Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Swirl Bread

So, the swirl part of this bread is actually an accident. For whatever reason lately, I have had my head in the clouds. Total space case. I forgot to add the baking soda to the bread and didn't realize it until it had already been in the oven for 5 minutes. I dumped it all back into the bowl to stir in the baking soda but the chocolate chips had already begun melting. When I started to stir; viola! Chocolate swirl bread! Haha I was so mad at myself but when it came out of the oven it actually looked okay, and tasted delicious anyways. If you make this bread, it will just be regular old pumpkin chocolate chip bread; unless of course you take the bread out of the oven after it's been in there for 5 minutes and swirl it around with a knife :-)

This bread is moist and delicious and has wonderful pumpkin flavor. Would be yummy for Thanksgiving breakfast or even as a dessert! You can leave out the chocolate chips if you prefer something a little less sweet. Also, this makes A LOOOOOT of bread; three full sized loaves or lots of mini loaves. You can wrap a mini loaf up all cute and give them away as gifts. Hostess gift for Thanksgiving perhaps?!

I found this recipe here.

 

 

Ingredients

3 Cups Sugar

1 (15 ounce) Can Pumpkin Puree

1 Cup Vegetable Oil

2/3 Cup Water

4 Eggs

3 1/2 Cups Flour

1 Tablspoon Ground Cinnamon

1 Tablespoon Ground Nutmeg

2 Teaspoons Baking Soda

1 1/2 Teaspoons Salt

1 Cup Mini Chocolate Chips

 

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

This recipe filled two regular bread loaf pans plus one mini loaf pan.

Grease your pans.

 

Combine your sugar, pumpkin, oil, water and eggs.

Beat until smooth.

Blend in your flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt.

Fold in your chocolate chips.

 

Pour the batter into your bread pans.

Bake one hour or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

 

Candy Corn Sugar Cookies

This is going to be a quick post; what else is there to say about these besides they are totally adorable, fun, tasty little Halloween treats!

I found this recipe here.

 

Yields: 80+ cookies

2 Sticks Butter, softened
1 c. Sugar
1 Egg
2 T. Lemon Juice
2 t. Lemon Zest
1/8 t. Salt
3 c. Flour
1/2 t. Baking Soda
Red Food Dye
Yellow Food Dye
1/2 c. Granulated Sugar (for dusting)

Combine butter and sugar in a large bowl; beat at medium speed until creamy. Add egg, lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt. Continue beating until well mixed. Add flour and baking soda, beat until well mixed. Divide dough into thirds. Press one-third of the white dough evenly into the bottom of a loaf pan that you have lined with foil, wax, or parchment paper. Place another one-third of the dough into a bowl and add yellow and red food dye to make orange (refer to the chart on the back of your box). Once it is mixed evenly, press orange dough evenly over white dough. In another bowl, add the final amount of dough and dye yellow. Press that evenly over the orange dough. Cover and refrigerate until firm (2 hours or overnight is best). Once chilled, invert your loaf pan and unwrap your dough. Flip it back over and place it on a cutting board. Cut loaf crosswise into 1/4-inch slices using a sharp knife, trimming edges to make even, if necessary. Cut each slice into 6 wedges. 

Place 1-inch apart onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 7-10 minutes in a preheated 375 degree oven. Place cookies straight into a bowl with sugar and coat. Place coated cookies on a baking rack to cool. 

 

So fun and so festive! Happy (late) Halloween!

 

 

Pumpkin Glazed Donuts

Griff and I got a little festive for breakfast last week! I had some refrigerated biscuits I needed to use...and of course I wanted to incorporate pumpkin! You can make the actual donuts pumpkin flavored if you wanna go the "from scratch" route...I just didn't have the energy for that this time, maybe next time. 

I make these biscuit donuts alllllll the time. We make glazed, chocolate, cinnamon/sugar....the possibilities are endless. When I saw this recipe in an email from Pilsbury recently I knew we had to give it a go!

Ingredients

2 cups vegetable oil for frying 

4 cups powdered sugar  

4 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice 

1 tablespoon canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)  

3 to 4 tablespoons half-and-half 

1 can Pillsbury® Grands!® Flaky Layers refrigerated biscuits (8 biscuits) 

 

 

Steps

1. In 2-quart saucepan, heat oil over medium heat to 350°F to 375°F. 

2. In large bowl, beat powdered sugar, pumpkin pie spice, pumpkin and just enough half-and-half with whisk until smooth and thick glaze forms. Set aside.  

3. Separate dough into 8 biscuits. Using small round lid or cookie cutter, cut hole in center of each biscuit. 

4. Gently place 2 or 3 biscuits in hot oil. (Biscuit holes can also be fried!) Fry on one side until golden brown. With tongs, gently turn each biscuit over; fry until other side is golden brown. 

 

5. Remove doughnuts from oil; immediately dip into pumpkin glaze. Place doughnuts on cooling rack; cool 3 to 5 minutes or until glaze is set before serving.

  We did a little cinnamon/sugar action too!

 

 BOO!

 

Goulash

There are a lot of different versions of goulash in the world; this is my version. My mom originally made it with ground beef, but guess what? I don't like ground beef. I tried it with kilbasa chicken sausage and it was delicious, not to mention cuts down on the calories a little bit. The sausage gives it a smoky flavor, mixed with the flavor of the green peppers and pizza sauce this is just so yummy. This is also ridiculously easy! Basically a one pot meal that you can put together in less than 20 mins. Everyone needs a quick, simple, weeknight meal that all will enjoy, right?!

Serves 4

2 cups (uncooked) of your favorite short pasta; I used Rotini

1 kilbasa sausage, sliced (I used the chicken version)

1 green pepper, finely diced

1 can petite diced tomatoes

1 can pizza sauce

1-2 Tbsp oil

shredded pamesan cheese (optional)

 

1. Cook pasta in boiling, salted water per package directions. Drain and set aside.

2. Sautee diced pepper in oil on medium-high heat until tender. 

3.  Add kilbasa sausage slices and cook until they begin to brown and caramelize.

4. Pour in diced tomatoes (with juice) and continue cooking 3-5 minutes.

5. Add pasta and pizza sauce, stir over low-medium heat until heated through.

6. Serve topped with parmesan cheese and garlic bread.