Moist Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Ingredients

• Muffin Ingredients:
• 1 cup All-purpose Flour
• ½ cups Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1-½ teaspoon Cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoons Ground Ginger
• ½ teaspoons Nutmeg
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• 4 Tablespoons Butter, cut into pieces
• 1 cup (heaping) Pumpkin Puree
• ½ cups Evaporated Milk
• 1 whole Egg
• 1-½ teaspoon Vanilla
• ½ cups Golden Raisins (optional!)
• _____
• Topping
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoons Nutmeg
• _____
• FOR FROSTING:
• ¼ cups Softened Butter
• 4 ounces, weight Cream Cheese
• ½ pounds Powdered Sugar
• ½ teaspoons Vanilla

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously grease 12 muffin tins.

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Cut in butter with two knives or a pastry blender until it is fully incorporated. 

In a separate bowl, mix together pumpkin, evaporated milk, egg, and vanilla.

Pour pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture. Add raisins.

Fold gently until mixture is just combined.

Pour into a greased muffin pan—batter hardly ever fills all twelve unless you keep it down to 1/2 full. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon-sugar-nutmeg mixture over the top of each unbaked muffin.

Bake for 25 minutes. 

Allow to cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove and allow to cool.

Ice with cream cheese frosting.

To make the frosting, mix all ingredients on high until soft and whipped (or do like me and just buy the already made frosting).  Spread onto completely cooled muffins, or place into a large pastry bag with a large star tip and go crazy! Store in the fridge, as icing will soften at room temperature.

It's almost the middle of September and here in Virginia you start feeling the chill in the mornings, one can keep their windows open all night as the cool fresh air comes through.  I love absolutely love it!  I also love the aromas Fall brings especially the pumpkin spicy kind that come from the kitchen.  Pioneer Woman tempted me with this recipe and I couldn't wait to get home to make it.  I had to stop by the store to buy the pumpkin puree and much to my dismay, THEY DIDN'T HAVE ANY!!  I asked a manager who was in one of the store aisles and she told me they wouldn't have any for another couple of weeks!!  I couldn't believe my ears.  I would of thought that they would have an aisle set up already with all our Fall baking needs.  I got home and dug through my cupboards and sure enough, I found a can of pumpkin puree way in the back, yay!!!  I can fill my house with pumpkin muffins baking in the oven!  ~isavortheweekend

Caramelized Onion and Prosciutto Pizza

BASIC PIZZA CRUST RECIPE 

• 1 teaspoon Instant Or Active Dry Yeast
• 1-½ cup Warm Water
• 4 cups All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• ⅓ cups Olive Oil

Preparation Instructions

Sprinkle yeast over 1 1/2 cups warm (not lukewarm) water. Let stand for a few minutes.

In a mixer, combine flour and salt. With the mixer running on low speed (with paddle attachment), drizzle in olive oil until combined with flour. Next, pour in yeast/water mixture and mix until just combined, and the dough comes together in a sticky mass.

Coat a separate mixing bowl with a light drizzle of olive oil, and form the dough into a ball. Toss to coat dough in olive oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set it aside for 1 to 2 hours, or store in the fridge until you need it.

Note: it’s best to make the dough at least 24 hours in advance, and 3 or 4 days is even better.

When you are ready to make the pizza, grab HALF the pizza dough (recipe makes 2 crusts) and squeeze the dough toward the bottom to form a nice, tight, pulled ball. You can roll out the pizza with a rolling pin if you’d like, but sometimes it’s just as easy to throw it around and pull and stretch till it feels right. And when the crust is nice and thin, lay it on an oiled baking sheet or pizza pan. Drizzle a little olive oil on the dough and spread it with your fingers. Very lightly sprinkle some salt on the crust.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Top your crust with your toppings of choice. Then bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and toppings are bubbly.

CARAMELIZED ONION & PROSCIUTTO PIZZA

• 1 whole Pizza Crust
• Olive Oil, For Drizzling
• 1 whole Large Red Onion, Halved And Thinly Sliced
• ¼ cups Brown Sugar
• Kosher Salt To Taste
• Parmesan Cheese, Grated
• 10 ounces, weight Fresh Mozzarella Cheese, Thinly Sliced
• 8 slices Prosciutto (more To Taste)

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet. Add onions and brown sugar and toss/stir for several minutes, or until onions are brown and cooked. Set aside.

Roll out pizza dough to a rectangular shape. Drizzle on olive oil, sprinkle on a little salt, followed by a little Parmesan.

Lay slices of mozzarella evenly over the top of the crust. Arrange caramelized onions over the top of the mozzarella. 

Randomly lay slices of prosciutto over the onions.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the lower half of the oven, or until crust is golden brown. Remove from oven and cut into squares. Serve immediately.

Elise and I love pizza.  My plan was to make some from scratch while Dad (my hubby) was away on a trip for a couple of days.  This was the weekend to do it.  I took off early from work on Friday (used up my Labor Day holiday then)  so I went to the grocery store, bought the ingredients for my homemade from scratch pizza.  I've never cooked caramelized red onions nor prosciutto so I was sure how this would come out.  It just looked good, the Pioneer Woman said it would be good and I always believe what she says.  

