Tag Archives: fall foods

Apple Streusel Muffins

blog app muffin

Apple Streusel Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

Muffin batter

1 ½ cups flour

2 tablespoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ cup fine sugar

¾ cup buttermilk

1 egg

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 cup apple, pared and chopped

Streusel Topping

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons flour

½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

½ cup walnuts, chopped

Directions

In a small bowl place all ingredients for the streusel topping, combine and set aside. In another bowl mix together sugar, flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. In another bowl add buttermilk and one egg beaten. Combine wet ingredients and add to the dry ingredients in the other bowl. Mix until incorporated and add melted butter and apple. Mix again. Take a lined 12 muffin tin and fill each muffin tin to 1/3 with batter. Top the batter for the 12 muffins with ½ of the streusel topping. Put remaining batter into each tin and then finally top with the remaining streusel topping.  Bake in a preheated 350F degree oven for 35 minutes or until tester comes out clean.  Remove from oven and cool on rack.

Mixed Greens with Apples, Candied Pecans and Honey Vinaigrette

blog apple salad

 

It’s post Labor Day and as summer transitions into fall, I eagerly welcome the apple season. I love apples! I started picking apples in my grandparents orchard, small though it was. They grew McIntosh apples. As a young adult, I went apple picking on a date. The date was ok, but the apple picking was fantastic. That was when I discovered that there were so many more varieties of apples beyond the simple, yet classic McIntosh. I loved strolling through the enormous orchard testing varieties from tree to tree before deciding where to spend my time picking.  So many varieties, Cortland, Empire, Macoun, Granny Smith, Winesap, Red Delicious, Honeycrisp the names go on. All are great for eating, currently my favorite is Honeycrisp. For cooking it depends on the recipe, however, Granny Smith is still one of the best all round cooking apples. I thought I would kick off our apple season together with a few recipes featuring apples. The first recipe is a salad that balances between sweet and tart as well as soft and crunchy. Apples may not be the first ingredient you think of when making salad , but it will be once you eat this salad. The second recipe is hard to resist, it’s apple muffins with a streusel topping, the aroma on a cool autumn morning is intoxicating! So go head fall in love!

From by the bay wishing you crisp food memories!

Maryann

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Mixed Greens with Apples, Candied Pecans and Honey Vinaigrette

Serves 4

Dressing:

¼ cup olive oil

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

2 tablespoon honey

½ teaspoon prepared mustard

Salad:

4 cups mixed greens

¼ cup manchego cheese, shaved

1 apple

1 teaspoon lemon juice

¼ cup candied pecans

Directions

To make dressing combine all ingredients in a glass jar and shake. Keep to the side until ready to use. Shake before pouring onto salad.

Slice apple with skin on and place in bowl with lemon juice and mix to coat apples. To make salad combine all ingredients except cheese in a large bowl. Pour dressing over salad and mix well. Top with shaved manchego cheese.

Candied Pecan

1 egg white

1 tablespoon water

2 cups pecans

½ cup light brown sugar

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 225 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine egg white and water in mixing bowl. Beat until fluffy. Fold in pecans to coat evenly. Combine the sugar and salt and sprinkle over the pecans. Spread the nuts evenly onto the baking sheet and bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from oven , cool and store in an airtight container until ready to use.

Maple, Pecan and Apple Granola

blog granola gnome

Maple, Pecan and Apple Granola


2 cups rolled oats (not quick cooking)
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons maple syrup
½ cup dark brown sugar

½ teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 cup dried raisins
1/2 cup dried apples slices, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Combine all ingredients except the dried fruit into a mixing bowl, combine well. On a parchment lined sheet spread ingredients in 1 layer. Bake for 50 minutes until brown stirring every ten minutes until mixture is browned. Remove from oven and cool granola. Once cooled add dried fruit and mix. Keep in airtight container. It should keep about one week.

 

Cranberry Applesauce

Here is a fantastic side dish to add holiday color and great taste to your table. It’s easy to make with ingredients often in your fridge. I always keep several bags of cranberries in the freezer to use all through the holidays, so when I decided to take the apples leftover from Thanksgiving to make into an applesauce, I decided to add some cranberries with fantastic results. Don’t worry if you don’t have cranberry juice, water will work fine too. You can serve this next to your holiday ham or pork or serve at breakfast on top of some oatmeal or just eat as a snack. You’ll love it!
From by the bay. wishing you cran-licious food memories!
Maryann
blog cran ap sauce
Cranberry Applesauce
Makes about 4 cups
Ingredients
2 pounds apples peeled, cored and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 cup cranberries, fresh or frozen
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup cranberry juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
a pinch fine sea salt
Directions
Place all the ingredients into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally until apples are soft. Remove from heat and cool. Mash the apples and cranberries together with a potato masher. Place in an air tight container and refrigerate until ready to use. It will keep in a refrigerator for about 1 week.

