Ham and Swiss Sticky Buns

Ham and Swiss Sticky Buns

I think I must have the messiest family on the planet. Women on-line are always showing and talking about their chore charts. How they break down everything into days so that they can get everything done. While I like the idea, it wouldn't work in my household. Doing one load of laundry a day would end in a huge pile by the end of the week. Only wiping down my bathroom counters and deep cleaning once a week doesn't work with three males in my house. My kitchen has to be cleaned daily, I cook and bake everyday. If it wasn't cleaned everyday it would be disgusting in a short amount of time. Maybe if I had less animals and the males in my house were a little cleaner that I could try the 15 minute a day cleaning charts. As it is I spend half of my day cleaning up from the day before and the other half cleaning up from the messes my kids made while I was cleaning up the first time. It's a vicious cycle.

On Christmas day I made one breakfast that I could eat and one recipe that everyone else could enjoy. My family loves ham, so the recipe I chose incorporated it. I tried a new recipe for Ham and Swiss Sticky Buns from the December 2013 issue of Southern Living magazine.

Spring Hill Cemetery Huntington, WV

This recipe has 6 ingredients. It takes 1 hour and 10 minutes of total time, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 16 rolls. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. For the biscuits I used buttermilk country style biscuits. These are the type of biscuits that my family likes, plus they aren't too flaky or crumbly. I ended up with 20 buns, I made my buns a little on the smaller side. I found that they took approximately 35 minutes to cook, the extra 5 minutes would have made the buns overly browned.

Downtown Huntington, WV from Spring Hill Cemetery

My kids really liked this recipe. They thought the sweet and savory combination was delicious. My husband thought that the amount of ham should be doubled. He would have liked the recipe better if there was less biscuit and more ham and cheese. That being said he ate 3 for breakfast, so they were good either way. I liked that this recipe was very easy to prep and make. They also freeze well for quick re-heated weekday breakfasts.

For the recipe go to Ham and Swiss Sticky Buns.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta and Sage

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta and Sage Before Cooking

I hate going out on New Years, I always have. When I was younger I normally went to bed far before midnight and on the rare occasion I did stay awake I shied away from parties. It doesn't help that I am not a fan of champagne, it is too dry for my tastes. This year I will probably stay up with my husband watching movies. I like to keep things low key. On New Year's day I will make cabbage soup for good luck and that's it. Nothing fancy, no parties, just my family and a good meal. That's my idea of a great New Year's, simple and no-fuss.

For Christmas Eve I made a number of dishes. My kids and I love Brussels sprouts and I make them every year. This year I tried a new recipe for Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta and Sage from the December 2013 issue of Eating Well magazine.

Spring Hill Cemetery Huntington, WV

This recipe has 7 ingredients. It takes 35 minutes of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 8 servings. I followed this recipe pretty close to the original. I used 3 ounce of pancetta since that is the size package I purchased at the grocery store. After 20 minutes the Brussels sprouts were still too crispy, so I allowed them to roast for another 15 minutes.

Ohio River 

My kids really loved this recipe. They are big Brussels sprouts fans and this recipe was no exception. The pancetta added a nice flavor to the vegetables and the sage was a perfect herb to go with the Brussels sprouts. With a 130 percent of the daily value of vitamin C per serving this recipe was a nice way to get a healthier side onto my Christmas Eve day meal.

For the recipe go to Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta and Sage.

Oatmeal Raisin Bars

Oatmeal Raisin Bars

The stress of the holidays is almost over. As much as I love watching my kids faces during Christmas morning and spending time with my family I am always relieved when all the chaos is over. For what seems like 3 months all everyone talks and think about is Christmas. This year stores had their Christmas decorations out before Halloween, making the holiday seem even longer than normal. I personally love the day after Christmas. My kids have new toys to distract them and I can sit and relax with a cup of coffee. No more shopping, wrapping, or cooking. Things can go back to the way they are the other 9 months of the year. Plus the New Year brings new things to look forward to and the ability to leave the stress of the last year behind us. So as Christmas comes tomorrow, I will be happy. My kids will be ecstatic with all the gifts, while I will be happy that I can relax, I survived another Christmas.

