brown sugar

Pull-Apart Cinnamon Pecan Rolls

Store-bought frozen rolls make these super easy but delightfully delicious pull-apart cinnamon pecan rolls easy to make for any weekend or holiday brunch.

This post is in partnership with McCormick

I am a nut about Christmas traditions.

Even today, I still make sure the garish Christmas ornament I made in third grade from a paper plate wrapped with red and green yarn to look like a wreath and sporting a photo of my Brownie Scout-buck-toothed grin hangs in its place of glory, in the same spot, every year, on my mom’s elegantly decorated Christmas tree.

When it comes to holiday traditions, it’s the little things that count.

For our family, one of the most revered traditions is our Christmas morning breakfast. In fact it’s so special, we only serve it once a year, and this pecan cinnamon monkey bread is a favorite part of it. continue to the recipe… about Pull-Apart Cinnamon Pecan Rolls

Orange-Spiced Salmon with Spaghetti Squash

A combination of five-spice powder, brown sugar and orange zest gives a sweet but subtle flavor to this healthy baked salmon and spaghetti squash dinner.

Happy October, friends. Whoa, did I really just say that? Let the good eating commence!

October is THE month for comfort food. It’s when we’ve finally pulled up the last of summer’s tomato plants, put away the picnic baskets and are thoroughly wooed by photos and recipes of thick and sultry stews and soups, decadent mac ‘n cheese with fried chicken, and too-good-to-pass-up pies, cookies, and brownies.

Now is the season we turn a blind eye when beckoned to give in to comfort food’s temptation, even when we KNOW we need to fit into our skinny jeans later.

But I’m here to declare that comfort food doesn’t have to be rich, heavy or calorie-laden. This salmon, served with in-season-now spaghetti squash, is totally figure-friendly, flavorful and so good at satisfying your seasonal cravings you’ll be categorizing it as comfort food-lite.continue to the recipe… about Orange-Spiced Salmon with Spaghetti Squash

Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal with Sweet Potato

I’m not going to lie. The process of coming up with recipes to put on the blog is sometimes, just, well, weird. And sometimes the outcome can be a little, well, weird too. Like Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal with Sweet Potato. But in a good way and with 10 more food blogger’s oatmeal recipes at the end of this post.

When I’m brainstorming recipe ideas I usually go for a few tried and true methods. Around this time of year they include:

Go with an event: The World Series, Halloween and Thanksgiving or any event that features sweets
Choose a seasonal ingredient: Apples, pumpkin, comfort food or sugar on anything that might bear a hint of dessert
Select a trendy ingredient: Kale, bacon, quinoa or sugar on anything again and again and again
Or just stuff something sweet with something else and call it a cookie, or a cake, or something that is ooey and gooey and makes everyone deem it “drool-worthy”

continue to the recipe… about Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal with Sweet Potato

Sweet and Spicy Popcorn Recipe

Before making the change to a low-sodium diet, Jess Goldman Foung, the author of the popular blog Sodium Girl, was like a lot of Americans who ate fried chicken and macaroni and cheese, not nearly enough servings of vegetables and rarely strayed from her comfort zone of basic food groups.

With a degree from Stanford and a budding career as a Development Manager, Jess was becoming an expert at fundraising and grant writing, and loved it. Her body, however, did not.

“The autoimmune disease, Lupus, was aggresively attacking my brain and my kidneys and after three months of chemo, dialysis, and amazing medical care, I survived. My kidneys didn’t, ” she says.

After researching and educating herself, Jess realized she needed to take her health into her own hands, and she started with nutrition. “I swore I would do what I could with my own two hands to help stay strong and live a full life and that meant going on a strict low-sodium diet. But I also happened to be an extremely stubborn person, who refused to eat dull food or miss out on anything life had to offer. So that meant rewriting the low-sodium rules.”

“After a tough-love session with my mother, who asked, ‘Do you want to live five years or fifty years?” I realized I needed to quit my job and find a career that let me take care of myself,” Jess acknowledges. “It wasn’t until a fateful day when I watched two movies back-to-back —Julie and Julia and then Food, Inc.—that I realized what I should do: 1) blog and 2) write about the power of food.”

