A Borrowed Recipe- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Welp, I am officially the worst blogger in the world and to be honest, I am okay with it. I have had a TON going on recently and I have just been busy as a bee. Don’t you worry though, I have kept up my baking and I do have one scrumptious recipe that I feel is absolutely necessary to share- ask my friend Courtney, my roomie, and my entire extended family.  Yup, that is right, this was so good I didn’t make it once, not twice, but THREE times.  I stole this recipe from the lovely How Sweet It Is and I give her full credit for this, I am not this creative but I am varsity at following directions, hence my ability to make this sucessfully three times, in less than a week… in less than 5 days actually. Yup, no shame.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie (courtesy of this lovely lady)

Ingredients:

2 large eggs

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 cup butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

1/3 cup pureed pumpkin

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

1 cup chocolate chips

1 unbaked pie shell (I used Pillsbury and there is a coupon for it here!)

Steps: (one of the most appealing thing about this pie, it is easy as pie to make it!)

1) Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F

2)Beat eggs until foamy with an electric mixer

3) Beat in flour, sugar and brown sugar (slowly or its going to look like its snowing in your kitchen) until well blended.

4) Add in vanilla extract, pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice and mix with the electric mixer.

5) Melt butter in the microwave and let cool

6) Blend in melted butter with mixer

7) In a small separate bowl, toss chocolate chips with a sprinkling of flour and then add to the pumpkin batter mixer

8) Pour into an unbaked 9-inch pie shell.

9) Bake for 65 minutes (until dough is done- Original recipe said 55 but it was a little undercooked for me- just leave it in until the cooked however well you want it however make sure to cook it enough so that the center isnt jiggly anymore)

10) Serve and enjoy!

Star Fabulous Rating: 10/10

Pumpkin Cookies with Chocolate Glaze

My applesauce making has officially kicked me, high speed, into fall!  The other day, I decided I just HAD to make something involving pumpkin.  Now, it is important to remember, pumpkin is not really my jam. Cake- my jam, Jam-my jam, Pumpkin- eh, its ok.  These cookies however, may have converted me to be a “Pumpkin is my Jam” kinda girl.  Gina is a wizard when it comes to making healthy baked goods so when I saw this delicious recipe on her blog the other day, I remembered I had a nice can of pumpkin sitting at home and it was a no brainer- Pumpkin Cookies with Chocolate Glaze were created. Now, a few changes were made because 1) Jessica is dumb and didn’t have all the ingredients and 2) even after she went to the store… she still didn’t have all the ingredients.  Fret not!  These still rocked my socks! I also doubled the recipe because I was opening the can of pumpkin and didn’t want it to go to waste!

Ingredients:

Cookies:

8 oz whipped cream cheese

4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup sugar

2 egg

1 cup pumpkin puree (canned is fine)

1/2 cup 1% buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour

1 tsp pumpkin spice

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder
Chocolate Glaze:

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tbsp skim milk

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of salt

Steps:

Cookies:

1) Preheat oven to 350°.

2) In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer mix cream cheese, butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.

3) Add eggs and mix well.

4) Add in pumpkin, buttermilk and vanilla.
5) In another bowl combine flour, spice, baking soda, salt and baking powder;

6) Slowly add in pumpkin mixture while stiring with a spoon

7) Mix until completely combined (will look more liquidy than your average cookie dough).

8) Drop spoonfulls onto a tin foil-ed, pamed baking sheet.

9) Bake 12 – 14 minutes or until golden.

10) Remove and let cool

Chocolate Glaze:

1) While the cookies are baking, whisk the confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder, milk, vanilla and salt in a bowl with a fork.

2) Place in a zip lock bag and cut off the corner (small!)

3) Drizzel onto the cookies and…

4) Enjoy!

Makes 50 cookies

 

These cookies get a Star Fabulous Rating of 10/10 but then again, Gina is a genius so

I expected nothing less

Star Fabulous Rating: 10/10

 

 

 

Applesauce

So sorry I have been so MIA. I have been super busy kicking my own butt in the gym for the big 10K race that I had this weekend. Totally dominated that race. I finished without stopping and in less time than I thought I would! I went at my own pace and it felt amazing. WOOT!