Since we have been eating lots of fattening foods the last couple of weeks, I have been trying to have snacks that are healthier. Today I tried a new recipe for Oatmeal Raisin Bars from the January issue of All You Magazine.

Spring Hill Cemetery Huntington, WV

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes 40 minutes of total time, 5 minutes of which is active and makes 9 bars. I only made a few changes to the original recipe. First, I substituted pepitas for the sunflower seeds called for in the recipe. My family loves pumpkin seeds and I use them in snacks frequently. Second, I found that I had to allow the bars to cook an additional 5 minutes in order for them to fully brown and set.

Spring Hill Cemetery Huntington, WV

These bars taste more like baked oatmeal than they do raisin bars. I chose to pour maple syrup over two of the bars as a breakfast. I would suggest making a few changes to the original recipe. First, I would replace the raisins with fresh fruit. Fresh blueberries would be much lower in sugar and higher in vitamins than raisins. Second, I would add maple syrup to the bars in order to make them sweeter. As originally written the bars are a little on the not sweet side of things. I would suggest either adding maple syrup to the batter or eating the bars in a bowl with maple syrup drizzled over them. With a few modifications, these could be a great snack!

For the recipe go to Oatmeal Raisin Bars. 

Greek Yogurt Chocolate Chip Cookies

Gluten Free/Reduce Sugar Greek Yogurt Chocolate Chip Cookies 

My husband and I don't exchange Christmas gifts. That's right, none whatsoever. We do give lots of gifts to our kids and parents etc., but we decided a long time ago that neither one of is into giving each other gifts on Christmas. Instead we give gifts throughout the year. My husband will see a new red wine at the store and bring me a bottle home as a surprise. Our television will break and he will find a great sale and buy one for out living room. One year when we were first married I spend months collecting all the figures for a series of Gothic novels that he was collecting. It wasn't a birthday or Christmas, it was a just because gift. To add to the Christmas gift weirdness I also hate jewelry. While most women would be elated if they received diamonds, I would take them back. I hate diamonds, my husband had to convince me to wear a wedding and engagement ring, I can't stand them. My ideal piece of jewelry is a single strand of real pearls with a little black dress, timeless, beautiful and perfect. I also love kitchen utensils, exercise gear and power tools. My husband and I are perfect for each other because I don't think I would get along in any other marriage. He gets me, I get him and we enjoy being unusual together.

As most of you know I have a huge sweet tooth. I love pretty much anything with sugar and hate most salty snacks (which is funny since all three males in my house could eat salt right out of the shaker). I try to reduce the overall amount of sugar and fat in my family's diet, especially around the holidays since we tend to eat more treats than the rest of the year. Last week I tried a new recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies made with Greek yogurt.

Confederate Memorial Spring Hill Cemetery Huntington, WV

I made a few modifications to the original recipe. First, I eat gluten free so I tried the cookies both as written and then a batch that I made with coconut flour. Honestly, the coconut flour cookies almost turned out better, my boys loved them. Second, I made one batch with the full amount of sugar and the second batch with half sugar and half sugar substitute. They baked up the same as the full sugar version and it was nice having a lower fat/lower sugar cookie to snack on with my coffee in the afternoon. The gluten free version took a little longer to brown, which is normal with gluten free baking.

Albert Jenkins Grave Spring Hill Cemetery Huntington, WV

These cookies turned out really tasty. I love that they have Greek yogurt which reduces the total amount of fat and adds protein. They worked perfectly being made gluten free and reduced sugar, which is nice since I have dietary restrictions (Celiac Disease). I would definitely make this cookies again in the future!

For the recipe go to Greek Yogurt Chocolate Chip Cookies. 

