Blog Surfing

From Taste of Home: This recipe for Waffled Monte Cristos gives a new twist to an old favorite. This one is not fried like the traditional style, and it includes pecans and orange peel for a burst of flavor.

Also from Taste of Home: A real holiday favorite, Gingersnaps tend to be hard and crispy to get that "snap", but these Tender Gingersnaps look like a great addition for the holidays. For the peanut butter lover, Peanut Butter Muffins. Hashbrown Breakfast Casserole with egg substitute, chicken breast and low-fat cheese. 

Did you know that feeling cranky is one of the first signs of dehydration? You can read How Food Influences Mood and Brain Power with insight into other food/mood connections. From Los Angeles Times.

From Diet, Dessert and Dogs, a whole food cooking blog, is a recipe for Coconut Raspberry Truffle Cups, which are gluten free.  

Several recipes from Tasty Kitchen that sound good: Squash Casserole - for the picky eaters at your table.  The Very Best Sweet Potato/Yams - they aren't the typical sickeningly sweet variety,  Green Bean Casserole - made from scratch, no canned soup. Lemon Curd Layer Cake with Sour Cream Icing - for the lemon lovers, plus it is gluten free. 

Check out Fred and Friends for some great gift ideas. I especially like Salty the Snowman, the Teacupcakes, and Birds on a Wire.

From Martha Stewart website, Peanut, Caramel and Chocolate Tart. Some great hostess gifts that include Scented Sugars, Spiced Pecans, Handmade Votives and Organza Sachets.

At Food.com, you will find every possible way to fix your Thanksgiving turkey; Roasting, Smoked and Barbecued , Deep Fried and Brines and Rubs. You can find this and much more here.

Here is a recipe for making Mulled Apple Cider, and you can also use this recipe to put together small pouches filled with the mulling spices to use through the holidays. From Serious Eats.

Baking Bites has a recipe for Salted Caramel Pumpkin Pie that might be a great change from regular pumpkin pie. This recipe uses the Salted Caramel as the sweetener which adds a whole depth of flavor without being overly sweet. One place you can buy Salted Caramel sauce is at Trader Joe's. I bought mine there a few weeks ago and it doesn't have a "salty" taste.

Joy of Baking has been one of my go-to sites for years. You will find a lot of great recipes and everyone has a great picture so you know what you are striving for. I have made several recipes and every one has turned out perfect. They feature their top recipes for every month and you can find recipes for November here. I have posted it before but it is worth repeating.

From Endless Simmer a tasty treat for chocolate-peanut butter lovers. These Salted Peanut No-Bake Cheesecakes look really good. You could us low fat or non-fat cream cheese for a healthier version.

From Bakers Royale, for the scone lovers, a scone that they call Killer! It is a Chocolate and Toffee Chip Scone with Pecans that sounds more like dessert!

In celebration of the CMA's this week, Relish posted a recipe for Southern Fried Chicken. The recipe includes an 8 hour brine marinade and a 8-12 hour soak in buttermilk. Many say these are the keys to flavorful and tender chicken.

These are taking the Thanksgiving theme to the extreme, but click here to see a Thanksgiving Turkey Cake, and click here to see Extreme Pumpkin Pie. They both come with instructions so you can make them too! Wow, somebody really loves pumpkin pie! From Cooking Channel.


Another scone from Cooking with Cristine. This one is for Pumpkin Scones with Cinnamon Chips and Crystalized Ginger.