Pumpkin Chip Bars - Secret Recipe Club

Hard to believe it's our final Secret Recipe Club of 2014.  This year has just flown by for me.  Seems I say that every year any more!!  Group B of SRC will be taking a break for the month of January!  Perfect for me because we're going on a cruise!  Warm weather vacations are the only thing that helps me get through these cold Nebraska winters!

I was lucky this month to be assigned the blog From Grandma Loy's Kitchen.  It was so hard to decide what to make.  She has an outstanding variety of recipes to choose from.  My recipe choice ended up coming down to a recipe to use that partial can of pumpkin in my fridge, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars!  Have you tried pumpkin with chocolate chips?  It's one of my favorite new flavor combinations! Nice this recipe only calls for 1/4 cup of oil and makes a delicious, moist bar. 

Pumpkin Chip Cookies
Recipe Courtesy of Grandma Loy's Kitchen

4 eggs
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
2 t. ground cinnamon
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate or other flavor baking chips
3 T. sugar
1/2 t. ground cinnamon

Place eggs in a large mixing bowl.  Beat well.  Add pumpkin, oil, and sugar.  Mix thoroughly.  Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.  Mix well.  Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix until just moistened.  Stir in chips.  Spread in an ungreased 15x10x1-inch baking pan.  Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over batter.  Bake at 350 degrees 25 to 30 minutes or till done.  Cool.  Cut into bars.  The recipe says 36 cookies, but I easily got 48.

Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese

 
We had our first neighborhood dinner group a few weeks ago at my house.  I am envious of those bloggers who are members of dinner groups and mange to find the time to take photos of their dishes.  Needless to say, that wasn't me.  I made  Butternut Squash Lasagna.   Between trying to make sure the lasagna was the right temperature to cut and  the wine was on the table, no pictures were taken.

Whenever I make lasagne, I never seem to have the proportions the recipe says I should have.  I made a full recipe and a half recipe.  After assembling an oversized 9 x 13 pan, I had leftover noodles and squash mixture. What to do with the leftover squash mixture?  How about a mac and cheese?  I added a little Monterey Jack cheese and topped with bread crumbs.  It came out perfectly and makes a delicious and healthy mac and cheese.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family!!!  It's a quiet day at home for Tim and I.  We still cooked up a feast and ate in the dining room.

Smoked Turkey Breast

Michael Symon's Stuffing

Brown Sugar Glazed Sweet Potatoes

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Doni's Cranberry Sauce

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

We brined the turkey breast in this brine, used a local rub and smoked it in the smoker.  It was moist and delicious!  Michael Symon's stuffing is unlike any I've ever tried before.  The addition of the juice of an orange and the zest adds an interesting flavor.  We liked the stuffing but I think if I make it again, I would just a little less orange.  Doni's Cranberry Sauce is the recipe of my son's girlfriend's mother.  We enjoyed it when celebrating Thanksgiving with everyone a couple of years ago and it's now my go to recipe for Cranberry Sauce. 

I can't comment on the bread pudding just yet because we'll be enjoying it a bit later.  Perhaps, it will become a post of it's own.

Did you try some new recipes today or make the family favorites?

Nantucket Cranberry Pie

For November's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned Sarah's Kitchen.  It was hard to decide which recipe to make, there were lots of tempting ones on her blog!!!  Always looking for a new cranberry dessert for the holiday season, I chose this Nantucket Cranberry Pie!!! Why is it certain ingredients like cranberries and pumpkin seem to be reserved for October and November.  Delicious and versatile, why don't we use them more often?

This isn't your typical pie recipe, there's no bottom crust and the top crust is more like cake batter.  The recipe didn't say what size cake pan to use and my 8" round seemed small.  I decided to use my 9" springform pan.  While my cake was baking, I was watching the finale of Master Chef Junior.  Are those kids amazing or what?  When I started smelling something burning, I checked the oven and there was cranberry juice all over the bottom of the oven.  The good news, I use an oven liner.  The bad news, it's a two piece one so some juice had seeped onto the bottom of the oven.  What a mess!!  It's been a while since I've had a kitchen disaster!!  Note to self, springform pan was a bad idea!  More good news though, I have two ovens, so I finished the baking in the second oven. 

Despite the mess in the oven, the pie was a success.  The tartness of the cranberries combines nicely with the hint of almond and buttery dough. 

Nantucket Cranberry Pie
Recipe Courtesy of Sarah's Kitchen

Butter, for greasing pan
2 cups (heaping) cranberries 
3/4 cups pecans, chopped 
2/3 cups sugar 
1 cup flour 
1 cup sugar 
1 stick unsalted butter, melted 
2 eggs
1 tsp almond extract 
1/4 tsp salt 
1 tbsp sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 350.

Butter a cake pan.  Add the cranberries and chopped pecans to the pan, top with 2/3 cup sugar.

In a bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, melted butter, beaten eggs, almond extract and salt.  Pour the batter over the cranberries.  Bake for 40 minutes, top with the tablespoon of sugar and continue baking for an additional 5 minutes.

