It’s getting to be that time of year, pumpkin spiced everything! Well, I think we actually may have just skipped right over that season actually, and we are now actually in the 40 something days until Christmas season…. but I do love making pumpkin bread. I love this recipe from Once Upon a Chef and the best part is that you can open the recipe and keep it in “cook mode”, which keeps your screen from going dark. Nothing worse than being elbow deep in mixing and having to swipe up your phone. I also love that this recipe makes two loaves, because I actually make one plain, and mix chocolate chips in the other one, because of course, my kids can never like the same things!

What is your favorite pumpkin recipe?

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Savory crackers aren’t really my thing. At snack time I am more likely to go for the sweet than the salty (or savory), but here we are.

Have you ever tasted something that you just can’t stop eating? Like, I meant to eat one or two but looked down and the whole sleeve of Girl Scouts Cookies were gone…nope, that’s never happened to me before either.

I found this great recipe from How Sweet Eats and have made it at least a dozen times. Every batch comes out better than the last. First you start out with Saltine crackers. But then, you dress them up with butter and brown sugar and all sorts of delicious spices. You end up with these smoky, delicious, buttery crackers that go with just about anything but taste amazing on their own.

These would be a great addition to any cheese plate, a nice garnish in your soup or even crushed up as a Mac and cheese topping. I can’t wait to try making these with the mini saltines!

Check out the recipe on How Sweet Eats here. Try the recipe out and let me know what you think!

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Lately I’ve been a home-body. I’ve been cooking up big batch meals so I don’t have to cook every night, and to be honest, we have been eating out a lot too – I’m just tired by the end of the day, aren’t you?

In my head, winter should be over – I mean, we have had the big snow, it has been a frozen tundra, and just recently I was able to see grass again. Isn’t February the longest month? It’s around this time when I get a little stir crazy and need a vacation. Hopefully all this snow we just got will melt on Tuesday when it’s 60 degrees out.

I’m all about quick and easy – so these cute little single serve Key lime pies have been pretty popular in my house these days.  They are sweet and tart, and just bring a little brightness to this winter. I like Key Lime pies because they are 3 ingredients and take no time at all to make. I use Nelly and Joe’s Key West Lime juice (I may have even picked it up at Bed Bath and Beyond with my 20% off coupon). Here’s the recipe, super easy:

14oz can of sweetened condensed milk

3 egg yolks (don’t use the whites)

1/2 cup of Key West lime juice

Directions: Mix all ingredients together until smooth. Pour filling into pre-made graham cracker pie shells. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before placing in refrigerating.

Viola! Done. Take out and top with whipped cream and sprinkle with a little lime zest and you have yourself one fancy looking, it looks like I spent all day in the kitchen, dessert.

Enjoy!

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I’ve had cranberries on the brain lately, so Leah and I got together and made some tasty Cranberry Corn muffins, adapted from Ina Garten’s Raspberry Corn Muffin recipe. So first you will need Leah’s cranberry sauce recipe. If this were just me making cranberry sauce, I’d do the water, sugar and cranberry recipe, but Leah is way more fancy than that. She swears the recipe is super simple, and to be honest, I just made a batch and it really is (except I didn’t have the port, or the cloves, or the orange zest at my house, but hey, minor details…) Also, disclosure that I didn’t use flavored sugar, I just used regular old white granulated sugar.

Next you’ll need the recipe from Ina for her corn muffins, which you can find here. For our cranberry corn muffins, just swap out Ina’s 3/4 cup of good raspberry preserves for Leah’s cranberry sauce.

Leah had some fancy cornmeal from Plymouth or something like that. I had to go out and buy some from the market since I’m making these for Thanksgiving this year (yup, I steal most of Leah’s good ideas!) We whipped up the muffins in no time, even with the little hands in the kitchen slowing us down a bit…

Pop those muffins in the oven for 30 minutes and then you get these! They look beautiful as is, but we took to filling them with the delicious cranberry sauce.

If you’re like me and don’t have an apple corer at home, you can just fill a ziplock bag with the preserves and push the tip into the top of each muffin. Verdict, they’re delicious. Leah sent me home with a few and I have to admit, I didn’t share (oops)!

What is your favorite dish at Thanksgiving?

