CranBourbon

Without a doubt, THE best cranberry sauce you will ever have.  Even if you don't like cranberry sauce, you will drool at the very thought of cranbourbon sauce after just one tiny smackerel.

You will need a bag of cranberries, two cups of sugar, a sprinkling of cinnamon and a quarter cup of Maker's Mark. 


Oven to 350.  Combine first three ingredients in an oven-safe dish. 

Cover the dish and cook for one hour - stirring halfway through to combine.  When you first uncover the dish after a half hour, it won't look like much has happened, but give in a little stir and you'll end up with a sugary cranberry mix. 

After one hour, remove from oven and pour in the Maker's Mark - the bubbling and popping and wafting of Maker's makes Adam smile every time, it was a shame to make it while he was working, but that's what Thanksgiving is really for: The Smell of Bourbon in the Morning.

Cover and refrigerate until well chilled.  You can even make it a day or two ahead of time and it tastes just fine.  Serve with turkey, tofurkey, mashed potatoes, cereal, ice cream, etc.

Welcome, Fall!

I am embracing fall this year.  Fall being my favorite season, it wasn't so hard to do.  Loving it from right after Labor Day until the day after Thanksgiving.  Though these are not the traditional breaking points, they make much better markers than the 21st of September and December.

Labor Day is seemingly the celebration of the end of summer.  Kids are back in school.  Apples are ready for eating and cider.  And, more importantly, the days are noticeably shorter bringing along that first fall chill. No one thinks you're strange if you put away your summer clothes at that time, so I decided that we'd had a fantastically marvelous summer and it was time to put away my summer thoughts as well. 

Traditionally Fall ends on the 21st of December... but, really?  Who are we trying to kid?  With all the talk of "Black Friday", no one is talking about going out and getting more autumnal decorations... it's all about Christmas.  I have never ventured out for shopping on Black Friday, preferring to savor gift buying and making, while holding on to the idea that people are full of good will at that time of year; not trying to run each other over as can be seen on the 6 o'clock news every Friday following Thanksgiving. 

As a celebration of the middle of fall, I decided to make a Thanksgiving Preview - Turkey Sandwiches!  Okay, doesn't sound SO Thanksgiving-y, but wait... just wait.

Pinned There, Done That - Smashed Taters

Seriously, could not be easier and they are D-Lish... as long as you keep in mind my love of all things potato.  Originally from America's Test Kitchen.

2lbs Red Potatoes
2/3 C Water
Olive Oil
Thyme
Salt n' Pepper

Oven to 500 - yes, 500 degrees.  Oven racks should be placed on the tippy top and the very bottom.

Place potatoes on a baking sheet and pour water into the bottom. Tightly cover with foil and bake for about 30min.

Remove from oven, discard foil and allow to cool for about 10min.  If any water remains in the bottom of pan, use paper towels to remove.  Sprinkle with olive oil and roll to coat (about 3Tbsp). Using the bottom of a measuring cup, squash each potato until they are about 1/2" thick. Sprinkle with thyme, salt and pepper and then add about 3 more Tbsps of olive oil.

Return potatoes to the oven on the top rack for 15 minutes. Then Bottom rack for 20-30 minutes or until they are golden brown. 

Serve immediately. 

SO creamy and crunchy and delicious.  Seriously, the best red tater ever.

Nifty Gifty - Erika's Birthday

This year we went to the Cleveland Zoo with my best friend, Erika.  The girls love her and we were all excited about seeing the new elephant exhibit... the only problem was that we planned the trip for literally the hottest day of the hot hot summer.  I mean, HOT.  We went ahead with our plans and had a marvelous time.  The elephants were sauntering, the giraffes were eating out of our hands and the girls had a blast.  To remember this wonderful day, the girls made her a very special birthday present... with a little help from me.

Pinned There, Done That - Pumpkin Scones

Pumpkin Scones and Coffee

(Yes, scones - I dare you to eat just one!)

Drooling over photos on Pinterest is a new hobby of mine; one of my favorite photos being the one of pumpkin scones dripping with sweet sugary glaze.  But, keep in mind, I'm trying to ditch the baby weight (even a year later... sigh) and I didn't want all of the extra calories that the gooey topping brings with it.  If you are looking for a better sugarier topping, check out my source for the recipe at The Shoebox Kitchen.

For the scones:

• 2 cups all purpose flour - my dough was pretty gooey, but it worked out alright
• 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into 1-inch cubes - I used EarthBalance and it worked just fine
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin 
• 3 tablespoons soy creamer
• 1 large egg

Powdered Sugar Glaze (same credit with a bit of a twist)

• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 2 tablespoons soy creamer

Oven to 425 - line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk pumpkin, creamer (you could use milk or half-and-half like the original recipe suggests), and egg together in small bowl.

Sift dry ingredients into mixing bowl and add butter cut into small cubes on top of dry ingredients.  Mix with paddle attachment at a low/medium speed until no clumps of butter remain.  Avery and Braelin and I danced one dance to "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain." So it probably mixed for two minutes.

Cut out the mixer-ing and use a wooden spoon to mix in the dry ingredients.  It's kind of a work out but if you sing a song about shortnin' bread it goes much faster.

Shape the dough into a loaf roughly one inch thick and eight inches long and three inches wide.  Use a cookie cutter to cut the dough into three rectangles.  Then make an X in each rectangle to gie you three sets of four triangle shaped scones. 

