here comes the gnome cake...

littlefoodie and i made this little gnome cake for his little buddies first birthday. like us she and her mama share a little lovin' for those sneaky garden gnomes.

the cooking has been few and far between these days since thanksgiving but things should start picking up come dec.

enjoy!

honey nut flax muffins

its been a while again. some family things have popped up affecting my kitchen time as well as thanksgiving and traveling...blah, blah, blah. we also lost our cable to load pics onto the computer....a food blog without pictures is a little boring if you ask me. but i'm back and armed with a fistful of holiday recipes just in time for the impending doom of christmas.

these little muffins really pack a fiber filled punch...probably a good snack after that carb filled thanksgiving meal. flax seed oil adds extra umph and the mixture of raw green pumpkin seeds, walnuts and cranberries make it all the better. the original recipe comes from cookinglight but it wouldn't be right if i didn't mess with it!

enjoy!

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup unbleached white whole wheat flour (kings arthur is the best!)
1/4 cup organic flaxseed meal
1/3 cup organic natural brown sugar
1 1/4 tsp aluminum-free baking soda
1/8 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 nutmeg
1/8 tsp mace
pinch of nutmeg
1 cup organic buttermilk
2 tbl organic flaxseed oil
2 lg organic eggs
1/2 cup trail mix (i used raw green pumpkin seeds, cranberries, pecan pieces, pistachio pieces, walnut pieces)
honey


preheat oven to 350F.

combine flour thru nutmeg and whisk together. make well in center.

combine buttermilk thru eggs and add to well in flour. stir until just mixed. fold in trail mix. pour into muffin tins and bake for 15 min.

remove and drizzle muffins with honey.

morrocan style roast chicken

the october issue of Bon Appetit has a wonderful recipe for morrocan style roast chicken. talk about simple. there are 4 ingredients plus i add a few chopped garlic cloves. i've also made this with chicken breasts and used it as a glaze. it goes great with couscous tossed with raisins and almonds or roast veggies and potatoes.

enjoy!

1/4 cup ( 1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 4 3/4- to 5-pound whole chicken, rinsed, patted dry
Preparation

Position rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 400°F. Whisk butter, honey, cinnamon, and turmeric in small bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer 1/4 cup honey butter to small bowl; reserve.

Place chicken on rack in roasting pan. Brush with some of remaining honey butter; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast chicken until thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 165°F to 170°F, brushing occasionally with honey butter and covering loosely with foil if browning too quickly, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Transfer to platter. Serve with reserved honey butter.

baked acorn squash and parsnip pasta

this is a great fall comfort dish and also a great way to get your little one to try some new squashes and root veggies. littlefoodie will eat most anything if it is served with pasta and coated with fresh parm! the recipe itself came from cookinglight however a little tweaking and it was perfect. i served it with Trader Joe's apple and maple chicken sausages that i grilled. the sweetness of the maple syrup and apple really complimented the earthy parsnip.

enjoy!

1 small yellow onion, small diced
3 garlic clvs, minced
1 green acorn squash, peeled and diced into bite size pieces
4 parsnips, peeled and diced
1 tsp sage
few sprigs of fresh parsely, chopped
pinch of red pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg, fresh grated is best!
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
half a bag of penne pasta, cooked al dente
3/4 cup parm cheese
2 tbl unsalted butter
2 1/2 unbleached flour
1 1/4 cup milk, room temp

preheat oven to 37F.

saute onion and garlic in olive oil. add squash, sage, parsley, nutmeg, red pepper and salt and pepper. cook on med heat about 10 min or until almost soft. add balsamic vinegar and cook a couple minutes. turn heat on low and continue to cook another 10 min. add 1/2 cup of parm and stir together.

heat butter in a small saucepan. whisk in flour and cook fo about 3 min on med heat. add milk slowly, whisking while pouring in. heat until couple minutes until thickened.

add penne to baking dish and pur over squash mixture. pour milk over and mix all together. sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of cheese. bake about 30 min.

stuffed pork tenderloin with spinach, mushrooms and feta

this was easy, full of flavor, healthy and did i mention quick and easy? littlefoodie gave t two chubby thumbs up.



i served it up with a brown rice medley from trader joes...brown rice and daikon radish seeds and black barley. a simple serving of roasted carrots, cauliflower and zucchini paired well along side. since pork loins are lean and small you don't need a whole lot of filling. i ended up with a ton and stuffed it anyway without using twine. i just butterflied it stuffed it then tucked the stragly ends under it and placed it in the glass baking dish cut side down. the filling stayed inside and was moist and perfect.

enjoy!

1 pork tenderloin
1 yellow onion, minced
3 garlic clvs, minced
couple handfuls cleaned organic spinach
1 cup chopped mushrooms
few sprigs of orgeano, chopped
salt and pepper
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

preheat oven to 425F.

butterfly pork loin. if you want to, pound it out until it is thin and flat...cooking time will be shorter though so watch it carefully so that you don't turn it into pork jerky.

saute onion and garlic until soft in olive oil. add mushrooms and more oil if needed. throw in spinach and cook until wilted. let cool a bit. drain the excess liquid in a fine mesh colander. in a bowl mix feta with spinach mixture. stuff pork loin. wrap up and tie with butchers twine or do what i did and make way too much filling, tuck the small ends under and tuck as much of the sides under as possible. place sutffing side down in lightly oiled baking dish. season with salt and pepper and drizzle a little olive oil over the top.

bake for 25-30 minutes.

triple chocolate cheesecake ala martha stewart and spicy chocolate cutout cookies

the cheesecake was awesome. check out the link above that will take you directly to martha stewart's website for the recipe. we decorated with little ghost and pumpkin marshmallows...didn't eat those though!

the next halloween recipe we made were spicy chocolate cut out cookies. these were puffy, soft and full of flavor. they held together well when littlefoodie rolled them out and used the cookie cutters. i really had nothing to do with the dough after i mixed it up cause littlefoodie was all over that mess...and believe me, i was instructed on how to sprinkle flour, roll out dough and gently press the cutters into the dough. i guess he is listening after all.

enjoy!

3 cups unbleached ap flour
1/2 cup organic unsweetened cocoa flour (green&blacks!!!!)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground ginger
pinch of salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
3/4 cup organic natural dark brown sugar
1 lg organic egg
1/2 cup unsulphured organic molasses
1/2 tsp pure almond extract
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

sift together flour, cocoa, ginger, baking soda and salt in a bowl.

in a mixer beat butter until creamed and fluffy. add brown sugar and beat until combined. add egg, molasses and extracts. add in flour until dough forms. stir in remaining if too tough in mixer.

divide dough in half and wrap in wax paper and refridge overnight.

remove dough. let warm up a bt so you can roll it out.

preheat oven to 375F.

flour table or board and roll out until thin enough to cut out cookies. cut out and place on cookie sheet. bake 6-7 minutes.

cool for a minute then remove from sheet and let cool on rack.

powdered sugar icing:
4-6 cups organic powdered sugar
milk
pure almond extract

sift powdered sugar into mixer. add enough milk, starting with very little and about 1/2 tsp almond ex and beat until no lumps in the sugar and combined. continue add more milk until you get a slightly thick but still runny and glossy icing. tint with natural food coloring if desired!