PuMpKiN CrEaM ChEeSe BaRs

Tonight I made Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars, the best decision of my whole life. I found the recipe on the blog, The Girl Who Ate Everything http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/ . They are Amazing and you should make them too. Not a lot of odd ingredients, but the pumpkin pie spice, which you can use a substitute for and the pumpkin puree, which you can find pretty easily in the baking section. 

Ingredients:

Filling:
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Batter:
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (see Note for substitution)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• (optional) 1/2 cup chopped pecan pieces

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Spray a 9x13" baking pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
3. For the filling: With a hand mixer blend together softened cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Set aside.
   
4. For the batter: Combine the pumpkin, sugar, egg and oil in medium mixing bowl and mix until well combined.
5. Stir in flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well to combine.
   
6. Pour batter into prepared baking dish, and spread to cover bottom of pan.
7. Add dollops of the cream cheese mixture over the batter. Cut through the batter with a knife to make a marbled effect w/ the cream cheese mixture in an up and down pattern. Repeat going the other way. When marbling make sure you don't go all the way to the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with the chopped pecans if desired.
8. Bake for 25 - 28 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
9. Cool an cut into squares. Store in the refrigerator.

Notes

If you don't have Pumpkin Pie Spice you can make your own. The substitute for 1 1/2 teaspoons of Pumpkin Pie Spice in this recipe is: 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ginger, 1/8 teaspoon allspice.

And Ta Da.........

I did half with the pecans and the other half with none. 

And they say Pintrest is bad...

Sitting at the Guest Service Booth has given me some extra time to surf the web. So after hitting up pintrest all day on wednesday, we decided to make this awesome pawsome recipe. We doubled it though so we would have left overs for our next couple lunches. Definitely adding it to my favorites. I love Pintrest!!!

Roasted Butternut Baked Penne

Serves 4

ingredients:

1 pound butternut squash, peeled and chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small shallot, chopped
1 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup mascarpone cheese
2/3 cup milk
1/2 pound whole wheat penne
1/4 cup freshly grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
sage leaves
crumbed bacon, if desired

directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Peel and chop squash, then lay on a baking sheet. Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Roast for 20 minutes, flip once, then roast for 20 minutes more. Remove from oven and add squash to a bowl, then mash with a potato masher or fork.

Prepare water for pasta and cook according to directions.

While pasta is cooking, heat a medium saucepan over medium heat and add butter and shallots. Whisk continuously until the butter browns and small brown bits appear in the pan. Immediately whisk in flour and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add milk, mascarpone and mashed squash, then mix until until combined. I chose to keep my “sauce” in a thicker state (see the second picture), but if you’d like it thinned out a bit more, add additional milk. At this point, taste and see if you’d like any additional salt or spices – this will most likely depend on how seasoned your squash was. I added another small pinch of salt.

Add pasta to an 8 or 9-inch baking dish. Pour sauce over top, then use a spoon to fold the sauce into the penne, coating it completely. Top with shredded cheeses and fresh sage leaves. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until cheese is golden and bubbly. Garnish with crumbled bacon if desired.

Note: this is a very “thick” pasta, and it is not swimming in sauce. If you would prefer it to be “saucy,” I’d advise adding more milk to the sauce while cooking. It is great reheated, and adding 1-2 tablespoons of milk when reheating helps it come together nicely.

EVERYONE HAS TO TRY THIS!!! ITS THE BEST!!!!!!