Apple Ring Pancakes

I recently saw a brilliant recipe for apple ring pancakes made by Carla Hall from Top Chef. This idea is simply genius - and simply simple too!

You can find her recipe here. I actually used one of Martha's basic pancake recipe's instead. Then I added a smidgen of cinnamon and nutmeg. You know what a smidgen is right?

Peel and slice your apples.

I love the star shape in the center of apples when you slice them.

I didn't have an apple corer, and I thought it would be cute to use a little heart shape cookie cutter to cut out the core. It didn't matter, you couldn't tell what shape it was after I dipped them in the batter. Anyways, just take your apple slice and dip them in your batter and cook them just like you would a regular pancake.

Top it all off with some delicious maple syrup, and breakfast is served.

So good. So clever. So easy.

Such a great use for using those fall apples you probably have sitting around.

That's it, enjoy your weekend!

Pumpkin (pie) wontons

Have you ever found a recipe that just sounds so good and so interesting you can't wait to try it? I have. Actually I've been wanting to try this one out since mid October, and just barely got around to making it now.

The worst thing about it - after all my excitement and waiting, I DIDN'T love it! I'm sharing it anyways, because after a few little tweaks, it came out great.

Adapted from the Taste of Home Magazine

Original recipe found here

Here is how I made it, plus my changes.

1 cup pumpkin pie puree

1/4 cup ricotta cheese (or cream cheese would be great)

3-4 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon pie spice

wonton wrappers (I used about 20)

***just an after-thought, a little dash of vanilla would have been really good to add***

Start off with a cup of pumpkin puree (canned or homemade), 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese, and one teaspoon salt, (this is the beginning from the original recipe). I think the goal for the original recipe was to be a sweet and savory sort of snack. The savory from the filling, and the sweet from the sauce. It didn't quite cut it for me, so here I added 4 tablespoons of brown sugar and 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice. My goal being - pumpkin pie, in a wonton.

Mix together.

Take out one of your wonton wrappers. Keep the other wrappers covered with a damp paper towel so they don't dry out.

Place a spoonful of your mixture onto your wonton wrapper as shown.

Take a brush (or your finger, cleaned please) and wet all around the outer edges of your wrapper.

Take one corner and fold into center, followed by the opposite corner.

Do the same thing with the other two corners so you have a nice little package. Make sure you press down on the seams so it's sealed tightly.

Place in some hot vegetable oil to quickly fry up. About a minute on each side until they get golden, but not real browned.

Set on a paper towel lined plate to cool.

Now onto the dipping sauce. THIS WAS AMAZING.

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup apricot preserves

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1-2 tablespoons water (for thinning)

The original recipe called for sour cream which I didn't have, nor did I think sounded appetizing, so I omitted it. This was SO GOOD. It would be fantastic drizzled over a spice cake. And I'm putting that on the top of my what-to-bake-next list.

This whole pumpkin-pie wonton thing came out of no where. I would have loved to have had it with a little bit of whipped cream. But of course, this being an unexpected turn of events I didn't have any on and. Next time perhaps...

ghosts and jack-o-lanterns

Start off with washed and dried pears and apples. Any type you choose.

Melt a bag of white chocolate chips and stir until smooth.

Dip pear and coat using a spoon or spatula if needed until completely covered.

Place on wax paper and put in fridge to harden.

Take remaining melted white chocolate and mix in a couple drops of yellow and a couple drops of red food coloring.

Yellow + Red = Orange. ;)

Take apple and dip into orange chocolate.

**I should have re-melted my chocolate a little bit before dipping my apple because the chocolate had started to solidify and didn't give me that smooth look. My bad. Luckily, these are for CalJ - and I assure you, he won't/didn't mind one bit. Ha!

Place about a half cup of milk or semi-sweet chocolate in bowl and melt.

Place in bag and snip off a tiny bit off of one corner of the bag.

Slowly and gently squeeze out chocolate to make your ghost and jack-o-lantern faces.

OOOOoooooOOoooooo. I made these while CalJ was in school and he was quite pleased with his little treat when he got home.

I can't remember when, but I originally got this idea from a Martha Stewart Living mag a few years back. Oh how I love her.

Green Chile Stew

September to most people means apple picking, leaves changing, cooler weather, and pumpkins. To New Mexicans it means all that, plus GREEN CHILE! To describe the smell of Green Chile roasting is just something that cannot be done. It's simply wonderful.

My friend Kim (New Mexican in heart, Californian in body) wanted to know how I made green chile stew. (And since she's one of maybe five people that actually read my blog, her wish was my command. lol). There are hundreds of recipes out there for green chile stew. This is my version.

Ingredients:

1lb. pork butt or beef sirloin (you could even use chicken or ground beef too)

1 onion, diced (i use red)

1 clove garlic, minced

6 cups chicken broth

4 average size russet potatoes

6 green chiles, roasted, peeled, and chopped (or more or less if desired)

1/2 tsp cumin

1 can tomatoes and green chile combo

salt to taste

Start by cutting your desired meat. I like to cut small pieces like so.

Take the meat and place in a bag with a Tablespoon or so of flour. Shake bag around until all the meat is coated.

Heat olive oil in a pot and add meat. Cook until browned, and remove from pot.

Chop onion and garlic and add to pot.

Cook onion for a few minutes until translucent and just starting to brown.

Wash, peel, and cut potatoes.

Add potatoes to the pot with onion and garlic. Add meat (including any juices).

Add all of the broth, cumin, and salt. I added a good amount of salt because of all the potatoes. But season to your taste and liking.

Add green chile and stir. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook on low for 1 hour, or until potatoes are tender.

Add canned tomatoes to mixture during the last 5 minutes of cooking.

Grab a tortilla and stuff your face. So good. So very, very good.

Now, I've had green chile stew with tomatoes and without. With cumin and without. They're all good in their own way. This is how I make mine. It's a good overall base on how to make it. But play around with what works for you. As long as you have some kind of meat, potatoes, broth, and GREEN CHILE. You're gonna have a delicious meal that's perfect for fall and all winter long.

Spring cupcakes

Here are some cute little spring cupcakes that are just soooooo delicious!






April Fool's!!!

It's really meatloaf.....with mashed potato frosting.....heehee!

The idea came from family fun which is a great website that has tons of fun kid ideas. You can get the recipe here.

I'm usually not a huge fan of meatloaf, but baked in muffin tins it's much better then just one big giant lump of meat. I didn't follow the actual recipe, I used a Martha Stewart one instead. But i did color the potatoes like they did and decorated them.

And for dessert......mashed potatoes and gravy!


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