Greek Yogurt Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe Type: Dessert

Summary:

A recipe for chocolate chip cookies using Greek yogurt (no butter or oil). Light, fluffy and can be made gluten free!

Preparation Time: 0h, 5m

Cooking Time: 0h, 10m

Total Time: 0h, 15m

Banana Banana Bread

Gluten Free Banana Banana Bread from allrecipes 

I read all the time. I am one of those people that goes to the library multiple times a week and checks out a stack of books. Part of the reason is that I read very fast. My mother taught me this trait and it only takes me a couple of days to finish a book. It was also my mother who instilled the love of reading in me. Growing up she read every night on the couch. While my dad and I watched television, my mother read, and read, and read. She barely graduated high-school, but had read more and had a larger vocabulary than most of the people I went to college with. When I was in middle school my mother decided that she wanted me to read all the classics. So she started bribing me. She started the bribes as a joke, she bet me 20 dollars that I couldn't finish War and Peace. War and Peace is a very long, very boring book. When I came to my mother 2 months later and told her I finished it she was skeptical, so much so that she decided to make a list of questions to quiz me about the book. I passed with flying colors and started reading Anna Karenina (another very long slightly less horrible book-sorry can't take Russian Lit). By the time I started high-school I was already finished with the entire high-school reading list. I went on to major in English Lit as an undergrad thanks a great deal to my mother. To this day there are few things as relaxing to me as being fully lost in a great book.

Since I have two boys in a growth spurt I have been baking and cooking up a storm in the last couple of weeks. I love sweet foods, but I also like to limit the amount of fat and sugar that my family consumes. This week I made a new recipe for Banana Banana Bread from the new Allrecipes magazine.

This recipe has 7 ingredients. It takes 1 hour and 15 minutes of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 12 servings. I did make a number of major changes to the original recipe. First since I eat gluten free I substituted rice flour for the all-purpose flour. Since I have been trying to reduce the amount of fat in my kids diet I substituted 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt for the butter called for in the recipe. This helped to reduce the fat and increase protein since the yogurt I used had 12 grams of protein per 1/2 cup. Finally, I made this recipe two ways, the first time with the full amount of sugar and the second time with half sugar and half sugar substitute. Both ways baked up similar and my kids liked both versions. The reduced sugar version was nice since it was less sweet and made perfect toast.

I really liked that this banana bread worked well after all my changes. The bread rose beautifully and had a lot of banana flavor. The reduced sugar version worked very well toasted with butter or peanut butter for a quick breakfast. My kids didn't notice that I substituted Greek yogurt for the butter and I liked that it reduced the fat and increased the protein. A versatile recipe.

For the recipe go to Banana Banana Bread.

Slow Cooker Zesty Bean Posole

Slow Cooker Zesty Bean Posole Better Homes and Gardens December 2013

I have a least favorite chore, laundry. Our washer and dryer is in the basement and with two boys I literally do laundry everyday. Before kids I never though that laundry was that bad, we had maybe 3-4 loads a week tops. Then my youngest arrived and the laundry started to pile up, and up, and up. After the arrival of my second son I decided that laundry was my arch enemy. Every time I washed something it just ended up being dirty again. Now part of the reason that we go through so much laundry is that I don't use paper towels. Instead I use cleaning rags and I clean my kitchen and bathroom top to bottom everyday. While that might seem extreme with three males in the house the bathroom would smell less than pleasant within two days, it's a must to have a full cleaning daily. The kitchen gets scrubbed since I cook and bake so frequently. If I don't stay on top of things in the kitchen it would turn into chaos. I also use separate washcloths and dish clothes when I do dishes each time (that's right no dishwasher in our house) so that adds to the mountain of laundry as well. Eventually my kids can start helping with the folding and putting away part of the mess, I am awaiting that day with glee.

There is a theme in my kitchen this week - the slow cooker. Right before holidays I tend to make a lot of crock-pot meals. They save me time and money and I love them. Plus I can eat the leftovers again in a couple of weeks making less work for me after the stress of the holidays. This week I tried a new recipe for Slow Cooker Zesty Bean Posole from the December 2013 issue of Better Homes and Gardens Magazine.

