Every week Utah Taste Off can be counted on for a fun night of entertainment with a box full of new foods for us to try and critique. This week it was soups (from top left to top right then bottom left to bottom right).
Our favorite was the Italian Pasta and Turkey Sausage Soup from Kneaders followed closely by the Tomato Basil from Six Sisters and the Tomato Bisque from Blue Lemon. YUM!
Thanks again Utah Taste Off for another fun and delicious evening!
I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty proud of this little creation! I made 40 of them for Porch treats, see here for explanation of porch treats, and they were gone in an hour! I think they are so cute!
1 box chocolate graham crackers
1 package Nutter Butter cookies
1 pouch chocolate cookie frosting
1 package small candy eyes
1 bag candy corn
1 Lay out graham crackers on a cookie sheet. Take one Nutter Butter cookie and pipe a line of cookie frosting down one side then stick it carefully towards one end of a graham cracker, leaving room at the top for his candy corn feathers. Repeat with all graham crackers.
2 Use the cookie frosting to attach two candy eyes to each Nutter Butter. Then use the cookie frosting to attach a candy corn nose or wattle just below the eyes. Next stick five candy corns with the cookie frosting around the turkey’s head for his feathers.
And they were delicious! Another great way to use some of that sourdough discard. They weren’t hard to make, just a little bit time consuming.
PRETZEL DOUGH
1 cup milk, warmed
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 cups sourdough discard
4 cups all purpose flour
PRETZEL BOILING
12 cups water or enough to fill a large pot
1 tablespoon baking soda
TOPPINGS
1 – 2 eggs
1 tablespoon water
Everything Bagel Seasoning
Cinnamon and Sugar
Kosher Salt
Parmesan cheese
1 For the pretzel dough, warm up the milk in the microwave for about 1 minute.
2 In the bowl of a stand mixer with the bread dough hook attached, mix together the milk, butter, sugar, and starter.
3 Add flour and turn mixer to 1 or 2 but never higher than 2. Let knead for about 5 minutes.
4 Scrape dough into a medium bowl lightly coated with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 2 hours.
5 Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead for a couple of minutes. Separate dough into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into 15″ long ropes.
6 Shape each piece into a pretzel and place them on parchment lined cookie sheets. Freeze 20 – 30 minutes.
7 Preheat oven to 450 while pretzels are in the freezer.
8 For the pretzel boiling, add water and baking soda to a large pot. Bring to a boil. Add pretzels, two at a time, cooking for 30 seconds or until they float to the top. Remove with slotted spoon or sieve and place back on parchment lined sheets.
9 For the toppings, whisk together eggs and water. Brush over pretzels then top with desired toppings. Be generous with the toppings.
10 Bake pretzels for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool before eating.
The hubs loves ham and pineapple pizza while the rest of us are kind of meh on it but I love him so I made him this for dinner last night and you know what? There weren’t any leftovers and he did not eat the whole thing.
1 can refrigerated pizza crust
1 (8 oz) can pizza sauce
1 3/4 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 1/2 cups cubed ham or Canadian bacon slices
1/2 cup pineapple chunks or tidbits, drained
1 Heat oven to 400. Unroll dough on ungreased large cookie sheet and press or roll into a 15 x 10″ rectangle. Bake 8 minutes or until light golden brown.
2 Spread sauce over crust, top with half the cheese, the ham, pineapple and then remaining cheese.
3 Bake 10 minutes or until crust is deep golden brown and cheese is melted. Cool 5 minutes before cutting.
It’s soup season people! One of my favorite times of the year! The men at my house really liked this soup. It was too spicy for me even though I used mild enchilada sauce but I am a wimp when it comes to spicy food or should I say my tongue is a wimp!
