OK, I admit that I tend to be a little on the modest side, and always criticize my food....and most other things that I do....but I made my famous Pumpkin Bread this weekend, and this bread is so delicious that I have nothing that I can change or criticize.  To me, this bread is the epitome of Autumn. The scent in my house when I am making this bread is so amazing, that I wish I could bottle it or make it into a candle fragrance for everyone to enjoy! This is a bread that is so perfectly spiced and so moist, that it is, by far is the best bread I have consumed in my life thus far. 

The only other thing that I can say about this bread is that you NEED to try it. If there is one thing this Autumn/ Winter season that I blog that you try out, it really should be this recipe.

Ingredients:

3 cups sugar (or 1 cup sugar and 1 cup brown sugar)

1 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

1 16oz can solid pack pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

This recipe makes 2 full loaves of bread.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make sure to butter and flour the pans so that your bread does not stick to the pans. Beat sugar and oil in a large bowl to blend, then mix in eggs and pumpkin. In a separate bowl, sift flower, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir half of the pumpkin mixture into the dry ingredients, and incorporate completely before adding the rest of the pumpkin mixture. Do not over mix, just make sure everything is combined. Put mixture into the 2 bread pans and cook for 70mins. Let cool before removing from pans.

Yes, I have to admit, I am on another health kick...and no, this is not a resolution, and no, this is not the first one this year. I feel like I should be in a 12-step program for Health Kickers Anonymous or something. My name is Brie and I am a chronic Health Kicker! The first step is admitting that you have a problem, right?

This time, I swear things will be different and I will stick with a routine! I have decided that this time I will take tiny tippy-toe steps...(which of course, are steps smaller than baby steps) so that maybe the adjustment to this new way of life will be easier and not quite as scary. In the past, I tend to jump into this whole healthy living thing with both feet, and within a week I am running back to my chocolate ice cream and comfort foods. This time will definitely be different.

I have started off by substituting my bagel and cream cheese breakfast with a piece of peanut butter toast and a banana, or some oatmeal. Then, after I was content and comfortable with this small change, I added grapes to my crackers, cheese and hummus lunches. But when I am not eating crackers and cheese for lunch, I'm eating sandwiches, which aren't unhealthy, but I thought could definitely be healthier. :)

So I came up with a Mediterranean Style Sandwich. This sandwich is pretty much like a fabulous salad between two pieces of whole wheat bread, bagels or a pita. I made this for my lunch yesterday and made an extra for my friend, PJ to taste test. It was such a hit that PJ contacted me last night to make sure he remembered all the ingredients because he was at the store buying the items that he needed to make this sandwich for his friends too!

Ingredients:

A pita, 2 pieces of whole wheat bread, or a bagel

Thinly sliced cucumber

Thinly sliced red onion

Sliced tomato

A piece of red leaf lettuce, or romaine

2 tbsp. of your favorite hummus (I used Roasted Garlic Hummus)

Provolone cheese

Sliced turkey

Spread Hummus on your bread, pita or bagel (this will be the substitute to mayo). Then stack on your veggies, turkey and cheese onto the pita, bread or bagel. Finally, eat and enjoy a guilt free lunch!

  I saw this sandwich on a menu and then on a blog post from someone who had eaten a sandwich like this one at a restaurant yesterday. I am a firm believer in signs, especially food related ones, so I decided to make this sandwich when I got home from work yesterday. Peanut butter and chocolate is one of my favorite food combo's, and because I am Italian, it's pretty much a requirement to love good bread, so I knew this was going to be delicious.

I had a couple pieces of Italian bread laying around, peanut butter and some mini chocolate chips, which worked out well for this recipe. It took no time at all and was extremely delicious...this could be the end of my weight loss :)

Ingredients:

2 slices of bread

Peanut butter

Mini chocolate chips

2 tsp. butter

Thinly coat 1 side of each slice of bread with butter. Take one slice and smear peanut butter on the non-buttered side. The add a good amount of chocolate chips and cover with the other slice of bread, butter side up. Place sandwich in a panini press, George Foreman Grill, or just in a skillet. Cook until the bread is nicely toasted, and the chocolate has melted. Remove and place on a plate. Try to allow it to cool first before eating...this is the hardest part.

I HATE leftover food! I cannot stand to throw out food because it wasn't used in time or because no one ate the leftovers. I am constantly bringing in meals for people that I work with, because not only does it give me a great deal of satisfaction to give people good food, but because I am so happy that it's not going to waste!

If I end up with a couple of odds and ends from other meals in the refrigerator, I cannot help but think about what to do with them all day until I figure it out. I almost feel like it consumes my life until I make something deliciously tasty out of the leftover bits! 

This meal was definitely an accumulation of foods that either were leftover from another meal, or needed to be used before they went bad...or in the case of the pork chops, both! I need to cook the corn on the cob while it was still at its peak of freshness and deliciousness, and I had a couple of pork chops that were already beaten until thin, that were left over from the stuffed pork chops that were made over the weekend. I also noticed that I had a handful of tater tots left over in the freezer that could probably be used to round off this slapshot meal. It definitely didn't end up being the most elegant meal, but it was super delicious!

Ingredients:

Corn on the cob, husked

Left over Tater Tots

Pork chops, beaten until thin

Homemade bread crumbs (see previous post)

Left over sauce from the tiny bit in the bottom of the jar :)

1 egg

Splash of milk

Olive oil or vegetable oil for frying

Cook the Tater Tots according to the instructions on the bag, and bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once the water is boiling, place the ears of corn into the water and cook for 15 mins. While the corn and tots are cooking you can get started on the breaded pork chops. Crack an egg into a bowl and add a splash of milk (or water) and whisk until combined. The milk or water helps to loosen the egg so that you don't end up with scrambled eggs on your pork chop. Place bread crumbs on a plate. Take a pork chop and cover it with the egg mixture, allow the excess to drip off back into the bowl. Then, cover it with the bread crumbs (just like you would if you were breading chicken). After each pork chop has been breaded, heat a skillet with enough oil to coat the bottom. Over medium heat, gently add the pork chops to the pan, making sure not to crowd the pan. Because the chops are thin, they will only need a couple of minutes on each side. Remove pork and place on newspaper or paper towels to absorb the excess oil.

Remove Tots and Corn once they have finished cooking and arrange all items on a plate. I also took the little bit of left over red sauce from the fridge and heated it up in the microwave, to use as a dipping sauce. You could use any other sauces that you like, or completely omit it, depending on your tastes.

Bread Crumbs are probably one of my favorite things to make because they are so easy and you always have the ingredients on hand. I have to be careful of the MSG that is in most bread crumbs, so making them myself is much safer and cheaper! Depending on what you are using them for, or what you are putting them on, will determine what type of spices you can or want to put in.

Ingredients:

• Day old bread, toasted
• Spiced of your liking (yesterday I used garlic powder, salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme

Take your toasted bread and cut it into 1 inch pieces. Put bread into a food processor with a pinch of the spices that you would like to use, and pulse the processor until you have crumbs the size that you would like them. You can leave them a little larger if you want a more rustic look, or more fine for a more even breading.