I really am not ready for summer to end – but I was a little consoled with this dish, Creamy Apple & Cider Pork Chops. Ya gotta love a recipe that tastes divine, looks great and is perfect for company but quick & easy enough to pull off on any old weeknight for family dinner! And it’s even better when it’s a dinner that’s so good you’ll want to lick your plate clean!
Apple & Cider Pork Chops with Perfect Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes & Simply Steamed Broccoli
So have you guys ever heard of German Rumtopf? This post is all about How to Make German Rumtopf. The name means Rum Pot and it’s basically a fruity alcoholic dessert made in a crock. Successive fruits are layered in with sugar and rum, starting in the spring with strawberries.
My Rumtopf Pot
As the summer progresses and each fruit comes into season, it’s added to the pot, and the contents just get better and better. Once fall comes, and summer is over, the pot is closed up and left to mature until the Christmas season where it is traditionally first sampled for the first time in December on the first evening of Advent. We’ve been getting such good fruit this year that I don’t think there’d be an issue with starting a Rumtopf, now, even if it is a bit late in the summer.
“Life is better than death, I believe, if only because it is less boring, and because it has fresh peaches in it.” Alice Walker. I think she might very well be right, and I think this Bourbon Brown Sugar Peach Crostata will prove her so.
Bourbon Brown Sugar Peach Crostata
I’m not sure if anyone ever told me how to make St Louis Pork Steaks. When you grow up in Iowa (I know I just blew my St. Louis Pork Steak street cred – Missouri is one state south and Iowa is a huge pork producer) or the Midwest, there are certain dishes you just know how to make.
St Louis Barbecue Pork Steaks
I have really fond memories of this recipe, Chicken Bordeaux from the New York Times Cookbook. At least Chicken Bordeaux was in a New York Times Cookbook in the early ’80’s. In Craig Claiborne’s day, I think. This harks back to when I was young, and if the pictures are correct, wearing a bikini!
Chicken Bordeaux from the New York Times Cookbook
Hi guys! Hope you all had a great St. Patrick’s day on Saturday. I wish I would have posted these Really Bailey’s Cream Cheese Brownies before, so you all could have them for the celebration. You might want to pin them or save them or just make them anyway. With or without the hooch, they’re insanely good!
Really Bailey’s Cream Cheese Brownies
So hey, here I am a Minnesota blogger and I have no Wild Rice Soup on my blog. Uff da. Well, I do have a Wild Rice and Smoked Turkey Chowder (amazingly good and healthy!) but it’s just not the same as a Classic Wild Rice Soup in the Instant Pot, now is it? (As a quick aside, I will be posting recipes that aren’t Instant Pot and aren’t soup, it’s just been a crazy Holiday week, so if you don’t have an “IP” please bear with me!)
Classic Wild Rice Soup in the Instant Pot
Merry Christmas, everyone! Here it is, Christmas Eve day, and I thought I’d show you one of my favorite Christmas Eve dinners, this time done in the Instant Pot. Chili. I know, strange to some, as a Christmas Eve dinner.
Instant Pot Chili
If you’re looking for a showstopper of a ham recipe for a fall or winter holiday, look no further. Simple to make but absolutely stunning, The Biltmore House’s Tawny Baked Ham has it all: Great looks and great taste, even though moy pics don’t do it justice!
The Biltmore House’s Tawny Baked Ham
It seems I’ve hardly gotten past Halloween and now Thanksgiving is looming upon us! And the days go faster every year. Tell me I’m not alone in this! I did want to get a little jump, though, on a couple of recipes that are going to find a place at my table this season.
Cranberry Sauce with Apple and Port
Fall comes, the leaves turn and at that first temperature drop, I seem to crave comfort food. I actually have a list. Well, not a formal one, but one in my head, and Beef & Barley Soup ranks high on that list.
Beef & Barley Soup – in the Instant Pot
Well, some of you may have noticed I’ve been a little awol over the past few weeks. After my fave octogenarians, the folks, moved into a gorgeous assisted living center, their house was settled and I came back to the Twin Cities – along with Homer & Chance, of course.
Pumpkin Bundt Cake With Maple Bourbon Brown-Butter Glaze
Swiss Steak with Mushroom Gravy Instant Pot. So it all started when I asked the folks what they wanted for dinner. That’s like usually like pulling teeth, but there we were in August: temperature 96 degrees. My Dad immediately said “Swiss Steak.”
