Pumpkin Cranberry Bread

Pumpkin Cranberry Bread

 Submitted by: Kay

We make these pumpkin cranberry loaves to give as gifts.
Of course, we eat a lot of them, also

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 (15 oz.) can LIBBY’S 100% Pure Pumpkin
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup orange juice or water
• 1 cup sweetened dried, fresh or frozen cranberries

DIRECTIONS:

1. PREHEAT oven to 350° F.
2. Grease and flour five or six 5 x 3-inch mini-disposable or metal loaf pans.
3. COMBINE flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt in large bowl.
4. Combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, vegetable oil and orange juice in large mixer bowl; beat until just blended.
5. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moistened. Fold in cranberries. Spoon batter into prepared loaf pans.
6. BAKE for 50 to 55 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Looking For Ideas For Holiday Recipes?

Looking For Ideas On Holiday Recipes

It’s that time of the year and I am trying to get inspired. I am Filipino so our “holiday food” aren’t the Traditional American foods, though I know half the family would loved to have it or probably miss it since the 2nd and 3rd generation are a diverse bunch and grew up far from our Traditional Filipino Family upbringing, ideals and especially the cooking.

In our family, none of the females (my Sisters) really cook and we never had a chance to learn from my Grandmother any “family special recipes” to pass on down. I wish we had, so we can enrich the younger generations of our history of my Grandparents, My Aunts and Uncles, whom were not all related but of the same township in the Philippines. When I grew up, in the same house that I currently live in with my Mom and youngest Sister, this house was always a buzz of the social scene.

We had such an extended family of Aunts, Uncle, Cousins, lol Grandparents, mostly non-related but a very close knit community, all who knew each other or met through one of the people who were from the same township as my Grandparents, Mom and Uncle in the Philippines. It was here that I learned a lot about traditions, family, friendships and community.

My Grandparents and Mom had people over almost every weekend, or people just dropped in and that was okay. We had weekend Mah-jong sessions or there would be a celebration, my birthday, my sister’s or Thanksgiving, Christmas or whatever the occasion would be. The house would be jam packed all day from lunch to all-night because there would always be a mah-jong table or two going. I miss that feeling, the happiness, the chatter, the closeness, the feeling of cheeriness to be with the people you are spending time with.

Whew! Far off subject here… Well I am looking for some recipes for the Holidays to try out or share, salads to dessert, even drinks, cold and hot. Traditional, new, or …. different? Simple is best, but will take any, but if you have a recipe with a mile long list of ingredients well you can just email it! If you have a favorite recipe, or a modified version of an oldie but goodie (I love the traditional yummies but if there is a modified one that still has the taste but not the fat or calories, bonus!) or traditional holiday recipes please submit a recipe in comments. I am looking for suggestions.

Here are two cookie recipes that seem simple enough. I picked these out because of the minimal amount of ingredients, I have these nuts on hand right now, and because I have the other ingredients usually in the house. It sounds pretty easy, though I am not much of a baker, these recipes don’t scare me and I hope to try it for a trial run before the holidays. Here they are:

Favorite Black Walnut Cookies - An easy cookie to make, with distinctive flavor of black walnuts. It is especially good with a nice cup of tea or coffee. Makes 4 dozen (24 servings), by Terri McDougal

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chopped black walnuts

*Substitutions:
This recipe looks pretty standard or simple for a cookie recipe, substituting other nuts such as pecans, almonds, hazel nuts or a combination seems like a great idea as substitutes.

Directions:

• In a large bowl, cream butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Add eggs and beat until smooth. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir dry ingredients into the creamed mixture until well blended. Stir in walnuts last. Shape dough into logs about 2 inches in diameter, wrap them in wax paper, and refrigerate until firm.
  (Tip: Be sure to bring the butter to room temperature, soften, so when you cream the butter with the sugar it will be whipped and airy for lighter and airy cookies)
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Slice dough logs into 1/2 inch slices, and place on baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes. MMmmm nuttylicious!

