Cold and flu season, that is.
Do you remember the old commercial for cold medicine that featured a family of huge, red noses? That's us. We have been a group of pathetic snifflers this weekend, and all semblance of household caretaking has gone right out the window. No laundry, no errands, no meal planning, no cooking...only pitiful shuffling between the medicine cabinet and the tissues, with vague worries about whether 5 hours in a row of Christmas specials would turn my kids' brains into mush.
On the upside - it looks like we're all on the mend. Which means I can get back to the real business at hand: Christmas.
I've pulled out my various clippings of favorite Christmas recipes, and stumbled on one I haven't made for a while: peppermint bark. This is an old Martha Stewart recipe, and truly could not be easier (or more fun for your kids, for that matter - give them a meat mallet and let them go nuts breaking up the peppermint).
Peppermint Bark
Melt 2 pounds of white chocolate (I use white chocolate chips) in the top of double boiler, or in a heat proof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water. Place 12 candy canes in a plastic bag and crush into 1/4 inch pieces with the smooth side of a meat tenderizer. Stir chopped candy cane and 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract into melted chocolate. Remove from heat, and pour mixture onto an 11x17 inch baking pan lined with parchment paper. Chill until firm; break into pieces. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
Baby, It's Cold Outside
We have been in survival mode this week, between travels for work, an incredibly sick little one, and other general craziness. Do you ever feel like you're under attack from your own life? That's us this week.
I intended to test another cookie recipe this week, but since life got in the way, we'll do that this weekend. Instead, since the entire country seems to be having cold weather (even Savannah!), here's a delicious white chili recipe to keep you toasty warm. Side note: isn't it funny how food carries with it such powerful memories? I have a distinct memory of the first time I made this at home, watching UNC beat UConn in basketball - that particular win sticks out, since it was the 8-20 year (aka The Year We All Want To Forget).
Stay warm!
White Chili
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 4 ounce can diced green chilis
3 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons oregano
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 15 ounce cans great northern beans, rinsed and drained
1 14ounce can chicken broth
1 1/2 cups finely copped cooked chicken (I often use a grocery store rotisserie chicken for this)
Salt and pepper to taste
Saute onion and garlic in the oil in a medium stockpot or dutch oven over medium heat for 4 minutes or until onion is translucent. Add chiles, flour, cumin, oregano, and cayenne. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add beans and broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, simmer for 10 minutes or until thick. Stir in the chicken. Cook until heated through. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and garnish as you like with Monterey Jack cheese, sour cream, salsa, and/or chopped green onions.
I intended to test another cookie recipe this week, but since life got in the way, we'll do that this weekend. Instead, since the entire country seems to be having cold weather (even Savannah!), here's a delicious white chili recipe to keep you toasty warm. Side note: isn't it funny how food carries with it such powerful memories? I have a distinct memory of the first time I made this at home, watching UNC beat UConn in basketball - that particular win sticks out, since it was the 8-20 year (aka The Year We All Want To Forget).
Stay warm!
White Chili
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 4 ounce can diced green chilis
3 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons oregano
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 15 ounce cans great northern beans, rinsed and drained
1 14ounce can chicken broth
1 1/2 cups finely copped cooked chicken (I often use a grocery store rotisserie chicken for this)
Salt and pepper to taste
Saute onion and garlic in the oil in a medium stockpot or dutch oven over medium heat for 4 minutes or until onion is translucent. Add chiles, flour, cumin, oregano, and cayenne. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add beans and broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, simmer for 10 minutes or until thick. Stir in the chicken. Cook until heated through. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and garnish as you like with Monterey Jack cheese, sour cream, salsa, and/or chopped green onions.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Cookie Monster
I am actually blogging a recipe before I've even tasted it. This seems terribly backwards, but it's a cookie recipe, I've just taken them out of the oven, and they are far too hot to eat. So I've got about 5 minutes during which I can either fold laundry or get started on tonight's blog.
Anything, anything, to avoid folding laundry.
Atlanta Mom sent me this recipe, which looked wonderful. I gotta tell you, though, my finished product looks nothing like the picture. Let's hope all our mothers were right, and looks really aren't everything.