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes 3 hours and 40 minutes of total time, 10 minutes of which is active and makes 6 servings. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. First, since my kids were going to eat the recipe I used mild salsa. For the chicken broth I used homemade, which I don't salt, I salt at the table or in the recipe instead. I can't eat all-purpose flour so I substituted corn starch, which is a great gluten free alternative in soup and stew recipes calling for regular flour. I allowed the soup to cook or 8 hours on low in the crock-pot since I could start it in the morning and be done until dinner.

For a dump recipe (most ingredients are canned) this recipe turned out very well. It was delicious and the flavors worked really well together. My husband and two boys really liked this soup. It was mild due to using mild salsa, which made the recipe very kid friendly. If you like your posole on the spicy side I would recommend using spicier salsa.

For the recipe go to Slow Cooker Zesty Bean Posole.

Slow Cooker Zesty Posole

Recipe Type: Main

Summary:

A easy slow cooker recipe for posole, only 9 ingredients. Can be modified to be vegetarian by using vegetable stock instead of chicken stock.

Preparation Time: 0h, 10m

Cooking Time: 3h, 30m

Total Time: 3h, 40m

Yield: Serves 6

Slow-Cooker Pork Tacos Al Pastor With All the Fixings

Slow-Cooker Pork Tacos Al Pastor With All the Fixings

I finally put up my Christmas tree today. For whatever reason I was unmotivated to do it earlier in the month. A large part of my lack of motivation had to do with the fact that going into our front hall closet literally takes hours. Everything is nicely organized, but it requires lots of moving of bins and when a 5-year-old is helping it seems to take 10 times as long. I also finished wrapping all the Christmas gifts that needed to be done. Granted some of them were customized by my youngest with 6 different gift tags, but they're done all the same. I wrapped everything in the same roll of wrapping paper, the idea of going back into the closet for the other rolls just wasn't happening. Regardless, the presents are wrapped, the tree is up, and I finished my meal plan and grocery list for Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Overall, it was a productive day and I got it all done before my oldest got home for the last day before holiday break. Now I just have to hope that my two boys don't cause the tree to come crashing down or open all the gifts when I'm not looking (with two boys anything can happen).

I've been keeping my meal plans simple the last couple of weeks. My crock-pot has been used numerous times to save time and I love that I have leftovers for at least another meal. This week I tried a new recipe for Slow Cooker Pork Tacos Al Pastor with All the Fixings from the December 2013 issue of Southern Living Magazine.

Slow-Cooker Pork Tacos Al Pastor With All the Fixings Southern Living December 2013

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 8 hours and 20 minutes of total time (including crock-pot time), 20 minutes of which is active, and makes 8 to 10 servings. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. First since I eat gluten free I used gluten free beer instead of white ale. I bought one big can of pineapple tidbits instead of two smaller cans since per ounce the bigger size was a better deal. For the topping I used goat cheese, cilantro and avocado. My boys aren't big fans of radishes so I left them out.

This recipe made a lot of food. There was more than enough for my family of 4 plus leftovers for another two lunches. My husband absolutely loved these tacos. They were some of the best tacos he thought that I had made in a long time. I love that everything was done in the crock-pot, making for a quick and easy weeknight meal. The tacos are a little on the spicy side so if you like dishes milder or if you have kids you might want to leave out the crushed red pepper or reduce the amount of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. Overall a great taco recipe that I would definitely make again in the future.

For the recipe go to Slow Cooker Pork Tacos Al Pastor with All the Fixings.

Slow-Cooker Pork Tacos Al Pastor With All the Fixings

Recipe Type: Main

Summary:

A flavorful pork taco recipe that is done completely in the crock-pot. Slow cooking the pork in pineapple and beer makes for delicious and easy tacos!

