Pumpkin Cake

Happy Election Day!!
I hope everyone is getting out to vote today!! Luckily, Utah has early voting so we voted a couple weeks ago, but we will be following the results today. What an exciting time!!

Now, onto another recipe from our early Thanksgiving feast. I am not a big fan of pumpkin pie...gasp! I know, terrible, huh? I know it is a tradition, but we didn't have it this time around. I did make a pumpkin cake though so the pumpkin was still represented.

The cake was fantastic!! Easy to whip up and even better once I slathered cream cheese frosting on the top! If you aren't a fan of pumpkin pie, try this at your holiday meal. I am pretty sure the pie won't be missed.

PUMPKIN CAKE

4 eggs
1 - 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup oil

1 teaspoon vanilla
One 15 ounce can pumpkin
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Cream Cheese Frosting
One package of cream cheese (I used reduced fat)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter softened
2-3 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla, and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth.

3. Spread the batter in a greased 9 by 13 inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.

4. To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin cake.

Also, a big thank you to Kristen of Black Lab Baker for giving us the I love you THIS much award. Thank you!!! We love you too:) We are passing the award onto Colleen of Cooking This and That. We love your blog!

Cilantro Lime Chicken Quesidillas

Quesidillas are always a hit at our place. We made them the other night when Josh's brother and his friend came over. Josh grilled up some chicken with a cilantro lime marinade. I don't partake of any meat products, but they all loved it! We also had black beans, pepper jack cheese, cilantro, red onions, tomatoes, avocado, and fresh salsa!! They were down right tasty. I made a salad with green apples, craisins, and feta with a balsamic dressing too. Another easy breezy meal at the Lichtys'!

I am not sure on Josh's exact marinade recipe, he never measures, but these
are the ingredients he used:

Olive oil
Lime zest and juice
Chopped cilantro
Salt
Pepper

He whisked the ingredients together in a bowl and brushed it on the chicken. Let the breasts sit for 20 minutes or so to soak up all of the goodness. Grill to perfection! Chop and enjoy inside a quesidilla with other tasty toppings! Or go the veggie route like I do:)









Also a big thanks to Nicole at Test Kitchen Recipes for the Kreativ Blogger award. We appreciate you thinking of us!



We would like to pass this award on to two fabulous blogs: Live Love Eat and Culinary Wannabe.

Hearty Tomato Soup

Is everyone enjoying Giada's new cookbook, Giada's Kitchen-New Italian Favorites? I sure am! I picked it up at the library and so far I am pleased. (I usually don't buy books until I preview them from the library first, I am cheap.) The photos are fantastic and the recipes look pretty easy and tasty. I love Italian and Giada has some new twists on the classics. I can't wait to try them all!

We did try the Hearty Tomato Soup this week and boy oh boy I am glad we did. This soup is so comforting and delicious. You start with the basics, onion, carrots, and garlic, but then you add in white beans with the tomatoes! When you puree the soup, the beans keep the soup nice and thick, plus they add some hidden protein. I love it. The rosemary is wonderful as well. All of the flavors are perfect! Giada adds whipping cream and lemon zest to the top but we opted out for this one. I am sure it is amazing, but we try to eat healthy on most days:)

Josh made a grilled cheese to go with his soup. He downed them in no time. He said this is the best tomato soup he has had. So give it a whirl. I am sure it will be a staple in your house this winter. I know it will be in ours!

Hearty Tomato Soup

Adapted from Giada's Kitchen-New Italian Favorites

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 15-ounce can cannellini (white) beans, drained and rinsed
2 15-ounce cans diced tomatoes, low sodium
3 cups vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, minced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt
Pepper

In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrots, and garlic and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 4 minutes. Add the beans, tomatoes, broth, bay leaf, rosemary, and red pepper flakes. Bring the soup to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes, covered.

Puree the soup in a blender in batches, being careful to remove and discard the bay leaf. We used our immersion blender and it worked wonders!