Sunday, while recovering from what I will call “the event that made my legs feel like uncooked spaghetti”, my roommate and I decided to make a Trader Joes list of things we would want to share in order to avoid the inevitable result of over purchasing- throwing away the food you couldnt get to before it went bad.  Welp, our list actaulyl turned into a small jump around party when we deicded to we wanted to make homemade apple sauce… enter the best and easiest applesauce recipe ever.  Now, it is important to note that pre-made apple sauce isn’t really my favorite, its a texture thing, just like oatmeal- ick.  This applesauce however, was amazing.  

The roommate found this awesome recipe, we went to TJs and bought what we needed (which wasn’t very much since the recipe was so easy and awesome!) and then went to town!

Ingredients

4 lbs Macintosh Apples

The peel of One Lemon

4 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice

2 Tablespoons of Ground Cinnamon

1/4 cup of brown sugar

1/4 cup of white sugar

1 cup of water

Steps:

1) Wash apples and peel them (you can leave a little peel for extra flavor)

 

2) Cut and core apples and throw into large pot

3) Peel Lemon and throw peels into large pot

4) Add 4 Tablespoons of juice from the lemon

5) Add both sugars, water and cinnamon

6) Bring mixture to a boil on the stove top and then bring down to simmer and cover the pot

7) Let simmer for 30 mins

8) Remove lemon peels and mash apples while still in the pot

9) Enjoy hot or cool (I prefer hot!)

Star Fabulous Rating: 10/10 not exaggerating.. this is the best apple sauce I have ever eaten… no lies. I think the lemons are the secret (not so secret) ingredient!

Homemade Cinnamon Buns

Hi Guys! I have been meaning to share this recipe with you for days and keep forgetting!  My friend Danny send me a link to this awesome recipe for Vegan Homemade Cinnamon Rolls and seeing as I am not Vegan, and I did not want to go buy Vegan ingredients just for this recipe, I took the inspiration from the recipe and some made simple changes.  My new roommate also brought with her a rolling pin! It was like the stars aligned and I just HAD to make these breakfast treats!  These came out like heaven and I strongly suggest that you walk your little patootie into your kitchen first thing Sunday morning and whip up a batch for Family Breakfast

Adapted from this recipe on Vital Juice:

Ingredients (Buns):

2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
4 Tablespoons Smart Balance Light Butter
3/4 Cup Skim Milk
2 Teaspoons Melted Smart Balance Light Butter
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

Steps:

1) Preheat oven at 450 degrees F

2) Combine flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl.

3) Add in 4 Tablespoons of Smart Balance Light Butter and mix with fingers.

4) Add milk and mix with spoon

5) Roll into a ball with your hands and then set it on a floured surface.

6) Roll out into a long rectangular shape with a rolling pin.

7) Brush the top with melted Smart Balance Light Butter and sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon.

8) Roll dough into a log and cut into 1″ pieces.

9) Place on a pam-ed cookie sheet and bake for 12-13 minutes, until golden brown.

 

10) While these are baking make the below Icing.

Ingredients (Icing):
¼ c. powdered sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla almond milk

Steps:

Combine powdered sugar and skin milk in a bowl and stir until combined.

11) lightly drizzle icing over warm Cinnamon Buns

12) serve hot and enjoy!

 

Star Fabulous Rating: 7/10

They are very delicious and hit the spot, but lets not pretend these are the full fat, huge puffy bajillion calorie Cinnamon buns that we know and love. Just saying.

 

The Walk to Cure Diabetes

I had one of those weekends where I did very little but it was amazing in every way possible.  Great company, great activities, great weather (dispite the rain) and all in all, it was, well… great.

BF came to town, which always guarantees a good time and a gitty Jessica. Friday night was spent vegging, eating my awesome dinner (yes, I am patting myself on the back for this one) and just catching up.  Saturday day, was a beer drinking, candy scarfing, puddle jumping extravaganza in Jersey City with Amy and Kman and Sunday morning was the event you have all been waiting for- The Walk to Cure Diabetes!  I was so proud of our little team, six of us went out to support the cause and thank the people who helped us raise over $2,000!  It meant more to me than many people know to have my close friends and family support me and the ones I love for this walk.  We really had a blast!

Look at that crew! You know you love my banana and the concerned look on my face.  Also, how hot does Kman look in the background?

I got a shirt because I raised over $100 and Megan got a HOT sticker. Look at that swag.

Sissy K and I enjoyed our time on the Brooklyn Bridge and..

