Please visit HighLowAha and cast your votes for your favorite recipe this week! Look over to the right and scroll down a bit; you have until this Sunday at 9pn EST. Thank you!

When Kate and I were first given the guidelines for this competition, we were informed that we could submit something we've already made/blogged about. I mentally scoffed at the idea; I entered this contest to hone my culinary creativity, not to just repost stuff that's already here.

When tortilla was chosen as this week's ingredient for HighLowAha's Superbowl Snack Throwdown, however, I couldn't get this dish out of my mind. I tried, I really did, to come up with something else, something that would be creative and all that. But I couldn't. I am so infatuated with these that they're all I can think of when I hear tortilla. Or Morningstar. Or taco seasoning. They've taken over my mind.

I wish I could, at the very least, present you with some alternative or adaption, but quite frankly, I haven't deviated from Hungry Girl's original recipe at all. There's no need to. They are delicious, easy, cheap, fast, and healthy - absolutely perfect.

These delicious little quesadillas are sure to be a hit at your next get-together; my husband and I eat them for lunch at least once a week.

Make these now - don't even wait for Sunday's games. You will not be sorry.

Ingredients
4 large low-carb tortillas
1-1/3 cup frozen ground-beef-style soy crumbles (like the ones by Boca and Morningstar Farms)
1 cup shredded fat-free cheddar cheese
2 wedges, The Laughing Cow Light Original Swiss cheese
1/4 cup fat-free sour cream
1 tbsp. chopped scallions
1 tsp. dry taco seasoning mix
Optional: additional fat-free sour cream, for dipping

In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine soy crumbles, cheddar cheese, scallions, sour cream, and seasoning mix, stirring thoroughly. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir again, and set aside.

Lay tortillas flat and spread 1/2 cheese wedge evenly over one half of each tortilla. Top the cheesy tortilla half with soy crumble mixture and fold over.

Bring a medium-large pan sprayed with nonstick spray to medium heat, and lay quesadilla on it (or more, if they fit). Cook for about 1 minute, until slightly toasted on the bottom.

Flip and continue to cook for about 1 minute, until both sides are toasted. Remove from heat and cut into four triangles. Serve with sour cream or ketchup for dipping, if you like. Enjoy!

Happy Friday the 13th! We're back to regular weekend voting, so scurry on over to HighLowAha to cast your vote by 9pm EST on Sunday! (You can also vote for the secret ingredients for the next two weeks.)

First, thank you all a billion times for participating in last week's festivities; I certainly had a blast!

Kate won the Halftime Competition, so in addition to a week's victory, she also was granted the right to select our next ingredient. She did a very good job giving herself the upperhand; she must have known that I am not a cayenne person and that this week would be a challenge! :)

Unfortunately, I must once again present you with a very mediocre photo. I brought my baby, uhh I mean my camera, to be fixed after its little tumble, and it's not yet ready. Bummer, too, because I was really hoping to have it for Ryan's pirate party this weekend. Arrrgh.

Don't let this crappy picture fool you; I LOVE these little muffins! I had no idea what to make with the use of cayenne, so I visited my friend Google; these spicy pumpkin carrot muffins from Fancy Pants Foodie popped up. I really wasn't sure about them at first, but I figured I'd give them a shot, and I am glad I did. The flavor in these guys is just unbelievable. I actually took some liberties with the title because I wanted the name of these muffins to truly harness the fact that they really embody so many fall flavors.

If you are really hesitant about the cayenne, it can easily be omitted. I did leave it off of about half because I was afraid Ryan wouldn't eat them otherwise. Both versions were equally fantastic!

These will go very quickly - not just during your football games, but also during Thanksgiving or any event this autumn.

Ingredients

• 2 sticks unsalted butter @ room temp
• 1 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 2/3 c. molasses, unsulphured
• 2 eggs, beaten, @ room temp
• 14 oz. can pumpkin (or equivalent amount cooked, pureed pumpkin)
• 1-3.5 oz. container carrot baby food (or equivalent amount cooked, pureed carrot)
• 3 1/2 c. all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 3 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 c. dried cranberries, raisins or currants
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne powder (smoked if you have it)
• cinnamon sugar

Good morning!

Today's challenge is, I think, pretty damn fun.

