Pumpkin!

I really like pumpkin pie. So I've been casting around for other pumpkin recipes. Last year I made a pumpkin and sausage pasta dish. Tasty ~ though with sausage as a key ingredient, how could it not be?

This year I came across a blog that featured Pumpkin Cookies. And they had lots and lots of comments raving about the cookies.

And I had all but two of the ingredients, and had to go to the grocery for soup ingredients anyway, so...voila! The first pan only had six. Just in case.



But after I tasted one, I was sold. They have butterscotch morsels. And cinnamon. If I changed anything, it would be to add a bit more cinnamon, like half a teaspoon more.

The dough is dense, not thin. And they bake up big and cakey. They remind me of teacakes, which my brother really likes. Excuse me a moment, we are under attach by squirrels armed with hickory nuts. They throw them at the windows, and the dogs are understandably indignant.

Definitely a keeper. I may take some to work tomorrow for taste testing. If there are any left.

Fall Color

I am a big fan of sweet potatoes. I am a big fan of balsamic vinegar. This dish, which I made for my BIL's birthday lunch, married the two plus chili to make some yummy roasted sweet potatoes.

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 Tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 stick of butter (I later decided 1/2 stick would be just fine)
2 tsp salt (start with one and taste as you go)
1 tsp chili powder
5 large sweet potatoes, cut in cubes roughly the same size


Heat balsamic vinegar and butter over med high until it reaches a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until slightly reduced. Add brown sugar, salt and chili powder (or your favorite spices - we decided rosemary would have been good, as well as cinnamon and cumin).

Peel and cube 5 large sweet potatoes and put in baking dish (the larger the better for optimum caramelization). Pour reduced vinegar/butter mixture over potatoes and roast at 350 degrees for about an hour. Stir occasionally to distribute the tangy goodness.

The result is a tender bite of potato with a subtle tang and warmth from the chili powder.

Enjoy!

Heirloom

This is one of the heirloom tomatoes I planted. It's my favorite - I believe it's Mortgage Lifter (I I forgot to look this morning as I was leaving). See how it's meaty and there isn't very much of that watery seed stuff? It's good fresh. In a salad. But mostly in a sandwich. With mayo and black pepper. That's as far as I've gotten. It's so good I don't want to wait to cook it. So I say try those heirloom varieties. They've produced fruit like this with little care. Just some watering.

Friday Night Lites

Last night I had the time to make a salad I'd been thinking about for a week. Fresh tomato, fresh cucumber, basil and oregano from my yard...and that magical elixir, balsamic vinegar with olive oil. It turned out to be delicious, and when I added the small mozzarella balls (bocconcini, I think they're called, meaning small mouthfulls) it was a perfect Friday night lite meal.

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3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp kosher or sea salt

10 fresh basil leaves

5 fresh oregano leaves

3 small fresh cucumbers

2 large beefsteak tomatoes, vine ripened

Optional: red onion, mozzarella

Mince garlic (or take it out of a jar, like I did) and let it stand in the balsamic and red wine vinegars. By the way - I doubled the balsamic vinegar. It makes my skirt fly up.

Wash basil and oregano, roll up leaves and slice into little strips. Chop and put in your best olive oil (extra virgin light is what I used).

Wash and peel cucumbers, slice thinly into 1/4" coins. Remove stem and blossom end from tomatoes (really very little is removed). Cut into wedges being careful not to crush and lose any juice from the tomatoes.

Place the tomatoes and cucumbers in the salad bowl and sprinkle with salt.

Whisk together the vinegars and olive oil and pour over tomatoes and cucumbers. Toss gently and serve.

Note: I added some thinly sliced red onion, less than a quarter of the onion. And I added some mozzarella because I wanted this to be a meal. I added both before tossing with the dressing.

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I loved this salad! I used to make one when I lived in Montgomery that had cucumber, tomato, bow tie pasta (farfalle) oil and vinegar, dill and basil. It's very much like that, but I wanted a version without the pasta. That said, you could add pasta to this and it would probably be wonderful (might have to increase the dressing).

[there's some kind of weird spacing funk going on with this post that I can't fix - sorry!]

GadZukes!

Well, here we are again. Sunday evening. The weekend is over, and what do I have to show for it?

Good friends and good food on Friday evening (after I went to spin class, thank you very much). And I made cucumber salad on Saturday, and made one trip in the car to get a few groceries.

Today, I made zucchini bread. And grilled a hanger steak - if you haven't yet, it's the most tender steak I've ever sliced. It's also called the butcher steak because for a long time it was the butcher's secret. And I grilled the leftover zucchini to go with my steak.


