Pumpkin pancakes!

I love pumpkin. A lot. And I love pancakes. So this is one of my favorite breakfast recipes. It's a nice way to add some very nutritious Vitamin A to your family's diet and add some variety to you breakfast routine. Num nums!

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
a dash of nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 tbsp. oil
2 tbsp. vinegar

In a large bowl combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, and salt. In a medium bowl mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil, and vinegar. Slowly stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until there are no large lumps.

Heal oil or butter on a griddle over medium heat. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. Let the pancakes cook until small bubbles form, the flip and cook until browned. Serve with sliced pear or apple and maple syrup.

Spicy turkey burgers

This is a favorite quicky recipe of mine. It's health food meets fast food - fast and delicious, yet not nearly as heart attack inducing as a Big Mac. Yay!

Yields about 6 servings.

1 lb. lean ground turkey meat
1 egg
1/4 cup of bread crumbs
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. minced ginger, or 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/8 cup soy sauce
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. cumin
A dash of salt and pepper

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl by hand. Once the ingredients are thoroughly combined, form about 6 medium sized patties. I usually cook these on the George Forman grill but you can pan fry or grill them just as easily. Top with lettuce and sliced tomatoes. Serve up with some carrot sticks, Tripp's favorite veggie and nature's french fry.

Insanely delicious chocolate chip cookies

These cookies are by far, the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever eaten in my life. The original recipe was posted on allrecipes.com. I tweaked it a bit, as usual, till I found my favorite version. They are perfectly chewy in the center with just a touch of crispiness on the outside. I'm willing to put on a good 5 lbs. in order to eat an entire batch of these. 

My slightly different version uses 3/4 cup of peanut butter and 1/4 cup of butter and 1/4 cup of vegetable shortening. I think this gives them that extra bit of creamy and crispiness. 

Chicken with creamy spinach and shallots

This is a recipe that is really easy to make but looks and tastes impressive. I made this for the first time with my friend Emma and between Emma, my husband and I, there weren't any leftovers. Not even a spinach stem. Try this if you've got guests coming for dinner. And have a bottle of white wine (or beer) handy.

Makes about 4 servings.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. olive oil

4 boneless, skinless chicken cutlets (2 breasts)

Kosher salt and pepper

4 shallots, thinly slices

1/2 cup light beer or pale colored ale (I usually use Bud Light since that's what's in our fridge)

1/2 cup fat-free sour cream

2 bunches of spinach, thick stems removed (about 8 cups)

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper and cook until browned and cooked through, 6-10 minutes per side. Once cooked set aside. Turn the heat down to medium, add the shallots and cook, stirring, until they begin to soften, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the beer and sour cream. Add the spinach, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Cook, tossing gently, until the spinach begins to wilt. Serve the spinach and shallots with the chicken, spooning some of the sauce over the chicken breasts.

If you find that the liquid gets low as you're cooking the spinach add more beer and sour cream in equal parts.

Banana oatmeal bread

When I find a food I can't live without I usually try a few different versions and pull from each of them till I find the perfect recipe. Banana bread has been a favorite of mine for as long as I can remember. My mom wasn't a Betty Crocker so she used to make me banana bread from the box mix and I loved it. Once I tried banana bread made from scratch...that was a life altering experience. I can't say no to a good piece of this stuff. This recipe is one of the many, many versions I've tried, and it's my absolute favorite. Talk about comfort food. This is also delicious toasted for breakfast with a little butter or peanut butter.

Ingredients:

1/4 shortening

1/4 butter

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup quick cooking oats

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cups mashed bananas

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350º F. Grease one 9x5" loaf pan and set aside. Cream together the shortening, butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla, beat until fluffy. Sift together the flour, oatmeal, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix dry ingredients alternately with the bananas and milk.

Mix until blended. Fold in pecans, if using them, and pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes. Be sure to allow this to cook fully. The top browns quickly, and I've learned from experience, that despite looking done, this definitely needs the full time before the center is cooked.

Tortellini with Eggplant and Peppers

This recipe is originally from Realsimple.com and is supposed to make about 4 servings. So I was quite surprised when I had to transfer the contents of my frying pan to a large pot. If you follow the ingredients list you'll wind up with more like 6-8 servings. I ended up using about 3/4 of an eggplant, 1/2 a yellow and 1/2 a green pepper, and still wound up with 6 or so servings. If you want to make 4 servings I suggest using half an eggplant and only 1 pepper. I opted for 1/2 a pound of spinach tortellini and 1/2 a pound of whole wheat which was a nice combination.

Since this recipe happens to be delicious, I don't mind having a bunch of leftovers in the refrigerator. Another great thing about this recipe is that it happens to be healthy, sort of a "comfort food lite" dish, so you can eat a little more than maybe you should. It's also vegetarian and looks good on the plate - a win win all-round. The only downside, fresh tortellini can be expensive. The husband definitely approved.

Welcome!

Welcome to Licentious Cooking! This is where I record all of my favorite recipes from the most heinously delicious cookies I've ever tasted to my more subtle, deceptively savory dishes like turkey pumpkin chili.

Now I have to make one thing very clear - there are no recipes on this site that you couldn't have thought of yourself, so there are probably many, many variations out there on any given recipe you'll find on this site. The recipes I'm posting are the ones I've used over and over again at home and "perfected" as far as my family's personal tastes. I'm hoping that some of these recipes will inspire other food enthusiasts to create their own variations and spin-offs that are equally satisfying.

If you try any of these recipes , please share your experiences. I want all the feedback, the good, the bad, the ugly and the scrumptious. And if you have any recipes of your own that should be shared with the world, or at least my small following of 3, post those too!

Spicy sweet potato stew

Seeing as it's the dead of Winter, I thought I'd kick things off with a hearty slow cooker recipe. Pretty much the only thing I like about Winter is that I can use my slow cooker ALL the time. And I do. You can also make this in a large pot on your stove top if you don't have a slow cooker on hand.

Ingredients:

1 tsp. olive oil

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 lb. sweet potatoes, peeled & cubed

1 orange bell pepper, seeded & cubed

1 (28 oz.) can of diced tomatoes

2 cups water

1 tsp. each of salt, cumin, oregano, and cocoa powder

2 tbsp. chili powder (or less if you aren't a big fan)

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/2 tbsp. flour

2 tbsp. water

1 cup frozen corn

1 (16 oz.) can kidney beans

(*If you are cooking on a stove top, instead of using a slow cooker, follow all of the directions using a large pot over medium heat and simmer for 10-20 minutes, until sweet potatoes are tender. Once potatoes are tender stir in the corn and kidney beans and cook until thoroughly heated.)

In a small frying pan heat the olive oil over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the onion and garlic for about 2 minutes, remove from heat and set aside. In a large slow cooker add the sweet potato, pepper, tomatoes, and 2 cups of water. Season with salt, cumin, oregano, cocoa, chili powder, cinnamon, and red pepper flakes. Add the onion and garlic from the frying pan. In a small bowl dissolve the flour in 2 tablespoons of water, and stir mixture into the stew. Add the corn and kidney beans. Cook on a low temperature setting for about 6-8 hours, or on high about 3-4 hours.

Yields about 4 to 6 servings.

Note: This recipe originally called for 1 lb. of cooked chicken breast, cubed. If you would like to include chicken breast add it to the stew when adding the sweet potatoes, pepper, and tomatoes. I found the chicken to be dry on my first time using this recipe so have opted to make the dish vegetarian since then, but it's worth experimenting with both versions and discovering your own preference.