Lightened Up Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

November 24, 2021 Amanda Plott

This Lightened Up Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie has been a family favorite for many years now, we're thinking maybe 10 years at least. The original is what we made this year for Christmas, mostly because I don't have my 'skinny' pantry on hand with my usual bag-of-tricks. But, the usual way that I make it is just as delicious and lightened up by at least half the calories and sugar too!

This pie is great for almost any holiday, Thanksgiving through New Years and back again. I honestly haven't come across anyone that didn't like it yet and it's more often than not, a recipe with legs. That is to say that the recipe is often requested by friends and family after they enjoy it!

Since this is such a rich flavored pie, I usually like to cut it into smaller slices. A little bit can go a long way, especially if you use a traditional bourbon!…

Breakfast Stuffed Pumpkin

November 7, 2021 Amanda Plott

Even though Halloween is over, pumpkin season is still upon us. And I love to find creative and fun uses for pumpkins in the kitchen all the way through Thanksgiving. This Breakfast Stuffed Pumpkin would be a super fun and easy way to feed the family around the Holidays, or even as breakfast on Thanksgiving morning!

My local grocery place had pumpkins on sale for just one dollar and fifty cents, so I grabbed up one of the smaller pie pumpkins. They’re small, sweet, and meant to be used for cooking and eating unlike some of their larger cousins…

Halloween Bread

October 28, 2021 Amanda Plott

With just a few days more before it’s Halloween I wanted to make my daughter’s lunch box extra special. So, I decided to make this fun Halloween colored sandwich bread! I made it based off of my Rainbow Bread, but with a slight recolor to go along with Halloween!

I made this bread dough in my bread machine and then colored it, sandwiched it all together, rolled it up and made it into a loaf for baking. You can also make this bread without a bread machine. I only used mine for the mixing and rising aspect…

Halloween Antipasto

October 22, 2021 Amanda Plott

This Halloween Antipasto is basically a black and orange version of my original Skinny Antipasto Salad. I went with some red lentil and black squid ink pasta for the orange and black colors and also chose some colorful tomatoes that came in a pack with orange and dark ‘blood red’ ones. Black olives were a given. And to break up the colors there’s some fresh mozzarella and cauliflower.

It’s a very easy dish to make that I honestly use as a meal in itself since there’s all the pieces of a complete meal-in-a-bowl. Plus, it can be made ahead of time and also is great as a leftover! Of course, you could also use this in place of pasta salad as a side dish too!…

Giant Halloween Cookies

October 10, 2021 Amanda Plott

So far it seems that I have escaped the making of my chocolate ginger bat cookies this year. I think my daughter has been too busy with school and cheer that she hasn’t had the time to remember to ask me for them. And that’s totally find with me because that means that I have the time to make other Halloween inspired cookies - like these Giant Halloween Cookies!

These cookies are HUGE. I’m taking thick AND bigger than my spread out hand. That’s why I listed them as two servings per cookie. But, don’t let that stop you. These cookies are so good that you’ll want to eat the whole thing…

Antipasto Eyeballs

October 7, 2021 Amanda Plott

Sometimes you just need a spooky little side dish or appetizer to really make your day. It’s been a rather rough few weeks between pom poms and covid running rampant through my house; infecting everyone even me. Thankfully, the vaccine left me with a really mild case and just a handful of minor symptoms. Now that everyone is on the mend, we can move along with Halloween preparation!

I’m calling this tasty treat ‘Antipasto Eyeballs’ because they look exactly like that. Fresh mozzarella, olives, and some prosciutto is all you need to make this funny little appetizer. Yep, that’s right - just three ingredients and a few minutes of time…