Salmon in the Company of Good Oranges (Fruit Fundraiser #2)

Salmon and fresh oranges in a poppy seed vinaigrette, served over hot pasta. The bright and fresh flavors of this dish lighten up the dark winter days.

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New photos from the 2015 Band Fruit Fundraiser!

After you've had your Band Fundraiser Tangerines for breakfast in this dish, it's time to think about what to do with your Band Fundraiser Oranges! Here's a recipe round up for ya.

This is one of those 'so crazy it must be good' combinations--salmon, with oranges, green onions, and poppy seed in a vinaigrette.  Served over noodles.  Sounds weird, right?

It did to me.

I was sick of eating fruit fundraiser oranges just out of hand, and my friend Debbie told me about her sister Chrissy's recipe from a magazine (Cooking Light maybe?).  The combination sounded so weird that I had to try it.  Debbie brought it over and we enjoyed it while watching Love, Actually.  So in my mind, the holiday season, the fruit fundraiser season, and this recipe all roll together.

(You can make it at other times, as well.)

I normally make this recipe with a salmon fillet, but in the interests of trying to be more frugal, I decided to try it with canned salmon.  I've never used canned salmon before.  If you eat blindfolded, the dish is about the same (slight textural difference).  But I eat with my eyes first, so to me the dish is better with a salmon fillet.

What do you think?

Canned salmon.

Honey Citrus Throat Soother | Couples Guide to Marietta, Ohio

Honey Citrus Throat Soother is perfect for sore and scratchy throats during cold and flu season--made at home with all natural ingredients, this tastes good and is a lovely drink for warm sipping on chilly nights. It keeps in the fridge for up to 2 weeks and makes a great gift in the fall and winter.

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Disclosure:I spent 3 days in Marietta, Ohio on an agritourism press trip. I was put up, fed, and shown the sights courtesy of the Marietta CVB. In exchange, I have written this post--and two others, since I'm so charmed by this town and I think ya'll should visit. This post details a Couples Guide to Marietta, Ohio. Check out this post for a Family Guide to Marietta, and this post for a Girlfriends' Getaway to Marietta.


(scroll down to the 'how to' video if you just want the recipe)

Marietta--at dawn and dusk.

My spouse is an active guy. No "lie in the sand" vacations for him. He needs to be going places to do, see, and learn new things. A visit to Marietta, Ohio would be right up his alley. We'd stay in the historic Lafayette Hotel right along the water downtown, so we could wake up and walk along the river checking out the birds. I saw geese, ducks, sandpipers and a great blue heron during my recent Agritourism Adventure in Marietta, Ohio. After a stroll across the pedestrian bridge, we'd eat a locally sourced breakfast at the Busy Bee Restaurant (he'd love the massive blueberry pancake). On the weekends, we like to hit our local farmer's market, so we'd be sure to check out the River City Farmer's Market and bring home some Broaster's Coffee for our son.

Glazed Orange Poppyseed Muffins #MuffinMonday

These bright sweet muffins have a snappy crunch when you bite into them. The orange juice and zest pairs nicely with poppy seeds and makes a sweet addition to a morning tea break, knitting club, or after school snack.

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Poppy seeds are not something I typically keep in my kitchen. I got out of the habit of eating them when I was in the military and subject to random drug testing. No desire for false positives--no muffin is worth that. How did I get from muffins to drug testing in a single paragraph? Back to poppy seeds, because it is #MuffinMonday and I've got poppy seeds on my brain.

Here's the thing (also the title of my current favorite podcast to listen to while working out in the basement)--I know oranges + poppy seeds rock the Salmon in the Company of Good Oranges. It stood to reason (in my mind) that, having a crisper drawer full of juice oranges and a container of poppy seeds left from an annual bowlful of pasta, I could swap the citrus in a poppy seed muffin.

I looked around online for Lemon Poppyseed Muffins Using Buttermilk. (I'm working on a soaked oat and buttermilk bread recipe and had plenty on hand. When it's 25 cents for a half gallon you tend not to hoard.) I didn't see anything that appealed, so I consulted my trusty red checkered Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. I found a poppy seed muffin recipe that I used as a guideline for these tasty gems.

