Yummy things

The Bickers Bock birthday bash

The truth is that sharing a birthday isn’t so bad when you share a week full of celebrations!  So on Saturday, we had a birthday party at the house.  Despite the fact that the focus was on Dan’s big 3-0, there were two birthdays, and lots of friends to celebrate with, so I decided to make two cakes.  First, I did a brown sugar and chocolate-chip bundt cake with maple-espresso glaze, which I discovered from the Food Librarian, who got the recipe from Bon Appetit.  I thought of this as Dan’s cake, but in the end, I think I liked it better than him.  I think the maple flavor got lost amongst all the other flavors, but I really liked the glaze with the chocolate chips, and I don’t think I ever smelled a cake that wafted through the house so nicely as I baked it.

But the hit of the night turned out to be a classic pineapple upside down cake.  I actually used a recipe from Cooking Light for the cake, which was a bit healthier than the box mix, and better, but I went old school with the melted butter, brown sugar, canned pineapple, and maraschino cherries.  There’s a reason this one has persisted for so long.

Pineapple-upside down cake
Adapted from Cooking Light

Preheat oven to 350°.

Melt 6 tablespoons of butter.  Pour into the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking pan.  Sprinkle 1 1/3 cup of brown sugar over butter.  Drain a 20-ounce can of pineapple rings.  Top butter and brown sugar with pineapple rings.  Place marachino cherries into the centers of the pineapple slices.

In a large bowl, beat together 10 tablespoons unsalted butter and 1 1/3 cups sugar until light and fluffy.  Add 4 eggs, one at a time, stirring after each addition. Mix in 1 cup low-fat buttermilk and 2  teaspoons vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, combine:
2 1/2  cups  all-purpose flour
2  teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Add flour mixture, stirring just until blended (do not overstir). Pour the batter into prepared pan.

Bake at 350° for about 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for 1 minute in pan on a wire rack. Place a plate upside down on top of the cake, and invert onto plate. Cool completely. Cut cake into squares.

Also, Dan was totally surprised by the birthday book with photos from December 1, 1979 all the way up to the present.  A BIG thank you to everyone who contributed and kept it a surprise.

Whew!  That’s a lot of celebrations and cake over these last two posts!  I think it’s time to get back to some winter greens, but I’m afraid it will be time for holiday baking before long.  We’ll see what comes up next.  Here’s to another year of adventures in the kitchen and beyond!

Birthdays are the best

After all the Thanksgiving feasting, it seemed more than a bit gluttonous to go straight on to birthday cake, but what’s a girl to do when both she and her guy share a birthday on December 1?  To keep things in check a little, I decided to make two mini cakes instead of any fancy extravaganza.  Years ago I got these mini tube cake pans at a flea market, and I had never used them, so this seemed like the perfect chance to do so. It was loads of fun!

The pans were the perfect vessels to make little cakes from the book Cooking for Two, but if you don’t have such a thing, you can easily make your own sweet treats in ramekins.  And you should!  These cakes are a perfect example of the types of things that come from this great cookbook.  When I got it as a shower gift back before Dan and I got married, I wasn’t really convinced it was necessary, but it’s contained lots of smart ideas.  Without it, I wouldn’t have been comfortable cutting a recipe down to just make two cakes, but it was just right for this occasion.

Mini orange birthday cakes
Adapted from Cooking for Two
(It was originally lemon, but I loved the orange!  Try whichever flavor sounds good to you.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter and flour the bottom and inside walls of your baking vessel.

Beat together 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, and 1/4 cup sugar with a wooden spoon or an electric mixer at medium speed until pale yellow and very fluffy.  (About 5 minutes by hand, or 3 minutes with a mixer.)

Beat in 2 tablespoons pasteurized egg substitute (like Egg Beaters) until smooth, about 1 minute.

Using a wooden spoon, stir in:
1 1/2 tablespoon milk (any type is fine)
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh orange juice
1/4 teaspoon grated orange zest.

Then stir in:
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt

Bake for 15 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.  Transfer the pans to a wire rack, cool for 10 minutes, and then unmold the cakes and cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the icing:
Beat 2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, with 1/2 cup of confectioners’ sugar using an electric mixer at medium speed, until smooth and light, about 2 minutes.

Beat in 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice and 1/4 teaspoon grated orange zest.

Add another 1/4 cup of confectioners’ sugar.  Continue beating until smooth, about 1 minute.  Beat in more confectioners’ sugar if necessary to make a thick, smooth icing, adding it in 1-tablespoon increments.

The icing tastes much better when it’s not chilled, but these could be stored, covered, in the fridge for up to 2 days.  But, I highly recommend eating them immediately!  They’re delicious!

