Fried Apples

One of my favorite restaurants is Cracker Barrel. Every time I go I always order their fried apples. I have been craving them, so I decided to make some in the crockpot today. When I came home from running my errands I checked on them, gave them a little stir, and let them cook for another hour. After 4 hours in the crockpot the fried apples were ready, and absolutely delicious! 

Ingredients:

3 pounds Granny Smith apples ($3.46 @ Walmart) peeled, cored and diced

1tsp ground cinnamon

1/4tsp nutmeg

3tbsp cornstarch

3/4 cup sugar

3tbsp butter cut into small squares

Makes 3 1/2 - 4 cups

Time: 4 hours

Turn your crockpot on warm. Place your apples and all other ingredients into your crockpot, stir twice, then top your cut up butter pieces ontop. Cook on warm for 2 hours, stir again twice, cook for another 2 hours. You want your apples to be tender, not mushy. 

Serve with vanilla ice cream, and enjoy! 

Oatmeal Pumpkin Cookies

Last night my husband wanted me to make oatmeal raisin cookies, I was more than happy to do so. As I was getting the recipe together I wanted to incorporate the left over pumpkin I had in the fridge, along with raisinets (chocolate covered raisins).

My husband left for his daily hike, and as soon as he walked in the door he followed the smell straight to the plate and started to devour the cookies. That was a good sign, and I must admit I couldn't eat any until after dinner because I um... (puts head down) ate the leftover batter in the bowl! 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 1/3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 cup LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup raisinets

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease baking sheets.
2. Combine flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in medium bowl.
3. Beat butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until light and fluffy.
4. Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract; mix well. Add flour mixture; mix well. Stir in raisinets.
5. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto prepared baking sheets.
6. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned and set in centers. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

ENJOY!!!! 

Beer Chili

We had our first cold front come through yesterday, quite lovely I must say. It was such a great feeling to finally take out my patagonia jacket, along with my Toms that are lined with wool-like fabric, and sit outside for awhile watching my dog roll around the yard.

Chili is such a fun recipe, there are so many varieties. My first time having beer chili was back home. I don't recall where exactly I had it, but it was the best I have ever had. So I attempted to make it, a little skeptical I must say, but the one who would tell me yay or nay was my other half, Tom. He finally came home, his first words out of his mouth were ''WOW it smells incredible in here'', my thoughts ''I hope it taste incredible''! Soon after he sat down I served him a bowl, there were no words. Finally he said ''Honey, this is the most amazing chili I have ever had, seriously, amazing''! Whew I was relieved, I tell ya. I sat down and had a bowl, and if there is one word to describe all the flavors combined in this recipe it would be: ZESTY!

Ingredients: 

1 bottle of Sierra Nevada Torpedo
1 15oz can tomato sauce
1 onion chopped
1 garlic clove minced
1 can rotel (lime)
1 can black beans
1 can chili w/ beans
1 can sweet
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 package of taco seasoning
1 pound ground beef (we used ground turkey)
   

Crock-Pot temperature: High
Stove: Medium/High


Place all your ingredients into your pot as they are listed above (not your meat). Cook your meat, then place it into your pot with other ingredients, mix well. Let your chili cook for 2-2 1/2 hours. Garnish with a dollop of plain greek yogurt (this is our substitute for sour cream) and sprinkle of cheese on top. Serve with a side to tortilla strips, and ENJOY!

Pumpkin Bisque

You can never have too much pumpkin in the Fall time. Since September I have been wanting to make pumpkin bisque soup. This savory, creamy soup makes you want to do a happy dance after your first little sample. 

In an authentic bisque, the shells are ground to a fine paste and added to thicken the soup. The bisque I made was a puree', then followed by adding cream to thicken it. 

If you are having a Fall themed party, this would be a perfect treat for all guests. To make it even more festive, serve your soup in a pumpkin! 



Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook time 1 hour
  

Ingredients

4 cups pumpkin, peeled, diced (1 inch cubes)

6 cups chicken stock (32oz)

1 cup heavy cream

4 tbsp butter

1 large onion, minced

3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp ground ginger

4 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

black pepper to season

Directions:

1. Your first step is to conquer cutting your pumpkin the proper way. You don't want your pumpkin to move a lot. Take a damp kitchen towel and fold it in half and place your pumpkin on top. Cut the stem and bottom off. Peel your pumpkin, then cut pumpkin it in half. Take your seeds out (keep them for roasting later!) now your ready to slice and dice!

 

 

 

 

2. Pour 6 cups of chicken stock into a large pot, bring to a simmer. Add your diced pumpkin, simmer for 25 minutes. 

3. Transfer pumpkin to your food processor and puree'. 

4. Return pumpkin to your stock.

5. In a medium-high skillet, heat your butter to bubbling. 

6. Add minced onion, saute' until clear (you don't want them to turn brown)

7. Add salt, thyme, ginger and brown sugar. Let it simmer for about 2 minutes.

Go ahead and take a little sample of this incredible mixture.

8. Add your mixture to your simmering pumpkin stock.

9. Whisk in lemon juice and pepper. 

10. Heat through uncovered for 25 minutes.

11. Stir in cream and heat for 10 more minutes.

  The smell in your kitchen is unreal at this point!

12. Garnish with homemade nutmeg thyme croutons (<--- click for recipe!)

                                                                         ENJOY! 

Pumpkin Icing

 

 

Pumpkin muffins without the cream cheese topping/filling is simply like not having cheese with your macaroni. Yesterday I ventured off to Michael's craft store, and bought a new decorating tips: 8B,230, and more pastry bags. I am no expert on piping (someday), but this is where you just get creative and make it your ''own''. I simply took tip 230 and inserted it into the pumpkin muffin (all the way to the bottom) and filled it with the cream cheese mixture. Then I took tip 8b and piped the top of the muffin. You can even take some carmel and drizzle on top as well, yum!

Ingredients:

• 8 oz Philadelphia
• 1/2 cup pureed pumpkin (canned is fine)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 5 tbsp brown sugar

combine all your ingredients until smooth.

You can use a spatula to ice the cupcakes or you can pipe them.  

Enjoy!

Homemade Pumpkin Muffins

Fall is amongst us, what better way to start off the season with homemade pumpkin muffins, yum! These were definitely a hit in the house tonight, looking forward to making these for upcoming parties!

Ingredients:

Pre-heat oven @ 350

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 1/4 cups of sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup canned 100% pumpkin (Libby's)

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

Topping:

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

Directions:

Line your muffin pan with baking cups. 

Lightly spray non-stick cooking spray over liners.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, pumpkin, oil, eggs, pumpkin spice, sugar, baking soda and salt. Whisk until smooth.

In a small mixing bowl mix together cinnamon and sugar.

Divide batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, and sprinkle cinnamon-sugar on top of each muffin.

Bake for 25-30 minutes

Let them cool for 10 minutes, then serve.

A little sample of the batter is a must!

It seemed like the longest 25 minutes.

All the dishes were cleaned by the time the buzzer went off, hooray! 



Click below for:
Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Frosting

Pumpkin Cake Recipe

 

Taken last Fall at our favorite park: Woodward!

Fall, I have no patience to wait till Oct 1st to start celebrating these two glorious months! Pumpkin candles are burning, Fall decor is starting to make its appearance and the weather is starting to change, slowly. 

I had the urge to attempt to make a Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese roll, I'm going to be honest, it failed. But when something goes wrong the best thing to do is IMPROVISE! That's exactly what I did :) 

So, I rolled out my cake, stared at it in disappointment as the cake cracked slowly down the middle. But quickly got over it and made them into mini cakes. I was thrilled how well they turned out!! Don't let one thing ruin the dish, be creative and just fix the problem! 

''Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Mini Cakes'' 

Ingredients:

1/4 Cup Powdered Sugar

3/4 Cup All Purpose Flour

1/2 Tsp Baking Powder

1/2 Tsp Baking Soda

1/2 Tsp Ground Cinnamon

1/2 Tsp Pumpkin Spice

1/4 Tsp Salt

3 Large Eggs

1 Cup Grounded Sugar

2/3 Cup Pure Pumpkin (Libby's)

1 (8oz) Cream Cheese

1 Cup Powdered Sugar

1 Tsp Vanilla

 Directions: 

1.

Pre-Heat your oven to 375 degrees

2.

Grease a 15x10 cake pan, line with wax paper, grease and flour paper.

3.

 In a Medium size mixing bowl, Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, salt and set aside.

4.

