Baked pumpkin “fondue” is as easy as pie.

+

+

+ some other ingredients

=

then it’s time for

and… ta-da

So, where have I been lately?

I have been filling forms with personal information at different locations at different times. You know how it goes…

One of the questions is “Occupation” and I’ve been trying different answers like Homemaker, CEO of Remodeling, and , more recently, I’ve been using “Keeps Changing”. So, this is what I’ve been up to lately.

Yes, also, during summer–we only had 1 month of summer this year, yikes!–I’ve been focused more on home, and family, and outdoor activities. I was on the go, go , go not to waste a moment of sunshine indoors. It was quite breathtaking.

Anywhoo……….. we got to fall-soon-to-be-winter time which is, you know, the perfect time to snuggle indoors and to make baked pumpkin stuffed with somethin’.

I love Melissa Clark’s (NY Times food writer) recipe in her cookbook “In the Kitchen with A Good Appetite “ because it’s vegetarian and it has wine and cream (Although I used less bread and only 1/2 the liquid “filling”, baked at lower temperature and…). I liked Tea & Cookies idea to add something green and so i have added kale since I figured the kids are not going to eat this stuffed, sweet, savory, creamy pumpkin anyway–leafy greens included or not–and this is what I have done:

Baked Pumpkin “Fondue”
Serves 4 to 6

2 thick slices of crusty, stale bread (any that you like with sauce-soaking abilities)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup white wine (anything you like to drink ‘cause the flavor will come through)
1/8 cup milk
1 garlic clove, peeled and smashed
3 fresh sage leaves, if you have it, or thyme (if you have it)
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus additional for the outside
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (3-4 pound) sugar pumpkin, washed and cleaned from the outside
a few kale leaves, washed, dried and sliced (without the “ribs”)
5 ounces grated Gruyère cheese (1¼ cups)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400°F and toast the bread until golden brown 5 to 7 (or do this in a toaster) then tear the bread to pieces.

In a medium saucepan. bring the cream, wine, milk, garlic, and sage to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low and let simmer for 5 minutes. Take the mixture off the heat and discard
the garlic and sage. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon of salt, nutmeg, and pepper.
Cut the top off the pumpkin and scoop out the pulp and seeds like you do for Halloween. Set the pumpkin inside a baking dish/sheet/pan.

In a bowl, mix the bread, kale, and gruyere. Fill the pumpkin with this bread mix. Pour the cream mixture on top. Cover with the pumpkin lid.

With your hands, rub oil all over the outside of the pumpkin (don’t forget the bottom) and sprinkle on some salt.
Bake until the pumpkin’s skin blisters and the flesh is tender (test with a small pairing knife) about 1 hour to 1 ¼ hours. Allow to cool in the pan slightly. Slice to serve.

***

I was behind to join Twitter, behind with setting up a “fan” page on Facebook (mostly because I dislike to use the word “fan”, but do go and visit me there for updates, OK?), and then behind with making matzo balls… Technology-wise, I wonder, is it an age “thing” that I’m so behind? But matzo ball-wise? I have no excuse. In any case, I dismiss it all with a good old-fashioned defense technique for reasoning:“I had no time”. And besides, it might officially be spring, but looking out of my window I see gray sky, gray clouds, and every now and then a drop of rain. So, it’s never too late, right?!

We were invited to a Passover Seder at friends of friends’ house. That happened…… 3 weeks ago. Little Mr. Smarty Pants devoured the soup with soft and fluffy matzo balls floating in it. In fact, I think that besides a few matzos, and dessert (of course), this was the only thing he ate the whole night. I, personally, adopted the chopped chicken liver and wouldn’t let anyone else touch it. But I really liked the matzo balls’ soup too. A lot. With memories lingering and cravings developing, I wanted to make it and eat it and soon. Since I had lousy homemade chicken stock (2nd batch! Yippie! Ruhlman approved on Twitter!) it was a short way to achieving this goal. So, believe it or not, I bought a box, yes, a box, of matzo ball mix!

