Warm Cinnamon Pineapple Dessert

Warm Cinnamon Pineapple Dessert

One of our favorite places to visit is the beach.  We love the beach.  By "we" I mean, my son and me. My Husband goes with us because he knows how much we love it. This past summer, our neighbor's offered us the use of their Condo.  Of course we couldn't pass it by, so we took an unplanned vacation to the Beach.  As always we had so much fun.  We were in walking distance to several Pancake Houses, and we could see the oceanfront from the balcony. We were also very close to many of the attractions.  It was a wonderful get away.  We visited with some friends who live there, and we went out to eat, a lot.  

I have heard of Brazilian Steakhouses, but never been to one.  I decided to surprise my family with a trip to Brazil, via the Rioz Brazilian Steakhouse.  Now, I'm not trying to "plug" the steakhouse, but feel it necessary to call them by name, because I am about to share this recipe that I got from the waiter, or Gaucho, in the restaurant.  It's so important that we give proper credit where credit is due. 

If you have never been to a Brazilian Steakhouse, and you love meat, all meat, and you have dreams of being surrounded by a multitude of deliciously seasoned, and cooked meats, then you must go to a Brazilian Steakhouse.  We walked in and were immediately greeted by a friendly hostess, who checked our reservation and led us to our table.  We walked past a large buffet covered in every different type of vegetable, mixed salads, fruit, pasta, breads, seafood, cheeses, among other delicacies nestled among the ice, or steaming above a friendly warmer.   I was beginning to think, we'd be there all night.  

Once seated at our table, the young lady gave us an explanation of what to expect, and our role.  We could help ourselves to the endless Buffet, upon returning to our table there will be fried bananas, cheese bread, polenta and mashed potatoes.  We were each given a two sided card, one side was red, the other green.  The lovely Hostess instructed us, at our discretion, turn the card to the green side to begin the parade of the main courses.  When we have had enough, turn to red, repeat if we so choose.  We followed her direction, and upon returning to our table, found it just as she described.  Each of us turned our cards to green.  To say we were overwhelmed with the choices of meat presented to us would be a gross understatement.  Perfectly cooked meats, lined up neatly on warm  skewers, were in turn delivered to us.  It was a dance of such pleasure, we could not resist.  Very soon, our plates were piled high with perfect portions of mouth watering selections.  Each of us flipped the cards to red, the dance was over and we could enjoy our feast without interruption.  

Delighted by the atmosphere, we were soon ready to begin another wave of friendly Gaucho's.  The ballet began anew.  As a Gaucho came near, he had a type of meat I could not identify on his skewer. It looked, as he got closer, not like meat at all, but pineapple.   I couldn't be sure, as it was golden brown, crusted in a ruddy glaze.  What could this be?  It was, indeed, pineapple. Grilled to perfection on the rotisserie, covered in cinnamon sugar and presented as though it were a golden treasure.  We soon found out that is precisely what it is.  Golden treasure.  We sent our waitress to find him, three times.  

This has now become one of our favorite treats.  We eat thick, warm slices of cinnamon pineapple with frozen whipped topping.  Sometimes we eat the delectable pineapple all on it's own.  If you have never tried a warm, baked pineapple you don't know what you are missing.  The baking process brings out the juices which intermingle with the cinnamon sugar and create a mouth watering crust, full of sweet juicy pineapple flavor.

I am going to share with you, the simplicity that is the Grilled pineapple.  Whether you cut your own pineapple, or purchase it already cut and cored, it doesn't matter.  It will work either way. 

Cut the skin off the pineapple, no need to core it.  

Don't have a rotisserie? No problem, just elevate with a wire rack. 

Roll in Cinnamon Sugar, make sure to coat all sides thoroughly.

Place in oven, full recipe is shown below.  