Arrange scones on cookie sheet and bake for about 15 minutes.  I got sucked in to a game of peek-a-boo and didn't check on them, so they baked for the full 15 minutes and were a bit too brown.

Allow to cool and then brush with glaze.  Allow glaze to dry (if you can) and then enjoy with a cuppa coffee or tea or milk or water or whatever.  I don't recommend having it with lemonade, however, Avery was not a fan.

Enjoy!

Pinned There, Done That - Pumpkin Brownies

Pumpkin Brownies

I have a confession to make - I love pumpkin.  Not the cute jack-o-lanterns or the pretty little decorative ones, the actual guts of a pumpkin; I look forward to fall every year because it's an excuse to indulge in my favorite flavor.  Here's one of my newest favorite pumpkin experiences from Pennies on a Platter.  

The original recipe made 24 brownies, but I used a more traditional square pan and made 8.  Let's be honest, no one is eating a teeny piece of brownie. No One.

1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 whole egg
2 egg whites
1 tbsp canola oil
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips - I used Baker's because they are the best, just sayin'.

Oven to 350˚F.  Line a brownie pan with parchment paper. If you haven't joined the parchment paper revolution yet... do it. You'll never go back to cooking spray or other silliness.

In a large bowl, combine pumpkin puree, eggs and oil until smooth.

In a separate medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, spices, salt and brown sugar.  Add to the wet ingredients and mix until thoroughly incorporated.  Stir in the chocolate chips.

Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly.  My brownies needed about 25 minutes before they passed the toothpick test..

Pinned There, Done That - Wacky Snax

Idea from http://cakeinfo.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html

Wacky Snax

(At least, that's what Adam calls them because the original name was too long for him)

 Adam loves these and I haven't made them and had anyone tell me a different story.  According to my husband, something magical happens when the candy corn meets the hug and the pretzel adds a certain crunchy goodness.  

All you do is line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, spread out some square pretzels (make sure they aren't touching) and put a hug on top.  Then you pop them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 3 minutes - JUST UNTIL THE HUGS LOOK SHINY . 

Then you take the cookie sheet out of the oven and place it on a trivet or other heat proof surface WITHOUT TIPPING IT - that's the hard part, trust me.  Then you take candy corns and push the hugs down with them.  

Make sure that you have plenty of time to let them cool OR enough room in the fridge for the cookie sheet to cool in there because, if let to their own devices, these take a looooooooong time to cool down.

Pinned There, Done That - Blue Birthday Cupcakes

Blueberry Cupcakes for Braelin's First Birthday

Braelin LURVES blueberries and I thought that blueberry cuppycakes would be just the thing for her birthday treat... what I didn't count on was the scarcity of blueberries in early October.  Never fear, frozen berries worked just fine.  

RECIPE: (modified from http://weekofmenus.blogspot.com/2011/04/bluebery-cupcakes-with-blueberry-cream.html)

2 sticks unsalted butter (um... I was a crazed shopper and bought salted, I can't taste 'em, but they still looked alright to me.)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
4 large eggs
3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/2 cup pureed fresh blueberries
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  *The original recipe called for freeze dried blueberries and because our local market didn't have any, neither do my cuppycakes, but I'd bet they would add a lil' special something.  So, if you've got 'em, use 'em.

Oven to 350 degrees.  I used foil liners so no cupcake pan was necessary.

Mix together flour. baking powder and salt. I set this aside for over an hour - it was primo shower time, you gotta take it where you can get it.  The mix was fine.

I pureed the frozen blueberries after nuking them for a minute to get them mooshey.  I used my immersion blender and just left the berry juice in the mashing cup then added the buttermilk and vanilla.

I finally broke out the KitchenAid Mixer and beat the butter, sugar and lemon for a while. The original recipe suggests 2 minutes, but Braelin wanted to read Bisquit, so that's how long the mixer was going. The eggs were added one at a time and then two games of peek-a-boo were played while each egg incorporated into the mix.

The flour was supposed to be added in three batches, but Avery "helped" so it was added in one big batch and one teensy batch.  I added the berry-buttermilk mix in-between the two batches of flour.

I then had a brilliant idea:  My cuppycake batter always goes EVERYWHERE... so I took a cue from my frosting experience and scooped the batter into a large plastic baggy and squirted the mix into the liners.  It looked so stinking cute that I even took a picture of the pre-cooked cupcakes... but I'll spare you.

My dinosaur of an oven took about 25 minutes to cook the cupcakes through, but if you have one that wasn't from the discount rack (stinkin' home flippers) then it might take less time.  

I was going to get fancy with the frosting, but the girls were ready for a nap and I was ready to be done, so I used some store bought buttercream frosting, mixed in the left over blueberry juices and called it naptime.  

What's Cookin' Good Lookin'?

I fell in love.  Not with another man, Adam is still tops in my book.  Not with a book, though The Master and Margarita is an awesome novel.  I fell in love with Pinterest.  For those of you not in the know, Pinterest in basically a virtual corkboard to pin your favorite sites, ideas and recipes.  And= I. Am. Hooked.  I almost thought about re-naming my blog "Pinned There, Done That."  Not that anyone would notice or care, seeing as how I've been MIA (Mothering in Action) and not nearly as bloggy as I thought I would be.  But soon to come:  Some of my favorite recent recipe adventures.