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 – 4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
8 cups chicken broth
1 cup (8 oz) orzo pasta
1 (10 oz) can mild enchilada sauce
1 large can chicken, drained and broken up
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15 oz) can corn
salt and pepper
1 Heat oil in large stock pot or Dutch oven. Saute onions until tender then add in garlic and saute for 1 minute more.
2 Pour in chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add orzo and cook until al dente.
3 Stir in enchilada sauce, chicken, tomatoes (undrained), beans, and corn (undrained). Cook until heated through. Season with salt and pepper.
Yesterday was Halloween and I had the traditional Halloween chili bubbling away in the crock pot when I realized that I did not have a treat made for Halloween!
No treat on Halloween? Something had to be done. So I did it. I made these beauties which are now my new favorite no bake treat.
Just look at those layers! A thing of beauty and a joy to behold! Super easy to make and super delicious to eat, highly recommend!
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 (11 oz each) bags of caramels or caramel bits
1/3 cup evaporated milk
17 or so graham cracker sheets
Heath Milk Chocolate Toffee Bits for sprinkling
1 Spray 9 x 9″ pan with cooking spray.
2 Combine cream and powdered sugar in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium low heat, stirring occasionally, do not bring to a boil. Place chocolate chips in a bowl and pour cream over, let stand for 1 minute then stir until smooth. Stir in vanilla.
3 Combine caramels and evaporated milk in another saucepan over medium low heat. Cook, stirring often, until caramels melt and mixture is smooth. Let stand for 10 minutes.
4 Cover bottom of pan with a single layer of graham crackers, breaking as needed to fit in pan. Pour 1/3 caramel mixture over crackers and spread carefully to cover. Pour 1/3 chocolate mixture over caramel layer and spread carefully to cover. Repeat two more time for two more layers. Sprinkle toffee candy bits over the top.
5 Chill, uncovered, 4 hours or overnight, before cutting into bars.
Utah Taste Off brings home the fun and the food in a spectacular way once again! This time with Halloween donuts! And may I say that they were delicious!
We were all so excited to try the cookies that I forgot to take a picture of them so photo credit to Utah Taste Off for the lovely picture of those yummy cookies!
And another big thank you to Utah Taste Off for the fun night of cookie tasting! Here are the contenders, from top left to top right then bottom left to bottom right
My daughter and I loved the Reese’s Explosion Cookie but the hubs loved the Pumpkin Cookie. A close contender for me was also the Maple Buttercream Sugar Cookie. The cookie crowned winner by Utah Taste Off was the Almond Sugar Cookie.
Do yourselves a favor and give Utah Taste Off a try, you’ll love it!
I got a new waffle maker that makes little (about 4″ x 3″) pumpkin shaped waffles. I think that puts me at 8 waffle makers which might indicate some kind of problem OR some kind of genius! You decide. These were delicious by the way.
2 tablespoons melted butter
3/4 cup flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips
1 Melt butter in microwave and let cool.
2 Whisk together dry ingredients.
3 Beat egg with a whisk then mix in buttermilk, vanilla, and melted butter.
4 Add dry to wet ingredients and mix well, until fully incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips.
I also made some Buttermilk Pumpkin Shaped Waffles using this recipe here but we covered them with Nutella, strawberries, and homemade whipped cream so they were kind of chocolatey too.
The hubs loves stuff like this. Me? Not so much, I’d rather have a piece of chocolate cake but I love him so I make him desserts like this every now and then. He said it was really good! It has a sugar cookie topping instead of a regular cobbler biscuit topping and I think that’s what makes it special.
TOPPING
1 (17.5 oz) pouch sugar cookie mix
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
5 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
FILLING
10 cups sliced, peeled apples, about 10 medium size apples
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 Heat oven to 375. Spray 9 x 13″ pan with cooking spray.
2 Mix together cookie mix, butter, and egg until soft dough forms. In a small bowl, stir together sugar and cinnamon.
3 In a large bowl, stir filling ingredients until well coated. Spread evenly in baking dish. Drop dough on top by rounded tablespoons. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
4 Bake 30 – 35 minutes or until cookies are golden brown and edges of fruit filling are bubbly. Cool 10 minutes before serving.
Penny's Food Blog 