Mexican Chili Burgers & South American-Style Pumpkin Soup

I made the veggie burgers yesterday.  I decided not to make them into patties and turned them into a loaf instead.  I used real garlic instead of garlic powder.  I used a lot less cumin since it's so strong.  And it's supposed to be 2 cups of brown rice, but I only had enough for 1 cup, so I used the multi-grain rice instead.  I think I did everything else the same.  It's pretty good.  I still put it on a bun like a burger, and added sour cream and cheese.  I give it an 8 1/2.
I made the soup today.  It was one of those recipes I had to try b/c it sounded different.  It is better than I expected, and mildly spicy.  Again, I used a lot less cumin than it called for.  It's the first recipe I've tried in the WW cookbook.  I would add more pumpkin though, another 1/2 a can at least.  I would make it again.  I like the interesting kick it has, especially w/ the lime! (P.S. love the way it looks in the pumpkin bowl!) Oh yeah, I'd give it an 8 1/2 - 9!  

Strawberry Sparkler & Julie's Crazy Bean-Pear Dip

I have 4 recipes to post, but my computer is crazy slow today. So to save time, I'm going to combine them to 2 blogs.

I made the drink last weekend. It is so yummy, a 9 1/2. I would make it again and again!
I made the dip today.  It made the recipe off the top of my head with ingredients I had at home, which is why there are 2 photos, b/c I decided to add more to it.  I wanted a little sweetness to it, so I threw in the pears, but I think I would like pineapple better.  Also, I blended it too much in the food processor, & it would have been better with small-medium sized chunks of the veggies and fruit.  I didn't use the whole onion, just about a 4th of it since I used the rest of it for the pumpkin soup.  It's actually pretty good, an 8 1/2 - 9.

Fried Chickpeas

This is one of those recipes that sounded so weird, I just had to try it.  Plus I had all the ingredients at home already except the lime.  Instead of cayenne pepper, I used peppercorns.  And I squeezed the juice from the lime in w/ the olive oil about 1/2 way through cooking.  I'm munching on these now.  They are really good, an 8 1/2.  I am sure they could be an 9 - 9 1/2 but I over cooked them by 1-2 minutes.  They looked perfect so I walked away for a minute to work on my laundry.  And when I walked back into the kitchen, they were over cooked and at least 1/2 of them were burnt.  If that hadn't been my last can of chickpeas I would have started over.  Oh well, even the burnt ones taste good!  P.S. Note the new leaf dish.  I got that for the fall soups I'm sure I'll make.  I also want to get the pumpkin shaped one.

Orange Sour Cream Cheesecake

This is the cheesecake I made.  It's pretty good, an 8 1/2 - 9.  I changed the crust.  I added ginger, cinnamon & coconut; that's why I took a photo of just the crust.  I also added shaved white chocolate to the top.  I think it would be good w/ chocolate syrup since I like orange & chocolate together, but I haven't tried that yet.  My only complaint is that it wasn't as orange-y as I had expected.  So I think I would add some orange marmalade to it next time and swirl it throughout.

Swiss Almond Roma

This is the drink I made.  So good, a 10!  I had another one this morning.  P.S. I love that cook book.  I think everything I've tried from it has been super good.  I also have part two: "More Choices." 

Pecan Meatballs

I finally got around to cooking my dad's b-day dinner yesterday (his birthday is Aug. 16, but he was gone for 3 weeks).  I made him these & the cheesecake & drink following.  As you can see in the photo, these are not meatballs!  I could not seem to get them thick enough & didn't want to ruin the taste  by trying, so I just made patties out of them.  They were so good, easily a 10.  Dad loved them too.  I will definitely make them again.  I messed up and completely forgot to take a picture of the ingredients before I made them.  By the time I remembered, I had mostly cleaned up & threw things in the garbage.  So it's only a few ingredients in the photo.  I used the crackers you see in the photo instead of plain crackers.  I used real garlic & chopped it up instead of garlic powder.  I did everything else the same except that they weren't the right shape.  Oh, and I added some corn meal to to thicken them up.  

Cherry Milk & Orange Cream Smoothie

My dad also got me this mini blender for my b-day.  (In the 3rd photo) I has a lid with it so you can take it with you and drink it on the go.  I made these 2 drinks with it yesterday.  I give the cherry one a 7 1/2 - 8 & the orange one an 8 - 8 1/2.  I added the toppings to spruce them up a bit.  It's Valencia orange peel on top of the orange drink.  I have more drink recipes from a differnt cook book I'll be trying later.  an hopefully next week I'll get back to real cooking - I miss it!! 

Pineapple, Coconut, Walnut Cupcakes

Real quick, b/c I'm tired & want to watch a good movie... I made these last night, and frosted them this morning.  Not really homemade, but I added some of my own ingredients to make them yummy.  A 9 1/2!  Happy 39th birthday to me!  P.S. Notice the pretty new fall plate!!   
P.S.S. I'll post more b-day photos later.

Imperial Cookies

These have always been one of my favorite cookies.  I remember making them with my mom and/or sister since I was pretty little.  It's really important that you use Imperial brand margarine though.  I remember my sis & I once made these with some other brand and they spread and turned into mush.  I actually get cravings for these cookies which is why I made them on Thursday.  I don't think are are quite as good as I remember, but they are still really yummy; easily a 9! 

The Surprise is Inside

I made these Sunday too.  I didn't have the money to buy any ingredients to experiment w/ dog & cat treats yet, but I was able to get pizza dough to make these.  I have some leftover kitten food that the kittens are no longer interested in, so I used it to make these treats.  The cats won't eat them, but the dogs loved them.  And they were super easy to make, so I'd make them again. 

Veggie Medley Fritata

I made this Sunday for my mom and me for lunch.  I got the recipe off the back of the "Morning Star Farms" veggie bacon box.  I didn't but the onion and pepper separately, instead I got a can of diced tomatoes that has green pepper and onion in it (and celery too).  I don't think I changed anything else except for spices.  It was pretty good, an 8 1/2-9.  My mom liked it too.  I would make it again.  

Chickpea Burgers

I made these yesterday afternoon for my lunch.  They are really good, a 9 - 9 1/2.  I changed them a bit (of course!).  I used sweet onion & 3 cloves of garlic instead of scallions.  I used dill, a peppercorn grinder, and "perfect pinch," instead of curry and parsley. And corn starch instead of potato starch (since that was what I had).  But I used the chickpeas (garbanzo beans), eggs,  & wheat germ at least!  Oh and my walnuts were already mixed w/ almond slivers, so it's a combo of both instead of just walnuts.  I just used the may that has olive oil in it for a topping w/ the same bread thins & cheese I used on the last veggie burgers I made.  I will definitely make them again!

Spicy Black Bean Burgers

It's been so long since I've cooked anything I was having serious cooking withdrawals! I just made these an hour ago. They are so good, a 9-91/2. I didn't buy any black beans because I thought I had 2 cans at home, but turns out I only had 1. So I used 1 can black & 1 can kidney beans. I can never find scallions, so I didn't use those. I did pretty much everything else the same. I've been wanting to try making my own veggie burger for a while & I gathered 4 recipes to try; 2 this pay period & 2 next. These were so yummy & easy to make, I'd definitely make them again!  I took 2 photos of ingredients b/c the 1st is the burger & the 2nd are the toppings (except the salsa ended up in both photos, but it was just a topping).