The Pumpkin Patch

Stripes & Turquoise

2012-02-15T09:00:00.002-05:00

A couple months ago, I mentioned I had discovered Polyvore. I haven't really said anything since, but I have been browsing the site pretty regularly. It's a great way to get outfit ideas and to look for specific pieces (as in: "hey, I'm looking for knee-high tan boots that are under $200 and in a US store").

Stripes & Turquoise by hgathman

I actually started this set months ago with autumn in mind, but I really think that turquoise works for every season. The boots and scarf might not translate all the way into summer, but the combination of stripes, neutrals, and a bright color mixed in is a year-round ensemble base for me.

Anyone else into Polyvore?

Whoopie Pies

2012-02-09T09:00:00.003-05:00

I don't really like super-sweet desserts. But I love pretty things.

This is my curse.

I saw this recipe from Cookies & Cups months ago for rich, chocolatey whoopie pies filled with a buttercream frosting hopped up on Funfetti cake mix. And, like so many things on my Pinterest boards, I meant to make them. For all those months.

Then, finally, the Superbowl seemed like a good enough excuse to use 3 sticks of butter and half a cup of shortening. (I was already eating buffalo chicken dip, so what's the difference?)

Yes, this looks kind of like dog doo. Oh well.

I followed the Cookies & Cups recipe closely, and they turned out perfectly. One thing of note: their recipe doesn't explain how to successfully spoon out cake batter onto a pan to get pretty circles. Perhaps you can luck out by just spooning globs and hoping they spread correctly, but I put my cake batter in a piping bag with a large tip and piped it in little mounds on the cookie sheet (with parchment paper or a silpat - this is a must!). This resulted in pretty circles and, more importantly when you start making the sandwiches, equally-sized cakes.

The buttercream is ridiculous. Butter, shortening, powdered sugar, milk, and FUNFETTI CAKE MIX. Crazy. It really does taste like cake batter, although I will say that the chocolate tones down the sweetness when you eat it all together.

And as blogger Shelly said, "I rolled my pies in sprinkles, just because it seemed like the right thing to do."

Right on, Shelly.

Birthday Cake

2012-02-01T09:00:00.002-05:00

Yes it's been a very long blog hiatus. In fact, January had ZERO posts! Sometimes, it turns out, life is too busy for blogging.

Since my last post:

1. I've worked crazy hours preparing for a huge event at work (which is now DONE!)

2. Holidays have come and gone: Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, New Year's Eve, MLK Jr. Day, Australia Day, and my half-birthday (everyone else celebrated that, right?)

3. I became an AUNT!

4. My boyfriend turned 26.

Enter a birthday cake!

Much to my surprise, Nate requested chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. He's not nearly the chocolate nut that I am, so I expected a more vanilla-centric request. (He did, however, specify that he did NOT want it to be fancy dark chocolate.)

My favorite chocolate cake is Silver Palate's Decadent Chocolate Cake, but I was afraid this might be too dense and chocolatey for Nate's taste. So after some online research, I settled on using Sandy's Chocolate Cake. I wasn't sure about her frosting (included with the cake recipe), so I went with this chocolate buttercream recipe from the blog Savory Sweet Life.

Since two layers of chocolate cake with chocolate frosting really isn't enough dessert, I decided to take it to the next level. I'd seen some photos of a Kit Kat/M&M cake online, which seemed like an easy and fun way to glitz up the cake.

Bring on some Kit Kat. I used two layers of cake (the recipe called for three - instead of scaling everything down I just made an extra layer), one batch of the frosting, four extra-jumbo Kit Kat bars (each one had 12 sticks), and a party bag of M&Ms.

I simply frosted my cake, pressed Kit Kat sticks around the entire edge, and filled the top in with M&Ms!

Oh, yeah. And I tied a ribbon around it. I like ribbon.

Isn't it pretty?

More importantly (to some), it tastes amazing! Moist and chocolately but still light and fluffy, the cake also stayed fresh for days. And the frosting. Man oh man. I'm not a frosting fan but this basically tasted like chocolate mousse.

If you're looking for a delicious cake with a relatively easy wow factor, give this a go. Just cut small pieces.

Savory Sweet Life's Chocolate Buttercream
Sandy's Chocolate Cake

Pear & Custard Tart

2011-12-12T09:00:00.000-05:00

Custard. Shortbread. Pears. This stuff is begging to be made into a tart.

So I complied! Over Thanksgiving weekend, my family hosted a tapas-style dinner party, and I wanted to create a dessert. While I usually tend to a go a bit chocolate overboard, a fruit tart seemed like the perfect pairing to paella and tortilla espanola.

I browsed a million recipes, followed none of them exactly, and came up with this. A pretty standard custard with a generous dose of cinnamon and nutmeg was just what those pears were asking for. And in a buttery shortbread crust, what could go wrong?

Pear & Custard Tart

Makes two 9" tarts

Shortbread Crust (adapted from Ina Garten's shortbread hearts)

3/4 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt

2-3 fresh pears, peeled and sliced

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and 1 cup of sugar until they are just combined. Add the vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt; then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and roll into 2 flat disks. Wrap them in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll out (or press, if need be) dough into tart pans to 1/4 inch thickness (you may have a little extra - you can roll these out into cut-out cookies!). Pre-bake (more to come later) in 350 degree oven for 8 minutes. Set aside.

Arrange peeled pear slices in a pretty (or just functional) design in your crusts.

Custard Filling

3 eggs
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or any combination of nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, etc.)
2 cups heavy cream

Whisk the eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla, and spices until combined in a large bowl.

In a saucepan, bring cream to a simmer. Pour cream into egg mixture while hot, whisking constantly.

Divide custard into the two tart crusts, pouring over pear slices. Top with another sprinkle of cinnamon on each tart.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes - the custard should be set but still have a jiggly center. Cover with aluminum foil after 10 minutes to prevent crust from over-browning.

Cool on wire racks and then place in refrigerator until ready to serve. I'd strongly recommend a slice with fresh whipped cream and a glass of red (Spanish) wine. And it wouldn't hurt to get someone to make a huge pan of delicious paella to eat beforehand.

Rainy Day Chic

2011-12-08T09:00:00.001-05:00

So I discovered Polyvore.

I actually discovered it a few months ago, but just recently tried my hand at creating some "sets," as they're called.

If you're not familiar, Polyvore is a fashion inspiration website that has a gigantic compilation of apparel and accessories from various retail websites. You drag and drop those products, along with clipart, text, and even backgrounds, borders, or pre-made templates, to create looks you're digging. Polyvore keeps a list of each product in your set, along with the brand and price.

I promise not to become a daily Polyvore blog, but as it's been raining for the past two days in Boston, I thought I'd debut my current ideal outfit: Rainy Day Chic. I'm loving the subdued basics with a couple punches of color where it counts. Plus it features both stripes and polkadots, two of my favorites that are very hard to combine.

Anyone else feeling like that Juicy Couture umbrella might be the remedy for rainy day blues?

Rainy Day Chic by hgathman.

Juicy couture shirt
€149 - jades24.com

Burberry Prorsum short coat
€1.695 - montaignemarket.com

Hollister Co. destructed jeans
$30 - hollisterco.com

Hunter waterproof shoes
$125 - zappos.com

Kate Spade tote hand bag
$195 - nordstrom.com

Juicy Couture logo umbrella
$48 - juicycouture.com

Miso acrylic scarve
£13 - republic.co.uk

Decadent Chocolate Cake

2011-12-02T09:00:00.000-05:00

Mmmmm cake. Okay, actually, I'm not that big a cake fan. I mean, I will always eat it if it's offered to me, but my point is that I'll almost always choose a brownie, a truffle, or a cookie first.

This cake is different. It's moist, fudgy, and dark, making it as good (or better than) a brownie in my book. My dad used to make it in a bundt pan every year for my birthday, using the Decadent Chocolate Cake recipe from the Silver Palate Cookbook.

Since I haven't been home for my birthday in ages, I was really starting to experience withdrawl, so I dug up the recipe online. I followed it very closely; the only change was substituting plain Greek yogurt for the sour cream it calls for (just as good). And, as you can see, I baked them in mini bundt pans, which only needed about 20-25 minutes at 350.

Then I warmed up some frozen mixed berries, a little water, and pinch of corn starch in a sauce pan for a yummy berry sauce, then finally topped it off with some fresh whipped cream.

True to their name, these minis were decadent.

Pumpkin Kiss Cookies

2011-10-29T08:51:00.000-04:00

Looking for a fun Halloween treat to make this weekend? I know it's possible people are getting sick of combining candy corn and chocolate if they've been reading my blog this month, but these are really the ultimate Halloween cookie.

Consider the components: Fudgey, chocolately cookie, covered in festive sprinkles, topped with a Hershey's Kiss and/or and sweet and chewy candy corn pumpkin. Who wouldn't want one?

Can't find ridiculously cool sprinkles like this at your local grocery? Some bakeries sell novelty sprinkles, and if you strike out there, Marshalls and TJ Maxx always seem to have fun varieties in stock in their random food aisles.

For the cookie, I used this recipe from the Curvy Carrot (as I did for my Kiss Cookies).

I experimented topping them with a Hershey's Kiss, a candy corn pumpkin, or both. If you're just using one topper, push it into the cookie right after they've finished baking. If you use both (as I did in the top photo - this was my favorite variety), take the cookies out after 6-7 minutes in the oven. Quickly push a Kiss into each one, then return to oven for another 2 minutes. After they come back out, push a candy corn into each kiss, squishing the kiss down around the mini pumpkin.

These look darling, but even better, they taste awesome. I'm slowly being converted to a candy corn fan since I've discovered mashing them into dark chocolate!

Parmesan Pumpkin Biscuits

2011-10-27T09:00:00.001-04:00

Ever noticed how everyone is absolutely gaga over Red Lobster's cheddar biscuits? I've never thought they were that special.

Although I guess you can't really go wrong with cheese in a biscuit. Which brings me to my next point: you can't go wrong with cheese AND pumpkin in a biscuit.

As much as I love pumpkin desserts, it goes so well in savory things that I had to include a Pumpkin Week post on the subject.

I started with a basic biscuit recipe, knowing that somehow along the way I could use up some leftover canned pumpkin from yesterday's Pumpkin Pie Martinis. And although I love cheddar, I thought parmesan would give these biscuits a nice twist and blend well with the pumpkin flavor.

Ready for the oven...

I initially thought I would work in some prosciutto as well - sounds good, right? But after tasting the dough, I realized the cheese and pumpkin were all it needed. No need to overpower those flavors with cured meat.

Hot and steamy.

These biscuits are simple, delicious, and not-so-healthy, so eat sparingly with a warm bowl of soup. And unlike some (most) of the cheesey biscuit recipes out there, no Bisquick required. The pumpkin flavor is subtle but yummy, and it helps keep the biscuits oh-so-moist.

Parmesan Pumpkin Biscuits

*Like so many of my experiments, I made this up as I went along. Measurements are approximate, so feel free to improvise.*

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
1/3 cup butter, cold, cut into slabs
1 cup grated parmesan
3/4 cup pureed pumpkin
1/4 cup cream

Preheat oven to 400 F. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and spices.

With a pastry cutter or fork, cut in butter until pea-sized.

Add grated cheese and pumpkin. Mix with a fork until incorporated.

Slowly mix in cream. It should be just enough so that the dough is just moistened.

Drop approximately 1/3 cup spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (or silpat). Bake at 400 for 18-20 minutes, until top points and bottom are starting to brown.

Eat warm with a cup of chili!

Pumpkin Pie Martini

2011-10-26T09:00:00.001-04:00

What was Pumpkin Week 1.0 missing?

Liquor! (Too easy, I know.)

I came up with this deliciously pumpkin drink using what I had on hand in our bar, but as it turns out, it's pretty similar to most versions of a Pumpkin Pie Martini. Cinnamon, nutmeg, a hint of chocolate, and of course, the star of the show, pumpkin, come together to really taste an awful lot like liquid pumpkin pie. With a kick, of course.

Pumpkin Pie Martini

1.5 oz vodka
1 oz creme de cacao (chocolate liqueur)
1.5 Tablespoon pumpkin puree
1 oz milk or cream
Generous dash pumpkin pie spice

Combine everything in a cocktail shaker. Pre-mix a little bit with a spoon to break up the pumpkin. Add ice and shake!

Strain into a martini glass or large champagne flute. Garnish with pumpkin pie spice or a cinnamon stick.

Pumpkin Cobbler Bars

2011-10-25T14:16:00.000-04:00

Ahh my favorite time of year: Pumpkin Week! Okay, so it took Monday off as a pumpkin holiday, but it's here now in full force. Stay tuned for pumpkin-themed posts all week!

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Love pumpkin pie but hate using a plate and fork?

Solution: pumpkin cobbler bars. If you remember my Berry Chocolate Cobbler Bars, you know I love cobbler. Crumbly, buttery goodness. Plus, it only takes a few ingredients and is fairly quick to throw together.

I made the cobbler crust from my berry bar recipe and mixed up the standard pumpkin pie filling recipe that's on the back of every can of pumpkin. (Try here if you're without a pumpkin pie can label.)

So simple. I pressed half the cobbler dough into a 9x13 pan and baked at 350 for about 12 minutes. Then I poured in the pumpkin filling and dropped the rest of the dough in over it in dollops. I put it back in the 350 degree oven for another 30-40 minutes, until a tester came out clean.

Then I cut them into bars and ate them all before I had a chance to photograph them individually.

Leftover pumpkin pie filling? Pour into a ramekin and bake, then top with whipped cream to make a yummy single (or double) serving pumpkin custard.

Coming up during Pumpkin Week:

Pumpkin decor
Savory pumpkin
Pumpkin in a cocktail
A way to use those adorable pumpkin candy corns...

Falafel

2011-10-20T09:00:00.000-04:00

Remember how my last post was about laying off the fatty comfort foods? Couldn't last, right?

I actually don't know where falafel lies on the health spectrum... it's made out of nutritious, lean, high-protein ingredients. And then you deep fry it. Everything's a give and take, right?

I'd been meaning to try my hand at falafel since I got my deep fryer 3 months ago. One of my go-to lunches at work is to grab a falafel wrap from the Middle Eastern "Campus Trolley" down the street, and it always hits the spot. How hard could it be?

I kind of followed this recipe, although I forgot I didn't have any onions. Next time I might kick up the seasonings a little bit. I also made a tzatziki sauce with nonfat Greek yogurt, cucumbers, lemon juice, dill, and garlic.

Mmmm hot out of the fryer.

I ate these taco style on whole wheat pita with the tzatziki, cucumbers, and tomato. Definitely a yummy dinner, but it didn't hold a candle to the Campus Trolley version.

Let me know if you have a better falafel recipe!

Broccoli, Fig & Chickpea Salad

2011-10-18T09:00:00.000-04:00

Lately it seems like all I've been eating is bread, cheese, pasta, pie, and pumpkin spice lattes, because hey, it's Fall. I love this season, and all the hearty food that comes with it, but sometimes I have to remind myself to take a step back and lay off the butter.

The antidote? This wonderful broccoli, fig, and chickpea salad in a cider vinaigrette. I found this recipe on my friend Clare's blog Fitting It All In, and she found it at Clean Eating Chelsea.

Simple, healthy ingredients come together to make a really delicious flavor combination. I followed Chelsea's recipe pretty closely, except I added some white and blue baby potatoes for a little starch and left out the barbecue sauce on top (blechh I hate barbecue. But go for it if you happen to like it.)

This salad is nutritious, filling, and even better the next day. Plus, it's easy on the skinny jeans.

