Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

As I'm sure you've noticed cranberries are a part of Autumn to me, for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Their bright red is so attractive in desserts and salads and even main dishes. I have a few bags of them that I'm slowly cooking and baking with because their flavor is such a great accent to food. I love chewy cookies and there are wonderful and very snackable. I ate three within 10 minutes of them coming out of the oven, yum! They could have nuts in them but I made them without nuts.

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Cranberry Pecan Rolls

I talked about these in the last post and here they are. They are fluffy and filled with cranberries and pecans. I will admit I wasn't sure about the pecans but they make these rolls what they are. What is that? Delicious. We determined these would be amazing as french toast but that theory hasn't been tested. I would think that some orange zest butter would be a lovely accompaniment to these rolls. That would just literally be maybe 1-2 teaspoons of freshly grated orange zest mixed into 1 stick of butter (salted or

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Meatless Mondays! Cauliflower-Carrot Casserole

Picture courtesy of BHG.

Today's idea for meatless Mondays is a Cauliflower-Carrot Casserole that is made with onions, garlic, horseradish, and delicious crunchy breadcrumbs on top. I tried this recipe a few weeks ago and my husband and I really enjoyed it. It has a slight horseradish flavor to it that isn't overwhelming and it pairs nicely with a salad. When we had this for dinner we paired it with a Cranberry-Pecan Salad and the Caramelized Onion and Portobello  Mushroom Soup. We did have the Onion and Portobello Soup

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Apple Butter Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin pie is commonplace on Thanksgiving tables and is a wonderful pie. There's another pie in town though that people love, sometimes more than pumpkin. Shhh...don't tell the pumpkin pie. Apple Butter Pumpkin Pie has a different kind of sweetness and a big place on the dessert table. It's smooth and delicious just like it's Pumpkiny friend. This is a super easy pie to make. If you make crust ahead and store it in the refrigerator it's easier and if you use pre-made pie crust (dare I say it) then it's only a 

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Apple Pie Stuffed Spice Cookies...and a GIVEAWAY!

 

Apple Pie Stuffed Spice Cookies would be a welcome treat on any party tray. They would be lovely for Thanksgiving or Christmas or a cookie swap! As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received coupons to purchase a Duncan Hines Mix and a Comstock Fruit Filling. This was so much fun to do because I could make anything. I thought about it for a few days then decided on these cookies because they are portable and like fruit filled hand pies. I used a spice cake mix to make the 

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Moravian Ginger Cookies

Moravian ginger cookie was brought to America by the Moravians who founded Bethlehem, PA on Christmas Eve in 1741. This is a crisp and spicy cookie. Sometimes it's sprinkled with sugar and sometimes it's glazed. It's traditionally round although the dough would be easy to cut into other shapes or just squares. These cookies are so festive for the holidays and not difficult to make at all, although they do take time. They have a four hour chilling period that would scare people off. I

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Meatless Mondays! Rice & Noodle Dish

Rice & Noodle dish is a fun combination of ingredients all in one happy little side dish or main dish. This is quick and easy to throw together, pop in the oven, and wait. It is pretty "brown" and could use some perking up in the color department. I told my husband some green onions may have been nice on the top. We also talked about this as a main dish and what would take it to the next level. The consensus was maybe some shrimp and onions, then it would be similar to a fried rice.

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1976 Holiday Cookbook

I've had this book for a long time. It was printed before I was born though. I'm pretty sure I got it from my mom but I'm not sure where she got it from. It's pretty cool though, if I do say so myself. I love old cookbook, especially colorful ones, even if it is only colorful on the cover. It is filled with fun pictures though just not in color. November has a cute little turkey picture in it and some pretty good recipes. I might make the Pumpkin Cake. I didn't know that November 8 is National Split-Pea

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Peanut Butter Brownies

I've been doing a few things with peanut butter lately and these brownies are one of them. I saw a recipe over here for Muddy Buddy Brownies and I LOVE a good Muddy Buddy snack. I also love her website. She cracks me up. I've been thinking about the recipe since I saw it and finally decided to make it. I did it a little different though. I made my brownies from scratch instead of using a mix. I have been thinking of doing some fun desserts using mixes though. We will how that turns out. I also

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English Muffin Bread

English Muffin Bread is a little different but lots of fun. It's super easy and quick to make. It's also really easy to change it up if you would like to. Do you like the nooks? or the crannies? There's no crust on both sides here, just around the edges. That makes it pretty much all nook and crannies :) I made this recipe in a little over an hour which is a bargain for time by the standards of yeast bread. I've made this a few times before but it's been a while and it's a nice change of pace from sandwich

