Thursday Night Menu: Baked Salmon, Rice, and Lemon Pepper Asparagus. For Dessert: Pumpkin Cookies and Fuji Apple Cupcakes.

Hello Readers,

On Thursday night, my good friend came over to have dinner with my husband and I. We both had to make a dessert for a work function that next day so we decided to bake and decorate at our house. I made her favorite food, grilled salmon, and we had a blast decorating cupcakes and cookies on Thursday together!

Baked Salmon

3 fillets of salmon
Olive Oil
Lemon Pepper
Fish Seasoning of your choice
Panko Bread Crumbs

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Get out a baking sheet and line with parchment paper. Place the salmon on the baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle on lemon pepper, fish seasoning of your choice, and top with panko bread crumbs. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the cooked through.

Lemon Pepper Asparagus

1 bunch of asparagus with ends chopped off
1 lemon
Pepper
Olive Oil

When you salmon is about 8 minutes from being done, get out another baking sheet and line with parchment paper. Place already cut asparagus on the parchment paper and drizzle with olive oil. Zest the entire lemon on the top of the asparagus and sprinkle cracked black pepper on the top. Bake for about 5-8 minutes or until asparagus is tender.



Pumpkin Cookies:

This recipe is my mother's and one that is an absolute 'must bake' for fall. These pumpkin cookies are soft and chewy when they come out of the oven and brings out all of the flavors and memories of fall.

1 cup shortening (or 2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened)
1 cup sugar
1 cup canned unseasoned pumpkin
1 egg
2 cups of flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup raisins

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together shortening, sugar, and pumpkin. Add egg and mix well. Sift together flour, soda, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl. Add slowly to the pumpkin mix until combined. Stir in raisins. Drop onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake about 10-15 minutes.

Frosting for the cookies:

*I ended up piping a cream cheese frosting that we had leftover from the cupcakes, but the below recipe is the original frosting that goes with these cookies.

3 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons milk
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup powdered sugar (sifted)
3/4 tsp. vanilla

In a sauce pan, cook butter, milk, and brown sugar until dissolved. Cool. Add powdered sugar and vanilla, beat until smooth. Spread on cookies.



Cupcakes that we frosted (I do not have the recipe for this, but can get it).



Both of these homemade desserts were a HUGE hit at our work picnic. We were one of the few that actually brought something homemade so naturally, they were completely gone within a short amount of time.