Beat Eggs and Sugar in mixer until thick. Then beat in the pumpkin, followed by the flour mixture till well mixed. 

5. 

Pour evenly into your greased pan and bake for 13-15 minutes. (To know it is done, press finger into cake, if it springs back you are good to go!)

6. 

Let cake cool, then flip cake out onto a serving tray, clean counter or cutting board.

7.

Cut your pieces into squares, however big or small you want them? 

Cream Cheese Mixture:

Beat Cream Cheese, Vanilla, Powdered sugar, butter until smooth. 

8.

Place your cream cheese mixture in between layers and refrigerate. 

9.

Before serving, sprinkle a little powdered over the top of the cakes and ENJOY!

By all these lovely tokens September days are here, With summer's best of weather And autumn's best of cheer. - Helen Hunt Jackson

Grilled Pizza

Tom and I recently discovered cooking pizza's on our grill. We just received a Weber Q200 (Gas grill) as a wedding gift and it's the perfect grill for us. Easy to use, cleaning is simple and also we can easily pack it up in our car and use it on a camping trip or whenever we go over to a friends house! 

Side Note: If you are looking for a reasonably priced grill, check our Weber out on Homedepot.com.

Things you will need:

1. A grill, preferably a gas grill.

2. Terracotta Saucer (Bottom of the pot)

3. Good spatula, that is lightly coated with olive oil.

Homemade Dough Recipe:

This recipe is from Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Women Cooks)

You can either use whole wheat or regular flour, whatever you prefer.

1tsp or 1/2 packet active dry yeast

4 cups all-purpose flour

1tsp kosher salt

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling.

* For those who want to do this a quicker way, go to your local grocery stores frozen section or bakery and pick up some dough.

* Before you start making the dough, go outside and crank up that grill all the way and place the terracotta stone inside.

Step 1. 

Pour 1 1/2 cups of warm water into a bowl. Sprinkle yeast over the water and then set aside.

Step 2. 

Combine the flour and salt into a mixing bowl (KitchenAid's are the best for breads, well almost anything!)

Step 3.

With an electric mixer on low speed, drizzle the olive oil until just incorporated.

Step 4. 

In the bowl you put aside earlier (Water & Yeast) gently stir the mixture.

Step 5.

Drizzle the mixture into the flour until dough forms a ball (about 10 minutes our dough balls started to form)

Step 6. 

Drizzle a little olive oil into a clean bowl. Toss the ball of down in the bowl and turn over to coat it in oil. 

Step 7. 

Cover the bowl with a moist kitchen (clean) towel and set in a warm area for 1-2 hours. Or you can cover with plastic wrap and store in the fridge up to two days.

Step 8. 

On a clean cutting board, sprinkle a little bit of flour and place dough on there. Then you can start working the dough out into your pizza shape. When cooking the dough on the grill, it is best to have a thin crust, but if you prefer a thicker crust go for it, but expect to cook 1-3 minutes longer than usual.

Step 9.

TOPPINGS: Whatever your little heart desires, have fun with it! But few tips: make sure you use 1-2tbsp of sauce on your pizza, you don't want a soggy pizza, GROSS! And let your toppings breathe a little, don't do too much stacking on top of each other, otherwise your cheeses and toppings can't cook and it won't taste as good.

Step 10.

Take your board outside with your spatula and gently place on the terracotta saucer (Bottom of saucer place upwards.. deep dish doesn't work as well). 

Step 11.

Cook 8-10 minutes. Take off grill, cut and serve! 

This is so much fun to cook and so easy. 

Invite some friends over soon and have a Pizza night where everyone creates their own pizza and it's even a fun event for families!

FEW PICS FROM THE KITCHEN TO THE GRILL!

 Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty!

 The turkey burger delight, Tom's specialty.

 I myself, went simple. Alfredo with tomato,onion and pepperoni.

 Oh crap, I forgot the olive oil.. rewind.. fix the problemo!

 Tom the dough boy, getting the pizza's ready.

 Not going to lie, that classico sauce is very good on the pizza's.

 Beautiful thing to see, no boo-boo's.

 Pizza # 2 or 3 can't remember!

(Pictures taken by our awesome Cannon G11)

Peeked out the window to find my sweet baby Wisco sitting in the chair, a good laugh for me and Tom. He got a few bites of crust. Every time we went back inside we would catch him in one of the chairs waiting again, so cute.