Glazed Pumpkin Bread

Autumn is here! There's something about the crispness in the air and the beauty of changing leaves that makes autumn one of my favorite seasons. Of course, as the weather changes so do our food cravings. Soups, chilis, and casseroles are the perfect comfort foods for chilly fall days, and pumpkin-themed recipes are a must! This easy recipe makes a moist, dense pumpkin bread, not overly sweet but packed with spice and autumn flavor. The glaze on top adds the perfect kick to make this a recipe you'll definitely want to try this autumn!

Feel free to try adding complementary ingredients, such as chocolate chips or dried cranberries. The glaze is pretty easy, although it can be made easier by simply warming up cream cheese frosting instead. Either way, this bread is best served warm with a little butter...yum!

Bread Ingredients:
1 box spice cake mix
1/2 cup sugar
1 can pumpkin puree
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk

Glaze Ingredients:
4 oz cream cheese, softened or spreadable
1/2 cup powdered (confectioners) sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350 and grease 2 loaf pans. Mix the dry cake mix and sugar together. Add pumpkin, spices, eggs, and milk until smooth.

Divide evenly into loaf pans and bake for 50-60 minutes. Bread is done when top is golden and no longer looks liquidy. Let cool 10 minutes then remove from loaf pans.

Combine glaze ingredients and beat till smooth. Spoon or drizzle glaze over pumpkin loaves. Serve warm and enjoy!

Spinach-stuffed, Bacon-wrapped Pork Chops

I don't like cooked spinach - never have, never will. But my hubby does, and it's good for you, and it was a required ingredient in a Chopped Challenge cooking competition this month. So, after a bit of research, I came up with this idea - make a cheesy spinach stuffing, put it inside pork chops, and wrap bacon around the outside. Now if that doesn't make you start drooling a little, I don't know what will!

Ideally these would be made in an oven, but since I am on the road at the moment, I made them in the skillet. They tasted great, though the bacon outside didn't get as crispy/cooked as I'd like. I used the thickest pork chops that I could find so that the pocket wouldn't cut all the way through them.

While they were cooking, I chopped up baby golden potatoes and sautéed them with butter and diced fresh garlic, letting them cook at the same time as the pork chops. After the pork and potatoes were done, I served them onto a plate, put butter, parmesan, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning on hoagie rolls and placed them face down in the hot skillet to toast. The result? Amazingness.

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp butter
1 clove fresh garlic, diced
1-1 1/2 cups fresh spinach
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
4 oz cream cheese
2 thick boneless pork chops
4 slices bacon
Wooden toothpicks
Italian seasoning

Start by melting the butter in a skillet and sautéing the garlic for about a minute. Take the stems off the spinach and add to the skillet, sautéing until wilted. Combine the mozzarella and cream cheese in a small bowl and stir in the spinach. Set aside.

Using a sharp knife, very carefully cut a pocket into each pork chop, leaving 3 sides intact. Divide the spinach mixture in half and stuff it down inside the pockets. Wrap each chop in 2 slices of bacon, making sure the widest part of the bacon is over the pocket of stuffing, and using toothpicks to secure the overlapping areas. Sprinkle both sides of the chops with Italian seasoning. Cook in a skillet or oven for about 40 minutes, flipping occasionally, until juices run clear and the center of a chop is only slightly tinted pink. Serve and enjoy!

Strawberry Cucumber Spinach Salad

This salad is relatively easy to make, even on the truck (though preferably not while the truck is moving, since bumpy roads and sharp knives don't play well together). The easiest thing about this salad is that it basically makes its own dressing. Cool, right? Look how bright and springy this salad looks!

Ingredients:
1 small cucumber
8-10 strawberries
Fresh parsley or basil
1/4 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp lime juice
1/2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
Fresh spinach

Peel and dice cucumber and dice strawberries. Place in a plastic zipper baggie and add a few torn leaves of parsley or basil. Add the 4 liquid ingredients, seal the baggie, and gently move the ingredients around to combine them. Prepare two plates of fresh spinach, de-stemmed and torn into bite size pieces, and divide and pour the strawberry mixture over the spinach. Enjoy!