Food & fitness obsessed girl.
Yet another recipe I’ve been dying to try ever since I laid eyes on it. The original recipe is from http://mywholefoodlife.com/2013/10/09/pumpkin-pecan-caramel-bars/ however I adapted it a bit to suit my family and their preferences. The bars are super moist and delicious. Pumpkin flavor is quite nice throughout. My family eats these for breakfast, snack or dessert. Will most definitely be making these again! Please note my comments before diving into this yummy recipe.
— Knead to Cook
If you’re like me, you have quite a collection of cookbooks. I have those cherished ones that are all stained up from my relatives that they’ve passed down to me. Those cookbooks that are gifts from family or friends and finally the cookbooks I buy. I read them like a novel and scour each recipe. I mark recipes I want to try and guess what happens? I never get back to them. So they sit, collecting dust on my bookshelf in my kitchen and taunt me. So this weekend I pulled out three cookbooks and picked a few recipes to make. Now keeping to my true fashion, I adapt, change and evolve the recipe to suit my needs or my family’s taste. This recipe was no different. It was inspired by The Sprouted Kitchen’s Zucchini Bread Bites.
— Knead to Cook
Admittedly, I’m not a huge Halloween fan. I’ve never been into scary movies, dressing up and all of that. I know, that sounds so boring and practical but it’s just who I am. My oldest however, loves good “vintage” – yes, I say this sarcastically, because the “vintage” scary movies are from my time (late 70’s – early 80’s). Ever since 6th grade, we’ve been hosting a scary movie party for her and her girlfriends. Well it’s expanded quite a bit over the past three years but the same core group of friends still come (and look forward to it each October). We’ve expanded it this year to include some male friends too (can you hear me sighing loudly?). Insert my youngest quizzing my oldest if any of the males coming are her boyfriend and annoying the oldest beyond belief. {Insert arguing here.} I think we are expecting around 18 teenagers for s’mores outside in our fire pit and the feature movie is Nightmare on Elm Street. It is always fun and my husband and I do like to throw a few unexpected twists into the night, especially torturing the girls we know will scream the loudest and scare everyone. So the tradition continues. Today I bought a ton of movie snacks and whipped up a batch of Ghirardelli white chocolate Halloween bark for the festivities. Ghirardelli sent me an awesome care package last week and I’m happy to start creating some fun, seasonal recipes with their awesome products, this being my first one.
This recipe is super easy and totally customizable to your taste and what you have on hand. Whips up in minutes! Let’s get started!
— Knead to Cook
I’m on a mini kick lately. My family can’t seem to get enough of the cute, bite-sized food and I love that everyone gets their own. The size and amount of filling can be adjusted to what you have on hand. Apple pie epitomizes fall and that my dear, is perfection in my eyes.
You can make this recipe super easy by using store-bought pie crust and candy caramels or jarred caramel.
— Knead to Cook
Oh the apple recipes that are coming out of my kitchen, paired up with the aroma… it is heavenly! I love, love, love fall! This muffin is super moist, thanks to the apples, packed with healthy goodness and just sweet enough to keep the kids coming back for more. Perfect for a breakfast on the go, snack or paired up with a cup of tea, blanket and a good book. You get the picture. Would also be fun done in mini muffin pans too. Now onto the recipe as I have about 20 lbs of apples left that I need to get back to.
— Knead to Cook
After a wonderful fall weekend, we finally got to the apple orchard and managed to pick 40 lbs of various apples. Sunday was then spent cooking, baking and drying apples. This week I’m going to be posting all apple recipes, hope you love apples as much as I do! Today I’m starting with a super easy, healthy, vegan apple chip. Kids love them! Adults can’t stop eating them. Perfect for after-school snacking, treats to pack in lunches or a healthy afternoon snack for you. This is a totally fix it and forget it recipe. Fall perfection!
— Knead to Cook
This weekend my husband and I hosted basically two dinner parties in honor of homecoming. The first was for my daughter and her friends and the second, was the after-party for the parents to hang out, eat, drink and be merry. I wanted a fun cookie to make for the kids and stumbled upon Baked by Rachel’s chocolate pumpkin cookie recipe and thought it would be perfect. I adapted the recipe a bit lessening the sugars/spices and they were loved by teens and adults!
— Knead to Cook
I feel compelled to make this disclaimer… if you’re looking for healthy clean eating, this is NOT your recipe. I have to be honest, I don’t eat refined sugars or processed anything but I realize that’s my choice and sometimes an indulgent, fun treat is good when you’re a kid and I have two of them so here it goes! I spotted these Pumpkin Spice M&M’s yesterday and thought they would be fun in some pumpkin spice blondies. So I bought a bag and off I went. It’s a fun treat for the fall season. Again, everything in moderation.
— Knead to Cook
Today I threw caution to the wind and decided to get back into the kitchen, regardless of finger pain. I have to be honest… I’ve been going through serious withdrawal! I kept vacillating on cooking/baking because I’m being so cautious with moving my finger but I can’t do it anymore! So after my workout, taxing to school, doc appointment and walk with the dog I got to it. And I cooked and baked until I had to leave to pick my daughter up and I have to tell you – it felt so good! I felt like myself, finally!
To celebrate the first full day of fall that meant apple and pumpkin cooking in my kitchen. I made my muffin pan mini apple pies because my family wouldn’t let up on how good they were (a big ol’ hint for me to make more) and these pumpkin bars. I wanted a nice moist bar without added butter and less sugar than the typical bar recipes. I wanted these for breakfast to-go ideas and for after-school snacking. They are just perfect and totally portable.
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— Knead to Cook
Get your fork ready…
Yesterday made me stop and really examine the last two weeks of my life. I’m unsure if I’ve been really blessed (I’m leaning towards this) or someone is out there gunning for me. Two weeks ago I had a fairly routine operation on my finger resulting in a case of staph infection that landed me in the hospital with IV antibiotics and another surgery to flush out any remaining staph bacteria. The worse case scenario, the docs told me was that I would have a pic line installed and have to go to the hospital every single day for IV antibiotics for 30 days. Thank heavens this wasn’t the case. I walked out of the hospital with oral antibiotics and have been healing up, dealing with the pain of the surgery. This, the docs said was because I was in great shape and I’m very healthy. Okay great. Plus, I have been granted permission upon discharge to continue training, something very important to me and my mental health. I gain great enjoyment from working out and it is a simple way of keeping the endorphins flowing and me happy. Win! Win! So yesterday I headed out about 5:20 am for a ten mile run. I’m training for a half marathon that I have yet to determine (yes, I need to get on this). As I just hit the 9 mile mark, very close to my home, a car that didn’t see me (because the driver wasn’t looking in my direction) hit me. I was fortunate to act fast and catapult myself over his hood and land on the other side of the car. It all happened in slow motion. I landed on my feet and was partially in shock that this happened and that he was driving away! He then must’ve got a glimpse of me running towards the car and stopped. His comment “I never even saw you.” Are you kidding me? I turned and ran home finishing my ten miles in record time and a bit in shock. Long story short, I walked away from a car hitting me. I remember my hands on the hood of the car and thinking is this for real? The engine roaring underneath my palms, I was blessed with the thought of jumping on the hood an getting legs out of the way. I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried. So I’m going with blessed! I escaped two situations that could’ve left me very injured or even dead. So what did I do… I shook it off, relished my ten mile run and made mini pies for my family. One-handed I might add.
I really prefer to live under the radar but lately that’s been quite difficult!
— Knead to Cook