HOMEMADE ICE CREAM SANDWICH.... the first try

What are my two favorite desserts, you ask? Cookies & ice cream. How could you make my life even better? BY COMBINING THEM. That's how I started my quest for the perfect homemade ice cream sandwich. I happen to already know the best oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe (remember it HERE?). So I thought, "Um, omg. Easy." Disclaimer: it only half worked. Here's what I did:

Seems simple: stuff two oversized cookies with one scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. Freeze. & you've got yourself a delicious homemade ice cream sandwich. Right? Kinda........

You've got an ice cream sandwich with cookies so hard you can't bite into it. THE WORST! I eagerly chomped into this treasure yesterday & was left with.. nothing! Not even a bite! Now, I'm biased, but I believe these would have been perfect if I ate them right away without freezing. However, four cookies worth of cookie dough later, I thought I'd be good (smirk emoji) & save this mega treat for later.

So back to the drawing board I go. In my google search bar today: "How to keep frozen cookies soft." Ideas & tips welcome!

3 INGREDIENT PUMPKIN MOUSSE

You guys all know that I love brunch. I love everything it stands for: delicious breakfast foods, delicious breakfast drinks, lazy weekends & of course, favorite family & friends to brunch with. This weekend my sister invited my mom & me over for a little brunch. I brought the turkey & bread for Monte Cristos, she provided the Bloody Mary's & our mom brought the Pumpkin Mousse.  

My mom is super fit. So naturally she had the ingredients for a low-fat pumpkin mousse. I don't know the nutritional facts exactly, but it's gotta be nearly fat free. 

You will need:

• 1 can pumpkin 
• 1 tub lite whipped topping
• 1 package (dry) sugar free vanilla instant pudding

Dump it all together in a mixing bowl.

Mix......

& serve! So easy? I know. It's the perfect thing to bring to a get-together on the go. & so seasonal, to boot! I topped it with a little cinnamon, but that was mostly to make it look beautiful for you guys ;D

P.S. Sorry (but only a tiny bit) for the pumpkin posts overload. Like I've told you before, for some reason my family really loves pumpkin. Like, really. I promise I'll slow down a little now that it's almost Halloween!! Xoxo guys, & thanks for reading!

ROASTED PUMPKIN SEEDS

So a friend of mine recently described jack-o-lanterns as "so magical, but when you're actually doing it... that's some really hard work!" She does have a point... There are so many guts & messes & small intricate designs. But, it is worth it. Why? Because in addition to a ghoulish gourd on your door step, what makes a jack-o-lantern so worth it is the tasty secret inside. Roasted Pumpkin Seeds!

You will need: 

• A pumpkin
• Salt
• Water
• Olive Oil

Okay, so first you're going to want to preheat the oven to 375. Empty out your pumpkin. Just scoop all the guts & all the seeds out and dump them in a bowl of water. The guts will (mostly) fall to the bottom while the seeds will float to the top. 

Scoop the seeds into a colander to get the excess guts, boil the seeds in salt water for 10 minutes. Spread them out in a single layer over a greased cookie sheet. Pat dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle with olive oil & more salt. (I saw this post after I made these. She has you toss the seeds in oil rather than sprinkle. I think I like that better. It will lead to more thorough coverage.) 

Bake at 375 for 10 to 15 minutes, flipping somewhere in the middle. Voila! Crunchy, perfect, delicious browned pumpkin seeds. 

The taste instantly sends me back about 15 years, running around as a fairy princess, or a bunch of grapes (purple balloons pinned to my sweatshirt & leggings with a twig in my hair!) or one of my mom's many homemade costumes. & is it just me, or do pumpkin seeds kind of taste like popcorn? Xoxo, everyone. Thanks so much for reading!

[SUPER EASY] PUMPKIN MUFFINS

Fall means pumpkin! Everywhere! Pumpkin spice. Pumpkin cheesecake. Pumpkin pie. Pumpkin Beer! & my personal favorite.... PUMPKIN MUFFINS!!!! Why do we all love pumpkin? (Because its naturally fat free?) (Because its so delicious?) (Because it reminds us of jack-o-lanterns?) I don't know for sure. But we sure do love it. 

My mom has been making these pumpkin muffins since I was in high school. They are soooo super easy. Only three ingredients, actually. Let's get to it.

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees & grease a few muffin tins. (I had enough batter for 24 mini muffins & 12 normal sized.) (& there could've been more.. I didn't try very hard because I wanted to lick the bowl.)

This recipe literally calls for three ingredients. Pictured above: 

• 1 dry package of spice cake mix
• 1 18oz can of PURE pumpkin (not pie filling!)
• 1 cup water (pictured below)
• Optional: Mix ins. You're going to want to add chocolate chips.

By the way, without the mix ins, we found this recipe all those years ago on Weight Watchers (here). BUT.. trust me on adding those chocolate chips. It's really delicious. 

Use a hand mixer to blend three ingredients (1 package spice cake mix, 1 can of pumpkin, 1 c water). Or, if you don't have a hand mixer (I made these stranded away from The Studio with over-the-weekend car malfunctions), you can hand whisk :)

Then, if you're adding "mix ins" you'll want to divide your batter. I always add Ghiardelli Dark Chocolate Chips to mine. My mom used to add frozen blueberries instead. You can see my three batters below.

