12 Weeks of Christmas Treats Week 1–Apple Cinnamon Scones

Welcome to week 1 of 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats! I’m so excited to participate in this blog event hosted by Brenda at Meal Planning Magic. I’ve wanted to do one of these events for a few years now but have always chickened out. This year I heard a few people on my cooking board mention this event and thought it sounded like so much fun so I got brave and signed up. I’m so excited to see what all the other bloggers make these next 12 weeks. Heck, I’m excited to see what I make since I haven’t finalized all my ideas yet!

So, let’s get started! Originally I figured I’d start with a cookie of some sort, but I had this bag of applies sitting on the counter just begging to be turned into some sort of yummy item. Then I started seeing a bunch of scones pop up on Pinterest and my mind started to think – apples….scones…apple scones? A little searching let me know that apple cinnamon scones are pretty popular (I’ve never had one before!) and the idea sounded great. But how does this tie in with Christmas Treats?
That part was actually pretty easy to figure out. Every year on Christmas we gather with my family to open presents and then eat lunch. There’s never any actual breakfast foods present so during the course of the morning we all end up wandering over to the table or counter where all the cookies and candies are and grabbing a snickerdoodle here, a peanut cluster there until we’re all full of sugar and ready to open more presents. So I figure a scone will be a perfect thing to put in amongst all the cookies. It is a breakfast food (less guilt!) and very tasty (more appealing!) plus it is easy to pick up and eat with one hand so you can check out your new toy with the other. These will definitely be nice to pull out of the freezer and have ready for Christmas morning.

  Apple Cinnamon Scones
From: Simply Scratch

Apple Cinnamon Scones

Yield: 8 scones

Ingredients:

2 Cups All Purpose Flour, plus some for dusting 1/4 Cup Sugar 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon 1/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg, (fresh grated is awesome if you can find nutmeg – I can’t!) 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Soda 1/2 Teaspoon Salt 1 Stick {or 8 tablespoons} Unsalted Butter – chilled 2 Apples (I used Jonathan but golden delicious or honeycrisp were recommended and would be great), peel and shred – I had smaller apples so shred a packed 1 Cup 1/4 to 1/2 Cup Milk, plus more for brushing – Whole is recommended but I used 2% because that’s what I had 1 Tablespoon Sugar, for sprinkling Steps: Preheat oven to 425 and line a cookie or sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Mix all the ingredients up to and including the salt. Then cut your very cold butter into cubes and add to the flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter (or your fingers) blend the butter and flour mixture until it makes small crumbles. Add the apple and mix together. Slowly add the milk, adding in a small amount at a time while you stir until it forms a nice dough consistency. On a floured work surface knead the dough 8 to 10 times and then form into a rectangle. Cut into 8 wedge shapes (I used my pizza wheel and it worked great) and move to the pan using a spatula. Brush each wedge with a small amount of milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until you see that the edges are golden brown. I baked mine in 2 batches of 4 so as not to crowd my pan. Serve warm or microwave for just a few second to warm up.

Eat to the Beat: Monkey(Wrench) Bread

I loved when Elly at Elly Says Opa did Eat to the Beat back in the day. As someone who loves baking and adores music it was such the perfect combo for me (prior posts here and here) . I was so sad when she stopped doing it. So, needless to say, I was beyond thrilled when Elly announced she was doing a special Eat to the Beat to celebrate her 5 year blog anniversary. I knew I had to participate, the only question was what band or song to honor with a yummy baked good.

The answer? Foo Fighters of course. Besides the fact that the band is awesome, their music is incredible, and Dave Grohl is amazing - the fact is their name is just one letter off from being FooD Fighters. Perfect, no?

I adore the Foo Fighters. Have since they came out. They are such a fun band with awesome rhythms and lyrics and they just seem like they would be so much fun to hang out with. They were also one of the first rock bands I saw in concert when they opened up for the Red Hot Chili Peppers when I saw them in concert. It was awesome.