It didn't end up being our favorite.  Elise said it was too sweet and I have to agree.  It was my first time using fresh mozzarella on pizza and as long as I can afford it, I will be using fresh mozzarella in my cooking for as long as I live.  What a difference it makes!!  

So since the pizza dough was split in half, I used the 2nd half on the following day and drizzled it just the same with olive oil, added some pepperoni slices, some more fresh mozzarella and some leftover marinara sauce I had in the fridge.  THIS pizza, was awesome and has  convinced me that from now on, I will make my pizza from scratch, from now on!  I love the homemade  crust and to think, I almost bought an already made crust and am so glad I changed my mind.  I saved money and my palate was introduced to new delicious flavors! ~isavortheweekend 

Pizza and football go together, no doubt about that.  I love Saturdays during football season, I'm a giant fan of college football, I love the excitement it brings, I love the sound of the drum corp and the marching band.  I love the rivalries I love the battle on the gridiron.  If I could make pizza every weekend as we watch football, I wouldn't mind but I think my family would, especially my hubby since he's not a big fan of pizza like Elise and I are.  He's gone several times more this football season.  If you would like to go ahead and suggest your favorite homemade pizza, by all means, please send me your recipe!! ~isavortheweekend

Butter Chicken

Ingredients

• 4 pieces Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (cut Into Bite Sized Pieces)
• 5 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• ½ teaspoons Black Pepper
• ½ teaspoons Cayenne Pepper
• ¼ teaspoons Ground Coriander
• ¼ teaspoons Cumin
• ¼ teaspoons Cardamon
• 1 whole Lime, Juiced
• 1 whole Onion, Diced
• ¼ cups Butter
• 1 can (14.5 Oz. Can) Tomato Sauce
• 1 can (14.5 Oz. Can) Petite Diced Tomatoes
• 1 pint heavy cream
• 1 bunch Chopped Cilantro, to taste
• 2 cups Basmati Rice (or However Much You Want)

Preparation Instructions

Combine first 9 ingredients and marinate overnight.

Saute the onion in the butter until soft. 

Add marinated chicken and cook about 10 minutes. 

Add the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Cook for 30 minutes over medium-low heat with the lid on. 

Add the whipping cream and cilantro just before serving over white rice.

I found this recipe once again in the Pioneer Woman's blog and wanted to hurry home to make it.  Even if it was during the week, it just looked too good, I couldn't pass it up and it really wasn't hard at all.  I made it over a week ago and just haven't had the time to post it.  It's Saturday morning and my oven is set on "self-cleaning" so since I can't do anything in the kitchen for a couple of hours, I decided to go ahead post some blog entries since I am falling behind.

The more I started prepping and cooking this recipe the more I became a little more skeptical. Not only does it ask for ALOT, alot of butter but I've never cooked any kind of meat with Cardamom before and mixed with Cumin which I only use in my Mexican dishes.  I've only used Cardamom during the holidays when I make my delicious sweet Finnish Pulla Bread (recipe will be posted around Christmas time) so I thought it was only used it breads and not with meats.  Anyway, I was getting a little nervous thinking this dish was going to bomb but once it was done and I sat down to eat it ........WOOOOOW!!!!!  For one, I didn't know it was going to taste like my favorite Indian dish that I always pile my plate with when I go to our local Indian restaurant here in Lynchburg (Milan).  To tell you the truth I didn't realize it was an Indian dish until I did some research.  The flavors were beyond what I imagined and in the most delicious way.  This one is definitely a keeper, I just need to learn to make it with a lot less butter but then I'll put myself in a quandary because I won't be able to call it "Butter" Chicken anymore.  "Margarine Chicken"?, "Butter Spread Chicken"? or maybe just plain ol' "Indian Chicken"?.  I don't know, I'll have to think about that one.  

Hubby liked it and if you look closely, I completely missed the part about cutting up the chicken and ended up serving them whole.   I don't know what I was thinking but I guess I wasn't!  I have to agree that cut up chicken  would've made this dish a lot more delicious so that the juices and flavors would have smothered the meat more.  I'll make sure to remember next time.  

Football season is here!!! Woohoo!!  We won our first game vs. St. Francis.  It was supposed to be played in our newly renovated stadium BUT since it wasn't ready they decided to have the game across town in the old city stadium where our team used to play back in the 70's and 80's.  So for many it was a walk through memory lane.  To add to the nostalgia, three former coaches were invited back and were bestowed the honor of "Honorary Captains".  It's always fun to go back down memory lane, to appreciate our humble beginnings and how God has blessed us and continues to do so.  We had a sluggish beginning to the game but figured out what the opponent was doing and ended up to holding them to only 7 pts.  The final score was 52-7.  A great beginning to the beginning of a new season.  Now, next is Ball State U.  Hopefully we can be just as dominating throughout the whole game, unlike Marshall last night.  They dominated WVU through 3 qtrs., were up by 17 points!!  WVU caught up in the 4th, ended up tieing the game and then Marshall losing by a field goal.  It was so sad.  I'm always for the under dog.  But gotta give it to them, they were very impressive despite the loss. So happy football season. {{{GO Flames!!!}}}} ~isavortheweekend