I would feel silly acting as though this is a recipe – it’s not difficult enough to be a recipe – so, let’s just call it ‘the sharing of an idea’, shall we?
As I mentioned before, in this post for my Apple and Pumpkin Spice Strudel, I found some Alouette Pumpkin Spice spreadable cheese at my local Aldi. I decided to use it with some refrigerated crescent rolls and a simple glaze.
All that I did was to unroll the pastries, add in the pumpkin spice spread, rolled up the rolls – and baked per the instructions on the can of crescent rolls.
While the rolls were baking, I made a simple powdered sugar glaze (no measurements – I just added heavy cream to a small amount of powdered sugar, until it was the correct consistency.
When the rolls came out of the oven, I immediately put the glaze over them, so it was melty (is that a word? it should be!) and delicious!
A week or so ago, I found the Pumpkin Spice Alouette Spreadable Cheese in my local Aldi. Since then, I’ve been trying to think of how I might use this cheese in recipe – did I want to try for something savory (the cheese is sweet on it’s own) or do a dessert of sweet dish.
This morning, I decided – sweet – and I wanted to pair it with apples. Yes, yes, I know – I’ve been on a huge apple kick lately – my oldest child reminded me of this – but, it is apple season, after all! I have no shame about it, at all!
I started by slicing 4 -5 small apples (I combined a couple honey crisp with whatever ‘baking apples’ that Walmart had on sale, in a bag, last week), thinly.
In a large bowl, I combined the apples with cinnamon, white sugar, brown sugar and flour.
After mixing well, I let the apple mixture sit while I prepped the rest of the strudel.
I used a store bought, refrigerated, pie crust. I just rolled it out on parchment paper, then added 2 tbsp of the Alouette Pumpkin Spice Spreadable Cheese to the center of the pie crust.
I topped the cheese, with the apple mixture.
Then, I closed up the strudel. You can do a full closure by just folding over the pie crust (and put a couple slits to vent the strudel) – or do what I did, and do small slices on either side of the apples and the overlap the slices, in the center.
I then topped the strudel with an egg wash and sprinkled on some sugar. I placed the strudel (with the parchment paper) onto a baking pan and baked in a 425 degree oven, for approximately 30 minutes. Once your pie crust is golden brown, you’ll know you’re good to go!
After removing the strudel from the oven, I let it sit for about 15 minutes. Then, I topped it with melted Cinnamon Bun Spread from Trader Joe’s.
Easy Apple and Pumpkin Spice Strudel
1 refrigerated pie crust 3-4 apples (sliced thin) 2 tbsp Pumpkin Spice Alouette Cheese 1/4 cup sugar (+ 1/2 tbsp for top of strudel) 1 tbsp brown sugar 1 1/2 tbsp all purpose flour 1/2 tbsp cinnamon Juice of 1 small lemon (or 1/2 larger lemon) 2 tbsp Trader Joe’s Cinnamon Bun Spread
Slice apples thin
Mix apples with sugars, flour, cinnamon and lemon juice – set aside
Roll out room temperature pie crust
Put room temperature Pumpkin Spice Alouette Cheese onto middle of pie crust
Top Alouette Cheese with apple mixture
Close pie crust, as you wish (I did small slices on each side and tried to overlap them at the center – I left the ends open, for a more rustic appearance)
Brush top of strudel with an egg wash
Sprinkle sugar over top
Bake in 425 degree oven, for 30 minutes (or until the pie crust is golden brown)
In microwave, melt 2 tbsp of the Trader Joe’s Cinnamon Bun Spread and drizzle over top of strudel, prior to serving.
I bought some delicious Caramel Apple cheese spread by Alouette from Aldi the other day. On it’s own, it is delicious. My oldest likes to eat it with slices of apple. I was trying to think of another way to use it and decided to make a caramel apple quesadilla in my air fryer.
I started with 1/2 of a honey crisp apple, sliced thin, the caramel apple spreadable cheese, cinnamon sugar, avocado oil spray and 2 flour tortillas.
I didn’t measure anything, but I put enough of the caramel apple spread on each of the tortillas. I put a thin layer of apples on one tortilla, sprinkled a little cinnamon sugar on top and put the other tortilla on top.
I sprayed both the top and bottom tortilla with a little bit of avocado oil and sprinkled some cinnamon sugar on both sides. I put the quesadilla in the air fryer and cooked @ 400 degrees, for 8 minutes.
