Pumpkin Drop Cookies

This time of year when I see pumpkins around I always get excited for fresh pumpkin goodies. Pumpkin bread, pumpkin cake, and pumpkin drop cookies. This is one of my favorite recipes for this time of year. You can use the canned pumpkin but trust me just once try baking up and preparing some fresh pumpkin. Once you try the fresh pumpkin you'll never go back.

Ingredients:

3/4 C Butter softened to room temp

2/3 C packed Brown Sugar

2 large Eggs

1 1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla

1C fresh (or canned) Pumpkin

2 C Flour

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

Pinch of Salt

2 1/2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

1 C Chocolate Chips (you can use raisins or chopped dates instead)

Optional: 1 C chopped Walnuts

Directions:

In a large bowl beat together: butter, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Mix in pumpkin.
Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice.
Mix everything until well blended.
Stir in chocolate chips (or other add-In's that you have) and nuts, if using them.

Drop by spoonfuls, 2 inches apart, on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (trust me once you start using it you will want to use it in all your baking).

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden. Remove cookie sheets and carefully pull parchment paper (with cookies still on top) onto a cooling rack

makes about 36 (1 1/2 inch) cookies.

Enjoy!

Italian Meatloaf

So another flavor that will instantly take me back to my childhood is meatloaf. I loved it as a kid, but as an adult it doesn't hold the same flavors that I remember being so fond of. However, I have come up with a new grown-up version that I am just crazy about. I use Hot Italian sausage to add a little spice, but you can easily use mild Italian sausage and it gives it a little different slightly more savory flavor.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb Ground Turkey

1/2 lb Ground Beef or Pork (if you use beef it will have more flavor, if you use pork it will be more tender. Either way they are both delish!)

5 Italian Sausage links-removed from the casings (if you like a little spice try the hot Italian sausage)

1 large Egg (or 2 medium eggs) beaten

1/2 finely chopped Yellow Onion

1 chopped Yellow Bell Pepper

1/2 C chopped fresh Parsley

1/2 C grated Parmesan Cheese

1/2 C Rolled Oats

Sea Salt & Pepper

1 can of Muir Glen Tomato Sauce ( you could use a different kind if you want this is just for the top)

Directions:

in a large bowl mix meat, try not to over work your meat, over working meat can make it a little tough.

add: egg, onion, pepper, parsley, Parmesan, oats, and some salt and pepper (be careful not to over salt, you can always add more later, but you can't remove it). Work into meat.

Shape meat into a loaf. If your going to cook it in the oven then you will shape it like a traditional meatloaf. If you have pressure cookers and are going to cook it in a pressure cooker shape it more into a disk shape.

For the OVEN: preheat your oven to 375 Degrees. Place meatloaf in the center of a jellyroll pan. Pat your meatloaf to ensure that you don't have any air bubbles.
Bake for 1 hour. Pour tomato sauce over the top and bake for another 20 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

For the PRESSURE COOKER: when cooking with a pressure cooker always follow manufactures instructions for operation. Put 1 cup of water in the bottom of your pressure cooker.
Place your meatloaf on a trivet with a turkey chain around the entire trivet and meatloaf (you want to do this so that when your meatloaf is done you can lift the whole thing out as one and not break up your meatloaf). Once you have your "package together place it down in your pressure cooker, set the handles of the turkey chain to the side, but so that they will still be accessible to you when the cooking is complete. Pour the tomato sauce over your meatloaf and place pressure cooker on heat.
Place lid on pressure cooker. When pressure come up to 15lbs of pressure, cook meatloaf for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and drop pressure. Let meatloaf stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Apple Brown Bettys

Apple Brown Betty's in years past were a way for people to use up old stale bread and not have to waist it. Today I think for many, at least for me it elicits fond memories of my child hood and some of my favorite desert flavors.

So I am going to give you an up dated recipe for an old favorite.