I did make real, made from scratch, matzo balls once, about…. 4-5 years ago? I assume I had a beginner’s luck because they turned out perfectly (I used an Ina Garten’s recipe). Dizzy by my success – ‘cause it involves beating egg whites and I didn’t have much skills doing that 4-5 years ago – I offered to cook it for a client. That was back in those days when I had a personal chef business. The matzo balls separated to float in bits in the soup. Ha! Luckily, that client was a very sweet person, and at home that day. “It’s Ok, leave it like that”, she said. “We’ll eat it. It’s good. We won’t mind”. If she hadn’t been home and witnessed it as it happened, I would have thrown them away being too embarrassed to charge money for the mess. But she wanted them anyway. And she was right, they are delicious, even when they are falling apart.

However, recalling this episode, I’ve decided to play it safe this time and I used a boxed mix. It was easy and quick to make. I liked the texture, fluffy and tender. Some people like ‘em rock hard. Go figure… And this is another way the world is divided… Which camp do you belong to – soft matzo balls or hard matzo balls? It’s a serious choice.

Regardless of which school you belong to, using a cookie scoop makes the job a lot easier and less messy.

And while the balls were cooking in the stock (it takes 30 minutes) I had a chance to spy on my family; supposedly there were having fun outside in the sun.

I wandered what Suburban Cowboy and the kids were up to…

A-ha!

Busted!

He was…of course… attached to a laptop, so very focused

Instead of doing something more household-oriented like, let’s say, clean the grill… or fix something… change a burnt light bulb, or mow the lawn? But in any case, the kids won’t leave him alone. They want his attention and flock around him,

until they gave up and moved on to mind their on business.

And then it was time for me to yell, “Ki-eeds, lunch is reeeeeadyyyy… Come insa-aide…. Wash your ha-ands….”

I just love these sort of weekends.

Staying at home, doing domestic stuff, having an easy, comforting lunch, watching/spying on my family, running errands… I like it.

***

Matzo ball soup

So, since using a boxed mix, there really isn’t a recipe.

To make the matzo balls, simply follow the instructions on the package.

While the matzo balls paste is resting, heat up your lousy homemade chicken stock.

If you’d like, add any frozen veggies you have or leftovers from previous lunches or dinners that you’d like in a soup.

And, please, don’t wait for summer.

How’s the weather where you live? Still good for soup?

First, a short announcement.

I’ve started a new Facebook “fan” page for my blog. I feel uncomfortable saying “fan” so let’s keep it simple and informal. If you like Facebook and you’d like to get post updates there, click here to check it out and join me. Thanks!

Now, where were we? Oh, yeah, brisket.

Brisket is really not something you spontaneously make, right?! Just like with chicken stock it needs some planning ahead. In most recipes you have to marinate it for hours before cooking or sear it to brown and sauté an onion or other vegetables before you move on to the next step of cooking the brisket for hours and hours. But, as with the stock, I have found a way around it.

But first, why bother to make brisket if it takes such a long time to braise?

Brisket is a fairly cheap piece of meat. And a very large one. You cook it once and can have multiple dinners made out of it. It freezes well! So any leftovers – and you’ll probably have leftovers, unless you have lots of people around the table eating it – can be frozen for a few weeks. When cooking it, you don’t have to mess with it too much as long as your oven (preferably, but a burner on the stovetop works too), is free for 4-6 hours for this tough big mama to slowly cook and break down and become soft and tender.

In short, it’s worth the trouble.

I wanted to cook brisket the other day. It’s been a while since the last time I made it. About a year or so… But I felt lazy and procrastinated with cooking it. Then a day before our trip I had to cook it because I had no other plans for dinner, because otherwise it would have gone bad, and because I knew that if I cook it then, we will have an already-cooked meals/s when we return from the trip (and gain an extra care-free day from grocery shopping and cooking – a bonus).

I have a few favorite brisket recipes that I like, but that day, because I waited for the last moment, it was too late to make them. So, I thought I’ll just have to wing it and take a chance with something I make up as i go and see if it works.

It turned out pretty good.

Since this was something I made with a little bit of this and a little bit of that, I don’t have an exact recipe. In truth, I didn’t think my many shortcuts will work and end up as anything edible. But it id did. I guess it’s tough to screw up with a hearty brisket as long as it is cooked till tender.

