Pumpkin Pie Bars

Simply put, I am not a fan of pumpkin pie. Give me a slice of chocolate pie, or slide pecan pie my way any day; but pumpkin pie I just do not care for. I know it's a traditional part of the American version of Thankgiving. I know that a lot of you believe it's sacrilegious for me to admit I dislike it. But I have a feeling there are a lot of you out there nodding your head in agreement. That's where these bars come in. Add a bit of cream cheese, pecans and oatmeal and you have something so far beyond plain ol' pumpkin pie it's almost unbelievable. Thus, these bars are my offering to my family's Thanksgiving table this year.



I have so very much to be thankful for this year that it's hard to express my thankfulness! My family is healthy. I still have a job. My marriage is strong. I have a beautiful son who makes my heart smile. I have a roof over my head, dinner on the table, and chocolate in my candy dish! I have a large group of friends, and an extended family that means the world to me. And I have this blog - this little piece of the Internet - which has brought me so much joy and so many new friends. All of these things and more I am thankful for. And with that I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Pie Bars by Joy the Baker (I obviously left off the topping to at least create the traditional effect that pumpkin pie brings to the Thanksgiving table!)

Cauliflower Gratin

You're unlikely to find any recipes for roasted turkey on this blog for one reason: The Thanksgiving turkey? Eh. I can take it or leave it. In my eyes it's the side dishes that reign supreme on Thanksgiving. Stuffing! Rolls! Casseroles! Puddings! Potatoes! Those are the dishes that Thanksgiving is made of. And you can add one more to that list this year: Cauliflower Gratin. Oh, my.

This is not a dish that punches you in the face with flavor; it's creamy and smooth and it's meant to sit beside brighter foods. You start out the meal with cranberry sauce and you end with a rich, cheesy gratin. One wakes you up and the other puts you to sleep (all the better to move you toward the ultimate Thanksgiving afternoon - football and naptime.)

Cauliflower Gratin
Adapted from Ina Gartin
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Ingredients
1 large bag frozen cauliflower florets
Kosher salt for boiling water
4 tablespoons butter, divided
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups whole milk (heated in microwave)
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper (white is preferable)
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 cup freshly grated parmesan
1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cook the cauliflower florets in a large pot of boiling salted water for 5 to 6 minutes, until tender but still firm. Drain.
3. Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Add the flour, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high. Slowly pour the hot milk into the butter-flour mixture and stir until it comes to a boil. Boil for 1 minute, or until thickened. Remove from heat and add salt, pepper, nutmeg and half the parmesan.
4. Pour 1/3 of the sauce on the bottom of a shallow, greased baking dish. Place the drained cauliflower on top and then spread the rest of the sauce evenly over cauliflower. Combine the bread crumbs with the remaining cheese and sprinkle on top. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and drizzle over the gratin.
5. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the top is browned.

Jennifer's Broccoli Casserole

This casserole has probably been around for ages. It has the usual suspects: butter, mayo and canned cream soup. It's terribly fattening, but it's very popular, and while it does have quite a bit of chopped broccoli in it I wouldn't jot down the recipe and hand it over to your cardiovascular surgeon. I would, however, give it a place of honor on your Thanksgiving table because that's exactly where it belongs. I've made it for my family at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and the dish is always licked clean. I don't make this all the time for the obvious reasons, but it's definitely a homey comfort food that may lead you to sit down and think about your grandmother. It may also make you think about the gym, but this is a food blog afterall and we don't discuss exercise. We just discuss good food, and that's what this is!

Jennifer's Broccoli Casserole
(Jennifer was one of my college roommates and is still a dear friend.)
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Ingredients:
2 eggs, well-beaten
1 stick butter, softened (Just call me Paula Deen.)
1 cup mayo
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese
2 Tablespoons chopped white onion
2 packages frozen, chopped broccoli

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350*.
2. Cook and drain broccoli.
3. Mix all ingredients.
4. Pour into greased casserole dish.
5. Bake for 1 hour, or until top is brown and casserole is bubbly.

