I decided to take a short break from the In-Season Recipe Swaps. It's not really the time of year to harvest wheelbarrow loads of garden produce, and grapefruit? That was this week's recipe theme? What was I thinking?! ;) I haven't gotten any grapefruit this year (yet) and when I do I'll probably just eat it fresh. :)

I do have lots of other posts planned for the next couple of weeks, though, so as I am able, I'll be getting caught up on sharing recipes, grocery trips, and blogging a little about everyday life. :)

This week's In-Season recipe theme is oranges! :) We love having fresh oranges this time of year, and like many fruits, my favorite way to eat them is just plain! :)

One of my favorite recipes using fresh orange zest is Joshua's Orange Vanilla Dream Cheesecake. This is an amazing creamy cheesecake fairly bursting with orange flavor; Joshua declares this his top favorite cheesecake! (I'm partial to chocolate myself...) ;)

Our Cranberry Orange Muffins use fresh orange juice and zest, and look so festive! :)

And a recipe that is "orange" but doesn't use fresh oranges (can that still qualify for an in-season recipe? Maybe...), a homemade Orange Julius is an especially refreshing summer treat. :)

To participate in this week's In-Season Recipe Swap:

Post your on-theme recipe, including your own photo of the food. Link to this post, and then come over here and let us know where to find YOU! Just leave your link in a comment and I will manually add them to this post throughout the day. :) Next week's recipe theme (December 16, 2009) is grapefruit! :)

1. Orange-Sweetened Cranberry Sauce (Shannon)
2. Orange-Cranberry Whole Wheat Muffins
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This week's in-season recipe theme is popcorn! :) I have several favorite popcorn recipes...

As a child, we used leftover popcorn to make popcorn cereal! It was fun to read everyone's comments on the idea of popcorn cereal... anything from "yum!" to "I can't imagine!" ;) I still maintain that it's actually pretty yummy, and my children love it too! :)

I thought I had put this recipe for Peanut Butter Popcorn on this site months ago, but apparently I never did, so I added it tonight! :)

Peanut Butter Popcorn is really sweet (adding more popcorn and some mixed nuts makes it less so) and has a nice honey and peanut flavor! It's also very easy to make and uses pantry ingredients, so it can be a last-minute dessert. :)

Here is a simple Parmesan Garlic Popcorn recipe... freshly popped corn tossed with butter, garlic, pepper, parmesan cheese, and dill (optional). Surprisingly cheesy, and a nice change of pace from plain buttered popcorn! :)

To participate in this week's In-Season Recipe Swap:

Post your on-theme recipe, including your own photo of the food. Link to this post, and then come over here and let us know where to find YOU! Just leave your link in a comment and I will manually add them to this post throughout the day. :) Next week's recipe theme (December 9, 2009) is oranges!

1. Caramel Corn
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This week's in-season recipe swap theme is sweet potatoes! :) I can't wait to see your favorite recipes for sweet potatoes (even though I forgot to get sweet potatoes at Costco this week)! :)

Joshua loves it when I make sweet potato pie (using cooked, drained, and mashed sweet potatoes in place of pumpkin puree), and I also love cooked sweet potatoes tossed with butter and brown sugar.

Last week I made Caribbean Sweet Potato Salad, a delicious and very healthy Autumn vegetable salad. I love this medley of potatoes, corn, cucumber, onion, and garlic -- tossed with lime juice (I used lemon -- shhhh!), honey, and cilantro. Totally different from a traditional "potato salad" but so colorful and yummy!!

(For the record, Joshua can't stand cilantro and doesn't care for this salad.) :)

To participate in this week's In-Season Recipe Swap:

Post your on-theme recipe, including your own photo of the food. Link to this post, and then come over here and let us know where to find YOU! Just leave your link in a comment and I will manually add them to this post throughout the day. :) Next week's recipe theme (December 2, 2009) is popcorn!

1. Sweet Potato Streusel Muffins (Laura)
2. Maple Pecan Sweet Potato Muffins (Rachel)
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This week's in-season recipe swap theme is Fall/Winter squash! (See this previous edition for summer squash recipes.)

I was excited to try Spaghetti Squash for the first time just last year! It's yummy and FUN and one of the first recipes I created with it was this Creamy Spaghetti Squash Casserole.

Just as delicious as it looks, this casserole is the total comfort food! :)

I just added another spaghetti squash recipe: Italian Baked Spaghetti Squash.

This recipe was given to me from my friend Marie S. in Ohio. She made it for dinner for us last Fall and then kindly sent me home with some garden-grown spaghetti squash and the recipe (at my request)! :)

To participate in this week's In-Season Recipe Swap:

Post your on-theme recipe, including your own photo of the food. Link to this post, and then come over here and let us know where to find YOU! Just leave your link in a comment and I will manually add them to this post throughout the day. :) Next week's recipe theme (November 25, 2009) is sweet potatoes!

1. Butternut Squash Soup (Sabrina)
2. Winter Squash and Apple Soup (Sara)
3. Butternut Squash Ravioli with Creamy Basil Sauce (Heidi)
4. Winter Vegetable Hash (Beulah)

This week's in-season recipe theme is cranberries! :)

I recently created these Cranberry Almond Scones and they're delicious! Joshua says they're one of his favorite scone flavors (I've been making lots of scones lately!).

