Pumpkin Walnut Baked Brie

Pumpkin Walnut Baked Brie

original Joelen recipe

1 cup pureed pumpkin
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 large round of brie

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Slice brie round in half, horizontally and place on a foil lined baking pan.
Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl until fully incorporated.
Spread half of the mixture on top of one half of the brie.
Top with the second half of brie.
Spread the remaining mixture over the second half of brie.
Bake in preheated oven for 5-7 minutes until warmed through.
Serve with crackers or crostini.

Cobblers, Crumbles & Crisps Round Up!

Today friends came over for a cooking class where we focused on Cobblers, Crumbles & Crisps. We all made our own using either apples, pears, and peaches. But before we get into the recipes, do you know the difference between a Cobbler, Crumble & Crisp? If not, here’s some helpful info to figuring out the differences (which I found HERE) :

Cobblers – American cobblers are considered “fruit stews with dough dropped on top before baking” (ochef.com) They involve a bottom layer of fruit that is then topped with ingredients for a biscuit dough. The result is a dense, rich dessert. Not to be confused with British cobblers (made with meat), popular cobbler ingredients include: apples, peaches and cherries.

Crisps – Crisps also have a bottom layer of fruit, but their topping is much more crunchy than cobblers. Instead of a dough-like pastry that rises, the crisp is topped with a different proportion of butter, sugar and flour that is sort of crumbly, and only briefly browned in the oven. Crisps might include oats or granola in their topping as well.

Crumbles – The crumble also begins with fruit at the bottom, but is topped with a different butter-flour-sugar mixture called a ’streusel’. The three ingredients are mixed just until crumbly and then poured on top of the fruit. This dish is very similar to a crisp but the crumble originated in Britain whereas the crisp is seen as more American. Crisps are also more rich than crumbles with higher amounts of sugar, butter and flour.

Ingredients Used:

To create our Cobblers, Crumbles & Crisps, we started by slicing the fruit of our choice into slices and placing them in a greased baking dish. From there, we topped our fruit with one of the following adapted recipes to distinguish them from Cobblers, Crumbles & Crisps:

Cobbler Recipe
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2/3 cup unsalted butter
1 egg, slightly beaten

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Place fruit in the bottom of a baking dish and sweeten, to taste, with a little sugar depending on ripeness. In medium mixing bowl, sift all dry ingredients. Cut in butter and add beaten egg. Mix until crumbly and sprinkle over fruit, covering all exposed fruit. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden.

Crumble Recipe
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Place fruit in the bottom of a baking dish and sweeten, to taste, with a little sugar depending on ripeness. In medium mixing bowl, sift all dry ingredients and cut in butter. Mix until crumbly and sprinkle over fruit, covering all exposed fruit. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden.

Crisp Recipe
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1/2 cup instant oatmeal or rolled oatmeal

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Place fruit in the bottom of a baking dish and sweeten, to taste, with a little sugar depending on ripeness. In medium mixing bowl, mix the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Blend the butter into the mixture until it forms pea size lumps. Stir in pecans & oatmeal and sprinkle over filling. Bake crisps for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

Some of the finished ones while others were baking:

To join in the fun, my fellow bloggers have submitted their favorite Cobbler, Crumbles & Crisps recipes! As I do with each blogging event I host, a lucky blogger receives a giveaway related to the food theme. This event’s winner is Shayne of One Bite At a Time! Shayne has won a Stoneware Mini Baker to continue baking throughout the fall, compliments of Pampered Chef. Congratulations Shayne and thanks to all that participated in the blogging event! Read on to check out the recipes submitted by my fellow bloggers…

Karen of Loves To Eat Weblog
from Florida
PB&J Crumble Bars
Everyone is familiar with the classic peanut butter and jelly combo… but Karen puts a twist on it by incorporating the flavors into PB&J Crumble Bars! Check out her blog for the recipe and where she found it!
Shayne of One Bite At a Time
from New Jersey
Quick Apple Crumble for Two
Shayne makes these wonderful individual Apple Crumbles for her and her husband to enjoy. I love that these are perfectly portioned and each person gets just enough crispy, crumbling topping all to themself! To find out what inspired Shayne to make these, check out her blog and get the recipe too!
Becke of Columbus Foodie
from Ohio
Caramel Apple & Pear Crisp
How often do you try recipes from brand names? Well Becke did and she submitted this Caramel Apple & Pear Crisp recipe from Pillsbury. Doesn’t it look amazing? You know you want the recipe… so check out Becke’s blog for it!
Kristina of About a Bit of Everything
from Illinois
Apple Crisp
When you’re invited to dinner, one of the best things to bring is a dessert… and Kristina did just that with her Apple Crisp. It’s a great dessert for fall that involves using some common pantry ingredients so you have no excuse not to make this! Check out Kristina’s blog for the recipe!
Kayla of Central Cooking
from Illinois
Apple Cinnamon Cobbler
Kayla
Therese of In the Kitchen
from Illinois
Blueberry Crumb Bars
Therese created these fabulous bar treats which are a cross between a blueberry crisp and lemon bar. They look delicious and were inspired by her favorite cooking blog. To find out what that blog is and to also snag the recipe, check out her blog!
Therese
Kelly of Kelly Cooks… and Other Amazing Feats
from Pennsylvania
Southern Peach Cobbler
With quite a few peaches to work with, Kelly creates this delicious Southern Peach Cobbler. It was definitely the best she ever had and suggests that the recipe can be made with other fruits as well. Even better is that the top crust maintains its texture for several days without becoming soggy! Check out Kelly’s blog for the recipe!

