Images from This Weekend

So, as you know, this past weekend I catered a luncheon at church. It was for the North Texas Junior Bible Quiz coaches (JBQ) and if anyone deserves something special they do.  Then I must have been on a cooking roll because I topped it off by making lime blueberry muffins for the family Sunday morning and beer batter onion rings that afternoon. Whew! A couple of dozen buttermilk biscuits this morning and I am done in.

I was happy with the menu:

• Grapes
• Chicken Breast with Maple Chipotle Glaze and Savory Cranberry sauce
• Chili Lime Corn
• Dinner Rolls
• Blue Corn Muffins
• Double Apple Cake

I am going to be posting each of the recipes individually this week but I have a backlog of images to deal with (again!) and I wanted to have a reference point. So….here is what you can look forward to this week. Ladies and Gentleman, Get Your Ovens Ready!

Caramelized Pear Salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette

I loved this salad and so did everyone else.  I poached the pears in a light maple syrup mixture and laid them on a bed of baby greens.  Nuts, dried cranberries and homemade cranberry vinaigrette were great but I needed something to balance the flavors. When I saw the white, sharp New York Cheddar I knew I had found the balance. I liked the balance of flavors and textures in this…and it was pretty!

Dorie’s Double Apple Cake

I am not sure I got any great images of this. Dorie’s Double Apple Cake from her My Home to Yours Cookbook was the perfect finish for the dinner. I had originally wanted chocolate but as the menu unfolded I decided to maintain the pattern of harvest foods. I changed the cake up, as I will show you when I blog it, but it was amazingly rich, moist, and flavorful. Served it with a Granny Smith Apple to cut the sweetness and a smear of dulce de leche.

Blueberry Lime Muffins

I have made blueberry lemon, blueberry orange, and blueberry white chocolate muffins before. I had some limes left and wanted to see how this worked. I loved the play of flavor between the blueberries and the tangy lime. It was a nice balance of flavors.

And finally:

Beer Batter Onion Rings

Let me just say, completely unbiased and all, I make the best onion rings in the entire known universe. Once I post these recipe along with my hints for amazing onion rings you will make the best onion rings in the universe, too. Pinkie swear.

So…go ahead and do what you need to do while I get my images together and I will see you back here…ohhhh….tomorrow?

images: marye audet