Stuffing- A Meal By Itself

One of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving is the stuffing or dressing if you like. But, I refuse to wait until Thanksgiving to have some and I usually make this once every couple months.
I'll give you the basics but play around with the ingredients to find your favorite style.
First brown some sausage, then remove from the pan.

Saute onions and apples in the pan you had the sausage in. Once tender deglaze the pan with white wine or chicken stock. Then add some roasted garlic. So Yummy!

Add the sausage back in. Season with, salt, pepper, celery seed and a little cayenne. Then add the required amount of chicken stock on your box of bread cubes and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Add the bread cubes and toasted pecans. Enjoy.

Saturday Night- Martinis, Steak and Galette. YUM!

Saturday Night- we were originally going to have a date night at Bistro 13 but at the last minute I decided I really wanted to cook. The night before I had stayed up late watching French Cooking by Laura Calders (it's on the cooking channel and is such a great show) and she made a bleu cheese steak that looked wonderful. So, we headed to Traders Joes and while were were there I made an impulse buy, well several impulse buys because I felt I MUST have a cosmo while I slaved in the kitchen. My husband doesn't drink much but makes great martinis so he offered to do the mixing.



Sorry, for the blurry martini photos, I really need to read the camera manual. It tasted much better than it looks.

These are cookies I made to take to the office- Cinnamon Mocha Chocolate Chip. Just thought I'd throw this one in here. It's from a cookbook I checked out at the library Absolutely Chocolate.

On to the dinner, the steak is seared on the stove and then finished in the oven. While that was cooking and then resting, I made a nut pasta. In the food processor, pulse together: parsley, mint, pistachios, almonds and pine nuts. Add to cooked pasta with plenty of olive oil, salt and pepper. Yum! Also, my go to salad with croutons and balsamic vinagrette.

Bleu cheese sauce, it doesn't look appetizing in a photo, but trust me it's super good and super easy. In a pan, melt bleu cheese and cream together. That's it.

Dessert is found on the blog For the Love of Cooking. It is a Blueberry and Lemon Curd Galette with Vanilla Whipped Cream. We were so eager to eat this I completely forgot to photograph it with sliced and topped with whipped cream. Oooops.

Ghirardelli Luxe Milk Chocolates

As part of the FoodBuzz Tastemaker program, I was given the opportunity to try the new Luxe Milk Ghirardelli chocolates. I was so excited when I received the samples in the mail. I love the Ghirardelli store in the mall and their chocolate covered strawberries are AMAZING, so I knew I was going to love these. My favorite was the almond. It was creamy, chocolately, nutty and delicious. These are going to make great stocking stuffers for Christmas. I recommend you go out and try some today. You won't be sorry.

Sweet & Salty Pumpkin Seeds and Popcorn

Thanksgiving is all about football. Well, and of course being thankful to be together as a family, but again it's FOOTBALL. And football means lots and lots of snacking. For my entry in the Electrolux FoodBuzz contest I came up with a yummy snack to have during the game but light enough to still be hungry for the coming feast.


For the pumpkin seeds:
1-2 Cups raw pumpkin seeds, rinsed and patted dry. I had enough from one small pumpkin. If you don't have time to hull a pumpkin, feel free to buy raw toasted pumpkin seeds (also called pepitas) at the store.
4 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 Teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
1-2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil, enough to coat a large skillet
If you are toasting the seeds rather than using store bought, preheat your oven to 250 degrees. Spread pumpkin seeds as a single layer onto an ungreased baking sheet. Toast for approximately 45 minutes until seeds are golden and toasted.
In a bowl, combine salt, pumpkin pie spice and 2 Tablespoons of sugar.
In a skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Then add 2 Tablespoons of sugar and the pumpkin seeds. Stir to combine and cook until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and immediately pour into bowl with sugar and spices. Stir until pumpkin seeds are evenly coated with mixture. Set aside while you make the popcorn.

For the popcorn:
Follow the directions on the package of kernels that you buy for 1/2 Cup of kernels. You can use microwave popcorn, but make sure it is unflavored or very lightly buttered. You'll need to adjust the salt for this recipe if you use microwave popcorn.
While the popcorn is still warm from being freshly popped drizzle 2 Tablespoons of melted unsalted butter (you can certainly use more butter if you like), then sprinkle with salt, sugar, and pumpkin pie spice to taste. I used approx 1 Tablespoon sugar, 2 teaspoons kosher salt and 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice.

Then combine popcorn and pumpkins seeds in a large bowl and ENJOY! Go Bears!

Nature's Pride- Spiced Hot Chocolate Baked French Toast

I decided I wanted to enter the Nature's Pride contest, but geez is it hard to come up with an original recipe. Since I love french toast and I equally love hot chocolate I came up with this- Spiced Hot Chocolate Baked French Toast. I added a little cayenne to kick the flavor up a notch. It is delicious. Crispy on top, soft and warm inside. YUM!
I should mention (for the sake of full disclosure) I will be receiving a coupon to try this bread for free, but it hasn't come in the mail yet, so I bought some when I was at the store last week.

Here is my recipe:
You will need 6 slices of Nature's Pride Bread. I quartered it but you could cut it however you like.
2 Cups of milk, I used 1%
2 cinnamon sticks, I broke mine in half
6 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 T cocoa powder
3 T granulated sugar
pinch of cayenne pepper
unsalted butter (optional)
Dark Chocolate shavings (optional)
Powdered sugar and maple syrup for serving (it would also be delicious with whipped cream)

Preheat oven to 300 deg. to dry out the bread. Place the bread on a cookie sheet and bake until golden and crispy. This will prevent the bread from becoming soggy. Once the bread is done baking, arrange in a greased pan. My pan was an 8 x 8 pan.

While the bread is baking, heat the milk over medium heat with the cinnamon sticks and vanilla, once the milk is at a simmer add the cocoa powder, sugar, and cayenne pepper. Stir until cocoa powder and sugar are dissolved. Make sure milk never comes to a boil. Remove from heat. I had to strain the milk mixture to remove the shards of cinnamon sticks, but it you don't break your sticks this step isn't necessary.

Let the milk cool to room temperature, remove cinnamon sticks and combine with eggs. Mix well. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next morning, place the covered dish (I used aluminum foil to cover the pan since it doesn't have a lid) in a cool oven and then turn the oven on to 350 deg. Bake for approximately 30 minutes until the custard is almost set. Remove the cover (at this point you can scattered a few tsp of butter) and allow to bake until the top is crispy and the custard is set, approximately 15 minutes.

Once baked, serve warm sprinkled with powdered sugar, chocolate shavings and maple syrup. Enjoy!

Bonami Giveaway

A few blog posts back, I posted about a product I love- Bonami. The awesome people at Bonami sent me some free certificates and I've decided to share the love. If you'd like to win a free can of Bonami, leave me a comment saying you'd like to enter. I'll be giving away 2 certificates Thursday, Oct 7. You can check out their website at www.bonami.com

Weekends are for Breakfast

Breakfast on the weekends is one of my favorite things. I get to leisurely cook without being in a rush and the smell of bacon- so yummy! My husband brought me a latte in bed, such a sweetie, and this meant it was time to get up and make food. I didn't mind, seeing as how it was already 10:30, that's what I get for staying up late reading blogs. LOL
I made eggs with avocado, tomatoes and bacon. Whole wheat toast on the side. I'm craving something sweet so I've been promised a trip to Paciugo today while we are out running errands.
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.