Another Pumpkin Dessert

Ok, so after having pumpkin muffins for a week, I tried Orange Leaf's pumpkin pie frozen yogurt and I thought it was delicious! I also bought some of Bigelow's Pumpkin Spice Tea....not much of a hit with me. And then last night, I made another pumpkin dessert. I'm just getting my fix, ok?


So we had a birthday at work and I volunteered to make the dessert. I found this recipe on www.bettycrocker.com, too! Are you surprised? I.Love.Betty. So anyways, here it is!

Pumpkin Streusel Cheesecake Bars
You can check it out on the website by clicking here.

Ingredients:

Cookie Base

1	pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® oatmeal cookie mix
1/2	cup crushed gingersnap cookies
1/2	cup finely chopped pecans  (I didn't use these)
1/2	cup cold butter or margarine

Filling

2	packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened (I used 1 pkg fat free, 1 pkg 1/3 less fat)
1	cup sugar
1	cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
2	tablespoons Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1	tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
2	tablespoons whipping cream
2	eggs

Toppings

1/3	cup chocolate topping (I used melted chocolate chips)
1/3	cup caramel topping (I used melted peanut butter and white chocolate chips)

 
Sounds amazing, right? Here is a picture of how mine turned out:

.....and a look at the inside

I'm pretty sure it was a hit! I didn't intend to modify this recipe, because calories don't count on birthdays, right? And I just took that rule to the next level by applying it to everyone else whose birthday it was NOT.

• I only used reduce fat and fat free cream cheese because that's the kind I had in my fridge. That's one way to reduce the calories and fat, IF you wanted to.

• And I don't like nuts in my dessert. That's why I left them out. Plain and simple.

• If you wanted to reduce calories you could try the baking splenda in place of the regular sugar, but I wouldn't mess with the butter in the streusel/crust! It's just too hard to make a crust with no fat because you need it to bind the other ingredients in the crust. I used smart balance omega-3 butter, also because that's the kind I had in my fridge.

I WILL be making this for Thanksgiving. It was that good. This is definitely a recipe worth making!


I'm off to pack for another weekend in Fayetteville, after our long trek to Magnolia for Friday night's game. Woo!!

Wonderful weekend in NWA

So, I still can't figure out how to edit that HUGE picture of Derek and me at the top of the blog...hahha. I will figure it out one of these days.....

This weekend, my friend Megan and I headed to NWA for one of our pledge sisters' wedding in Rogers, AR.

Megan was such a great driver

The beautiful drive through NWA. Can't wait for more of the
leaves to start changing colors. It is always gorgeous!

I always get so excited driving into Fayetteville and seeing the
UofA up on the hill! It's like a little city up there!

When we got there, Megan dropped me off at Catfish Hole for the Belle reunion. Razorback Belles was a program that the UofA Football department had to assist in recruitment. The group of girls were selected and were in assigned to a recruit's family in order to assist them on their visit to our campus. When I joined, there was no more Belles program, we were simply just volunteers on the Football Recruiting staff, and helped with game day check in and pre-game meal for the recruits and their families, among several other responsibilities.

Catfish Hole restaurant in Fayetteville FREQUENTLY caters to
the UofA football department

This about sums up my memories working with these girls
in the football office! Not pictured: Joda (aka best boss!)

 I met back up with Megan and we stopped by our old home, the Chi Omega house! It was so good to be back and see Mom Sylvia and all of the updates to the house since we graduated!

Sweet home Chi Omega

Annual Owl Tree

Some of the new furniture. Megan was excited a bout the
zebra chairs in the other  room:)

And of course we were excited to see
the best house mom ever! Mom Sylvia!

Then Megan and I headed up to Rogers to check into our hotel. It was pretty much awesome! Here are some of the pics I took...I'm such a tourist!

The drive through to check-in

me trying to be artsy...we had a ton of luggage for just one night!

Really cool elevator floor

Our room

We relaxed and watched some of the Razorback Football game, but once we turned the TV on, it got ugly, so we turned it off and got ready for our first Catholic wedding!

All ready to go!

I took tons of pictures, 168 total from the entire weekend, to be exact! But I will try not to post too many. It was such a beautiful wedding and we all had a BLAST! Enjoy!

love fall weddings!

Newly weds cutting the cake! It tasted AMAZING!

There were so many personal touches.
I loved the fireplace!

Pinnacle Hills Country Club made for a beautiful reception.
It was very sweet and romantic.

Me with the gorgeous bride, Katie Collins
(now Katie Hollowell!)

The rest are some snapshots of everyone having a good old time! Everyone had a blast!

Some of my pledge sisters throwing up the X and Horseshoe

No wedding reception is complete without "Shout!"
This was, "a little bit softer now..."

Kansas City All Stars played and they were PHENOMENAL!
Seriously...calling all newly engaged!

I love this pic. My old roomie, Mallory,
caught her second bouquet of the year!
Watch out, Adam!

We had entirely too much fun!

What a wonderful night with some of my pledge sisters!

It was so great to see everyone this weekend! I am completely exhausted from all of the fun. But I will be back in Fayetteville next weekend to cheer on the Hogs vs. Ole Miss! Wooooooooooooo Pig Sooiee!