Lesson learned: take a risk, improvise, it might end up being a success.

If you own a slow-cooker (I don’t), check out what Deb did with her brisket.

Spontaneous brisket

Place a 4-5 lb. brisket in a big and deep stainless steal pan (don’t use aluminum, it interacts with acidic ingredients like tomato sauce and vinegars and will taste bla. Also, your pan will discolor).

Sprinkle generously with salt and ground black pepper on both sides. Add a quick splash of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Add spices such as a steak rub, a BBQ rub, a curry mixture, some light brown sugar. I wanted to add minced garlic cloves but I forgot. A chopped onion and dried fruits around the meat will be nice too.

Pour a 28 oz. can of marinara sauce + 1/2 cup water on and around the beef and rub all this on both sides. Cover the pan loosely with foil (or a lid, if you have one that fits). Be careful that the foil does not touch the tomato sauce covered meat because this will cause the foil to blacken and even make holes in it after a while (that’s the reaction of aluminum foil to acid).

I cooked it at 400 F degrees (with the convection oven on) for 30 minutes. Lower the heat to 350-300 F and cook another 4-6 hours* until it’s soft and tender and can be cut easily.

* We cut a piece from the edge after 4 hours in the oven and had some for dinner, then put the meat back in the oven for another 2 hours.

After it’s fully cooked, slice against the grain. Store any leftovers in freezer-friendly containers and label with the name and date.

Dinner recipes from one year ago: Gourmet meatloaf, Pasta Bolognese, Roasted potato leek soup

Cake recipes: Ricotta Bundt Cheesecake, Chocolate Chocolate Stout Cake, Easy Marjolaine

It’s been a while, hasn’t it?! I haven’t posted anything for more than a week… I missed you guys and I missed blogging. I got busy and out of focus as we planned a little Thanksgiving vacation to sunny California. We visited family and went to the beach which was a lot of fun. And we spent one day at Disney, an experience that was fun too but made me want to use the F-word a few times that day. (It was so goddamn crowded!) I’ll tell you more about it later.

We came back home last night and found that a third of our neighbors have already decorated their houses with winter/Christmas/Hanukah lights. I bet that now, after the big turkey dinner is behind, everyone is brainstorming about the cookies they are going to bake for the holidays? My son has been asking for gingerbread boys and girls’ cookies for a month.

Well, do consider these jammy nutty bars called Figaro bars too. I got the recipe for them from my mother in-law. (Hi Anka!) I first tasted them when my husband and I were still dating (each other). In one of our visits to my future in-laws’ house, that was 9 years ago (!), she made them and I instantly went crazy for them. I love everything that she makes. She is such a wonderful cook and baker and I have a few recipes that she happily shared with me.

I have tweaked and changed this recipe back and forth throughout the years. It’s been a long time after all… This time I thought I’d try to add cardamom to the topping after trying this lovely cake which tasted great (but had a very crumbly texture). We loved the combination of lemon with walnuts and cardamom together. It was quite exotic and sophisticated in a way…. The cardamom adds an extra oomph to the Figaro recipe which came from Europe, I think, (Maybe from Austria?). Anything to do with the opera?
 

Figaro bars

For the dough:
1 2/3 cups (210 grams) flour
12 tablespoons (140 grams) butter, plus more for greasing the pan
1/3 cup (70 grams) sugar
2 egg yolks
For the filling:
1/2 – 3/4 cup jam like strawberry (I used strawberry-rhubarb jam)
For the topping:
1 1/4 cup (140 grams) nuts, such as pecans and/or walnuts
2/3 cup (140 grams) sugar
1 lemon, juiced (about 2 tablespoons) and zested
2 egg whites
1/4 teaspoons cardamom, optional

Preheat your oven to 350 F degrees (170 C).

Place parchment paper on the bottom and sides of a 9*13-inch (30*30 cm) pan, and grease it with butter or cooking spray.

In a food processor bowl with the the steal blade, put the flour, butter, and sugar, and pulse a few times until you get big butter crumbs. Add the egg yolks and pulse again just until the crumbs start to come together and look moist. If the crumbs look dry, add 1 tablespoon cold water (or juice or milk) or more, as needed.

