Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

There are certain dishes that most people consider "classics" that I just cannot bring myself to enjoy. For example...fish. Seafood, actually. People ask me how a) I can eat meat and not be grossed out by that, and b) how I could have grown up by the ocean and hate seafood. It's simple. If you regularly saw cows' guts everywhere (like I saw fish guts regularly) you'd probably be turned off by hamburger.

Moving on.

Cranberry sauce. Thanksgiving classic (supposedly). Gross. Also? Raisins. Why would you ever put dry, chewy fruit in a cookie when chocolate is an option? Raisin cookies are proof that mankind makes awful decisions.

Lastly...pumpkin. I don't do pumpkin pie-I'm not even serving it at Thanksgiving this year. Pumpkin muffins. Eww. Tim and I went to the Westin for our anniversary and they were serving chocolate chip cookies with...you guessed it...pumpkin. I spit it out in the elevator. Just keeping it classy, per the usual.

Well, the fall bug hit me pretty hard last week, and I was actually craving a classic fall recipe. I was also craving chocolate chips. Now, as a self-professed cook and not so much a baker, I have to say that this turned out beautifully. It was effortless. And it made me look like a much better baker than I actually am.


Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and if you want to impress your co-workers and/or your mother-in-law, this is the treat you should make. Honestly. As a non-pumpkin eater, I had 2 rather large slices.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 cups canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
• 1 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
• Chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom only of 9x5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray or butter.
• In large bowl, mix butter, granulated sugar, eggs and pumpkin with wire whisk. 
• Slowly stir in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. Stir in the chocolate chips and spread in pan.
• Bake 55 to 65 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

I can't stress enough how easy this is. If, for some reason, your oven misbehaves and cooks the outside too fast, turn the temperature down to about 250 degrees until the middle is cooked. I didn't have to do that, though. My oven knows not to cross me.

Love and pumpkin,

-->

Cheesy Potato Soup

I'm starting to think I have a problem. This is the 5th potato soup recipe I've posted to this blog. Maybe it's because I believe in options. Maybe it's just that I'm obsessed.

A very wise woman (who had 7 children) once told me, "Rachael, when cooking, always include potatoes, pasta or bread-the three cheapest and most filling ingredients you can buy." I took that to heart, and by golly, she was right.

Since it's officially fall, and because it's starting to actually feel like it,

Ingredients:

• lb. thick-sliced bacon, crumbled
• 1/2 white onion, diced
• 1/2 pack Ranch packet
• 1 stick butter
• 1 Tbsp. minced garlic
• 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 6 cups peeled and diced russet potatoes (2 lb.)
• 1 Tbsp. ground mustard
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 5 cups shredded sharp Cheddar
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

• Place potatoes, onion, garlic and chicken broth in the crock pot on low for 8 hours
• After the 8 hours is up, transfer the entire potato/broth mixture into a large bowl or dutch oven.
• Mash potatoes, leaving a few chunks.
• Add the rest of the ingredients, keeping heat on low.
• Once everything is mixed together, move heat up to medium, stirring continually until heated thoroughly.

Serve with fresh bread. And a Diet Coke. Always serve everything with a Diet Coke.

Love and potaters,

-->

Gourmet Caramel Apples

Recipe adapted from Our Best Bites

Tomorrow is October 1st. That means that it is no longer weird or socially unacceptable that my fall decorations have been up since August. I officially fit in.

One thing I've never done during the fall is make caramel apples. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of apples, but I am a fan of caramel, chocolate, Reese's, cashews and Snickers. In other words, I have taken out any nutritional value from this piece of fruit.

I lived and learned with this recipe, more specifically, the actual mechanics of making this. I'll share my successes and failures, but overall, I think these came out absolutely amazing.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 
2 sticks unsalted butter

• 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 
2/3 cup dark corn syrup

• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
• 
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 teaspoon molasses
• 
1/4 teaspoon salt
• 12 large apples
• Popsicle sticks
• Assorted toppings for dipping. This can include: 
• Toffee bits
• Chopped nuts
• Coconut
• Crushed cookies
• Candy bars

Directions:

Wash and dry apples

Place sticks in cores and place on a baking sheet in the fridge to chill. 

To prepare caramel, combine first 8 ingredients in heavy 2 1/2-quart nonstick saucepan (about 3-4 inches deep, at least). 

