Caramel Walnut Dream Bars

I am usually all about making cakes and cookies and other treats from scratch, but every once in a while I run across one of those recipes that combine using some kind of prepared mix with enough "scratch" ingredients that it seems just close enough, and this is the kind of recipe that can completely shock you (in the best possible way) with how good it is.  I'm talking Ridiculously Easy Peach Crumble.  I'm talking Butterfinger Cake.  And I'm talking these Caramel Walnut Dream Bars, which sucked me in on the basis of the title alone.  Caramel, Walnut and Dream all in the same title.  Oh yeah, I'm there.

As you can tell, this is a delectably sweet treat.  Sweet, sweet, sweet.  Want to know something else that is impossibly sweet?  (This has nothing to do with food in any way, so if you just want the recipe, feel free to skip on down to the bottom.  It's just too good a story to NOT tell, so I'm a-telling it.)

The teenager and her adorable boyfriend have been going out for a year now, which is like 50 years in teenage time.  And so the boyfriend brought her a t-shirt on which he had painted the words

Happy Anniversary

I Love You 

Emma

♥

She loved it, of course. Then he started pestering her to wash it. Wash it, wash it, wash it, said he. Tonight she finally did -- and most of the letters came off in the wash. Except for the ones P R O M and the question mark, which was part of the heart. She wrote the answer in herself once the shirt came out of the dryer.

Now if that isn't sweet, I just don't know what is!

Meanwhile, back at this sweet recipe, here's the scoop.  You make a base out of cake mix that has been moistened with butter and egg and press it into the bottom of a baking pan.  Then you mix up a topping of condensed milk, another egg, some vanilla, some chopped walnuts and some toffee bits, and pour that on top.  Bake, cool, cut 'em into squares, and give one to someone you have or would like to take to the prom. 

Sweet!!

Caramel Walnut Dream Bars, adapted from Anita's Recipes

• One box yellow cake mix (18.5 ounces)
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• One 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 teaspon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1/2 cup toffee bits (I used the Heath Bar, brand, usually found near the chocolate chips)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a 13"x9" pan with cooking spray; set aside.
2. To prepare base, combine cake mix, butter, and one egg in a mixing bowl. Mix until crumbly. Press mixture onto bottom of prepared pan; set aside.
3. In another mixing bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk, remaining egg, vanilla extract, walnuts, and toffee bits. Mix well. Pour over base in pan.
4. Bake for 35 minutes or until light brown on top.  Cool and cut into squares.

Print this!

Cranberry Walnut Chicken Salad

Summertime is most definitely chicken salad season, and I don't mean the old chicken plus mayo plus celery version. Although there's definitely nothing wrong with that. But there are SO many chicken salads out there that are a perfect fusion of all that great summer produce that (yahoo!) springing up all around us. (Remind me that I just said that in about 6 weeks when I am complaining about being surrounded by my basil.) Mediterranean Chicken Salad, with fresh string beans and tomatoes. Tarragon Chicken Salad, with the delicious sweet taste of fresh tarragon. And one of my absolute faves, Chicken Salad with Corn, Fresh Thyme and Goat Cheese Dressing. Yum, yum and yum again.

The great thing about chicken salad -- one of the great things -- is that you can throw it together in practically no time if you remember to toss a few chicken breasts on the grill every time you fire it up this summer. Bathe them in a little Italian salad dressing, or even just some olive oil and vinegar with fresh pepper, and grill them until they are just cooked, about 4-5 minutes per side. Then store them in the fridge until you are ready to use them later in the week. When chicken salad time rolls around, tear the chicken with your fingers so you have some nice bite sized pieces, and then you are ready to roll.

This particular chicken salad is loosely based on a recipe from Cooks Illustrated, and features chopped cheddar cheese, chopped apple, dried cranberries, candied walnuts and romaine lettuce, tossed with a simple viniagrette. In this case, I had a bag of mixed candied nuts left over from something, and that's what I used. (Chicken salad is all about improvisation.) Toss it all together in pretty much whatever portions you like (I like LOTS of chicken) and summertime, super-easy dinner is served!

Cranberry Walnut Chicken Salad, adapted from Cooks Illustrated

• 1 pound boneless chicken breast, cooked and shredded
• 1 large head romaine lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces
• 8 ounces sharp cheddar, cut into small cubes
• 1 Granny Smith apple, cored and cut into small chunks
• 1 cup candied or spiced walnuts (or any variety of nuts that you like)
• 1/2 red onion, sliced thin
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Dressing

• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 shallot, peeled
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• salt and pepper
• 3/4 cup olive oil

1. Process all dressing ingredients except oil in food processor until shallot and garlic are finely chopped. Add oil and continue to process until emulsified.

