Drumla's Pumpkin Spice Cake

This is an oldie but a goodie. Needed to post it somewhere I could easily share it! The story behind the name...the first time I had this cake I decided I had to have the recipe. Deb is the first name of the lady who actually made it but I could not remember her name and was describing her to my friend to help me locate her at church...somehow I shouted out "Drumla" (as if this is an ordinary name). 😆 We did find her and I got the recipe. We laughed about it, and after that, I decided I had to call this "Drumla's cake" instead of Deb's. This cake is super moist and very tempting, so only make it if you have a large group to feed! ;)

Ingredients:

1 16oz can (Libby's) solid-packed pumpkin

2 C sugar

1 C veg oil

4 eggs

2 C all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

Ingredients for the Icing:

3 oz cream cheese, softened

5 TBS butter, softened 

1 tsp vanilla

1 3/4 C Powdered sugar

3-4 tsp milk, as needed

(may also top with walnuts or pecans if desired)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Mix pumpkin, sugar, oil. Beat the eggs and then add in, mix well.

3. Combine the dry ingredients and add to the pumpkin mixture.

4.Pour into a greased and floured pan (9x13 or 10x15)

5. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or so and then you may need to lower the temperature a little and/or cover the edges with foil to finish baking for another 10 minutes or so. 

(Let the cake completely cool before icing.)

Directions for Icing:

1. Beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth.

2. Gradually add in the powdered sugar and keep it smooth--mix well. Add the milk a tsp at a time until the mixture spreads easily.

White Bean, Sausage, & Sweet Potato Cassoulet

This recipe came from a Prep Dish menu and I really enjoyed it. Every time I make it, I have to search back through my Prep Dish menus, so I'm finally putting it here for easy access. :)









Ingredients:
Approx 2 medium sweet potatoes
1-2 cans cannellini beans (rinsed & drained)
Beef or Chicken sausage (2-4 links) sliced
1/2 C Bread Crumbs (panko or GF, etc)
Diced onion
Minced garlic
Parmesan cheese
s&p
poultry seasoning

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Peel & microwave sweet potatoes to soften them a little. Allow to cool then dice into chunks.
3. Saute diced onions & garlic in a little oil until soft. Throw sliced sausage into skillet and heat through for approx 5 minutes.
4. In a medium casserole dish combine the diced sweet potatoes, onion/garlic & sausage mixture. Add in the cannellini beans (1-2 cans according to your liking). Season everything with s&p and a little poultry seasoning. Mix gently to combine.
5. In a small bowl combine bread crumbs, approx 2 TBS parmesan cheese, and 1/2 T olive oil. Sprinkle evenly over cassoulet. Cover & bake for 30-40 minutes until sweet potatoes are fork-tender.
6. Remove cover and add a little more parmesan cheese if needed, bake for an additional 10 minutes until the topping is browned.
7. Pairs well with sauteed spinach as a side and/or garlic toast. Enjoy!

Bell Pepper, Spinach & Ham Quiche

Found this one on the internet somewhere but I've tweaked it, so saving here to remember how I did it in the future.

Ingredients:
Pillsbury crust (the kind you unroll and put in a pie plate, or make your own)
4 Eggs
Diced ham (Eyeball the amount. I used what I had on hand, thin-sliced smoked lunch meat ham & diced it up)
3 oz Cream Cheese
1/3 C Half&Half
1/2 C grated Cheddar
1/4 C grated Parmesan
Handful of fresh spinach chopped up
Diced Bell Peppers & Onions (Shortcut: buy the premade version of this in the freezer section)
S &P, Garlic-salt, to taste

Directions:
1. Begin by either making a pie crust or placing the Pillsbury one in a pie plate.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
3. In a large bowl beat the cream cheese until soft (may microwave for 20 seconds or so on 50% power to soften it up quickly). Add in the Half&Half and the Eggs--whisk it up. Salt & Pepper to taste.  Add grated cheeses and mix well.
4. In a small skillet sprayed with Pam, saute the diced ham and the bell pepper/onion mixture and toss in some cut-up fresh spinach. Saute just until soft (a minute or two) add s&p and garlic-salt to taste.
5. Stir the veggie mixture into your egg mixture and mix well to combine the two.
6. Pour into your pie crust and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. If the crust is cooking too quickly place a little foil around the rim of the crust and finish baking. Mixture should be "firm" when it's done baking, not jiggly at all.
7. After you take it out of the oven sprinkle it with a tiny bit more grated Parmesan.
8. Allow it to cool just a little--Enjoy!

Overnight Baked French Toast

Ingredients:
1 Loaf French Bread (13-16 oz)
8 Large eggs
2 C Half/Half
1 C Milk
2 TBS sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
dash salt

Praline Topping Ingredients:
2 sticks butter
1 C packed light brown sugar
1 C chopped pecans
2 TBS light corn syrup
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Directions:

• Slice French Bread into 20 slices (1 in. each). (Use any extra bread for garlic toast or bread crumbs)
• Arrange slices in a generously buttered 9x13 flat baking dish in 2 rows, overlapping the slices. 
• In a large bowl combine Eggs, Half/Half, Sugar, Vanilla, Cinnamon, Nutmeg & salt.
• Beat with rotary beater or whisk until blended, but not too bubbly.
• Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly with milk/egg mixture.
• Spoon some of the mixture between slices.
• Cover with foil & refrigerate overnight.
• Next Day, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Spread Praline Topping evenly over the bread & bake for 40 minutes (uncovered) until puffed and lightly golden. Serve with maple syrup.

