Iced Pumpkin Cookies

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com a couple of years ago and it has become a favorite for our family! :)

Cookie
2 1/2 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. ground cloves
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 t. vanilla

Icing
2 c. powdered sugar
3 T. milk
1 T. melted butter
1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For cookies:
Cream together butter and sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla; beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool cookies.

Icing:
Combine all ingredients. Add more milk to get drizzling consistency, if necessary.

Drizzle icing over tops of cookies with fork.

ENJOY!!! :)

Pumpkin Roll

Pumpkin roll is one of my family's favorite desserts this time of year. They are actually very easy to make and SO YUMMY!

I think this recipe originated from Libby's, but not for sure. Here is what you need:

Cake
Powdered Sugar to sprinkle on towel
3/4 c. flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground cloves
1/4 t. salt
3 eggs
1 c. sugar
2/3 c. pumpkin

Filling
8 oz. block cream cheese, at room temp
1 c. powdered sugar
6 T. margarine, softened
1 t. vanilla
Powdered sugar, for garnish

Preheat oven to 375.

Spray a jelly roll pan with cooking spray. Lay a piece of waxed paper in the bottom of the pan. Spray with cooking spray again.

Lay a clean towel out on a counter or table; sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar.

To make cake:
Beat eggs and granulated sugar together until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Spread evenly into pan.

Bake for about 13 minutes. Remove from pan right away (you may need to take a knife to loosen the edges of the cake from the pan) and turn onto towel. Carefully peel off the waxed paper. Roll cake and towel up together and let cool on a wire rack.

To make filling:
Beat cream cheese, 1 c. powdered sugar, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Unroll the cake. Spread filling over the cake--I try to get as close to the edges as I can, otherwise when you roll it up the ends have nothing in them. Reroll the cake (w/o the towel) and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour or so. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving. Cut into slices.

*If I am taking this somewhere I usually cut the ends off so that it looks nicer (filling all the way to the ends and a nice straight end).

Do you have a favorite recipe that you like to make with pumpkin?

Pumpkin Seeds

Are you trying to figure out what to do with all of those pumpkin seeds? I posted this last year on the Centsible Shopping site but thought I'd post here again...LOVE these!!

I first dug out the seeds and tried to sort them out from the "gook" the best I could and put them in a colander. I rinsed them off with water to get more of the "gook" off. Then I laid them all out on paper towels in a single layer to dry out overnight.

I only had a small amount of pumpkin seeds (about 1/2 cup) because I bought an overpriced hull-less pumpkin.

I combined:
1 t. melted butter
1/8 t. seasoned salt
1/8 t. garlic salt
1/2 t. Worcestershire sauce

Stir the pumpkin seeds into this mixture and then lay them out on a baking sheet. Preheat oven to 275 and bake for 1 hour, stirring about every 15 minutes.

ENJOY!!

Pizza Meatballs

I found this recipe over here on Cindy's site. The whole family liked them...even the picky eater!

I italicized my notes...the rest is all from Cindy.

You will need:
1# ground chuck
1 c. bread crumbs
1/2 c. milk
2 T. dried minced onions
1 t. garlic salt
1/8 t. pepper
4 oz. mozzarella chunk cheese , cut into 12 cubes (I needed more cheese than this)
3 T. flour
2 T. oil
1 jar pizza or pasta sauce (I used a jar of spaghetti sauce)

Mix the first 6 ingredients, shape into 12 large meatballs with 1 cube of cheese in center of each, making sure that the cheese is completely covered with meat mixture. Coat each meatball lightly with flour. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook meatballs in oil until browned on all sides. Drain fat. Add sauce to meatballs and heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 10 min or until done.

You can serve this over rice, noodles, or as a pizza sub.

Note: I doubled the recipe to have some for later use. After I browned the meatballs, I took out half, cooled, flash froze, placed them into a ziploc bag, and put them in the freezer.

Lime Chicken

I love this recipe because there are so many options for it!

You will need:
1 1/2 # skinless, boneless chicken breast meat
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
1 lime, juiced
2 t. white sugar
1 t. salt
1 t. pepper
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 t. dried oregano


I mix up the ingredients, excluding the chicken, in a ziploc freezer bag. I then poke the chicken a few times with a fork, throw it in the bag and then seal and put in my freezer for future use. To use the chicken, I let it thaw in the fridge. I place the pieces of chicken in a baking dish and discard the remaining marinade. I then bake it at 400 degrees for about 30-40 minutes. I cut this up and my family eats it in flour tortillas with the usual taco toppings (lettuce, tomato, cheese, onion, sour cream, salsa). I also like to eat it on a salad and crush some tortilla chips over it. I also make my own mexi-ranch dressing to go with it. My mexi-ranch dressing consists of mixing 2 T. light or fat free sour cream, 2 T. light ranch dressing and 1/3 c. salsa.

If you don't want to freeze this, you could always just make the marinade and add your meat a little while prior to baking or grilling.

If you didn't want to bake the chicken, you could also cube your chicken, saute it over medium-high heat and then once it's cooked through, you could add the marinade ingredients and let it simmer for 10 minutes or so.