Broccoli, Fig & Chickpea Salad

2 baby potatoes
1 crown broccoli, chopped
1 can (15 oz) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup chopped figs (fresh are best, but dried will work fine too)
1/4 cup onion, diced
3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Cut the potatoes however you'd like; you could quarter them or, like I did, slice them thin like potato chips. Boil in lightly salted water until soft.

Meanwhile, cut the broccoli into bite-sized pieces and steam. (Easy with a steaming basket on the stovetop or just in about an inch of water in the microwave.)

Chop the figs and onions, add them to the broccoli. Drain the chickpeas, add those too!

To make your dressing, whisk together all the remaining ingredients. Pour it over the broccoli mixture and toss to coat.

Let the salad sit in the fridge for at least an hour to really soak up the flavors. Then, if you must, add barbecue sauce on top.

Eat up!

DIY Chunky Necklace

2011-09-27T09:00:00.001-04:00

Make this:

Out of these:

So simple.

Excuse the blurry photos.

I would try to explain it, but "P.S. - I made this..." does a much better job. Check out her tutorial (and the rest of the blog!).

I love chunky necklaces and have been looking for a big choker style one like this for awhile. This cost me around $20 for the individual necklaces, brooch, and ribbon, and seriously took like 4 minutes to put together.

Go make one!

Candy Corn Pretzels

2011-09-23T09:00:00.000-04:00

Did you read my last post and think: "hmm I sure do like putting candy corn on things, but those cookies seem like too much work..."?

You're in luck.

Candy corn, Hershey's hugs (or kisses), and pretzels. I promise you the hardest part of this treat is unwrapping a bag full of hugs. (Recipe via Free Cake Info.)

Preheat to 350. Place hugs on pretzels.

Bake for 3 minutes (on a low rack so your hugs don't start to brown on their tips). Mush candy corn into said hugs.

Eat one. Or twenty.

These are oh-so-Halloweeny and they taste like Flipz, if you're into those.

Candy Corn Cookies

2011-09-20T09:00:00.003-04:00

Full disclaimer: I hate candy corn. I hate the texture. I hate that the only ingredients are corn syrup, sugar, and red no. 6.

What I DO like is that they're so darn cute. And somehow in these chocolate cookies, they're not half bad. And they make a simple cookie into a themed treat.

So whether you love or hate candy corn, I think you just might like these little cookies. The candy makes a chewy icing-like layer. Yummy.

What's cuter than candy corn? Pumpkins! Courtesy of Brach's Autumn Mix.

Find the recipe at Bake at 350. Use Dutch process cocoa for a super dark-colored cookie (I used natural). And I found that baking them 8 (instead of 10-12) minutes was sufficient.

I made these in about 30 minutes - you barely need an excuse or occasion to whip them up!

Ravioli Lasagna

2011-09-16T09:00:00.003-04:00

Another hot cheesy baked dish for fall! My friend Carol shared this recipe with me years ago, and it's been a standby ever since for an easy lasagna substitute. Ravioli takes the place of lasagna noodles and meat, and the liquid from fresh vegetables plus some seasoning replaces a heavy sauce.

You can use frozen or fresh ravioli - I like using fresh because it tends to come with more interesting fillings.

Mmm so gooey. And really not that much cheese is involved.

Ravioli Lasagna

1 lb ravioli, frozen or fresh
2 small zucchini
4 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup fresh basil
8 oz shredded cheese (I use a mix of mozzarella and parmesan)
salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Cook ravioli according to package directions. Trim and lengthwise slice zucchini. Add zucchini to ravioli during the last 3 minutes of cooking time. Remove zucchini with a slotted spoon, set aside. Drain ravioli.

In 2-quart square baking dish layer half the tomato slices and drizzle with 1 Tbsp (or less) olive oil. Sprinkle half the fresh basil and then add a layer of ravioli, shredded cheese, and zucchini slices. Top with seasonings - a dash of salt, ground pepper, garlic powder, and dried oregano, or whatever you like - and repeat all the layers. At the very top add a little more cheese.

Bake, uncovered, 9 to 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and begins to brown. Put under the broiler for a minute to crisp the top. Let it rest for at least 15 minutes before serving. (It will probably fall apart a little anyway; just go with it.)

This is excellent leftover and reheated, and tends to hold together better the next day.

Ramekin Mac & Cheese

2011-09-14T09:00:00.003-04:00

I'm sure there are half a million blog posts that start out by describing the wonders of mac & cheese. So I'll skip it - we all know it's amazing.

So how to improve upon a classic? Make it in ramekins, of course! I adore miniature/individual sized food (who doesn't?). Plus, fewer dishes to clean.

I also added spicy Italian pork sausage and garlic and gruyere chicken sausage, as I had leftovers of both in my fridge and needed to use them up.

Yum. Hearty, cheesy, crunchy on top, gooey in the middle goodness.

Ramekin Mac & Cheese

*Disclaimer: I completely played this by ear, adjusting as I went along. These measurements are educated guesses at best.*

1 1/2 cups dry pasta
2 1/2 tablespoons butter, divided
3 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup grated cheese of your choice (I like extra sharp cheddar)
Seasonings of choice: salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, etc.
2 links pork or chicken sausage (optional!)
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons grated parmesan

Preheat oven to 350.

Boil water and cook your favorite pasta (multi-grain elbow macaroni shown) to al dente. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, make the cheese sauce. Melt about 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter in a sauce pan over low heat; add 3 tablespoons flour and combine with butter to make a roux.

Slowly add 3/4 cup milk, in 2-3 batches, whisking it into the roux until smooth. It will probably seem way too thin at first, but it will thicken a lot as it continues to cook.

Add grated cheese and whisk until melted. Now, season to taste. I used a few dashes each of salt, black pepper, paprika, and garlic powder. Continue adding dashes of whatever you please until tastes like what you want. (This is my primary cooking method.)

Pour the sauce over your cooked pasta and mix to incorporate. At this point, I added two links of sliced, cooked sausage. You could also try adding tuna, peas, broccoli, etc. Whatever you have lying around. Divide mac & cheese mixture into two ramekins.

Prepare the crumb topping: melt 1 tablespoon butter in a microwave safe bowl for 30-60 seconds. Add 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs and about 2 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese into the butter; mix with a fork. Top each ramekin with half of the breadcrumb mixture.

Bake ramekins for 7-10 minutes, or until everything inside is nice and hot.

Place under the oven broiler for 1-2 minutes or until breadcrumbs are browned and crunchy.

Dig in!

Pumpkin Candy Bowl

2011-09-09T09:00:00.000-04:00

There I was, walking to yoga class on a beautiful Saturday morning, when I stumbled upon a yard sale. Living in the city with no car, I don't frequent yard sales. But I just might start.

This beauty was one dollar. That's right. A buck!

Obviously I love pumpkins, so I had to have it. But I ALSO love candy bowls. And I think this one is neutral enough to be appropriate year-round.

I also got an extension cord for another dollar, but it wasn't as photogenic.

Anyone else have great yard sale experiences?

Fall Tartlets

2011-09-02T09:00:00.000-04:00

Some might be resisting it, but fall is here - my favorite season (if you couldn't tell from the name of this blog). While pondering what to do with a lot of leftover dried figs, I came up with these autumnal tartlets, with fall fruits and a cheesecake-like topping:

I used shortbread dough for the crusts, cutting out circles and wedging them into mini muffin cups. For an extra-fall touch, I used half white sugar, half brown sugar in this variation and added about 2 teaspoons of pumpkin spice to the dough.

I baked the crust-lets for about 10 minutes, let them cool, and started filling. I made half with my fig filling (see below for recipe), and then remembered I had a jar of pumpkin butter from Amish country and immediately knew I had to use that too.

After I filled all the crusts, I made a cream cheese/whipped cream topping, which I scooped into a piping bag and let chill in the freezer for about 30 minutes to firm up.

Then I started piping - with a large star-shaped tip. A dollop of cheesecakey topping on each one, topped with pumpkin pie spice on the pumpkin tarts and lemon zest on the fig tarts.

Delicious for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Or anytime in between.

Pumpkin & Fig Fall Tartlets

Ingredients

Shortbread Crust (adapted from Ina Garten)

3/4 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (or desired combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, and/or clove)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt

Fig Filling

1 cup dried figs
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Dash of salt

Pumpkin Filling

One jar of pumpkin butter (easy, right?)

Cheesecake-like Topping

8 oz cream cheese (softened)
1 cup Cool Whip
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Lemon zest and pumpkin pie spice (garnish)

Directions

Crust:

Preheat oven to 350. In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugars until they are just combined. Add the vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and spices; then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and roll shape into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough 1/4-inch thick and cut with a circular cookie cutter (I used a 3" circle to fit to my mini muffin pan). Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until just beginning to brown. Remove and cool completely (speed this up in the fridge or freezer).

Fig Filling:

Combine figs, water, lemon juice, and salt in a small saucepan. On medium heat, let simmer for roughly five minutes. Put mixture in food processor and blend until smooth.

Cheesecake Topping:

Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla in an electric mixer until smooth. Fold in Cool Whip and beat until lumps are gone.

Spoon mixture into a piping bag (or large zip-loc) and place in freezer for 30 minutes so it can stiffen.

Assembly

Spoon fig mixture and pumpkin butter into cooled shortbread crusts. Pipe cream cheese mixture onto the top of each tart, and top with lemon zest and/or cinnamon/pumpkin pie spice.

Perfect in one bite!

Pasta White Bean Bake

2011-08-30T09:00:00.000-04:00

You know when you're starving, you want something hot and hearty, but you feel like there is absolutely nothing to eat in your kitchen?

I get that a lot. Luckily, I always have pasta. And beans. And usually at least one variety of frozen veggie.

While I cooked a cup of whole wheat shells in some chicken broth, I steamed some frozen green beans over a saucepan of water. I strained the green beans and about 4 ounces of white cannelini beans and plopped them into a ramekin.

Isn't this silicone steaming basket fun?

Anyway, I digress. Once the pasta cooked, I drained it and tossed it with 1/2 tablespoon of butter, salt, pepper, dried basil, and a little garlic powder. Then I mixed the pasta in with the beans (green and white) and topped it with a tablespoon of freshly grated parmesan.

Into the oven for about 8 minutes on 350, and then under the broiler for about 2 minutes to finish it off.

Whole wheat pasta for starch, white beans for protein, green beans for your veggie, and a little cheese and butter for delicious.

Vegas, Baby

2011-08-26T09:00:00.004-04:00

As is becoming all too frequent, I've been away from the blog for a week (or so) hiatus. But this time, I have a good excuse, as I was in Las Vegas with my sister.

A few snippets of breakfast, drinks, and dessert (my essentials):

Breakfast Highlight:

Mon Ami Gabi, Paris Resort & Casino: Lemon & Strawberry Crepes (with steak tenderloin eggs benedict in the background)

My sister Cabell and I split these two breakfast dishes. Sadly that glass of water is blocking the gravy boat full of whipped cream.

Drinks Highlight:

Jack Daniels Whiskey & Ginger, Eiffel Tower collectible strawberry margarita

Did you know Jack Daniels and Ginger Ale comes pre-mixed?? And yes, that Eiffel tower was full of booze.

Dessert Highlight:

The Buffet, Bellagio Las Vegas

Adorable mini key lime and lemon meringue tarts. Complete with the signature Bellagio B.

Go West, young man, and drink novelty glasses of frozen cocktails.

Fall Pumps

2011-08-12T09:00:00.000-04:00

I've been lusting over a certain pair of strappy high heels all summer, thinking my time was running out to buy them. But really, I realized, they'd work for fall too. Hallelujah.

And the more I've been looking at summer sales, the more I realize that a lot of these strappy leather numbers in neutral colors could transition to autumnal outfits quite easily. With naked toes or paired with opaque tights if you're feeling bold (or cold), these pumps would look great with a fall trench.

1. L.A.M.B. Women's Norwood Platform Sandal, $255

2. Matiko Trix Sandal, $199.99

3. Nine West Raindate, $99

4. Wild Rose Criss Cross Open Toe Sandal, $28.80

5. ZIGIny Sonia, $199.99

6. Naughty Monkey Casting Call Sandal, $79.95

Semi-Homemade Donuts

2011-08-09T09:00:00.000-04:00

One of the first things I knew I had to make with my new deep fryer was donuts. If you know me, you know I cannot resist a donut, preferably with chocolate frosting and sprinkles. But yeast donuts seemed so time consuming, I was putting it off until I had a big chunk of time available. However, after perusing the internet for donut recipes, I was surprised to find one appearing over and over: cut holes in refrigerated biscuit dough and deep fry it.

Deep fried biscuits? Masquerading as donuts? No thank you, right? But I KEPT seeing this "recipe" pop up online. With tons of positive reviews. So I thought, why not. Worst case scenario I waste $2 on a can of biscuits and about five minutes of my Saturday.

And turns out, they were outstanding.

Honestly, what I liked most about them is that they weren't quite as airy as your standard Dunkin Donut. You know, where you eat three donuts and feel like you were chewing air? Delicious air, but still not much sustenance?

Well, the biscuit dough solved that. It's layered and light but still bready. And no, they really don't taste like biscuits. Once they surface from that deep fryer, they taste like donuts!

And don't forget the donut holes! (Blurry, but equally yummy.)

Semi-Homemade Donuts

1 can biscuit dough
Small circular cutter (you can use a bottle cap or skinny shot glass in a pinch)
Oil for frying

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 Tbsp corn syrup
2 Tbsp butter
Sprinkles

Heat the oil to 350 degrees.
Cut your donut holes.

Prepare the glaze:
In the microwave or double broiler, melt chocolate chips, butter, and corn syrup until smooth. Keep warm over the double broiler or re-microwave if necessary to keep the glaze thin while frying your donuts.

Fry the donuts quickly! I dunked them for about 30 seconds per side, which worked perfectly without over-crisping.
Drain for a minute or two on paper towels.
Dunk in chocolate glaze, then immediately coat in sprinkles.
Perfection.

(Also try coating with powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar.)

Devour. I finished off all 8 of these in less than 24 hours. No shame.

P.S. If anyone can figure out how to make that "butternut" topping Dunkin Donuts uses, throw a girl a bone over here.

Chocolate Chip Coookie Oreo Brownie Bars

2011-08-04T09:00:00.002-04:00

That's right, you read that correctly. Chocolate chip cookies, oreos, and brownies, all in one bar. Oh, and also hot fudge.

I saw this recipe from the blog Kevin & Amanda and was obviously drawn to it immediately. I love chocolate chip cookies. I love Oreos. I am basically addicted to brownies. All in one? But it was so indulgent I didn't know when I'd have the excuse to make it.

Enter a co-worker's birthday a week later. His favorite desserts were listed as brownies and chocolate chip cookie dough, so I figured there was no time like the present to whip these monsters up.

And yes, they taste just like they look. Completely outrageous and delicious. The hot fudge mixed into the brownie batter stays gooey and oozes out while you're trying to eat them. I'd recommend a fork or a lot of napkins. Or just complete dessert abandon.

Toasted Ravioli

2011-08-02T09:00:00.006-04:00

Of the many cool kitchen toys I got for my birthday, the most extravagant was probably my deep fryer! That's right. I now own a deep fryer. For its christening, I wanted to make something relatively simple but delicious, and toasted ravioli immediately came to mind.

If you're not from Missouri (and relatively close to St. Louis), you might not know what toasted ravioli are. Well, they're delicious. Akin to a mozzarella stick, you bread meat-filled ravioli and deep fry them. Traditionally they're dipped in marinara, but not being a big red sauce fan, I used an alternative. What else - blue cheese dressing.

