Pumpkin Time!

I love this time of year! The weather is starting to get colder, the leaves are changing and instead of spending our Sunday afternoons playing frisbee in the front yard, we curl up in our living room with a cup of tea and perhaps a good book. The event that inspires the intense happiness that this time of year brings me, is when I first spot Pumpkins at the grocery store. I don't really know why, but I cannot contain my joy when I spot the pile of huge round orange squashes piled near the front of the store, each one a different size. So, for the last week, pumpkin fever has settled into my house. My husband laughs at my addiction to bringing home at least one pumpkin every time I visit the grocery store. So far, I have made a delicious pumpkin-yeast bread, and pumpkin bars while the other two pumpkins sit on my counter awaiting their fate...pumpkin soup, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin spice cake...yum!

Good Foodie Reading...

It's been a while...I've still been cooking as much as usual, but I didn't feel like there's been any one experience with food that has been a worthy writing topic. Oh, there have definitely been some successful meals around here-food network's spin on mexican meatball subs(yum!) and a delicious chicken, leek and apple stew, for example-but for whatever reason, there haven't been any interesting stories surrounding these fabulous meals. What I'm writing about tonight is not about my discoveries in the kitchen, but rather a new book. I was at a book store in the mall with my hubby the other day and, as usual I bee-lined to the cookbook section, but before I got there, my attention was drawn to a book sitting in the clearance bin entitled "The School of Essential Ingredients." Hmmm. I picked it up and skimmed the back of it...it's about a lady who teaches a cooking class in her restaurant. Intriguing. Then I saw what one critic said about it: "Food Network fans will devour this novel." I was sold. I've just started reading it and I've only just reached the second chapter and let me tell you...it's excellent. This woman is such an amazing food writer! Anyway, I'm gonna go read some more, but I just wanted to post about it b/c I felt it a culinary discovery, even if it is a novel!

Best Bagel Sandwich (in my opinion...)

At my local farmer's market, there is a guy that sells New York style bagels, and let me tell you-they are so delicious! It's really probably not a good thing for me diet-wise, after trying these super yummy sourdough bagels, how could I possibly go back to those scrawny, boring sara lee bagels I used to get? Anyway, so one morning last week, I was making scrambled eggs for breakfast and I had one bagel left, so I split it in half and my hubby and I each had a half with our eggs....then I had an idea. A few days later I turned my favorite omelet into a bagel sandwich and it is absolutely scrumptious. So that's my story. Here's what I did if you're interested in re-creating it for yourself:
I diced up half of a really small zucchini and sauteed it in like a teaspoon of bacon grease (if you are against that you could totally use canola oil, but the flavor of the bacon grease does make a pretty big flavor difference I think) I salt and peppered it as well. After a couple minutes, when it starts to get tender, I added one beaten egg, maybe half a tablespoon of chopped fresh basil and little crumbled goat cheese. Then I folded it in thirds and flipped it and let it cook for like another 30 seconds. I spread one wedge of light laughing cow cheese on either side of my bagel (this part is also optional I suppose...)and sandwiched the egg in the middle.
I'm telling you-it's heaven in a bagel! :)

The Best Way to Spend a Rainy Day...

I've just taught my son a very important lesson-how to lick the goodness off the mixer! :) Billy and I are making cookies for youth group tonight and we're having a great time! Although I haven't tasted one yet, they look and smell delicious-another succesful cookie recipe from Cookies Galore! They are made with lots of lemon and honey and have a delicious (okay, maybe I licked my fingers a little)cream filling. YUM!

New Friends

At a bachelorette party on Friday night, along with my two best friends, I became aquainted with two new friends that I definitely would like to spend more time with...Hannah, who hosted the party and did an AMAZING job creating a tea party style meal consisting of delicious homemade scones, lots of fresh fruit, homemade cream (YUM!), cucumber and chicken salad tea sandwiches, and of course lots of tea. Everything was just incredible and we had such a wonderful time laughing and visiting. My other new friend? The mocha chocolate chip cookies that were also included in our menu...oh my goodness! Apparently, (being the genius that she is) Hannah just made them up! She says she doesn't have an actually recipe, but basically you make follow the same recipe you would for regular chocolate chip cookies, but you add shredded coconut, coconut extract and that new instant coffee from starbucks (brainfart-can't remember what it's called...) and those are the cookies. Seriously, the flavor in those bad boys is unbelievable! The coconut and the coffee flavor-absoloute heaven in a cookie! I can't wait to try making them. In the meantime, I think one of them might have accidentally snuck out of Hannah's kitchen and into mine...

