Chicken cutlets with an Onion-Mushroom Sauce

I bought some chicken cutlets from my local meat co-op.  I was going to make them into chicken fried chicken, but saw this recipe and thought I'd give it a try.  It tasted way better than it photographed.  I add some rice and green bean casserole (per request).  I used a lot of cream of mushroom soup tonight, but it was really good.

Ingredients:

1 - 2 lb of chicken cutlets, sliced thin
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 pkg dry onion soup mix
2 cups of milk
paprika

Directions:

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Place cutlets in a baking dish.  I used a casserole dish. Whisk together undilted cream of mushroom soup with onion soup mix.  Gradually whisk in the milk.  Spread of the chicken and top with paprika. Place in the preheated oven until the chicken is lightly browned, about 40 minutes. Serve with rice, there is plenty of gravy to use over the rice.

Chicken Cutlets

 Soup mixture

 Prior to baking

 After baking (my chicken was covered by the gravy)

 Chicken cutlets in an Onion-Mushroom Sauce with rice and green bean casserole

Recipe adapted from cooks.com

Low Fat Pumpkin-Banana Bread/Muffins

I still have a lot of pumpkin puree left, so I am trying more pumpkin recipes.  Andrew loves muffins and I like to make him healthy things to eat for breakfast.  The recipe was actually for a bread, but I thought the muffins would be more kid-friendly.

Ingredients:

1 mashed ripe banana

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/4 cup canola oil (I half oil and half natural applesauce)

1 large egg

2 egg whites

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 8 1/2 X 4 1/2-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. Or you can use 18 muffin tins with liners.

Place mashed banana, pumpkin puree, oil, egg and egg whites in a large bowl. Beat with an electronic mixer on low speed. Place flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon in a medium bowl and stir with a whisk. Add flour mixture to banana and pumpkin mixture and beat until just moist. Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for 1 hour or until toothpick placed in center comes out clean. If you are making muffins bake for 18-20 minutes (fill them about 3/4 full).

 

Serves 12 as a loaf or Serves 18 as muffins.

Per Serving as a loaf: Calories 196, Calories from Fat 48, Total Fat 5.3g (sat 0.5g), Cholesterol 18mg, Sodium 206mg, Carbohydrate 33.3g, Fiber 1.6g, Protein 3.7g

 Adapted from Low Fat Cooking

Low Fat Baked Ziti with Spinach

Baked ziti is a family friendly recipe, especially with sneaking spinach into it.  Andrew didn't seem to notice that it was hidden in there.  This recipe makes enough for 8 people, so you might have some as leftovers. 

Ingredients:

1 lb high fiber ziti

28 oz crushed tomatoes (I used the diced tomatoes)

1 tsp olive oil (I used coconut oil)

3 cloves of garlic, minced

10 oz frozen spinach, thawed (I would think you could use fresh as well)

1 tsp oregano

2 tbsp chopped basil

salt and pepper to taste

8 oz fat-free ricotta

1/4 cup Parmesan

2 cups (8 oz) part skim mozzarella

spray olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.  Spray a 9x13 inch baking pan with oil spray.

In a large pot of salted water, cook pasta according to the instructions until al dente. 

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, add olive oil and saute garlic.  Add chopped spinach, salt, pepper and tomatoes.  Season with basil, oregano, salt and pepper.  Simmer in saucepan while pasta is finishing.

Once the pasta is done, drain and return to pot. Add the sauce to the pasta.  Add half the mozzarella, Parmesan cheese and ricotta.  Mix well then transfer to the baking pan and spread evenly.  Top with the remaining mozzarella.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until mozzarella is melted and the edges are lightly browned.  (It took about 25 minutes in my oven)

Before going in the oven

After baked

 Served with a small chicken breast

Recipe from Skinny Taste

Grands!® Monkey Bread

My Grandma used to make Monkey Bread for us all the time. I remember waking up to the smell of cinnamon and sugar on Christmas mornings.  It's a memory of her that that I still cherish to this day. She used to make it with homemade biscuits, but this recipe is just as good. 

 

I prepared the biscuits and the cinnamon/sugar coating last night.  I put them in the pyrex dish and placed in the fridge over night (Note: let the pyrex dish get to room temp before placing in the oven in the morning, the shock of heat on the cold dish can make them crack or explode).  This morning, I just melted the butter and added the brown sugar. I made a half batch of the recipe below. 

 

Ingredients:

 

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cans (16.3 oz each) Pillsbury® Grands!® Homestyle refrigerated buttermilk biscuits

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, if desired

1/2 cup raisins, if desired

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

3/4 cup butter or margarine, melted (6 tablespoons if you are doing half a batch)

 

Directions:

 

Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 12-cup fluted tube pan with shortening or cooking spray. In large -storage plastic food bag, mix granulated sugar and cinnamon.  (I used a flat pyrex dish since I did not have a bunt pan.  It's works just as good)

Separate dough into 16 biscuits; cut each into quarters. Shake in bag to coat. Arrange in pan, adding walnuts and raisins among the biscuit pieces.

In small bowl, mix brown sugar and butter; pour over biscuit pieces.

