Winter Granola

I've tried out a few granola recipes lately. This one is our favorite so far.

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups oats

1 cup shredded coconut

3/4 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup honey

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 cup craisins

3/4 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine oats, coconut, and nuts; set aside. In a saucepan, combine brown sugar, oil, honey and cinnamon; bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla. Pour over oat mixture; stir to coat. Spread in a large shallow baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cool. Add craisins and chocolate chips. store in an airtight container.

Banana Pancakes

I always start singing that Jack Johnson "Banana Pancakes" song when I see this recipe. These are really yummy, and a great way to use up over-ripe bananas.

Banana Pancakes

1 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. ground rice or semolina
3 Tbs. firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. plain yogurt
4 small ripe bananas, 2 mashed, 2 sliced

Sift the flour, ground rice, sugar, nutmeg, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Put the egg, milk and yogurt into another bowl, beat well, then add the 2 mashed bananas. Beat the flour mixture into the egg mixture - don't be tempted to beat until smooth. Lumps are good.

Heat the prepared griddle or skillet and spray lightly with Pam. Pour 2 Tbs. batter into the pan and press 3 slices of banana onto the pancake. Cook for about 1 minute over low heat, or until small bubbles begin to appear and the underside is golden. Turn and cook 2-3 minutes more. Serve warm with syrup or jam.

Note: I made these following the recipe exactly and they were awesome, but almost too sweet. (Is that even possible!?) I just happened to have rice flour on hand from back in the nursing-no-wheat-for-Maggie days. The second time I made the recipe, I used half whole wheat flour and half white, and also reduced the sugar to 2 Tbs. They were still excellent. I think you could substitute regular flour for the rice flour and they'd be fine.

Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake

This is one of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes. The picture doesn't do it justice - sorry!

Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake

Crust:
2 c. crushed gingersnaps
1/2 c. pecans, finely chopped
6 Tbs. butter, melted

Filling:
3 8-oz pkgs cream cheese
1 c. sugar, divided
1 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
1 c. canned pumpkin
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
dash cloves

Mix ingredients for crust and press into 9-inch pie pan. For filling, beat cream cheese, 3/4 c. sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Reserve 1-1/2 cups plain batter. Stir in remaining 1/4 c. sugar, pumpkin, and spices into remaining batter. Spoon half of pumpkin batter over crust, top with spoonfuls of half of reserved plain batter. Repeat layers. Marble with a knife. Bake at 325 for 55 minutes until center is almost set. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

Note: This recipe always makes too much for my 9-inch pie plates. Don't overfill the pan. I am going to try making this in a 9-inch springform pan one of these days to see if that works better.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

I combined a few recipes together with a few random things I had in my fridge and I ended up with a yummy homemade pizza. I used my bread maker for the crust recipe, but I'm sure you could use a mixer or do it by hand. This recipe makes two 12 inch pizzas.

Pizza Dough

Ingredients

1 cup water

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

3 cups bread flour

3 tablespoons dry milk powder

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Make in bread machine according to manufacturer directions. Select "Dough" setting. Spread dough on greased pizza pans or cookie sheet. Poke holes in dough with fork. Bake at 400 degrees for about seven minutes. Take out of oven and add toppings.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Toppings

3/4 cup spaghetti sauce mixed with 3/4 cup hot and spicy bbq sauce

2 marinated grilled chicken breasts, sliced into bite size pieces (I used a garlic herb marinade)

Swiss cheese

mozzarella cheese

red bell pepper, sliced

purple onion, sliced

fresh cilantro, chopped or dried cilantro

Spread sauce mix on partially cooked pizza crusts. Add grilled chicken cheeses (however much you like). Top with red pepper, onion, and cilantro. Continue to bake at 400 degrees until cheese is melted and crust is browned.

I don't always use shrimp in this recipe, chicken tastes great too.




Ingredients
* 1 pound linguine pasta
* 1/2 cup butter
* 2 cups heavy cream
* 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
* 1/3 cup pesto
* 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add linguine pasta, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente; drain.
2. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in cream, and season with pepper. Cook 6 to 8 minutes, stirring constantly.
3. Stir Parmesan cheese into cream sauce, stirring until thoroughly mixed. Blend in the pesto, and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until thickened.
4. Stir in the shrimp, and cook until they turn pink, about 5 minutes. Serve over the hot linguine.

Ingredients

* 4 cups cubed, cooked chicken meat
* 1 cup mayonnaise
* 1 teaspoon paprika
* 1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
* 1 cup chopped celery
* 2 green onions, chopped
* 1/2 cup minced green bell pepper
* 1 cup chopped pecans
* 1 teaspoon seasoning salt
* ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, mix together mayonnaise with paprika and seasoned salt. Blend in dried cranberries, celery, bell pepper, onion, and nuts. Add chopped chicken, and mix well. Season with black pepper to taste. Chill 1 hour.

