Recipe: Toffee Dip

With fall comes apples and with apples comes toffee dip.  

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Every year we go apple picking with my parents, and we usually  have too many apples to know what to do with.  This year I was going through my recipe binder and came across this recipe for toffee dip that you serve with apples.  I hadn't made it in years but anything with toffee is delicious in my book.  This recipe makes about 2 cups of dip which is quite a bit.  I served it to some girlfriends one night and then to our Catan friends (Hi Michelle!!) the next night.  It was a hit both nights, so I thought I would pass along the recipe in case you too have too many apples in your house or you just love toffee or both :)

Toffee Dip

Yield approx. 2 cups

• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (8-ounce) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup toffee bits (about 4 ounces)
• apples

Mix together first 4 ingredients with a mixer until smooth.  Stir in toffee bits.  Cover and chill.  Serve with sliced apples.

Source: Cooking Light  How this is light I don't know...but it's darn good!

Recipe: Cake Balls

I made these little beauties for Easter this past Sunday and boy were they yummy!  I am always looking for new recipes to try out and this one seemed easy and something that Ava could help me with.  These are quite impressive to look at too so you can use them for all your fancy-smancy parties.  They look so good we had to convince my uncle to try one because he thought they were fake and we were just seeing if he would eat it.  Come on we're family, would we do that to him?!  Well...

Cake Balls

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Makes approx. 50 quarter sized balls

1 box yellow or white cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)
1 can vanilla frosting (16 oz.)
2 packages candy melts (I found mine at Michael's Craft Stores)
sprinkles or other decorations for the topsparchment or wax paper

1. Make cake according to directions and let cool completely.
2. Crumble cake into a large bowl and start adding your frosting.  I added about 3/4 of a can of frosting and it seemed to hold together well.  
3. Roll into quarter sized balls and place on parchment paper.  Chill for several hours in the refrigerator.  You can also put them in the freezer if you're short on time.
4. Melt candy melts according to package directions.  I only melted one bag at a time because I was using 2 different colors and the candy cools too quickly.  You can reheat it if need be.  
5. Dip cake balls into the candy and let excess drip off.  Place on parchment paper to dry.  
6. Before the outer candy dries, add your sprinkles.
7. Let the cake balls dry completely before storing them in the refrigerator until you're ready to serve them.

You can do so many variations for these delicious cake balls.  Try red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting.  Or how about german chocolate cake with coconut pecan frosting.  Ohhh, what about strawberry cake with vanilla frosting for pink centers.  You can also use chocolate bark to dip the cake balls in as well.  Let your imagination run wild!

Recipe from Bakerella

Morning Routine

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There are a few things that have become almost a necessity each morning.  I think that a ginormous cup of coffee goes without saying for a new momma who's up nursing throughout the night.  If you like coffee that is!  

The second part of my morning routine has become a bowl of these steel cut oats.  It seems to me that people either really like oatmeal or they never touch the stuff.  In our house, we're oatmeal people.  We've always used the quick cooking oats or regular oats.  I'd heard about steel cut oats before from Alton Brown (love him!) and when I saw them on the shelf in my grocery store, I snatched them up.  They are so yummy and quite different from the oats we're all used too.  These take about 20 minutes to cook on the stove but the nutty flavor and texture is so worth the 20 minutes.  When the oats are done we stir in a little brown sugar for a bit of sweetness.  The next part is up to you.  Start adding whatever sounds good.  One of my favs is fresh strawberries.  Ava likes raisins in hers or even Craisins if we have them.  You could add apples, honey, maple syrup, cinnamon, vanilla or anything else that sounds good to you.  Try them.  Trust me you will like them.  Here are a few recipes from around the web to jazz up your oats even more.

Alton Brown's basic recipe

Overnight Oatmeal (also Alton Brown's Recipe)

Annie's Eats Recipe

Recipe: Spicy Bean Filling

I'm a big fan of Mexican food so this recipe was right up my alley.  Easy, fast and as an added bonus it's cheap because there is no meat in it.  Did I mention that it is really tasty, too?  I have made this twice now only to receive raves from my family.  The first time I served it as make your own burritos with lettuce, cheese, tomato, avocado, sour cream, etc.  The most recent time I made it I used it as a quesadilla filling with just the bean filling, cheese and black olives.  It's what I had on hand, and it was so good.  The left overs are really yummy too. 

Spicy Bean Filling

Serves: about 6

2 tsp. vegetable oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. ground cumin

1/4 tsp. salt

pinch of cayenne pepper

1/3 cup water

1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 (15 oz.) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1/3 cup salsa

Extras:

tortillas

lettuce

tomato

shredded cheese

sour cream

whatever else you think will taste good :o)

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add garlic to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Stir in chile powder, cumin, salt and cayenne pepper; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Stir in 1/3 cup water and beans; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in salsa. 