Let me start by saying: Oh, hell.
I just went to the website to copy the recipe and noticed a very helpful link. To step-by-step pictures of the recipe being made. And let me tell you - not only do my cookies not look like the picture, but my steps didn't quite resemble theirs, either.
Pressing on. Here's the recipe, with my notes.
Sparkling Cranberry Gems, courtesy of King Arthur Flour
1 cup (4 1/4 ounces) King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour, organic preferred; or King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour (I did the white whole wheat flour. Who knew such a thing existed? Not me until about a week ago, but I'm going to try it in my pumpkin bread recipe next)
1 1/2 cups (7 ounces) dried cranberries, packed
2 tablespoons (1/2 ounce) confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into pats
3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) milk
Coating
scant 1/2 cup (about 3 1/2 ounces) coarse white sparkling sugar (Which, for the record, is NOT the same as natural turnadino sugar. Guess which one I bought at the grocery store, since my Publix apparently does not sell coarse white sparkling sugar. )
Place the flour and dried cranberries in the bowl of a food processor. Process until the cranberries are coarsely shredded. Imagine a single dried cranberry cut into about 4 pieces: that’s your goal. (Okay, I was totally with you here)
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets. (Got it. Done.)
Whisk together the flour/cranberry mixture, sugar, baking powder, and salt. (Oops. From the pictures that I NOW see, when you said "whisk," you actually meant "whisk." I must admit that caused some confusion when I was making these, because here I was, trotting along in my food processor. And then I thought, surely they don't mean for me to pull out two major countertop appliances all for one recipe? So I didn't. But you did.)
Add the vanilla and butter, mixing until the butter is thoroughly distributed, but some pea-sized chunks still remain. Dribble in the milk while mixing; the dough will become cohesive. (So far, so good, this still worked out okay in the food processor, at least theoretically. Hey, if it's good enough for pie crust, it's good enough for cookies, right? RIGHT?)
Place the coarse sugar in a plastic bag; about 1-quart size should do. Using a teaspoon cookie scoop (or a spoon), scoop the dough by 1 3/4-teaspoonfuls (about 1 ¼" balls) into the bag, 6 or 8 at a time. Close the top of the bag, and gently shake to coat the balls with sugar. Place them on the prepared baking sheet, and use the bottom of a glass to flatten them to about ¼" thick (about 1 ½" in diameter). (I must confess, I didn't do this step. I had a comment from a reader with my last post that perhaps I should refrigerate my cookie dough to keep it from spreading. So tonight, once I had the dough made, I popped it in the fridge for about 2 hours, and then wasn't going to blow all that effort by mushing them down myself - otherwise how would I know if they spread or not? Sure enough, I have a whole sheet pan of still-fat cookies cooling downstairs. Brilliant. I'll try the oatmeal ones one more time.) Repeat with the remaining dough.Bake the cookies for 16 to 17 minutes, until they’re set and barely, BARELY beginning to brown around the very edge; the tops shouldn’t be brown at all. Remove them from the oven, and cool right on the pan.
Yield: about 3 dozen cookies. (Really? Because I barely got 19. Is this where the whisk would have helped me out?)
***
For those of you who want the helpful link, instead of my version, here it is.
***
Now - hold on just a sec, I'm running downstairs for a glass of milk and a taste test.
***
I'm back. And the verdict is...
Um. Weird.
But perhaps you'll have better luck, following the real directions?
Happy eating!
Anything, anything, to avoid folding laundry.
Atlanta Mom sent me this recipe, which looked wonderful. I gotta tell you, though, my finished product looks nothing like the picture. Let's hope all our mothers were right, and looks really aren't everything.
Let me start by saying: Oh, hell.
I just went to the website to copy the recipe and noticed a very helpful link. To step-by-step pictures of the recipe being made. And let me tell you - not only do my cookies not look like the picture, but my steps didn't quite resemble theirs, either.
Pressing on. Here's the recipe, with my notes.
