GF (or not) Pasta Salad

 Great recipe here; we had it last night. 

https://allergyawesomeness.com/avocado-blt-pasta-salad/#mv-creation-206-jtr

Rebekah's Blackberry Ginger Cobbler

Finally made after years of Dad bugging me for a blackberry cobbler...

Filling: 

36 oz. fresh blackberries

1 1/4 cups white sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. (ore more) fresh grated ginger

pinch of salt

Biscuit Topping:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 T. white sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. kosher salt (or 1/2 tsp. table salt)

1 cup buttermilk, chilled

8 T. unsalted butter, melted + 3 T. extra for drizzling

1 T. turbinado sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9x13" baking dish. Place blackberries, 1 1/4 cups sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, ginger, and salt in baking dish and mix until all sugar is wet and well incorporated. Place in oven and bake until starting to bubble, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, mix together flour, 1 T. sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Melt 8 T. butter and allow to cool for about 10 minutes. Pour butter into a bowl with the cold buttermilk, then mix gently until butter hardens into lots of little chunks throughout the buttermilk. Pour buttermilk mixture into flour mixture and mix with a spatula just until incorporated, with some dry flour still showing. Keep refrigerated until ready to use. When berries start to bubble, remove pan from oven and evenly drop biscuit dough all over the top of the berries. Melt remaining 3 T. butter and drizzle all over top of dough. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Return to oven and bake until top is golden brown, about another 20 minutes. Serve warm, preferably with fresh whipped cream fortified with sour cream!

Pumpkin Bread

 Just made two 4"x8" loaves this afternoon, topping one with fresh and chopped pecans just delivered from The Peach Truck folks in Atlanta. Now I can't wait to cut into one on Thanksgiving morning and smearing it with cream cheese.

1 15 oz can pumpkin puree

4 eggs

1 c vegetable oil (I used half a cup oil and 1 stick of melted butter)

2/3 c water

3 c white sugar 

3-1/2 c all purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1-1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground ginger

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (175 C). Grease and flour three 7" x 3" loaf pans.

In a large bowl, mix together until well blended all of the ingredients but the flour and baking soda. Stir in flour until just blended. Pour into prepared pans. 

Bake about 50 minutes in preheated oven (if using 8" x 4" pans, bake 60-70 minutes) until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans until no longer too hot to touch. Remove and cool further until room temp. 

Brussel Sprouts Salad

Took about 15-20 blanched Brussel sprouts and thinly sliced them

Had one roasted chicken breast to use up so chunked that (another time I might substitute cashews or some other nut)

Found about 1/3 dried craisins and mixed those in with the first two ingredients. 

Added about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of chopped purple onion

Made a dressing of a heaping half cup of DUKE'S mayonnaise and about 1 or 2 Tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. 

Finely chopped about a Tablespoon or two of sweetened, dried ginger slices and tossed those in with salt and pepper to taste.

YUMMY salad!

Nut Crusted Cheesecake Pie

To keep the low-carb thing going I found this recipe last week to use as a pie crust into which I poured Kilby's cheesecake modified batter. It was a success, so I'm noting it here. 

I used sliced almonds and ground them finer. Skimpy on the sugar additions. Used almond flavoring in the batter which was:

2 8 oz packages of room temp cream cheese

2 eggs and yolk of third egg whose white was part of the crust recipe

1/3 c sugar

tsp flavoring (tonight I've used vanilla to go with a pecan crust)

Vegan Green Bean Casserole

 Sauteed with garlic and sliced almonds enough green beans to fill a 7 x 11 casserole dish. Chopped them up a little and laid them in the dish. Made this white sauce of which I used almost all following this recipe in part:

• 2 cups almond milk, unsweetened
• 2 T cornstarch
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1 clove garlic
• Freshly ground white pepper

I topped the "casserole" with thinly sliced onion and then drizzled melted vegan butter over that. If you bake for a half hour at 350, perhaps the onions will crisp up a little...? Or once it's hot and bubbly you could low broil the top for the same effect. 

Cleaning that old silver

 Here's one link I found after my sister showed me what a great hack this was. Just got things shining for Christmas, including some silver ornaments. How to Polish Silverware in 5 Minutes or Less | Taste of Home

Chocolate Coconut Cookies

 Not sure where I got this in the first place, but here it is. I might substitute white chocolate chips for the choco ones and macadamia nuts for the coconut this time. Another nice change to this recipe is to use yellow cake mix and substitute cinnamon chips for chocolate, pecans for the walnuts, and sprinkling the cooled cookies with cinnamon.

Preheat oven to 350o

Combine and mix well:

1 box dark chocolate cake mix

2 sticks butter

2 eggs

Add and mix:

1 c shredded coconut

1.5 c crushed cornflakes

1/2 c rolled oats

1 c chopped walnuts

1 c chocolate chips

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for ten minutes. Makes 48. Sprinkle with powdered sugar when cool.

Raw Citrus Beet Salad Recipe

This recipe is originally from selfproclaimedfoodie.com

INGREDIENTS

3 medium to large beets (peeled and trimmed*)

1 valencia orange with zest
1 lime with zest
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt to taste
1/2 cup chives (minced)

INSTRUCTIONS

Shred beets and add to bowl. Add zest and juice from entire orange. Add zest and juice from lime to taste (this amount is subjective).

Add olive oil and toss to combine. Add salt to taste and toss to combine.

Add chives just before serving.

NOTES

You can either thinly shave or grate the beets. Using a food processor with the grater blade will make easy work and easy clean up. You can use a box grater, but beets will splatter and stain.

Don't discard the beet greens! You can throw them int a smoothie or saute them up as a side dish.

The grated beets can be dressed and kept in the refrigerator, covered well, for a couple of days. They become more tender but don’t lose their texture, and the mixture becomes even sweeter as the beet juices mingle with the citrus. Toss again before serving.

Curried Roasted Carrots

This recipe is originally from onceuponachef.com

INGREDIENTS
2 pounds medium carrots, sliced into thirds on the diagonal
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon honey, or to taste

INSTRUCTIONS
Set oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 425 degrees. 

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Toss carrots with olive oil, curry powder and salt directly on baking sheet until evenly coated. 

Roast, stirring with a rubber spatula a few times to prevent sticking and burning, until tender, 25-30 minutes. 

Toss roasted carrots with honey directly on baking sheet. 

Taste and add more salt, pepper or honey if desired.