Dump the crumbly dough in the prepared pan (save the food processor bowl and blade to later) and press with your finger to make an even layer on the bottom. If the dough sticks to your fingers, place it with the pan inside the refrigerator for a few minutes to chill.

Bake the dough for 5-20 minutes, or until lightly golden on top. Meanwhile, make the topping.

In the now empty food processor bowl, pulse the nuts and ground to small bits. Add the other ingredients (but NOT the jam) and pulse just to combine. Set aside.

When the dough is ready, take out of the oven (Keep the oven working!) Let cool for 5 minutes. Then, carefully spread the jam using a the back side of a tablespoon or a spatula, all over the dough. (If your jam seems too thick, mix it with some water to dilute and loosen its texture).

Once you’re done with the jam, spoon the topping over the jam layer.

Put the pan back in the oven and bake another 30-40 minutes, or until the topping looks golden brown.

How would you like to have these for your holiday dinner?

Remember the Pumpkin banana cream pie? The recipe is here. So this is what you do when you don’t want pie (skip the dough step), or if you do make the pie but have extra custards.

I mentioned a shortcut in the pie post – if you’re not the making custard from scratch type, use instant vanilla pudding. Some people have already asked me how I would do that after publishing the pie post. Well, Jessie and I did not try it in our recipe, but if I did, I would try doing this:

1. Make the pudding according to the instructions on the package. Quantity wise, I don’t know if you’ll need 1 or 2 packets, so you’ll have to try it.

2. Whip 1-2 cups heavy cream to semi-firm peaks. Mix 1/3 of the whipped cream with the pumpkin ingredients, a 1/3 with the vanilla cream, and a 1/3 leave as is=plain whipped cream, so you have three colorful layers.

3. If you do try this, please report back, OK?

It sure makes an elegant and festive dessert for the holiday and can serve a large party of guests.

However, if you do want to spend some time and make this from scratch version, here’s the recipe.

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Pumpkin banana creamy dreamy dessert

Makes about 8-10 martini glasses, or more if serving smaller portions

For the vanilla pastry cream:
2 cups milk
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise or 1 teaspoon extract/paste
2 large eggs
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

For the pumpkin custard layer:
1/2 cup half-and-half
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
A pinch ground nutmeg
3 extra-large egg yolks
1 package (2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
1 ripe banana, finely mashed
1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/4 cup orange juice

For whipped cream:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream, chilled
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons brandy

1-2 bananas thinly sliced or a few dried banana chips, for decoration, optional

For the vanilla pastry cream:

Warm the milk in a medium saucepan until it almost comes to a boil. Add the vanilla. (If using a vanilla bean, scrape the seeds from the bean and add both the seeds and pod to the milk mixture. Place the saucepan over medium-high heat and stir occasionally.)

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and flour until well combined. Temper the eggs (to keep them from scrambling) by pouring about 1/3 cup of the scalded milk into the egg mixture while whisking. Then add the warmed egg mixture to the saucepan of milk. Whisk over medium-high heat until the pastry cream thickens and begins to bubble. Keep whisking until the mixture is very thick, 4 to 5 minutes more.

Remove the saucepan from the heat. Add the butter and whisk until it melts. (Remove and discard the vanilla pod.) Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl and place it over a bowl of ice water. Stir occasionally until it is cool. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a crust from forming and refrigerate until completely cold. The pastry cream will thicken as it cools.

For the pumpkin layer:

Heat the half-and-half, pumpkin, brown sugar, salt, ginger, and nutmeg in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water until hot, about 5 minutes. Whisk the egg yolks in another bowl, stir some of the hot pumpkin into the egg yolks to heat them, then pour the egg-pumpkin mixture back into the double boiler and stir well. Heat the mixture over the simmering water for another 4 to 5 minutes, until it begins to thicken, stirring constantly (so the eggs to scramble) until it reaches 160 F degrees. Remove from the heat.

Dissolve the gelatin in 1/4 cup orange juice (or water). Add the dissolved gelatin, banana, and orange zest to the pumpkin mixture and mix well. Set aside to chill in the fridge or use the same ice bath technique as with the vanilla cream.