Butternut Squash Soup

One of the first things I do every fall is wait for the butternut squash to show up in the grocery store. Its arrival truly signals the beginning of the holiday season; it cues the comforting smells of cinnamon in my house; it means soup season is in full swing. And, oh, what a soup this is.

Brad took me to a great dinner last Valentine's Day, and our second course was a bowl of luscious, whipped butternut squash bisque. It was truly one of the best things I've ever eaten, and I've been dreaming about making it myself ever since. When my beloved squash showed up in the stores last month I knew it was time.

Every time I make soup I'm newly amazed at how simple, economical and fantastic it tastes. This butternut squash soup is no exception. If I was making it for company I'd top it with homemade croutons, spiced, toasted almond slices or perhaps a few dried apple slices and a dollop of creme fraiche. But it's also amazing in its simplest form, plain. It's as fluffy and smooth as it looks (thanks to a whiz in the blender), and it would be the perfect accompaniment to any Thanksgiving feast!

Classic Butternut Squash Soup
Adapted from: Whole Foods
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Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 medium butternut squash, cubed
About 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth (See note)
Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Directions
1. Heat olive oil in a large soup pot. Add carrot and onion. Cook until carrot has started to soften and onion turns translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add butternut squash. Stir to combine with vegetables. Stir in chicken broth and season with salt and pepper.
2. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until squash is fork-tender, about 30 minutes. Let the soup cool slightly and carefully puree in batches in a traditional blender.

Note: Original recipe calls for 4 to 6 cups of chicken broth. I wanted a thicker, creamier version so I used less. Feel free to make your soup as thick or thin as desired!

Macaroni and Cheese with Breadcrumbs

I grew up with a love for macaroni and cheese, but are there many kids in America who don't? It's one of the most marketed kid foods, I'd say, with that kind that comes in a box. You know, all those little rugrats with "the blues". I've never really understood how something like warm, gooey, creamy mac-n-cheese can give you the blues, but I guess it worked on some marketing test group. To me, however, a good bowl of this stuff can cure the blues. It can certainly help heal a broken heart; it can warm up a gray day; and it can bring a smile to the face of everybody who takes a bite - no matter their age!

My grandmother made great macaroni and cheese, but it was always treated as a side dish. This one, however, is more like a meal with its infusion of onions and its crunchy breadcrumb topping. In fact, we treat it like a meal quite often, and I've been known to add broccoli, chicken or a few different kinds of cheeses for a kick. This is a great recipe and I highly recommend it. I believe it was a Food Network find, but I can't be sure because I jotted it down on notebook paper years ago so I'll just have to send out a worldwide thanks.

Macaroni and Cheese with Breadcrumbs
Confabulation in the Kitchen
Makes six servings
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Ingredients
8 ounces macaroni
4 tablespoons butter, divided
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 small white onion, minced
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1.5 cup milk
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two-quart baking dish.
2. Cook pasta. Drain and set aside.
3. In a bowl, toss breadcrumbs with two tablespoons of melted butter. Set aside.
4. In a medium saucepan, melt remaining butter then stir in onions and cook until transluscent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper and mustard and cook about two minutes. Add milk, stirring constantly until mixture thickens. Remove pan from heat and stir in cheese.
5. Pour prepared macaroni into dish. Pour cheese mixture over top and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Bake about 20 minutes, or until gold and bubbly.

Apple Streusel Cake

My new book club met for the first time last Friday night. We appropriately read Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons, which is the story of a group of women who do, what else? They start a book club! Not only did everybody enjoy the book and the discussion they also enjoyed the refreshments. I wanted to serve something fall-ish, and I remembered that a friend and I were recently talking about the apple and cheddar pie conundrum. We call it such because to us it just seems ... odd. I know it's a popular pairing, but I have to admit I've never eaten apple pie with cheese in it. I do like to stretch my palate, however, so I decided to deconstruct the idea for our book club. I served a tray of pepper crackers with chunks of uber-sharp cheddar cheese (which was very popular - not a single morsel was left!) And I paired it with this gorgeous Apple Streusel Cake. Everything was well-received so I'm starting to think that an apple and cheddar pie is in my near future...

