Pumpkin Cheesecake (No Bake)

I have to tell you, this SO hit the spot!! I had been wanting pumpkin cheesecake when I came across this easy recipe. I was good and let it chill overnight...then ate half of it for breakfast the next morning!

Ingredients:
1 premade graham cracker crust
1 16oz block cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 brown sugar
1 15oz can pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice
8 oz cool whip, thawed

Blend cream cheese, sugar, and brown sugar till creamy. Add pumpkin, vanilla, and spice and mix well. Fold in cool whip. Pour mixture into graham cracker crust and smooth with a spatula. Let chill 4-6 hours or overnight before serving. Enjoy!

Tortellini Alfredo with Spinach

This was a relatively simple meal to make. It would have been easier with two pans, but my electric skillet worked just fine. I used a package of premade tortellini and a package of grilled chicken for this tasty, easy dinner. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
Butter or olive oil
1 1/2 cups fresh baby spinach
1 package premade tortellini
1 cup cooked chicken
1 jar garlic alfredo sauce

Lightly sautee the garlic in heated butter or oil. Add the spinach and sautee until wilted. Set aside.

Boil the tortellini according to the directions on the package till tender, drain. Add the chicken, sauce, and garlic spinach mixture. Simmer all ingredients together until heated through, stirring frequently. Serve and enjoy!

Easy Chicken Fried Rice

After having Chinese takeout a few times, I fell in love with fried rice. I decided to try making it on the truck, and after researching a few recipes, I figured I could make it with ingredients I had on hand - leftover soy sauce packets from takeout, pre-cooked grilled chicken, and ready rice. We really enjoyed the result and plan to make it again!

Ingredients:
1 cup cooked chicken
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 package garden vegetable ready rice
2 eggs

Chop the cooked chicken into small pieces and place in a warm skillet with 2 tablespoons soy sauce. Coat the chicken in the soy sauce and heat it through. Add the rice, breaking down any chunks, and the third tablespoon of soy sauce. Sautee together. Push the rice and chicken mixture to the edges of the skillet, opening an area in the middle of the skillet. Add the eggs into the center of the skillet, scramble them with your spatula, and allow them to cook until firm, stirring the rice mixture to keep it from burning. Chop the eggs into small pieces and mix them in with the rice and chicken. Serve and enjoy!

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!

Crockpot Lasagna

One of my favorite sounds to hear is the tone of my hubby's voice when he tries a meal that I've made for the first time and likes it...actually LIKES it - not just okay, but good! I got one of those moments yesterday when I made lasagna in the crockpot, and though it was a little bit of work, it was definitely worth it for a meal that we both really enjoyed!

I used Barilla oven-ready lasagna noodles, which don't require cooking first - they absorb moisture and expand as the meal cooks. However, since they are flat instead of ridged like most lasagna noodles, I used a jar of Prego spaghetti sauce with mini meatballs for the inside layers to give it a more interesting texture. You could always cook a pound of ground beef and mix it with regular spaghetti sauce for the inside layers, but this way was a lot simpler.

Ingredients:
1 15oz container ricotta cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp Italian seasoning
Dash garlic powder
1 jar meat-based spaghetti sauce
1 jar spaghetti sauce with mini meatballs
1 box Barilla oven-ready lasagne noodles
Mozzarella cheese

In a medium bowl, mix the ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, and seasonings thoroughly. Set aside.

Pour enough of the meat sauce into the slow cooker to cover the bottom of the pot, about 1/3 of the jar. Lay noodles on top, breaking to fit the shape of the pot. Divide the ricotta mixture in half and smooth half of it evenly over the noodles. Place more noodles on top. Pour half of the jar of mini meatball sauce on top, making sure the meatballs are evenly distributed, and top with a layer of mozzarella cheese. Place more noodles on top, and repeat the ricotta and meatball layers. Place more noodles on top and pour the remaining meat sauce over them, ensuring that all the noodles are covered. Top with another layer of mozzarella.

My Farberware 7-in-1 cooked it in 2 hours on slow cooker setting, so a regular slow cooker could probably cook it in 3 hours on low setting. When noodles are soft, cheese is melted, and sauce is hot and firm, serve warm and enjoy!