Just cuz

So I had this dark beer lying around leftover from a whole grain mustard beer battered onion ring adventure (I forgot to take photos, darnit, or I'd share.).  We are not huge dark beer drinkers, and I wondered whether we'd end up tossing it....until I was mercilessly beckoned by a recipe for Beer-Pretzel Caramels.  Sold.

I casually mentioned them to my sister, who inquired "what will you do with all those caramels?".  I realized I hadn't considered that a bit, and at this point, said caramels were prepared and chilling in the fridge.  While it was a good question in light of it still being early in the New Year, Paula Deen's diabetes diagnosis, general caloric awareness, etc, I nevertheless paused and confidently replied, "consume them".   Sometimes there is no agenda necessary to make a delicous treat.  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.



Pretzels are a brilliant addition to anything sweet, but they are particularly divine nestled in gorgeously rich caramel.

I love a recipe with a brief ingredient list.



The prep is fun and fast.  Half of the beer reduces to a beautiful, thick syrup...



...while the second half of the beer is stirred into the other ingredients and then cooked to reach 235 degrees of amber perfection. 



These two pots do their simultaneous magic in about 12 minutes.  Once the mixtures are combined, along with crumbled pretzels, the whole concoction is poured into a buttered dish to be refrigerated until firm - but still luxuriously chewy, just as I had hoped!

While the boys were playing in the family room last night, Molly and I sneaked into the kitchen for an "our little secret" caramelfest.  I'll excuse the indulgence for mother-daughter bonding!


Beer-Pretzel Caramels
courtesy of Food Network

1 12 oz bottle brown ale
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, plus more for the dish
 11/4 cups packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups coarsely crushed thin pretzels

1.  Pour the beer into a glass; let sit until flat, about 1 hour.
2.  Butter an 8-inch square baking dish.  Bring half of the beer to a boil in small saucepan over medium heat; cook until reduced to 2 tsp, about 10 minutes.
3.  Meanwhile, combine the remaining beer, the brown sugar, corn syrup, cream and butter in a large saucepan.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until a candy thermometer registers 235 degrees (10-12 minutes).  Remove from the heat and stir in the beer syrup and pretzels.  Spread in the prepared dish and chill until firm, 45 minutes to an hour.

Warm and Fuzzies

I did the happy dance on our last visit to my parents' house when my dad suggested preparing one of my favorite childhood breakfast feasts:  crepes.  A handful, okay a lot, of experiences evoke total giddiness in me -  like the coffee maker's "I'm ready!" beep, the smell of freshly cut grass, an empty dishwasher, a good pedicure, a perfectly folded fitted sheet (oops, secret's out: I'm indeed insane), to name a few - and my dad's crepes have a special place on that list.

Memories of giggling with my sisters in our pj's over our plates of powdered sugar dusted, jam filled crepes rank pretty high on my warm and fuzzy scale.  I'm certain we each inhaled at least six of them at a sitting, which I, as a parent now, can imagine elevated the giggles to an irritating decibel given the sugar content.  I am so thankful for those sweet moments, and I just love the opportunity to now be able to share them with my kids.   

An integral part of this story is this pan... a pan that made a wholelotta crepes in its (clearly) long life.  Its magical crepe powers, along with the perfection of my dad's technique of course, yield the perfect batch.



A little tidbit I just learned in Bon Appetit, by the way, is that the ceramic coated frying pan has totally made a comeback.  Holla. 

Anyway, here is the pile of fluffy goodness before they are rolled into their classic sugar/jam tunnel.


And then, the real deal.  Just.Divine.



Here is the recipe, but I have to confess that I have yet to try to make them!  I kind of love that I - and now my little ones - associate them affectionately with Poppop Kevin and Grandma Connie's house.  Yes, I am a total sucker for nostalgia.  But since my sweet parents have graciously bequeathed The Crepe Pan to me, I clearly have no option but to summon courage and attempt them myself one of these days!

NYE

Dear Times Square party planners/Dick Clark/whoever makes this decision,

Instead of dropping that dreadfully heavy ball made of glass or crystal or whatever it is, you should consider a big fat one of these instead....

White Chocolate Cranberry Popcorn Balls (Click here for recipe)



They are just that festive!  Imagine popcorn pieces adhered with a sweet mixture of marshmallow and white chocolate and dotted with dried cranberries.  So now you know they are festive AND delicious. The original recipe calls for crystallized ginger as well, but I omitted it for a ginger-opposed dinner guest.  (That reminds me:  I have a large container of crystallized ginger that mustn't be neglected...what to make??).

