CrockPot Pumpkin Spice Latte's

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I will be taking a blogging break for the rest of the week, however I had to post this last recipe before I sign off.  You all have got to try this recipe!  If any of you like coffee and pumpkin, this is a really great recipe to make.  

As stated in my last post, my family traveled down here to stay with us for a week.  I made this recipe yesterday and everyone absoluely loved it.  It's quick, easy, and soooo much cheaper then going out for coffee :)  The original recipe serves 2 people, but since I was feeding more then 2, I had to double it.  I also winded up putting an extra tablespoon of sugar...but the results were out of this world.

So....if any of you have some left over pumpkin and if you are into drinking coffee, this recipe is a must to try!  I promise, you will not regret making it :)

Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone :)

CrockPot Pumpkin Spice Latte's 

(serves 2)

Ingredients:

2 cups milk (I used 1%)

2 T canned pumpkin

2 T white sugar

2 T vanilla (not a typo. it asks for tablespoons)

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

OR: 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp cloves, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, and a teeny tiny pinch of ground ginger

1/2 cup brewed espresso or 3/4 cup strong brewed coffee

garnish with whipped cream (optional)

Directions:

1.  Add the coffee/espresso and milk into the crockpot.

2.  Whisk in the pumpkin, spices, sugar, and vanilla.

3.  Cover and cook on high for 2 hours.  Whisk again.

4.  Ladle into mugs and garnish with whipped cream and additional cinnamon.  

Recipe Source:  From the blog, A Year of Slow Cooking...original recipe HERE

Kraft's Buffalo Chicken Party Sandwiches

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This is a short post today, as I have family in town for the holidays.  This is another recipe that was in my "Recipes to Try" file.  My parents arrived safely down here in good old Louisiana for the Thanksgiving/Holiday week and I figured why not make this sandwich for them :)  Everyone enjoyed these....except for the kids, of course.  It's a different and unique way to make chicken sandwiches.  The celery/ranch/blue cheese/mayonnaise combination worked very, very, very well with the spicey buffalo chicken.   I will be adding this recipe to my list of family favorites. 

Rating System:

The Hubs:  Thumbs Up

Libby: Thumbs Up

Grandpa: Thumbs Up

Grandma: Definite Thumbs Up

The kids:  Didn't want to try it

Buffalo Chicken Party Sandwiches (adapted from Kraft.com)

4 cups shredded cooked chicken

1/2 cup hot pepper sauce for Buffalo wings

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup Kraft Real Mayo Mayonnaise

 1/4 cup Kraft Ranch Dressing

6 stalks celery, finely chopped

1/4 cup Kraft Natural Blue Cheese Crumbles

 12 small sandwich buns (3 inch), split 1-1/2 cups Kraft Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Cook chicken, hot sauce and water in medium saucepan on medium heat 5 min. or until heated through, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, mix mayo, dressing, celery and blue cheese.

Fill buns with chicken mixture, Cheddar and mayo mixture.

Pumpkin Swirl Loaf

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This recipe is a continuation of my fall baking series.  I hope everyone isn't "pumpkined" out yet because I have loads and loads of canned pumpkin to still bake with. 

I retrieved this lovely dessert from the blog, Mennonite Girls Can Cook.  It's a lovely blog, filled with all kinds of recipes, Bible versus, and cooking tips.  The gals who run it are the sweetest things :)  I wanted to try this recipe because I absolutely love cream cheese.  The combination of the cream cheese and pumpkin makes this dessert a winner.  After it was done, I let it cool down for a while and then cut myself a piece.  And believe me when I say that it was so moist that I was left speechless.  I pulled it out of the oven at 12:00 this afternoon and it's already 3:30 and half of it is gone...lol.  My husband and I are to blame for this :)  If you have any left over pumpkin, definitely give this recipe a try.  Serve it as a brunch dish or as a great holiday dessert.  This would also be a great thing to make as a gift for neighbors, teachers, friends, or family :) 

Rating System:

The Hubs: Thumbs Up

Libby:  Thumbs Up

Our Three Year Old:  Didn't want to try it....I am begining to think she doesn't like pumpkin

Our One Year Old:  Didn't want to try it

Pumpkin Swirl Loaf (Adapted from Mennonite Girls Can Cook)

Mix together well:

-1 cup pure pumpkin

-1 egg

-1/3 cup water

-1/2 cup melted butter

Add:

-1 1/2 cups white sugar

-1 tsp baking soda

-1 tsp cinnamon

-1/2 tsp salt

-1/4 tsp nutmeg

-1 3/4 cups flour

Beat together well.

Cream Cheese Topping:

-8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature

-1/2 cup sugar

-1 egg

Beat together until smooth.

Grease pan. Put half of the pumpkin mixture into the pan. Spoon half the cream cheese mixture on top, then pour over the remaining pumpkin mixture, and top with remaining cream cheese.

Using a knife swirl, making a marbling effect. Bake in 350º oven for 1/1/2 hours. If you make in two pans baking time will be about 50 minutes. If the topping is getting too dark loosely cover with foil. Allow to stand in pan for 10 minutes and then remove to cooling rack. I don't find that this loaf freezes well.

