Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies

These cookies are vegan!  This was one of the deserts we made for our dinner party!  (Good thing, they offset my Bacon Cheeseburger Dip!)  I was a little skeptical about vegan cookies... I mean how could we make them without eggs or milk?  However, these turned out much better than I expected!  Yum!

Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies

All right, so these look gross in the picture, but I promise they're delicious!

Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients

Dough:

3/4 Cup flour

6 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. cocoa powder

scant 1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 Cup plus 2 Tbsp. sugar

2 Tbsp. agave nectar

2 Tbsp. soy milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. oil 

Filling:

3 Tbsp. pureed pumpkin

3 Tbsp. peanutbutter

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 Tbsp. sugar

1/8 tsp. vanilla extract

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 330 degrees

Combine all ingredients for dough in a bowl and mix well.  

In separate bowl, combine filling ingredients. 

Roll dough into small balls and flatten.

Place a small scoop of the filling in the center of the dough and fold up the sides and fold around the filling.  Bake for about 10 minutes. 

Let stand 10 minutes.  

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Shape Magazine

Bacon Cheeseburger Dip

Today I hosted a dinner party with my friend Siobhan, and because she is vegan (almost) everything we made was vegan.  This dip was the exception... being the least vegan thing known to man.  Cheese, cream cheese, bacon, and ground beef?  Oh man!  Obviously Siobhan didn't have any, but I did, and it was delicious!
This dip is super rich, so it went well with the rest of our meal being vegan, but if you aren't planning on doing that, I would suggest loading up on the veggies!

Bacon Cheeseburger Dip

Cheeseburger Dip

Bacon Cheeseburger Dip

Ingredients:
1/2 pound ground beef
6 strips bacon
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
6 ounces reduced fat cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup nonfat sour cream
1/4 cup light mayo
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 Tbsp. ketchup

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350
Cook ground beef over medium heat, set aside and drain.
Cook bacon in same pan until crispy, about 6-10 minutes.  Set aside and drain all but a Tbsp. of grease.
Add onion and saute until tender, about 5 minutes.
Crush up bacon once cool enough to handle.
Add garlic and saute about a minute
Mix all ingredeints into a baking dish
Bake in oven 20-30 minutes.
Serve with tortilla chips or carrots

Recipe Adapted from Closet Cooking

Mexican Meatballs

Today I wanted to use some chipotle pasta I found in the store and decided to make some Mexican meatballs to go with them.  I made up the recipe, but used my mom's basic proportions and way of cooking so I didn't screw them up too much.  They actually turned out quite delicious and were great just with the pasta side, but you could also put them into some tacos for a yummy treat as well!

Mexican Meatballs

Muy Caliente!

Mexican Meatballs

Ingredients:
1 pound ground chicken
1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
1 egg
1 4 oz. can green chiles
1 Tbsp. cumin
1/2 Tbsp. chile powder
1 tsp. garlic
Pinch salt
1 avocado

Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 400.
Mix all ingredients except the avocado together in a large bowl. Roll into palm-sized balls and place on greased baking sheet.  Bake for approximately 25 minutes.  Serve with a side of chipotle pasta or whatever you choose.
Enjoy!

Shrimp Fra Diavolo

Tonight I thought I would get extra fancy and make one of my dad's favorite dishes, shrimp fra diavolo.  I know my dad wasn't here to enjoy it, but that's okay, Matt and I sure did!  I found this recipe on Pinterest, and for the recipe, I actually only changed the 1/2 tsp. oregano and basil to 1 tsp. of Italian seasoning.  It tasted great!
Also, because shrimp cooks really fast, the longest part of this conversation was waiting for the water to boil for the pasta.  A super fast weeknight dinner!

Shrimp Fra Diavolo

Shrimp Fra Diavolo

Ingredients:
8 ounces (half a box) uncooked linguine
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 medium onion, diced
1 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 tsp. Italian spices
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 3/4 cups canned crushed tomatoes
1/4 tsp. salt
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained

Preparation:
Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain; keep warm.
White pasta cooks, heat 1 Tbsp. oil in a large pan over medium-high heat, add half the garlic and shrimp.  Saute about three minutes, or until done.  Remove from pan, keep warm.
Add remaining oil and onion to pan, saute 5 minutes, or until onion is translucent.  Stir in remaining
garlic pepper, Italian spices; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in tomato paste and lemon juice.  Cook one minute.
Stir in crushed tomatoes, salt, and diced tomatoes.  Cook 5 minutes or until thickened.  Return shrimp to pan to reheat.  Serve over pasta.
Enjoy!

Recipe Adapted from My Recipes

Avocado and Tomato Salad

To go with my crab rolls, I decided I should use up those avocados I bought before they went bad.  I came across this recipe for a caprese salad with avocados in there, and thought, "how could you go wrong?"  My philosophy is that everything is better with cheese... and avocados.  Though the original recipe I found was yummy, I tweaked it a little, all of the fats from the avocados and cheese needed some vinegar to cut through it.
I will say that this does not store well, so if there's only two of you, cut the recipe in half, or invite some people over and have a party!

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Avocado and Tomato Salad

Ingredients:
2 avocados, peeled, pitted, and cubed
3 tomatoes, cubed
1 ball fresh mozzarella, cubed
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
5 leaves fresh basil, torn
Salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation:
Mix everything together.
Eat immediately.
Enjoy!

Crab Roll

Lobster Rolls are super popular in Maine and across the Northeast.  I decided to try my hand this week at making my version, using mock crab... because I got it for a dollar/pound instead of fifteen times that much.  Obviously, real crab or lobster is more delicious, but hey, I'm trying to make dinners for cheap!
The end result was pretty good, however I definitely would have liked it better with real crab or lobster meat.  Matt seemed to like it well enough however, he ate it all week!  (The recipe made a TON!)

Whoops!  I forgot to take a picture of it IN a roll, but I'm sure you can imagine what it looked like!
This goes well with Avocado and Tomato Salad for a complete meal!

Crab Roll

Ingredients:
1/2 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
3 Tbsp. Low Fat Mayonnaise
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 scallion, chopped
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 pound mock crab (or if you're fancy, real crab)
Salt and pepper to taste
4 hot dog buns

Preparation:
Mix all ingredients except hot dog buns, in a medium bowl.
If you would like, place buttered hot dog buns on a grill pan to heat them up.
Once heated, spoon crab mixture into hot dog buns.
Enjoy!

Recipe Adapted From Ellie Krieger

Eggless Cookie Dough

So you know all those times when you really want to eat cookie dough, but you know you shouldn't because you know, raw eggs, and salmonella and things?  WELL, have I got news for you!  This is a recipe for EGGLESS cookie dough, one you can eat while making it and before popping it in the oven... or just eat the whole thing raw (like I did.)
The toughest part of this recipe is waiting the couple of hours for it to firm up in the fridge, though prep time was really only about 10 minutes.  This would be great for a girls night!
I will note that this does not taste the same as real cookie dough, but it doesn't taste like salmonella, so that's great!

Eggless Cookie Dough

Eggless Cookie Dough

Ingredients:
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk
1 cup flour
1/2 cup dark chocolate M&Ms (or chocolate chips, or whatever you want)
Pinch of salt

Preparation:
In a medium bowl, mix together the brown sugar and butter until smooth.
Add the vanilla and milk and stir.
Add in the flour, salt and M&Ms.  Stir well.
Chill in the fridge for about two hours.
Enjoy!

Recipe Adapted from: Fun Foods on a Budget