Advent Event: 9 Days

One of the great things about the holidays is the holiday only (aka limited time) offerings at restaurants and grocery stores.  It is a time to indulge in the "holiday flavors" - peppermint, cranberry, eggnog, and gingerbread, et. al.  The bummer thing is that they are here for such a limited time and there are only so many calories a person can consume during a holiday season.  Here is a small sampling:

McDonalds actually makes a very good Peppermint Hot Chocolate this year.

The snowman one is cute enough to warrant a visit to Krispy Kreme, but I would like to try the Red Velvet Cake donut too!

Starbucks cranberry bliss bars are a holiday staple for some folks.

All the shakes at Chick-fil-A are worth it, but a Peppermint Chocolate Chip one is perfect for the holiday season.

I think one would have to have a death wish to partake in 3 of the 4 holiday pancake offerings from IHOP: eggnog, pumpkin praline, and white chocolate chip mint (wait, WHAT?).  But I might give the plain old pumpkin ones a try.

Apparently the chains haven't gotten around to trying to make something less decadent.  I guess they figure it is the season to do it.  WARNING: badly paraphrased joke ahead: 

It's like, "Baby Jesus was born...where's dessert?!"
Of course if you ever find yourself on death row, make sure that you request opposing holiday seasonal offerings.  Just a little holiday tip for you, no extra charge.

Advent Event: 16-14 Days

What happened?!?! 

It happens to me every time I start an advent calendar: I start out doing it faithfully every day, and then it hit a wall. 

In this case the wall hit me...came right out and smacked me.  And it was like it was a taunting wall because I was specifically doing a "foodie" advent calendar and blam...first case of food poisoning in my life!!

Ahh!

So while I was miserable the last few days, I did have visions of sugarplums dancing in my head, so here are abbreviated days, with a catch up for today to follow shortly. 

Day 16.  Sugarplums.  I literally had sugarplums dancing through my head, but after I got on the Internet to find out what they actually are, I found out mine were nothing like the real thing - fake sugarplums, I guess.  I was thinking they were something along the lines of a baked apple or poached pear.  Wrong!  I was thinking, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if I could find a slow cooker recipe for sugarplums?"  Wrong, again. 

For the uneducated (that was me about 5 minutes ago), sugarplums are a type of candy made from dried fruit (not just plums) shaped into a ring.  Sounds interesting, right? 
So I found this recipe from Betty and think I might just have to try it:  

Day 15. Nuts.  I almost drove myself bonkers (did you see what I did there?) trying to figure out what to do with some nuts I got that no one seems to be interested in.  We hosted Thanksgiving at our house and I thought it would be lovely and somewhat decorative to put some nuts in a serving piece and place a nutcracker (old fashioned, not crazy looking, spooky figurine) next to it, so people could snack before or after the meal.  How many were eaten by the end of the day?  Not a one!

So, we are going out of town on Friday and I am at a loss.  They aren't the kind of nuts you can take with you on the road because they are in the shell and frankly, I don't think I want nutshells all over the car. 
So, my advent calendar treat is a question for you: What should I do with all my nuts?  Should I give them to a neighbor?  Find a squirrel?  Help!

Day 14.  Cooking with Class.  The only event I went out to do whilst sick was the annual open house for my local (and favorite) recreational cooking school, Cooking with Class!  I love this mother and daughter team of entreprenuers! 

Each year they have a Christmas open house and this one was wonderful.  They have food and wine tastings...which I couldn't partake (the aforementioned wall).  And they offer discounts on lots of great stuff.  I needed to pick up a very special gift for someone important, so I made the effort to get down there right when the doors opened.  It was packed and full of happy foodie shoppers - my kind of people!

So my foodie treat for the day is a shout out to my Cooking with Class people!  I love you guys and can't wait to take more classes with you in the future. 

If you are local, truly consider taking a class with them...any class; they are all good.  If you are not local, I encourage you to find a local cooking school and dive right in.  You will meet like minded food lovers and new friends. Oh, and you will get to eat amazing food!

Thanks for sticking with me...here's hoping there aren't any more obstacles to Christmas!

Advent Event: 20 Days

I can't believe it is 20 days to Christmas!  It is such a busy time and it flies by so fast!  Here is what is on  the calendar today:

Around here, we often have people over for dinner in the middle of the week, especially around the holidays.  When we do, I am always challenged to come up with a simple dessert to serve along with a simple meal.  It can't take too much time in the day to make, but has to be indulgent (what dessert isn't indulgent?).  This dessert is a perfect candidate for middle of the week entertaining during the holidays. 

