Blog Surfing

These Caramel Apple Muffins look very decadent, especially with the caramel dripping out. They look very easy to make and would be great for a special occasion. The recipe is from Taste of Home and you can find the recipe here.

In case you missed it, this Pumpple is both a cake and a pie. I wouldn't suggest making one but you might enjoy seeing this monstrosity. From Tablspoon.

How about a healthy breakfast casserole? This recipe uses egg substitute and chicken for a tasty change. You can find the recipe here from Taste of Home.

From Caprial and John say ... Eat This Now!, there is a recipe for Chicken Pot Pie with Sweet Potato Crust. You can find the recipe here.

There are several great recipes from Tasty Kitchen this week. Fall Medley Orzo, with roasted chicken, butternut squash, apple cider and more great ingredients. Apple Fritter Cakes with Warm Caramel Sauce are "to die for." Scones with Golden Raisins and Tropical Glaze look like a great scone for all the scone lovers out there. Pumpkin Creme Pies look like miniature whoopie pies. Gluten Free Pumpkin Bars use almond flour in place of wheat flour and agave nectar in place of sugar, plus cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. This recipe for Hearty Pasta Fagioli looks and sounds great. I plan to make this recipe soon. This recipe for Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream isn't what you would expect. It is vegan and gluten free and it uses raw cashews, coconut milk and water as it's base along with a hefty amount of roasted pumpkin.

Cheeky Kitchen has a recipe for Baked Pumpkin Donuts that look very good and they they don't look "baked."

If you are still looking for a cute dessert for Halloween, you should check out this Easy Pumpkin Cake that is made with a bundt cake, an ice cream cone and orange and green frosting. You should check it out. From Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

I try to learn something new every day and from Serious Eats are The Food Lab's Top 6 Food Myths that we all need to know. I learned several new things today. 

Perfect Roasted Chicken

Dear Hubby came home with a six pound whole chicken after a trip to the store and so I needed to make sure I did something special with it. That is actually one of the biggest chickens I have seen in a while. When I have looked for a chicken to roast, I am usually doing good to find a 3-4 pound bird. This one came from Trader Joe's and it was a beauty in every way. Did I just call a dead, raw chicken beautiful?? Hmmm.

I decided to make Ina Garten's Perfect Roast Chicken. I have all of her cookbooks and her recipes always turns out great. If you don't have her cookbooks, you can see her recipe for Perfect Roasted Chicken here from Food Network.com. It takes a little time to put together but the result is well worth the effort.

The first thing you do is remove the giblets and then rinse the chicken inside and out. Pat it dry, I use paper towels, and then salt and pepper inside and outside. Next, you stuff the cavity with a large bunch of fresh thyme, one lemon cut in half or quartered, and a whole garlic cut in half through the widest part. Next, you brush the chicken with melted butter and then sprinkle with more salt and pepper. Then, you tie the legs together with kitchen twine and set it aside.

Now you cut one large yellow onion into thick slices, you cut 4 large carrots into two-inch chunks and you cut a bulb of fennel into wedges (after removing the top fronds). You place these veggies into a roasting pan and add olive oil, salt, pepper and 20 sprigs of fresh thyme. Make sure you use a roasting pan that is large and deep enough to hold your veggies and chicken. You toss them around until everything is covered with olive oil and salt and pepper. Now you place the chicken on top of the veggies.

My chicken was a little to big for this roasting pan. And yes, that is a forgotten fork laying among the veggies. It didn't seem to mind being roasted.

Now you put it into a 425 degree oven and you will roast it for 1-1/2 hours or until the juices are clear and not bloody, between the leg and the thigh. When the chicken is fully cooked, remove from the oven, place the chicken in the center of a large serving plate and place the veggies around the chicken. Cover and let sit for about 20 minutes.

Ready to eat

When the chicken was ready to serve, I placed the platter in the middle of the table with a carving knife and dear hubby did the honors of slicing the chicken into serving portions. I like the leg and let me say it was a good sized leg. Plenty for one serving.

I had a head of cauliflower in the fridge waiting to be used so I made a cauliflower casserole to go with the roasted chicken dinner. I cut the cauliflower into florets and cooked them in boiling water for 8 minutes. I drained them and put them into the fridge to chill down. 

Next, I chopped about a half of a cup of onion and about a half of a cup of red pepper. I sauteed them in olive oil until they were tender, about 10 minutes or less and set them aside to cool.

