Non Traditional Thanksgiving

I know it's been an eternity.  I haven't fallen off the face of the earth just wrapped up in the usual holiday craziness.  As I previously stated, with only three of us in the house we decided to do a non traditional Thanksgiving dinner the day before Thanksgiving.  Overall, it was a very successful meal, but some of the recipes need a little tweaking.  


Dinner consisted of a fabulous orange glazed pork tenderloin with a sauce made from the drippings, mashed potatoes, a green bean casserole, rolls, a jello salad (I'm LDS aka Mormon and jello is almost a must at every meal), chocolate pumpkin pie with fresh whipped cream, and pear cranberry gingersnap crumble.  

I love orange juice, but I'm not always a huge fan of orange flavored things.  I really loved this glaze.  It had great flavor and the rosemary added a nice bold flavor to the glaze and sauce.


Mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls and jello salad aren't anything super special, so I'll just skip ahead to the really good stuff.


I was SO excited about the chocolate pumpkin pie.  I found this recipe when I was watching The Chew one day.  I thought to myself what could be more perfect.  Chocolate is great and pumpkin is great, so the two together must be fabulous!  It was ok, but I didn't love it.  I'm not sure if there was too much chocolate, though I don't know how that's possible, or if I did something wrong in execution.  The pie did seem to taste better after a day or two.  I'd like to try it again, but maybe adjust how much chocolate is used.  If anyone decides to try it let me know how it turns out and what you think.

I was equally as excited about dessert number two.  I discovered this recipe from my friend Katie.  It is a pear, cranberry, gingersnap crumble.  I may have put too much of the crumble on top, but the taste of it is absolute heaven.  The pears stayed firm, which is how I like them, but for some reason the cranberries stay whole and firm instead of bursting when they were cooked.  They did pop in your mouth when you bit into them.  It was excellent and probably my favorite thing of the whole meal.

It was fun to try some different recipes.  All of the traditional fall flavors were there and present, but in non traditional recipes.  


As Christmas quickly approaches, there will be more cooking adventures coming. Stay tuned for red velvet whoopie pies and cake, pecan pie and my first experience cooking a prime rib.  This is a great time of year to share wonderful and memorable food experiences with family, friends, and all those that we love and care about.  


Happy Christmas and Happy Cooking!

Stay Tuned....

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything.  I haven't really done any new cooking, but stay tuned.  Thanksgiving this year is just going to be my parents and I, so we're doing a non traditional Thanksgiving.  Who makes to make a huge turkey and all the fixings for just three people?!?  Plus, I'm not a huge fan of all of the traditional Thanksgiving fixings.  There will be no turkey.  We will be having a orange glazed pork tenderloin.  There will be mashed potatoes, gravy and rolls.  There will also be a jello salad and a vegetable.  Dessert is going to be the highlight and will consist of a chocolate pumpkin pie and a pear, cranberry and gingersnap crumble (recipe stolen from my friend Katie).  


What are some of your favorite Thanksgiving dishes?  Have a great Thanksgiving and Happy Cooking!!

Third Time's a Charm....

They say that the third time is the charm.  This is my third attempt at making a full size cheesecake.  The previous attempts all tasted great, but failed miserably at setting up.  I did use a different recipe this time, so I'm hoping that will make a difference.

My dear friend Amy made this recipe earlier this year because she wanted to try a to make a cheesecake and she is a lover of all things pumpkin.  If you want to see the recipe and her results, check out her blog.  It's a pumpkin cheesecake with a gingersnap crust.  Can we say yummy?!?

It's a very simple recipe.  The crust has gingersnaps and pecans.  Super tasty!

The filling was simple and easy to make.  The big difference between this recipe and the other one that I've used is that this recipe has the cheesecake sit in a water bath.  It seemed to make a huge difference.  The cheesecake set up nicely.

The new recipe seems to have made a difference because it set up very nicely.  It didn't taste like the one that Amy made earlier this year, but it was still yummy and a big hit.

Stay tuned for more yummy cooking experiences.  Happy fall and happy cooking!!

