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Asparagus in Lemon Butter

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Asparagus 3
Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I’m sure many of you are still working on your menus. I know asparagus just used to be a spring vegetable, but now it’s flown in from everywhere and available most of the year. If you’d like an easy way to add asparagus to your Thanksgiving table, here’s a yummy recipe for asparagus in lemon butter – it’s got some of that Hollandaise sauce flavor without being nearly as heavy or labor-intensive as Hollandaise sauce, which is perfect when you’re juggling dishes on Thanksgiving!

Asparagus in Lemon Butter

1 pound fresh asparagus
4 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt

Rinse asparagus and snap off ends (I don’t know if this is just an urban legend, but I’ve been told that the expression “the breaking point” comes from asparagus – if you bend a stalk of asparagus, it will naturally break exactly where it should). Place in frying pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium-high. Let boil for five minutes. Drain. If the sauce is not ready, put back in pan and cover to keep warm.

In the meantime, melt butter in a pot on the stove. Add lemon juice and salt. Whisk together well. Pour over asparagus.

Could it get any easier? Hope this has given you some inspiration if you’re looking for a new Thanksgiving vegetable!

Asparagus 2.jpg

Sweet (Potatoes) for the Sweet

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Sweets
One of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving dinner is sweet potatoes. When JP and I got married and started doing Thanksgiving dinner for both sides of the family, we realized we had a problem – a deep divide in how we thought about things. No…it wasn’t politics or religion that divided us…it was sweet potatoes! It took a few years of having two kinds of sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving before we decided on one, and I hate to admit it, but he won! That said, my family’s recipe is pretty good too, so I’m including both here and you can make your own decision. Neither contains marshmallows, but if your family is dedicated to the marshmallow/sweet potato combination, you could certainly put either in a casserole dish (see note on the candied ones), top with marshmallows, and heat until the marshmallows reach desired temperature.

Mashed Sweets
JP’s Mashed Sweet Potatoes (serves a crowd)
5 pounds fresh sweet potatoes
1 stick butter, cut into 6 pieces
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 cup maple syrup

  1. Put large pot of salted water on to boil over high heat.
  2. Peel potatoes and cut into 1/4 inch rounds. Cut each round into quarters (if the ends of the sweet potato are small, cut in half).
  3. When water comes to a boil, add sweet potatoes. Boil for about 20 minutes or until tender.
  4. Drain well in colander – you want them really dry.
  5. When drained, put back in pot over low heat to make sure all water is out and potatoes are warm.
  6. Mash sweet potatoes until broken up.
  7. Add butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, maple syrup and a dash of salt. Mash again and stir until all ingredients are combined. If your sweet potatoes aren’t that sweet (it happens), add more maple syrup.

Candied Sweet Potatoes 2.jpg
Ally’s Candied Sweet Potatoes (serves a smaller crowd)
2 pounds fresh sweet potatoes (or two cans canned sweet potatoes a/k/a “yams”)
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

  1. Preheat oven to 425.
  2. Peel sweet potatoes and cut into 1/4 inch rounds. Cut each round in half.
  3. Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
  4. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place sweet potato pieces on cookie sheets.
  5. Cut butter into thin slices – cut each slice in quarters and put one quarter on each sweet potato piece.
  6. Sprinkle brown sugar mixture over sweet potatoes.
  7. Bake for 20 minutes or until sweet potatoes are hot and topping is starting to brown.

Notes:
1. Depending on the size of your sweet potatoes and how generously you sprinkle, you may need more butter and brown sugar mixture.
2. If you use canned sweet potatoes, you can make this in a casserole dish. Simply layer sweet potatoes, butter, and brown sugar mixture. Top with another layer of sweet potatoes, butter, and brown sugar, and continue till dish is full. Important: this only works with canned sweet potatoes – fresh ones do not have enough moisture to make a nice casserole.

Whichever way you choose to serve sweet potatoes this Thanksgiving, enjoy!

Broccoli Cheddar Soup!

