The one thing I managed to do this past summer was stock up on fresh fruit. My soul motivation was to be able to reach into my pantry as the chill hit the air to get a little taste of summer. The fruit made its way into several canning projects including strawberry balsamic jam and baked goods like my orange raspberry muffins. When cherry season rolled around I wanted to switch it up a bit.

Put ‘em Up, by Sherri Brooks Vinton, has several cherry recipes I was eager to try. With an eye towards homemade gifts for Christmas, I decided to make her Drunken Cherries. I let word slip out that I made them and I barely had enough on hand when Christmas rolled around.

As Sherri indicates in her book, the cherries are phenomenal over ice cream or as an extra special ingredient in a Manhattan. I decided to dress up a basic cheesecake recipe. There is no need to use an extravagant recipe. The cherries bring an incredible sweet bite to the cake.

I realize that if you live in the United States you are probably knee deep in winter and unlikely to find a surplus of cherries in your area. Take a moment and bookmark this recipe. A little planning will go a long way. You’ll be so happy to have this sweet little concoction in your pantry come this time next year.

I was a little overzealous with this experiment. The cheesecake recipe I used did not call for a mini tart pan. I wanted something cute and little so I decided to experiment. Lesson learned. The mini tart pan I used was not ideal for the texture and density of a mini graham cracker crumb base. Next time I’ll stick with what the recipe called for and use a regular sized tart pan or spring form pan instead.

Right before I decided to play around with creating a recipe for the filling I did a quick search for drunken cherry desserts and found the perfect recipe for a drunken cherry topping/filling on Local Kitchen. I’m so glad I took a minute to do a search because the filling is a perfect compliment to the cake.

No Bake Cheesecake recipe from Joy of Baking

Drunken Cherry Topping/Filling recipe from Local Kitchen

Are you ready for this? Up until yesterday I had never tried Brussels sprouts. I wasn’t necessarily avoiding them but I wasn’t exactly dying to try them. I can’t believe I waited this long to try them. They are a wonderful leafy vegetable that is very versatile. My friend, Lisa at Jersey Girl Cooks, recently shared that her Brussels sprouts recipe was one of her most popular recipes last year, so I knew I must be missing something. Thanks Lisa for the inspiration!

Without knowing exactly how this veggie would adapt to different ingredients, I decided to try a basic recipe. I turned to one of my favorite sources, Ina Garten, to adapt something she had made. I used her recipe and added a few tweaks to boost up the flavor profile. A splash of balsamic vinegar along with a few roasted peppers transform this dish into my new favorite side.

Roasted Balsamic Brussels Sprouts

Yield: 6 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 35-40 minutes

Total Time: 45-50 minutes

Basic ingredients like olive oil, salt and pepper can bring out the flavor of almost any vegetable. Brussels sprouts are no exception.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds Brussels sprouts
3 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
4 roasted red and yellow peppers, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut off the brown ends of the Brussels sprouts and pull off any yellow outer leaves. Mix them in a bowl with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour them on a sheet pan and roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. Shake the pan from time to time to brown the sprouts evenly. Sprinkle with more kosher salt if desired. Toss with chopped peppers and 1-2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and serve immediately.

Recipe adapted from Ina Garten: Food Network

1.) Cheesecake Brownies (Gluten-Free)

2.) Grilled Peach Salad with Feta and Honey Balsamic Glaze

3.) Kahlua Fudge

4.) Strawberry Balsamic Jam

5.) Peanut Butter Brownies

6.) Peanut Butter Banana Bread with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cream Cheese Glaze (Gluten-Free)

7.) Orange Raspberry Muffins (Gluten-Free)

8.) Pumpkin Nutella Pound Cake with Maple Pecan Glaze

9.) Spinach, Bacon and Blue Cheese Quiche

10.) One Ingredient Ice Cream

I must admit that my favorite post this year did not include a recipe. It was an homage to other food bloggers out there who can sympathize with everything on my list.

My favorite post: Top 10 Ways You Know You’re A Food Blogger. Here again for your viewing pleasure is my list:

10.) Your food goes cold while you get the “perfect” photo.

9.) When someone tells you the dish you made was good, you then pepper them with 20 questions about what they mean by good.

8.) Your wish list is full of kitchen gadgets.

7.) After taking a pretty good photo of your dish you then take 574 more just in case.