 Warm Cinnamon Pineapple Dessert

1 Whole organic Pineapple

1 Cup organic sugar

2 Tablespoon ground Ceylon Cinnamon

• Remove the skin from the pineapple, careful to cut the sharp "eyes" out as well.  
• No need to core the pineapple, unless you want to shorten the baking time. 
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees
• Place a wire rack on a cookie sheet
• Mix the cinnamon into the sugar, use as much or as little of the sugar  and cinnamon as you like
• Carefully cover the pineapple in the cinnamon sugar by rolling and sprinkling it all over
• Place the coated pineapple on the wire rack and place in the oven, on the middle rack 
• Bake for 45 minutes until the entire pineapple has been warmed through and the cinnamon sugar is a mahogany color 
• Careful not to burn the sugar mixture
• Check at 30 minutes just to be safe
• Remove from oven and let cool a little
• Cut into thick slices, place on a plate 
• Serve as is or with ice cream or frozen whipped topping.  

Old Fashioned Blackberry Cobbler Recipe

The field behind our house is full of wild blackberry bushes.  The brambles rise up to the light, full of red berries and the ripened blackberries.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.  We have 12 acres, and nearly every where you look there are blackberry bushes.  Some are surrounded by poison ivy, some right along the trails that are cut through the thick underbrush, and some just waving in the breeze among the high grass.  You'd think we would have so many blackberries, we'd be sick of them.  Maybe we could pick so many of them we could sell them at the Farmers Market.  You'd think and you'd be wrong.  Those blackberries are very sought after, and not just by us, but by the animals that live in the field.  We are nestled at the base of a mountain, altitude about 2400 feet above sea level.  

While we do not live IN the mountain, we have a plethora of wild animals to compete with for the blackberries.  One of which is a fat, black bear.  That's right, a bear.  He lives in the field behind our house, periodically breaking into our trash cans to have a feast. Last year were able to only pick one small bowl of blackberries before  he grumped at us, causing us to beat a hasty retreat.  This year, I was determined I would get more than one bowl.  If we don't pick them as soon as they turn black, the bear, deer, skunks, raccoons, possum, squirrels and a variety of birds will pick the vines clean.  I was able to pick the berries 2 times.  I got enough to freeze, which is wonderful, although I doubt they'll make it to the winter because of our love of cobbler.  A few weeks ago, when the red berries were turning black, a friend went to pick some berries.  He has been in the country his whole life of 72 years, and armed with 4 wheeler and a pistol (to scare, not harm, the bear) he went into the field.  A short time later, he came back out.  He said he was picking berries and heard something following him in the bushes.  He looked down at one point and saw a pile of bear poo.  Jumping on the 4 wheeler, clutching his prize of berries he came back to the house. Having admitted he was scared of the bear he thanked me for the berries and left.  I decided I best not go pick anymore either.  Once the berries are scarce, the bear might be a little less fearful and more aggressive since his winter survival would be in question.   

This is a picture of a Mama bear and her cub that frequent my Dad's property.  She is a black bear, the same as the bear who occupies the field.  As my child would say, "Cute, but not cuddly."  I should say so!  Nonetheless, I managed to get some delicious, fresh blackberries and made a fantastic Blackberry cobbler.  I made a video of the process.  Trying something new on my blog.  Hope you enjoy it! 

Old Fashioned Blackberry Cobbler

1/2 stick organic butter
1 cup organic milk
1 cup organic flour
3/4 cup organic sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 organic egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
Blackberries (or any other fruit you like)

Pre-heat oven to 350 F
Place 1/2 stick of butter in 2 8x8 Cobbler pans (or 1 stick in 12x12 pan) and put in the oven as it pre-heats
Take out when the butter has melted and slightly browned
Take pan out of the oven and sprinkle the brown sugar all around the pan, especially the edges

In a seperate bowl mix the rest of the ingredients and pour into the pan, on top of the butter and brown sugar.

Drop blackberries (as many/little) on top of the batter

Return the pan to the oven and bake 45 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly

Serve warm with a scoop of organic chocolate ice-cream

Note:  You can use non-organic ingredients and the egg is optional, you can also adjust the sugar to your liking.
To make a larger pan, just double the ingredients.
If you'd like you can add a tsp of baking powder and a pinch of salt, this will make the batter rise more.
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How about some Vanilla Cinnamon Chia Pudding or just plain Organic Chocolate?

How about some Vanilla Cinnamon Chia Pudding or just plain Organic Chocolate?

