
I have the opportunity to share a wonderful new product that just hit the market going a hundred miles an hour and has no signs of slowing down!

Karen B's Cooking Made Easy is a blog about cooking, tips of the day, wine pick's and basic information to help improve anyone's culinary experience.



Written by my friend Rico Cunningham
With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I wanted to tell you guys about one of my favorite Thanksgiving dinner traditions. Since before I can remember, my mom has baked pumpkin pies for our entire family to enjoy. The thing I love the most about the pumpkin pies she bakes is that they aren't overly sweet like the kind you find from most places. You can actually taste the true flavor of the pumpkin. Maybe it's because I grew up on it, but outside of the ones my mom makes, I have difficulty eating pumpkin pie. Most of them are just too sweet for my liking.
Each year my mom bakes about four to six pies depending on how many of my extended family members decide to visit for the holidays. My family holds a Thanksgiving feast every year at our house in Jacksonville. The rest of the dinner is your garden variety Thanksgiving meal with a turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cornbread and cranberries. While most of my family stuffs their faces on that stuff, I save plenty of room for dessert. After I have my fill of pumpkin pie, I always end up plopping onto the couch and watching some Directtv. Sometimes I even get a second wind and can even grab another slice a few hours later. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!
Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts with Maple Glaze by: Joy The Baker
makes 9 tarts
crust recipe from King Arthur Flour
For the Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
1 large egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 large egg (for brushing the dough)
For the Filling:
3/4 cup pureed pumpkin
1 large egg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
Maple Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons milk
To prepare the Crust:
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar and salt. Add the cold butter and break it up in the flour mixture using your fingers, a pastry cutter or a food processor. There may seem like there’s a ton of butter in your flour. There is. Work it in until only pea sized lumps remain in your mixture. The mixture should also hold together when squeezed into a ball.
In a small bowl, beat the egg with the milk. Add the mixture all at once to the dry ingredients and stir to make sure that moisture is introduced to all of the flour mixture. Lightly dust a clean counter with flour and knead the dough on the floured counter for a few turns until it really starts to come together. Divide the dough in two, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes. I find that the dough is just a bit easier to work with when it’s chilled.
While the dough is chilling, prepare the filling:
In a small sauce pan, heat pumpkin puree and spices over medium heat. Just heat through until the spices become fragrant. This helps to bring loads of flavor into the filling. Remove from heat and place spiced pumpkin in a medium sized bowl. Whisk in egg, salt and sugar and place in the fridge to rest while you roll out the dough.
On a well floured work surface, press dough into a 3×5-inch rectangle, roll the dough out to about 1/8-inch thickness. The dough should be slightly larger than 9×12-inches. Trim dough with a pizza cutter, creating a rectangle that is 9-inches tall and 12-inches long. Using the pizza cutter, cut each side into thirds, creating 9 squares. Place dough squares in the fridge while you roll out the second piece of dough in the same way.
Brush one set of 9 squares with beaten egg. This will act as the glue for the top layer of dough. Spoon about one tablespoon of pie filling into the center of each brushed dough square. Top with a piece of dough and use a floured fork to crimp the sides closed. Use the tines of the fork to create vent holes in each tart.
Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Let tarts rest in the fridge for 30 minutes while the oven preheats.
Remove tarts from the fridge and place in the oven to bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown on top.
While the tarts bake, whisk together ingredients for the glaze and set aside.
Let baked tarts rest on a cooling rack to cool completely before glazing. Best served within 2 days.
Recipe by: Joy The Baker
Happy Baking ;)

Summer is over, Fall is here
Guest post of the week by Darrin Avery
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! Summer vacation is long gone and everyone in the family is looking for an opportunity to relax and enjoy an old fashioned meal. Thanksgiving fits the bill. For our family, Thanksgiving has always meant the traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings. When my mother was living that dinner included a pot of perfectly seasoned southern greens from her garden; and a beautiful and delicious German chocolate cake.
We still enjoy a great meal, but we miss my mom dearly. After the meal, the family usually settles down to do something relaxing. Having satellite television from http://www.directstartv.com/localchannels/Kansas/ means that we have a ton of channels from which to choose, so we flip through football games and parades until we find something that suits the family--or I should say what suits my husband since he is captain of the remote. However the best part of Thanksgiving is that we are together as a family one more time. Of course with Black Friday sales starting so early these days, the family togetherness will give way to hunting for those special bargains for that next big family holiday! Stay tuned . . .
German Chocolate Cake
One big, tall 9-inch cake; about 16 servings
For the cake:
2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chopped
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
6 tablespoons water
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ¼ cup + ¼ cup sugar
4 large eggs, separated
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the filling:
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup sugar
3 large egg yolks
3 ounces butter, cut into small pieces
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup pecans, toasted and finely chopped
1 1/3 cups unsweetened coconut, toasted
For the syrup:
1 cup water
¾ cup sugar
2 tablespoons dark rum
For the chocolate icing:
8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 ½ ounces unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream
1. Butter two 9-inch cake pans, then line the bottoms with rounds of parchment or wax paper. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. Melt both chocolates together with the 6 tablespoons of water. Use either a double-boiler or a microwave. Stir until smooth, then set aside until room temperature.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, or by hand, beat the butter and 1 ¼ cup of the sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the melted chocolate, then the egg yolks, one at a time.
4. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
5. Mix in half of the dry ingredients into the creamed butter mixture, then the buttermilk and the vanilla extract, then the rest of the dry ingredients.
6. In a separate metal or glass bowl, beat the egg whites until they hold soft, droopy peaks. Beat in the ¼ cup of sugar until stiff.
7. Fold about one-third of the egg whites into the cake batter to lighten it, then fold in the remaining egg whites just until there’s no trace of egg white visible.
8. Divide the batter into the 2 prepared cake pans, smooth the tops, and bake for about 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool cake layers completely.
While the cakes are baking and cooling, make the filling, syrup, and icing.
To make the filling:
1. Mix the cream, sugar, and egg yolks in a medium saucepan. Put the 3 ounces butter, salt, toasted coconut, and pecan pieces in a large bowl.
2. Heat the cream mixture and cook, stirring constantly (scraping the bottom as you stir) until the mixture begins to thicken and coats the spoon (an instant-read thermometer will read 170°.)
3. Pour the hot custard immediately into the pecan-coconut mixture and stir until the butter is melted. Cool completely to room temperature. (It will thicken.)
To make the syrup:
1. In a small saucepan, heat the sugar and water until the sugar has melted. Remove from heat and stir in the dark rum.
To make the icing:
1. Place the 8 ounces of chopped chocolate in a bowl with the corn syrup and 1 ½ ounces of butter.
2. Heat the cream until it just begins to boil. Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate. Let stand one minute, then stir until smooth. Let sit until room temperature.
To assemble the cake:
Remove the cake layers from the pans and cut both cake layers in half horizontally, using a serrated bread knife.
Set the first cake layer on a cake plate. Brush well with syrup. Spread ¾ cup of the coconut filling over the cake layer, making sure to reach to the edges. Set another cake layer on top.
Repeat, using the syrup to brush each cake layer, then spreading ¾ cup of the coconut filling over each layer, including the top.
Ice the sides with the chocolate icing, then pipe a decorative border of chocolate icing around the top, encircling the coconut topping.
(It may seem like a lot of chocolate icing, but use it all. Trust me. You won’t be sorry.)
Happy Baking ;)