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Broccoli Cheddar Soup 4
My all-time favorite soup is broccoli cheddar, possibly because two of my all-time favorite foods are broccoli and cheddar cheese! Seriously, though…even bad broccoli cheddar soup is better than a lot of other soups in my little world! Of course, eventually I had to decide I wanted to make it at home, and I tried a bunch of recipes. And of course, the second time I made it, I couldn’t remember which of the numerous broccoli cheddar soup recipes I had on my Pinterest page was the one I made until I was halfway through making a completely different one, so there was that. What I ended up doing was taking a little from one, and a little from another, and an idea of my own, and came up with the following.

Is it as good as Panera? I don’t know that I’d go that far (you might, and if you think it is, please feel free to say so and give me an ego boost), but it’s darn good and you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you made it yourself – or you can look at how much money you’re saving making it yourself, or you can feel happy that you took care of the people you love by making them homemade soup). If any or all those deeper needs don’t convince you to make this, all I can say is that it definitely will satisfy your need for a warm bowl of broccoli cheddar deliciousness!

Broccoli Cheddar Soup – serves 4
1/2 onion
1 carrot
1 clove garlic
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups chopped broccoli
4 cups vegetable stock
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups finely shredded cheddar cheese
Dash cayenne (red) pepper

Dice onion and carrot. Mince garlic. Heat oil over medium heat in large soup pot. Saute onion, carrot, garlic and salt, stirring frequently, until onion and garlic have softened but not browned, about 3-5 minutes. Add broccoli and 4 cups vegetable stock. Turn heat up to medium high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. Add heavy cream, cheddar cheese and dash of cayenne. I’ve mentioned this before, but I usually add a dash of cayenne to any cheese-based recipe – it doesn’t make the final product hot and spicy, it just brings out the “cheesiness”.  Stir continuously until cheese is melted. Serve immediately.

Note about reheating this: it will reheat, but I find it reheats much better on the stove top than in the microwave.

Enjoy!
Broccoli Cheddar Soup 3

Cranberries Two Ways

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cranberries
As we continue thinking about Thanksgiving, we come to a controversial subject…cranberries! Some people think it’s not Thanksgiving without a can of jellied cranberry sauce, some people like to make their own cranberry sauce, and some people apparently don’t like cranberry sauce at all – I don’t understand those people, but as they say, there’s one in every crowd!

I like making everyone happy, so we actually have three kinds of cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving – a can of jellied cranberry sauce, homemade whole berry cranberry sauce, and cranberry jello, and I  like them all! If getting the jellied sauce out of the can is kicking your butt, my advice is open the can, carefully run a knife between the side of the can and the cranberry sauce, and if necessary, open the bottom of the can too. But I don’t think anyone’s reading this for that advice, so here are my recipes for two kinds of cranberry sauce – a traditional whole berry sauce and cranberry jello.

This whole berry cranberry sauce recipe is my niece Casey’s, but a version of it has been in my family forever – it started out as my grandfather’s contribution to Thanksgiving dinner. Believe it or not, this was actually my first published recipe! A while ago, I found my old high school newspaper, and apparently we did an article about Thanksgiving recipes and I contributed this! Who knew? Anyway, Casey inherited the job of making this when she was just a little kid, and she’s tweaked the recipe some, so this is really her recipe (and that’s her stove with a pot of cranberries on it).

Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce
12 oz bag fresh cranberries
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup orange juice
1 orange

  1. Rinse the cranberries in a colander and remove stems. Put the cranberries, water, and orange juice in a deep pan or pot and set to medium heat.
  2. Let the cranberries cook approximately 10 minutes, stirring often. They will start to pop…this is what you want.  You can help them along with the back of a spoon.
  3. Add the cup of sugar gradually, stirring as you go (less can be added for a more tart sauce…feel free to taste before dumping the whole cup).
  4. Drop temp to low and zest peel of whole orange over top.
  5. Take apart orange segments so that there is no membrane, just the flesh.  You can do this over a bowl or the pot itself so you don’t lose any juice!  Add it all into the cranberry mixture.
  6. Stir to combine and taste…add more sugar or orange juice if too tart.  Continue to cook on low and stir often until all ingredients are integrated and sauce is nice and thick.
  7. Serve that day or store covered in the refrigerator for up to two days.
  8. Top with Candied Orange Peel (below) if desired. [Note from Aunt Ally: you do desire that – the candied orange peel is yummy!]