Croissant Bread Pudding w/ Citrus Carmel Sauce

Bread Pudding
Ingredients:
4 large croissants
1 red baking apple
6 eggs
1/2 c. plus 3 Tbsp. sugar, divided
2 c. half and half
1 orange
1/2 c. pecans chopped

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Lightly spray baker with nonstick cooking spray.  Slice croissants from top to bottom into 1/2 inch slices.  Set aside 16 of the largest slices.  Cube remaining slices and place in bottom of baker.  Arrange reserved slices over cubes in an overlapping circular pattern.
2.  Core and slice apple, leaving peel on.  Tuck apple slices between croissant slices.
3.  In a medium bowl, whisk eggs and 1/2 c. sugar.  Warm up half and half in microwave (on HIGH) for 2 minutes or until hot.  Slowly add half and half to egg mixture; whisking until well blended.  Carefully pour egg mixture over croissants.  If necessary, lightly press croissants down to coat.
4.  Zest and juice orange (you will need about 2 tsp. zest and 1/4 c. juice); set juice aside.  Combine remaining 3 Tbsp. sugar, orange zest, and pecans; sprinkle over croissants.  Bake 30-35 Minutes or until golden brown and set in center.  Remove from oven and allow to cool on a rack for 10 minutes.


Citrus Carmel Sauce
Ingredients:
3/4 c. caramel ice cream topping
1/4 tsp. rum extract
1/2 c. golden raisins (optional)
1/4 c. orange juice (reserved from above)

Directions: Combine all ingredients in a Microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 30-60 seconds or until hot.  Serve sauce over bread pudding.

The recipe is from Pampered Chef.

Churros Magnificos

I sense a theme lately in my posts.  Must be a Mexican mood!  For dessert for my mom's birthday, I decided to make her favorite Disney dessert.  She calls them Charos (yes, like the singer - I don't think she would taste good deep fried, but it might be a way to get her to be quiet), but the actual name is Churros.  We have been going to Disneyland with her for about 5 years and she still hasn't learned how to say them, but she sure knows how to eat them!  They ARE especially tasty at the end of a fun-filled, junk-foodie day at Mickey's home.
I have tried churros before with very unhappy results.  So, armed with a new recipe and an important innovation from Drew, I was ready to make this dessert.  The results were pretty good!  I got the recipe from Ultimate Mexican.  It is simple to prepare and tastes and smells great!  Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
2 Tbsp. packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
vegetable oil for deep-fat frying
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Procedure:
1. In a medium saucepan, combine water, butter, brown sugar, and salt.  Bring to a boil over medium heat.  Add flour all at once, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon.  Cook and stir mixture until it forms a ball and pulls away form the side of the pan.  Remove from heat.  Let sit for 10 minutes.  Add vanilla and egg, beating well with a wooden spoon. 
2.  Transfer batter to a pastry bag (or cookie press, see below) fitted with a star tip.  Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper.  Pipe 4 inch long logs onto prepared baking sheet. 
3.  In a deep saucepan, heat 3 inches of oil to 375F.  Fry logs, a few at a time, in hot oil about 2 minutes or until golden brown on both sides, turning once.  Drain on paper towels.  Keep warm while you do the remaining batches.
4.  In a medium bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon.  Roll warm churros in the cinnamon sugar mixture.  Serve warm.

The innovation Drew came up with was using a cookie press to create the traditional churro shape.  I have a Pampered Chef cookie press that has never seen action.  I opened it up and checked out the designs and Drew helped me pick one that would work - it was perfect.  The press also made forming the Churro dough into churro shapes so simple.  If you don't have a cookie press, you can use a pastry bag fitted with a star tip.

Banana Bake-Off

Something has come over me in the last few days.  I feel like baking more than normal.  Maybe I am trying to get it out of my system before it is way too HOT to bake anything!  Oh, and when I have lots of ingredients to use up before they go bad, I also get the baking bug. 