2. Combine all salad ingredients and toss with 1/2 to 3/4 cup dressing. Divide salad among plates and serve.

Click here for printable recipe

Chocolate Believe Cake

My blog is almost one year old now, and one of the absolute best things is all the people I have “met” by way of the emails and comments they send me here. They make me laugh and give me ideas and keep me humble, and every once in a while they completely touch my heart and remind me that behind all these computers are some amazing, amazing people.

For example, this is JoAnna and her mom Diane.



A couple of weeks ago JoAnna emailed me to ask if I had a recipe for a chocolate cake. Her mom used to make this specific cake for JoAnna’s birthday every year, and it was really special to her. The recipe had gotten lost, and all JoAnna could remember was that it involved Karo syrup, Baker’s chocolate and walnuts – and how it looked and tasted, like a rich brownie with a chocolate glaze. She had been trying to find it for ages, even calling the Karo Syrup folks to see if they had it, with no luck. Did I have this recipe, she asked?

I did.

And so I emailed it back off to her, and she kindly told me I could share the email she sent me in reply:

Dear Kate,

I just wanted to tell you that you were an answer to a prayer. That is exactly the recipe I was looking for.

My Mother had a recipe that she got either off of a Karo bottle or out of a Karo coupon ad. She made this cake for me every year for my birthday until she was diagnosed with cancer. Right after she was diagnosed my parents finished remodeling their home and the recipe was lost. She could not ever remember the recipe. She died May 27, 2007.

I have been searching the internet and calling the Karo Syrup company often trying to find my birthday cake recipe with no luck what so ever.Today has been a really rough day as it would have been her 58th birthday.

I read your recipe and could not control my tears. I began to shake when I realized that this is the recipe that I have been searching for. I found my birthday cake recipe on my mother's birthday and it is all because of you. Thank you so much- you have no idea what it means to me.

I cried a little myself when I read this message from JoAnna…and then I made this cake for my own mom and daughter for Mother’s Day.

JoAnna told me that when her strong, amazing mom was diagnosed with lung cancer she was given five and a half months to live. She looked her doctor in the eye and said, NO. From that moment on BELIEVE became her motto. She wore jewelry with the word believe on it and bought anything she found with the word on it…and she stayed with her family for three and a half more years.

I had all kinds of ideas about how I was going to celebrate when my blog was a year old, and now I realize that I just did – with JoAnna and Diane’s Chocolate Believe Cake. Here is that very special recipe, and thank you so much to JoAnna, to Diane, and to all of you who have touched my heart so much over the past year.

Chocolate Believe Cake

* 1/2 cup Karo Light or Dark Corn Syrup
* 1/2 cup (one stick) margarine or butter
* 5 squares (1 oz each) Baker's Semisweet Baking Chocolate
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 3 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 cup flour
* 1 cup walnuts (chopped)

Grease and flour one 9-inch layer cake pan.In a large saucepan, over medium heat, bring corn syrup and margarine to boil. Stir occasionally and remove from heat after boil is achieved.Add chocolate, stir until melted. Add sugar. Stir in eggs, one at a time, then vanilla, flour and nuts. Pour into prepared pan.Bake in 350° oven for 30 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan, allow to cool completely.

Chocolate Glaze

In a small saucepan, over low heat, melt three squares (1 oz each) Baker's Semisweet Baking Chocolate and 1 tablespoon margarine or butter, stir often. Remove from heat.Stir in two tablespoons Karo Corn Syrup and one teaspoon milk until smooth. Pour over top of brownie cake and spread over sides. Let stand one hour before serving.

Click here for printable recipe

Tarragon Chicken Salad

Summer is getting so close I can almost taste it, and one of the things I love best about summer is having my wooden barrels full of herbs. I plant little basil, parsley, thyme, mint, sage, rosemary and tarragon plants, and by the middle of July I am doing everything I can to keep up with them.



But right now, in the middle of April, it is just a little bit risky to be putting those tender little baby plants out yet, and so my barrels are sitting out there with nothing in them but last year's dirt. And so perversely, all I want to make are recipes that call for fresh basil, parsley, thyme, mint, sage, rosemary and tarragon. Which means I have to dip into the teenager's college tuition fund to actually BUY them at the supermarket, but some things have to be done.

