Cranberry Jalapeno Dip

I'm not a huge peppermint person. However, during the holidays, I LOVE cranberries. The fresh stuff, not the sugary dehydrated craisins you see in stores year round. My go-to is usually Upside Down Cranberry Cake but this year I wanted to do something different. We love eating dip on the weekends and this was a great way to incorporate that with one of my favorite holiday ingredients.

One thing that I loved about this recipe was how easy it was to throw together. I thought I would have to cook the cranberries, but you don't. Although, you do want to make this the night before since it needs time to allow the flavors to meld together. One thing I do recommend is right before you go to put the cranberry mix on the cream cheese, slice up a little more green onion and mix it in. The green onion loses its vibrant color as it sits overnight and I really wanted a red and green color to the dip when I served it. I served this dip with Triscuits, but sliced bread or even water crackers would work with this. I just always have Triscuits on hand. One thing I changed from the original recipe was I added plain yogurt to the cream cheese. I always add fat-free plain yogurt to my cream cheese when I use it as a dip. It not only adds more volume without altering the taste, but it also adds a creaminess to the cream cheese and makes it smoother and less dense.

recipe adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

• 12 ounces fresh cranberries
• 4-5 green onions, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from about 1 large lemon)
• 2 (8 ounces) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt

1. Chop cranberries until it's in small chunks and set aside in a bowl. You can also put the cranberries in a food processor or blender until coarsely chopped if you don't want to chop by hand. Add the green onions, cilantro, jalapeno, sugar, cumin, and lemon juice to the cranberries and mix until the ingredients are well combined. Transfer the mixture to a covered bowl or tupperware and refrigerate for at least 4 hours (I let mine sit overnight).
2. When ready to serve, mix the yogurt and cream cheese together (I used my handheld mixture for this) and spread it in an even layer on a serving plate or 9-inch pie dish. Top with the cranberry-jalapeno mixture, spreading evenly over the top of the cream cheese.
3. Refrigerate for up to an hour before serving. Serve with crackers or sliced bread.

Biscuits and Lentil Gravy

One thing that I love and miss about eating meat are biscuits and sausage gravy. That was something that I could eat for every meal of the day and have no regrets. Actually, when the Mister and I were traveling across the country, every hotel we stopped at had biscuits and gravy as one of their complementary breakfast items. I won't lie to you guys, I may or may not have chosen the hotels we stopped at for the night based on their breakfast options.

So, I was really excited when I saw a recipe for this in my copy of Thug Kitchen, a vegan cookbook. I've tried a few recipes from this book and honestly, they've not been that great. There's always something that doesn't work out or I end up feeling like it needs more or different spices from what the recipe calls for. Basically, the recipes end up being a bit bland. However, that didn't deter me from trying this recipe. Of course, the one thing that did not work for me were the vegan biscuits. They were awful. They were so hard and tough. No amount of gravy made them palatable. I would up throwing them out to the birds to eat. Thankfully, the gravy turned out amazing. So, after we choked down the first round, I went out and bought a tube of buttermilk biscuits to use for the leftovers. Once I made the change, these biscuits and gravy were golden.

• 1 ½ cups of green or brown lentils
• 5 cups of water
• salt
• ½ yellow onion, diced
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• black pepper
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 cup of vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• ½ teaspoon red wine vinegar
•  1 tube of biscuit dough or one batch of homemade biscuits

1. Bake biscuits according to package.
2. Bring the lentils, water, and a little bit of salt to a boil in a small saucepan. Simmer for 40 minutes to cook the lentils until they are falling apart.
3. In a small skillet, heat up the olive oil over medium heat and sauté the onion until it starts to brown (3 minutes), add the thyme, garlic, and some black pepper and cook for another 30 seconds. Take off the heat.
4. When the lentils are cooked, drain the excess water and put the lentils back into the pot.
5. In a small bowl, mix together the flour and the broth. Add the broth mix into the lentils along with the onion, soy sauce, paprika, and vinegar.
6. Use an immersion blender or a normal blender to blend the gravy to a smooth consistency.
7. Heat the gravy up again and simmer in the saucepan to thicken, 2-3 minutes.

Pumpkin Curry Macaroni and Cheese

It's finally FINALLY cooled back down here in SoCal. While everyone back home was talking about rainy days and drinking hot cider, I was over here on the west coast dying from the insane dry heat we were getting. Nothing says fall more than wearing summer dresses and drinking iced coffee.  So, needless to say, I was really happy when the temperature started to dip into the 70's and immediately started pulling out my cans of pumpkin.