Candied Orange Peel
2 Oranges
2 ½  Cups Sugar
4 Cups Water

  1. Peel oranges, keeping the peel in as many large sections as possible.
  2. Gently peel or cut away as much of the white pith as possible with a peeler or sharp knife
  3. Cut the peel into small strips, approximately ¼ “.
  4. Add 2 cups water to a small pot and add orange peel. Bring to a boil and cook for about 15 minutes (if using a thinner skinned citrus fruit like a clementine or mandarin, this step can be skipped)
  5. Remove orange peels from pot and set aside. Drain the water from the pot.
  6. Add 2 cups of water and two cups of sugar to the same pot and add back the orange peels. Bring to a boil, stirring often.
  7. Drop the temperature to a simmer and cook for approximately 45 minutes-1 hour with a watchful eye, stirring often  You don’t want anything to stick to the bottom of the pan  If it starts to bubble too much, drop the heat.  The mixture will end up with a thick, syrupy consistency.
  8. Remove the peels from the pot and lay them out on a sheet of wax paper.  Pull them apart as quickly as possible so they stay as individual strips and not one blob
  9. Sprinkle remaining sugar on orange peels while they are still warm.  Roll them around to make sure they are fully covered
  10. Let cool (best when done in the refrigerator).  Can last for days sealed and refrigerated.

Now, here is the cranberry jello recipe. I know some of you are running and hiding because when you think of jello molds, you picture something like this.
spaghetti jello
Now that you’ve recovered from that, I’m here to tell you that jello molds do not have to be disgusting! This is a light and delicious cranberry sauce – it’s kind of a middle ground between jellied cranberry sauce and whole berry cranberry sauce. Also, today is National Bundt Pan Day, and if you have a Bundt pan, this mold is an excellent use for it! I used to use a Bundt pan for this, but my mom gave me these adorable old individual jello molds and now I use them. If you don’t want to deal with the whole unmolding process, which is kind of a pain, what would be nice is to serve it in individual small glass dishes – you can often find nice ones at the dollar store (you knew I was going to say that, didn’t you?) or you may have some on hand.

Before we get to the recipe, here’s a picture to erase whatever that Spaghetti-o thing was from your mind!
Cranberry Mold

Molded Cranberry Salad
2 boxes red jello (any flavor)
1 can whole berry cranberry sauce
8 oz. crushed pineapple, drained as much as possible (it’s ok if there’s some juice)
8 oz mandarin oranges, drained
8 oz chopped walnuts (optional, but even my husband who doesn’t like walnuts eats them in this)

  1. Boil 2 cups water.
  2. Add water to jello and stir until powder dissolves.
  3. Add cranberry sauce and stir until the jelly is dissolved. You should see the cranberries floating free.
  4. Add pineapple, oranges, and chopped walnuts.
  5. Pour into Bundt pan, individual serving dishes, or other container.
  6. Refrigerate 3 hours or until firm (I usually make it the night before).
  7. To unmold, leave dish at room temperature for about a half-hour and slide knife around edge of pan. If you forget to take the dish out in advance, you can put the dish in a shallow pot of hot water – be very careful not to get water into the jello and don’t leave it too long or it will melt (but it will firm up again in the fridge and it’s still delicious).

Note: you must use canned pineapple – jello will not set if you use fresh pineapple.

Hope this has expanded your cranberry horizons beyond the can!