Finding beef-filled ravioli turned out to be harder than I thought, so I opted for Trader Joe's lobster ravioli. Hence, my final product became St. Louis/New England Style Toasted Ravioli, a very opportune meeting of cultures.

Using one beaten egg and a cup of Italian style breadcrumbs, I dredged each raviolo in egg and then crumbs, allowing them to sit for 5-10 minutes before frying for the breading to set up.

Into the oily depths of the deep fryer, four at a time. I used canola oil, although I hear peanut oil is great for frying, too.

Don't these babies look amazing? I let them fry for 1 minute, then flipped them over with tongs, and then 1 more minute on the other side. Beautiful.

And how'd they taste? To die for. Delicious crunch, soft lobster filling, and the blue cheese complemented perfectly. If you are into marinara, I'm sure it will taste great as well.

Now to figure out what's next for my fryer...

On an unrelated note:

Happy birthday, Mom!

Dessert Pancakes

2011-07-12T10:38:00.000-04:00

I love breakfast. Who doesn't? Fried eggs, bacon, corned beef hash... more sodium, please. But occasionally pancakes are the only thing that will hit the spot. And occasionally plain old pancakes just won't cut it. Enter chocolate chips and sprinkles.

Pancakes are so simple and quick to make, and really not that bad for you (when plain). Maybe it was the fact that I'd slept late and hadn't had a meal in over 12 hours; maybe it was the abundance of cocktails from the night before... but I needed chocolate. And after adding some bittersweet chocolate chips, I thought they looked lonely. Sprinkles to the rescue.

You know what would've made these even fancier? Whipped cream. And I considered it... but in the end, I resisted. Maybe next time.

Yogurt Parfaits

2011-06-30T09:00:00.002-04:00

Mmmm parfaits. You could make me a beet and turnip parfait and I would still probably love it. Something about layers makes them delicious.

So the other morning, for a quick weekend breakfast, I indulged in this one! Greek yogurt, blueberries, and granola. I used Chobani non-fat vanila yogurt with Kellog's reduced fat granola and fresh blueberries, but you could mix it up any which way, with frozen fruit, plain yogurt, or maybe some honey if you're feeling wild.

Nom nom. Too delicious to take an in-focus photo.

Chicken Sausage & Caramelized Onion Flatbread

2011-06-17T09:00:00.000-04:00

Mmm pizza. I did a post on homemade pizza this winter, but this one is different enough to warrant its own day in the sun.

I got my inspiration for this at none other than Bertucci's (chain Italian restaurant if you're not familiar). I had a delicious brick oven pizza there featuring a lemon cream sauce, caramelized onions, and prosciutto.

Of course, I made modifications. Start with some onions. (And preheat your oven to 400 to prep.)

Sautee the onions in some olive oil and a pinch of brown sugar. Stir them occasionally to keep from burning.

While you're waiting for the onions to caramelize, do a couple things. First: cut up some chicken sausage (I went with this over prosciutto because I had it handy).

Next, make your "cream" sauce. For a lighter option, I made mine with Greek yogurt. I mixed two tablespoons of plain fat-free yogurt with about a teaspoon of lemon juice and spices: salt, black pepper, garlic powder, dried basil, and Paula Deen's "pepper mix" (everyone has that in their spice cabinet, right?). Mix, taste, re-season, repeat. I inevitably add more garlic powder.

Once the onions are soft, throw your chicken sausage in with them. This isn't essential (assuming your sausage is already cooked), but it's nice to brown it and get the onion flavor really incorporated.

Assemble your flat bread. I used Trader Joe's whole wheat pita here, although I've used their naan before too for a thicker crust. Spoon the yogurt sauce on and then top with sausage, onions, and a couple tablespoons of freshly grated parmesan.

Into the oven. I cooked the flatbread for 6 minutes at 400 and then put it under the broiler for about a minute and a half. Golden perfection.

Looks done, right? But not without my favorite ingredient: arugula.

Slice your pizza and top with arugula to get some greens in. And add a Magic Hat Wacko to get some beer in.

Kiss Cookies

2011-06-13T09:00:00.000-04:00

Mmm chocolate on chocolate. If you're a cocoa fan like myself, you'll love these. And they're super simple to whip together.

I used this recipe from the Curvy Carrot, and the only modification I made was adding about a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice to the dough to bring out the cocoa flavor.

Here's the star of the show: the Hershey's kiss. In dark, milk, and hug variety. I actually hate white chocolate, but I thought the hugs would look cute. Plus, I made these for my coworkers and I assumed (correctly) that some of them would like white chocolate.

And of course, my favorite, sprinkles. Lots of em.

Once the dough was made, I let it chill in the freezer for a few minutes to make it more workable and then rolled into tablespoon sized balls. I rolled each ball in sprinkles...

... and then pushed my thumb in them to make an indentation. They baked at 375 degrees for 8 minutes.

While they were in the oven, I unwrapped my kisses. As soon as the cookies came out, on went a kiss (or hug)!

These were yummy. The cocoa gives them a nice dark flavor, and they stayed soft throughout the next day (the cookies weren't around after that, so I can't vouch for their long-term softness).

One hint: don't try to make these on a 95 degree day before you've put in your AC units. My dough (and chocolate kisses) were getting constantly gooey, making rotations in the fridge necessary.

Kitchen Sink Salad

2011-06-06T09:00:00.000-04:00

I used to not like salads as an entree. They seemed so boring. I needed more. But I finally figured out I just wasn't putting enough good stuff in them. So now my philosophy is to dump as many things I love on top of some greens. Behold:

The Kitchen Sink Salad. Everything good. And completely customizable.

Start with some greens. I've been having a chronic arugula craving lately, but it doesn't really stock that many nutrients on its own, so I used half baby spinach as well.

Next I chopped some fruits and veggies. The grapes and blueberries add a little sweetness without being overpowering. Tomatoes are a must for me in any salad, and these little grape ones are so cute. And, of course, avocado adds some creamy deliciousness. (Meanwhile, I was roasting some chopped yellow squash in the toaster oven on 400 degrees to soften it.)

Since this is dinner, we need some bulk. My favorites: a soft-boiled egg and baby potatoes. These creamer potatoes add an amazing texture to the salad. And I realize some people might get grossed out by the soft-boiled egg, but the runny yolk mixing with everything else is like heaven to me.

Annnd everything assembled. Spinach, arugula, blueberries, tomatoes, avocado, summer squash, grapes, egg, and potatoes. And topped with my homemade dressing: olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, brown mustard, lemon juice, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and dried basil. Measured in whatever proportions come to mind when I make it.

Not pictured: the kitchen sink.

Fruit Pizza

2011-06-01T09:00:00.001-04:00

I know, it's been like two weeks since my last post. I'm busy! I'm sure my 3 readers will understand.

We had a Memorial Day/Birthday Party barbecue this weekend for my friend Shar and in place of birthday cake, I made my summer favorite: fruit pizza.

I LOVE pizza (so does Shar). But don't worry, this isn't some weird twist on Canadian bacon and pineapple (gross). It's straight up dessert.

Crust: sugar cookie
Sauce: whipped cream/cream cheese concoction
Toppings: what else? Fruit!

So simple and amazingly delicious. Trust me. You wouldn't imagine these simple ingredients could taste so good together.

Fruit Pizza

Sugar cookie dough (I cheated - using a 16.5 oz Pillsbury roll is super easy!)
8 oz reduced fat cream cheese
8 oz lite Cool Whip
Sliced fruit (I use bananas, strawberries, kiwi, and blueberries to get the full rainbow)
Lemon, lime, or orange juice

Roll the sugar cookie dough onto a 12" circular pan. Preheat the oven and bake for 12 minutes or until set and browning on the bottom.

Cool cooked crust in fridge or freezer for about an hour.

Combine softened cream cheese and Cool Whip (using an electric mixer will do a better job getting all the cream cheese chunks blended).

Spread cream cheese "sauce" on cooled crust.

Place sliced fruit on the sauce. Take your time and make it pretty if making this for a crowd. Throw it in a huge heap in the middle if you plan on devouring this alone. (No judgement here.)

To keep the bananas from browning: after you slice your bananas (or any other fruit that is prone to brown), toss them in a bowl with citrus juice (I used lemon to add some tang). Let the banana sit in the juice for a few minutes before placing them on the pizza. Spritz a little extra fruit juice on the finished pie just to be sure.

You can't have just one slice. Trust me. That's why you should try to use the reduced fat cream cheese and whipped cream. Trust me.

Pea Pesto

2011-05-17T09:00:00.001-04:00

Mmmm pesto. Okay, this doesn't have any basil in it, but it's still delicious. I saw this recipe from Giada De Laurentis months ago and finally got around to making it this weekend.

Milder but sweeter than basil hummus, this stuff is super versatile. And if you're like me and you always have frozen peas on hand, you'll probably have all the ingredients in your kitchen.

The components are simple: peas, parmesan, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Bam. Pesto.

All of that got blended together in the food processor until smooth, a couple minutes.

Oh right, and then I added roasted pine nuts because I have a ton of them.

Mmmm garlicky goodness. The fresh garlic helps cut the sweetness of the peas.

Now for some crostini. I halved some cherry tomatoes to top the pesto.

And meanwhile, I grilled some baguette slices on our Griddler. You could brush olive oil on the bread, but I decided to skip it.

Spoon a glob of hummus on each slice and top with a cherry tomato. This makes an amazing snack with a glass of wine.

But wait, that's not all. On to some chicken salad.

I pan fried half of a chicken breast with some Cajun seasoning (the spiciness complemented the sweet peas too) and sliced it thin. Then I tossed the pesto, chicken, and diced tomatoes.

Great on toast, in a sandwich, or on a salad.

Pea Pesto

8 ounces frozen peas, defrosted
1 clove garlic
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup roasted pine nuts
1 Tbps lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Combine everything in a food processor and blend until smooth, about 2 minutes. Enjoy on everything!

Sweet Potato Hummus Chicken Salad

2011-04-29T09:00:00.000-04:00

Do you like chicken but hate mayo? Do you also happen to like sweet potatoes and hummus? This recipe is for you.

I love chicken salad (and tuna salad!), but the mayo flavor can really turn me off. Last year I started making tuna/chicken salad with hummus in place of the mayo. Understandably, it makes for a thicker salad than the mayo version, but it's so yummy. Plus the hummus is wayyy better for you than mayo.

The other night, I had some chicken breast tenderloins I needed to cook as well as a leftover baked sweet potato... thus the Sweet Potato Hummus Chicken Salad was born. First, I brined the chicken in a salt water bath for about 20 minutes to keep it moist and then pan fried it.

Meanwhile, I chopped up half of a red bell pepper and two stalks of celery. I finished them in the food processor to make them extra fine.

Once the tenderloins had cooled, I cut/shredded them into this pile o' chicken. Now, as for the hummus and sweet potato steps, it turns out I forgot to document either. But basically, I mixed a half cup of plain hummus with half of a peeled, baked sweet potato, mashing the potato with a fork as I mixed. I mixed in the shredded chicken, pepper, and celery, along with some spices and lemon juice, and it was ready to go.

Delicious on potato bread with some fresh spinach. And even better grilled on the panini press!

Sweet Potato Hummus Chicken Salad

Makes 4 servings

1 - 1.5 cups diced chicken breast, cooked
1/2 red bell pepper
2 stalks celery (or veggies of your choice!)
1/2 cup hummus
1/2 cup mashed sweet potato (baking it in the microwave for about 5 minutes is my cooking method of choice)
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Dill, paprika, salt, and pepper to taste

Mix everything together! Yes, it's that easy.

I started by mashing the sweet potato and hummus together, then adding the lemon juice, mustard, and seasonings. Then I dumped in the chicken and veggies and added a few more spices until it was just right.

This is a perfect recipe to make over the weekend and then take for lunch during the week. And it's probably the highest fiber & nutrient and lowest fat chicken salad on earth (and highest yumminess).

Lollipop Cookies

2011-04-27T09:00:00.005-04:00

Cookie pops!

Not really much to say here, as I used my standard shortbread recipe from Ina Garten (doubling the salt and cutting the baking time in half) and didn't take any photos as I went along. Ina's recipe made 19 of these large (4 inch) cookies.

I baked the cookies with the sticks underneath them, which fuses them.

To decorate them as lollipops, I made royal icing and first iced each cookie with a solid bright color (pink or yellow). While the icing was wet, I covered them in matching sanding sugar to make them look glittery.

After the icing was completely dry, I iced a spiral onto each cookie with the same color as their base coat. While this icing was wet, I dumped rainbow nonpareils on to completely cover the spiral and then shook off the excess. (Hint: it takes a ton of excess sprinkles, so I collected them on wax paper and reused them.)

And to finish off, I wrapped each cookie in a plastic baggie and tied it up with a ribbon! I brought these in to an office meeting for a fun afternoon snack, but they'd make great party favors as well.

My Easter Basket

2011-04-26T09:00:00.001-04:00

I don't generally do that much for Easter, but thankfully my parents still send me a basket every year from the Easter Bunny. Actually, our family grew up with the Easter Iguanodon, so his name is on the return address label. Don't ask.

Here's this year's haul:

Glitter glue! For the child and crafter in all of us. Those are two of my most prominent personality traits, so this is perfect for me. They'll definitely come in handy for homemade greeting cards.

And who doesn't need heart-shaped post-it notes? No one. I really love novelty post-its... I'm not sure anyone actually knows this about me, including my parents, but they hit the nail on the head with this one.

And the token Easter stuffed animal... The pteranodon! I shall call him Pterry.

And finally, to the normal part of an Easter basket... chocolate. Dark chocolate Lindt truffles to be exact. It may take me a while to get through these, seeing as I made 80 dark chocolate truffles a few days ago (see yesterday's post). Wine not included.

Thank you Mom & Dad! Did anyone else get anything as good as a stuffed pteranodon?

Bittersweet Truffles

2011-04-25T09:00:00.000-04:00

My favorite food: dark chocolate. In bite size form. Covered with my favorite food decoration: sprinkles.

I made truffles over Christmas but was frustrated after dipping them in a melted chocolate coating and then trying to roll them in sprinkles/nuts/etc. Contrary to what many recipes might tell you, this doesn't work. You just get a gooey chocolately mess of sprinkles.

So this time I skipped the melted chocolate coating and went straight to sprinkles with very colorful results!

Making the ganache couldn't be easier. I heated 1/2 cup of heavy cream and 9 Tbs of butter (yes, nine! But it makes a ton of truffles) in a saucepan until it just started to boil. Then I poured the hot cream mixture over a bowl of bittersweet (60% cacao) chocolate chips and stirred until melted.

To half of it I added a couple teaspoons of espresso powder and to the other half a couple teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice (nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, allspice) to taste.

Cover the ganache(s) and place them in the fridge or freezer to set. I left mine for an hour in the fridge and then another hour in the freezer to speed up the process. You want it to be pretty firm for scooping, so feel free to refrigerate it overnight.

Using a melon baller or ice cream scoop, dig out tablepoons of the ganache and place on wax paper. Don't worry too much about the shape - that comes next.

Now roll each chocolate glob into a ball. The main challenge here is finding just the right temperature so that this actually works. Too warm and they will just melt all over your hands; too cold and you won't be able to really change the shape into a smooth sphere. I found that by doing a rough roll for all of them first and then coming back to roll them again, they got to the right temperature.

Now for toppings. I knew I wanted to use cocoa powder and crushed peanuts, along with a few kinds of sprinkles. Turns out, I have more than a few sprinkle varieties.

After I took this picture I discovered two other bottles of sprinkles in the pantry. I may have a problem.