Grilled Turkey Ham and Pimento Cheese Sandwich

blog nash 3
When I was in Nashville earlier this year, I immediately fell in love with the city, music and food. I stayed at the legendary Hermitage Hotel. The famous Oak Bar in the hotel is known for it’s pimento grilled cheese sandwich. We would spend the day exploring all the different parts of the city and then come back to home base the Hermitage and relax in at the Oak Bar. So now that I’m back home, I needed to recreate my own sandwich inspired by this Nashville favorite and to remind me of my great vacation.  What better time than Thanksgiving weekend to relive my good times with a little food memory. The result is this yummy sandwich all gooey with melted pimento cheese and filled with roast turkey and ham. This is hard to resist.
From by the bay wishing you gooey pimento cheese food memories!
Maryann
 
 
blog turkey pimento cheese sandwich

Grilled Turkey Ham and Pimento Cheese Sandwich
1 sandwich

Ingredients
2 slices brioche bread

1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons pimento cheese (recipe follows)
2 slices turkey
2 slices smoked ham

Directions
Heat panini press or skillet. Butter two slices of bread. Buttered sides are the outside of the sandwich. On one side of bread – not buttered spread the cranberry mayonnaise, add the turkey , then pear, proscuitto. Last spread the brie across the top of the proscuitto. Top with the other slice of bread , press down and then toast until cheese is melted and bread browned. Serve immediately.

Pimento Cheese
Adapted from the recipe by Sarah O’Kelley of the Glass Onion of Charleston South Carolina

Ingredients
2 cups sharp orange cheddar, grated (8 oz.)
½ cup mayonnaise
½ cup pimiento peppers, drained and chopped (7-oz. jar)
¼ cup green onion, finely chopped (use both the green and the white parts)
1 tsp. black pepper
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. worcestershire sauce
¼ tsp. cayenne
Dash of Tabasco

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl, and stir with a rubber spatula. Serve immediately with crackers, or cover, refrigerate, and let flavors marinate.

Pomegranate and Cranberry Sauce

I love making cranberry sauce…..for so many reasons, starting with it’s one of the easiest things to make. It’s also easy to get creative with cranberry sauce……..I change the way I make it all the time, depending on what I’m serving and which flavors might compliment my meal, so when I make my spiced pomegranate molasses glazed turkey this is the cranberry sauce i serve with it. I also think that I like making cranberry sauce because when I have my list of things to make for the big Thanksgiving meal, in under 15 minutes I can usually check that the cranberry sauce is done! Big win, little time…….next!!

From by the bay, wishing you very cranberry red food memories!

Maryann

 

 

 

blog cran pom sauce

 

Pomegranate and Cranberry Sauce

½ cup pomegranate juice

1 cup fine sugar

1 12oz, package whole fresh cranberries

1 cup pomegranate seeds

¼ cup orange juice

Zest of one orange

Directions

Combine juices and sugar in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add cranberries and orange zest. Return to a boil, reduce heat and simmer approximately 10 minutes until the cranberries start to burst. Remove from heat. Stir in the pomegranate seeds. Cool completely and then chill in refrigerator. Cranberry sauce will thicken. Serve chilled.

blog cran pom 2

Sausage, Brioche and Leek Dressing

I became charged with the Thanksgiving meal in my family many years ago when my niece was just a tiny little thing. Over the years, i have loved how much she appreciated the traditions of the holiday and meal. As happens with traditions – you never want to disappoint – so tweaking and changing a recipe everyone tells you not to touch always has some risk associated with it. My stuffing recipe is one such recipe so I was thrilled when I changed it up last Thanksgiving and the family loved the new stuffing! TThe key for my family is ensuring that I use lots of delicious sausage meat.  In addition to the sausage meat, this recipe calls for brioche bread, leeks, parmesan cheese and herbs. I definitely loved this stuffing, it’s hard to resist eating before it even goes into the oven. I have to stop myself from taking spoonfuls of the stuffing the night before the big feast. This year I might make a little extra so I can sneak a few bits of stuffing along the way to the holiday table!

From by the bay, wishing you savory stuffing food memories!

Maryann

 

 

 

blog leek stuffing

 

Sausage, Brioche and Leek Dressing

Serves 12

16 cups brioche bread, cut into ½ inch cubes with crust

2 ½ pounds Italian sausage meat

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 bunch leeks, sliced in rings

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, minced

1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon rubbed sage

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

4 to 5 cups low sodium chicken stock

½ cup parsley, chopped

1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degree F. Place bread cubes in a single layer on two rimmed large baking sheets. Bake until toasted about 10-12 minutes. Set aside to cool. In a large skillet cook sausage meat, crumbling the meat with a fork until fully cooked, about 10 minutes. Remove meat with a slotted spoon and place into a large mixing bowl. Add butter to the same skillet, melt butter and then add leeks, thyme and sage. Saute together until softened about 10 minutes, separating the leek rings. Remove from heat and add to the bowl with the cooked sausage meat. Add the toasted bread cube, cheese, rubbed sage and parsley to the bowl. Add 4 cups of chicken stock. Mix the ingredients together and season with salt and pepper. If dressing is not moist add the additional cup of stock. Mix well. The dressing can be made up to this point one day in advance and refrigerate until ready to bake. To bake the dressing, remove from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes, until dressing is heated through the top is golden brown. Remove from oven and serve warm.