And speaking of the supermarket, this particular recipe is the closest I have ever come to replicating the awesome but extremely expensive chicken salad at Whole Foods. It is a snap to make, and while you CAN use dried tarragon, using fresh makes all the difference. See dilemma above.

Tarragon Chicken Salad

• 2 chicken breasts, cooked and torn into bite size shreds (I like to grill my chicken for this recipe, it gives the salad an even better taste!)
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup mayo
• 1 celery rib, chopped
• 1/4 cup walnuts
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon (or 1/2 tablespoons dried, if you must.)
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Whisk sour cream and mayo together and pour over chicken.
2. Add remaining ingredients and toss well. You can serve cold or at room temperature.

Click here for printable recipe

Monster Cookies!

This one comes courtesy of my friend L, who is as sweet as these cookies. We had them at our little Super Bowl shindig recently, and people who never eat dessert (you know who you are!) ate them. People who always eat dessert ate them. People ate them before, during and after dinner. Let's just say they were a monster hit.

So of course I cornered her and pleaded shamelessly for the recipe. And unlike some of my other sweet friends (you know who you are!) she happily handed it over. And when I looked it over, I realized that the recipe is almost as fun as the cookies. It's a mix and match approach, and what I mean by that this this: You start with a cookie dough base made up of butter, sugar, flour, peanut butter and oatmeal. Then you get to pick THREE of the following to mix in....

Walnuts. (Although I'm sure if you are a pecan or an almond person, those would be okay too.)

Chocolate chips. The old classic.

Butterscotch chips. Love 'em.

Peanut butter chips. Yes, I know they look just like the butterscotch ones. You will just have to trust me on this, and know that I sampled both chips carefully, all in the name of science.

M&Ms. Mmmmmmmm&Ms. Yum.

Raisins. I gotta tell you, with the other choices, I am afraid for the raisins. Hang in there raisins, I am sure there are some healthy people out there who will pick you and the walnuts.

Once you have made your final selection, you mix 'em into to your cookie dough, bake them, put them on a plate, and stand back. Now as for the recipe below, I have not changed one word of it because I would not want to mess with perfection, and because I think the color commentary in there is just classic. L has many, many sisters, and clearly the configuration of the monster cookies is a point of family debate in her house. I see that the amounts of the mix-ins are left up to the baker to play with. I also see that L went with not three of the mix-in choices but FOUR. This is why I love this girl.

Monster Cookies. No Fear.

MONSTER COOKIES!

Preheat oven: 350˙ | Prep: 20 minutes | Cooking: 8-10 minutes | Cooling: 15 minutes
| Eating: 2-3 minutes

2 sticks of butter, softened
2 cups of white sugar
2 1/2 cups of brown sugar
6 eggs
3 cups of creamy peanut butter (one sister uses crunchy, I don't know what the difference is)
9 cups of oatmeal

Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar in large mixer bowl until creamy.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually add peanut butter, stir in oatmeal.

Add: Choose three:

Milk chocolate chips
Butterscotch chips
Baking M&M's
Peanut butter chips
Raisins
Walnuts

I use: 3/4 bag of butterscotch chips, 1/2 bag chocolate chips, 1/3 bag peanut butter chips, 1 cup of walnuts. People seem to like the butterscotch taste. My sister uses: 2 cups of chocolate chips, 1/2 lb mini M&M's and then picks one or two of the others, adding amounts to her taste. But what does she know?!

Click here for printable recipe

Cowboy Cookies

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I'm not exactly sure why these are called cowboy cookies. Maybe because they are hearty, robust cookies, with a mix of oatmeal and coconut and chocolate chips and walnuts? No nonsense, crunchy, chewy cookies with nothing fragile or delicate about them? I really have no idea. If I knew any cowboys I would ask them. The closest I ever come to a cowboy is when the Southern husband wears his cowboy boots.

I do love it when he wears those boots...

Where was I?

Oh yes, the cowboy cookies. I made these mainly because I loved the name of them, but as it turned out, I love the actual cookie just as much. These are a perfect marriage of oatmeal walnut cookies and your classic chocolate chip with some coconut thrown in, so every bite is filled with something good. The recipe comes from Martha Stewart, and hers called for pecans, but walnuts were what I had in my pantry so walnuts is what I made 'em with. Feel free to swap back to pecans if you are a pecan sort of person.

