Top 5: Fall Recipes

I can't believe that Thanksgiving is this week! I am not at all prepared for how fast time is passing or how soon there will be a perpetual blanket of snow on the ground. It's still fall until at least December 1 in my book, so I'm making autumn last as long as possible. Fall food is some of the best, and we have a whole holiday where all you do is get together and eat, so I'm pretty excited. Below are my favorite fall recipes that I'm still hoping to squeeze in before the onset of Christmas cookies.

5. Gingerbread & Cool-Whip

Food doesn't have to be fancy to be delicious, and this is honestly one of the easiest desserts in the world to make. It's not even an actual recipe but I'm including it anyway. Basically you buy a box, mix it up and bake it like cake, and serve it with a huge dollop of cool whip on top. This works for Christmas, too, so I won't be terribly upset if I don't get to it until sometime next month.

4. Pear Cider

So I've never actually had this, but doesn't it sound delicious?? I came across the recipe on Pinterest and had to try very hard not to salivate all over my keyboard. You can find the recipe here.

3. Caramel-Filled Snickerdoodles

photo from The Baker Chick

First of all, Snickerdoodles are one of my all-time favorite cookies, right after my mom's Cocoa Mint Dollars. Second, THEY ARE FILLED WITH CARAMEL. How could that not be good? This is another thing I found on Pinterest and will actually make in real life. The Baker Chick suggests Martha Stewart's Snickerdoodle recipe but I bought a prepackaged mix at Target along with a bag of Kraft caramels.

2. Jim's Chili 

I've written about my college professor's chili recipe before, but I don't think I can say enough about how delicious it is. I tend to crave it around the end of October and first of November because he always made a batch for our art department Halloween party. Get the recipe from my original post here.

1. Sweet Potato Casserole

My family doesn't actually make sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving. Some people love candied yams with mini marshmallows, but we are not those people. But every year a lady at my parent's church brings this sweet potato casserole to our Thanksgiving meal and I make sure to get a good-sized serving. It's mashed sweet potatoes with a crunchy pecan topping and is so sweet it's practically a dessert. I don't have her recipe, but Googled it and found this, which sounds extremely close. Now that I've talked about it I might have to pick up all the ingredients and make a batch.
 

**Bonus: Yesterday I got to try some of Jeni's Sweet Potato with Torched Marshmallows ice cream and boy, is it delicious. The ice cream is smooth and subtle and spicy like a pumpkin pie ice cream, and is dotted with homemade marshmallows that are toasted first. Seriously, you need to try it. It's like dessert casserole, but tastes way better than "dessert casserole" sounds.

Weird Bacon Recipes

Most people who know me are aware of the fact that I am a bacon fan. As I've mentioned before, my college friends and I would have entire parties revolving around the stuff. I love making all sorts of recipes with bacon in them - cupcakes, cheesecake, ice cream - but even I know that there comes a point where you can take bacon too far (case in point: the bacon milkshake). The other day I was browsing the blog Worst Things for Sale (there is some really horrible stuff out there!) and blogger Drew mentioned a few ridiculous bacon related recipes, so, of course, I had to share.

The first is "Sweet Saltines with Bacon," a recipe from one of Paula Deen's cookbooks, which was mentioned in a post about a 1-quart pan called a "butter warmer" that would hold two pounds of butter. But back to the recipe: it tells you to smear syrup on crackers, wrap them in bacon, and bake them until the bacon is crispy. I was able to preview the page on Amazon and took a screenshot for you (note the sidebar about using cane syrup to make it extra sweet).

I don't know what's worse, the fact that this is actually an appetizer in a printed cookbook, or that I would not be above making it when no one was around to stop me.

THEN, in a post about $20 Garbage Bowls, I was introduced the internet famous recipe known as Rachael Ray's Late Night Bacon. It is as follows:

 

Don't get me wrong, I love a lot of Rachael Ray's products and recipes, but really? Not only is this online at foodnetwork.com, but if you notice under the title it actually appeared on one of her shows. That means that at some point, Ray was paid to tell the world to microwave bacon.

The best part of the recipe is the comment section, full of sarcastic and hilarious anonymous web commenters. Here are a few of my favorites: 

  

Gotta love the Michael Scott humor in that last one!  

Seriously, though, guys -  I love bacon as much as the next guy, but isn't this getting a little ridiculous? 

25 Days: Monkey Bread

Most families have a traditional breakfast routine for Christmas morning. Some have a big meal of pancakes, or a casserole that can be prepared the night before. We learned when my sister and I were little that big breakfasts weren't the way to go - Whitneigh was so impatient and eager to open her gifts that my parents started letting us open our stockings before food was ready just to get her to calm down. Having to wait until 9:00 when everyone was awake and ready was almost more than she could handle.

