Cranberry Orange Bundt Cake

We normally resort to the family recipe for a Cinnamon Sour Cream Cake when in need of a breakfast sweet, but I wanted to try something different for our upstate trip this past weekend. (Don't go on a search for the Cinnamon Sour Cream Cake recipe...I always forget to photograph it...I'll add it to my list of things to do!) I ran across this recipe, and it sounded like the perfect blend of tart and sweet for breakfast. It was a hit. It's definitely not super sweet, but we really liked the flavor.

Ingredients

• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups fresh cranberries, chopped
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. finely shredded orange peel

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan; set aside. In bowl stir together flour, oats, baking powder, soda, and salt.

2. In large mixing bowl beat butter with electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add the 1 cup sugar; beat until well combined. Add eggs; beat until well combined. Alternately add flour mixture and milk, beating on low speed after each addition until combined.

3. Toss cranberries with 2 tablespoons sugar; fold into batter with orange peel. Spoon batter into prepared pan; spread evenly.

4. Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool on rack. Prepare Orange Glaze; spoon over cooled cake. Let stand until glaze is set. Makes 12 servings.

Orange Glaze:In small bowl combine 1 cup powdered sugar and 1/2 teaspoon finely shredded orange peel. Add 2 to 3 teaspoons orange juice to make drizzling consistency.

Pioneer Woman's French Onion Soup

I wanted to make something new this week, and Lindsay, my official guinea pig, told me I just haaaaaaad to try PW's French Onion Soup. Now, I'm a huge fan of FOS, and PW hasn't done me wrong yet, so it only seemed appropriate to give it a go. I'll warn you the same as Lindsay did- this is not a quick recipe. It takes about 2 hours, only about 30 minutes of hands-on time, but just be warned.

Now that I have appropriately warned you about the time, let me warn you on one other thing. You are probably going to eat way more of this than you need. It is some delicious warmness, and you won't want to put your spoon down. See those three ramekins up there in that picture? I did not make this for Carl, Gibson and me. It was just me.

Alright...now that you are really warned, go buy these ingredients:

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
4 large or 6 small/medium yellow onions, halved root to tip and sliced thin
1 generous cup dry white wine
4 cups low sodium chicken broth
4 cups beef broth
2 cloves minced garlic
Worcestershire Sauce
Several thick slices french bread or baguette
5 to 7 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (Swiss, Asiago, Mozzarella, or Romano works, too)

Now do this:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Melt butter in a heavy soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add onions and cook, covered, for 20 minutes.
Place soup pot into the oven with the lid slightly ajar to ensure the onions will brown.
Allow onions to cook in the oven for 1 hour, stirring at least once during the cooking process so onions won’t stick and burn.
Remove pot from pan and place over medium heat. Stir pan, scraping all the brown, flavorful bits.
Turn off heat and pour in wine. Turn heat back to medium.
Cook wine for five minutes, allowing it to reduce.
Add broths and minced garlic and reduce heat to low.
Simmer for 30 to 45 minutes.
Butter one side of the bread slices and broil over low heat, allowing bread to brown and become crispy.

When soup is ready, ladle into bowl or ramekin. Place crispy bread on top, then sprinkle generously with grated cheese. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Serve immediately.

Note: I cut the recipe in half. It would fill about 6 small ramekins. I made half up tonight and will probably have the leftovers tomorrow. I only did the bread and cheese portion for the 3 ramekins I made tonight. ENJOY!

Super Simple & Delicious Sugar Cookies

This is Carl's aunt's recipe, and I love it! It's so simple yet so good. If you like your sugar cookies crispy, just roll the dough thin. If you like them squishy, leave it thicker. So versatile. I love it! I picked up pumpkin and leaf cookie cutters this year, and was pretty anxious to try them out. We are going to my brother's house later today, so these will be perfect to bring along!

Cookies:
1 cup salted butter (2 sticks)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbls milk
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder

Cream butter and sugar. Add the rest of the ingredients. Chill at least 10 minutes. Roll out, cut and bake. the thinner, the crispier. Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes.

Frosting:
2 Tbls salted butter
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanila
3 Tbls milk

Blend margarine and sugar. Add vanilla and milk. Beat until smooth. Add food coloring if desired.

Yields: Approx 20 cookies depending on size of cutter

See? SIMPLE! Happy Fall!

