Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake $6.97

Did you know Pumpkin Puree is chock full o goodness? A good sign of a super nutritious food is bright colored foods. This foods bright orange color is loaded with lots of caretonoids and contains high amounts of beta carotene, carotenes are helpful in keeping body cells safe from cancer cells. It is high in vitamin C, A, K and E. Also high in dietary fiber, and low in fat. There is no added sugar or sodium in pumpkin puree either and because of its creamy texture it adds a nice smooth texture to food, with out all the added fat.
What I love about a lot of Paula Deans recipes is the ingredients are very basic. Sometimes they are not always lowfat or low calorie, but they are always good, and contain many healthy ingredients. Her pumpkin cheesecake was the first recipe to pop up on my internet when I started a pumpkin search, and it looked easy and delicious, and the ingredients were all available at my local Convenience Store, so the pie was a go. How can you go wrong with creamcheese and pumpkin? I made it lastnight, and we served it tonight, and it rocked!!!
Here is the easy as pie recipe:

Ingredients
piecrust
2 8 oz boxes creamcheese $3.98
1 can pumpkin puree .88
3 eggs plus 1 egg yoke .60
1 cup sugar $1.00
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon .10
2 tablespoon flour .26
1 tsp vanilla extract .15

preheat oven to 350
cream together cream cheese, pumpkin, egg and sugar
in seperate bowl combine cinnamon, flour and nutmeg
combine with pumpin filling and mix well
pour into pie crust
bake pie for 1 hour
let cool and refrigerate

Linguine with Pea Pesto

When people think of pesto, they think green and basil, right? That is what I always think, and actually what I love. I love fresh basil. In the perfect world everyone is growing basil in their yard in gardening months or has a plant in their house. However, the world isnt perfect, not everyone has a yard, or a place to buy seeds or a plant. So fresh basil pesto cant happen. What can happen from a conveniece store is pea pesto, and surprisingly it is awesome!! Canned peas are perfect for this dish because they are soft and once put into food processor it only takes a few pulses to create a smooth, creamy sauce. Combine with some nuts the sauce because a bit gritty, and exactly what a pesto should look and taste like.
ingredients
12 ounces linguine(any pasta available will do)
1 can peas
1/4 cup almonds(walnuts or pistaccios will do)
1/4 cup parm cheese
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon garlic salt

boil noodles according to instruction
in food proeccor or blender pour 1 cup peas, nuts, olive oil and garlic salt
pulse until a paste is formed about a minute
when pasta is done boiling, drain and keep 1/4 cup pasta water
pour water into pesto pulse 10 seconds
heat 2 tespoon oil in skillit, add pasta and pesto, saute for a minute till pasta is completely coated in pesto, pour in remaining peas and saute 30 more seconds
remove from heat and serve

Pumpkin Gnocchi $1.96

I was out to dinner the othernight, and I saw this interesting entres, and since I love incorporating recipes into my convenience store cooking, this was a perfect subject. I have had a lot of success with pumpkin puree, and this is one of my most creative recipes thus far. The entres on the menu called for a butter/sage sauce. This sounded really good, but not possible. I did a butter, garlic and parsley sauce, and myself and my guests enjoyed it a ton.
Here is how it played out

Ingredient
1 can pumpkin puree .88
2 1/2 cup flour .54
1/2 tsp cinnamon .05
1/4 cup butter .54
salt and pepper.05

mix together pumpkin, spices, flour to form a soft dough
add more flour if dough is sticky or doesnt hold together

keep adding flour until it no longer sticks to your hands

devide dough in six parts and on a lightly floured surface, roll each part into a rope

cut pieces with a fork at an angle approx 1/2" long

place on cookie sheet and lightly flour
freeze for atleast an hour
boil water
drop in water and within minutes they should rise to top, then they are cooked
heat butter
add 1 tablespoon parsley and 1 tsp garlic salt
coat gnocchi and serve