I decided to make monkey bread in honor of the song Monkey Wrench because it is an amazing song that I love to rock out to while I’m in the kitchen and I’ve never had monkey bread before. I always think it looks really good but I’ve never had the opportunity to make it. So this was the perfect opportunity to change that fact.

This is such an easy thing to make and I think it would be so much fun to make with a kid. Shaking the bag up would be so much fun for a kid I think, I know it was for me! I danced around the kitchen and made funny faces at Doug while he was on the phone while I shook the bag to coat all the biscuit pieces with the yummy cinnamon sugar mixture.

This would be an excellent addition to a holiday brunch or a get together with friends. It is fun to eat as you can pull apart the pieces, it is really tasty, and it takes no time at all to make. Definitely a winner in my book!

So, happy birthday, Elly Says Opa! Thanks for brining back Eat to the Beat for your celebration!!

Monkey (Wrench) Bread

Source: The Pioneer Woman

3 Cans Buttermilk Biscuits (not the flaky kind)

1 Cup Sugar

2 to 3 Teaspoons Cinnamon (your preference)

2 Sticks Butter – melted

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut each biscuit into quarters.

Combine the white sugar and cinnamon together in a gallon zip bag. Shake to mix up.

Place all the biscuit pieces into the bag, close the bag tightly, and shake until all the biscuit pieces are coated in the cinnamon-sugar mixture (dancing optional).

Place the biscuit pieces evenly around a bundt pan.

Melt the sticks of butter and stir in the brown sugar until completely combined.

Pour the brown sugar – butter mixture over the biscuits.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the crust is a deep brown on top. Allow to cool 15-30 minutes and then turn the pan over a plate to remove the bread.

Foodbuzz Tastemaker: Birds Eye Creamy Primavera Risotto

I recently received a package of Birds Eye Creamy Primavera Risotto in the mail as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program. I was excited to try this as I’ve never had risotto but have always wanted to try it.

Even though I’ve never had the dish before I had a good idea of what to expect from all the recipes and descriptions I’ve read. This did not disappoint.

The risotto was very creamy and the vegetables had a great texture. The peas were actually my favorite part and usually frozen peas are no bueno. I also love the fact that there are no preservatives. Plus you’ve got to love a side dish that doesn’t require dirtying any dishes! I think this would go really well with a pork loin or baked chicken though honestly I ate some as a quick dinner when I was on my own one night.

I will definitely be adding this to our freezer when it comes out this fall. Thanks to Foodbuzz and Birds Eye for the opportunity to try this product.

I was given this product free from Bird Eye as part of the Food Tastemaker program however the above views are totally my own.

ETTB: Chili

This is another recipe from Doug's awesome mom that he was excited for me to make and I was rather nervous to try. The way that Doug's family thinks of chili is a lot different than how my family makes chili. Their version of chili is sweet with no kick, while my mom's chili is the only thing she adds any heat to (granted it's very little heat). I love both versions though, they each fill a different craving.

This recipe gets it's sweetness from a bit of sugar, but you could easily add some heat by adding spices or using a spicy chili bean. One thing I love about this recipe is that it can be made in the slow cooker. I love to throw this on in the morning and let is cook all day. Another great thing about this recipe is that you can easily make more to accommodate a crowd or make leftovers. In our opinion chili is one of those foods that is usually better the next day. To increase this you would just add more cans of beans and add more juice to reach your preferred sauce level.

I'm entering this recipe into Elly's (of Elly Says Opa) Eat to the Beat. When I was in middle school a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to go to a Foo Fighters/Red Hot Chili Peppers concert with her. At the time, I can't believe I'm admitting this, I was way more into boy bands and pop princesses then I was rock bands. But of course I wanted to seem cool so I said I'd go. Flash forward to the concert: everyone else is singing along, screaming out the names of their favorite band members. I'm sitting there going "wow, these guys are really cool. Who knew?" I'm happy to say that night started my transformation into a well rounded music fan. From then on I've been a fan of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

This is particularly good since Doug is such a big fan of music. He loves every type of music there is (give him a type and I bet he can name at least one band in that area that he likes). He was actually pretty jealous when he learned that I had seen the peppers in concert (especially now that the band is on a break). Doug and I have definitely bonded over musicians, especially in the early years of our relationship. D is a great musician and I love to listen to him play, even though he swears up and down that he can't play chili pepper songs. Whenever I make chili I start to think about this incredible band and start to hum their songs. This time I was humming "Under the Bridge" since I've recently heard that on the radio. So, that's why I'm submitting it to Elly's awesome event.

