Caramel Apple Dip

This is a great recipe from ShannonB. What a great idea to whip up for unexpected guests in a hurry! I'm guessing that most of us keep brown sugar on hand. If not, I bet you could substitute breakfast sugar and a little vanilla to get the coloring right. I'll try and let you know how it comes out. :)

Caramel Apple Dip

1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 - 2 cups yogurt (to taste)

Melt the butter and cream it together with the brown sugar. Mix with the yogurt and serve with apple slices.

Mexican Casserole

"When you need a Mexican food fix, here's a very quick and easy recipe. I can find Senor Pepito tortilla chips (jalapeno flavored) in my town at Good Bakery or Spencers. I also make my own cream of chicken for this recipe. I know you can use the Maggi packets, but I'm just not into Indi-Mex food." - RachelR

Ingredients:
1 bag Senor Pepitos jalapeno tortilla chips
1 can cream of chicken soup
2-3 tomatoes, chopped
Half an onion, chopped
1 chicken, cooked an deboned

1 Taco Seasoning packet
Grated cheese


Saute the onions and tomatoes in a little oil. When done, add the cream of chicken and heat through. In a skillet, cook your chicken in a taco seasoning packet according to directions.

In an 8x8 casserole dish, cover the bottom with chips, then put chicken, soup mixture, then cheese, and then repeat layers one more time. Top with cheese. Cook in the oven til bubbly.

I've also added in a layer of beans when I've made this, but you'll want to season those with taco seasoning as well, otherwise the casserole is a little bland.

Makes about 6 servings.

Pumpkin Muffins

Here's another Pumpkin recipe from RachelR. She must be in a fall kind of mood. :)

Pumpkin Muffins:
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (I roasted my own pumpkin and then pureed it)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup (120 ml) buttermilk or plain yogurt (I used yogurt)
1/2 cup (120 ml) canola or safflower oil (I did 1/8 c. oil and 1/8 c. applesauce)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup (100 grams) whole wheat flour
3/4 cup (55 grams) natural bran (or just use another 3/4 c. flour)
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar (I substituted with 1/2 c. honey)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (140 grams) raisins or dried cranberries (I used pecans)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). (If you substitute honey, preheat oven to 375 degrees F.) Place rack in the middle of the oven. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners or spray with a non stick vegetable spray.
In a medium sized bowl mix together the pumpkin puree, eggs, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla extract. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, bran, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add the milk and egg mixture to the flour mixture. Stir until just combined. Fold in the raisins. Do not over mix the batter or the muffins will be tough when baked.

Fill the muffin cups with the batter using two spoons or an ice cream scoop. Place in the oven and bake for about 18 - 20 minutes, or until firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place on a wire rack to cool.
Makes 12 regular-sized muffins.

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Here's a yummy fall drink recipe from RachelR.

Anyone who enjoys pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks will like these. I used real pumpkin in mine. I think this recipe is neat since you can get pumpkin in India. If you have some allspice and vanilla, you're good to go. I frothed the milk mixture with a whisk and it turned out really foamy. We have an espresso machine, but this recipe tells you how to do with regular coffee.

Pumpkin Spice Latte
makes 1-2 servings
Ingredients:
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons canned pumpkin OR 1 teaspoon of Torani Pumpkin Spice Syrup (your choice)
2 tablespoons sugar or sugar substitute - you can halve this amount
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1-2 shots espresso (about 1/4 cup of espresso or 1/2 cup of strong brewed coffee if you don't have an espresso machine.)
Directions:
In a saucepan combine milk, pumpkin and sugar and cook on medium heat, stirring, until steaming. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and spice, transfer to a blender and process for 15 seconds until foamy. If you don't have a blender, don't worry about it - just whisk the mixture really well with a wire whisk.
Pour into a large mug or two mugs. Add the espresso on top.
Optional: Top with whipped cream and sprinkle pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, or cinnamon on top.


Megan's Note: I was making this with cinnamon and a bit of nutmeg, because I didn't have any pumpkin pie spice.  But I found that the powdered spice doesn't dissolve well and makes the coffee a bit grainy.  So I started heating the milk with a cinnamon stick and some cloves, then straining it out.  This worked great and made the flavor intense and smooth! 

