Pumpkin Bread with Cinnamon Chips

With fall weather right around the corner (which really occurred a couple of weeks ago when I actually made this bread), I couldn't resist making some homemade pumpkin bread with cinnamon chips. I got the recipe from Fake Ginger's blog, which is super cute. I visited two stores searching for cinnamon chips (which I assumed would look like chocolate chips except be cinnamon) but walked away empty handed from both stores. I started doing some searching online and found a lot of people complaining about a "waxy" taste of the cinnamon chips and that most people were unable to find any at all. I took one of the suggested recipes from these answers and just made my own cinnamon chips which was probably a better idea overall.

Cinnamon Chips (approximately 1 cup):

1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 tablespoon solid all-vegetable shortening (I used unsalted butter instead)
1 tablespoon light corn syrup

Heat oven to 200F. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix with fork until uniform and crumbly. Spread on foil lined baking sheet (I sprayed mine with Pam) and bake until melted and bubbly, about 35 minutes. Cool completely, then break into small pieces. Makes approximately 1 cup.

I left half the loaf at home for Mike and I and took the remaining pieces to work. I wish I could send some to my sister-in-law, Tarah! Pumpkin season is her fave!

Pasta with Whiskey, Wine & Mushrooms + Garlic Bread

Mike and I had a long week a while back so we came home on Friday and made a really indulgent meal... grilled steak with pasta and garlic bread.

The steak was just typical... t-bone or rib eye... I can't even remember at this point. Grilled to medium and seasoned with salt and pepper.

I cooked up this pasta (half of it anyway) from Pioneer Woman - pasta with whiskey, wine & mushrooms. It sounds odd but trust me, this pasta has really good flavor (plus it has cream so you can't really go wrong there). My only complaint is that our mushrooms really shrunk while they roasted in the oven so next time I would actually add more. (Sidenote, the pasta can really be served without the steak, Mike just was extra hungry and pasta alone wouldn't do.)

I also made garlic bread using a mash-up of a few recipes I saw on pinterest. Basically, I took a baguette, halved it and then split it. I took 4 tablespoons of room temperature butter and "zested" a glove of garlic into the butter using a microplane. I then buttered the bread and sprinkled it a little bit of salt and pepper. I closed up the half, wrapped it in foil and let the bread warm through in a 300 degree oven while I made the pasta.

Dublin Dr. Pepper Ribs, Taquitos & Flour Tortillas

Oh, what is that you ask? That is a homemade tortilla, recipe from Alexandra's Kitchen. They are AAAHmazing and so simple to make. I saw a few recipes that called for lard but chose this recipe because it called for butter instead. (I have a really hard time buying and cooking with lard.)

Mike ordered Dublin Dr. Pepper marinated ribs for dinner Friday night at the Ranch and we made taquitos out of the leftover rib meat and eggs that we ate on these delicious flour tortillas.

I didn't have any problems with this recipe even though it was the first time I tried it. I cooked them on our griddle pan and it went totally smoothly, no burned tortillas at all. I do need to work on rolling them out just a tad thinner and they could have been a little rounder... we'll just say they were abstract. I also prepared the dry ingredients/cut the butter in using my food processor which I think is a lot easier than doing it by hand with knives or a pastry cutter. Next time I am going to try swapping in whole wheat flour for half the flour content and see what happens!

Bacon Cheddar Biscuits

Its no secret that I love making biscuits. These came up on thekitchn last Friday... suggesting they would be an easy bake over the weekend. I made them Sunday morning. They are very easy (especially with the use of a food processor) and pretty tasty. I opted to brush with melted butter as opposed to the bacon fat suggested in the recipe. I also substituted green onions for chives since that's what I had on hand.







Sadly, mine didn't rise as much as the biscuits in the photos on the website. No judgment though... I'm sure they will all be eaten.

Housewarming & Crawfish Cornbread

We had some friends over this weekend so we could show off our house and eat some cajun food before Mardi Gras!

I made chicken & sausage gumbo and crawfish cornbread. I also brought back crawfish boudain and spicy pork boudain from my trip to Orange last weekend. Mike and I picked up Hurricanes & King Cake for the party as well. Friends brought lots of good stuff - pork tenderloin, jalapeno cheese grits, boudain dip, stuffed jalapenos, and some much needed salad after all the rich food!

Here's the recipe for Crawfish Cornbread - something you'll often find served at my grandparents house!

ingredients
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp Tony’s seasoning
1 tsp salt
1/2 stick butter, softened
2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
3 eggs, slightly beaten
½ cup onion, chopped
½ cup bell pepper, chopped
½ cup green onion, chopped
3 jalapenos, seeded and chopped
1 15 ounce can of cream style corn
1 pound crawfish tails, chopped
1 8½ ounce box Jiffy Cornbread mix

directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9 x 12 pan with Pam. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir until combined. Pour mixture into pan and bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until golden brown on top and cooked through.

note
The ingredients listed on the Jiffy box are not needed as part of the recipe. The cornbread is very moist so it might look undercooked but if a toothpick comes out clean and the top is golden, its ready to eat.

Here are a couple of pics thrown through the "Shake It Photo" app:

crawfish cornbread

jalapeno cheese grits

flip cup

Crispy Parmesan Biscuits

I made these crispy parmesan biscuits by Giada last weekend for brunch with Mike, his mom, her boyfriend and Mike's sister Rachel. We had it with another Giada recipe - sausage and peppers frittata. The cooked biscuit picture will show up with the pictures for the frittata!

These biscuits are pretty great. We had them with brunch. Giada's recipe says to stack them with smoked salmon and arugula. I have also made them before to serve with chicken salad and chili.