Cranberry Jalapeno Jam

We planted four jalapeno plants this summer and ended up with more jalapenos than we could count.
After freezing, smoking, candying, giving some away and using as many as I could in recipes, I still had jalapenos left. 

Why not try jalapeno jam?  I wanted the jam to have a nice color and it seemed wrong to use green food coloring.  Wondering what else I could do, I ran across several recipes for Cranberry Jalapeno Jam.  Perfect, the cranberries will give the jam a beautiful red color. 

Top cream cheese with this jam and you have a delicious, quick appetizer.  I also plan to use mine to glaze chicken or pork!

Cranberry Jalapeno Jam

• 3 Jalapeno peppers, whole
• 2 cups whole cranberries
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 5 cups sugar
• 1 bottle liquid Pectin (3 oz)

Rinse whole cranberries and drain to remove excess water.
Trim Jalapeno pepper caps and tops, then slice lengthwise and remove all seeds and inner membranes. Discard tops, seeds, and membranes. Chop pepper halves.
Grind whole cranberries to a pulp with the food processor or grinder. Add 1/8 cup water to moisten the pulp slightly. Add chopped peppers and pulse or grind.  (I used the coarse chopping blade of a food processor.)
Spoon the cranberry and Jalapeno pulp into a stainless pot. Add vinegar and blend.  Slowly cook mixture for 10 minutes to blend flavors, then add sugar all at once, stir until dissolved. Cook the jam mixture, stirring constantly, until sugar is completely dissolved and boils. Once the jam mixture bubbles and the top foams, rising significantly, add liquid pectin. Boil hard for 1 minute, no longer.
Remove pot from heat. Ladle jam into sterilized half-pint jars, to within 1/2-inch of top. Add sterilized caps and screw rings on. Process in water-bath canner for 10 minutes. Yield: 6 half-pints.

Biscoff Brown Sugar Bars

I hardly ever fly Delta Airlines anymore !!  I don't miss their baggage fees or upcharges for a better seat but what I do miss is those wonderful Biscoff cookies they give you.  Thanks to Trader Joes cookie butter, I don't have to miss them any more.  With cookie butter, I can make my own Biscoff treats. Have you tried this stuff?  It's so delicious, I could eat it by the spoonful!!!

These Biscoff Brown Sugar Bars have a delicious shortbread like crust with a creamy filling.  I found the center of these to be a bit too gooey for my liking, although one of my coworkers said she loved them that way.  Next time, I think I will decrease the brown sugar and bake longer for a firmer bar.  Either way, they are yummy!!!

Biscoff-Brown Sugar Bars

Recipe Courtesy of Mississippi Kitchen

Crust:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

Filling:

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups light brown sugar

1/2 cup Biscoff spread

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Powdered sugar for sprinkling tops

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, combine crust ingredients on low to medium speed just until mixture is evenly mixed and moist.  (It will start clumping together.) Dump into an 8 x 8 inch baking pan that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.  Press mixture onto bottom of pan in an even layer. (Use wet fingers if mixture sticks to skin.)  Prick 6-8 times with a fork, then bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown around edges.

Meanwhile, beat the ingredients for the filling on medium speed until smooth.  When crust is done, pour mixture evenly over crust and bake for 30 minutes or until middle is just set. Cool completely on wire rack before cutting into bars.  Sprinkle each bar with powdered sugar, if desired.

*For a firmer bar, decrease light brown sugar in filling to 1 cup, then bake for 40 minutes.

Slow Cooker Pumpkin and Bean Chili

It's fall and nothing says fall better than chili and pumpkin.  But together?  This recipe caught my eye as I was looking through the recipes on my assigned Secret Recipe Club blog, This Mama Cooks.  I love the idea of adding a fruit or vegetable to a traditional dish in order to add more nutrients. 

This is a delicious chili recipe and the addition of the pumpkin give the chili a nice creamy texture.  You will never know this recipe has pumpkin in it.  Although the recipe is designed for the slow cooker, you could easily make this stove top.

 Slow Cooker Pumpkin and Bean Chili
Recipe Courtesy of This Mama Cooks

Ingredients

• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 pound ground venison, turkey, chicken or lean beef
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons chili powder or your favorite gourmet chili blend
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper or ground chipotle chile (optional)
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 2 1/2 cups vegetable broth (I used beef broth)
• 2 15 ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 15 ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 15 ounce can pumpkin puree
• 1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, with juice
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin oil (optional)

Directions

1. Cook onion, bell pepper and ground meat over medium high heat until meat is cooked through.
2. Add salt and garlic. Cook for 1 minute.
3. Add spices (chili powder through cumin) and mix thoroughly. Cook for 1 minute.
4. Place onion, pepper, meat, garlic and spice mixture into a slow cooker.
5. Add remaining ingredients.
6. Cook on low for 5-6 hours.
7. Dish chili into bowls and top with a small dollop of no fat sour cream or a large pinch of shredded cheese. 

I am linking this to Miz Helen's Chili Cook-off!!!