Christmas Sangria

Isn't it beautiful?? Sorry I didn't get a better picture. If you are looking for the simplest and most delicious tasting sangria, this is it! I've served this for a brunch and a cookie swap and gotten rave reviews. It's so simple and so delicious! Once you make this, it will be your go to drink. And it's so cute served in my mason jars with an added ribbon and sprig of evergreen.  The adorable straws came from Target! Here's the super simple recipe:

1 bottle pinot grigio (or other white wine, not too dry)
1 bottle sparkling cranberry juice (25 oz)
apples ( I mixed red and green to be festive) - diced
cranberries - frozen

I cut up my red and green apples early in the day and poured one bottle of white wine over them to keep them from turning brown. When it was party time, I poured one bottle of sparking cranberry in with the wine, gave it a stir and it was ready to go. The container I used held 2 bottles of each, which I recommend starting with because it goes fast!  I used frozen cranberries in each glass to keep the drink cold.

As an added touch, I froze some regular (non bubbly) cranberry juice with cranberries in the trays to keep the pitcher cold. It looked cute floating in there.

Viola! Simple and delicious. Now you can mark one thing off your list!

Pumpkin Crisp

Remember last year when my awesome bat cookies didn’t win the Halloween dessert contest at work? Well, you may not but I do! They were awesome and I was very hurt.  I mean, it was a lot of work putting those tiny bat ears on those Nutter Butters. Whatever. Well THIS is the dessert that beat me. I will accept that defeat since this is one of the best desserts you’ll put in your mouth. I couldn’t share it last year because the wounds were too fresh but I’m ready to tell you about it this year. I’ve made this dessert about 4 times now and it just gets better every time. This will be perfect for your thanksgiving table, trust me! Now if you aren’t a pumpkin person, don’t discard this. I don’t like pumpkin pie, but I love this dessert. The cake mix and pecans on top make such a decadent crust that you’ll add this to your favorite recipes, hands down. Make it at least once so you can see what all the hype is! I believe this originally came from Southern Living, but today Dawn's Blogalicious has it for you! Start planning your Thanksgiving menu around this now!

 

Ingredients:

 

1 can (15 oz) pumpkin

1 cup evaporated milk

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 package (18.25 oz) butter flavored yellow cake mix

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup melted butter

whipped cream (optional)

nutmeg (optional)

 

Directions:

 

Mix together first five ingredients

 

Pour into lightly greased 13x9 baking dish.

Sprinkle cake mix evenly over pumpkin mixture, sprinkle evenly with pecans and drizzle butter over coating evenly (again). Yes, I used evenly quite a lot in that sentence but it seems to work.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes before serving. Serve warm or room temperature. Add a dollop of whipped cream if desired and sprinkle with nutmeg. Now just try to eat one serving....I dare you! Enjoy!

 

Shrimp and Grits

 

My friends that dine with me often know how much I love shrimp and grits and how often I order it when we’re out. You would think since I’ve developed my love of cooking that I would have tried out this recipe, but I hadn’t…..until now! I have another confession to make. This is a tough one to admit since I’m a southern girl. Hi, my name is Dawn and I’ve never cooked grits. I know! I’m ashamed. I’ve only made instant grits. You know, the kind where you open a single serving package, add hot water and eat? Yeah, embarrassing, right? My father would be embarrassed. He always made us real grits. Well, now I’ve made grits on the stovetop and I must admit, they were pretty tasty. Must have been that cream cheese I added in at the end!

 

I wanted my first venture into the shrimp and grit world to be simple and quick. Luckily I was home during lunch one day and caught one of my friends, Sandra Lee, making this recipe on the Food Network. I altered her recipe a bit to make it more yummy, in my opinion. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind my enhancements. I’m  happy to share my recipe with you so let’s get started!