Can't you just picture them cooling on your kitchen table? Cowboy Cookies...go make them!

COWBOY COOKIES, adapted from Martha Stewart

• 3/4 cup walnuts
  
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats (not instant or quick-cooking)
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate chunks
  
• 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread walnuts in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Toast in oven, tossing occasionally, until darkened and fragrant, 10 to 13 minutes. Let cool, then coarsely chop. Into a bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and both sugars until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to medium. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
3. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture, beating until just incorporated. Beat in oats, chocolate, pecans, and coconut until just combined.
4. Coat baking sheets with cooking spray; line with parchment, and spray parchment or use a Silpat. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice-cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto prepared sheets, about 3 inches apart.
5. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges of cookies begin to brown, 16 to 18 minutes. Transfer sheets to wire racks to cool 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks to cool completely.
   

Click here for printable recipe

Pumpkin Apple Walnut Stuffed French Toast

This recipe is the living breathing proof that you can find a good recipe pretty much anywhere you go if you just pay attention. I work in the heart of midtown Manhattan, and every morning instead of doing the healthy, responsible thing and walking from the Port Authority Bus Terminal to my office, I hop into a taxi. It's my one commuting indulgence -- I don't stop at Starbucks, I don't pick up a giant New York City bagel with cream cheese (although I WANT to. I really do.) But I do jump right into that cab every morning.

And those of you lucky to have taken a New York taxi lately know that they have installed these little television screens in the back of each one. They give you the weather (thank you!), a lot of ads (really??? I really have to listen to ads on my cab ride, too??) and every once in a while, a little news story that you are actually interested in. Last week it was a story about this wonderful-sounding restaurant called The Turning Point, located on the New Jersey shore. (Or as we native New-Jerseyites say, "down the shore.") The story focussed on their pumpkin-stuffed french toast, and it had me paying rapt attention in the back of my cab at 7am in the morning....which means, it looked like some rocking good french toast. So later that day I tracked down the recipe, which was a bit more complicated than anything I want to attempt on a weekday, but gave me the basis for a pretty delicious streamlined version. And you know me....breakfast for dinner is my idea of heaven. This particular recipe is like French Toast meets Pumpkin Pie, and when topped with a good dollop of whipped cream and cinnamon sugar....ahhhhhhhhhh.

So thanks, Annoying New York City Taxi TV! You finally paid off. Now please stop running all those ads for the new Jay Leno show and we'll be all set.

PUMPKIN APPLE WALNUT STUFFED FRENCH TOAST, adapted heavily from this version from The Turning Point.

Makes 2 servings.

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1/8 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsps vanilla

1 Tbs cream cheese

2 Tbs applesauce

1/8 cup chopped walnuts

4 slices sandwich bread

1. Combine all ingredients except bread, eggs and milk and mix thoroughly.

2. · Spread pumpkin mixture on bread and put bread slices together sandwich style.

3. Mix eggs and milk together in shallow bowl

4. Soak sandwiches on both sides in egg/mil mixture.

5. Heat frying pan or griddle over medium-high heat, grease with about 1 tablespoon of butter.

6. Cook sandwiches on griddle until both sides are lightly toasted.

7. Serve with maple syrup and fresh whipped cream. I like to shake cinnamon sugar on the top of mine.

Click here for printable recipe

Coffee Walnut Chocolate Chip Muffins

I am going to go out on a limb here and say: This Is The Best Muffin I Have Ever or Will Ever Make And/Or Eat In My Life.

It's really not going too far out on this limb, because it pretty much is. Yes, I did love those adorable baby pancake muffins I made a little while back. And I consider the bacon and egg muffins in their own unique category. But when you are talking your classic sweet, standard-sized muffin, these guys are hands-down the best I have ever made. I've had this recipe forever -- it comes from The Frog Commissary Cookbook, which I love so much I had to buy a second copy because my first was literally so well-used that the pages were falling out.

What's so special about these muffins? Well, they are a combination of chocolate chips, chopped walnuts and coffee, in a thick brown sugar batter that will have you seriously considering skipping the whole pesky baking stage and just eating the batter with a spoon. But don't, because these babies bake up into decadent, tender muffins in no time flat. They would be the perfect holiday gift if you tucked them into a nice basket or a pretty plate and covered them with clear acetate wrap and some nice ribbon. If you really, really love the person you could also give them the recipe. Or you might just want to hold on to it for yourself as your secret muffin weapon.

