Pumpkin Bars with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

One of my favorite things about this time of year is the food.  I love pumpkin so I’m always up for trying a new recipe.  I got the pumpkin bar recipe from Betty Crocker and the frosting from here.  These turned out great and I think this frosting would taste good on just about anything you make with pumpkin.

Here is the cake mix I use:
Betty Crocker Gluten Free Cake Mix Yellow 15.0 oz Box,6 packs
 
Pumpkin Bars
1 box Betty Crocker Gluten Free yellow cake mix
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3 eggs
1.   Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease bottom and sides of cookie sheet shortening or cooking spray.
2.   In large bowl, beat all bar ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Spread in pan.
3.   Bake 18-20 minutes or until light brown. Cool completely in pan on cooling rack, about 2 hours.
4.   Spread frosting over bars. Store in refrigerator.
 
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/3 c. butter, softened
2 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

I hate to say it, but I totally rocked dinner tonight.

I have an all-new obsession.  I can’t get enough gluten-free Bisquick.  It’s just amazing.  It makes the best waffles and pancakes ever.  Then I tried the “Impossibly Easy Cheeseburger Pie” everyone’s always telling me about.  Delish.  Tonight I made the recipe on the box for Chicken Fingers and it was the bomb.  We absolutely loved them.   I was looking in recipe books for something to use up my zucchini and yellow squash and found a recipe for “Garden Frittata.”  I like recipes that are naturally gluten-free and don’t require any modification, and that’s what this is.  This was an unlikely combo, but made a great dinner! Here are the recipes:

GF Bisquick Chicken Tenders

3/4 cup Bisquick Gluten Free mix
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt or garlic salt
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts (1 lb), cut crosswise into 1/2-inch strips
2 eggs, slightly beaten
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1.   Heat oven to 450°F. Line cookie sheet with foil; spray with cooking spray.
2.   Stir Bisquick mix, cheese, paprika and salt in shallow baking dish. Dip chicken strips into eggs, then coat with Bisquick mixture; repeat dipping in eggs and Bisquick mixture. Place chicken on cookie sheet. Drizzle butter over chicken.
3.   Bake 12 to14 minutes, turning after 6 minutes, until no longer pink in center.
**We dipped these in ranch, honey & ketchup.

Garden Frittata (recipe from Taste of Home)

1 small yellow squash, thinly sliced
1 small zucchini, sliced
1 small red onion, chopped
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1 medium tomato, sliced
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
4 eggs
1 cup skim milk
2 T. fresh basil
1 garlic clove, minced
Salt & Pepper to taste
Combine squash, zucchini and onion in a microwave safe bowl and cook on high for about 5 minutes or until veggies are tender, drain.  Put veggies into a greased 9 inch pie plate.  Top with mozzarella, tomato slices.  In a large bowl combine eggs, milk, basil salt and pepper and pour over veggies.  Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top and bake uncovered for about 45 min at 375 degrees.  Let stand about 10 minutes.

Baked Pasta with Summer Veggies

This recipe is a slight variation of one my Corsen gave me a few weeks ago and I’ve been waiting for my red peppers to ripen so I could make it.  It turned out really amazing.  Phil even loved it, and he’s not a huge fan of meals that don’t involve meat. So there ya go.

Baked Pasta with Summer Veggies
 
4 cloves chopped garlic
2 red bell peppers, sliced
2 zucchinis, sliced (I used one zucchini, one yellow squash)
2 tbsp.  olive oil
1 lb. spiral or penne pasta (Used Tinkyada spirals and the texture was awesome)
1 C. cottage cheese
2 carrot, sliced
1 C. Parmesan cheese
Pinch of nutmeg
3 tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 lb. mozzarella cheese
3/4 C. crushed Rice Chex cereal
 
Preheat oven to 425
1) cook pasta 2 minutes short of package directions
2) Toss garlic, peppers and squash in large bowl with olive oil, salt and pepper.  place veggies on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes
3) mix cottage cheese, 1/2 of parmesan and nutmeg in large bowl.  Gently fold in cooked pasta, veggies, tomatoes, cubed mozzarella and seasonings.  Pour into greased baking pan.
4) Sprinkle with remaining parmesan and crushed cereal.  Bake uncovered for 20 minutes.

Mexican Casserole

So, I stole this recipe from my friend Janeen.  She brought this to our family after I had my baby in December and we couldn’t get enough of it.  I finally have the recipe and made it myself this week.  It’s a real keeper.

Mexican Casserole
1lb of ground beef
1 med onion diced  (I didn’t have an onion and it was still good)
brown and drain grease
Add:
1 can corn
2 8 oz cans of tomato sauce
1 package gf taco seaoning
1 15 oz can of black beans
2 cups grated cheese
1 can tomatoes & green chilies (like the Rotel ones)
8 Corn tortillas
Cover bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish with a small amount of tomato sauce and a layer of tortillas.  Spread half of beef mixture and sprinkle half of cheese, cover with a layer of tortillas. Repeat and top with extra cheese. Bake for 30 min @ 375 degrees. Serve with chips. 

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I tried these today and I’m in love.  They’re amazing.  I modified this recipe from one on Gluten-Free Goddess.  Try it.  You won’t be sorry.
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 3/4 c. all purpose gluten-free flour (I used Blue Chip Feather Lite, my new favorite in almost everything)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
*Whisk these in a bowl and set aside.  Then cream together:
3/4 c. shortening
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 T. vanilla extract
2 eggs
*Add dry ingredients to cream mixture,  mix well.  Then add:
3 c. gluten-free oats
1 c. milk chocolate chips
*Scoop tablespoon-sized balls onto well greased cookie sheet and bake 11-13 min.  This made about 3 1/2 dozen cookies so there’s plenty to freeze for later!

My New Favorite Lunch Idea

A while back I ran into our hospital dietician, who told me one of her patients brought this for her to try and it was really good.  I was nervous, but eventually I tried it and I love it!

Tuna Rice Wraps
Tuna Salad (however you like it…I mix mine w/ mayo, shredded cheddar, salt & pepper)
Crunchy lettuce leaves
Rice paper (I looked for this for weeks…finally found it in the Asian section at Whole Foods.  It came in a big package for about $2)
*Soak rice paper in warm water as package directs, lay flat on a plate.  Spread tuna in the middle of rice paper and top with lettuce.  Wrap like a spring roll by tucking 3 edges to the center and rolling the final one to seal it.  It’s delicious.  Maybe next time I’ll take a picture in case this doesn’t explain it very well, but they should end up long and skinny.

2 New Recipes to Share

Wow. I have slacked so bad on this poor little blog. I have also slacked bad in the kitchen, which is part of the problem. We tried 2 new recipes this week from GF blogs I love that were both amazing, so I thought I'd bring them to your attention. Maybe I'll come up with something good on my own again one of these days.

First, you absolutely have to try The Gluten Free Goddess'
Mediterranean Chicken Recipe with Balsamic Vinegar Roasted Peppers. It's delicous and so much easier than it sounds. It's a really pretty dish (my husband even said so) and it tasted fantastic.

Next, try this Shredded Pork recipe from Crockpot365. We used this as taco filling in corn tortillas with lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream. It was amazing. The next night we used it for nachos and that was really good too.