Making a large batch of marinara sauce and freezing it for later use makes dinner on really hectic weeknights significantly easier. My mom used to make pots upon pots of tomato sauce during the first snow of the season which always made the house smell oh so good, especially after coming in from the cold. We haven’t had our first snow yet, but that’s not going to stop me from trying out this slow cooker marinara from Cooking Light. The sauce can be frozen and used for months.
The original recipe used fresh tomatoes but I hate peeling tomatoes and the plum tomatoes this time of year just aren’t very attractive. So I used the next best thing, canned whole peeled plum tomatoes. If it’s summer when you make this, go for the fresh ones!
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 cups chopped onion (about 2 onions)
3/4 cup sliced carrot (about 2 carrots
1/2 cup diced celery
1/4 cup minced garlic (a good dozen garlic cloves)
I made a realization this weekend. Chili is so hearty that I really don’t realize if there is even meat in them. So why add it in?
With a bunch of different beans and peppers, you can still deliver an absolutely delicious chili that doesn’t even need meat! (I’m not knocking those that like meat in their chili, I just apparently prefer the vegetarian version)
Katherine Martinelli had a chili link up last week on her blog and I couldn’t stop thinking about chili. Her Three Bean Chili in particular looked so fantastic, I decided to make my own version of it below. It is based off of her recipe but I did make some changes, so to see the original recipe, check it out here.
This Tri Vegetarian Chili is aptly named. It uses three types of beans, three types of dried peppers, and three types of bell peppers.
I am a huge fan of coffee and coffee-related foods, so tiramisu is obviously a favorite of mine. When the concept of Tiramisu Brownies was mentioned, I was immediately excited. What a fantastic combination of desserts!
Barista Prima Coffeehouse® K-Cup® (paid link) packs are four dark, rich coffee blends that really deliver an intense flavor that are more bold and robust than other K-Cup offerings. The four flavors offered are: Colombia, House Blend, Italian Roast, and French Roast. I’ve had a Keurig for years now (I just had to retire my original Keurig and buy a replacement, sniffle) and am always really pleased with the coffee choices that can be found in K-Cup form. I tend to use coffee grounds in a bunch of recipes, especially ones that use chocolate, to really up the flavor.
Barista Prima was nice enough to send me a box of their House Blend K-Cups so I naturally wanted to make a dish that used these delicious grounds as well as a dessert that would be perfect paired with a cup of House Blend coffee. Many thanks to Barista Prima for also sending me this mouthwatering recipe!
Ingredients:
12 oz. chocolate chips
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
4 whole eggs
4 egg whites
1 cup cake flour (or normal flour if you can’t find it)
Bark is one of my favorite holiday treats to make. Why? Because it is so darn simple. And people LOVE it. It is basically melted chocolate with some other deliciousness thrown in. Candy, pretzels, nuts.. whatever makes you happy. I wanted to make some bark to supplement my cookies this year and found this fantastic recipe from Baked Bree. Bree included some Rice Krispies cereal in between the layers to add a little bit of extra crunch to the bark, brilliant! The red and green M&Ms and candy canes make this the perfect holiday treat.
Just because Thanksgiving has passed doesn’t mean I can continue to deliver pumpkin-y goodness on this blog. This recipe for Chocolate Pumpkin Pie was featured on The Chew and I just loved the idea of it but wanted to make it a little bit my own, so instead I went with Chocolate Swirled Pumpkin Pies.
I didn’t want the pumpkin flavor to be lost in the chocolate so I decided to swirl a bit in at the end. And, because I’m apparently on a mini kick, I went with mini Chocolate Swirled Pumpkin Pies!
Ingredients:
3 oz Semisweet Chocolate Chips
2 tablespoons Unsalted Butter (cut into small pieces)
Each year, my mom makes a beautiful trifle for Christmas. I’m pretty sure at one point, she was only making one, but as the popularity of her trifle grew, she is now up to making 6+ for different holiday events, friends, and family. My sister and I grew up begrudgingly helping my mom make these trifles but we both have grown to love them and look forward to a bite of trifle every December.