The Best Pecan Pie

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pecan pie2
I don’t usually toot my horn this much to say something is the best, but I honestly believe it is. And I can’t believe I’m sharing this recipe – this is my family’s favorite pie and now the whole world will know how to make it! Seriously, though, I’m thrilled to share it, especially with Thanksgiving coming up, because it’s such a great Thanksgiving dessert. And honestly, my family could have had it all along, because I got the recipe from my mom. Just in case you’re wondering how someone who’s never lived anywhere but New York could claim to be a pecan pie expert…Mom got the recipe from a friend at church who was from South Carolina! So it’s not some crazy New York version of pecan pie, but it is easy and so delicious! It’s a little less sweet than some recipes, but it’s still sweet enough and perfect with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or some whipped cream! One note: it can sit out without refrigeration before it’s cut, but once you cut it, you’ll want to refrigerate it or it will get runny. Of course, that assumes there will be leftovers, which doesn’t always happen!

Pecan Pie

1 unbaked pie crust (homemade or frozen)
3 large eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 – 2 cups pecan halves (you can use a mix of halves and pieces if you must, but I prefer all halves)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly beat three eggs in a large bowl. Melt butter in microwave or stove top. Add sugar and salt and beat well. Add melted butter and beat quickly – you don’t want to scramble your eggs! Immediately add corn syrup and beat well until all ingredients are incorporated. Stir pecans into mixture. Pour into pie crust – you’ll think that the pecans are falling to the bottom and the top won’t look good, but don’t worry – they rise.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until lightly browned and firm. I like to bake this on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper, because there’s always a chance some filling may spill and you don’t want that on the bottom of your oven!

Let cool and serve with whipped cream, ice cream, or just on its own pecanny goodness (I think I just invented the word pecanny, but it fits).

If you try this, please let me know what you think!

 

Chicken Zoodle Soup

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Chicken Soup 1.jpg
Fall is definitely upon us – this past weekend, I was admiring the fall colors as I did my errands! And once fall is here, I start thinking about soup! Chicken soup is a classic, and this version, with zoodles in place of the traditional noodles, really worked! I want to try a few other things the next time I make some chicken stock, but in the meantime, here’s my recipe for chicken zoodle soup. If you’re not a zoodle fan, feel free to add noodles, pasta, or rice instead.

The recipe is below but I’m starting with the directions. This looks really long and complicated, but believe me – it’s not nearly as bad as it looks. It does need a lot of cooking time, though, so plan this for a day you’ll be in the house.

First, the chicken broth/stock. I remember a few years ago when restaurants started advertising “bone broth” – one of my vegetarian friends was expressing her disgust at the name and concept. I said, “well, all broth except vegetable broth is made from bones, isn’t it?” I’m not sure all the people buying bone broth realize that, but as far as I know it is, and whenever I make a whole chicken or turkey, I save the bones and make some stock. By the way, this is a great thing to do with your leftover Thanksgiving turkey! Start by coarsely dicing one yellow onion, two carrots, and two stalks celery (these don’t need to be finely chopped at all – you will be straining them out). Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large pot over medium-high heat and add vegetables, 1 tablespoon salt and some ground pepper. In the meantime, look at your bird and remove any large pieces of meat (ie, if you have half the breast meat, take it off). If the carcass is very large, cut it as necessary – a lot of times removing the wings and/or legs will help it fit in the pot (be sure to put those wings/legs in the pot unless someone in your house really wants them). When the onions become translucent and the veggies start to soften, the real fun begins! Add your chicken carcass, chicken broth (yes, it’s cheating, but ever since the time I made chicken stock that just didn’t taste like chicken, I bump it up a little), white wine, enough water to completely cover the carcass after the stock and wine have been added, bay leaves, ground sage, ground thyme, parsley, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 4 hours – if you have a large bird such as a turkey, you may need more time, but 4 hours should do it for a chicken. Taste it! If it tastes like broth, you’re good. If not, give it a little more time and add more water and/or stock if it’s overly reduced.

Once your stock is done and tasting like stock, let it cool. Put a colander over another large pot or bowl and strain the stock into that second pot. You’ll end up with a pot of plain broth and a yucky looking colander full of spices, bones, veggies and most important, chicken. Get out another bowl and pick through that mess to remove the pieces of chicken, which you should put in that new bowl. Pull any large pieces apart to the size you want and be sure to pick through them to remove any little bones or pieces of chicken skin (I highly recommend leaving the skin on when making the stock, but eating boiled chicken skin is just yucky!). Throw the bones, skin, bay leaves, and vegetables out.