For more recipes using oranges, from a Marching Band Fruit Fundraiser or just because they are in season and on sale, please see my Orange Recipes Collection. It's part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me who have an alarming tendency to go big when it comes to seasonal produce. I'm sharing seasonal recipes on my FB page, pinning them to my Pinterest boards, and even giving you a taste of what's coming up on my Instagram feed. Want to know How to Use This Blog?

Healthy Morning Glory Muffins

This recipe is a terrific breakfast muffin. It combines oats, orange juice and raisins with the sweetness of maple syrup plus crunch from coconut and sunflower seeds in a whole grain bite that is free of refined sugar. Looking for a healthy breakfast muffin? Here you are.

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This time of year I am enjoying copious amounts of citrus thanks to the Band Fruit Fundraiser (here's a link to 156 food blogger recipes using seasonal fruits like the kind my son sold at his recent marching band fruit fundraiser--support a band near you!). I'm also baking--and eating--rich holiday treats like those I recently shared during #ChristmasWeek--have you entered the Amazon Gift Card Giveaway yet? As such, I will take any opportunity to boost the nutrition in my other meals.

When I fix muffins as a breakfast food I know I'm giving my kids something nourishing that will power them through the morning. My mom is Canadian {I'm American so she's not my mum, she's my mom} and thank goodness for that. She raised me on Canadian muffins. Compared to American muffins, Canadian muffins have less sugar and less fat. American muffin recipes seem like cupcakes to me. I love cupcakes. Just not for breakfast.

Fresh Grapefruit Pomegranate Margarita

A seasonal winter holiday cocktail--fresh grapefruit blended in a margarita and finished with a splash of pomegranate juice. It's tart and refreshing while using the fruits of the season.

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I had an idea to try a winter holiday version of my Cheater Margarita Smoothie using some of the Band Fruit Fundraiser grapefruit. It stands to reason that grapefruit and lime, both being tart citrus fruits, ought to play nicely together. On a whim I picked up a bottle of pomegranate juice and decided to add a splash of that for color (and additional tartness). I really liked the result.

Then my friend gave me a margarita glass for my birthday (because my friends rock) and I decided I'd throw the recipe up on the blog while grapefruit and pomegranates are still in season and did some day drinking to have good light for the photos. Oh, the things I do to provide free recipes using seasonal ingredients! Unfortunately for my photos, but fortunately for me, a friend called to tell me the good news of her impending move back here and I pretty much lost the light. I'm sharing the recipe anyway, and if I feel like taking more photos I will.

In the past I have put up a Year In Review post (please enjoy last year's post and the 2013 post) and then taken time off over the holidays.  This year will be a little different--I enjoy sharing muffin recipes and participating in Muffin Monday, which happens the last Monday of the month, so I will be back to share a muffin recipe on December 28th. I'm not sure if it will be Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Butter Muffins or something citrus-y that has yet to be made. When I have the mental energy I'll assemble a year in Review post.  But for now, because I'm still recovering from (and sharing around social media) #ChristmasWeek -- have you entered the $800 Amazon gift card giveaway? There's still time -- for now, though, please join me in raising a glass to celebrate the season.

Cheers.

Orange & Beet Smoothie with Cranberries and Maple Syrup

This is a vegan smoothie that combines seasonal citrus, beets, and cranberries with a generous splash of maple syrup to make it go down smooth nice and easy. Overwhelmed with cookies? Haven't started the wrapping yet? Whip up one of these babies and power through your to do list without plowing through the cookie tray.

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To be honest I really wasn't feeling a post for today. I'm still a bit worn out from doubling my workload and sharing 6 recipes in a row for #ChristmasWeek. [As an aside, the Amazon Gift Card Giveaway is happening for another week or so, have you entered? I'd sure like to have a connection to the winner. Go to this post for all the details.] However, seeing that it is citrus season (we got our Band Fundraiser Citrus a week ago) and as this recipe kept me going all through last week's craziness, I'm going to share it as is--I ran out of light last night so I'll update the photos as soon as I've made today's smoothie. I promised myself I'd take time off closer to Christmas, so you'll get one more week of recipes before my break.


Did you think, after Spiked Hot Cocoa Gift Mix, Maple Doodles, My Scottish Grandma's Shortbread, Cranberry Chai Tea Cookies, No Bake Magic Cookie Truffles, and Fresh Cranberry Mini Scones that this blog is all about sweets? Ha! Fooled ya. It's all about beets.