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Mini Toaster Pastries

So, we all remember the pie dough that we made pinwheel cookies with here? I only used half of the dough and my husband was all excited because he thought he was getting pie...hehe...no pie today! I made mini toaster pastries instead. They're super easy, really delicious, and highly customizable. As a bonus, they freeze well so they're easy to make ahead then pop in the oven in the morning. I made strawberry jam filled toaster pastries topped with confectioners' sugar glaze and freshly ground

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Meatless Mondays! Caramelized Onion & Portobello Soup with Goat Cheese Croutons

I've decided to start writing about Meatless Mondays. I think it would be fun to feature something vegetarian for dinner one night a week. This weeks post is Caramelized Onion & Portobello Mushroom Soup with Goat Cheese Croutons. I'm planning on having this at our Thanksgiving dinner we are hosting as the vegetarian entree. Naturally the bread slices would all be evenly placed on the soup but for the picture I moved one so you could see the beautiful mushrooms and onions. This

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Cinnamon Pinwheels

I have submitted this recipe to the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies from Meal Planning Magic.com As I said in my Double Chocolate Peanut Butter cookie post I like to do many things with the same dough. Pie dough is no exception. I of course am a big fan of making pie on some days. On others, not so much, but that's neither here nor there. So...I whipped up some pie dough in my handy dandy food processor and made cookies! These are apparently very popular from some people's childhoods. My husband knew what to call them when he saw them and he was very happy about seeing them.

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Things I Love Thursday...Pumpkin Spice Trail Mix

I've never been a big trail mix person. I've always wanted to be although I'm not sure why. Maybe it's from my Girl Scout days but I never really liked the GORP (good 'ol raisins and peanuts, for those of you not in the loop). My husband was a Boy Scout and he loves trail mix of any type pretty much. We went on a trip a few weeks ago and when we go on trips I like to pick up some "travelin' snacks" which is usually crackers, chips, or candy :). I was wandering around Target and

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Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Sometimes when I make cookies or cupcakes, or even brownies I like to make two or three types at the same time. I do this by adding something here or there in the middle of the mixing or using flavors like nuts or fruits to decorate it which will impart the flavor. When I decided to make peanut butter cookies I couldn't make JUST peanut butter cookies. I added chocolate chips to them and scooped out about half of the dough onto the pans to bake. Then I added cocoa powder to the dough and mixed it up some more in the mixer but not all the way, just so it had a swirl. While I was

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Chicken Fried Portobello Mushrooms

I'm a big fan of mushrooms in general but I only like them cooked. I haven't had steak in so many years I don't even remember the taste but I'm not a big fan of the smell. When I ran across this recipe for Chicken Fried Mushrooms I was on it and put it on the menu immediately (we make weekly menus, it's very helpful). Please excuse the green plate, I liked the look of that mushroom better and my son was getting ready to eat it. I did find that when I poured the gravy over my fried mushroom I didn't like the texture as much because it lost it's crunch.

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Carrot cake bars

I collect old cookbooks. I love them. I have collected them since forever. When I lived in Charleston the library would have book sales and I would pick up old cookbooks for super cheap, which my favorite kind of old cookbook :). I also inherited some old cookbooks from my grandmother. One of those books is A World of Baking by Dolores Casella. This book is from 1968 and says "Book Club Edition" on the inside cover. I'm not sure what that means but it's pretty cool anyway.

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Things I Love Thursday...Sanding Sugar

I've loved sanding sugar for a long time on desserts but in autumn it adds such a nice element to desserts or breakfasts. I love to use it on cookies, pies, and turnovers but I bet it would be lovely on french toast or a big fruit muffin. I've also always had the white sanding sugar but it is available in many colors. I also usually purchase it was Williams-Sonoma but you could probably also buy it at Sur La Table or another gourmet food store. If you're baking this holiday season you should consider using sanding sugar on your desserts or breakfast items because it adds another dimension of taste and texture. Happy Baking!

Mini Caramel Apples

We were invited to a friends house for Halloween trick-or-treating and I wanted to take some small treats with us. One of my favorite apples from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory is the Apple Pie Apple which basically is a green apple with caramel, white chocolate, and graham crackers. For my variation I scooped out balls of apple with a melon baller then stuck in toothpicks for dipping purposes. I made caramel from the Kraft caramels bag for dipping. I could have made the caramel from scratch but I took the easier way out this time and it's yummy chewy caramel :) I let them cool a little bit and some of the apple juices soaked through the caramel so next time I would dip them in caramel, then straight into the white chocolate then into the crushed graham crackers. I used cinnamon graham crackers and it gave them a nice flavor. These are definitely best eaten the day they are made because the bottoms might get a bit soggy and although it doesn't affect the flavor, if anyone flips them over it might affect the presentation. Overall, they were a fun treat that I would definitely do again, maybe in another combination for variety :)