      With the weather being so cold, and plenty of snow to play in, sometimes Hot Chocolate becomes boring.  How to mix it up and be healthy?  Make home made pudding.  This recipe is an adaptation of Grandma's Jello Salad recipe.  Which, is one of my most popular recipes!  Give it a try.  Anyway, my son and I love Chocolate.  I try to make healthy treats for us, and can't bring myself to use the boxed pudding mixes any longer.  If I can't pronounce an ingredient, without a Chemistry dictionary, then I probably shouldn't be eating it.  Thus this recipe was born.  I made a vanilla pudding for Rice Pudding and raisins.  It was very good.  So why not make chocolate?  I used Organic Cacao powder, it's a superfood!  

Organic Chocolate Pudding

   This picture shows how silky smooth the pudding is.  In fact, my son liked it so much he keeps asking for it.  When making my second batch, I messed up the flour and sugar  measurements.  Not to worry, the result was a super thick pudding, so I just added milk to thin it out.  Worked great. So, don't freak if the pudding looks super thick, just add more milk.  Don't forget you can also use 2% or skim milk for this.  We were snowed in and this was the only milk I had.  I don't usually use this brand, but when a snow storm is on the way, you sometimes have to take what Organic milk you can get.  

When I was enjoying this delicious dessert I thought about my friend whose son has a lot of food allergies, like me, and my other friend who is opening a restaurant and wants to use "healthy alternative" foods.  

My friends son wouldn't be able to enjoy this pudding because of the milk and egg.  So I sent her a message to ask what she used to substitute eggs.  She told me Chia seeds or flax seeds.  Ok, I had coconut milk and chia seeds.  She was coming over today, so I put her to work. We created this new pudding recipe.  I'm so happy with it!   Her son loved the pudding.  The consistency was a touch thinner, and it didn't set up as solidly as a pudding, but it was setting up better as it cooled.  

Vanilla Cinnamon Chia Pudding

Homemade Chocolate Pudding 

1 cup of organic milk

1 organic egg  beaten

2 Tablespoons of organic flour

3 Tablespoons of organic sugar

1/2 cup of Cacao powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

1 teaspoon organic ground cinnamon stick (optional)

In a sauce pan over medium heat, 

pour 1 cup milk and beaten egg

vanilla and cinnamon (both are optional)

DO NOT LET IT BOIL!!!!!!!  

Whisk frequently (you'll see it start to thicken)

Get the flour and sugar ready to whisk into the hot mixture.  

Whisk as you put the flour in to avoid lumps.  

I put my flour and sugar in a bowl, whisk with one hand and shake in with the other hand.  

After you have incorporated the flour and sugar then whisk in the cacao powder.

If the mixture is too thick or you just prefer a thinner pudding, then whisk in  more milk until it is the consistency you like.  

After the cacao is mixed in thoroughly and there are no lumps the pudding is ready. 

Homemade Vanilla Cinnamon Chia Pudding

2 cans Coconut milk

1 Tablespoon of milled Organic Chia seeds (substitution for eggs)

4 Tablespoons of Organic Flour

4 Tablespoons of Organic Sugar

1 1/2 Teaspoons of Vanilla extract

1 Stick of Organic Cinnamon (ground well)

I put the cinnamon stick and the chia seeds in my vitamix and milled to a powder

Put the milled mixture in a measuring cup and add 1/2 can of coconut  milk.  This will allow the seeds to thicken.  You may want to add the entire can if it looks like the seeds have thickened a lot. 

Put the other can of coconut milk and the vanilla, in a sauce pan over low heat. 

When it starts to steam add the chia seeds.  DO NOT LET IT BOIL.

Whisk in the flour and sugar. 

If the mixture is not as thick as you like, add some more flour, just be careful that you don't add too much.  You don't want to taste the flour in the pudding.  

You may want to add Cacao powder to this to make it chocolate.  We couldn't because Junior is allergic to nuts, and the Cacao was packaged in a facility that also pacakages tree nuts.  

This was very good!  I was surprised to be honest.  Pleasantly surprised.  

If you like this recipe, please comment below and visit me again!  

Beautiful and Festive Crabapple Preserves or Candied Crabapples

Crab apple Preserves

or

Candied Crab apples 

My Mom always made everything a celebration.  Our birthdays were not just a regular day.  On our birthdays we didn't have to do any chores.  Nothing! That by itself was a perfect day!  First thing in the morning, I couldn't come downstairs until Mom or Dad called for me. 

