November Gourmet Dinner at Lisa’s

Roasted Cinnamon Pear Bruschetta

Ingredients:
1 loaf Whole Grain Baguette, Sliced Into Rounds
1 Tablespoon Butter
3 whole Pears, Chopped (I Used Red Bartlett)
¼ teaspoons Salt
½ Tablespoons Cinnamon
1 pinch Nutmeg
½ cups Mascarpone
1 teaspoon Honey
2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400F. Lay baguette rounds on a baking sheet and bake for 5-7 minutes, or until golden brown and toasted. Set aside.
Heat a skillet over medium-low heat and add butter. Add pears, then sprinkle with salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Allow to caramelize slowly for about 10-15 minutes.
In a bowl, combine mascarpone and honey. Spread on baguette slices.
Once pears are caramelized, add balsamic vinegar and cook for 1-2 more minutes. Add spoonfuls of pear mixture on top of mascarpone on baguette. These can be served warm or cold.
*Tasty Kitchen Blog by HowSweetEats

Fall Pumpkin Dip
Ingredients:
8 ounces, weight Cream Cheese (fat Free Or Reduced Fat Works Well Too)
1 cup Light Brown Sugar
¾ teaspoons Ground Ginger
½ teaspoons Ground Nutmeg
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
15 ounces, weight Pumpkin Puree (1 Can)
Instructions:
In a food processor (or in a bowl by hand), pulse the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar and spices and blend well.
Empty cream cheese mixture into a bowl, add the pumpkin puree, and mix well.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.
*Tasty Kitchen Blog by missamy.

Winter Salad
Cranberry Vinaigrette Dressing:
1/3 cup rice vinegar
¼ cup cranberries
¼ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Pinch of pepper
In a saucepan, combine vinegar and craisins. Cook over medium-high heat until Craisins soften. Remove from heat and cool. Add to a blender with remaining dressing ingredients and mix until smooth. Refrigerate. -This is a very thick dressing.
*Dressing from Keep up Cooking

2 bags baby spinach
1 pear pealed and sliced very thin
Pomegranate
Gorgonzola cheese
1 Avocado diced
¼ cup walnuts
Combine all ingredients.

Cranberry Fluff Salad
Ingredients:
2 cups raw cranberries, ground
½ cup sugar
2 cups diced apples, pared or unpaired as desired
½ cup chopped walnuts
3 cups miniature marshmallows
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup heavy cream, whipped
Directions:
Combine cranberries and sugar; cover and chill overnight. Add apples, walnuts marshmallows, and salt. Fold in whipped cream. Chill. Serve as a salad or as dessert. Makes about 12 servings.
*Lion House Cookbook

Lion House Dinner Rolls
Ingredients:
2 cups warm water (110-115) degrees
2/3 cup nonfat dry milk (instant or non-instant)
2 tablespoons dry yeast
¼ cup sugar

2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup butter, shortening, or margarine
1 egg
5 to 5 ½ cups all-purpose or bread flour.
Directions:
In large bowl of an electric stand mixer, combing water and milk powder; stir until milk dissolves. Add yeast, then sugar, salt, butter, egg and 2 cups flour. Mix on low speed until ingredients are moistened, then for 2 minutes at medium speed. Add 2 cups flour; mix on low speed until ingredients are moistened, then for 2 minutes at medium speed. (Dough will be getting stiff, and remaining flour may need to be mixed in by hand.) add about ½ cup flour and mix again, but hand or mixer. Dough should be soft, not overly sticky, and not stiff. (It is not necessary to use the entire amount of flour.)

Scrape dough off sides of bowl and pour about one tablespoon vegetable oil on and around sides of bowl. Turn dough over in bowl so it is covered with oil. (This helps prevent dough from drying out) cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place until double in size, about 45 minutes.

Scrape dough out on floured board. Turn dough over so it is floured on both sides; gently flatten to about 1 inch thick. With rolling pin, roll out to a rectangle about 18 inches long, 8 inches wide, and ¼ -inch thick. Brush with melted butter. With a pizza cutter or very sharp knife, cut dough in half to make two stripes about 4 inches wide. Make cuts through strips of dough every 2 inches. Making about 18 pieces of dough.

Start with short end, roll up one piece of dough, with butter on the inside. Place roll on parchment-lined pan with other short end down on the paper. Repeat with remaining pieces of dough. Be sure all rolls face the same direction on baking pan. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise until double in size, about 1 to 1 ½ hours. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes, or until light to medium golden brown. Brush tops of rolls with melted butter.
*Lion House Cookbook

Reuben's Creamed Corn

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups half and half cream

2 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules or 2 bouillons cubes

dash of white pepper

2 teaspoons sugar

2 (10-ounce) packages frozen corn

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

1 to 2 tablespoons of fresh parsley, minced

Directions:

Blend together cream, bouillon, pepper and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Add corn and bring back to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 3 to 5 minutes. Melt butter in a separate saucepan and add flour. Stir until paste is formed. Add flour mixture to corn and stir until blended. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently until sauce thickens. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
*Favorites

