Stuffed Figs Appetizer

Disclosure- I received the mentioned product courtesy of the sponsor for the the purpose of this review. All opinions are genuine, based on my experience with the product, and have not been influenced by promotional items.

 

 

Greetings from cold and snowy Colorado! We're renting a house up in the mountains right now, so I apologize for not being active here or on my social channels lately. We'll be home soon and I can't wait to catch up with you all when I get back (and show you the incredible view from my office window right now!) I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving with your loved ones yesterday, and if you're headed out to do a little shopping today, I hope you all stay warm and safe while bargain hunting. Today officially kicks off the Christmas season for me, and even though we have one major holiday behind us now, there's still a lot of entertaining to be had for the next 6 weeks. When we were in Frankenmuth last month, I made my traditional stop to The Cheese Haus and spent almost my entire savings on specialty cheeses. I even bought a chocolate cheese because that just seemed like something that needed to be tried. When I got home, I immediately took to my favorite source for new recipes, Golden Blossom Honey, to find great holiday recipes that included cheese. I found this Stuffed Figs Appetizer and knew that I was going to be in trouble because this sounded like an appetizer that I would want to keep the entire batch all for myself. 

 

 

I really love figs this time of the year, but like I've mentioned in the past, we don't have fresh figs available to us in the Midwest. So, this recipe worked out great for me because it calls for dried figs, which we have in abundance here. Any recipe that includes wine, figs, and cheese automatically gets my seal of approval, but after I had these assembled and taste tested, they were for sure a winner in my book. And by book I mean these will be a holiday staple in my make shift recipe book every Christmas from here on out. I do have to point out that I ended up not cutting the figs in half as the recipe states as I felt that they weren't plump enough to really hold the filling then. However, I did use my thumb to indent the top of the fig and scooped the cheese filling into the cavity that was created that way. That ended up making these the most perfect two-bite appetizers that are going to be a hit all season long.

8 dried Calimyrna figs, stemmed (look for them in the bulk section of your supermarket)
1 cup white wine
1 tablespoon GOLDEN BLOSSOM HONEY
3 tablespoons mascarpone cheese
3 tablespoons Gorgonzola cheese, finely crumbled
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
1 tablespoon GOLDEN BLOSSOM HONEY, to drizzle

 

CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECIPE

 

 

You can find this recipe, as well as many more delicious recipes right on the Golden Blossom Honey recipe page! Be sure to follow Golden Blossom Honey on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions.

If you like this recipe, be sure to come back every Friday, where I feature a new recipe from Golden Blossom Honey, and be sure to Pin It on Pinterest! 

 

  

If you celebrate, what was the highlight of your Thanksgiving this year? 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Honey Pie Bars

Disclosure- I received the mentioned product courtesy of the sponsor for the the purpose of this review. All opinions are genuine, based on my experience with the product, and have not been influenced by promotional items.

 

 

I don't know how Thanksgiving crept up on us so fast, but ready or not, here we are. Don't even get me started on holiday shopping, because I haven't even begun to think about that yet. If you see me next month making a mad dash for the gift card rack at Target, just mind ya business. These days, everything is getting done in little spurts when I can squeeze what needs to be done in the nonexistent time that I have. That's why I love make ahead recipes, like these Pumpkin Honey Pie Bars from Golden Blossom Honey. When I'm in between dealing with the million little things that are piled on my plate this time of the year, I appreciate having a recipe on hand that doesn't need to be made and served right away. 

 

 

But, Theresa, what's the difference between this and a traditional pumpkin pie you ask? Honestly, not much except it is sweetened with honey instead of condensed milk and it has more servings than the pie, thus saving you time from having to bake more than one pie. Plus, who doesn't like dessert bars? I know I do! The only thing I changed in this recipe is I did double the crust portion because I felt like it just wasn't thick enough for my liking after I pressed the crumbs into the bottom of my prepared pan. Other than that, I left everything else as is and thought it turned out perfect. After bellies have been stuffed with all of the Thanksgiving trimmings and everyone is making the comment that they couldn't possibly eat another bite, watch how fast the forks come back out when you present this dish for dessert. My only rule this year is "if you don't talk politics, you get pie!" Or in this case, delicious pumpkin honey pie bars. 

Ingredients

Crust:
8 ounces vanilla wafer cookies or graham crackers
1/3 cup chopped pecans
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon Golden Blossom® honey
pinch salt
Filling:
2 1/2 cups canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2/3 cup Golden Blossom® honey
3 large eggs
1 12-ounce can evaporated milk
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 8-ounce container whipped topping (or substitute 3 cups of homemade whipped cream if you prefer)

 

CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECIPE

 

You can find this recipe, as well as many more delicious recipes right on the Golden Blossom Honey recipe page! Be sure to follow Golden Blossom Honey on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions.