Preparation Time: 0h, 20m

Cooking Time: 8h, 8m

Total Time: 8h, 20m

Yield: Serves 8

Bucatini with Butter Roasted Tomato Sauce

Spaghetti with Butter Roasted Tomato Sauce

Christmas seems to bring out the nasty in people. I try to keep my wits and attitude in check myself, but I oftentimes find myself sliding into a bit of the nasties as well. I think it's a combination of stress, stress, and more stress. As women and mothers we tend to put everyone else's needs above our own. The presents have to be perfectly picked out, the Christmas dinner fabulous. We stay up late making sure that our holiday cards are addressed, signed and out on time. Don't forgot the letters to Santa, outfits for dinner, photos, tree decorating, the list goes on and on. The more television, social media and general holiday overload works its way into our lives the more crazy we drive ourselves. I think all of us needs to just sit back and take a breath. If you are the woman that snapped at me because I was in front of you at the milk case, you might need another coffee or possibly a nap. My holiday wish for all of us is that we can all sleep in until noon, let somehow else take care of the kids and bask in our own awesomeness (even if most of us forgot to leave milk and cookies for Santa). Since we all know that won't happen I hope that each and every one of us can take a moment to look at our family and realize, it's okay if the turkey is still frozen at Christmas dinner, the presents can go into a bag, and most of all it's okay to have that 4th cup of coffee. The Christmas season is only another week and a half of chaos. We all will somehow make it through, hopefully without going crazy at people in the mall parking lot (myself included-why are there never enough spots!!).

I have been short on recipe posts in the last week thanks to offline responsibilities. However, I have still been baking and cooking new dishes so my readers will have posts to enjoy in the next couple of weeks. A couple of weeks back I tried a great new recipe for Bucatini with Butter Roasted Tomato Sauce from the November 2013 issue of Bon Appetit Magazine.

Snow in Huntington, WV

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes 1 hour of total time, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. First I substituted spaghetti for the bucatini. My kids prefer spaghetti and I wanted to minimize dinner time food battles. I used 3 anchovies since the fillets that I had were small. Finally, I allowed the sauce and pasta to cook approximately 6 minutes in order for all the liquid to absorb.

Snow in Huntington, WV

This was a very popular recipe in my house. My husband and two boys were big fans of the sauce. I ate my sauce over fried polenta, which was also delicious. The nice thing about the sauce portion of the recipe is that it could be used with another pasta, over polenta or even over rice or chicken. It has a variety of uses, making it a nice recipe to have in your recipe collection.

For the recipe go to Bucatini with Butter Roasted Tomato Sauce.

http://www.foodieinwv.com/2013/12/bucatini-with-butter-roasted-tomato.html

Recipe Type: Main

Summary:

A simple recipe for pasta with a butter roasted tomato sauce. The sauce would also be delicious over polenta or with chicken. A versatile recipe!

Preparation Time: 0h, 20m

Total Time: 1h, 0m

Yield: Serves 4

Caramelized Fennel, Celery, and Sardine Pasta

Caramelized Fennel, Celery, and Sardine Pasta

Growing up I never wanted kids. I wasn't one of those girls that loved baby dolls and wanted to be a mommy. I wasn't even planning on getting married. I told anyone that would listen that I was going to  get a degree and live by myself in a great apartment. Everyone always laughed at how planned out I had everything. A lot of it had to do with my mother being the oldest of 12 kids. My grandmother had passed away before I was born and my mother had taken over the role of a second mother for my aunts and uncles. Growing up I was surrounded by cousins and since I was an older than most of them I had to watch a lot of my younger cousins. I loved my cousins, but they could get into a lot of trouble and me along with them. Plus my mother was always on the phone, visiting or generally interacting with family members. It was hard not to be a little jealous that I wasn't the center of attention, especially since I was an only child.