Pumpkin Cranberry Bread The Convenience Store Way $4.38

I have become a huge pumpkin fan since I started this Food Desert Convenience Store Blog. I have found a remarkable amount of convenience stores that sell pumpkin puree. Why, I ask why did I only eat pumpkin in pumpkin pie? and why did I only eat it once a year?? Pumpkin puree is so good. I am about to post a ton of recipes besides pie, and all are going to be starring-you guessed it, pumpkin puree. This pumpkin bread went over great and was super easy and healthy. More then taste though, lets talk about why pumpkin is good for our bodies.
Pumpkin's rich color indicates that it is high in nutrients. It is choke full of vitamins and nutrients including Vitamin A, C, K and E. It is very high in antioxidents alpha and beta carotene which researches have proven helps to ward off cancer cells. It is also high in potassium, which studies have shown lowers the risk of hypertension.

recipe
2 1/4 cups flour .54
2 tsp baking powder .20
1/2 salt.05
2 eggs.30
1 cup white sugar .80
1 can pumpkin puree.99
1/2 cup dried cranberry .60
1/4 cup walnuts .60
2 tsp cinnamon .10

preheat oven to 350

in bowl mix flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon
in seperate bowl mix sugar, eggs, pumpkin puree
when thoroughly mixed, mix in with dry ingredients
incude walnuts and dried cranberries
grease 9x6 bake pan
pour in batter
bake for 40 minutes
remove from oven and let cool

Green Tea Pinapple Smoothie-Supercharged Antioxident Drink $1.99

When I was younger, I learned a secret to not breaking my blender when blending ice-dont blend ice!!! Infact, the simple easy way to give the illusion of a cold slushy drink, is to freeze my fruit. That works great with fruit out of a can. I blend up these fruit smoothies atleast 2 to 3 times a week and I love them. They are cold, sweet, and loaded with lots of nutrients. The consistent ingredient I always use is green tea for the liquid. Why green tea you ask? There may be no drink in existence with as many health benefits as Green Tea!!
GREEN TEA has been used by the chinese for 4,000 years for treating anything from headaches to depression. Infact a study in Purdue recently states a direct link with green tea inhibiting cancer cells. Consuming green tea has also been linked to lowering cholesterol, which inturn lowers the risk of heart disease and stroke. It is suggested to drink Green Tea everyday, which I do. When just a cup of hot tea doesnt interest me, I will venure out and make a fruit smoothie. Most convenience stores have the typical canned fruits-peaches, pinapples, pears, fruit coctail, mandarin ranges. I have tried all in smoothies, sometimes mixing and matching. If Walgreens or CVS is your conveniences store of choice, very often canned fruit goes on sale.
Today my fruit is pinanpple, and boy was it tropical!!

I love canned pinapple because cutting fresh pianpple goes down as one of my least fave food prep jobs. Its a pain!! Opening a can, draining and rinsing much, much better. Watch for many more pinapple recipes.

Pinapple is chock full of nutrients. Very high in Vitamin C, B6, A, K. It acts as an antioxident warding off bad cells, along with providing the body with much need fiber which keeps the digestive track moving.

recipe:

1 cup brewed green tea

.40

1 cup frozen pinapple(drained and rinsed)

.99

1/4 cup plain or fruit yogurt(whatever available, but plain preferred)

.40
1 tsp honey

.20

in blender place all ingredients and blend until smooth and frothy. consume immediately