And that she does with the release of her new book Sodium Girl’s Limitless Low-Sodium Cookbook.continue to the recipe… about Sweet and Spicy Popcorn Recipe

Bloody Caramel Apples

This week I had the best of intentions to stick to my diet, but I knew in my heart it was going to be four days of eating and drinking that were out of my control. I mean coooommme on! Who can go to Wisconsin on a cheese and spirits tour and stick to the plan? Not me. So I created a new plan: more cheese please. I’ll be posting more about the trip later but if you haven’t experienced real Wisconsin cheese, you haven’t tasted cheese.

Now that I’m slowly emerging from my happy dance cheese trance, I’m craving sweets. Sweets that go with cheese.

Okay I might still be under it’s spell. I’ve never been much of a fan of caramel apples thanks to early memories of store-bought versions that nearly drove me to the dentist to have the hard, waxy caramel extracted from my molars and the tossing of the rest in the garbage.

How to Make the Best Caramel Apples

These aren’t hard coated candied apples, but rather ooey, gooey, shiny covered crunchy fruits that will have you eating the whole, darn thing.

My recipe is different in a big way thanks to the combination of sugar and sweetened condensed milk, creating a silky caramel coating that stays soft and supple. And deliciously ‘bloody’.

And that’s why you need to give my Bloody Caramel Apples a try.

If you make this recipe, please let me know! Bookmark this recipe and leave a comment below, or take a photo and tag me on Instagram with #foodiecrusheats.

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Bloody Caramel Apples

Ingredients

1 stick 1/2 cup butter
2 cups light brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 to 2 teaspoons red food coloring depending on your bloody-ness desires
10-12 medium organic apples
10-12 ice-pop sticks or other holders

Instructions

In a large saucepan, melt butter. Add brown sugar, corn syrup, sweetened condensed milk and salt and continue to stir over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil and a clip-on candy thermometer reads 235°F. Remove from heat and add vanilla and food coloring and stir. Allow to cool to 200°F.
Poke ice-pop sticks or twigs into tops of apples and dip into caramel mixture, rotating to coat. Place on a silicone baking liner or waxed paper until caramel sets.

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Friday Faves and Apple French Toast

Everywhere I look I’m seeing apples, squash and pumpkins. Fall’s earthly bounty is the equivalent of Christmas sugarplums dancing through food blogger’s heads.

It’s all set a serious craving for apples in my head, and my mouth. I’m craving them in every cookable form, from cupcakes to cider to applesauce to oven roasted. I just can’t quite decide what I want to make—and post—next. There are just too many delectable options.continue to the recipe… about Friday Faves and Apple French Toast

Banana and Chocolate Chip Baked French Toast

It hasn’t stopped rocking and rolling around here.

School just got out, schedules are in transistion, my husband is in full rehearsal mode with the band getting back together (oh Lord, did I just admit that is really happening?) and I just got back to town after an amazingly inspiring trip to Seattle for BlogHer Food. I did my fare share of blogger-stalking, business card exchanges and tweeting #overkill and met many of my fave bloggers and even more new faces I am so stoked to now/soon be following. And yes my pants are fitting a bit tighter. Damn Seattle has some good eats!

I’ll be doing a blog biz wrap up later this week and can’t wait to share the highlights. And BTW Austin, watch out ’cause this bloggo bunch is headed your way next year.

Before I left for Seattle I was crazy busy with deadlines, all of that said above and most importantly our Smudge’s 8th birthday. I’m still not sure if my post-party hangover is from the night of 8 year olds who don’t know any other speed than full throttle or food bloggers who pretty much do the same.

Either way, they both created new inspirations for me. Like this ooey gooey concoction that thanks to requests at our house for more combinations of chocolate and banana, has yet to fade from the peanut gallery.

continue to the recipe… about Banana and Chocolate Chip Baked French Toast

Pull-Apart Cinnamon Pecan Rolls

Orange-Spiced Salmon with Spaghetti Squash

Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal with Sweet Potato

Sweet and Spicy Popcorn Recipe

Bloody Caramel Apples

How to Make the Best Caramel Apples

Bloody Caramel Apples

Ingredients

Instructions

Friday Faves and Apple French Toast

Banana and Chocolate Chip Baked French Toast

How to Make the Best Potato Salad

How to Make Classic Macaroni Salad

How to Make the Best Grilled Salmon

The Best Greek Chicken Marinade

brown sugar

How to Make the Best Caramel Apples

Bloody Caramel Apples

Ingredients

Instructions

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