Cheater Chipotle-Bacon Cornbread Muffins

Yes, this is another crappy picture -I'm on a roll!

Had it not been for my friend Julie in Chicago who gave me the heads on a this Cooking Light recipe I would have never made this. Now, I have never liked cornbread for one and two I could never see the attraction of having it with Chili, I just couldn't. But since I was having Mom, Dad, Marisa & Doug and Aunt Trish over I decided to make cornbread just in case they liked their Chili with cornbread.

I didn't want to make regular old cornbread so I turned to the Cooking Light recipe which had two of my favorite things Bacon and Chipotles. But I have to admit they weren't exactly "home made". Sure they we made and they were made at home. So technicaly speaking I guess they were "home" "made". This time I wanted to make this dinner low maintenance but I think next time I make these, and there will be a next time, I'm going to make them per the Cooking Light recipe.

Anyway I really liked them, they were savory and the chipotles just added a nice smoky flavor that wasn't spicy at all!

Cheater Chipotle-Bacon Cornbread Muffins

Adapted from Cookinglight.com

Ingredients:

1 Package of Marie Callender's Cornbread Mix

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 1/2 tablespoons chopped canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce

3 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled

Cooking spray

Preheat oven and prepare batter per package directions. Fold in the remaining ingredients. Spray cupcake pan with cooking spray and fill each 2/3 of the way with batter. Check after 13-15 minutes of cooking, insert toothpick into center of "muffin" and if it comes out clean it's good to go! Remove from pan and cool on cooling rack.

Note: In the spirit of "full disclosure" I didn't get 2 full pans out of the mix. I got more like 1 1/2, but then again I am pretty recipe retarded so I proably did something wrong.

Betty Crocker Thumbprint Cookies

I know this is a bad picture, but I never said I was a photography major. And

if you think this picture is bad, you should go take a look on what's on Ol' Betty's website. Now they should be ashamed of themselfs.

I got this recipe through a recipe exchange I participated in. I was kinda bummed to get a cookie recipe (I have to say though, I did join in last so it was between this and some chocolate pie that wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but I digres) because I'm kinda the Enemy of Cookies. Or better yet cookies are the enemy of me. No matter what I do they refuse to come out good. No joke, they are either too dry, too soft, too tough or just too.... everything!!!

But lucky for me good ol' Betty makes fool proof recipes. And although this was a fool proof recipe some how, some way being the EOC I am I managed to mess it up. All I had to do was stick my thumb into the dough and make a dent big enough to fill with jam, unfortunately I didn't do that right, because when the cookies came out of the oven the imprint I had made on them had risen. But being the clever girl that I am I simply took the bottom tip of a wooden spoon and dented the cookies again. Voila! I had my imprint back and no one could be the wiser.

I would totally make these cookies again for many reasons; one, they were tasty. Two they were easy and three they were so soft that they crumbled after one bite, I love when they do that!

Betty Crocker Thumbprint Cookies
courtesy of bettycrocker.com

Prep Time:40 min
Start to Finish:1 hr 20 min
Makes:3 dozen cookies

1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg, separated
1 cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup finely chopped nuts
Jelly (I used Knott's Berry Farm Boysenberry) *see note below

1. Heat oven to 350ºF.
2. Mix brown sugar, shortening, butter, vanilla and egg yolk in medium bowl. Stir in flour and salt until dough holds together.
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Beat egg white slightly. Dip each ball into egg white. Roll in nuts. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Press thumb deeply in center of each.
4. Bake about 10 minutes or until light brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Fill thumbprints with jelly.

Nutrition Information
1 Serving: Calories 85 (Calories from Fat 45 ); Total Fat 5 g (Saturated Fat 1 g); Cholesterol 10 mg; Sodium 30 mg; Total Carbohydrate 9 g (Dietary Fiber 0g); Protein 1 g Percent Daily Value*: Vitamin A 0%; Vitamin C 0%; Calcium 0%; Iron 2 % Exchanges: 1/2 Starch; 1 Fat *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Note: I would use a tart jelly/jam vs a sweet one. I just really liked the contrast of the tart jam against the sweet cookie. One more thing because I made them bigger than what they suggested I only got about 2 dozen, but they were a tasty 2 dozen :)

Insalata Caprese

Or salad in the style of the Island of Capri. There are more versions on how to make this than you can shake a stick at. I've seen it layered, overlapped and on skewers. I've seen it topped with just olive oil, with just balsamic vinegar and with a mixture of both. And most importantly if you have a set of working eyes you don't require a recipe. If you can see it you can make it. So going off of this basic principle, I knew I liked mine stacked, with more balsamic vinegar than olive oil and topped with julienned basil instead of whole basil leaves. But, always the perfectionist, I decided to do some research and see if I was "missing out" on something that would take my basic idea into an AWESOME idea!