I love mushrooms – seriously love mushrooms! They are, without a doubt, one of my favorite foods. They add depth to so many dishes and, as is the case with this recipe, they can even stand alone.
The ingredients for this recipe are pretty simple. Most everything is easy to find. The most elusive ingredient may be the Alouette spreadable cheese – but, make sure you’re looking for it in the deli section of the grocery store, as many stock it there, rather than with the other cheeses.
As I had some jalapeños, I decided to stuff both the mushrooms and the jalapeños. Both worked out well, but I – personally – enjoyed the mushrooms the most. If you wanted to use this stuffing for just mushrooms, I would either halve the stuffing or use an additional dozen mushroom caps (or enjoy the extra stuffing on it’s own – my oldest daughter seemed to!).
The stems are removed from the mushrooms and the jalapeños are halved and seeded. Also, chop a small, seeded, jalapeño and the stems from the mushrooms – this will he used in the stuffing.
After prepping the mushrooms and peppers, I made the stuffing.
In a skillet over medium to high heat, I browned the sausage, along with the garlic, mushrooms and jalapeño.
Once the sausage was fully cooked, lower the heat and add in the cheeses. Stir until the cheeses have melted and are well combined with the sausage.
Finally, add in the bread crumbs and cook until the bread crumbs are nicely browned.
The next step is to stuff the mushrooms and jalapeños with the stuffing, top with a little more parmesan and bread crumbs – finally, drizzle with olive oil and into the oven the go!
Stuffing 1/2 chub sausage (I used Jimmy Dean) 4 tbsp Alouette Garlic and Herbs Soft Spreadable Cheese 3 tbsp grated parmesan 1/2 cup Italian Panko Crumbs Mushroom stems, finely chopped 1 small seeded jalapeño, finely chopped 1/2 tbsp garlic
Remove stem from mushrooms, save for stuffing
Halve jalapeños and remove seeds
Finely dice both the mushroom stems and a small jalapeño
In a skillet, cook the sausage, garlic, mushroom stems and diced jalapeño
Once the sausage is cooked through, reduce the heat and add in the Alouette cheese and the parmesan, letting the cheeses melt and mix in well with the sausage
After cheese is well incorporated, add in the panko crumbs and mix well – cook until the panko crumbs are nicely browned
On lined cooking sheet, place mushrooms and peppers cut side up
Add stuffing to each of the mushrooms and peppers
Top stuffed mushrooms and peppers with more parmesan cheese and bread crumbs
When making Brunswick Stew, I bought and cooked a 4.5 pound Boston Butt roast, so – clearly, I had leftovers. And, I still had some of Biz’s Skinny Pizza Dough from when I made my Blueberry Pizza. Having both of those things, I decided to make a pulled pork BBQ pizza.
I decided to keep the ingredients pretty simple: Biz’s Skinny Pizza Dough, pulled pork, Alouette Garlic and Herb spreadable cheese, Monterey Jack Cheese and Sweet Baby Ray’s Mustard BBQ sauce.
I rolled the dough out into something, loosely, resembling a circle. Then added the Alouette Garlic and Herb cheese as the base.
Then I added some of the pulled pork. It was cold, fresh from the fridge – no need to heat it up, since it is going into a very hot oven! Next, the pizza was topped with shredded Monterey Jack cheese. And, lastly, drizzled on some of the BBQ sauce.
I cooked it on parchment paper (on top of a pizza stone) in my oven, for 20 minutes, at 500 degrees.
Biz’s dough crisps up so well and really can hold a topping!
The savory flavor of the Alouette garlic and herb cheese, coupled with the tangy sweetness of the BBQ sauce was AMAZING!! So good!!
BBQ Pulled Pork Pizza
Biz’s Skinny Pizza Dough Pulled Pork Alouette Garlic and Herb Spreadable Cheese Monterey Jack Cheese
Roll out the dough (doing it on parchment paper makes it easier to put it in and take it out of the oven)
Add Alouette Garlic and Herb cheese to the top of the dough
Top with pulled pork and Monterey Jack Cheese
Drizzle on the BBQ sauce
Cook for 20 minutes in 500 degree oven
** Note I didn’t measure anything when I was making this, so just kind of eyeball it, depending on how much dough you use.
Michelle Can Cook! 