Finely dice 1/2 onion, 1 carrot, and 1 stalk celery. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Add veggies, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and saute until onion is translucent and veggies are soft (about 5 minutes).

Skim the fat off the top of the cooled chicken broth. You should be able to do so with a regular kitchen spoon. Now comes a decision point. If you’ve made more broth than you need, this is the time to portion it out and freeze what you don’t need, but you have to decide: do you want to save plain chicken stock, which has numerous uses in the kitchen, or chicken soup? Obviously, if you’re saving plain stock, do so now. If not, or if you’re going to eat it all now, add the chicken pieces and sauteed vegetables to the pot with the chicken broth.

If you’re making zoodles for this soup, spiralize one zucchini and add your zoodles to the pot. If you prefer noodles, pasta or rice, add a good handful to the pot. Heat over medium heat for 10-15 minutes or until the soup is bubbling and the add-ins are soft.

Serve immediately and warm everyone’s heart and toes!

Chicken Zoodle Soup – serves 4 (at least)

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 and 1/2 onions
3 carrots, peeled
3 stalks celery
1 chicken carcass with meat and skin
4 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup white wine
2 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon ground sage
1/4 teaspoon ground thyme
1 tablespoon parsley
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Ground pepper
1 zucchini or a handful of rice, noodles or pasta
Chicken Soup

Office Parties: To Drink or Not To Drink? (and a dip recipe)

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cocktails.jpg
I know Halloween was just a few days ago, but the Christmas ads are out in full force, and if you’re planning an office party, it’s time to get started (if you haven’t already). Which of course, leads to the question…what are we eating and drinking, and the related question…do we serve alcohol? Now, if you work at (a) a brewery or (b) a rehab center, the answer is pretty straightforward, but for the rest of us, it’s something to think about. Having been the office party planner, I have a few ideas:

  1. Think about last year’s party, if you were there, and if not, ask about last year’s party. Did people feel left out because they don’t drink? If you didn’t have drinks, did people leave the official party early to go to the bar? Ask a variety of employees so you don’t get influenced by one person’s or department’s thinking. Obviously, if anything bad happened at last year’s party that might have been a result of drinking, this would probably be a good time to change it up. While I’m on the subject of bad things happening, I’ve seen a fair amount of bad behavior at office parties, but one thing I’ve never seen, even though it’s a common trope on TV shows and movies, is people making copies of their bare rear end on the office copy machine! Has anyone ever actually done that? Or at least seen it done – I’m not sure I need to know if any of my readers have done it, ha ha!
  2. Think about your corporate culture, written and unwritten. Some places that seem very buttoned-up are full of party animals, and some companies advertise beer taps in the kitchen, but no one uses them. What’s more likely to happen in your office – people going out for happy hour or to run together? If your office would appreciate cocktails and you haven’t had any problems, then bottoms up (bottoms of your glass that is – keep your bottoms off the copier, folks)!
  3. Think about your workforce – where do they live and how do they commute? Of course, you’ll want to arrange for a car for anyone who may not get home safely, but getting home from a city office where most people take public transportation is a lot different than a suburban office where everyone drives. If you are in the burbs and you’re worried, perhaps you can arrange a van to make sure people aren’t tempted to get in their cars after one too many. Don’t give your non-drinking employees the responsibility of being designated drivers – they probably don’t want the attention and aggravation of driving home a carload of drunks, and there are way too many things that can go wrong when one employee is driving another home, even if they’re both stone-cold sober.
  4. If, after all this, you’ve decided to go ahead and serve alcohol, make sure you have non-alcoholic alternatives readily available. No one wants to have to search for the sparkling water or hunt down the party planner to find out where they can get a soda! A non-alcoholic punch or other drink that can be made in volume and spiked by those who want to is a good idea – be sure to list the ingredients on a card near the bowl, so both drinkers and non-drinkers will know what’s in it! Punch is a good way to stretch the party budget anyway, as is avoiding hard liquor in favor of beer and wine (unless you know some of the VIPs will have a hissy fit if they can’t get their cocktail of choice, in which case you can always make their favorite the “specialty” cocktail for the evening and avoid having a full bar).
  5. Make sure there’s enough food! You can’t force people to eat, but if you have a variety of yummy foods, it will happen! If you don’t want to break the company budget, there’s always a potluck…have people sign up to bring something and you’d be amazed at the creative cooks (or purchasers) you have in your office! While it’s a good idea to make sure people who are drinking are also eating, even if you’re not serving alcohol, make sure there’s enough food. There’s nothing worse than watching people fight over the last potato chip!
  6. If you’ve decided this is the year to go alcohol-free, consider a different type of party. An escape room, scavenger hunt, or something else involving physical activity may be a good alternative to everyone sitting around a restaurant or the office thinking that this would be more fun if they had a beer! If your budget or corporate culture won’t allow for anything out of the office, what about a breakfast party? It can be a fun break in the workday, as long as the Powers That Be are OK letting everyone relax and enjoy themselves first thing in the morning!

