Thursday, October 20, 2011

Crockpot kind of night

















Fall is not really fall in Florida.
It’s more like wham bam winter is here kind of fall.
While the rest of the world is enjoying changing leaves and crisp cool nights,
we are enjoying the heat and humidity of the summer sting.
The equation is something like this:
8 months of summer + 2 weeks of fall + 3 1/2 months of something called winter = One long season of  hot!
Back to the subject at hand. While we do not have a long fall, I long for fall to stick around.
The other night I put a big pot of chili in the crock pot to simmer for dinner.
The recipe is easy and a skinny original!
You will need:
1 lb lean ground beef
1 can mild chili beans (or kidney beans)
1 10oz can mild Rotel diced tomatoes (or Del monte zesty diced tomatoes with green chilies)
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1 small onion – diced
1/2 bell pepper – diced
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Directions:
1.  Brown  your ground beef with onions and diced peppers.
2.  Add all other ingredients and let simmer on low for 4-6 hours. That is it - seriously!
Serve it up with cheese, sour cream, red onions and crackers! Enjoy!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

YO! Dawg!



Happy Hump Day ~ Readers!
My world is busy and I have bad picture lighting but I”m still cookin!
See you soon with new recipes! (Once I figure out the lighting part!)

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

It’s Fall Y’all! Pumpkin Spice & Everything nice


Fall weather usually shows up in Florida mid to late October but…..
But we got a taste of it over the weekend!
It put me in the mood to feed my inner pumpkin child!
I’ve been waiting to try this recipe and Sunday was a perfect day.
I couldn’t believe how easy it was to make either.
The icing is courtesy of the teenager!
Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes!
You will need:
Cake ingredients:
  • 18.25 oz Dunkin Hines Golden Vanilla Super Moist Cake Mix
  • 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 cup canned 100% pure pumpkin
  • 1 cup water
For the Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting:
  • 8 oz Philadelphia 1/3 fat cream cheese (do not use fat free)
  • 1/2 cup pureed pumpkin (canned is fine)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 5 tbsp packed brown sugar
Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake wrappers.
    Combine cake mix and pumpkin spice in a large bowl. Add pumpkin puree and water, mix about 2 minutes.
  2. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake about 20 - 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
  3. For the frosting, combine the cream cheese, pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and brown sugar until smooth. You can use a spatula to ice the cupcakes or pipe them which may require making more frosting.
    Makes 24
Make your tummy happy today! If your counting WW points they are only 2pts per cupcake!
The original recipe is found here at skinnytaste.com