Here’s what they looked like in the end.  I loved the fun look, and it was great fun for us each to have our own cake to eat as we opened our presents.  Dan got a great look back on his 30 years, and he cracked me up giving me The Fizz, a product we saw on The Shark Tank, which allows you to have a ice cream float on the go!

And from there, the gifts kept giving.  On Wednesday evening, when I got home from my last 12 hour long workday of the semester and a total downpour, I discovered that Whitney had bought me the Heritage Bundt Pan that I had put on my wish list AND she baked a Cardamom-Vanilla Pound Cake right into it before sending it to Durham!  The cake was SO good!  It was a lovely moist cake, even after being shipped across the country, and I just love the cardamom flavor as the star.  Plus, how fab does it look in that pan?

Homemade cake, overnighted straight from Whitney’s No. 8 bakery in LA, has to be one of the best birthday presents ever!

Then, on Thursday, we took advantage of birthday gift certificates that Moe’s gave us for a free entree each, and in addition to getting the treat of yummy burritos, we saw David and Travis Wear - freshmen twins on the Carolina basketball team - and they were gracious enough to indulge my birthday request for a photo!

Boy, those boys are tall!

It’s hard to believe we still had one more time to celebrate, but Dan’s big 3-0 deserved it’s own special attention, so that’ll be for the next post.

Celebrations

Wow, time flies by when you’re having fun.  Since I last posted, we’ve enjoyed two Thanksgiving dinners and several birthday celebrations.  Tonight’s the big birthday bash, but there’s already plenty to share.

Last Thursday, we got up crazy early to fly to New York.  In fact, we were so sleep deprived when we arrived in New Rochelle, the first thing we did was went to bed!  But once we woke up, we enjoyed the company of Dan’s cousins Greg, Adam, and Beth, and the always adorable Rosie.

Rosie

Dinner was an unusually “small” gathering of just 17 people, so we were actually all able to sit in the dining room.  Although it lacked the usual gusto of a Davis Thanksgiving, it was nice.  Hey, I’m always a sucker for turkey with fresh cranberry sauce.  But, understandably, Adam made us promise that we’ll bring some guests along with us again next year, since previous gatherings have include 30-40 people.  Anyone want to visit New York in 2010?

Thanksgiving dinner at the Davis’

The next morning, we packed up and relocated ourselves and all the leftovers to Cambridge.  The drive was dreary and rainy for almost the entire duration, so I was thankful to have Adam as our chauffeur.  Most of the evening’s meal was a repeat of the NY spread, but I did enjoy doctoring up the stuffing to make it Indiana-style dressing with a couple eggs and a lot of turkey stock, and Dan enjoyed Caroline’s grandmother’s marinated mushrooms.

Marinated mushrooms
from Anne Casey

Combine the following in a small saucepan:
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2-2/3 cup of olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1 small onion, finely sliced

Bring marinade to a boil.  Remove boiling marinade from the heat and cool down.

Slice 1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced thickly, and coat with cooled marinade.  Refrigerate overnight.

The next day, we enjoyed some lovely pasteries at A & J King Bakery in Salem before checking out the work that Aaron and Caroline have been doing on their home in Marblehead.

Henrietta and Beth enjoying breakfast in Salem

Checking out Aaron & Caroline’s attic, which one day will become bedrooms

Then, that evening, things got crazy as we celebrated Dan’s birthday. The night started out simple enough at Daedalus, but from there we headed to The Donkey Show.

It wasn’t warm enough to hit up the rooftop bar, but the one in the atrium at Daedalus was quite nice too

It’s kind of impossible to capture the spectacle of The Donkey Show in writing or even in photos, but it’s a wacky combination of black-box theatre, disco inferno, Midsummer Night’s Dream, dance party, drag show, burlesque and glitter.  I’m not sure how well I got the translation of the Bard to “We are Family,” “Car Wash,” “Ring My Bell,” and “Last Dance,” but it was a rockin’ way to ring in Dan’s 30th birthday.

Dr. Wheelgood, the roller skating, electrified disco king version of Puck

A & C on the dance floor/stage

Dr. Wheelgood and the DJ mix up trouble, as they prepare to distribute their magic portion to the cast of characters

One of the fiercest forest fairies you’ll ever see!

On Sunday, our last day up North, we ventured out for several things, but in comparison to the night before, it was surprisingly plain. The weather was warm, so we worked in a 4 mile run along the Charles and through MIT, we saw Cambridge’s new library, and we picked out a few pretty things at the Cultural Survival Bazaar.  We didn’t get to pick out any books to read at the library, we did enjoy taking in the space.  It’s quite an interesting combination of historic architecture, new interior design, and modern technology.

The lobby of the brand new library

Somehow, the architects made these two looks work in the same space

After all that running around, it was nice to wrap the weekend up with Henrietta’s favorite - leftover turkey soup, and a simple night in with Grandma Bea.