If the only things I got in my farm share were a steady supply of potatoes, onions, carrots and lettuce I probably would not have started a blog about how to feed my family from the farm share. I mean, everyone knows what to do with potatoes, onions, carrots and lettuce. [If you don't, feel free to consult my Potato Recipes Collection, my Recipes Using Onions, my Carrot Recipes Collection, and my Greens (Lettuce/Salad) Recipes Collection. These collections are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, the thing I am most proud of on this blog--a way to help my readers figure out what the heck to do with those veggies in the share that are new and unusual to them. And to me!]

A small farm can't make it on just a few crops--diversification is where it's at these days. [You may notice a change to my ads--I've switched from a few Adsense ads on the sidebars to a plethora of ads managed by MediaVine. Not a clue what, if anything, I am earning as I haven't made time to go check out my dashboard, but the experience has been very positive for me so far. Let me know how it is for you. Back to farms.] Farmers need to grow crops that will be ripening throughout the season so that us hungry folks have something to eat. And often, that means new-to-us foods.

Make and Take Smoothies for Moms

Consider giving the gift of smoothies to a new mom, a friend recovering from oral surgery, or a harried neighbor. Ready to shake up and drink, smoothies are a fast way to get some nutrition and get back to business--be that bonding, healing, or caregiving.

Motherhood equals nurturing (no, you don't have to have created/raised offspring to read on--we've all had moms). One way folks nurture is via food [hello, nurture and nutrition share the same root].
Taking meals to a new mom is one way of nurturing the new family as they become a unit. Taking a meal to a mom after her 6th kid is just plain nurturing for her [though watching the kids and doing her laundry so she can get a massage is even better but doesn't fit with my theme for today's recipe].

What about other folks who need nurturing? A busy friend caring for aging parents? A neighbor caring for his ailing wife? Someone recovering from oral surgery? It's the last situation that inspired today's post, but the more I though about it the more I think this concept would work for a variety of circumstances.

Smoothies keep for several days, and it's easy to scale up a recipe to make an extra portion. With that in mind, when I found out my friend wouldn't be eating solid food for quite some time after her tonsillectomy, I offered to bring her some smoothies. I was going to be near her home on post-op day #5 and that seemed like a good time to deliver as she'd be coming out of the initial post-op haze.

Orange & Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins

Fresh citrus combined with chocolate chips in a soaked oatmeal whole grain muffin.

Do you associate oranges with the holidays? 

I do. We got tangerines in the toes of our stockings even before I'd read of Almanzo Wilder having one in his in the Little House series (Amazon affiliate link). Unwrapping a slice of orange-flavored chocolate from the orange shaped ball is something we look forward to each year. [However, I really did not care for scooping up the sticky Mandarin Chocolate Sherbet at Baskin Robbins. I don't recall anyone other than my mom eating it, but boy was that stuff gooey, and not in a good way, when it had been sitting in the case a while.]

Now that I've got kids in activities I associate oranges with fundraisers, which in my experience result in cases of citrus appearing in my house between Thanksgiving and Christmas. [Do you know how messy it is to deliver a case of fruit in a wheelchair when the sidewalks are slushy? I do, and it's as messy as you'd imagine.] We're luckier than Almanzo, however, and can enjoy fresh citrus year round. I admit that once we've eaten the Band Fruit Fundraiser order that arrives next weekend, I'll have had my fill of citrus for many months.

These muffins came about after my success with Orange Oatmeal Secret Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookies. I wanted to combine those flavors into a muffin. I had tangelos on hand, but oranges or tangerines will all work here. Remember when making a soaked oat muffin to start them at least an hour in advance (or up to 5 days, if you'd care to refrigerate the buttermilk/oat combo.

If you'd like other orange recipes, including last year's round up of 156 Recipes featuring Fall and Winter Fruits, please see my Orange Recipes Collection, part of my Visual Recipe Index.

Cranberry, Orange and Beet Salad (make it ahead in the slow cooker)

Making cranberry sauce in the slow cooker? The house smells terrific and you've got the stove free to make yet another side dish. Adding oranges, beets, and a kick of ginger? Lovely. Thanks to Alanna and her reader Karen for the inspiration.