While you’re considering all this, here is a recipe for my go-to office party dip – unfortunately I don’t have a picture, but this was so popular at my last office job that I had to bring it to parties held in restaurants and give people the recipe when they left the company!

Bacon/Ranch/Cheese Dip – serves anywhere from 2 to 20

1 16-ounce container sour cream
1 envelope ranch dressing mix (not ranch dip mix)
1 package real bacon bits (not Baco’s, the ones that say “real” bacon)
1 cup finely shredded cheddar cheese

Combine all ingredients. If you feel like getting fancy, keep some of the bacon bits on the side and top with bacon bits and a little shredded cheddar. Serve with chips (sturdy ones like “scoops” or Fritos work best) and/or carrots and celery for those watching carbs or trying to avoid feeling guilty about eating dip! This tastes better if you make it at least an hour in advance, but if  you don’t have time, it’s fine to eat as soon as it’s mixed!

Hope the article has given you food for thought and the dip recipe has given you food for your next party!

Two Autumn Salads

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Acorn Squash Salad2.JPGI may be a weird person, but I always think of dinner salads as a summer thing. That said, these are two delicious autumn salads, which with chicken included make a great dinner at any time of year, and without chicken, are a perfect appetizer for your Thanksgiving table! They both contain nuts, but if you’re serving anyone with nut allergies, they can easily be omitted . Of the many things I am thankful for, one is that I can eat nuts, because they’re delicious! But that said, I try to be considerate of those who can’t or won’t.

This apple, walnut, and craisin salad is a classic and couldn’t be any easier, except for cutting up the apples and giving the dressing a quick whisk at the last minute!

Apple, Walnut and Craisin Salad – serves 4 for dinner or 8 as an appetizer
1 bag spring mix lettuce
2 apples
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup craisins
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
Dash lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
Ground pepper
Optional: 2 cups cooked chicken, cubed, and/or 1 cup crumbled goat cheese

Combine balsamic vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper and whisk well (I usually use the “boat motor” hand mixer for this). Set aside but keep your whisk or mixer handy. I often make the dressing the day before and just give it another whiz with the mixer before serving.

Core and dice apple into 1/4″ cubes. Combine apple, lettuce, walnuts, craisins (and goat cheese, if you’re using it) in large bowl and mix well. Check your dressing and re-mix and add salt and/or pepper if necessary. Pour over salad (you may not need it all – I usually start with about half, mix, see how it looks and end up putting most of the rest in, but it’s up to you – you know how much dressing you like). Toss well to combine and serve.

Squash, Pine Nut, and Parmesan Salad

This is based on a salad we used to order for office catering, except that salad contained pumpkin (I have never been able to find a mid-size pumpkin to use for this – all I ever see are either the tiny ones or big huge jack o’lantern pumpkins, and I don’t need that much pumpkin ever) and kale (which my husband refuses to eat). It was such a great salad that I’ve wanted to try to make it for about three years, and I finally came up with some alternatives to the impossible ingredients!

