spices. They are slightly crunchy, very chewy, and packed full of whole-grain goodness.

Apple Cinnamon Chip Granola Squares

The meal for dinner this evening was picked out so I could use up the rest of the goat cheese I had leftover from making pizza the other night. Chicken Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Garlic was a delicious twist on chicken and pasta. Stuffing the chicken went a little quicker since I just butterflied rather than pounding it out. The extra garlic that you place in the sauce to simmer with the chicken really helps take away that "bottled" flavor you can sometimes taste when not making your own marinara. I thought the goat cheese might slowly seep out but as long as it is rolled up well enough with the ends tucked in nothing oozed out until it was cut!

Chicken Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Garlic

*Click on the photo to enlarge

Recipes
Apple Cinnamon Chip Granola Squares
Chicken Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Garlic

Egg-Cellent Casserole

We tend to go through a lot of eggs so we frequently buy the big 5 dozen packages from Costco. I was looking for a recipe to use up some of them for dinner tonight and came accross this casserole recipe. I was intrigued reading through the ingredients and saw how it used a stuffing mix instead of cubed bread.

Cheesy Sausage Casserole is an eggy comforting dinner or it could also be a great dish to serve during a brunch. The texture of the eggs take on an almost creamy consistency against the crusty stuffing mix. I used hot turkey sausage as that is what we had in the freezer. While I wouldn't call it hot, it did bring a nice background of heat.

Cheesy Sausage Casserole

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Recipes
Cheesy Sausage Casserole

Muffin pans get a workout....

Keeping with the Tuesday tradition to bake things for Jeff to take into his co-workers every Wednesday we went with cupcakes and muffins today. Chocolate-Raspberry Buttermilk Cupcakes and Cinnamon Doughtnut Muffins are the recipes I chose to make.

The cupcakes have raspberry jam layered inside before baking. While this was easy enough, it did take some time as I tried to make sure that the batter was surrounding each dollop of jam. I did this so the jam would not seep out the bottom or sides. I stayed with 12 servings as stated but next time I would make 10 instead to make them a little bigger. After tasting one I agreed that they only needed a dusting of powdered sugar rather than a frosting. As you can see in the second picture, I decided to cut out each letter of their company name and placed on top before dusting with sugar.

Now don't let the title of the muffin trick you into thinking it tastes like a fried doughnut in a muffin. The texture is more cake-like and with the spices and topping it does have a somewhat similar taste to a doughnut, but it certainly won't replace a real one! It is however, pretty close enough for me!

*Click on the photos to enlarge

I choose a chicken dish tonight for dinner to try and use up some that we had in the freezer. Chicken Schnitzel is a take off from the classic Weiner Schnitzel making it a bit lighter. Pounded chicken breast does not taste anything like veal, but makes a good substitute in this breaded dish. Seasoned breadcrumbs with some asiago cheese make a crispy coating after being quickly seared in a hot pan and then baked to complete. The chicken remains juicy and packs a ton of flavor. I served with a baked potato that I lightly coated in olive oil and sprinkled with salt to get a nice crunchy skin.

*Click on the photo to enlarge

Recipes
Cinnamon Doughnut Muffins
Chocolate-Raspberry Buttermilk Cupcakes
Chicken Schnitzel

In Celebration of National Cookie Month...

Brownies - so many kinds, but if you could imagine them in a round shape, shorter, and great on the go then this could be for you. Fudgies, as the people from King Arthur call them, have that classic shiny and cracked topped finish you find on fudgy brownies. Dark, rich, and most of all chewy these cookies moved to the top of my list. They have a very slight and subtle espresso background that you could easily increase to make mocha brownie cookies. You can barely taste the coffee flavor though, as it is just there to enhance the deep chocolate flavor. You could bake them longer to get crispy cookies, but my vote is to make them as is to keep them ever so fudgy and chewy.

Fudgies

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From chocolate to pizza - what a good food night! This Potato and Roasted Pepper with Goat Cheese pizza was a surprise hit. If you would of told me a couple years ago that I would make, eat, let alone enjoy red peppers and goat cheese I would of thought you were crazy! The combination of smokey peppers, creamy soft goat cheese, thin sliced red potatoes on top of a crispy thin and nutty whole wheat crust made my night complete. No leftovers unfortunely because we just couldn't stop eating this one.

Potato and Pepper Pizza with Goat Cheese

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Recipes

Fudgies
Potato and Pepper Pizza with Goat Cheese

Weekend Dog Blogging #3

Sweetnicks has been doing an awesome job of hosting the new WDB event where food blogger's show off their doggies. Don't forget about the kitties that Clare at Eat Stuff displays as they deserve equal time! This is Max - our American Eskimoe dog. He looks so content after playing with his green bouncy ball. That is his favorite toy for some reason - he runs around all day with it and if he can't find it he gets very unhappy!

*Click on the photo to enlarge

I finally got through the endless stack of untried recipes last night and picked out the ones for dinner and other baked goods we will be trying. I'm not sure if I can get to all of them this week but I'm sure going to try!

The movie last night was pretty funny - Good for rental, but not so much for a full price theater ticket! Tonight netflix brings us the DVD Racing Stripes. My sister recommended this one so we can blame her if we don't like it! Check back each day this week to see what fun and possibly messy things are happening in the kitchen!

Mile high pancakes

This morning I was in the mood for pancakes and turned to a favorite recipe that I've made in the past. I love these as they make plenty and the leftovers toast up so well in a toaster oven or even a toaster. Very simple to make, light and very filling!

11 recipes this week, 10 being new and 1 (the pancakes) being one that we've made before. Tonight for dinner is our normal saturday chicken salads.

Our DVD from netflix tonight will be Guess who with Bernic Mac and Ashton Kutcher. After the movie I plan to get out the stack of untried recipes (I should get a picture!) and search through to see what the menu for next week will be. I hope to keep the fall theme going but we shall see. Stay tuned!

Recipes

Hearty Pancakes