I'm trying to squeeze the Thanksgiving side dish recipes in as fast as I can, along with some suppers to tide you over and use up your Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) turnips ahem goodies, like beets. I've been tossing beets into all sorts of savory meals lately. Beetza (my friend Dave's name for the Roasted Beet and Arugula Pizza) and Beetloaf (which isn't up on the blog yet) to name a few. However, the sweetness of a locally-grown beet really shines in something like cranberry sauce. I've got experience with this--last year I shared an alphabetical Apple/Apricot, Beet and Cranberry Sauce.

I typically roast the farm share beets before I have a plan for them. Scrub a bunch of beets, place them in a foil packet with a splash of olive oil, slide the packet onto a baking sheet. Bake in a 400 degree oven for an hour or until the packet 'gives' when you squeeze it. Sometimes gigantic beets can take nearly 2 hrs, but 1 hr is a good time to check. Let the packet cool, the slip the skins off the beets and chop to the size you desire.

Six ingredients--so simple!

Free time to play in the kitchen seems to shrink like the amount of daylight, so any time I can throw a pile of ingredients into my slow cooker and let it do the work for me I'm happy. When I read Alanna's Homemade Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce for the Slow Cooker I was inspired. Cranberry + Orange is a great combo. Beet + Orange is another great combo, like in my friend Meghan's Beet Mimosa. The idea that I could add beets without turning the whole dish a naturally unnatural color [ahem, like the Beetza or Beetloaf] was a big draw. Cranberry + Orange + Beets for the win!

I've got a little 1.5 qt slow cooker which is perfect for this application. It's also perfect for heating up leftovers while I'm ferrying kids around, so I recommend this size appliance as more than a 'one note' space waster.  Something like this Slow Cooker (Amazon affiliate link) with an added Keep Warm function, works great for soup or sloppy joes and holds enough to feed our family.

I struggled with the idea of naming this a sauce. It's not really sauce-like. Come to think of it, neither is cranberry sauce. It's really more of a guideline salad. When I looked up the definition of salad I read about a cold concoction of vegetables, fruit, and/or meat.  I figured that definition applies to this dish, so I'm calling it a salad.

If you've got beets, consider throwing some of them into this salad. It keeps for a week in the fridge, and although the execution was a failure, the concept of adding it to a rolled pizza as shown at the bottom of the post [come! Look at my failures!] is a good one. For other recipes using beets, please see my Beet Recipe Collection.

Orange-Spiked Beet and Walnut Spread

Toasted walnuts, roasted** beets, and a kick of orange juice brightens up this vegan spread

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If you read Wednesday's post and thought I sounded conflicted about posting so many meat-containing recipes in a row, you're very perceptive.  I've got a Guinness-soaked easy meal, a terrific Thai cold-busting soup, and a Fast From The Farm Share supper on deck--but they all involve meat.  And I feel the need to share a vegan recipe in the midst of all this meat so here's one that's been percolating on my mental back burner for a while.

Why do I say percolating?  Well, the recipe I wanted to make just wasn't working for me.  I kept trying variations within the parameters I'd established, and when I hit upon the final concoction that worked I realized I didn't have the exact proportions to share with you.  So I'm going to explain the concept, give you some measurements as a jumping off point, and leave it at that.  I mean, with 6 ingredients [including salt and pepper] there's plenty of 'taste and adjust' for each of us to do.

I'm always on the lookout for new ways to love beets from my CSA farm share, so when I got an email from goop including a recipe for beet and walnut spread I mentally filed it under the 'Beet Recipes to Try' section of my brain.

Don't tell me you don't have a Beet Recipes to Try area of your brain? Pity.

This Beet and Walnut Dip is my inspiration, and I am sure it is delicious, but I a) was running low on tahini and had some hummus to make and b) desired to have another tahini-free appetizer in my spread.  So I took the beets, walnuts, olive oil and salt from that recipe, and was trying . . .  trying . . . trying . . . to make something other than BeetyWalnutButter.  I failed. I was about to grab the goat cheese and de-veganify it when I remembered how well beets and oranges go together (hello, Beet Juice Mimosas!). I grabbed some freshly squeezed Hamlin orange juice from the Band Fruit Fundraiser, threw the concoction back into the food processor to incorporate the juice, and DONE!  The orange juice and olive oil emulsify to fluff up the BeetyWalnutButter into an Orange-spiked Beet and Walnut Spread.