******************************************

Pistachio Crisps – If you are not a pistachio lover, you can substiture your favorite nuts in these cookies. Makes 6 dozen (72 servings), by Gertrude.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sifted confectioners sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups chopped pistachio nuts
• 1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Cream together the butter and salt while slowly adding the powdered sugar. Add the nuts, vanilla and flour and mix until well blended.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough in the shape of logs about 1/2 inch in diameter. Cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces and bake for 15 to 18 minutes.
• Roll cookies in powdered sugar when they are still warm. Let cool in wire racks.

Tags: recipes, feeling, family, friends,holiday, cookies, christmas, pistachio, walnut

Oven-Fried Coconut Chicken

Roberta of The Poet In You left this great Chicken recipe in my comments that her husband Michael uses coconut milk and coconut to make it with. He makes something called Oven-Fried Coconut Chicken. He got the recipe out of the January 2005 Cooking Light. It sounds so good and I wanted to post it up so here it is:

Oven-Fried Coconut Chicken

• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce
• 1 (14-ounce) can light coconut milk
• 4 (4-ounce) chicken thighs, skinned
• 4 (4-ounce) chicken drumsticks, skinned
• 3/4 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1/2 cup flaked sweetened coconut
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Cooking spray

Combine first 3 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add chicken to bag; seal. Marinate in refrigerator 1 1/2 hours, turning bag occasionally.

Preheat oven to 400°.

Combine panko, flaked coconut, salt, and black pepper in a shallow dish. Remove chicken from marinade; discard marinade. Dredge chicken, 1 piece at a time, in panko mixture. Place chicken on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Lightly coat chicken with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Carefully turn chicken over; bake an additional 30 minutes or until done.

I’ll need to make this too, if anyone tries it out let me know how it goes!

TIP: A sprinkle of curry powder would be a great twist too!

Tags: recipes, chicken, oven-fried, coconut, panko, lime juice, Japanese breadcrumbs

Northern Italian Pasta Shell Stuffing

From Food TV “Paula’s Home Cooking”, I am trying out this stuffed shell pasta recipe. It’s a florentine type recipe, I love eating spinach and I have always wanted to try making this type of recipe.

I watched this episode and saw how easy it was to make, and though it doesn’t matter to me if it had any meat in it or not, Paula made this recipe with ground round. My family likes meat in their meals and I thought this would be a great compromise. Something new that had some meat but not heavy with meat, what couldn’t be better?

From a diabetic diet perspective, the pasta dish isn’t so great but you can substitute ingredients for a better meal for you. I can list some ideas below the recipe. In Paula’s presentation she mentions about preparing the stuffing ahead of time and she suggest that it can be possible to freeze the stuffed shells for a future meal, sounds like a great idea so I bought an extra box to do just that.

Well I am off to try this out and I am sure it is going to taste as rich as it looks. The one thing that I am going to change is substituting the one packaging of cream cheese with some ricotta cheese. I know in some stuff pastas, rigatoni, ricotta cheese is used, and it seems like an Italian thing to do!

Northern Italian Pasta Shell Stuffing
Recipe courtesy: Barbara Platoni

Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Medium
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients:
3 packages frozen, chopped spinach
3 pounds ground round
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
2 large onions, chopped
Grated Parmesan
Salt and pepper
2 jumbo eggs
1 (1-pound) package jumbo pasta shells
2 cups tomato sauce (your own or ready-made)

Place frozen spinach in a strainer and run under hot water until thawed. Squeeze all of the water out and place in a large bowl. In a large saute pan, cook the ground round until browned. Drain meat, reserving 2 tablespoons fat in the pan, and place meat in the same bowl with the spinach. Stir in the cream cheese until blended with the meat and spinach.

Saute the chopped onions in the reserved meat fat until transparent. Transfer onions to the bowl with the other ingredients and stir to combine. Add grated cheese, salt, and pepper, to taste, and combine. Let mixture cool and then add the eggs. The filling can be made up to 1 day in advance and refrigerated until ready to use.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cook pasta shells in boiling, salted water until al dente. Drain and cool to the touch. Stuff the shells with the meat mixture. Place shells in a large baking pan and cover with tomato sauce. Cover with foil and bake for approximately 1 hour. Serve.