Chili

By: Debbie, my mother-in-law

Ingredients:

2 lbs Ground Beef

1 Medium Onion

1 Can Kidney Beans

1 Can Chili Beans

2 Large Cans Tomato Juice

2 Tbsp Sugar

Direction:

Cut the onion into small pieces, brown with the ground beef.

Add beef and all other ingredients together in large pot, stock pot, or slow cooker.

Cover with lid and allow to simmer for 2-3 hours.

Great topped with crackers and a little cheese.

This makes a small to medium batch. You can play with the amounts of beans and juice to reach your preferred consistency.

Tuesdays With Dorie: Kugelhopf

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was a bit of a challenge for me. First of all, the recipe, which was picked by Yolanda of The All-purpose Girl, is for a yeast cake called Kugelhopf. This recipe scared me because of the fact that I have never made anything by myself with yeast. Nothing, ever. So I was very nervous that I would somehow mess this up and end up looking silly on my second week in the group. But amazingly everything with the dough went just fine. My dough rose like it was supposed to each time, much to my amazement. So when the last rise in the fridge was done I had a perfectly risen dough.

Then came the real trouble. This cake can be made in a special Kugelhopf pan or in a regular bundt pan, I planned to use a bundt pan. I have never made anything in a bundt pan, so I planned to use the one from a Kitchen Aid set I had gotten a while ago at Linens 'n Things for the first time. Well, lets just say I learned an important lesson: always check your pans before you start baking. It turns out I had a mini bundt pan, not the full size one I thought I had. Luckily I had read on the Tuesdays with Dorie site that you could make these in a muffin pan, so that's what I did. So we had Kugelhopf rolls, instead of a cake.

This recipe was actually a lot simpler than I thought it would be. It has a nice texture and a good taste to it. I think if I make it again I will use something other than raisins in it, I'm not a big fan of raisins in my baked goods. Overall though this was an easy recipe and, I think, a nice introduction to yeast.

Kugelhopf from Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. Pages 61 to 63.

Caving to Peer Pressure

I never really had to deal with peer pressure in high school. I think I was just so far into the world of band geeks and drama freaks that I just never noticed it. Sadly, the same is not true for me as an adult apparently. First I let myself get "talked into" (also known as commanded) reading young adult book about a girl who falls in love with a vampire. And now I have let myself be talked into joining a blog group where everyone bakes a recipe a week from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home To Yours and blogs about it on Tuesdays. The vampire book thing ended up being great (thanks for the pressure on that one!) and I think this baking thing may be ok too (thanks Jessica and Maci!).


So for those of you who don't know about this blogging group let me explain. The group is called Tuesdays with Dorie and is composed of a huge variety of food bloggers from all over who have Dorie's book. Each week a member selects one recipe and everyone bakes it and then blogs about it. They ask that you do not post the recipe to your blog to encourage more people to go buy the book and support the publishing world (and as a major book fanatic (both cookbook and other) you know I love that! I had been toying with the idea of joining this group for a while now, but was always really intimidated by the awesome things everyone was making. However, recently the group set a cut off date to join, you had to sign up by 10/31 if you wanted to be a member. So the peer pressure had been strong the last few weeks (ahem, Jessica) and I finally caved in, er I mean decided to join.



So, this is my first Tuesdays with Dorie recipe and I was both excited and nervous about it. The recipe was chosen by Piggy of Piggy's Cookin Journal (check it out!) and is for Rugelach. I have had this treat before but had never made it, so I was excited to try it. I was also slightly frightened because this is another recipe that calls for making and rolling out a dough. I survived the rolling process and they turned out pretty good. They didn't really hold their shape very well though, but they are still good. I think I am going to try to make another batch and play around with the shape until I get it to work (and goodness knows I could use the rolling practice).