For the whipped cream:

In an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, whip the heavy cream with the sugar and brandy on medium-high speed until firm peaks form.

To assemble:

When the custards are cooled, assemble by layering the fresh bananas in the bottom of a glass/bowl. Spoon with vanilla cream on top. Next, add the pumpkin custard, and last spoon the whipped cream. Decorate with banana chips or fresh banana slices (add them only shortly before serving). Let set in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving.

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As far as my memory goes back in time, I can count the times I baked with someone on one hand. I don’t get too many opportunities to bake together with family or friends besides my son (who sometimes quits before the process is complete) or an occasional guest. Baking means a lot to me. (This is why I’m starting to think about teaching baking classes!) Having something home-baked is like going the extra mile when it comes to making a home. (I’m not saying it has to be made from scratch.) And baking with someone you like, or even LOVE, is the best combination of all things good.  This week, I got to bake with Jessie.

I met Jessie, a.k.a the Cakespy a few times at Foodbuzz and Frantic Foodie events and every time I had a chance to talk with her, I liked her more. I can’t remember how we got to this idea of getting together to make a pumpkin pie, but we did. It was lots of fun and we made a one terrific pumpkin pie creation together! Look at these layers of beauty…

Don’t you feel like diving right into that pillowy layer of whipped cream flavored with brandy and making a snow angle? Or poking the pumpkin custard with your finger and licking it? Or, if showing better manners, getting a big tablespoon and digging right into the vanilla layer? Don’t you?!

Well, Jessie had a hard time waiting for the custards to set and photos being taken, and right after we took a few photos of the pie, she wanted to cut right into it and sample a slice.

While I was still trying to capture a good, better, best picture.

That’s me. Photo by Cakespy.

Thank you, Jessie!

I know some of you out there, including my dear friends and family, will never cook a custard from scratch. And yes, this pie does have a few steps involved in its creation. Each one really easy on its own, but I admit, it was much easier and faster to make this together than if I had to do it all by myself. All alone in the kitchen…

But no worries, you know me, I always have shortcuts and a few tricks up my sleeve to make your life easier, no? I’ve got 3 words for you: instant. vanilla. pudding. You can use it instead of making the custards. Mix half with the pumpkin ingredients, and half with whipped cream.

And go visit Jessie’s sweet blog, Cakespy, to see what she wrote about this fabulous pie.

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Pumpkin banana cream pie

The pumpkin custard is based on an Ina Garten’s Pumpkin Banana Mousse Tart and the vanilla custard is based on Tom Douglas’s Coconut cream pie (- the coconut + banana).

We used an 11-inch tart pan but you can use a regular pie pan. In any case, you probably will have some extra custard which you can layer and serve in pretty little bowls, as you can see here Pumpkin banana creamy dreamy dessert.

For an 11-inch tart pan + extra custard to fill 3 bowls/martini glasses

For the dough:
2 sticks unsalted butter
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups self-rising flour
2 egg yolks
¾ cup banana chips, crushed to bits in food processor

For the vanilla pastry cream:
2 cups milk
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise or 1 teaspoon extract/paste
2 large eggs
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

For the pumpkin custard layer:
1/2 cup half-and-half
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
A pinch ground nutmeg
3 extra-large egg yolks
1 package (2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
1 ripe banana, finely mashed
1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/4 cup orange juice

For whipped cream:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream, chilled
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons brandy

1-2 bananas thinly sliced

For the dough:

Pulse butter, sugar, and flour in a food processor, or do it with hands, until you get big crumbs. Add the yolks, pulse until the crumbs are moist. Press into a generously greased 11-inch tart pan. Press the crushed banana chips into dough. Refrigerate covered for ½ hour.
Bake at 375 F for 20-25 minutes.

For the coconut pastry cream:

Warm the milk in a medium saucepan until it almost comes to a boil. Add the vanilla. (If using a vanilla bean, scrape the seeds from the bean and add both the seeds and pod to the milk mixture. Place the saucepan over medium-high heat and stir occasionally.)