Sparkling Cranberry Gems, courtesy of King Arthur Flour
1 cup (4 1/4 ounces) King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour, organic preferred; or King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour (I did the white whole wheat flour. Who knew such a thing existed? Not me until about a week ago, but I'm going to try it in my pumpkin bread recipe next)
1 1/2 cups (7 ounces) dried cranberries, packed
2 tablespoons (1/2 ounce) confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into pats
3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) milk
Coating
scant 1/2 cup (about 3 1/2 ounces) coarse white sparkling sugar (Which, for the record, is NOT the same as natural turnadino sugar. Guess which one I bought at the grocery store, since my Publix apparently does not sell coarse white sparkling sugar. )
Place the flour and dried cranberries in the bowl of a food processor. Process until the cranberries are coarsely shredded. Imagine a single dried cranberry cut into about 4 pieces: that’s your goal. (Okay, I was totally with you here)
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets. (Got it. Done.)
Whisk together the flour/cranberry mixture, sugar, baking powder, and salt. (Oops. From the pictures that I NOW see, when you said "whisk," you actually meant "whisk." I must admit that caused some confusion when I was making these, because here I was, trotting along in my food processor. And then I thought, surely they don't mean for me to pull out two major countertop appliances all for one recipe? So I didn't. But you did.)
Add the vanilla and butter, mixing until the butter is thoroughly distributed, but some pea-sized chunks still remain. Dribble in the milk while mixing; the dough will become cohesive. (So far, so good, this still worked out okay in the food processor, at least theoretically. Hey, if it's good enough for pie crust, it's good enough for cookies, right? RIGHT?)
Place the coarse sugar in a plastic bag; about 1-quart size should do. Using a teaspoon cookie scoop (or a spoon), scoop the dough by 1 3/4-teaspoonfuls (about 1 ¼" balls) into the bag, 6 or 8 at a time. Close the top of the bag, and gently shake to coat the balls with sugar. Place them on the prepared baking sheet, and use the bottom of a glass to flatten them to about ¼" thick (about 1 ½" in diameter). (I must confess, I didn't do this step. I had a comment from a reader with my last post that perhaps I should refrigerate my cookie dough to keep it from spreading. So tonight, once I had the dough made, I popped it in the fridge for about 2 hours, and then wasn't going to blow all that effort by mushing them down myself - otherwise how would I know if they spread or not? Sure enough, I have a whole sheet pan of still-fat cookies cooling downstairs. Brilliant. I'll try the oatmeal ones one more time.) Repeat with the remaining dough.Bake the cookies for 16 to 17 minutes, until they’re set and barely, BARELY beginning to brown around the very edge; the tops shouldn’t be brown at all. Remove them from the oven, and cool right on the pan.
Yield: about 3 dozen cookies. (Really? Because I barely got 19. Is this where the whisk would have helped me out?)
***
For those of you who want the helpful link, instead of my version, here it is.
***
Now - hold on just a sec, I'm running downstairs for a glass of milk and a taste test.
***
I'm back. And the verdict is...
Um. Weird.
But perhaps you'll have better luck, following the real directions?
Happy eating!
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Got Milk?
I am hosting our neighborhood moms' annual cookie exchange, which means I have the perfect excuse to test cookie recipes all month. Now, I am NOT a baker. I try, I really do, but there's a lot of precision and attention to detail required when baking that I find simply unattainable. Particularly when baking with my 5 year old, who insists on doing all the measuring and mixing himself. But we do the best we can and figure Santa isn't that picky about the cookies we leave him.
Today's recipe is my all time favorite cookie recipe. To me, it's not Christmas without these cookies. At least, as long as my friend Jessica is making them. When she makes them, they are delightfully dense and fat, like little wonderful lumps of yumminess. When I make them, they still taste good, but they spread out so much they're more like pancake cookies. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. I've tried everything - switching my cookie sheets, cooking at a lower temperature, making sure the butter is room temperature, making sure the butter is cool room temperature...either when she gave me the recipe she left out some secret ingredient or step, or I'm just incompetent.
