“Loveuary,” on Hallmark Channel has been full of romantic, Jane Austen inspired movies! To finish off a lovely month, I’m making crumpets! A traditional British breakfast, or accompaniment to afternoon tea. It’s the original English muffin, but so much better than what you could find in a store!

Ingredients:

– 1 cup flour

-3/4 cup warm water plus 1 Tablespoon

-1/2 teaspoon sugar

-1/2 teaspoon salt

-1 teaspoon baking powder

-dash of cinnamon

-1 teaspoon dry-active yeast

-1 tablespoon warm water

Directions:

In a large bowl, whisk flour, warm water and salt until it forms a pasty dough.

In a smaller bowl, combine yeast with warm water and stir until dissolved. Add it into dough mixture. Then add sugar, baking powder and cinnamon.

Cover bowl and place in a warm spot for about 25 minutes. You will see bubbles form and a bit more volume.

Next, on a griddle or skillet, melt a bit of butter. Take a round, metal biscuit cutter and spread butter on the inside edges. Place on hot skillet and fill half way with batter. Keep on low/medium heat.

 Once the bubbles on top stop popping on their own, you can manually pop the rest with the sharp tip of a knife. Carefully remove metal ring and flip on other side for about 30 seconds until it’s golden.

To make it extra yummy, you can mix some honey with butter and slather it on top. Watch it melt into those homemade nooks and crannies! 

To celebrate the season two premiere of “The Way Home” on Hallmark Channel, I’ve created my version of Del’s famous roasted chicken from the first episode of season one! I wanted to stick with a traditional home-cooked meal feel, with my own addition of purple sweet potatoes!

Ingredients:

-Small whole chicken

-2 purple sweet potatoes

-2 shallots

-2 cloves garlic

-1 bunch fresh sage

-2 cups vegetable stock

-1/2 cup red wine

-Oregano

-Herbs de Provence 

-Salt and Pepper 

Directions:

Peel and cut purple sweet potatoes. Mince shallots, garlic and sage.

In a large/deep baking dish, place your chicken in the center. Arrange potatoes all around. Sprinkle chicken with salt, pepper, oregano and herbs de Provence. Cover everything with minced shallots, garlic and sage. Top it all with vegetable broth and red wine. Roast at 400 degrees for an hour and a half (give or take depending on your oven). Let rest for 15 minutes and enjoy!

This sweet bread is inspired by Great American Family movie “A Dash of Christmas.”  Character Megan (played by Laura Osnes) is given a baking lesson by Aaron (Christopher Russell) and they make this amazing looking Christmas bread that I just had to make! This festive recipe has all the flavors of Christmas you love! A bit reminiscent of a fruitcake (but better), this is a beautiful bread full of dried cranberries, cherries and golden raisins. 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1.5 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 stick cold, unsalted butter
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 cup of medley (golden raisins, dried cranberries, dried cherries)
• 1 cup pecans
• 1 tsp. Vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. Almond extract
• Lemon zest
• 2 eggs

In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients. In a separate small bowl, cut the cold butter, and with clean hands, incorporate it into the mix. Stir in ricotta cheese, then all other ingredients.

Gently knead dough on floured surface until it loses a bit of stickiness. Place on a silicone baking mat or non-stick baking sheet and create an oval shape. I like to lightly score the top with a pattern. 

Bake at 325 degrees for 50 minutes until golden and fully baked in the center. Once cooled, top with powdered sugar!

“Destined at Christmas 2” was the perfect sequel to last year’s “Destined at Christmas” on Great American Family! Cinnamon rolls play an important part in this movie when Theo misplaces Kim’s engagement ring and it ends up in a batch of cinnamon rolls!

Ingredients:

-refrigerated pizza dough

-creamer

For filling:

-1 cup brown sugar

-2.5 tablespoons cinnamon

-one stick salted butter, softened

-5 tablespoons pumpkin butter

For cream cheese frosting:

-8 oz cream cheese frosting

-1/4 cup salted butter

-2 cups powdered sugar

-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

-1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

-edible sparkle

Directions

Roll out your dough. In a bowl, mix together brown sugar, cinnamon and softened butter. Spread all over top of rolled out dough.

