Quick Pickled Baby Carrots

I made these carrots for Thanksgiving. 

I LOVE THEM! 

So did everyone else.

You might as well have the recipe available to hand out.

Whoever eats them will want it.

I'm going to have them in my fridge forever more.

Linked with Weekend Potluck and Foodie Friday.

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Quick-Pickled Baby Carrots

Serves 8-10

1 pound farmers' market baby carrots
1 cup water, plus more for blanching the carrots
1 cup white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons honey, or to taste
1 bay leaf
1 garlic clove, smashed
1 teaspoon toasted celery seeds
1 teaspoon toasted mustard seeds

Pinch of red pepper flakes

Trim and peel the carrots and cut them in half lengthwise.

Bring a saucepan of water to a boil. Add the carrots and blanch until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Immediately drain and run under cold water. Transfer the carrots to a bowl (or jars if you plan to keep the carrots for longer). 

Combine 1 cup of water with the vinegar, salt, honey, bay leaf, garlic, celery seeds and mustard seeds in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve the salt and honey. Pour over the carrots. 

Let cool to room temperature and then refrigerate in an airtight container for at least an hour and up to a month.

Several variations of this are possible. You can find the original recipe here. 

Creamy Pumpkin Risotto

This "Pumpkin Risotto" has to be one of the best I've tasted.

Perfect for this cooler weather.

If your not a pumpkin fan, don't let that stop you from giving this a try. 

The pumpkin flavor is very faint, if at all. 

The marriage of it with all the other ingredients, turns it into 

one harmonious plate of awesomeness! 

Linked with Weekend Potluck and Foodie Friday.

Creamy Pumpkin Risotto

Serves 4

1 1/2 cup of arborio rice
4 cups of chicken stock
3 shallots, diced finely
1 teaspoon of dried sage
1 glass of good quality white wine
A large handful of cremini mushrooms
1/2 cup of pumpkin puree
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup of freshly grated Parmesan, and extra for serving

In a pot, bring the stock to a boil, reduce to a low simmer.
In a saucepan, add a good drizzle of olive oil on medium low heat. Add the shallots, and the dried sage. Once the shallots have softened (about 2 minutes), add the rice and and mix, stirring until the rice looks lightly toasted. Add the wine and gently stir. Once the wine has almost evaporated, add the stock one ladle at a time. Keep adding stock once it has almost evaporated in the pan. Season lightly with salt and pepper (the stock will reduce and is salty so make sure not to add too much salt while you're cooking the risotto).

In the meantime, heat some olive oil on medium high heat in a separate pan. Add the sliced mushrooms. Season lightly with salt and pepper and cook for about 5 minutes, or until the mushrooms are cooked through. Set aside.

Keep a constant eye on the rice, adding stock as it gets incorporated into the rice. The risotto should gently simmer for about 16-17 minutes. Once the rice is cooked, add the mushrooms and pumpkin puree. Gently mix them in making sure the pumpkin puree is well stirred through. Fold in the Parmesan. Serve immediately, adding a little more Parmesan if desired. Enjoy!

Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting

These cupcakes are a perfect treat for moving into fall.

I saw the cupcake recipe while rummaging through i am baker's blog and thought
it sounded delicious (it is), so kudos to her.

I don't remember what she used for frosting, but I thought it would 
be perfect with one that is rich and cinnamon-y.

Huge hit!

Linked with Weekend Potluck and Foodie Friday.

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Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting

1 1/2 cups Flour

2/3 cups Cocoa

2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 cup Vanilla Yogurt

1 cup Canned Pumpkin

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

3/4 cups Butter, softened

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1 1/2 cups Granulated Sugar

4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 325*

Prepare cupcake pan with your fun and festive liners. 

In mixer, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Add in eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated.

In a medium bowl, sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together, set aside.

Stir yogurt, pumpkin, and vanilla extract together in a small bowl. Reduce mixer speed to low and alternately beat in the flour and yogurt mixtures in thirds, starting and ending with flour.

