Thursday, September 30, 2010

Spiced Pumpkin Cookies


In honor of it officially being Fall I decided to make a pumpkin themed dessert! They are so tasty and are only about 70 calories each!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 (about 1/2 can) cup pureed pumpkin (NOT the pumpkin pie filling)
2 eggs at room temp
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp pumpkin spice (yeah I added a little more of it, even though it's made up of all the spices your putting in the cookies =p)
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts) +some for topping *optional*

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 F
In large bowl cream together butter and sugar. Add in eggs and pumpkin. Sift together flour and spices, then add to pumpkin mixture. Once all ingredients are thoroughly add in pecans.
Drop loaded spoonfuls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Top with a sprinkle of pecans.
Bake 8-10 minutes.
Once finished move to wire rack and let cool completely.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Fajita Enchilada Lasagna

This is my lazy way of making enchiladas, no rolling necessary.
Ingredients:
9 corn tortillas
2 chicken breast
1-2 cups of shredded cheese (depending on how cheesy you want it)
1 can Old El Paso enchilada sauce
salt and pepper to taste
fajita seasoning.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 F
Spray a baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.
Salt, pepper and fajita season both sides of chicken breast. Either grill or bake chicken.
After chicken is cooked and cooled shred. Pour in about half a can of enchilada sauce into shredded chicken and mix well.
Layer 3 tortillas, then a third of the cheese, half (or most) chicken mixture, 1/3 cheese, 3 tortillas, rest of chicken mixture, 3 tortillas. Pour remaining enchilada sauce over, then top with remaining cheese.
Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Feel free to layer more, I only had enough ingredients to do "2" layers

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Semi-Homemade Chicken and Shrimp Gumbo

Ingredients:
1/2 lbs chicken breast (about 2), cubed into bite size pieces
1/2lbs shrimp, uncooked shelled and deveined(I used frozen)
1-2 cups chopped okra (I used frozen, less slimy that way =p)
1 -14oz can Reduced Sodium Chicken Broth
4 cups water
old bay seasoning
salt and pepper
onion and garlic powder
1 box Zadarans Gumbo mix

Directions:

Sprinkle chicken bites with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and old bay on all sides. Brown chicken in a little drizzle of EVOO. Once browned add Zadaran's seasoning, chopped okra, chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil and cover, let simmer for about 15 minutes. Add Shrimp and let simmer covered for another 10 minutes.
Your basically following the directions on the box, I'm just adding to it =p
I added a little more cooked rice because I like lots of rice and the served it with a side of cornbread!