The result is a Wednesday evening banana bake-off.  I was perusing some cookbooks on Wednesday afternoon and came across a most intriguing recipe called King Cupcakes.  They of course are inspired by the KING of rock'n'roll, Elvis' love of peanut butter banana sandwiches.  The back story on why this recipe jumped off the page is Drew (my most-of-the-time non-dessert-loving-husband)'s love of Reese's Peanut Butter Cup inspired by the same thing (he has a knack of finding a food/drink item that no one else likes, falling in love with it, and lamenting the all-to-soon disappearance of this item for YEARS after they are gone).  Thus, I thought he would at least try these cupcakes. 
Oh, and I also had some over-ripe bananas that needed to be used mos'scocious (I have no proof that Elvis used this phrase, but I imagine him saying it and smile).
So, I got started on the cupcakes and found them easy to make.  The original recipe is from Cooking Light, so I, of course, used all the real ingredients to make sure I got every bit of fat in each morsel.   I will not put the recipe  since you can find it here, but I will tell you that the frosting requires a little tweaking.  I added a hint of milk to make it spreadable.  Oh...these are really good.  Drew said he would prefer a little more banana flavor in there.  This could be accomplished by the inclusion of banana extract and the exclusion of vanilla extract...I think.

While I had almost all the ingredients at hand, I also whipped up some of my Granny's Banana Bread.  I did change the recipe for the first time.  The recipe calls for water and I substituted milk.  I did not find too much of a difference, so I guess you could do it either way.  I think I will take some over to my neighbor friend tomorrow.  As stated in a previous post, I love my Granny's Banana Bread and am thankful for her example in the kitchen...great memories.  It is amazing that though our loved ones pass on, their recipes remain with us as part of their legacy.

Recipes Unrelated

The last couple of days have included cooking and eating, but I have had a hard time getting my thoughts together regarding the results.  Here we go (in no particular thought pattern):

Saturday:

To the dreaded slow-cooker, I added a questionable recipe. 
Fish in the slow-cooker...I have done it and now I won't need to do that again.  There is really no way to know exactly when it is ready and the recipe I used was less than desirable in the flavor department. 

Sunday:
Guests over (Drew's parents).
In a complete change of pace for me, I got somewhat intimidated by the planned recipe and decided to go with a tried on true recipe. 
Chicken and Dumplings done a la Sandra Lee (who I find mostly annoying...for a number of reasons, one of which includes her recipes actually tasting good). 
The other recipe did the whole thing from scratch and for some reason intimidated me. 
While thinking about this at length (I have nothing else to fill my days), I realized it was because I have never had chicken and dumplings other than the ones by Sandra Lee.  When I was a child, the word "dumpling" disturbed me and I refused to even try this dish. 
The Chicken and Dumplings turned out very nice and I recommend them heartily to anyone who, unlike me, is fine with the word "dumpling" and its implications.

Also made Pumpkin Spice Bars (Christmas with Southern Living 2009) for dessert.  These were somewhat disappointing.

This was ironic because it was the Chicken and Dumplings I was concerned would not meet the standard of Sandra Lee (and thus the other recipe was tossed).  I was really looking forward to the Pumpkin dessert.
There is another pumpkin bar recipe I have made a couple of times in the last couple of years and it is phenomenal.  This one, not as much.  I would have rather had the other.
While thinking about disappointing desserts (again...nothing to fill my days), I started realizing that dessert is something you don't mess with. 
I really can't have dessert every day because of the calories and so if I want dessert, it is going to have to be something tried and true, something to look forward to, something to talk about.
This is magnified when dining out.  In addition to the caloric intake factor, there is an expense to consider.  This is the reason I don't order dessert at most restaurants.  I don't want to be disappointed and a brownie with ice cream on top is not usually worth my time.  The list of must have dine-out desserts for me is extremely small...sad!

Monday
Today was the first day I woke up and was cold.  It was one of those days!  This meant soup. 
So, I got started on PC's Creamy Harvest Soup.  This involved roasting various fall veggies, pureeing them, adding cream, and serving. 

It was not that bad, but not that great.  Drew said, it didn't have" much flavor."  I agreed with him that it was mild. 

There you have it.  You are caught up in the kitchen.  And in the meantime the Mavs have won the last two games, tonight's had the best ending of the season.  A cold-ish day and a win - can't beat that!