These scones have a fun festive flavor, and a lightly sweet glaze on top... which is achieved by brushing heavy cream over the scones and sprinkling with sugar before baking. Very easy and yummy! :)

Scones are quick to make and since they're not too sweet, they're a perfect mid-morning or afternoon snack (with hot tea!). :)

Now, a couple recipes from previous years:

If you have the time, these cranberry roll-up freezer cookies are pretty and tasty! They involve a lot more preparation than the scones, but in the end, they're a yummy slice-and-bake cookie! :)

This is an old picture, but these cranberry apple muffins are fabulous!! These muffins have a lovely dark color from the spices in them. :)

I created this Double Cranberry Crumb Cake recipe a few years ago for a recipe contest using tea. Very sweet, moist, and flavorful!

Joshua loves these cranberry orange muffins! (I'm not as fond of orange flavors in breads...)

To participate in this week's In-Season Recipe Swap:

Post your on-theme recipe, including your own photo of the food. Link to this post, and then come over here and let us know where to find YOU! Just leave your link in a comment and I will manually add them to this post throughout the day. :) Next week's recipe theme (November 18, 2009) is squash (any kind)!

1. Hot Cranberry Citrus Drink (Amy)
2. Acorn Squash with Orange-Cranberry Sauce (Debbie)
3. Cranberry Slush Punch (Martha)
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This week's in-season recipe theme was supposed to be beets! But, due to being sick and in bed for a good portion of the week, I was eating chicken soup and toast and stuff like that instead of experimenting with beets. :P

So I have never gotten very creative with red beets. Pickled beets (which my mom makes) aren't a favorite, by far. ;)

I do love cooked beets, drained and tossed with butter and salt. So yummy!!

How do you like to eat red beets??

To participate in this week's In-Season Recipe Swap:

Post your on-theme recipe, including your own photo of the food. Link to this post, and then come over here and let us know where to find YOU! Just leave your link in a comment and I will manually add them to this post throughout the day. :) Next week's recipe theme (November 11, 2009) is cranberries!

Fried beets, red beet cake, Russian Borscht, and salad (Martha)

I love onions! I do lots of cooking with onions, but usually as a flavoring/seasoning rather than a vegetable. For today's recipe swap, however, I added my recipe for French Onion Soup!

This soup is actually very easy to make, and is fun to serve as an appetizer for a nice dinner! :)

The flavorful beef broth is loaded with tender onion slices. Garlic and thyme provide the perfect flavor for the soup. Yum!!

To participate in this week's In-Season Recipe Swap:

Post your on-theme recipe, including your own photo of the food. Link to this post, and then come over here and let us know where to find YOU! Just leave your link in a comment and I will manually add them to this post throughout the day. :) Recipe theme for next week (November 4, 2009) is beets!

1. Dried onions/onion powder (Angie)
2. Sweet Vidalia Pie (Chaya)
3. One-Pan Sage-and-Onion Chicken and Sausage (Chaya)
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I love potatoes! They're affordable, easy to prepare, and so warm and comforting in the winter months! :)

Last week I created a new potato casserole recipe which we all loved, and I've already made it twice! Salmon Potato Casserole is easy (only 8 ingredients -- including salt and pepper -- which is probably a record for me!) and we love the flavor of onions, potatoes, salmon, and the creamy cheesy part that holds it all together. :)

This casserole makes a delicious breakfast or brunch dish. Filling and simple! :)

One of my very favorite potato recipes is Creamy Potato Soup.

And...

...seasoned baked potato wedges! Easier than French fries and just as yummy (Joshua would disagree and say French fries are better!). ;)

And lastly:

Caribbean Sweet Potato Salad, for my fellow cilantro lovers! This is a super-healthy potato salad recipe and when I make it I just can't stop eating it! It's SO yummy.

I have more potato recipes... but I can't link them all right here, so you'll have to head over to the potato page and browse through the photos over there. :)

To participate in this week's In-Season Recipe Swap:

Post your on-theme recipe, including your own photo of the food. Link to this post, and then come over here and let us know where to find YOU! Just leave your link in a comment and I will manually add them to this post throughout the day. :) Recipe theme for next week (October 28, 2009) is onions!

1. Twice-Baked Taco Potatoes (Heather)
2. Cheddar Chicken and Potatoes
3. Garlic Mashed Potatoes (dairy-free) (Alea)
4. Mustard Potatoes (Donna)
5. Scalloped Potato Gratin (Libby)
6. Baked Potato Casserole (Gina)
7. Mashed Potato Soup (Laura)
8. Eggs, Cheese, and Potatoes (Chaya)
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This week's In-Season Recipe Swap is for recipes featuring carrots as a main ingredient!

I love to dice fresh carrots, boil until tender, drain, and toss with salt and butter. Yum! But that's not much of a recipe to share. :)

So instead, here is a recipe from my grandma: Old-Fashioned Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing.

This carrot cake is flavorful and moist, and uses 3 full cups of grated carrots. The 9x13-inch cake is gone in a flash! :)

Here's a tip for substituting carrot in pumpkin recipes: Wash or peel carrots and boil until tender. Drain well. Mash and substitute in your favorite recipes that call for pumpkin! :)

To participate in this week's In-Season Recipe Swap:

Post your on-theme recipe, including your own photo of the food. Link to this post, and then come over here and let us know where to find YOU! Just leave your link in a comment and I will manually add them to this post throughout the day. :) Recipe theme for next week (October 21, 2009) is potatoes!

1. Crockpot Chicken and Noodles
2. Carrot Cake
3. Carrot Cake (Sara)
4. Whole Wheat Carrot and Zucchini Cake
5. Lasagna with Vegetables
6. Honey-Glazed Carrots (Lora)
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