A trifle is just a layered dessert that is usually made with cake pieces, cream, pudding, and fruit. My mom tops her with a beautiful design of fruit: kiwi, peaches and raspberries. I wanted to make some trifle to share with this blog but a normal trifle can serve a whole family, so I made a mini version! To prepare a regular trifle, the process is just the same.
I highlighted Driscoll’s Berries in my trifle. I absolutely love their raspberries and blackberries so I wanted to have a higher ratio of berries in my trifle than may normally be used. Driscoll’s also sells really beautiful Strawberries and Blueberries that I have used in many many of my previous posts. Berries always add such beautiful color and flavor to a dish!
Note: Driscoll’s sent me coupons for free berries to make this recipe; my opinions are my own.
If you’ve never heard of these lovelies, you are not alone. Rainbow cookies are made of almond cake dyed fun bright colors with apricot preserves all sandwiched in between two thin layers of chocolate.
They really aren’t cookies at all, more like thinly packed cake. But whatever the heck they are, they are delicious!
I don’t really recall these cookies growing up, but my boyfriend (who is from Long Island) absolutely loves them. In fact, he was kind of taken aback when I mentioned I didn’t really know what they were. One of his friends was absolutely horrified; he basically forced me to eat one right then and there which I didn’t complain about. I love them now!
So I wanted to try to make these little guys… I’m not sure why. They are awfully difficult (well, more time consuming than difficult). But I was so darn proud of myself when they were done, I don’t even care about the effort I had to put in! The cookies go by a ton of names… Rainbow, Seven Layer, Neapolitan, Tricolor… but I’m pretty sure they tend to be a Christmas staple in Italian households. I found this recipe on Epicurious.
Ingredients:
1 (12 oz) jar apricot preserves, heated and strained
I wanted to make another batch of the Applejack Spiked Hot Cider but *gasp* I couldn’t find any apple cider anywhere! There must have been a Thanksgiving rush, but I wanted some darn Apple Cider. But then I remembered I bought a Babycakes Cake Pop Maker (paid link) and figured I could at least make Apple Cinnamon Donut Holes as a sweet apple-y substitute. (Because I couldn’t find apple cider, I substituted apple juice)
One of the best parts of Thanksgiving doesn’t even take place on Thursday. I (and I’m assuming many others) look forward to the leftovers as much as the original meal. Friday always includes a Thanksgiving sandwich (which you can actually get a version of in Delaware all year long at Capriotti‘s called the “Bobby” mmm). Saturday tends to be my own version of the Wawa Turkey Bowl. By Sunday, I’m starting to run out of creative ways to mush my leftovers into a new meal.
The makers of Clos de los Siete came to my rescue! Clos de los Siete is an Argentine red wine that is made from seven vineyards in the foothills of the Andes. The wine is a mixture of 57% malbec, 15% merlot, 15% cabernet sauvignon, 10% syrah and 3% petit verdot that is a really nice complement to turkey. Azul Argentine Bistro in New York created a recipe that uses Thanksgiving leftovers along with some spices to create Wine Infused Thanksgiving leftover Empanadas, how fantastic does that sound?
Ingredients:
1 green pepper, finely chopped
1 red pepper, finely chopped
1 medium white onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 sweet potato, peeled and finely diced (about 1 cup)
1 pound turkey breast, shredded (about 1 cup)
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup Clos de los Siete wine
1-2 packages store-bought empanada discs (note: mine have annatto in them which is why they are orange)
It isn’t Thanksgiving without cranberry sauce. We’ve always had the canned cranberry sauce at my Thankgivings growing up; I honestly believed the ridges from the can were there so I knew where to cut. I am all for the canned version, but I thought I’d attempt to make a homemade version in my slow cooker. I based it slightly off of Cooking Light’s Classic Cranberry Sauce but changed up a few ingredients and the method of cooking.
