dark chocolate candy cane brownies | guest post on 'my baking addiction'

 

I am about bursting out of my skin right now with excitement. Partly due to these insanely addictive Dark Chocolate Candy Cane Brownies, and partly due to the fact that I am guest posting today over on My Baking Addiction. 

If you aren't familiar with Jamie or My Baking Addiction, I highly suggest you remedy that quickly. She's bursting with baking knowledge and photo skills. Seriously, her photos will make you drool. Trust me.

This whole thing started (for me at least) back in the summer. I was heavy into the prep/research phase of starting up Jelly Toast, and I read Jamie's Blogging 101 posts for some help. Turns out they were awesome and a great amount of help. That coupled with having loved her recipes and photos for some time, I felt compelled to email her after I started up Jelly Toast and say 'Thanks'. And keep in mind I was totally hoping I could write that email without seeming like her blogging groupie. Even though I felt like that a little bit.

She wrote me back a short time later, and it turns out that we are practically neighbors and live just a few miles away from each other. Small world, huh? Well, she invited me to go to grab a coffee-which I promptly spilled on the table, because, well, that's just who I am-and we started to chat. When she asked if I would be interested in guest posting, truth be told, I got pretty nervous. This is my first guest post. Ever. And it's on MBA, soooo yeah, I am was a bit nervous. Luckily for me-and my nervous klutzy ways-Jamie is so kind and down to earth, she instantly put me at ease.

After I calmed down, I set out to pick the perfect dessert to share over on My Baking Addiction and I have to say, I'm pretty pleased with my pick. I think you will be, too.

Head on over to MBA to see my post and the recipe for these incredibly decadent candy cane brownies. Enjoy!

thanksgiving leftover pizza

I can't tell you how good I feel to have finally shared with you my favorite bread.  It's because of this sharing that I can now share some pretty awesome pizza ideas with you.

I love the fact that by using this dough for pizza crust, means that I will be adding whole grains to my pizza. Which pretty much makes pizza a health food. Win, win.

This past Summer was the 'season of pizzas' in our house. I would throw anything in the fridge onto a pizza and call it dinner. In full disclosure, some toppings were better than others. I'm not going to point fingers {lettuce} but some things just don't belong on a pizza. I know that now.

My latest experiment with pizza toppings came about because...well, Thanksgiving was over and I still had a fridge full of leftovers. But more importantly, I had my bucket of dough.

Dough + leftovers = a pretty tasty pizza.

 

Here's what I did:

I started with 1/2 lb of dough, formed a ball and rolled it out with a rolling pin fairly thin.

Then I topped it with cranberry relish, mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey and a bit of goat cheese. 

 

I then slid it onto my preheated pizza stone (550 degrees) placed low in my oven, and baked it for about 10 minutes.

my favorite bread

I can't hold it in any longer. I have to share. This is my favorite bread.

It really truly is. I have come to think of this bread as 'my bread' but in reality it is the brain child of the two baking geniuses behind the book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, Mark Luinenburg and Zoe Francois.  If you haven't heard of or come across their books/blog, then please, pretty please, allow me to tell you about them. They (and their bread) are amazing.

My whole 'bread baking obsession' started back in the Spring. I had the itch to become more in charge of the main food items that my family ate everyday. I was noticing we were buying a lot of bread. A lot, a lot. And while I always tried to pick healthy options, there was a part of me that yearned to be that person who baked their family's bread. Real bread.

I began searching around the library and online and had a great talk with the super nice librarian at my local branch. She told me about these books by Mark and Zoe, the first book being Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I checked it out of the library and instantly fell in love. But being the wannabe health nut that I am, I quickly picked up their Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day and really began to see this as my bread baking answer. Simple and healthy ingredients coupled with a fairly fool proof method. Perfect for me. 

pumpkin gingerbread waffles

I told myself that I wouldn't throw any more recipes out there this week, but this one snuck up on me and I just couldn't help myself. Please forgive me. 

