Did you watch last night’s Top Chef? You know, the new one in Texas. I recorded it then watched it this afternoon. And while I usually love Top Chef, this episode left me feeling… well, a little annoyed.
I get that they wanted to make it bigger being in Texas and all that. But shouldn’t we be starting the real competition in episode 2? I mean, come on. Instead we get 2 hours of qualifying rounds. It feels like filler to me. Maybe I’m just annoyed because I didn’t get to see who all of the finalists will be.
Maybe I’m spoiled?
[Continue reading...]
Tagged as: autumn, cranberries, fall, pumpkin, quick bread, walnuts
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.
[Continue reading...]
Tagged as: cookie crust, pie, pie crust, pumpkin
A few years ago, I decided I needed to make a pumpkin pie using an actual pumpkin. Do you get these kinds of urges? I get them all the time. Like what’s the best kind of pie crust? How do you make brown sugar? And what would happen if I substitute a little butter with bacon fat in some chocolate chip cookies?
So I did it. I bought a sugar “pie” pumpkin. When I got it home, I realized I had no clue where to begin. So I consulted books and the internet to figure out what to do with the thing. And then I made a pie. A pie that will live forever in my memory.
While I do still use canned pumpkin, it has become a tradition of mine to make at least 1 pumpkin pie from a real pumpkin each holiday season. And since I buy one or two pie pumpkins as decorations anyway (they’re just cute), the pumpkins do double duty.
So if you have a sugar pumpkin in your decor, consider using it to its full potential.
Now let’s purée some pumpkin.
[Continue reading...]
Tagged as: baking, holidays, ingredients, pumpkin, roasted vegetables, thanksgiving
If it weren’t for cleaning out the inside of a pumpkin, I think I would cook with them more often. It takes me forever to scrape out all of the stringy stuff inside. This has made me lazy and I mostly use canned now. But we bought a few pumpkins for Hallloween decorations, and never carved them, so they have been sitting there taunting me… (I’m not sure how to cook big pumpkins though, I’ve only cooked with small sugar pumpkins – anyone have suggestions?).
Tonight I decided to go for it. Just cut the top off of a sugar pumpkin and dove in. I made a rendition of Ruth Riechl’s pumpkin “soup” or gratin or whatever you want to call it (it doesn’t really resemble soup, at least not the way I made it. Tasty though. Then again most things are tasty with enough melted cheese).
[Continue reading...]
Tagged as: nablopomo, pumpkin
I made a batch of dulce de leche brownies last week for my humor writing class (it was my turn to bring snacks), but the recipe only calls for about half of the can. Which meant there was some leftover. Which meant I was left vulnerable. So I put the leftovers in a jar and locked it away into the refrigerator, hoping to forget about it for a while. But… Why would I want to forget about dulce de leche? How could I lock it away instead of celebrate it’s existence?… it’s rich, creamy, caramel-y existence?
[Continue reading...]
Tagged as: brown butter, cake, dulce de leche, fall, nablopomo, pumpkin