From there, we were headed back to RDU in the morning, for a day to get our bearings before beginning with the birthday bonanza. More on that soon.

A change of pace

The blogosphere is just full of delicious treats ready for inclusion in an extravagant Thanksgiving feast.  Oddly enough though, I don’t have a bit of Thanksgiving cooking to do.  After we got married, Dan and I made a deal to do Thanksgiving with his family, Hannukah by mail, and Christmas in Indiana with my clan.  So this year marks the sixth time that we’re headed to New York for the holiday.  Each year there’s a different assortment of people gathered for the big meal, but anyone and everyone is always welcome, which means some of the gatherings are big, and the other years, they’re really big.  However, despite the large number of people, it seems Dan’s aunt Madelyn always seems to have the whole meal under control before we arrive, and bringing food from North Carolina on a plane is tricky, so I’ve just let myself become content with letting the action happen in the kitchen without me and just enjoy the meal and comraderie.

So today, instead of posting about turkey, pumpkins, apples, or potatoes, I thought I’d give you my recent favorite soup - a broccoli cheddar soup from 101 Cookbooks.  I know it doesn’t sound like a very light soup to detox with after stuffing yourself and watching football, but what I loved about this soup, compared to many others like it is that it uses LOTS of broccoli and vegetable broth as it’s base, instead of heavy cream and too much cheese.  I think it’d be just right for a simple, post-Thanksgiving lunch, or a nice way to mix things up when you’re getting sick of turkey, but I’m sure it’d also be great with a good old fashioned turkey sandwich on white bread with mayo.

Whatever you’re doing this Thanksgiving, wherever you are, and whomever you’re with, I hope you enjoy the day and the many things that we’re each lucky to have in our lives.  I offer many thanks indeed to everyone who’s a part of this adventure called my life.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Adapted from the UGC, who took it from 101 Cookbooks

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place 1 large russet potato directly onto the oven rack.  Bake for 1 hour.

About 40 minutes after putting the potato into the oven, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
Stir in:
1 shallot, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
a big pinch of salt
Saute for a couple minutes.
Stir in 2 garlic cloves, minced.  Saute until fragrant.

Add 3 1/2 cups of good-tasting vegetable broth.  (I like Trader Joe’s version, if you’re looking for a good basic one.)  Bring broth to a boil, and then add 1 pound of broccoli florets. Reduce heat and simmer until the broccoli to get tender throughout, 4-8 minutes, depending on the size of the florets.

Immediately remove the soup from heat.  Once potato is fully baked, carefully cut it in half and scoop out all the baked potato, leaving just the skin.  Add baked potato to soup and puree with an immersion blender. Stir in 4 oz. of light Velvetta cheese (I know, I know, it’s so not natural, but it melts so well.) and 2-3 teaspoons of spicy brown mustard (start small and add to taste).  Taste and add more salt if needed.

Serve sprinkled with shredded cheddard cheese and freshly cracked black pepper. Or, follow others’ suggestions and add croutons, a drizzle of olive oil, and/or a tiny pinch of smoked paprika.

Serves 4 - 6.

A bundt in the oven

Oh, don’t get excited.  Well, at least not because you think we’re expecting.  But you can join us in celebrating National Bundt Day and the fact that lots of other people we know are having babies these days.  On Saturday, a grad school classmate welcomed a little Nora into the world.  Then, Dan learned that his cousin had a little baby boy that they named Sean, and today is the due date for two different people we know.

But back to the bundts.  Over the last thirty days, the Food Librarian has been baking and posting a bundt cake a day in a countdown to National Bundt Day.  I’ve bookmarked so many of her recipes that I just couldn’t avoid making one to celebrate the big day, even though a bundt cake is a lot of dessert for just me and Dan.  I had thought that I was going to make the banana chocolate marble cake since I’d been drooling over it since Mary posted it back on November 5.  But when it actually came to National Bundt Day, I didn’t have any really ripe bananas, and I was feeling the call of pumpkin, since I had some fresh roasted pulp.

So I took inspiration from the banana recipe and Martha’s spicy pumpkin bundt cake and made my own marbled pumpkin chocolate bundt cake.  Yum!

I wasn’t sure I would, but I liked the combination of the spices with the chocolate.  Especially the good quantity of ginger.  It gives it a nice spiciness that’s just right for fall.

If I did it again, the only thing I would do differently is add more chocolate glaze, so I’ve written it up accordingly below.  Usually I’m one of those people who think that there can be too much chocolate, but here the other strong flavors can stand up to a heavy dose of chocolate, so I’d say go for it, even if you’re not feeding a chocolate addiction.

Marbled Pumpkin Chocolate Bundt Cake
A Yummy Things original

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 14-cup Bundt pan with cooking spray. Dust with flour, and tap out excess.