 

Ingredients:

 

Salt & pepper

1 cup quick grits

¼ cube cream cheese

3 strips bacon, coarsely chopped

½ Vidalia onion

1 small red bell pepper

1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (or frozen)

1 clove minced garlic

1 Tablespoon butter

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

2 teaspoons hot sauce

¼ cup white wine

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

 

Directions:

 

Cook grits according to package. Once grits are ready, remove from heat and stir in cream cheese until melted. The cream cheese makes the creamy, really bright white, and delicious!

 

In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the bacon until crispy, about 5 minutes. 

Turn the heat to med-high, add the onions and pepper and cook until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Then stir in garlic. 

Deglaze pan with the white wine…..which means, pour the wine in the pan and scrape all the yummy bits off the bottom of the pan. You don’t want all that flavor to go to waste.  Cook for a couple of minutes, until the wine reduces. Add the shrimp, sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook until shrimp turns pink, about 3-4 minutes. Or you can use frozen shrimp like I did. I thawed it out first, then added to pan just to heat.

Stir in butter, lemon juice and hot sauce. Toss around in the pan to coat the shrimp. Remove from heat, stir in parsley. Divide the grits among 4 bowls and spoon shrimp mixture on top of each. Now that is quick, easy and delicious!

 Now all you have to do is enjoy the fact that you made shrimp and grits….I did this by saying over and over “this is really good”, “I made shrimp and grits”. I will say that my husband was pretty pleased and went back to scrape any remnants out of the pan. I like a happy customer!

Crumb Cake

I’m sorry I’ve been such a blogging slacker! I promised to get better and then I didn’t. Okay, I’m really going to try because I want you to keep coming back. I’m sure you miss me when I’m away, right? We had a busy weekend around here. My parents came up for a visit and spent the night. They were our first overnight guests. So exciting! I had to do something special so I decided to make this crumb cake that I made for my Christmas brunch a couple of years ago. This cake is so delicious! It is the best crumb cake you will ever taste, I promise. It’s probably one of the best things you will ever taste period! Yes, it is that good. If you are looking for a great brunch recipe, this is it. I think I’ll make this for my in-laws too. You can go wrong with this recipe. Just look at how delicious it looks in that photo. My stomach is growling and I’m drooling a little on the keyboard so let’s keep going. Here’s what you need to get started:

For the crumb topping:

• 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 2 1/2 cups flour

For the cake:

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 12 tablespoons butter (1 1/2 sticks), at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups sour cream or Greek-style yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch x 13-inch pan.
For the crumb topping: In a medium size bowl, stir both the sugars, salt and cinnamon. Add the melted butter and stir until well combined. Fold in the flour until absorbed and set aside. I wouldn’t recommend a whisk though, most of the crumb topping is all stuck in the middle. I had to work it all out with a knife. Next time I’ll use a spoon!

For the cake:  Whisk  (it's safe to use here) together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium size bowl. With an electric mixer, cream the butter until completely smooth. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture is fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until well incorporated. Scrape down the bowl and beat again for 30 seconds. Add the sour cream (or yogurt) and vanilla and mix until just incorporated. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, scraping down the bowl after each addition, beating until just incorporated. Look how beautiful the batter looks!

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. It’s going to be thick so you’ll need to spread it out.  Man, that looks so delicious!

For the topping, use your hand to grab handfuls of the topping and make a fist. Break off chunks and drop them over cake (you want big chunks, not crumbs). The topping layer will look just about as thick as the cake layer – that is correct and beautiful! The crumb topping is making me drool.

Bake the cake for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Store tightly covered at room temperature, up to 3 days.....if it lasts that long!  Of course, you'll need to sample a piece right away like I did. Caution...you WILL burn the roof of your mouth if you are as impatient as I am! Enjoy!

Nutella Pochettes

Now that we are pretty much settled in our Georgia home, I’ve been trying some new recipes.....and Thank God I did! I mean, just WOW! These Nutella Pochettes are to die for! Don’t worry, I didn’t know what a pochette was either. It’s basically a turnover, but this is a Nutella filled turnover? What?? Yes, delicious dough filled with the chocolaty deliciousness of Nutella! Thank goodness I've had time to watch more Food Network and find this little treasure. Yes, I know I have a recent blog with Nutella, but who can have too much Nutella?? No one!