Note - the thing I have the biscuits baking on is one of the things I use most often in the kitchen. Its a silpat mat you place on baking sheets. Its totally non-stick on its own and you just rinse and wipe clean after you are done with it. Love it! See them here , here and here!

11th Dish of Christmas 2010 - Black Pepper & Cheddar Popovers

I was not a good photographer while cooking for a post-Christmas brunch with Mike, my bestie and her boyfriend but I've got a couple of yummy recipes for you guys anyways!

Popovers are really versatile and easy to make. I made these black pepper & cheddar popovers to go with quiche (recipe tomorrow!) and salad with champagne vinaigrette.

Recipe
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the pan
2 large eggs
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups milk
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/3 cup cheddar cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 450 and thoroughly grease pan. (Pan can be an actual popover pan or a muffin pan can be substituted although the popovers will not be tall and skinny.)

Melt the butter and set aside to cool slightly.

Crack eggs into a bowl and whisk gently. Stir in flour, salt, milk, melted butter, pepper and cheese until blended, a few lumps are ok (better to not overbeat the batter).

Fill the 6 to 10 cups 2/3 to 3/4 full and bake at 450 for 15 minutes. Do not open the oven door! Opening the door will cause the popovers to collapse during baking. Reduce oven temperature to 350 and bake for an additional 20 minutes until brown and crusty. Again, do not open the oven door. The first 20 minutes are crucial but the door can be opened close to the end of the baking process to check whether the popovers are brown and crusty.

Once removed from oven, cut a small slit in the popover to allow steam to escape.


If you are in Dallas, go to lunch at Zodiac Room at Neiman Marcus. They serve delicious popovers with strawberry butter... YUM!

7th Dish of Christmas 2010 - Soft Pretzel Sticks

For another fondue party goodie, I made these soft pretzel sticks using this Bobby Flay recipe for soft pretzels. They are made using a pretty basic dough that you let rise for only an hour. After cutting or shaping your dough, they are boiled for a short period of time then baked with plenty of salt on top. They are great dipped in the cheese fondue or in the mustard (also in the recipe) that I brought along!

active yeast

dough after rise

cut dough

after bake

Ribs, Cornbread & Cake

I saw this awesome recipe on the Alexandra's Kitchen website and have been saving it for the 4th of July weekend. It really couldn't be easier and is so YUMMY. The claim of best and easiest ribs is totally appropriate. Even though they are cooked in the oven, they still come out smokey, tender and delicious. And the cornbread... thick and light. Just a hint of sweetness.

We had Nick & Erica over for dinner and made this recipe for ribs and cornbread as well as a salad and this brown sugar pound cake with maple and peach syrup from Martha Stewart (I omitted the walnuts from the recipe).






You should definitely make this next time you are in the mood for some bbq!

Girls Dinner - Gossip Girl Style

I'm so behind with this post but here we go anyway!

I have some great girlfriends here and we try to get together every so often to do girls dinner. In general, we cook, bake and pick out a movie or tv show to watch together. This time we based the food around a Gossip Girl themed shower menu we saw online and watched a few episodes of the first season of Gossip Girl. As always, we had a really good time and good food!

I didn't do a good job capturing everyone's dishes but we had the Plaza Hotel grilled cheese with truffle oil, mac & cheese, scones, french toast/giant donut holes, tomato-basil-mozzarella skewers, pea pesto crostini, deviled eggs, popovers and crab cake sliders. The last three dishes were mine. (The crab cake sliders were created from a crab cake recipe from Big Girls Small Kitchen and the popovers were created from a recipe on the Kitchn. Deviled eggs kind of evolved from different recipes from my mom and various websites.)

Pizza Pizza

A few weeks ago, I made pizza dough from Ina Garten's recipe collection (get the recipe). I only made the dough from this recipe... not the toppings. I went through all the dough making steps and froze it in individual pizza rounds once it finished rising.

Today, I took the dough out of the freezer and let it thaw and rise a little on the counter in an oiled bowl. I baked a cheese pizza with olive oil and garlic for myself and pepperoni with tomato sauce for Mike.

The dough is really good! I'll be trying out new toppings when I bake the other two dough rounds that are still in the freezer.

Light Wheat Bread

I LOVE making bread. I love the way it makes the place smell and I love that its easy (well, most of the time). I also love that I know exactly what is in it. The recipe has 8 ingredients. If you look on the bread bag, there will be more. Mine included lots of the same ingredients but also had lots of preservatives and long words that don't even sound like food.

I'm super excited to use this bread for sandwiches this week. Mine had a hard time rising... probably due to the chilly apartment. The recipe from Smitten Kitchen/The Bread Baker's Apprentice can be found here. Such a great site!







Definitely give this recipe a try!

Twelfth Dish of Christmas - Pretzel Bites

Last dish! I made these pretzel bites to bring for a snack before Christmas lunch. It turned out to be pretty easy and really tasty! I omitted the ham. I had some leftover dough and made a few without cheese (I think I like those more than the ones with cheese). The dipping sauce was good too! If you need it spicier, add more jalapeno to the dip of you could add some diced jalapeno to the batter itself. (Note, my pretzels baked much faster than the recipe... mine might have been cut smaller). See the recipe here.
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Happy holidays everyone!

Sixth Dish of Christmas - Brioche

I made this basic brioche from Epicurious this weekend. Bread usually isn't as hard as it seems but this recipe was overly complicated. If you are looking for a bread recipe, I've got better ones stashed around here. Aside from lengthy directions, the bread turned out really yummy. I served it with the seventh dish and with the eighth dish. Check those out!



This bread is also good when used in french toast or with strawberry jam (eating that right now for breakfast!)