Apple Streusel Cake
Adapted from Creative Cook's Kitchen
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Streusel:
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup chopped apples
1 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup apple juice

Glaze (I didn't use this):
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons apple juice

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 9- or 10-inch tube pan.
2. Prepare streusel: In a medium bowl combine brown sugar, apples, pecans, flour and cinnamon. Stir in melted butter.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and baking soda.
4. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy on medium speed, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla.
5. Add flour to butter mixture, alternating with juice. Spoon half the batter into tube pan. Sprinkle half the streusel over batter. Spoon remaining batter over streusel, carefully spreading it to make an even layer. Swirl batter with a knife to make a marble pattern.
4. Bake 15 minutes. Remove cake from oven, and sprinkle top with remaining streusel. Return cake to oven, and bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean. (It took my cake about 20 minutes to get to this point, but yours may take up to 35. Watch carefully and don't let it overbake or the cake will be dry.) Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
5. Combine powdered sugar and apple juice. Mix well. Turn cake onto a serving plate; invert so streusel is on top. Drizzle glaze over cake and serve.

Cinnamon Supper Cake

I have a salty tooth, but Brad? Brad has teeth MADE of sugar that have to be treated with sugary foods ever so often so they don't fall out. Wait. It's supposed to be the other way around, isn't it? I wanted to make something he liked but not so much that he'd sit at the table and eat the ENTIRE thing, such as a bag of cookies. This is what I came up with - a tried and true recipe. This simple cake would be great garnished with your favorite fruit or sprinkled with powdered sugar and/or cinnamon, as the recipe suggests. You could probably add chocolate or nuts to the batter to fancy it up, but we prefer it in its natural state.

Cinnamon Supper Cake
Adapted from AllRecipes
Printer-friendly recipe

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1.5 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Grease and flour one 9-inch, round cake pan.
3. Sift flour, baking powder and salt then set aside.
4. Beat shortening and sugar until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Add egg and beat well, then stir in vanilla and milk. Stir in flour mixture, just until incorporated. Pour into prepared pan.
5. Bake 20 to 25 minutes. While cake is warm, spread with butter, sift with powdered sugar, and sprinkle with cinnamon.

* It takes 20 minutes in my oven, but I think mine leans toward the hot side of life.
** I use cinnamon sugar instead of powdered sugar.

Pumpkin Waffles

I don't have a lot of experience baking and cooking with pumpkin. I readily admit that I'm not a big fan of pumpkin pie, and when my co-workers make runs to Starbucks for pumpkin-spice lattes I politely decline. (I realize there isn't actually any pumpkin in those lattes, but I'm a hot-chocolate kind of girl.) I've had pumpkin cookies, but they're too cake-like for me. And pumpkin cheesecake is okay, but it's not my cup of tea.

These pumpkin waffles, however, are some of the best waffles I've ever eaten.



They're not overly pumpkinish, and since I left out the ginger they aren't too spice-laden, either. I think powdered ginger is one of the strongest spices out there, and I knew I wouldn't care for these waffles as much if I put it in the batter. At first I thought the ingredient list looked long, but these waffles turned out so wonderfully. They're soft on the inside and have a slight crunch on the outside. They have the perfect amount of chew, and they're not overly sweet. Next time I might add some crushed pecans to the batter, and perhaps I'll sprinkle the waffles with a teensy bit of powdered sugar at the end. Brad might disagree, but I hardly needed any syrup for my plate. And isn't that a clue that these are the best waffles ever? I think so!



Pumpkin Waffles by Smitten Kitchen