So there you go...your search for the world's most amazing muffin is now officially over. Give them a try.

COFFEE WALNUT CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS, from The Frog Commissary Cookbook

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons instant coffee
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease/flour a 12-muffin tin.

2. Cream butter with sugars, coffee and vanilla.

3. Beat together eggs and milk.

3. Combine flour, salt and baking powder. Alternately add the wet and dry ingredients to the butter mixture until just combined.

4. Add chips and walnuts. Divide among muffin tins, filling until almost full.

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

6. Cool 5 minutes and then remove from tin and cool on racks.

Click here for printable recipe

Caramel Apple Cake

Apples, cinnamon, walnuts, cake, caramel glaze. That's all I have to say, right? I have you at those four items and hello? This recipe certainly had ME at hello. I found it in the Costco Connection magazine, which just goes to show you that Costco does, indeed, have everything that anyone could possibly want, including a fabulous recipe for a rich, tender, sweet apple cake that will make your whole kitchen smell like a happy autumn day.

I should warn you that like most things associated with Costco, this is not only wonderful but, well, LARGE. Which is not at all a bad thing in terms of making friends...I sent the generous Southern husband into work with a lot of it the next day, and he said it was a big hit. The cake part is lovely -- moist and sweet and packed with apples. But let's face it...the captivating part of this particular baby is the caramel glaze. When you are done with the cake and it has cooled a bit, you make the glaze (out of butter and sugar and cream -- are you panting yet?)...but wait, it gets better. Before you pour the glaze over the cake, you take a skewer and you poke holes all over the top of the cake, so that when you pour the glaze over it, not only does it coat the top of the cake, but it also sinks down into the middle of the cake via all those little holes.

I know, it's almost too much to think about without fainting.

So there you go, from me and my friends at Costco (who in case you missed it the last hundred times I have mentioned it, sell the BEST shrimp I have ever tasted in my life. And please don't get me started on their chocolate chip cookies.) Caramel Apple Cake. Go make some.

CARAMEL APPLE CAKE, from Costco Connection magazine

Cake:

1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 eggs
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 1/4 cups chopped pecans or walnuts
2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla

Caramel Glaze:

4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 325. Butter and flour a 13x9 inch pan.

2. Beat both sugars and oil in mixing bowl until well-blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

3. Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Gradually add to sugar mixture until just blended. Stir in apples, nuts and vanilla and pour into pan.

4. Bake for 50-75 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan while making glaze.

5. Melt butter in saucepan over low heat. Stir in both sugars and salt and cook over medium low heat for 2 minutes. Add cream and boil for 2 more minutes, stirring constantly.

6. Poke holes in cake with skewer. Pour on the glaze. Serve warm, with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream if you like.

Click here for printable recipe.

Ravioli with Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce

'Tis the season of the butternut squash, and oh how I love it. I've already rhapsodized about this wonderful roasted butternut dip, and of course butternut is just awesome baked up with some oil oil and herbs. But this recipe today uses it as the base for a pasta sauce -- in this case ravioli. Creative, right? This is another one I found on the Everyday Foods website, and I'm pretty much sticking with their version in the recipe below, but I do have to admit that I got to skip the hardest part of the whole thing, which is cutting up the usually hard as a rock butternut. My beloved Fairway supermarket always has butternut already peeled and chopped and ready for me to roast. And those times that I have actually set food in another supermarket, I have also seen peeled and chopped butternut for sale there, too. Yes, it is definitely more expensive than tackling the butternut preparation yourself. But trust me, it's worth it.

Anyway, once you get past the butternut-chopping, it is all an easy downhill cruise from there. You roast those happy little butternut chunks with some garlic and sage, and then whiz them in your handy food processor with a little bit of light cream and water. Season it as you like and you have the most wonderful and different pasta sauce. I tossed mine with some little beef ravioli and sprinkled it with chopped walnuts and chopped fresh sage, but go crazy with your own ideas. Tortellini, pappardale, roasted pistachios, chopped parsley....you really can't go wrong.

So, happy butternut season...yum, yum.

RAVIOLI WITH BUTTERNUT SQUASH PASTA SAUCE, from Everyday Food

• 1 medium butternut squash (about 1 1/2 pounds)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 5 cloves garlic, peel on
• 1 cup half-and-half
• Pasta (ravioli or any short pasta), about 1/2 pound depending on what kind you are using.
  
