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Earlier this month I signed up for this great food challenge hosted by a local Houston Foodie, Anamaris of Chef It Yourself. This is my very first Top Chef It Yourself Challenge and I was excited when I found out what the secret ingredients were; dates, ginger and couscous!! I’m a big fan of couscous but the family isn’t, well Alyssa likes it but no one else.  I knew I was going to make my recipe sweet but wasn’t sure what to do.  After thinking about it for a few days I finally had a recipe in mind and it turned out great.  I loved it and so did Alyssa.

Fruit and Nut Couscous
Printable Recipe

Ingredients
1 10 oz box of Original Plain Couscous *I used the Near East brand
1 cup water
1 cup apple juice
3 Medjool Dates, diced
3 tablespoons crystallized ginger, chopped
1/2 cup *cranberry fiesta mix (dried cranberries, coconut, walnuts, pecans and almonds)
1/4 cup honey, save a little to drizzle on top
1/4 cup apricot preserves

Directions
1. Prepare couscous according to package using 1 cup of water and 1 cup of apple juice.
2. While couscous is cooking, chop the dates and ginger.
3. Move couscous to a large bowl, while it’s still warm, add the dates, ginger, craberry fiesta, honey and apricot preserves. Gently stir until well combined
4. Serve warm with a drizzle of honey.

*A little side note. I shop at H.E.B and they have this great healthy living section that has bulk containers of fruits, oats, nuts, just to name a few. You are able to scoop the amount of product you want, put it on the scale, weigh it and it prints out the barcode for you. I love this little section of my store. For example, Medjool dates were $10.99 for 1lb in the produce section, they were $6.99 in the natural food section. I didn’t need a pound I only needed a few so I bought four big fat dates and it was only $1.40, great deal!! I also bought the ginger and cranberry fiesta is this section. I bought .10 lb of ginger and it was $0.45 and I bought .31 lb of the cranberry fiesta and it was $1.70, take about great deals. I’m sure you could buy a trail mixer to substitute for the cranberry fiesta. I would have spent a lot more if I went straight to the baking section for everything.

A few days ago my new blog friend Flavia over at Flavia’s Flavors posted an Orange Chocolate Chunk Cake, as soon as I saw I knew I had to make it.  Really, orange and chocolate, they make a great couple but I haven’t gotten around to it.  I will, I’m afraid of being alone with this cake, afraid of eating the entire thing and we all know that can not happen.

I’m waiting for my husband to go back to work so he can take it with him, he works four days on and four days off, so he needs to go back to work and soon.  I will take giant small slice and he can take the rest, my butt doesn’t need it.  While I wait for him to go back to work I decided to cure my craving for the chocolate/orange combo and make cookies. I’m more of a cake person, I like cookies but prefer a slice of cake.

My kids wanted to do play around with “food styling”. So who am I to say no. Here’s what they came up with. We might have a couple food bloggers in our future.

Ingredients
1 stick of butter (soften)
1 cup of sugar
1 egg
3 tsp orange zest
3 tsp fresh orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375. Cream butter and sugar. Add the egg, orange zest, orange juice and vanilla extract.
2. Sift dry ingredients. Stir dry ingredients and chips into butter and sugar.
3. Using a tablespoon measure or cookie scoop. Scoop dough and place on baking sheet. Using your fingers flatten slightly.
4. Bake 8-10 minutes, remove from oven and cool.

Do you have a favorite butter?  Apple, honey, pumpkin?  My favortie is pumpkin butter and it’s super easy to make.   The recipe that I use is from Libbys Recipe file.  It takes no time all to make and you probably have everything you need in your pantry.  I love eating pumpkin butter on buttermilk biscuits.  It’s also excellent on pancakes, toast, bagels, the possibilities are endless really.  How do you like to enjoy your favorite butter?  My daughter loves pumpkin butter she likes to eat it by the spoon full.

Pumpkin Butter oh so yummy

Libbys Pumpkin Butter

Ingredients
1 can (15 ounces) LIBBY’S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions
Combine pumpkin, sugar, honey, lemon juice, cinnamon and cloves in medium, heavy-duty saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat to low. Cook, stirring frequently, for 20 to 25 minutes or until thickened. Serve with biscuits, breads and corn muffins. Store in airtight container in refrigerator for up to 2 months.

Recipe makes 2 cups.

Pumpkin Butter