Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cakes

These are DELICIOUS, indulgent little cakes!  I served these at a family brunch recently and they were very popular.  Adding in chocolate chips is a perfect pairing with pumpkin!  And mini chocolate chips are just so cute. :)

This recipe comes from Skinnytaste.  The original recipe has these made into mini-muffins which would make 28 mini muffins or 14 regular sized muffins if you wanted to try a different variation for less points (see all pp values listed below).

Servings:  6

Size:  1 mini bundt cake

Points Plus: 8pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time:  25-28 minutes

Rating: 4 stars – Very Good

*PP value for 1 regular muffin would be 4pp, 1 mini muffin would be 2pp

Ingredient List:

½ cup whole wheat flour

¾ cup all purpose flour

¾ cup sugar

¾ tsp. baking soda

1 ¾ tsp. pumpkin pie spice

¼ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. salt

1 ½ cup canned pumpkin (equal to 1 15 oz. can)

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

2 egg whites

2 tsp. vanilla

2/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°. Spray the mini bundt pan with cooking spray.  In a large bowl, combine the two types of flour, sugar, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and salt; mix well.  In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin, oil, egg and vanilla – beat until well combined, making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl.  Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture in multiple steps.  Do not over mix.  Fold in the mini chocolate chips with a spatula.  Using a spoon, drop spoonfuls of batter into each mini bundt mold.  Bake for 25-28 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let your mini bundt cakes cool before serving.

Tip:

An easy way to get your mini bundt cakes out of the pan is to flip your cooling rack upside down and place on top of the bundt pan.  Flip both the pan and rack upside down so the cooling rack is right side up (set on your counter) and the bundt pan is upside down. Your mini bundt cakes should pop right out of the pan and be perfectly placed to cool!

XOXO Megan

Mini Bacon and Cheese Quiches

I love mini foods and these mini quiches are so cute!  They are also easy to make and low in pp value (and a WW recipe!).  There are a lot of different varieties you could make with this recipe to serve it at a dinner party as an appetizer.  As bacon and egg quiches, I served this at a brunch party.

Servings:  18

Size:  2 mini quiches

Points Plus: 2pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time:  20 minutes

Rating: 4 stars – Very good

Ingredient List:

36 wonton wrappers (3 ½ inch squares)

1 small onion

1 cup fat free egg substitute

1 ½ cup evaporated milk

½ cup shredded cheddar, reduced-fat

4 slices turkey bacon, chopped

Cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Coat 36 mini muffin pans with cooking spray.  Press wonton wrappers into each mini muffin cup and spray the edges of the wonton wrappers, this will ensure they brown while baking.  In a small skillet, sauté the onion until tender, about 3-5 minutes.  Whisk together the egg, milk, cheese in a glass bowl; stir in the bacon and onion.  Fill the mini muffin cups with approximately 1 Tbsp. of egg filling.  Bake for 20 min.

Tip:

Wonton wrappers can be used for so many different recipes!  They are perfect for making homemade ravioli – Katie is a pro at wonton raviolis. J

XOXO Megan

Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Everyone needs a signature dish!  What is a signature dish you might ask?  Well it is recipe that you can make quickly and is something you can make well.  And it really becomes your signature dish when people come to know and remember you for this particular recipe!

This delicious breakfast cake might very well be my own signature dish.  It is SO good!  The cake’s consistency is moist, yet light and fluffy all rolled into one.  It’s kind of cross between a muffin and a coffee cake.  I came across this recipe on Pinterest and tried it out for a weekend visit from my family.  Soon after this visit, this recipe quickly became one of our favorites!

Servings:  12

Size:  1/12 of an 8x8 pan

Points Plus: 6pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Bake Time: 35-45 minutes

Rating: 5 stars – Excellent

Ingredient List:

½ cup unsalted butter

2 tsp. lemon zest

¾ cup sugar (+ 2 Tbsp. to sprinkle on top of cake)

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour (reserve ¼ cup to toss the blueberries in)

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. kosher salt

2 cups blueberries, fresh berries

½ cup buttermilk

Cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°.  In a large bowl, mix together the butter, lemon zest and ¾ cup sugar with a mixer until the texture is light and fluffy.  Add the egg, vanilla and beat until well mixed through.  Wash the blueberries and lightly pat dry with a paper towel.  In a cereal bowl, toss the blueberries in ¼ cup of flour (this helps the blueberries to stay whole and got get smashed and bleed into the rest of the cake).  Whisk together the remaining flour (1 ¾ cups), baking powder and salt in a medium sized bowl.  Add half of flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture, mix well.  Next add ¼ cup of buttermilk to the batter.  Repeat these steps with the remaining flour mixture and buttermilk.  Using a technique of alternating your dry ingredients with buttermilk allows for easier mixing for your cake batter.  Once the batter is mixed well, use a large spatula to gently fold in the blueberries.  You will likely have leftover flour from the ¼ cup you used to toss the berries – you don’t need to add all of it into the batter.  Spray an 8x8 pan with cooking spray.  Spread batter evenly into the pan.  The batter consistency will be quite thick.  Sprinkle 2 Tbsp. of sugar on top of the cake.  Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the top is golden brown.  Use a toothpick to check to see if it comes out clean.  Depending on your oven, it may need to bake for an additional 5-10 minutes.

