Pull Apart Coffee Cake

As taken from Kraft

• 1 can (16.3 oz.) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits

• 1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding

• 1 tsp. orange zest

• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

• 2 Tbsp. butter, melted

• 1/4 cup Cream Cheese

• 1/4 cup powdered sugar

• 2 tsp. milk

• 2 Tbsp. chopped Pecans

Pre-heat oven to 350ºF.

Separate biscuits; cut into quarters. Mix dry pudding mix, zest and cinnamon in medium bowl. Add biscuit pieces; toss to coat. Drizzle with butter; toss lightly. Place in 9-inch round pan sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake 20 min. Cool 5 min.; remove from pan.

Microwave cream cheese in small microwaveable bowl on high for 15 sec.; stir in sugar and milk. Drizzle over cake; top with nuts.

2 for 1!

I had my parents and sister over for dinner on Sunday, and even Miss Picky Eater herself (my sister) liked the potatoes. (The secret was not telling her what was in them until she ate it, but it's food/condiments she likes anyway).

You can find the recipe for the roast beef here.

Creamy Parmesan Mashed Potatoes (adapted from Kraft)

• 4 medium sized red potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
• 1C fat-free, reduced sodium chicken broth
• 2 ounces 1/3 less fat cream cheese
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1.5T grated parmesan cheese

Place potatoes and broth in large saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil on high heat. Simmer on medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring after 8 minutes. Uncover and stir potatoes. Simmer uncovered for 5-6 minutes or until potatoes are tender and most of the broth is absorbed. (I cooked mine a little less since I cut the original recipe in half, except the broth, I kept the original amount).

Add cream cheese and reduce heat to low (or you can do what I did and just turn the heat off at this point). Mash potatoes slightly until cream cheese is melted. Add sour cream and parmesan cheese and stir until ingredients are blended. Season with salt and pepper.

The result? Delicious! This is only the second time I've made mashed potatoes (I usually roast/bake them) but they were a big hit, and my dad, who usually gives me an "it's not bad" said everything was delicious.

Balsamic Roasted Asparagus:

• 1 bunch asparagus, ends removed
• 2T balsamic vinegar
• Salt and pepper

Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray and spread asparagus on sheet, spraying asparagus with non-stick spray as well. Drizzle balsamic vinegar over the asparagus and season with salt and pepper. Toss lightly to coat.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until asparagus is tender. 20 minutes was just a tiny bit overcooked for my liking, but my mom said it could have been cooked a little longer. Roasting the asparagus along with the balsamic vinegar gives it a great taste, and it couldn't be a more simple side dish to make.

Pulled Pork

Sorry guys, no picture for this one because well, it's pulled pork. Certainly not the most aesthetically pleasing thing to see, just a bunch of shredded meat, but OMG, it is DELICIOUS!!

My local grocery store will often have pork tenderloin on sale for like $1.79/lb, but the downside is that they are vacuum sealed and frozen, in at least 1.5 pound portions, or larger. The last one I roasted and had a ton of leftovers, so this time, I decided to make pulled pork and it couldn't be easier or tastier.

• 1 pork tenderloin (about 1.5-2 pounds), thawed
• 1/2 bottle (about 9-10 ounces) bbq sauce of your choice

Combine ingredients in a slow cooker on low for approximately 7-8 hours. About 30 minutes before the end, take meat out and shred with a fork and put back in the slow cooker to let it soak up the sauce.

I made this the other day and it's been in the fridge and I just reheated some on a whole wheat lawash bread and topped with a tiny bit of BBQ sauce and shredded cheese and wrapped it up, and I can't believe how juicy it is and how good it tastes!

Definitely a very easy meal when you don't want to cook and you can flavor it however you want.

Turkey sausage

Who doesn't love sitting down to a hearty breakfast of pancakes, eggs and sausage? Unfortunately, prepared sausage is usually made with unhealthy meats and the prepacked stuff is loaded with sodium, so, why not make your own? It is super simple, super cheap and super easy, and with you controlling the ingredients, you can make it as good as you want.