So check out the other bloggers who are doing Tuesdays with Dorie and check back here on Tuesdays for the newest TWD recipe.


Recipe: Rugelach from pages 150 and 151 in Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

My Very First From Scratch Apple Cobbler

That lovely creation up there is my very first from scratch apple cobbler. Now, I have made a few cobbler before that were very good, but they were all with the help of a mix. We live near an Amish community and have vacationed near some, so my mom and I have found many great Amish cobbler mixes over the years. However, I have been on a mission to make as many things from scratch as I can, I figure if I have the ability then why not? (Plus it has been a while since I've made it to an of the Amish stores.) So today I went hunting for a great looking apple cobbler recipe to use up some of the great apples my parents brought us from the local orchard. I also had a jar of this incredible apple cinnamon spread from a local baker that I wanted to use, and at my last job a girl who is related to the local baker brought in a cobbler made with this spread, so I knew I wanted to try that.

I looked at all the usual sites to try to find a recipe, but nothing jumped out at me. Then I remembered that back when we were in the middle of the peach frenzy I had printed out a peach cobbler recipe. So I found that recipe and started to tweak it to satisfy my apple needs. I've never really messed with a baking recipe before. No matter how often I play around in the kitchen while cooking I've always been afraid to do so while baking. In my mind there is just too big of a chance of me messing everything up, and that would make me very sad. But today I decided to be brave and make an attempt. I basically took the peach cobbler recipe and took all of the seasonings out of the recipe and replaced them with the apple cinnamon spread. Then I added some cinnamon to the topping batter before I put it on the apples. I also left off the cinnamon sugar topping that the original recipe called for. I thought it might be a bit too much, and I was going for a strong cinnamon flavor so I just added it to the topping. I was really nervous to try this but it came out great! The apples have a great cinnamon taste, not too sweet with a nice spice to them. I think I will make more of the topping next time, it did not completely cover the entire apple mixture, so I have a few gaps. But despite that fact I'm really please with my first attempt at making changes to a recipe, and I don't think I will be as worried next time.

I'm entering this into Joelen's Cobblers & Such blog event over at Joelen's Culinary Adventures. This will actually be my second time doing one of her events. Check out her blog to see all the great events she does.

Apple Cinnamon Cobbler Adapted from Kelly Cooks and Other Amazing Feats

6-8 medium sized apples of your choice - peeled, cored and sliced into thin wedges

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons cornstarch

3 tablespoons apple cinnamon spread

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp cinnamon

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

1/4 cup boiling water

Directions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.- In a large bowl, combine apples, cup white sugar, cup brown sugar, spread, and cornstarch.
- Toss to coat evenly, and pour into a 9 x 13 pan
- Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine flour, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
- Blend in butter with your fingertips, or a pastry blender, until mixture resembles coarse meal. - Stir in water until just combined.- Remove apples from oven, and drop spoonfuls of topping over them.
- Bake until topping is golden, about 30 minutes. (Mine was only about 20 minutes)

Cornbread Heaven in Salad Form: An Eat to the Beat Entry

Doug and I both share a love music, we actually met in band in high school (yeah that's right, we were band geeks). Over the years we've both played a number of different instruments (some well and some not so well; he always better than I). We love to share new songs that we've heard with each other, he loves to expose me to great old bands he enjoys, and I occasionally will force some so-so pop artist upon him. But there is one band that has a very special place in both of our minds: The Dave Matthews Band. The first time I ever rode in a car with Doug he had DMB playing and the song Crash Into Me came on. I had always loved that song and the music video (way back in the day when MTV still played videos) and we started talking about the band (he knew way more about them than I did) and how awesome they were (and shortly after the song ended we shared our first kiss). Needless to say, that became our song. The next year we went and saw DMB perform, our first concert as a couple and had a total blast. Last year when we got married we hunted for the longest time for the perfect song (our reception was at our church, so Crash Into Me was not appropriate: that whole "lift up your skirt and show your world to me" part kind of nixed it); going through lists online and through every cd we both owned before we finally went "hey what about" and then proclaimed Steady as We Go to be the winner. This past summer we went to another DMB concert (our first as a married couple) and had an incredible time. DMB concerts are a blast: they last for a very long time but you never notice it because you are having so much fun.

