Recipes

Smoothies are such a constant in our house that I have forgotten to add this morning favorite to my list of recipes.  Here it is made with our holiday cranberry jams but feel free to use any of our other flavors switching out the cranberries for another berry or stone fruit of the season.

Wine had always been my drink of choice rather than a cocktail.  I think because wine is a match for food and I am food obsessed including and beyond jam. But some years ago I strayed from this habit to enjoyment of a gin and tonic.

I couldn’t resist coming up with an October recipe made with Apricot Orange Jam. Orange belongs to the month that includes the holiday Halloween. An Apricot Orange has that required bright orange color. So here is a recipe for a rich, warm muffin.  Perfect for the chill of fall and the holiday. The pumpkin seed on the top give the muffin a nice added crunch.

Every year In October, I buy small sugar pumpkins or pie pumpkins to save for Thanksgiving pies.  For some reason pumpkins disappear from markets and farm stands after Halloween.  I am always perplexed by this phenomenon.  But who to tell? If anyone knows who is in charge of pumpkins, please let me know so I can lodge a complaint.  I have learned to  stock up on pumpkins in October  and use them through the winter season. I make lots of delicious dishes with these perfect small pumpkins: Pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread (really a cake in a loaf shape), pumpkin cookies, spiced pumpkin soufflé and pumpkin pancakes.  Here is my Pumpkin Pancake recipe made tastier by the addition of some of my Apricot Orange Jam.

It is early Fall as I write this and very soon the new crop of apples will be at their peak.  In New England, this ripening of the most gorgeous shiny orbs, is celebrated by city folk who, once a year, wander into the orchards to pick apples. A bonus is the extraordinary pleasure of purchasing and drinking the orchard’s own fresh pressed or hardened apple cider.

Fall may be the perfect season for something sweet, hot, and bubbly from the oven, but I like to make this in the summer when the berries and peaches are both in season.  Put this dish in the oven when friends or family are over for dinner, and out it comes post-meal, bubbling to add a touch of post dinner drama. I write this as Covid is with us and our gatherings are small or seated at a distance as at our house this past weekend.  The fragrant, hot dessert was a hit with all of us  celebrating the smallest of pleasures.