Pumpkin-Cinnamon Streusel Buns

What the?????? Where are the pumpkin cinnamon buns?!?!?!?! Unfortunately, they went so fast that I didn't have an opportunity to take a picture of them. So you get a nice picture of my Christmas kitties instead (an elf and a very disgruntled Mrs. Claus).

I can tell you that they were gooey and delicious.  The pumpkin gave them a bit of a yellow-y color but it wasn't off putting.  To be honest, I didn't taste a lot of pumpkin, but let's face it, any kind of cinnamon bun coated in glaze is going to be delicious.  Next time (and there will be a next time), I will probably throw a little pumpkin pie spice into the dough to make it more pumpkin-y.  This was my first time making cinnamon buns and I must say it was pretty easy. You have to make sure to roll the dough tightly; if you don't then then when you slice it into rolls the middle will spill out.

As the recipe suggests, I used canned pumpkin and added the extra cup of flour. Instead of mixing by hand and kneading, I let the dough hook on my kitchen aid mixer do this all for me. :)

OH! I also made these the night before and baked them in the morning (well, I should say the hubs baked and glazed them while I was at the gym).  They turned out fine. I gave them about 30 minutes to sit on the counter top to warm to room temperature.

As of today's post, 17 people gave it an average rating of 5 out of 5!

Recipe by Cooking Light, October 2001

To make these year-round, substitute canned pumpkin puree and add an extra cup of all-purpose flour.

Yield: 12 servings (serving size: 1 bun)

Ingredients

• Buns:
• 1  package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
• 1/4  cup  warm water (100° to 110°)
• 2 3/4  cups  all-purpose flour, divided
• 1/2  cup  Pumpkin Puree
• 1/2  cup  1% low-fat milk
• 1/4  cup  butter, melted
• 1  tablespoon  granulated sugar
• 1 1/4  teaspoons  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  ground nutmeg
• Cooking spray
• 3  tablespoons  granulated sugar
• 3  tablespoons  brown sugar
• 2  tablespoons  all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  ground cinnamon
• 2  tablespoons  chilled butter, cut into small pieces
• Glaze:
• 3/4  cup  sifted powdered sugar
• 1  tablespoon  hot water
• 1/4  teaspoon  vanilla extract

Preparation

To prepare the buns, dissolve yeast in warm water in a large bowl; let stand for 5 minutes. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Add 2 cups flour, pumpkin, and next 5 ingredients (pumpkin through nutmeg); beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes); add enough of the remaining 3/4 cup flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands (dough will feel tacky).
Place the dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, for 45 minutes or until doubled in size. (Press two fingers into the dough. If an indentation remains, the dough has risen enough.)
Combine 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal.
Punch dough down; cover and let rest for 5 minutes. Roll the dough into a 12 x 10-inch rectangle on a floured surface. Sprinkle with brown sugar mixture. Roll up the rectangle tightly, starting with a long edge, pressing firmly to eliminate air pockets; pinch seam and ends to seal. Cut roll into 12 (1-inch) slices. Place slices in a 9-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Cover and let rise 25 minutes or until doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 375°.
Bake the rolls at 375° for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 15 minutes in pan on a wire rack.
To prepare the glaze, combine the powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon water, and vanilla extract in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Drizzle glaze over buns. Serve warm.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 219 (25% from fat)

Fat: 6.2g (sat 3.7g,mono 1.8g,poly 0.3g)

Protein: 3.8g

Carbohydrate: 36.9g

Fiber: 1.2g

Cholesterol: 16mg

Iron: 1.6mg

Sodium: 311mg

Calcium: 24mg

Bananas Foster Bread

Who likes bananas coated in rum??? I DO! Cooking Light had so many good looking bread recipes in their last issue, if only we had time to make them all!  I decided to make the bananas foster bread after I ended up with two uneaten, black bananas.  This recipe came together so quickly! I made the rum/banana/sugar mixture while we were making dinner (I think it was the same night as the Salmon and caramelized leek night).  After dinner I threw it all together and baked it in the toaster oven.  The bread tasted more like regular banana bread, but it did have a hint of that bananas foster flavor.  The glaze for this also calls for rum, and quite frankly, tastes like a shot of sugary icing when you mix it together. This is boozy! I will say though that after one day with the glaze you couldn't even taste the booze anymore.  Which I think for me set the taste back a bit. I liked the combination of fresh glaze and bread; for me it really tasted like bananas foster.

