BIZZY BAKES

I like the colors of this salad, the golds, greens and wine colored.  They make for a pretty plate to present. Spinach and Butternut Squash Salad with Nuts and Cranberries Ingredients: 2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons brown sugar ½ cup walnuts 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 2 teaspoons honey salt and pepper to taste 4 cups of baby spinach ½ cup dried cranberries Method: Roast or boil squash cubes.  I boiled them and some overcooked so I recommend roasting. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Once the butter bubbles, stir in brown sugar, followed by walnuts.  Sauté nuts; stir frequently until coated with mixture, 6 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.  Whisk vinegar, honey, remaining 4 tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl.  Combine spinach, sq...

I am attempting to use up my nut supply.  I buy nuts in large Costco bags and freeze some of them, while I make hubby happy with nutty baked goods.  This week, I made him two nutty desserts, both muffin recipes but one as a coffee cake.  I doubled the nuts in both recipes so if you make this and don't adore nuts, cut them in half and you are back to the original recipe. I was excited about this recipe because it has mangoes and I leave some of the mango attached to the pit, for me.  Mango is such a treat.  This also has banana, my husband's favorite fruit but one he does not like in baked goods.  I used a banana that was not overly ripe, hoping it would not be so filled with flavor.  I think it worked since he did not pick up the banana flavor and it served its purpose in the batter. Mango Nut Muffins   (allrecipes.com) Ingredients : 2 cups gluten-free flour mixture 1 cup sugar 2 teaspoons baking soda 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1/2 tea...

Time for another opportunity to cook in the Secret Recipe Club.   This was the brain child of Amanda from Amanda's Cookin'  and as I am sure you have seen, it has taken off like wildfire, presently with 4 different large groups. My recipe came from Cupcake Muffin .  I have been to Sara's blog a number of times before receiving her blog  to find my secret recipe.  She has a variety of recipes and they are just right for me.  This is such a good match.  I decided to check out a number of recipes so I could take a good look at what she is doing.  A number of times, I picked my recipe but talked myself into looking further.  When I got to this bread, I knew it was right.  After making a number of apple dishes, I was ready for pears and hubby loves pecans.  A match made in Heaven....   Thanks Sara. Pear-Pecan Spice Bread  (adapted from  The Kitchen Sink Recipes , original recipe  here ) (the only change I m...

With celiac came lots of rice dishes.  In fact, in the beginning, I remember living on rice.  I am sure that is not true but it felt that way.  You need to understand, I did not like rice, not in any shape or form.  Rice was icky.  It might have been the way, I cooked it. After a short while, I knew I had to master the cooking of rice.  I was up to the challenge, I hoped.  I started experimenting with brown rice and came up with quite a few really good recipes.  Rice goes with everything.  That was my hint to add anything.  Onions, carrots, apples, nuts, zucchini.......anything.  Sauces were as versatile as the add-ons. The one rice, I had made for years was fried rice.  It was terrible but it was my best rice dish.  This was the time to learn how to make a good fried rice and I did.  I was like a child, proud, taking his/her first step. Pilaf was new to me.  It sounded so exotic.  How foolish, I was. ...

We are listening to the thunder and the rain which comes down in torrents, when it does come down.  So far, so good and we are optimistic. To prove to you I am cool, I have just baked two cakes, on a cream cheese coffee cake and the other a Mango Nut Yogurt Cake.  Made them both gluten-free for hubby but I will be sharing this.  They are still baking and if possible, I will get a photo up, tonight. In the meanwhile, here is the recipe for the Cream Cheese Coffee Cake.  I plan to put the Mango cake on My Sweet and Savory .   Cream Cheese Coffee Cake   Ingredients: 1/2 cup butter, softened 1 cup sugar 3 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups all-purpose flour (gluten-free brown rice blend) 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup sour cream FILLING: 2 (3 ounce) packages cream cheese 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar 2 tablespoons lemon juice CINNAMON-NUT TOPPING: 1/4 cup finely cho...

During a visit to Mary's of One Perfect Bite , I came across this recipe although her's used whole wheat pasta while mine is gluten-free.  This does not change the recipe.  Each of followed the directions on our packages of pasta.  The rest of the meal should be the same except.......... Pesto originally was made in Genoa. Italy.  The traditional pesto is made up of basil, garlic, pine nuts, olive oil and Parmesan.  That was the first kind, I made.  To my surprise, I found pesto with a multitude of vegetables and nuts.  The word, pesto, comes from a pestle because it was made, using a pestle and mortar. A pesto is versatile and can be used in a multitude of ways.  I like it on a baked potato with some vegetables on top.  Then comes the pesto to pull it all together. Try it on pizza.  Nowadays, we see the many faces of pizza and no longer do we have a limited choice in toppings or sauces.  We see white pizza, red pizza and green p...

I am not sure why this is the hit of the season.  There is no reason, we can't eat the real chopped liver but we don't.  Years can go by and I will not have made it and the only reason, we would have eaten it, is that it was served at some place, we were eating. So, what is this yearning for mock chopped liver which probably does not taste anything close to the real thing?  I wish, I had the answer, so I could explain it to you but I don't know what the answer is.  All, I know, is that we do not make mock chopped liver any time, other than Passover.  If you will keep my secret, I actually hid it, in the back of the refrigerator, hoping there will be more for me.  Never works. Two food items that we use a lot of, at this time of the year, are potatoes and eggs.  The third would be nuts, all kinds of nuts.  This recipe has no potato but, it does have lots of eggs and walnuts.  Why in the world would these come together to make something so ...