Warm, Filling Cheesy Goodness

Today's post is all about classic comfort food that fills your tummy and warms you inside.  Since I currently don't have a job, some of my time during the day is spent watching TV.  One of new favorite shows, that is on during the morning here in Oregon, called The Chew.  It is a show that is all about food and basically they cook, eat and talk.  It's hosted by some of my favorite chefs/people...Carla Hall(former contestant of Top Chef), Michael Symon(Iron Chef), Clinton Kelly(from What Not to Wear), Daphne Oz(Dr. Oz's daughter), and Mario Batali(Iron Chef).  It's a really fun show and there's always great food.  I seriously recommend that if you like food at all and are home during the day because of a day off or sickness, check your local listings and find The Chew.

On yesterday's show, Michael Symon made what he called a pork pie.  It was very akin to a shepherd's pie.  His pork pie had ground pork, bacon, kale and some other vegetables topped with mashed potatoes and cheese.  They suggested that you could also make this vegetarian by using squash instead of pork.  If you'd like to see for yourself just how yummy this looked, click here.


As I watched them dish out this cheesy goodness, I thought to myself that I needed to have some shepherd's pie.  So...shepherd's pie is on the menu for dinner tonight.  Technically, a shepherd's pie is made with lamb.  Tonight's dinner was made with ground beef, so it will be a cottage pie.  I didn't exactly follow a recipe and it is far from a "traditional" shepherd's pie, but here are some pics of the step by step process.  I used frozen vegetables because of the easiness of it, but you certainly could use fresh ones.  Also, a "traditional" shepherd's pie wouldn't have any cheese on it, but as far as I'm concerned everything tastes better with cheese.  Here are some pics of the step by step process.

Hope everyone is enjoying the fall and those of you that live in colder climates are staying warm.  This is a great meal to warm you up on a cold fall or winter day.  Pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap crust coming later this week.

Happy Cooking!!

Autumn Pear and Pumpkin Soup

On Tuesday, we had a church activity called a Souper Supper.  We talked about making soups with the things we had stored in our homes.  For dinner, everyone was to bring their favorite soup.  I decided it was a good chance to try out another new recipe.  I had found this recipe and thought it would be the perfect fall soup, plus we had fresh pumpkin.  The flavor was really great.  You start out by cooking onions in some chicken broth until tender.  My dad suggested adding celery and maybe some more onions.  

Once the onions are tender you puree them with the pumpkin and toss it back in the pot with the pear nectar, cream or half and half and the spices.  

The spices are very simple, ginger and white pepper, but someone at the activity suggested curry might be a fun spice to add.  I also added a little cornstarch to thicken it up a bit.  It was a big hit at the activity.  Recipe says to garnish with fresh pear, if you like.

This really is the perfect fall soup.  Check it out and Happy Cooking!

Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies...Yummy!

Today was the perfect rainy fall day to spend baking pumpkin spice whoopie pies!  For those who don't know what a whoopie pie is imagine an Oreo, but bigger, with a cake like cookie and a plethora of flavor options.  This recipe calls for pumpkin mixed with a spice cake mix.  The filling is a spiced marshmallow creme filling.  I found the recipe here.  

The filling is really heavenly...cream cheese, butter, and marshmallow creme, how can you go wrong. 

 I wrapped each pie individually in wax paper and placed them all in the freezer.  They were fantastic out of the freezer.  They weren't exactly frozen, just slightly chilled.  Super Yummy!

There were also cinnamon sugar roasted pumpkin seeds and salted pumpkin seeds made today and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.  Sorry no photos of the cookies.  I'll get some up another time.

Coming soon Autumn Pear and Pumpkin Soup.  Happy Cooking!

Biscuits and Potatoes

Biscuit attempt number 2 went better, but they still didn't rise very much.  I think I may still be rolling it out thin.  My dad's other thought was that the self rising flour is old.  The biscuits still taste good and are still fluffy in the middle.  If anyone has any other thoughts on why the biscuits aren't rising, please make a comment or send me a message.

If you've never heard of or seen a purple potato before than you're in luck.  

As you can see, the potatoes aren't so purple on the outside and speckled once they're peeled.  My parents and I have been informed that they make the best mashed potatoes and that they're super creamy.  I didn't notice any difference in flavor between the purple potato and any other potato.  I will say that once mashed it is one the least visually appealing foods I've ever seen in my life.  You judge for yourself.

Always fun to try something new.


Happy Cooking!