Marinated Pork Tenderloin
Ingredients:
2/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
2 Tbs. soy sauce
4 1/2 tsp. firmly packed golden brown sugar
3/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh rosemary
5 garlic cloves, chopped
2 pork tenderloins, about 2 1/2 lb. total, trimmed
Salt, to taste
Directions:
To make the balsamic-rosemary marinade, in a food processor, combine the vinegar, olive oil, soy sauce, brown sugar and pepper and pulse until blended. With the motor running, drop the rosemary and garlic through the feed tube and continue to process until fairly smooth. Place the tenderloins in a no reactive dish and pour the marinade over them. Cover and let stand at room temperature, turning occasionally, for up to 2 hours.

Prepare a charcoal or gas grill for direct grilling over medium-high heat. Remove the tenderloins from the marinade, reserving the marinade.

Grill the meat over the hottest part of a charcoal fire or directly over the heat elements of a gas grill. Turn the meat every 4 to 5 minutes and baste with the marinade for up to 5 minutes before the meat is done until cooked to your liking, about 20 minutes total for medium (slightly pink at the center and juicy).

To test for doneness, insert an instant-read thermometer into the thickest part of the tenderloins; it should register 140°F. The temperature will rise another 5° to 10°F while the meat is resting.

Transfer the tenderloins to a carving board, cover loosely with aluminum foil and let rest for 5 minutes. Carve into slices across the grain and at an angle to the cutting board. Season with salt. Serve the tenderloins hot, warm or at room temperature. Serves 4 to 6.
*Williams-Sonoma

Cheddar-Chive Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients:
4 lb. large Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and quartered
Kosher salt, to taste
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1/4 cup snipped fresh chives
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
Directions:
Put the potatoes in a large stockpot, add water to cover by 2 inches and generously salt the water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until the potatoes are tender when pierced, 20 to 30 minutes. Drain well in a colander and let stand for 5 minutes. Set a potato ricer over a large bowl and pass the potatoes through in batches.

Preheat an oven to 450°F. Butter a 2-quart baking dish.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, warm the half-and-half and butter until the butter melts and small bubbles appear along the edges of the pan. Remove from the heat.

Add the half-and-half mixture to the potatoes and stir until just combined. Add 1 cup of the cheese and 3 Tbs. of the chives and stir until just combined. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon the potatoes into the prepared baking dish and spread evenly. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup cheese.

Bake until the cheese is melted and lightly browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes, then sprinkle with the remaining 1 Tbs. chives. Serve immediately. Serves 10 to 12.

Make-Ahead Tip: Peel and quarter the potatoes 1 day in advance; place them in a bowl, add cold water to cover and refrigerate. If desired, cook and mash the potatoes up to 2 hours before serving, but do not add the cheese and chives. Cover the potatoes tightly with plastic wrap and keep warm in a bain-marie (hot water bath). Just before serving, fold in the cheese and chives and bake as directed
*Williams-Sonoma

White Chocolate Walnut Blondies:
Ingredients:
FOR THE BLONDIES:
3 cups All-purpose Flour
¼ teaspoons Salt
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
10 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, melted
2 cups Light Brown Sugar
3 whole Eggs, Lightly Beaten
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
½ cups Chopped Walnuts
1 cup White Chocolate Chips

FOR THE SAUCE:
2 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
1-½ cup Heavy Cream
6 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
3 Tablespoons Light Corn Syrup
Optional Garnish: Vanilla Ice Cream, Chopped Walnuts
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, salt & baking powder. Set aside.
In another large mixing bowl, mix melted butter with brown sugar until well-blended. Add in beaten eggs and vanilla. Stir well.
Slowly add flour mixture to butter/sugar/egg mixture. Stir thoroughly but take care not to over mix your batter. Fold in nuts and chocolate. Batter will be thick.
Spray pan with nonstick cooking spray, then pour batter into 9 x 13 baking pan. Bake for about 25-30 minutes (until a toothpick inserted comes out clean).
For the sauce:
Melt butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat (do not allow butter to burn). Then add heavy cream, maple syrup and corn syrup. Allow this mixture to simmer over medium heat for about 20-30 minutes. This is the hard part: waiting for the mixture to reduce and thicken. You don’t want to bring this to a boil, just a nice, slightly bubbly simmer. Stir it occasionally. Once it has reduced by about a 1/3, it’s ready.
To serve: you can heat up blondie on a cast iron skillet and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or you can just heat a slice of blondie on a plate in your microwave for about 25 seconds. Add a scoop of ice cream on top then pour the warm maple butter sauce on top and sprinkle with chopped walnuts.
Cook’s note: if using a glass pan, adjust heat to 325 degrees F. You may have to bake slightly longer than given time. Also, you may want to double up the maple butter sauce recipe. It really is the best part.
*Tasty Kitchen Blog by thecountycook