Meatballs in Pomegranite Sauce, by Diane

Yeah, there's no way to make this recipe look pretty....

So this recipe tasted as good as it looks in the photo- in other words, a hot mess. I saw this on fb via Cleanfoodcrush, and it looked like an awesome recipe with interesting flavors. Unfortunately, the cooking directions were way off in almost the entire recipe so it wound up being a liquidy, unformed, overcooked mess. I stepped in a made a new sauce at the end but even that couldn't save these things. Good thing I doubled the recipe so that I could have it for lunches for the whole week...


Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef (grass fed if possible)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1 large egg
2 Tbsps avocado oil, or olive oil
1 cup pure pomegranate juice
1/2 cup unsweetened almond, or coconut milk
1 cup beef stock

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, mix the beef with the ground cumin, chili flakes, cayenne pepper and salt. Add the egg and mix thoroughly until all is blended well.
2. Form the meatballs, by taking one full tablespoon of the beef mixture and roll it between your palms until you have created nice, evenly round meatballs.
3. Place a large skillet on medium heat, drizzle with oil, and when it’s hot enough start adding your meatballs. Sear them for about 2 minutes on one side, then flip them on the other side and cook for 2 more minutes.
4. Add the pomegranate juice, beef stock and milk to the skillet, cover with a tight lid and let simmer for about 20 minutes until the meatballs are cooked through and tender.

Basic Stuffing, by Cheryl

I love stuffing. I love everything about it and I especially love it with some cranberry sauce and yummy turkey for Thanksgiving! I've never made homemade stuffing before and was excited to make it this year for Jon's family's dinner. This is a really easy and tasty recipe! A couple of adjustments - I added another cup of chicken broth to my veggie mixture because it didn't look like enough. And then I still had to add another cup the next day and bake it again for about 20 minutes since not all of the bread cubes got covered. And honestly, I'm not sure how much the egg and parsley mixture adds to the dish since it was hard to cover even a quarter of the pieces, but I wouldn't eliminate it. Overall, a very successful and loved dish! Yum!

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter
2 cups diced onion
2 cups diced celery
1 tablespoon minced sage
1 tablespoon minced thyme
2 eggs
1/4 cup chopped parsley
4 cups chicken broth
16 cups cubed stale bread (I bought a pre-cut bag of an already stale mixture of cubed breads from Whole Foods)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 375.

2) Melt one stick of butter in a pan and add the onions, celery, thyme, sage, salt, and pepper. Cook about 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth and bring to a simmer.

3) Whisk the eggs with the parsley in a large bowl. Add the bread to the bowl and pour the vegetable mixture over it, tossing to coat.

4) Transfer to a baking dish and dot with more butter.

5) Cover and bake for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake another 20 minutes until golden.

Thanksgiving Monkey Bread, by Diane

We found this recipe on Tasty via Facebook on Thanksgiving morning, and at the last minute we knew we needed to add this to the appetizer list! It was a good thing we did- this was unreal. It took significantly longer to cook through than the recipe stated, so next time I would bump up the cooking temperature and time, or lay them in a single layer in a casserole dish. I also increased the herbs for more flavor. YUM!

Ingredients:

2 packages of biscuit dough
1 large wheel of brie
2 tsp each rosemary and thyme
1 can whole cranberry sauce, mixed well so it spreads easily

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 (the recipe said 350 but I think it needed a higher temp). Spray a bundt pan and set aside.
2. Cut brie into small pieces (32 to be exact!). Rip each biscuit in half, and wrap the dough around a brie piece to form a ball.
3. Place a single layer of balls in the bottom of the pan, sprinkle with herbs and cranberry sauce. Repeat for about 3 layers in all.
4. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until the dough is cooked on the inside of the ring. Place a plate under the pan to flip over and serve.

Cinnamon Roll Apple Pie, by Diane

This recipe came from someone on Facebook, and we thought it was a good spin on the classic version of apple pie for Thanksgiving. It was a big hit, and really easy to make!


Ingredients:

Non-stick cooking spray
1 package of pre-made unbaked cinnamon rolls with icing
4 granny smith apples, chopped into bite-sized chunks
6 tbsp butter
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. Spray a 8 or 9 inch pie pan with non-stick cooking spray.
3. Use a rolling pin to roll out the cinnamon rolls and place them in the pie pan to cover the bottom and sides like a crust.
4. In a large bowl, combine apples, 4 tbsp butter (cut this into small chunks), cinnamon, and white sugar. Stir well and pour into the pie pan.
5. In a smaller bowl, combine 2 tbsp butter, flour, and brown sugar. Cut the butter into the mix until crumbs appear, and then sprinkle the crumbs on top of the apples.
6. Bake for 30 minutes uncovered, then reduce heat to 350 and tent with foil for another 15 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and top with icing (you may need to warm this in the microwave for 10 seconds until it can pour easily).

Pumpkin Hummus, by Diane

This was another recipe I pulled out for the BYOP (Bring Your Own Pumpkin) carving party this weekend. I was searching for something healthy to balance out all the other menu items (see previous post!) and came across this recipe. I've had it at a party in the past and thought it should be easy and delicious! The recipe itself wasn't the best because the ingredient proportions were way off so I'm writing what I did below. I also mixed in some pumpkin seeds to give it some crunch in addition to adding them on top for garnish. I served this hummus with colored peppers, carrots, cucumbers, and orange and black tortilla chips for halloween (not pictured!). In the end it was a big hit and would be a great snack or pre/post workout boost!


Ingredients:

5 tablespoons tahini (sesame-seed paste)

1.5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon olive oil

1.5 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper

1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin

1 garlic clove, chopped

2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

3 tablespoon pumpkin seeds 

Directions:

1. Blend all ingredients except pumpkin seeds in a food processor until smooth and creamy.

2. Stir in 2 tbsp of pumpkin seeds and mix well. 

3. Garnish with the remaining 1 tbsp of pumpkin seeds and serve with your favorite chips or veggies!

Updated Caramel Apple Dip, by Diane

This weekend I had a BYOP (Bring Your Own Pumpkin) carving party and I wanted to make a spread of fall-themed apps. I immediately went back to some of my favorite fall recipes on the blog, so of course the best cookies and dip in the world, the Maple Pumpkin Pie Chex Mix, the Mulled Apple Cider Sangria, and the Salted Caramel Apple Cream Cheese Spread. But the last time I made the cream cheese spread, the caramel sauce and all the toppings slid off the cream cheese making it hard to have an bite of anything except cream cheese. So I revamped the recipe and gave it a new form, and it was WAY better. Super easy to make (like maybe 2 minutes tops!) and really good with just about anything you can think of- party guests were dipping pretzels, corn chips and even veggies in this.

Ingredients:

1 8 oz. container of whipped plain cream cheese (so it's light and fluffy- and most importantly, easy to blend without those cream cheese lumps!)
4 oz. salted caramel sauce
1/2 cup toffee bits
1/2 cup crushed pecans
4 red apples, any kind


Directions:

Mix the first 4 ingredients together (I whipped them with an immersion blender so it still stayed fluffy but you can use a spoon or whisk). Slice the apples and have at it!