Question: do men just not like kale? My husband will eat any kind of green out there from collard greens to broccoli rabe, but he claims to hate kale. I thought that was just a reaction to healthy eating, and especially possibly trendy healthy eating, but I ordered it in the office and two men I worked with, both of whom ate lots of salads, and one of whom I knew for a fact went to all kinds of trendy restaurants, were like, “is that kale? UGH”. Bizarre, but don’t worry – this contains no kale, although you can certainly substitute it for the arugula if you want.

Anyway, this is a really nice autumn salad. The squash should be roasted in advance and you can make the dressing and take care of the cheese in advance, so it’s great for those nights you don’t have a lot of time to make dinner!

Squash, Pine Nut, and Parmesan Salad (pictured) – serves 4 for dinner or 8 as an appetizer 
1 bag baby arugula
1-2 squash, depending on size (I have used acorn squash and something called honeynut squash and they both worked well. I think I like the honeynut squash a little better, but it’s smaller, so you’ll need two)
1/4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Dash salt
Ground pepper
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup shaved Parmesan cheese (see below)

Pre-heat oven to 450. Halve squash. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast for 25 minutes. Let cool and remove skin. Cut into 1/2″ cubes.

Combine olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper and whisk well using a mixer or hand whisk.

Using a vegetable peeler, shave curls off a block of Parmesan cheese (they sell blocks of Parmesan at the supermarket cheese counter – if you can’t find one, see if they have shredded Parmesan (not grated). If the pieces are too long, cut them in half.

Combine arugula, squash, pine nuts, and Parmesan. Add dressing (re-whisk if necessary) and toss well to coat. Serve immediately.

What’s your favorite fall salad? And do you eat dinner salads year-round or do you consider them just a summer thing? If you haven’t tried a fall salad, there’s no time like the present!

Acorn Squash Salad3.JPG

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

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carrrot cake cupcake

Yesterday I promised you I’d tell you how I make these carrot cake cupcakes, and I wouldn’t want to let anyone down, so here goes. These do start with a cake mix, but I honestly think it’s so I don’t have to measure anything, because a lot of fresh ingredients go in too. It’s still reasonably easy and the cupcakes (or cake, if you prefer) really come out good, especially with this easy cream cheese icing.  This recipe has many inspirations – I got the pineapple and extra egg from a recipe that used to be on the side of the carrot cake box, the milk from my friend’s cake mix hack (as seen yesterday), which also includes an extra egg, and the carrots are my bright idea! The icing is also good on red velvet cake, chocolate cake, pumpkin cake, or with a spoon out of the bowl (hmmm…how would I know that?) The only thing it’s not great for is cake decorating, but we’ll discuss that too. So, without further ado, may I present carrot cake cupcakes!

Carrot Cake Cupcakes – makes 24 cupcakes

1 box carrot cake mix
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 carrots, peeled and shredded
1 can (8 oz.) crushed pineapple
1 cup raisins (optional)
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Peel and shred carrots. If your carrot cake mix has a packet of dehydrated carrots and raisins, throw it out. 🙂 Mix cake mix, milk, vegetable oil and eggs with mixer for 2 minutes, until well-blended. Fold in carrots, pineapple, raisins, and walnuts with a spoon until they are mixed in well. I don’t often use the raisins because I don’t like raisins, but I’ll put them in when I’m baking for others (especially when I want to be sure I won’t eat any, ha ha). The opposite holds true for the walnuts – I like them, but so many people are allergic to nuts these days that I only use them if I’m 100% sure no one is allergic. Why is that – when I was a kid, I knew people who were allergic to seafood and strawberries and even chocolate, but everyone ate nuts. Now people can’t even breathe the air where nuts are without serious allergic reactions – not just breaking out, but closing throats and stopping breathing…scary stuff!