Ingredients:

1 loaf Brioche- take off crust slice and break into somewhat equal pieces

1 cube unsalted Butter

1 TSP Cinnamon

1/8 tsp Nutmeg

1 TSP Pure Vanilla

6-7 Granny Smith Apples -peeled, cored, and sliced

1 C packed Brown Sugar

Raw Sugar

Directions:

Prepare pan, I use a brownie size pan, coat it with butter and sugar. Do this like you would do if you were going to put oil and flour into a pan to stop something from sticking. Set aside

Melt butter, pour over brioche, and set aside.

Toss apples with juice of 1 lemon, to help them keep a nice color.

mix: sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Add vanilla mix (I like to use a fork)

Add Apples mix so that all the apples get nice and coated with the sugar mixture

In prepared pan layer brioche then apples, then repeat end with brioche.

Top the layers with a Raw Sugar, you will want to use raw sugar because it has less of a potential to burn than granulated sugar. Trust me don't leave this off, it crystallizes on the top and give you this beautiful crunch that is just yummy!

Bake at 350 for about 50-55 minutes or until golden brown and apples are soft, but not mushy when pocked with a knife.

Enjoy!

Yummy Bread Pudding

I was watching Iron Chefs one night and they did this chocolate bread pudding and the people on the show just raved about it, and heaven knows I am a just a sucker for chocolate! And then one night I was watching 'The Best thing I Ever Ate' and one of the places highlighted had a hot chocolate that was spiced with lots of cinnamon.

Now I have never thought about putting cinnamon and chocolate together, and on top of that I can't stand bread pudding, but trust me on this one, I am sure that like me, you will love this one!

I am going to give you the recipe without the chocolate added and then at the end tell you how much and where to add the chocolate because just the cinnamon bread pudding is really good by it's self and you've got to give it a try as well.

Ingredients:

Brioche (if you can't find brioche a sturdy french bread will do) you really want this to be day old bread not fresh, and you want to take off the crust. If it is already in thin slices you will want 8 slices. If it is in thick slices, or if you are slicing it make it 4 think slices.

Mix some butter, cinnamon, sugar and put on bread. Toast bread in oven as you would for cinnamon toast. You can cut bread into 1/4 size cubes either before you place in the oven or after, it doesn't really matter its up to you, go crazy with it. The more cinnamon you put on at this point the more cinnamon taste you will have in your end product, I like a lot.

When you put your cubes into the oven, I put them into the oven at 350 for about 10 min. However, be careful not to burn your bread. If you are using bread that has already been cut, the slices are thinner and will be more prone to burn, so it may not need 10 min.

Set you toasted cubes aside and make your custard

for the custard:

1 tsp unsalted butter

2 C Half and Half

4 Eggs

1 C firmly packed Brown Sugar

2 tsp Cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground Nutmeg

1 tsp pure Vanilla


Directions:

In a large bowl whisk the eggs, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla together until very smooth and set aside.

In a large saucepan, over medium heat, add the half and half. When the cream comes up to a gentle boil take off heat.

Slowly add the egg mixture to the creamed sugar mixture and mix well, be careful not to add eggs too fast if you add them too fast you will have scrambled eggs in your custard mix.

Pour mixture over bread and mix. Try not to knock off your cinnamon crust off your bread as you mix. Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Prepare a 6 cup loaf pan (9 1/4 by 5 1/4 by 2 2/4-inch): butter bottom and side and the sprinkle it with sugar.

After 30 minutes have passed pour mixture into prepared pan.

Bake at 350 for about 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick pulls out clean. Let stand for 5 minutes and serve.

I like to serve it with a good vanilla bean ice cream, but if you want a traditional cream try this one:


SPICED CREAM
1 qt Heavy Cream

1/4 C Granulated Sugar

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp white Vanilla

Beat the cream with an electric mixer on high speed in a large mixing bowl for about 2 minutes. Add the sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla and beat again until the mixture thickens and forms stiff peaks, another 1 to 2 minutes.


For CHOCOLATE BREAD PUDDING:

follow direction as above except when you are heating the cream for the custard in the very beginning.
You need 1 1/2 C Chocolate chips
when Half and Half comes to a light boil whisk in chocolate chip a little at a time until all chips have been Incorporated into the cream and are well blended then remove from heat and continue with adding to the egg mixture.

Good luck with both of these recipes. I know they will both be added to your favorites list as they are on my families favorites list. Let me know what you think after you try them.

