The Holiday Food Orgy Aftermath-- Eat more salads like this!

I feel as though I am still digesting the Salmon En Croute, with Duxelles, that I made for our Christmas Eve Dinner. I must not forget the Beurre Blanc sauce that I made, to go with this! Of course, I served fresh green beans, with a little butter sauce-- oh, and my brother made mashed potatoes with scallions and a touch of herbs to go with it.  For dessert, I made Ina Garten's Creme Brulee'.  Why haven't I posted this yet, some of you may wonder?

I will!  But I need to focus my time and energy on more vegetables and salads.  I assume that many of you have viewed enough of those recipes, and we are all seeing the newspaper ads for gym membership.  I'm expecting the Weight Watchers Police to come pounding at my door, any minute. 

 Flickr Photo Source

This salad is inspired by a restaurant, at Lover's Point , in the world famous area of Pacific Grove, California that we feel so blessed to live in. "The Old Bath House" carries a lot of fond memories for Craig and me.. It was my son's first job, as a busboy, when he turned 16. Many birthdays, anniversaries and special date nights were spent here. I became friends with "Dorothy", who played a large part in the smooth operation of that restaurant. My handsome cousin (who passed away at a very young age) was the Maitre d' and very knowledgeable wine sommelier.  Sadly, the restaurant closed two months before our planned wedding, that was scheduled for New Year's Day of 2004.  The Old Bath House fell victim to politics with the city of Pacific Grove and an ADA lawsuit settlement. The cost of remodeling, to meet the compliance laws was so costly,  that the owner closed the restaurant. The restaurant, to this day, sits empty against the spectaclar backdrop of Lover's Point. It has been a loss to so many loyal customers of this fine establishment.  My friends, Dorothy, plans to write a cookbook with the recipes that we loved so much-- their Lobster Bisque Soup (I know the "secret" ingredient) and this salad.

I don't have the "official recipe, but this is my take on it-- it's simple and it was the perfect starter to any meal. I serve it when we have company, and it's always a big hit! You need candied pecans.  Dorothy gave me the original recipe-- Blanche the pecans, then coat with powdered sugar. Fry in oil and then sprinkle with cayenne pepper. "Dot" used to give me a  bag of these addicting pecans, as a parting gift, after we indulged in a meal a the Old Bath House.  I have, since, found a different way of making these candied pecans-- that  I blogged about here.  You need pears and Blue Cheese (or Gorgonzola).

Fortunately, I can buy beautiful Spring Mix salads at Costco, that is locally grown.   The dressing is a simple Balsamic Vinaigrette-- my favorite. To make it, just remember that the ratio of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil is 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar.  To bind the dressing, I use a little Dijon mustard. That's it!

We love this salad! 

Doesn't this look healthy? (Well, the candied pecans are a small stretch, but just a few are okay by me.) I am submitting this recipe to Souper Sundays-- Deb's weekly roundup of Soups, Salads, Stews and Sandwiches.

I have one more dinner to make, that isn't going to be low-fat. For New Year's Eve, Craig and I like to celebrate at home. I like to make a fancy dinner, build a fire and drink champagne. This year, I bought a beautiful duck breast, from Whole Foods.  I am leaning towards a cherry-port wine reduction sauce. Come to think of that, I recall the "The Old Bath House" used to serve that-- along with a Grand Marnier Souffle' that was exqusite!  I wish my friend, Dorothy, would hurry up and write that cookbook!

 Just a few of my brother's beautiful photography.

Craig and I are on Day #4 of our vacation.  We're headed to Santa Cruz, to take my brother (Fred) out to lunch, for his birthday. He chose the local Fisherman's Wharf, which is a good choice. I see fresh fish and vegetables on my lunch plate. Thank goodness!

As always, the recipes are at the very bottom of this post. If you are receiving this via email or RSS feed, please JUMP to my blog to print/view the recipes.

Counting down to the end of 2009,

Pumpkin Spice Muffins, adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Happy Boxing Day (for those of you with British heritage)!   Christmas 2009 has come to a close, with wonderful memories of time with my family, wonderful food and I hope that all of you had a festive and blessed Christmas.  I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm needing a break from  chocolate and Christmas cookies!  I've already dug out my copy of Cooking Light's Complete Cookbook, for inspiration on meals with more vegetables and less heavy cream, that doesn't taste bland.   I doubt I'll give up some of my favorite ingredients, forever, but I need to give my cholesterol a break!

