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Salt Roasted Pears with Caramel Sauce

October 26, 2009 By 3 Comments

After making so many sweet bakery treats I was ready for something different.  Inspired by this photo of Salt Roasted Pears on marthastewart.com I decided to try it out. This was simply divine.  The pears were soft but very moist and the combination of caramel with a touch of salt was perfect. My mom, who was a bit skeptical when she saw the pan filled with salt was pleasantly surprised.  I think this would be make a simple but elegant end to a fall dinner party. In the interest of full disclosure 1 tried the caramel sauce that came with [...]

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Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

October 22, 2009 By 1 Comment

After spending days cooking with apples I thought it was time to move on to another fall treat, the pumpkin.  I was looking at one Pumpkin Cupcake recipe until I saw this one at the Smitten Kitchen. I was over there checking out the latest cute pictures of her son.  The Maple Cream Cheese Frosting sounds like a delicious addition boost the flavor. These cupcakes are deceptively light with the perfect spice kick to them.  Thankfully I had a volunteer meeting to quickly take these to and more importantly away from my house.

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Apple Fall Salad with Apple Vinaigrette

October 20, 2009 By 3 Comments

Hot Night Clubs I have been trying out different salads with apples the last few days.  This is one of my favorites.  I love the crunchy textures and the tangy apples mixed with the sweet dates and creamy goat cheese. Apple, Grape & Date Salad with Apple Cider Vinaigrette Serves 4 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and sliced 1/3 cup Medjool Dates, seeded and chopped 2 sticks celery, chopped 1/2 cup grapes, halved 4 cups mixed greens 3-4 ounces goat or feta cheese crumbled 3 tablespoons walnuts, toasted and chopped Raisin Walnut Bread croutons (see below) Apple Cider Vinaigrette 1/2 [...]

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Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

October 17, 2009 By 2 Comments

Looking through my files I was shocked that I had never shared these Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with you.  After trying Lemon Ricotta cookies, I was intrigued with using ricotta in other recipes. I found these on Bobby Flay’s site and decided to give them a try. The pancakes were so light  and fluffy with a hint of lemon.  The blackberries and yogurt add a tart and sweet finish to the pancakes.

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Root Beer Float Cake

October 15, 2009 By 2 Comments

Root beer floats and I go way back. Often, on Sunday nights after church, my family would go to the local A & W.  It was the old school pull up and order into the metal box.  This had to have been mid 60′s to early 70′s. While in high school I worked at Knott’s Berry Farm in the ice cream shop.  I worked there to get free admission to the park where we would dance the night away on the weekends.  Of course, as a Baptist preacher’s kid, this was not allowed so it involved sneaking and scheming.  But [...]

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Chunky Apple Walnut Cake

October 10, 2009 By 2 Comments

I have had a craving to bake with apples.  Maybe it is because a bit of fall has arrived here in Southern California, which means a slight cool breeze. That is all I needed to break out the fall clothes and more importantly the fall cooking. I found this Chunky Apply Walnut Cake in The Silver Palate Cookbook.  This cake is dense, moist and filled with chunks of apple and crunchy walnuts.  The glaze that goes over has a buttery apple flavor that soaks into the cake. Looking up the recipe on the internet it was apparent that this was [...]

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Grilled Spicy Corn Soup

October 4, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Autumn makes me think of soup on the stove.  My favorites are Roasted Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper.  A creature of habit, I make those several times a season. In the process of checking out several new blogs I found a corn soup that had chipotle chilies in it.  I just couldn’t get past the 4 cups of half and half so I researched other recipes and put this one together.  This one utilizes more broth and less half and half.  While I am sure it is less creamy I hope you find it a lighter alternative.

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Granola Bars

October 1, 2009 By 2 Comments

Last year I tried making homemade granola bars for the first time.  I love the sweet and salty flavors with the crunchy texture.  That weekend I had my first gallbladder attack and ended up with a surgery to remove it a few weeks later. Somehow the foods I ate that weekend prior to the attack just haven’t appealed to me, until now.  I saw these bars on another blog and decided to give them a try. These tasted great but were on the crumbly side.  I love the vanilla, brown sugar and honey sauce that binds the bars together.  Next [...]

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