As much as I love my Beet and Goat Cheese Spread, I was looking for a vegan addition to my Awesome Vegetable Apps and Snacks collection (link to my Pinterest board) and this one works great.  I like it on carrots or crackers and spread on toasted sourdough bread in a sandwich.  I think it would be delicious topped with sautéed mushrooms, as the earthy flavors of beets and mushrooms make a nice pairing in my favorite Danish smørrebrød:  liverpostej.

If you've got beets, walnuts, an orange and a bit of time to use the oven, as well as a food processor or amazing knife skills, you can enjoy this vegan spread today.  It makes a colorful addition to an appetizer table.

For more recipes using beets, please see my Beet Recipes Collection. It's part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, or the garden abundance. More recipes! I'm pinning more recipes to my Pinterest boards, follow me there. If you like behind-the-scenes shots, please follow me on Instagram. When I encounter an article that makes me think or makes me laugh, I share it on my Facebook page--please follow me there. Want to know How to Use This Blog?

Pepperoni and Orange Pizza

Sweet caramelized orange chunks and spicy pepperoni liven up this pizza

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I'm going to round out HashtagOrangeWeek with a pizza, because it's Friday and I frequently share pizza posts on Fridays [and nearly always fix pizza for my family on Fridays, even if I've just arrived home like today].  You may think that oranges on a pizza could only be on a dessert pizza.  You'd be at the wrong blog, my friend.  I'm not saying that I'll never do a dessert pizza, but I have not yet done one and have no plans to do so at this time.  Besides, I just shared a cookie recipe using oranges, Orange Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Secret Ingredient Cookies, and a sweet muffin recipe using oranges, Orange Olive Oil Date Muffins.  

Why am I sharing a week's worth of recipes featuring oranges from Florida?  I spent this week in Florida watching my son's high school marching band parade at Disney while soaking up sun and warmth.  Since the trip was financed, in part, by selling Florida citrus in the Band Fruit Fundraiser (link to my recipe round up featuring 156 Recipes Using Fruit, from 66 bloggers) I decided to take this week to share recipes I've been making using the fruit we bought in the sale.

The BLUF of this recipe is that it's good to have a broiler.  This pizza benefits from being hit from above with a direct heat source to finish it.  The cheese browns and the oranges caramelize, just a bit, and that is a nice touch.

The other weekend we were at a sled hockey tournament in Ft Wayne, Indiana and the TV didn't get any Olympic coverage. Boo. However they did have Food Network (I don't at home), where I saw a gal in Minnesota make a kimchi pizza in an amazing copper oven.  She'd lift up the pizza--with a super-long pizza peel--to the top of the oven to hit it with a final blast of heat.  Wish I had that set up.  In a second kitchen as there's no room in mine.

It is tricky, timing the amount of 'broilerage' required for the oranges without overdoing the crust and cheese.  If I had a creme brûlée [hey the spell checker automatically put all those hoodads on the letters. Wicked cool] torch I'd hit the oranges individually with that instead.

For general hints, tips, and photo collages please check out my Pizza Primer post, a brain dump of all things related to making pizza in my home kitchen.

For more recipes using oranges, please see my Orange Recipes Collection. It's part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me overwhelmed with Band Fruit Fundraiser citrus or who just like to stock up when it's on sale at the store or who live next to a citrus farm. You pick. 

For more pizza recipes, including an entire category of Savory Pizzas With Fruit, please see my Visual Pizza Recipe Index. I'm also pinning interesting pizza recipes I find to my Pinterest boards, follow me there. I'm sharing my latest pizzas in rough form on my Instagram feed, follow me there. I'll share articles that catch my eye on my Facebook page, follow me there. Want to know How to Use This Blog?

Orange Oatmeal Secret Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookies

A tender and tangy twist on the classic chocolate chip cookie--with freshly squeezed orange juice and zest, some oats, and cream cheese.  This is a wonderful cookie.

Welcome back to HashtagOrangeWeek here on the blog.  While oranges aren't exactly a local, farm fresh, food to me in Ohio, we've been enjoying cases of citrus shipped up from Florida as part of the Band Fruit Fundraiser.  Why did the band sell fruit?  To raise money to travel to Florida and march in a parade down Main Street in the Magic Kingdom! Where am I now?  In Florida, watching the band march in a parade down Main Street. See how the circle comes around?