At some point, I can't remember when exactly, Mom started making Monkey Bread for Christmas morning. It's easy to make, easy to eat, and most importantly, can be eaten in the living room while watching eager children open presents. Monkey Bread is a sticky pull-apart bread coated with cinnamon, sugar and gooeyness. It's wonderful. There are lots of recipes for it - you can even buy it frozen and pop it at the oven if that's your wish. My mom's recipe is super easy. We used canned biscuits to make ours, but if you prefer to make your own bread, my friend Trevor has a wonderful recipe at his blog The Handicapped Kitchen.

Monkey Bread

4 small cans biscuits
1 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter

Combine sugar and cinnamon in plastic bag. Quarter biscuits and shake in bag of cinnamon sugar until coated. Layer evenly in a bunt pan. Bring butter and brown sugar to boil and pour over biscuits. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes and turn onto a plate immediately.

25 Days: Cocoa Mint Dollars

As much as I love my mom's sugar cookies, this particular recipe tops the list as my favorite holiday cookie. We only make them at Christmas and go through at least two batches, if not more. Have you ever had the peppermint Oreos that come out at the holidays? They're like that. But better. It's definitely not the holidays until you've eaten a half a dozen Cocoa Mint Dollars in one sitting.

And now, you can make them yourself! It's actually very easy. We usually dye the frosting a festive red or green (it's white in the picture because my friend Leslie is allergic to food colorings).

Cocoa Mint Dollars

1/3 cup shortening
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup cocoa
2 cups flour

Combine all ingredients, form into a 1-inch roll and chill. Slice 1/8 inch thick and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Sandwich together with mint-flavored icing.

25 Days: Cinnamon Applesauce Ring

I love traditions that have lasted for generations. A lot of things my family does, like Christmas breakfast, are traditions that my parents have started. This recipe is something that has been passed down in my family from my Dad's mother. My Grandma Mowry passed away when I was in kindergarten, but she was such a lovely lady that everyone continues to talk about her. According to my Dad she found this recipe in a magazine in the 60s and tried year after year to make it just like the photo with not much success. It's supposed to be a solid with a cranberry-sauce type consistency but apparently Grandmas always turned out like soup. She even had a special aluminum jello ring mold she bought to make it look like a wreath just like in the magazine, but it never worked. My mom tried her hand at Grandma's recipe a couple of times - and lo and behold she was the only person in the entire family who was able to make it work! The trick is you have to use Mott's applesauce. It must have been a recipe created by Mott's because no other brand of applesauce works. It's very weird. We inherited the jello mold since we are the only ones who can make it.

Cinnamon Applesauce Ring

2 cups hot water
1 cup cinnamon candies (like Red Hots)
3 3-oz packages of raspberry jello
4 cups Mott's applesauce (MUST be Mott's or it will never set!)

Combine water and cinnamon candies and simmer until candies dissolve. Take off heat, add jello and stir until dissolved. Add applesauce and pour into an oiled ring mold (or a 9x13 glass pan). Chill until set. Serve with cottage cheese.

25 Days: Sugar Cookies

Mmm, sugar cookies! There really is nothing like spending an entire day mixing, rolling, cutting, baking, and frosting a huge batch of delicious cookies. With my family it usually takes hours of sorting through old and new cookie cutters, punching out delicate shapes, and deciding what colors of frosting to mix. We usually end up with dozens more cookies than we know what to do with, but it's okay because we were able to spend hours hanging out together. And that's what the Christmas season is all about - spending time and creating memories with those special to you.
 

My sister's friend Ariel frosted this monster star one year
when we were making cookies.

 My Mom's Sugar Cookies

2 cups sugar
1 stick Crisco
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cream of tartar
2 tsp baking soda
5 1/2 to 6 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp vanilla

Mix well into dough and roll out onto floured surface. Cut out cookies and bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

My Favorite Thanksgiving Dish

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you're with family and eating lots of turkey and taking a nap. I know that's what I'll be doing, right after the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which is one of our family traditions. We also break out the old recipes for Thanksgiving dinner, and one of my favorites is my grandma's Cranberry Salad. Grandma got the recipe from chef Ruth Lyons on TV in the 1960s sometime, and for me, it's not the holiday without a pan of it. It's not a sauce, but a type of jello salad with tart cranberries and crunchy apples and celery. I know, who thought celery and jello would go together? But it does. And it's delicious.

Ruth Lyon's Cranberry Salad

This is kind of what it looks like - I'll post an actual
picture after I make it on Sunday!

 2 cups whole cranberries
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup sugar
1 package cherry jello
3/4 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped apples
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 tsp salt

Cook cranberries in water until soft and the berries pop. Add sugar and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Pour over dry jello in a small casserole dish (about 8x8). Let cool, then stir in additional ingredients. Chill until firm, and serve cold.

Other recipes call for pineapple tidbits, mandarin orange slices, and sliced grapes, but my grandma doesn't include those. And I'm not messing with a good thing!