Recipe for "The Perfect Autumn Morning"

The Perfect Autumn Morning

Ingredients:

Your best friend

Cozy pajamas

Pumpkin spice coffee

At least one episode of The OC

PUMPKIN PANCAKES!

Directions:

Combine all ingredients and enjoy lazily.

Photo by the lovely Cindi Carlson, whose husband Drew also takes amazing pictures.

Pumpkin Pancakes


Ingredients:
2 cups biscuit/baking mix
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 eggs
1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Maple syrup


Directions:
1.  Combine baking mix, brown sugar, and cinnamon.  
2.  In a separate bowl, combine eggs, evaporated milk, pumpkin, oil, and vanilla.  Stir into dry ingredients and mix well.
3.  Pour batter by 1/3 cupfuls onto a greased, hot pan set over medium heat.  Turn pancakes when bubbles form on top of pancakes, and cook until second side is golden brown.
4.  Serve with maple syrup.


Source:  Taste of Home

Trial Pie #2

Like I mentioned previously, I had been "hired" to make pies for my uncle and his co-workers.  Since I didn't want to send them yucky pies, I did a trial run of the pies I was considering and made my immediate family vote on the best one.  

I knew I wanted to make my fabulous Apple Custard Pie, but I couldn't decide on the other one.  My family wasn't much help either...my mom had no opinion because she liked them both, my dad voted for this Vermont Maple Oatmeal Pie (and he's a fruit pie person), and my sister voted for the Sour Cherry Pie (and she's not a fruit pie person).  The only other person who was there to vote just said "Yes" when we asked what pie he thought I should make.  Great.

Ultimately, I decided to go with this Vermont Maple Oatmeal Pie.  It was a perfect fall pie.  Don't let the "oatmeal" part scare you if oatmeal doesn't tickle your fancy.  It's not immediately obvious that the pie contains oatmeal, and the maple flavor is amazing!

Vermont Maple Oatmeal Pie

Ingredients:

1 sheet refrigerated pie pastry (or your favorite homemade dough)

4 eggs

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup quick-cooking oats

3/4 cup corn syrup

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup butter, melted

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup flaked coconut

Directions:

1.  Unroll dough into a 9-inch pie plate and flute edges.

2.  In a large bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt.  Stir in the oats, syrups, butter, and vanilla.  Pour into crust.  Sprinkle coconut over top of pie.

3.  Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until set, covering edges with foil, if necessary to prevent overbrowning.

4.  Serve with ice cream if desired and refrigerate leftovers.

Source: Taste of Home

Trial Pie #1

My uncle works in the same school district that I do, and he and his co-workers have a lovely-sounding tradition of "Friday Pie-day."  I am a teensy bit jealous.  Well, it was his turn to bring the pies a couple of weeks ago, and he asked me to bake them.  I couldn't decide what kind of pies to make, but I wanted to make sure they were good before I gave them to people I do not know; therefore, I made a couple of trial pies and tested them out on my family.

This Sour Cherry Pie is...um...rustic looking.  To call it ugly would be mean.  All I have to say is, I was not getting along with the crusts that day.  Despite it's appearance, it was delicious.  My sister, who does not even like fruit pies all that much voted that I make this one for "Friday Pie-day!"

Sour Cherry Pie

Ingredients:

unbaked 9-inch double crust

2 cans (1 pound each) red tart cherries packed in water, drained and 1 cup of liquid reserved

1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1-1/2 tablespoons butter-flavored shortening

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

milk 

granulated sugar

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2.  Combine brown sugar, granulated sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon in a saucepan; stir in reserved cherry juice.  Cook and stir until mixture is thick and bubbly.  Boil and stir for 1 minute.  Add cherries and cook for 1 minute or until mixture comes to a boil.  Remove from heat.  Add shortening, vanilla, and almond extract.  

3.  Spoon filling into pan that has been prepared with the bottom layer of the pie crust.  Cover with top crust.  Fold and flute edges.  Cut slits or designs in top crust to allow steam to vent.  

4.  Brush top crust with milk and sprinkle with granulated sugar to create a glaze.

5.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 25 minutes more or until crust is golden brown.  Cool.  

Source:  Great American Brand Name Baking

Gnocchi with Sage-Butter Sauce

I love fresh herbs, but I hate how expensive they are.  I don't like letting them go to waste when I have some leftover, so I normally search for a recipe in which I can use them up.  It would be nice if I could grow my own herbs, and then I wouldn't have to worry about wasting money.  However, I don't think I've grown anything in my entire life.  Wait...I take that back.  There was that biology class in college where we had to grow a plant.  I cannot, for the life of me, remember why we had to grow a plant...or what happened to the plant at the end of the semester...or how I ended up with an odd-duck of a lab partner.  Seriously, he was peculiar.  