The good news is, she and her adorable family are coming to visit for a night in a couple of weeks, and if I am very, very lucky she'll bring me some. In the meantime, I'm posting the recipe so you, dear readers, can try them. And if you're an expert and know what I'm doing wrong, please please tell me. I want my lumps of yummy, and I want them now.
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 sticks of butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1.5 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 cups old fashioned oats
Preheat oven to 375 (note: I've also done 350. Works fine at that temp, but they still spread). Mix butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and eggs in one bowl until smooth. Mix flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl. Add dry ingredients to wet. When completely mixed, add oats and then chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake until light golden brown. Makes 5 dozen cookies.
Today's recipe is my all time favorite cookie recipe. To me, it's not Christmas without these cookies. At least, as long as my friend Jessica is making them. When she makes them, they are delightfully dense and fat, like little wonderful lumps of yumminess. When I make them, they still taste good, but they spread out so much they're more like pancake cookies. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. I've tried everything - switching my cookie sheets, cooking at a lower temperature, making sure the butter is room temperature, making sure the butter is cool room temperature...either when she gave me the recipe she left out some secret ingredient or step, or I'm just incompetent.
The good news is, she and her adorable family are coming to visit for a night in a couple of weeks, and if I am very, very lucky she'll bring me some. In the meantime, I'm posting the recipe so you, dear readers, can try them. And if you're an expert and know what I'm doing wrong, please please tell me. I want my lumps of yummy, and I want them now.
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 sticks of butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1.5 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 cups old fashioned oats
Preheat oven to 375 (note: I've also done 350. Works fine at that temp, but they still spread). Mix butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and eggs in one bowl until smooth. Mix flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl. Add dry ingredients to wet. When completely mixed, add oats and then chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake until light golden brown. Makes 5 dozen cookies.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Christmas Morning
WHEW.
Is any one else completely tired of all things food-related? After all the planning, shopping, preparing, and of course EATING last week, even I don't want to give food another thought.
And yet here I am, already planning for Christmas morning.
When I was growing up, my Mom always made a fabulous coffee cake for Christmas breakfast, and I love it to this day. But I don't make it now because my husband isn't as crazy about it (though let's be honest - his holiday tastes are a little suspect, as he comes from a family that has cookies and diet coke for Christmas breakfast). I've tried doing cinnamon rolls, which are fine but nothing special, and big breakfast casseroles, which are great but too much work to put together on Christmas Eve now that we have to help Santa get everything ready for Christmas morning.
But now, I think I've settled on a new tradition for our family: chocolate croissants. My friend Leigh brought these to our last girls weekend trip (where the inspiration for this blog was born), and they were, in a word, Fabulous. I've just placed my order from them from Williams-Sonoma, and am feeling quite pleased with myself to have at least one meal in this crazy month planned.
***
Another recipe from our supper club, this one from our French friend Lucie, who is so incredibly stylish that even her food looks gorgeous.
Roasted Veggies Couscous Salad (serves 6 people)
2 cups of couscous
2.5 cups of chicken stock
Roast half a butternut squash, 2 sweet potatoes (olive oil , salt and pepper in the oven at 350 for an hour)
Pour the boiling chicken stock over the dry couscous - cover and wait 5 minutes....add the roast veggies and as many blanched snow peas as you like.
Dressing: whisk together and pour over couscous 2 tbs of olive oil, 1/2 tsp of harissa paste (chili paste), 1/4 cup of chopped mint, 1/4 cup of lemon juice, 1 tbs of honey
voila! bon appetit!
Is any one else completely tired of all things food-related? After all the planning, shopping, preparing, and of course EATING last week, even I don't want to give food another thought.
And yet here I am, already planning for Christmas morning.
When I was growing up, my Mom always made a fabulous coffee cake for Christmas breakfast, and I love it to this day. But I don't make it now because my husband isn't as crazy about it (though let's be honest - his holiday tastes are a little suspect, as he comes from a family that has cookies and diet coke for Christmas breakfast). I've tried doing cinnamon rolls, which are fine but nothing special, and big breakfast casseroles, which are great but too much work to put together on Christmas Eve now that we have to help Santa get everything ready for Christmas morning.