I love a good mashed potato recipe. They are definitely my favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal. Classic mashed potatoes will always be a favorite of mine, but this recipe from Nigella Lawson that I found on The Chew sounded really fantastic. My aunt and uncle always use horseradish cheddar in their mashed potatoes and I love the tanginess that the horseradish brings. I thought it would be the perfect complement to the sweetness of the apples.
Ingredients:
4 1/2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes
1 cup whole milk
1 – 1 1/2 cup horseradish cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shallots, chopped
2 fuji apples
4 strips of bacon
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons butter
You need a red apple that can stand up to being sauteed and maintain its shape. Look for Liberty, Fuji, Jonagold, or Pink Lady apples.
Bring a salted pot of water to a boil. Peel your potatoes. Cut into smaller pieces and add to the pot.
Boil the potatoes for 30 minutes or until fork tender.
While waiting for the potatoes to cook, add the bacon to a saute pan over medium heat. Heat until cooked through, turning once, about 10 minutes.
Remove the bacon from the pan and add to a plate lined with paper towels. Roughly chop.
Add the shallots and the apples to the saute pan with the bacon drippings.
Saute over medium-low heat until the apples are tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and keep warm. Mix with the chopped bacon.
Once the potatoes are cooked, drain. Take the pot that you used to boil the potatoes and add the 1 cup whole milk over low heat. Using a ricer or potato masher, mash the potatoes back into the pot, stirring to combine with the milk.
The horseradish cheddar I used was really soft so I just broke it into smaller pieces and mixed into the potatoes. If you have a harder version, you can grate the cheese and add it in, mixing to combine. Add the butter and mix to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
Top with the bacon and apples.
I had no idea apples would go so well with mashed potatoes! The slight sweetness with the shallots was such a perfect complement to the subtle tang of the horseradish cheddar. And obviously, everything is better with bacon.
This would be a fantastic spin to traditional mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving without adding too much extra work to your day. You could make the mashed potatoes and the bacon and apple mixture both the day before. The day of, you can heat both separately and then top the potatoes with the mixture.
Horseradish Cheddar Mashed Potatoes with Bacon and Apples
Total Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients
4 1/2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes
1 cup whole milk
1 – 1 1/2 cup horseradish cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shallots, chopped
2 fuji apples
4 strips of bacon
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons butter
Instructions
You need a red apple that can stand up to being sauteed and maintain its shape. Look for Liberty, Fuji, Jonagold, or Pink Lady apples.
Bring a salted pot of water to a boil. Peel your potatoes. Cut into smaller pieces and add to the pot.
Boil the potatoes for 30 minutes or until fork tender.
While waiting for the potatoes to cook, add the bacon to a saute pan over medium heat. Heat until cooked through, turning once, about 10 minutes.
Remove the bacon from the pan and add to a plate lined with paper towels. Roughly chop.
Add the shallots and the apples to the saute pan with the bacon drippings.
Saute over medium-low heat until the apples are tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and keep warm. Mix with the chopped bacon.
Once the potatoes are cooked, drain. Take the pot that you used to boil the potatoes and add the 1 cup whole milk over low heat. Using a ricer or potato masher, mash the potatoes back into the pot, stirring to combine with the milk.
The horseradish cheddar I used was really soft so I just broke it into smaller pieces and mixed into the potatoes. If you have a harder version, you can grate the cheese and add it in, mixing to combine. Add the butter and mix to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
My goodness it dropped in temperature quickly! It feels like we went straight from September weather to December weather. Luckily, I have the perfect warm drink to keep you toasty. This is a (probably) oversimplified version of a drink my aunt and uncle always have at their house for the holidays: Wassail. It’s basically a mulled wine that warms you up from the inside out. I’ve been thinking about Wassail since the change in temperature so I decided to make a quick batch with things I already had in my house.