In a small bowl, I mixed a cup of sour cream and a cup of grated cheddar cheese. I added the cooled onions and peppers, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a half a cup of crushed cornflakes. I added this mixture to my bowl of cooled cauliflower and held it in the refrigerator until I was ready to bake it. Just before I baked it, I sprinkled a 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese and about 1/3 cup of crushed cornflakes over the top.

Just before going into the oven

About an hour before I baked it, I set the bowl out on the counter to bring it closer to room temperature. I baked it at 350 for about 30 minutes, until it started bubbling. The oven should have been 325 degrees and it wouldn't have turned as brown on top. I adapted this recipe and it turned out very good. My son, who isn't a big fan of cauliflower, loved it and took another spoonful!

Crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside

Here is my version of the recipe:

Enjoy!

Family Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend, our family enjoyed a nice brunch together, started the dishwasher and headed to the Pumpkin Patch at Bauman Farms. It is about 20 miles away from our farm, and the grandsons kept papa and me entertained all the way there. with constant laughs, as only a one-year-old and a three-year-old can do. We finally arrived and the boys were ready to start having fun! 

Uncle Alan and Ivan

Wiley getting a ride on his daddy's shoulders

They humored me for one quick shot

Wiley having fun

Uncle Alan helping Ivan climb on the bales of hay

Daddy taking one for the team

Ivan having fun on the John Deere

Ivan feeding the goats

Wiley waiting in line to wash the goat slobber off of his hands

Watching the cider press demonstration

I caught the shot of the pressed apples coming out of their chute

Daddy carrying the pumpkin the boys chose

Ivan enjoying his apple

I would pick this pumpkin any day

Ivan weighted less than the pumpkin they chose

We all had a great time together. We were prepared for rain, but the rain never came. We did have a wind storm that was blew strong and steady for a while but we held onto our hats and weathered the storm. If you live in the area and are looking for a pumpkin patch for the kids, you should check out Bauman Farms. There are fun things to do for all ages, including grammas and papas!

Family Brunch on The Farm

This past weekend we enjoyed making a brunch to enjoy with our family. We have enjoyed making and serving many brunches in our Los Angeles home, especially when we had out of town family staying in our home or in the area. It is so nice having all of us living within 30 minutes of each other, which allows family brunch "just because!"

I decided to make caramel rolls the night before and bake them fresh in the morning. Due to our move, I wasn't able to put my hands on my regular recipe, so I went to one of my favorite go-to recipe sites at Food.com and found a stand-in recipe. They are called "Easy Overnight Ooey-Gooey Pull-Apart Caramel Rolls." That is quite a mouthful!

I didn't have my regular sized bundt pan available, so it was time to improvise. I took a decorative ceramic baking dish that was hanging on a wall and used that, after I carefully took off the decorative fabric hanger. It was wider and more shallow, so I made 1-1/2 recipes. What was I thinking!

If I hadn't started putting it together at about 11:45 pm, I might have looked and realized that it was a little too full. Actually, wayyy too full, before rising!

Because the house gets a little chilly during the night these days, I put it in the cold oven so that it wouldn't catch a draft in the night. That way, I didn't need to cover it up to keep the dough from getting a hard crust. When I opened the oven door the next morning, I could see I had a rising problem! I obviously don't make great decisions around the midnight hour!

Yes, they had risen more than I had hoped!

Due to the fact that they continue to rise when then are baking, it was time for a little improvisation! I started pinching the biggest rolls so that they went flat, which isn't something a baker likes to do! I took the one hanging over the edge on the left out and pushed it into another spot. Not that it helped much. Lets just say there was/is a "little" spillage on the bottom of the oven that someone needs to clean up!

Yes, I realize that it is a little heavy with nuts on one side. There is also a portion that didn't have any nuts due to nut allergies.

After baking them for about 23 minutes, we let them sit for about five minutes before we inverted them onto the platter. They were a big hit and were enjoyed by everyone. I took one ball of dough and took a bite with my meal to make sure they were baked all the way through. I though I might get to try a whole piece later but I waited too long and they were gone. That's actually a good thing! It is always nice when things you made are enjoyed and there is nothing left but lick marks!

Caramel rolls don't get much easier than this. If you haven't made this type of roll recipe, you really should try it. You will impress yourself! As for me, I will be busy cleaning the oven before it can be used again, due to all of the spillage and mess I created. It sure is nice having self-cleaning ovens these days. It's even better having a kitchen with two ovens, which means I can relax a little and get a good nights sleep before I start the oven cleaning.

You will find the recipe here:

Enjoy!