September Reads

Title: Cocaine Blue (Phryne Fisher #1)

Author: Kerry Greenwood

My Review

Rating: ★★★

Title: Emerald Green (Precious Stone Trilogy #3)

Author: Kerstin Gier

My Review

Rating: ★★★★

Title: Helen of Sparta (Helen of Sparta #1)

Author: Amalia Carosella

My Review

Rating: ★★★★  

Kindle First

Title: Flying Too High (Phryne Fisher #2)

Author: Kerry Greenwood

Rating: ★★★

Slow Cooker Smoky Apple Pulled Pork #AppleWeek

 

It’s the last day of #AppleWeek and today anything goes, so I’m sharing a yummy crockpot recipe!

A few weeks ago, my in-laws came up for a visit.

I wanted to cook dinner most nights they were here, but their second day also coincided with the kids’ school open house (which I was working with my new job) and my last night teaching Zumba (bittersweet – I miss it already!) 

Apple-Cinnamon Stovetop Potpourri #AppleWeek

 

Today’s #AppleWeek theme is crafts and décor!

I decided to bring some stovetop potpourri to the party, since it’s a bit more crafty than foodie.  Or maybe a foodie craft?  Yeah, let’s go with that one.

I love this potpourri because it is crazy easy to make, uses up the apple scraps and makes the whole house smell like apple pie!

Mini Apple Pies with Cheddar Crust #AppleWeek

Do you eat apple pie with a slice of cheese on top?

My family loves it!

A slice of salty cheddar cheese balances a sweet slice of apple pie perfectly.

For our desserts day in #AppleWeek, I decided to take it to the next level and add the cheese directly into the crust!

Honestly?  I was surprised at how subtle the cheese was.

Sage Pork Chops with Apple Pan Gravy #AppleWeek

It’s #AppleWeek Day 2 and it’s all about the entrées!

This recipe is all about happy coincidences.

First, I was planning to have Hubs grill pork chop for dinner, but he got home super late, so I decided to cook them stovetop instead (I really need to get over my grill fear).

Apple Pie Martini #AppleWeek

Today is the kickoff of #AppleWeek!

And what better way to start off than with drinks? 

Every good party start off with cocktails, right?

Last year I made a completely amazing Pumpkintini, complete with a pie crust swizzle stick, so I knew I absolutely needed to make the same thing happen only with apple pie!  And so the Apple Pie Martini was born!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

I did that thing again.

I bought a bunch of bananas, thinking I was actually going to eat them.

Then I let them sit on the counter until they got all brown and scary and attracted fruit flies (where do those things come from?!?)

So it was time to play with banana bread again. 

This time, I wanted to add chocolate chips and coffee.  Then I decided to go all in and add peanut butter too.

Cookies 'n Creme Rock Fudge

I was playing with my food again.

I took Cookies ‘n Crème Fudge (which is super delish, by the way) and made it into some pretty convincing looking rocks and sent them with the boys to a cub scout event.

Crème Brûlée French Toast

My mom always makes an amazing overnight French toast at Easter.  I usually provide the challah and she makes the amazing brunch!

I’ve always wanted to make it myself, but I never really needed to make a large batch of French toast for just my little family and I don’t ever really have company over for brunch (I’m more in the breakfast for dinner camp).

Then, I made challah for secret recipe club AND my in-laws were in town, so I finally had a chance to make my French toast!

Pizza Toast

Dude subscribes to a couple different cooking magazines.  In one of his recent issues, he found a recipe for pizza toast!

Despite being tired from the second week of 3^rd grade, he was eager to get in the kitchen!  What I love about this recipe is that he can make it almost completely independently – he only wanted me to put the tray into the oven and remove it (not that I didn’t trust him to be careful, he just wasn’t comfortable doing it himself – yay for self-awareness!)

Challah Bread #SecretRecipeClub

Last week I stepped in for a bonus Secret Recipe club reveal, so I’m back today with my group!  In SRC, participants are secretly assigned another blog, search the recipes, make something amazing, & then reveal.  Interested in joining?  Click that link for all the info!

This month, I was assigned Dena’s blog, Oh! You Cook!  Dena shares amazingly delicious kosher recipes and is the author of the Everything Kosher Slowcooker Cookbook!

There were tons of recipes I wanted to try, like Brisket, but ultimately challah bread won me over!  I made challah once before, but this recipe was a bit different than the other, so I wanted to give it a try!  Plus, I wanted to try out a different braid this time!

Homemade Cracker Jacks & A Baseball Party

Last month, Spud turned 6!

He had just finished up his first summer of t-ball, so he wanted a baseball themed birthday!

We obviously needed peanuts & cracker jacks, so it was the perfect opportunity to make my own!  I tackled Bacon Caramel Corn a couple years ago and the concept is pretty similar, so I was excited to try!

The cracker jacks were the perfect balance of salty and sweet!

Roasted Zucchini Grilled Cheese #SecretRecipeClub

It’s fall, therefore zucchini plants everywhere are working overtime leaving gardeners to wonder: what shall I make next?  Should I freeze this?  Foist it on my unsuspecting neighbor?  Or maybe start getting creative with some amazing grilled cheese?

I’m stepping in at the last minute to help out Secret Recipe Club Group A, and Cathleen, from A Taste of Madness spurred me and my aggressive zucchini plant to creativity!  Cathleen is a Canadian blogger, dessert lover (a woman after my own heart), and math teacher! 

There were so many delicious dessert recipes I wanted to try, but I was leaving town for a wedding, so sadly I couldn’t make her yummy sounding carrot cake or s’mores brownie pie (sad face). 

I thought about making something breakfast-y since school is back in session, like toasted almond granola (I only had whole almonds) or 100% whole wheat mini muffins (totally something I would make for this kids for snack!)

But ultimately the zucchini and a crazy easy recipe won me over.  I started a new job this week (my baby went to kindergarten, so I did too!  I’m now working part time at my kids’ school! Yay!) AND managed to get tonsillitis AND I had a bunch of zucchini in the fridge!

Oaxaca Style Pork #FoodnFlix

Welcome to this month’s Food n’ Flix! 

It’s been Frida-palooza over here at Amy’s Cooking Adventures, because I got slightly obsessed with Frida and couldn’t stop myself (for more on that, check out my Guacamole Skull).

This month’s movie is Frida hosted by Debra at Eliot’s Eats.  Both the book (more on that here with my Slow Cooker Chicken Mole) and the movie follow the life of Frida Kahlo, a Mexican painter in the early 1900’s.  

Frida Kahlo’s life is amazing given all she endured.  She survived polio as a child and a horrific bus accident when she was 18.  She began painting when she was bed-ridden during her recovery.  Her self-portraits can be quite dark as she works through her pain.

I loved the movie Frida.  It was fun to watch it after reading a fictional book about the life the Frida Kahlo (and also the biography and cookbook, recipe found at Squash Blossom Quesadillas). 

I loved how the movie incorporated her art.  It was brilliantly done!