Our once-a-year arrived when we received this recipe. This is a festive, make-ahead dish: The shrimp can be breaded up to 24 hours in advance and kept refrigerated. Prep time 30 minutes.

The recipe is by Johnny Prep. It can be served family style, or individually plated.

 
RECIPE: COCONUT SHRIMP WITH SPICY
APRICOT, PLUM & PINEAPPLE DIP

Ingredients For 5 Servings

For The Dipping Sauce

 
*Pitted canned prunes can be substituted.

Preparation

1. PLACE jams or preserves, pineapple and horseradish in food processor and process until ingredients are fully mixed together. Place in a dipping bowl or individual ramekins and set aside.

2. PLACE bread in food processor along with cayenne pepper; process into coarse bread crumbs. Stir in coconut.

3. PLACE bread crumbs mixture, flour and eggs into separate dredging bowls. Whisk eggs with fork. Season each with salt.

4. ARRANGE dredging containers in a row starting with flour, then eggs, then bread crumbs, plus a large plate to hold the breaded shrimp. Shrimp can be breaded up to 24 hours in advanced and kept refrigerated.

5. DREDGE each shrimp in flour first, then egg wash, then breadcrumbs. Apply pressure during breadcrumb stage to ensure full coating.

6. FRY shrimp until golden brown in oil, using a deep frying pan or a deep fryer. Drain on paper towels and season lightly with salt.

7. PLACE on a platter with the dipping bowl in the center; or divide into individually plated portions.
ABOUT CHEF JOHNNY PREP

Chef Johnny Prep is an author, entrepreneur, cooking show host, soup expert, and an advocate for children’s health. The author of The Five Star Entertaining Casual Cookbook, simple high-end restaurant-quality recipes. Visit JohnnyPrep.net.

A few years ago, our globe-trotting gourmet friends, Laurel and Harry, returned from Florence raving about a particular meal. The primi and secondi piatti were outstanding in their own right, but the dessert was an epiphany—an incredible, edible forest.

As they explained it, they were served a plate that looked like a ceramic sculpture of an enchanted forest. But every tree, blade of grass, flora and fauna were made of cake, cookies, bread pudding or other dessert.

The pastry chef subsequently left to achieve fame on Italian food TV, but we have always dreamed of that dessert.

While it would take amazing technique to reproduce it, we did come across this sylvan yet approachable steak tartare from the gifted chefs at David Burke Fromagerie.

 
Then, enjoy your edible art.

One of the nice things about fall is that food producers launch limited-edition pumpkin flavors, from yogurt to tortilla chips.

Every morning, we’ve been enjoying this pumpkin yogurt from Siggi’s. If you can’t find pumpkin yogurt in the store, just make your own:

 
After you’ve mixed the pumpkin yogurt, there are quite a few things to do with the rest of the canned pumpkin.

Seasonal treat: pumpkin yogurt. Photo by
Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

*Botanically, squash group members are fruits—the seeds are carried inside. There’s the difference between fruits and vegetables.

If you only think of canned pumpkin as filling for a pie, you’ve got much to discover. If you like it enough for pie, you’ll like pumpkin in other recipes as well.

Transfer leftover canned pumpkin to an airtight container and keep it in the fridge to use in everyday dishes—or buy a can just for this purpose. Add two tablespoons to 1/2 cup to everyday recipes.

Be sure to use pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling, which has added sugar and spices.

You can make the recipes sweet with some brown sugar or maple syrup, or savory with thyme and/or sage. Add pumpkin pie spices—allspice, clove, cinnamon and/or nutmeg—as you wish to sweet or savory recipes.

 
Let us know your favorite pumpkin recipe.
 
*Mix 1/2 cup of pumpkin into softened cream cheese, with 2 tablespoons brown sugar or maple syrup, 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and a pinch of salt. You can substantially reduce or omit the sugar or use a noncaloric sugar substitute.
 
†Combine in a sauce pan: 1/2 cup pumpkin with 1 cup heavy cream, 1/4 cup quality Parmesan and a chiffonade of fresh sage (about 16 leaves, cut into thin strips). Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground pepper. Simmer until thickened, stir in 1 tablespoon unsalted butter and serve.

Sure, cupcakes are the rage; but what happens when you buy a dozen or two for entertaining?

You pay a lot of money!

The first time you bake a batch instead of buying them, you’ll save enough money to pay for two cupcake/muffin tins to make 24 cupcakes. This nonstick cupcake/muffin pan from Wilton has a snap-on cover, so you can store or transport the cupcakes without messing up the frosting.*

You can also pick up sports-themed cupcake liners, in football or baseball.

This recipe, from Kraft, can be adapted for football or baseball season. I takes just 20 minutes of prep time and the decorating is easy (the toughest part is keeping your hand steady to pike the stitching).

Take me out to the ball game, or at least to in front of the TV. Change the decorating colors for football season. Photo courtesy Kraft.

RECIPE: FOOTBALL OR BASEBALL CUPCAKES

Ingredients For 24 Cupcakes

1. HEAT oven to 350°F.

2. PREPARE cake batter and bake as directed on package to make 24 cupcakes. Cool cupcakes in their for pans 10 minutes; remove to wire racks and cool completely.

3. PLACE nonpareils in small bowl. Spread frosting onto cupcakes; dip tops, 1 at a time, in nonpareils.

4. USE decorating gel to decorate cupcakes to resemble baseballs (two rows of red stitching, as shown in photo) or footballs (one row of white stitching).

The normal size (spice jar) of nonpareils is four ounces and can cost $4.00 or more. But go to a baking supply store, and you can buy them in bulk for much less.

If you don’t have a local retail source, just buy them on Amazon.com:

A pound is just $4.95. Choose your color via the drop down menu on the page.

In addition to all the basic colors, you can choose fall mix (orange, red, yellow); Christmas mix (red, white, green); Valentine mix (pink, red, white); St. Patrick’s mix (green and white); spring mix (pink, purple, white, yellow); summer mix (yellow and orange); and July 4th mix (red, white blue mix).

Gallo Family Vineyards has launched a fun and interactive microsite offers that lets you create, share and download personalized family crests—or crests for other groups, from your foodie friends to book club.

At CrestCreator.com, you’ll find 17 different family crest templates that be customized with 300 icons in fashion, food and drink, hobbies, nature, sports and other categories.

Add your group name and motto, and you’re set! There is no charge.

The designs can be shared digitally via Facebook and Twitter from CrestCreator.com, and downloaded for family events.

You can also head immediately to Zazzle.com, to print your crest on objects from mugs and tee shirts to postage and iPhone cases. (You pay for what you buy. Gallo is generous, but not that generous.)

Then, surprise the family with family crest place cards for Thanksgiving.

And check out the Gallo Family wines. With turkey, we like the Pinot Noir.