So, what does that have to do with baking these delicious Pumpkin Spice Muffins?  This is my submission for my  bi-weekly "sister" blog  "Foodie Fans of the Pioneer Woman", that I created and is co-hosted by a very lovely (and very pregnant) Muneeba, of "An Edible Symphony".  Muneeba chose the category of "Holiday Recipes" from Ree Drummond's very popular blog "The Pioneer Woman Cooks".    I made a few minor adaptions to her original recipe, starting with not making the cream cheese frosting.  Am I crazy? No!  I think my taste buds have changed, because I prefer a lot less frosting on my cakes-- and I'm evolving into being a bigger fan of bundt cakes and muffins. (This comes from a person who used to jockey for position for a corner slice of white birthday cake, with a rose, thank you.) Enough chit-chat--  in the style of The Pioneer Woman, let me show you how easy these are to make:

I'm pretty sure that most of you have these ingredients, right at your fingertips. Well, maybe in the pantry!  I made my own pumpkin puree, and froze them in one cup increments. Clever, eh? Actually, it was "P-Dub" who inspired me to do this, on her blog. The rest of the ingredients-- flour, butter (1/2 stick), an egg, salt, baking powder, sugar (1/2 cup) and some evaporated milk.  Of course, you need spices-- hence the name... cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.  Golden raisins are listed as "optional", but we love them.

Sift the ingredients together.  If you don't, I won't tell Ree. It's just a habit I've gotten into. Now, here's where I took a shortcut. Ree says to cut 1/2 stick of butter into the dry ingredients, with a knife or pastry cutter.  My food processor and I have enjoyed a 30-year relationship with one another.  I figured that "pulsing" the butter would work just fine. Thank you, Cuisinart, you did the job well! The butter is incorporated...

Now, for the wet ingredients-- pumpkin puree (canned is fine) one egg, vanilla and the evaporated milk, that I whisked together.

Now, you add the wet to the dry.  I only pulsed the ingredients, because you don't want to overwork muffin batter-- unless you like them glutenous and tough-- suit yourself!  See all the bits of butter?

I gently folded the golden raisins in-- about 1/2 cup, plus the ones that spilled out of the bag.  I transferred the batter to a bowl, because the food processor would have turned these into dust particles!

I used an ice cream scoop to fill the muffin pan. I used my giant muffin pan, well-greased, that yielded six muffins.  Bake at 400F for 25 minutes, Ree says...

 Snack attack!

Our house smelled so good!  The scent is hard to describe-- other than "hurry up and be ready!" Here's a trick I learned-- tip the muffins a little, while they cook, so they don't become soggy.  After 10 minutes, I put the muffins on a cooling rack.  It's time to make coffee!
NOTE TO SELF: If you muffin pan is dark, reduce the oven temperature to 375F and check the muffins 5 minutes earlier. 

Now, you can make a cream cheese frosting for this, which I've included on the recipe card (at the very bottom of this post).  I opted for a dusting of powdered sugar...

These are very, very moist!  The ginger and cinnamon ratio is perfect.  Quite honestly, these don't need frosting.  Pumpkin muffins are a year-long treat.  We loved these, and so will you.
TASTING NOTES:  I accidentally added almond extract-- like 1/4 teaspoon, before I realized I had not grabbed the vanilla extract.  With a silent prayer, I added the vanilla, too. We liked it, but that was not intentional.  I used 2% evaporated milk.  By eliminating the frosting and the 2% milk, I'm sure we shaved off a lot of calories. Oh, the rest are in the freezer, so I won't polish them off.  I'm on holiday rich food detox!

As always, you can view the recipe by scrolling to the very bottom of the post.  If you are receiving this post via email or RSS feed, you will need to JUMP to my blog to view and/or print the recipe.

If you are a fan of The Pioneer Woman Cooks, please know that you are welcome to submit your recipe four our bi-weekly recipe roundup.  For details, please visit "Foodie Fans of the Pioneer Woman Cooks".  The deadline for this Monday's roundup is noon (Pacific Standard Time) on Sunday (tomorrow). Please come visit us to see the recipes that fellow food bloggers have made.

My husband and I are on vacation, until January 4th. It's noon, and we're both in our lounge clothes-- that would be sweat pants, sweatshirt and slippers.  Only five more days until our wedding anniversary, which we will celebrate in San Francisco!

Good times!

