Chicken Tagine with Sweet Potatoes and Prunes

French Friday with Dorie

This week's recipe is a perfect autumn dish. Onions are slowly cooked for half an hour in some olive oil until they turn a lovely caramel color. Add some chicken broth, a few crushed saffron threads, cinnamon, a pinch of cayenne, a star anise point, bay leaf and honey for a flavorful broth. To make it a little easier to eat the chicken, I used boneless, skinless  instead of bone-in chicken thighs. I browned them while the onions were cooking. The finishing touch was the prunes and sweet potatoes. 

This smelled so good while it was cooking and the most difficult part about making this dish was leaving it alone for 45 minutes. I am one of those cooks who loves to lift the lid of the pot and stir things up a bit, so I really had to walk away from the stove because Dorie gave strict instructions that it needed to cook undisturbed.

And boy was it worth leaving alone. The broth is out-of-this-world delicious and we really loved the combination of sweet potatoes with the stewed prunes. It is a lovely one-pot meal, but I served it with some white rice to soak up some of that wonderful broth. This recipe is a keeper and one that I will be making often this fall and winter. You can see more versions of this recipe over at French Fridays with Dorie.

Spur-of-the-Moment Vegetable Soup

French Friday with Dorie

There's really not a lot to say about this soup other than it is an easy and quick soup to make and perfect for a weeknight meal after a looonnng day at work. The simplicity of the broth (I used vegetable broth) seasoned only with onions, garlic, a little bit of thyme and salt allows the vegetables to be the stars of this soup. There were carrots and collard greens in our CSA farm box when I made this, so in the soup pot they went. I also added one lone potato per the recipe.

I wasn't sure what my family would say about the collard greens in the soup, but they said it was delicious (I thought it tasted really good) and since it disappeared quickly I believe it was a hit.

I served grilled pimento cheese sandwiches alongside. Yes, I am on a pimento cheese kick and if you have never had a grilled pimento cheese sandwich, I highly recommend it. It takes grilled cheese to a whole nother level.

You can see other variations of this soup recipe over at French Fridays with Dorie.

Bagels

Tuesday with Dorie 

This is another first for me. Although I often get a bagel and cream cheese at work on those days that I don't have time for breakfast at home, I have never tried to make them myself. This recipe is by contributing baker, Lauren Groveman and is hosted by Heather from Heather's Bytes, where you can also find the recipe.

I had bread flour left over from the white loaves that we made for Tuesdays with Dorie earlier in the year and followed the recipe as written. I opted to use my stand mixer to mix the dough, but finished it off by hand. 

I sprinkled a few with poppy seed, a few with sesame seed (my favorite) and a few I left plain. The next time I make these, I probably won't leave them in the oven the extra 10 minutes because these were really crusty and some turned browner than others, but they were nice and soft on the inside.

I watched the Baking with Julia video of Lauren making these with Julia on PBS a few times and when Lauren pulls hers out of the oven she says that they are chubby because they are made with a lot of love. Well, I told my family that mine were made with lots of love because mine turned out really chubby. My daughter was so excited when she saw them and said that they were much prettier than store bought and tasted really good. John wasn't quite as excited, but then he is not a bagel eater. For the bagel spread, I whipped some cream cheese and added some toasted walnuts because that is my favorite bagel shmear. I am looking forward to having one toasted with my shmear for breakfast. Visit Tuesdays with Dorie to see what the rest of the bakers thought about this recipe.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Scones

BAKED Sunday Morning

I've mentioned before that I make a lot of scones because they are John's favorite breakfast treat, but this is the first time that I have made a scone that tastes more like a cookie. The recipe also adds some chocolate chips in the mix, but I couldn't resist trying the peanut butter and jelly version so I halved the dough and just put chips in one half.

What's interesting about these scones is that you score them before you put them in the oven and then finish cutting them when they are baked I guess to keep them moist.

But whatever the reason, it worked because both versions are moist albeit a little crumbly. I sliced the portion that I left plain in half and spread some Trippleberry preseves on them. The result is a perfectly delightful peanut butter 'n jelly cookie scone.

The difficult part was deciding which one was my favorite, but in the end I had to go with the chocolate chip and John's favorite was the peanut butter 'n jelly, although he said by the end of his second chocolate chip scone that it was growing on him.

This recipe is definitely a keeper and I will be making these scones again and again. Check out the rest of the group's scones and the recipe over at BAKED Sunday Mornings.

