Pumpkin Bread.

Pumpkin Bread from allrecipes.com

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 3 cups white sugar
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans.

In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.

Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Makes 3 loafs!! This is our favorite pumpkin bread! I make a bunch of loafs every year for Jay.

Peanut Butter Cookies.

These are the best peanut butter cookies I've ever had! Make them!

adapted from: allrecipes.com

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup butter flavored shortening
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Combine sugars, peanut butter and shortening and butter in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed of mixer until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add gradually to creamed mixture at low speed. Mix just until blended. Stir in peanut butter chips with spoon. (Dough will be stiff.)

Shape into 1 1/2 inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet. Make crisscross marks on top with fork.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are set and tops are moist. Cool about 8 minutes on baking sheet before removing to flat surface.

I made these, ate half of them with a glass of milk, while watching a Cops marathon. Have fun!

Tofu Peanut Stir-Fry

I don't really consider myself a vegetarian because I eat fish and dairy. I don't consider myself a carnivore because, other than fish, I don't eat any meat. I just don't like the texture of it. I'm weird, I know. Before this dish, I didn't like tofu either. The texture thang again. But, I really liked this! Like, I ate it for dinner, then the next day, I ate it again for breakfast and lunch, that's how good it was.

This is an adapted recipe from allrecipes.com:

Tofu Peanut Stir-Fry

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 (16 ounce) package frozen stir-fry vegetables
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup cornstarch
salt and pepper to taste
1 (14 ounce) package firm tofu, drained and cubed
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup peanut sauce
1/4 cup chopped peanuts

Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok over medium heat, and cook the vegetables until tender. Mix in the ginger, and season with salt and pepper. Remove vegetables from skillet, and set aside.
Place the eggs in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the cornstarch, salt, and pepper. Dip tofu cubes first in the egg, then the cornstarch mixture to coat.
Heat the remaining oil in the skillet or wok over medium heat, and cook the coated tofu 5 minutes, or until golden brown. Stir in the peanut sauce and peanuts. Continue to cook and stir until sauce has thickened and tofu is well-coated. Serve with the vegetables.


I also added more peanut sauce and more peanuts. I also served it with Couscous, and it was DELICIOUS!

Banana Bread!!

I am not a banana person. I don't know why, I just never really have been. But I do looove banana bread. I made this bread and then ate about half of it while watching the first season of True Blood.

Banana Bread

adapted from allrecipes.com

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Spray one 9x5 inch loaf pan with non-stick spray coating.

Blend together the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, oil and bananas.

In a separate bowl, stir together the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, flour, baking soda and salt. Add to banana mixture and stir in walnuts. Mix well.

Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake 1 hour and 20 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

While it was baking I combined butter and cinnamon and as soon as it came out of the oven I spread the cinnamon butter on it and made it extra tasty!

Cupcakes.

I've been MIA this week due to family thangs and other stuff. But, I'm back and I bring cupcakes! Yay!

First, look what my mom got me!! Awesome!!

Rainbow cupcakes with vanilla buttercream!

I used the vanilla cupcake recipe and the vanilla buttercream recipe from joyofbaking.com. I divided the batter into five bowls and added red, yellow, green, purple, and blue food coloring! They were pretty easy to do and looked super awesome!!

Crustless Spinach Quiche.

Crustless Spinach Quiche

This is an adapted recipe from allrecipes.com:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
1 1/2 cups mushrooms, chopped
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
5 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add veggies and cook, stirring occasionally, until veggies are soft. Stir in spinach and continue cooking until excess moisture has evaporated.
In a large bowl, combine eggs, cheeses, salt and pepper. Add spinach mixture and stir to blend. Scoop into prepared deep dish pie pan.

Bake in preheated oven until eggs have set, about 35-45 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

This quiche is very customizable. You could add or take away anything you'd like. I didn't use a deep dish pie pan because I didn't have one handy and because of that some of the egg mixture ran over so I would really suggest using a deep dish pie pan.