Homemade Pimiento Cheese Wontons

First off, YUM.

These were "dewishous" and enjoyed by all tonight.

I wish I could take credit for this awesome fusion recipe, but alas it was my hubby who thought of it. 

And sadly, he didn't get to come home after class and before work to even eat any.

Don't worry. I will make him some tomorrow.

First things first.

You must make homemade pimiento cheese.

I have made this particular recipe several times now and it is SO good. It literally disappears at parties faster than you can whip up another batch. After you have a sandwich or 2, you can proceed to making these wontons. It's simple, too.  One small scoop onto a wonton wrapper. Fold it up and sautee in a little sesame oil. Et Voila! Yummy and Uniquely Southern Wontons!

Our resident wonton maker.

Charlie enjoyed his wonton and stirfry.

Speaking of enjoying stirfry...

 I love his concentration.

Success!

Pumpkin Bread

Brrr...it was chilly this morning. I'm loving it!

I've had pumpkin on the brain. Pancakes, cookies, muffins, bread-all are wonderful made with pumpkin. So, what better to warm us up this morning then some pumpkin bread.

It takes an hour to bake and the boys were hungry. So we had apples for an appetizer.

Tripp thought it would be silly to use corn cob holders to eat his. Charlie took a different approach.


Pumpkin Bread

1cup of pumpkin puree (half a can for those of you who's 3 year old refuses to let "his" pumpkins be eaten)

2 eggs

1/2 cup oil (I used coconut b/c it's my fave for baked goods)

1/2 cup water

1 1/4 cups of sugar

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (I used a mix of organic white and whole wheat)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon organic vanilla

1 heaping teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice

roasted salted pepitas (optional)

Mix wet ingredients together in one bowl and the dry ones in a separate bowl. Combine the wet and dry stirring until mixed. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake at 325* for 1 hour. Before baking, I topped half of our loaf with the pepitas. If it weren't for the bebe partaking in some, I would have done the entire load because it is G.O.O.D.

a warm slice with a hot cuppa chai w/almond milk & honey (which is in my favorite mug painted by my favorite 3 year old at the local paint your own pottery place)
Tastes like Autumn :)

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

My husband has been drooling over my friend Laura's Quinoa Tabbouleh for a few days now and seeing as how I finally went to the grocery store, I decided we'd have it for dinner.

But, then I started cooking, and doing what I do when following any recipe. I do it how I want. Sometimes it works and other times it flops. Tonight, my friends, it WORKED and how!

So, drawing from her recipe as inspiration, I came up with what turned out to be more of a Mediterranean salad.

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

1 cup dry quinoa

1 1/4 cup of broth/stock (I used veggie, but whatever you prefer)

and here's the technical part ;)

about a handful each of the following:

kalamata olives

artichoke hearts

diced roasted red pepper

diced cucumber

feta cheese

diced tomatoes (but not for me, Charlie doesn't agree with me when I eat them)

I cooked the quinoa (remember to rinse it beforehand!) in the the broth and then mixed in all of the remaining ingredients. And Voila! You can also chill it before serving and it is just as yummy. Goes great with pitas and hummus alongside a nice glass of red wine.

Cheers!