Green Tea Peach Sorbet(made without a machine) $2.79

The big debate about canned vs fresh fruit is for the most part silly. From all the research and analysis I read, the majority of confirmed agreement seems to be that fresh(obviously) is more nutritious then canned. Some nutrients are lost in the canning process, however, not all are lost. There are actually some theories as well that state that some nutrients in canned fruits are actually more potent because the fruit is picked at the moment of ripeness and canned immediately, which locks in nutrients, and fresh fruits may sometimes suffer from improper storage, and precious nutrients may be lost along the way.
The real question isnt really what to purchase "fresh or canned", because if fresh is available, and budget friendly, it is the more logical choice. The actual question is if canned fruit is available only, should it be purchased? absolutely! Go for the canned peaches, pinapples, fruit coctail etc.....if the fruit is packed in sugar and water instead of fruit juice, it should be rinsed off. Canned peaches still contain high amounts of vitamin A, C, fiber, and are low in fat. One must find options vs saying there are no options and opting for foods that have a negative affect on ones body.
I work lunch once a week at my sons school, and admitedly we do not live in a food desert, canned peaches are hands down the most asked for fruit. Atleast two or 3 fresh fruits are offered every lunch period(apples, oranges, bananas, pears, grapes, fresh cut berries) but most kids go for the peaches, even asking for two servings.
Ive made this sorbet before and it goes over great in our house, the green tea adds tons of antioxidents and doesnt leave a strong flavor, just healing goodness.

2 green tea tea bags(if green tea unavailable-black, red, berry will all do).40
2 cups peaches $1.99
2 tablespoons honey.40
2 cups water

boil water and tea bags
let stand for a 5 minutes, remove tea bag
drop in honey and stir until evenly mixed in
pour in blender with peaches and blend until smooth
refrigerate for 2-3 hours, and sorbet will be cold but soft
put in freezer for an hour for a more frozen affect

Cuban Sandwhich .85

I frequent many foodblogs and websites and from them I get great cooking ideas all the time. I also learn a lot about healthy cooking and nutrition. One of my favorite sites is http://www.skinnytaste.com/. The recipes are uncomplicated and always healthy because the premise behind the blog is to include weightwatcher points and the blogster Gina is very cognizant to keep the points low, but make delicious, nutritious meals. Obviously, many recipes dont work, if certain key ingredients are missing ie chicken or whitefish, but many can be adapted and many truly contain ingredients that are available at convenient stores.
One day her Cuban Sandwich popped up on the blog, and I have been making them ever since.
she used a french bread, but that isnt always available, so I stuck with my good old wholewheat bread, because I do love all the fiber and vitamins in every bite.
The sandwich also calls for deli meat-ham, turkey or both
cheese
mustard
and the key ingredient that makes it a cuban- pickles

Pickles are actually pickled cucumbers and considered a vegetable. They contain vitamin A, K, iron, protein.
makes 1 sandwhich
ingredients
2 slices delimeat .40
1 slice cheese(cheddar, swiss).15
2 slices bread.20
1 tablespoons mustard .10

Spread mustard on bread, layer bread with deli meat, cheese, and pickle, heat skillet on medium adding a tsp oil to grease the pan
place sandwich in skillet and flatten with spatula
cook on each side for 5 minutes pressing down with spatula the whole time
remove and slice in half and eat!!

The Egyptian Diet the Convenient Store way:)

mm

So my son michael who is in the 6th grade is not the most "interested" student. He mentioned to me about 2 months back he volunteered to make some egyptian food for his class because they are studying egypt. He mentioned a fig cake, and asked if I would help. I said, "sure, just get me the details" Fastforward to last weekend(two days ago) Michaels "details" were "mom, we have to make all that Egyptian food for my class on Tuesday". "All that food" and "Tuesday??" I ask. "yep" he says. Now mind you, this is Sunday and he is calling me from his dads house, and he isnt coming home until Monday. This class is Michaels only C, and my gut is to get on the internet and start to research food trends in Egypt and recipe ideas, clearly fig cake is not all he needs to bring in. However Michael would like nothing more for me to do this all for him, and he just show up for the class food in hand, but he isnt getting off so easy. School only gets harder and eventually parents arent going to be there to help, so I waited for him to come home from school Monday night, and to his astonishment he found no Egyptian food prepared, and I told him to get looking for some EASY recipes. Grudgingly he found a website with tons of recipes and they were super basic. It seems the Egyptian diet is very basic, lots of dried fruits, some vegetables, rice, beans and not a lot of meat because of economics. We chose 3 basic recipes that were easy to make and a one stop shop to our neighborhood convenience store - Walgreens.
The first recipe was the fig cake, although it was called a fig bread, it tasted like a cake. The other recipe was called specifically - Khashaf, and it was a combination of many dried fruits combined then mixed with sugar and boiling water to create a syrup. I must say both were really good, and easy to make. Michael especially liked the cake, and couldnt believe their were figs in it.
From what we read, Egypt doesnt have lots of forest or farming land, so crops are limited, also it is an extremely dry counry, which because of limited rainfall makes for limited plant growth. Tons and tons of vegetables are not on hand, so Egyptians make due with that they have. Rice and beans are a staple as well. We made another dish that neither of us cared for which consisted of rice, elbow pasta, garbanzo beans and lentils in a tomato sauce(I skipped the lentils because I didnt have any) it was heavy with all that carb and the sauce was bland because we didnt use any spices...

