So make this easy, delicious (vegetarian) recipe and cuddle up on your couch for a cozy evening in. Stay warm! Happy Autumn!

You’ll’s Be Needing:

6 cups of potaters (diced)

3 cans of vegetable broth

4 cups of whole milk

1/2 tsp of black pepper (ground)

1 cup of onion (chopped)

6 tbsp of butter (melted)

3 stalks of celery (diced)

4 cubes of vegetable bouillon

Here’s How’s Ya Does Its:

(1) Boil the potatoes, onion, and celery in two of the cups of vegetable broth. Cook for fifteen minutes.

(2) Drain the stuff but keep the liquid.

(3) Mix said liquid with the milk and put over medium heat. Stir until it’s thick.

(4) Separately, mix the flour and butter.

(5) Stir every single thing into the broth-and-milk mixture.

(6) Voila! Potato soupski!!

[Image courtesy of www.bbcgoodfood.com]

I’ll tell you: honey garlic chicken wings.

Did you just fall off your seat? Drool all over your chin? Drool on your seat and fall off your chin?

Anyway, they’re delish. So make ‘em and throw a party. Here’s how:

You Vill Need:

(For 4 servings)

2 lbs of chicken wings

1 1/2 cups of honey

2 cloves of minced garlic

6 tbsp of soy sauce

You Vill Do:

(1) Heat the garlic and honey and soy sauce in a saucepan. When it’s boiling, go to step 2.

(2) Put the chicken in a baking pan and pour the boiling mix on top. Cover the whole thing with foil and leave in the fridge overnight.

(3) Still covered, bake for an hour at 375 degrees. Turn those suckers after a half an hour, and then remove the foil and bake it for another 15 minutos.

(4) Remove wings from sauce and bake the chicken alone for another 10 minutes. Then turn them over and cook for another final 10 minutes.

(5) And then you’re golden!!! ENJOY THOSE WINGS!

[Image courtesy of timeinc.net]

While everyone loves a good brownie, a brownie can be made exponentially better by adding peppermint (or peanut butter, caramel, marshmallow… the list goes on).

Mint chocolate brownies are the perfect treat as the weather gets colder, but really, they’re perfect for any time at all. Is there ever a bad time for a brownie?

The Ingredients:

1 stick of unsalted butter

8 oz. of semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (chocolate chips will work too)

1 cup sugar

3/4 t salt

3 large eggs

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

25 small peppermint patties (my fave are York!)

Getting to Brownie Bliss:

Line an 8 inch square baking pan with aluminum foil with butter on it. This will make the brownies much easier to get out of the pan (the easier it is to get the brownies out of the pan, the sooner you can stuff your face).

Put the chopped chocolate or chocolate chips in a heat-proof bowl and set over a saucepan of simmering water. Gently stir until the chocolate is melted and then remove from the heat and stir in the sugar and salt.

Now whisk in the eggs, cocoa powder, and flour until the mixture is nice and smooth. Pour 1/3 of the batter into the pan.

Unwrap all your peppermint patties and arrange them over the layer of batter. Now pour the remaining batter into the pan, bake for 45-55 minutes at 350 degrees, and consume!

Sound like too much work? You can also make the mint chocolate brownies using a boxed brownie mix. Simply make the batter following the box’s directions, pour 1/3 of it into a pan, layer your peppermint patties, and pour the rest of the batter over. So technically, the brownies didn’t come from a box because you added your own special touch to them.

Now that I’ve had these, I want to make brownies with all sorts of candy bars inside. Snickers? Heath bar? This could get dangerous.

Because here, for your reading pleasure, is a delicious recipe for pumpkin pancakes.

Imagine this: It’s Sunday morning and you’re snuggled in to have a nice “me” morning. Sound pretty good? Well, sure. But add pumpkin pancakes–and now you’re in frickin’ heaven.

So, pumpkin pancakes! Enjoy!

Stuff You’ll Need:

1 cup of pumpkin puree

3 tbsp of brown sugar

1 1/2 of milk

2 tbsn vinegar

1/2 tsp of ginger (ground

2 cups of flour

1 tsp of allspice (ground)2 tsp of baking powder

1/2 tsp of salt

1 egg

1 tsp of cinnamon (ground)

1 tsp of baking soda

2 tbsp of vegetable oil

How To Make ‘Em

(1) Mix the pumpkin, oil, vinegar, and milk.

(2) Blend in the brown sugar, flour, allspice, baking soda, salt, baking powder, ginger, and cinnamon.

(3) Oil up a frying pan and heat it over medium-high.

(4) Pour the batter onto the pan (1/4 cup per pancake) and let ‘em cook up on each side.

(5) They’re done when both sides are a nice golden brown.

(6) Eat and bask in fall!

No, seriously. Breakfast is delicious. I know a lot of college students skip breakfast to save time in the morning (I myself was often guilty of this), but why skip the most awesome meal of the day?

With this easy recipe, you can make 10 banana muffins at once–that’ll get you through 10 days, no muss, no fuss. Plus, you can eat ‘em on the go! And, hey, at least they have bananas.