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While Leah and I were in the kitchen making the risotto that was on the blog yesterday, we also made Thanksgiving croutons with Bell’s Seasoning. Does this fit into my every day lifestyle, not really, but Leah said it was so easy. I played along, and yes, it did end up being very easy (if you don’t have little kids running around – which I do). Maybe in 10 years I’ll have time to make these, until then, croutons from the bag it is (or maybe even no croutons at all)

So what do you need? Stale bread, Bell’s Seasoning and a little oil. THAT’S IT! Leah whipped up a really beautiful fall salad to go with our Bell’s Seasoning croutons, made with roasted delicata squash.

Cube up stale bread (4 cups). Pour 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil into a cast iron skilled and warm in pan over medium heat. Add in cubed bread and coat with oil from pan. Sprinkle bread with Bell’s Seasoning (to taste) and cook for 20 minutes. Let cool in pan and enjoy!

How beautiful does this fall salad look?

Disclaimer: I was sent a box of Bell’s Seasoning to make this recipe. All opinions are my own.

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I feel like the holidays are just sneaking up on me. I needed to start thinking about Thanksgiving like…. three months ago, and am just getting started, talk about cutting it close. Good thing I have Leah from Boston City Living. We got together and made some really simple holiday recipes – which I need these days because of the kiddos. We teamed up with Bell’s Seasoning, and made a delicious risotto. Really tasty, made in about 10 minutes, and is the perfect gluten free side that you need on your table.

Here’s the recipe:
INGREDIENTS
3 Tablespoons of olive oil
3 Tablespoons  butter, divided
1 medium  onion, diced
2 shallot or 1 small onion, minced
2 carrots, sliced
1 1⁄2cups  arborio rice or 1 1⁄2 cups  risotto rice
4 cups  chicken broth
1 -1 1⁄2cup fresh grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
2 TBSP of Bell’s Seasoning

In a presssure cooker, heat 3 Tbs Olive oil and 1 Tbs Butter.
Add shallot or onion and carrots. Saute until shallots or onions are translucent.
Add rice. Stir until rice is coated with oil.
Add Chicken broth and 2 Tbsp of Bell’s Seasoning.
Cover and cook under high pressure for 7 minutes.
Release pressure and add remaining 2 Tbsp of butter. Stir in Parmesan cheese and serve.

Disclaimer: I was sent a sample of Bell’s Seasoning to make this recipe. All opinions are my own.

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Are you breathing a sigh of relief that Passover is over? Have you been counting the days until you could throw out that cardboard matzo that was sitting on your counter? Well move over old fashioned matzo, there’s a new game in town. I paired up with the Matzo Project and put together some fun recipes to make you rethink matzo – and maybe even have it year round (gasp!!). What first caught my eye was the packaging: super cute with a grandmother on the front, asking, “Would it kill you to try something new?”. What kept my interest was the taste. Not like the cardboard matzo I know, more like a cracker, with FLAVOR!!  The Matzo Project makes salted and everything flavored matzo and then matzo chips (!!) in salted, everything and cinnamon sugar (whaaatttt?!). They’re vegan, nut free, dairy free and all natural. Oh, and they’re kosher, just not kosher for passover.

When I do anything recipe related, I pair up with Leah, my go-to gal in the kitchen. We decided to make a few fun things – first up, stuffed mushrooms. Totally familiar dish made better with The Matzo Project’s everything matzo chips.

This recipe is so simple, in fact there is no exact recipe (or maybe there is but you’ll have to ask Leah). De-stem mushrooms and place in baking dish. Sautee onions. Grate Parmesan cheese and chop up some fresh herbs (whatever kind you like). Grind up a bag of everything matzo chips and mix together with cheese, onions and herbs. Drizzle with olive oil. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. BAM!

I could tell you that we went all fancy with this next recipe, but we didn’t. Everyone loves a good dip – onion dip especially, but you don’t want to admit that you could eat it all in one sitting.

1 package of Lipton onion soup mix. 16oz of sour cream. Sauteed onions to make people think that it wasn’t made from a soup mix. Pair with The Matzo Project’s salted matzo crackers – because they can stand up to this sturdy dip.

Our take on French Onion Soup. Make it into a dip. You can use the above recipe and then add gruyere on top – broil it off in the oven until the cheese is nice and bubbly. With French Onion Soup you normally get that nice big slice of bread, but we opted for a lighter version, and paired it with some of the salted matzo.