If making cupcakes, use paper or foil liners. Personally, I like the foil liners for these because these cupcakes are moist (apologies to people who hate that word) and the paper liners look kind of “greasy”. Up to you. Fill cupcake cups 1/2 to 2/3 full and bake for 18-22 minutes.

Let cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting – will frost 24 cupcakes with some left over

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 oz. butter, softened
2 cups confectioner’s (powdered) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Let cream cheese and butter soften in mixing bowl. Add vanilla extract. Add sugar in small batches and mix well (keep mixer on low and shut it off when you’re adding the sugar unless you want your kitchen covered in powdered sugar, which isn’t usually a good look). When all sugar has been mixed in, scrape the bowl, turn the mixer up to high, and mix on high for a minute.

Put icing in refrigerator to cool before icing cupcakes. If you’re just spreading icing, it doesn’t have to cool more than 15 minutes, but if you’re using a decorating tip, let it cool for about 45 minutes.

This is not the greatest icing for cake decorating using a decorating tip, because even when it’s cooled, it is still pretty soft. If you really want to use it for decorating, add an extra half-cup sugar to firm it up and leave it in the fridge for 1 hour. I prefer it in its “normal” state because it’s not overly sweet, but I did want to give you that option. I did the little star on the cupcake shown above with normal icing refrigerated for about an hour and they held up just fine, but I wouldn’t do anything more than that with this.

Enjoy and remember if you’re eating carrot cake, you’re getting your daily requirement of vegetables in! At least that’s what I keep telling myself. I mean, if you use the walnuts, they’re protein, as are the eggs and the cream cheese…you’ve got a complete and balanced meal right there! This sounds good, doesn’t it? 🙂

Cupcake hacks…better late than never!

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Well, apparently yesterday was National Cupcake Day (or per my National Day Calendar, National Chocolate Cupcake Day)! A day late and a dollar short…story of my life! Anyway, for those days when you can’t bake cupcakes from scratch, here are my tips on making the most of box cupcakes.

A good friend told me this and it works – when making any boxed cake mix, replace the water with an equal amount of milk and add one extra egg. I guess the manufacturers figure people are more likely to have water in their house than milk? Or maybe they figure it’s less expensive (although after hearing about some of my friends’ water bills out west, I think buying a cow would be less expensive). Anyway, I don’t know, but I’ve done it and it really does make a box taste much more homemade!

My other tip is decorate those cupcakes! Homemade icing is a great way to upgrade a cupcake, and if you’re not up for that, there are some simple decorating tricks that work wonders. The chocolate cupcakes (for National Chocolate Cupcake Day) above were made with a box mix and a tub of frosting – simply chill the frosting for around an hour, put it in a decorating bag with the largest star tip, and swirl the icing around the top of the cupcake (I’m going to do a video of this in the (hopefully) near future, so stay tuned). If you’re feeling really fancy, add some sprinkles because who doesn’t love sprinkles, and no one will ask any questions! What I really like to add to fancy things up is that colored sugar – I love regular sprinkles, but colored sugar is just so decorative!

The strawberry ones were super-easy too. They started with “my” strawberry cake (see https://allybearsden.blog/2018/08/19/humble-pie-and-peach-salsa/ for that story). Cut twelve strawberries in half and set them, cut side down, on a paper towel for about a half-hour to let them dry a little while you do other things. When you’re ready to rejoin your cupcakes, set each strawberry half in the middle of a cupcake. I like to squeeze a little dot of icing on top of the cupcake before putting the strawberry on as extra insurance that it won’t move. Melt 1 cup of dark chocolate candy melts in the microwave, put in a squeeze bottle, and “draw” a grid over the top of the cupcake. Voila…chocolate-covered strawberry cupcakes!

The last ones in this picture are carrot cake cupcakes. They’re getting a post of their own tomorrow, because there’s a lot going on there. That being said, they’re another proof of the wonders of homemade frosting – making the cream cheese frosting is easy as anything and a great way to improve any cupcake!

Hope you enjoyed these belated cupcake hacks? What’s your favorite thing to do with a boxed cake mix?

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