Flavor of Fall

Well, it's fall and that means holiday meals to come, my favorite time of the year!  The flavors of fall and winter are inherently warm flavors that make us feel cozy in the cold. Apples, pumpkin, cranberries, squash, and cinnamon are a few of foods synonymous with this time of the year. More forgotten than not when it comes to fall and winter meals, is breakfast, and it’s the most important meal of the day! Now this recipe isn’t the healthiest type of breakfast, but ya know, it's not bikini season right now people so chill out! If you wanted, you could substitute the sugar with Splenda or Agave nectar, and the flour with whole-wheat flour to make it a little more figure friendly. But really, in my opinion it’s all about portion control and you can eat whatever you want.

This is a great recipe to get the kids and the family involved in the baking process on a cold and snowy day. Great paired with a cup of Joe, or just as a mid-day snack, your family and friends are sure to love these creamy, moist, pumpkin cream cheese muffins!

 

 

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

 

Ingredients

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp brown sugar

 

4 1/2 tbsp all-purpose flour

5 tbsp white sugar

3/4 tsp cinnamon

3 tbsp butter

3 tbsp chopped pecans

 

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups white sugar

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 1/3 cups canned pumpkin

1/3 cup canola oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour 18 muffin cups, or use paper liners.

To make the filling: In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until soft. Add egg, vanilla and brown sugar. Beat until smooth, and then set aside.

For the streusel topping: In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, cinnamon and pecans. Add butter and cut it in with a fork until crumbly. Set aside.

For the muffin batter: In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the center of flour mixture and add eggs, pumpkin, canola oil and vanilla. Beat together until smooth.

Place pumpkin mixture in muffin cups about 1/2 full. Then add one tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture right in the middle of the batter. Try to keep cream cheese from touching the paper cup. Sprinkle on the streusel topping.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes

Funny Food

This is one of those feel good, comforting dishes that I love to make for my guests, and when I am catering. It’s easy to make ahead, the ingredients are mostly items that you would find in your refrigerator anyways, so it makes it pretty cost efficient and it will totally impress whomever you are serving it to.

I originally came up with this dish a couple years ago for comedian/actor Garret Morris. Garret Morris is one of the original cast members of “Saturday Night Live” and continues making people laugh with appearances in many different commercials and TV shows. He lived in my former apartment building so I would always see him around. Currently I was filming for my show “Dishing With Celebs” and invited him to come on and share his favorite foods and recipes with me. He told me he knew nothing about cooking, but he loved shrimp and Louisiana cooking so he would leave it up to me.

Now, I’m no expert on Louisiana style cooking, but after trying out a few different recipes of my own I decided on this one, and he agreed that it reminded him of home. Garret and I ate these by themselves, but you can serve them as appetizers, over a salad, over grits, and pretty much anything! So I hope you enjoy them!

 

Stuffed Shrimp Wrapped in Prosciutto

 

2 cans crab meat (drained)

1-cup Italian breadcrumbs

1/3-cup mayonnaise

1/4-cup ketchup

2 tbsp prepared mustard

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

10 jumbo shrimp, peeled and de-veined

10 slices prosciutto

Directions

Combine first six ingredients; mix well and set aside.

Butterfly shrimp with a knife. Stuff shrimp with about 2 tablespoons of crab filling.

 Wrap entire shrimp with sliced prosciutto.

 Place bundles in a 13x9x2 baking dish.

 Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. (Any extra crab stuffing may be spooned into a greased 1/2 quart casserole and baked at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.) Serves 5.