A pumpkin delight!

Happy hump day!

Since it is officially fall now, I have been craving everything PUMPKIN! I mean everything. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin frozen yogurt (at Orange Leaf-I WILL be trying this soon!), and the list goes on....So the other night, I found a recipe for pumpkin muffins and decided to make them for Derek and I to have for breakfast this week. I do this a lot since we are always on the go and usually have to grab something to eat in the car on our separate commutes to work!

The recipe is from BettyCrocker.com. Love me some Betty!

You can find the recipe here.

 Picture from BettyCrocker.com

I made a few alterations to it, so I thought I'd share:

2	cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
3/4	cup sugar
3	teaspoons baking powder
1	teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2	teaspoon ground ginger
1/4	teaspoon salt
1	cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2	cup vegetable oil  (I used 1/4 cup canola oil, 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce)
2	eggs
1	cup sweetened dried cranberries
1/2	cup chopped pecans
	Coarse sugar, if desired

It looks like a lot of ingredients but most are spices! As a registered dietitian (RD), of course I looked at the nutrient content of the recipe, only because I knew it was provided on the website and I was curious to see what all was packed into these muffins! This is one reason why I love getting recipes from www.bettycrocker.com  
Not only do they allow you to search your recipes by specific meals, holidays, and ingredients that you already have in your kitchen, but they provide the nutrient content of the recipes. 

Here's a look at the nutrient content per muffin (without any recipe alterations)

Nutrition Information: (you know, the food label)

Nutrition Information:

1 Serving (1 Muffin) Calories 300 (Calories from Fat 120), Total Fat 14g (Saturated Fat 2g, Trans Fat 0g), Cholesterol 35mg; Sodium 180mg; Total Carbohydrate 40g (Dietary Fiber 2g, Sugars 21g), Protein 4g; Percent Daily Value*: Vitamin A 60%; Vitamin C 0%; Calcium 8%; Iron 10%;

Exchanges: 1 1/2 Starch; 0 Fruit; 1 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Skim Milk; 0 Low-Fat Milk; 0 Milk; 0 Vegetable; 0 Very Lean Meat; 0 Lean Meat; 0 High-Fat Meat; 2 1/2 Fat;Carbohydrate Choices: 2 1/2; *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Dont. freak. out.  

I recalculated the nutrient content of the muffins (based on each ingredient's label that I used) with the variations that I made to the recipe and each muffin came out to be only 100 calories (108 to be exact...but who's counting?). This is awesome for breakfast because you can still have milk with it, spread some peanut butter on it (this is what I do!) or enjoy some eggs with it! YUM!

The reason for the alterations? 

1. By taking out the pecans, I was able to reduce the calories and fat (nuts are very concentrated in calories in fat). A little goes a long way; however, if you like nuts, keep them in! They are a great source of fiber!

2. By cutting the amount of oil in half, I was also able to reduce calories and fat. The reason I substituted canola oil is because canola is a polyunsaturated fat (aka, it is UNsaturated and is a better fat choice than vegetable oil, which is a saturated fat-a little more heart healthy!)

--Applesauce is commonly used in recipes as a substitution for oil because it reduces fat/calories and your product will still remain moist. I used 1/4 cup because I didn't completely substitute the oil for applesauce. So 1/4 cup oil, 1/4 cup applesauce vs. 1/2 cup oil.

3. I took out the dried sweetened cranberries just because I didn't have any. That is another reason the calories were reduced, because these, too, have lots of calories in just a small serving (nutrient dense). If you like them, absolutely include them! They are packed with vitamins and also a good source of fiber!

4. I honestly didn't see the course sugar listed at the end to sprinkle on top!

You could also use whole wheat flour to increase the fiber in the recipe, egg substitute to lower the fat and cholesterol, OR baking splenda to lower the sugar.

And finally, the big, orange squash! PUMPKIN.

Although the pumpkin in this recipe comes from a can, it is still packed with the same nutrients!

Vitamin A- 300%

--what does this mean? well a serving of pumpkin, or 1/2 cup from the can will give you 300% of the daily amount of vitamin A that you need from your diet. WOW. Hence the orange color:)

Fiber-5grams

--all vegetables and fruits are high in fiber, and 5 grams can help you on your way to the minimum of 25grams per day!

Very low fat- only 1/2 gram (0.5g) per serving!

Very low sodium- only 5 mg

--you need about 2400mg each day

And only 40 calories per serving.

ENOUGH SAID. This was a bit lengthy, but I picked apart this tasty recipe to show you what benefits it can provide! Hope this motivated you to go out and bake something pumpkin for yourself!

 

Welcome to our blog!

Hello friends! So I finally broke down and started a blog. I just love to read other peoples' blogs to keep up with everyone that I hardly ever see anymore, so I thought I could start my own. Originally I wanted to have a blog primarily focused on food and nutrition, but at this point in my career, I'm just beginning as a registered dietitian and I'm super busy trying to finish my masters degree in clinical nutrition. So, for now, this blog will be all about life with the Moores, but you can guarantee that I will occasionally blog about hot topics in the food and nutrition world (including recipes, because I LOVE to bake)! 

I will do my best to keep up with this thing on a regular basis, but until next time, have a good one!