Dollop pumpkin butter all over the top of the cinnamon mixture and gently spread.

Next, tightly roll dough into a log and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Slice log into cinnamon roll slices and place each one facing up in a greased cake pan. Cover with dish towel and let sit for 20 minutes.

Fill about half and inch of creamer onto the bottom of the pan. Bake for 35 minutes or so until cooked through.

Spread frosting on top while warm and sprinkle with edible shimmer.

This pancake recipe is inspired by a scene in the Great American Family movie “One Perfect Match.” Lucy and Finn visit the winery that Finn’s family owns, and while doing so, his mother whips up a batch of her famous pancakes. She claims that her secret ingredients are honey and vanilla, so that sparked the beginning of this recipe! In addition to these ingredients, this is the time of year for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year. The combination of apples dipped in honey represents a sweet new year, and so I added apples!

Ingredients:

-1 1/2 cups flour

-2 teaspoons baking powder

-1/2 teaspoon baking soda

-1/2 teaspoon salt

– 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

– 1 small package of freeze dried cinnamon apples

-2 Tablespoons honey

-1 1/2 cups milk

-2 eggs

-1 teaspoon vailla

-2 Tablespoons avocado oil

Directions:

First mix all dry ingredients up until the apples (save those for the end).

Next, add all wet ingredients. Whisk well until the lumps are smooth. Break up the freeze dried apples and gently stir those in. 

On a hot skillet, scoop batter to the desired size of pancake you want. Once done, top with more honey and enjoy!

These ribs are good for any night of the week with the warm fall flavors of apples, shallots and pumpkin ale! This recipe was inspired by the Hallmark Channel movie “Fourth Down and Love”. Football player “Mike” (Ryan Paevey) broke his ribs during a football game and while healing, found love with Erin (Pascale Hutton)! So of course, I had to make ribs, but with an Autumn twist!

Ingredients:

– 1 slab of ribs

– 2 apples

– 2 shallots

– 2 bottles pumpkin ale

-thyme

-salt and pepper

– garlic powder

-carrots

– 1/2 large onion

– pinch of sugar

Directions:

The day before cooking, marinate the ribs in one bottle of pumpkin ale overnight in a covered container.

The next day, peel and chop shallots and apples. Saute in butter until softened. Add entire bottle of pumpkin ale and set on low heat, stirring occasionally. This will eventually create a compote as the beer will totally dissipate. Add a pinch of sugar to cut some of the acidity of the beer. 

On a lined baking sheet, place ribs in the center and surround with chopped carrots and onion. Sprinkle with thyme, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Top with more of the beer marinade. Cook at 375 degrees for 30-40 min. Top with apple chutney. Enjoy!

This recipe was inspired by the Great American Family movie “10 Steps to Love”, which took place around an apple orchard.  There was an apple ice cream featured in the movie as well which I thought would be the most perfect transition from Summer to Fall as we are having warm days with cooler nights.

Ingredients for ice cream base: 

-1/2 cup brown sugar

-1/4 cup white sugar

-pinch of salt

-2 cups heavy cream

-1 cup milk

-1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

Ingredients for apples

• 8 apples peeled and cubed
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

Make sure to freeze the bowl to the ice cream maker overnight first (It has liquid inside it).  

In a large mixing bowl, mix milk , salt, brown sugar and white sugar with a whisk or whisk attachment until all the sugar has been dissolved. Next, add in the heavy cream and vanilla. Refrigerate while you prepare the apples.

Peel and dice all your apples. In a large saucepan, melt some unsalted butter. Add apples, brown sugar, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice.  Stir and cover with a lid on low/medium heat until soft and slightly golden. Stir occasionally so they don’t  burn, as caramelization will occur.

Spread evenly on a lined baking sheet and cool apples completely in fridge or freezer. 

Next,  remove the ice cream base the has been resting in the refrigerator and poor into frozen ice cream maker bowl. Let it mix for 20 minutes, scraping the sides occasionally. Once it has become creamy, you can add the apples that have been cooling. 

Place in freezer for another 2 hours in a covered container before serving. Tastes great with caramel!!

