Caramel Dip for Apples

I mentioned the cheesecake bars I made for my outgoing supervisor a couple of weeks ago. When our new dean started, we had a little meet and greet breakfast and this recipe from No More Burnt Offerings, West Des Moines United Methodist Church, 2001 had been in the queue (there are as many recipes in the queue as I’ve posted) for a minute. So, I decided to bring this in, and we got some donuts and had a nice little breakfast welcome. I prepped the apples at home before coming in as well. To prep the apples, I sliced them and soaked in a remedy I hadn’t used before. The apples were soaked in a ratio of 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt to 1 cup of water. They were soaked for 5 minutes and then rinsed before work.

Honey Mustard Pork Tenderloin

A few weeks ago pork tenderloins were on sale and I grabbed a couple, knowing I had some things in the queue that I was hoping to make. While I was pregnant, I was struggling with eating pork with any frequency, so I’ve been happy to add it back into my menus. This recipe came from the No More Burnt Offerings West Des Moines United Methodist Church Cookbook. It was nice and simple to throw together and tasted great. The pork stayed moist, the honey burnt off a bit in the baking process, making the house smell a bit more in the middle of the night.

Pumpkin Orange Poppy Seed Cake

As we started the school year, I was happy to drop off some sweet treats for colleagues who have long days in the office. One office I took snacks to has someone with a gluten intolerance, so as I was walking through Aldi and came across a gluten free yellow cake mix, I used that for the base of this pumpkin orange poppy seed cake. And, with fall around the corner, it’s probably time to start adding a little pumpkin flavoring into our food. This recipe, from No More Burnt Offerings, West Des Moines United Methodist Church, 2001, fit the bill; I’ll note that the mini bundt cake pan I used to bake the cakes was perfect, and the pumpkin and orange flavors were both quite subtle in flavor.