Dried Fruit Mixture

1/2 cup dried prunes

1/2 cup dried dates

1/2 cup apricots

1/2 cup figs

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 cup boiling water

Boil water

dice prunes, apricots, and figs into smaller peices and add to raisins and dates. Mix in sugar

mix in boiled water and stir until water disolved

let cool and refrigerate for an hour

serve

Date and Fig Bread

1/2 cup dates

1/2 cup figs(cut in quarters)

1/2 cup walnuts

1 1/2 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 eggs

Convenience Store Cooking with Jillian Michaels

I love scanning famous chef and nutrition gurus cookbooks and finding recipes I can tweak to fit the Convenience Store Cooking lifestyle. Admitedly, it isnt always possible to recreate a recipe, particularly when a recipe calls for meat, chicken, fish, certain fresh vegetables. However, even some of those recipes I am able to adapt with canned tuna, salmon, canned vegetables.
Jillian Michaels of Biggest Loser is one of my favorite fitness experts, she has wonderful cookbooks with healthy, delicious looking and sounding recipes. However, her recipes arent too easy to work with when limited in ingredients and money. She is a big advocate of buying organic, and organic simply isnt available to millions of people or affordable. She also tends to use a lot of specialty herbs, and although those I can usually work around, its the funky vegetables that can make a recipe impossible. I have scanned through her cookbooks-30 Day Shred and Master Your Matabolism, and come up with a list of recipes I can adapt and make and will include some in this blog because she is clearly an amazing motivator and fitness personality who has helped countless people get healthy and lose weight.

I tend to have better luck with her breakfast recipes. Jillian is a big advocate of oats, and this oatmeal recipe is quick and easy and packs tons of nutrition. I had to tweak the recipe a bit because to serve two people her recipe called for 3 cups of eggwhites and truly that is over a dozzen eggs, and that just was too much. I cut the recipe to 1 cup eggwhites and added a cup of lowfat milk to the recipe, which helped to replenish the protein. Also, her recipe called for brown sugar and brown sugar isnt always available, but honey usually is, so I replaced the sugar with honey.

1 cup eggwhites(about 6 eggs)
1 cup lowfat milk
1 cup oats
1 tsp canola oil
2 tsp honey

mix everything but oats in a bowl, place in microwave for 1 minute or until egg is fluffy, remove and stir in oats

Pumpkin Smoothie $1.09

Im not ready for Pumpkin season to be over, and actually I dont think it should ever really be over. I know this causes gag reflex in some people(hint, hint, Kim) but the bright color alone should inspire anyone to find a way to like pumpkin, because the brighter the food, the more nutritious. ie, tomatos, carrots, beets etc..... Now that I have discovered many more ways to use pumpkin then just pie, I am having a great time taking in all this alpha and beta carotene, fiber, vitamin A, C, and E, and potassium. This lowfat fruit gem is high in fiber which ofcourse helps control cholesterol and consquently heart disease. That coupled with the Alpha and Beta Carotenes which together are extremely high in antioxidents which do what???? Keep bad loser cancer cells away. Not to mention beta carotene is great for the skin and can reduce the signs of aging as well keep vision strong and its counterpart alpha carotene can stop or stunt tumor growth-yipee. So those 3 reasons alone are great ones to keep on consuming.
simple and good recipe
this serves 1
1/2 cup pumpkin puree(frozen-I froze for a few hours so the drink will be cold without adding ice) .49
1 cup milk .25
2 tsp spoons of brown sugar, or honey.25
2 tsp cinnamon .10
blend all together and drink up