I met my husband in grad school. I had moved 2500 miles away from home and knew no one. He was one of the first people to be nice to me in my very first evening class. Gradually we became friends, he drove me home from work study, we ate dinner together in the school cafeteria in-between classes. We moved in with each other a month after officially dating and were married 5 months later. The girl that was never going to get married walked down the aisle before most of her friends. On our second anniversary I found out I was pregnant with our first child. I had my second 2 1/2 years later. I still went to graduate school, worked a great job in bio-tech for 7 years, I just achieved everything much younger than I thought I would. I have two smart, beautiful and talented boys. I never thought that I wanted to be a mother, but now that I am I can't imagine my life anything other way. They complete the love that my husband and I formed so quickly more than 10 years ago.

While my family will eat gluten free pasta, they prefer the real thing if given the choice. Every couple of weeks I make a pasta meal for them to enjoy using regular wheat pasta. A while back I tried a new recipe for Caramelized Fennel, Celery, and Sardine Pasta from Martha Stewart Living magazine.

Caramelized Fennel, Celery, and Sardine Pasta

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes 25 minutes of total time, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I only made a few changes to the original recipe. First, my family doesn't like whole wheat pasta. I have tried every brand, half whole wheat etc. and they hate them all. So instead I used regular pasta, it wasn't worth the battle. Make sure to salt the pasta water, if you don't the pasta will need a lot more salt after cooking. The only other change that I made was to add more pasta cooking water than the recipe suggested. I found it necessary to make sure that the pasta was well coated and the flavors combined.

Lake Vesuvius 

My husband really enjoyed this recipe. He is a huge fennel fan and this was a nice way to use it in a  pasta recipe. My two kids were skeptical when they say the sardines, they were hesitant to eat the bones. After trying the dish though they loved the fennel and sardines. The recipe is definitely geared towards adults, but if you have adventurous kids like mine it would also make a nice family meal. Plus since it takes less than 30 minutes it would be great for a busy weeknight.

For the recipe go to Caramelized Fennel, Celery, and Sardine Pasta.

Soft Baked Pretzels

Homemade Soft Baked Pretzels

I'm debating sending out Christmas cards this year. When I was younger I hand printed over 50 cards every year and loved doing it. However, as the years have gone by I receive fewer and fewer cards in return and some of the joy of the whole process has depleted. I think when my mother was alive and before I had kids I enjoyed spending the time personalizing every card and receiving personalized cards in return. However, with the rise of social media and email more and more people are interacting online and less are sending out cards. In some ways it's a little sad, books have become ebooks and cards have become Facebook posts. It takes a lot of the personalization out of keeping in contact, but I may follow suit this year and not send out cards. Then again, maybe I will hold out one more year.

My two boys are currently eating me out of house and home. I don't even want to imagine how much they will eat as teenagers, I might as well starting raising my own cows and pigs, it would be cheaper. A couple of weeks back I tried a new recipe for Soft Baked Pretzels from the October 2013 issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine.

Huntington Museum of Art

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes 2 hours and 5 minutes of total time, 55 minutes of which is active. I only made minimal changes to the original recipe. For the milk I used 2 percent, it's what I normally have on hand for my coffee. The major modification I made was to simmer the water and baking soda and then add the pretzels for 15 seconds on each side. This allows for a better flavor after baking, it's what gives the pretzels that great salty taste. The recipe uses an electric mixer, but I almost always prepare my bread and baked goods from scratch. I find that I prefer the texture when hand kneaded.

Fall Leaves

My husband and two boys loved this recipe. The pretzels come out perfectly and by boiling the pretzels in the baking soda before baking they come out perfectly on the outside. I turned my pans halfway through the baking time in order to ensure even baking and browning. This is a recipe I plan to continue using in the future, it's great!

For the recipe go to Soft Baked Pretzels.

Soft Baked Pretzels

Recipe Type: Snacks

Summary:

A delicious homemade soft baked pretzels recipe. Perfect with mustard or made sweet with cinnamon/sugar.