Swiss Steak with Mushroom Gravy
I wanted to throw out this delicious quick little creamy sauce – I use this same basic recipe in all kinds of ways.
Creamy Mushroom Sauce with Wine
I love me some Risotto – how ’bout you? It amazes me how you can take a simple ingredient like rice, add a glug of wine & a few gratings of cheese (plus a bit of this and that) and turn it into a gourmet meal – no make that a gourmet experience – because you get to drink the rest of the wine! Plus plus!
Ham & Parmesan Risotto
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned Not Your Father’s Root Beer on my blog before – see my Dad and I are pretty wild about it and split one every now and then. So when Dad said he’d like a ham, I immediately (and selflessly, I might add) sacrificed a bottle. Of his, of course, lol! (Fyi: plain old root beer will work in this recipe, too.)
Not Your Fathers Root Beer & Bourbon Glazed Ham
I make the same Corned Beef & Cabbage every year. Year after year. It’s that good. But every now and then, I’m up for a bit of a change and this year was it. I made the Whiskey & Marmalade Glazed Corned Beef, adapted from the Silver Palate Book.
Whiskey & Marmalade Glazed Corned Beef
If you’re watching your budget, chances are you’re not eating a lot of seafood, but when a holiday like Valentine’s comes around, you’re probably going to want something a little special. Maybe something like this Roasted Red Pepper & Shrimp Risotto.
Roasted Red Pepper & Shrimp Risotto
Hey guys! I’ve been super psyched over my very retro Home-Made Onion Soup Mix. I want to use it in everything. It’s been like a little trip back to the past, only better than I remembered.
Campbell’s Ultimate Slow Cooker Pot Roast with Instant Pot Instructions, too.
I kind of fell in love with the Coquito recently. Creamy, frothy, coconut deliciousness laced with Rum and touched with Cinnamon.
Coquito, a creamy, frothy coconut & rum cocktail
I had some red lentils (which are really orange, so that’s bizarre, isn’t it?) calling to me the other night. Calling at 2:00 a.m. Seriously. I was like “shut up, go to bed.” But that’s the kind of thing that happens when you look at Pinterest before falling asleep. And Red Lentil Dip with a Spanish Flair is what comes of it.
Red Lentil Dip with a Spanish Flair
One of my summer/fall favorites is this marvelous Sour Cherry Compote. It’s a little sweet, a little tart and goes so well with so many things. I often make up a batch and can or freeze so I have it to pull out in the winter, too.
Sour Cherry Compote
So Apple Pie Moonshine – I keep seeing photos, and I keep thinking about making it and finally, I got some Everclear. Yeah, Everclear. I try to stay away from that stuff. Something to do with a Scorpions concert at Red Rocks when I was a kid. As a matter of fact, Everclear usually doesn’t even enter my head at all. Not on my radar.
Apple Pie Moonshine
I think I’ve been in kind of a dream here at my folk’s in South Dakota. The weather’s super mild. Not even sweater weather. I could almost be in denial except there’s no denying other fall signals. Leaves, for one. Sporting events for another. And that means Beer & Cheese. And Beer Cheese?! Yes! Or “Pub Cheese” if you’re trendy.
Pub Cheese (Beer Cheese)
There’s something about a simple cake that just warms the cockles of my heart. This one is very straight-forward in flavor – just cake and lovely pear. You could add a whisper of almond, if you’d like.
Old-Fashioned Pear Cake
Do any of you guys have that one Aunt? The one that always made you feel special and had just a little something extra to her personality? Mine was my Aunt Ginny, my Dad’s sister. She was definitely the fun Aunt.
My Aunt Ginny’s Beef Stroganoff – she brought the recipe back from Russia during the Cold war.
I love this simple recipe for Oatmeal Jam Bars – it’s a super easy recipe, a classic, really, and a great way to finish up any jam that might be lingering in the fridge. These are made from a fig compote and fig compote just seems so right for fall, but any jam will do. You can hardly go wrong.
Brandied Fig Compote & Almond Oatmeal Bars
We all have those recipes we make over and over again, right? The ones we just about crave? The ones we pull out for an occasion. Birthdays, Company? Tuesday? This Bacon, Dried Cherry & Caramelized Onion Stuffed Tenderloin is one of those. If you’re like me, you’ll just look for an excuse. And you’ll double the recipe and make two!
Bacon, Dried Cherry & Caramelized Onion Stuffed Tenderloin