Walking down the stairs, I couldn't help but smile knowing how special everything was going to be.  As I stepped down each step I could see the lights had been dimmed, and I could smell my favorite breakfast, anything bacon! After the last step I would look up and see my family standing around a beautifully decorated table, arranged with flowers, a chocolate iced cake (my favorite) decorated beautifully, presents sitting on my plate and my family smiling and singing Happy Birthday to me.  I can't tell you how much those memories mean to me.  Like I said, my Mom always makes everything a celebration!  Thankfully some of my Mom's creativity has rubbed off on me. My best friend, Angie, calls me Rosie Jr.  I love it.  

Thanksgiving and Christmas were fantastic events, full of German customs mingled with American tradition.  We had advent wreaths, sugar cookies with smiling icing faces, Gingerbread houses iced with white sugar and covered in candies.  We wrote letters to Santa and awaited a visit from St. Nikolaus on Christmas eve while we remembered Jesus' birth at Christmas Eve service.  With nervous anticipation we would come into the house, to see if St. Nikolaus left us sticks with coal, or brightly covered pieces of chocolate.  We had to dress up in our best clothes for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.  Mom laid out her best china, linens and festive tablecloths.  Fresh pine fronds were cheerfully nestled among the silver serving dishes filled with steaming and home cooked foods.  Perfectly cooked turkeys with crisp golden skin, ham covered in pineapples, cloves and bright red cherries.  Gravy, stuffing, veggies, bread, casseroles, and salad laid out in abundance.  Right beside the ham, served in it's own silver bowl were the candied crab apples, covered in a bright red syrup.  In my mind I can still see those crab apples, served over a slice of ham. In the bowl they looked like Christmas tree decorations that should be sparkling on the tree, not shimmering at me under a spicy, sweet syrup.  With each slice of ham or turkey, Mom would carefully ladle the festive apples and syrup over each one. Absolutely delicious.

Last year I decided that I would find some crab apples and try my hand at making my childhood memory come to life again.  I mentioned to a lady at church and she told me that she has a crab apple tree in her yard.  She would check to see if they were still OK, then let me know.  Next time I saw here she told me that her apples had turned bad, but her daughter also had a tree and she would check, but that would turn out to be a bust as well.  It was too late in the season for the crab apples.  I was very disappointed.  I would just have to wait until next year.  

This summer, as I was walking around my neighborhood, I decided to go down a street I never walk on.  As I made my way along I noticed a tree with cherries on it.  As I neared the tree I realized they were crab apples!!  I was so excited I couldn't believe my eyes!   There they were, red, small round apples on a gorgeous green tree! Anyone who knows me, is shocked by what I did next, I marched right up to the front door of someone I don't know and knocked.  My heart was pounding and I was thinking, what am I doing! No one answered.  Unbelievable!  I got up the nerve to knock on a strangers door and no one is home.  Great.  I didn't think I'd ever get the nerve up again, but the memories flooded in and I

knew what I had to do.  The next day, I walked down that street again and knocked on the door.  No one answered.  This must be a cruel joke.  As I was walking away a man with a dog came toward me, he asked if he could help me.  I told him yes while proceeding to tell him I'd like to get some of the crab apples, but no one is home for me to ask permission.  He looked at me in an almost disgusted way, mingled with surprise and asked, "what in the world do you want with those nasty old crab apples?"  His mouth curled in distaste as he said it.  I told him my reasons and he advised me that the couple that lived there would not have a problem with me collecting as many apples as I could carry.  He explained that they despise the tree and are planning to chop it down.  He then went on to invite me to harvest white and purple concord grapes from his backyard.  He and his wife had planted grape vines along their fence line and there was an abundance of them.  I thanked him heartily promising to bring him a sample to try, and finished my walk as quickly as I could in order to prepare for an afternoon of harvesting fruit from my neighbors yards!  