Creamy Manhattan Clam Chowder-Lowfat, nutritous warm up $5.24

I dont think it is officially Winter until December 20, but it sure feels like it has been Winter for a while in the Chicagoland. I can only imagine living in a food desert, or atleaast in an area where a store is not super close, might not inspire one to walk miles in this weather to get food for dinner. Especially if one thinks the dinner wont be good. However1, that is a misconception that has to be dismissed. I have been to very basic convenient stores in the Chicagoland and I also been to stores such as Walgreens and CVS, and they absolutely carry food products that are healthy and inexpensive, and most importantly, easy to cook with. This clam chowder is made with a few staples that one should have in their house- olive oil, garlic powder, and milk. What needs to be purchased is a can of clams, a 15 ounce can of diced tomatos in sauce, and extras would be dried parsley, dried onion. I have lots of dried spices on hand because they are incredibly inexpensive at both Walgreens and CVS. Infact the everyday low price is $1.19 per jar, and sometimes 2 for a $1.00. This soup takes about 5 minutes to assemble and then 30 minutes to simmer. Lots of nutrients in this filling, yet lowfat soup. Clams provide protein, iron, potasssium, vitamin A, and folate. Olive oil provides the Omega 3's, milk lots of protein, iron and calcium and lets not forget one of my top if not top foods-canned tomatoes. They provide vitamin A, C, K, FIBER and Lycophenes which are the antioxidents that kick big old bad cancer!!
ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil .25
2 tsp garlic powder .20
1 can clam in juice $1.99
1 can 15 oz diced tomato in sauce $1.99
1/4 cup milk(I use vitamin D).40
optional 2 tsp dried onion and 1 tblsp dried parsley .40

heat oil in soup pot add clams in juice garlic powder and onion and parsley
saute on medium for 5 minutes
add can of diced tomato and stir all together
gradually add milk(if you prefer a creamier soup add more milk, the more calcium and protein the better)
simmer on low for 30 minutes
serve

Rigatoni Alforno $5.99

I think it is great to make pasta sauce from scratch, because truly not a lot of ingredients are needed. Would fresh garlic be perfect?-yes!! But if we dont have any to work with, we just dont, so we make due. The other option is bottled pasta sauce but many times there are fillers in there like corn syrup, and a bunch of ingredients that arent pronounceable, and it is usually very pricey especially in a convenience store. Im a big advocate of garlic powder, I once knew a chef who used it all the time. It gives garlic flavor, but doesnt have all the sodium as garlic salt.

This is a great dish especially for kids because it provides carbs in the diet which everyone needs, tomatos which provides the fruit/vegetables, cheese which provides the dairy, and olive oil which provides the oil. Not to mention ton of vitamins and minerals esp coming from the tomatos. Remember, tomatos coming from a can are even healthier then fresh tomatos because in the canning process valuable nutrients like lycopenes are magnified and made even more potent!
ingredients
1 can tomato sauce 16 oz 1.99
1 can diced tomato 1.99
1 tsp minced onion .10
2 tsp garlic powder .10
2 tablespoons olive oil .40
1/4 cup milk(what ever vitamin you have).10
1 lb rigatoni pasta(or penne)1.99
1 cup mozarella $1.32
preheat oven to 300
to make sauce
heat sauce pan with oil on medium
toss in onion, saute
add garlic, saute 5 more minutes
add tomato sauce and diced tomato
stir for 5 minutes and simmer on low for 30 minutes to 1 hour
boil noodles while sauce is cooking
set aside in a baking dish
add sauce to pasta and toss so noodles are evenly coated
pour cheese over mixture and place in oven for 30-40 minutes or until noodles and cheese are slightly brown on top
serve

Spaghetti Agli Olio made with Chili Infused Olive OIl

A big trend in restaurants is to serve olive oil in a bottle or a bowl for bread dipping. This is not only delicious, but far healthier then butter with bread. Ive already talked about the omega 3's that are absorbed when consuming olive oil. A great way to add a kick to your olive oil is to infuse with red pepper flakes. There are lots of nutrients in red pepper. It is an excellent source of beta carotene which serves as a very powerful antioxident. The process is insanely easy. The only two ingredients required are olive oil and red pepper flakes. Olive oil can appear a bit pricey at your local convenience store, but I look for sales and they happen often and when they do, I usually purchase a few.

1/2 cup olive oil .40
1 tsp dried crush pepper .10
12 ounces linguine

in a small heavy sauce pan, heat the oil and crushed red pepper flakes over low heat for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for two hours. Pour into jar and refrigerate.

To make pasta cook 12 ounces pasta according to instruction
in large skillet pour 1/4 cup red pepper infused olive oil and heat for 1 minute
add pasta and toss so pasta is coated in oil, add more red pepper flakes according to taste
remove from heat
serve with parm cheese(optional)

Green Bean $4.51

Here is a modified version of a green bean dish i grew up on. Fresh onion would be great, but wont be happening from my local convenience store and the canned onion are just too fattening. 2Also, my mother always made this with canned mushroom soup, which was delicious,but the sodium tends to be really high, so im sticking with just mushrooms. Btw, mushrooms can be omited if you have some none mushroom eaters.

ingredients:
1 can 14 oz green beans $1.99
2 tablespoon butter .40
2 tablespoon flour .10
1 tsp salt .05
1 tsp sugar.07
1 tablespoon onion .10
1/2 cup sourcream .45
1 cup grated cheddar cheese $1.00
1/2 cup crumbled round crackers .35
1 tsp butter .10


Preheat oven to 350
Melt 2 tablespoon butter in skillet on medium heat
stir flour until smooth
cook 1 minute
stir in salt,sugar, onion and sourcream
add green beans and stir to coat
transfer mixture to a 3 1/2 cassorole dish, spread shredded cheddar cheese on top
top with crumbled round crackers and bake for 30 minutes

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies $ 4.38

Here I go again with something pumpkin. These chocolate cookies were awesome, and the beauty of them were we elliminated the butter and replaced it with pumpkin. That ofcourse lowered the fat and cholesterol and added beta carotene and lots of vitamin C3 c and A.
preheat oven 375
ingredients
1/2 cup applesauce .64
3/4 cup sugar .40
1 egg.15
1 can pumpkin puree .88
1 tsp vanilla .10
1 tsp baking soda.05
1 tsp baking powder .05
3 cup flour .72
1 tbsp cinnamon .20
1 cup dark chocolate .99

combine applesauce, sugar, pumpkin and vanilla in a bowl
in separate bowl combine all dry ingredients
mix together
add chips

Apple Cobbler

This reminded me of my favorite pie at Bakers Square. I suspect it is a lot easier to make this, then it is a pie with a crust. This took litterally 5 minutes to put together.

1 can apple 1.99
1 cup oats .23
1/2 cup butter
1 cup dark sugar
2 tsp cinnamon



melt butter and add oats and sugar mix well together
pour half mixture on the bottom of a 9" baking dish
top with apples evenly, sprinkle with tsp of cinnamon
smooth remaining oat mixture over apples, sprinkle with remaining cinnamon
bake 20 minutes at 375

Pumpkin Banana Bread $4.78

I discovered a while back how great babyfood is to work with, especially because it is just pure nd no added ingredients. Banana babyfood especially gives off a ton of banana flavor and texture. I tweeked this recipe and cut out a bunch of oil because the pumpkin and banana made the bread so moist.
this makes two loaves bread, if you only want one, cut recipe in half
preheat oven to 350

ingredients

2 cups banana babyfood 1.60
2 eggs .30
1/3 cup canola oil .30
1 1/2 cup pumpkin puree .88
1 tablespoon honey .20
1/2 cup white sugar .20
2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder .10
1 tsp baking soda .10
1/2 tsp salt.05
1 tsp cinnamon.05
3/4 cup raisins .70
1/4 cup walnuts .60

In large bowl combine eggs, oil, pumpkin, honey and sugar
in anohter bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon
combine dry and wet mixture
when combined fold in raisins and walnuts

pour into baking pan and bake 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in, comes out clean

Pumkin Spice Cupcakes with Pumpkin Frosting $5.77

I was thumbing through some of my favorite food blogs and I stumbled upon a bunch of pumpkin centered recipes on Skinnytaste.com. I love the combination of pumpkin and cinnamon and I ofcourse like all the beta carotene in pumpkin. I always think I feel and look better when I eat anything with pure pumpkin in it. Right now and Im sure through Thanksgiving, at my local convenience store, pumpkin puree is on sale for 4 for $5.00. I can make probably 3 recipes with the goods. First up, pumpkin cupcakes with pumpkin cream cheese frosting.

preheat oven to 350

Ingredeints
1 box yellow cake mix $1.99
2 tsp cinnamon .20
1 cup canned pure pumpkin .99
1 cup water

Pumpkin Cream cheese frosting

8 ounnce cream cheese $1.99
1/2 cup pureed pumpkin .50
1 tsp vanilla .10
1 tsp cinnamon .10
1/4 cup honey or sugar .20

preheat oven
line a cupcake tin with cup cake wrappers

combine cake mix and cinnamon in large bowl
add pumpkin puree and water, mix two minutes

fill cup cake liners 2/3 full and bake 20-25 minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out clean

for frosting combine cream cheese, pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon and sugar or honey, mix with mixer or by hand, until smooth

Oatmeal Dried Cherry and Dark Chocolate Bars $2.56

1/2 cup butter .64
1 tspn water, apple or cranberry juice .10
1 1/2 cup sugar .50
1 1/2 tsp vanilla .40
2 egg whites .30
flour .25
1 tsp baking soda .05
1/2 salt .02
1 1/2 cup rolled oats .30
8 ounces dark chocolate(any dark chocolate bar cut up into small pieces)
8 ounces dried cherries(if you prefer cranberries or blueberries that will work too)
cream butter, sugar, vanilla and egg whites until smooth, in seperate bowl combine dry ingredients
beat cream into dry ingredients until smooth
add chocolate and dried fruit

drop on tray in round 1 inch balls
bake for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown

IM BACK!!

Hi! I had to take a bit of a sabatical because I ended up getting a NEW JOB. I am thrilled and lucky to have found a really good job after the age of 40. I love the job, I work for a food distributor and couldnt be happier, however the job is still a working learning experience. While I have a lot of it under control now, I still have so much to learn. our company represents over 10,000 products and I sell over 80 resturaunts. So, while I was learning the job, and raising my son, it was about all I could handle. However, I didnt stop preparing a convenience store item everyday, infact the recipes and meals came in handy more then ever. I believe in getting dinner on the table everynight, and the last 7 months I was always strapped for time, so while I personally dont live in a food desert, and have access to many grocery stores, it was just quicker and easier to go to my local convenience store. In other words, there is a market for convenience store cooking for not just people living in food deserts, but people on the go.....working moms, single dads, elderly people who dont want to navigate the grocery store. I am slowly going to start putting up more recipes, I have atleast 100 more recipes and the ideas keep coming. One of my favorite things to do is to take out one of my treasured cookbooks- Joy Of Cooking, anything by Mario Batali, Giada Delorentes and convert one of their recipes to a ocnvenience store recipe. So many recipes can be made!! There can be no excuses, and now sitting back waiting for a grocery store to open in ones area, or saying there is no time, must go the fastfood route. Our health and health of our families are too important.