And more - Pumpkin Coffee Cake

Another meeting at my house and our fun and fund raising plans for P.E.O. continue. And another opportunity to make a pumpkin recipe. This is a tasty treat for cool mornings this month. 

ICED PUMPKIN COFFEE CAKE

Ingredients:

Crumb-Topping

½ cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup unsalted butter, cold

½ cup packed dark brown sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Pumpkin Coffee Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

1 cup pure pumpkin puree

½ cup packed light or dark brown sugar

½ cup canola or vegetable oil

¼ cup pure maple syrup

½  cup milk

Vanilla Glaze

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

2 tablespoons pumpkin spice coffee creamer or milk

Directions:

1.     Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and lightly flour a 9-inch square or round baking pan with nonstick spry. Set aside.

2.     Make the crumb topping first: In a small bowl, toss the flour, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon together. Cut in the cold butter using a pastry blender or a fork. Mix to create clumps and crumbs. Set aside.

3.     Make the cake: Whisk flour baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves together in a large bowl until combined. In a medium bowl, whisk the pumpkin, brown sugar, oil, maple syrup, and milk together until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until “just” combined. Try not to overmix the batter. It will be very thick. Spoon/pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Spread to make an even surface. Pour the crumb topping evenly on top and gently press down into the batter.

4.     Bake the cake for 30 minutes. Check the cake doneness with a toothpick in the center.

5.     Make the glaze: Whisk the confectioners’ sugar and 1 tablespoon of creamer/milk together until smooth. Add more creamer/milk to think, if desired. Drizzle over cake. Enjoy the cake warm or at room temperature.

Pumpkin Spice Season

Its my favorite flavor season! Pumpkin Spice! I even have the hoodie to confirm it. So when I hosted a committee to discuss fund raising for our local P.E.O. chapter this morning, I begin the season with Pumpkin Spice Latte Muffins. This month I have a collection of new and favorite pumpkin recipes to make, will October be long enough? 

PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE MUFFINS

 Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

½ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup nonfat milk

½ cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons strong coffee

topping (1/2 cup butter, melted + ½ cup granulated sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice) or glaze (powdered sugar + flavored coffee creamer + sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice)

Instructions:

1.   Preheat oven to 375° F. Prepare a 12-cup muffin pan by spraying with cooking spray. Set aside.

2.   In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder salt and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.

3.   In a large bowl, combine sugars, eggs, vanilla, vegetable oil, milk and coffee Stir into dry ingredients just until combined.

4.   Divide batter into muffin pan. Bake in 375° oven for aboaut 20-23 minutes, or until tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

5.   Cool for 10-15 minutes. Top by dipping in melted butter and then sugar/spice mixture or by drizzling with glaze.

It was a successful meeting, but I had to rush off to another appointment. This was the evidence left!

Special Treats for Special Friends

With a 'back to fall routine', many organizations I belong to have resumed meetings. These are a time to enjoy seasonal refreshments, visit, and spend time together. And we get some worthwhile community work done too! Recently I helped co-hostess a light supper for our P.E.O. Chapter when a state officer was visiting. We enjoyed the program, refreshments and evening together as a break from a hectic fall schedule.
Egg salad sandwiches, ham and cheese rollups, ham on ciabatta buns, deviled eggs and relishes made a tasty 'light supper'.

Then the dessert! Rich chocolate brownies topped with a bit of green frosting and a candy pumpkin were arranged in a checkerboard design with Oatmeal Carmelitas. This chewy bar cookie was a recipe everyone wanted.

 Oatmeal Carmelitas

Crust:

1-1/3 c. flour

1 c. quick cooking oats

1 c. brown sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. soda

1 c. (2 sticks) melted butter

Filling:

1-1/3 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 c. chopped pecans

1 jar (1 c.) caramel ice cream topping

3 tbsp. flour

Pre-heat oven to 350^o. Spray 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray. Combine crust dry ingredients: flour, oats, brown sugar, salt and soda in a wide bowl.  Add melted butter and stir until combined. Using half of dough, press a thin crust into the bottom of the baking dish. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips and nuts. Combine 3 T. flour with the caramel ice cream topping and drizzled over the chocolate and nuts. Crumble remaining crust over the top and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

 Note:  Regular oat cereal can also be used…resulting texture will be a little coarser.

At this meeting Kansas State Chapter Organizer, Rita Nienstedt, told of the Sunflower Grant project and her own family’s experience of being helped by this P.E.O. project. The Sunflower Grant provides one-time grants to Kansas residents (men, women, or children) in financial distress and unable to find help from other sources. 

Besides the refreshments, the group enjoyed a program
by a state officer. 

Fighting Cancer with Salads

24 Feet of salads!

Health professionals tell us that eating healthy, including salads with lots of fruits and vegetables, will help lower our risks for developing cancer. Last Saturday our local P.E.O. Chapter used a salad luncheon to help raise funds for the Greenwood County Relay for Life, these funds go toward research to help find a cure for cancer.
The array of salads was staggering. Not only did chapter members bring salads, but many other community members as well. Picture 3 tables of 8 foot each laden with salads! Thats 24 feet of salads, and quite a variety was available.
I tried a new recipe for the day. It seemed like a strange combination of foods - apples, pears, onions, and mustard? But turned into a tasty crisp salad, that is healthy also. This recipe is from Taste of Home, but I did a little tweaking. (I reduced the onion and added dried cranberries)

Fresh Apple & Pear Salad       

Fresh and Health salad

4 medium apples, thinly sliced (Granny Smith, Fuji, or Royal Gala)
2 medium pears thinly sliced (green or red Anjou, or Asian)
1 medium cucumber, seeded and chopped
1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup apple cider or juice
1 Tablespoon snipped fresh dill or minced fresh tarragon (I used 1 tsp. dried)
1 Tablespoon olive oil (I used Persian Lime infused olive oil - definitely good!)
1 Tablespoon spicy brown mustard
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

In a large bowl, combine apples, pears, cucumber, dried cranberries and onion. In a small bowl, whisk remaining ingredients until blended. Pour over apple mixture and toss to coat. Refrigerate until serving.
I made this the evening before the luncheon and the apple juice kept the fruit from turning brown. But after bringing the left overs home it did turn brown on the second day. We ate the remaining salad, it still tasted good, just wasn't pretty. 

Mix the chopped ingredients with the dressing

Besides the salads, some members were also asked to bring cakes made from the same recipe. The recipe chosen was simple to make and low fat. No oil or butter is used, the juice from the pineapple is the liquid. The cake was good when fresh, but we did have some left over which we refrigerated and served at coffee time at church the next day. By then it had gotten tough (without fat/oil or butter to keep it tender and moist). So, I'd recommend this recipe as a good cake for a dinner when it can be completely served.

Pineapple Sheet Cake                                            

Pineapple sheet cake served the next day

2 eggs

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

20 oz. crushed pineapple

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions: Mix all ingredients together and pour into a greased and floured 11-inch x 17-inch cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup butter

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions: Beat butter, cream cheese and vanilla together until creamy. Gradually mix in powdered sugar. Frost cake while still warm. Garnish with additional nuts on top. 

A friend and I decorated this table with
the theme "The Language of Flowers"

A fun table with a Fishing theme

Simple and elegant

We got to model several outfits from
a popular clothing store - and to shop
later!