Now, I don't think I have discussed here in the past my feelings about foods that are from scratch vs. from a mix vs. store bought. Prepare yourself for my un-mind-blowing point of view on this topic: I like them all. Seriously. Do I get excited and unnecessarily proud of myself when I bake a loaf of bread or a batch of cupcakes from scratch? Yes. I'm just a self-supporting person that way. Do I feel guilty when I buy a loaf of bread from the store? No, I do not. Do I get down on myself when I make pancakes, waffles or even cookies from a mix? Nope. I really don't. One of my favorite cookies of all time is made from a cake mix and I love that about them.

In my mind, there are times and occasions that call for all of these different styles of cooking and preparing food. In my day-to-day life, I try to make a few things from scratch every week and supplement with store bought items. Around holiday time, it's pretty much the same. For the big meals, I cook my little butt off making the most delicious 'from scratch' dishes my little hands can possible manage. But for other meals, I take the help where I can get it. 

my ultimate thanksgiving round-up + my plans for the leftovers

It's Monday Madness! Actually, I am fairly positive no one is calling it that. But needless to say, it is the Monday before Thanksgiving and there may be some of us (including yours truly) who still haven't quite nailed down what dish they are bringing to the big gathering on Thursday. So, I thought today I would share with you a round-up of my Thanksgiving recipes, and then also share with you some über creative Thanksgiving Leftover ideas that I found searching around the web-er-net. Without further ado:

balsamic glazed brussels sprouts with bacon + onion | my ultimate thanksgiving

I'm getting a little choked up over here. This is the last dish in 'My Ultimate Thanksgiving' menu, and I am a bit sad to see it come to an end. Don't worry, it's not unusual for me to get a little weepy at the end of a good meal. It's always a sad thing to see the last slice of pie or bite of cranberry sauce disappear. On second though, that doesn't sound like something a well adjusted person would get upset over. I guess it's a good thing that I've never claimed to be a well adjusted person. 

Allow me to direct your attention away from my uncontrolled food emotions and onto these sweet little sprouts. Yes, I said sweet. And they are. Especially after they are drizzled in an incredibly sweet, aged balsamic vinegar.

 

A couple of weeks ago, my parents {being awesome as they are} showed up on my doorstep bearing an unexpected yet intriguing gift. A sample set of olive oils and balsamic vinegars from Bumble Olive Oil Company.

mini pumpkin goat cheese cheesecakes | my ultimate thanksgiving

Yes, I know. I have recently made a mini goat cheese cheesecake recipe and this is indeed one more. I can't help myself. There is something about the complex and unexpected tang of goat cheese in a cheesecake that fascinates me. I promise this will be the last one. At least this month week.

 I am not the only one in my house that has an obsession with goat cheese. The other morning my sister and I went out with our friend Michelle for a little breakfast date and I ordered the Baby a bagel and cream cheese. She looked at the cream cheese, took a bite and said, 'mmm, it tastes kind of like goat cheese'. Yes, my three-year-old loves goat cheese. I love that about her.

cranberry apple oatmeal cookies

I am interrupting my regularly scheduled Thanksgiving dishes to bring you these cranberry apple oatmeal cookies. I couldn't wait any longer. And because they are inspired by my cranberry relish, they're technically a Thanksgiving food. Trust me.

I have a love of soft oatmeal cookies and lately I couldn't get the idea of making a cran-apple oatmeal cookie out of my head. My first thought when brainstorming these little beauties was to use dried cranberries. They are like the raisin-y version of cranberries, right?

I am confident that dried cranberries would have worked, but for some reason at the last minute, I changed my mind and decided to use fresh cranberries instead. Using fresh cranberries would undoubtedly turn these into mini dessert versions of my cranberry relish. Perfect.

roasted garlic mashed potatoes | my ultimate thanksgiving

Roasted garlic. Butter. Cream. Potatoes. Otherwise known as the fourth dish in 'My Ultimate Thanksgiving' menu (here are the first, second and third)  Let me introduce you, because trust me, you will want to become friends with these potatoes.

I used to have a weird thing with homemade mashed potatoes. I didn't really like them. I know, I know. Let me double back for a minute. This was many moons ago, and I had only ever made them once or twice. And they always turned out watery, yet oddly dry at the same time. How can something be both watery and dry? I couldn't wrap my head around their unusual texture. It turns out, in my attempt to keep things 'light' I was missing the crucial elements that make mashed potatoes smooth, creamy and fluffy: butter and cream. Correction: lots of butter and lots of cream. Or at least a lot more than I had been willing to use in the past.