Megan and I got a little too excited about beating it! (please note that I look TREACHEROUS in this picture and yet, it went up, cause Megan’s face is that awesome)

Good company, good cause, good times.

What did you guys do this weekend?

Multi-tasking and Homemade General Tsao’s Chicken

I had one of those Sunday’s that was so entirely dominated with food, that I am slipping into a food coma just thinking about it.  The day started off with one of those  “last night was sloppy I need complex carbs to soak up my sloppiness- where those pancakes at?” kinda morning and after standing in line for 2 hours at The Buffalo Exchange, just to be told that they couldn’t buy back any of my clothes, I made it to Trader Joes.  As you all know, Trader Joes is my happy place. Add about two weeks of “I need to go grocery shopping but I am too busy” kind of build up, mixed with a “where did all my money go? O I lost it all eating dinner out every night for the past two weeks”  kind of financial stress, and mama was in heaven right when she set foot in TJs.

I got everything I could have possibly wanted and then I trekked my ass home and got down to business! One batch of Chocolate Chip Oatmeal BF cookies were made, while a batch of Snickerdoodles was whipped up for my boss’s birthday today!

 

Delish! While these Snickerdoodle lovers were in the oven, I threw a packet of chicken breast, some Trader Joes Barbeque Sauce and some chicken broth in the slow cooker and slow cooked on low for 5 hours… can you say BBQ Pulled Chicken for every meal for the rest of the week?

While my bird was a BBQing, I decided I was going to make the best dinner known to man… Homemade General Tsao’s Chicken. Earlier in the day, while I was hanging out at my favorite place on earth (TJs), I stumbled upon General Tsao’s Stir Fry Sauce and immediately formulated a plan in my head.  This recipe is easy as can be and absolutely heaven.  Sorry, no pics were taken, I am a bad bad blogger.

Ingredients: (the amount you use is completely subject to how many servings you want to make. This makes two!)

4 Tablespoons Trader Joes General Tsao’s Stir Fry Sauce

1 Chicken Breast

1/3 Orange Peppers

Onions

1/4 cup Corn

14 cup Broccoli

Panko Bread Crumbs (to cover chicken)

Steps:

1) Make rice, enough for two servings.

2) While the rice is cooking, cut chicken breast into small bite sized pieces.

3) Coat chicken breast in egg whites and then dip and cover in panko bread crumbs

4) On a baking sheet bake the chiken for 7 minutes, or until just cooked through in a 350 degree F pre-heated oven.

5) While the chicken is baking and the rice is cooking, stir fry on a pam-ed pan, onions, peppers, corn and broccoli.

6) When chicken is done, add to the frying pan along wtih 4 tablespoons of Trader Joes General Tsao’s Stir Fry Sauce and mix until sauce covers all.

7) Add 1/2 the stir fry and 1/2 the rice to a bowl and pack up the rest for leftovers

8) Enjoy!

 

Did you guys make anything that you loved this weekend?

 

 

Fit Frappe is the Sister to a Wendy’s Frosty

When I was younger (and by that I mean last week), I was obsessed with making trips to Wendy’s.  Not not for Hamburgers, if you know we at all you know I don’t eat ground meat (ya I know, its weird, get over it).  I would beg and plead to go to Wendy’s for one thing and one thing only:

(Source)

Want, need, gotta have.  Needless to say, when I received my Klout Perk for Big Train’s Fit Frappe, mixed up a little smoothie with that sucker and took my first sip, damn, I went to Wendy’s Frosty Impersonating Heaven.

You can ask roommate, you can ask Danes, I am nothing short of obsessed.

About a week ago I received this new protein powder from a great Klout Perk via twitter! I have never really been a big protein powder kinda girl. Smoothies are really not my jam because they don’t fill me up! I think that I need to chew in order for my brain to process that I am consuming food. Or at least, that is what I thought! Past tense ladies and gents. PAST.  This stuff is from Big Train’s Fit Frappe is bomb.

(source)

I have only tried it one way so far.  Throw some of the chocolate, some ice and some water into a blender, blend away and POOF, you have yourself a little homemade Wendy’s Esq Frostie!

I cannot wait until it is just a smidge colder out and I can use this chocolate powder to make some Hot Cocoa.  I am also thinking that a little mix of Vanilla Latte and Chocolate could make for a Dunkachino esq drink!

Yes, I love creating homemade versions of terrible-for-you-yet-addictively-delicious-beverages. Whatever. No. Shame.