Grilling

I love grilling season and I love that I have begun to get a little experimental with what I have Marc grill (he loves to man the grill - so I let him). I have slowly but surely been exploring all sorts of things such as marinades, seasonings for meat, kabobs, veggie pouches (veggies wrapped in tin foil with a little seasoning), potatoes, and whatever else I can figure out how to get cooked on the grill. I am in love and obsessed. Not to forget that it is ridiculously easy and for the most part takes VERY little prep time, other than thawing the meat - which in a bind I have found can be skipped (although it tastes better after the meat has been thawed first.

I know in theory you can grill all year round, however I feel horrible sending Marc out to grill when it could be mistaken for Antarctica outside - not to mention in the winter crock pot food is my favorite. I am apparently realizing that I am a seasonal eater.

Complaint: I wish my town had a great farmers market, we sort of have one, they call it that - however usually there are only one or two stands there and they are open at weird times - mid day on Tuesday and Sunday mornings, neither really works for me all that well. I miss Dubuque's Saturday morning farmers market.


What do you like to grill?
Do you have any grilling secrets your willing to share?
Do you grill often?

Crockpot connoisseur - Caramel Apple Cider

4 cups apple cider

3 tablespoons caramel syrup (the ice cream topping)

1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

I times this recipe by four and made a gallon's worth of hot cider. 

I made this recipe for the pintrest party I hosted last Friday night. The group absolutely loved the cider, I was sort of hoping that I would have some left over so I could drink it throughout the week, but alas they drank it all minus a glass that I drank while cleaning up my house.

This was delicious and seriously way too easy to be this good, this will totally be my holiday party go to drink to bring somewhere. I only had it heating for a couple hours on high before the party, the drink was plenty warm and delightful. The only helpful hint I will give is each time before you serve it give the mixture a good whisking because the caramel does tend to sink to the bottom, but this is seriously trivial for how good this stuff is!

I highly recommend everyone make this!

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins - Review

This past week I made some delightful pumpkin streusel muffins that I found on pintrest (I LOVE pintrest). Here is the pin.

I followed the recipe exactly as it is written. It made 12 muffins although I think there was a ton of dough and could have easily made 18 muffins just as easily. If you make 12 know that your muffin cups will be super full, but it does still work out fine. This was a super easy recipe to make. I made them for our all board retreat at church, they were gone fast. I am making them again this week (I think I am going to take them down to my brother & his girlfriend).

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins:

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the cinnamon streusel topping:

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits

For the glaze:

• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• 1-2 tablespoons milk

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners; set aside.

To make the streusel topping, combine flour, sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Add cold butter and toss to coat, using your fingers to work the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles coarse crumbs.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, butter, eggs and vanilla.

Pour mixture over dry ingredients and stir using a rubber spatula just until moist.

Scoop the batter evenly into the muffin tray. Sprinkle with reserved topping, using your fingertips to gently press the crumbs into the batter.

Place into oven and bake for 16-18 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

To make the glaze, combine confectioners’ sugar, butter and milk. Whisk until smooth. If the glaze is too thin, add more confectioners’ sugar as needed.

When the muffins are done, cool for 10 minutes and drizzle the glaze on each muffin.

Allow glaze to set before serving.

Foodie Pen Pal - August Reveal

My foodie pen-pal for the month who sent to me was Elise. Elise blogs as the jersey flower, feel free to click on that and see her blog. I got an amazing package from her (thank you thank you thank you). It contained: a note explaininig everything inside of the package, hot chocolate, peanut m&ms, lipton tea, vegan butterscotch disks, granola bars, Cherryberry crunch bites, and some orbits gum (in a flavor I haven't tried in the past.... yummy).

The contents of the delicious package I recieved.

 

 

If you are interested in signing up I highly encourage you to click the picture below and sign up for next month, it is super fun to get mail that is not bills or junk mail but rather yummy treats.