This recipe is inspired by two wedding themed movies on “Great American Family”. “Wedding Cake Dreams” and “Dream Wedding”. In “Wedding Cake Dreams”, the main character Carrie, made a vanilla cake with strawberries for her sister’s wedding cake, which inspired the initial recipe. I tweaked it with some yummy surprises to make it your DREAM CAKE!

Ingredients:

For cake:

-White cake mix

-1 box cheesecake pudding mix

-3 eggs

-1 cup water

-1/2 cup oil

-1 teaspoon almond extract

-1 package freeze dried strawberries

For Frosting:

-1/2 cup unsalted butter

-1 1/2 teaspoons strawberry extract

– 3/4 cup sour cream

– pinch of salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two- 9″ round cake pans with non stick spray and cover in a dusting of flour. 

Mix ALL ingredients for cake and evenly pour into both cake pans. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden.  Let cool completely.

For frosting, beat butter until smooth. Add sour cream, strawberry extract and salt. Beat until smooth.

Once your cakes are cooled, place one on a platter and spread some of the frosting on top. Cover in a layer of freeze dried strawberries. Cover with second layer of cake and spread the rest of the frosting on top letting it drip down the sides naturally. Take remaining freeze dried strawberries, put them in a ziplock baggie and pound them with a mallet to create fine crumbs. Sprinkle those generously on top. Refrigerate cake until ready to serve. Enjoy!

Christmas in July S’mores pie. As seen on “Great American Community”! This recipe is in honor of Camp Christmas in July, a fundraising campaign with ‘Christmas is not Cancelled’ created by Jen Lilley from your favorite Christmas movies! This campaign raises money for children in foster care. To learn more, go to Christmasisnotcancelled.com .

Recipe for “Christmas in July S’mores pie”

-1 premade graham cracker pie crust in tin

-1 8.5 ounce jar marshmallow fluff

-1 8 oz. brick cream cheese

-1 packet peppermint hot cocoa mix

-1-2 sleeves graham crackers

-1 Hershey chocolate bar

-1 small package Andes mint chocolates

-5 large marshmallows

-1 one can “Redi whip” whipping cream

Directions:

Bring cream cheese to room temperature. Then mix cream cheese, marshmallow fluff, and peppermint hot cocoa in a bowl until totally combined.

Spread half of that mixture into the graham cracker pie crust.

Create a layer of graham crackers on top of fluff mixture, making sure to cover as many gaps as possible.

Spread remaining fluff mixture on top. Then in a Ziploc bag, crush about five graham crackers into crumbs. Then sprinkle them all over the top of the pie.

Melt Hershey bar in microwave until completely melted. Set aside.

Using your whipping cream can, create dollops all around the border of the pie.

Cut your large marshmallows in half and place about an inch apart around the border of the pie.

Then, with a spoon, drizzle the melted chocolate bar all over the top. Chop up your Andes mint chocolates and sprinkle around the border as well. Add some Christmas sprinkles if you like! Enjoy! 

Make sure to refrigerate immediately until serving. Or you may freeze and just set it out for 20 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

The Hallmark Channel movie “Love in Zion National Park- A National Park Romance” was a fun adventure through Zion National Park where the main focus was to find a lost relic of the Anasazi Tribe. During this quest, we are introduced to a delicious Native American dish, “Three Sisters Soup”. It caught my eye as a healthy and hearty soup with the three main ingredients being corn, squash and beans. I also made some corn bread to accompany it, and it was a great complement!

Ingredients:

-1 carton low sodium chicken broth

-2 small zucchini squash

-2 small zucchini

-1/2 pound small red potatoes

-2 small cans fire roasted tomatoes (juice included)

-1 bag frozen corn

-2 cups frozen black eyed peas

-1 bag frozen chopped onion

-2 cloves of garlic

-1 teaspoon cumin

-salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Saute onions in olive oil or butter.

Peel and dice zucchini squash and zucchini. Dice potatoes, mince garlic. 

Add garlic to the pan to brown a bit right before adding chicken broth. Add chicken broth, and ALL other ingredients to the pot. Simmer for one hour or until all veggies are soft enough to poke through with a fork. Make some corn bread on the side to dip!