The Oven Months

In the summer months, we do all of our cooking in the crock pot, on the stove top, or outside on the grill. This poor old house can't keep up with the cooling if we crank up the oven, so we don't.

Then there's this time of year. I spent Saturday morning in front of that sucker. And it was glorious. And warm. The baked goodies, delicious.

A favorite in our house: Pumpkin Chocolate Muffins. I make them a lot (see bio).


Ingredients:

• 1 can pumpkin (some like pumpkin pie filling instead, but I think it's too sweet)
• 1 box moist yellow cake mix (I use Duncan Hines)
• 1/4 to 1/2 bag dark chocolate chips

Directions:

Mix pumpkin with cake mix. Then stir in chips. I usually fill one tin of 6 regular sized muffins plus one tin of mini muffins. You could also do all minis or all regular. Either way, grease the tins! Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes or so. Then try to keep them away from the dogs.


I also tried a new one: Hashbrown Ham Casserole. I saved the recipe to Evernote at work but it didn't sync for some reason and I couldn't find it again. Since I already had the ingredients, I just threw them together. Plus a few more. Please forgive the hodgepodge.

Ingredients:

• 2 ham steaks, cooked and diced
• 1/4 brick Velveeta, cubed (I used the 2% milk kind, b/c that makes it better, wink wink)
  
• 1 can Cream of Chicken
• 12 oz. sour cream (I used light)
• 1/2 bag frozen fajita mix (peppers and onions)
• 15 oz. frozen hash browns (I used shredded)
• 4 oz. shredded Mozzarella (2% milk kind)
• 2 cups crushed Corn Flakes
• 1/4 stick butter, melted (again, I used light)
• garlic salt
  

Directions:

Combine Cream of Chicken, sour cream, and garlic salt. Stir in hash browns, peppers, and onions. Since I was flying by the seat of my pants and didn't have the forethought to thaw said items, I let that all hang out in a bowl while I made the muffins. If you're smarter than me, you could thaw first. Then stir in cheeses and ham. Spread in a 13x9 pan. Combine Corn Flakes and butter in a small bowl then top your casserole with the mixture. Bake covered at 400 for about 40 minutes, then remove foil and bake until desired crispiness. Yum. I don't have a picture, but I think I'll be making it again.

In other news, I actually finished 7 scrapbook layouts this weekend. Still thinking about shooting for a page a day this month. I managed it last year... we'll see. Cold weather = more weekends at home = more cooking, more cleaning, more Instant Netflix, more Sons of Anarchy, more puppies, more boy. Sigh. Sometimes you just need that.