PinkPetunia's House

Get your free Starbucks coffee or tea today

Hey all. In honor of Earth Day, Starbucks is giving away free coffee or today. All you have to do is take a reusable travel cup to a participating Starbucks and they will fill 'er up. How great is that?

 

Crescent Chicken Pockets Recipe

I am trying really hard to be frugal and not waste any food. So what do you do when you have a fridge full of left-overs? You make up a new recipe. I ended up with Crescent Chicken Pockets. Yeah, I know this one sounds a little crazy and Sandra Lee's Semi-homemade-ish but it turned out better than I thought it would. It was really good. I picture it as more of a main dish recipe but I took my experiment to a friend's house and she sliced it up and served it as an appetizer. Women, men and kids all liked it. Ellie came back long after it was all gone and asked more.

Crescent Chicken Pockets Recipe

Ingredients:

2 containers of Pillsbury crescent rolls (did not use New Years)
1 8 ounce cream cheese (leftover from New Years)
2 cups cooked shredded chicken (leftovers from freezer)
1 cup shredded cheese (leftover from a hot dip recipe)
1 cup sour cream (leftover from chili night)
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 package of dried onion soup (leftover from a potatoe recipe)
1/4 cup of milk
hot pepper jelly, optional (homemade from a friend)
salt
1 egg, beaten
chopped nuts (leftover from New Years sundaes) or bread crumbs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
3. Open crescent roll containers and unroll crescents. Using two crescent triangles, pinch together to make a square as shown below and layout on baking sheet. Each container will yield 4 squares for a total of 8 crescent pockets.
   
4. In a large bowl, mix cream cheese, chicken, sour cream, cheese, parsley, soup mix, milk and salt. If you would like your pockets with a little kick, add pepper jelly to this step. I added 1 teaspoon of SUPER-BURN-YOUR-FACE-OFF-HOT habanero pepper jelly that a family friend made and gave to us. I am not kidding when I say it was hot. Store bought pepper jelly is not as hot so I would use a tablespoon.
5. Divide the chicken mix evenly and put in the middle of each crescent square. It will be approximately 1/2 a cup per square.
   
6. Fold up the dough to make pockets, being sure to pinch the seams closed. As you can see below I did this step by pulling the corners up to the top center (triangle) and I also folded the short ends to the top middle, pinching the sides closed (rectangle). 
   
7. Brush the pockets with egg and sprinkle with nuts or bread crumbs. 
   
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes until lightly browned.
   
    

Enjoy!
 

Pumpkin Spice Latte Recipe

It seems like it has been ages since I went all frugal and stopped going to Starbucks or those other fancy coffee shops. I sort of miss them but I really do not miss spending the money and with a few good winter coffee recipes, I can have all the taste without leaving the comfort of my own warm and toasty home (ok, not so warm and toasty unless I am bundled up because the thermostat is set to 67 degrees for frugal reasons). Anyhow, it means I get to stay home in my pjs and drink up while everyone else is driving around like zombies for their caffine infusion.

Last night, I had planned on watching television from the sofa and try to get over my terrible cold. Who knew Thursday evening television was so horrible? I had no idea. Nothing but reruns and bad shows that I would not even begin to watch...for fear of getting hooked.

Anyhow, with television out I decided to make myself a cup of coffee and this is what I decided to make. Man-o-man was it yummy. I of course made it decaf since I did not want to be up half the night.

Pumpkin Spice Latte (like) recipe

 

Ingredients:

2 cups milk
2 tablespoons canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger), plus more for topping
1 cup of brewed strong coffee
whipped cream

Directions:

1. Combine first 3 ingredients in saucepan bring to quick boil.
2. Add vanilla and pumpkin pie spice.
3. Add mixture to coffee, top with whipped cream and additional pumpkin pie spice.

Enjoy!

So instead of watching tv, I made coffee and started looking for other winter drink recipes I could try and I was shocked at how few there really were out there. I think this calls for more searching and some kitchen research. I will keep you posted should I come up with any new recipes. In the mean time, I am going to keep on making pumpkin spice lattes.

