pumpkin

My oh my, where has the time gone!? I cannot believe that it is already November! I apologize for abandoning this blog for so long. I had such high hopes for all of my baking adventures in college but unfortunately they have just not come to fruition the way I expected them to! Of course, I do bake occasionally, but I often forget to take pictures and only remember after I’m already halfway done the last one…

these were so incredible the entire batch literally only lasted 30 minutes

I could give you all my excuses for why I’ve been gone, but instead I’m going to post something a little bit different today. Today I will be listing a few of the cheap, easy, and delicious meals I make for myself here at school! I hope that others find inspirations in the meals that I have come to develop as my own throughout the past few years!

As many of my loyal readers may know, my breakfast is the same every single day. However, what I make for lunch and dinner changes between a few different meals. Here are three of my favorites!

Sweet Potato Quesadilla (This isn’t really a quesadilla, but you’ll see why I call it that in a minute)

INGREDIENTS:
-Sweet potato
-Shredded cheese (I prefer cheddar)
-Guac/salsa

DIRECTIONS:
1. Rinse off a medium/large sized sweet potato and pierce it with a fork several times
2. Microwave for 4 minutes, flip it and microwave for another 4 minutes
3. Cut open the sweet potato and slice up the insides
4. Sprinkle shredded cheese all over the inside of the sweet potato, make sure you get it into every nook and cranny!
5. Place back in the microwave for one minute or until all of the cheese is melted
6. Top with salsa and guacamole
7. Enjoy!

Lo Mein Shrimp Bowl

INGREDIENTS:
-Frozen shrimp
-Lo mein noodles
-Frozen (or fresh!) veggies of choice
-Stir fry sauce
-Sriracha

DIRECTIONS:
1. Thaw out a portion of frozen shrimp (frozen food is a life saver)
2. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil
3. Place lo mein noodles into the boiling water
4. Wait a minute then add shrimp and frozen vegetables (or, if using fresh veggies don’t add them)
5. Once shrimp and noodles are almost cooked through all the way strain the pot and put the food into a pan (this is where fresh veggies would be added)
6. Stir fry with stir fry sauce of choice
7. Serve in noodle bowl with chopsticks (and sriracha!) And enjoy!

Pumpkin Avocado Rice Bowl

INGREDIENTS:
-1 cup brown rice
-1 cup water
-1/2 cup pumpkin puree
-salt n pepper
-1/2 avocado
-parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:
1. Start boiling the water
2. Once it comes to a boil add the rice AND pumpkin and stir together.
3. Reduce heat to low, cover the pot and let the rice cook normally.
4. After it is cooked, stir it all up. The pumpkin should have cooked into the rice but you won’t be able to really see that until you stir it a bit.
5. Transfer to a bowl
6. Top with 1/2 a diced avocado and parmesan cheese
7. mix it up and YUM!

I hope y’all enjoyed this different kind of post! I promise to bring more baked goods to this blog as the holiday season approaches!

Ahhh Fall. The crisp air, the changing foliage, the emerging of sweaters and boots from the back of the closet, the warm apple cider, and the integration of pumpkin spice into every consumable good possible. At least that’s how my autumns were growing up in New England. In New Orleans, fall comes on a little differently. The weather stays hot and humid, the trees stay lush and green, people continue to wear shorts and crop tops, all drinks are chilled to cool you down, but at least pumpkin spice is still everywhere you look! That’s what I love about food trends, they are the great equalizer of all the very different regions of the country!

Yes, fall is here, and no matter what that may look like for you, I’m betting money that you have seen at least one pumpkin flavored item marketed at your face. So, who am I to buck a trend? That’s why today I have for you all my DELICIOUS White chocolate pumpkin oatmeal cookies!

I am particularly proud of these cookies because this is my first recipe that I have developed completely on my own. I did not follow someone else’s recipe nor did I tweak a previously written recipe. I took the knowledge that I’ve accumulated thus far in baking and I designed my very own cookie! The best part? They were a total success! Everyone really seemed to enjoy them and I must humbly say, they were very delicious. Well how could they not be? They were a beautiful combination of white chocolate and pumpkin in an oatmeal cookie base.

The only notes I have on the recipe is that the dough is a little bit oily because of the pumpkin, so make sure that when you’re forming them to put on the pan you construct them extra carefully into balls. Otherwise they melt out a little bit before they hit the oven and bake oddly. This happened to about 5 of my cookies before I figured out that I needed to take more care in shaping them. Also, take the time to let them cool and firm up a little bit. I was too anxious to wait and ate 3 straight out of the oven, but the ones I had the next day were much better. So try your best to be patient!!

White Chocolate Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

The Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
pinch of salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup white chocolate chips

The Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a mixing bowl combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt and set aside
3. In a separate bowl cream together the butter and the 2 sugars
4. Add the egg, vanilla, and pumpkin to the egg mixture and mix thoroughly
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet until they are all incorporated
5. Mix in the oatmeal and white chocolate chips
6. On a greased cookie sheet form balls of dough and bake for 14 minutes
7. This recipe should yield 3 dozen cookies
8. ENJOY!

Tag: pumpkin

Sometimes I just don’t have the time to bake…

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