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Source:  Slightly adapted from Cooking Light and Annie's Eats

Recipe: Blueberry Coffee Cake

Sorry about the unexpected week long break.  Sometimes time just slips away from me and the blog is the first thing to go.  To make it up to you here's a simple little recipe that I made a couple times over the holidays.  Once for a light Christmas morning breakfast and then again for our New Year's Eve shindig with friends were we served breakfast for dinner in our jammies.  I've made this recipe with blackberries and blueberries and both are yummy.  The blackberries however are heavier and sunk to the bottom so the end result was not as pretty but still very tasty.  This isn't your traditional coffee cake recipe with the crumbly brown sugar topping but definitely worth trying out.

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Serves 8

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup granulated sugar

6 tablespoons butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 large egg white

1 1/3 cups low-fat buttermilk

Cooking spray

2 cups fresh blueberries (1 pint)

turbinado sugar (optional but adds that great crunch on top that I love)

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife.  Combine flour, baking powder, soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

3. Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended.  Add vanilla, egg, and egg white; beat well.  Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix after each addition.

4. Spoon half of the batter into a 9-inch round baking pan coated with cooking spray and parchment paper covering the bottom.  Sprinkle evenly with 1 cup of blueberries.  Spoon remaining batter over blueberries; sprinkle evenly with remaining 1 cup blueberries.  

5. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes then sprinkle top with some turbinado sugar.  Return to over for another 10 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in pan 10 minutes on wire rack; remove from pan.  Cool completely on wire rack.

Source:  Cooking Light, May 2008

Recipe: Herb Biscuits

Sometimes when planning a large menu like Thanksgiving, I forget to plan for things.  It happens.  This year it was the bread.  I would love to make rolls from scratch but this year I totally forgot so I'm going with plan B.  I don't even know if you can call this a recipe but I'm going with it.  I like these because they look fancy with very little work.

Herb Biscuits

1 can refrigerated biscuits (I prefer the Grands Buttermilk Flaky biscuits)

6 Tbsp.  melted butter

1 1/2 tsp. parsley or dill or whatever dried herbs suit your fancy

Dash of garlic powder

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl combine melted butter, herbs and garlic powder.
3. Cut each biscuit into 4 equal pieces and toss into the butter mixture.
4. After all biscuit pieces are thoroughly coated, place 3 pieces in each section of a muffin tin.  
5. Bake at 350 for 14-17 minutes.

Serve these right out of the oven and there's no need for butter since they're already drenched in it.  Each little muffin biscuit pulls apart into 3 little sections that are so so yummy.  Not to mention that it looks like you spent a long time whipping them up.  Enjoy!

Recipe: Cranberry Orange Cookies

I am quite the sucker for all things citrus.  Throw in some fresh cranberries and these cookies were a must in our house.  They are sweet and tangy all at the same time.  These are also chewy cookies which is nice for a change.  Everyone in our house loves them.  I made some with the glaze and some without.  If you don't have time to make the glaze then just leave it off.  They still will disappear...quickly!  These would be a nice compliment to pumpkin pie and coffee after you've stuffed yourselves with turkey.  They look pretty and festive too.

Cranberry Orange Cookies

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups fresh cranberries, halved
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• 1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 3 tablespoons orange juice
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg until well blended. Mix in 1 teaspoon orange zest and 2 tablespoons orange juice. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the orange mixture. Mix in cranberries until evenly distributed. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Cookies should be spaced at least 2 inches apart.
3. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven, until the edges are golden. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.
4. In a small bowl, mix together 1/2 teaspoon orange zest, 3 tablespoons orange juice and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Spread over the tops of cooled cookies. Let stand until set.

*Recipe from allrecipes.com

Recipe: Baked Sweet Potato Fries

image: readersdigest.ca

I'm a sucker for a good sweet potato but no one around me really likes them the way I do.  That being said I'm always trying to find a way to incorporate them into our meals about twice a year (other than Thanksgiving).  Last night I made French Dip Sandwiches and wanted fries to go with them.  Having picked up two sweet potatoes at the store earlier in the week, I decided to make "fries" out of them.  These are not going to be crispy like normal oil fried french fries but I think they have good flavor, are easy to prepare and are a little out of the ordinary.  Steve even commented how good they were which is saying a lot.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into thick fries

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 Tbsp. brown sugar

salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Line a baking sheet with foil and place your fries on the sheet.  Drizzle with oil and toss to evenly coat the fries (I use  my hands).  Sprinkle with brown sugar, salt and pepper.  
3. Bake for 15 minutes.
4. Remove from oven, toss and bake for another 5-10 minutes or until fork tender.

I'm sure there are countless other ways to jazz these up but this is a simple recipe that you can add your own flare to.

