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Mushroom Goat Cheese Empanada Recipe

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I have to get ready. Halloween on through New Year’s is a fun, wonderful, magical time of year—and I love every part of it. The season means food and friends, music and wonderment, parties and gifts, laughter and love. It is also the season of appetizers.

I love to bake and I will take just about any excuse to make a batch of Babycakes Cupcake Maker cupcakes, cookies, pies or whatever. But this time of year, it seems I become appetizer challenged. Do you ever have that problem? Why is it hard to think of a new appetizer or snack to serve?

This year, I planned to create several new appetizers. Recipes ready, it would be a cinch to quickly make a batch of something new. Suddenly, I am already behind.

Roxanne and I had great Saturday at Pryde’s, signing copies of our new cookbook. Pryde’s is a wonderful kitchen shop in the Old Westport area of Kansas City. It was fun to meet so many people and sign copies of our book. (Visit our Facebook page to see a photo.) It was also great fun to watch the shoppers. The store was so busy and people were shopping for the holidays. We actually saw gift-wrapped holiday packages leaving the shop. Wow, I thought, those folks know how to get a jump on the holidays—and then suddenly I realized—the holidays are – eek—here.

Back to the appetizers. This year, I knew it would be a cinch since I was counting on appetizers from the Babycakes Cupcake Maker. I love to use it for appetizers and quiche. So, if you have every thought of yourself as appetizer challenged, never fear—this wonderful empanada could become one of your favorite recipes, too. Empanadas are just bite-size turnovers and they can be filled with so many different meat and veggie combinations. This time, I chose goat cheese and mushrooms. I also made a new crust recipe—a little more classic for empanadas as it is not quite as flaky as a pie crust. Yet, in a pinch, I know they would be just as good if I made a classic pie crust or even used a refrigerated crust. Warm melted cheese, mushrooms, and a hint of seasonings. Perfect for any holiday party I know. Pour a glass of wine and enjoy the days ahead.

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Apple Butter Filled Apple Cider Cupcakes

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This has to be my favorite season of the year. The weather, the leaves and the mood of those all around makes this such a special time.

Last year, our dear friends introduced us to a Kansas City treasure that I hadn’t known about. Hard to believe that a die hard foodie like myself missed this one all these years. On a crisp, fall day, we met two other families at Dunn’s Cider Mill. The experience was truly a “Norman Rockwell” type of day. We enjoyed hot, fresh cider doughnuts and quenched our thirst with Dunn’s crisp apple cider. The kids had a great time and the parents were able to sit a while and catch up. I will treasure the memories of that fall day for years to come. When fall rolled around this year, one of the first “field trips” I wanted to take was back to Dunn’s. We enjoyed another day at Dunn’s recently and once again savored the doughnuts and cider. This time we purchased cider to bring home to enjoy. [Read more…]

Midwestern Chili

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Chili—let us count the ways. Fall is here! Football games with tailgate parties. Leaves falling. Cooler evenings. All of these are signs that it is chili season. In fact, it is National Chili Month.

For many years we have worked with a Midwestern chili seasonings company, Williams Foods, and one of the highlights of the year is the huge Chili Challenge held in Lenexa, Ks. It was just last weekend!

This year, about 200 teams competed for the honors and the air was absolutely tantalizing with the smells of simmering chilies. Take a look at this year’s fun! The weather was beautiful and the crowds were huge!


We served a lot of chili and met so many great folks.


For 17 years we judged a national chili recipe contest for Williams Foods and really believe there is no one “right”—or “wrong” way to make chili. We have seen thick ones, thin ones, hotter-than-fire ones, kid-mild ones, ones with beans or without beans, and ones with (or without) every kind of meat imaginable. There are lots of new and trendy gourmet chilies—but this time, I am sharing a comforting, old-fashioned Midwestern chili recipe.

What makes it Midwestern? Tomatoes and ground beef with red kidney beans. We laugh but we can almost always tell where people are from by the kind of chili they make. Here in the Midwest it often includes red or kidney beans. Travel down Route 66 into Oklahoma and the beans of choice are pinto beans and Texans often don’t add beans. New Mexico chili is often chunks of beef with a pot of beans cooked separately.

So here is my version—nothing trendy about it. Easy to fix, easy to freeze for another night, and easy to add a little more spice if you want to turn up the heat. Yes, it is made with Williams Chili Seasoning, but if you grew up in the Kansas City area like both Roxanne and I did, that is the way we made chili. It is pure chili seasoning, and doesn’t have the salt or fillers that many mixes do, so we use it often. But, if you live in a region that doesn’t have Williams products, follow the tips on the recipe.

We love to talk to people about chili–the chili they remember as a child, the one they ate at that diner down the road, the trendiest chili they just tasted or the next new chili recipe they are dreaming up. Let us know your chili story.

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Best Ever Chocolate Cake

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This is the beginning of birthday and holiday season in our family. On Saturday night, we celebrated my mother’s birthday and our daughter’s upcoming birthday. What a blessing that the entire family spent the evening together sharing a meal and catching up. No birthday party in our family would be complete without our traditional birthday cake.

This recipe was given to me about 30 years ago from Kathy. I have made it hundreds of times over the years and it never fails. I cherish this recipe because it is moist and very easy to put together. [Read more…]

Applejack Brined Pork Chops with Caramelized Onion Maple Marmalade

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Grilling great pork chops is so much easier than you might have ever thought possible. Flavorful, tender, juicy!

I grew up with those dry ones we used to call pork chops. Overcooked until not a drop of juice remained. Fried and flavorless! Not that Mom wasn’t a great cook—she was, but the standard was to make sure they were well done. No wonder no one I knew enjoyed pork chops.

I love them. Use a meat thermometer and cook them perfectly. Now, they are safe, according to the USDA, even when cooked until just 145° F. While I often cook them a little more done than 145° F, you don’t have to worry about pork being under done when the meat is still a little pink. I also brine them. I know that sounds fancy, but really it is just marinating them in a seasoned liquid for a few hours. My favorite recipe this fall is to add a splash of applejack to the brining liquid and get ready for really great eating. I also buy real pork –not the common ones that are injected with saline, but real pork like the ones I get from Steve’s. While I like to add chips to the grill to add a smoky flavor, believe me when I say they are good enough to grill without the chips and smoke. Just grill and serve with plenty of napkins. They are that good.

I also have a new love affair with maple syrup. The real stuff, straight from Vermont. I made a caramelized onion-maple syrup marmalade topping and this pork chop recipe quickly becomes something you would order at a fancy restaurant.

Give it a try. Serve it soon to your family or invite some good friends over for a relaxing dinner. I know you will love it.

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