Turkey sausage patties (serves 5 @ 3 1-ounce patties each)

• 1 lb ground turkey (make sure you use ground turkey, not ground turkey breast, because the breast meat is so lean it won't have enough moisture)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dry rubbed sage
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon all spice
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Combine spices and turkey and mix well in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in the refrigerator overnight (this will allow the spices to flavor the meat more).

Preheat a large skillet over medium heat, and, using a small scoop if you have one (the one I have is about an ounce), form into small patties. Cook on each side for 3-4 minutes (because they are small they cook up quickly) or until meat is no longer pink in the middle.

Freeze any leftovers.

I was very happy with how these came out, just the right amount of spice and tons of flavor!

Pumpkin muffins

I found this delicious recipe at Pinch My Salt and finally got to try it and I was very happy with the results. It produced a very moist muffin, as promised, and even though I used a mix of molasses and honey (instead of just honey as the original recipe calls for), I couldn't tell any difference, nor could you tell it was just whole wheat flour, as sometimes it has a slightly different texture. And, as suggested, I filled the muffin tins up to the top.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins with Cranberry and Walnuts

• 2 1/2 C. whole wheat flour

• 2 t. baking powder

• 1 t. baking soda

• 1/2 t. salt

• 2 1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice

• 1 C. pumpkin puree (I use canned)

• 2 T. oil

• 3/4 C. honey

• 2 eggs

• 2/3 C. buttermilk

• 1 t. vanilla

• 1/2 C. sweetened dried cranberries (I used Trader Joes dried cranberries)

• 1/2 C. chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a standard size 12 cup muffin tin (I use cooking spray).
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice; set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, oil, honey, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla.
4. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir together until just combined. Fold in the cranberries and walnuts.
5. Divide batter evenly between 12 standard sized muffin cups. Bake 20-23 minutes in a preheated 375 degree oven. Muffins are done when they spring back lightly to the touch or when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

This is a ridiculously easy recipe, and can easily be doubled, tripled or more, to be served at a brunch or party.

Cottage Cheese Pancakes:

• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup cottage cheese
• 1 TB sugar
• 2 eggs

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir until combined.

Heat a skillet over medium low heat and drop 2 tablespoons at a time, flipping once after a minute or two (be careful not to burn these, they cook quickly!)

I top mine with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray and some Truvia sweetener, but the possibilities are endless. I'm sure I'd be breaking out the Nutella if I had it on hand :)

BBQ Chicken Pizza

I've been wanting to try this pizza dough recipe ever since I saw it in Rachel Ray's Magazine, and the other night, I finally did. And the verdict? The easiest pizza dough (and pizza) I've ever made!

Skillet Pizza Dough (makes 1 serving dough-I did the whole wheat version)

• 3/4 Cup lukewarm water
• 1 TB active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 1/4 Cups flour (for whole wheat, use 3/4 cup whole wheat flour and 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour)
• 3 TB extra virgin olive oil

In a small bowl, stir together the water, yeast and sugar. Let stand until foamy, 3 to 5 minutes.

Using a stand mixer, mix the flour and salt at low speed. Mix in the yeast mixture and EVOO until a shaggy dough forms. Switch to the dough hook attachment and mix at medium speed until a ball forms and the dough is smooth, about 6 minutes.
Transfer the dough to a greased bowl, cover and let rise for about 2 hours or until doubled in size. When you are ready to use the dough, punch it down.


Now for the pizza part!

Grease a cast iron skillet and transfer the dough, and spread it out in the skillet. Let rise for another 20-30 minutes.


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and top however you like, and bake it for approximately 20 minutes. Let pizza sit in the skillet for about 10 minutes after removing it from the oven.

BBQ Chicken Pizza:

• 1/2 pound chicken tenderloin or chicken breast, cooked and shredded
• BBQ sauce of your choice (about 1/4-1/2 cup)
• Sliced red onion
• Cheese (I used mozzarella and 5 cheese Italian)

Cook chicken and shred/dice and combine with half the BBQ sauce, set aside.

Top pizza dough with the remaining BBQ sauce, add the cheese, red onion and chicken

Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted.