Pumpkin Cookies

After baking during the holidays, I always have some pumpkin mix leftover in my fridge. Some recipes call for only half a can of pumpkin, leaving me with either doubling a recipe or being creative. Well, this time, I got creative. This is a two ingredient recipe that really needs nothing else, but addition touches are noted at the bottom if you must! 

Ingredients:

1 box Spice Cake Mix, dry (or any other cake mix you have on hand, i.e. Yellow Cake Mix)

1 can of pumpkin

Skim Ingredients:

1/2 box Cake Mix, dry

1/2 can of pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry cake mix and pumpkin until combined well. Cover cookie sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking sheet. Drop by tablespoons on the sheet. Cook for about 10-15 minutes or until the edges start to turn golden brown. Let cool on wire rack. Enjoy the cake-like texture of this cookie!

**Note: You can add extra spices such as allspice or cinnamon if desired. I choose to top my cookies with some powdered sugar sifted on top.

Butternut Squash Lasagna Roll Ups

I am crazy about butternut squash. It has a sweet, nutty flavor that I love and I just keep finding more ways to cook with it. The only hard part of this recipe is the daunting task of peeling and cutting of the squash. However, I have found using a potato peeler and a large knife to cut down through the meat of it isn't so bad. Also, I could slice it down the middle, vertically, and roast the squash to make it soft to handle. All you would need to do is drizzle the skin with some olive oil, place on sheet pan skin side up, and bake it on 400 for about 30 minutes or until fork tender. I made this lasagna into lasagna roll ups, but just because I only had a few lasagna noodles left in my pantry. You can put your own creative spin on this recipe.

Ingredients:
3 cups peeled, diced butternut squash
1 bag of baby spinach leaves
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper
1 tsp coriander
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 (15oz) part skim ricotta cheese carton
1 tub of feta cheese, divided (or your favorite cheese)

1 egg, beaten
1/2 jar of tomato sauce ( I used Prego traditional flavor)
8 lasagna noodles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place butternut squash and onions on baking sheet and coat with olive oil, salt, pepper, and coriander. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, tossing in between, or until the squash is fork tender. Place baby spinach leaves on same baking sheet at last 5 mins, coat with more olive oil if squash is drying out and bake until spinach is slightly wilted. Set the baking sheet aside. In a bowl, combine ricotta cheese, 1/2 of the feta cheese, and the egg, set aside. Boil lasagna noodles is doing lasagna roll ups (If not, use oven ready lasagna noodles and no boil is needed for a regular lasagna. Drain noodles, and drizzle in between each noodles some olive oil to prevent sticking. (If sticking of noodles occur, rinse cold water over them to separate gently.) Spread 1/4 cup of tomato sauce on bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Preheat oven, if not still on, back to 350. Assembly: Take one noodle and lay it on a cutting board or on a nonslip surface and spread it with a tablespoon of ricotta mixture, then add a heaping tablespoon or so of the butternut squash, onion, spinach mixture. Roll the noodle up and place seam down on tomato lined baking dish. Repeat until out of noodles or mixture. Drizzle the roll ups with the rest of the tomato sauce and top with the other half of feta cheese (not the ricotta mixture). Bake at 350 for about 20 mins or until cheese is slightly melting and sauce is bubbling. Enjoy!