MFP Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas

I still use this blog! It's an easy way for me to find old favorites and share recipes. :) So I'm adding this one bc I make it all the time and wanted it to be typed up in neater fashion than my current chicken scratch paper! lol! Hope some of you can enjoy this recipe too! xoxo, B


Ingredients:

• 2 sweet medium potatoes
• 2 cans black beans (drain & rinse)
• fresh spinach, chopped up
• salsa (optional)
• 1-2 cans mild red enchilada sauce
• shredded cheddar

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Peel & dice sweet potato (I microwave mine after I peel it to soften it up too)
• Mix the diced sweet potato, chopped spinach & black beans all together. 
• Season the mixture with cumin, garlic powder, s&p to your liking (add in the salsa if using)
• Divide mixture evenly between tortillas & add a little shredded cheese (half corn/ half flour kind work well)
• Place roll ups seam down, in a pan and pour enchilada sauce over them. Top with more shredded cheese.
• Bake until heated through and cheese is melted about 20 min.

Enjoy! These enchiladas are also in My Fitness Pal for easy tracking (if you're into that kinda thing ;))!

Breakfast Pizza

I made this breakfast pizza today for my Sunday school class. Several people asked for the recipe, and I've often meant to upload the recipe to this site for safe keeping...so, here it is.  This recipe actually holds sentimental value for me. I uploaded the picture of the original recipe card which was written out for me by Lela Thomas, who has since passed away. Growing up I used to spend the night at my best friend's house & her grandmom made this for us once. I must have raved on and on about it  (even in my childhood) because she sent me home with the recipe! :) I've only tweaked it slightly. I use the Pillsbury ready made thin pizza crust, instead of crescent rolls. I've also added bacon to my toppings, but other than that, I use her recipe. It makes me think of Becky and her grandmother every time I make it! Love you Becky--I was so blessed to have you in my life growing up!

Ingredients:
1lb pork sausage
1 pkg crescent rolls (I used the Pillsbury Thin Pizza crust)
1 C frozen shredded hashbrowns
1 C shredded cheddar cheese
5 eggs
1/4 C milk (I omit the milk sometimes bc if the eggs are too runny, they'll run off the crust)
S&P to taste
2 TBS grated Parmesan cheese
*Cooked, crumbled bacon (I added this element in, it's not on the original recipe)

Directions:

• Cook the sausage in a skillet until browned, drain off excess fat.
• Separate crescent dough into 8 triangles, place on pizza pan, points toward center, press over bottoms & up sides to form crust, seal perforations (or if using Pillsbury thin crust pizza dough, unroll and form it to shape of your pan...side note: directions on can say to pre-cook, so I do this for about 5 minutes before topping)
• Spoon cooked, crumbled sausage over the crust.
• Sprinkle hash brown potatoes over sausage.
• Top with shredded cheddar cheese 
• In a bowl, beat eggs together & season to your liking with salt & pepper (this is also where you would add in the 1/4 C milk, but recently I've omitted the milk to make the eggs less runny)
• Pour the eggs over the sausage, potatoes, & cheese
• If using crumbled bacon, add it on top next
• Sprinkle the grated Parmesan over all
• Bake in oven at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or so...(I followed the directions on the Pillsbury can for how to cook their dough/pizza...it recommended the pre-baking and it calls for the pizza to be cooked at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or so) You may just have to play with the cooking process depending on what type of dough you are using, etc.

That's it! Hope you enjoy! And in Heaven one day you can tell Lela Thomas that she made a really great breakfast pizza. :)

Crunchy Romaine Salad (with Grilled Chicken)

My mom got me hooked on this salad. She said she got hooked on it from a church fellowship. The original recipe is entitled "Mary Lou's Romaine Salad" so I guess we all have Mary Lou to thank for this! :)


Ingredients:
1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
1 head broccoli, divided into small pieces
1 bunch green onions, sliced thin
1 pkg Ramen noodles, crushed
1/4 C pecans, chopped
Grilled chicken optional (see notes below for marinade)

3 T butter
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C olive oil
1/4 C red wine vinegar
2 tsp soy sauce

Directions:

In a large salad bowl, mix chopped romaine lettuce, broccoli and green onions.  For crunchies, slightly brown Ramen noodles & pecans in butter, yum!
I used a large glass measuring cup for the salad dressing: whisk together the sugar, olive oil, vinegar & soy sauce. 

I marinated and grilled chicken to toss on top of the salad. I put 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts in a large ziplock bag & drizzled them with olive oil. I seasoned them with garlic powder, garlic salt, pepper, a little lemon juice, dijon mustard & soy sauce. Let them marinate for at least 30 minutes. Grill the chicken and cut into chunks. Toss onto the salad and then pour the salad dressing recipe above over it all.  It's divine! Thanks Mary Lou! :)