Spoon your batter into muffin tins.

& bake for 18-25 minutes or until a toothpick (fork) comes out clean. Weird side note, my mini muffins took nearly as long to bake as the large!

As you know, I swoon for baked goods (you also need to try this yogurt banana bread & these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies). But I swoon most for the easiest ones. Happy Pumpkin-ing my loves!  Let me know if you try these out & thank you for stopping by Magical Simplicity!

YOGURT BANANA BREAD

Good morning!!! I don't know about you guys but when the weather turns cool like this, I turn to warmer foods (like spicy veggie chili) & BREAKFAST BAKED GOODS. Okay, okay. You guys know me. It doesn't have to be cold for me to turn to baked goods in the morning... but I sure do appreciate a warm slice of banana bread on a cool fall morning. YUM.

I obsess over banana bread. I think it might be genetic. Or maybe it was a learned behavior. Seriously though, for my entire childhood I lived with Katie & this banana bread -- I was bound to become a banana bread obsessor. What's really cool about this banana bread is that the secret (or not so secret because I just posted it to the internet) ingredient is.... drumroll please....  YOGURT! It makes the bread extremely moist, soft & delicious. 

Here's the rest of our characters:

2 cups flour
1 t(easpoon) baking soda
1/4 t salt
1 egg
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 container regular vanilla yogurt (NOT light or greek)
1/2 t vanilla extract
3 ripe medium-large bananas, mashed 
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or chocolate chips (or both!!)

Let's get started! Just for you to note -- we doubled this recipe so Katie could send one loaf home to our littlest sister, Colleen & I could still keep one too :) Anyway, the instructions & recipes are for ONE loaf, but my pictures are from two. Confusing? Sorry, but I really wanted to keep a loaf to myself.

Preheat the oven to 325. Grease 9 x 5 x3 loaf pan and dust with flour. Combine flour (2 cups), baking soda (1 t) & salt (1/4 t) in a bowl. Set aside.

With a hand mixer, mix egg (one), sugar (1 & 1/4 cup) & vegetable oil (1/2 cup) until well combined. This will be about 2 minutes.

Add the flour mixture you set aside into the egg mixture. 

When blended, add the yogurt (one container), vanilla (1/2 t) & mashed bananas (three). Mix well (but don't over do it!). 

Fold in walnuts (or chocolate chips if your name is Annie). Like I said, we doubled all the ingredients & did one of each.

Pour into pan & top with more walnuts. Bake 45-60 min or until toothpick comes out clean.        

Are you drooling? I demolished this bread in just a few mornings. Banana bread is my elixir. What other morning baked goods do you indulge during fall?? Tell me. Baked goods are the biggest part of my diet. XOXO guys! Thanks for reading!!

SPICY VEGGIE CHIlI

Today is the first full day of Fall! That means cooler temperatures & warmer foods :) Now, two of my sisters are vegetarians, & the rest of us are basically. SO, for the second Cooking with Katie feature we made a Family Staple: Spicy Veggie Chili. This recipe was adapted ever so slightly from Joy the Baker. Do not be intimidated -- it's very easy! Just a lot of chopping & a lot of veggies (it is vegetable-tarian, after all) (smirk emoji).

You will need: (Seems like a lot but it's mostly veggies) (which, by the way, were pleasantly affordable!)

• 2 T(ablespoons) olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 2 zucchini, diced (I just learned zucchini is the same thing as "zucchini squash" while shopping for these).
• 1 yellow squash, diced
• 5 smallish cloves of garlic, diced
• 1 or 2 jalapeno pepper(s), seeds removed + diced
• 1 can of beer (I used Mad Tree's The Great PumpCAN because, why not?!)
• 3 heaping T steak seasoning (McCormick is best!)
• 2 heaping T chili powder
• 1 T cumin
• 1 t(easpoon) coriander
• 1/3 c barbecue sauce (Montgomery Inn, because it's Cincinnati)
• 1 15-oz can black beans, rinsed
• 1 15-oz can kidney beans, rinsed
• 1 15-oz can garbanzo beans, rinsed
• 1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
• 2 or 3 cups vegetable stock
• 1 -2 ears fresh corn kernels..or a cup of frozen

In a large pot over medium heat, heat olive oil. Add onions & saute until translucent & slightly browned. (Don't stir them too much or they wont start to brown.) 

Add the peppers & zucchini & cook for 4-5 minutes, until they begin to soften.

Add garlic, jalapeno & all of the spices into the cooking vegetables. 

Side Note: The jalepenos are a big part of the "Spicy" in Vegetartian Chili. To decide if your recipe requires one or two, literally tongue test it. After one second, if your tongue is on fire -- one will be just fine. (I dove for the kitchen faucet moments after this.)

Cook for two minutes. It's going to look pretty thick & kinda goopy...that's normal!

TIme to add the beer! It's very important to taste test, of course :) 

The beer will do something called "deglaze" the pan. Keep the pan hot + scrape all the good stuff off the bottom. 

Once the beer has stopped sizzling, add the barbecue sauce, beans, diced tomatoes, corn & vegetable stock. 

Bring to a low boil & cook for at least 15 minutes. 

Serve with some plain greek yogurt + shredded cheese!

+ beer bread, of course ;)