I eventually settled on 3 or 4 colors, including a mini Easter mix, which is pastel bunnies, chicks, and eggs. I ground about 1/2 cup of lightly salted peanuts in my food processor until pretty fine so that it would adhere well to the chocolate.

I love any excuse to use my little heart bowls. Turns out they were the perfect vehicle for holding sprinkles and rolling truffles around in them!

The best technique here is to roll the truffle briefly in your palms to make sure it's a little sticky, then place in a small bowl of sprinkles, cocoa, etc. Then shake the bowl gently back and forth to cover the truffle, turning it over with your fingers if necessary.

Okay, so I might have used more than 4 kinds of sprinkles. I just couldn't decide. Above are the espresso truffles and below are the spiced ones.

I brought these Saturday night to a friend's wine tasting birthday party and they were the perfect treat paired with a glass of Malbec. And since they're so dark and rich, having only one or two is pretty satisfying (I added up the caloric value, and each of these truffles only came to about 40 calories! That's based on using this recipe to make 80 truffles.)

Easy, impressive, tasty, and a great way to use 15 kind of sprinkles.

Oh, and p.s. keep these in the fridge so they don't turn into goo balls.

Black Bean Burger

2011-04-20T09:00:00.008-04:00

I'm not a vegetarian, but I love veggie burgers. Especially black bean ones. However, I realized yesterday that while I have made many a meat burger, I've never even attempted the veggie version. Problem solved.

And of course, I had to make a side of sweet potato fries/chips/whatever to go with the burger. I finally remembered to use the mandoline, and it cut amazingly equal size chips.

I spritzed the sweet potato chips with a little canola oil, sprinkled salt, pepper, and cumin on them, and baked them in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, I made the burger batter (that's kind of what it's like), vaguely following this recipe from fANNEtastic food. I improvised on amounts and spices, but I think I ended up using 1 can (15 oz) beans, 1 cup spinach, 1/4 cup wheat flour, 2 tsp olive oil, a clove of garlic, and dashes here and there of salt, pepper, cumin, and paprika to taste.

All of that went into the food processor and became burger paste. Mmmmmmmmm. (p.s. This makes two patties. I had one for dinner and packed one for lunch.)

I also sauteed a handful of sliced baby portobello mushrooms to use as a yummy burger topper.

The burger batter was pretty sloppy, so I worked in a little more flour as needed. Once I got a vaguely circle-shaped portion of it on the hot pan, it took shape pretty well and got nice and crispy on the surface.

I cooked the patty for about 3 minutes on each side, then served it on a toasted potato roll with avocado and the sauteed mushrooms. Together with the crispy sweet potato chips, the black bean burger was a yummy and incredibly nutritious success! Black beans, fresh spinach and sweet potato all in one meal. Not too shabby.

Berry Chocolate Cobbler Bars

2011-04-15T09:00:00.000-04:00

Since we were grilling this weekend and the weather finally felt like Spring, I wanted to make a nice summery dessert. Cobbler came to mind immediately, which morphed to cobbler bars (more portable). I found a recipe for blueberry crumb bars, but blueberries aren't really my thing. Plus, it seemed like it was missing something. What else? Chocolate.

So the mixed berry dark chocolate cobbler bar was born. Cobbler crumb crust, blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries, with a layer of 72% dark chocolate to take them from simple dessert to crack.

I cannot stop eating these things. After eating a cheeseburger and a bratwurst on Saturday night, I'm pretty sure I had 5 of these bars. No joke.

I didn't even have a chance to take a photo until the pan was 3/4 gone. I may have a problem. Those berries just taste so damn good with that chocolate.

Speaking of which, I love how in the UK and Ireland (and maybe the rest of Europe - does anyone know?), they call mixed berry-flavored things "Fruits of the Forest." It just sounds so magical.

Berry Chocolate Cobbler Bars

1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup butter (room temperature)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon "pumpkin pie spice" (or any combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and/or allspice)
3 cups berries of your choice (I used frozen "berry medley" from Trader Joe's)
1/2 cup white sugar (for fruit filling)
3 teaspoons cornstarch
3-4 ounces dark chocolate

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 inch pan.

In a large bowl, stir together 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and spices. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.

In another bowl, stir together the sugar and cornstarch. Gently mix in berries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust.

Finely chop (or food process) dark chocolate. Sprinkle chocolate over berry layer, and top with the remaining dough.

Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares. (Speed this part up in the fridge if in a rush.)

Turns out I've had other run-ins with fruits of the forest and chocolate. See this post on mini mixed-berry and Nutella tarts.

DIY Greeting Cards

2011-04-13T09:00:00.022-04:00

I've ordered handmade holiday cards on Etsy.com the past few years and I like them so much more than the store-bought variety. A) they just seem nicer since more work went into them and B) you can find cards that truly fit your tastes, as Etsy has so many to choose from.

But why stop there? I used to scrapbook, but it's so time consuming that I had very few completed projects. But I figured I could successfully complete a tiny little card. And I was right!

So I set off for Paper-Source for supplies. Even there, the highest-priced store I allow myself to frequent, I think the materials ran about $1 per card for everything involved. The basics were blank cards, envelopes, and pretty paper to glue on the front.

I chose a gorgeous Japanese print and a cute little "thank you" stamp for the first card. First I cut out and glued a 4"x6" piece of the printed paper to the front of the blank card. I then used the stamp and turquoise ink pad to make the "thank you" tag on white card stock.

Using some coordinating turquoise ribbon, I glued down the thank you tag to the card. Bam. Finished card. I'll probably invest in some cream colored card stock for the next time I use this paper, though, since the white clashed a little bit.

Now onto card #2: Maneki Neko birthday card. I didn't know that the lucky waving Japanese cat was called that, but I just learned all about it on Wikipedia. Did you know, for instance, that a raised left paw supposedly attracts money and a raised right paw protects it? Now you do. (I guess this card protects your birthday cash.)

I didn't splurge on a "happy birthday" stamp, so I chose a fun font and printed it on white card stock. I wasn't sure how the colors would look once printed, so I tried a few options. (And then went with blue.)

Then I remembered some super glittery pink paper I have that coordinated really well. Can't resist glitter.

Annnnd a little something-something on the inside.

Honestly, this was super easy. Like most crafts, the initial investment seemed a little steep, but I'll be able to make 30 cards or so with the supplies I bought. Assuming I stay motivated.

Buffalo Chicken Bake

2011-04-11T09:00:00.000-04:00

I'm trying a new feature here, guys: Leftovers Lunes. Aka Leftovers Mondays, but my roommate told me it should be alliterative. In either language, I often find myself with random leftovers from weekend culinary escapades, and Mondays are a good opportunity to get creative and use them up.

As evidenced here, I like buffalo chicken. A lot. And evidenced on the rest of this blog, I like pasta with anything. So when my friend Michael left a huge order of leftover buffalo chicken fingers in my apartment, I didn't delay in making a buffalo chicken pasta bake.

I also had leftover bell peppers and red onions from these veggie kabobs, so I threw them in the food processor to dice them.

And the star of the show, buffalo chicken fingers. These babies were really spicy on their own, but added just the right amount of kick to an entire casserole.

All chopped up. I put my pasta in to cook (I chose Ziti) and started the sauce.

I made a basic alfredo to begin, starting with a roux (flour and butter), then adding milk, salt and pepper and stirring until it thickened. Then I added about 1/3 cup of bleu cheese dressing and about 1/4 cup of cheddar/mozzarella mix. I seasoned to taste with garlic powder, paprika, and chili powder. After all of this, it got too thick, so I whisked in 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking liquid to thin it a bit.

Finished sauce. I strained the pasta and mixed it with everything else (sauce, chicken, veggies) in a 9x13 baking dish.

And to top it off, no casserole is complete without buttered bread crumbs. And no buffalo chicken dish is complete without blue cheese crumbles and Frank's red hot. So I went ahead and added both of those, too.

It went into a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes and finished off in the broiler for 1-2 minutes, or until the bread crumbs browned.

Man this was delicious. Not exactly the healthiest meal in the world, but at least it had a few different food groups.

Any other leftover-creation ideas for chicken fingers?

Veggie Kabobs

2011-03-30T09:00:00.001-04:00

Grilling season is upon us. Most of us, anyway. If you live in Boston like me, you have to pretend. With highs in the mid 40s over the past week, it doesn't feel like April is coming in a matter of days, but you make do.

Since we have a backyard patio and grill at my apartment, it's hard to resist firing up the grill when it's late March. And of course, I say that theoretically, because my boyfriend is the grillmaster, even at my house. So the other night we had my favorite - brats! - with some fresh veggie kabobs.

Wow, that's a lot of flash. Oops. But don't the colors look pretty? We skewered yellow and red bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, red onion and cloves of garlic, after soaking the skewers in water for about 20 minutes. Once they were all in the dish, we brushed parmesan olive oil over them along with a pinch of salt and pepper.

And onto the grill! Delicious, and so beautiful. Along with the brats they made a wonderful, balanced meal. Our only advice would be to try roasting the garlic and onion before chopping/skewering them. While the other veggies were perfectly cooked, the garlic and onions could have been a bit softer with their flavors mellowed.

So if it's warm outside where you are, or if you can stand standing out in the cold (a beer helps), go grill!

Chocolate Banana Trifle

2011-03-28T09:46:00.000-04:00

When we moved into our apartment last fall, the previous tenants had done a very thorough cleaning job and luckily, we weren't left dealing with any of their abandoned belongings. Except one item: a glass trifle dish. I have been waiting to put it to use for six months, and this weekend I finally made a huge, beautiful trifle.

Nope, I didn't even make the pudding from the scratch. The two flavors I worked with were chocolate and banana, so I bought some easy instant pudding to start with.

I knew brownies would really take this to the next level. My first step was whipping up a batch, letting them cool (I sped this up in the freezer), and cutting them into bite size cubes. Obviously I had to test a couple.

Next I made the two bowls of pudding. I used two boxes of chocolate and one box of banana. The fake banana flavor was a little strong, so I mixed in about a cup of cool whip to mellow it a bit.

Next up: actual bananas. I sliced two large bananas, which ended up being just the right amount.

Here's the trifle dish. Isn't it cool? I'm so glad they decided they had no use for it. Now that I had all my ingredients prepped, it was time to start layering.

First some chocolate pudding and sliced bananas. The foundation of my trifle.

Next up: layers of cool whip, banana pudding, and brownie chunks.

More chocolate pudding and, I forgot to mention, Nilla wafers! These go so well with the banana pudding.

Annnnd here's the final product. I think by the end it was:
3 layers chocolate pudding
3 layers Cool Whip
2 layers banana pudding
2 layers banana slices
2 layers brownies
2 layers Nilla wafers

And somehow the trifle dish fit EXACTLY the amount of stuff I had prepared. Fate.

This dessert was the sum of all my favorite things, and in my opinion, delicious. It lasted a couple extra days covered in plastic wrap in the fridge, and really only got better as the pudding/brownie/whipped cream goodness soaked into each other.

Chocolate Shamrock Cookies

2011-03-17T09:00:00.001-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day! No holiday is complete without a themed cookie, and as St. Pat's is one of my favorites, I had to make something special. I've done decorated cookies a few times (see here and here), but I've never combined the cut-out cookie with chocolate. Weird, as chocolate is my food group of choice. So here it goes.

The chocolate cut-out cookie recipe is from Bake at 350, a cute cookie-centered blog. This dough was amazing. It tasted like the inside of a truffle. I considered just rolling it into balls and serving it as is, but I decided not to risk spreading salmonella to my friends and coworkers.

Also, unlike my standard shortbread dough, the chocolate dough was incredibly easy to work with, probably because of the egg in it holding it together. It wasn't too crumbly, it didn't stick to the counter. It was awesome.

I used two different shamrock cookie cutters, one four leaf (I didn't like this one as much, but it was bigger), and one traditional three leaf. They cooked for 8 minutes (per the recipe), and although I was afraid I wouldn't be able to tell when they were done (being dark brown no matter what), that was the perfect baking time.

Also unlike my shortbread, they came out so smooth on top! Perfect for icing. And they kept their shape perfectly.

Time for decorating. I made royal icing and tinted it green (of course). Using squeeze bottles, I piped the outlines and then filled them in, finishing off with a ton of sprinkles.

I'm not sure what happened with the top left one here... I think I must've hit an air bubble in my icing.

So they looked good, but how did they taste? Amazing. I followed the recipe exactly and I can't think of any modifications I would make next time. The hint of espresso powder definitely helps bring out the chocolate flavor, and they tasted almost like a dark chocolate brownie. Even the sugary icing, which I normally don't really like, complemented the chocolate perfectly.

Now I'm deciding when I can make these next.

Daylight Savings Cakes

2011-03-14T09:00:00.001-04:00

I love saving daylight. I will gladly give up one random hour of a Sunday night if it means more sunshine at the end of the day. So to welcome DST and Spring, which is bound to be here sometime, I made some bright and sunny banana cupcakes topped with chocolate whipped cream (recipe at the bottom).

My banana cake batter actually started as a plain old boxed yellow cake mix. I made some modifications including, of course, bananas, and came out with the moistest cake I have ever tasted.

I also made a few flower-shaped cakes, which seemed appropriately spring-y.

While the cakes were cooling, I whipped up the frosting. I don't like sugary toppings, and thus don't really enjoy most traditional icings. So for these I made a slightly sweet chocolate whipped cream and I almost ate it all before it made it onto the cupcakes.

Ummm, here is a really blurry flower cake. Turns out the flowers were a bit too small and fragile to look very good once frosted. Oh well. The flower sprinkles and mini Cadbury chocolate egg helped fancy it up.

The cupcakes turned out much better. I piped on the whipped cream with a pastry bag and wide circular tip (which I should've just done with the flower cakes), and topped with assorted Spring sprinkles (left to right: wild flowers, daisies, and butterflies) and a Cadbury egg. I made sure to stiffen the whipped cream to it wouldn't droop immediately (see recipe below).

So perhaps they look more like Easter cupcakes than Daylight Savings Cupcakes. Oh well. They tasted delicious, like an extremely moist, fluffy banana bread topped with dark chocolately whipped cream.

Ready to eat:

And eaten:

Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate Whipped Cream Frosting

Yield: 24 cupcakes

Modified Cake Mix Cupcakes:

1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup water
1/3 cup oil
3 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 ripe bananas
1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350.

Per cake mix instructions, combine cake mix, water, oil, and eggs until smooth. Add sour cream and cinnamon.

In a food processor, blend bananas and baking soda until smooth.

Add banana mixture to cake batter and mix until incorporated.

Pour into cupcake liners (2/3 full) and bake about 18 minutes (they should be lightly browned and a toothpick should come out clean).

Let the cupcakes cool thoroughly before messing with them. They will be extremely airy and moist, so they'll fall apart when still warm.

Dark Chocolate Whipped Cream:

2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 tablespoons powdered sugar
5 tablespoons cocoa powder (natural or Dutch process will work)
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon powdered milk

Using an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, beat whipping cream until soft peaks form. While mixer is on, add all other ingredients. Continue beating until stiff peaks form. Add more cocoa or powdered sugar to taste.

Using powdered sugar instead of granular sugar gives the whipped cream a creamier texture, and it contains corn starch which keeps the cream stiffer. The powdered milk is added as a stabilizer, as it helps keep the whipped cream from separating and being absorbed into the cake.

If, like me, you are only able to find gigantic boxes of powdered milk, you will be able to make quite a bit of stabilized whipped cream in your future.

NYC: Breakfast, Dinner & Dessert

2011-03-11T09:00:00.001-05:00

I was in New York last weekend and figured I should try to make a post out of something from the visit. I got to hang out on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (I definitely felt like pre-crazy Charlie Sheen when I hailed a cab and just said "Wall Street") and I ate my share (and some) of delicious food. While I could do a post about the stock exchange and the pros and cons of investing in stocks in today's market, food might be more relevant to this blog.

