German Pancakes

This morning for breakfast I made German Pancakes. You can find the recipe here on my sister's blog, Comfort Cooking. (She is a great cook and you will find a lot of good but simple recipes there!) I just spread a little strawberry jam on ours before I cut them up and the kids really liked them!! We polished off the whole pan without dad's help. We will have to make them again when he is home!

Pumpkin Gingerbread - ***Updated***

Tonight I am making Pumpkin Gingerbread - you can find the recipe here. It is a great fall recipe and I love to make it to give to people over the next couple of months. I am making some tonight because the kids have a friend coming over for a playdate tomorrow. I will make small loaves and freeze some for gifts throughout the season. It smells so yummy when it is baking and tastes so yummy when it is done. I may experiment with it a little this fall and see if I can make it with a little less oil and sugar - but for tonight it is the full blown version :-)
****UPDATE****
I made this again with 1/2 the oil and replaced the other half with applesauce. They turned out just fine - maybe a tad bit denser than the original, but yummy just the same. I also took my sister's suggestion (in the comments) and added a cup of chocolate chips. Yummy!!!!! Troy really liked the new version - so will probably become standard fare at our house! Thanks for the ideas, Marian!

My two little Pumpkins!

Pumpkin Bread - one of last years batches

Baked Fall Harvest Soup

I don't remember the exact name of this soup. I copied it off the wall at Weight Watchers last week and made it tonight. It bakes for two hours, so while it baked we walked to Safeway and got a yummy loaf of Asiago Cheese Focaccia bread. I figured since the soup was so low in points and I was walking to the store for the bread I could afford to eat a little. I put this all in my Pampered Chef Deep Covered Baker (host a party in November and get it for 60% off - I do catalog shows too!) and baked it for 2 hours. When we got home it smelled so yummy. Troy would have liked it with a little meat and you could easily add some chicken or lean beef but I don't think it needs anything else.

1/2 cup split peas
1/2 cup lentils
5 cups chicken broth
3/4 cup carrot, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1 cup red pepper, chopped
1 cup onion, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp pepper

Put all ingredients in covered casserole and bake at 350 for 2 hours.
1 1/2 cups is 1 point

I used a mix I had bought in a bulk section awhile back. It had split peas, lentils, and little veggie pasta abc's. I pulled them out of the cupboard by accident but decided to use them. I also added a little salt and some fresh pressed garlic. I did not have a bay leaf so did not put that in.
Everyone at my house loved it and had seconds.

Coffee Cake

Wow, two days in a row - must be a record.
This has been my standby Coffee Cake recipe for many years. Recently I made a couple of them for a retreat I did not get to go on :-( . Everyone came back raving about them so I decided I should post the recipe.
I made them on Thursday and they did not eat them until Sunday morning - so maybe it gets better with age :-)

Cake
1 Duncan Hines Yellow Cake Mix
1 3 0z instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
1 stick butter, melted
1 cup sour cream

Topping
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 cup nut (optional)

Beat together the cake ingredients in a mixing bowl. Pour half the batter in a greased bundt pan. Mix topping ingredients in a separate bowl and sprinkle over the first half of the cake batter. Add the rest of the cake batter.
Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.

I always add a little more topping ingredients than the recipe calls for - makes it yummier!

Satay Chicken Pasta Salad

One of my Pampered Chef hostesses made this recipe the other night for a show I was doing. It is in the new PC catalog and it was very yummy. One thing I love about Pampered Chef recipes is that they are easy to make and usually taste very good!!

8 oz. uncooked bow tie pasta
1 cup lite Asian viaigrette salad dressing (the only one she could find was a Newman's Own)
2 tbsp Asian Seasong Mix (from Pampered Chef - I will give you the ingredients to substitute)
2 tbsp peanut butter
2 medium carrots, peeled
1 medium red pepper
1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts
1 cup lightly packed fresh basil
3 cups diced cooked chicken (about 1 lb)
Additional chopped peanuts (optional)

Cook pasta according to package directions in (4-qt.) Casserole. Drain pasta using Colander; rinse under cold running water. Once pasta is cool, transfer to Stainless (6-qt.) Mixing Bowl and set aside.
Meanwhile, for dressing, combine vinaigrette, seasoning mix and peanut butter in Small Batter Bowl; mix well using Stainless Whisk and set aside.
Cut carrots into julienne strips using Julienne Peeler. Cut bell pepper lengthwise into ¼-in. strips using (5-in.) Santoku Knife. Cut carrots and bell pepper strips crosswise into 1-in. pieces.
Chop peanuts using Food Chopper and basil using Chef’s Knife.
Add chicken, carrots, bell pepper, peanuts, basil and dressing to pasta; mix well. Garnish with additionalchopped peanuts, if desired.
Yield: 6 servings

Nutrients per serving (about 1 1/2 cups) Calories: 450, total fat 16g, saturated fat 2 g Cholesterol 60 mg, Carbohydrates 45 g, Protein 31 g, Sodium 750 mg, Fiber 3 g

Not to WW friendly - about 10 points for a 1 1/2 cup serving

You can substitute the following for the Asian Seasoning if you like: one 1 inch piece of fresh gingerroot, finely grated, 2 garlic cloves, pressed, and 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper