Christmas

#FoodieExtravaganza: Maple Syrup

~ lk529 ~ 9 Comments

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The Foodie Extravaganza is a monthly party hosted by bloggers who love food! Each month we incorporate one main ingredient or theme into recipes to share with you. We take turns hosting and this month it’s my turn!

December 17th is National Maple Syrup Day and I challenged the crew to bake with, cook with, or make a beverage with maple syrup. (For some international bloggers who can’t find maple syrup, they’ll be joining the fun with honey as a substitute.)

With the hectic holiday season, I managed to forget to make something for this event. Before I scrambled to add extra maple syrup to my grocery list, I scrolled through my camera to see if I had anything that would satisfy my call for this maple syrup extravaganza.

Happily enough, I did! Unhappily enough, the photos made want to curl up into a ball and hide. Alas, that’s just the way it is.

I made this turkey breast in January. (Hey, at least it was January of this year!) In January we were living in Ohio. It was cold. I assume it was snowing. And it most definitely was dark at an unacceptable early hour. Those are the excuses I give for the awkward glare of the glaze. It’s a bummer, too, because as I pulled it out of the oven, my husband (and I remember this vividly) declared that it was almost too pretty to eat and that it belonged on the cover of a magazine.

This Rosemary Maple Glazed Turkey is perfect for your holiday table and pairs nicely with Roasted Pears and Parsnips.

Rosemary Maple Glazed Turkey Breast

Ingredients:

  • 1 turkey breast, 4-6 lb
  • 4 onions, halved
  • 6 cloves garlic, smashed
  • 6 stalk of rosemary
  • 2 C chicken stock
  • 2 C balsamic vinegar
  • 1 C maple syrup

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
  2. Season the turkey breast with S+P, inside and out. Stuff the cavity with 2 onions, 2 cloves of garlic, and 1 stalk of rosemary.
  3. Arrange the remaining onions, garlic, and 2 stalks of rosemary in the bottom of a roasting pan. Place the prepared turkey on top. Pour the stock into the pan.
  4. Roast turkey for 2 – 2 1/2 hours (or according to turkey instructions) until an internal temperature of 165 degrees F is reached.
  5. Make the glaze: In a small saucepan over medium heat bring vinegar, syrup, and remaining rosemary to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and allow to reduce 30 minutes, stirring often.
  6. Brush the glaze over the turkey every 30 minutes. Reserve any remaining glaze and keep warm for serving with the finished turkey.

*This recipe is adapted from Erin at http://www.5dollardinners.com/real-food-holiday/*

Rosemary Maple Glazed Turkey Breast for #FoodieExtravaganza from Sew You Think You Can Cook

And don’t forget to check out all these other maply recipes:

Basbousa – Egyptian Semolina Cake from Sneha of Sneha’s Recipe

Bangin’ Breakfast Potatoes from Rebekah of Making Miracles

Gluten-Free Maple Chestnut Cookies from Caroline of Caroline’s Cooking

Maple Pecan Bars from Nichole of Cookaholic Wife

Maple Sugar Cookies from Sue of Palatable Pastime

Maple Walnut Vinaigrette from Tara of Tara’s Multicultural Table

Momiji Tempura from Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Overnight French Toast Casserole from Elaine of Cookin and Craftin

Roasted Maple Glazed Carrots from Wendy of A Day in the Life of the Farm

The Back Forty Cocktail from Stacy of Food Lust People Love

If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you’re a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board! Looking for our previous parties? Check them out HERE.

#SundaySupper: Eggnog Recipes

~ lk529 ~ 20 Comments

December is National Eggnog Month. No big surprise there.

I’m not the biggest fan of the drink. I tend to be sensitive to nutmeg – though I am getting much better about it!

I’ve used it in baking twice before. Once in cookies for #FoodieExtravaganza, and once in my #BundtBakers cake that will be debuting later this month. I quite enjoy eggnog as an ingredient. I haven’t tried it in a savory application, yet, and was hoping a Sunday Supper member might have figured out a way, but all the offerings are on the sweet side of the specrum. Be sure to scroll past my recipe to see all the sweet, delicious recipes!

That remaining eggnog in my fridge was begging to be used in pancakes and we went right ahead and did just that! By happy circumstance, today’s #SundaySupper eggnog event was announced shortly after that. Thanks to Christie from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventure for hosting this festive event.

These eggnog pancakes were a huge hit with my kids. I don’t think I’ve seen Firecracker eat so much in one sitting in quite some time!

Eggnog pancakes with cranberry syrup would make for a perfect Christmas morning breakfast.

Eggnog Pancakes with Cranberry Syrup

Ingredients for pancakes:

  • 2 C flour
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 C eggnog
  • 1/4 C vegetable oil

Ingredients for syrup:

  • 1 C fresh cranberries
  • 1/2 C real maple syrup
  • 1 tbps butter

Steps:

  1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.
  2. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, eggnog, and oil.
  3. Combine wet ingredients into dry.
  4. On a hot buttered griddle drop 1/4 C of batter into pancakes. When bubbles form and start to pop flip the pancakes and cook until golden on both sides.
  5. Make the syrup: Combine cranberries, syrup, and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook until cranberries have burst and the syrup thickens. Serve with pancakes.

*This recipe is adapted from Jocelyn at http://www.grandbaby-cakes.com/2014/12/eggnog-pancakes/*

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Baked Goods

Beverages

Breakfast and Breakfast Pastries

Desserts

Sunday Supper MovementJoin the #SundaySupper conversation on twitter on Sunday! We tweet throughout the day and share recipes from all over the world. Our weekly chat starts at 7:00 pm ET. Follow the #SundaySupper hashtag and remember to include it in your tweets to join in the chat. To get more great Sunday Supper Recipes, visit our website or check out our Pinterest board.

Would you like to join the Sunday Supper Movement? It’s easy. You can sign up by clicking here: Sunday Supper Movement

Thursday Thoughts #19

~ lk529 ~ 2 Comments

Thursday Thoughts

 

Please consider this Thursday Thoughts an open letter to help me find my lost ornaments!

The day after Thanksgiving is always decorating day in my home. Decorating for the first time in a new home always brings some challenges. Decorating for the first time with two toddlers to get into things adds extra challenges!

We live in a townhome so there wasn’t any outdoor decor to do, unfortunately. It was also raining all weekend (what?!) so the only outdoor space I do have freedom to decorate, our balcony, still hasn’t been tackled.

We did put up the tree, string it with lights, and waiting patiently for Treat to wake up from a long nap before pulling out the ornaments.

I opened up the box my husband brought up from the garage and handed Firecracker the first ornament of the year – a fun Auburn snowflake – which he happily put on the tree. I handed my husband Treat’s First Christmas Ornament from last year to assist the one year old in hanging.

As I dig further into the box I recognize that these ornaments are all from the Snowman Tree my family surprised me with 3 years ago. This box is not THE ornament box.

5-10 minutes passes and my husband comes back upstairs with a saddened expression. He can’t find the box. And he looked in every single box down there.

With a knot in my stomach and tears falling down my face I traced his footsteps and had to agree with his inventory check. It’s the hardest I’ve cried in a long time.

Ornaments spanning 6.5 years of married life, 2.5 years of parenthood were in that box. But those weren’t the ornaments giving me pain. I’ve already reordered Firecracker’s First Christmas Ornament. The ornaments that plague my dreams were those that had belonged to my grandfather, those that I had made as a child, those that my husband made as a kid.

It’s time now for my children to be the ornament makers and continue to make happy memories for us to relive every year we trim the tree.

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My husband’s advent calendar that he loved a little boy was also in that box. We were looking forward to starting that tradition with the boys this year. My mother-in-law says she has extras from her mom though, so that heart-string didn’t get completely cut.

The silver lining, if I can find it, is that the cross-stitch stocking my grandfather started for me was not in the ornament box. My grandfather passed away in ’96 and my mom took it upon herself to complete the stocking. A task that took her over ten years, I’d finally received my stocking in 2012.  My husband also had a cross-stitch stocking from his childhood that I believe his mom did. Those two stockings are hanging by our fireplace. When it’s time to pull down the Christmas decorations following our final holiday season in CA, those stockings will not be boxed back up; they’ll be put with the other items we will move ourselves. (It’s a good thing our handmade stocking from my mother-in-law are down in Florida with my parents!)

My last hope is for a bit of Christmas magic. All I can do is cross my fingers and toes that some other family received our box of ornaments by mistake and that maybe they haven’t noticed it until they go to decorate their tree. I hope they contact the moving company and figure out a way to get a hold of us. I’m going to call and see if there’s some sort of Lost & Found at the storage facility where our things were held after arriving in the Los Angeles area. I know it’s a long shot, but had I discovered a box of some other family’s holiday memories I would do everything I could to try and find them.

If you have my box, the ornaments are stored using my DIY storage solution – check it out here! If you just want to get me the few I’m seriously missing I’d be forever thankful. There’s a balding styrofoam Santa with a beard, a cute little blue elf with knitted long orange hat, two Silver Bells from the year 2015, a flat foam gingerbread with pipe cleaner handle, and a laminated fingerprint reindeer.

Update: My mom scrolled through her phone’s photos and found this one from 2012 of our tree. That Santa head in the lower center is the one I really want back!!!

Please help us find our missing ornaments!

#CranberryWeek: Cranberry Glazed Pork Loin

~ lk529 ~ 10 Comments

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Welcome to #CranberryWeek, hosted by Caroline’s Cooking and A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures. We’ll be sharing cranberry-inspired creations all week long in celebration of national cranberry day. Search #CranberryWeek to keep up to date and follow the #CranberryWeek Pinterest board for more cranberry inspiration.

When I made this glazed pork, I was hoping to find a turkey breast to serve with the cornbread dressing I shared yesterday.

Actually, I had a couple ingredient finding hurdles to overcome.

I’ve been in a grocery store loyalty crisis. Now that Treat is too big for the Baby Bjorn (not impossible, but highly uncomfortable), I prefer to shop with him in the cart. That leaves Firecracker to walk beside me. There isn’t enough magnetic force in the world to keep that kid by myside for more than three minutes! That energetic 2 year old is off running up and down the aisles as soon as I let go of his hand. Or, he’s touching every single item at arms level when he is staying near. My patience with him wanes thin and I have to load him up into the basket. As I try to start each grocery trip with a positive attitude, by the time I “give up” I have a cart full of groceries. And to add to the frustration, Treat has a habit of screaming at an insanely high pitch. He’s not upset or crying, just screaming to scream. It’s a happy and excited sound, but one that deafens ears. Naturally, his older brother follows suit and I’m standing in the grocery store pulling out my hair half laughing half crying and all about yelling at my children.

The solution is to find a grocery store with “car carts” so both of my boys can be buckled into a cart. The bonus of a steering wheel definitely helps. Unfortunately, there aren’t many option for that out here in SoCal.

I do a decent amount of shopping at the commissary on base, particularly for yogurt as it’s about half the price of the local grocery stores. Being tax free means that processed foods end up being a tad cheaper, too. Only problem, is that I don’t quite trust their meat and seafood department, and the fresh produce is hit or miss on quality.

For small trips, I love walking to the local Whole Foods, but I’m limited to the space under the stroller. And while the meat quality is fantastic, it’s a bit pricy.

One Monday morning, I decided to try another store about a mile away. Took the kids on a walk and did some recon. Yogurt was the same marked up cost as the other stores. THe produce department was beautiful, and their bulk foods section to die for. Their meat departement looked fine, but was small; there wasn’t a turkey breast in sight (I assume that changed closer to the holiday?). I settled on a beautiful looking pork loin instead.

Another missing ingredient? Apple cider.

I knew one of the grocery stores I like sells it, but did I really want to get in the car for one item? Nope. Instead, I popped into the local coffee shop and ordered a cup of cider to go. Mission accomplished. I’m sure that 12 oz cup cost the same as a half gallon at a grocery store, but you can’t underestimate the price of my time, energy, and sanity!

Cranberry Glazed Pork Loin

Ingredients:

  • 2 tbsp butter, divided use
  • 1/2 shallot, chopped
  • 1 tsp whole juniper berries
  • 1 C fresh cranberries
  • 2/3 C apple cider
  • 2/3 C maple syrup
  • 1/2 C red currant jelly
  • 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
  • pork loin, trimmed

Steps:

  1. Melt 1 tbsp butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Saute shallot until translucent. Add the juniper berries, and cook one minute. Add cranberries, cider, syrup, jelly, and S+P. Simmer 3-5 minutes, until cranberries burst.
  2. Transfer glaze to a blender and puree until smooth. Return to the saucepan after passing through a sieve.
  3. Bring glaze to a simmer over medium heat and cook until reduced to about 1 1/4 C, 10-15 minutes. Keep warm.
  4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  5. Melt butter in a large oven safe skillet, sear pork abour 2 minutes on all sides. Brush with glaze and put in oven until an internal temperature of 145 degrees F is reached. Brush with glaze every 10 minutes or so. Cook time will depend on thickness of pork loin.
  6. Be sure to bring any extra glaze back to a boil to prevent contamination before serving alongside pork.

*This glaze recipe is adapted from Martha Stewart at http://www.marthastewart.com/261237/cranberry-glaze*

Cranberry Glazed Pork Loin for #CranberryWeek from Sew You Think You Can Cook

Be sure to check out all the other cranberry recipes being shared today:

Braised Short Ribs with Hoisin-Cranberry Sauce and Asian Coleslaw from Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Cranberry & Cornbread Stuffed Pork Chops from Books n’ Cooks

Cranberry Borscht from Palatable Pastime

Cranberry Glazed Pork Loin from Sew You Think You Can Cook

Cranberry Lemon Curd Tart (No Bake, GF) from Caroline’s Cooking

Cranberry London Broil from Cindy’s Recipes and Writings

Cranberry Mustard from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures

Cranberry Vanilla Bean Donuts from Hostess At Heart

Grilled Brie with Cranberries from Full Belly Sisters

Honey Roasted Cranberry Ricotta Crostini from Take Two Tapas

Orange Cranberry Turnovers by The Bitter Side of Sweet

Panko Crusted Chicken with Maple Cranberry Sauce from Family Around The Table

Sweet Heat Cranberry Spread from Cooking With Carlee

#CranberryWeek & SRC: Cranberry Upside Down Cake

~ lk529 ~ 20 Comments

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Today’s  Secret Recipe Club post comes with a little good-news-bad-news.

Do you want the bad news first?

The bad news as that this post is the final Secret Recipe Club reveal day. I’ve spent 2 1/2 years with this wonderful group of people and I’m sorry to see it come to an end. I’ve made great friends, some even in-person! I know there will be other blogging opportunities that will cross paths with a lot of these wonderful bloggers.

Ready for the good news?

Today’s SRC post helps me kick of #CranberryWeek! Because I don’t want to steal the show from honoring my last SRC assigned blogger, I’ll delve into the brains behind #CranberryWeek tomorrow. (Hope you understand Caroline and Christie), but you can search #CranberryWeek to keep up to date and follow the #CranberryWeek Pinterest board for more cranberry inspiration.

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I had no problem finding a recipe that would be the perfect kick-off to #CranberryWeek from my assigned blog this month. Heather of Join Us, Pull Up a Chair happens to love cranberries about as much as I do and my secret Pinterest board had 4 great contenders (and 11 non-cranberry recipes) saved to it! On the cranberry front I debated between Upside Down Cake, Shortbread Cookies, and Muffins. Heather’s Kung Pao Chickpeas and Hot & Sweet Chicken Thighs tempted my savory pallet.

So who is this Heather behind all of those delicious looking recipes? Heather is busy mom of two with a full time job in marketing as well as running an independent sales consultant gig. She started her blog to help organize her recipe hording lifestyle. I can completely relate as the magazine pages tend to pile up in my home, too. Heather grew up helping her mom in the kitchen and has passed on that love of cooking and baking to her kids. She says having her kids in the kitchen helps them be more adventurous in trying new foods – I hope Firecracker will end up being that way, but at age 2 it’s not quite as successful.

The Cranberry Upside Down Cake I settled on was a huge hit. So popular in fact, I made it twice! And it had nothing to do with the fact that I got pulled away from it and didn’t upend it on time and had a non-photography worthy cake. Instead of getting frustrated, I got excited that I’d be getting to make the cake again! The second time, I didn’t allow the kids to derail me and I flipped that cake when the time went off. A successful endeavor for a dessert I brought to the church to support their ministry of feeding the hungry once a week. (But not before stealing just one more piece for myself. I mean, I did need to do a quality check before serving others!)

Cranberry Upside Down Cake

Ingredients:

  • 8 tbsp butter, softened, divided use
  • 1 C sugar, divided use
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground allspice
  • 1 3/4 – 2 C fresh cranberries
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 C flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 C milk

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Spread 2 tbsp softened butter along the bottom and sides of an 8″ round or 8×8″ square cake pan.
  3. In a small bowl, combine 1/2 C sugar with the cinnamon and allspice. Pour evenly into the prepared cake pan. Arrange the cranberries in an even layer in the cake pan.
  4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the remaining butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until incorporated.
  5. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
  6. Add half of the dry ingredients to the stand mixer, mix until combined. Add the milk, mixing until incorprated. Repeat with the remaining dry ingredients.
  7. Pour batter into the prepared cake pan. Bake 30-35 minutes, until a knife inserted comes out cleanly. Let cake cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Run a knife along the edges and carefully flip out onto a plate.

*This recipe is adapted from Heather at https://joinuspullupachair.com/2011/11/20/cranberry-upside-down-cake/*

Cranberry Upside Down Cake for Secret Recipe Club and #CranberryWeek from Sew You Think You Can Cook

To see the other bloggers who participated in the final Secret Recipe Club click here:

But don’t stop your recipe stumbling there! Check out all of these great cranberry recipes to kick of #CranberryWeek:

Cranberry-Apple Sauce from The Chef Next Door

Cranberry Cornbread from Cindy’s Recipes and Writings

Cranberry Maple Delicata Squash Galette from Caroline’s Cooking

Cranberry Orange Baked Brie from Books n’ Cooks

Cranberry Palmiers from The Bitter Side of Sweet

Cranberry Rosemary Cornbread from Life Currents

Cranberry Snack Cake from Cooking With Carlee

Cranberry Upside Down Cake from Sew You Think You Can Cook

Noreaster from Family Around The Table

Pork Shashlyk and Tkemali from Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Cranberries from A Day in the Life on the Farm

Slow Cooker Cranberry Brisket from Palatable Pastime

Stuffed Endive with Blue Cheese, Walnuts & Cranberries from Full Belly Sisters

Upside Down Cranberry Cake from Hostess At Heart

#SundaySupper: How to Use Holiday Leftovers

~ lk529 ~ 17 Comments

Thanksgiving is this week.

You guys. Thanksgiving is this week!

When you plan your holiday menu do you plan to intentionally have leftovers? I don’t, but I know there will be and I don’t necessarily try to mitigate them.

What do you do with all your leftover food? My brother’s favorite way to eat them is simply reheated in a skillet with some gravy. That’s really the best method for reheating the turkey and stuffing to make it taste just as good as T-day itself.

I’m a sucker for a cold turkey sandwich with some mayo on rye bread. I also enjoy a grilled cheese style sandwich with the turkey, creamed onions, and thin slice of apple.

But what do you do with the non-turkey items? I’m sure my Sunday Supper friends have some more creative and wonderful ideas on how to use up those holiday leftovers! A big thank you to Christie from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventure for hosting today’s event.

wesWhen I had leftover sweet potato casserole last year, I decided to repurpose it into breakfast. (I mean, really, what else would I possibly do?) Waffles! I simply left out the streusel (marshmallow if that’s they way you go) topping and garnished my waffles with fresh pecans.

Just look at that cutie to the right! I can’t believe that was almost a full year ago. He looks so little. I mean, his brother can now wear that shirt! My how much can happen in one year.

Sweet Potato Casserole Waffles

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 C whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 C flour
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 1 C sweet potato casserole
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 C milk
  • 1 1/2 C plain Greek yogurt
  • pecans (optional)

Steps:

  1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours and baking powder.
  2. In another bowl, whisk the casserole, eggs, milk, and yogurt.
  3. Combine wet ingredients into dry.
  4. Drop 1/3  C of waffle batter onto a greased waffle iron and cook until golden.
  5. Garnish with pecans, if desired.

Sweet Potato Casserole for #SundaySupper from Sew You Think You Can Cook

Breakfast

Appetizers

Soups

Mains

Sides

Dessert

Sunday Supper MovementJoin the #SundaySupper conversation on twitter on Sunday! We tweet throughout the day and share recipes from all over the world. Our weekly chat starts at 7:00 pm ET. Follow the #SundaySupper hashtag and remember to include it in your tweets to join in the chat. To get more great Sunday Supper Recipes, visit our website or check out our Pinterest board.

Would you like to join the Sunday Supper Movement? It’s easy. You can sign up by clicking here: Sunday Supper Movement

#BundtBakers: Happy Fall

~ lk529 ~ 13 Comments

4ae7b-bundtbakerspostIt’s that time of month for me to share a bundt cake with you alongside #BundtBakers. #BundtBakers is a group of bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bundts with a common ingredient or theme. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme or ingredient. This month Teri of The Freshman Cook is hosting and selected the theme “Happy Fall,” leaving it wide open for us to celebrate the season any way we desire – as long as it’s in bundt form, of course!

We have found a great church here in California and are starting to call it home. It’s a smaller congregation than the church we attended in Ohio and we’re slowly becoming a part of this church family.

Being far from family, we don’t get the opportunity to go on regular date nights and are never without the boys. One day we’ll trust someone other than grandparents to watch them, but for now, we’re not ready. Church is our opportunity to give us and the kids some time away. The first time we dropped them off at the nursery was a near disaster. Firecracker had a major meltdown and we were called to return and comfort him. The second visit was a complete 180 as he was calm enough to realize they had a train table and countless trains and cars to play with. Now, he runs in the door and doesn’t look back – he even asks to go to church throughout the week. Treat followed the same pattern, and while he still tries to follow me out the door, I haven’t gotten the message “the baby is crying” (a message they’ll only send if 10 minutes of consoling doesn’t do the trick) in weeks!

One of my favorite things about this church is their dedication to the community. Each Wednesday they provide dinner for the hungry and homeless and anyone who shows up. They feed over 100 people each week! I’d noticed a request for desserts in the bulletin and knew I had to help out. Physically volunteering hasn’t been possible with my husband away (see the no baby sitter scenario above), but baking I can do! Once our family is whole again we’re going to figure out how we can do more to help out while one of us stays home with the boys.

14705826_10104113714664701_304176535388205071_nThis week was my first week delivering dessert. To provide individually wrapped desserts I thought it’d be best to use my Garland Bundt Pan and my Bundt Duet Pan. Unfortunately, the 6 smaller cakes all stuck! So, while my donation of 15 slices from the duet pan wasn’t what I’d hoped to be delivering, it was a start.

The “broken” cakes didn’t go to waste though! I scraped the pan clean and have been eating it by the handful. Hey, crumbs don’t count, right? Firecracker enjoyed the cake, too. He listened to me when I told him he couldn’t touch the larger cakes, that we had to eat the broken cake. His response, was to bring a chair from his toddler table into the kitchen, climb up it, and eat the broken cake, declaring “I love broken cake!”

Poached Pear and Cranberry Bundt with Maple Marscapone Frosting

Ingredients for cake:

  • 2 C sugar, divided use
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 3 pears, peeled
  • 1 pkg (5 oz) dried cranberries
  • 1 stick softened butter
  • 1/2 C vegetable oil
  • 1 C brown sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 C flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp cardamom
  • 1/4 tsp cloves

Ingredients for frosting:

  • 1/2 stick softened butter
  • 1/4 C softened marscapone cheese
  • 1 C powdered sugar
  • 2-3 tbsp real maple syrup

Steps:

  1. Poach the pears: Bring 4 C water, 1 C sugar, and the cinnamon stick to a boil. Add the whole pears and simmer 15 minutes, or until tender. Remove pears from poaching liquid, core them, and chop. Set aside. Reserve 1/4 of the liquid before discarding.
  2. Reconstitute the cranberries: Bring 1 1/2 C water to a boil. Add the cranberries. Remove from heat and allow cranberries to plump up, about 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
  3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heavily grease bundt pan(s).
  4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, oil, brown sugar, and remaining 1 C of white sugar. Add the eggs one at a time.
  5. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves.
  6. Add the dry ingredients to the stand mixer, alternating with the reserved poaching liquid.
  7. Fold in the chopped pears and cranberries.
  8. Pour batter into prepared bundt pan(s). Bake 35-55 minutes depending on the size of your pan.

*This recipe is adapted from Tessa at http://thecakeblog.com/2013/11/pear-cranberry-cake.html*

Poached Pear and Cranberry Bundt with Maple Marscapone Frosting for #BundtBakers from Sew You Think You Can Cook

You can see all our of lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about #BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

And don’t forget to take a peek at what other talented bakers have baked this month:

Apple, Pear and Honey Cider Bundt Cake by All That’s Left Are the Crumbs

Apple Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Salted Caramel Drizzle by Cookaholic Wife

Bundt Cake de Chocolate Blanco y Moras by La Mejor Manera de hacer

Chestnut Cream Marbled Bundt Cake by I Love Bundt Cakes

Chocolate Caramel Apple Cake by The Freshman Cook

Ginger and Cinnamon Bundt Cake by Los Chatos Chefs

Impossible Pumpkin Pie Bundt by Faith, Hope, Love, and Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice

Jack O’Lantern Cake by Palatable Pastime

Persimmon Apple Bundt by Tea and Scones

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake by Patty’s Cake

Pumpkin Pie Bundt by Jane’s Adventures in Dinner

Pumpkin Spice Cake with Caramel Drizzle by Living the Gourmet

Robert E. Lee Bundt Cakeby The Queen of Scones

Spiced Rum Pumpkin Bundt by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Sticky Pecan Pie Bundt by Food Lust People Love

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

SRC: Mini Pecan Pie Cupcakes

~ lk529 ~ 13 Comments

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It’s Secret Recipe Club Reveal Day! In the Secret Recipe Club, each participating blogger is assigned a blog from another participating blogger and secretly searches their site for something to recreate. The accompanying blog post then goes live on reveal day! So while I was immersed in my assigned blog, someone else was picking through mine! I’m so excited to be part of this group, to see what on my blog peaks other’s interests and to stumble upon new blogs and new recipes.

I had to chuckle when I received my assignment in my email this month. You see, for the past two reveals April of Angels Home Sweet Homestead was assigned my blog! For our themed barbecue/picnic reveal she made Mexican Street Corn Salad and for our traditional Group C reveal she chose Cinnamon and Honey Roasted Chickpeas. I suppose it was only fitting that I took my turn diving more deeply into April’s blog.

April’s philosophy behind her blog is fantastic. She writes:

I want to bring back a simpler way of life, where families sit down together to a home cooked meal and talk every day, growing as much of that food as possible with our own hands, and the old-fashioned art of canning that food too.

I just love that! While I can’t grow my own food – partly due to lack of yard but mostly due to lack of green thumb – I can provide home cooked meals for my family. After our 18 months in Ohio without a dining table, it was a goal for our California home to have a space dedicated to eating family dinners. Our large table fits perfectly off the kitchen (and doubles as extra counter space) and is set with two booster/highchair seats for my boys. We have finally gotten into a rhythm of dinner between 6-6:30 and I love it! Firecracker is reaching an age where he can recount the day’s activities to Daddy and I know that as the boys continue to get older, the stress of eating will give way to pure enjoyment and nurturing our relationships and bodies.