I called Mom to inquire about the recipe, she informed me it is from a very old Kerr Canning Cookbook, which she would type out and e-mail to me.  I then took the boys to help me gather the crab apples and grapes.  We got a lot of fruit! I wasn't sure what to do with the grapes but thought I'd make jelly.  That's a story for another day though.  I knew I needed canning jars and lids, even though I don't know how to can.  I do know how to freeze, so I wasn't too concerned about preserving the crab apples.  The recipe seemed easy, but I didn't believe it, no way it could be so easy.  Let me tell you, it was easy.  It didn't take a lot of time.  I also added my own touches to the recipe. 

When I had cooked up the apples, they tasted just as I remembered and they were amazing!!!  I was so happy with how they turned out.  I took a jar for the the people who let me harvest the apples from their tree, a jar to the neighbor that let me harvest grapes and to a couple other people I told about and they all reacted negatively to the crab apples.  I also put a couple in a baggie, so they could taste them and decide if they wanted to keep the canned jar for the Holidays, or give it back to me if they didn't like them.   Everyone that tried them, loved them.  I had to go get more crab apples and make another batch.  I cleaned the tree of them.  After the second batch, I shared a jar with my friend Kimberly and she loved them.  I brought her a jar when we all met to eat lunch with two other families.  Everyone at table tasted them, and loved them.  The owner of the restaurant came over and tasted them and he wanted some too.  I have found more crab apples, but they are green.  I'm going to try them as well, but I am told they are a little more tart.  I have also been told of another family with a red crab apple tree in their yard!!!! I'm so excited.  

The most labor intensive thing was cleaning the apples and sorting through them.  I filled a sink with warm soapy water and poured some white vinegar in to kill any germs on the apples.  I left them in the sink for a few minutes and then rinsed them really well.  I then sorted through the crab apples taking out any with holes and placing them in a separate bowl to use later.  After the apples were sorted and ready I moved on to the next step, cooking them.  Here is the recipe for Crab Apple Preserves.  I call them Candied Crab Apples, but the Kerr Recipe names them Crab Apple Preserves.  

Crab Apple Preserves

Inspired by Kerr Canning Recipe Book

Select good sound apples, wash and remove the blossom end.  Leave stems on and do not peel.

Syrup:

3 Cups Water

6 Cups Organic Sugar

2 Fresh Cinnamon Sticks

1 Tsp cloves

1 1/2 Tsp Red Hots Cinnamon candy

Boil the syrup for 5 minutes

Add the crab apples to the syrup and boil until they are tender and transparent (my crab apples didn't become transparent, but the skin did split a little. I took that as the indication they were done.)

Work rapidly and Pack cooked apples into *sterilized canning jars, cover with boiling syrup and seal each jar as filled.  

Make sure to wipe the top rim of each jar, to make sure that there is nothing that will cause the seal to fail, before adding the lids.    

Two options:

1) Let the jars "heat seal".  With this method the apples should be eaten within a few months of preparing.  Making sure the jars are hot, as well as the lids, will help with this method.  Also make sure you are filling the jars with the boiling liquid and apples. Fill to "neck" of jar and try not to leave too much air space.  You can turn the jars upside down it you want, I left mine upright. As the contents cool, the lids contract and "pop" shut, sealing them.  

2) Place your filled jars on rack of large lidded canning kettle.  The jars have to be a least 1/2 inch above the kettle bottom so water can circulate and the water has to be at least 1 inch about the top of the jars.  Process in boiling water bath, at a rolling boil for 25 minutes.  Use canning tongs to remove the jars from the canner, put them on several thicknesses of cloth to cool. 

You should hear the lids "pop" indicating they have sealed.  

*Sterilizing Your jars:

Wash them in hot soapy water, rinse and then boil them in clear water for at least 15 minutes.  Turn upside down on a clean kitchen towel until ready to fill.  (or you could wash them in the dish washer under sanitize) 

Important for canning. 

To keep the jars warm,  you could place them in an oven set at the lowest heat setting.  

Scald the lids by placing them in a pan and pouring boiling water over them.  Do NOT boil the lids, but keep them warm until you are ready to use.  

NOTE: Without the Red Hot Candies, The syrup was a brown color, and didn't look very good.  That was a problem.  Everyone that heard about my desire to find crab apples, asked the same question; "why on earth do you want those nasty crab apples?"

I didn't want to use the Red Hots because of the artificial color and I suspect they are made with High Fructose Corn syrup which means it's probably made with GMO corn.  I try to stay away from anything that is GMO or GE.  In this case, I really had three choices.  

