Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

I found this recipe on Pinterest and it was so yummy!  They are like little mini pumpkin pies.  Perfect for chilly fall evenings.  One batter, no extra crust or filling and they taste amazing.  

Ingredients:
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 15-oz can pumpkin puree
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup half and half (or evaporated milk)

How to Make Them:

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin.
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice

In a separate bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, and half and half until well combined
Add in dry ingredients
Mix well until there are no dry streaks in the batter
 

Fill the cups 1/3 of the way
Bake for 20 minutes

Cool in pan.  When they come out they will look like cupcakes, but they will sink as they cool.
Chill before serving.  Top with a dollop of cool whip. Enjoy!

Feed Me

<center><a href=" http://brandonandchristinabrown.blogspot.com/ "><img border="0" src=" http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x321/cfbrown814/healthy.jpg "/></a></center>

Okay friends, since I have been sick for over a week now my diet has completely been killed.  I haven't been able to work out and with Brandon taking care of meals we haven't been eating well at all.  That's why we decided to go on a major healthy living spree starting Monday.  The problem is I am not a creative cook.  I'm not really much of a cook at all, but I like to learn.  It's easier for me to eat well and cook when I have a plan of attack.  With that being said, we do not have very many healthy recipes.  That's where you come in.  I would love to learn some new healthy and delicious recipes for all meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Post your healthy recipe(s) on your blog and send them my way by adding your link below.  I can't wait to learn some yummy recipes.  I will work on posting my own sometime this week.  Thanks for feeding me healthy!

Good Enough To Eat: Garlic Pesto Chicken and Tomato Cream Penne

I found this recipe on Pinterest and it just looked so delicious I had to try it.  Since I am off of work for the summer I have a lot more time to plan meals and cook and this recipe looked like a good one to try.  It was easy to make and really delicious!  We ended up with leftovers, which is always a good thing.  

Ingredients:

For the chicken:

1/2 bottle of Herb and Garlic Marinade (I used the store brand instead of Lawry's and it tasted wonderful)
2 large spoonfuls of Pesto
Chicken tender cutlets (you can use chicken breasts and cut them into strips, but buying the strips is easier)

For the pasta:

Whole grain/whole wheat penne

2 tablespoons of olive oil
3 cloves of garlic- minced
2 spoonfuls of pesto
1/2 cup of chicken broth (about half a can)
8 ounces of tomato sauce (I used Ragu Sweet Tomato Basil)
1 cup of half and half 

How to make it:

Mix the marinade and pesto.

Place the raw chicken in a large ziploc and cover with the marinade/pesto mixture

Marinate for half a day or more 

Once the chicken is done marinating, you are ready to put the meal together.  

Start the water and boil the penne.

While the water and penne is boiling, pour the entire marinade and chicken into a skillet and cook the chicken fully.

Heat the olive oil in a separate pot and cook the garlic. 

Add 2 spoonfuls of pesto to the olive oil/garlic mixture.

Add in the chicken broth and simmer until half has cooked off.  

Pour in tomato sauce and then add half and half.

Simmer sauce mixture until it thickens a little (5-7 minutes).  

If the sauce needs to be thicker add a little flour.  

Once sauce is thickened, toss with penne.  Serve chicken on top of pasta.  Enjoy!! 

It's a Wrap

Recently, I have really gotten into making wraps. While in San Diego I had a delicious spinach wrap and it inspired me to make my own. They are a healthy lunch or dinner option and you can customize them however you want. Here are a couple that I have enjoyed this summer. 

Spinach Salad Wrap:

Ingredients: Spinach wrap

                       Spinach leaves

                       Grapes (or you could substitute cranberries)

                       Chopped walnuts or pecans

                       Chicken

                       Cheese crumbles (I use goat cheese)

                       Dressing of your choice (I like Balsamic Vin. or Lite Ranch)

Toss all of the ingredients with your dressing and wrap 'em up!

Buffalo Chicken Wrap:
Ingredients: Spinach Wraps
                       Shredded chicken breast
                       4 TBSP Frank's Red Hot Sauce
                       1/2 tsp. italian seasoning
                       Ranch Dressing (I used Lite)
                       Shredded cheddar cheese
                       Spinach leaves

Boil the chicken breasts and shred.  Toss chicken with hot sauce and italian seasoning.  Heat wraps in microwave for 20 seconds (put a paper towel between wraps on plate to keep moist).  Put ranch dressing on wrap.  Add spinach leaves and chicken.   Top with cheese.  Enjoy!

Strawberry Pickin'

Today my sweet husband came up with the brilliant idea to go strawberry picking.  He is so sweet because he knows how easily I get bored and he tries to come up with ways to entertain me.  Since strawberry season came early this year, we were able to go.  We headed out to a small town nearby in South Carolina.  Before going to the farm we ate lunch at my favorite deli, which I never get to go to because it is about 35 minutes from our house, but since it was near the strawberry farm I got to treat myself.  Needless to say, my tummy was very happy.  After a delicious lunch we drove over to the farm.  It was only $10 to pick an entire gallon of strawberries.  It was so much fun to pick the sweet fruit and I had to restrain myself from eating them straight off the plant.  The smell was incredible.  By the way, a gallon strawberries is a TON of strawberries.  We are going to be eating strawberries with every meal for the next week at least.  