Cranberry Pumpkin Praline Muffins

The following recipe was featured in my Muffin Swap event. You can read about it and view other muffin recipes HERE.

Joelen’s Cranberry Pumpkin Praline Muffins

Recipe adapted from HERE

3 T. brown sugar
1 T. sour cream
1/3 cup broken pecans
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ground clove
1 beaten egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
3/4 canned pumpkin
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup margarine, melted
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Grease twelve 2 ½ inch muffin cups or line them with paper bake cups. Set muffin cups aside. In a small bowl stir together 3 tablespoons brown sugar and sour cream. Stir in pecans. Set aside. In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and cloves.

Make a well in the center of the dry mixture. In another medium mixing bowl, stir together egg, buttermilk, pumpkin, 2/3 cup brown sugar and melted margarine. Add the pumpkin mixture and dried cranberries all at once to the dry mixture. Stir just until moistened. Spoon batter into the muffin cups, filling each ¾ cup full. Drop 1 tsp. of pecan mixture on top of each muffin. Bake in a 400 degree oven about 20 minutes or until done. Cool slightly, and serve warm.

Pumpkin Butterscotch Muffins

The following recipe was featured in my Muffin Swap event. You can read about it and view other muffin recipes HERE.

Stacey’s Pumpkin Butterscotch Muffins

Recipe adapted from HERE (?)

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 3/4 cups pumpkin
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
2 cups nuts, optional
2 cups butterscotch chips/morsels

1. Combine all dry ingredients. Add pumpkin, eggs, and oil. Mix until smooth. Add nuts if desired and the butterscotch chips.

2. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until done.

Project Pastrami…

I love spices… probably too much. I have a whole drawer full of spice jars and another shelf of random spices. I came across this recipe for Pastrami-Style Salmon and thought the spice mix was rather interesting.

Since I didn’t have any salmon on hand, I did have some ground turkey to use for dinner. Combining the pastrami spice mixture and ground turkey was truly an experiment that turned out to be delicious! I decided to use this spiced ground turkey and stuffed some large portabello mushrooms and voila… dinner is served. I accompanied my stuff mushrooms with roasted asparagus and tomatoes.

Here’s my recipe for Spiced Turkey Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms:

2 large portabello mushrooms
8 oz. ground turkey
garlic, minced
onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
cooking spray for browning turkey
2 green onions, sliced
1/4 cup feta cheese (I used fat free)

Remove stems from mushrooms and gently brush off any debris.
In a large bowl, combine garlic, onion, sugar, and the spices and mix thoroughly.
In a saute pan, brown seasoned turkey.
Once browned, remove from heat and toss in cheese and green onions.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Place mushrooms gill side up and top with the turkey/feta/onion mixture.
Bake stuffed mushrooms in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes.

*I’m also submitting this to the “Go Ahead, Honey – It’s Gluten-Free” blog event started way back in the wintry depths of February by Naomi of Straight into Bed Cake-Free and Dried. This month, Rachel of The Crispy Cook is hosting and the focus is seasonal veggies. Be sure to check out Rachel’s site in early September for the round up!*

Things You Can Caramelize

What food comes to mind when you think of caramelizing? Let’s see… there’s onions, shallots, nuts, apples, creme brulee, etc. Have you ever considered tofu?

I know it’s a bit odd, but hear me out! Tofu is one of those foods that might require some extra coaxing for folks to try. But perhaps caramelizing them to give them more depth, flavor and color will help you to consider trying this recipe for Caramelized Tofu.

For lunch today we wanted to use up some bok choy and tofu we purchased last week. Thanks to my friend, Elly, she shared the site of 101 Cookbooks with me for a pancake recipe. On the same site, my eyes found this dish. I made some adaptations to use what I had on hand and overall, its a great way to use tofu. It made the tofu both sweet and salty – a great combination for most foods. To pair with this, I served it with steamed vegetable dumplings and a simple homemade ponzu sauce.

Here is my adaption of Caramelized Tofu with Bok Choy:

7 – 8 ounces extra-firm tofu cut into thin 1-inch segments
a couple pinches of fine-grain sea salt
a couple sprays of cooking spray
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 cup green onion, sliced
3-4 baby bok choy , washed and cut into 1/8-inch wide ribbons
salt & pepper to taste
few drops of sesame oil

Cook the tofu strips in large hot skillet (or pot) with a bit of salt and a sprays of cooking spray. Saute until slightly golden, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Stir in sugar. Cook for another couple of minutes.

In the same pan, add a touch more sprays of cooking spray, another pinch of salt, and dial the heat up to medium-high. When the pan is nice and hot stir in the chopped bok choy. Cook for 2 – 3 minutes, stirring a couple times (but not too often) until softened.