I’ve been going to a lot of brunches lately, and one of the things that is pretty popular on the menu is a French Toast with corn flakes or frosted flakes. I love the crunch that the cereal adds, so we decided to do our own take on French Toast. I did an easy baked French Toast recipe with blueberries and then we finished it off with some cinnamon sugar matzo crackers on top. Here’s the recipe:

1 loaf of challah (I use OMG challah – it’s a nice consistency for the French Toast)

8 eggs

2 cups whole milk

1 1/2 cups of heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon on cinnamon

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

1 pint blueberries (or any berry of your choosing)

Directions:

Cube challah and add to baking dish. Set aside. Mix together milk, cream, eggs and spices. Pour mix over challah, add berries and cover. Refrigerate overnight. The next morning, bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. In a separate skillet, heat up butter and crunched up cinnamon sugar chips. Sautee until browned and add over cooked French Toast.

So we have finished our meal, make sure that you save room for dessert!

I don’t know about you, but ice cream, over the top ice cream, has been all over my Instagram feed. We decided to use the cinnamon sugar chips on our ice cream cones and see how it would turn out. Leah says, “let’s make ice cream cones with chocolate magic shell”. I’m like, “ok I’ll pick some up from the store”. Leah, “….ummmm, no…we’ll make it”. Here’s the recipe we used, super simple and we used Lindt chocolate – so you know it came out super tasty! We paired batch dark chocolate mexican chile and roasted almonds ice cream with our magic chocolate shell, candied nuts and crushed up cinnamon sugar matzo chips. The cinnamon from the chips paired well with the chocolate and spice!

And we ended the afternoon fun with hazelnut gelato, magic chocolate shell, chopped hazelnuts and cinnamon sugar matzo chips. I think we can consider this day a success!

Want to try out some of The Matzo Project products? Check out their website here. Are you in Boston? If you dare brave the crowds at Eataly, you can pick some up there!

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Passover starts today, and if you’re like me, you hear the word matzo (matzo/matzah) and you run in the other direction. So I collaborated with Leah, from Leah’s Life, on some new twists on an old standby. These “tartines” are so simple to make, even I could swing it (but instead I basically watched Leah make them and I snacked on the extras). Don’t celebrate Passover? You could easily make these recipes with crackers or toast as well.

First up, cantaloupe with feta cheese and basil. Feta cheese is one of my favorites, so this is something I would totally make at home. Now I just have to actually go to the market and figure out how to pick a fresh melon.

Everyone loves peanut butter and banana. Step it up to the next level and drizzle with a little honey for an afternoon snack for the kids (or maybe breakfast for you!).

I never would have thought about this one: a shredded apple and nut butter tartine. I think it’s that extra step of actually shredding the apple that I couldn’t see myself doing (I can barely see myself slicing an apple these days). Top off with a dash of cinnamon and it’s a sweet treat

How cute are these compartment trays?!? Leah’s are from Muji, but Chinet makes some as well that could be so cute for any variety of snacks!

For you sweets fans, spread some Nutella over top and sprinkle on some of your favorite candy toppings.

This almost makes you forget that there is matzo underneath! Almost…

Avocado toast is so popular these days, throw some slices on your matzo, drizzle with some good quality olive oil and top off with a sprinkle of sea salt!

This one probably takes the most effort, since you have to cook the asparagus, but even then, it’s pretty quick and simple. Cook asparagus. Spread matzo with feta cheese and top with some lemon zest. Add asparagus over top. This would be a great appetizer if you’re hosting a dinner, it looks like you spent a lot of time on these.

My new obsession is the Trader Joes, “everything but the bagel sesame seasoning blend”. Sure you could mix this together on your own, but you know you’re going to be at the Trader anyway, so mind as well save yourself some time and just let them do it for you!

You could spread the matzo with cream cheese and add the spice mix, which includes sesame seeds, sea salt flakes, dried minced garlic, dried minced onion, black sesame seeds and poppy seeds. So many uses for this spice mix, trust me, you’ll thank me later!

Feel like kicking that recipe up a notch? Throw on some smoked salmon. A little goes a long way.

Again, looks great plated – makes your guests think you’re fancy.

For a classic, melt some of your favorite cheese on your matzo and add a dash of your favorite herbs.

I saved the best for last, the banh mi. We made ours with chopped liver, smoked turkey breast, pickled carrots and jalapeño. Feel free to add things like picked daikon or cucumber as well.

What’s your go-to matzo recipe?

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When I mentioned to my friend Leah that I got a copy of the Boston Public Market Seasonal Cookbook and I was going to make a recipe from it for a blog post she responded with, “I’ll be right over”. Whether it is because I have little ones at home, the fact that I can’t cook all that well or that she just knows that I don’t know where the produce section is in the market, she’s a good friend to come to my rescue. But to be honest, there are recipes in the cookbook that even I could make, by myself no less! This one for “Decadent Brussels Sprouts” has 5 ingredients and takes about 10 minutes to make. Easy right?

