Hallowtini

Brian made these peach martinis for Halloween. To make one, just follow the recipe for the Pomegranate Martini on the Too Many Syllables For Me post, but substitute peach nectar for pomegranate juice (and use a little more than that recipes calls for). He rimmed the glass with granulated sugar mixed with black decorative sugar.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Coffins

This picture was from a couple of Halloweens ago when I first made these. It was just a fluke - I thought I'd make Rice Crispy Treats with Cocoa Pebbles instead. Then I think Brian said, "I wonder if you can add peanut butter." So I added Reese's Peanut Butter chips. The result was a hit!

If you want something less morbid, you can always just cut them into squares.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Crispy Coffins

3 TBSP butter
1 10 oz. package marshmallows
6 C Chocolate Rice Cereal
1 package peanut butter chips

Melt butter in a large pan.
Add marshmallows, and stir until melted. Remove from heat.
Add Cereal, and stir to coat.
Stir in peanut chips (they will melt).
Spoon into greased 13" x 9" pan, spread around and pressed until firm. It should look marbled.
Allow to cool, then cut into coffin shapes.

Pumpkin Waffles

More from the BIG can of pumpkin puree: Pumpkin Waffles with homemade whipped cream and crushed up hazelnuts. I used hazelnuts because I didn't have any pecans cracked open.


You can get the recipe here: Pumpkin Waffles.

I still have enough left over to maybe do some pumpkin bowtie pasta!

Pumpkin Crème Brûlée

I told Brian that he would be sick of pumpkin by Thanksgiving. He said, "Good!"

I had quite of bit of pumpkin left over from the Black Bean Enchiladas with Pumpkin Sauce (I used one of the BIG cans of Libby's pumpkin puree), so I wanted to try a Pumpkin Crème Brûlée.

Pumpkin Crème Brûlée
Makes 4 ramekins

1/4 Cup Pumpkin Puree
1/4 Cup Sour Cream
3 egg yolks
1/4 Cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 TBSP granulated sugar
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
generous pinch fresh ground nutmeg
pinch salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
sugar for caramelizing

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Put a kettle of water on the burner to heat up water for the water bath.

Mix together pumpkin, sour cream, egg yolks, brown sugar, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg and salt. Stir together for one minute until fully blended.

Pour heavy cream in a sauce pan, heat just to the point of boiling, stirring constantly.

Slowly pour into pumpkin mixture, stirring constantly. Stir for one minute until fully blended. Strain mixture.

Place ramekins in a baking dish. Pour custard into cups. Pour hot water into baking dish about halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

Place in oven and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool in water bath. When cool enough to handle, take out of water bath and cover each ramekin with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (can keep like this for up to 2 days).

When almost ready to serve, Sprinkle with sugar (about 1 1/2 tsp) and burn with a kitchen torch. Place back in refrigerator for a couple minutes.

This recipe is based off of a recipe in Creme Brulee the Bonjour Way by Randolph W. Mann. I used the ingredients, but used the baking process I've used in other Crème Brûlées.

It turned out amazing! Like a creamier pumpkin pie with that caramelized crunch on top. YUM!

Black Bean Enchiladas with Pumpkin Sauce

A while back I checked out Everyday Food: Great Food Fast from the library. One recipe really caught my eye: Spicy Enchiladas with Pumpkin Sauce . I've been waiting rather unpatiently for October to try it, and I wanted to try it out on us before I subjected any friends or family to it. It called for chicken, but I thought I might be good with black beans (since I do like black beans and sweet potatoes together), and I cut the recipe down a bit.