One year for Thanksgiving, I was assigned/picked to bring mashed potatoes to the family feast. Instead of shying away, I decided to find a recipe that was going to be fool proof, then make it and not really tell people exactly how much butter and cream were actually floating around in their potatoes.

I found this intriguing, but a bit complicated, recipe for roasted garlic mashed potatoes from Michael Chiarello. His recipe called for 2lbs of potatoes, 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream, and 3 sticks of butter. I was a bit shocked at first. Holy smokes, 3 sticks of butter for 2 lbs of potatoes? Wow. Well, they were bound to taste better than my previous attempts, so set off to make these buttery spuds.

my favorite stuffing: sausage filling | my ultimate thanksgiving

The third dish in 'My Ultimate Thanksgiving' menu is one that has become very near and dear to my heart: Sausage Bread Filling. Or sausage filling for short. If you missed the first two dishes in my menu they were Bacon and Herb Roasted Turkey Breast and Cranberry Relish.

There is a little bit of back story to this sausage filling recipe. It was given to me for our first 'Thanksgiving as married people' by my super sweet Mother-in-Law - at the insistence request of my husband. You see, while were were dating, most years he went home to see his family for Thanksgiving (they are all from Deleware/Pennsylvania). So our first Thanksgiving being married, was kind of our first Thanksgiving. Period.

We were going to go over to my parent's house and while he and my family adore each other, I knew this Thanksgiving would be a change for him. I wanted to have a dish there that was traditional from his family. It was very Pilgrim-y of me.

His mom gave me this recipe for her Sausage Bread Filling, complete with a sweet little note on the back, which I still have. I guard it with my life and pull it out every year to double check the recipe. Even though I could make this in my sleep by now, I wouldn't dare get overly confident and not consult the recipe card, just to wind up buying the wrong type of bread crumbs (not that that ever happened to me before or anything). There are few recipes that I follow exactly as written, but this is one of them. We take our sausage filling seriously around here, y'all.

cranberry relish | my ultimate thanksgiving

Cranberry Relish: the first player in the supporting cast of 'My Ultimate Thanksgiving' menu. (Psst...If you missed my Bacon and Herb Roasted Turkey Breast you can find it here)

I am well aware that many people seem to have very specific ideas of what their cranberry sauce/relish/compote needs to be in order to fullfill it's proper role at the Thanksgiving table. Be it fresh, cooked or can-shaped, I can't imagine Thanksgiving without the presence of cranberry. 

Growing up, I always remember having the obligatory, jiggly can-shaped phenomenon sitting on the Thanksgiving table. And to be honest I loved the stuff. Carve me a slice of cranberry, please!

Somewhere along the way, my Grandma started making a homemade cranberry relish. And in full disclosure, she may have been making it all along, but my child-eyes were always so drawn to the cylinder of wonder that I was unlikely to notice anything else. It wasn't until I was a bit older that I remember tasting my Grandma's cranberry relish and my opinion on what cranberry could be, changed dramatically.

When planning My Ultimate Thanksgiving Menu, this was a must have.

bacon + herb roasted turkey breast | my ultimate thanksgiving

It begins! All of the menu planning and mulling over recipes for the big Thanksgiving celebration is here. I love every second of it. Will I go with the traditional family fixings or try something a bit more offbeat, like quinoa and fig stuffing? By the way, if you've ever tried that, please let me know if it's good because I'm intrigued.

Every year in our family, we get together at my folks' house for a big Thanksgiving Day celebration. My mom and dad usually take care of the turkey (sometimes two, even) and while there are several recipes they use and rotate between, they always keep it fresh, interesting and delicious. Sometimes a cranberry glazed turkey and sometimes a fried turkey *sigh*. I love me some fried turkey.

These big get-togethers are great and it's a priceless opportunity to visit with my family, relax, and basically gorge ourselves on the scrumptious fair, but the problem is this: not having the large amounts of leftovers to take home, in which to live off of the rest of the weekend. For me, it's not Thanksgiving unless I am eating turkey, stuffing, cranberry and sweet potatoes in some form or another until the beginning of the following week.