So basically Leah came over and cooked and I watched (ok, I did the sausage and peeled the apples too) and ate the final product. So here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 lb of Brussels Sprouts

1 lb of sausage

2 large apples

1 small white onion

1 head of garlic

Instructions:

Finely chop Brussels sprouts, onion, apples and garlic. Sauté Brussels sprouts over medium heat in a slightly greased pan. After 2-3 minutes, add onion. After onion appears translucent, add apples garlic and sausage. Remove from heat once sausage is no longer pink.

We modified the recipe slightly. We cooked the sprouts, onions, apple and garlic in one pan and then cooked the sausage up separately – combining them after the sausage was fully cooked. We also added salt and pepper to the mix. The recipe turned out FANTASTIC. We ate it for lunch, two helpings (hey its veggies right?!?). It had all the right things going on: sweet fro the apples, salty from the sausage – I thought that if you wanted to kick it up a notch you could add some red pepper flake, and Leah thought it might be nice to add a little acid to it… next time!

Boston Public Market is a year round farmer’s market in Government Center. The cookbook showcases ingredients that you can find at the market, and is broken down by season, which I think is brilliant. The recipes range from the simple: salads, pestos, grilled cheese sandwiches and Brussels sprouts to things that are a little more complex like: kandy spice pumpkin pie, Shepherd’s Pie, Honey Glazed Hake with Roasted Local Parsnips and mulled darkened turkey. You can purchase a copy of the cookbook at the info desk at the Boston Public Market for $20.

Disclaimer: I was provided a complimentary copy of the Boston Public Market Seasonal Cookbook for a review. All opinions are my own.

For more information on the Boston Public Market, check out their website here.

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A couple of years ago I did a short post on NOLA’s salsa, and how much I really liked their product. So this time around, I wanted to do something a little different. Sure their salsa is great served with chips, but I wanted to see what else it could do. So I decided to hit the kitchen and do some cooking. I used their salsa fresca to make Mexican stuffed shells. I adapted the recipe from food.com, see the original recipe here. These were super easy to make and it was a hit with my family! Side note, I love the Taste of Mexico spice set from Penzey’s Spices, I use it all the time (it has the chili powder, chipotle and adobo seasoning I used in it) – now that it’s getting cooler, I’m looking forward to making some chili with it!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb ground chicken
  
• 1 tsp ancho chili powder
• 1/2 tsp red chipotle
• 1/2 tsp adobo seasoning
• 1 (4 ounce) package cream cheese
• 14 -16 large  pasta shells
• 1 cup  NOLA salsa fresca
• 1 cup taco sauce (NOT enchilada sauce)
• 1 cup  cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 cup  monterey jack cheese, shredded
• 3 green onions, chopped

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a frying pan cook ground chicken; add seasoning. Add cream cheese, cover and simmer until cheese is melted. Blend well. Set aside and cool completely.

While the ground chicken is cooking, cook the pasta shells according to directions; drain. Set shells out individually on baking sheet so that they don’t stick together.

Pour salsa on bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish. Stuff each shell with the chicken mixture placing shells in dish open side up. Cover shells with taco sauce. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, add shredded cheese and crushed tortilla chips; bake for 10-15 more minutes, with the foil removed. Top with green onions and serve with more salsa.

Now meatloaf isn’t very photogenic by nature…I wish you could smell the one I made when it came out of the oven, because it was heavenly. So even though we eat with our eyes, give this one a shot, it’s delicious. I used NOLA’s fire roasted corn and black bean salsa for this easy salsa meatloaf recipe. After making it, I think I would have added some additional corn to punch this up a notch. See the original recipe here.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 lbs  lean ground beef
• 1 cup plain dry bread crumb
• 1/2 tsp ancho chili powder
• 1/2 tsp red chipotle
• 1/2 tsp adobo seasoning
• 1 1⁄2 cups  water
• 1 cup  NOLA’s fire roasted corn and black bean salsa
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 egg

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 425°.

In a small bowl, mix the bread crumbs, water and salsa and set aside for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, add onions, garlic, beef, egg and when it’s ready, the water/breadcrumb mixture.

Using your clean hands, mix together.

Shape into a loaf shape in a large pan. (I actually used to smaller pans)

Bake for 60 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before slicing.

What is your favorite recipe you use salsa in?

Disclaimer: I was provided complimentary samples of NOLA’s salsas. All opinions are my own.

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