But now, I think I've settled on a new tradition for our family: chocolate croissants. My friend Leigh brought these to our last girls weekend trip (where the inspiration for this blog was born), and they were, in a word, Fabulous. I've just placed my order from them from Williams-Sonoma, and am feeling quite pleased with myself to have at least one meal in this crazy month planned.
***
Another recipe from our supper club, this one from our French friend Lucie, who is so incredibly stylish that even her food looks gorgeous.
Roasted Veggies Couscous Salad (serves 6 people)
2 cups of couscous
2.5 cups of chicken stock
Roast half a butternut squash, 2 sweet potatoes (olive oil , salt and pepper in the oven at 350 for an hour)
Pour the boiling chicken stock over the dry couscous - cover and wait 5 minutes....add the roast veggies and as many blanched snow peas as you like.
Dressing: whisk together and pour over couscous 2 tbs of olive oil, 1/2 tsp of harissa paste (chili paste), 1/4 cup of chopped mint, 1/4 cup of lemon juice, 1 tbs of honey
voila! bon appetit!
Monday, November 23, 2009
Giving Thanks
It's hard to believe it is the week of The Food Holiday, aka Thanksgiving, and I've written almost nothing about Thanksgiving food. I wish I had an airtight excuse, but here's the real reason: basketball season has started. My evenings are now taken up with yelling at the TV and glaring at my husband if he so much as whispers that I might be scaring the dog. At the moment, however, it's halftime, so if I type quickly I'll get another post in.
***
I'll have to save my turkey frying tips for next year, since this year I'm going to take notes to be sure I'm telling you the right things to do. But just so I don't completely miss out on talking turkey, here's a tip. My roasted chicken and wild rice soup is amazing with leftover turkey (and freezes wonderfully). I posted the recipe here.
***
Of the many things I am thankful for this year, one of them is our supper club. We have an amazing group of people who are pulled in 14 million different directions during our daily lives, but we all come together to break bread at someone's house once every 6 weeks. We do it potluck style, with the host and hostess providing the main dish, and everyone else filling out the meal. Each dinner has a theme, and our latest theme was Fall Harvest. Let me tell you - we outdid ourselves. Seriously. I asked everyone to send me their recipes so I could post them here. I'll do them in order of the meal.
First up, Attorney Mom with appetizers!
***
Red Onion Jam with Bacon and Bourbon
3-4 large red onions, thinly sliced
3/4 package bacon, cooked and finely chopped
2-3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons bourbon (or substitute 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
2-3 tablespoons Olive oil
In a large saucepan, saute the onions with olive oil until they begin to soften. Add the chopped bacon, and continue to cook over low heat. Once the onions begin to reduce and thicken, add the brown sugar, to taste, and the bourbon or vanilla. (I actually used vanilla, but "onion and vanilla jam" sounds repulsive, although the result is quite tasty...so you may want to use the official recipe name for your guests!) Cooking time is around 35-45 minutes, and you will know your jam is done when it's the consistency you wish to spread onto a cracker. Continue stirring throughout the cooking process. Serve warm or at room temperature with crackers or toast points.
Ginger-Apricot Chutney
* I adapted this recipe from one that did not use quantities, and I also added extra ingredients to get the smell I was looking for, so all quantities are approximate, and please use your nose as your guide!
1/2-3/4 pound dried apricots, chopped (quantity per size of your crowd)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh grated ginger
1 small pinch cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2-3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
5 whole cloves
Place apricots in large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, and then simmer over low heat. Add lemon juice, ginger, cayenne, cumin, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and continue to simmer, covered, until the mixture begins to thicken. Approximate cooking time is 35-45 minutes, or until whenever the apricots are a desirable consistency. Continue stirring during the cooking process. Continue to add water if it boils off and you desire to keep reducing the mixture. Give it a taste before you finish cooking and add any additional quantities of the ingredients above. Once done, remove cloves, and serve warm or at room temperature.
Happy eating, and Happy Thanksgiving!