Return the tofu to the pan with the bok choy and toss together with salt, pepper and sesame oil before serving.

Serves 2 – 3 as a main, 4 as a side

*I’m also submitting this to the Bookmarked Recipes blogging event, hosted by Ruth of Ruth’s Kitchen Experiments. This is a great weekly blogging event so join in the fun or check out the round up every Monday on Ruth’s site!*

Spicy & Saucy

Today’s lunch was last night’s supposed dinner. So much for meal planning! If it weren’t for my workout at the gym and getting stuck in a thunder storm with the tornado sirens going off, I may have been able to pull off dinner without a hitch!

But I can say that enjoying this on a nice, sunny day makes for a great lunch. I came across this recipe for Asian Spiced Pork Tenderloins with Apricot Sauce and loved the spices involved along with the sweetness of apricots. The verdict? It was not only easy to prepare, but flavorful and on the healthier side. I served this with steamed rice and broccoli.

Here’s the recipe for Asian Spiced Pork Tenderloins with Apricot Sauce:

2 12-ounce pork tenderloins
Easy Apricot Sauce (see recipe, below)

Asian Rub
1 tablespoon packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Chinese five spice
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Easy Apricot Sauce
2/3 cup apricot preserves,
1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar
1/4 teaspoon soy sauce in small saucepan.
– Combine sauce ingredients and bring to boil; remove from heat. Cool to room temperature. Makes about 3/4 cup.

Prepare Easy Apricot Sauce. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Combine brown sugar, salt, Chinese five spice and pepper in small bowl. Sprinkle and rub mixture evenly on surfaces of pork tenderloins.

Prepare a medium-hot fire in grill. Grill tenderloins, uncovered, over direct heat for 15-20 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F., turning tenderloins over halfway through cooking. Transfer pork to cutting board. Loosely cover with foil. Let rest for 5 minutes.

Serve tenderloin with apricot sauce.

*I’m also submitting this to the Perfect Party Dishes blogging event, hosted by Dhanggit of Dhanggit’s Kitchen. The blogging event is in honor of her daughter’s first birthday. I chose this recipe because it can easily be made in advance and doesn’t require many ingredients for an elegant meal perfect for guests. Check out the round up for the event the week of August 15th on her site!*

Dates Wrapped in Bacon

The following recipe was made and shared at my Tapas party. You can read about the event and view links to the other recipes shared HERE.

Dates Wrapped in Bacon
shared at the event by Fatima
recipe from here

6 slices very lean bacon,7 inches long,halved crosswise
12 pitted medjool dates
light brown sugar (optional)

Soak 12 tooth picks in water for 15 minutes; preheat oven to 500°; line a jelly roll with parchment paper.

Wrap each date with a piece of bacon and skewer with a toothpick; place seam side down on the baking sheet; sprinkle with brown sugar if desired.

Bake 6 minutes or until well browned; rotate and bake 2-4 minutes more until bacon is crisp; drain on paper towels; cool a bit and serve.

Saltine Toffee Candy

I prepared the following recipe for my Book/Movie club. You can read about my event and view other links to recipes I made for it HERE.

The Saltine Toffee Candy has been popping up in a few other blogs I frequent. I thought this was a perfect dessert to use up the extra package of saltines my husband bought. There are numerous sites and blogs that provide the recipe, including AllRecipes & Recipezaar. Both are similar and here’s the recipe I used: 1 stick butter
1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar
saltines – enough to line your baking sheet
1-2 cups semi chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used peanuts)

Preheat oven to 400.
Line your baking sheet with foil.
Neatly place your saltines on the foil lined baking sheet.
In a sauce pan, melt butter and add brown sugar.
Allow butter & sugar to caramelize and boil for 2-3 minutes.
Pour mixture over the saltines.
Bake saltines in the preheated oven for 5 minutes.
Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over the saltines.
Allow it to rest for 2 minutes – enough for chocolate chips to melt.
Using a rubber spatula or spreader, spread the melted chocolate over the saltines to evenly coat.
Sprinkle the top with chopped nuts.
Refrigerate to harden the chocolate.
Break into random pieces and enjoy!

Salmon w/Ginger Balsamic Glaze

The follow recipe was shared at my Balsamic Vinegar Tasting Event. You can read and view links to other recipes that were featured HERE.

Salmon w/Ginger Balsamic Glaze
shared at the event by Semeena
recipe adapted from Recipezaar

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated ginger
1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed plus
1 teaspoon brown sugar, packed
4 salmon fillets, skin on (center cut)
salt & freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil

Stir together balsamic vinegar, water, lemon juice, ginger and brown sugar in a small bowl.

Pat salmon dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium high heat, not smoking. Increase heat to high, add salmon skin side up, and sear until well browned, about 4 minutes. Turn fish over and sear until just cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes more.

Transfer salmon to plates and carefully add vinegar mixture to skillet (liquid will bubble vigorously and steam). Simmer, stirring, until thickened and reduced to about 1/3 cup, about 2 minutes. Spoon glaze over salmon. Serve and enjoy!