Recipe: Spicy Sausage Dip

Yup, that's not a picture of spicy sausage dip.  This recipe, while thoroughly yummy, is not that pretty to look at.  Instead I thought a random picture of my little one was cuter (at least to me it is).

Almost every family I know has this type of dip at family functions and get togethers.  We had a small crew over to our house at the last minute on Halloween and I needed something fast, easy and crowd pleasing to fix.  I had planned white chicken chili and cornbread but the addition of 4 more people to our already group of 8 had me worried I didn't have enough food.  This dip was the easy solution and feeds quite a few people with only 3 ingredients. 

Spicy Sausage Dip

16 oz. spicy/hot sausage

16 oz. reduced fat cream cheese (not fat free, yuck!)

2 (10 oz.) cans of Rotel tomatoes with green chilies (I use mild)

tortilla chips, veggies or whatever else sounds good for dipping

1. In a skillet brown sausage and drain fat.  
2. Add cream cheese and tomatoes to skillet and heat until thoroughly melted and combined.
3. Transfer to a small crock pot and serve with chips, etc.

In my experience this has always been a great dip for the guys in the crowd.  They're always the ones who tell me how good it is.  I think because it has a little kick to it.  This would be a great recipe to bookmark for a Superbowl party, too.

Recipe: Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Sugar Frosting

Light, fluffy, soft, irresistible.  All words to describe these melt-in-your-mouth cookies from Better Homes and Gardens Recipe site.I made these for our soup party last weekend and they were so yummy.  I made the cookies several days ahead of time and layered them between wax paper to freeze until I needed them.  The day of the party I made the frosting and frosted my little heart out.  This recipe makes a lot of cookies!  It would be very easy to half this recipe though and enjoy only 30 of these yummy little cookies.  

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• 2  cups  butter, softened
• 2  cups  granulated sugar
• 2  teaspoons  baking powder
• 2  teaspoons  baking soda
• 1  teaspoon  salt
• 1  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
• 1  teaspoon  ground nutmeg
• 2    eggs
• 2  teaspoons  vanilla
• 1  15-ounce can  pumpkin
• 4  cups  all-purpose flour
• 1/2  cup  butter
• 1/2  cup  packed brown sugar
• 1/4  cup  milk
• 1  teaspoon  vanilla
• 2-3/4  cups  powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, beat 2 cups butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Beat until combined, scraping bowl occasionally. Add eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla; beat until combined. Beat in pumpkin. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour.

2. Drop dough by heaping teaspoons 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until tops are set. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool.

3. In a small saucepan, heat 1/2 cup butter and brown sugar until melted and smooth. Transfer to a medium bowl. Stir in milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in powdered sugar until smooth. Spread frosting on cookies. (I let the frosting set up a bit before frosting the cookies.)

*Makes about 60 cookies.

Recipe: Slow Cooker Pot Roast

Now that the weather is finally starting to get chilly here, it's the perfect time for a great pot roast that is super simple. I throw this together in the morning and it simmers on low all day and makes the house smell fantastic.  When we sat down to eat this the other night, my husband said that he hated this growing up but now he looks forward to when I make it.  I think that's a compliment?  I serve it with crusty bread to soak up all the yummy gravy.

• 2 cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix
• 1 1/4 cups water or a can of beef broth
• Up to a 5 lb. pot roast ( I use a chuck roast)
• 6 carrots peeled and cut into 2 inches pieces
• 1 lb. new potatoes
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• In a slow cooker, mix cream of mushroom soup, dry onion soup mix and water (or broth). Place pot roast in slow cooker and coat with soup mixture.  Cook on  low setting for 8 to 9 hours.

The last 2 or 3 hours of cooking add the carrots and potatoes.  I always add them the last 3 hours just to make sure they cook all the way through.

*Recipe slightly adapted from allrecipes.com

Recipe: Pumpkin Pancakes

It's that time of year when you start to see pumpkin recipes everywhere and I love it!  Ava adores pancakes and I thought these pancakes would be right up her alley and add a little fallishness to our breakfast.  She loves to cook and these are easy for her to mix and help out with.  She loved them and so did the rest of the family.

Pumpkin Pancakes

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (or more if you like)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk (plus a little more to thin out batter if needed)
• 15 oz can pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons vinegar

1. In a medium sized bowl combine milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar.  Mix until combined.
2. In a separate bowl whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking powder and soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt.
3. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. (Don't taste the batter now because it is not very yummy until it cooks.)  If the batter seems thick then add a little milk to thin it out so it is more the consistency of normal pancake batter
4. Cook on a griddle or skillet until golden brown on both sides.  These take longer than normal pancakes to cook but are sooooo worth it.
5. Serve warm with syrup and chopped walnuts.

This makes a lot of pancakes for our little family but they freeze or refrigerate well for later.

*Recipe adapted slightly from allrecipes.com