***
I'll have to save my turkey frying tips for next year, since this year I'm going to take notes to be sure I'm telling you the right things to do. But just so I don't completely miss out on talking turkey, here's a tip. My roasted chicken and wild rice soup is amazing with leftover turkey (and freezes wonderfully). I posted the recipe here.
***
Of the many things I am thankful for this year, one of them is our supper club. We have an amazing group of people who are pulled in 14 million different directions during our daily lives, but we all come together to break bread at someone's house once every 6 weeks. We do it potluck style, with the host and hostess providing the main dish, and everyone else filling out the meal. Each dinner has a theme, and our latest theme was Fall Harvest. Let me tell you - we outdid ourselves. Seriously. I asked everyone to send me their recipes so I could post them here. I'll do them in order of the meal.
First up, Attorney Mom with appetizers!
***
Red Onion Jam with Bacon and Bourbon
3-4 large red onions, thinly sliced
3/4 package bacon, cooked and finely chopped
2-3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons bourbon (or substitute 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
2-3 tablespoons Olive oil
In a large saucepan, saute the onions with olive oil until they begin to soften. Add the chopped bacon, and continue to cook over low heat. Once the onions begin to reduce and thicken, add the brown sugar, to taste, and the bourbon or vanilla. (I actually used vanilla, but "onion and vanilla jam" sounds repulsive, although the result is quite tasty...so you may want to use the official recipe name for your guests!) Cooking time is around 35-45 minutes, and you will know your jam is done when it's the consistency you wish to spread onto a cracker. Continue stirring throughout the cooking process. Serve warm or at room temperature with crackers or toast points.
Ginger-Apricot Chutney
* I adapted this recipe from one that did not use quantities, and I also added extra ingredients to get the smell I was looking for, so all quantities are approximate, and please use your nose as your guide!
1/2-3/4 pound dried apricots, chopped (quantity per size of your crowd)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh grated ginger
1 small pinch cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2-3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
5 whole cloves
Place apricots in large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, and then simmer over low heat. Add lemon juice, ginger, cayenne, cumin, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and continue to simmer, covered, until the mixture begins to thicken. Approximate cooking time is 35-45 minutes, or until whenever the apricots are a desirable consistency. Continue stirring during the cooking process. Continue to add water if it boils off and you desire to keep reducing the mixture. Give it a taste before you finish cooking and add any additional quantities of the ingredients above. Once done, remove cloves, and serve warm or at room temperature.
Happy eating, and Happy Thanksgiving!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
The Great Pumpkin, Part 2
News flash: did you, dear reader, realize that Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK? Yes, a week from tomorrow. I truly did have it in my head that we were still 2 weeks away. We are hosting this year, and I had a moment of panic when I thought about all the things I haven't done to get ready. Like, plan the menu. Grocery shop. Make my pie crusts like I so smugly instructed the rest of you to do on Monday. Put extra leaves in the table. Polish silver. Stock up on liquor.
Ah -ha! You thought that last one was to survive the holiday, didn't you? But no. It is the super secret ingredient in my pumpkin pie.
Here's what you do: follow the instructions for pumpkin pie on the back of a Libby's can of pumpkin. But, before you add the evaporated milk, remove one shot glass worth of it. Then add one shot of Mount Gay (dark) rum. And carry on with making your pie - same cooking time, etc.
Do you think that sounds crazy? It's not - it's wonderful. Your guests will never know there's rum in the pie, but it gives it a depth of flavor that can't be beat. Serve with homemade whipped cream, and enjoy!
Ah -ha! You thought that last one was to survive the holiday, didn't you? But no. It is the super secret ingredient in my pumpkin pie.
Here's what you do: follow the instructions for pumpkin pie on the back of a Libby's can of pumpkin. But, before you add the evaporated milk, remove one shot glass worth of it. Then add one shot of Mount Gay (dark) rum. And carry on with making your pie - same cooking time, etc.
Do you think that sounds crazy? It's not - it's wonderful. Your guests will never know there's rum in the pie, but it gives it a depth of flavor that can't be beat. Serve with homemade whipped cream, and enjoy!
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