I am now covered in smokey-meat-scent.  Perfect for a night of romance :)

I hope you had / are having a great Valentine’s Day!

I had plans, but Mother Nature had other plans. And while I have a respectable amount of power in the kitchen, when Mother Nature decides to intervene, there’s not much I can do.

I’m up at the cabin with Dan and the boys and we are having our first white Thanksgiving. Without power. Without turkey. And without pumpkin pie.

[Doesn't that look like a small car parked on top of our grill?]

We’ll make up for it later. For now we are enjoying the snow and keeping warm around the fireplace and cuddled up under a bunch of blankets. Luckily we have a gas stove so I can still cook a little, but I haven’t yet figured out how to roast a turkey or bake a pie on the stove top.

I decided to make potato leek soup yesterday. I was so excited; there may not be any electricity but I could still cook something good. Then on the way home from the store, while I inhaled the aromas from the fresh leeks, I realized: no power = no blender. Typically I blend potato-leek soup so that it is smooth. Hmm.

In the end, we had a slightly chunky soup but it was good. I chopped everything as small as my patience and knife allowed and then used a potato masher to break it up a little bit. Turns out I like it better a little chunky.

One of the best things about our cabin: it’s the kind of place where neighbors are neighborly. One of our neighbors came over with his snow blower and cleared our driveway yesterday. So Dan took him a bowl of soup for lunch.

We may not have electricity, and our Thanksgiving may be sans turkey, but we have so much to be thankful for.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving wherever you are.

By the way, I’m writing this from the local coffee shop that thankfully does have power and wifi. I’m not sure when I’ll get back here to write more so here are a few things from the archives in case your T-day menu isn’t yet complete or you just want some more to read… :

• Pie crust overview
• Brown sugar baked sweet potatoes and acorn squash
• Potato and leek gratin

Before I tell you about this pie, I first want to thank you all for your support and kind words. The comments on yesterday’s post made me feel warm-and-fuzzy-special which is a nice change from the short-bus-special I normally feel.

I never rode a short bus but I did ride a special bus in high school that took me out of district to the nerd school. Maybe that explains a lot.

Well, anyway… let’s not delve too deeply into my high school world right now. We have pumpkin pie to talk about.

I was obsessed with finding the perfect flaky crust last year. And I found it: use a little lard with your butter to get the bestest crust imaginable. Although, it is a little difficult to find leaf lard so I would understand if you wanted to skip it. I often do. I think if you make a homemade crust with just about any recipe, most people will love you for it.

But this year I decided to try something different. And easier. A cookie crust. A ginger snap cookie crust to be exact. I mean, hello? Ginger snaps and pumpkin… why haven’t I tried this sooner?

By the way, have you tried the triple ginger snaps from Trader Joe’s? They are too good. You cannot eat just one. I dare you to try.

Cookie crusts are almost too easy. Sure, you can buy them ready made, but why would you? I mean, imagine the possibilities. Any crisp cookie would do. You could even add in chopped nuts. (I secretly wonder if I could use Oreos. I mean the cream filling would just melt away, right? Or would it? Inquiring minds want to know. Well, I want to know anyway).

And another thing, while we are talking pumpkin pie… you make your own whipped cream, right? I mean, I don’t want to get all bossy about it, but if you don’t, you really should. And if you do, try giving it a kick with your favorite liquor. I added a splash of bourbon to use with this pie and it was insanely fantastically delicious.

I wonder if a splash of Grand Marnier would give whipped cream a creamsicle flavor?

Pumpkin Pie

adapted from Joy of Cooking and How to Cook Everything

Using a cookie crust gives this pie less depth than a regular flaky crust (since you can build up the edge of the flaky crust above the pie pan), so I found that the following recipe actually makes enough filling for 2 pies if you are using cookie crusts. My guess is that you might have leftover filling anyway with a flaky crust but just a little… unless of course you are using a deep dish pie pan.

* I reduced the sugar in the recipe by about 1/4 cup. If you prefer your pie sweeter, add an additional 1/4 cup of granulated sugar.

1 9-inch cookie crust (recipe follows)
2 cups pumpkin purée, fresh or canned
3 eggs
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-3 teaspoons pumpkin spice* (I used 2 teaspoons but think I would increase it next time because I like a little more spice)
2 cups half-n-half or whole milk

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Beat eggs and sugar. Add spices and salt.
3. Stir in the pumpkin and then the milk.
4. Pour this into your prepared crust(s)
5. Bake for 40 minutes, or until the custard is mostly set (the center may still be a little jiggly but the rest should be set).

* If you don’t have pumpkin spice, use:
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cloves

Ginger snap cookie crust

adapted from Everyday Food, November 2010

I omitted the sugar in the crust as well because I thought the cookies had enough sugar already. We didn’t miss the extra sugar.

1 1/2 cups cookie crumbs (6 ounces or about 30-40 cookies)
optional – 3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Crush the cookies into crumbs: Either in a food processor or place cookies in a zip top bag and mash them with a rolling pin or frying pan.
3. In a bowl, stir together the cookie crumbs and salt. Add the melted butter, stirring until well-distributed throughout the cookie crumbs.
4. Press the crumb-butter mixture into your pie pan. (I found pressing around the rim first and then into the center worked best for me)
5. Bake for about 12 minutes, or until the crust is dry and set.
6. Fill and enjoy

Things around here have been a little crazy so I haven’t planned anything for Cinco de Mayo this year. I’ll probably end up just eating a quesadilla and making a margarita at home (as the weather heats up I’m looking forward to making a pitcher of watermelon margaritas again sometime soon).

But in case you are up for a more adventurous menu for Cinco de Mayo or any day, here is a little Mexican themed roundup:

Photo Credit: Michael Parlapiano of Food People Want

• An impressive list of recipes perfect for Cinco de Mayo from Food People Want (the tacos look so good I wish he was my neighbor)
• An equally impressive list of cinco de mayo recipes from Two Peas and Their Pod… I especially want to try the lime bars!
• Wash thing down with sangria from Andrea’s Recipes
• Or for a non-alcoholic alternative, try refreshing horchata from Homesick Texan

Mother’s Day is nearly upon us, are you ready? I think I am. Almost. I have a small, handmade gift for my mom that I will be mailing early next week. But I feel like it’s missing something.

While I try to figure out what it’s missing, here are a few ideas to brighten the days of the moms in your life…

Cook mom breakfast

Stacks and stacks of buttermilk pancakes loaded with blueberries (sliced bananas are also a nice addition). Imagine flipping them with this cheery spatula. Now imagine the smile on mom’s face.


Or buttermilk biscuits served alongside eggs and bacon or simply with butter and mom’s favorite jam. Nothing says love like homemade biscuits.

Bake mom a treat

Served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, the blackberry grunt is comforting and nostalgic. (Grunting noises are optional)

Surprise mom with this nutty and complex brown butter pound cake. Perfect with a cup of tea.

Or bring in the big guns: dulce de leche brownies. ‘Nuff said.

And if cooking for your mom isn’t feasible due to geography or whatever, here are a few more ideas I found around the web:

Show mom your crafty side

Make her a felt dahlia flower brooch from Not Martha (featured on Holidash). If you skip the pocket, it requires no sewing. But the secret pocket is charming so maybe you could just glue that on as well if you are averse to sewing machines. Anyway, I love this brooch so much I made one for my mom plus a few extras for fun.

Buy mom something cute for the kitchen

Everyone needs a pretty apron (like this one from Boojiboo)… dog not included.

Lovely embroidered flour-sack towels from Stitched – (also check out their handkerchiefs and cute cards)

Or how about these florist measuring cups from Anthropologie? I am in love with these.