Stir with wooden or silicone spatula over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves (no crystals are felt when caramel is rubbed between fingers), occasionally brushing down sides of pan with wet pastry brush or scraping with spatula, about 15 minutes.

Increase heat to medium-high; cook caramel at rolling boil, stirring constantly but slowly with clean spatula and occasionally brushing/scraping down sides of pan, about 12 minutes. Pour caramel into a bowl. Let cool for about 20 minutes.

While caramel cools, set up your decorating station with a few cookie sheets, napkins, crushed toppings and extra popsicle sticks (you will use these later)

Holding stick, dip 1 apple into the caramel. 

Submerge all but very top of apple.

Oh, boy.

Lift apple out, allowing excess caramel to drip back into bowl. Turn apple caramel side up and hold for several seconds to help set caramel around apple. If needed, gently scrape the bottom of the apple with popsicle stick to remove excess caramel. 

Place coated apple on baking sheet.  Repeat with remaining apples and caramel, spacing apples apart (caramel will pool a bit on foil). If caramel becomes too thick to dip into, gently heat in microwave, or add 1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream and briefly whisk caramel in bowl over low heat to thin.

Here is something I made a mistake by doing. I used wax paper. Do not use wax paper. It's great in theory, but if it catches any kind of breeze, or when you lift the sticky apple from it, it will randomly stick to the other apples. Just go with a baking sheet.

Another tip: eventually the bowl will get low on caramel. Don't panic. After submerging, twist apple at an angle, as seen in the picture above. 

By the time you have dipped all the apples, the first ones should be ready partially set enough to add toppings. If not, chill in fridge for a few minutes. I decided to melt some chocolate to have a second layer on it. Mine look a little funny because I decided to microwave the chocolate in a bowl instead of using my double broiler. Big mistake. Good thing the candy bars were there to help cover my mistakes.

Firmly press decorations into the caramel and return to baking sheet. You can also drizzle melted chocolate over caramel-coated apples and sprinkle with decorations. Chill until decorations are set, about 1 hour. Cover; chill up to 1 week or wrap in cellophane bags for gift giving.

Since I know you're dying to know...this is how I wrapped them:

First, I obviously waited until they cooled completely in the fridge. Then, I placed them on about 2 coffee filters.

I grabbed a bag of clear gift baggies (20 for $.97). Place the apple (carefully) in the bag.

I had some brown netted tulle sitting around, so I cut them in small pieces and tied a bow around the stick.

I found these little pearls deep in my closet-they were from my wedding (I told Tim I would eventually use them)! I went ahead and pinned that on, just for the heck of it.

I ran into a little problem with labeling. I don't typically have cutesy little labels just sitting around, so I used what I had...

Address labels! I just wrote the name of the person over the address and stuck it on the bottom of the wrapping.

And that's it!

Okay, I'll be honest with you-these took about 3 hours to make 14. But if you have a free afternoon and are getting the itch to celebrate the beautiful fall weather, this is for you. It can also be simplified. The caramel recipe in and of itself is outstanding, and these can easily stand alone with just that. Be creative, and have fun!

Love and fall,

-->

Apple Cider

In case you haven't noticed, I'm a little bit obsessed with fall. I've got all the leaves, lights, pumpkins and candles a girl could ever wish for. If it were up to me, I'd spend every weekend in a corn field with a cup of hot chocolate wearing my jean jacket (which is currently missing, so prayers are appreciated). Personally, I think this stems from being deprived of seasons until I moved to Virginia when I was 18.

Today, I was in WalMart grocery shopping (as is every great cook on a Sunday afternoon) and I couldn't help but notice all the cartons of apple cider. And then I realized that it couldn't be that hard. And you know what? It's not. This is better than 1,000 fall candles. The aroma that will fill your house is unbelievable, and it's the perfect fall treat.

Ingredients:

• 12 apples
• 1 orange
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 1/4 cup cinnamon sugar mixture
• 4 cinnamon sticks, cut in half
• 1 tablespoon nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon of whole cloves
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Directions:

• Cut the apples up, leaving the stems, leaves, etc. We'll take care of those later. Toss them in a large pot.
• Cut up the orange and toss it in the with apples.
• Add the brown sugar, cinnamon sugar mixture, cinnamon stick halves, nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon.
• Cover with water.