First up: breakfast. Technically brunch. We ate at a place called MexiQ in Astoria (this was my first time in Queens!) that had a Mexican-fusion brunch, complete with unlimited cocktails (a requirement for brunch, in my opinion). I had the frosted flakes-encrusted French toast, served with bacon and eggs. Verdict: the French toast was crazy sweet, but I guess I had that coming. The bacon helped even it out, but my allegedly "over-easy" eggs seemed more like hard boiled. Friendly but unbelievably slow service didn't help either (although four mimosas did). I wouldn't go out of my way to go back.

For dinner: The Meatball Shop. This Lower East Side joint serves one thing. Have you guessed what? After a 2 hour+ wait, three "balls on the house" whet our appetites. Above: meatball sliders (chicken meatball with pesto; spicy pork meatball with alfredo sauce; beef meatball with spicy tomato sauce). Delectable.

This was my dish: "naked balls." Spicy pork meatballs with a mushroom gravy, served over steamed spinach. Very yummy, like everything else. If this place didn't have such a long wait (and maybe toned down on the balls jokes), I would be back in a heartbeat.

I actually had this before dinner, but was craving another one after as well. I have always been a fan of banana pudding, so when my friend Kase told me that it was one of Magnolia Bakery's signature items, I had to have it.

oh. my. god. Banana heaven. The pudding was more like mousse, it was so rich, and was layered perfectly with sliced bananas and nilla wafers. I'm craving it again looking at the photo. Doesn't that container seem huge? I thought so too. Then I proceeded to finish it in about 4 minutes.

Brie & Prosciutto

2011-03-08T09:00:00.000-05:00

This is one of my favorite meals, and it's perfect if you're starving and don't want to spend time cooking. So last night, after a 6-9 p.m. class, it made for a delicious end of the day.

Ingredients: French baguette, chunk of brie cheese, sliced prosciutto. Done. Other yummy additions: olives, fruit, any other delicious things that don't require cooking.

Little bread, little cheese, little ham, little red wine (not pictured)... perfection.

No, this did not include a vegetable. I had a green monster this morning to make up for it.

Green Tea Pomegranate Limeade

2011-03-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

This is a really long name for a pretty simple drink. It came about at my house for two reasons:

1. I just saw this recipe for Green Tea Pomegranate Lemonade and it sounded like a delicious way to pretend Spring is coming in Boston.

2. My friend Sara just purchased a citrus juicer that she is obsessed with using (we also had fresh lemonade this weekend).

So we whipped up a batch and settled in to watch "Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy." Limeade good. Movie bad.

Green Tea Pomegranate Limeade

6 cups hot water
6 green tea bags (we used decaf because Sara can't half caffeine after 12 p.m.)
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup lime juice
3/4 cup 100% pomegranate juice
Ice
Lime slices

Brew the tea for a few minutes. I find green tea gets bitter if you let it steep more than a couple minutes, but others may disagree.

Dissolve the sugar into the warm tea. Combine tea, lime juice, and pomegranate juice in a pitcher over ice. Chill in the fridge.

Serve! Pour over ice and garnish with a slice of lime and/or some fresh mint if you have it.

Dessert Hummus

2011-03-02T09:00:00.000-05:00

"Dessert" hummus has been circulating in the blogosphere, but I've been hesitant to try it. My friend Clare at Fitting It All In sent me this recipe, which is supposed to look and taste just like cookie dough. So I gave in.

It sounds pretty horrible, but chickpeas are pretty mild, so I figured it could be made sweet as easily as it's made savory.

It does look like chocolate chip cookie dough, I'll give it that.

The first step was peeling an entire can of chickpeas, to give it a creamier texture. The skins are starchier than the inside, so they won't break down as much in the food processor. Wow, this was tedious. If you kind of squeeze each one gently, the skin pops off, but 200 of them still adds up. I'm pretty sure I was beginning to develop carpal tunnel by the end of the can.

Into the food processor they went, along with 1/4 cup of maple syrup, 1/4 cup of peanut butter, and 1/2 Tbsp of vanilla, per the recipe. After this was blended, I also added a couple tablespoons of powdered sugar for texture and a little more sweetener.

Make sure to blend it really well! Chunks of chickpeas are no good in any dessert.

Once it's smooth, mix in about 1/2 cup of chocolate chips (or dark chocolate chunks, as I did).

It made a pretty good breakfast on a piece of potato bread toast.

It definitely didn't taste just like cookie dough, which all the reviews of the recipe promised. And I eat my fair share of cookie dough. It tasted a lot like peanut butter, which isn't bad... I think it could've used some brown sugar though to sweeten it up a little. It was definitely better when eaten with something slightly sweet, instead of on its own.

So to sum up, not bad, not great. Probably won't make it again. Anyone else have any experience with dessert hummus?

Whole Wheat Pizza

2011-02-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

Mmmmm pizza. As my boyfriend knows too well, I would eat it every night if he would put it up with it. (Alas, he does not. And, although I'm no health nut, my arteries probably couldn't put up with it either.)

Last night I gave into my pizza craving, but made it myself and tried to go pseudo-healthy.

I bought pre-made whole wheat pizza dough from Trader Joe's, and with my mad pizza tossing skills from my days as a make-line cook at Pizza Pro, hand tossed it into a lovely circle. Then, because I don't actually have a pizza pan, I had to mash it into a rectangle.

Now for some veggies. With a little bit of olive oil cooking spray, I sauteed baby portobello mushrooms, then added some chopped onions, and then dumped in about 8 oz of baby spinach to wilt. Man that stuff cooks down! Every time I cook spinach I am amazed by this. I ended up cooking an additional 4 oz or so after this batch to add to the pizza.

Assembling the pizza: I used canned diced tomatoes instead of sauce (marinara/pizza sauce is always too sweet for my liking) with some garlic powder sprinkled in. Then I arranged the mushrooms, onion, and spinach, and topped with roasted garlic chicken sausage. I cut up three links, which was too much, even after I snacked on some. So I'd recommend two links.

Finally, I topped it all off with part-skim shredded mozzarella and a little bit of parmesan. I also sprinkled on crushed red pepper flakes and dried oregano for some more flavor.

The pie went into a 415 degree oven for about 20 minutes total - this was way longer than the dough instructions called for, maybe because there were a lot of toppings loaded on.

Yummy. And the one leftover piece made a great breakfast warmed up in the toaster oven!

Now I'm anxiously awaiting warmer weather so we can fire up the barbeque and have grilled pizza. Delish.

White Bean Dip

2011-02-24T09:00:00.001-05:00

I've been meaning to make white bean dip for ages. Somewhere between hummus and refried beans, this stuff is so freaking good. My favorite tapas place in Boston always serves some variation of it, along with a warm, crusty baguette, before every meal. I had to attempt to duplicate it.

The first time I tried to make a batch, I got hopelessly distracted while chatting with my roommates and added 2 tablespoons of salt instead of 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Instead of just dumping the mixture down the garbage disposal right then and there, I tried to save it by adding another can of beans. Unless I had been willing to add maybe 6 more cans of beans (and had a bigger food processor to hold said beans), this was unsalvageable. Oh well.

Take two: I made it with red kidney beans instead of white, because my grocery store was somehow completely out of white beans. Weird. But - the resulting dip was really good, and very similar to the white variety.

And finally, take three, which you see above, was made with white beans. And this recipe:

1 can white kidney beans (cannellini), drained
1-2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons lemon juice (not salt!)
1/3 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Puree everything together in a food processor. Done!

Add your favorite seasonings to make it your own. And try roasting the garlic beforehand for a smoother flavor.

We had this on Valentine's Day with some crusty bread (my favorite dipping mechanism), but for an even more nutritious option, dip veggies.

Like the heart-shaped dip bowls? Yes, they are somewhat tacky but perfect for dips, condiments, and candy! They're by Zak Designs, my favorite cutesy kitchenware designer.

So to sum up a rambling post: white bean dip = easy, quick, yummy, and nutritious. I pretty much never hit all four of those at once.

Vintage Champagne Glasses

2011-02-22T09:00:00.000-05:00

As part of our Valentine's Day celebration, my boyfriend and I watched "Casablanca." While there are a million great things about this movie, this time around I kept noticing the amazing champagne glasses. Classy and vintage.

Lookin good, Bogey.

I pointed out to my boyfriend how it would be great to own some vintage champagne glasses, and resolved to keep an eye out for them.

Fast forward one week. I was in Columbus, OH this weekend visiting a friend, and we made a stop at the antique shops in uptown Westerville. I was in a store for about 4 minutes before I spotted these.

What's more, the set of 2 was $10! A couple hours after landing in Boston, we were christening these with a bottle of Andre. Good deals all around.

Shortbread Heart Pops

2011-02-15T09:00:00.002-05:00

This post is a little late, since you probably won't go to the trouble to make these post-Valentine's Day. But you can put any shape on a stick and make it a fun cookie pop!

Per usual, I made these with Ina Garten's shortbread recipe, but I doubled the salt and only baked them about 10-12 minutes. I used smooth and scalloped heart cookie cutters from my Wilton 100 cookie cutter set. Such a good investment.

I laid the heart cutouts on 6 inch lollipop sticks (with the stick about halfway up the heart), placed the sheet in the fridge to chill the dough for about 20 minutes, and then baked for 11 minutes (don't worry, the sticks won't burn). You can tell the cookies are done when it looks like the bottoms have browned (but not the tops!).

Yes I had a broken heart. Lesson: don't try to turn the cookies over to examine the sticks until they are completely cool! Now on to decorating. I used dark chocolate candy coating, melted in the microwave and piped onto the cookies, plus Wilton heart mix sprinkles. Below see the three stages of decorating: outlining the border, filling the center, and sprinkling!

All done. I shook the excess sprinkles off after the chocolate coating had set.

And then I wrapped each of them in a plastic baggie and secured with a white ribbon, curling the ends.

And here they are again all packaged. I designed these labels, printed them on white card stock, and then cut scalloped circles out of red card stock to frame each one.

I really like the way the scalloped cookie looks with a smooth-edged heart piped onto it with icing/chocolate. I'll try to remember that for next time. Because cookie pops definitely won't be limited to hearts now that I've tried them!

Kit Kat Pie

2011-02-11T09:00:00.007-05:00

I know I talk a lot about desserts that I love, but I really think that chocolate cream pie is my favorite treat. What could make it better? Answer: a candy bar.

My original intention was to just make a plain cream pie, which is a super easy semi-homemade dessert when you make it with pudding mix. When I bought the mix (Jell-o Devil's Food), there was a recipe on the side for "candy pie," which was a chocolate cream pie with chopped up toffee bars in it.

I'm not a huge toffee fan, but the idea intrigued me. And I AM a huge Kit Kat fan. Everyone always forgets how good they are! So I needed to remind you all.

Yummm diced Kit Kat. Cutting these up was so fun.

Devil's Food Chocolate Pudding (made with the "pie filling" directions), and about 4 oz of Cool Whip, folded together.

Here's the filling mixed with most of the chopped of Kit Kat mixed in, scooped into a baked Pillsbury pie shell.

Rest of the Cool Whip (another 4 oz), and more chopped Kit Kat.

Put this bad boy in the freezer to chill for about an hour. To store, wrap it in plastic wrap in the freezer, and let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes before cutting your next slice.

Headband Ear Warmer

2011-02-09T09:00:00.005-05:00

With the exception that it actually hit 40 degrees yesterday, it is COLD outside. And the snow is seemingly endless. That combined with the fact that my ear muffs broke last month: I needed some quick ear warmers.

These were incredibly easy to make. Even if you have never crocheted in your life, you could make this. Find a video that teaches single crochet, and you'll be up and running.

For your first row, crochet for as long you want the width of the headband to be. Then crochet a strip as long as you want the circumference of the headband to be. Then join the ends of the strip together, either by crocheting through both ends or just sewing. Voila.

To embellish the first one I made, I wove two lengths of green ribbon into the top and bottom, tying the ribbon ends on the inside of the headband. Easy peasy.

For the second one, which I also made narrower than my first creation, I arranged a burst of buttons (from a $5 bag of coordinating buttons) and sewed them in place with white embroidery thread. I got this idea from a girl on the T wearing a similar construction (the colors weren't as fun, though).

Photo: Elise George

Warm, cuddly, and cute. I dare anyone to find an easier crochet project.

Super Bowl Snack

2011-02-07T09:00:00.000-05:00

I love the Super Bowl. Football, lots of snackage, and beer. I just wish that the following Monday were a national holiday. Can't have everything, I guess.

Isn't this veggie tray beautiful? All I had to slice were cucumbers and celery, since grape tomatoes and baby carrots are nature's finger foods. And I got to use my French Bull plaid platter for the first time! (See the rest of my plaid tableware here.)

You may be thinking, wow, she's a healthy Super Bowl snacker. How wrong you would be. We were dipping the veggies in my boyfriend's buffalo chicken dip, aka bowl of grease. (And then topped it off with brownies.) Delicious, not nutritious. But since we first made the dip for the first NFL game of the season, it was only appropriate to have it this weekend.

Too bad we weren't still watching the Pats.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars

2011-02-04T09:00:00.000-05:00

The other day I was hankering a simple baked good, hot out of the oven. This gooey, peanut buttery, chocolatey treat was easy and delicious. And did I mention gooey?

I used this recipe from Bake at 350, and only altered the peanut butter - I used creamy, non-natural stuff (Reduced Fat Jif).

Here's the batter pre-oven. This recipe calls for an 8x8 pan, which I thought was kind of small.

I'm pretty sure I was right to question the pan size. I baked this for 32 minutes, per the recipe, and it was still completely uncooked in the middle. I covered it in aluminum foil and cooked another 5 minutes... still pretty gooey, but the edges were as hard as I wanted them to get.

Obviously I needed more semi-sweet chocolate drizzled on top. Bottom line: the middle was still very gooey. I'm okay with that. It might have been a bit more evenly cooked in a 9"x13" pan, but whatevs. As long as you're alright with some possibly-raw cookie dough in there, you'll like these.

I mean, what's not to like?

Dry Erase To-Do List

2011-02-02T09:00:00.001-05:00

If you like fun stationery but don't always have a use for it, maybe you can take this idea: frame it and make a unique dry erase board!

I saw this pad of "to-do" paper at Barnes & Noble like 10 times in a row. I kept telling myself, "No, Hannah, you don't need that." But then one day, I told myself, "You always look at that paper. It's $4. Buy it." I mean, you only live once. However, after buying it, I confirmed that I didn't really have a use for it, since my tasks usually number more than a centimeter's worth per day.

I didn't let that stop me though! The colors are so pretty I thought it should be on display. So I popped it in a 5"x7" frame ($4.00, Marshall's) and have it propped up on my desk at home.

Dry erase markers wipe right off of glass, so I can change my tasks whenever, writing one big thing per day. Even if that "big thing" is laundry.

No, I don't have a concert to go to on Saturday. I actually have a sewing workshop, but concert sounded cooler.

Any other ideas for stationery dry-erase?

Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins

2011-01-31T09:00:00.002-05:00

Yes, more pumpkin. Last week I was craving the cranberry muffins my dad makes a lot at home, so I decided to make a batch, but had to add my favorite ingredient, pumpkin.

The tart cranberries and sweet pumpkin go really well together. Plus, the pumpkin keeps them super moist so they can be enjoyed for days. If they last that long. Recipe at the bottom!

Batter ready to go, with dried cranberries mixed in. (I wanted to use fresh cranberries, but couldn't find them anywhere.)