We had our own little Superbowl party and I made these for our dessert and let me tell you, these will make you want to slap somebody! Take a bite of them fresh out of the oven.....YUM! Well, honestly, I did burn my lip just a little when the chocolate oozed out so I think I’ll recommend waiting just a few minutes, if you can. They are just the perfect little treat AND I made homemade dough! I know, I can’t believe it either, but I did! It was super easy too. Just three ingredients and I had a flaky and delicious dough. Should I see how many times I can use the word “delicious” in this blog? Okay, I guess you got the message, these are really really really good! I’m happy to share my recipe with you. Here’s what you need to get started:

 
Ingredients:
 

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
• 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• about 1/2 cup chocolate-hazelnut spread (recommended: Nutella)
• Water, as needed
• 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

 

Directions:

 
In a medium bowl, using a hand mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese together until light and creamy. Add the flour slowly until the dough forms. Do not over-mix!

Shape the dough into a ball and cover. That's my homemade dough ball. :-) Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Look! I made dough!

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F while we get started on assembly.

On a lightly-floured surface, using a lightly-floured rolling pin, roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness.

Keep rolling until it's a little thinner

Using a 3-inch fluted biscuit cutter, cut out as many circles as you can. Form the scraps into a ball and reroll to make more circles. I didn't have a regular biscuit cutter, much less a fluted one, so I used a glass. Anything that is a circle will most likely work.

This made about 15 for me, but the recipe said it should make 32. Hmmmmm.....I think I’ll roll the dough a little thinner next time.


Fill each dough circle with a small spoonful of the chocolate-hazelnut spread.  Don't overfill or spread around. Trust me, a spoonful is plenty and it will fill out the pasty shell.

What a beautiful sight!

Dip your finger in tap water and spread on the edge of half the circle to help create a seal. Fold the dough over to create a crescent.

Bake until golden, about 15 minutes. Cool, then sift the confectioners' sugar on top and serve. Don’t sprinkle sugar on until cool, it will appear wet and gummy on top.

Don't those look pretty? Wait until you sprinkle with powdered sugar!

If you decide to share these, you will have some happy friends and family! Enjoy!

Brunch at the Egg & I

Okay, I know I've fallen behind on my blogging and I am really sorry about that. We are living like vagabonds between Georgia and Virginia and I just ended my job. We've had a lot going on but I promise to get better. Maybe while I'm not working I'll have time to watch more cooking shows and get back to blogging.....the important things in life.  I've missed my friends Ree, Giada and Ina. 

Just so you know, I am writing this while on an 8 hour road trip with my husband and two dogs. I'm typing it on my iphone. Are you impressed now?? Probably not, right?

While we wait on more interesting blogs, let's check out an awesome meal I had recently. The hubby and I tried a new brunch spot, The Egg & I, and it was surprisingly delicious! We both went for the pancake, yes that's singular. Check out the pic and you'll see why. It was huge! Bigger than a newborn baby! I went for blueberry, of course. Mine was served with a warm compote that was also yummy.  I probably ate a third of this massive pancake. I'm not THAT much if a pig!

All in all, great new spot and go with someone to share a pancake!

I promise a new recipe soon! Stay tuned...

Sausage & Cheese Muffins

I’m always looking for a good appetizer recipe to take to parties or serve to my guests. When I saw this one on Pinterest, it caught my eye.....anything with sausage and Bisquick HAS to be good, right?? These two ingredients combined can’t possibly make a bad recipe. The recipe calls it “all purpose baking mix”, but we all know it’s Bisquick. No pantry should be without it. You never know when it will come in handy. These taste very similar to my sausage balls, but the fiesta cheese soup gives it a different flavor. A perfect breakfast treat or a great appetizer as well. It’s super easy to throw together too, which is always a plus in my book.  Let’s get started with this tiny little treat.