• Your choice of toppings, such as grated parmesan cheese, chopped toasted walnuts, finely chopped fresh sage, etc etc etc
  

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Using a large, sharp knife, trim ends; halve squash crosswise to separate bulb from neck. Peel with a vegetable peeler. Cut both pieces in half lengthwise. With a spoon, scoop out seeds; discard. Or, do like I do and pick up the already peeled and chopped butternut at your favorite supermarket.
2. Cut squash into 2-inch chunks; transfer to a small rimmed baking sheet. Toss with oil and sage; season generously with salt and pepper. Scatter garlic around squash. Roast until squash is very tender, about 40 minutes, tossing once halfway through. Remove skin from garlic.
3. Transfer squash and garlic to a food processor; puree. With motor running, add half-and-half through the feed tube; process until smooth. Add 1 to 2 cups water; continue to process until smooth, adding water to thin if necessary. Season again generously with salt.
4. Cook pasta according to package instructions. Reserve 1 cup pasta water; drain pasta and return to pot. Pour sauce over pasta; toss to coat. Add some pasta water to thin sauce if necessary. Serve with desired toppings.

Click here for printable recipe

Pumpkin Walnut Fudge

Yes, yes...we all know how wonderful pumpkin pie is, and pumpkin bread, and pumpkin muffins. And of course, when you add bacon to pumpkin you are pretty much on an express train to heaven.

Pumpkin Soup with Bacon and Blue Cheese

But up until now, I had not tasted true pumpkin nirvana, and now I have, and its name is Pumpkin Walnut Fudge. Let me start by saying that this recipe calls for 12 ounces of white chocolate, and an Entire Jar of marshmallow creme, which us regular folks know as Fluff. So if you are looking for the health food blog, you are in the wrong place. But oh, mama...it does taste good.

This recipe is adapted from one I found on Recipe Girl, who sounds like someone I would love to hang out with, just from her name alone...and she has some rocking great recipes on her site...check out her link on my blogroll. Anyway, the only significant change I made to her fabulous recipe was to add about a cup of chopped walnuts, which I both stirred in and sprinkled on to the top. This recipe does involve a candy thermometer, which always slightly terrifies me, but honestly, it was a snap. Get one of those ones that clips on to the side of your pot and you are all set.

So there you go, Pumpkin Walnut Fudge...it's only three short hours away, and two of those hours are cooling time. It is your civic Halloween responsibility to make some. Recipe below -- thanks again, Recipe Girl!

PUMPKIN WALNUT FUDGE, adapted from Recipe Girl

3 cups granulated sugar
¾ cup melted butter
2/3 cup evaporated milk
½ cup canned pure pumpkin
2 Tbs corn syrup
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
12 oz package white chocolate morsels
7 oz jar marshmallow crème
1 cup chopped walnuts, plus another 1/2 cup for sprinkling on top
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Line 9″ square pan with aluminum foil. Spray with nonstick spray.

2. Stir together first 6 ingredients in a 3½ quart saucepan over medium-high heat, and cook, stirring constantly, until a candy thermometer registers 234° (soft ball stage) or for about 12 minutes.

3. Once mixture reaches 234°, remove from heat and quickly stir in remaining ingredients until well blended.

4. Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle remaining walnuts on top and press down slightly. Let stand 2 hours or until completely cool; cut fudge into squares.

Click here for printable recipe

Ham with Chunky Apple Walnut Cranberry Sauce

Fall is really here, and all those summer tomatoes, all that never-ending basil, the sweet corn...it's all a memory now. But that's okay, because now we have butternut squash, and pumpkin, and apples, apples, apples. And they aren't just for dessert, no ma'am. This super-quick recipe is a luxurious tasting number that would be perfectly wonderful on a holiday table if you used a spiral cut ham...but this version uses ham steaks and therefore cooks up in about 10 minutes. The absolute longest and most challenging part is cutting up the apple (which you don't even need to peel -- we are talking coring and chopping only).

I like to get the large ham steaks -- usually sold next to the bacon in the supermarket -- and I cut them into quarters and pop them right into a non-stick skillet over medium low heat. They are fully cooked so you are just looking to heat them through and maybe get a little bit of brown on them. If you are feeling really feisty, you can send your significant other out into the brisk fall evening to grill them. Whatever way you choose to heat them up is just fine with me.

