Mini T-Giving

It's not quite Thanksgiving but I am already enjoying LEFTOVERS of cornbread stuffing and turkey. Last night, my roommates and a few friends celebrated Thanksgiving. It.was.delicious. Turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, mac n' cheese, pesto pasta, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, etc.

I was in charge of turkey and stuffing. I was really nervous about the turkey, I never made one alone and have an irrational fear of large amounts of raw meat. However, the turkey turned out great! Mrs. Morel gave me an excellent Crock-Pot turkey recipe that I will definitely be using again: Turkey Breast (or partial turkey in my case) + one can of cranberry sauce + one package of Lipton dry onion soup mix.

I put the turkey in at 10:30 AM on "High," I turned it down to "Low" around 7:30 PM and I was enjoyed around 9:00 PM.

For the stuffing, I loosely followed this recipe from the NY Times. Additions to the recipe included a small box of chopped white mushrooms, sauteed with the onions, and about a cup of dried cranberries re-hydrated in hot water and then added to the mixture before it went into the oven. I also substituted chicken stock for milk. I was pleased with the end result (in fact I will be making again on Thursday) although it was much more crumbly than I expected.

What are your favorite Thanksgiving dishes?

The Table

Dupont Circle Farmer's Market, Washington DC 2007

I know this is kind of like double dipping, but I just wanted to share a link with you to a blog post I wrote for The Michigan Daily: Seed to Stall

I had a lot of fun researching (doing an interview at the Farmer's Market) and writing the article. I also really appreciate the opportunity to write for The Michigan Daily.

Enjoy!

Beyond Scrambled

This morning I decided to tackle my fear of eggs not scrambled. I have pondering this challenge for far too long, and I don't even like scrambled eggs that much.

After weeks of secret research and asking friends if an egg not scrambled was actually good, I chose this recipe from Alton Brown. In the process I also learned that "over easy," "sunny side up," and "fried eggs" were not the same thing.

So I intended to make an egg "over easy," but as the egg yolk spread across the pan I knew this may turn out to be a hybrid egg.

Alton said, "If the yolks do break, act like you meant them to, fry for another minute and serve. They'll still taste great." And they sure did, especially atop one of my free Parmesan Pepper birthday bagels from Zingerman's!

Is there any food you are afraid to make?

Rosemary Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Happy (almost) Halloween!

This morning I was up early to head to the A2 Farmers Market to volunteer for a project for an Environment class I am in. Our project objective was to get involved in the community on an issue pertaining to the environment. I always enjoy being a patron of the Farmers Market but it was fun to play a role in the Market's production today. We helped out with the Halloween activities at the Market including carving pumpkins, and face painting. Amidst all of that we met a lot of really great people including a 14-year-old boy who gladly answered my pesky questions about his families chickens:

Me: "So, how many chickens do you guys have?"

Boy: "Uh, dead or alive?"

Me: "Hmm. . .Both?"

Boy: "Around 2,000." (He then went on to tell about how they are free-range and hormone free! Woo Hoo!)

One of the conversation over the carving of pumpkins was the deliciousness of pumpkin seeds. I've actually never had pumpkin seeds (at least that I can remember) so I decided to give it a try and we all began separating them out here and there so everyone could take some home.

I loosely used this recipe from SimpleRecipes.com - quick and easy!

First, bring the seeds to a boil in a pot of water w/ a little salt and then simmer for about 10 minutes.

Next, place them on an oiled cookie sheet. At this point I added salt, pepper and rosemary - but you can season them however you like. The seeds then go in the oven at 400 degrees for 10-20 minutes.

Voila!

Enjoy your Halloweekend!

Houston

It's been almost two weeks since I flew down to Houston to visit my sister Meredith, brother-in-law David, adorable nephew Xavy, and BFF Caroline. I had a wonderful visit and it was nice to take a quick break from school before things got too crazy (and believe me, they did).

Friday night Caroline picked me up from the Airport. It was about 11:00 PM Mitten time, but somehow I caught a second wind and Caroline and I stayed up chatting per usual over Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes.

Saturday morning we visited the Farmers Market near Caroline's apartment and then went in search of Kolaches. Kolaches are a delicious European pastry popular in many cities across the U.S. including Houston where their annual Kolache Fests occur in March and May.

Next up was Central Market (H-E-B's version of Whole Foods?).

Our purpose in being there was obviously for their annual Hail to the Cheese event. We tried several great cheeses but our favorite was the Vermont Cheddar atop a rice cracker with Pumpkin Butter. OH-MY-CHEESE! What an amazing combination - which I now have all the ingredients to replicate. . .

Following the cheese, coffee, salsa, and fruit samples we shopped around for a bit and then headed out to my sister Meredith's house - where lots of fun, munching, baby kisses and snuggles, and shenanigans took place including. . .

My first cup o' pure espresso.

A quick day trip to Katy, TX for the 1/3 Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit.

Turtle Soup. Not really, just a plethora of turtles in Katy, TX.

Mediterranean Dinner Night with help from Phoenicia.

And more snuggling!

Acorn Squash & Apple Soup

Last week while reading all of my usual blogs in my Google Reader, I stumbled upon this recipe on the blog "Peas and Thank You." Knowing that I am in the Mitten, and it is prime time for apples and squash I made tentative plans to make some sort of apple-squash soup this week. Upon further review of my farmers market purchases I decided to make this soup, found on the blog "Happy Herbivore."

I made a few modifications to the original recipe, the first being that I roasted my squash in the oven on 400 degrees for about 40 minutes instead of putting the squash in the microwave.

My next modification (which may have been where I went wrong) was trying to make a one-and-a-half version of the recipe. I had more squash than the recipe called for but I knew I would use the squash otherwise.

The Verdict: I found the soup slightly sweet, yet lacking in a robust flavor. The original recipe did note that the soup is even better the next day which I would have to agree with. :D

This is not my last attempt with squash soup; I have had some pretty outstanding squash soup so I know it can be done. Next time I think I will try to make a recipe similar to the recipe on "Peas and Thank You" to pack a little protein in.

What are you making this week?

A few of my favorite fall things. . .

It is a lovely October morning here in the mitten. After a quick, early trip to the Farmer's Market this morning I was reminded of a few of my favorite fall things:

-Pumpkin ANYTHING (Specifically, a Zingerman's Pumpkin Muffin)

-Apples

-Apple Cider

-Squash

-Coffee (on a Fall Morning)

-FALL COLORS

What are your favorite fall things?

P.S. Sorry for the blogging hiatus. You haven't missed much. I burned my hand making a frozen pizza. . .see, I told you so.

P.P.S. GO BLUE!