It was while I was searching for a recipe to use up some fresh sage that I stumbled upon this one.  It was perfect except for one thing...gnocchi is so weird.  The word 'gnocchi' is just strange, and the food is pretty odd too.  They're little dumplings made out of potatoes, but the texture is way wrong.  Fortunately, once you can get past knowing that you're eating potatoes, while feeling like you're not eating potatoes, gnocchi is actually pretty delicious.  I truly enjoyed these little dumplings, slathered in a comforting, buttery sauce.

Gnocchi with Sage-Butter Sauce

Ingredients:

2 (12 ounce) packages potato gnocchi (I couldn't find 12 ounce packages, so I just bought one that was around 18 ounces.  I also chose the potato, tomato, and spinach variety...hence the pretty colors.)

1/4 cup butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

12 chopped fresh sage leaves, more or less according to preference

1/4 teaspoon salt

Black pepper

Grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1.  In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook gnocchi for 2 to 3 minutes or until they float.  Drain.

2.  Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat.  Stir in the garlic.  Cook until garlic has softened and is beginning to turn golden brown, about 4 minutes.

3.  Stir in the sage and salt for a few seconds.  Add the cooked gnocchi to the skillet.  Stir.

4.  Sprinkle with black pepper and Parmesan cheese.

Source: slightly adapted from allrecipes.com

Sloppy Joe Burgers

Need a super easy dinner?  Sloppy Joes normally do the trick.  

For my family, sloppy joes always meant browning some ground beef and adding a can of sloppy joe mix.  This recipe is just as easy, but it has a slight twist.  

Instead of a tomato-based sauce, it uses French onion soup.  I can honestly say that it took me only 45 minutes to make, eat, and clean up this dinner.  On top of that, it was tasty enough to eat the leftovers all week long.

Sloppy Joe Burgers

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 can (10.5 ounces) condensed French onion soup, undiluted

1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

6 hamburger buns

Directions:

1.  In a large skillet, brown the beef over medium heat until no longer pink.  Drain if necessary.

2.  Stir in the flour, soup, and Worcestershire sauce.  Bring to a boil; cook and stir over medium heat for 2 minutes or until thickened.

3.  Serve on buns.

Source:  Taste of Home Busy Family Cookbook

Pumpkin Spice Latte

I wandered down the coffee aisle at Target today and "accidentally" bought three different kinds of coffee.  Whoops.  I probably didn't need three kinds.

On another note, I was super excited a few weeks ago when pumpkin-latte season started in all of the coffee shops, until I tried to buy one at a popular chain.  They claimed they were out of pumpkin syrup for the season.  The SEASON!  How is that even possible?!  It was barely October!

This recipe is a great substitute for the coffee-shop version of the pumpkin spice latte.  It's probably cheaper too!

This is one GIANT mug (yay, Sevilla!), and it was nearly full.  The recipe makes a lot!

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Ingredients:

1 cup brewed coffee

2/3 cup evaporated milk

2 tablespoons pumpkin puree

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Whipped cream

Cinnamon

Directions:

1.  Combine coffee, evaporated milk, pumpkin puree, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice in a small saucepan.  Heat over medium-low heat until hot. 

2.  Pour into a mug.  Top with whipped cream and sprinkle with ground cinnamon.

Source: adapted from Hope Coffee Melody

Dexter Brownies

My sister and I are huge fanatics of Dexter, a highly inappropriate, but completely captivating, television series.  Seriously, HUGE fanatics.  We once watched 5 episodes in a row.  Thanks for getting me hooked, Jill!  

The new series of Dexter started on Sunday, and we were so excited, we decided to make some serial-killer themed treats.  You see, Dexter is a serial killer...who kills serial killers.  Nuts-o.

These Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies fit the bill perfectly, being that they're red and the color red makes me think of blood.  The brownies were delicious!  They have a fudgy brownie base and a swirled cheesecake top (or they would have a swirled cheesecake top if I was any good at swirling).  Surprisingly, they were not too difficult to make!

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

2-ounces dark chocolate, chopped

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-1/2 teaspoons red food coloring

2/3 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

8-ounces cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter an 8-inch metal baking pan.  Line with parchment paper that extends over the sides of the pan.  Butter the parchment paper.

2.  In a small bowl, melt butter and chocolate together.  Stir to combine and set aside to cool.  

3.  In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and red food coloring.  Add chocolate mixture and stir until smooth.  Add flour and salt.  Stir until just combined.  Pour into pan and spread into an even layer.

4.  Beat cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla extract in a medium bowl until smooth.  Distribute cheesecake mixture in dollops over batter in pan.  Swirl in with a knife.

5.  Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until brownies and cheesecake are set.  A knife inserted into the cheesecake mixture should come out clean.

6.  Let cool completely in pan on a cooling rack.  Lift brownies out of pan by lifting the parchment paper.

Source:  Sweet Pea's Kitchen