Bake 28 to 32 minutes or until golden brown and no longer doughy in center. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Turn upside down onto serving plate; pull apart to serve. Serve warm. 

If you are only doing half a batch with 1 tube of biscuits, reduce time to 20 minutes. 

Recipe from Pillbursy Website

After the dough has been prepared with cinnamon and sugar. 

I placed this in the fridge last night with foil over the top.

 After the butter and brown sugar have been added

After baking

 

Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese Filling

This is a pumpkin bread with a cream cheese filling.  It can be frozen.

Ingredients:
Filling:
• 1 package (8 ounce) cream cheese, at room temperature (I use the reduced fat cream cheese)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon finely grated orange peel (I omitted since I didn't have any)
Bread:
• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup pumpkin puree, canned or homemade (Here's my recipe for easy pumpkin puree with a real pumpkin)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (you can subsitute natural applesauce)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, optional
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 325°. Lightly grease two 8x4x3-inch loaf pans. In a medium mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon flour, 1 egg, and the orange peel; beat until smooth and creamy. Set aside. Into another bowl, sift 1 2/3 cup flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg; set aside. Put pumpkin puree, vegetable oil, 2 eggs and 1 1/2 cup sugar in a large mixing bowl; beat well. Stir the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture just until combined. Fold in the pecans or walnuts, if using. Pour half of the pumpkin bread batter evenly into the two prepared loaf pans. Spoon cream cheese mixture on top of pumpkin batter layer and then pour on the remaining pumpkin batter. Bake in preheated 325° oven for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool bread in pans for 10 minutes; remove to a rack to cool completely. Pumpkin bread recipe makes 2 loaves.

Pumpkin Cookies

These were cake like pumpkin cookies.  I made them as directed, but I would use a different icing next time or just omit the icing all together.  (I would suggest a cream cheese frosting vs the sugary frosting)  They were a huge hit in our house.

Cookie Dough Ingredients

• 1 cup of fresh cooked pumpkin (How to make your own pumpkin puree)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (not self-rising flour)
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans, walnuts or hazlenuts (optional)

Icing Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 2 cups confectioners' (powdered) sugar, unsifted
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 cup milk (just enough to make the mixture spreadable)
• chopped pecans or other nuts (optional)

 Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F  (190 C).
2. Lightly grease two cookies sheets (I used baking liners so that it would be an easy clean up)

Prepare the icing:

Carefully, lightly brown the butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Be careful not to burn it. If you have trouble getting it to brown, down worry about it, it is mostly to add the color!
 
Remove the browned butter from heat.
 
Blend in the confectioners' sugar and the vanilla extract. It will start off think and lumpy, until you add the milk in the next step.
 
Mix in just enough milk to make the mixture smooth and spreadable.  It probably will only take a small amount, like 1/8 to 1/4 cup.
 
Set aside

Prepare the Cookie dough
In a large mixing bowl, mix the butter and brown sugar together until light and smooth.

Mix in the eggs, pumpkin and vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and spices (cinnamon, allspice, ginger and nutmeg).

Combine the two bowls (just pour the smaller bowl into the larger) and stir until blended.

Stir in the chopped nuts (optional).

Use a ordinary spoon (table, soup) or small ice cream scoop to drop the cookie dough onto the greased cookie sheet (you can also use the silicon cookie sheet cloths on a regular cookies sheet, the cookies will come off more easily).

Bake pumpkin cookies in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until lightly browned.
 
Cool the cookies on racks and while they are still warm (but not hot)
Spread the butter icing on them!

They're great warm, or later when cool!

Recipe from here

How to make Pumpkin Puree

This past weekend we were at the pumpkin farm with the kids.  When we were looking at pumpkins and we found one that was a perfect "baking" pumpkin.  I have never cooked with fresh pumpkin before and wanted to give it a shot. 

This is the pumpkin that we picked. 

I looked up different ways to make this pumpkin into the pumkpin puree that you can make into pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, cookies, etc.  You can bake it, microwave it, steam it, and boil it.  I started off with preparing it to bake, but then quickly switched to boiling it. 

I used a large pot and started boiling the water.  I cleaned the pumpkin off in warm water (no soap).  Then I sliced it up.  Here's the inside of the pumpkin.  You can save the seads, which you can roast if you like.  I diced the pumpkin into reasonable chunks.  I placed them in the water for about 45 minutes or until tender.  (Some recipes call for removing the skin before placing them in the water, but I tried that and it seemed to take forever, so I just tossed them into the water, skin and all)

Drain off the excess water and then let them cool on a cookie sheet. This is what mine looked like.

Then I used a spoon and removed the pumpkin from the skin.  This was very quick and ease!  I put all the pumpkin into a bowl and then used a blender to puree the pumpkin.  My pumpkin yielded about 5 cups of puree.

You can freeze the puree for about a year.  Use freezer ziplock bags to ensure freshness. 

This can be used as a replacement for pumpkin in a can.  It's the same measurement.  You do not need to add anything to this puree to use in a recipe.  I used it right away for pumpkin cookies and pumpkin bread.