And if you don’t eat breakfast, you’ll be starving later (low blood sugar, sugar) and quite possibly wolf down everything in sight. Not cute.

So munch away, my collegey friends. Remember, you can’t spell “breakfast” without “eat” (I mean…if you take out some letters in between…whatever, it’s muffins!!).

You Neeeeed:

3 mashed bananas

3/4 cup of melted butter

1 beat egg

1 1/2 cups of flour

2 tpsn of flour [again]

1/3 cups of brown sugar

2 tsp of baking powder

1 tsp of baking soda

1/2 tsp of salt

1 tbsp of butter

1/8 tsp of ground cinnamon

Here’s How You Do It:

(1) While you preheat the oven, line a muffin pan (with 10 cups) with muffin papers.

(2) Mix the larger portion of flour and the salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

(3) In a different bowl, blend the bananas, egg, butter, and sugar.

(4) Stir the second blend into the first. Don’t mix it too much–as soon as it’s moistened, plop it into the muffin cups.

(5) In yet another bowl, stir up the brown sugar, Cinnamon, and the remaining 2 tbsp of flour. Then mix in 1 tbsp of butter. This is the muffin topping, so crumble it on top.

(6) Bake the puppies for 20 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick (into the center of any given muffin) is pulled out clean.

(7) Eat breakfast!

[photo from utopiankitchen.wordpress.com]

No, I don’t have an eating disorder. I have a working disorder—I’m a total workaholic.

When I do eat, it needs to be healthy and somewhat portable. I’ve considered trying Atkins or Southbeach protein bars, Power Bars, or even Slim Fast Shakes as a snack I can pound in the car on my way to work. But, honestly, I can’t justify consuming 400 calories in the form of a little bitty rice bar that is not going to quiet my growling stomach, or 13 grams of fat in a similarly unsatisfying wannabe-milkshake concoction.

Instead, I live off of caffeine.

One morning, before work, I stopped at my favorite coffee shop to grab a skim milk, sugar-free vanilla latte, and saw a display of Vegan Energy Bars at the counter. I’m not vegan, but was hungry and I thought that those little heart-shaped bars might be crazy enough to work! I mean, the vegans are picky about what they put into their bodies and without meat or dairy, they still need nutrients, right?

I purchased a package of chocolate chip flavored (if it has chocolate it can’t be that bad), heart-shaped, soy-filled cakes of pure delight that day, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

That week, I bought out the entire stock of chocolate chip flavored Heart Thrive bars. Contrary to my carnivorous, sugar-addicted friends’ admonishment—“Vegan anything is sooo gross!”—I found these bars quite tasty. Plus, they are only three grams of fat and 230 calories each, and I can justify eating them, especially with the “Doctor Recommended” promise on the front of the package.

The following week, these tasty energy bursts were gone! Not just the chocolate chip ones, either! The apricots and apples, too! Even the date-flavored Heart Thrives were nowhere in sight. I asked the cashier if they would be selling them again, and unfortunately the café had only ordered a limited supply of Heart Thrives.

So, I turned to my trusted friends at Google and found the company website. Just yesterday I ordered a personal supply of two dozen chocolate chip Heart Thrive bars, and they should be arriving in a couple of days. During the interval between my last Heart Thrive bar and yesterday’s order placement, I scoured the grocery store shelves for an alternative snack, to no avail. Everything is either high calorie, or high carb, and most of products are over-priced anyway.

The Heart Thrives, however, are a great nutritional supplement that won’t add many calories or fat to my diet. My mouth is watering just thinking about the next time I get to sink my teeth into a glorious vegan energy bar…and I definitely never thought I would write that sentence and mean it!

To check out Heart Thrives, or parent-product, Sun Cake breakfast bars, visit http://www.suncakes.com.

Rating: 3 out 4 stars, only because they are hard to come by!

[Photo courtesy of suncakes.com - People love these bars so much they have a whole collection of these fan pictures!]

Your crush just called and said he/she would like to come over and hang out, and, for reasons unknown or maybe because life hates you, you blurted out, “Great! I was just making dinner!”

So now you have 15 minutes to make a tasty full-blown meal that will impress your crush–but without looking like you tried too hard. F*ck the mac ‘n’ cheese; make parmesan tilapia!

Parmesan Tilapia

serves 2

Stuffs Yous Needs:

2 filets of tilapia, 1/4 pound each

2 tbsp of parmesan cheese

1 1/2 tsp of lemon juice

1 tbsp of softened butter

1/8 tsp of basil (dried)

2 1/4 tsp of mayonnaise

1/8 tsp of black pepper (ground)

1/8 tsp of salt

1/8 tsp of onion powder

Hows Yous Does Its:

(1) Preheat the broiler on your oven.

(2) Line your pan with aluminum foil.

(3) Mix everything except the fish in a bowl.

(4) Broil the fillets in the pain for 2 minutes.

(5) Flip the fillets and broil for 2 more minutes.

(6) Take the fillets out of the oven and sprinkle the mixture over them until the top side is covered.