1. leave them out and have a muddy looking syrup no one would want to taste
2. add food coloring and get a strong dose of red 40 (which has been shown to cause a lot of problems in kids and adults.)
3. add the minimum amount of red hots, just to turn the syrup red and add more cinnamon flavor

I went with option number 3.  Sometimes you just have to go with it.  

The Kerr recipe only calls for the sugar, water and red hots. I added the cinnamon sticks and cloves.  

Caribbean style Jerk Pork Chops with Grilled apples and Fresh Strawberry shortcake

Caribbean style Jerk Pork Chops with Grilled Sugar Spice Apples and Fresh Strawberry shortcake

The only thing lacking at my house tonight? The steel drums singing with the roar of the ocean. It was a Caribbean style meal at our house, and it smelled so good!  I adore the Caribbean, the food is delicious, the people are fantastic and fun is in the air.  There is nothing like the sound of steel drums to make my spirit soar and my feet move.  We've had a crazy winter and we're having an unseasonably warm day.  To have the last two days be so nice, I had to break out a summer meal.
My little boy and I picked two baskets of strawberries on Wednesday.  We stopped at a "pick your own" farm.  Neither of us had ever been to a "pick your own" farm, it was a lot of fun!  We were both very proud of our baskets of strawberries.  My little boy loves to make "the plan", so, the plan was to make a strawberry shortcake and strawberry milk when we got home.  So far, there's been a lot of eating strawberries, along with the strawberry shortcake, but not so much the strawberry milk. Maybe tomorrow.

Grilled Apples:

Wash and thickly slice two apples
Brush with coconut oil
Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on the apple slice
Then place on grill until sugar is warm and bubbly


Caribbean style Jerk Pork Chops:

4 thick sliced pork chops
Spiced rum
Jerk seasoning
Salt and pepper

Let the chops marinate in the spiced rum for about 30 minutes then rub the jerk seasoning in
Grill until done

Strawberry Shortcake:

Strawberries
Angel food cake
Honey
Dark Chocolate sauce
Cinnamon

Slice the strawberries and place in a bowl
Drizzle with honey, liberally
Sprinkle with cinnamon and stir
Let sit for a while at room temp so the juices mingle
Break up some angel food cake
Spoon strawberries over and drizzle with dark chocolate sauce

Handmade Cinnamon Broken Glass Christmas Candy

I enjoy watching the Cupcake and Cake wars on Food Network.  I find it fascinating when the chefs make their own candy and spin them into fabulous designs.  I may not be able to craft a candy cane, or fantastic flowers or spinning fairies with candy wings, but I can make some delicious cinnamon candy.  I got the recipe off a friend and co-worker who called it Rock Candy.  He would bring bags of it around Christmas and we would all go crazy for it.  He wrote the recipe on a torn piece of paper, that is much stained from years of use.  I suppose I'll print off a new one after I blog it to you all.

I do have some warnings to go with this candy, I learned the hard way.

Warning 1: Try as hard as you can not to have your face or any other body parts close to the hot sugar when you add the cinnamon oil.  A facial is nice, but having pure cinnamon oil infused into your open pores is miserable. It's much worse if it goes up your nose, much worse.  Trust me, I tried to stay away from it tonight and a little got on my face.  My cheek is a little hot, and my hand is red and tingling a bit.  I smell very nicely of cinnamon though.

Warning 2: Try to use a very deep pot, or make sure you have on a shirt you don't mind to ruin with the food color.  Once you drop the food coloring into the hot sugar, it will start sputtering and erupt like a volcano of red dye.


NOTES:
The past few years I used a wooden spoon and was so disappointed that my candy didn't have a nice cinnamon, well honestly, any cinnamon taste to it. This year I used a stainless steel spoon, and  my candy is so nice and Cinnamon flavored.

Ok, with the warnings out of the way, lets move on to the good part.  Making candy!  YUMMY.



Rock Candy or Broken Glass Candy

3 3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup white corn syrup
1 cup water
1 small bottle of Cinnamon oil (find in Pharmacy or bulk food store)
Red Food Coloring
Candy thermometer
Sheet pan with sides
aluminum foil (optional)
butter/oil
Powdered sugar

Have the sheet pan prepared before you start boiling the sugar, also have the cinnamon oil bottle opened and close by as well as the bottle of food coloring.  Things move quickly once hard crack stage is reached, be prepared.