Bake for 18-25 minutes, depending on your oven. Remove once toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, or center springs back when touched.

CINNAMON BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

1/2 cup butter, softened 
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed 
1/2 tsp cinnamon 
2 1/2-3 cups powdered sugar 
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 tbsp of heavy cream (or half and half)

Beat butter, brown sugar, vanilla and cinnamon until fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar, a little at a time, alternating with cream; beating until desired consistency. 

I wanted to share my thoughts on the frosting. Here's the deal.

It tasted wonderful, but....personally, I did not like the slightly gritty texture that the

brown sugar gave it.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad, and no one else said anything about it,

but I would have preferred it perfectly smooth.

So, I was talking to my sister Leah about it, and she had a great idea.

Instead of brown sugar, just use all powdered sugar and add about a tablespoon of molasses, then adjust your cream accordingly.

If you don't have molasses, go ahead and try it with the brown sugar, or it would still be good with just powdered sugar. The real star is the cinnamon.

Goat Cheese and Orange Stuffed Endive

This is the first time I've had endive. LOVED IT!

I don't know if it was because of what it was stuffed with or what, 

I just know I must eat it again soon.

My sister just had a birthday so I planned a menu of hors d'oeuvres to serve at the party, and these endives where on the list. Maybe even the hit of the food table.

So good in fact, we are going to add them to our Christmas Eve menu. 

Maybe throw some pomegranate seeds around the plate to make it christmassy.

I didn't get close ups of the food (duh), but I wanted to share a few of the recipes anyway.

Along with the endive we had Cranberry Glazed Meatballs and Parmesan Crusted Crab Cake Bites with Chive Aioli. It was all awesome. The recipes for those will post soon.

This recipe is all over the internet, so I can't really give you the source. 

I did use store bought praline pecans instead of the honey walnuts, and I also doubled 

the balsamic vinegar orange reduction with a extra (little)bit of honey. 

The combined flavor of it all was over-the-top deliciousness.

Linked with Weekend Potluck and Foodie Friday. 

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Goat Cheese and Orange Stuffed Endive

1/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

2 tablespoons honey, divided

Cooking spray

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

3 tablespoons orange juice

16 Belgian endive leaves (3-4 small heads)

1/3 cup (1 1/2 ounces) crumbled goat cheese

16 small orange sections (about 2 navel oranges)

1 tablespoon minced fresh chives

1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine walnuts and 1 tablespoon honey; spread on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes, stirring after 5 minutes.

Combine 1 tablespoon honey, vinegar, and orange juice in a small saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil over high heat, and cook until reduced to 3 tablespoons (about 5 minutes).

Fill each endive leaf with 1 orange section. Top each section with 1 teaspoon cheese and 1 teaspoon walnuts; arrange on a plate. Drizzle the vinegar mixture evenly over leaves, and sprinkle evenly with chives and pepper.

Swiss Cheeseburger with Chipotle Mustard Mayo

I had the most delicious cheeseburger last night.

Nothing overly involved, but with all the "tasty notes".

The burger was grilled with salt, pepper and a dash of Worcestershire sauce, then a nice slice of baby swiss cheese melted on top.

I served it on a toasted onion bun (wanted ciabatta bread but couldn't find any) with my favorite go-to burger slaw. It's a little sweet and a little sour. You can find the recipe here.

 Added a slice or two of onion and some dill pickles, then

for the star of the show, I spread some Chipotle Mustard Mayo on the top bun.

And there you have it......AWESOMENESS!

Linked with Weekend Potluck and Foodie Friday.

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Chipotle Mustard Mayonnaise

1/4 cup mayo
2 tbsp course grain mustard
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp honey
1 tsp chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (*chipotle puree)
Salt and Pepper

*As for the chipotle puree, I always have a covered glass dish in the fridge with a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce that I puree up in my food processor. ALWAYS...I use it all the time.