About to go in the oven! I filled my muffin cups almost full, and they worked perfectly.

After about 20 minutes in the oven, perfection. And they made the house smell amazing.

Sorry for the bluriness. I was very ready to eat one. Also, I think I cut into the one muffin that only had a couple cranberries... the rest were loaded.

Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins
(adapted from AllRecipes.com)
Makes 16-18 muffins

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup dried or fresh cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, combine flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.

In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs and sugar; add the pumpkin and oil and mix well.

Stir into the dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in the cranberries.

Fill foil-or paper-lined muffin cups almost to the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

Pasta Roni Makeover

2011-01-28T09:00:00.001-05:00

When I was a kid, one of my favorite instant meals was Pasta-Roni, the lesser-known sibling of Rice-a-Roni, the San Francisco Treat. At the top of the list was their Shells and White Cheddar, a slight upgrade on Kraft Mac & Cheese.

Okay, who am I kidding, I still buy this stuff. It's delicious! But last night I devised a Pasta Roni makeover to make it a tad closer to a balanced meal. By adding meat and a vegetable, it felt a little more grown up. First I cooked the shells (my favorite pasta!) and added a bunch of peas in for the last couple minutes.

Then I pan-fried some Italian sausage, leftover from my dinner of sausage and sweet potatoes, until cooked through.

After adding the sauce packet and some milk, I stirred in the sausage and let it sit for a few minutes so the sauce could thicken.

Served with a crusty baguette, this hit the spot. And made enough for leftovers for lunch!

Crochet Heart

2011-01-27T09:00:00.002-05:00

Valentine's Day approaches, so the blog world has been going crazy for homemade heart decor. Most of it is way too time-intensive for me for such a small holiday, but these little yarn hearts seemed fun and easy.

Not sure why my purple/blue heart is smaller. I guess I just was tightening up my stitches as I figured out how to make these.

This pattern is all over the internet, but I found it on Little Birdie Secrets, complete with an instructional video if you don't know where to begin. Above is the first half of my pink heart.

And here it is completed! It took about 3 minutes to crochet. I wove in the bottom tail and left the top tail long to hang it.

I have a magnetic board attached to my desk, and the heart spruced it up nicely. (The magnet holding it up actually says "Hate is not a family value." Completely coincidence, but it seems appropriate.)

And here's my purply blue heart. You can use any yarn/needle you want, it will just affect the size of your finished product. I used two bamboo blend yarns that you might recognize from this striped baby hat.

I left both tails out, tied them into a bow, and trimmed accordingly. I really couldn't figure out where to stick this, but it looks kind of cute here on my necklace stand.

These hearts are so easy, you could make a hundred of them in couple hours. String them together for a little garland, put them on a handmade card, or line a picture frame with them... Any other ideas?

Hot Dog & Fries

2011-01-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

About a week ago I was watching an episode of "Man vs. Food" and one of the featured restaurants specialized in bratwurst. And although I was watching it on an extremely full stomach, I immediately started craving a brat. Thus, this dinner was born.

This is no ordinary hot dog and fries. In fact, it's neither a hot dog nor fries. This is an Italian sausage cooked with peppers and onions, served with home-baked sweet potato chips.

First I sliced two sweet potatoes thin (I should have used our mandoline, but per usual, I forgot we owned one), and then put them in a zip-lock bag with olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper. After tossing them around to coat, they were ready to bake.

Next I placed them on a cookie sheet in a 400 degree oven. They cooked for about 20 minutes, and I flipped them over halfway through. (Meanwhile, I am pan-frying an Italian sausage or two...)

While the sausage is cooking and potatoes are baking, I chopped up one orange bell pepper and half of a large onion.

When the sausages were almost done, I threw in the veggies to sautee.

I almost forgot to mention - dip! I combined about one cup of sour cream and a 4 oz tin of green chiles in my mini food processor until smooth. I added salt, pepper, and paprika to taste.

To wrap up the sausage, onions, and peppers, I used a whole wheat pita smeared with a little creamy dill mustard. There was entirely too much dip for the sweet potato chips, so next time I'll either cut down the amounts or make sure to have people around to share with.

Sorority Shortbread

2011-01-21T09:00:00.001-05:00

Boston University had sorority recruitment this weekend, so I joined some other Delta Delta Delta alumnae and helped out behind the scenes. Recruitment is a long, arduous 72 hours (my sophomore year I found myself electrocuted and dangling from pipe and drape) so I brought the girls a delta-themed treat: pearl, pine, and pansy shortbread.

Cutting out the shapes. The pearl was easy, for obvious reasons, the pine was a go-to in my cookie cutter set anyway, but the pansy presented problems. This was the closest I could find. No, it doesn't really look like a pansy. At all.

Ready to go in the oven. I put the cut-out dough in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before baking them to keep the edges sharp. As with my previous shortbread, I used Ina Garten's recipe, except I doubled the salt and only baked them for about 15 minutes (instead of 20-25... too much!).

Hot out of the oven! You might be wondering about the shapes. The pearl is the symbol of new members, the pine tree is the symbol of collegiate members, and the pansy is the symbol of alumnae members. There are reasons for all of those, but they might be secret, so I won't post them here. Since new, collegiate, and alumni members are all involved in the hell that is sorority recruitment, using the three symbols seemed apropos.

I made royal icing to decorate them. I used lemon extract, but you can use any extract you want as flavoring. Some people use white food coloring to keep a true white, but I didn't have any problems with the pearls.

Icing the pines. It's easiest to outline the cookie first and then fill it in so the edges stay neat. Tip: while the remainder of your icing is waiting to be used, place a damp towel over the bowl so it doesn't dry out.

All sprinkled up. In case you're wondering, I used my new Kuhn Rikon decorating set to ice the cookies. Thank you Mom and Dad for yet another kitchen tool Christmas gift!

Okay, pansies aren't this color. But they're not this shape either, so what the hell. Tri Delta's colors are silver, gold, and blue, so I needed to incorporate blue somehow. (The yellow sprinkles on the pearls are standing in for gold.)

All packaged up and ready for recruitment. And now, after hearing about 250 rounds of "Gotta D-E-L-T-A" sung at top volume, I'm ready to wait another year before creating more Tri Delta desserts.

Half Birthday Brunch

2011-01-20T09:00:00.000-05:00

1/17/11 arrived on Monday, bringing yet another palindromic date of 2011, MLK Jr. Day, and my half-birthday! All good things: like most Hannahs, I love palindromes; Martin Luther King, in addition to being an all-around stand up guy, was a fellow Boston University alumnus; and who doesn't love a half-birthday to give you a reason to celebrate in the dead of post-Christmas winter.

After creating and sending my letterpress-inspired invitations, I considered designing coordinating place cards and/or menus. But after a weekend full of baking, volunteering, and Black Swan, I figured I would just let the food speak for itself. And snow makes me lazy.

Yes, I even included vegetables. Baby spinach salad with dried cranberries, feta, and almond slivers.

Spinach and cheddar quiche with sauteed onions and garlic.

Yummy lemon scones, baked by my friend Kase and transported all the way from NYC.

Simple fruit salad.

And to top it off, chocolate pound cake topped with powdered sugar. Thank you, Martha Stewart, for figuring out how to fit 9 eggs and 4 sticks of butter into one dessert.

Love my place settings? Me too! My family gave them to me for Christmas. Find more at www.FrenchBull.com.

And yes, of course there were celebratory drinks. We had champagne cocktails with a choice of cran-raspberry or blueberry-pomegranate juice. Divine.

I encourage everyone else to find a reason to celebrate. If it's not your real birthday or half-birthday, consider an un-birthday party.

Crochet Hat

2011-01-19T09:00:00.002-05:00

I posted earlier this month about the Cupcake Scarf I crocheted for my sister for Christmas. Well, I wasn't going to leave the other sister out! I saw an adorable hat with a ribbon worked into it on Little Birdie Secrets, one of my favorite blogs, before Christmas. She was selling the pattern, but I figured I could probably finagle it on my own.

I used this free pattern for the basic hat shape, although I ended up adding 4 additional rows to make it the correct size. By using double crochet, the stitches were big enough to weave a ribbon into without doing anything special. I picked up the adorable coordinating ribbon at Hobby Lobby, and bam, instant hat. It probably took me about 2 hours total. I'll try to find a picture of her modeling it to show the full effect.

The best part is, you can change the ribbon whenever you want for limitless hat options.

Pumpkin Mudslide

2011-01-14T09:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, I already posted my accidental discovery of mudslides here, but there's always room for improvement.

This creation was born from excess Trader Joe's pumpkin ice cream in our freezer, which my roommate Elise and I both decided was a little too sweet to enjoy as dessert. It's funny, though, how when alcohol is added, it cuts the sweet down to an enjoyable level.

Here's how I made this blended dessert cocktail:

Scoop of pumpkin ice cream
Shot of Bailey's (or Coole Swan, my Irish cream liqueur of choice)
Shot of Kahlua (or Copa de Oro...)

Blend above ingredients until smooth. Line a martini glass with chocolate syrup, pour in blended drink, and top with whipped cream.

To show the chocolate syrup down there, I probably should've photographed it in a clear glass. But I really just wanted to show off my new chrome martini glasses that my boyfriend gave me for Christmas. It's fun just looking at them.

Alright, go get yourself some ice cream, booze, and whipped cream!

Egg Sandwich

2011-01-12T09:00:00.000-05:00

Snow day! Due to the 12-17 inches of snow currently being dumped on Boston, I get to stay home from work today. And what's better on a cold snowy day than a hot egg sandwich. My go-to breakfast sandwich is simply egg and cheese on an English muffin, but this sandwich goes all out:

I added a slice of leftover steak and a smear of creamy dill mustard, which both complemented the egg and extra-sharp cheddar deliciously.

Now, you may be wondering, how did she fry that egg in a perfect circle?? Well, see below:

I got this little contraption in my Christmas stocking, and it works like a charm. Crack the egg into the silicone circle and let it cook until the white is firm, then gently remove the circle, flip the egg and bam, perfect circle egg.

Microwave version:

This is one of my favorite little tricks for a quick breakfast on a work day.

Put your English muffin with cheese on it into the toaster oven or under the broiler for a couple minutes. Meanwhile, crack an egg into a mug and microwave for 30-60 seconds. You get a perfectly round, fluffy, cooked egg that pops right out onto the English muffin. Two minute breakfast!

Brunch Invite

2011-01-10T09:00:00.004-05:00

As my friends all know, I love my half-birthday almost as much my actual birthday. First off, I love all holidays. And second, it gives me something to look forward to after Christmas. This year, my half-birthday falls on Martin Luther King day, so I get the day off work. I've had a few parties in past years, but for 2011 I decided to class it up a bit and host a brunch.

Last year I saw a gallery exhibit on American letterpress at BU, and ever since I've been noticing letterpress designs everywhere. I've been wanting to create my own for a while, so I finally got the opportunity with this brunch invitation.

I wanted the invite to be small and simple, since it's for a brunch of approximately 5 people, and I'm already being a bit over-the-top with a paper invite at all. So I made a 5"x7" card with black print.

I found a few free fonts by searching for "distressed," "Western," and "letterpress," and used Microsoft Publisher to put it all together.

I printed on cover stock paper in "Peacock," used black envelopes, and found coordinating labels and seals, all at Paper-Source.

I felt compelled to obscure the addresses, but trust me that they looked even nicer before they were blurred.

Here's one of my favorite letterpress posters from the Smithsonian exhibit:

Calendar Decor

2011-01-07T09:00:00.002-05:00

Last year for Christmas, one of my colleagues gave all of us cubicle-dwellers (read: lay people) desk calendars with each month on an individual card. I love how it spruced up my space, so when I saw a 2011 one at Paper Source that was exactly my style, I pounced.

Doesn't it look adorable? And, oh yeah, I can look at it when I need to know a date. (Form AND function is rare for me.)

You can also put them in a holder, but I think it kind of defeats the purpose if you can't see them all at once.

Here are some great options from Etsy sellers:

They're perfect for a cubicle, but if you don't feel like putting thumbtacks in an actual wall, you can also place them in matching (or un-matching) picture frames, arrange them all on a large bulletin board, or hang them on clothespins on a string. So many options.

And if you're feeling really crafty, you can design your own and print them on card stock. I thought about doing this, but I knew by the time I got around to finishing the designs, it would be mid-August at the earliest.

Cupcake Scarf

2011-01-06T09:00:00.000-05:00

A few weeks before Christmas, I saw a blog post somewhere with a photo of a cupcake scarf. My sister immediately popped into my head as someone who could rock a scarf like that, so I investigated how to make one for her.

Photo: Cabell Gathman

From a little Google research, it turns out it's a pretty popular scarf concept, so it wasn't hard to find a pattern online. However, after experimenting with some free patterns and even buying one on Etsy.com, I found they just didn't work for me, perhaps because of the weight of the yarn I was using. So I improvised my own pattern and finally got cupcakes instead of just lumpy circles.

My sister Cabell models her scarf (and pig hat) on Christmas. Photo: Don Brandl

Cupcake Scarf

Materials
Cream yarn (for cake)
Chocolate/Pink yarn (for icing - I used mohair to make it have a different texture than the cake)
Red pom poms
Fabric glue

CH=Chain Stitch
SC=Single Crochet
DC=Double Crochet
Inc=Crochet 2 SC into 1 SC
Dec=Crochet 1 SC from 2 SC

With icing yarn:
CH 7
Row 1: Starting with second CH from end, SC 6 (6)
Row 2: Inc (in first SC), SC x 6, Inc (in last SC) (8)
Row 3: Repeat row 2 (10)
Row 4: Repeat row 2 (12)
Row 5: Repeat row 2 (14)
At end of row 5, attach cream colored yarn. Do NOT cut the icing color yarn, as you'll need to come back to make the frosting ruffle.

With cream yarn:
Row 6: SC in each stitch (14)
Row 7: SC x 12, Dec (last two stitches) (13)
Row 8: Dec (first two stitches), SC X 11 (12)
Row 9: Repeat row 7 (11)
Row 10: Repeat row 8 (10)
Row 11: Repeat row 7 (9)
Row 12: Repeat row 8 (8)
Row 13: Repeat row 7 (7)
Row 14: Repeat row 8 (6)
At end of row 14, you will attach your next icing yarn. Leave a tail of the cream yarn to sew in the end later.

For frosting ruffle:
Using the icing yarn that hasn't been cut yet, you will work this ruffle into row 5 (the last and widest row of frosting):
DC x 3 in first stitch
SC x 1 in next stitch
Repeat 6 more times (to the end of the row). This will create a ruffle where the frosting and cake meet. Leave a tail to sew in.

And that makes one cupcake! Continue this, making enough consecutive cupcakes for half of your scarf (my scarf had 9 in each half). Fasten off when you've finished half, and sew in all your ends (this will take awhile, as each cupcake has 4 tails that need to be hidden).

Then, repeat! When you have both halves done, sew them together with the tops of two cupcakes. This way, when the scarf is on, both sides will be right side up.

Finally, use fabric glue to attach red pom poms at the top of each cupcake. Let it dry for at least 24 hours before wearing.

Photo: Don Brandl

Puppy Chow

2011-01-04T09:00:00.003-05:00

Okay the holiday blogging break is officially over! While off work, in Missouri, and completely out of my routine for the last two weeks, I've been slacking off quite a bit.

So now on to today's snack: Puppy Chow! I thought this treat was well-known around the globe, but it turns out I may be wrong. So if you've never had it, listen up.

Puppy Chow is super easy to make, has just the right amount of sweet, and is perfect for any season. And to boot, it's not actually dog food.