**************************

Substitutions:

ground round = ground turkey, italian sausage (no casing), chopped mushrooms (portabello, mixed, if you prefer no meat).

cream cheese = fat free cream cheese, 1/2 and 1/2 of cream cheese/ricotta cheese/cottage cheese (fat free;low fat;light)in any combination.

jumbo pasta shells = regular or wheat or soy pasta shells.

tomato sauce = low salt/salt free tomato sauce; pasta/spaghetti sauce; homemade tomato sauce.

You can pretty much substitute most of the components of this recipe without really compromising on taste, there are herbs and seasonings besides salt that can enhance this dish, basil, thyme, oregano, garlic, to name a few. Let your creativity run away with you.

Tags: recipes, Italian, pasta shells, tomato sauce, oven-bake, rigatoni, parmesan cheese, cream cheese

Fast Catfish In Foil

This fish recipe uses catfish. I substituted with Tilapia, a white fish, and it worked out nicely. I suggest using a fish you like if catfish is not your preference or is not available.

Fast Catfish in Foil:

Ingredients-
4 (4oz each) catfish fillets
2 cups shredded carrots
6 oz green beans, ends trimmed (about 15 beans per serving)
8 baby red potatoes, skin on, quartered
4 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon black pepper or to taste
2 teaspoons dried parsley
Nonstick cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Prepare 4 sheets of aluminum foil, about 12×12 inches. Place one fillet on each sheet of aluminum foil, skin side down. Top each fillet with ½ cup shredded carrots, 15 green beans, and 2 sliced potatoes.
2. Spray ingredients in each packet with vegetable oil cooking spray.
3. Sprinkle each fillet with 1 teaspoon lemon juice, ¼ teaspoon (or to taste) ground black pepper, and ½ teaspoon dried parsley.
4. Close packets for cooking by gathering both ends folding down lightly then folding in each end. Place 4 foil packets on baking pan and bake 30 minutes.
5. Remove from oven, let cool 5 minutes before opening carefully (steam may escape). Place contents onto 4 dinner plates and serve immediately. Garnish with a lemon wedge, if desired.

Makes 4 servings.

DIETARY EXCHANGES:
1 Starch, 2 Vegetable, 2 Meat

NUTRIENTS PER SERVING:
Cal.:……227        Cal. from Fat:….14%
Total Fat:…3g     Sat. Fat:………<1g
Carb:…….28g      Protein:……….22g
Chol:…….65mg   Sodium:………..97mg
Fiber:…….5g

Tags: recipes, catfish, foil wrapped, tilapia, oven-bake, foil wrapped, tilapia, diabetic cooking, foil wrapped

Healthy Yet Savory

Here is a recipe that I tried out from the Diabetic Cooking Magazine. It really looked rich and the ingredients really didn’t sound like “diet” food. This sounds like a regular recipe with a minor change of a lowfat or low sodium here or there which can be reversed and you can use the regular medium of what is used instead.

Either way both dishes were easy to make and was very delicious and I thought I would share them here. One is a chicken recipe and the other a fish recipe. I’ll type it as it is in the magazine but substitute any modified ingredients with regular if you wish. The dietary exchange and nutrients listed after each recipe is based upon the recipe shown here from the Diabetic Cooking magazine.

Chicken Roll-Ups:

Ingredients-
Nonstick cooking spray
2½ cups low-sodium marinara sauce*
4 (4oz each) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 slices (1oz each) low moisture-part skim mozzarella cheese
2 cups fresh baby spinach leaves
4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Red pepper flakes (optional)

*Choose a marinara sauce with less than 800mg sodium per cup. You may use frozen or jarred sauce.

—————————

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400­°F. Spray baking dish with vegetable oil cooking spray and coat the bottom of the baking dish with 1 cup marinara sauce.
2. Place one chicken breast between 2 sheets of plastic wrap on a cutting board. Roll and pound with a rolling pin or rubber mallet until meat is about ¼-inch thick. Repeat with remaining chicken breasts.
3. Press ½ cup spinach leaves on each chicken breast.
4. Place 1 slice mozzarella cheese on each and roll up tightly, pressing firmly.
5. Place each chicken roll seam side down in baking dish and cover with remaining marinara.
6. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 400°F for 35 minutes.
7. Remove aluminum foil and continue baking at 400°F 10 minutes. Garnish with 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes to taste.