Preparation Time: 0h, 55m

Total Time: 2h, 5m

Yield: Serves 8

Coconut Chiffon Bundt Cake with Coconut Frosting

Coconut Chiffon Bundt Cake with Coconut Frosting 

I hate the s word. Not the one that some of you are thinking of (I have thought that word in relation to this word), no this is another 4 letter word. Snow. I hate it. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest where a lot of people ski, and when I say a lot of people my school had ski fridays. They would take a big bus up to Snoqualmie and go skiing, every friday for 12 weeks. The kids that stayed behind got to watch movies, bake cookies, learn computer etc. Every 2 hours we would switch to a new activity. It was a no brainer for me, I chose to not go skiing.

I love to cross country ski and am an adequate down hill skier and snowboarder. I had to be since all my friends wanted to go on ski trips during the winter. While snow is pretty, I hate, hate to be cold. When you ski you are in this in between weird world where your sweating, but also it's freezing. If you take off your coat you get cold, since your working out if the jacket stays on you sweat. While some women can stay attractive while skiing, I don't. I don't just sweat, I sweat buckets. After a 2 hour cross country work out I look like a bucket of water has been dumped on my head.

So while I grew up around ski and snow lovers I would be happy if it just stayed away. My poor in-laws live in the mountains and it snows all winter. Not just inches, but feet. My mother-in-law is already worried about Thanksgiving and the weather. It always seems to snow here around the holidays, we had our first snow the week of Halloween (which is way too early for my tastes). So my mother-in-law and I are both hopping the snow that is supposed to start tomorrow stays away. The s word can stay where it belongs, out of my vocabulary.

During the holiday months I bake frequently. I seem to turn to sugary foods when the weather gets colder. The summer months I turn towards fruit and light foods, but during the winter I love cakes and cookies. Luckily I also love my treadmill (not really, but I still do it). Last week I tried a new recipe for Gluten Free Coconut Bundt Cake with Coconut Frosting from the December 2013 issue of Food and Wine magazine.

Coconut Chiffon Bundt Cake with Coconut Frosting 

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes 2 hours 30 minutes of total time, 30 minutes of which is active and makes 12 servings. I did make a few significant changes to the original recipe. First, I used white rice flour to replace the cake flour. Since I eat gluten free I try to change regular recipes to be gluten free. Many specifically gluten free recipes are too dry or just plain bad. Make sure to adequately grease and dust the pan. The cake tends to stick a little to the pan. I found that my total baking time was slightly longer than suggested, by approximately 10-15 minutes.

Huntington Museum of Art

My kids and I really liked this recipe. It was light and worked well being made gluten free. The coconut milk made for a delicious, moist texture and would be a nice replacement for people that can't have milk. This cake would be great for a party, it is beautiful on the plate and would serve 16 people if the slices were made thin.

For the recipe go to Coconut Chiffon Bundt Cake with Coconut Frosting.

Pecan Sticky Buns

Pecan Sticky Buns

Growing up we had a huge holly bush in our front yard. When I say huge it was well over 50 years old and had never been trimmed. Every year at Christmas our neighbors would come over and ask if they could have holly for the holidays. My mother loved sharing the holly and it was a nice way to catch up with neighbors. For me the holly was one of the sure signs that Christmas was coming. We would cut a huge basket full of branches and decorate the table in our living room. My mother would add tall candles and candle holders and on Christmas Eve it was beautiful.

Christmas Eve was always the bigger holiday in our house. While I loved opening presents Christmas morning, Christmas Eve was special. My mother would host a party every year and our entire family would come over. We had a tiny 2 bedroom cottage house and it would be busting at the seams. My mother would cook for days and the house smelled wonderful and looked beautiful with candles and lights everywhere. There would be small plates of pickles, olives, smoked oysters and crackers. 7 layer bars, brownies, cookies, veggies, and cheese trays would be all over the house. It was an evening to enjoy the season and most of all family. There are many things that I miss about my mother, but I think the biggest part for both my father and I are those Christmas Eve parties. Neither of us have felt the same about Christmas Eve since she passed. Christmas is still wonderful, but Christmas Eve will always be my mothers.