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and flour until well combined. Temper the eggs (to keep them from scrambling) by pouring about 1/3 cup of the scalded milk into the egg mixture while whisking. Then add the warmed egg mixture to the saucepan of milk. Whisk over medium-high heat until the pastry cream thickens and begins to bubble. Keep whisking until the mixture is very thick, 4 to 5 minutes more.

Remove the saucepan from the heat. Add the butter and whisk until it melts. (Remove and discard the vanilla pod.) Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl and place it over a bowl of ice water. Stir occasionally until it is cool. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a crust from forming and refrigerate until completely cold. The pastry cream will thicken as it cools.

For the pumpkin layer:

Heat the half-and-half, pumpkin, brown sugar, salt, ginger, and nutmeg in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water until hot, about 5 minutes. Whisk the egg yolks in another bowl, stir some of the hot pumpkin into the egg yolks to heat them, then pour the egg-pumpkin mixture back into the double boiler and stir well. Heat the mixture over the simmering water for another 4 to 5 minutes, until it begins to thicken, stirring constantly (so the eggs to scramble) until it reaches 160 F degrees. Remove from the heat.

Dissolve the gelatin in 1/4 cup orange juice (or water). Add the dissolved gelatin, banana, and orange zest to the pumpkin mixture and mix well. Set aside to chill in the fridge or use the same ice bath as the vanilla cream.

For the whipped cream:

In an electric mixer with the whisk, whip the heavy cream with the sugar and brandy on medium-high speed until firm peaks form.

To assemble:

When the custards and dough are cooled, assemble the pie by layering the fresh bananas on top of the dough. Then spoon with vanilla cream on top, smoothing the surface. Next, add the pumpkin custard, and last spoon the whipped cream. Decorate with banana chips or fresh banana slices (add fresh banana only shortly before serving so they don’t brown). Let pie set in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving.

Really, it’s easy as pie. But much easier, and funner, when you make it together with a friend.

Coming up next, this…

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However… since Valentine’s Day was approaching, I thought I’ll try to make it CUTE. Hmmm…

About a week ago, when I was looking all over the place for mini cupcakes pans for my little girl’s birthday party (that’s her cake here), I found this pan.

Doesn’t it look cute?
So I really really wanted to use it for something and soon. Valentines’ sounded like an appropriate opportunity.

So take the original cognac -soaked chocolate cake + a cute pan with small indentations, and try it.
The result – wonderful!

Mini Cognac-Soaked Chocolate Cakes
Adaptation to the new variation:

1. It looked like the cognac bottle had 1 cup in it, but after measuring it, it turned out to be only ½ a cup, so I added ¼ cup cherry kirsch and ¼ cup water.
The flavor turned out to be great. Less alcoholic and intoxicating than when using all cognac, with a milder flavor, and the texture was great.

2. I used the pan with 12 mini cakes and the rest of the batter was baked in a long loaf cake (12 by 4.5 inch, measured at the top).

3. Baking times:
For the mini cakes it took 25 minutes.*
For the loaf cake it took 50 minutes.*
* Baking times may vary as I opened the door a couple of times to check if the cakes were done, so of course, heat escaped from the oven. It might take less time when you don’t open the oven

Now. If I was not dieting, I would have topped each little cutie with some Nutella or a chocolate ganache, filled the cute little hole with whipped cream, AND garnished it with a little berry.
But I won’t. Should I?
Maybe next year?

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I usually don’t fuss over a change of digit when a year ends, but this year it feels a bit different. I’ve been blogging since July and I Love it. The blog grew nicely thanks to you, so here is another reason to give you a cake! (As if I need an excuse to bake a cake). It is simple to make, inexpensive but festive, and makes a perfect cake for the holiday served with whipped cream, or for an after holiday or weekend brunch, served with whipped cream!

Our backyard looks like this.

We’ve been kind of stuck at home in the past few days. It’s snowing here like never before. The snow is about 15 inches deep. Some roads are closed, some businesses are closed, schools are closed which means that the kids are at home and need to be entertained and fed 24/7, as well as Mr. Husband. We’ve been doing all kinds of cooking projects here to keep ourselves busy and happy. (All the recipes will be posted next year.)