6.) You know all the major food holidays better than your friends’ birthdays.

5.) Buying cookbooks has made such a dent in your bank account that your family is considering an intervention.

4.) You plan your vacations around the food in that location.

3.) Friends and family roll their eyes when you take out your camera at the table.

2.) It would take 365 years to make all the recipes you have saved.

1.) You embrace the word foodie with wild abandon.

Hope you have a Happy New Year!

Our family likes to indulge in a little holiday merriment while opening our Christmas presents. That merriment usually comes in the form of sparkling wine or eggnog. Last year, thanks to a friend of the family, we sipped on generous portions of Coquito. I have been eagerly awaiting the holidays for a chance to indulge once again in this joyous cocktail.

Coquito is similar to American eggnog. From what I have learned so far, it is a beverage traditionally served in Puerto Rico during the Christmas holiday. It appears to be a hotly contested debate whether it is served with or without eggs. I believe a version with eggs is called a ponche creama but I’m not 100% sure. If you have additional information to share please comment below. I would love to know more about this traditional drink. I chose to make it without eggs due to my egg intolerance.

It is incredibly sweet and meant for sipping. Feel free to garnish the drink with a little grated nutmeg or cinnamon.

Coquito

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

2 cans coconut cream
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 cups rum*
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg

Directions:

Blend all ingredients in a blender on high for a few minutes until well-blended. Chill for a few hours before serving.

*I used 2 cups of rum. The drink was very strong. If you want to make a tamer version add 1 cup of rum, blend and then add additional rum to taste.

Recipe courtesy of Food.com

Have you met Kate over at Food Babbles? If not, let me tell you that she is one of the sweetest people I know. She’s simply lovely. We have become fast friends over the past year. We live just close enough to each other that we were able to find a great spot to meet halfway to grab a bite and shop. We’ve done a lot of damage at a nearby Crate & Barrel outlet store. Take a peek at some of our posts and you’ll see some of the items we’ve splurged on.

Kate recently added a new member to her family. Meet Molly Cate. While she is getting used to that sweet little bundle of joy she is featuring a few guests on her blog to get her through her sleepless nights. Check out my guest post on Food Babbles to read more about the recipe for Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Streusel.

Motivated by the promise of a trade party with serious game day eats, a group of us decided to participate in a female only fantasy football league. Our league? The Touchdown Tarts. With team names like “Hands Off My Sides” and “This Little Piggy” our fantasy football league is second to none.

We recently gathered for our trade party where we had an ample amount of food suitable for any football fan. I believe I exclaimed no less than three times “I love this group. I really love this group.” Why? Because we don’t mess around when it comes to game day food. Our trade party included an insane amount of savory bites like the Pigs in a Blanket pictured above. Take a look at some of the other delectable dishes we noshed on.

Guacamole with mango, goat cheese and roasted pistachios.

Veggies and Chips Tray

Gluten-Free Tamale Pie

Gluten-Free Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese

Federal Donuts

If you live in the Philadelphia area you’ve probably heard of the brilliant yet simple concept behind Federal Donuts. They serve fried chicken and doughnuts. Yep, that’s it. You can also grab a cup of coffee but really the focus is on the chicken and the donuts. The lines out the door on a regular basis reflect the love this area has for this genius combination. Once these bad boys made their way to the table they were quickly devoured until there were merely crumbs left. Their donuts aren’t your regular glazed variety. Their “fresh” flavors include Appollonia, Indian Cinnamon and Vanilla-Lavender. The “fancy” flavors we nibbled on included Key Lime, Nutella-Tehina-Pomegranate, Blood Orange and Chocolate-Raspberry. I’m usually not a fan of donuts that stray from the normal variety but their flavor combination definitely won me over.

I think next year we should have a draft party, trade party and a party for the winner. Three times the fun means three times the amount of sweet and savory delights!

Are you in a fantasy football league? How is your team doing this year?

Over the years I have met some great people while trudging through the daily grind that is the practice of law. One of those people, Ryan, a fellow attorney and ardent foodie, shares a love of food and all things food related. We often chat about our experiments in the kitchen while making our way through our various court appearances and deposition schedules. He recently mentioned that he had just finished making some homemade hot sauce. I have yet to make my own hot sauce so I was intrigued about the ins and outs of making it at home. Ryan was kind enough to share his trials and tribulations (a close call with a friend who ingested the incredibly hot sauce unaware of the spice factor-ouch) and detailed instructions on how he and his wife, B, make it SAFELY at home.

