Autumn is winding to a close. Thanksgiving is next week. And my bottle of Torani Pumpkin Spice Syrup is almost gone. I'll probably have just enough to make it to the end of November.
I love pumpkin coffee. Beyond words. It's my fave. But not Starbucks ... at least not unless I'm in a pinch. I am a Dunkin girl all the way. D-Squared. (I'm sure this will raise polemical discussion at some point in the comments section.) I was just spending so much on pumpkin coffees since October began that I decided I should economize.
Enter Torani syrups. Check out their website ... seriously crazy amounts of syrup. And for about $8 a bottle, I can enjoy 2 months of pumpkin coffee. That's excellent. So I ordered a pumpkin spice and a strawberry (to make Italian sodas, hello!) ... but now that I'm almost out, I've been pondering a winter flavor.
My perfect pumpkin coffee:
1 steaming hot mug of Eight O'Clock Coffee (I like the Colombian)
2.5 pumps of Torani Pumpkin Spice Syrup
A very healthy splash of fat-free half and half
I'll let you know how it is when I take to home-roasting my own coffee beans. That's.right.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
Butternut Squash Obsession ... er ... Soup
On Mondays and Tuesdays, I work until 10 pm at the Writing Center so a transportable and reheatable dinner is a must. Tonight I'm bringing leftover Sausage Scramble and tomorrow night -- my latest obsession: Butternut Squash Soup!
I invested in one of those awesome, immersion, stick blender things. And it's green! In case you couldn't tell from my bright green curtains in my kitchen ... I love green. My clock is green. Towels. Potholders. Pans. Giant stock pot. Bathroom rug. Ice cream maker. And my latest addition of the stick blender.
So far I've made 2 batches of Butternut Squash Soup and 1 batch of Pumpkin Black Bean Soup. I have to confess I have no idea where I got this Butternut Squash Soup recipe, but now that I've made it twice ... I'll just put in my modifications and claim it.
Ingredients
two pats of butter
healthy drizzle of olive oil (the second time I used coconut oil -- about 1.5 T maybe)
1 onion, chopped
a couple spoonfuls of garlic (we have one of those giant jars of chopped garlic. so convenient)
dried sage
dried thyme leaves or ground thyme (or hell, why not both)
a beautiful 2 - 2.5 pound (or a little more) butternut squash (<3 <3 <3), peeled, seeded, and cubed
a couple splashes of cooking sherry or leftover good red wine turning to vinegar
4 cups chicken stock
pinch of cayenne pepper
1/4 c heavy cream
salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste
The original recipe calls for pancetta ... which sounds good but I haven't had it either time I've made it.
Melt the butter and oil in big heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add in the chopped onion and saute until it's soft -- for maybe 5 minutes. Add in the garlic (and then a little extra for luck), healthy sprinkles of the sage and thyme. Let that sit for a minute. Then add in your beautiful butternut squash cubes and saute for a few minutes. I let this go for at least five or so, usually because I'm still cubing up the rest of the squash.
OK, so here's what I "messed up" the first time that I'm convinced led to better, thicker soup. I only put in half the squash to saute. Oops! I didn't measure and just figured, oh that looks like enough. So I finished the rest of the steps and pureed and it was very thin. Oh no! So I quick heated a little more butter and oil, tossed in the rest of the squash cubes, added sage and thyme and cayenne, sauteed a few minutes. Then I threw it into the "finished" puree for another 25 minutes. It was thick and delicious. Since my second batch I followed the directions better and came up with not-quite-as-stellar-soup ... this is the way to go.
SO - you're only sauteeing half of your squash, got it? Continue thus ...
Once the squash is a little soft and fragrant (I love the smell of squash!), add in your wine, broth, and cayenne pepper. Cover and simmer for about 25-30 minutes (or the length of a dog walk).
Now you can go ahead and saute your second batch of squash. And fry up some crispy pancetta if you have some, or make some croutons or anything else you feel like for a topping.
Back to business. When you're through with your simmer, puree everything in the pot with your really awesome stick blender. Then toss in that second batch of squash and simmer for another 25 minutes. When that's done, puree the whole thing again to your desired consistency. Stir in the heavy cream. Top with whatever you want, including a tiny pinch of salt and some fresh cracked black pepper. My favorite thing to dip in is pretzel rolls. Yum.
PS - I'm making another batch of this for Thanksgiving, at which time I'll add in some photos. Right now, all you'd get is leftovers in the tupperware.
My dear actors eat no onions nor garlic.
I invested in one of those awesome, immersion, stick blender things. And it's green! In case you couldn't tell from my bright green curtains in my kitchen ... I love green. My clock is green. Towels. Potholders. Pans. Giant stock pot. Bathroom rug. Ice cream maker. And my latest addition of the stick blender.