Sweet New Year, everyone!

(-- and don't forgot to watch Cupcake Wars on New Year's Day to catch the awesome Matt Fraker represent his fabulous Richmond cupcake shop, Frostings!)

Let's Party

Friends, this is it: the last hurrah of "oh just one more lap around" the hors d'oeuvres table, nibbling one or two (ahem, six) Christmas cookies for breakfast, all-day grazing from the cheese platter, and 4 pm extra meals holiday happy hours before DUM DUM DUM - January 1st drops the gavel to put all resolutions in session.  Time for the gym to get crowded again and Lean Cuisines to go flying off the shelves like hotcakes. Wait, I'm pretty sure we can't eat hotcakes after the New Year.

Wow, that sounds bleak.  Good news: we're not there yet!  We've still got 10 glorious days of guilt free indulgence remaining.  So let's live it up, shall we?  Here are some holiday apps to help get the party started.

This is my version of (yet another) Pinterest idea to simply fancy up the presentation a little!  I've already gabbed about how I love me a big, fat antipasto platter and have no shame in calling it dinner. Here's an old picture:



Now here's the fancied up version.  It's pretty much the same stuff, but way cuter, huh?



Up next is something I've seen all over blogland and the Food Network Magazine:  Toasted Ravioli!
  

Courtesy of landolakes.com






















This actually is not that bad for you!  Though nearly every recipe I found renders "toasted" synonymous with "fried in oil", I knew there had to be a version that didn't require the splattering and calories of a quarter cup of oil.  After some digging, I found this baked recipe in a totally random place:  Landolakes.com.  Whowouldathunkit.  Here is the recipe, and I made Barefoot Contessa's easy marinara sauce on the side for dipping.  We actually prepared a whole wheat version of these as a main course instead of an app one night, and they were seriously awesome.  They were tasty, satisfying, and pleasantly crunchy (without frying!).   Sorry, by the way, that the above is not my photo.  In the midst of our evening chaos, they were on plates and then in our bellies before the thought crossed my mind to pick up the camera. 

Butternut Squash, Sage and Ricotta Crostini (Click here for recipe)



I saved the best for last.  Okay, so I know in my last breath I was all anti-fried food and health conscious.  Can you ignore that I said that for a sec?  Fried sage is my new best friend, and I don't regret it in the slightest.  Its savory freshness is just perfect against the sweet caramelized butternut squash, creamy ricotta and fresh lemon.  And a crunchy toasted baguette offers a divine backdrop to all this goodness.  Sold.

Merry Christmas all, and of course, happy feasting!

Tis the Season

...to not update my blog for five weeks let the laundry pile overflow into the hallway stay up all night addressing Christmas cards threaten children that bad behavior will make Santa pass us by be thankful for Jesus and make goodies, make goodies, make goodies.   How completely fabulous it is that this season considers baking and consuming sugar filled snacks without shame not only acceptable, but expected.

Pinterest is just the best thing since sliced bread, and it is OVERFLOWING with fun holiday ideas from crafting to decorating to table settings to how to hang Christmas cards.  I really can't help myself.




But this is a food blog, isn't it.  Lucky me -- I've found some tasty treat ideas there as well.  This first one is a marriage of a recipe (chocolate pretzel fudge) and presentation idea (the reindeer brownies and cookies we've seen floating around).  Like many others, I adore salty/sweet combos, and I'm happy to report that this is a totally easy technique.  Love it.



Chocolate Pretzel Fudge

12 oz bag milk chocolate chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
2 Tbsp milk
1 cup broken pretzel pieces

Melt together first four ingredients on the stove.  Stir in pretzel pieces.   Pour in a foil lined, square baking pan and chill for at least three hours.



More salty sweet goodness = potato chips dipped in melted semi-sweet chocolate.  Nuff said.



Pumpkin Sandwich Cookies (Click here for recipe)



This recipe was not a Pinterest find, but something I clipped about a hundred years ago.  After it glared at me for the gazillionth time from its glossy page protector in my recipe binder (I just re-read that...wow....), I declared that the 'toss it' or 'make it' decision was imminent.  I chose the latter, and boy am I glad.  I expected a modestly dense cookie, but these are more pillowy, like whoopie pies.  The filling is heaven, which is convenient given that a bite of this sandwich will leave you covered in it.  BTW, serious kudos to whoever glued two cookies together with something divinely gooey and sweet and called it something other than "two cookies glued together with something divinely gooey and sweet".  The sandwich term makes me feel a lot better about things.

