Mishaps...

They happen. Wednesday my faithful old Kitchen Aid Mixer finally jumped ship when it tumbled from my counter into my waiting hands' ceramic dishes. Needless to say my bread dough was done for, a mixer was in the cards, and I need to look for some replacement vintage Corningware...

Ah well - It was just one of those days.

Thanksgiving day was much more enjoyable!

Anyways, to break in the fruits of this Black Friday - a Kitchen Aid Pro 520 which completely blows me away - I whipped some Spicy Pumpkin bread based on the recipe from The Bread Bible. My goodness, I very much enjoy that book. The whole-grain wild rice-molasses bread I was making and (with much help) remade sans-mixer too came from its glorious pages.

Also a wonderful bread...Sweet, Chewy...

Anyhow, the Pumpkin-Cream Cherry bread came out wonderfully. I added orange zest and a bit of oatmeal as well as a splash of almond extract to make up for the lack of Sherry in my inventory.

It was spice, moist (Thanks to the addition of some plain yogurt to offset the volume of oil called for) and rose very well.

There's no substitute for careful mixing in chemically leavened quick-breads, I always say. I really do, it's a bad habit.

Anyways here it is - if you're ever in the market for a nice spiced quick bread, hit this recipe up. There's never enough Pumpkin in the pie alone this time of year.

One loaf...

Two Bundts...

And a whole-lot of sweet-scented holiday baking...

Enjoy the start to the holiday season! I'm already hitting the Christmas music pretty hard...

November Comes!

I love this month. It's the start of Scorpio season for us Children of November; It's the start of the true holiday season; It's home to possibly the single greatest day of eating in America. What's not to love?

I'm afraid until Thanksgiving is actually upon us there will likely be a continued dearth of recipes, reviews, and good things to blog about. Food here is still, well, uninteresting. Our valley cafe on tuesdays is good - today's dishes surrounded Italian, specifically perhaps Milanese, dishes. It was good, bringing fresh bitter-sweet slaw, stewed Chickpeas, and an interesting spaghetti torte, and a Chicken dish to The Foxes.

I miss Italian like mia mamma makes.

In the interim, enjoy these pics - long overdue - from the Goffstown (NH) Pumpkin Festival. I've been meaning to post them with this recipe for Pumpkin Softies - a recurring cookie of mine - since mid October! So sorry about that...

The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown! The biggest and greatest in fact!

Punkin Chunkin' on the river!

A great little cafe in town. Check it out if you're in area!

Mmmm... Tremendous amounts of Apple Crisp, Pumpkin Pie, Individually wrapped baked goods. Not to mention the dessert competition tasting table! My god, I love Fall...

And here's my most recent recipe for Pumpkin Spice-Softies:

Makes 2 Dozen

· ½ cup Butter, softened

· ½ cup sugar

o 1/3 cup extra reserved for rolling

· 1/4 cup honey and/or maple syrup

o Puree ¼ cup honey with ¼ cup dates, ¼ cup craisins, 1/3 cup boiling water and incorporate into wet ingredients

· 2/3 cup pumpkin puree

· 1/3 cup molasses, darker the better!

· 1 egg

· 2 ¼ cups whole wheat flour (or white, unbleached)

· ¼ cup oatmeal

· 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

· 2 teaspoons cinnamon

· 2 teaspoons ginger

· 1 teaspoon ground cloves

· ½ teaspoon salt

· Chocolate Chips, Cinnamon, Brown Sugar, Ginger to taste for rolling

Combine Sugar, butter, honey, pumpkin, and egg in a large mixing bowl, combining well. The butter won’t fully incorporate but remain slightly chunky.

Combine extra sugar, extra spices (listed at bottom) and set aside chips for finishing the cookies.

Combine all dry ingredients left and slowly spoon into wet batter, mixing very thoroughly. An electric mixer makes this much easier.

Set aside for 20 minutes or so, or until sufficiently chilled so that the batter can be more or less rolled into walnut-sized balls by hand.

Roll in sugar-spice mixture and set about 1-2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet or parchment paper. Press several chocolate chips into each ball and flatten slightly while on sheet. Bake for 8-12 minutes at 350° or until cookies are solid to the touch and crack slightly. They will darken due to the sugar caramelizing, not burning.

A Strong showing but they dodn't last but a few days...

The Sugar-spice coating makes the difference, don't skimp...

Enjoy. I know I do.

It's Been a Long Time...

Since I've posted much. Not for lack of tinned in the kitchen. Just last night I even made some whole wheat butterscotch blondies to ship home to the better half. They came out perfectly (I forgot to shoot a pic! Next time...). But life is busy at school. Luckily I'm getting more comfortable in my kitchen but I miss my home's nonetheless.
Anyways, here are a few pics of what ive been up to:
Some decent food from our cafe even! Real tofu once...