Here's how you make it:

9 cups Rice Chex or Crispix cereal
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar

In a large pot (big enough to hold all the Chex/Crispix), melt the chocolate chips over low heat.

Add the peanut butter, stirring until smooth.

Remove from heat, and gently stir in the cereal until completely coated.

Put half the powdered sugar in a zip-lock bag. Then add the chocolate/cereal/PB mix and then the rest of the powdered sugar.

Seal and mix up until the powdered sugar coats everything.

Pour into a bowl. If you compulsively use sprinkles on everything, go wild. Can't hurt.

I made this as a New Year's Eve treat and it was well-received. At least, I ate a bunch. And continue to.

Special guest: Nate's homemade Chex Mix.

We also had about 4 gallons of this stuff on NYE. Maybe I'll get him to do a guest post with the recipe some day.

What snacks/apps did everyone else have on New Year's?

Shortbread & Truffles

2010-12-25T15:29:00.000-05:00

I've been a lazy blogger for the last week due to prepping for Christmas and travel. Now that my presents are all wrapped (and opened), here are some yummy Christmas goodies.

I don't trust people who don't like truffles. Dark chocolate covered in more dark chocolate. I used Giada De Laurentis' recipe, minus the lollipop sticks in them.

These were actually pretty easy to make, and only have a couple ingredients (and since those ingredients are chocolate and heavy cream, who could complain?). I also added some of my dad's "special spice," which is pretty much Pumpkin Pie Spice, which I use in a lot of baked goods: cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice, clove, and cardamom.

To make them pretty, I used the following toppings: purple sea salt, cocoa, pearl sprinkles, and Christmas nonpareils. These came out really well, and the cinnamon/nutmeg mixture really helped give them some personality. Just remember to keep them in the fridge or they'll get a little too liquidy.

I already posted about homemade shortbread here, but my Christmas shortbread included fun holiday shapes.

I used Ina Garten's recipe, which is simple and delicious. I definitely recommend following her tip and placing the cut-out cookies on the cookie sheet into the fridge for 20-30 minutes before you bake them. This will help keep the edges sharp, which is especially important if you cut special shapes.

After the cookies cooled, I dipped them in semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips melted in a double boiler, aka a glass bowl balanced over a pot of simmering water). Then I immediately doused each cookie in festive sprinkles. Yum.

Note: if you are looking for a shitload of cookie cutters at a great price, I found a 100-piece set at Bed Bath & Beyond for $9.99, which includes all sorts of fun shapes, including letters and numbers (and, of course, Christmas shapes!).

Apartment Christmas II

2010-12-17T09:00:00.001-05:00

Ahh It's a Wonderful Living Room. Actually, we have barely any decorations up, but here are some simple ones:

Mini Christmas trees. These babies are about 3 feet high and come pre-lit. As I often profess my love for all things miniature, these are perfect to flank our TV (and our new Super Mario Brothers Wii!).

Monogrammed stockings. I saw classy-looking monogrammed stockings for sale at Bed Bath and Beyond for about $12 each. a) They didn't have an H, K, or S, and b) I didn't feel like spending $48 on stockings.

So I improvised! These basic stockings cost $3.99 a piece, so I took it upon myself to learn how to embroider, if only barely. See here for instructions on the double running stitch, which I used.

I found a really festive green and red ply yarn that I used. After finishing the letters, I made those curly-Qs on each stocking by crocheting one row of single crochet with the same yarn.

Yes, there are 3 residents of our apartment and four stockings. Our honorary roommate, Sara, whose bedroom is either the sun room or the basement, depending on who you ask, also got one.

Apartment Christmas I

2010-12-16T09:00:00.001-05:00

Neither of my roommates or I will actually be in our apartment on Christmas, but a little holiday cheer is still necessary until we leave town. Building off of my Thanksgiving decor, I left the central color as red and put together a few Christmas-y pieces.

This is the same candle and plate that I had on our bar for Thanksgiving, but I swapped the fall glass beads for clear ones, added a couple tiny pinecones from some potpourri (see below), and reattached the ribbon that came with the TJ Maxx candle. It's cranberry scented, which I figure works for all seasons.

For the dining room table, I kept our regular red tablecloth, along with the burlap runner I made (aka cut to the right length) for Thanksgiving. For a centerpiece, I used:

Silver charger ($1.50)
Glitter pinecone potpourri ($5.00)
Christmas tree candle ($4.99)
Pomegranate candle ($3.99)
Vanilla candle ($3.99)

All the components are from Bed Bath and Beyond, which can get a little pricey. If I had had more time, I would've gone to Marshall's to scope things out, but all in all, I didn't get hosed that bad.

Extra step: I thought about doing this really neat "frosty salted candle" idea from Martha Stewart, but I decided that since the pinecones were already covered in glitter, the candles would look better as is.
All you have to do is coat pillar candles in Modge Podge glue and roll them in a tray of epsom salts. Very charming.

Tomorrow, check out the holiday touches in our living room!

New England Fizz

2010-12-14T09:00:00.000-05:00

That's what I've decided to name this cocktail, since "something"-tinis are getting kind of old.

The New England Fizz combines some signature New England flavors to create a fruity (yet not too sweet) cocktail.

When my roommies and I went apple picking at Russell Orchards in Ipswich, MA, we stocked up on one of their specialties: sparkling hard cider. I chose the "slightly sweet" version, after deciding the "dry" variety I bought last year was akin to apple cider vinegar. I don't like sweet wines, but the "slightly sweet" bottle was the perfect balance.

Now, bring on some cranberries and you've got yourself the perfect North Shore drink. I prefer gin in my drinks, but this would work fine with vodka too, if that's your poison.

New England Fizz

2 oz gin
1 oz cranberry juice
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 oz sparkling cider or apple wine
ice

Combine gin, juices, and ice in a shaker. Shake!

Strain into a chilled martini glass and top off with sparkling cider.

The result is a crisp, tart, fizzy delight.

Turkey Pot Pie

2010-12-10T09:00:00.000-05:00

I love pot pie. No, I don't think you understand. It's the best food ever. And a perfect way to use leftover Thanksgiving turkey!

Seeing as we had a 16 lb turkey for three people, we had a fair amount of leftovers. Turkey sandwiches got kind of boring, and a pot pie is obviously much more amazing than some stupid sandwich.

I made my recipe up as I went along, and it's pretty basic. (See below for full deets.) I also had extra onions and mushrooms that didn't go into the stuffing, so I made sure to work those in.

Leftover Turkey Pot Pie

2 cups (ish) chopped up cooked turkey
1/2 cup chopped portabello mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped onion
Butter or olive oil
1 cup peas (fresh or frozen)
3 cloves diced garlic
1 can cream of chicken condensed soup (10 oz)
1 box (2 sheets) puff pastry
Seasonings of choice (I used seasoned salt, pepper, and paprika)

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Make sure puff pastry is out of the freezer and thawing.

2. In a skillet, sautee butter with onion. When they're getting soft, add mushrooms and garlic.

3. Add the condensed soup, peas, and turkey. Bring to a low boil and let simmer for 5 minutes.

4. Roll out puff pastry sheets to about 14" squares.

5. Grease a 8"x8" glass baking dish. Place one pastry sheet in the bottom and poke holes in it with a fork.

6. Fill it with the turkey mixture and top with the other pastry sheet. Pinch it together with the excess from the bottom sheet, and poke more holes in the top.

7. I brushed mine with an egg wash (1 egg + 1 Tbs water) to help brown it.

8. Bake at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Once it's out of the oven, let it set for about 20 minutes before you cut into it.

Accidental Mudslide

2010-12-08T09:00:00.001-05:00

Over Thanksgiving I bought some coffee liqueur to use in my flourless chocolate torte. While you might be thinking I bought Kahlua, you'd be wrong. Turns out, Kahlua is kind of expensive, especially when I just needed 1/2 cup of it to cook with! So I opted for the budget option, Copa de Oro. Okay, I'll get to the point of this post - I now have an almost full bottle of Copa de Oro and am struggling for ideas to get rid of it.

Also in our bar is a bottle of Irish cream liqueur. Bailey's, you ask? Nope. Coole Swan. You know it's cool when there is an extra "e" at the end. Anyway, it's made in Dublin and tastes just like Bailey's.

I figured these two liqueurs would go well together, and added some vodka to kick it up a notch. I used equal parts of each, shook over ice, and strained into a martini glass. And as it turns out, it was really tasty!

I was very excited to blog about my new cocktail invention. But, after about 10 seconds of Google research, I discovered that this, in fact, is a Mudslide. The very cocktail that I'm always tempted to order at Applebee's (where I can get it with ice cream, too).

So, there you have it. What started as a cocktail revolution turned out to be a (budget) Mudslide. Tasty, though. I'll have to try a blended one next time.

Anyone else have any uses for Kahlua/Copa de Oro?

Green Monster

2010-12-07T09:00:00.002-05:00

Disclaimer: this looks gross. It's not. It's actually quite tasty.

I got turned on to the whole Green Monster Movement by my friend Clare at Fitting It All In. If you haven't heard of these delicious smoothies, read the whole back story here.

Basically, a Green Monster is a smoothie made from spinach, banana, milk, ice, and whatever other accoutrement you want to put in. Yes, it looks super green, but the banana actually cuts out all of the spinach flavor (which is pretty mild to begin with, anyway).

If you've read my other food posts, you know that I am not exactly a health nut. (Please refer here for exhibit A.) So if I think these are delicious, you might too!

Since my first Green Monster last week, I've experimented with adding other ingredients, such as peanut butter, strawberries, pumpkin butter, and cocoa powder. So far, so good. Last night I made one with fat-free Greek yogurt in place of the milk, and it was super creamy, more like a milkshake.

On top of tasting yummy, this is a great way to get in a bunch of fruits and veggies to your daily diet. Try it.

My recipe of choice:

2 cups fresh baby spinach
1 banana (preferably frozen)
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 cup fat-free Greek yogurt (I used Chobani honey flavor)
Handful of ice

First, blend the yogurt, spinach, and milk. Then add the frozen banana and blend until smooth. Finally, add as much ice as you want for your desired consistency and blend.

Holiday Sweets

2010-12-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, obviously any holiday meal is nothing without something sweet at the end. I'm a bit, um, infamous when it comes to my love for rich desserts, so this Thanksgiving was no exception.

Flourless chocolate torte from Emeril's recipe. Amazing, for all you chocolate lovers. Closer to a brownie than cake, it's almost like a truffle. I made this a night ahead of time and chilled in the fridge, so it's an easy part of the meal to get out of the way early.

Cranberry sauce. A Thanksgiving staple, but I don't really like it on my turkey. Good news: it also makes a great topping on anything chocolate. Mine was simple: a 12 oz bag of cranberries, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup orange juice, and 1/2 cup water. Also made the night before.

I'm biased toward all things chocolate, but one exception is cherry pie. Oh, my, god, I love cherry pie. This is actually cherry / blueberry / strawberry pie, but just as good. My friend Carol made this delicious dessert, including the crust(s), from scratch. Aren't those leaves beautiful?

Ohhh sweet, sweet, diabetes.

Carbs-Giving

2010-12-01T09:00:00.001-05:00

By far, my favorite part of thanksgiving: all the starch. Especially stuffing.

I made my dad's classic stuffing, although maybe it's technically "dressing," since I cooked it outside the turkey. I started by slicing and lightly toasting bread: sourdough, pumpernickel, and a marble rye.

Then I sauteed some Italian sausage with "baby bella" mushrooms and chopped onions in some butter.

I tossed the bread with rosemary, oregano, salt and pepper, then added the sausage mix and finally a couple eggs to coat it. Once it was in the baking dish, I basted some turkey drippings on top to moisten it. Delish.

Twice-baked potatoes made by Sophie; also delicious.

Annnnd butternut squash/creamed spinach au gratin, baked and topped with parmesan. (Also Sophie's creation.)

I have plenty of leftover bread, so I may have to make more stuffing in the near future.

Anyone else have a favorite carb-y side dish to share?

Gobble Gobble

2010-11-29T09:00:00.002-05:00

The most daunting part of hosting Thanksgiving dinner was probably making the turkey. I've been told that "you can't mess up a turkey," you just stick it in the oven and "let it cook."

I disagree. It is very possible to:

a) overcook it and end up with gross, dry turkey meat
b) undercook it and poison all your guests

I did not intend to do either, so I did a fair amount of research online, and was helped greatly by Alton Brown and my dad, who served as my Butterball hotline for the day.

In short, I defrosted the turkey in a 4 gallon tub of water, in the fridge, for 24 hours. Wednesday night, I dumped the water and replaced it with brine: 2 gallons water, 1/2 gallon white wine, 9 oz Kosher salt, and about 1/2 cup of sugar. After 12 hours in the brine, it was ready to go into the oven on Thanksgiving morning.

Before cooking, I fashioned an aluminum foil breast plate (see above) that would be used later. First I cooked the (bare-breasted) turkey for 30 minutes at 500 degrees to brown the breast. Then I fastened its turkey bra on and cooked for another 2 1/2 hours at 350 degrees (this was a 15 1/2 pound bird).

After it cooled for about half an hour, the carving began. Turns out, none of us had any experience carving a turkey, and I have no decent knives for this purpose. A fair amount of turkey shredding ensued. It was still moist and delicious. And so far, no food poisoning related deaths.

The whole shebang:

Stay tuned for side dishes later this week.

Thanksgiving Table

2010-11-26T10:00:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I hosted Thanksgiving at my apartment. It was just three of us: my sister Sophie, my friend Carol, and myself. I figured there was no need to go crazy on decorations, but I wanted the dining room table to look festive, so I started with a centerpiece.

All of this being for one day, I decorated on a budget.

Autumn Potpourri: Marshall's ($5)
Vase: Recycled from an event (free to me!)
Fake Willow Branches: Pier 1 ($6)
Ribbon: Windsor Button ($.79/yard)

Voila! Centerpiece done. And smelling very autumnal. This would be very easy to replicate for Christmas too; winter potpourri, pine branches, and some Christmas ribbon.

Next up, flowers. I cut down a cheap bouquet and set them with fall-colored glass beads, complete with glass acorns.

Stemless wine glasses: Pier 1 ($2 each)
Fall Bouquet: Shaw's ($5.99)
Glass Vase Filler: Pier 1 ($5)

For a table runner over our red tablecloth, I went to a fabric store and bought a yard of burlap. Less than $5 and a perfect rustic touch!

The bar needed some love too. I had bought candles hoping they would fit in the stemless wineglasses (before I decided on flowers), but no go. I got use out of one though!

Cranberry Candle: T.J.Maxx ($3)
Leftover Vase Filler
Salad Plate: Bed Bath & Beyond (I think about $4 - this is part of my dishes set)

Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup

2010-11-24T16:26:00.000-05:00

After a half day at work and two hours downtown running last minute Thanksgiving errands, I was ready for some comfort food this afternoon. This is no novel idea, but sometimes I forget how good a grilled cheese and bowl of tomato soup is, especially on a blustery fall day like today.

There are obviously fancier options out there, but this is just straight up Campbell's condensed tomato soup. The sandwich is on potato bread (my favorite) with extra sharp New York white cheddar and a dab of pesto.

Yummy. Stay tuned for a series of Thanksgiving posts!

Boston Cream Pie

2010-11-22T09:00:00.000-05:00

I'm indulging this morning in some delicious Boston Cream Pie. Not just ANY Boston Cream Pie, but the ORIGINAL Boston Cream Pie.

That's right. Delivered to me by the lovely folks at the Omni Parker House, inventors of the Boston Cream Pie back in 1856. (One of the perks of working in events: venues with delicious treats and really nice staff who will bring you said treats at your home or office.)