Tip:

Use this lemon zester I told you about last week to make zesting the lemon a breeze!

This recipe can EASILY be doubled and made in a 9x13 pan instead of the 8x8!  If you are serving this for a brunch I would recommend going with the doubled version since people will want seconds.

XOXO Megan

Chocolate Chip Scones

Scones are one of my favorite breakfast foods!  A warm scone and cup of coffee is perfect for a Saturday morning.  Here’s a great recipe I found on Skinnytaste for a lightened up version of chocolate chip scones.  The recipes calls for two kinds of flour – if you choose to just use all-purpose flour know that the pp value will increase. 

Servings:  12

Size:  1 scone

Points Plus: 5pp

Level of Difficulty:  Medium

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time:  20 minutes

Rating: 4 stars – Very good

Ingredient List:

¾ cup cold buttermilk

¼ cup sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup white whole wheat flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

3 Tbsp. chilled butter (it must be cold), cut into small pieces

¾ cup chocolate chips

Cooking spray

1 large egg white, lightly beaten

1 ½ tsp. sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375°.  Combine the buttermilk, ¼ cup sugar, vanilla and egg in a bowl, stirring with a whisk.  Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.  In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt.  Cut in chilled butter with a pastry blender, or you could use a fork, until the mixture resembles coarse meal.  Gently fold in chocolate chips.  Add the milk mixture, stirring until just moist.

Place dough on a floured surface and knead lightly four times with floured hands.  Form dough into a 9-inch circle on the baking sheet, about a ¾ inch thick.  Using a knife, cut dough into 12 wedges (make sure your cuts going all the way through to form 12 scones). Brush egg white over the top of the scones and sprinkle evenly with sugar.  Bake until golden, about 18-20 minutes depending on your oven.  Serve as warm scones with coffee!

Tip:

Cutting in the chilled butter into your flour mixture takes patience!  Keep at it and your dough will soon resemble the crumbly, coarse texture that is needed for scones. 

XOXO Megan

Donut Kabobs

Looking for something FUN to serve at your next brunch?  Donut kabobs are a perfect little treat.  I served these for Easter brunch this year and they were a hit with my family.  These are great to serve at either a wedding or baby shower too.  Easy entertaining!

Servings:  As many as you need

Size:  One kabob

Points Plus: 3 pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: n/a

Rating: 4 stars – Very good

Ingredient List:

Donut holes

Strawberries

Blackberries

Skewers

Directions:

Wash the strawberries and blackberries.  Slice the strawberries in half.  Assemble each skewer, alternating each fruit type along with the donut holes.  Feel free to use whatever type of donut hole you prefer – glazed, cinnamon sugar or powdered (I prefer glazed, and they are the least messy J).

Tip:

Just like the fruit kabobs I posted about a month ago, these kabobs can easily fit the color scheme of your party, shower or brunch.  Switch out what fruit you use to match the colors or theme of your gathering!

XOXO Megan

Jalapeño, Sausage & Egg Breakfast Braid

I love to find new breakfast recipes to try out!  I came across this recipe in Cooking Light and tested it out for a summer cabin trip a few years ago.  It’s easy, yet looks pretty impressive, and sounds like it too (breakfast braid sounds kind of fancy to me at least!).  This breakfast dish quickly became a favorite and is a go-to staple if I’m having company and I want to serve something for breakfast or brunch.