The Great Bakery at Rhinebeck, NY: Bread Alone

I loved my lentil patty but this Sweet Potato and Kale Soup was warm and satisfying - Vegan too!

Changing gears, Heres my hand at vegan cookies - mostly because I didn't have eggs. I adapted it from this Post Punk Kitchen recipe

Here are my Petite Apple Pies from the pies I picked a few weeks ago...

Finally, the "real" tofu I had in the midst of culinary depths...

When I get a chance, I'll post my Pumpkin (improved) cookie recipe from my weekend home at a Pumpkin festival in New Hampshire. Enjoy (in advance!)

Early pumpkins? Never...

I miss pumpkin pie, Apple crisp, and maple syrup atop buckwheat pancakes. Nostalgia? Maybe. The coming of fall, my favorite season? Definitely. Whatever the cause all I can think of between tests and college work is Apple picking, Halloween, and thanksgiving. So here's my attempt at impromptu pocket pies. They're not exactly the proper shape or consistency of good pre but they hit the spot as I explore the idea of a shared kitchen...

Mini pies of pumpkin
For the filing I used simple pumpkin puree, an egg, sugar, and cinnamon to taste. The crust was 1 cup flour to 1 tbsp flax meal, pinch of salt, and 1/3 cup sugar.
I learned you need butter in crust more than anything.
Oh well, consistency side my mini press tasted good!

Enjoy the fall yall

When it rains...

Recipes and baked goods don't necessarily pour forth. As I don't really have the time or kitchen space I once enjoyed, in college reading days have been spent working, in class, or at the gym. I guess when there's so much soft serve to be had, it's the gym and fewer cookies... Anyways I invented impromptu poor college kid cookies I wanted to share- they need work... Oh, and my campus farmer's market too! Enjoy!the

Too Long...

Kind of like the Daft Punk song... But totally unrelated.

It's been too long since posting to this blog. Life's been wild - in the best sense. Moving into college, visiting New York City for a few days before, and cooking up a storm the day before leaving for it all, I've been going in every direction.

On the subject of college, first off, life is good. I love it here - the food isn't bad but the people are quality. I'll save the food puns; never have I had so much optimism for my future. Life is good and for the taking.

So, just to post a few images of passion and motivation, here are a few shots of my latest (sadly probably for a while) endeavors.

You see, my friends and I decided to hold a formal dinner on the Monday before we all began our treks across the northeast. Personally I took a shot at some new breads, homemade Chard Ravioli, Panna Cotta, and a simple salad. My good friend made a brisket for the carnivores, a great curry soup, accompaniments, and an impressive Tiramisu. Some other desserts made their way in, all good. It was a stressful but enormously enjoyable evening. My how I'll miss my new friends but luckily college has proved quite welcoming. And the salad bar has helped to alleviate the pangs for seitan, tofu, and garden fresh vegetables.

Sadly, all I photographed were my baking efforts, so here those are. The ravioli and panna cotta needed work anyways...

Squishy bread...Mmmmm

A few shots of Olive Oil-Walnut Loaf. What a bread for breakfast...

Sour Rye loaf - great with some olive oil.

Oh and here are a few of the muffins I baked too - Apple ginger. They were strong, but not bad with a spot of jam.

Enjoi! Life always has more to offer than what meets the eye.

Tried mornings...

So I wanted to whip up a simple breakfast this past weekend. For whatever reason I thought back to a dish I love of rice, an egg, hamburger, and gravy. Not vegetarian. But aha, oatmeal, eggs, and vegetables are. Clever me, I suddenly thought up this simple recipe while at a concert - don't ask me why, I can't say why the roaring crowd and smooth melody of Guster made me hungry.

Vegetarian "Loco Moco", My Way

Makes 2 servings

1 cup rolled oats, cooked with adequate water

1/2 cup chopped vegetables (Zucchini, Baby Bellas, carrots, whatever you like!)

1 teaspoon Curry Powder; Salt and Pepper to taste

2 large eggs, over easy, sunny side up - just make it a but runny

Mushroom Gravy

1 cup mushrooms, finely sliced and/or diced

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 cup water

1/4 cup whole wheat flower

dash arrowroot powder

lots of fresh sage, chopped, as well as a few dashes of cinnamon, and pepper

2 tbsp soy or tamari sauce

Combine the ingredients for the gravy, stirring (whisking) until it reduces to a suitable gravy-licious consistency. Cook the oatmeal and fold in the spices and veggies when it seems cooked to your liking. Fry the egg.

Plate the egg atop the oatmeal and cover with gravy.

Enjoy - I certainly did when I had it. Feel free to toss in a crab cake, veggie burger - whatever you like. The classic recipe calls for some such thing beneath the egg anyways. (Heres a good example from NPR)