Baked Pumpkin French Toast

I think we are gonna have to have this for breakfast in the morning....mmmmmm!!!!
(thanks to dana-made-it.com)

Bread+Eggs+Pumpkin

This is adaptation of my favorite Overnight Caramel French Toast recipe from Cooking Light. I've been using the recipe for years and it comes out perfect every time. And better yet, the recipe has only 2 eggs and uses lowfat milk (no heavy cream). So you don't have to feel quite as guilty for indulging, just slightly guilty.

I gave the recipe a holiday twist by adding pumpkin and spices and you know what, I may like this version every better. With all that goey caramel goodness on the bottom, what's not to like?
Here you go!

Baked Pumpkin French Toast
1 loaf french bread

2 1/2 cups lowfat milk
1 Tbl flour
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbl sugar
3/4 cup pumpkin puree (canned or fresh)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs

1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup light-colored corn syrup
1/4 cup butter (half a stick)

2 Tbl sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
Cut the bread loaf into thick slices.
Combine and whisk the next set of ingredients from the milk down to the eggs.
In a saucepan, combine the butter, corn syrup, and brown sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly till bubbly (about 5 minutes)
Grease a 9x13 pan (I chose an oval dish) and you're ready to combine all the ingredients.
Pour the caramel mixture in the bottom of the pan:
Place the bread slices, in a single layer over the caramel syrup. Squish them in; it's okay to crowd.
Pour the milk/egg/pumpkin mixture over the top.
It may seem like a lot of liquid but most of it will soak up over night. And don't worry about splotches of pumpkin that settle as well. It will all be yummy goodness when you're done.
Place plastic wrap over the top and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove plastic wrap and sprinkle Cinnamon/Sugar mixture over the top (2 Tbl sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon).

Bake for 50 minutes and let it stand for 5 minutes before serving. It will be big a puffy at first and slowly settle down.
Pour syrup over the top and serve!

And no surprise....but it tastes even better with cool whip too. YUM. My favorite pumpkin recipe to date? I think so!

{Cinnamon Toasted Pumpkin Seeds}

I have never been a fan of Pumpkin seeds...

Till I found THIS recipe!!  Boy oh boy are they tasty!!!!

Cinnamon Toasted Pumpkin Seeds -

1 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1 Tblsp. butter, melted
2 tsp. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
kosher salt

1. Preheat oven to 275 F
2. Wash pumpkin seeds by rinsing in a colander until the water runs clear, picking out any remaining pieces of pumpkin. Drain well and spread out on a cookie sheet and pat dry with a paper towel.
3. Pile pumpkin seeds on the cookie sheet and drizzle melted butter over the pile of seeds and sprinkle on the sugar, cinnamon and a pinch or two of kosher salt.
4. Gently toss seeds until evenly coated and spread the seeds out evenly on the cookie sheet.
5. Bake in 275 F oven for approximately 30 minutes or until lightly toasted, stirring seeds every 10 minutes and checking for doneness each time.
6. Remove from oven and let the seeds cool for a few minutes.
7. Remove seeds from cookie sheet and serve!

Chances are there won't be any leftovers, but if there are, store seeds in an airtight container for a few days to preserve freshness.
Enjoy! :)

-Pepperoni Poppers-

I found this new cooking blog from Celeste's friend called THE PIE HOLE!  On there she posted a yummy recipe for these cute little things.  She suggested they looked like eyeballs and to serve them for Halloween.  So we whipped up a batch and served them for lunch.  They were a HIT - we plan to make them a lot at our house:)  BTW they are so kid friendly, my daughter loved helping make these.

Pepperoni Poppers -

1 can thin crust pizza dough
4-5 pieces of string cheese
pepperoni or ham (my favorite)
ranch or marinara for dipping

Directions:
Separate the pizza dough into 15-20 small balls, around golf ball sized or a little smaller.
Cut the string cheese into 4-5 pieces and stuff into the center of each dough ball. Seal the cheese inside the ball.
Lay on greased baking sheet and press down slightly.
Place a pepperoni on top of each ball.  And an added olive for an eerie look - hehehe!!
Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and cooked through

Dinner in a PUMPKIN

I was so excited when Our Family Treat posted this recipe.  I had been searching the internet for days and the ones I found didn't sound good.  But believe me when I say this one is so YUMMY!!

Only thing we did differently was add fresh green beans (Seriously check into Bountifyl Baskets in your area if it's available - they are wonderful).  And we omitted the celery, green onion and mushrooms - sorry not a fan!!  I know I am a little late getting this posted for Halloween but pumpkins are still available and this meal is great for the colder days ahead:P

Dinner in a Pumpkin -
Ingredients:

1 medium pumpkin, remove top and clean insides out
1 1/2- 2 lbs of ground beef 1 cup chopped celery
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup green onion, chopped
3 c. cooked rice
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup1/2 cup chopped or sliced mushrooms (omit if you aren't a mushroom fan)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons soy sauce
salt and pepper

Brown hamburger. In another pot, cook rice (white or brown) as directed on package. Chop and saute celery, onion, and green onion. Once tender combine vegetables with hamburger, cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, mushrooms, brown sugar, soy and salt and pepper. Mix well.

Put mixture inside the pumpkin, replace lid. Place on baking sheet and into a 400 degree oven. Bake until pumpkin is tender (1 1/2 to 2 hours). Scoop out to serve, scraping sides of pumpkin to get the cooked pumpkin in the mixture. It is so good it melts in your mouth!