So far I've made 2 batches of Butternut Squash Soup and 1 batch of Pumpkin Black Bean Soup. I have to confess I have no idea where I got this Butternut Squash Soup recipe, but now that I've made it twice ... I'll just put in my modifications and claim it.
Ingredients
two pats of butter
healthy drizzle of olive oil (the second time I used coconut oil -- about 1.5 T maybe)
1 onion, chopped
a couple spoonfuls of garlic (we have one of those giant jars of chopped garlic. so convenient)
dried sage
dried thyme leaves or ground thyme (or hell, why not both)
a beautiful 2 - 2.5 pound (or a little more) butternut squash (<3 <3 <3), peeled, seeded, and cubed
a couple splashes of cooking sherry or leftover good red wine turning to vinegar
4 cups chicken stock
pinch of cayenne pepper
1/4 c heavy cream
salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste
The original recipe calls for pancetta ... which sounds good but I haven't had it either time I've made it.
Melt the butter and oil in big heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add in the chopped onion and saute until it's soft -- for maybe 5 minutes. Add in the garlic (and then a little extra for luck), healthy sprinkles of the sage and thyme. Let that sit for a minute. Then add in your beautiful butternut squash cubes and saute for a few minutes. I let this go for at least five or so, usually because I'm still cubing up the rest of the squash.
OK, so here's what I "messed up" the first time that I'm convinced led to better, thicker soup. I only put in half the squash to saute. Oops! I didn't measure and just figured, oh that looks like enough. So I finished the rest of the steps and pureed and it was very thin. Oh no! So I quick heated a little more butter and oil, tossed in the rest of the squash cubes, added sage and thyme and cayenne, sauteed a few minutes. Then I threw it into the "finished" puree for another 25 minutes. It was thick and delicious. Since my second batch I followed the directions better and came up with not-quite-as-stellar-soup ... this is the way to go.
SO - you're only sauteeing half of your squash, got it? Continue thus ...
Once the squash is a little soft and fragrant (I love the smell of squash!), add in your wine, broth, and cayenne pepper. Cover and simmer for about 25-30 minutes (or the length of a dog walk).
Now you can go ahead and saute your second batch of squash. And fry up some crispy pancetta if you have some, or make some croutons or anything else you feel like for a topping.
Back to business. When you're through with your simmer, puree everything in the pot with your really awesome stick blender. Then toss in that second batch of squash and simmer for another 25 minutes. When that's done, puree the whole thing again to your desired consistency. Stir in the heavy cream. Top with whatever you want, including a tiny pinch of salt and some fresh cracked black pepper. My favorite thing to dip in is pretzel rolls. Yum.
PS - I'm making another batch of this for Thanksgiving, at which time I'll add in some photos. Right now, all you'd get is leftovers in the tupperware.
My dear actors eat no onions nor garlic.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Pumpkin Gingersnaps
Seriously one of the best cookies I've ever had. Ever.
I got this recipe for Pumpkin Gingersnaps from Two Peas and their Pod, which is such a great blog. Major props on these cookies. The balance of spices was perfect. I love a flavorful cookie, and this one was bursting with cinnamon, cloves, and ginger.
Now, I've been trying desperately to use up three sticks of Crisco that I bought I don't know when. I think they've made two moves with us now? Man, I hope that's not true. But even if it is, that expiration date has not yet hit! So anyway, the point is that I chose to substitute Crisco in for the butter. Next time, baby, butter. Is it possible these cookies could be better?
Pumpkin Gingersnaps
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (for the love of god I can't wait to use butter next time)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup pumpkin (not the pumpkin pie filling. for serious pumpkin)
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
1 t vanilla
2 1/3 c flour
2 t baking soda
2 t cinnamon
1 1/2 t ground ginger
1 t ground cloves
1/2 t salt
I'm not gonna lie. I heap those spoons of spices, especially the cinnamon. I would make a joke about a nest of spicery here, but that's just disgusting. So I'll keep it to myself.
Anyhow, I got out Wilbur "Splorge" Plantagenet (that's my mixer. Yes, I name my appliances.) and creamed together the fake-o butter and sugar for a few minutes till it was super creamy. I paused the Splorge - dumped in a scant 1/2 cup of pumpkin (end of the can. sad!), 1/4 cup molasses, and the egg. And the vanilla. Don't forget that. And I never measure vanilla. I just pour! And then another dollop.
While Wilbur continues to splorge, I mixed up the dry ingredients in another bowl, then dumped that into the mixer as well. Starting to look and smell good. And I definitely had a taste, raw egg be damned. I'm a bad example. What can I say?