Enjoy!

Black Bean Salsa

I just love fresh salsa and there is one Fresh Mex restaurant that has a black bean salsa that I have been trying to duplicate for such along time. I don't quite have it, but I have come up with one that I think works and my family and friends seem to really like.

Ingredients:

6-8 Roma Tomatoes

1 bunch Green Onions

1/2 C Cilantro (leaves only)

4 Jalapenos (cleaned and seeded, if you like it a little hotter leave some of the seeds in)

4-6 cloves Garlic (or 1 TSP Garlic)

1 1/2 Desert Garden Green Chile Sauce -(I have buy this at Whole Foods Market- but I am sure they have it other places as well)

2-15 oz Muir Glen Fire Roasted Crushed Tomatoes

3 C cooked/drained Black Beans

Juice of 1 Lime


Directions:

Cut your tomatoes into 1/8 cubes, rough chop the rest of your produce (it just makes chopping easier, at least for us OCDers).

In your multi chopper add: Green Onion, Garlic, Cilantro, and Jalapenos. Chop on moment speed until you achieve a consistent size.

Add: Tomatoes and chop again to achieve consistent size.

Add: Black Beans, and Muir Glen Tomatoes, chop again to achieve consistent size.

Add: Green Chile Sauce, and Lime juice, and do final chop. Chop until you achieve desired consistency.

Empty contents into a dish that will go into the refrigerator and add Sea Salt to taste.

Refrigerate salsa for at least 2 hours to allow flavors to merry, trust me on this one.

Give this one a try and let me know what you think.

Enjoy!

SALSA, SALSA, SALSA

I love salsa and nothing beats fresh salsa, and if you can make a great salsa and make it quick and easy it's even better. I promise you once you try this recipe and see how easy it is you wont want to buy salsa in the jar again. Just a warning I aways make my salsa a little strong with garlic, take liberties with it. If you don't like so much garlic just put in less, but if your daring and don't mind if your significant other asks you if you have been eating garlic, for a few days after you eaten the salsa, then go for it.


Ingredients:

6-8 Roma tomatoes

1 bunch Green Onions

6-8 Cloves of Garlic (or if you don't want to use the cloves and prefer to use the jars, which is what I do, then put in about 2 TSP)

1 C Cilantro (leaves only)

4 Jalapeno Peppers (I take out most of the seeds, if you like more heat just leave some seeds in)

1 Med Yellow Onion

1- 15 oz can Muir Glen Fire Roasted Crushed Tomatoes

2 TSP Garlic Olive Oil (if you don't have GOO, you can use EVOO)

Sea Salt to taste

Directions:

I give all my produce a rough chop to start. What that means is just this: I cut everything into about 1/2" chunks except the tomatoes. The tomatoes I cut into 1/8ths (not 1/8" just 1/8 sections) that is what a rough chop is. The reason I do this is because I can admit I am a little OCD about a few things, and I like my salsa pieces to be all about the same size when I am done. If the chopper doesn't have to work so hard one some things then they all seem to end up about the same size. So if you would like to have a chunkier salsa maybe you don't want to rough chop first.


Just a note if you are using the multi chopper that goes on the Bosch you will have to divide your ingredients and then mix them when your done. This amount of ingredient actually makes about 8 or 9 cups of salsa depending on the size of you tomatoes.

Put Onion, Green Onion, Jalapenos, Cilantro, Garlic, and Garlic Olive oil in a multi chopper. Using the moment speed, chop until you achieve a nice consistent size.

Then Add:

Tomatoes

Continue to chop on moment speed unit a nice medium to small size consistence is seen. on the outside sometimes it can just look like you've almost chopped too much if you like it more on the small size, which I do.

Last add the Muir Glen Tomatoes

These will chop very fast so be very careful or you will end up with some consistency that is over chopped and not what you are looking for.

put contents into a container that can be refrigerated, add your Sea Salt to taste.

You can serve right away but it is aways better after the flavors have had a chance to merry together.

I hope you enjoy this really simple Salsa recipe as much as my family and I do. Let me know what you think after you have tried it.

Enjoy!