Welcome B & Ryan to La Phemme Phoodie!

For the past three years, my wife and I have grown habanero peppers in the flowerbed next to our house.  The first planting started basically on a whim to see if the peppers would grow in this fairly wet environment. Thus, we picked the driest and sunniest part of our home and planted two or three pepper plants.  Five months later, we harvested sixty-five red habanero peppers.  Like most of our goofy projects we neglected to engage in much forward thinking.  What would we do with sixty-five habanero peppers in October?  Being fans of spicy cuisine such as Thai and Indian, we decided the natural solution to the pepper problem was to make our own hot sauce.  Not having a recipe readily available, we turned to the vast reserve of knowledge that is the Internet, and we found a recipe that sounded tasty.  Then we promptly doubled the number of peppers called for in the recipe, and we nearly killed a friend’s neighbor at a Super bowl party who unexpectedly encountered our hot sauce slathered generously on a batch of homemade hot wings.  Wishing to avoid prosecution for manslaughter, we decided that next year we would use the number of peppers called for in the recipe and gradually add more, if additional heat was desired.  Three years later, we have perfected our autumn staple, which we have now dubbed “B & Ryan’s Burn Your Face Off Sauce.”

The original recipe can be found on a number websites and has names such as “Bob’s Habanero Hot Sauce”, “Liquid Fire”, “Peach Habenero Hot Sauce”, and simply “Habenero Hot Sauce”. A quick search for the recipe reveals a number of sites that feature the recipe including Allrecipes.com.

We selected this recipe because the mix of sweet molasses and peaches was the perfect compliment to the heat of the habeneros.  We stuck with the same basic recipe because it is tastier than we had hoped. However, we have changed the recipe only slightly by halving the amount of salt, adjusting batch size for the amount of peppers we grew, experimenting with the number of peppers in the recipe, and adding safety equipment to the preparation instructions. The modified recipe is as follows:

B & RYAN’S BURN YOUR FACE OFF SAUCE

INGREDIENTS:

12 habanero peppers, seeded and chopped (for an acceptable level of additional heat use 15-17 peppers).

1 (15.5 ounce) can sliced peaches in heavy syrup

1/2 cup dark molasses

1/2 cup yellow mustard

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 cup distilled white vinegar

1 tablespoons salt (Original recipe calls for 2T)

2 tablespoons paprika

1 tablespoon black pepper

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

EQUIPMENT:

1 food processor

Glass jars for storage

2 pairs of well-fitting latex or polyurethane gloves (per person – 1 pair serves as an emergency back-up)

1 pair of lab goggles (per person, no joke)

Some sort of respiratory protection and/or appropriate ventilation such as a nearby open window (again, no joke)

DIRECTIONS

Put on your gloves, goggles, and respiratory protection (if available), and open a nearby window.  This step is essential.  Have you ever gotten habanero pepper oils IN YOUR EYE??  Pray you don’t.  Use the goggles.  That same pepper oil tends to BURN skin after prolonged exposure.  It also gets in between your nails and the sides of your fingers and … guess what?  IT BURNS.  The oils seems to stay on (in?) the skin for a day or so no matter how hard you wash your hands.  At the risk of sounding repetitive, if you touch your eyes or sensitive parts with this oil on your skin it will BURN.  The fumes generated from cutting the peppers are also an irritant.  They will irritate your eyes and lungs if you do not work with ventilation, protection, or both.  Do yourself and those close to you a favor and take these safety precautions.

Once properly protected, cut and seed the peppers.  The rest is simple.  Place the seeded peppers, peaches, molasses, mustard, brown sugar, and vinegar into the container of a food processor.  Measure in the salt, paprika, pepper, cumin, coriander, ginger and allspice.  Blend until liquefied.  Pour into clean jars, and refrigerate overnight before using.  That’s it.  No cooking.  Pass out the extra jars to your friends and family, and be prepared for future requests for more sauce.