Ina Garten's Sausage-Stuffed Mushrooms

In November, I missed both of the Barefoot Bloggers recipe selections from one of my favorite Food Network Stars-- Ina Garten of the Barefoot Contessa.   When I saw that "Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms" was the selection for December 24th's posting, I wanted to make this!  I figured that if this recipe turned out as tasty as it sounded, then it would be included with my Christmas Eve festivities.  The first change that I made was to switch from Button Mushrooms to Portobello Mushrooms.  I think they have a "nuttier" taste--

These beauties are pretty large-- about the size of the palm of my hand.

Food Network's "Alton Brown" did an experiment, on one of his episodes, that disproved the theory that mushrooms should be wiped with a cloth.  Alton weighed his mushrooms before washing them, and afterward. The increase of water was so minute, that it didn't make a difference! Since then, I wash my mushrooms, thoroughly-- which is a lot easier, I think. (I have seen what mushrooms grow in, and I want to be sure they are very clean!)

I wipe them dry with a paper towel, pull out the stems (to be chopped) and then I like to use a melon baller to clean out those unsightly "gills".  The mushrooms are then placed into a baking dish, and marinated with a little olive oil and some sherry (or Marsala wine is good, too).  Next...

The stems are finely minced and set aside...

Green onions are a "must"-- cleaned and sliced thin...

I read the reviews for this recipe, and some folks complained that the filling was greasy. I didn't have that problem, because I used turkey sausage.   Removing the casings, I cooked the sausage, thoroughly in a cast iron skillet.  Because turkey sausage is very lean, I actually needed to add a little bit of olive oil.  There! Are we ready to build flavor?
NOTE: This recipe could easily be adapted for a vegetarian by not using sausage and using more chopped mushrooms and bread crumbs.

To the sausage, green onion is added... then finely minced garlic... next, panko crumbs and it's combined. Next...

Cheese, please!  Ina recommends Marscapone Cheese.  I happened to have some, but cream cheese would work just fine Trust me.  That's added, and is blended once the heat makes it creamy.  Next, some Parmesan cheese.  I added some fresh cracked pepper, but not additional salt. I think the Parmesan and the sausage had enough in it-- your choice.  In retrospect, I wish I had added some fresh thyme and red pepper flakes.  But, I try not to change recipes around too much-- the first go-round, which this was.

My garden has ample fresh Italian parsley.  Mince it, and then add that to the sausage filling. I grabbed a small scoop, and now...

... fill those marinated and "cleaned"  mushrooms to the brim!

 I'm getting an idea...

I diverted from the recipe, because I had a bag of shredded three-cheeses.  Why not?
NOTE: If you notice a toothpick...um, I kinda got aggressive cleaning out the mushrooms...and I "bwoke" one. I patched it back with a toothpick, which worked just fine.

The recipe says to bake these for 50 minutes at 325F.  Mine were ready in 25 minutes!

My son said that these reminded him of sausage pizza-- without the crust. I thought about it, and he's right! These were very tasty.  Because the mushrooms were so large, combined with a salad, this would make a nice lunch or supper.

I had leftover sausage filling.  I think these would be delicious mixed in with scrambled eggs.  Or, this could also be used as a pizza topping.  However, I think I'll just make these all over again for Christmas Eve. They are very easy to make.  I also think this recipe is very versatile.
TASTE NOTES:  Regular Italian sausage is an ideal ingredient. Just be sure to drain the excess fat.  Fresh thyme would be an excellent addition.  I'm not sure if panko crumbs are vital.  The moisture of the filling defeated the crunchiness of panko crumbs. I think regular bread crumbs would be fine.  You can easily make the sausage a day ahead-- which is exactly what I've done.

Thank you, Michelle, from "Welcome to the Club" for choosing this recipe for the Barefoot Bloggers. Your timing was perfect!

I am still on "hiatus", having made these last week and scheduled this to post-- I hope-- on December 24th!

Merry Christmas to one and all!

Nanaimo Bars - Quick to make (in theory) and a brief blogging hiatus

I belong to an amazing church!  We also have an amazing pastor, whose wife is one of the kindest and sweetest ladies I've ever met.  When Susie asked me if I'd be willing to make Christmas cookie for her, for a cookie exchange-- I agreed to do it.  Truth be told, I have never done any kind of cooking or baking for hire.  I figured that bar cookies would be a slam dunk-- and I remembered that, years ago, I used to make Nanaimo Bars at Christmas Time.  If you've never heard of Nanaimo Bars, then let me tell you-- these are incredibly good and a very popular dessert treat that has origins from a town in Canada-- Nanaimo, British Columbia, to be specific..