Then I wrapped the dough in plastic wrap and stuck it in the fridge while I made dinner. And only now did I think to get out my camera (oh my, he needs a name!) and start snapping some pictures.
Preheat oven to 350 .... now! I got a small bowl and filled it with sugar for rolling the cookies in. Grease a baking sheet (or two) and get to rolling those cookies. Bigger than a jawbreaker. Smaller than hackey-sack. That's good.
I think I was supposed to let them cook on the tray for a few minutes before switching to the rack, but I had another batch of cookies to get in the oven. Straight to the rack they went, but not before a quality check. DELICIOUS!
I got this recipe for Pumpkin Gingersnaps from Two Peas and their Pod, which is such a great blog. Major props on these cookies. The balance of spices was perfect. I love a flavorful cookie, and this one was bursting with cinnamon, cloves, and ginger.
Now, I've been trying desperately to use up three sticks of Crisco that I bought I don't know when. I think they've made two moves with us now? Man, I hope that's not true. But even if it is, that expiration date has not yet hit! So anyway, the point is that I chose to substitute Crisco in for the butter. Next time, baby, butter. Is it possible these cookies could be better?
Pumpkin Gingersnaps
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (for the love of god I can't wait to use butter next time)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup pumpkin (not the pumpkin pie filling. for serious pumpkin)
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
1 t vanilla
2 1/3 c flour
2 t baking soda
2 t cinnamon
1 1/2 t ground ginger
1 t ground cloves
1/2 t salt
I'm not gonna lie. I heap those spoons of spices, especially the cinnamon. I would make a joke about a nest of spicery here, but that's just disgusting. So I'll keep it to myself.
Anyhow, I got out Wilbur "Splorge" Plantagenet (that's my mixer. Yes, I name my appliances.) and creamed together the fake-o butter and sugar for a few minutes till it was super creamy. I paused the Splorge - dumped in a scant 1/2 cup of pumpkin (end of the can. sad!), 1/4 cup molasses, and the egg. And the vanilla. Don't forget that. And I never measure vanilla. I just pour! And then another dollop.
While Wilbur continues to splorge, I mixed up the dry ingredients in another bowl, then dumped that into the mixer as well. Starting to look and smell good. And I definitely had a taste, raw egg be damned. I'm a bad example. What can I say?
Then I wrapped the dough in plastic wrap and stuck it in the fridge while I made dinner. And only now did I think to get out my camera (oh my, he needs a name!) and start snapping some pictures.
Preheat oven to 350 .... now! I got a small bowl and filled it with sugar for rolling the cookies in. Grease a baking sheet (or two) and get to rolling those cookies. Bigger than a jawbreaker. Smaller than hackey-sack. That's good.
Roll it in between your palms, then into the sugar.
 |
| Don't touch my dough balls! |
I baked for 10 minutes (switching racks at 5 minutes) and they were perfect!
I think I was supposed to let them cook on the tray for a few minutes before switching to the rack, but I had another batch of cookies to get in the oven. Straight to the rack they went, but not before a quality check. DELICIOUS!
A little crispy on the outside, cakey on the inside. And the hint of salt brought out all the flavors beautifully. So good! But cookies are only for mommies and daddies, and not for Pippins and Guses, no matter how cute they are.
We enjoyed our cookies with some decaf coffee. But they would be perfect with a glass of (insert preferred kind of milk here).
Crazy for Pumpkin
Some pumpkin recipes I want to experiment with:
Mini Pumpkin Pies (from Make and Takes)
Pumpkin Cheesecake (from Brown Eyed Baker, one of my favorite blogs)
Pumpkin Oatmeal Scotchies (also from Make and Takes)
Pumpkin Crumb Cakes (from The Kitchn)
I'm also hoping to dig into some pumpkin pasta recipes with the two little pumpkins I have left from our upstate trip to the pumpkin patch.
And I just snagged four butternut squash and one acorn squash from the market down the street. I've already made soup of one. Planning on Butternut Squash and Black Bean Enchiladas (from The Daily Garnish, another of my favorite blogs) with another. And no idea what to do with the acorn squash since I've never even eaten one. Suggestions?
Mini Pumpkin Pies (from Make and Takes)
Pumpkin Cheesecake (from Brown Eyed Baker, one of my favorite blogs)
Pumpkin Oatmeal Scotchies (also from Make and Takes)
Pumpkin Crumb Cakes (from The Kitchn)
I'm also hoping to dig into some pumpkin pasta recipes with the two little pumpkins I have left from our upstate trip to the pumpkin patch.
And I just snagged four butternut squash and one acorn squash from the market down the street. I've already made soup of one. Planning on Butternut Squash and Black Bean Enchiladas (from The Daily Garnish, another of my favorite blogs) with another. And no idea what to do with the acorn squash since I've never even eaten one. Suggestions?