While most people view the fall as time to break out pumpkin spice things, I always look to the pumpkin itself. I love finding recipes that use pumpkin puree as part of the ingredients in a savory dish. This recipe was one that I was really excited to try because the Mister loved mac and cheese, and I'm a huge fan of curry dishes. So, the fact that it combined the two and incorporated pumpkin into the mix was a complete win.

recipe adapted from Flavor Mosaic

• 2 cups of elbow macaroni
• 2 Tablespoons butter or margarine
• 3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups Half and Half
• 1 ½ teaspoons curry powder
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese, divided
• ½ cup panko bread crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cook the pasta to al dente in a large pot following package directions. Drain cooked pasta, then return to pot.
2. In a large skillet or saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper. Pour in Half and half. Cook and stir over medium heat until slightly thickened and bubbly. Stir in curry powder. Stir in pumpkin and 1 cup mozzarella until cheese is melted. Stir cheese sauce into pasta to coat. Transfer the macaroni and cheese to a2-quart rectangular baking dish that's been sprayed with cooking spray.
3. Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella over the pasta. Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top of the cheese. Spray with cooking spray.
4. Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until bubbly and top is golden. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Butterbeer

Okay, so this isn't the best picture in the world. It's just so hard to get a good picture of a creamy, frothy drink without it looking like a white fluffy mess in a cup. So, even though this doesn't look as cool and colorful as the amusement park's version, it's still delicious. Trust me!

Now, if you've ever read or watched Harry Potter, then you are well aware of butterbeer. However, it's nothing anyone has ever had a reference to before because the author made it up. However, she's been quoted saying that she imagines it to be a "little bit like less sickly butterscotch." So, with that in mind I scoured the internet looking for a recipe that would match the description, and crazily enough I only found one recipe that matched that description. So many places, including The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, make their butterbeer with cream soda. Which to me, would make it far too sweet and not really falling under the author's description of what she envisioned when she wrote the drink into the books. This butterbeer recipe doesn't use sugary soda as the base, it uses seltzer water. It gets the flavor from the homemade toffee sauce you make, the creamy texture from the dash of half and half, and the wonderful foamy top from the dairy reacting to the carbonation in the water. That's it! You can add more or less of the toffee syrup and/or cream to give the drink more sweetness/creaminess based off of your personal preference. You can also make this both hot and cold. I tried both and wound up dumping the warm version. There's just something about a warm fizzy drink that didn't appeal to me. However, I love the cold version. This is actually my second year making butterbeer but it's a tradition I plan keep. There's just nothing better than sitting down to watch Harry Potter with a butterbeer in hand.

recipe adapted from The Fig Test Kitchen

Toffee Syrup

• 1 cup dark brown sugar, plus 4 tablespoons 
• 2/3 cup water, plus 1 tablespoon
• 1 stick butter 
• 1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Mix 4 tablespoons brown sugar with 1 tablespoon water and microwave for 30 seconds-1 minute until a syrup is formed.
2. In a medium-small saucepan, combine 1 cup dark brown sugar with butter and syrup. Heat over medium heat until sugar is dissolved and the mixture bubbles a bit.
3. Add 2/3 cup water and vanilla extract. Gently boil for about 10 minutes, until mixture begins to thicken and gets syrupy.
4. Remove from heat. This is also awesome on vanilla ice cream, just for the record.

        Butterbeer

• Toffee syrup 
• Half and Half
• Seltzer water (I used individual cans so it would stay carbonated)

Hot Variation

1. Mix 2-3 tbsp toffee syrup with 6 tbsp half and half and microwave for 1 minute. 
2. Fill rest of mug with seltzer. 

Cold variation

• Mix 4 tbsp toffee syrup with 6 tbsp cool half and half, whisking together with a fork. Pour in cold seltzer while still whisking with the fork. 

* If you want a crisp white foam on top, wait to add the toffee until the end. Stir slowly as to not break up the bubbles. 

Celtic Apple Crisp with Honey Whiskey Whipped Cream

This is a recipe that is perfect for both St. Patrick's day and the fall. Especially with apple picking going on. Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of baking and am always looking for short cuts when it comes to the holidays and having to bake pies. Shocker, I know. While I love cooking, I don't relish spending half my day in the kitchen. So, this recipe is perfect for those like me who want to make a delicious dish or dessert without spending the day slaving away in the kitchen.

I love this recipe and it will be one I will make at least once a year. It was easy to make, I had just about all the ingredients on hand, and it tasted amazing. While I thought it was perfect, the Mister, who is a fan of whiskey, thought it could use more whiskey. Ha! Me, I'm not a fan of whiskey so the small hint of whiskey in this was just right for me. So, I split the whipped cream up and added a touch more whiskey to his batch.

recipe adapted from Home and Plate

• 4 large honeycrisp apples, peeled and sliced into cubes
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons whiskey
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon whiskey

1. Peel, core and chop the apples into 1-inch cubes.  Place the apples, cinnamon, whiskey and water in a bowl and toss. Then place the apples into a prepared pie pan. 
2. In a small bowl combine the sugar, flour, oats and melted butter and mix until crumbly and well blended.  Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the apples.
3. Place the pan in a preheated 350° oven and bake for 45 minutes until the crust is golden brown.  
4. Whip the heavy cream on high speed until soft peaks form. Dissolve the honey in the whiskey stirring to incorporate. Add the honey flavored whiskey to the whipped cream in the final minutes of whipping. 
5. Once the apple crisp has cooled serve it with the whipped cream.