After the concert I went into a major DMB phase, listening to every one of their cds we owned. During this I realized that one song that I really liked wasn't played at our concert (but I later found out it was played at the first night's show). That song? Cornbread. I won't totally go into details about what this song is about (this is a family blog after all) but let's just say the Dave isn't inviting you over for a nice Sunday lunch featuring fresh baked cornbread! You can check out the lyrics here, if you want to form your own opinion on what the song is about. But it is an incredibly fun song that gets stuck in your head for days and I love it.

Now, I told you all that to lead up to this dish. Last summer Doug's cousin got married in Mobile, Alabama. It was a great wedding with an awesome reception that featured a bunch of tasty salads (among other things). And one of those salads was a Cornbread Salad that we all loved. Doug's aunt thought this was extremely funny because she said every Northerner loves that salad. Then she promptly stated that the caterer refused to give out the recipe. No problem. A few months later I received a cute community cookbook from Doug's grandmother as a gift at my bridal shower and what recipe was in the salad section? That's right, Cornbread Salad. And what's the main ingredient in Cornbread Salad? Cornbread, of course!

So, using DMB's Cornbread as my inspiration and backing track, I offer up this tasty side dish. It is relatively easy to make and very tasty to eat. And I declare it "A little bit of heaven, and a little bit of aw yeah." Try it out yourself, and check out DMB performing the song here.

I'm entering this into Eat To The Beat over at Elly Says Opa. This is a blog event that Elly created where you enter a food item that is in some way connected to a song or band, whether it is named after them or just somehow inspired. So go check out Elly's blog (and prepare to be hungry!)

Cornbread Salad

By Teresa Stanley

From Treasured Recipes By the Monticello United Methodist Church

1 (8.5 oz) package cornbread mix You could make from scratch if you wanted

1 Envelope ranch-style dressing mix I used Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix

1 Cup sour cream

1 Cup mayonnaise (or Miracle Whip)

1/2 Cup green pepper, chopped

1/2 Cup sweet red pepper, chopped I didn't add this item this time

1/2 Cup onion, chopped

1 (16 oz) Can pinto beans, drained

2 Cups fresh or frozen corn

2 Cups cheddar cheese, shredded I left this out

10 Slices cooked bacon, crumbled (optional) I added this

Bake cornbread mix according to package directions and crumble. Combine ranch-style dressing mix, sour cream and mayonnaise in a small bowl. In another bowl, mix together peppers, onions, tomatoes, pinto beans, and corn. In a 3-quart salad bowl, layer half of the cornbread, half of the vegetables, half of the cheese, half of the bacon, and half of the dressing. Repeat layers with remaining ingredients. Cover and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Note: Use low or no-fat sour cream and mayonnaise to reduce the calories in this dish. The longer this dish sits, the better it tastes.

I just mixed all the ingredients together (cornbread, vegetables, and bacon) and then mixed the dressing into it, that is how we had it before. I made this the day before we ate it and it was really good.

Dinner Divas #1- Orange Mandarin Chicken

So two of the girls on the food board I go to for all the really great recipes there are decided to create a really neat food blog event for those of us who are too busy for a super-strict event. They named the group Dinner Divas. I've only done one blog event so far (I'm working on another one) but I've wanted to do more, but so many of them are really structured and have strict rules. So, the girls decided (with help from a lot of people on the board) that this group will have only one rule: there are no rules. Every month 2 members will pick 2 recipes (one from the Food Network and the other from another source) and you can make however many you want (if you even want to) and you can change them however you want. This month's event had some really tasty sounding recipes but I decided to make the Orange Mandarin Chicken from Cooking Light because it sounded really good and didn't seem too hard. However, I've never made a sauce before and really thought that I had messed this up until I saw someone else blog it yesterday and I realized that my sauce was actually just about right. But, since I thought it was messed up I just ended up basting the chicken in the sauce instead of pouring it all over. I thought the sauce could have used some more orange flavor (although I did leave out the jalapeno and didn't put in as much onion, so I'm thinking that could have changed the taste). The only other change I made was to use chicken drumsticks instead of breasts because that was what I had. This was pretty good, but I think I may look for a different recipe next time. Any suggestions?