So I went on allrecipes.com and found a recipe for the salad but I wasn't interested on the recipe as much as I was interested in the reviews. I find a lot of insight on the reviews, what people did different, how they made a recipe better, you know.... insight. So I found the following review by someone called YOGAFOODIE:

"I've been making this salad for years. However, us Sicilians make it a little different. Also, another trick is to use fresh bocconcini (the smaller fresh moz. balls) and to use very fresh Roma (chopped) tomatoes or cherry/plum tomatoes. I add a lot of balsamic dressing with only a splash of olive oil (plus at least 3-4 cloves of fresh chopped garlic). Mix together and let the flavors marinate together (it tastes delicious when the balsamic vinegar and garlic flavors soak into the cheese). Just a little Sicilian twist to the caprese salad. "

With this little tid bit in mind I set out to make the Caprese salad my own. And it completely surpassed my expectations. It was savory, light, fresh and best of all TASTY!!! Ryan really liked it, he liked it so much he has requested it for Christmas Day. I think I will make it as an appetizer or something we can munch on during the day. And since it's already dressed in the Christmas colors how could that be wrong? So here is my take on Insalata Caprese:

Insalata Caprese con una Claud Torsione

In English, Salad in the style of Capri with a Claud Twist

2 Vine Ripened Tomatoes (can be purchased at the grocery store)

2 Buffalo Mozzarella

Basil Leaves, julienned (About 3 or 4 it's really your preference)

1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar

2 tbspn Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 tspn Finely Chopped Garlic

Coarse Salt

Combine Balsamic vinegar and garlic in a bowl and then slowly mix in the Olive Oil until emulsified. Set the mixture aside and let "marinate" at room temperature for an hour to an hour and a half. A little before your hour or your hour an a half is done slice up your Buffalo Mozzarella . Place cheese on a platter or deep dish and pour 2 tablespoons of the balsamic mixture over the mozzarella slices. Let the cheese marinate in the balsamic vinegar for an hour. Then slice up two tomatoes, you should get about six 1/4" slices out of every tomato. Place tomatoes slices on a platter and season with coarse salt. Then with a slotted spoon transfer mozzarella cheese slices on top of the tomato slices. Then sprinkle the balsamic vinegar the cheese was marinating in around the tomato slices. Sprinkle basil over the top of the stacks, serve and enjoy.

Frito Candy aka Crazy Bark

No you are not mistaken, you read that right Frito Candy! It's a bark made of the most uncommon ingredients Fritos, pretzels, Reese's peanut butter cups and chocolate. And let me just tell you it's TASTY!!!

I thought it sounded a little weird but I couldn't help and be intrigued and thank God I was. It's sweet, it's salty with a caramelized flavor in the back ground.. I don't know what else to say you will just have to try it for yourself. I will have to say if you like chocolate covered pretzels then you'll like this and I almost forgot about my favorite part it's sooooo easy to make!

Sweet, Salty, Frito Candy
Courtesy of Cookie Madness

2 cups pretzels
1 cup Fritos
8 mini peanut butter cups (Cut in half)
1 stick unsalted butter (8 tablespoons)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (or however many you want) (I used the exact amount I think if you add more chocolate it would be too sweet)
Optional: Some peanuts for the top (Definately used them and I think it helps make it look "pretty")

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a 13×9 inch pan with parchment paper or no-stick (Release) foil.

Place pretzels in food processor and pulse to break - don’t pulverize. Add Fritos to processor and break them up with pretzels. Dump into pan. Unwrap peanut butter cups and throw them in the mix.

Place butter in a non-stick saucepan and melt over medium heat. When butter is melted, stir in brown sugar. Bring mixture to a full boil and boil for 1 minute, stirring once or twice. Pour over Frito mixture and bake for 8 minutes.

Remove pan from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over hot candy. Return to oven for 1 minute to soften chips. Spread softened chocolate chips over bars.

Cool at room temperature until you feel the pan is cool enough to be transfered to your refrigerator, then transfer to refrigerator to set the chocolate. When chocolate is set, lift from pan and break the candy up as you would almond toffee. You can eat it cold or let it come back down to room temp. It doesn’t have to be refrigerated, really.

Product Rave: Dr. Pete's Praline Mustard Glaze

Dr. Pete's Praline Mustard Glaze as mentioned in our Friends Thanksgiving Review is a little slice of heaven. The blend of Pralines, brown sugar, cinnamon and cloves is to die!

We had it as a dip poured over cream cheese but it would be perfect on ham. There is aso a recipe on their website for a Praline Sweet Potato Casserole that uses this glaze and it sounds absolutely sinful!