Sausage Scramble
I got this recipe from someone when I was in college. It's so easy I never actually wrote down a recipe for it. And P named it the Sausage Scramble after a few times making it for us. Here it is, sans exact measurements. I told you so.
4 of those big Italian sausage links
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 15(ish) oz (or whatever that size is ...14.5? 15?) can of diced tomatoes
3 cups rice, cooked
I used to do the sausage separate from the veg. Squeeze the sausage out of the casing and use a wooden spoon to "chunk" it up. Cook until super crispy. Today, however, with no more than one working burner ... I sauteed the onion in a little olive oil, then tossed in the sausage to cook with the onion. Worked out ok.
Add tons of spices here. Whatever you like. Absolutely no measurements here, sorry. I just shake 'em in. Salt, black pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, herbes de provence, basil, parsley, thyme, garlic and onion powder, oregano, and some sage. I love spices.
1.5 cups of dry rice into the rice cooker with 3 cups or so of water, pinch of salt, black pepper, and herbes de provence. Tasty rice in about 20 minutes!
Meanwhile I was waiting and waiting for the stupid hot plate to quite cycling on and off and just heat the darn sausage already! At some point I tossed in the green pepper and the can of tomatoes. But the darn burner was still not working. So into a pie plate and into the convection oven it went -- 350 for about 20 minutes.
Served with some fresh-grated parmesan and some Italian bread. We had a lovely meal with 2 glasses of cabernet sauvignon and The Incredibles.
We took a break to make some Pumpkin Gingersnaps. Recipe coming soon.
4 of those big Italian sausage links
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 15(ish) oz (or whatever that size is ...14.5? 15?) can of diced tomatoes
3 cups rice, cooked
 |
| chop chop |
 |
| veg |
 |
| Oh right ... I put a few spoonfuls of Sofrito Tomato Base in there too. |
Add tons of spices here. Whatever you like. Absolutely no measurements here, sorry. I just shake 'em in. Salt, black pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, herbes de provence, basil, parsley, thyme, garlic and onion powder, oregano, and some sage. I love spices.
 |
| Spicèd! |
Meanwhile I was waiting and waiting for the stupid hot plate to quite cycling on and off and just heat the darn sausage already! At some point I tossed in the green pepper and the can of tomatoes. But the darn burner was still not working. So into a pie plate and into the convection oven it went -- 350 for about 20 minutes.
Served with some fresh-grated parmesan and some Italian bread. We had a lovely meal with 2 glasses of cabernet sauvignon and The Incredibles.
 |
| Yes, that's my head-shadow. I'll get better at this. |
We took a break to make some Pumpkin Gingersnaps. Recipe coming soon.
Welcome to my kitchen!
Full disclosure: I am not Hungry Will. Hungry Will is the mascot of my theater company, the Adirondack Shakespeare Company. He's just funny. And hungry.
I am writing this first post because my very best friend posted on my Facebook wall that I should have a food blog. With pictures. Kthanksbye. And I have been harboring this very desire. So - here it is.
Here is my kitchen. I know, I know ... it's big "for a New York kitchen." But I dream of a large, spacious kitchen. With counter space. And an island. And one of those hanging pot racks. In the meantime, however, we make do with a stove that doesn't work (we have a convection oven and one of those hot plate things). We do have a dishwasher though. So I shouldn't complain.
I don't get to spend as much time in my kitchen as I'd like. The last few weeks I've been making it a point. Cooking and baking is really relaxing for me. And as a graduate student two years into a doctoral program and the Artistic Director of a theater company, there's just not enough time in the day for cooking elaborate simple meals.
So here's what to expect:
Happy cooking!
I am writing this first post because my very best friend posted on my Facebook wall that I should have a food blog. With pictures. Kthanksbye. And I have been harboring this very desire. So - here it is.
Here is my kitchen. I know, I know ... it's big "for a New York kitchen." But I dream of a large, spacious kitchen. With counter space. And an island. And one of those hanging pot racks. In the meantime, however, we make do with a stove that doesn't work (we have a convection oven and one of those hot plate things). We do have a dishwasher though. So I shouldn't complain.
 |
| Oven on the busted oven. |
 |
| It stores wine now. |
So here's what to expect:
- Occasional posts. I'm a grad student with basically a full time job, right? Right.
- Tasty things. But I'm not a chef. No culinary training. Just good genes and about seven years in my own kitchen.
- Inexact measurements. Self-explanatory.
- Shakespeare quotes. It's what I do.
- A goofball attitude. Because I'm a goof.
Happy cooking!
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