Yay Muffins!

So a while ago, I made this super yummy cake by boiling lemons and oranges and then putting them in the food processor to make a paste. You then add olive oil, toasted almonds all the other stuff you need to make a cake (the recipe is from orangette.blogspot.com if you're interested). Seriously, it was amazing! Anyway, last week I got a new cookbook (it's an obsession, I guess:) called Muffins Galore. I already have the one entitled Cupcakes Galore and I love it, so I assumed it would be just as awesome...and so far it is! I decided to make the Clementine Cranberry Muffins, because clementines and dried cranberries are something I happen to have a lot of at the moment. As it turns out, the recipe told me to do the same thing I did with the citrus cake. I chopped up the clementines and boiled them and got some hugely flavorful muffins! So delicious! Plus, I found out later that each muffin has half your vitamin C for the day! Anyway, here's the recipe:

3 small clementines
3/4 c. water
2 c. AP flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. dried cranberries
1 egg, slightly beaten
7 tbs. butter, melted
For the topping:
1/2 c. rolled oats
1/4 c. brown sugar
2 heaping tbs. AP flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 c. butter, cut into small pieces

Roughly chop the clementines and put in a small saucepan with the water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, half cover the pan with a lid and simmer for 20 min. Remove pan from heat, let cool for 10 min., then puree the mixture in a blender or food processor until smooth. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 375. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan. Make the topping by placing all ingredients in a bowl and rubbing in the butter; set aside. For the muffins, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt and cranberries in a large bowl. Mix the clementine mixture with the egg and melted butter and add to dry ingredients. Add a little water or milk if the batter isn't moist enough. Spoon the batter into prepared muffin cups, then sprinkle topping mixture evenly over the tops of the muffins. bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes or until well risen and golden. Enjoy!

Delicious Healthy Eating...

I love food but I want to be skinny. It's a tricky business trying to appease the cute jeans from Macy's as well as my appetite, yet the battle continues...the brownie or the bikini...

This weekend, I was looking through a cookbook that I have on my shelf called Best Place Northwest Cookbook and I realized it's the only cookbook I have that I have not used and I don't know why, because everything in it looks amazing! I picked out a couple(one being the Breakfast Frittata from a B&B in Friday Harbor) and decided I'd try them this week. Well, on Monday I attempted the breakfast frittata and to make a long story short, it didn't really work out. Largely b/c I really didn't have a good pan for it. So, on Tuesday I went to Macy's, got a new pan and tried again today. Seriously this frittata is soooo yummy, and what's amazing about it is that it is only like 246 calories per serving. So instead of eating something lame in the morning like a Slimfast or nonfat-whole-wheat-fun-sucked-out-of-it-muffin, you can actually eat this super filling breakfast with eggs and sausage and veggies and not mess with your diet! Yay!

If you want the recipe:
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 oz. bulk turkey sausage
2 medium red potatoes, cut into 1/2 in. cubes
6 eggs
3 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh dill or 1/4 teaspoon dried dill
1/4 teaspoon lemon pepper or fresh ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (or more if you're not a wuss! I used chinese chili sauce...yum!)
Pinch salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 c. diced green onion (about half a bunch)
1/4 c. diced red bell pepper (about half a red pepper)

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a small skillet, add turkey sausage and cook over medium heat, breaking into small pieces, until no pink remains, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
Bring a small pan of water to a boil, add potatoes and cook 5 minutes; drain.
In a medium bowl combine eggs, water dill, pepper, hot pepper sauce and salt.
Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil with butter in a 12 in. nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add potatoes and fry until golden and crisp, about 10 minutes. Add the sausage and veggies and cook 1 minute longer.
Pour egg mixture over all this and cook over medium heat, gently lifting the edges as the eggs set to help distribute the uncooked egg. Cooked until edges are set and bottom is lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and serve.