Isn't it amazing how a little chemistry can change the zucchini below (top) ...

into this tasty morsel? I found the recipe at Smitten Kitchen, and you should try it.

Too, I read more of my Monster of Florence book (a serial killer case captivates an American author who moved to Florence after becoming successful) and started the reorganization of the studio. Of course, I was distracted by marinating the hanger steak. And then I was sidetracked by making the zucchini bread. Then I needed to water the peppers and tomatoes. And drop off some of the cucumber salad, zucchini bread and a fresh tomato for my mother.

So the studio is a complete shambles.

I'll worry about it tomorrow. After The Closer.

Maybe.

Garden Fresh

Is anything more evocative of summertime than garden fresh produce?

When one is given a gift of cucumbers, and has on hand an onion and sour cream, one consults the Internet for a recipe to use these ingredients (possibly because one has gotten up late, walked the dogs, had coffee, read and hasn't yet gotten cleaned up to go out).

And after mixing sour cream, cider vinegar, celery salt, chopped dill, a touch of sugar and some grated onion...

...one has sour cream cucumbers a la 1956. Yum!

Let me know what time to expect you!

Cooking Therapy

When the going gets tough, the tough get...cooking? Yep, that's right. It's the therapy of choice when work gets a little much. So tonight, a recipe I've been imagining ever since I read about it. But let's go back to the beginning, shall we?


I am reading the book by Molly Wizenberg who posts the blog Orangette. And I read the blog called Smitten Kitchen. So in SK's blog she posted about a recent obsession with grapes. That she got from a Molly Wizenberg/Orangette recipe.

Oh-ho, not just any grapes. Red, seedless grapes combined with peppercorns. Cinnamon. Mustard seeds.

Interested yet? Read on.


White wine vinegar. Sugar.

Does anyone else see the Rorshach test below?



Pour brine over grapes in two pint jars.

Refrigerate for 8 hours at least.

Then, Yum.

I'll let you know about the grapes tomorrow.

Update: ohyesohyesohyes! The pickles are delicious and would be great with cheese...of course, they are good on their own. I will be taking a sample to the office tomorrow to get opinions.

Weekend Preview

Soup. It's what's for dinner.

It's going to be tough next week.

Souper Jenny is taking her staff to Cancun.

No soup for me.

For one whole week.

Not so much as a Grilled Cheese Night.

On Grilled Cheese Night, you can order S'mores. They come on a platter: stacks of graham crackers, a pile of marshmallows and squares of chocolate with a "marshmallow" grill in the middle (with one of those food warmer burners in it). Cook your own smores right there at the table. I haven't tried it yet but it was fun to watch.

Incentive: I can try this kit from Sublime Stitches once I've finished my taxes. It ain't your gramma's embroidery. I've got to find some 10 year old documents to complete this year. I have a feeling it's going to take me a while.

MaLi

Back in February, I shared this picture with you - I took it because of the neon and white lights. I thought they were lovely. Well, actually, I shared a version that I had straightened up. Apparently in the great conversion to the external hard drive, I deleted that jpeg version and I only have the version below which lists to starboard.



Friday, the weather was so sunny and sky so blue, we went out for lunch. I angled for something near the store from where I buy the dog's kibble - I know, always thinking. Anyway, one of us had been here and suggested it. Perfect.

This is the interior - light, fresh and soon to have a large patio opened beyond that dark gold wall on the right. The food was so tempting I ordered a curry lunch special and a sushi roll. I was not the only one.

Tried any new restaurants lately?

Tasty!

Back again with another soup to brag on. Remember I said I bought a SouperJenny cookbook? Well, last week I was souper efficient heehee and stopped at the Publix near my office building and bought the My Dad's Turkey Chili ingredients before I picked up the Golden Ones. Not remarkable you say?

Perhaps not for the well organized. I am a spur of the moment person, though (read: disorganized about home related matters like groceries and meal planning). In any event, I had written down the ingredients and bought them on the way to pick up the pooped out pooches.

So, I made Jenny's My Dad's Turkey Chili. Which is a leap of faith for me, because I am all "where's the beef?" when it comes to certain things.

But just look at those colors:


Red peppers, green peppers, yellow peppers. Red onion. I'm getting nervous now, because after enjoying the colors, I recall how leery I am of overly bell peppered items.

I move ahead: 28 oz of chopped tomatoes. Some chili powder. Darker is better, Jenny says. So when I replenish I will buy darker chili powder, but for now, we're on the use up whatcha got program. Black beans, white beans, chili beans and kidney beans. Can you remember all the bean jokes from when you were 8? Beans, beans, good for the heart...and that part turns out to be true!