Every Christmas, my mom makes an absolutely delicious trifle to give to neighbors and have for dessert on Christmas day. This trifle is so ingrained in our winter holidays that I’m pretty sure we aren’t allowed to show up to my aunt and uncle’s house without the trifle in hand. I’ve always loved the simplicity of trifles and wanted to try out a version using my favorite ingredient: pumpkin!
I was given the opportunity to enter a contest with nine other bloggers. The challenge is to use Walkers Shortbread products to make a new dessert, and luckily one of the categories was trifle! It was a sign!
My mom’s trifle has custard, chocolate pudding, and rum-soaked pound cake slices with whipped cream and fruit on top. So I wanted to keep the general concept the same with my recipe. I decided to keep the chocolate pudding because, well, who doesn’t love chocolate pudding? A thought a pumpkin mousse would just be fantastic. I decided to make it a bourbon pumpkin mousse to add an extra layer of flavor. And of course instead of pound cake slices, I used Walkers’ Stem Ginger Biscuits and Pure Butter Shortbread. The trifle is topped off with whipped topping, pecan pieces, and a some more Walker’s cookie crumbs.
Ingredients:
1 box Walker’s Stem Ginger Biscuits
1 box Pure Butter Shortbread
3 cups milk
2 packages instant chocolate pudding
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 ounces (1 package) cream cheese
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 cups whipping cream
2 ounces bourbon (can omit if you’d like)
1/4 cup sugar
1 container whipped topping
1/4 cup pecans, roughly chopped
Begin by preparing your ingredients. Thaw your whipping cream. Roughly chop the pecans and set aside. Crush the biscuits and shortbread in separate ziploc bags, using a rolling pin.
Take one tablespoon of the stem ginger biscuit crumbs and set aside. Combine the remaining biscuit crumbs with the shortbread crumbs.
Prepare your chocolate pudding. Combine the two packs of instant pudding mix with three cups milk.
Mix for two minutes with a whisk. Refrigerate until ready to use.
In a large bowl, combine 1 can pumpkin puree, the spices, vanilla extract, cream cheese, and brown sugar using a hand mixer.
In a separate bowl, make whipped cream. Add two cups heavy whipping cream, 2 ounces bourbon, and 1/4 cup sugar and whip on high speed until soft peaks form (about 3 minutes).
Fold the whipped cream into the pumpkin mixture. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Time to assemble! These are photos from my test batch so take note that I might be pointing out what I changed in comparison to the photo. Oh the joy of recipe development. You’ll need a clear bowl to get the full effect of the trifle.
Arrange a layer of cookie crumbs at the bottom of a glass or plastic (see through) bowl. You want to be able to see it coming up the edges. (I initially added melted butter to form more of a crust. But that made the crumbs super sticky, so leave that out)
Add a layer of chocolate pudding next. I attempted to put the pumpkin mousse first, which was silly. The pudding is much heavier than the pumpkin mousse and sank into it. So go pudding, pressing it against the sides of the bowl, and then put the pumpkin mousse on top.
Continue this process until the bowl is filled. (Crumbs, pudding, mousse). I made a mini version so it didn’t take much to fill mine up. Top with the whipped topping.
Rim the bowl with crushed pecans.
Sprinkle with the reserved ginger biscuits. I’d suggest refrigerating for a few hours to let the flavors meld together. You can also make it mostly ahead of time and just assemble a few hours before eating.
You clearly don’t have to have a steady hand to make these still look cool, although I do wish mine was a bit more uniform layer-wise. Ah well.
They are also easy to assemble as individual servings.
The flavors of this are rocking. Pumpkin, chocolate, gingerbread, and pecans were just made for each other. This is perfect for Thanksgiving, especially because it can be made ahead of time!
I will be entering this trifle in the contest on November 12 so send some good vibes my way that day!
Begin by preparing your ingredients. Thaw your whipping cream. Roughly chop the pecans and set aside. Crush the biscuits and shortbread in separate ziploc bags, using a rolling pin.