Mix sugar, corn syrup and water and bring to a boil
Stir constantly until thermometer reaches 300-310 degrees

Remove from heat
Immediately stir in cinnamon and food coloring
Pour into sheet pan that has been oiled (or place a piece of aluminum foil on sheet pan and butter it)

Let cool
Once cool take the handle of a butter knife, or case knife and crack the candy into pieces

Place in a bowl or zip lock baggy and Roll in powdered sugar

This recipe is very versatile, you can use any sort of flavored oil you like.  Peppermint, wintergreen, anise....likewise, you can use any color food coloring you like as well.

If you are making a Gingerbread house, you can pour the candy into pre-made little molds to make the window glass and "glue" it in with royal icing.  Place a light inside the house (single corded lights can be found at craft shops all around.  They have one socket for a Christmas light bulb) and you've made a magical gingerbread house for Christmas.

You can also form foil into a circle and pour the candy into it to make a lovely pond for skaters to skate upon in front of your gingerbread house or Christmas village.  Simply tint the candy blue instead of red, once cool dust lightly with powdered sugar to look like snow covered ice.  My Mom always did those things when she made our Gingerbread houses. She really is creative.

Dance of the Sugar Plum candies!!

Often I've heard the song, "Twas the Night Before Christmas", with the lyrics;

"The children were nestled
All safe in their beds
While visions of sugarplums
Danced in their heads"

I love that old song, it always creates an image of Christmas magic with elves, candy, stars and Santa dancing in the dreams of sleeping children. I've often wondered what a sugar plum was and how delicious it must be, if the children dream of them the night before Christmas.
Children love cartoons, and I have not grown out of that love myself.  I do enjoy cartoons, and don't mind the least that my child wants to watch them all the time.  One of my favorite cartoons is "Max and Ruby", a story of a little boy bunny and his perfectionist sister.  In one episode, Ruby and her friend Louise are giving a "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies", ballet recital to Grandma and Max.  The refreshments include, you guessed it, sugar plums.  I was kind of disappointed to see that they were sugar coated plums.  What a bummer.
One day, while shopping in Whole Foods (my favorite grocery store ever), I saw a display of Christmas treats.  I noticed a box of sugar plums.  Now the moment of truth.  I turned the box around to read the ingredients, to my pleasant surprise, it was not a box of sugar coated plums.  Score.  I purchased them and went to the car to see if the sugar plums held up to the Christmas song hype.  They did and then some.  Now, I wasn't going to spend a ton of money buying these sugar plums, so I would have to learn to make them.  I searched the web for a recipe that was similar to the ones I had finally found.  There were many recipes, but the one I am posting, with a few minor changes, is the one that included all the ingredients I really liked.  
 
The base recipe is by Treva Bedinghaus, About.com Guide.
http://dance.about.com/od/famousballets/r/Sugar_Plums.htm?p=1

I added a couple things which I will include under the original ingredients, and italicized. 

Ingredients:

2 cups whole almonds
1/4 cup honey
2 tsp. grated orange zest
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup finely chopped dried apricots
1 cup finely chopped pitted dates
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp. grated ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cardamon
1 bag semi-sweet chocolates
Whole cloves

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400. Arrange almonds on a baking sheet in a single layer and toast in oven for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool, then finely chop.
Meanwhile, combine honey, orange zest, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg (ginger, cardamon) in a medium mixing bowl.  Add almonds, apricots and dates and mix well.
Pinch off rounded teaspoon size pieces of mixture and roll into the shape of a plum and add a clove to the top as the stem.  (Rinse hands often, as mixture is very sticky.) Roll in sugar, then refrigerate in single layers between sheets of waxed paper in airtight containers for up to 1 month.  Their flavor improves after ripening for several days.