Very cool idea, but, no, I’m not going to do that. I already have too many blogs on my hands (this one which is also published at the Seattle P-I, this one: Good Food & Bad Food, also published on the Seattle P-I, and at some point I thought of starting a salad blog, but I have to think about it. Would you be interested in a salad blog?)
So no, no dessert blog, but I do plan on buying a new camera and taking some photography classes, and I hope I can show you better photos. I’m so excited about that!!!

With an electric mixer, cream remaining 6 tablespoons butter and 1/2 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat until well combined. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture to butter mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk, until well combined.

Spoon batter over cranberries in pan, and smooth top. Place pan on a baking sheet; bake cake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes (I added an extra 20 minutes to the baking time – N.). Let cool on a wire rack for 20minutes. Run a knife around edge of cake; invert onto a rimmed platter.

I am going to spend some time with my family and will be back in January.

Nurit

Entrées:

Have a wonderful time in the season to be jolly…
Nurit

Do you have days when you don’t feel like cooking? Even if you are a foodie/chef/a person obsessed with food/can’t think about anything else but food all day and night? Do you always have something fresh in the fridge to cook dinner with? Hhmmm.

Well, I don’t. I know, I know, I have posted a few weekly meal plans before (for November, October, and September) but that is only one week in a whole month. And we have already covered that when we discussed pizza for dinner. Anyway, last night we had ravioli with breadcrumbs. Yes, you heard it right. Luckily, it wasn’t breadcrumbs with ravioli.

The first time I heard about breadcrumbs “sauce” for pasta was when I was in high school. That was the time when my culinary interest has started budding. The idea of breadcrumbs with pasta seemed too bizarre and out of this world to me, and I never thought of trying it. Until last night. That’s 20 years later! (Now you can do the math and guess how young I am.)

Sometimes life just gives you breadcrumbly pumpkin ravioli. You eat it and you enjoy it. With butter. I’ve decided to enjoy my fat and make a buttery sauce.

Breadcrumbly Pumpkin Ravioli

Makes 2-3 entrées or 4 servings as a side dish

1 package 10 oz. fresh pumpkin ravioli (look at the grocery store in the fridge section)
4-6 tablespoons butter
2 handfuls fresh breadcrumbs, with herbs or plain*
1 handful pine nuts, toasted**
A few sprigs of thyme, leaves picked off the stems
Salt
Ground black pepper
½ lemon

Bring water to boil + salt to cook the pasta while you make the “sauce”.
In a medium size skillet, melt 4 tablespoons butter over medium heat and cook the breadcrumbs with thyme, salt and pepper until it is toasted, and crunchy, and browned (but not burnt). Add the extra 2 tablespoons butter to make it more sauce-y.

Cook ravioli according to instructions on package. Drain it and add to the skillet with the breadcrumbs, and toss gently.
Serve with the pine nuts and squeeze the lemon on top.

* Click here to see my tips on fresh breadcrumbs. If using plain breadcrumbs, use some herbs for more flavor, like thyme, oregano, parsley, basil, mint, etc.
** toast pine nuts in a 350 F oven for a few minutes or in a skillet over very low heat.

As good at this ravioli turned out, I think maybe you should take a pick at one of the weekly menu plans. Even if you pick out only 2 recipes, that’s 2 nights you don’t have to worry about what to cook for dinner. Doesn’t that sound good?!

I’ll “see” you again after Thanksgiving.
Have a GREAT feast!

Nurit

UPDATE: This part below was embedded in the post before Thanksgiving and was brought down over here after.

By the way, what are you planning for Thanksgiving dinner? No pressure, but you got 2 more days to plan. Since you are probably already flooded with recipes any way you look, I won’t post more recipes to confuse you. I’ll just share a little secret with you. It’s about the turkey.

This is year it’s going to be stuffed Cornish hens. Yep. I got the idea from Kari at Anticiplate blog and liked it a lot. Now I am plotting to tell the kids it’s, plan A – the tiniest baby turkey, or, plan B – a turkey seed (that you can plant in the ground and a turkey tree will grow by next year to give us more turkeys). Please cooperate with me here; do you think they will bite into it? I think it will be fun. Every person gets their own little “turkey”.