If you like this recipe, be sure to come back every Friday, where I feature a new recipe from Golden Blossom Honey, and be sure to Pin It on Pinterest! 

 

  

Have you started or finished your holiday shopping yet? 

 

 

 

 

Poached Salmon with Pears and Apples For The Holidays

Disclosure- I received the mentioned product courtesy of the sponsor for the the purpose of this review. All opinions are genuine, based on my experience with the product, and have not been influenced by promotional items.

 

 

Well, I thought I'd be able to skip a week undetected, but y'all are good. To those of you who reached out privately when I missed last week's post, thank you so much for your concern! I've been quite ill for the last 3 weeks, starting with an upper respiratory infection that took my voice for a week, immediately followed by getting hit with Covid. And I don't just mean hit. I mean bulldozed. I have never been this sick in my life. My body is spent, y'all. Thankfully, Covid skipped Allison this time, but Jason and I have both been struggling along wondering if there will ever be a light at the end of the tunnel. I didn't lose my senses of taste or smell, but my appetite is nonexistent. Which has made this the perfect time for Jason to clear out the freezer and make himself dishes that I would normally skip. Yesterday he felt well enough to pull out some salmon and made this Golden Blossom Honey recipe of Poached Salmon with Pears and Apples for his dinner. 

 

 

I was thinking that this would be a fantastic recipe to keep on hand as the holidays are quickly approaching. For one who gets exhausted just doing the most mundane of tasks right now, the husband was able to pull off this recipe without much effort on his part. And, it turned out beautiful. If your family is like ours and will be skipping the traditional ham or turkey for the holiday meals this year, I think this salmon dish is a wonderful change of pace. The fruit topping is festive enough for any holiday table and the honey mustard gives it that extra special kick of flavor that will have your inner Oliver holding out your empty plate while saying, "Please, sir. I want some more."

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons GOLDEN BLOSSOM HONEY MUSTARD
1 1/2 pounds salmon fillets
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 lemons, thinly sliced
1 cup white wine
1 cup water
15 whole peppercorns
4 Tablespoons margarine
1 lime, thinly sliced
2 MacIntosh apples, unpeeled, cored and thinly sliced
2 Anjou pears, unpeeled, cored and thinly sliced

 

CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECIPE

 

 

You can find this recipe, as well as many more delicious recipes right on the Golden Blossom Honey recipe page! Be sure to follow Golden Blossom Honey on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions.

If you like this recipe, be sure to come back every Friday, where I feature a new recipe from Golden Blossom Honey, and be sure to Pin It on Pinterest! 

 

  

How often do you do a freezer purge? 

 

 

 

 

Honey Nut Brie Thanksgiving Appetizer

Disclosure- I received the mentioned product courtesy of the sponsor for the the purpose of this review. All opinions are genuine, based on my experience with the product, and have not been influenced by promotional items.

 

 

It's hard to believe that it's about time to start planning our Thanksgiving menus. Thankfully, I get off almost free this year since our oldest is set on making the dinner at her place. And I am grateful for that since we'll have just endured a 16 hour car ride to get to her new home, planning and executing a huge holiday dinner won't be high on my list of things I'm going to want to do once we arrive. However, I will more than likely make an appetizer plus a dessert, but I will go as simple as possible on each of those. After browsing Golden Blossom Honey's recipes this week, I found the most perfect, most simple, and most delicious appetizer that shot straight to the top of my non-existent holiday menu: Honey Nut Brie. 

 

 

So much of what goes on the Thanksgiving table requires a lot of prep, but not this recipe! This is a 10 minute from start to finish appetizer that is simple, yet elegant. Toss some party crackers on a plate and slice some apples and pears while the brie is baking and you've got an appetizer to wow a crowd. Fresh out of the oven, ooey, gooey cheese piled on crackers and fruit slices is really all this girl needs to be thankful this year. 

Ingredients

14 ounces Brie cheese
1/4 cup GOLDEN BLOSSOM HONEY
1/4 cup pecans, chopped

 

CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECIPE

 

 

You can find this recipe, as well as many more delicious recipes right on the Golden Blossom Honey recipe page! Be sure to follow Golden Blossom Honey on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions.

If you like this recipe, be sure to come back every Friday, where I feature a new recipe from Golden Blossom Honey, and be sure to Pin It on Pinterest! 

 

  

Have you started planning your Thanksgiving menu yet, or are you just trying to get through Halloween first?