Pinterest: Monterey Chicken and Pumpkin Poppers

I love all that Pinterest has to offer! There are so many creative ideas and recipes out there and having a place to categorize them together is helpful and fun. It can be addictive but I have also learned so much and use it not just for personal but for my Tastefully Simple Business as well.

Now that I am 28 weeks I am stocking our freezer with great meals for after Lucy is born. I have started to pull lots of recipes from Pinterest to broaden our menu a little bit. We had been craving pumpkin desserts and soups lately so as I find great recipes I "pin" them to our "Add to Menu" board. Make sure to check it out!

Please note that I will post a link to the original recipe but in my kitchen I can't just stick to a recipe so the ones you see here are my own variations!

Monterey Chicken: original recipe

Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup BBQ sauce (I used Honey Apple Grill Sauce from the Tastefully Simple line)
1/4 cup bacon pieces (cooked)
1 cup shredded cheese (Daiya)
1 can Rotel tomatoes and green chilis, drained
sliced green onions

Optional Marinade for Chicken:
soy sauce, EVOO, garlic powder

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pound chicken breasts to flatten, or cut larger ones in half length wise. Grill chicken until no longer pink (marinaded or not) then place chicken on a foil lined baking sheet. Top each chicken breast w/ the remaining ingredients. Please cheese on last to hold all ingredients together. Bake in oven for 5-7 minutes, until cheese is melted. Enjoy!

*** Kitchen Notes: these turned out amazing and were really filling. I just served with a side salad but potatoes, rice or pasta would also go well with it.


Pumpkin Poppers: original recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup milk (used almond milk)

For Coating:
1 cup butter (earth balance, melted)
2/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon
(I used Carmel Cinnamon Sprinkles, from Tastefully Simple)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray min muffin tins w/ non-stick cooking spray. Combine all main ingredients and combine. Fill muffin tins and bake for 10-12 minutes. Melt butter in small bowl. Mix sugar and cinnamon in a separate small bowl. Let poppers cool for a few minutes then dip in butter and roll in sugar mixture. Enjoy!

*** Kitchen Notes: these didn't have as much of a pumpkin flavor to them as I wanted because we used fresh pureed pumpkin and left out some of the spices. They were still amazing though!!!