On Monday I showed you how I treated myself--and the kids--to Orange Olive Oil Date Muffins. On Friday I'll throw oranges on a pepperoni pizza--and live to tell the tale.  But for now, while I bask in the sunshine of the Sunshine State . . . I present you with Orange Oatmeal Secret Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I'm realizing that I treat my son's sled hockey teammates, and their families, better than I treat my own family.  I'm sure that's a symptom of something--taking those closest to you for granted and being kinder to complete strangers.  In addition to eating more avocados in 2014, I shall resolve--at this late date--to make more treats for my family.

I had it in my head that I wanted to make chocolate chip cookies with cream cheese in the batter.  I tried a few cookbooks looking for recipes without success, but a couple of minutes on the laptop and Boom! I found Kelly's Secret Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I wasn't content to merely make a tried and true recipe to share at the team dinner.  No, I had an idea to use one of the Band Fruit Fundraiser oranges to add an orange-chocolate twist to the cookies.  Apparently cooking something for the first time for an audience--who don't have to like it--is getting to be a habit.  Oopsie.  Thank goodness for amazing food bloggers!

Kelly's directions are clear and easy.  I was able to make her recipe, including my orange & oatmeal adaptations, one afternoon while dinner was in the oven.  Then, like I always do with cookies and often do with pizza dough, I stuck the dough in the fridge to bake the following day.

Imagine my surprise when I got online for Chef Dennis Littley's weekly Good Day Google Plus Hangout on Air--and one of the panelists is Kelly!  It was pretty cool to be able to say "hey, I've got your dough chilling in my fridge".  I know whenever someone tells me they've made one of my recipes it makes me feel good!

Orange Date Olive Oil Muffins

Sunny orange juice and zest, sweet dates, and a splash of olive oil make these muffins a treat made from things my grandma could have found in her pantry

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This week I am in Florida, watching my son's high school marching band parade down Disney's Main Street and enjoying some warmth and sunshine. I thought a good theme for the week would be recipes featuring oranges, so I'm calling this week HashtagOrangeWeek.  See, the oranges I'm using came direct from Florida as part of the Band Fruit Fundraiser (link to my round up of 156 fruit-filled recipes from 66 bloggers). Why was the band fundraising?  To go to Disney and march down Main Street . . .

Today I'm sharing muffins, because it's a Monday and I like to share muffin recipes on Mondays.  That whole alliteration thing.  Wednesday I'm sharing Orange Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Secret Ingredient Cookies, and Friday I've got an Orange and Pepperoni Pizza. If you are in a cold area, I can't bring you warmth but I can share some sunny citrus.  [And rub it in, a wee bit.]

You ever do something just for yourself?  I made these muffins just for me.  Normally I make muffins for the kids' breakfast or after school snack, or to bring to a function, or--rarely--to eat with dinner.

Not this time.  Not these muffins.

I had a hankering for Orange Date Muffins even though I'd never tried them.  Probably due to repeated exposures to the Orange Date Muffin recipe page in Muffins: A Cookbook (Amazon affiliate link) written by friends of my mom.  Every time I'd read the recipe over the years, though, I was missing some vital ingredient [like oranges or dates].  Since the Band Fruit Fundraiser Citrus Recipe Round Up, though, I've had cases of citrus at the ready, and as it is sled hockey season I have been to Costco and have dates aplenty.

Sriracha Butternut Squash Hummus

Spicy and creamy, this make ahead vegetable appetizer perks up any occasion.

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I was trying to describe to a friend what a shake of sriracha brings to a dish.

"Well, it's heat.  But with flavor . . .  It doesn't burn your mouth like a really hot pepper, it doesn't numb your mouth like Szechuan peppercorns . . . it's just . . . heat.  But with flavor . . ."

[Clearly I suck at the whole food writing thing. Let me feed you instead.]  When I add a shake of sriracha chili sauce to vegetables, like my Soy Sriracha Roasted Mushrooms, happy things happen.  When Laura adds sriracha to vegetable muffins, StrangeButGood things happen.  I was in an experimental mood when I whipped up this batch of Sriracha Butternut Hummus for #AppetizerWeek.  I'd roasted one of the butternut squash in my Strategic Winter Squash Reserve (link to a photo on my FB page) and used half in Buffalo Butternut Hummus . . . but I had the second half beckoning me to play.

