Better Than Fruitcake

I am one of those crazy people that actually like fruitcake. I don’t like it enough to take the time to make one but if you brought one to my house I’d eat it. :o)

This recipe is a bit more cake-like than traditional fruitcake but still has the flavor I like.

You can bake it in a ring-pan, loaf pans or muffin pans. All you need to do is adjust the baking time.

2 eggs

1 28oz jar of mincemeat

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I used both)

2 cups chopped candied fruit (toss the fruit with about 1/4 cup of rum or brandy and let sit for a couple of hours before making cake, stir occasionally)

1/2 can condensed milk (I poured out about half the can and filled it back up with the molasses)

1/2 can molasses

1 teaspoon rum extract

Mix these ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Add:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

Mix well.

Pour into greased and sugared baking pan of your choice.

Bake at 300 for 25 minutes to 2 hours depending on size of pan. It is done when a toothpick comes out clean from the center.

Let cool before removing from pan.

Apple Cheddar Sausage Balls

I love apple in my sausage! While I’m not fond of cheddar cheese and apple pie, I did wonder if they would pair well together with sausage???

Yup! They do!

These sausage balls are perfect to pair with eggs and toast for breakfast or make into patties for a breakfast sandwich on a biscuit. (That’s what I’m trying next…)

2 pounds breakfast sausage (if you’d like trying to make your own, you can try my recipe HERE)

1/2 cup finely chopped apple

1 egg, beaten

3/4 cup fine bread crumbs

1 cup shredded cheddar (I used a 3 cheddar blend of sharp, mild & white)

Mix well together. Form into balls. Bake on greased or parchment-papered baking tray at 350-375 for about 30 minutes or until they temp at 165.

Pierogi Casserole

I love pierogi but I would never make them! They are so much work! Lately I’ve been making a lot of dishes I love into casseroles: cabbage rolls, stuffed green peppers…

This one combines all the things I love about pierogis in one dish!

1 pound gnocchi, cooked and drained

1/2 head of cabbage, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

1 cup sauerkraut, drained and rinsed (this is optional)

1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced

3 cloves garlic, minced or chopped

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon marjoram

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 pinch ground cloves

1 cup shredded white cheddar cheese

Sauté cabbage, onion, mushrooms and garlic with seasonings in 4 Tablespoons of butter until tender.

Toss with gnocchi and sauerkraut (if using). Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Pumpkin Butter Scones

A crisp fall day of watching BBC with a friend calls for a cup of maple cream tea and a batch of pumpkin scones. I have a freezer full of pumpkin butter, so I made up a recipe for these little gems. Just the perfect thing for the Call the Midwife Christmas special!

2 cups flour

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cold butter

1/2 cup pumpkin butter (I used this orange bourbon recipe. But you could use this one or this maple one or any of your favorites.)

1 egg

Preheat oven to 400.

Mix dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Cut in cold butter until the flour mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Whisk together pumpkin butter and egg. Add to flour mixture. Stir well to combine.

Knead a few times on a floured surface.

Place on greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Press into a circle about 1/2” thick. Cut into 8 wedges. Separate them slightly from one another.

Bake for 15-17 minutes.

Let cool on rack.

Make a orange spice glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Add orange juice until it becomes a good consistency for drizzling over the top of the cooled scones.

Drizzle over the scones when they are warm but no longer hot. Eat right away or wait until the scones have gotten to room temp and glaze has set.

Pork Chop Loaf

I found a recipe with this name in a 1950s Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. They had you make your own stuffing but I was really looking for a super easy dinner to just pop in the oven and making stuffing kind of defeats the idea. But a box of stuffing mix that I dolled-up a bit did the trick!

Brown 4-6 pork chops in large skillet with 1 Tablespoon of oil on med-high heat. Brown both sides.

Prepare stuffing mix according to directions on box. I sautéed up some chopped onion and celery in butter and threw in some dried cranberries, too.

Then alternate pork chops and stuffing in a loaf pan.

Bake at 325 for about 1 hour or until pork chops are 145 degrees.

Serve with applesauce.

Bourbon Orange Pumpkin Butter

This is the darkest and most flavorful of the three pumpkin butters I made. It is my favorite to throw into pancakes or yogurt!

4 cups pumpkin puree (see how to make your own HERE)

1/2 cup apple cider

1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (see my recipe HERE)

1 cup brown sugar

1 Tablespoon bourbon

1 teaspoon orange juice

Combine pumpkin, cider, sugars, and spice in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered, still stirring often, until it reduces down and gets thick. You can make it as thin or thick as you want.

Remove from heat and stir in bourbon and orange juice.

Let cool in fridge. Pour into jars or freezer containers. Store in fridge for up to 3 weeks or in freezer up to a year.

Pumpkin Pie Butter

No, it isn’t made of pumpkin pie… But it does have pumpkin pie spice in it and is yummy enough to eat from a spoon!