Return the soup to a soup pot and keep warm over low heat. Season with salt and pepper to your likings. Serve immediately.

Also, a big thank you to Mikky at My Finds...she recently gave us the Butterfly Award!

We are going to pass it on to Erica at Itzy's Kitchen and to Katie at Good Things Catered.

Honey Cinnamon Granola

We love granola! It is great for breakfast, a healthy snack, or even sprinkled on yogurt for a sweet dessert. The only problem is a lot of the granolas out there have nuts. I personally adore nuts, but Josh is deathly allergic so I have to limit what I make with nuts.

I have been toying with a few recipes lately and finally came up with a keeper. I really just made this up on a whim. Obviously, there are no nuts and I kept out butter/oil to keep the granola healthy. My addition of honey and brown sugar helped hold everything together. I added in cinnamon and vanilla for extra flavor and of course craisins at the end to add color!

I really like this recipe and will use it again. But any suggestions? Do any of you have a favorite nut free granola recipe that is still healthy? Let me know.



Honey Cinnamon Granola

1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups whole oats (not quick cooking kind)
1/4 cup wheat germ
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
Handful of Craisins

1. In a small pot, combine honey, brown sugar, and vanilla. Heat over medium until sugar and honey are combined and smooth. Make sure to stir it a couple of times.
2. In a bowl, combine oats, wheat germ, cinnamon, and salt. Mix well.
3. Pour honey mixture over the oat mixture and stir well.
4. Pour granola onto a sheet pan that has been sprayed or has a silpat.
5. Bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Make sure you stir the granola often. Maybe every 5 minutes or so.
6. Let cool on sheet pan. Stir in Craisins and enjoy.
7. Store in tight container.

Also, we received a couple of awards and we need to say THANK YOU! First of all, thanks to Cathy from Tortefeasor. She gave us the Excellent Blog Award.




And Thanks to Rosie from Rosie Bakes A Peace of Cake. She gave us the Beautiful Site Award.



Thanks for thinking of Two Peas and Their Pod!! We are honored!
We would like to pass these awards on...the Excellent Award to Liz of Liz's Cooking Blog and the Beautiful Site Award to Cate of Fresh From Cate's Kitchen. We enjoy reading your blogs! Keep up the good work in the kitchen!

Food, Friends, and Awards

On Sunday we hosted a dinner party with our friends. Everyone wanted to chip in and bring something so we did a random pot luck and it turned out great! Most of our friends enjoy cooking so we had quite the spread of food. It was fun doing a "surprise" dinner. We hope to host these once a month.

Take a look at our dinner! Everything was super tasty!

We made black bean soup. One of my favorites!


We had to do Dorie's corn muffins! They went
perfect with the soup!


Scotty brought 3 dishes. First up, a killer salad with cucumbers,
tomatoes, mozzarella, red peppers, etc!


Next, balsamic roasted veggies! I loved the sauce!


Smoked Salmon on artichoke hearts. Genius!
This appetizer was super delicious!


Stephanie's Orange Rolls! The glaze is outstanding!


Jason's famous Ceviche!


Jake's Oatmeal Raisin Cookies! With real cinnamon!


Sug's homemade peach pie! It was still warm from the oven!


I know I forgot to take pictures of some things! Sorry! I got busy eating:) I will be posting the soup and corn muffin recipe this week. We also did a lime loaf cake and lime sherbet. Be on the look out for those too!! Thanks again to all of our friends. We really had a fun night!

We also wanted to share some good news! We recently received three food blogging awards!

The first one came from Maria at The Goddess's Kitchen.


The next one came from Beth at Jam and Clotted Cream.



And the last one was from Lisa from Jersey Girl Cooks.



Thank you for thinking of us! We are very honored!

We are new to the food blogging world, there is still a lot we need to learn, but we are having fun. We appreciate all of your support and wonderful comments. It is fun getting to know so many of you!