Kaitlyn's Favorite Antipasto Salad

Kaitlyn's Favorite Antipasto Salad
Serves: 8
Level: SUPER EASY


Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 1/4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 1/4 cup dried basil
• 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 pound corkscrew tri-colored macaroni
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 2/3 cups broccoli florets
• 5 ounces mini peperoni 
• 1 handful cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese 
• 1 can sliced black olives

Directions:

• Cook pasta in salted water until al dente.
• In a large bowl, combine the oil, vinegar, garlic, basil, and salt & pepper(s); mix well. 
• Toss the warm cooked pasta in and coat well.
• Toss with the Parmesan cheese, then refrigerate for 2-3 hours.
• After chilling for a few hours, add the broccoli, pepperoni, tomatoes, and olives; mix well.
• Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese then serve. 

This salad goes well with your summer bar-b-que functions and most meals. My daughter Kaitlyn begs me to make this for her almost on a weekly basis.

How to Cook a Pumpkin

Start with a fresh pumpkin, cutting tools (I like to use standard pumpkin carving tools - they work really well!) and a covered dish to cook the pumpkin in. 
 

 Cut open the pumpkin.

 

Using this tool, take out the seeds and clean them off. 

Once the seeds are clean salt them. Then you can put them in the oven to toast them to eat at a later time. Yum!

  

A clean pumpkin looks like this:

Cut the the pumpkin into pieces that will fit inside a bowl that will fit into your microwave, add about 1/2 cup of so of water. The steam from the water helps soften the pumpkin.

Cover the dish and put it in the microwave for 15 minutes to start. Check it after 15 minutes, but be careful, it's H*O*T!! You may need to cook it longer depending on how much you put in the dish and how your microwave temperature runs. 

Once the pumpkin is ready it should just fall off the skin, again, its HOT so be careful you don't burn yourself.

Once its cooked make sure you peel it from the skin, put the pumpkin meat into a bowl and use a hand mixer to puree it.

I usually cook a few pumpkins and put them in a 2 cup container and store them in the freezer. This way I have "fresh" pumpkin all year long and it's so much cheaper (and tastes better) than store bought canned pumpkin.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Sandwich Cookies 

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. 

Ingredients

1 cup butter

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling: 

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2-1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
5 to 6 tablespoons milk (enough for a creamy consistency) 

Directions

Mix the peanut butter, shortening, and sugars in a mixing bowl. Add the vanilla. One at a time, add eggs and mix well.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Mix dry ingredients into the sugar and peanut butter mixture.

Using a cookie scooper, place one inch balls onto ungreased cookie sheet and flatten with a fork to create a criss-cross pattern. Bake for 8-9 minutes at 375 degrees.

 

Cool on a cooling rack.

Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave, be cautious not to overheat and burn the chocolate.  Combine all the ingredients for the filling in a mixing bowl and mix until creamy, if the mix is too stiff, add more milk. I just experimented with this part of the recipe. Spread on one cookie and top with another.  Repeat with remaining cookies and filling.

Be ready, these things are BIG! 

Sit back and enjoy! 

Simple Pumpkin Bread

I guarantee that you will LOVE this recipe!  The best part about it?  It's so easy! 

Preheat oven to 350.

Ingredients:

4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups sugar
3 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon*
1 teaspoon nutmeg*
2/3 cup water
2 cups cooked or canned pumpkin (I prefer fresh cooked pumpkin)

*Add more or less cinnamon/nutmeg to cater to your own liking.

Directions:

The beauty of this recipe is just how easy it is.

Just mix all these ingredients together, pour in greased and floured loaf pan(s), and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Perform toothpick test to see if it's ready. If toothpick comes out clean, your bread is ready. 

This bread is delicious warm, cooled, with butter, or completely plain.  Grab a slice, sit back, relax, and enjoy!

The Ultimate Chocolate Mint Cookies

Oh...My...Goodness! 

This is a magical cookie and certainly one of the best I've ever made!  It seems everyone I share them with, falls in love with them.  They are just the right amount of chewy and crispy all in one bite.

Ingredients


1     cup butter, softened

1     cup granulated sugar 

3/4  cup packed light brown sugar

2     teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2  teaspoon salt

2     eggs

2     cups all-purpose flour

1/2  cup cocoa

1     teaspoon baking soda

1    10oz package of Andes Creme de Menthe baking chips

Directions

• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees
• In a large mixer, beat the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and salt until it becomes creamy
• Add eggs.  Make sure to beat them well
• In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, and baking soda
• Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture and beat until everything is blended well.  The batter will be stiff
• Add the mint chips.  I did this with my mixer, but think it'd probably be better to do it by hand
• Drop by rounded teaspoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  I use a small ice cream scooper (designed for cookie batter) to ensure a consistent size.  And I slightly greased my cookie sheet, because my experience with my cookie sheets is: everything sticks!
• Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. 8-9 minutes I find leaves the cookies slightly moister/chewier.  Cool slightly then move to a wire rack
• ENJOY!  Whether they are warm or cool - they are delicious!



Recipe courtesy of: www.food.com



The Perfect Carrot Cake

So, my boyfriend LOVES carrot cake and had asked me to make one for him on his birthday.  I had never made a "from scratch" cake before and I thought it was going to be difficult.  Boy, was I wrong!!

Cake Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 1/4 C vegetable oil
2 C white sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract (I add a dash more - since I love vanilla)
2 C all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
3 1/2 C grated carrots
1 C chopped pecans/walnuts (optional)

Frosting Ingredients:
8 oz softened cream cheese
4 C confectioners sugar
1-2 tsp vanilla
1/2 C butter

First you'll want to preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Then grease a 9x13 pan.  By the way, you can also make cupcakes by using a muffin pan and using the paper cups in lieu of grease.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs, add in oil, white sugar and the vanilla.  Sometimes I cut back on the white sugar for a healthier option.  It all depends on what you want or how you like it.  I always suggest going by the initial recipe first, tasting it, then making modifications the next time around.  Okay, back to the mixing.  Add flour, baking soda and powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg to the egg/sugar mixture.  Finally, add the shredded carrots.  If you choose to use nuts, add them in at this time.

Bake in preheated oven for 40-50 minutes.  You can tell if the cake is ready by inserting a toothpick or knife and if it comes out clean then you know your cake is ready.  Let cake cool in pan for about 10 minutes then turn it out on a wire rack so that it can cool completely.

Now for the really delicious part: the frosting!  Make sure your butter and cream cheese is softened, or it will be difficult to mix.  Basically just put all the ingredients into the mixing bowl and mix.  I chill mine for a few minutes before putting it on the cake because it can come out runny otherwise.  I candy some chopped pecans (butter, cinnamon, sugar, and nutmeg) and put them on top of the frosting.

I have made this cake for several people and get nothing but awesome reviews.  I hope you like this recipe as well!

Healthy options:  use less sugar, use applesauce instead of oil, use margarine instead of real butter.