The Author of this post is Mae Sweet
I don't know about you, but when it's time for lunch, it's time to watch some satellite TV that I got after searchingCable Television vs Satellite, to break up the day. I work in the Los Angeles World Trade Center building on 5th and Flower Street, and one of the best lunchtime luxuries is escaping to the burger joint located on the 6th floor of the adjacent Boneventure Hotel. The casual restaurant is located at the other side of the bridge that connects the two buildings, and they do a fantastic business for lunch for their low prices and big screen televisions.
Usually the channel is set to CNN and I noticed that most of the other patrons like to sit by themselves to catch up on the news. The place is huge and all these single diners scramble for the best seats in the house for TV viewing in peace and privacy for their lunch break. In addition, outside the order window are two ashtrays located at the end of the bridge, so with a smoking facility handy, quiet time in front of the TV and the best meal values on the block, this is the favorite watering hole for the workers in the Trade Center and hotel guests alike. I still don't even know the name of the place, so just get yourself to the 6th floor and head for the bridge to the Boneventure.

Makes 1 dozen
Brining your Turkey the night before makes 100% difference in how moist your Turkey will be after roasting. After roasting your bird will be so juicy you will not believe your eyes and I guarantee you will not go back to the way you were used to roasting.Click here to see how it's done.
2 to 3 days before roasting:
Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in a cooler kept at 38 degrees F.
Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, and candied ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.
Early on the day or the night before you'd like to eat:
Combine the brine, water and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. If necessary, weigh down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area for 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining.
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Remove the bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine.
Place the bird on roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat dry with paper towels.
Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and 1 cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Add steeped aromatics to the turkey's cavity along with the rosemary and sage. Tuck the wings underneath the bird and coat the skinliberally with canola oil.
Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes. Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Set the thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees F. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with foil or a large mixing bowl for 15 minutes before carving.
Happy Thanksgiving ;)


Guest post written by Mitch Carlson
There are just certain things that you have to eat or it isn't really Thanksgiving. Or at least according to me. I've had alternative Thanksgivings with my friends before and even though they were fun it just wasn't the same, no matter how much I love Indian food or Mexican food. So this year even though I'm having Thanksgiving with my friends, I'm making sure that we at least have some traditional Thanksgiving food.
I've been emailing everyone back and forth to figure out with my CLEAR TV Bundle to see who's bringing what and make sure that we have all the essentials.
Now, none of my friends are really great cooks, so we're trying to be creative in what we do so that it tastes good. I'm handling agreen beans dish that is pretty easy to fix, or at least my brother says that it is and I can cook better than him. But even if the food isnÕt that great I think that weÕll have a really good time together because weÕre all so close that weÕre practically family anyway.
Green Beans with Balsamic Roasted Shallots
Adapted from The Bon Appetit Cookbook
6 large shallots
4 tsp olive oil, divided
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 cup low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
2 tsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 1/4 lb. green beans, end trimmed
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
Peel and cut shallots in half through the root, leaving the root intact. Place the shallots in a medium bowl and toss with 2 teaspoons olive oil, salt, and pepper. Place the shallots, cut side down, on prepared baking sheet and roast until the bottom side of the shallots are deep brown, 15 to 18 minutes.
While the shallots are roasting, pour vegetable or chicken broth into a large skillet. Set over medium-high heat and boil until the chicken broth reduces to 1/4 cup, 5 to 6 minutes. Add granulated sugar and balsamic vinegar, bring to a boil, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the roasted shallots to the chicken broth mixture, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer about 5 minutes, until the sauce coats the shallots. The shallot mixture can be made up to a day ahead, then gently reheated over low heat before serving.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add green beans and cook until the green beans are tender-crisp, about 2 minutes. Drain immediately. Toss the green beans with 2 teaspoons olive oil. Arrange on a serving platter and top with roasted shallots. Serve.
Serves 4 as a side dish.