Meantime, you can throw together this chunky sauce in just about the amount of time it takes to heat up the ham. Chopped walnuts are browned briefly in butter, and then you quickly cook up the apples, with some dried cranberries, maple syrup and brown sugar. It all combines into a syrupy, succulent sauce that you ladle over your ham slice (here comes that sweet and salty combo that I love so much!) to make a quick and happy dinner that practically sings "Fall is here!" It's enough to make you not even miss those summer tomatoes. Well...almost.

HAM WITH CHUNKY APPLE WALNUT CRANBERRY SAUCE

Serves 3-4

• 1 large ham steak
• 1 medium apple, cored and chopped
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

1. Heat ham over medium low heat in large skillet until heated through and slightly browned.

2. Meanwhile, melt butter in medium skillet over medium high heat and add walnuts. Stir until walnuts are browning, about 2-3 minutes.

3. Add apple, walnuts, cranberries, syrup and brown sugar. Bring to boil and stir until sugar is dissolved and apple softens slightly, about 3 minutes.

4. Place ham slices on plates and ladle sauce over top. Serve immediately.

Click here for printable recipe

Ricotta Gnocchi with Gorgonzola Walnut Sauce

Okay, settle in, boys and girls, this is a long one. And let me start by saying that this most definitely breaks the 30 Minutes Or Under Rule that I usually have for making dinner, but I do tend to bend that rule on Sundays when I have time to really take my kitchen out for a spin. This weekend I decided that I was going to try making homemade gnocchi. I've never made it before, and I actually have not eaten it all that often, and so I knew I needed a clear afternoon to really get down into it.

So, first I needed a recipe. I have this cookbook called ITALY AL DENTE by Biba Caggiano, and the subtitle is "Pasta, Risotto, Gnocchi, Polenta, Soup." Bingo. I read the chapter on gnocchi and learned there are two basic types: potato and ricotta. Biba advises neophytes like me to start with ricotta. The recipe is pretty basic.

16 ounces whole milk ricotta, a cup and a half of flour, 2 teaspoons salt, one egg and 1/3 cup of freshly grated Parmagiano cheese.

Mix it all up together until you have a wet dough.

Then knead it for about 2 minutes until it feels pliable and smooth. I was a little wary of this particular direction, but actually you recognize it when it happens.

I would like to pause at this moment for a moment on one of God's gifts to cooks, which is the Silpat. That is my beloved Silpat you see in the picture above. The recipe said to do all this kneading on a wooden board, but I have been around the block enough to know that when it comes to dealing with sticky anything, you can't do better than a Silpat. They are silicone (I think) mats that are roughly the size of a cookie sheet, and nothing -- I mean nothing -- sticks to these suckers. Pie crusts, chocolate chip cookies, candied walnuts, now sticky gnocchi dough -- my Silpat has seen it all, and has never, ever let me down. If you don't already have one -- or four, like me -- you NEED one. Trust me.

SILPAT

Meanwhile, back at the gnocchi. Next Biba told me to divide the dough into sections. Being a gnocchi newbie, I cut my dough into three sections.

Which once I started the next step I realized should have been more like 6 sections (easily remedied). Next step was to roll the sections into long ropes, about the width of your finger, stretching as you roll. Stretching as you roll? This took me about 5 ropes to figure out, but I got there.

Then you cut your rolls into one inch pieces.

Then you take a fork, face it downward and away from you and press each of these little pieces onto the tines of the fork, forming little grooves. The better to hold the sauce, Biba says.

There they are, my adorable little gnocchi's! (or is the plural "gnocchi?" I should look that up.)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I needed a sauce. Apparently gnocchi is a cooperative little pasta that works well with a simple marinara sauce among other things, but I was WAAAAYYY too invested at this point to let myself off that easily. I settled on a walnut gorgonzola sauce that sounded just sinful.

Chopped walnuts that I roasted in a 375 oven for three minutes. 3/4 cup heavy cream and 3 tablespoons of my really good butter. And best of all, 3 ounces of what the cheese guy at Fairway swore to me was the best creamy Gorgonzola in the place. Gorgonzola Dolce, direct from Italy to the Fairway in Paramus, New Jersey, right to my kitchen counter.

Okay, then things started happening fast. First, my biggest pot got filled with water and put on to boil, so the cute little gnocchi's had enough room to swim around and not stick to each other.

While the water was heating I started the sauce. First melt the butter over medium heat, then add the walnuts and saute for about 2 minutes. Add in the cream and the gorgonzola, give the whole thing a stir and then simmer for about 4 minutes until it thickens slightly.