I often times try multiple recipes for the same dish. There are so many small changes that can be made to a dish that drastically change the outcome. A few weeks back I tried a new recipe for Caramel Pecan Sticky Buns. They were great, but my husband wanted me to try a recipe that was more brown sugar based. This week I tried a new recipe for Pecan Sticky Buns from the Number 160 issue of Saveur magazine.

Lake Vesuvius

This recipe has 13 ingredients. It takes 2 hours 30 minutes (plus fridge time) and makes 12 servings. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. First I mixed the dough by hand. While I have a great kitchen aid mixer, oftentimes I prefer to make my dough by hand. The original recipe was heavy on butter. While I love butter as much as the next person since my kids were eating the majority of this recipe I reduced some of the butter. I cut the butter down by more than half to a total of 1 1/2 sticks. 3 1/2 sticks for 12 buns was just a little too butter heavy for my tastes. The reduction in butter worked out well and the dough still rose beautifully. Plus my kids and husband didn't notice the fat reduction so a win-win all around.

Lake Vesuvius Spillway

My husband preferred this recipe to the last one I tried. The combination of 3 types of sugar made for a great molasses taste on top and sweet swirled bun in the center. Cutting down on the butter was a nice way to make the recipe more family friendly. If you are taking this to a party I would keep the recipe with the full amount of butter, but for home baking the modification worked out well.

For the recipe go to Pecan Sticky Buns.

Pork Tenderloin with Baked Apples and Barley

Pork Tenderloin with Baked Apples and Barley

I hate putting up holiday decorations. After this post I will probably get my Pinterest account revoked for lack of Christmas decoration enthusiasm, but I just don't have any. This anti-love of decorations was cultivated in the 80's. My mother had a basement cubby full of decorations for every holiday, and I do mean every (did you know that you can decorate for President's Day). While she loved the decorations it fell to my father and I to actually haul up all the boxes and do the decorating while she sat on the coach giving directions. One year my dad actually pulled the Christmas tree down after my mother had him re-do the lights again for the 12th time. After that we had pre-lit trees. When my mother passed away I was sent all her ornaments. She made most of them by hand and they are beautiful. I put them up for a few years, but ultimately decided that they are treasures that I would hate to have ruined. So they sit in a carefully done box in the closet and my kids picked out a table top artificial tree last year. It's white with blue lights and tacky, but they love it. They were fine with that being the only decoration and it took minutes to put away, my idea of the perfect Christmas decoration. So this year my house will not bleed Christmas cheer with decorations, but will be brimming with the love of family shown through togetherness and a big Christmas meal. For me that is a perfect Christmas.

One of my family's favorite foods is pork. My boys love it in any form, but especially as bacon or pork tenderloin. This week I tried a new recipe for Pork Tenderloin with Apples from the October 2013 issue of the Food Network Magazine.

Old Iron Furnace 

This recipe 11 ingredients. It takes 40 minutes of total time, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I only made a few changes to the original recipe. I used Gala apples for the apple variety since they were what was available in my area. My tenderloin took less than 25 minutes to cook, it temped at 145 degrees at 15 minutes of cooking time. Make sure to tent the tenderloin with foil for 10 minutes after baking. This allows the juices to stay in the pork and makes for a moister tenderloin.

Vesuvius Iron Furnace 

My two boys fell in love with the barley. They had never eaten it before since I can't have it and therefore I normally don't serve it for dinners. Both of them were determined it tasted like stuffing. The apples were okay, but honestly the pork was better. When taken in the same bite though the flavors complimented each other nicely. The pan sauce was delicious and perfect with the pork.

For the recipe go to Pork Tenderloin with Apples.

Pork Tenderloin with Apples and Shallots

Recipe Type: Main

Summary:

A perfect fall meal of pork tenderloin, baked apples and barley with parsley and shallots. A great complete meal!

Preparation Time: 0h, 20m

Total Time: 0h, 40m

Yield: Serves 4