(7) Broil for about two more minutes or, more accurately, until the top starts to brown. Don’t overcook it! Watch it carefully.

(8) Serve it casually just as your crush walks in the door.

[Image courtesy of img.timeinc.net]

Well, she didn’t. I never got to taste this mythical culinary delight. However, I often wondered if my grandma, who was a bright and feisty little thing, if she was tricking them into remembering it more fondly than they would have if she’d kept making it.

I’ve never been able to track down my grandma’s recipe, but I was able to find something comparable–and I gotta tell you, for cake, it’s amazingly low-fat. It’s also amazingly delicious.

So, have at ye, apple cake lovers! Make my grandma proud! (Eat, eat, you’re all skin and bones!)

Not Quite My Grandma’s Apple Cake

(serves 10)

Stuff That Goes In It

2 1/2 cups of chopped, cored apples

2/3 cups of packed brown sugar

1 cup of flour

1 cup of whole wheat flour

1/4 cup of margarine

1 1/2 cups of buttermilk

1 tablespoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

This Is How We Do It, Baby

(1) Mix the sugar, margarine, and buttermilk with an electric mixer in a big ol’ bowl.

(2) Add the baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, apples, salt, and both kinds of flours to the mix. Stir that shiz like mad till blended.

(3) Spray non-stick stuff into a square 8-inch baking pan.

(4) Spread the mixture into the pan and even it out.

(5) Put the pan in the oven and bake it at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes (or until you stick in a toothpick at the center and it’s clean when you pull it out).

(6) Enjoy!! (And no regrets–yay low-fat!)

[Image courtesy of www.delsole.co.uk]

The thing is, you could very easy (and for much less money than going out to eat) make a much more enjoyable and fine-dining form of carby goodness: pasta with scallops.

This is a particularly good dish for entertaining. Also, did I mention it’s delicious? Well, it’s delicious.

Now get cracking:

Stuff You’ll Need

-1 pound of the pasta of your choice (but NOT something individual like bowties or elbows)

-1 1/2 pounds of scallops

-3/4 cups of butter

-3 shallots

-2 cups of a dry white wine (perhaps a Pinot Grigio?)

-3 tablespoons of flour

-2 cloves of garlic

-2 tablespoons of cream (note: you can substitute half&half if you want to save the calories)

Now:

Wash the scallops really, really carefully. This dish is pointless if you get sick.

Mince the garlic till it’s quite minced and chop up the shallots until they’re quite chopped.

Simmer the scallops in the wine until they are tender (but not until they’re rubbery! watch them closely!). Then drain the liquid into a bowl. (You will need it later.)

Melt the butter into a pan and saute the garlic and the shallots, stirring in the flour. Then add in the cream (or half&half) and the liquid from before. Mix all this shiz together until it’s blended nicely.

Now add in the scallops and add salt and pepper as needed. While you’re doing this, you should be boiling the pasta.

When all these things are done, put them all together. Deliciosa! Enjoy!!

(Bonus if you get a hottie over to share the spoils of your work. Deliciosa x 10!)

[Image courtesy of www.taunton.com]

I started drooling the second I saw the recipe for Peanut Butter Blondies with Chocolate Ganache. And I didn’t stop until I had made them and ate the entire plate. Come to think of it, I still haven’t stopped. They are that good.

So, if you consider yourself even a slight fan of peanut butter and chocolate, you should probably make these now. And figure out a way to healthily add a tray of them into your food pyramid. And when you figure it out, please let me know.

Here’s what you need for the blondies:

2 sticks un-salted, softened butter

1 3/4 C sugar

1 C creamy peanut butter

2 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

2 t vanilla extract

2 C all-purpose flour

1 1/2 C semisweet chocolate chips.

For the chocolate ganache:

1 1/2 C semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 C heavy cream

1 T unsalted, softened butter

And here’s how to make them so you can start devouring them as soon as possible.

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter the bottom of a 13×9 inch baking pan lined with parchment.

2) Beat together butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Then add the peanut butter and beat the mixture together. Now you’re ready to beat in the whole eggs, the single egg yolk, and the vanilla. And with your mixer on low, beat in the flour.

3) Mix in the chocolate chips and spread the delicious mixture into the baking pan.

4) Bake it for about 45 minutes (I KNOW. It’s not easy waiting as your apartment fills with the aroma of peanut butter and chocolate). Then you have to wait for it to cool, which could take up to 1 1/2 hours. Pure torture.

Now you’re good to go on the chocolate ganache:

1) Put the chocolate chips in a heat-proof bowl.

2) Bring the cream to a boil in a sauce pan and pour it over the chocolate chips. Let mixture stand for 1 minute (which might feel like a whole hour).

3) Now whisk in the butter until everything is nice and smoothly melted.

Finally. Spread the chocolate ganache on the blondies. And…wait again. Ugh, I know. But stick them in the fridge and you might only have to wait about 15 minutes, until the chocolate hardens.

And finally for real! Cut them into squares (big ones!) and eat them. And fall just a little bit deeper in love with peanut butter.