This past weekend I had the wonderful and exciting opportunity to attend Bloggy Bootcamp Philadelphia. It was so weird to have the event taking place in my city since I’m always traveling for events like this! But I’m so glad that I took the time to go, because I learned so much new information! One of the sponsors for the #BBCPhilly was King’s Hawaiian. And they hooked us up. I walked out of there with 3 bags of bread! And let me tell you something. This is like my new favorite bread. Now you know I love desserts and all of that. So I’ve got a mean sweet tooth. This bread is amazing! It has the perfect sweetness and it didn’t take much for me to fall in love with it! Every meal that I ate on Sunday consisted of King’s Hawaiian. No exaggeration. I have to share this French Toast recipe with you though. I promise, you’ll thank me later. [Read more...]
King’s Hawaiian® Famous French Toast
Spiced Pumpkin Bread
I had a can of Libby’s Pumpkin in my cabinet taking up some space, so I decided to make something with it. I figured the perfect thing to make would be a loaf of Spiced Pumpkin Bread. This is the perfect thing to grab for breakfast while heading out the door for work. And it’s such an easy thing to make since I always have all of the ingredients on hand.
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 5 teaspoons ground allspice or pumpkin pie spice
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup LIBBY’S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup Apple NESTLÉ® JUICY JUICE® All Natural 100% Juice
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
PREHEAT oven to 350° F.
SIFT flour, allspice, baking powder, baking soda and salt into medium bowl.
Combine pumpkin, sugar, Juicy Juice, eggs, oil and vanilla extract in large bowl; Stir well.
Stir in flour mixture just until moistened.
Spoon into greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.
BAKE for 65 to 70 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes; remove to wire rack to cool completely.
This was my first time using this recipe, and it wasn’t that bad. I added in a little extra spice to mine, and I’m so happy that I did. It calls for 5 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice, which may sound like a lot, but it’s really not. If you think about the canned Pumpkin doesn’t give it any spice; just a subtle pumpkin flavor. So you need the spice to come from somewhere. So I used the 5 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice (all Penzeys, of course!) plus I used 1 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg, about 1/2 teaspoon of ginger and a sprinkle of cinnamon. I used regular Apple Juice and that worked out fine. I think next time I’d use a little bit more brown sugar because I think it could be a tad sweeter. I baked mine for 58 minutes, which I think was plenty! So keep an eye on it. But for the first time making this, I was pretty happy with the result.
Souper Bowl Sunday ['11] ~ Week Six
It’s a beautiful fall day here in Philadelphia and the perfect day for soup! I wanted to try something different, so I decided to throw together a Creamy Tortellini Soup. I’ve seen Tortellini Soups before, but they were different from what I had in mind. Most of them were broth based, but I wanted mine to be creamy so I decided to get creative and come up with my own.
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup leeks
- 1/2 cup chopped onions
- 1/2 cup chopped carrots
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 cups fresh spinach
- 3 garlic cloves
- 32 ounces chicken broth
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup + 3/4 cup half & half
- 1 cup milk
- 1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon fresh nutmeg, grated
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon fresh parsley
- two 9 oz packages Tortellini (I used Wegman’s brand)
In a Dutch Oven, heat the butter over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, celery and leeks; reduce heat to medium low.
Cook, stirring frequently, about 10 to 15 minutes or until the vegetables are very soft and golden.
Start to bring water to a boil in a large saucepan so that you can cook the Tortellini. Once the water is boiling, cook the Tortellini as directed on the package. Do not overcook.
Drain and place in a bowl. Set aside.
In another pan, heat the olive oil over low to medium heat. Smash the garlic and add to the pan. Make sure it doesn’t burn. Add in the spinach and season with a pinch of salt & pepper.
Cook until wilted.
Transfer to a bowl and set it aside.
Add in the chicken broth, and let it simmer for about 10 minutes or so.
Add in the milk and 3/4 cup of half & half.
In a large screw-top jar, combine 1/4 cup of half & half and flour. Cover and shake until combined and smooth. Add that into the soup mixture.
Serve with your favorite bread.
I must say that this soup was pretty good, if I do say so myself. I was very happy with how it came out. I thought it was packed full of flavor and this will definitely be put in my recipe box to make in the future. The Spinach added a lot of flavor to the soup. The nutmeg is a key ingredient that really brings all of the flavors together. This recipe as written is vegetarian, but if you want to add in some chicken or another kind of meat it would work well for that too.
5 Ingredient Friday: Sauteed Peaches
This week’s 5 Ingredient Friday recipe was inspired by my Fruit Share from the CSA. I got a bunch of Peaches in my Fruit Share this week that have ripened up very nicely, so I wanted to saute some of them to serve with dinner. I love this recipe because it can be used with dinner OR dessert! I’ve served this on top of some chicken breasts before, and let me tell you how amazing it was! This time I served it as a side dish. It’s been so hot here in Philly that I have been trying to use the stove top instead of the oven whenever I can. So I decided to throw this together! It’s so simple and you can use whatever spices you want. I happen to love Cinnamon and Nutmeg, but Allspice and Ginger is wonderful in it as well.
Ingredients
- 3 Peaches; peeled & sliced
- 3 Tablespoons butter
- 1/3 cup packed Dark Brown Sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon Cinnamon (I recommend Penzey’s extra fancy Vietnamese Cinnamon)
- 1/8 teaspoon Nutmeg (I recommend Penzey’s Fine Ground Grenadian West Indian Nutmeg)
Directions
If you haven’t already, peel the peaches and slice them up
Melt the butter in a pan
Add in the Peaches and stir around;
let cook for about 10 minutes until softened
Add in the Brown Sugar
Stir the Brown Sugar until incorporated;
Let cook for a bit until the sugar starts to caramelize
Add in the Spices and cook for 3-4 minutes.
Serve!
These Peaches are great served with a Protein (Chicken, Pork, etc), served as a side dish, or even for Dessert! They go great over Pound Cake, on top of Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, etc. The possibilities are endless! Be creative and have fun with it.
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