Spicy Peanut Noodles with Shrimp

In most places I've been in India, it's possible to find Sumeru brand packaged frozen fish fillets and shrimp (prawns) at affordable prices. I use these things often in our meals, just to mix things up a little. Also, I've gotten really hooked on the new Sundrop Peanut butter. Way cheaper than the imports, and more like commercial peanut butter in the states than the local brands you can get. Oh, and I just used regular vinegar, not rice vinegar.

Spicy Peanut Noodles with Shrimp

Peanut Sauce:
1/3 c. creamy peanut butter
1/4 to 1/3 c. water
2 T. soy sauce
1 1/2 T. rice vinegar
1-2 t. chile past with garlic (I didn't have this so I just added chili powder and garlic powder and a little more water)
1/2 t. sugar
1/4 t. salt

Shrimp:
1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (2 Sumeru packs large prawns)
1/4 t. salt
Cooking spray or a little butter

Pasta:
8 oz. uncooked thick udon noodles or linguine
1 red bell pepper, cut into julienne strips (or green, if you can't find red)
3/4 c. chopped seeded cucumber
1/4 c. diagonally cut green onions
3 T. chopped roasted peanuts (we omitted these because I burned them :))
2 T. cilantro leaves
4 lime wedges

1. Cook noodles according to package directions.
2. While noodles cook, prepare peanut sauce. Combine first 7 ingredients, stir with a whisk.
3. To prepare shrimp, toss shrimp with 1/4 t. salt. Saute in a nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium high heat 3 minutes on each side or until done.
4. To prepare pasta, combine peanut sauce, shrimp, noodles, bell pepper, cucumber, and onions, toss well. Sprinkle with peanuts and cilantro. Serve with lime wedges if desired. Yield 4 servings.

(From Cooking Light)

My alterations were changing the chile paste and sauteeing the red pepper with the shrimp till it was a little soft. And this made more than four servings for us, more like eight, but that's because I used a whole pound of noodles on accident, I think. :) I saw the 1 lb. of shrimp and put a whole package of noodles in instead of half... mushy pregnant brain.

Hope you enjoy! It was delicious with the limes/lemons squeezed over the top! :)

Eggplant Hummus

Thanks to RachelR for this recipe as well, though she credits JoyceF for it originally.

"The eggplant is optional but SO stinkin' good. It's so creamy. Just wrap the eggplant in foil (well!) and toss it in the oven the next time you bake something. When it soft, it's done. Let cool completely in foil, then unwrap and add to hummus in the blender. This is great with chapatis!"

Eggplant Hummus
1 1/2 - 2 cups chickpeas (you'll want to soak these overnight before cooking them in the pressure cooker for about 1 hour)
2-4 cloves garlic, crushed (or 1/2 tsp dried garlic)
1/6 cup water
2-4 Tbsp tahini (opt)
1 Tbsp olive oil
pinch salt
Lemon juice - start with 1/2 lemon and add to taste
1 eggplant, roasted*

Dump. Purée with stick blender/blender/food processor. Dip chapatis, pita or other flat bread.

*Many of you have probably seen your helper do this, but another way to roast an eggplant is to put it directly on the burner with the gas on and turn it continuously. It usually takes about 30 minutes, if I remember correctly.

Whole-Wheat Banana Muffins

Here's a recipe from Rachel R that's gotten rave reviews. I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds super healthy and good! Rachel says:

"These are great because they are really healthy and inexpensive. I substitute honey for the sugar sometimes. I also like to add walnuts to mine. Others have added vanilla and cinnamon with great results. I don't think they're so great leftover, but they are pretty good right out of the oven."

Whole-Wheat Banana Muffins

1 c. oats
3 tbsp. sugar
1 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 c. mashed bananas
1/4 c. milk
2 tbsp. oil
Mix well and bake at 350 degrees. Makes 12 muffins.

Muffin making tips:

-The less the muffin batter is stirred, the better. Overstirring results in muffins that are tough with undesirable tunnels inside.

-Another common cause for tough muffins is too much flour. This is generally caused by "scooping" instead of "spooning" flour into your measuring cups. To measure flour accurately, stir it with a fork toaerate; then lightly spoon it into a dry measuring cup, leveling the top with a knife.

-If all the cups aren't used when filling the muffin pan with batter, pour water into the empty cups to keep the pan from buckling.

-Muffins are best when eaten the day they are made, but they freeze well too. Cover them tightly, and freeze for up to one month.

(Tips from the Complete Cooking Light Cookbook, 2000.)