Chocolate dipped Apricots

I love dried fruit. This time of year the fruit section has dried apricots.
Heat two squares of the Chocolate bark coating according to the package. Dip one end of the apricot in the melted chocolate and place on a try to cool. Once they have cooled you can transfer them to a bowl.

Spiced Nuts

These are not just any ordinary nuts. This beats any caned flavored nuts.

1 tablespoon of butter
2 tablespoons of margarine
1 tea of each nutmeg, cinnamon, chyenne pepper, vanilla and orange extract.
1 tea Baking soda
½ cup of Splenda Brown sugar
½ cup of dark brown sugar.
1-16 oz. bag of pecans
1-16 0z. bag of cashews

Place the nuts in a large bowl and set aside.
put a non stick aluminum foil on a cookie sheet and set aside.

In a sauce pot heat the butter and margarine. Once the butter is melted add the brown sugars, nutmeg, cinnamon, chyenne pepper, vanilla and orange extract. Let the mixture come up to a boil. Continue to boil until all the sugar is melted. Turn of heat to the stove top and add the baking soda. The baking soda makes the mixture foam. Immediately add the mixture to the nuts and stir. One the nuts are fully coated with the mixture transfer the nuts to the cookie sheet. Bake for 9 minutes. Stir nuts and bake for an additional 9 minutes.

Pumpkin Bread

Here is a wonderful Pumpkin Bread that is so moist and delicious.

2 cups of Bisquick
1/8th cut of oil
1 tea cinnamon
1 tea nutmeg
2 tablespoons of Pumpkin spice
2 cups of chopped walnuts
½ cup of Splenda Brown Sugar
1-1/2 cups of pumpkin
1 egg
1 tea vanilla
7 oz. of sweetened condensed milk.
1 small container of Cinnamon apple sauce.

Mix all dry ingredients except for the walnuts.
Add the remaining ingredients and mix until blended.
Once the batter is blended add the chopped walnuts.

Spray a 3x5 baking dish with a non stick spray. Add the Pumpkin batter and set aside.

Crumb topping

1 cup of Bisquick
1 tablespoon of soft butter and
½ cup of Splenda Brown Sugar.
Blend all the ingredients and crumble on top of the batter.
Bake at 350 for 1-hour 15 minutes.






Crumb Topping

Covatelli

This is an old family noodle my mother would make. I serve this noodle with tomato sauce. I will show the whole dish later this week.

2-1/2 cups of all purpose flour
½ cup of water
1 tea spoon of salt.

Mix all the ingredients together. It is important to have the right consistency of the dough. It should not be sticky. If it sticks to your fingers, the dough is to wet. If it will not blend together, it is to dry.

Roll into tubes and roll through the Gnocchi Machine.

Cranberry sauce.

2 bags of fresh cranberries
1/2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup Splends brown sugar
1 tea spoon of Orange extract
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
4 cups of water

Boil water with sugar. Once sugar is melted add cranberries and cook until they have become the consistency of jell. Add the remaining ingredients.

I do not like the seeds in my cranberry sauce so I use a food processer and cheese cloth to remove the seeds. If you don’t mind the seeds you can stop right here and follow the last step.

Since I don’t like the seeds I let the cooked cranberries cool before adding mixture to food processer. Pulse about 15 times. Then place cheese cloth over a bowl and add the cranberry sauce. Squeeze the sauce from the cheese cloth and add to a bowl. Refrigerate overnight.

Potato Soup

I love soups. The weather is perfect for a great hardy potato soup recipe.

Ingredients:
7 potatoes, peeled and diced into 2 inch cubes
½ vidalia onion, chopped fine
5 stalks of celery, chopped fine
1 cup chopped parsley
2 tablespoons of Mrs Dash, Onion & Herb
Kosher salt to taste
4 cups of 1% milk
3 cups of cheddar / jack cheese
2 tablespoons of Olive Oil

Directions:
Heat olive oil in a large pot. Add the chopped onions and celery. Cook until the celery is tender.
Add the cut potatoes to the onion and celery mixture. Cover the potatoes with water and boil until the potatoes are very soft and falling apart. If needed use a potato masher to create smaller chunks. Add milk, cheese, parsley, Mrs Dash and salt. Stir to blend cheese and let simmer for 15 minutes stirring occasionally.