Servings:  8

Size:  1/8 of the breakfast braid

Points Plus: 6 pp

Level of Difficulty:  Medium

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time:  15 minutes

Rating: 5 stars – Excellent

Ingredient List:

1 can refrigerated pizza crust dough

Cooking spray

1 Tbsp. olive oil

¼ cup onion, chopped

4 oz. chicken sausage with jalapeños, chopped

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

½ cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese

¼ cup jalapeño peppers, chopped and seeded

1 large egg white, lightly beaten

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°. Unroll the pizza dough onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray.  Shape dough into a 15x10 inch rectangle.  Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the onion and sausage; cook about 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Stir in the eggs, cook another 1-2 minutes or until the eggs set.  Remove from heat.  Sprinkle Monterey Jack cheese lengthwise down the center of the dough, leave about a 2 ½ inch boarder on each side.  Spoon the egg/sausage mixture evenly over the cheese.  Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top of the egg mixture; top with jalapeño peppers.  Make 2 inch long diagonal cuts about 1 inch apart on both sides of the dough to within ½ inch of the filling.  Arrange the strips over the filling, alternating sides to make the appearance look like a braid.  Press the ends to seal.  Brush the top of the braid with egg white to ensure a nice browned crust.  Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting into slices.

Tip:

To make the cuts in the pizza dough to form the braid, kitchen scissors work REALLY well!  Simply snip out even strips to make your braid.  The scissors will help the dough for tearing or getting stretched out so you end up with a nice looking braid to serve your company!

XOXO Megan

 

Blueberry Stuffed French Toast

Brunch! I hosted a brunch this past weekend and served this amazing blueberry stuffed french toast.  I originally had this recipe at a bridal shower, and have been thinking about it ever since....(and that was over a year ago).  The egg base if not too sweet and goes SO WELL with the blueberry topping.  When making the topping you cook half of the berries (you could use any fruit!) until they are soft, then add the second half at the end.  This creates two different berry textures which make the dish so much more interesting.  This re-heats up well too, and I am sure the topping would be amazing on ice cream :)

Also, in case you didn't know, making an egg dish that has to sit overnight is so ridiculously wonderful and easy. I made two overnight egg dishes and it took me less than 15 minutes.  Just pop them in the oven in the morning, stress-free entertaining!

Servings: 16
Size: 1/16 of 9X13 inch baking dish
Points Plus: 7pp
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 10 minutes!
Cook Time: 1 hour, also must sit overnight
Rating: 5 stars - Very Good


Instructions:
I copied the recipe word for word (except smaller servings), so here you go!

Tip: 
The recipe asks for cubed cream cheese.  I don't really know how you would cube cream cheese unless it was frozen, so I just held it with one hand and broke off tablespoon sized chunks, distributing evenly over the bread mixture. With clean hands of course!

XOXO - Katie

Sausage & Yellow Pepper Breakfast Tacos

These breakfast tacos are not only tasty, but after I made them I realized they have almost EVERY color of the rainbow in them.  They are so pretty!  You can put whatever you have on hand in breakfast tacos (or regular tacos for that matter). For these I choose to use some yellow pepper, mixed greens, spicy sausage and queso fresco and chipotle laughing cow cheese.

Servings: 2

Size: Two tacos

Points Plus: 7pp

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Rating: 4 starts - Very Good

Ingredient List:

4 eggs

4 corn tortillas

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 yellow pepper

1 scallion

1 garlic clove

1 spicy turkey sausage

1 wedge queso fresco and chipotle laughing cow cheese

1 squirt Sriracha

1 splash of milk

Mixed greens

Salsa

Salt & pepper to taste
Cooking spray OR MISTO of EVOO

Directions:

The timing of this recipe is a little tricky and you have to do stuff fast.  Cutting and prepping everything before you start will make this recipe stress free! Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Chop pepper, scallion and garlic clove. Heat oil in skillet and add chopped veggies, cooking on low heat. (is garlic a veggie??).  Chop turkey sausage into small pieces and add to veggie mixture after about five minutes.  In the meantime, beat four eggs, add a splash of milk, a squirt of Sriracha and salt and pepper to taste.  Spray a second skillet and add eggs, cooking them on very low heat. When your oven is preheated, throw in the tortillas for a few minutes to warm.

To assemble:
Remove tortillas from oven and spread each with a quarter wedge of cheese. Equally distribute eggs and veggie mixture onto each, then top with salsa and lettuce.  Enjoy!

Tip:
Cooking eggs at low heat makes them more fluffy.  Give it a whirl!

XOXO Katie

Egg McMuffins

One of my fiance's favorite things to have for breakfast is our homemade version of egg McMuffins!  Paul is great at making these, so all the credit should be given to him for this recipe (in fact, maybe I should have had him write this as a guest post...).  These are easy to make and a nice balance of carbs and protein for a delicious breakfast sandwich.  Pair these with some fruit and you have a satisfying breakfast meal!