Slow Cooker Oriental Beef & Noodles

Carl needed an early dinner, and I had spotted this recipe on Cooking This and That last week. I knew it was the perfect time to try it since it would be ready right when I got home from work. It smelled divine all day long, and tasted just as good! It was really easy and really flavorful. We'll definitely make this again. Oh and it was especially nice since the temp didn't even reach 60 today. A nice warm you up meal!

Oriental Beef and Noodles
adapted from Cook Once, Eat Twice Slow Cooker Recipes
Makes 4-6 servings

1 (16 ounce) package frozen stir fry vegetables
2 - 2 1/2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1" cubes
1 (12 ounce) bottle stir-fry sauce, any flavor (I used Kikkoman Stir Fry Sauce)
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 (3 ounce) packages ramen noodles, broken
1/4 cup green onions, chopped

Coat a 4 quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Place frozen vegetables in the bottom and top with stew meat. In a medium bowl, stir together stir-fry sauce, water, and red pepper. Pour over stew meat and vegetables in cooker.

Cover and cook on low for 9-10 hours or on high for 4 1/2-5 hours (I recommend low, it will help to break the meat down more).

At the end of cooking time, discard spice packets from ramen noodles. Stir noodles and green onions into meat mixture. Cover and let stand 10 minutes more. Stir before serving. This can be kept on warm for 1-2 hours.

*After I added the noodles, I added another cup of water to cut down on the sauce. I think it needed it, but it just depends how thick and strong you want it to be.

German Coleslaw

My dear friend Monica invited us to her Oktoberfest party this weekend. We were invited to bring our favorite Oktober Brew and enjoy in a feast, but I didn't want to go empty handed food wise. I asked what I could bring and we came to the conclusion of German Coleslaw. Her spread was amazing, and the party was fabulous!

As for the German Slaw, it was a big hit. It had a perfect combination of flavors, and it was REALLY easy. It was a great break from a typical creamy coleslaw. It will definitely make my list of party sides.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 medium head cabbage, finely shredded (I used half green and half purple)
  
• 3 green onions, sliced
• 3/4 cup sugar (I used 1/2 c)
  
• 3/4 cup vinegar (I used 1/2 c)
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons celery seed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil (I used 1/2 c)

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, combine cabbage and onions. In a saucepan, mix sugar, vinegar, celery seed and salt; bring to a boil. Add oil; return to boiling and cook until sugar dissolves. Pour over cabbage; toss gently. Chill.

Apple Cherry Crisp

I wanted to make something new for dessert on Sunday, and like I said, Everyday Food had tons of ideas! This is actually an apple cranberry crisp, but apparently you can't get fresh or frozen cranberries right now...anywhere! So, I turned it into apple cherry crisp. I assume it was just as good if not better. I'd highly recommend this!

Ingredients

• 2.5-3 lbs Braeburn or Gala apples, peeled, cored and diced into 1/2 inch dice (I just used my apple, corer, peeler, slicer and then cut the sections into sixths)
  
• 1 pound fresh cranberries, rinsed well (I used frozen cherries)
  
• 1 cup roughly chopped walnuts (I omitted)
  
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  
• 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
  
• 2 teaspoons grated orange zest
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Vanilla ice cream as accompaniment

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. But a 9x13 inch baking dish.

In a large bowl, combine the apples, cranberries, walnuts, sugar, orange juice, orange zest, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg, and toss well to combine.

In a separate bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar, flour, remaining 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg. Blend the butter into the dry ingredients using your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Pour the fruit mixture into the dish. Sprinkle the crumb mixture over the top and bake for 15 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking until bubbly and the apples are tender, 35 to 40 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let rest 10 minutes before serving with vanilla ice cream on top.

Baked Chicken with Onions, Garlic & Thyme

This month's Everyday Food is chock full of great recipes! This one seemed perfect for a Sunday dinner. So, we invited the in-laws over, and enjoyed a nice Sunday chicken dinner.

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken (cut into 8 pieces)- I used 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 pound new white potatoes, cut in quarters
• 1 large red onion, cut into eighths
• 1 head garlic cloves, separated and left unpeeled
• 6 sprigs thyme
• 1 lemon, quartered
• 1/4 c evoo
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• coarse salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Arrange chicken, potatoes, onion, garlic, thyme and lemon in a 12x16 inch roasting pan. Whisk together oil and vinegar and drizzle over chicken and vegetables. Toss to combine and season with salt and pepper. Turn chicken skin side up. Roast until chicken is browned and cooked through, about 50 minutes.

*If you are going to use boneless, skinless chicken like me, I'd suggest doubling the vinegar and oil and start checking it at 40 minutes instead of 50.