The most common version has three layers-- the bottom layer is a graham cracker and Dutch chocolate crust, glued together by butter, egg and walnuts (or pecans) and coconut.  I have never added the coconut, because coconut is a love/hate kind of ingredient that I don't want to take chances on.  I love coconut, but some of my family members don't. The middle layer-- ah, that's my favorite part. It's a buttercream.  I've seen recipes that call for vanilla pudding mix, but I only use Bird's Eye Custard-- it's a must.   (Please take note of the Bird's Eye Container -- which was unopened-- that claims "Easy to Open".)

I would like to write a letter to the person who designed this packaging!  I had a custard explosion (the lid flew off! that set the tone for the rest of this cookie making adventure... oh, let me tell you!  It began with my wanting to quadruple the recipe. I couldn't find my original recipe, so I searched the internet for a recipe hat I could print. I found one from  Sunset Magaziine's website, and read the ingredients. Everything looked just as I remembered-- yep, I was ready. I had my four professional size cookie sheets ready to go. I was all set up for the assembly line:

I love my Cuisinart food processor!  Let's see-- I start with graham crackers (turned to crumbs) and then walnuts, finely chopped-- pecan work, too.

I obediently followed the directions-- beat the eggs, add sugar, coco powder and then I paused.... bake the cookie crust?  This didn't sound right!   But, how could Sunset be wrong? So, I baked the first batch, and it came out wrong-- like really wrong-- crumbly, falling apart no-way-is-this-going-to-hold-together wrong.

The crust tasted bitter (too much cocoa and not enough sugar) so it went into the garbage-- and I do not like wasting food! So, I searched the internet again-- sure enough, the butter, egg, sugar and Dutch Cocoa should have been cooked over a double boiler (which thickens it) and then it's combined to the graham crackers and nuts.  The last photograph in the collage (above) shows the right consistency of the bottom crust.  I don't have photos to show you, of the double boiler process--because I was in a grumpy mood and I had to start all over again.  Sunset Magazine will get a comment from me, telling them that their recipe is so, so ... not authentic! But, I need to practice forgiveness!  I forged on, and made the buttercream.

This is absolutely delicious! So good!  For the love of Pete, please find Bird's Eye Custard Powder. It's so much better than instant vanilla pudding. Trust me!

It was getting late, and I had lost my natural lighting-- so these photos are not up to the quality I strive for. After the bottom layer has set (in the refrigerator), you add the layer of butter cream. That has to set (about 30 minutes) and then you melt the chocolate.  I admit, that I tempered my chocolate with both butter and cream.  You have to work fast-- and if the chocolate is super hot, it will melt the buttercream.  Now, let the bars chill until the chocolate is almost "set"-- but not completely ice cold. Why? You  risk cracking the bars-- I am speaking from experience.

Trimming the bars was a challenge, though I was glad that I made these on parchment paper. That way, you can lift them out and cut these on a solid surface.  Susie, this is the mess that you didn't see!

This piece had my husband's name on it. I didn't want to look at at Nanaimo bar, after this fiasco! Truth be told, I like chocolate but only in very small doses.

What a nightmare of cleanup!  My husband helped me out, assuring me that they were delicious.  In the end, I was happy that I got the job done. I refused to take money for my time. Considering my "Murphy's Law" experience, I wasn't going to charge for my time!   Luckily, I'm posting this recipe the right way-- and it shouldn't take long at all, should you choose to accept this mission.  I was happy to do a favor for Susie.  She was so thankful and that made it all worthwhile. I would definitely make these again, now that I have the correct recipe. They are truly a delectable cookie bar-- though very, very rich!

I haven't baked one single dessert for my Christmas Eve dinner. My family has whittled down to be very small-- like a total of five people.  I'm thankful to be on vacation, so that I can do things that bloggers have been posting for weeks-- Christmas decorations and all kinds of cookies.  I doubt I'll make many cookies, but I can assure any of you folks who haven't baked a thing-- Nanaimo bars are easy and very delicious. Just be sure to keep them refrigerated-- or freeze them to enjoy for weeks! 

I will be taking a blogging break for a few days. I'll be posting a recipe on Christmas Day. Until then--

Wishing all of you safe travels and a

blessed Christmas!