Ingredients:

 

• 1 lb. hot ground pork sausage
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 3 cups all-purpose baking mix (aka Bisquick)
• 1 (10.75 oz) can condensed fiesta nacho cheese soup
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
• 3/4 cup milk (water will work too)

Directions:

Cook sausage and onion in a large skillet over medium to med-high heat, stirring until it crumbles and no longer pink. Drain and cool.

Preheat oven to 375. Combine sausage, baking mix, and shredded cheese in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the mixture. Stir together the soup and milk; add to sausage mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Spoon until lightly greased mini muffin tins, filling to tops of cups.

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until they look like lightly browned little morsels from heaven. This recipe made 5 dozen mini muffins. Share and enjoy! 

 

Cinnamon Sticky Buns

These are WAY better than regular sticky buns. They are like sticky buns on steroids! They are so delicious. If you are a fan of cinnamon like me, then you’ll be a fan of these delicious little treats. One of my blog readers, Nia, loves cinnamon and has fallen in love with the Easy Cinnamon Rolls, but  maybe her mom will make these for her and she’ll really be in heaven! Kelly, pay attention. :-)

 

I made the Easy cinnamon rolls for my husband and I a couple of times, but had a thought one day that I could combine them with my Dad’s sticky bun recipe. Why not have the best of both worlds, right?? Plus, I love when I can share a recipe with my Dad instead of me stealing all of his. This is a compromise, half mine, half his, and totally delicious! Let’s get started with the basic easy cinnamon roll recipe:

 

Ingredients:

 

• 1 tube Refrigerated crescent rolls or the cool new dough sheet of crescent rolls.
• 1/4 c Granulated sugar
• 2 T cinnamon
• Softened butter to spread on dough

Directions for Cinnamon Rolls:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Unroll crescent dough and press seams together. Spread with a thin layer of softened butter.



How cool is this??? Thank you Pillsbury!

• Combine cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle mixture on top of the butter.

• Roll up....you can either roll them up so that you have smaller rolls but more of them, or fatter rolls but a few less. This time I went with more and rolled them up from the longer side. Next time I’m going for fatter ones!

• Now move onto the gooey sticky bun portion. Here’s what you need for the best topping ever:

4 Tablespoons of butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup Karo pancake syrup

1/4 cup chopped pecans

• Directions:
• I used my iron skillet, but you can use whatever skillet works for you. Heat butter in pan, once melted add brown sugar, syrup and pecans, and stir.

• As you can see, I could have used a smaller pan, but this worked for me. If you use a skillet, make sure it can go directly in the oven. If it can’t, use a round cake pan and pour this mixture in the bottom of the pan.

• Take off heat, place sliced cinnamon rolls in mixture and bake for 12 - 15 minutes. Is your mouth watering yet?? Mine is. I wish I had a sticky bun right now!





• Look how beautiful they look fresh out of the oven.  Now get ready to flip the pan upside down. Another reason a smaller pan would have worked better. I had to use my muscles!

Now flip and make a mess like I did!

Now for the best part, put a few on a plate, get a fork, and dig in! Best served warm. Now just try to eat just one, I double dog dare you!

Enjoy!

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

I can hear you saying...."a recipe with cinnamon AGAIN". Yeah, yeah, I recently posted two other recipes with cinnamon, but here’s another one. Guess what....I love cinnamon! Hello, my name is Dawn and I’m addict to cinnamon. Hey, I could be addicted to worse things! I could be an alcoholic, I could be a hoarder, but I'm not, I just really love all things cinnamon! And look, you all get to benefit from my cinnamon addiction and join in my fun. Two things I love are cinnamon and coffee cake. Put those two things together and I’m in hog heaven. And yes, I’ll eat like a pig and turn into a hog. This recipe makes the most awesome cake batter. It tastes a lot like my pound cake batter. I should know, I’ve sampled them both....several times.