This year, we grew five habanero pepper plants, which yielded 144 usable peppers, and we made approximately three gallons of hot sauce.  The recipe adjusted accordingly is as follows:

INGREDIENTS:

144 habanero peppers, seeded and chopped

12 (15.5 ounce) can sliced peaches in heavy syrup

6 cups dark molasses

6 cups yellow mustard

6 cups light brown sugar

12 cups distilled white vinegar

3/4 cup salt

1 1/2 cup paprika

3/4 cup black pepper

3/4 cup ground cumin

2 tablespoons ground coriander

2 tablespoons ground ginger

2 tablespoons ground allspice

Yield: Approx 3 gallons.

We use our hot sauce on all kinds of dishes.  It adds a spicy kick to homemade hot wings.  Add a couple of teaspoons to a jar of salsa, grab a bag of tortilla chips, and enjoy. We’ve also used it in delicious pineapple chutney served over chicken.  However, our favorite way to serve the sauce is to spoon out a little over a taco — or four.

Most people who have tried our hot sauce comment that they enjoy the sweet taste of the peaches and molasses.  They also like that the kick isn’t really felt until the sauce is swallowed.  This makes for an interesting, and dare I say, complex flavor experience.  Most commercial hot sauces we have tried seem to substitute the lack of peppery heat with vinegar, trying to make the sauce seem hotter.  The result of this, at least in our opinion, is a bitter sauce that just tastes like thickened vinegar.  For this reason we have found ourselves becoming hot sauce snobs, which wasn’t our goal.  At the risk of sounding arrogant, we simply feel this sauce is so much better than most others we have tried that we can’t help but be disappointed with commercial sauces.  We hope you enjoyed our slightly humorous post about one of our favorite recipes.  It is a recipe that has grown in popularity amongst our friends and family, and one we plan on making for years to come.

*The super cute jar tags are from Paper Crave as featured on Cottage Industrialist.

Each month I receive an email from Tina at Moms Crazy Cooking with my assignment for the Secret Recipe Club. The club was created by Amanda of Amanda’s Cookin’. The idea behind this club is to give bloggers the chance to try each other’s recipes without the other bloggers knowing it until the assigned publish date. Each blogger is assigned a “secret” blog and asked to make a recipe from that blog.

This month, I was assigned to Crumbs and Chaos. Love the name! I’m also super jealous of the ladies who run it. Why? They are sisters…four sisters! I don’t have a sister hence why I am super jealous. Becca, Emily, Kate and Megan currently have 11 children between them. As they indicate on their site, their kitchens are full of CRUMBS and CHAOS on a daily basis. Too cute! The blog is their way of sharing recipes that nourish and delight each of their own families.

Each month that I participate in the Secret Recipe Club I try to select a recipe that I have not made before. Basil Pesto definitely falls into that category. I wasn’t avoiding it I just never got around to making it. I’m pleased to say that it is very easy to make. Now that I’ve tried it I can’t wait to make it again. There are so many ways you can use it. You can put it on pizza, pasta, steak or use it as a dip. That is just a few of the many ways to use this easy dish.

The only negative thing I have to say about Basil Pesto is that it isn’t exactly photogenic. You see what I’m talking about right? I think I added a little too much oil or I let it sit a little too long. I’m adding Basil Pesto to the list of tough things to tackle in food photography. It tastes great so that is really all that matters.

Basil Pesto

Ingredients:

Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1/4 cup toasted pinenuts
3 cups packed fresh basil leaves (2 1/4 ounces)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

On a cutting board, sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon salt over garlic and roughly chop. Using a flat side of the knife blade, crush mixture into a thick paste. Add to a food processor with pine nuts, basil, and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Pulse until ingredients are finely chopped. With machine running, add remaining oil in a slow, steady stream. Add Parmesan cheese and pulse to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Serve on hot pasta or on a toasted baguette topped with shredded Parmesan cheese.

Recipe from Crumbs and Chaos.

You might hear the phrase “Go Local” and not know exactly what that means. Dine local? Shop local? Yes and yes. It also means growing your own food and supporting your local farmers. Where should you start? Well, it depends on where you live. Do you have a local farmers’ market? If so, head there for fresh produce instead of hitting your regular supermarket. Going out to eat? Do a little research and find out which restaurants in your area use local ingredients and dine there to show your support. Let them know you appreciate their effort.

In the Philadelphia area we are fortunate enough to have Philly Homegrown, an initiative of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation. They promote chefs, restaurants, farms and flavors of the region’s 100-mile foodshed. Their site is a wealth of information on everything you would want to know about how to go local. They recently reached out to me and a few other local bloggers to raise awareness of some of the amazing products that this area has to offer. You can see a list of all of the goodies we received in my friend Allie’s post on All I Eat Food.