This recipe calls for flaxseed. I got mine at trader joe's whole and ground it in the mini prep food processor.

This recipe is probably not recommended if you have little humans running around, I don't think they are supposed to have alcohol. Translation: you can make this, just don't feed it to your kids. :)

As of today's post, 17 people gave it an average rating of 5 out of 5! 

Recipe by Maureen Callahan, Cooking Light, October 2010

Yield: 16 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2  cups  mashed ripe banana
• 1  cup  packed brown sugar, divided
• 6  tablespoons  butter, melted and divided
• 1/4  cup  cognac or dark rum, divided
• 1/3  cup  plain fat-free yogurt
• 2  large eggs
• 6.75  ounces  all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/4  cup  ground flaxseed
• 3/4  teaspoon  baking soda
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
• 1/8  teaspoon  ground allspice
• Cooking spray
• 1/3  cup  powdered sugar

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Combine banana, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 5 tablespoons butter, and 3 tablespoons cognac in a nonstick skillet. Cook over medium heat until mixture begins to bubble. Remove from heat; cool. Place banana mixture in a large bowl. Add yogurt, remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar, and eggs. Beat with a mixer at medium speed.
3. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (through allspice) in a small bowl. Add flour mixture to banana mixture; beat just until blended. Pour batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Remove bread from pan; place on wire rack.
4. Combine remaining 1 tablespoon melted butter, remaining 1 tablespoon cognac, and powdered sugar; stir until well blended. Drizzle over the warm bread.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 194

Fat: 5.8g (sat 3g,mono 1.5g,poly 0.9g)

Protein: 2.9g

Carbohydrate: 31.1g

Fiber: 1.5g

Cholesterol: 34mg

Iron: 1.1mg

Sodium: 181mg

Calcium: 32mg

Biscuits and Vegetarian Sausage Gravy

The hubs' family makes an amazing biscuits and gravy--I had it for the first time a few years ago.  So when I came across this recipe, I wondered if it would be as good, especially since it calls for fake sausage.  I don't know why, but I was intrigued by this recipe.  Finally, a night with a vegetarian friend who spent the night gave us an opportunity to try it. 

It was good! Even B said 'you can't tell it's not real sausage'. 


This took a looooong time to reduce but may be because I used skim instead of 1% in the sauce.  I think it took like 30 to 45 minutes to really get it reduced to the right consistency.I definitely need to work on my sausage gravy skills.   I must also admit that it took us a while to find this fake sausage in Wegman's, not being veggie people we aren't as familiar with that section. 

As of today's post, 6 people rated this 5 out of 5.  I would give it a 4.

Recipe by Lorrie Hulston Corvin, Cooking Light, September 2004

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

• 1  (16.3-ounce) can reduced-fat refrigerated biscuit dough
• 1  tablespoon  vegetable oil
• 1/2  (14-ounce) package meatless fat-free sausage (such as Lightlife Gimme Lean)
• 1/4  cup  all-purpose flour
• 3  cups  1% low-fat milk
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

Prepare biscuits according to package directions.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage; cook 3 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Crumble sausage into 1/2-inch pieces; return to pan.
Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and 1% low-fat milk, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Add milk mixture, salt, and freshly ground black pepper to pan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 3 minutes or until thick. Split the biscuits in half. Place 2 biscuit halves on each of 8 plates; top each serving with about 1/3 cup gravy. Serve immediately.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 268 (29% from fat)

Fat: 8.7g (sat 2.4g,mono 4g,poly 1g)

Protein: 11.4g

Carbohydrate: 36.9g

Fiber: 0.6g

Cholesterol: 4mg

Iron: 1mg

Sodium: 910mg

Calcium: 131mg

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

We rarely eat breakfast out at a restaurant and never make big weekend breakfasts on our own, so for the fourth of July I decided to make pancakes.  We saw a recipe for blueberry pancakes in one of my previous cooking light issues. However, once I logged on to myrecipes.com , I found out that this recipe had much better reviews and included buttermilk (can't go wrong with buttermilk).  I don't know if you've used myrecipes.com before but if you have, I hope you look at the reviews before you make the recipe. Most recipes are rated by people like myself and can often include great substitutions, modifications and comments.  This recipe was no exception.  I believe the recipe calls for you to put the blueberries on top of the pancake once you turn it over on the skillet, but I followed other reviewers who said they used frozen blueberries and added them to the batter. You may also be able to use fresh blueberries but you'd probably have to toss them in flour to keep them from sinking to the bottom of the batter.  We cut the recipe in half and I used 1/2 C whole wheat flour and 1/2 C white flour to increase the nutritional value. Since we cut it in half, I used 1 egg white instead of the whole egg.  Ours were a little undercooked; for whatever reason I seem to be horrible at making pancakes, so I usually leave this to the soon-to-be Mr. VaFoodie. 