Would you also like to make an awesome coffee cake? I’m going to assume that answer was yes and give you the recipe. This one was thanks to a Good Housekeeping cookbook I found on the bargain table at Barnes and Noble. Who knew Good Housekeeping was still publishing awesome cookbooks?? I was happy to discover this and I do love a good bargain! You’ll be seeing more recipes from this book soon. Okay, let’s get started:

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup sugar plus 1 3/4cup sugar
• 2/3 cup walnuts (or pecans), finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 3/4cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened, or margarine
• 3 large eggs
• 1 container (16 ounces) sour cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 9-inch to 10-inch tube pan with removable bottom. I don’t have a tube pan so I just used my bundt pan and flipped the cake over after it came out. I’m sure it’s easier with a tube pan, but this method worked too! Dust the pan with flour after greasing. In small bowl, mix 2/3 cup sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon. Next time, I might double this mixture so I have more filling and more topping. Who doesn’t want more cinnamon, right??

In medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In large bowl, with mixer at low speed, beat remaining 1 3/4 cups sugar and butter until blended, scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Increase speed to high; beat until creamy, about 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Reduce speed to low; add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

With mixer at low speed, add flour mixture alternating with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture, beating until batter is smooth, occasionally scraping bowl. Beat in vanilla.

How beautiful is that batter?? Wish I could lick that paddle now!

Spoon one-third of batter into prepared tube pan. Sprinkle about 1/2  nut mixture evenly over batter, then spread half of remaining batter on top.

Sprinkle with a little less than remaining 1/2  more nut mixture (reserve some for topping); layer with remaining batter, then remaining nut mixture.

Bake cake 1 hour 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Check after an hour to see how things are progressing. You don’t want to burn this fabulous cake! Cool cake in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. With small metal spatula, loosen cake from side of pan and lift cake from pan bottom. Invert cake onto plate; remove bottom of pan. Immediately invert cake onto wire rack to cool completely, with nut mixture on top.

Doesn't that look delicious piping hot and fresh out of the oven? Well, it was delicious! Luckily this time I took some into work to share with others so David and I wouldn't eat the entire thing. It's not like we weren't prepared to give it a try. Give this recipe a try and you'll love it too. Thanks Good Housekeeping!

Easy Cinnamon Rolls

As you have learned if you are a frequent visitor to my blog, I LOVE all things cinnamon. It is my absolute favorite spice. It’s good for you too! I’ve had this recipe pinned on my Pinterest for quite sometime, but just haven’t gotten around to making it. Well, we were sitting around this evening and my husband said he was craving something with cinnamon. Well  I jumped up with excitement! I have just the thing!! I looked up this recipe quickly and got to baking. This recipe is so super simple, you don’t really need a recipe. I’ll give you one anyway because I’m so nice. If you want a quick and easy recipe, you have come to the right place! We ate up this pan of cinnamon rolls in one sitting. I’m not even kidding! We are pigs and I’m not afraid to admit it. They are so yummy, you can't eat just one. Nothing better than cinnamon rolls hot out of the oven. Well, one thing is better.....topping them with icing!  Do you want a delicious and simple recipe?? Here you go:

Ingredients for rolls:

• 1 tube Refrigerated crescent rolls
• 1/4 c Granulated sugar
• 2 T cinnamon
• Softened butter to spread on dough

Icing:

• 1/2 c powdered sugar
• 1 t vanilla
• 2-3 t milk (start with 2 T and see if you need more, I didn't)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Unroll crescent dough and separate. Spread with a thin layer of softened butter.

• Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

• Roll up dough as usual and bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.



• I took it one step further and sprinkled the left over cinnamon and sugar mixture on top. You can't have too much cinnamon, right?
• Now of course you'll want to top them with the icing:
• Mix all ingredients together until it is your desired consistency. Use to drizzle over pastries or as a dipping icing. We did a little bit of both!

Drizzle the icing over these delicious treats and enjoy them while they are still warm. Yummy!