First you need to make pumpkin puree (you can try this method HERE)

3 cups pumpkin puree

1/4 cup apple cider

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (my recipe HERE)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 Tablespoon orange juice

Combine pumpkin, cider, sugars, and spice in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered, still stirring often, until it reduces down and gets thick. You can make it as thin or thick as you want.

Remove from heat and stir in extract and orange juice.

Let cool in fridge. Pour into jars or freezer containers. Store in fridge for up to 3 weeks or in freezer up to a year.

Spiced Cookie Butter

I hadn’t ever heard of cookie butter before, until I saw a recipe for it on-line. But now that I have discovered it and realized I can make it myself, I may have opened a Pandora’s box that I was not prepared for. This stuff is pure evil in a jar! And it is sitting right in my fridge, beckoning me every time I walk by. And I can’t eat just one spoonful! It wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t already thinking about what flavor to try next… AHHHHH!!!

6.75 oz of any flavor of plain crispy cookies (I used some plain tea biscuits and some ginger snaps)

4 Tablespoons powdered sugar

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (you could use any spice you like or none at all)

1/4 cup oil (coconut, sweet almond, rice bran…) *I used coconut but it turned into a rock in the fridge. The rice bran was better and I think almond would be nice, too.

3-4 Tablespoons cold water

Place cookies into food processor and pulse until they turn into fine crumbs.

Add sugars, spices and vanilla and pulse until well mixed.

Slowly pour in the oil and mix until well combined.

Then slowly add water (you may not need it all) and pulse until it is sticky but not too thin or wet.

 

   At this point is was still too gritty for me and I wanted my butter to have a smoother texture. So I kept pulsing until the butter was glossy and smooth.

Place in a jar or other airtight container and store in fridge.

You may want to take it out and bring to room temperature before eating. Or if you’re like me, you can just take a spoonful right out of the jar in the fridge every time you walk by… ;o)

Maple Pumpkin Butter

I decided to tackle the pile of pumpkins sitting on the hot tub today!

First step was to get them all baked and pureed. Super easy using this oven method!

Before I knew it, I had 25 cups of pumpkin! Fifteen cups went into the freezer and the other 10 got made into pumpkin butter. I’d never made it before, but from the recipes I saw on-line it didn’t seem too difficult. So, I made it up as I went along and am pretty darn pleased with the results!

spiced bourbon orange, pumpkin pie & maple

My mind is reeling with all kinds of ideas to do with them! If they work, I’ll post them here. But first, the Maple Pumpkin Butter recipe:

3 cups pumpkin puree (see recipe HERE)

1/4 cup apple cider (I used our homemade cider)

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 Tablespoons maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon maple extract

pinch salt

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Combine pumpkin, cider, sugar and syrup in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered, still stirring often, until it reduces down and gets thick. You can make it as thin or thick as you want.

Remove from heat and stir in extracts,, salt and lemon juice.

Let cool in fridge. Pour into jars or freezer containers. Store in fridge for up to 3 weeks or in freezer up to a year.

Applesauce Muffins

Made these muffins for supper tonight. I confess they aren’t the best muffins I’ve ever had or even the best muffins I’ve ever made. But they were quick, easy, moist and could have any number of tasty variations that I will be trying in the future. So, here’s the recipe: mostly for my own reference, but feel free to try them yourself…

1/2 cup softened butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup applesauce

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon cloves

Cream butter and sugar together. Add egg, vanilla and applesauce. Mix well. Add dry ingredients and stir just until moistened.

Spoon into greased or papered muffin tins. Makes about 15 muffins.

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until pick comes out clean.

Variations:

*apple cider glaze on top

* stir in chopped fresh apple, dried cranberries, raisins, chopped nuts

*top with streusel topping 

Chorizo Sausage

With the ground pork in my freezer, I am trying some sausage recipes on a smaller scale to see what I think. This one wasn’t my favorite, but I want to remember how I did it. On the other hand, it made a KILLER chili last night for supper!

2 pounds ground pork

1 1/2 Tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon each: oregano & cumin

1/4 teaspoon fennel seed

1/8 teaspoon cloves

1/2 Tablespoon each: onion powder & pepper

2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

Mix together well by hand or in a stand mixer. Freeze or use within 2 days.

Bacon Jalapeno Biscuits

I needed something to go along with the pot of chorizo chili for supper and had just chopped up the last of the jalapenos from the garden. So here is the result…

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 cup shortening or lard

1/4 cup crumbled bacon

2 Tablespoons minced fresh jalapeno

1/2 cup shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese

1 cup milk

Mix together dry ingredients. Cut in shortening or lard with a pastry cutter. Stir in bacon, jalapenos and cheese. Add milk and stir until just combined.

Drop onto greased baking sheet and bake at 450 for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve hot with butter.

Green Bean & Mizithra Carbonara

This is what you make when you don’t have peas or parmesan cheese but do have plenty of pasta and eggs… not to mention green beans and mizithra cheese. Turned out pretty tasty!