Stop right there! (can you hear that Meatloaf song? good). I draw the line at kidney beans. I went with Pinto beans. Plus they sound more Western, right?

And the proof is in the pudding, or the soup in this case.

Look at that chili goodness. I would give you a bowl if I could--this recipe makes enough for a Super Bowl party!

Ummm, just one thing: if you're using the Splenda brown sugar mix for your brown sugar instead of brown sugar, then half the amount she calls for. Not that I've ever had that problem. I pay attention to what I'm doing. Yeah.

So have you tried any new recipes lately? I'd love to hear.

It's a Sign

When I got up this morning, I knew what was ahead of me at work. I decided to have good breakfast in order to face the day.

Yeah.

The whole wheat bagels I bought on Sunday are already moldy.

I think it's a sign.

[quick, name that movie]

Turnip, or not turnip?

This year I'm adding something new to the tried and true Thanksgiving dishes. I'm making a turnip dish. Saturday, at the nearby farmer's market, I found these turnips. Wednesday I will be brave and assemble the new dish.

Turnips, parsnips or brussels sprouts never made an appearance on any dinner table I can remember from my youth. Rutabagas made a cameo appearance or two, but I didn't like them. Blech.

But brussels sprouts have become a recent favorite, as have beets. I found the brussels sprouts in the frozen foods section in a steamer package and bought them in a fit of needing something new to eat. And lately the chefs in Atlanta have been featuring beets in all manner of ways. My favorite is a beet and goat cheese molded salad that also factors in balsamic vinegar. Yum. But that's a summertime dish.

So in the spirit of adventure, I'm going to make a half recipe of a turnip dish - turnip gratin - because it just looked so dang good on the website. I'm pretty sure there will be trepidation on the part of anyone here on Thursday who tastes this dish.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

How about you? Trying anything new this Thanksgiving?

Friday Night Sights

Did I ever talk about Eatzi's?

Meh, Eatzi's schmeatzis.

There's a new kid in town, and his name is Trader Joe.

Well, actually Joe has two metro locations already, but since neither of them is in a convenient location to me, they don't count.

Trader Joe is making me forsake Whole Foods and Fresh Market for him. He has great food and great prices. And he gave me a free shopping bag.







Even though I'd been a loyal customer for lo these many years-5-Whole Foods made me buy a bag. And HELLO, Fresh Market? Did you even offer any non paper or plastic shopping bags or has it been so long that trend happened since then?

On the first day of vacation Trader Joe sent me an invitation inviting me to come visit on Friday, and I'd get a free shopping bag and a chance to win $50 Trader Joe dollars. I penciled him in.

I invited myfriendCindy (mfC) to join us, that is, Joe and me. So she did. Joe had not mailed Cindy an invitation even though she only lives 1 mile from me (who's special, then?) but I took her anyway, certain Joe was all about making money, er, friends.

LURVE AT FIRST SIGHT!

Foods offered at the other places, who were they again?, at prices like this: Bottle of Chianti, least expensive elsewhere $9.99, at Trader Joe's $4.99. Pate, through the roof elsewhere, $4 at Trader Joe's. Pizzle sticks for dogs $10.99 elsewhere, $4.99 at Trader Joe's.

And variety! Well, see for yourself below.

In this picture we have a Roast Beast sandwhich with blue cheese, Wisconsin cheese curds, white cheddar soy crisps, chocolate orange sticks, tuscan white bean dip, pumpkin whoopie pies, dog chews and chianti. Not just any chianti, boys and girls, the kind with the black cock. The real deal. Made in Greve in Chianti. Where I visited just last year. Sigh.

mfC bought stuff too. Food and wine and coffee and crackers and cat food and oh my, glycerin soap, only recently highlighted by a certain famous blogger.

But when it came to the checkout, I was the only one with a post card, um, engraved invitation. And I got my free bag and chance to win. mfC badgered and whined and badgered the poor sales girl so that she got a free bag too.

Then we zoomed home to sample the chicken and prosciutto sandwich and tomato bisque soup and mushroom pate.

And they lived happily ever after. [burp]

A shortage of...

Israeli couscous. I bet you thought I'd say gasoline since all the stations around me are em-pah-tee!

Mais non, ma petit/petite chou my little cabbages, I am speaking of israeli couscous. The base of my favorite salad, possibly my favorite salad ever.

None at Publix near.

None at the Peach Publix.

None at Whole Foods.

None at Fresh Market.

Just labels below empty shelf space.

{sigh}

Why?