 

 

Oatmeal Sandwich Bread Recipe

Here is the recipe I used for the oatmeal sandwich bread I mentioned in yesterday's home sick post. It was so good that I couldn't keep it to myself. It did brown pretty quickly so keep an eye on it in the oven and tent it as noted in the recipe below.

You will not be disappointed with this recipe.

I have to thank Frugal Girl for getting me so interested in baking bread. She has some incredible recipes on her blog and she posts a new one each Wednesday. Check her out. I want to try her overnight cinnamon rolls recipe.

Oatmeal Sandwich Bread

 

Ingredients:

3 cups unbleached bread flour
1 cup rolled oats (old-fashioned oats)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons instant yeast OR 1 packet active dry yeast*
1 1/4 cups lukewarm milk

*If you use active dry yeast, dissolve it in the warm milk before combining with the remaining ingredients.

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, or in the bowl of an electric mixer, combine all of the ingredients, mixing to form a shaggy dough.
2. Knead dough, by hand (10 minutes) or by machine (5 minutes) till it's smooth.
3. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover and allow it to rest for 1 hour; it'll become quite puffy, though it may not double in bulk.
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled surface, and shape it into a log.
5. Place the log in a lightly greased 9" x 5" loaf pan and cover with lightly greased plastic wrap.
6. Allow the dough to rise for 45 minutes to one hour, until it rises 1" to 2" over the rim of the pan.
7. Bake the bread in a preheated 350°F oven for 35 to 40 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 190°F. If the bread appears to be browning too quickly, tent it with aluminum foil for the final 10 minutes of baking.

 

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Bottom Cupcakes Recipe

If I am tired and crabby today, I am really sorry. Ellie's teacher put up a poster yesterday for a class party today. Yeah, today! They asked if people could bring a snack or dessert of some kind. I promised Ellie we would go to the library last night so I knew it was going to be a late night of baking because she asked me for a pumpkin pie. What three year old asks for pumpkin pie? I got her to agree to pumpkin muffins so that was a relief.

After she went to sleep, I got crackin' and started looking at recipes. I finally decided to make something I have been dreaming of for a very long time...pumpkin bottom cupcakes. I could not find a recipe so I decided to make one up. I had a ton of mixes and pumpkin in the pantry from some great sales so I knew I was going to start with those.

Pumpkin Bottom Cupcakes

Cream Cheese Mixture Ingredients:

1 8 ounces cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Mixture Directions:

1. Place cream cheese in mixing bowl.
2. Mix on medium for 1 minute to soften the cheese.
3. Add sugar, egg and vanilla.
4. Mix on medium for 1 minute.
5. Scrape down the sides.
6. Mix on medium for 1 additional minute.
7. Set aside.

Batter Ingredients:

1 yellow cake mix
1 3.4 ounces box of vanilla instant pudding
1 15 ounces can of pumpkin
1/2 cup of canola oil
1/2 cup of apple sauce
3 eggs
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon clove

Batter Directions:

1. Line 2 12 count muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Place all incredients in a mixing bowl.
4. Mix on low until all ingredients are wet.
5. Mix on medium for 2 minutes.
6. Scrape down the sides of your bowl.
7. Mix on medium for 1 minute.
8. Fill muffin cups a little over half way. I used a scant 1/4 cup. Do not over fill. I did it on one tray and they do not get the nice separation that traditional blackbottoms get. They still tasted good but did not look as good.
9. Because the batter is thick, I took a small spoon and created a small well in the center of each muffin cup.
10. Place 2 tablespoons of cream cheese mixture in the center of each muffin cup (increased amount based on comments).
11. Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes. They are done when a toothpick inserted into the center of the pumpkin part comes out clean.
12. Remove cupcakes from the tin and place on wire racks to cool.

(from the too full batch)

Enjoy!

I am so happy I finally got around to making these. It is nice to knock something off my give-it-a-try list.

Oh, and because I am Super-Mom, I made Ellie her pumpkin pie, too. She was so happy to take it in to share with her class. Not sure how many kids are going to like pumpkin bottom cupcakes and pumpkin pie, but hey, mine does.

 

Happy early halloween!