4 room temperature eggs

1/4 cup heavy cream

Whisk together and set aside.

1/4 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic

1/2 pound diced bacon

Sauté bacon in frying pan until crisp. Remove and drain on paper towels. Pour off remaining grease. Sauté garlic and onion until tender.

1 pound pasta

2 cups fresh green beans

Cook pasta and beans in the same pot until tender.Drain.

1/4 cup butter

While pasta/beans is cooking, place butter in glass 9x13 baking dish. Put in the oven at 350 until butter melts.

As soon as pasta is drained, place in pan with butter and bacon mixture. Toss well. Slowly pour eggs & cream over pasta while stirring. The egg will cook with the hot pan and pasta.

3/4 to 1 cup grated mizithra cheese

salt & pepper, to taste

Toss with pasta and serve immediately.

Chicken & Green Beans with Peanut Sauce

I picked a whole big bowl of green beans from the garden today, parboiled them, and stir-fried them with some chicken breast. Over rice it was a super delicious and easy supper! And you could smell the peanut butter throughout the entire kitchen… mmmmm!

Peanut sauce:

2 Tablespoons sesame oil

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

4 Tablespoons creamy peanut butter

2 teaspoons sesame seeds

Whisk it all together until smooth and set aside.

Just sauté some cut up chicken breast (about 3 or 4) until it is no longer pink. Throw in some fresh parboiled or frozen green beans and stir-fry them until they are hot. Add the peanut sauce and heat through. Serve over white rice.

Blueberry Lemon Streusel Muffins

This is a simplification of a recipe I found on Pinterest. I am going to write it in steps so that no one will be as confused as I was when I made it. It has quite a few steps (but still less than the original recipe) and dirties quite a few bowls but, thankfully, it was worth it in the end… My quest for the perfect blueberry muffin may be over???

 

Step one: Combine 1/4 cup sugar and the zest of 1 lemon in a small bowl. Set aside.

Step two: Combine 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup flour in a bowl. Mix in 3 Tablespoons melted butter until it turns into pea-sized pieces.

Step three: Mix 2 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1 teaspoon salt in a large bowl.

Step four: Whisk together 2 eggs and 1 1/8 cups sugar in a mixing bowl until smooth. Add 1/4 cup melted butter and whisk until combined. Whisk in 1 cup buttermilk and 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Step five: Take the lemon/sugar combination and sift out the lemon zest through a fine sieve, reserving the sugar for topping the muffins. Stir the sugary lemon zest into the flour mixture.

Step six: Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the egg/sugar mixture. Mix until it is just combined. The batter will be very lumpy. Don’t worry, you don’t want to mix it too much!

Step seven: Gently fold in 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries. If using frozen, toss them with 1 Tablespoon of flour before folding in.

Step eight: Fill 12-15 prepared muffin cups. Top each with streusel and a bit of the lemon sugar. Bake at 425 for 17-20 minutes or until the tops are firm and golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes in pan and another 5 minutes on wire rack. Eat warm.

Crock Pot Frittata

What’s easier than an egg bake? An egg bake you make in the crock pot! It only takes a couple of hours to cook, which makes it an option for supper or breakfast.

This is so easy that it hardly even qualifies as an actual recipe!

Spray your crock pot with non-stick spray because eggs stick like mad!

Sauté up your favorite combo of veggies. You only need to do it until they are a bit tender and a bit crisp. I did some green peppers, zucchini, mushrooms…

 

First I threw in a couple of good handfuls of baby spinach into the crock pot. Then I layered the other veggies on top. For a nice onion-y flavor, I chopped up a few chives from my garden. Lastly, I did some real bacon bits from Costco. I love those things!

Sprinkle the whole thing with shredded cheese.

In order to feed all 5 of us and use up my bounty oddly-sized eggs, I beat up 12 eggs to pour over the top. You could use anywhere from 8-10 large eggs.

Cook it on low for 3-4 hours or on high for about 2 hours.

Made a quick easy supper!

Greek Pita Tacos

This is an interesting twist on your standard taco with a little bit of Greek thrown in for fun! Opa!

1 pound hamburger

1/2 cup red onion, chopped

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon each: oregano, dill weed, garlic powder, lemon pepper, ground mustard, salt, black pepper

1 can diced tomatoes

1 small can sliced olives

3 large handfuls of baby spinach

feta cheese

pitas

Brown 1 pound of ground beef in a large skillet. Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is tender.

Add tomatoes and seasonings. Cook until liquid is absorbed. Add olives and spinach. Cook for about 2-3 minutes or until spinach is wilted.

Serve on pitas with crumbled feta cheese.

my 1/2 teaspoon was dirty and I was too lazy to clean it LOL

 

add spinach 1 handful at a time and cook down

 

I also served ours with sliced cucumbers and hummus on the side

these pitas from Costco are amazing!