I actually rubbed my hands with a little butter and that helped keep the mixture from sticking.  Before I formed the sugar plums, I used a double boiler and melted the bag of semi-sweet chocolates.  Then as I formed the mixture into balls, I dropped in the melted chocolate and covered them.  I dropped the chocolate coated balls onto a lined cookie sheet and my little boy took a spoon and sprinkled (dumped....whichever you choose) colored sugar on the chocolate (purple would be ideal).  I didn't use the confectioners sugar. 
A few notes for those who can learn from my mistakes.  I, mistakenly, thought I could take a cup of dried apricots and when they were finely chopped by the food processor, that it would still be one cup. duh, not so.  As my Mom told me, it will vary, best is to finely chop and measure appropriately.  Same with the dates.  If I had chopped the dried fruits first, thereby getting the correct amount added to the mixture, it would have tasted better.  Don't get me wrong, they taste good, but a little too much nut flavor for my taste. 
My Mom also had a great idea, take a pitted prune (dried plum) and use a melon baller and scoop out the middle, then stuff the sugar plum mixture into the prune shell and THEN dip in chocolate.  Too much detail work for me.  I like short and sweet recipes, not complications....but, for those of you who don't mind I think it's a great idea.  Let me know how it turns out!!!


More lyrics: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/c/christmas_songs/#share

Go Nuts (or Ape) for my Chocolaty Pumpkin Monkey Bread

Go Ape for my chocolaty pumpkin Monkey Bread

I had Monkey bread many years ago and it was so good.  A while ago I tried to replicate it, but failed miserably.  I ended up with a pile of dry bread covered in burned cinnamon.  Yuck!  I learned from that mistake and went on to discover the most delicious combination of monkey bread ingredients I ever tasted.

Ingredients:

2 cans biscuit dough
1 cup cinnamon sugar
Nutella Hazelnut spread
Pumpkin Pie dip
5 pats of unsalted butter

1 bread pan greased and set aside

Tear biscuit dough into small chunks and place into a large bowl as you tear them apart.
After all your dough is in small chunks pour cinnamon sugar over them and toss until every piece is coated in the mixture
Drop coated bread chunks into greased bread pan
Do not overlap, make one layer
Drizzle Nutella over this layer and then the pumpkin pie dip
Make another layer of dough, drizzle again with Nutella and Pumpkin pie dip
Make last layer of dough and place pats of butter on top
Place in oven and bake until dough is done, according to directions on biscuit dough can
WATCH carefully dough may bake faster, depending how big or small the dough pieces are.
Don't over bake!

Serve warm with scrambled eggs.  It is so good!

You can find Pumpkin Pie dip in most specialty kitchen stores.

Do you know what a Turnip is? Want to know how to cook one and be glad you did?

Long time ago, bacon grease was the "go to" grease to cook with. Then studies showed it was bad for our hearts, and other oils became more popular. I can remember Mom had a bacon keeper on the stove, when I was little. It was a tin container, round, with an insert in the top. The bacon was put on the insert, the grease dripped down into the container to be used for cooking. Mom said that I always smelled like bacon, and she couldn't figure out why. One day, when I was about 3 years old, she came into the kitchen to find me climbing onto the counter top to eat the bacon out of the bacon keeper. I never could figure out why anyone wanted to store perfectly good bacon. It simply must be eaten immediately. I have never seen another "bacon keeper", and when I've mentioned it to people, they look at me like I've sprouted three heads. The horror!! Leaving bacon out, using it's fat to cook with. Why would anyone in their right mind use such a flavorful grease to cook with? Why, not even Paula Deen uses bacon fat! wink wink.


I finally was organizing my loose recipes into a binder with those plastic sleeves, very convenient.  I ran across this recipe from a dear family friend, Justine.  It is her mothers recipe for Boiled Turnips.  This is a very old recipe.  Please don't turn your nose up at it, try it.  You will be surprised and the flavor.  You might just find yourself wanting more turnips in your diet. 

Boiled Turnips
by Ora Wallace

6 medium turnips (cut the root and stem off, wash, then chop into bite size pieces)
2 tbs Bacon drippings  (or just fry 4-5 slices of bacon, remove bacon and crumble, add crumpled bacon to turnips at end)
1 tbs sugar or to taste
salt to taste
Corn meal
Water to about top of turnips
Cook until tender
sprinkle plain corn meal in broth to thicken
eat immediately

Picture credit: http://www.bestinseason.ie/a-z/turnips/