Seven recipes made their way to my secret Pinterest board from April’s blog including Fruity Breakfast Burritos, Restaurant Style Salsa, and Greek Yogurt Tuna Salad. I was going to show the list to my husband and have him decide what I’d make. But then I didn’t. Though I’m pretty sure I picked the “right” answer anyway.

While I was updating my planner this month I decided to take a peek at the food holidays for July. I was slightly surprised to see that National Pecan Pie Day isn’t in the fall, but it’s July 12th! My decision was made. April had on her blog, and a recipe that I’d saved prior, Pecan Pie Muffins.

Now, I’m not sure these qualify as a muffin. That’s why you’ll notice I renamed them cupcakes. Though I’m not sure if that’s accurate either. Muffins imply a little bit of healthiness. There’s absolutely nothing healthy about these sweet bites.I could say that pecans are a source of protein, but that’s really stretching it. I almost just called them Mini Pecan Pie Cups but without a crust I don’t think they qualify as pie.

Whatever you want to call them, they’re pretty delicious. (And that’s coming from someone who doesn’t care for pecan pie!) I ate two within an hour of them coming out of the oven – one to taste test and one as a snack during their photo shoot.

April made hers in a regular size muffin cup and got 6 of them, but I thought mini would be the way to go. I can’t have my husband taking only 3 to work, because let’s be honest, there’s no way all 6 would be leaving the house untouched. I’m glad I made them mini, too, because I don’t think I’d be able to eat an entire muffin of this dessert before my sweet tooth had enough.

Firecracker helped bake these treats, but he won’t be getting to try them – they’re simply too sticky and sweet for my 2 year old. Now I just have to send them with Stuart to work so he doesn’t see them sitting on the counter.

This recipe makes 24 mini muffins/cupcakes. I recommend baking these without liners, no greasing of the pan necessary – there’s plenty of butter in the batter. I was 2 liners short of 24 and those two cups were our favorites because the sugar gets all crispy and crusty on the edges. If you do use liners, not that they’re much easier to peel back if you allow the cupcakes to cool completely before eating.

Mini Pecan Pie Cupcakes

Ingredients:

  • 1 C brown sugar
  • 1 C chopped pecans
  • 1/2 C flour
  • 2/3 C butter, melted
  • 2 eggs, beaten

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, pecans, and flour. Mix in the butter and egg until combined.
  3. Divide batter evenly among 24 mini muffin tin cups.
  4. Bake 18 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack.

*This recipe is adapted from April at http://www.angelshomesweethomestead.com/2011/01/pecan-pie-muffins.html*

Mini Pecan Pie Cupcakes for #SecretRecipeClub from Sew You Think You Can Cook

To see the other bloggers who participated in The Secret Recipe Club this month click here:

#SundaySupper: Root Vegetables

~ lk529 ~ 25 Comments

Every year in our marriage we’ve celebrated Valentine’s Day by enjoying fondue. That’s what happens when you get two Fondue Makers! Sometimes I do a cheese, sometimes chocolate, and sometimes even both!

This year, our 5th married Valentine’s Day, was a little different. Our stay here in Ohio has been for schooling, my husband will earn his Masters degree at the end of the month. He successfully defended his thesis this week! This calendar year has been quite a stressful and busy one so far and I am quite ready to get my husband back. So, for Valentine’s Day this year I was reading Chapters 4 and 5 of his thesis, being a second set of eyes to check for content cohesion and grammatical quirks.

I woke up really early on Sunday, February 14th to go to the grocery store before the post-church crowds did their shopping to get everything I’d need for Caramelized Shallot Fondue and Champagne Poached Pears. I also found some Florida Strawberries! And then I got to the check out only to discover that they couldn’t sell me alcohol before noon.

We decided we’d go back to get the champagne later in the day but a snow storm derailed those plans. It was on to Plan B. No plan. The plan of, “What’s in the fridge?” Beets. Pine nuts. Crescent rolls. Pasta. Bacon.

An internet search yielded a Beet Pesto Pizza. We didn’t have any of the toppings but the pesto we could make and serve over pasta instead. (We did toss some bacon in our pasta, too!)

The result? A beautiful, deep pink pasta which turned out to be simply perfect for Valentine’s Day! My garnish of parsley makes this a great option for Christmas, too.

That long introduction leads us to the theme for today’s #SundaySupper hosted by Cindy of Cindy’s Recipes and Writings, root vegetables. We contemplated adding some sweet potato to the pesto, but were too afraid of the color that might result. There are some great ideas for how to prepare a wide variety of root vegetables in today’s round-up, simply scroll past my photo to check them out!