First - while I didn't have the highest number of participants, I do have to thank my friend Dawn for nominating her babysitter; Peggy won! :)


Okay, today.

You have almost the whole weekend for this (ends 5pm CST on Sunday).

Take a picture of yourself and send it to info@highlowaha.com.

Easy, right? ;)

Your picture MUST INCLUDE the following:

1. A sign with the team name (Holiday Armadillos)
2. The team color (pink)
3. A kitchen utensil

Again, the team with the most number of participants wins 2 points, and the team with the winning picture (most creative) wins 1 point.

Now, I'm down by 2 points, so I need to win in BOTH categories in order to win this week!!

Grab your cameras and have fun!!

A few weeks ago, I had a little date with my buddies Ryan and Daniel at IHOP. I ordered some kind of omelet, and it came with three buttermilk pancakes. As I was ordering, however, I noticed a sign for their season pumpkin spice pancakes. For a mere $1.67 more, I quickly requested to swap out the buttermilk for the pumpkin.

They were AWESOME, and as soon as I got home, I searched for my own recipe. I found this one, however, for pumpkin waffles on the Betty Crocker site. I made them the very next day in my awesome circus animal waffle iron that my brother gave me for my birthday.

Ingredients

• 2 1/3 cups Original Bisquick® mix
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• Powdered sugar, if desired

Heat waffle iron; grease with cooking spray, vegetable oil or shortening. In large bowl, beat all waffle ingredients except pecans and powdered sugar with wire whisk or hand beater until blended. Pour batter onto center of hot waffle iron. Close lid of waffle iron.

Bake about 5 minutes or until steaming stops and waffle is golden brown. Carefully remove waffle. Sprinkle with pecans and powdered sugar. Serve with syrup.

Good morning!

Good morning!

First, I want to thank you all for helping me get as far as I have in the Superbowl Snack Throwdown. When I first started this, I figured I'd ask you all to vote for me each week and that'd be it. But you guys go way past that - you solicit YOUR friends and family by posting on Facebook, on your message boards, whatever... and there's no way I would have won even a single week if not for that. So THANK YOU!!

The site is doing a "halftime" week this week. There will be no cooking, so there's no voting this weekend. However, all week they will be posting little challenges where my competitor and I can earn points. The person with the most points at the end of the week earns a point in the overall scoreboard, AND can pick next week's ingredient!

This crockpot meal was another winner from my friend Colleen. There is nothing better than dumping stuff into a crockpot and sitting around a delicious-smelling house while an appliance cooks dinner for you!


I tried to heed her advice about finding a low-sodium stir-fry sauce, but alas, I was also unsuccessful. Later, I googled a recipe for making my own, so I will try one of them next time.

Saltiness aside, this was absolutely delicious, and I'll definitely make it again!

Sidenote: I've never before had Ramen noodles. I've heard people mention how cheap they are and how it's the major food group of college students and starving artists, but I had no idea exactly how cheap they are. Dude, I got a package of 6 for 99 cents! Wowzers!

Ingredients

• 1 (16 ounce) package frozen stir fry vegetables
• 2 - 2 1/2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1" cubes
• 1 (12 ounce) bottle stir-fry sauce, any flavor
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 (3 ounce) packages ramen noodles, broken
• 1/4 cup green onions, chopped

Coat a 4 quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Place frozen vegetables in the bottom and top with stew meat. In a medium bowl, stir together stir-fry sauce, water, and red pepper. Pour over stew meat and vegetables in cooker.

Cover and cook on low for 9-10 hours or on high for 4 1/2-5 hours (I recommend low, it will help to break the meat down more).

At the end of cooking time, discard spice packets from ramen noodles. Stir noodles and green onions into meat mixture. Cover and let stand 10 minutes more. Stir before serving. This can be kept on warm for 1-2 hours.

When I saw these Breakfast Rolls on Picky Palate, I knew that they'd be perfect for Halloween morning.


My trusty sous chef, Ryan, helped me, as usual, which made them even more special. I love cooking and baking with my little guy!

I learned something during this endeavor, however. Usually, when I don't think it matters, I buy store brand stuff. So I bought (or THOUGHT I bought) 2 tubes of Stop and Shop brand crescent rolls. When I went to cook them, however, I realized that I bought one generic and one Pillsbury.

I still didn't think it mattered, even when I noticed that the Pillsbury ones were much easier to work with. They rolled better, pinched better, and sliced better.