Servings:  2

Size:  One egg sandwich

Points Plus: 6 pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: n/a

Cook Time: 5-7 minutes (adjust cooking time based on your preference)

Rating: 3 stars – Good

Ingredient List:

2 English muffins

2 eggs

1 Tbsp. butter spread

Generous salt and pepper seasoning

Optional: 2 oz. reduced fat shredded cheddar or mozzarella cheese

Directions:

In a large frying pan, fry two eggs to your preferred level of doneness (I like my eggs very over-hard, while Paul prefers a runny yolk).  Generously salt and pepper each egg before you flip it to cook the other side.  While your eggs are cooking, toast the English muffins.  Lightly butter each English muffin.  Once the egss are done, assemble each McMuffin sandwich and enjoy!

Tip:

If you want to add some reduced fat cheese, add a small amount (1 oz. for each sandwich) to the top of your fried egg when you add assemble the sandwich.  By immediately putting the top of the English muffin on your egg, the cheese will melt and result in a perfectly gooey sandwich.

XOXO Megan

Mexican Quiche

Quiches are one of those dishes that are SUPER impressive and SUPER easy.  I think they are impressive because of their unique name and easy because you basically add some ingredients to a pie crust, pour a few beaten eggs over them and bake. This recipe contains re-fried beans which help to keep the custard mixture from soaking into the bottom crust.  Degree of spiciness is controlled by the amount of hot sauce used. This Mexican inspired quiche is a veggie recipe and great for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner or snack time (whenevs)!  There are a ton of flavors and textures going on with this dish. I served this for a small casual dinner party with two side salads, a two bite appetizer and mini cheesecakes! (and wine)

Servings: 8
Size: 1/8 of pie tin
Points Plus: 7pp
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Rating: 5 stars - Excellent 

Ingredients:

1 Pillsbury pie crust (9 inch), unbaked

1/2 package (4 ounces) 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened

1 cup fat free re-fried beans

1 t. oil

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped

6 ounces mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 small onion, diced

1/8 tsp ground cumin

1/8 tsp chili powder

Few drops of hot sauce (optional)

3 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup (4 ounces) low fat grated cheddar cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and remove your Pillsbury pie crust from the freezer. Once you are easily able to unroll your crust use your rolling pin to even out the sides and make it a  'perfect' circle. Place in pie plate and make it look pretty, making sure to press down the bottom so that it is flush with the bottom and side of the dish. (I am sure you can do a drastically better job at this than my quick version above). Spread cream softened cream cheese over bottom of pie crust, then spread beans over that layer.

Combine eggs and milk, beat slightly and add cheese. Set aside. 

Add one teaspoon vegetable oil to a skillet, and saute green pepper, mushrooms and onions until tender (not too soft). Add cumin, chili powder and hot sauce with measurements above or more to taste. Pour veggie mixture over beans. 

Pour egg and cheese mixture over veggie layer. Make sure it doesn't overflow. Bake for 40 minutes, until top is browned and eggs are set.  Let quiche stand for 10 minutes with a piece of tin fol loosely placed on top.

Tip: 
Practice makes perfect in the case of making a nice looking pie crust edge.  Start by making sure you are placing the rolled out crust in the very center of your pie plate. This will make the 'make it look pretty' part a LOT easier.  Feel free to cut off excess 'side crust' or fold it over to hid it.  

XOXO Katie

Banana Bread Muffins

I was really craving banana bread and was in the mood to make a homemade baked good.  I also had some bananas that were well past their prime.  So I thought why not shake up the traditional banana bread recipe and try to turn it into muffins instead of loaves.  We have a family favorite recipe so I took that and adapted it into muffins.  Another perk, one muffin instead of a slice of bread is a great way to cut some points!

Servings:  16

Size:  1 muffin

Points Plus: 4 pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time:  18-20 minutes, depending on your oven

Rating: 3 stars – Good

Ingredient List:

½ cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. baking soda

2 cups flour

¼ tsp. salt

1 cup mashed bananas

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°.  Line a regular muffin tin with paper or foil liners. Cream butter and sugar together, mixed thoroughly.  Add eggs, one at a time and beat well. Sift flour, baking soda and salt, combine in a separate bowl.  Add flour mixture to the butter/sugar/eggs, alternating with bananas.  Fold in nuts (if you prefer).  Scoop the banana bread mixture into muffin tins, filling each about ¾ full.  Bake for 18-20 minutes.  Check with a toothpick to test if they are done!

Tip:

You can easily convert this recipe back into loaves if you prefer slices of banana bread instead of muffins.  Double the recipe above and pour into loaf pans instead of muffin tins.  The doubled recipe will make 3 loaves of banana bread. Bake the loaves for 55-60 minutes.  Adjust the color of your bread/muffins depending on what sugar you used.  I went with white sugar in these muffins, but you could substitute ½ cup of brown sugar to make a darker muffin.

XOXO - Megan