Carrot Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

All I can say is wow, you have to make these. If you like pumpkin, you will love these. And they were simple. Not the most diet friendly recipe, but what dessert is, really? Splurge on this one, you won't regret it!


Ingredients:

1 - 8oz pkg cream cheese softened
2 eggs
2 tbs sugar
1 tbs lemon juice
1 - 14oz pkg pumpkin quick bread and muffin mix (I used Pilsbury)
1 cup shredded carrots
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup raisins (I didn't add raisins, I don't like them)
2 tbs vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped pecans
3 tbs butter, softened

Heat oven to 350. Spray muffin pan with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese, 1 egg, sugar and lemon juice. Set aside. In a small bowl, set aside 1/2 cup of the bread mix for topping. Place rest of mix in large bowl. Add remaining egg, carrots, milk raisins and oil. Stir until well blended.
Fill each muffin cup with 1/4 cup of batter. Spoon 1 heaping tablespoon of cream cheese mixture over the top of each muffin.
Add pecans and butter to the reserved muffin mix. Mix with fork until crumbly. Sprinkle evenly over the cream cheese in each muffin cup.
Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Cool, remove from pan and serve. YUMMY!!

PS - Isn't my picture great? I'm proud of myself on that one!

Pork Quesadillas

I came across this recipe in my Rachael Ray magazine and it sounded yummy! The kids love quesadillas and this seemed like a nice grown-up version. We were not disappointed, and the kids loved them!

**Photo courtesy rachaelraymag.com

Ingredients

2 boneless pork chops (about 1/4 pound)
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 cup canned diced tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, finely chopped
1/2teaspoon ground cumin
1/2cup chopped cilantro,plus leaves for garnish
8 medium flour tortillas
1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese


Preheat the oven to 350°. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the pork and cook until browned, 4 minutes on each side. Transfer to a cutting board and let cool; cut into thin strips.
In the same skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 4 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and their juice, the garlic, chipotle (**I added this after I made the kids) and cumin and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the mixture thickens, about 3 minutes; stir in the pork and chopped cilantro.
Heat a grill pan over medium heat. Brush one side of each tortilla with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Working in batches, cook the tortillas oiled side down until grill marks form, 1 to 2 minutes.
Arrange 4 tortillas grilled side down on a baking sheet. Divide the pork mixture among the tortillas and sprinkle with the cheese. Top with the remaining tortillas, grilled side up. Bake until the cheese is melted, about 10 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve.

**We have a quesadilla maker that we got for Christmas, so I didn't have to go through all the grill/bake steps. I just threw it in the quesadilla maker! Nice!

Chicken Cesar Wraps

I was trying to scrounge around the house and come up with something to make that didn't force me to go to the grocery store along with every other person in town this Saturday, and this is what we had! I put everything into a tortilla for my husband so he didn't feel like he was "only having salad for dinner". I ate it as salad. Kids liked them in tortillas. My youngest threw his tomatoes on the floor. Of course he throws the one thing the dog refuses to eat as well. Lucky me!



Ingredients:

Cooked chicken breast, cubed (*see recipe for marinade below)
2 romaine hearts, chopped
1 tomatoe, diced
Cesar salad dressing, as much as you like
Tortillas

Combine chicken, tomatoes and dressing in bowl and toss to coat. Wrap in tortilla, or eat as is!

Marinated Chicken

4 boneless chicken breasts
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 packet Good Seasons Italian Dressing Mix

Combine oil, vinegar and season packet in a large ziploc bag. Add chicken and seal. Marinate in fridge for at least 3 hours, and up to 24 hours. Bake at 425 for 20-25 min or grill.

Monte Cristo

As you'll see, I am not posting the recipe. Because it was gross. My husband has been begging me to make Monte Cristos for a LONG time, and I've never tried them so I wasn't in a big rush to make a french toast meat sandwich that you dip in jelly.

Wasn't sure how that could possibly be good.

I was right, it wasn't.

So if any of you have a recipe that is good, post it and I'll try again. Ours had french toast, black forrest ham, turkey, swiss cheese and cream cheese. Sounds good right?

Not so much. Hope your dinner was better than ours!