Take one tablespoon of the stem ginger biscuit crumbs and set aside. Combine the remaining biscuit crumbs with the shortbread crumbs.
Prepare your chocolate pudding. Combine the two packs of instant pudding mix with three cups milk.
Mix for two minutes with a whisk. Refrigerate until ready to use.
In a large bowl, combine 1 can pumpkin puree, the spices, vanilla extract, cream cheese, and brown sugar using a hand mixer.
In a separate bowl, make whipped cream. Add two cups heavy whipping cream, 2 ounces bourbon, and 1/4 cup sugar and whip on high speed until soft peaks form (about 3 minutes).
Fold the whipped cream into the pumpkin mixture. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Time to assemble! You’ll need a clear bowl to get the full effect of the trifle.
Arrange a layer of cookie crumbs at the bottom of a glass or plastic (see through) bowl. You want to be able to see it coming up the edges.
Add a layer of chocolate pudding next. I attempted to put the pumpkin mousse first, which was silly. The pudding is much heavier than the pumpkin mousse and sank into it. So go pudding, pressing it against the sides of the bowl, and then put the pumpkin mousse on top.
Continue this process until the bowl is filled. (Crumbs, pudding, mousse). Top with the whipped topping.
Rim the bowl with crushed pecans.
Sprinkle with the reserved ginger biscuits. I’d suggest refrigerating for a few hours to let the flavors meld together. You can also make it mostly ahead of time and just assemble a few hours before eating.
“The secret of good cooking is, first, having a love of it. … If you’re convinced that cooking is drudgery, you’re never going to be good at it, and you might as well warm up something frozen.”
– James Beard
James Beard is basically the father of American cooking as we know it today. He, along with the beloved Julia Child, is basically the “foodie” community’s version of The Beatles. As Julia Child put it, “in the beginning, there was James Beard.” So when I was offered to review a new compilation of some of his best recipes, I couldn’t wait to dig in. The cookbook, The Essential James Beard Cookbook: 450 Recipes That Shaped the Tradition of American Cooking is in stores beginning today.
The cookbook is filled with what we think of today as quintessential recipes: coleslaw, potato salad, pot roast, chicken pot pie. But James Beard’s travels through France as well as inspiration from the Chinese cooks who worked at the hotel his mother owned. Each page is filled with both new and different recipes as well as classic approaches to everyday food (ex. roasting a chicken). The editors did a great job of going through and adding notes to help enhance the recipes as well, including insight into what an ingredient is and what can be substituted.
I really had a tough time choosing a recipe to do this post. It’s really tough to pinpoint what James Beard is known for, because, well, he’s known for everything! I finally settled on his Cream of Tomato Soup recipe.
This recipe, passed down from his mother, is a classic comfort food choice. I loved the idea of making a family recipe and was intrigued by the process. (The onset of Hurricane Sandy may also have had some input into my decision.)
Ingredients:
2 28-oz cans of Italian plum tomatoes, undrained
1 cup Beef Stock
1 small yellow onion, roughly chopped
2 whole cloves, smashed
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoon all purpose flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons unsalted butter, melted
2 cups heavy cream
Chopped fresh basil or fresh flat-leaf parsley, for garnish
This recipe is adapted from James Beard’s The Essential James Beard Cookbook
Well, we are apparently forecasted to get hit with yet another nor’easter on Halloween. I remember as a kid, some houses would serve us hot cider to keep us warm while trick-or-treating. Those (along with the houses with candied apples and tons of Reeces) were my favorite. Now that I no longer go house to house on Halloween, nor do I even get trick-or-treaters, I wanted to make a more adult hot cider to enjoy during the crummy weather, or Applejack Spiked Hot Cider, to be specific.
Cooking Light must’ve read my mind, because The New Way To Cook Light showed up on my doorstep this week, with a wonderful sounding recipe for Applejack-Spiked Hot Cider!
