Sunday, October 19, 2008

Amish pumpkin bars

I was in the mood for pumpkin bars today and could not reach my mom by phone to get her recipe. I googled pumpkin bars and found so many recipes online. I eventually decided to make this Amish recipe that I found because I figured you usually can't go wrong with Amish baking.
Loved it! It was just enough pumpkin flavor.

Delicious Pumpkin Bars
These bars are delicious by themselves or even better, topped with the heavenly cream cheese frosting included in this recipe.
BARS:
2 c. all-purpose flour
2 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. each, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg
1/2 tsp. each, salt and cloves
1 c. oil
2 c. pumpkin
4 eggs
1/2 cup raisins (omitted because I didn't have any)

FROSTING:
2 c. powdered sugar
1/3 c. butter, softened
1 3-ounce pkg. cream cheese, softened (I used 6 oz. fat free cream cheese - I love cream cheese)
1 T. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

DIRECTIONS:
Heat oven to 350 degrees, grease 9x13 baking pan. To make the bars, combine all ingredients except raisins and beat on low until moistened. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed and stir in raisins. Pour into greased pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Let cool completely.

For frosting, combine all ingredients and beat until smooth. Frost after cooling and cut into bars. Store in refrigerator.

Crock pot pizza soup

I found this on a crockpotting website and it was actually really good. I love soups and this one uses fresh veggies. I will definitely make this again.

Ingredients:
1 jar (14 oz) of pizza sauce (I used Ragu but next time I'm going to try a Trader Joes or whole foods sauce - basically an all natural brand to make it a better for you soup)
3 empty jars full of water
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped (I used a whole red onion because we love onion)
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup baby tomatoes, cut in quarters (I used 1 can diced tomatoes and didn't drain them)
2 already-cooked Italian sausage (I used chicken Italian sausage)
1 cup sliced pepperoni, sliced in quarters (Hormel turkey pepperoni is labeled gluten free)
8 fresh basil leaves, chopped (or 1/2 T dried)
1 T dried oregano
1/2 to 1/3 cup of dried pasta (if your pasta is tiny, use 1/3 cup. if it's big, do 1/2. I used 1/2 cup Trader Joe's brown rice penne)

shredded mozzarella cheese (to add later)

The Directions.
Use a 5 or 6 quart crockpot for this recipe. Serves 4-6
Wash and prepare veggies. Dump them into the crockpot. Cut up the sausage into small pieces--I sliced, then cut the pieces in fourths. Add to crockpot. Cut up the pepperoni, add it, too. Add basil and oregano. Pour in the pizza sauce, and follow with three empty jars of water.Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours. Everything in this is already cooked, so you are really only heating through and allowing the flavors to meld.
Thirty minutes before serving, add the dry pasta, and turn to high. My pasta only took 20 minutes to soften quite nicely. Garnish/top with shredded mozzarella cheese.

Corn casserole

This is a very easy side dish and yummy too. I found it online and took it to a couple cook-outs this summer and everyone had seconds and thirds and so on til it was gone.

Corn Casserole
1 (15 1/4-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn
1 (8-ounce) package corn muffin mix
8 oz sour cream
1/2 stick butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the 2 cans of corn, corn muffin mix, sour cream, and butter.
3. Pour into a 9 by 13-inch casserole dish.
4. Bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown.
5. Serve and enjoy!