Happy treating, everyone!

Surprise Yum

I love stumbling on presumably average recipes that turn out to be completely fab.  How do I love thee, pork and sweet potato quesadillas?  Let me count the ways.

• You were homemade but still ready in only 20 minutes!   
• My whole fam found you delicious.
• Small ones didn't even know you actually contained veggies.
• You only dirtied one pan.
• You were inexpensive to start with, and then you still graced us with leftovers.

Pork and Sweet Potato Quesadillas (Click here for recipe)



Talk about fast and easy....and especially if you use every little "pocket of time" (Rachel Ray-ism) for something productive.  I always read a whole recipe before I start cooking to come up with the fastest strategy to get 'er done.  Here was the method to my madness this time:  First, get the sweet potato in the microwave (can't beat that appliance for weeknight-friendly).  While that's working, start browning the pork in a pan.  Between stirs, come over to your cutting board and chop your garlic and scallions, and gather your fridge items and seasonings.  A couple paces across your kitchen brings everything together, and before you know it, you have a gorgeously cheesy, savory and satisfying dinner. 

We added heaping piles of sour cream and pickled jalepenos to our plates.  The jalepenos were a must....and for a better reason than just my irrational passion for all thing pickled.   They added a welcomed gentle spice to finish things off. 

How 'bout them apples?

I heard on a radio show that apple picking is for boring people.  Call me the dullest girl ever because I love it....so much that I sometimes want to join in with my kids' festive squealing.  Our family enjoyed a gloriously sunny day at Carter Mountain last weekend that yielded mounds of pink ladies, Granny smiths, and fujis just waiting to be transformed into something fabulous.

Here are an appetizer, main course and dessert that have been the products of our harvest thus far.

Caramelized Onion and Apple Tart (Click here for recipe)



The marriage of caramelized onions and apples is brilliance.  But the real hidden treasure is the layer of creme fraiche hiding underneath.  I didn't think this recipe paid due attention to the onion preparation, so I cooked them longer...at a lower temperature...added a touch of butter in addition to the oil...and splashed a bit of balsamic vinegar at the last minute.  While this appetizer may seem a bit fussy, it's actually quite quick to throw together (particularly if you do the onions in advance), requires minimal clean-up since you line the baking pan with parchment paper, and is low maintenance since it hangs out in the oven for 30 minutes to give you a moment to get yourself together before guests arrive.  I'm putting this on my fall favorite list!

Chopped Apple Salad with Toasted Walnuts, Blue Cheese and Pomegranate Vinaigrette  (Click here for recipe)

Everything in this title called my name, but the pomegranate vinaigrette was something I had to try, like, immediately.  After a quick gander of the recipe asking for pomegranate molasses, my heart fell thinking I'd never find it.  Thanks, Whole Foods, for coming through!  I will most certainly find some fabulous uses for this sweet little bottle.

We added sliced grilled chicken to the salad to beef (er, chicken) it up to a main course.  It was satisfying and delish.  For those wanting to make this: may I beg a favor?  Please don't skip the walnut toasting part.  It completely transforms their flavor into wow, particularly covered with the tangy and sweet dressing. 

Happy aside: my blue cheese obsessed - like, totally obsessed - daughter worked this salad.  Big brother did pretty well with his plate (though sans blue cheese) too!

Mini Apple Pies



This was an impromptu event commencing with, "we need to make something else with these apples....how about apple pie.....how about today?"  I had a large muffin pan that I've been wanting to employ and thought it would be a fun departure to make little individual pies.





Pie crust ingredients are generally on hand (here's my favorite recipe).  But I didn't have the citrus called for in Barefoot Contessa's recipe for the apples and had zero motivation to leave the house for those items.  So, in lieu of lemon zest, fresh lemon juice, orange zest, and fresh orange juice, I used....the kids' morning orange juice.  Hey, where there's a will, there's a way!  All that matters in the end as far as I'm concerned is a sweet and cinnamony flavor, buttery and flaky crust, and a scoop or four of creamy vanilla ice cream.