As you can see in the back, we ate these with Trader Joe's Wild Maine Blueberry Fruit Topping (yum!). 

As of today's post, 13 reviewers gave this an average rating of 4 out of 5.

I hope you enjoy this in your home as much as we did in ours.

Recipe by Cooking Light, January 2001

Yield: 12 (5-inch) pancakes (serving size: 2 pancakes)

Ingredients

• 2  cups  all-purpose flour
• 1  tablespoon  sugar
• 1  teaspoon  baking powder
• 1  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  baking soda
• 1 1/2  cups  low-fat buttermilk
• 1/2  cup  1% low-fat milk
• 1  tablespoon  vegetable oil
• 1  large egg, lightly beaten
• Cooking spray
• 2  cups  blueberries

Preparation

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. Combine buttermilk, milk, oil, and egg in a bowl, and add to flour mixture, stirring until smooth.
Spoon 1/4 cup pancake batter onto a hot nonstick griddle or large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray, and top with 2 heaping tablespoons blueberries. Turn the pancake when the top is covered with bubbles and the edges look cooked. Repeat the procedure with the remaining batter and blueberries.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 261 (18% from fat)

Fat: 5.3g (sat 1.5g,mono 1.5g,poly 1.7g)

Protein: 8.6g

Carbohydrate: 45g

Fiber: 2.4g

Cholesterol: 38mg

Iron: 2.2mg

Sodium: 536mg

Calcium: 159mg

Ham and Cheese Scones

I hate breakfast. Ok lemme rephrase that, I hate finding something to eat for breakfast. Cereal just isn't cutting it anymore. Plus I need a little protein in my life to get me going in the morning.  This is my favorite breakfast recipe. It's grab-n-go, it's easy to make and so delicious. If I knew how to type out the Homer Simpson drooling noise I would. 

Instead of using 2 cups of all purpose flour, I use 1 and 1/2 C of all purpose flour and 1/2 C of whole wheat flour.  If you don't have a pastry cutter and can't get the dough to look like coarse meal, put your bowl with the flour and other dry ingredients in the freezer for a few minutes and then cut in butter.  Don't overwork the dough--scone dough can get dry if mixed too much and no one likes dry scones (it will be sticky).  Since I have dark baking pans, I bake these on 375 degrees instead of 400.  And be sure to cut the dough into slices before you bake (not all the way through though)--it makes it easier to cut them later.  

As of today's post, 47 people gave this an average rating of 4 out of 5.

I hope you enjoy this in your home as much as I will every morning this week!! :)

Recipe by Cooking Light, 2002

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 wedge)

Ingredients

• 2  cups  all-purpose flour
• 1  tablespoon  baking powder
• 2  teaspoons  sugar
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  ground red pepper
• 3  tablespoons  chilled butter, cut into small pieces
• 3/4  cup  (3 ounces) shredded reduced-fat extra-sharp cheddar cheese
• 3/4  cup  finely chopped 33%-less-sodium ham (about 3 ounces)
• 3/4  cup  fat-free buttermilk
• 2  large egg whites
• Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and pepper in a large bowl; cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in cheese and ham. Combine buttermilk and egg whites, stirring with a whisk. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead lightly 4 to 5 times with floured hands. Pat dough into an 8-inch circle on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Cut dough into 8 wedges, cutting into but not through dough. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until lightly browned.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

217 (30% from fat)

Fat:

7.2g (sat 4.1g,mono 1.6g,poly 0.4g)

Protein:

10.4g

Carbohydrate:

27.1g

Fiber:

0.9g

Cholesterol:

26mg

Iron:

1.8mg

Sodium:

519mg

Calcium:

235mg

Marbled-Chocolate Banana Bread

The in-laws (I think it's probably safe to call them that at this point since neither of us are planning to back out of the wedding) are in town this week for my fiance's graduation from business school (woot!).  It has been a long three years with him working full time and we are all so proud of him!  So during their stay, I decided to make this delicious Marbled-Chocolate Banana Bread for us to have at breakfast.  We're planning to go to Leesburg to show them the wedding venue, do some wine tasting, and probably have lunch at the rehersal dinner site, so breakfast needed to be light and easy since we will be eating a lot.  