But I really learned that in this recipe, you have to go with the real one! Check out these rolls after baking:

Guess which one is generic and which is brand name? :)

When it came down to flavor, however, they both tasted the same - absolutely delicious! They made more than we could eat at once, and didn't reheat super well, so next time I will likely only use one tube - of the Pillsbury ones, of course!

• 2 packages/cans Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
• 4 0z cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 Cup brown sugar
• 1/4 Cup canned pumkin (Libby’s)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Unroll crescent rolls to form 4 rectangles placed side by side. Pinch seams together to form one long rectangle. Place cream cheese, brown sugar, pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg into a mixer; beat until well combined. Spread mixture over crescents leaving a 1/2 inch border around edges. Starting at long end, roll up then cut into 1 inch pieces. Place around 2 9 inch cake pans that have been sprayed with cooking spray. I left the centers open so the rolls form a circle.

2. Bake for 28-30 minutes or until rolls are golden brown. Remove and let cool for 10 minutes. Frost warm rolls with cream cheese frosting recipe below.

Frosting

• 4 oz softened cream cheese
• 1/2 Cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 Tablespoon canned pumpkin (Libby’s)

1. Mix all ingredients into a large bowl until smooth. Spread over warm rolls.

In the middle of Disney World, the idea for these Cheeseburger-Ka-Bobs popped into my head for this week's edition of HighLowAha's Superbowl Snack Throwdown. Make sure you visit their site and vote on the right for your favorite this week!

Due to my Rebel's untimely fall during our vacation last week (on our last night, luckily), I had to use my Cybershot for these pictures. Coupled with the lack of natural light here in New Jersey these days, I doubt I'll be scoring any photography points this week (and for as many weeks as it takes for my poor camera to be fixed!). But that's okay, because what I miss out on from behind the camera, I'm sure to make up for in taste!


While shopping for this appetizer, I stumbled upon Grill Mates Hamburger Seasoning. I've never used it before (I've actually never even seen it before!) but grabbed it to use in this recipe. I am SO glad I did; I might never make a burger without it. The perfect blend of spices made these mini burgers as tasty as they are cute.

Perhaps the biggest benefit to these little guys is the very valuable lesson I learned: my kid will eat anything on a stick. Over the course of 24 hours, he probably devoured close to half of these (minus the onions, aka "the yucky purple things"). If I had given him a cheeseburger with all of these ingredients, he'd probably have 8 bites and call it a meal. Shrink things down and impale 'em with a toothpick, though, and you've got a kid who's in dinnertime heaven!

These adorable and delicious little snacks are perfect for your Sunday (or Monday!) game watching, and if I may deviate from the football theme slightly - they'd also be perfect for some World Series viewing. Go Yankees!!

• 1lb ground beef
• 1 tablespoon Grill Mates Hamburger Seasoning
• 24 cubes cheddar cheese
• 1 red onion, chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 24 pickle slices
• 24 cherry tomatoes

Combine the beef and seasoning in a bowl. Create golf-ball sized patties (I got 24) and flatten slightly; grill outside or on a stovetop grill pan.

Week 7 of HighLowAha's Superbowl Snack Throwdown is upon us, and the black bean is the secret ingredient. Please make sure you go vote from now until 9pm (EST) on Sunday!

When I made these hot dogs a year or so ago, I remember thinking that they'd make a great little snack if you scaled them down. So when the black bean was selected for this week, I immediately started thinking about a mini version: Pigs in a Thermal Blanket! (Ha, get it? Thermal? 'Cause they're warmer now? You know? Oh... never mind.)



You really have a few options here. You can follow the above recipe to the letter and just use coctail franks, or you can really take a shortcut and use canned chili; no one will be able to tell. ;)

But whatever method you decide to do, you will LOVE these. Seriously. Ryan ate a ton, and I didn't even bother cooking dinner because Patrick and I just keep grabbing them. The flakiness of the croissant coupled with the hearty chili is going to please everyone. They are sure to be gone before the coin toss!

• 1 tube of croissants
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese - I used a Mexican blend, but you can use Cheddar or whatever floats your boat!
• 1 1/2 cups of black bean chili, warmed (I love this recipe - you can also use a can)
• 16 mini hot dogs (or 8 hot dogs cut in half)