How is it we got the little Savannah treasure in Orange County you ask, I'll tell you. Our friend Lisette was in Savannah for her annual Birthday trip with her Mom and brought back a bottle of this and so kindly brought it to our Friends Thanksgiving. And we instantly fell in love with it. Well I just fell so bad that she brought her one and only bottle to our shindig so I went on a mission to try to find it. I called the company direct and asked if they had a retailer in the West Coast that sold it. The nice man on the other end of the phone said, in his beautiful southern twang, that they only had 5 retailers in the entire West Coast that sold it, my heart instantly sank. He then asked me for my zip code and told me there was a local retailer but that they were far away. He said they were all the way in Laguna Niguel! Well I just perked up and started laughing I told him I was from Orange County and 40 minutes is nothing to us! He still felt that was too far so he checked to see if there was one closer. He then said there is one located at 123 N. Glassell in Orange do you know where that is? By this point I was hysterical I told him that was right up the street from my house. He burst out lauging and said I was one lucky girl! So I high tailed it over there and bought one bottle for Lisette and one bottle for myself. And that is how the little Savannah treasure ended up in Orange County.

Anywho, you can buy it directly from them or call them and see if they have any retailers that sell it near you. If you buy it directly from them they have a four item minimum but you can mix and match so you don't have to get four of the same thing. But that wouldn't be so bad either because this stuff is liquid gold!

Grandma Trudy's Famous Cranberry Relish

So Ryan's cousin Suzie wanted to make her Grandmother's famous cranberry relish. She calls up her Grandma Trudy and asks her for her famous recipe, waiting in anticipation to be handed the precious family heirloom Suzie's jaw drops when Grandma Trudy says, "Just look on the back of the cranberry bag it's right there." That is one of my favorite stories kinda reminicent of when Monica from Friends finds out Phoebe's Grandma's famous chocolate chip cookie recipe is really the Nestle Tollhouse recipe that can be found on the back of the bag as well.

Personally I don't care for cranberry sauce but I like this relish. It's easy, tart & sweet all the things I like all rolled into one. I make it the night before so when it's served it looks more like cranberry sauce and less like a relish but I like it that way. I think it's the introduction of the water which can be omitted if you'd like it to be more like a relish. The Ocean Spray recipe doesn't call for water but the bag, which was a different brand, that I got my recipe from did.

My friend Rich at our Friends Thanksgiving said "I don't like cranberry sauce. As a matter of fact I think it's the nastiest most vile thing on the table at Thanskgiving, but I can't stop eating this. Is it bad that I just want to eat this by itself?" My friend Lisette said it would taste good over a plain cheesecake as well.

Grandma Trudy's Famous Cranberry Orange Relish

1 bag fresh cranberries

1 cup of water

1 cup of sugar

the zest of one orange

1 orange segmented

The night before in a food processor or blender combine all ingredients and blend. Put in a container and refrigerate until needed.

Awesome Sausage, Apple & Cranberry Stuffing

This recipe was ranked pretty high on allrecipes so I decided to try it. I must preface this by saying I do not like stuffing and did not try it, but Ryan had it and he said it was really good and our friends seemed to like it as well. Next time I think I will try it because I tried Mom MaryAnn's at regular Thanksgiving and I think I like stuffing now.

Awesome Sausage, Apple & Cranberry Stuffing

Courtesy of Stacy M. Polcyn posted on Allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups cubed whole wheat bread (Used sourdough)
3 3/4 cups cubed white bread (Used sourdough)
1 pound ground turkey sausage (Used 1/2 Jimmy Dean Sage Sausage & 1/2 Jimmy Dean Hot sausage)
1 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped celery
2 1/2 teaspoons dried sage (Used fresh & doubled amount)
1 1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary (Used fresh & doubled amount)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme (Used fresh & doubled amount)
1 Golden Delicious apple, cored and chopped (Used green Granny Smith)
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup minced fresh parsley (Used fresh & doubled amount)
1 cooked turkey liver, finely chopped (Omitted for obvious reasons)
3/4 cup turkey stock (Used low sodium chicken broth)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degree F (175 degree C). Spread the white and whole wheat bread cubes in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes in the preheated oven, or until evenly toasted. Transfer toasted bread cubes to a large bowl.

In a large skillet, cook the sausage and onions over medium heat, stirring and breaking up the lumps until evenly browned. Add the celery, sage, rosemary, and thyme; cook, stirring, for 2 minutes to blend flavors.

Pour sausage mixture over bread in bowl. Mix in chopped apples, dried cranberries, parsley, and liver. Drizzle with turkey stock and melted butter, and mix lightly. Spoon into turkey to loosely fill. I didn't stuff the stuffing in the turkey. I baked in a 13x9 dish for 30-35 minutes and then stirred it half way through cooking to make sure it cooked evenly. I must warn you this is a dry stuffing so if you like your stuffing on the moist side, you will need to add a lot more stock/broth. About 3 times as much.