Crispy, Crackly Apple-Almond Tart

French Friday with Dorie

What a difference a week makes. Remember last week when it was still in the 100s here? Well, this week it is in the 70s and we even got a few rain showers. I was inspired by the change in weather to put some pumpkins and calendulas out on the front porch. And I was more than happy to turn the oven on this week. This is my first French Friday in months and I was glad that the recipe was a dessert. I've had a roll of phyllo dough in the freezer for over a year and this tart was my chance to finally use some of it. I also have a large bag of almonds in the freezer, so I decided to make my own almond flour. It didn't turn out as fine as store bought, but I actually liked the little bits of almond in the cream which gave it a nice texture.

I did a couple of things a little differently than the recipe. After spreading each phyllo sheet with melted butter, I sprinkled them with a sugar and cinnamon mixture and before putting the tart in the oven I brushed some warm honey on each apple slice and brushed each slice with honey again after I took the tart out of the oven.

Although it looked a little messy going into the oven, it baked up nicely and I really liked the rustic look with the curled up edges.

I served it slightly warm with a small scoop of mascarpone cheese. John preferred it plain, but I liked the combination of the cheese with the apples, honey and almonds. And the texture was wonderful - every bit of crispy, crackly as its name implies. Visit French Fridays with Dorie to see more versions of this tart.

Pimento Cheese Tea Sandwiches

for Jessica's, My Baking Heart, Virtual Bridal Shower

When I received the invitation from Nikki for Jessica's Virtual Bridal Shower, I was so excited because I knew it meant that Jessica's wedding day would be just around the corner. I first met Jessica through our cooking group, French Fridays with Dorie. Jessica has a beautiful blog and we share a love for jadeite and all things vintage. Don't you just love the bridal shower invitation photo of Jessica and her husband-to-be, Chris?

Jessica is a southern girl and I knew right away that I wanted to make pimento cheese tea sandwiches because it wouldn't be a southern bridal shower without them. These are easy to make and very delicious. It was fun making them and even more fun eating them because it took me back to wonderful memories of my mom making them when I was a kid. A jar of pimentos was a staple in my momma's pantry.

You can see the rest of the recipe roundup for the shower over at the bridal shower hostess, Nikki's blog, Pennies on a Platter, and our beautiful bride-to-be, Jessica's blog, My Baking Heart. Be sure to stop by and say hello.

Pimento Cheese Tea Sandwiches

1 pound sharp cheddar cheese

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1 (4 ounce) jar of chopped pimentos, drained

1/2 teaspoon sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

Loaf of thin-cut white bread with crusts removed

Grate the cheese on the big holes side of a box grater into a bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let chill in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to let the flavors meld.

Roll each slice of bread with a rolling pin to flatten it a bit. I used a cookie cutter to cut shapes and then spread one side of the bread with the pimento cheese and topped with another piece of cutout bread. Traditionally, the sandwiches are cut into triangles, but I wanted to make them a little prettier for Jessica's shower. 

This is the traditional recipe which I am used to, but you can make all kinds of variations. Just use your imagination and have fun. 

Cranberry-Walnut Pumpkin Loaf

Tuesdays with Dorie 

Hi. Wow, it's been awhile. The last time I posted it was just barely summer and now it is fall. I had to take a break from blogging because I was spending way too much time in front of the computer both at work and at home (laptop, and iPhone AND iPad) which left me with severe eyestrain. Thankfully, the project that I was working on at the office is finished and not being on my other gadgets much has given my eyes a much needed rest. I have missed checking in with my friends and my favorite blogs and I have certainly missed baking and cooking along with my groups. This week's recipe is by contributing baker Steve Sullivan and was the perfect bread recipe to kick the fall season off. 

While I was working on the dough Friday and Saturday I did my best to ignore the 100 degree temperatures outside. The calendar may indicate that fall is here, but where I live it definitely still feels like summer. I hated to even turn the oven on, but the end result was worth it. The dough for this bread came together so easily and I loved the color that the pumpkin gave the loaf. I had Zante currants in the pantry, so I used those instead of the raisins. I don't have mini pans that the recipe called for, so I baked my loaf in a 12 x 3-1/2 inch pan and it was done in 35 minutes.

The texture and taste is reminiscent of raisin bread, but it has its own unique flavor. While the pumpkin flavor isn't pronounced it certainly gives the bread a savory taste and a beautiful autumnal color. The sweetness of the currants combined with the tartness of the cranberries and the crunch of walnuts makes this a very satisfying bite. We enjoyed it fresh out of the oven, but I have to say that I especially enjoyed it toasted the next morning with a little bit of sweet butter.

Thank you to Rebecca of This Bountiful Backyard for hosting this week. Check out her lovely loaves of bread and the recipe on her blog. You can also see more beautiful loaves by following the links over at Tuesdays with Dorie.