I like playing with the vegetables from my Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share.  Getting a weekly box of fresh local vegetables means my family is more likely to eat vegetables.  It sounds silly, but just getting the produce into my kitchen is half the battle sometimes.  Figuring out what to do with them?  Well, that's why I created a Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient--so when I've got beets, kale, or peppers I can see several recipes for how to use them and pick which one suits my fancy.  Other folks who enjoy eating from a farm share agree, so I think I'm on the right track.
I've revamped my Visual Recipe Index! For more ideas on what to do with your butternut squash, click here.

If you are serving vegetarians or vegans I recommend checking your sriracha sauce to make sure it does not contain fish extract, or making Buffalo Butternut Hummus and creating a layered dip to suit your eaters.

Visit all the other Appetizer Week Blogs for more Snack Time Deliciousness:

• Meatball Bites by Cravings of a Lunatic
• Gluten Free Onion Butter Pretzels by Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker
• Crawfish Dip by Call Me PMc
• Low-Carb Shrimp Guacamole by Yours and Mine Are Ours
• Bourbon Pulled Pork Sliders by Cooking in Stilettos
• Sun-dried Tomato Dip by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Sriracha Butternut Hummus by Farm Fresh Feasts
• Margherita Pizza Sticks by Makobi Scribe
• Chicken Parmesan Meatballs by Flavor Mosaic
• Feta-Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes with Shrimp by Food Lust People Love
• Ham and Sauerkraut Balls by From Gate to Plate
• Cheddar Cayenne Crackers by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Baked Pickle Chips by Lemons for Lulu
• Cheddar Cheese Olive Puffs by Life Off the Clock
• Manchego and Roasted Pepper Stuffed Mushrooms by The Little Ferraro Kitchen
• Restaurant-Style Chipotle Salsa by Home Cooking Memories
• Mango Jalapeno Sausage Rolls by Food Done Light
• Ham & Cheese Mini Cracker Sandwiches by Mom's Test Kitchen
• Spicy Cheese Rounds by Try Anything Once Culinary
• Low Sodium Chicken Stuffed jalapeno Poppersby Cookerati

Buffalo Butternut Squash Hummus

Buffalo sauce-seasoned roasted butternut squash hummus makes a spicy vegetable addition to an appetizer spread.

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When I think about game day snacks, Buffalo Chicken Dip is high on the list of essentials.  I've made 2 kinds of Buffalo Chicken pizzas (here and here). (My son will even cobble together a dip out of whatever he can find in fridge if I say 'No, I'm blogging about Corn and Black Bean Salsa in Avocado Cups and not making Buffalo dip!').  That's how much we like the flavor.

But what if your guests include vegans or vegetarians?  What if your guests include folks trying to rein in the tendency to overindulge and want more vegetable options?

I try to have something for a variety of eating styles on my appetizer spread, and I find I can't go wrong with vegetables.  For #AppetizerWeek I'll be sharing a variety of savory appetizers using seasonal vegetables, starting today with Buffalo Butternut Squash Hummus. Tomorrow I'll share a Harvest Sweet Potato salsa, coming on Wednesday I've got a Sriracha twist on this hummus, then I'll round out the week with a pair of puff pastry pizza appetizers--Pickled Pepper and Pepperoni Puff Pastry Pizza Pinwheels (say that 3x fast) on Thursday and Very Veggie Puff Pastry Pizza Bites on Friday. Whew, what a week!

This Buffalo Butternut Squash Hummus provides the spicy heat from cayenne pepper sauce coupled with the mellow smoothness of roasted butternut squash hummus.  It also makes a terrific base for a layered veggie appetizer in the style of my Five Layer Mediterranean Chicken Dip or Layered Summer Vegetable Appetizer. Customize this hummus any way you like.  Top it with sliced celery, crumbled blue cheese, and even chunks of chicken. Scoop it up with pita chips or celery sticks or pretzels or chicken fries.