Holiday Tossed Salad

This recipe is also from the 2008 Taste of Home Best Holiday Recipes magazine. I used almonds in place of walnuts, and red wine vinegar in the dressing because that's what I had on hand.


Holiday Tossed Salad

8 c. torn mixed salad greens
2 medium red apples, diced
1/2 c. crumbled blue cheese
1/3 c. dried cranberries
1/3 c. coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted
1/4 c. sliced green onions

2 Tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs. cranberry juice concentrate
1 Tbs. white wine vinegar
Dash salt and pepper

In a large salad bowl, combine the greens, apples, blue cheese, cranberries, walnuts and onions. In a small bowl, whisk the remaining ingredients. Drizzle over salad and toss gently to coat. Serve immediately.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

I found this recipe titled as "Crusty Mummy Fingers" for Halloween. I served them with Hannah's Blue Cheese Burgers. In the words of Rachael Ray, "Yum-O!"

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

2 lbs. sweet potatoes, peeled (about 2 large potatoes)
2 Tbs. water
2 egg whites
1 c. Italian style bread crumbs
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. ground red pepper (cayenne)
cooking spray

1. Heat oven to 450. Spray 2 large cookie sheets with cooking spray.
2. Cut potatoes into 1/2 x 1/2-inch strips. In shallow dish, mix water and egg whites with wire whisk or fork. In another shallow dish, mix bread crumbs, cheese, salt, pepper and red pepper. Working in batches, dip sweet potatoes into egg white mixture, roll in bread crumb mixture. Place potatoes in a single layer on cookie sheets. Spray potatoes with cooking spray about 10 seconds. (I forgot to spray mine and they turned out just fine.)
3. Bake 18-20 minutes, turning after 10 minutes, until crisp.

Orange Cranberry Bread

This recipe is from last year's Taste of Home Best Holiday Recipes magazine. I made this a few days ago and froze one loaf. It's still really moist even after freezing - I think the apple gives it a great texture.

Orange Cranberry Bread

2-3/4 c. flour
2/3 c. sugar
2/3 c. packed brown sugar
3-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 egg
1 c. milk
1/2 c. orange juice
3 Tbs. canola oil
2 to 3 tsp. grated orange peel
2 c. coarsely chopped fresh or frozen cranberries
1 large apple, peeled and chopped

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugars, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Whisk the egg, milk, orange juice, oil and orange peel; stir into dry ingredients just until blended. Fold in the cranberries and apple.

2. Pour into two greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

Wanda's Donuts

Making these donuts is a fall tradition around our house. We take them to our neighbors and use the rest to "BOO" people. They are so so yummy when they are warm. They just melt right in your mouth. They remind me of getting donuts for Halloween at LaRue and Worthy Beck's house. I never want to forget those fun days and so we make the donuts each year.

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons yeast

1/2 cup warm water

4 cups milk

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup shortening

2 teaspoons salt

1 cup mashed potatoes

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

5 small eggs

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 teaspoons vanilla

10 cups flour (more or less)

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add milk, sugar, shortening, potatoes and salt; mix well. Add remaining ingredients and flour a little at a time mixing well. Knead like a soft roll dough -- just enough to mix. Cover and raise until double. Roll dough out on a floured counter. Cut out into donuts. ( I use plastic cups and lids from spice jars.) Raise again 30 minutes. Fry in oil and dip in glaze frosting while hot.

*I usually make half the recipe in my mixer, but this year I did the full recipe all by hand in the biggest bowl I have. It was surprisingly easy.

Glaze Frosting:

powdered sugar

milk

vanilla

Mix ingredients together with a wire whisk until the glaze is the consistency you like. I like mine quite runny.

Pumpkin Waffles

Pumpkin Waffles

1 Tbs. vanilla
1 1/2 c. milk
3/4 c. butter or margarine, melted
1 c. pumpkin
4 eggs, divided
2 c. flour
1 Tbs. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
2 Tbs. baking powder
1 Tbs. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt

Mix vanilla, milk, butter, pumpkin, and egg yolks. In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients and then stir in pumpkin mixture. Beat egg whites until stiff. Fold into batter. Cook in waffle iron and serve with syrup.

I served these with cinnamon syrup, but the original recipe included a recipe for buttermilk syrup. I didn't make it because I didn't have buttermilk, but I'll include it here. Sounds interesting...

Buttermilk Syrup

1/4 c. butter
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. corn syrup
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla

Bring butter, buttermilk, sugar, and corn syrup to a boil. Remove from heat and add baking soda and vanilla. Let sit until foam goes down, stirring occasionally.