Pumpkin Muffins

Just in time for your Thanksgiving festivities I have for you an amazingly simple and delicious recipe for pumpkin muffins that are also quite versatile.  You can make them plain, with nuts, or with chocolate chips (as pictured above) or whatever else your heart desires (dried cranberries, anyone?)!

Creamy Tomato Pasta with Zucchini and Meatballs

I was at the grocery store over the weekend picking up a few things when I noticed a sign in the dairy aisle marking a *NEW* product.  Philadelphia had come out with a new flavor of Cooking Creme.  I had never tried the stuff before but the Tomato & Basil flavor gave me an idea.  I love having pasta with a nice creamy sauce, but it's a pain to make at home on a weeknight when I am looking for something quick, so I thought this might be a nice fix for that.

So last night, after working slightly later than usual, I decided it would be a good time to try out a new recipe that had been brewing in my head.  The result is exactly what I was looking for, a creamy pasta dish with veggies and meatballs that only took about a half hour to make!

This recipe makes about 12 one cup servings.  For anybody following Weight Watchers, it has a points plus value of 6 ppv per serving.

Ingredients
1 container Philadelphia Tomato & Basil Cooking Creme  
8 oz pasta  
1 large zucchini  
28 oz can stewed tomatoes  
26 1/2 oz can tomato sauce with mushrooms  
24 frozen meatballs  
2 tsp olive oil  
salt and pepper to taste  

Instructions
Cook and drain the pasta.

While the pasta is cooking sautee the zucchini in the bottom of a large sauce pan with the olive oil.  Once the zucchini is limp add the tomatoes, sauce, and spices. Bring the sauce up to medium heat and stir in the cooking creme.

Cook the meatballs according to the instructions on their package.  Add the meatballs and pasta to the sauce and cook long enough to heat everything.


 The next time you find yourself in need of a quick dinner I hope you'll remember this recipe and give it a try - you won't be disappointed!  Happy Cooking!

The Best Stuffed Mushrooms EVER

You may think that I am exaggerating with the title of this recipe, but trust me when I say that I'm not.  These really are the best stuffed mushrooms you'll ever have.

I needed to make an appetizer for a dinner at my local fire department earlier this week and stuffed mushrooms was one of the first things that popped into my head.  I knew that I wanted them to be a little spicy since they were going to be eaten by firemen, but beyond that I wasn't sure, so I went to the internets for ideas.  Google pointed me towards several different recipes with cream cheese based stuffing and I wondered why I'd never heard of them before.  I love cheese so it only seems natural to use cream cheese for the stuffing.  Thus my recipe began to take shape.

I decided on using sriracha to add the spice to the recipe because it has a slight sweetness to it and I knew that would compliment the cream cheese well, along with the white wine I had also decided to use.  If you're already familiar with sriracha and you are worried about how spicy it is, feel free to dial it back a little.  I only used about a tablespoon and a half for 32 ounces of mushrooms (which was about 72 for me, but the number of mushrooms in an 8 oz package varies widely from package to package) but I wound up with a slight warmth for the spice level, which I think was perfect.  I think if you added much more heat than that it would cover up the great balance of flavors going on in these mushrooms.

Apple Blackberry Pie - Pi Day 2011

Happy Pi Day once again!

Pi (3.14) is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, and it's a super important number to mathematicians and scientists alike.  Sometime in the 1980s people began baking pies to mark the occasion.   Most importantly, Pi Day is another reason to eat lots of yummy pies.  Here at ADON this is our third Pi Day celebration, but I've been involved in celebrations since I was in high school.

This year's pie is an apple blackberry pie, a recipe that originally came from delish.com, but I had to tweak it a bit, of course.

Shrimp Macaroni and Cheese

If you are looking for a gourmet macaroni and cheese to make at home then have I got the recipe for you.  I have combined two of my favorite creamy cheeses with mushrooms, shrimp, and crunchy panko breadcrumbs to create a decadent macaroni and cheese that could easily be served in a restaurant!