I've made this before and it is so moist and delicious I can't even tell you!  I made it one weekend and brought the leftovers into work so they wouldn't be around the house. The leftovers were gobbled up by noon with everyone raving for the recipe.

The only change I made was to use vanilla low-fat yogurt. I stumbled on this the first time when Wegman's didn't have plain yogurt so I subbed vanilla. I've read other reviews who recommend this change as well.

As of today's post 98 (YES NINETY EIGHT PEOPLE) rated this a 5 out of 5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So in other words you need to stop looking at the computer, go out and get the ingredients, now!

I hope you enjoy this in your home as much as we do in ours!

Recipe by Cooking Light, September 2003

Yield: 1 loaf, 16 slices (serving size: 1 slice)

Ingredients

• 2  cups  all-purpose flour
• 3/4  teaspoon  baking soda
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1  cup  sugar
• 1/4  cup  butter, softened
• 1 1/2  cups  mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
• 1/2  cup  egg substitute
• 1/3  cup  plain low-fat yogurt
• 1/2  cup  semisweet chocolate chips
• Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.
Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add banana, egg substitute, and yogurt; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist.
Place chocolate chips in a medium microwave-safe bowl, and microwave at HIGH 1 minute or until almost melted, stirring until smooth. Cool slightly. Add 1 cup batter to chocolate, stirring until well combined. Spoon chocolate batter alternately with plain batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Swirl batters together using a knife. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 183 (23% from fat)

Fat: 4.7g (sat 2.8g,mono 1.4g,poly 0.2g)

Protein: 3.1g

Carbohydrate: 33.4g

Fiber: 1.3g

Cholesterol: 8mg

Iron: 1.1mg

Sodium: 180mg

Calcium: 18mg

Jalepeno, Sausage and Egg Braid

Breakfast is hard. You don't want cereal but it takes too long to make eggs and you want something quick and easy.  We've made this maybe 5 or 6 times in 2 months because it makes 6 servings, you can make it ahead of time, reheat and grab n' go.  Plus we LOVE spicy.  We add a little extra spice to this to make it hotter.

Be sure to get the 13.5 ounce size refrigerated dough. We've used whole wheat pizza dough before as well and it tastes the same (still great).  This time I accidentally bought the 11 oz can of dough which is why this looks so small in the picture.  You can also use egg beaters in place of eggs if you're worried about cholesterol.  If you don't like spicy, you could try and experiment; get chicken and apple sausage and Gruyere cheese and throw in some thyme.

As of today's post, 16 people rated this an average of 5 out of 5!

I hope you enjoy this in your home as much as we do in ours!

Recipe by Angela Spengler, Cooking Light January 2010

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

Ingredients

• 1  (13.8-ounce) can refrigerated pizza crust dough
• Cooking spray
• 1  tablespoon  olive oil
• 1/4  cup  chopped onion
• 4  ounces  chicken sausage with jalapeño peppers, chopped
• 2  large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2  cup  (2 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1/4  cup  shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/4  cup  chopped seeded jalapeño peppers
• 1  large egg white, lightly beaten

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 425°.

2. Unroll dough onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; pat into a 15 x 10–inch rectangle.

3. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and sausage; cook 9 minutes or until lightly browned. Stir in eggs; cook 1 1/2 minutes or until set. Remove from heat.

4. Sprinkle Monterey Jack lengthwise down center of dough, leaving about a 2 1/2-inch border on each side. Spoon egg mixture evenly over cheese. Sprinkle cheddar over egg mixture; top with jalapeño peppers.

5. Make 2-inch-long diagonal cuts about 1 inch apart on both sides of dough to within 1/2 inch of filling using a sharp knife or kitchen shears. Arrange strips over filling, alternating strips diagonally over filling. Press ends under to seal. Brush with egg white. Bake at 425° for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes. Cut crosswise into slices.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

164

Fat:

10.4g (sat 4.2g,mono 4.4g,poly 1g)

Protein:

10.6g

Carbohydrate:

7.3g

Fiber:

0.1g

Cholesterol:

98mg

Iron:

0.8mg

Sodium:

344mg

Calcium:

115mg