 

Once we finished picking our gallon of berries we headed back to the little farmer's market that the farm owns and got some homemade strawberry ice cream.  It was divine.  It was a great day spent in the sunshine with my love.  Much better than sitting on the couch or playing Draw Something on the phone for hours on end.  Now I just need to find some yummy strawberry recipes, Pinterest here I come! 

Wolfpack Weekend 2011

Why hello there!  I know it has been a while, but I have had writers block lately and my life hasn't been that exciting to share, but anyways here I am.  Did you miss me?  :)   This weekend Brandon and I headed up to Raleigh for our annual Wolfpack trip.  Usually we make a weekend out of it and spend the night, but we had to be back on Sunday to volunteer at church so we made it a day trip this year.  We headed up with my parents to watch the Pack play Georgia Tech.  This year was special because Brittany, my sister-in-law, is now a student at NCSU, so we got to see her too.  Every year it is tradition to go to at least one football game, no matter how awful we are, which is the case this season.  What can I say, we are hardcore fans.  

We got up early Saturday morning and set out.  We got our traditional tailgate food...Bojangles of course!  Yum!  I feel sorry for you people who don't have Bojangles in your town.  We ate our chicken and drank our sweet tea, and it was ah-mazing.  After eating we broke out our new tailgating game, ladder ball.  I was actually pretty decent, better than cornhole.  We headed into the game and needless to say, we did not win.  Regardless of the game outcome, I had a great time with my family!  I can't wait until Wolfpack Weekend 2012.    

Project 31 Day 11: Good Enough to Eat

 Day 11.  Post a recipe
Buffalo ChickenDip

Ok people it's tailgate season!!  In honor of college football starting this week I decided to post a tailgate recipe.  This is one of our favorite party/cookout/tailgate recipes and it is quick and easy to make.  It is so yummy and everyone always asks for the recipe, so I thought I would share it with ya'll.  So here you go.

Ingredients:
Grilled chicken strips cut into bite size pieces (we use the frozen strips like Tyson)

2 bars of cream cheese (we use the 1/3 less fat)

1/2 cup Frank's Red Hot sauce or any buffalo sauce

1 cup ranch dressing

2 cups shredded Mexican cheese

Make It:

Preheat oven to 350*

Microwave the grilled chicken strips (enough  to thaw, about 5 min.)

Chop the chicken into small bit-size pieces

Spread the cream cheese on the bottom of a 9X13 glass pan (I usually put the cream cheese in the microwave to soften for easier spreading)

Spread the ranch dressing on top of the cream cheese

In a separate bowl, toss the chicken with the buffalo sauce

Evenly spread the chicken over the ranch/cream cheese layers

Top with cheese

Cover with foil and bake for 30 min.

Serve with Tostito's Scoops
Enjoy!

What are your favorite tailgate foods?

Travel Tales: Savannah

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  I had a busy but great weekend.  On Thursday we traveled to Raleigh to move Brittany, my sister-in-law, into college.  I can't believe she is going to college!  She chose a great one though if I do say so myself.  Anyways, it was a day full of hauling all of her stuff up to the 8th floor in the NC heat, unpacking, organizing, and sweating, lots of sweating.

But, what I really want to tell you about is our trip to Savannah. After getting Britt all settled we jumped back in the car and headed down south for an anniversary weekend in Savannah, GA.  Neither of us had ever been there, so we decided to give it a go.  We got an amazing deal on a hotel in the historic district with Priceline.  If you have never used Priceline, you should, now.  With more than 50% off the hotel price in the heart of the city, we were thrilled to go to Savannah.

64 oz. of caffeine for $1, yes please

After a long and rainy 5.5 hour drive we finally arrived late Thursday night, exhausted.  On Friday we woke up to a beautiful view of buildings that date back to the 1800s.   Savannah is a beautiful city, rich in history.  It's so southern and I adored it.  We took a trolley tour of the city and learned some of the history.  We saw the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist and marveled at its intricacy.  We got ice cream at Leopold's, one of the top ice cream shops in the world, and spent the evening watching massive boats sail into harbor on the Savannah River.

Saturday we headed to Tybee Island for a day in the sun and sand.  While hanging out in the water I saw something splash in front of me.  Now, I'm not an ocean person and anything that moves scares me, so I was terrified.  I kept staring wondering what in the world was in front of me.  A minute later I see a dolphin fin graze the surface of the water.  It was amazing!  100 feet in front of us a wild dolphin was swimming.  What a sight!  After heading back from the beach we took a nap and headed out for some yummy pizza and a quiet walk on the river front.  We got some slushies and sat by the water. 

Sunday was our first wedding anniversary.  We celebrated by eating lunch at Paula Deen's restaurant The Lady and Sons.  It was a southern buffet complete with fried and baked chicken, mac n' cheese, creamed corn, mashed potatoes, and other deliciousness.  Dessert was banana pudding and peach cobbler.  After lunch we picked up some pralines and turtles to go from River Street Sweets and hit the road back home.  

We got home pretty early and decided to go to church for the second week of the Follow series because Brandon decided he wanted to be baptized!  He has been saved for a while, but has never been baptized.  On our one year anniversary he made this decision.  It was awesome to watch!  Overall it was a wonderful anniversary weekend.  Now I am starting orientation for my new job.  Welcome back to the real world Brown family.