Makes 4 servings

DIETARY EXCHANGES:
1 vegetable, 5 meat

NUTRIENTS PER SERVING:
Cal.:……318         Cal. from Fat:…36%
Total Fat:..12g    Sat Fat:………<1g
Carb:…….12g      Protein:………37g
Chol:…….88mg   Sodium:………819mg
Fiber:…….3g

Tags: recipes, chicken, roll-ups, mozzarella, oven-bake, marinara sauce, parmesan cheese, diabetic cooking, boneless chicken breasts

Sushi Salsa Ceviche

Sushi Salsa Ceviche…. I Know It As “Ceviche”

Doing my daily blog reading I came across a recipe that was very familiar. I have heard of this dish many times but never tried it until a couple of years ago when I was still working and a co-worker made Ceviche, basically a pickled? fish dish eaten on a flat fried tortilla, tostada.

I say pickled because uncooked fish is used but it is cooked by the acid reaction from the lime and salt, but it is delicious. I think it’s worth trying, you are either going to love it or hate it. I found this recipe from this blog, Memento Moron, “Sushi Salsa Ceviche”.

Here is the recipe, though the habanero pepper is a bit spicy for me, give it a try with a small group of friends, try topping it with some Mexican hot sauce too.
 

Sushi Salsa Ceviche

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. fish (I use tilapia, but cod, halibut, sunfish, or any white meat fish will do.)
• 1 large onion
• 2 tomatoes
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 pepper (I prefer habanero, but jalapeno or Serrano would also work.)
• ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tbsp. oregano (obviously, for a Mexican dish, Mexican oregano is preferred.)
• 1 cup lime juice (Fresh squeezed is best, but bottled will do. Try to get key limes or key lime juice if possible.)
• Salt
• Pepper

Cut the fish into quarter-inch cubes. Any smaller and they’ll tend to fall apart, any larger and they’re too thick for the marinating process. Place the cubes in a large glass bowl It’s important to use glass. If you can’t, don’t bother making Ceviche. If you insist, use plastic or stainless steel. Avoid at all costs aluminum or copper, as the chemical reaction with the lime juice will ruin the taste. Salt the fish generously. Cut the tomatoes and onions into similarly sized chunks, mince the garlic finely, and add the tomatoes, onion, garlic, cilantro, and oregano to the bowl. Salt and pepper generously.

Next, add the pepper. Most people use jalapenos, but I don’t like their flavor – it tastes too much like a strong bell pepper, and tends to dominate a dish. I prefer habaneros for two reasons: they’re hot as Hades; and their flavor aside from the heat is much more subtle. Using a habanero adds heat, but doesn’t interfere with the other flavors of the dish. If it’s too hot for you, a good compromise between the jalapeno and the habanero is the Serrano chili.

The next step is very important, especially if you decide to go with a habanero: Put on a pair of gloves. Habaneros are serious business. They are the hottest chili in the world, around 100 times hotter than a jalapeno. If you get any of it on your hands, and then touch sensitive tissue like your eyes, nose, or mouth, you will hurt. Trust me. Using a very sharp paring knife cut the pepper as finely as you possible can: the smaller the pieces, the better. Add to the bowl.

Pour in the lime juice, mix thoroughly. Add enough lime juice so that the entire mix is soaking in lime juice. Cover bowl, refrigerate. Marinate for 18-24 hours. Serve on tostadas or tortilla chips, garnish with avocado and more cilantro.

This is a great dish to have on a hot summer day, for a light evening supper or with friends served with beverages, margaritas perhaps? Hope you enjoy it.

Tags: recipes, fish, habenero, tilapia, tostadas, summer, appetizer, sushi, ceviche, salsa

What Does Your Eyes Reveal?

You scored as Mysterious. You wish to hide who you are from all those around you. You find it very hard to trust people. You also may enjoy the fun that comes from playing mind games with others around you.My advice Get out there and reveal the true you if only to one person! Mysterious 92% Eyes full of Pain 83% Diamond Eyes 58% Passion 78% What do your eyes reveal about you?(PICS!) created with QuizFarm.com