Comfort Foods

Tim was so busy working on weather proofing yesterday, I decided to make him something substantial. We had some marinated Iowa round steak in the refrigerator from when Tim grilled earlier this week, so I decided to make a "leftover" pizza. I created a thick bubbly sauce (with Italian seasoning and roasted garlic), grilled some thinly sliced red onion rings and a bit more garlic, added the slices of steak to warm them up, and added some spinach to cook it down slightly. I layered everything on a Boboli wheat crust, and topped it with Monterrey Jack cheese. Tim loved it, and thought it tasted more like a cheese steak than a pizza. It was that good.

Tonight I was inspired by a blog that had yummy looking Pumpkin Muffins. (It's on my "stalk" list in case you want to see the original.) I decided to make some too! Unfortunately, I didn't have the ingredients they did, and since I had no energy to deal with driving 5 minutes to the store to wait 3 times that amount in a checkout line. I made up my own recipe using Pumpkin Pie Filling, and added a dollop of Neufchatel Cheese with toasted walnuts to the center of each one.

They are the most moist muffins I've had! I think they will taste even better tomorrow once they've set and absorbed the spices. (Just in time for breakfast!) Of course the cheese on top didn't stay as fluffy as the picture and it has settled slightly, but they're still quite tasty.

I don't know why all of the sudden I've gotten a cooking bug. Maybe I'm nesting! Whatever the reason, the house is nice and toasty from our oven, and the entire place smells like cinnamon, pumpkin, and cloves.