Orange Mandarin Chicken

From Cooking Light- here on allrecipes.com

Ingredients
2 teaspoons dark sesame oil (I used olive oil because that was what I had)

4 (4-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (I used drumsticks)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 (11-ounce) can mandarin oranges in light syrup, undrained

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1 tablespoon finely chopped seeded jalapeño pepper (I omitted)

1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic

1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce 2 teaspoons cornstarch

Preparation

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until browned.
While chicken cooks, drain oranges in a colander over a bowl, reserving 2 tablespoons liquid. Add oranges, 2 tablespoons liquid, onions, jalapeño, and garlic to pan. Reduce heat; simmer 2 minutes. Combine broth, soy sauce, and cornstarch; add to pan. Bring to a boil; cook 1 minute or until slightly thickened.

Our Knives

So this is my first ever entry in a blogging event. Joelen is one of the people on the food board I go to and she also has an awesome blog and a cooking group in Chicago (check out Joelen's amazing blog). I'm really impressed by her because she has taken her love of being in the kitchen and is making it really work for her. With her cooking group she does different themed events and even includes bloggers so that people far away can get involved. So her most recent one is a blog roundup of knives to go along with a knife skills class she is teaching. I'm not sure why I decided to get involved with this particular event. I guess I see it as a good way to ease myself in, since I still get a little intimidated with all of the excellent cookers/bakers/bloggers out there. Or perhaps I really just wanted to expose you all to the crazy bunch of knives D and I work with. Seriously, they are the most mismatched, random group of things you will ever see. But we love (most) of them and use (most) of them. I have to say that D is way better with the knives than I am. We both worked in fast food (he was there longer than me) and while he learned some great skills I was (and still am) slightly afraid of them. But I'm working on it and will hopefully get better. So, let the knife tour begin.


So, first of all, this is our knife block. It is one of those cool ones that you can just randomly stick the knife into and the little plastic rods just move out of the way. This was a purchase D had to make after we moved because he knew it would come in handy. We got it at Linen 'n Things.

This is our favorite knife, it is a Santoku knife that we got at Target. We use this for everything it is the perfect weight, not too heavy or too lite. We use it to chop veggies and meats, it can seriously do practically everything.

This cleaver scares me. I have never used it, but D has. Ok, so I know that a knife should not scare me, but I feel like I don't have the skills to use it (maybe I could get Joelen to teach me). D uses this work cutting big pieces of meat, I think about using it as a weapon should the need ever arise (there, you have been warned). It came in a set of knives we picked up for cheap when we first moved in together.

And finally, this is our complete knife set. Well, actually it is multiple sets all stuck together. When we moved in together D brought some nice knives with him that his parents had saved (they are the ones with the wooden handle) and I had a really small set my parents sent with me (one of the black handled sets, the handles are plastic). Then we purchased the set that the cleaver came in (the other black handled set). That white knife in the front is just a little paring knife that came in this kitchen utensil set my parents gave us as well. And those little knives with the colored handles are from a paring knife set we bought at Linens 'n Things (that tiny little red knife didn't come with the set, I think it came here with D).

Well, there you have it. Those are the knives that make the food you see on this blog. They may not be the most expensive or the best made knives ever, but they work for use and we enjoy using them as we traverse the world that is cooking.

Again, this whole blogging event came from the genius that is Joelen. To see her blog, the post about this event, and the roundup after the deadline of midnight on July 20th, go to her blog.