Pumpkin Bread

It's been a rather busy week, but I did find time to bake and cook a lot this last Tuesday. I really try to knock out several meals in one day since I have such a late work schedule. I hate the thought that my husband will not be eating a homemade meal if I don't have a bunch of stuff in the fridge...  It's a quirk of mine.  :D

I made a pumpkin cheesecake that I will blog about later because it is simply amazing.  AMAZING.

Here is the pumpkin bread though...  It's a little easier than the cheesecake if you want to attempt something yummy.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cup all purposed flour

1 T Pumpkin Spice

2 t Baking Powder

1/2 t salt

2 Eggs

2 C Sugar

15 Oz Can Pumpkin

1/2 C Oil

1 C Cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 2 9 x 5 bread loaf pans.

Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet in another.  Then add them together just until moistened.  You can add the cranberries, but you don't have to.  I did add walnuts too for some extra texture.  

Evenly pour the mixture in to the pans. They bake for 55-60 minutes and once they pass the toothpick test, they are done!  The edges do get slightly brown, but I like that. You can put tinfoil around the edges if you'd like it less brown....  :D 

Let cool for 10 minutes then remove from pan!

Here is my breakfast today.... Cocoa, bread, slippers and internets.  :D

Have a wonderful day!

xoxo

JB

I really like food - Cracked Wheat Bread

I have had some cracked wheat sitting around the house for a while and really didn't know what to use it in.  Yeah, sometimes I buy things and then wonder why.... But I finally found a recipe on allrecipes.com that looked easy enough (and I had all the ingredients).

This Cracked Wheat Bread II was the first one that really caught my eye... And since I had never used cracked wheat before, the easy to follow instructions were essential.  I do have a Kitchenaid stand mixer, so that cut back on the kneading... Though I do enjoy beating the crap out of some dough by hand once in a while.  

I don't know if it was just the weather today or what, but it did rise a little slow. It could have been me when adding ingredients though of course too.  Either way, here is a photo of the two loaves it creates.

When I was almost ready to pop them in the oven, I did cut a slit straight down the center and brushed on some melted butter.  Just delicious!

Then after I was done knitting this lovely cowl....

Yes, a promo shoved in quick, but I just love it!

I needed a snack so I toasted the bread and slathered on some Ginger Pumpkin Jam from Jellybean and Julia's.  It was perfection....  

Now that I have you drooling... Have a great day!

xoxo,

JB

I really like food - BBQ Chicken Pizza

I figure, since I'm a food addict, that'll I probably just start posting some of my recipes. People ask me for them, so I shall oblige.

I love pizza, whether it's breakfast with egg, dessert with apple, or spicy or supreme or meaty... I'll just eat pizza any way I can get it. I'm cheap though too, so I hate to spend a bunch of money on something I can make at home for next to nothing.

Here's everything I used (minus the cheese as it was hiding in the fridge):

Pizza Dough: I've really been trying to make everything from scratch, since it is so much cheaper overall.  It just takes time.  For now, I'm using store bought pizza crust.  Whichever brand you prefer, just follow the directions about what the temp should be!  This package, for us, since we like thin crust, makes two pizzas!

Sauce: Famous Dave's Rich and Sassy sauce has a special place in our fridge at ALL times.  It's the go-to barbecue sauce for us.  Use whatever sauce you prefer!

Chicken: Ok, roasted chicken was on sale at our local grocery for $5 per bird.  I could have roasted my own but, again time is lacking!  I used exactly one chicken breast for two pizzas (the other one was used for chicken enchiladas the next day).

Add Ons: Usually I add onions and/or bell peppers, but I forgot since I was so obsessed with these Hot Pickled Garlic cloves from Jellybean and Julia's, a local company and friend-owned.  She cans such amazing things and combinations of things that it blows my mind.

Cheese:  I used a whole package (8 oz) of shredded mozzarella on each pizza.


I use my Pampered Chef pizza stone (so worth the monies!) and bake the crust for a few minutes... Not so much to make it super brown, but to get it going.  That way you'll get a nice crust on the bottom and it won't be soggy!

Then I add about two heaping spoonfuls of barbecue sauce.  Joe does NOT like saucy pizza and I'm definitely the same when it comes to BBQ sauce on pizza.

I added half the chicken, a whole chopped clove of the garlic and covered it all in mozzarella cheese.

I really don't set a time since each pizza is unique, but I wait until it's nice bubbly brown in the middle.

The first pizza was delicious...  But I added even more of the garlic (two cloves) to the second one!  There was just something so extra yummy about the little pop of extra flavor of it to go along with the spice of the barbecue sauce and chunks of chicken.

Overall, it took nearly no time to make a wonderful pizza from my own over for less than $7.  Actually make that, 2 pizzas for $7.  And that's just a guess on price... I probably bought the sauce on sale and I know I did the cheese.  :D


There is one recipe... One of my favorites.  I'll be sharing more in the future!

xoxo,
JB

P.S. Yes, the other chicken breast went to dinner tonight, but I won't waste ANY of the rest of it either. That'll make soup or stock or chili...  I hate wasting good food!

Next recipe - Bagel Bread with photos of a sandwich I made with two local ingredients!