Not actually a pie, this classic dessert is made of two layers of sponge cake sandwiching cream or custard and topped with a chocolate ganache or glaze. The Parker House's version is adorned with toasted almonds on the side of the cake. Their cake was fluffy and moist, and the ganache had an amazing semi-sweet flavor.

This was the perfect breakfast treat on a slow Monday morning, paired with a hot cup of Earl Grey. Find the Parker House's recipe here, via Bobby Flay.

Pretty Aprons

2010-11-18T09:00:00.003-05:00

Like many of the near-useless things I covet, cute aprons are generally overpriced and not as functional as an old, plain alternative. Oh well. They can be so damn pretty, especially for the holidays. My friend Eleni recently shared this specialty apron store with me, featuring a hostess apron in Tri Delta colors. Her request: find a way to make said apron, because $100? Really?

Well, I don't own a sewing machine, nor do I have any sewing experience whatsoever, but I make up for that deficiency in my online shopping experience. I can't give you a pattern to make your own apron, but I can share these options, all under $40:

This tulle apron, by Etsy seller CateChestnut, is almost identical in pattern to the $100 option, but for only $26. Plus it comes with an adorable matching pin, if you find yourself needing to be more coordinated.

I own this frilly option from Target - kind of a silly phrase, but I love the lace detailing.

This apron actually comes from a website called FlirtyAprons.com, which I have shamefully ordered from before. I gave a blue and brown design to my sister last Christmas (I'm not sure if she flirts in it or not), but this cupcake pattern is more my style.

Oh Etsy, how do I love thee? Let me count the aprons... This Christmas-themed hostess apron from seller SunlightCreations features a removable top that buttons on. I love the geometric gift pattern on the bottom!

Well, there you go. Four great options for when you need to bake something and look damn good doing it.

Look to the Cookie

2010-11-16T09:00:00.001-05:00

I went to NYC this weekend, and while you might think the most memorable part of my trip was something other than a cookie, you'd be wrong. Not that New York doesn't have a lot to offer; this cookie was just amazing.

Where: Levain Bakery, 167 W 74th St

What: Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookie

Details: $4 is steep for a cookie, but this thing is a) huge and b) more like a brownie. It took me two days to finish mine (although my boyfriend polished his off in about two blocks).

They also come in Chocolate Chip Walnut, Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip, and Oatmeal Raisin. You can order online, but prices are even steeper there. Visit in person for a fresher, cheaper cookie!

Any other favorite bakery suggestions?

Mark 'n' Stormy

2010-11-10T09:00:00.001-05:00

Mmmm ginger.

Dark and Stormys are the more popular cocktail, made of rum and ginger beer, but I'm not big on rum. I saw the Mark & Stormy first at Redbones, a BBQ restaurant in Somerville, MA and it's the perfect combo: refreshing ginger beer and Maker's Mark whiskey.

1 part whiskey
1.5 parts ginger beer (this one is non-alcoholic, but the alcoholic version will give it an extra kick)
Squeeze of lime

Full disclaimer: this particular shot is of a Jim 'n' Stormy, because maybe I'm too cheap to have Maker's Mark in the house at all times.

Chicken Tortellini Soup

2010-11-08T09:00:00.000-05:00

Due to some peer pressure, I've entered a soup competition* sponsored by New England Country Soup. The idea is to create a soup that is similar to one of their 8 flavors, and the recipe will go head to head against it. I chose their Nana's Chicken Soup to challenge, and created a chicken, tortellini and spinach soup. Made in a crock pot, this was pretty simple to whip up.

Ingredients:

2 large boneless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
6 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
1/2 large yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1 tsp of each: salt, black pepper, dried basil, paprika, oregano, ginger, rosemary
10 oz dried tortellini
10 oz spinach

1. Prep your ingredients: cut up chicken, onion, garlic, cilantro, and any fresh herbs.

2. In a crock pot, combine chicken, chicken stock, water, onion, garlic, cilantro, and all seasonings. Stir together and set on low heat.

3. Cook on low for 5-6 hours.

4. Stir in tortellini, cook for an additional 20 minutes, or until pasta is desired texture.

5. Turn off heat and stir in spinach leaves. Serve with a nice crusty baguette.

* Disclaimer: Although I talk the talk, I have never actually made soup before this, so I really don't walk the walk. Take any smack talk with a grain of salt.

New England Country Soup

Soup Challenge

Brownies Gone Wild

2010-11-05T09:00:00.000-04:00

Cake, ehh. Give me brownies.

I like as much chocolate crammed into as much fudginess as possible. But for a twist, here are a few brownie recipes that stray from the norm.

Like using beer (and cayenne pepper) for a lighter texture: Beer Brownies from Huffington Post blogger Claire Thomas (pictured above).

Or one of my sister's favorites, Black Bean Brownies. I'll admit, these have an interesting after taste, but they are a healthy, still-fudgy, alternative to traditional brownies.

And who doesn't love brownies cooked inside citrus? This is a traditional brownie batter spooned into a hollowed-out orange and baked. Don't worry, the orange doesn't burn due to its high water content. Check out Cooking for Geeks for other weird creations.

If these are making you squeamish, I recommend Alton Brown's recipe for a delicious, beer-free brownie.

Crochet Candy Corn

2010-11-03T09:00:00.000-04:00

I saw some knit candy corn at a friend's office, and knew I had to try to whip some up too. I love crocheting little things, since they're so quick to complete and make great little decorations. And, since I'm a sucker for all fall-related decor, these were perfect.

Here's my completed corn - stuffed with a little bit of fiber fill.

I found this free pattern via a Google search, and it was pretty easy to tweak based on what size you want. I already had basic white and yellow yarn, but when I went out to buy an orange skein, the yarn store didn't have the same brand (or weight) as what I already had. Oh well.

Each one took me about 20 minutes to make, so it was an easy craft project to do during an episode of Jeopardy. I think they'd look great in a wooden bowl for display (which I don't have) or just scattered around my TV stand (which I do have). And even though candy corn is mainly associated with Halloween, I think these little things can stay out until the Christmas decorations come up.

Shortbread Cookies

2010-10-29T09:00:00.002-04:00

I normally choose desserts based around chocolate, and lots of it. One exception, however, is shortbread. I love the crumbly texture and hint of salt, and nothing can beat a box of Walker shortbread and a hot cup of tea on a cold day. I recently had to choose something to make for a bake sale, and these won out.

I used Ina Garten's recipe, which turned out great. I doubled the salt she called for, and followed her tip to chill the cut out dough in the fridge for about 20 minutes before popping them in the oven.

I don't normally like icing (too sweet for me), but as these were going to a bake sale, I figured I should make them as pretty as possible. I used this icing recipe from AllRecipes.com, but used lemon extract instead of almond. (I doubled the amounts to go with Ina's cookie recipe.)

I topped each cookie generously with sprinkles before the icing had time to set, and used sandwich baggies tied with ribbon to wrap each one. They looked great, and I have to say, even with my chocolate bias, tasted pretty good too.

Ankle Boots

2010-10-28T09:00:00.007-04:00

My latest shoe obsession is ankle boots. You can class them up with dresses, but my current favorite pairing is with straight-leg jeans. Unlike with knee high boots, where I'm always smoothing out my jeans to make sure they're not awkwardly poofing out of the top of the boot, jeans looked great tucked in messily to ankle boots. No fuss.

Here are a few of my favorites, in all colors and prices:

1. Wild Diva Akemi74 Ankle Boots, $21.59

2. GUESS by Marciano Women's Rioko Ankle Boot, $267.95

3. Not Rated Women's Ruby Bootie, $55.01

4. MIA Duke Bootie, $99.99

To browse more awesome booties, check out my shoe shopping post for new ideas.

Pumpkin Decorating

2010-10-25T09:00:00.000-04:00

Tis the season to decorate squash. My friend Cara shared this list of no-carve pumpkin decorating ideas with me a couple weeks ago, and I knew I'd have to experiment.

Here's the finished product; see below for how I got there:

Three beautiful sugar pumpkins, fresh from the pumpkin patch at Russell Orchards.

After washing these babies off with the hose and giving them a quick paper towel scrub, I covered the stems with aluminum foil so they'd retain their natural color when I spray painted.

I chose three of my favorite colors - look familiar? - and spray painted heavily, holding the pumpkins by the stems to get the bottoms.

I combined two ideas from the no-carve list: spray painting and silver thumbtack designs. The initials are for me and each of my roommates, Elise and Kate. Here are the pumpkins in place:

A few tips:

1. Unless you plan on holding your pumpkin by the stem until the paint dries (unlikely), just accept that the bottom will get some paint pulled off when you pick it up off the drying surface (using wax paper should help a bit). This won't show anyway when they're on display.

2. If you cover your stems like I did, make sure to hold that aluminum foil tight while painting. I let the cover on the blue one slip a bit and got some pretty noticeable paint bleed.

3. The no-carve idea list suggested using a dry erase marker on your pumpkin before placing the tacks, as it will wipe right off. While this might be the case on nude pumpkin skin, I found that it did not wipe off the spray painted surface if left for more than a couple seconds.

Baby Hat

2010-10-22T09:00:00.003-04:00

This week has apparently turned into Baby Shower Week. So be it. For my friend Kim's baby (Delaney? Quinn? Gertrude?), I crocheted a little striped hat. The yarn is half wool, half bamboo, which makes it oh-so-soft.

Since it's so small, the hat only took a few hours to make. That being said, I was sewing on the curly Qs halfway into the shower. Here's The Dude modelling:

Cute, easy gift, and I only had to explain 5 times that it wasn't, in fact, knitted. Here are a bunch of free crocheted baby hat patterns to get you started!

Sunday Brunch

2010-10-20T09:00:00.001-04:00

On Monday I showed off the banner I made for my friend Kim's baby shower brunch, but I didn't share the most important part: the food! I can't take any credit for the actual cooking; I was busy cutting, pasting, and finishing up Kim's present while my lovely roommates whipped up brunch. Here's the menu:

Mini frittatas with parmesan, cheddar, and spinach. My roommate Elise made these and they were the perfect savory addition to brunch. And miniature, which I always appreciate.

Crepes filled with nutella, bananas, and strawberries. What's not to like?

Brunch punch: orange & cranberry juices, peach schnapps, champagne, and a splash of apple cider. (Made virgin for the mom-to-be, obviously). My roommate Kate made this delicious drink, and came up with the idea of using different colored ribbon as wine glass charms to tell our glasses apart.

The spread - including the freshly-picked apples from Russell Orchards and the apple pie Sara (our honorary roommate) made with them.

Okay now I'm salivating... I could really go for a couple of those mini frittatas right now.

Baby Shower Banner

2010-10-18T09:00:00.001-04:00

Since Kim brought us homemade buckeyes, we had to return the favor. So this weekend we threw her a very Tri Delta baby shower to celebrate the bun in her oven. It was pretty low-key, and it was hard to prepare much as a surprise since she's been staying with us, but I managed to make a little banner to decorate. I headed to Paper Source for supplies: scallop-edged scissors, ribbon, and lots o' paper. A few hours of cutting and gluing later, here are the results:

Pink and blue solid papers, patterned paper, glittery letters, and orange ribbon made each piece.

Well instead of "It's a Boy" or "It's a Girl," we went with "It's a Delta." Hopefully.

Can't wait to meet the little nugget, even if she doesn't grow up to be a Tri Delt.

Buckeyes!

2010-10-15T10:33:00.000-04:00

My friend Kim is in town visiting this weekend, and she brought us a tasty Ohio treat: buckeyes! I like to buy these in airports when I connect through Cleveland or Columbus, but I've never actually had homemade ones. Kim, being a native Ohioan, has the recipe on lock. Here's her method, to make 150 delicious peanut butter chocolate buckeyes:

Ingredients
3 lbs powdered sugar
2 lbs peanut butter (2 jars)
1 lb melted butter (4 sticks)
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 bar paraffin wax

1. Mix powdered sugar and peanut butter in a large bowl.

2. Pour in melted butter.

3. With your hands, combine mixture until it's a kneading texture.

4. Line 3-4 cookie sheets with wax paper. Roll peanut butter mixture into 1" balls and place on sheets.

5. Refrigerate peanut butter balls for one hour or more.

6. In a double boiler, melt chocolate chips and paraffin wax until smooth.

7. Remove boiler from stove and dip balls in chocolate using a toothpick inserted into their center, leaving a circle of peanut butter showing.

8. Remove toothpick as you place buckeyes back on cookie sheets. Use a spoon to smooth over remaining hole.

9. Replace sheets in fridge until chocolate sets, about two hours.

Meat & Potatoes

2010-10-13T09:30:00.000-04:00

The other day I somehow made it through work on three slices of cake (one chocolate, one Boston cream pie, and one strawberry and cream) and a handful of whole wheat goldfish. After the hyperglycemia wore off, I needed something hearty at the end of the day, and one of my dinner standards is breaded, pan-fried pork chops.

For a side, I chose these gorgeous tri-color potatoes from Trader Joe's. I boiled them and mixed in some butter, salt, pepper, and oregano:

While they were boiling, it was time to bread some chops. First I dredged them in flour mixed with a little pepper, then dunked them in egg, and finally coated them in a mixture of Italian breadcrumbs, Panko breadcrumbs, and some seasoned salt.

I put all three chops in a sautee pan with some olive oil. I cooked each side for about a minute on high heat to get the bread crumbs to stick, then turned the heat down and cooked on each side for about 5 minutes. (These were thick chops.)

Right before the chops finished, I sauteed frozen asparagus (also from Trader Joe's) with olive oil and garlic for a few minutes to add to the meat and potatoes. Easy and yummy:

Mirror Painting

2010-10-12T09:00:00.000-04:00

I picked up this nice little black mirror at Hobby Lobby for like $12 the other day. Not that I don't think it looks good in black, but my bedroom has absolutely no black elements in it, so I decided to repaint.

First I used aluminum foil to cover the mirror surface. I'm sure there is a much more professional method to do this, but this was what was available to me.

Next I spray painted. A lot. To cover all these damn crevices.

After a few hours in the garage, I took the mirror inside and hung it up. Bam, instant coordination.

Pumpkin Suggestions

2010-10-08T09:00:00.009-04:00

Pumpkin Week: episode 5

Throughout the week I've gotten some great recommendations for other pumpkin goodies. Thanks for the ideas! Here are a few:

Pumpkin Fettuccine recipe, courtesy of Eleni via Hungry-Girl.com:

Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale, recommended by Kerry:

I have to agree on this one; Smuttynose is mighty tasty. And brewed in New England!

Pumpkin Lasagna recipe, courtesy of Robin via MyLasagnaRecipe.com:

Pumpkin Pie Cupcake recipe, courtesy of Elise:

And finally, if you want to actually go to a pumpkin patch and you're around Boston, my roommates and I would recommend Russell Orchards in Ipswich, MA, where we're headed next weekend. More to come on that later, but here's a shot from last year's trip, which seemed appropriate for the blog's Pumpkin Week:

Happy Pumpkins!

Mrs. Prindable's

2010-10-07T09:00:00.001-04:00

Okay this is not actually made out of pumpkin or in the shape of a pumpkin, so it may not officially qualify for Pumpkin Week. But it definitely has the essence of pumpkin.

Mrs. Prindable's Premium Halloween Basket

I discovered this candy apple brand on Rue La La earlier this week. I've never really liked caramel apples (too sweet), but these are covered in chocolate, which is right up my alley. This basket also includes lots of other goodies like pretzels and truffles. If anybody buys any of Mrs. Prindable's products for me this fall, I'll be sure to report back on taste.