Beet Pesto

Ingredients:

  • 1 large beet, peeled and diced
  • 2 tsp minced garlic
  • 2 tbsp pine nuts
  • 1/4 C extra virgin olive oil

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  2. Toss beet and garlic in a little bit of olive oil. Season with S+P. Place on a baking sheet and roast 20-30 minutes, or until tender. (Note: roasting time will depend on size of dice.)
  3. When slightly cooled, place in a food processor and pulse until fine. Add the pine nuts and olive oil and puree until smooth. Season to taste with S+P.
  4. Option: Serve on pasta with parmesan and parsley.

Beet Pesto for #Sunday Supper from Sew You Think You Can Cook

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8387592742_f6164fd5a8_oJoin the #SundaySupper conversation on twitter on Sunday! We tweet throughout the day and share recipes from all over the world. Our weekly chat starts at 7:00 pm ET. Follow the#SundaySupper hashtag and remember to include it in your tweets to join in the chat. To get more great Sunday Supper Recipes, visit our website or check out our Pinterest board.

Would you like to join the Sunday Supper Movement? It’s easy. You can sign up by clicking here: Sunday Supper Movement.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

#SundaySupper Month Kick-Off

~ lk529 ~ 24 Comments

I mentioned on New Year’s Day that this January is the first ever National Sunday Supper Month. It’s incredible that this movement is making a difference in families all over the country. Take the pledge this year and gather around the table as a family just once a week.

Enjoying dinner together as a family doesn’t have to be reserved for holidays or fancy meals, but I am sharing a show-stopping main course today. This Mustard-Crusted Pork Roast is what we had for Thanksgiving this year instead of turkey.

IMG_6795

With Treat being less than a month old we had a smaller Thanksgiving than usual. My husband’s parents drove up from Alabama to celebrate with us and the four of us enjoyed a less-than-traditional meal gathered around the table. I decided on pork instead of turkey or some other poultry because Firecracker was willingly and voluntarily eating pork. Unfortunately he wasn’t interested in the beautiful roast – I can’t even remember what he ended up eating that night.

Mustard-Crusted Pork Roast

Ingredients:

  • 1 C Kosher salt
  • 6 tbsp sugar
  • 6 tbsp gin
  • 7 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 2 tbsp peppercorns
  • 1 tsp whole allspice
  • 5 1/2 – 6 1/2 lb pork French rack (I had two separate roasts)
  • 1 C panko
  • 4 tbsp butter, at room temperature
  • 2 tbsp dried parsley
  • 2 tsp dried thyme
  • 3 tbsp Dijon mustard

Steps:

  1. Brine the pork: In a pot large enough for the pork roasts (I used my stock pot) combine salt, sugar, gin, garlic, bay leaves, peppercorns, and allspice with 4 C water over medium heat, stirring, until both the salt and sugar are dissolved. Add 8 C of ice and stir until brine is cool.
  2. Pierce the pork with a paring knife all over. Place in the cooled brine and refrigerate overnight.
  3. Place a roasting pan on the lowest level in the oven. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Remove the pork from the brine and pat dry, allow pork to come to room temperature while the oven and roasting pan preheat. Bring 3 C of the brine (and spices) to a boil.
  4. Pour hot brine in the bottom of the preheated roasting pan. Place the pork roast(s) on the roasting rack fat-side up. Roast 40 minutes.
  5. Make the crust: In the bowl of a food processor pulse the panko, butter, parsley, and thyme with a pinch of salt until combined.
  6. Remove the pork from the oven. Brush the roast(s) with the Dijon mustard and top with the panko mixture. Return pork to the oven and roast another 50 minutes.
  7. Increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees F and roast until the pork reaches an internal temperature of 140 degrees F, about 10 minutes. Allow pork to rest 20 minutes before carving.

*This recipe is modified from Food Network Magazine, Dec 2014*

Mustard-Crusted Pork Roast for #SundaySupper from Sew You Think You Can Cook

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Help us celebrate National Sunday Supper Month by entering the Idaho® Potato Let’s Poutine recipe contest, sponsored by the Idaho Potato Commission, with prizes of $500, $200 and $100, plus a ticket for each winner to Food and Wine Conference 2016. All the rules and conditions for entry can be found on our Sunday Supper Movement website.

Sunday Supper MovementJoin the #SundaySupper conversation on Twitter on Sunday! We tweet throughout the day and share recipes from all over the world. Our weekly chat starts at 7:00 pm ET. Follow the #SundaySupper hashtag and remember to include it in your tweets to join in the chat.

To get more great Sunday Supper Recipes, visit our website or check out our Pinterest board.

Would you like to join the Sunday Supper Movement? It’s easy. You can sign up by clicking here: Sunday Supper Movement.