There were so many great products to experiment with but one stole the show. We each received a package of Metropolitan Bakery Granola. Once I found out that they were recently named the best granola in the country I knew I had to work with their product to come up with a fun, easy and healthy snack. Around that time I spotted several recipes for no-bake granola bars. Less work with the same great taste sounds like a wonderful recipe to me.

Founded in 1993, Metropolitan Bakery is the brainchild of pastry chef James Barrett and former restaurant manager Wendy Smith Born. The two met while working at local food landmark White Dog Cafe. Today, the bakery boasts five locations around the city, all known for their artisan, old-world European creations like flour-dusted organic miche, crusty baguettes and round cracked-wheat loaves. Their hand-made granola is created with 100% pure fruits, nuts, seeds, grains and spices and comes in three varieties – original, coffee chocolate chip and nut-free cinnamon pomegranate.

The bars were incredibly easy to make. I stored them in a sealed container. They stayed fresh for a few days. I am sure they would stay fresh a little longer but they were all gone before I could test out that theory. You can use the recipe below to adapt it to their nut-free cinnamon pomegranate or original granola. Your family will love these bars because they taste great. You will love these bars knowing that you are feeding your family something rich in natural ingredients.

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No-Bake Coffee Chocolate Chip Granola Bars (Adapted from Back to the Cutting Board)

INGREDIENTS:

4 tablespoon (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

2 cups Metropolitan Coffee Chocolate Chip Granola

1 cup rice cereal

DIRECTIONS:

1.) Line two 9 x 5 loaf pans or one 11 x 7 inch baking pan with foil or parchment paper. Lightly butter or spray the foil. Set aside.

2.) Combine honey and butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in brown sugar after butter starts to melt.

3.) Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low and simmer until the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat.

4.) Add the granola and rice cereal into the saucepan and fold them into the sauce until evenly coated.

5.) Spread the mixture into the prepared pans and press firmly with a spatula to evenly fill.

6.) Let sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes or until mostly cooled and set; lift out of pan and cut into bars.

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*DISCLAIMER: While Philly Homegrown provided me with the Metropolitan Bakery Granola, I was not compensated for this review. My opinions are my own.

The calendar states it is the middle of October. I cannot believe that to be true because up until this recipe I have yet to make anything with pumpkin. Once I received my assignment blog for the Secret Recipe Club I knew it would be a good time to start baking with my favorite fall fruit.

Erin at Making Memories…One Fun Thing After Another has many family friendly recipes including some fun Halloween ideas like her Pumpkin Joes and Monster Mouths. As you can see from the pictures she shares on her site, her kids love her recipes and so do I.

I settled on trying out one of her favorite desserts, Grandmother Paul’s Sour Cream Pound Cake. The basic pound cake recipe was easily adapted into a fall inspired dessert. The cake is a lot more dense than a regular pound cake. It almost has the consistency of a pudding cake. The maple pecan glaze kicks this dessert into overdrive. I paired a slice of this cake with a cup of my favorite bourbon vanilla tea. It was a perfect pairing.

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Pumpkin Nutella Pound Cake  (Adapted from Paula Deen)

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 lb (2 sticks salted butter), softened

3 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup regular sour cream

1/2 cup Nutella

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon grated nutmeg*

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine and cream the butter and sugar. Add sour cream, Nutella and canned pumpkin and mix until blended. In a separate bowl, sift the baking soda, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the creamed mixture alternating with eggs, beating each egg one at a time. Add the vanilla and mix until blended. Pour the mixture into a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes or until tester comes out clean.

*I prefer a lot of nutmeg in this recipe. If you are not a fan of nutmeg cut back to a 1/2 teaspoon instead of 1 teaspoon.

MAPLE PECAN GLAZE (Courtesy of About.com)

INGREDIENTS:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons maple syrup

3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

3 tablespoons pecan pieces (finely chopped pecans)

DIRECTIONS:

In a small saucepan, combine the butter, maple syrup, and cream; bring to a boil. Continue to boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and sift the confectioners’ sugar into the hot mixture. Whisk until smooth. Let cool for about 15 to 20 minutes, until slightly thickened. Stir in the finely chopped pecans. Drizzle over the cooled cake.

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