Ham Happiness

For those of you who have read past posts regarding my slow cooker adventures, you will not be surprised to hear that it was with great trepidation that I served tonight's dinner.  As I prepared tonight's foray into the world of slow cooking, I realized, "this may not go well."  You may know one of the rules to slow cooking food is: always add liquid.  This recipe lacked liquid.  I was apprehensive. 
Let me give you the rundown for the evening.  We invited Ken and Conni (Drew's parents) and Stacie and Morgan over for dinner.  Sometime this afternoon I put together the recipe from Fix it and Forget It: Ham and Scalloped Potatoes.  The worst part of the preparation (don't hate me PC) was the slicing of the potatoes.  I used my new and improved, much safer mandoline from PC.  It took quite a while to slice all nine potatoes required for this recipe, so long in fact that I didn't slice the last two.  I gave up.  This mandoline does not seem to work as easily as the last incarnation.  Granted the last incarnation nearly cut my thumb off twice.  This one seems to require much more force behind it and I had to cut each poato in half and then put it on the little food pusher thing, then get it all lined up.  This process took a good 20 minutes.  Not my idea of fun, but I could also blame this on my stubborness.  I had a knife that works and I could have just as easily sliced the potatoes thin, but then I could not rant about the mandoline.  (Remember, I told you PC, you can't hate).   All that said, I got the whole thing together and then checked the recipe for the third or fourth time to try to see where I had missed the liquid.  Alas, there was no liquid and I began to fret.
I moved on to dessert next.  I made Ultimate Chocolate Pudding from Christmas with Southern Living 2009.  I enjoyed the process of making pudding from scratch because, I confess, I have never done this.  I used Ghiradelli cocoa for this attempt and I was very pleased with the results.  I tried a little bit off the spatula, then I tried a little more, and I little more.  Then I had to put the bowl in the sink and run water over it to make sure I did not lick the whole bowl.  If you have never made chocolate pudding from scratch, I highly recommend it.  It was good even whilst warm.  I put it in individual serving bowls and chilled it until after dinner.

So, the reckoning came and I was still very nervous.  I had forewarned our dinner guests that if it was awful, we would order pizza.  AND...It turned out o.k.  In fact, it was better than o.k., it was good, even great.  Everyone really liked it and Ken even got seconds (not a normal thing for him since the stroke).  It was a hit!  It don't know what you are doing to me slow cooker, but you get me every time.  Someday, I will understand your whims and ways.  Tonight, I was just happy that it worked!  Oh, I must add that this does not photograph well, so you will just have to imagine a wonderfully constructed, yet somewhat ugly dish with all the comfort of home.  We served this with crescent rolls and green beans.  A pretty well rounded meal.

Then we had coffee (well a couple of us did) and dessert. The pudding was wonderful!  Mmmm!  The biggest fan was Connil.  I can add this one to the list of her favorites.  She would like for me to consider making her a pudding sandwich.  I will consider this at some future date, after I have gotten over the shuddering. 

Baking with Morgan

Well, it is that time of week again and Morgan is over to spend the night.  I really enjoy having Morgan over, its like getting to adopt a cool teenager for the day.  I get to make dinner with her and bake a dessert of some sort, make her breakfast in the morning and then get her on her way  to school.  For the record, I do know having a child involves more than just food; but since most of my life revolves around food, would you expect this to be any different?
So what did we make?  Chocolate Carmel Oatmeal Chews.  This is a PC recipe from a set of recipe cards.  The verdict:  Good.  I think we may have eaten them a little early because the recipe says to cool completely.  I would definitely increase the cooking time to get them a little crisper (just my preference).  Morgan put all the ingredients together and did the steps of the recipe, while I read the recipe to her.  She needs to work out those stirring muscles, but we have lots of Thursdays to practice.  I would recommend this when you are short on time, but need to make something for a group.  It is mostly made with pantry items and makes a lot.  Morgan says, "they were delicious."

Thursdays with Morgan

Not to be confused with the popular (and still unread by me) book Tuesdays with Morrie, I am now spending my Thursdays with Morgan.  Instead of spending time with an old, wise man, am spending time with a young woman who makes me feel really OLD!  Morgan has just started high school and I feel privileged to be one of the people she wants to hang with.  We like to bake goodies.  Last week, we created a long list of the things we would like to make, which should take us easily to the end of the year!  We figure we will bless others with the baked goods, so our waistlines do not suffer. 
Today, a Pampered Chef recipe for Banana Cream Brownie Squares.  This was a hit Pampered Chef!!  I knew you could do it!  Really simple recipe with box brownies, vanilla pudding, with cool whip and bananas.  I am not a fan of putting bananas on anything, so I just ate around them, but they were good.  I especially liked the pudding mix topping.  Great after school snack or perfect for dessert with a small crowd.  Morgan cut the bananas, folded in the cool whip and put it all together.  Love having someone in the kitchen to help me out!