• Have the water come about an inch above everything in the pot. Once it starts boiling, some of the water will evaporate.
• Mix well. Bring to a boil and leave for about an hour and a half. Check on it occasionally, and I'd stir it every thirty minutes.
• Lower heat and simmer for 2-3 hours.
• Remove from heat. Using a potato masher, mash everything in the pot. Simmer for awhile longer to make cider darker and sweeter.
• Using a strainer, drain the liquid into another large pot. 
• I had to strain mine about 3 times to get all the little pieces out of it. Do it as many or as few times as necessary to get a smooth cider.
• Discard all the "guts" in the strainer.
• Serve with a cinnamon stick as a stirring utensil.

Did I mention how great this stuff smells? If you're not interested in cider, at least make this so your home smells perfectly fall-y and festive.  Tim's not interested in apple cider, so I set aside half of this to boil at a later date so my home smells good again. We do what we can.

Love and fall,

--> --> -->

Fall for Greenville

So my husband and I went on the most incredible day date to Fall for Greenville in downtown Greenville, SC. I had never been before, but apparently it's a big deal.

I had no idea.

We ate (everything), enjoyed the fall weather and had the most incredible time. We even went to a hockey game afterward! While I didn't make even one of these items below, I'm happy to say that I ate them. Tim and I just thought they were too pretty not to share with all of you.

Update: Fall for Greenville 2012 is taking place October 12-14!

Love and way-too-many-goodies,

Acorn treats

Don't worry. These aren't really acorns. That would be ridiculous, and slightly outdated, right? I can't remember the last time I saw a walnut in the grocery store. Or in someone's kitchen. Unless it's Christmas, and they're covered in chocolate, and even then you always dodge those for the good stuff.

Rabbit trail. Back to the topic, which is a combination of a) donuts, b) chocolate, c) chocolate sprinkles, and d) pretzels. That's it. Four easy-to-find, inexpensive ingredients, and you have quite possibly the cutest fall dessert you can imagine.

I mean, really...who doesn't love a donut?

Ingredients:

• Donut holes
• Chocolate chips
• Chocolate sprinkles
• Stick pretzels
• You hardly need any of these, because I snapped each pretzel stick in half and used it on two donut holes.

Directions:

• Melt the chocolate over the stove at a very low heat. Continue to stir until completely melted and smooth.
• Dip the tip of the donut hole into the chocolate and dip in chocolate sprinkles. Place on wax paper.
• Place donut holes in fridge and let cool and harden slightly.
• Stick half of each pretzel stick in the top of each donut hole.
• Keep donut holes in the fridge until you're ready to serve them.

I made two dozen of these, and it cost $11. That's not too bad to treat your co-workers, right?

Love and "natural foods,"

Rachael

Woody's Chili

My father-in-law is a wonderful man, but he's not one you would normally find in the kitchen. He can make three things (well): scrambled eggs, pancakes, and chili. Now, I give the eggs and pancakes a 7, but the chili easily gets a 10. He swears he never makes it the same way twice, but I got the best I could out of him.

Because he loves me.


Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. ground beef (or ground turkey, which is much healthier)
•  1 McCormick chili mix (he uses the hot one, but only uses that one package for the 2 lbs.)
• 2 cans chili beans (I used 1 can chili beans and 1 can drained kidney beans, plus about half a can of water, but that's just because I forgot to get 2 cans of chili beans at the store)
• 1 16oz. can tomato sauce
• Big chunks of onion (for those of you who are thinking of leaving this out because of your picky eater, don't. While my husband hates onions, I cut them in big enough slices that he can push them aside, and they add huge flavor.)
• Salt/pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon dry mustard (in the spice aisle). This is important!
• 1 tablespoon garlic (minced or chopped)

Directions:

• Brown ground beef (or ground turkey) and drain fat
• Pour the beef and all the ingredients in a crock pot and cook 4-6 hours on low
• Alternately, put all ingredients in a large pot and heat on medium/high stove heat until warmed
• Top with cheddar cheese, bacon bits, and/or sour cream

My father-in-law has produced some great stuff, particularly my husband. I am going to say that this is one of his best creations.

He's a talented man. I hope my children get his mustache.

Love,

-->