Pumpkin, Puffs, & Cookies

Last night was a night full of foodgasms and for that it deserves a re-cap.

1. I tried my first Jamba Juice Pumpkin Smash (added banana) and it was all I dreamt of and then some!
2. For dinner I made Janetha’s Chicken Puffs, which were simple and delicious (I’m told). For myself and my son, I made a vegetarian version! Which were also quite yummy, and this I know for myself!
3. My son made chocolate chip cookies from scratch ALL BY HIMSELF! He surprises me every day!

So on which one of these lovely topics shall I begin? Let’s stick to the above order.

After running to and fro for last-minute costume essentials for Adam, we just had to make a pit-stop at Jamba.

16 oz. Pumpkin Smash + Banana + Energy

I managed to spill this on my lap in the car. But that didn’t make it any less tasty.

When we finally walked in the door, we were hungry hungry hippos! (Remember that game?)

As per usual, I turned to blogs for dinner inspiration.

Chicken Puffs were bookmarked and everyone agreed that they were the winner. Winner winner chicken dinner!

Ingredients:

• 3 thin-cut Chicken Breasts (boiled for about 10 minutes)
• 1 container Chive & Onion Cream Cheese
• 1/2 Yellow Pepper
• Salt n’ Pepper
• 1 Package Crescent Rolls

Boil the chicken and let it cool. Shred the chicken (with forks or by hand) and mix with softened cream cheese, peppers, and spices.

Roll up into the crescent rolls and bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.

We didn’t have breadcrumbs, so we rolled these in crumbled up Whole-Wheat Ritz Crackers. Worked like a charm.

The vegetarian version?

Chickpea Puffs

Ingredients:

• 1 Can Chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
• 4 Light Queso Fresco & Chipotle Laughing Cow Cheeses
• 1/2 Yellow Pepper
• Italian Seasoning
• Salt n’ Pepper
• 1 Package Crescent Rolls

Sautee chickpeas in olive oil.

Mix all the ingredients together.

Roll up into crescent rolls and bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.

I spy Janetha’s blog in the background! It served as our directions for the meal! Thanks girl, your step-by-step tutorial was perfect!!

Holy yum! The Chicken puffs were a big hit! And the Chickpea puffs were pretty tasty themselves!

Throughout the night we realized that ‘puffs’ is such a fun word. Really. Say it ten times. It’s funny, right? We thought so. :)

How about some dessert action?

Since Adam was the self-proclaimed dessert chef, I took the role of photographer. Because every cooking session needs a photographer, right?

Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies (Whole-wheatified)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 C. Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 t. Baking Soda
• 1 t. Sea Salt
• 1 C. Butter, softened
• 3/4 C. Sugar
• 3/4 Brown Sugar
• 1 t. Vanilla Extract
• 2 Organic Eggs
• 2 C. Nestle Toll House Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In our case, it was already heated from the Puffs!

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.

Use a mixer to beat together butter, sugar (white & brown), and vanilla extract in a large bowl until creamy.

Add eggs one at a time, mix well after each addition. Slowly add in the flour mixture while continuing to mix.

Once you’ve added all the flour mixture, fold in the chocolate chips.

Place spoonfuls of dough onto an ungreased baking sheet.

Things got a little messy at this point. But I still had to follow the hands-off, pictures-only policy!

The finished product. Pretty good, eh? Should he open a bakery? Or would that be breaking some sort of child labor law?

Baking cookies is a hard job, but somebody’s gotta do it. Eating cookies is also a hard job, but I guess I can handle it.

^ To take to the grandparents. You know, we have to share the calories wealth.

Happy Halloween!!

<3 Stefanie