Now, I wish I had a picture of this next part because I didn't quite believe it would happen until it did, but at this point things were happening at the speed of light. As the sauce was simmering for its allotted four minutes, it was time to cook the gnocchi. You drop them into the boiling water and they sink to the bottom like little stones...and then about 2 minutes later they pop to the surface. At which point they are DONE. By the time I finished dropping the last little gnocchi into the pot, the first ones were popping up. (Phew!). The final step is to scoop them out with a slotted spoon and drop them into that simmering cheese sauce....and there you have it. Gnocchi nirvana.

Succulent little ricotta gnocchi, coated in creamy Gorgonzola sauce with bits of roasted walnuts. Can I get an Amen?

I'm exhausted now.

Corn Salad with Walnuts and Feta

Yes, I know I am rushing the season a little, but I see those piles of corn on the cob at you-know-where (Fairway!) and I just lose all sense of self-control. I am a complete sucker for any recipe that involves scraping those delicious little kernels off the cob. With new corn you barely even have to cook it at all, and with almost any kind of mix-in and the tiniest bit of dressing you have an easy, scrumptious side dish that goes with just about anything you can throw on the grill. We happened to have a lovely ham steak, purchased in bulk at Don's favorite emporium (that would be Costco), which we fully intended to grill but actually quickly pan-fried, given that we we living through the 739th consecutive day of RAIN here in beautiful northern New Jersey. At least the grass is happy.

Anyway, this corn dish can be whipped up pretty much in the time it takes to cook or grill whatever you are having alongside it. Along with ham, or steak, or chicken, this would be a great side for lobster. Mmmm, lobster. Later in the summer, for sure! One word to the wise: whenever you are working with jalapeno peppers, I highly recommend putting on some sort of gloves. The best kind are surgical gloves -- you can buy them in boxes of 50 at any drugstore and I keep them in my kitchen for exactly this. Jalapenos are infused with oils/juices that gives this dish its peppery bite, but when you handle them to get the seeds out and chop them up, you will get some on your hands, and that oil is REALLY hard to completely wash off. As you might discover 2 hours after dinner when you rub your eyes -- eeee-yowch! So, rubber gloves are your friend. And on that slightly alarming note, here is the recipe for this very lovely corn salad!

CORN SALAD WITH WALNUTS AD FETA CHEESE

Serves 6

• 1 cup walnuts
• 4 ears of corn, kernels sliced off, either raw or cooked
• 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 ounces crumbled feta cheese
• Coarse salt, fresh ground pepper

1. Preheat oven to 425. Place walnuts on baking sheet and bake until fragrant, 6-8 minutes. Cool and coarsely chop. Set aside.

2. Combine corn, jalapenos, lime juice, oil, walnuts, feta cheese. Salt and pepper to taste. Toss lightly to combine.

Roasted String Beans with Walnuts

I think of summer as the season of the side dish. You can throw pretty much anything on the grill -- steak, fish, chicken -- and it will cook and slice up just fine on its own. And so now is the time to get creative with the side dish. Even better, it is the season of Delicious Fresh Produce, and if you are lucky enough to live close to either a farm market or Fairway (I am 10 minutes away from both! Whoo-hoo!) you are in business. Last night my handsome husband, savior of baby deer and Grillmaster Extraordinaire, cooked us up some chicken breasts on the alternate love of his life, his LazyMan grill. I'm going to assume you can hold your own with a grilled chicken breast recipe (ok, Twitter version recipe: pound chicken breasts flat, marinate in olive oil, fresh ground pepper and fresh lemon juice, grill on high heat for 6 minutes on each side) and give you the recipe for the side dish: Roasted String Beans with Walnuts. String beans are just now in season. Look for ones that are slender and bright green and firm -- it's worth the time it takes to pick through them. This recipe originally called for pecans but I am not the biggest pecan fan (don't tell my Southern husband) so I used walnuts. Here goes:

Roasted String Beans with Walnuts

• 3 cups fresh string beans, stems snapped off
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans!)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Sea salt
• Fresh ground pepper

Preheat oven to 400. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Toss beans with oil, nuts, salt and pepper. Roast until the beans are tender, about 12 minutes, tossing once halfway through baking. Serve immediately with grilled sliced steak or chicken. Feel ridiculously happy that it is finally summertime.

Note: all pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them.