The inspiration for this recipe came from my Strategic Winter Squash Reserve (link to the photo on my FB page)  As the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share season draws to a close, I begin to stockpile winter squash, sweet and white potatoes, onions, and garlic in a cold corner of my breakfast nook.  After all the fresh greens are consumed--and before I turn to the vegetables I've canned or frozen--my SWSR is our source for farm fresh food in the dead of winter.  I started with the hummus recipe from Farmer John's Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables (Amazon affiliate link) and added my twists based on what I thought my family would enjoy and what we had on hand.

I've revamped my Visual Recipe Index! For more ideas on what to do with your butternut squash, click here. To learn How to Use This Blog, click here. To see what other vegetable happy recipes I've found to pin, follow me on Pinterest. To see behind the scenes of my day, follow me on Instagram. For articles and other things that catch my eye, follow me on Facebook.

Visit all the other Appetizer Week participants for more Football Munching Temptations:

• Pizza Pull Apart Bread by Cravings of a Lunatic
• Grilled Guacamole by Kiss My Smoke
• Crab Layer Dip by Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker
• Easy Individual Pizzas by Call Me Pmc
• Chocolate Malta Wings by Food Done Light
• Mom's Famous Chicken Ball by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Cheddar Bacon Dip by Yours and Mine Are Ours
• Tamari Roasted Chickpeas by Je suis alimentageuse
• Spinach Artichoke Dip by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Chicken Wing Dip by Rants From My Crazy Kitchen
• Microwave BBQ Meatballs by From Gate to Plate
• Pulled Pork Sliders by The NY Melrose Family
• Cheese Bean Dip by Wonky Wonderful
• Chipotle Cheese Dip by Dizzy Busy and Hungry
• Roasted Vegetables and Romesco Crostini by The Little Ferraro Kitchen
• Buffalo Ranch Cheese Ball by What's Cooking, Love?
• Buffalo Butternut Hummus by Farm Fresh Feasts
• Mini Maryland Crabcakes by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Sesame Pecan Chicken Wings by Makobi Scribe
• Pina Colada Cheese Ball by Home Cooking Memories
• Roasted Tomatillo Salsaby Clarks Condensed
• Sweetly Spicy Southern Meatballs by Cooking In Stilettos
• Butternut Squash, Pomegranate & Goat Cheese Crostini by Cupcakes & Kale Chips
• Tex-Mex Chicken Salad Bites by Mom's Test Kitchen
• Caesar Mini Muffins by Food Lust People Love
• Four Cheese Garlic Flat Bread by Try Anything Once Culinary

Tangerine Ricotta Muffins (Monday Muffins)

Lightly sweet, brightly creamy, these tangerine ricotta muffins are a lovely winter muffin

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When I saw these muffins I knew I wanted to try making them using one of the citrus fruits from the Band Fruit Fundraiser stash.  I also had ricotta that I wanted to use up so I could try and make my own like Annemarie does.  However, I made one of the classic blunders (no, not the "never get involved in a land war in Asia one" nor the "never go against a Sicilian when death is on the line" one):  I didn't read the entire recipe first.

So at 6:20 am, when I stumbled into the kitchen with the intent of making Tangerine Ricotta Muffins for my kids' breakfast, I was caught unawares with "1 stick of butter, softened" as an ingredient.

Oops!  I hadn't set out any butter to soften and I didn't really want to nuke one because good grief an entire stick of butter in a pan of muffins?  My kids eat 2 or 3 muffins a piece!  I didn't want them to consume 1/4 stick of butter just with breakfast--and that was before I read "1 cup of sugar".

If you've seen my other muffin recipes (muffin recipe index to your right), you know that I serve them to my kids as part of breakfast or after school snacks--not dessert--so my muffins are usually whole grain and contain less sugar and fat than what I see in many bakery muffins.

I set that recipe aside for a future dessert, because it looks so delicious and I think my family will love it for a special treat.  Instead, I took my ricotta cheese, my tangerines, and my muffin-making skills and made these muffins.  The kids loved them hot with a bit of buttery spread. I liked mine later, room temperature, with my tea.  The next day my son grabbed some to take on the road to his sled hockey tournament and my daughter spread hers with strawberry jam.  Next time, I'm thinking white whole wheat flour, honey, and tangelos . . .

For other recipes using tangerines, please see my Tangerine/Tangelo Recipes Collection, part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient. For more muffin recipes, look to the Recipe Index by Category on the right sidebar -----> under Muffins. Wanna know how to Use This Blog? Click here.