Becka's White Bean Chili

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I have a little secret to tell everyone....my birthday is coming up soon :)  And although I will not reveal my age....I can tell you all that I have the best hubby in the world :)  As an early birthday gift, he wanted to buy me a camera.  His excuse was, "you need a better camera to take better pictures."  My translation of that was, "Honey, I love you and since your birthday is coming up, I want to buy you another camera...one that allows you to take better pictures.  And one that I can use also."

Hence....this bad boy right here:

Yes folks...it's an SLR...Nikon D90.  I'm not going to lie....it is going to take me a while to learn everything about this camera.  I mean afterall, my old one was just a good old point and shoot one.  Things are so new with this camera that before he left for work, I asked my hubby to put it on the settings that I needed to shoot the picture up above.  How's that for starters?  I must also admit....that even though he bought me this camera, I also took the liberty of ordering 2 pages off my Amazon.com list full of books and movies.  Yes...my friends...Libby is going to have a great birthday next week :)

Hopefully everyone is having an awesome week :)  How is my week going?  Well....I'll let pictures tell the story.....

I've been doing a lot of this since last Friday:

Yes....you have guessed it.  Both of my children came down with the Swine Flu...which I am sure, they caught from me when I had it a few weeks ago.  Oh no....but it doesn't end there my friends.  Our youngest little boy, Eli, came down with an ear infection on Monday that may or may not have been caused by the flu.  Having two children under the age of 3 who are sick is not fun....I guarantee you. 

But it doesn't stop here.  In between all of this...I have also been doing this...or trying to:

......cleaning like a mad woman because the parental units (my parents) are coming down to our house this Friday.  They will be spending the week here in Louisiana for Thanksgiving.  If any of you know me, then you know before I have company over, I like to clean, clean, clean the dickens out of my home...even if it is just my parents who are coming. 

So...let's review.....two sick children + preparing the house for company = me looking like this:

However, it is a good thing that I have this chili to keep me sane.  I whipped up this dish 30 minutes before I ran out the door this morning to take my 3 year old to her yearly dentist appointment...which...by the way...went well.  I received this recipe from another fellow Military Wife when I was on a quest looking for some freezable crockpot meals.  I tried it once and fell in love with it.  It's so easy and simple to make that you can't possibly go wrong.  Serve it with some sour cream, tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole, or whatever other Mexican sides you can think of.  The hubby and I love it around here....and another perk....it freezes very well :)  So freeze the left overs if you want :) 

Rating System:

The Hubs:  Thumbs Up

Libby:  Thumbs Up

Our Three Year Old:  Doesn't want to try it

Our One Year Old:  Doesn't want to try it

Becka's White Bean Chili

1 pack of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped and uncooked

1 packet of Taco Seasoning

1 can of diced chilies

2 cans of great northern beans, semi-drained

1 can pinto beans, fully drained

1 can white corn, fully drained

3 cans of Cream of Chicken

Mix everything in the crockpot and let it cook on low for 6 hours. 

That's it my friends!  Quick, easy, and oh so yummy to the tummy!

I will also be submitting this recipe for Crockpot Wednesdays.  For more information on Crockpot Wednesdays, click here:  Crockpot Wednesdays.

Kraft's Easy-Bake Cheddar Biscuits

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I get newsletters from Kraft.com from time to time.  I click on the recipes that I would like to try and save them to my "Recipes To Try" folder in my favorites.  This was one that I clicked and saved :)  You will be seeing more of my Kraft "click and save" recipes in the future...as my inbox is loaded with their newsletters from the past. 

I have seen recipes for cheddar biscuits floating around the blogsophere.  This is the first time I have tried to make biscuits with cheese in them and I must say, they were pretty good.  I'd like to think it was the addition of the Chive & Onion Cream Cheese at the end that made the biscuit "pop" with extra flavor.  Adding this lovely ingredient in the end threw me for a loop because I have seen recipes where chives were added "into" the actual biscuit dough and then baked.  With this recipe, you add the cream cheese to the biscuit before you eat it...using it as a spread. 

Almost everyone in my family enjoyed these...even my picky 3 year old daughter :)  And for the first time, I didn't have to improvise on a recipe.  I made it just as it was and it came out great :) 

Rating System:

The Hubs: Thumbs Up

Libby: Thumbs Up

Our Three Year Old Daughter:  Definite Thumbs Up

Our One Year Old Son:  Didn't try it

Easy-Bake Cheddar Biscuits (Courtesy of Kraft.com)

1 cup flour

2 tsp. Baking Powder

1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

1/4 tsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) cold butter, cut up

1 cup KRAFT Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1/3 cup milk

1/2 cup (1/2 of 8-oz. tub) PHILADELPHIA Chive & Onion Cream Cheese Spread

Preheat oven to 450ºF. Mix flour, baking powder, cream of tartar, sugar and salt in medium bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in Cheddar cheese. Add milk; stir until mixture forms soft dough.

Place on lightly floured surface; knead eight to 10 times or until smooth. Pat out dough into 6-inch square. Cut into nine squares (I just used my circular biscuit cutters for this step).  Place on ungreased baking sheet.

Bake 10 to 12 min. or until golden brown. Spread each split warm biscuit with 2-1/2 tsp. of the cream cheese spread.