Black Bean Enchiladas with Pumpkin Sauce
Serves 2-3
1 can Black Beans, drained
6 green onions, white parts thinly sliced
1 cup chopped spinach
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 1/4 cup water
2 cloves garlic
1/2 jalapeno chile, quartered (remove ribs and seeds for less heat, if desired)
1 teaspoon chili powder
6 white corn tortillas (6-inch)
1 cup grated sharp white cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine black beans, spinach and scallions. Season generously with salt and pepper; set aside.
In a blender, puree pumpkin, garlic, jalapeno, chili powder, water, salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper until smooth (hold top firmly as blender will be quite full). Pour 1 cup of sauce in the bottom of an 8-inch square (or other shallow 2-quart) baking dish.
Lay tortillas on work surface; mound black mixture on half of each tortilla, dividing evenly. Roll up tortillas; place, seam side down, in baking dish.
Pour remaining sauce on top; sprinkle with cheese. Place dish on a baking sheet; bake until cheese is golden and sauce is bubbling, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Lessons learned:
1. This was actually my first time working with a jalepeno. I was a little scared, so I removed the ribs and seeds. Next time I would either use the whole jalepeno with ribs removed, or half with the ribs and seeds in tact.
2. When chopping up a jalepeno, don't lick your finger afterwards!!!
3. I scrimped on the salt, and I should not have done that!
4. MORE CHEESE! It needs more cheese. I think I would actually mix another 1/2 cup or so in with the black bean mixture.
5. I'd steam the tortillas first - they fell apart when I was rolling them.

They were very good though - mainly just need more cheese and salt, and maybe more heat. Maybe some lime juice too.

Here's a picture with the filling busting out:

Bisquick Cheese Bread

Most of my family food traditions revolve around a box of Bisquick. Not the healthiest thing in the world, but sometimes there's nothing better.

When I was kid, my mom would make cheese bread with Bisquick. I used to loooove that bread. I asked her for the recipe a while ago, but I had never made it myself. She wrote a post-it note that said:

3 1/2 cups Bisquick
2 1/2 cup cheese
2 eggs
1 1/3 c. milk
350 55 minutes

I filled in the blanks to this:

Bisquick Cheese Bread

3 1/2 cups Bisquick
2 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan, set aside (I used Pam for Baking).

In a large bowl mix all ingredients until well blended. Spread into loaf pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes until golden brown.

To be perfectly honest, the only thing I remembered about the bread was that 1. I loved it as a kid, and 2. the cheese was marbled throughout. So I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed the marbling of the cheese. I was also pleased with the almost crunchy crust that had an intense cheddar flavor. I am usually a middle-of-the-pan type of girl (no corners for me!) but this is an exception. I love the soft, cheesy middle of this bread, but the best part is the crust. Next time, I'm trying muffins so I've got that flavor in every bite.

I made it for breakfast with scrambled eggs and fake sausage.

Offensive Whole Grain Waffles

First of all, I would like to apologize for the amount of typos I always have in my postings. I am good about catching typing mistakes and wrong usage of words in someone else's writing, but not my own. I do re-read them before I post, but I don't do any major editing, and if I catch them after I post, I'm not likely to re-post. I hope it doesn't offend too many people.

Now, this kind of offends me: Whole Grain Waffles. Why? Because I did something I thought I would never do - I substituted applesauce for oil. Not all of the oil, but a big chunk of it. I am soooo glad I didn't make these for Brian, because they started out icky. I ended up making them a little better in the end.

Now, no offense to the author of this recipe because in all honesty, I didn't follow the recipe. Here's what I did:

2 eggs, beaten
1 3/4 cups skim milk
2 TBSP canola oil
1/4 cup + 2 TBSP unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup flax seeds
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Basically I didn't have wheat germ or flax meal, so I substituted oats and whole flax seeds, and I halved the oil and added more applesauce (I wanted to keep just a little oil).

The batter ended up really runny. I tried it for 2 batches in my Belgian waffler, but there was a lot of run off and they just weren't very dense. They were bitter to the taste (probably from all that baking powder!). Just. Not. Good. At. Aaaaallllll.

I ended up adding extra oats, about another 1/4 cup to the remaining batter. The batter ended up thicker, no run off, and a much better consistency. Still, no where near as good as Amazing Overnight Waffles, but the point is to have something healthier to pop in the freezer for a quick breakfast on the go in the mornings. They need more tweaking, but they'll work for right now.

Whole Grain Waffles

2 eggs, beaten
1 3/4 cups skim milk
2 TBSP canola oil
1/4 cup + 2 TBSP unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup flax seeds
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Spray the hot waffle iron with nonstick cooking spray and rub on a little butter with a paper towel or a piece of bread. Add just enough batter to cover the cooking surface, about 1 1/3 cups for a Belgian waffle, 2/3 cup for a standard waffle.
Cook the waffles until crisp and browned but not too dark, 2 to 3 minutes each.

By the way, Flax Seeds are really good for you!