Combine 12 tablespoons unsalted butter and 1 3/4 cups light brown sugar, packed, with an electric mixer, until light and fluffy.  Add 3 eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl.

Add:
3/8 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
Blend to combine at low speed.

Add 3/4 cup buttermilk, mixing at low speed until smooth.

Add an additional 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, mixing at low speed until combined.

Add 1 1/4 cup pumpkin puree, and beat until combined.

Reserve 1 1/2 cups of batter in a small bowl.  Add 1/4 cup of cocoa, and stir until well combined.

Pour 2/3 of pumpkin batter into your greased and floured bundt pan.  Top with chocolate batter.  Spoon the rest of the pumpkin batter on top of the chocolate batter.  Run a knife through the batter gently to swirl.

Bake for 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean and the top springs back when lightly pressed.

Turn cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely before glazing with chocolate glaze.

Chocolate buttermilk glaze
Adapted from Cooking Light

Combine in a small bowl:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons buttermilk
1 tablespoon light corn syrup

Stir with a whisk to combine.  Add up to 1 additional tablespoon of buttermilk to reach desired consistency.

Even if you missed National Bundt Day, this could be a good one to try if you’re looking for something a little different from pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving, or even if you just in the mood for nice autumn dessert.

Reved up

There’s nothing like a crazy week at work to get me rolling in the kitchen.  This weekend, I’ve been putting together all sorts of new things, and I’ve been quite pleased with the results.  Yesterday, with the sun setting earlier, but the days filled with lovely fall weather (FINALLY!  We got nearly 5 inches of rain between Wednesday and Friday this week), I thought it’d be a nice opportunity to turn the oven up and roast some chicken along with some of the great greens we’ve been getting with our CSA.

Through all my food blog and magazine reading, I was familiar with this idea of red cooking - a Chinese braising approach that uses soy sauce as a base - that I had tucked into my head, and I thought this would be a great approach to breaking down the bold flavors of the greens.  Oddly though, I couldn’t find much of what I was looking for on the web, or at least I wasn’t motivated to do the necessary searching on a weekend night, when we were relaxing at home.  So I took some inspiration from other recipes and then I just went with my gut.  I have no idea if this is any sort of authentic Chinese dish, but I’m glad I did it.

It takes a while, but it’s really easy.  Caramelizing the onions takes the greatest amount of time, but they really make the meal.  Most of the rest of the time is just letting everything cook together, and that long cooking time really brings all the flavors together.  I think it’d be a great one to make for company - you can put it all together, put it in the oven, and then get yourself and the house cleaned up while it roasts, and the combination of sweet, salty and spicy flavors works great, without having any unfamiliar ingredients that might scare folks.

Red roasted chicken and greens
A Yummy Things original

Serves 2, but it could easily be doubled or tripled

Prehat oven to 375 degrees.

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a small pot with a lid.  Add 1 cup of short grain brown rice.  Reduce heat to low, and cover.  Simmer for 50 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a small, heavy skillet over medium.  Add 1 medium onion, vertically sliced into thin pieces.  Slowly cook onions, stirring occasionally, so that they carmelize.

While onions cook, combine the following in a small roasting dish:
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons white wine
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon black pepper
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

Place 2 skinless chicken breasts on top of soy sauce mixture, and then top chicken with carmelized onions.  Bake chicken at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.

Remove roasting dish from the oven.  Set chicken aside for a moment.  Add 4 cups of braising greens (any combination of kale, tatsoi, mizuna, arugula, etc.) to roasting dish.  Toss greens in sauce to wilt.  Return chicken to the roasting dish, flipping it to the other side, and then place greens and onions on top of the chicken.  Return roasting dish to the oven for an additional 15 minutes.

Remove roasting dish from the oven.  Flip chicken, stir sauce, greens and onions, and then top chicken with greens and onions.  Return roasting dish to the oven for a final 15 minutes.

To plate, put 1 cup of rice in the bottom of a shallow bowl.  Top rice with 1 chicken breast.  Top chicken with half of onions and greens.  Pour remaining sauce oven chicken, and serve immediately.

Fun weekend for a run

I’m a bit behind, but we had such a good time getting our run on last weekend, that I had to share, even if it’s a bit belated.

Last Saturday actually marked the first one in months that I didn’t get up early to run with Team in Training.  With all my friends who ran Nike recovering and everyone else tapering, I chose to sleep in and run Bull City Running’s Freaky 4 miler at 2 PM.

Who would have thought, but it ended up being almost 80 degrees for this Halloween run!  So in the end, I stuck with running clothes and butterfly wings to enjoy a little holiday flair, without totally overheating.

Despite ending all sweaty, it was loads of fun.  There were no tricks, but lots of post-run treats to go around, and I met a new potential running buddy along the course.  Plus, the best part was seeing little kids who just happened to be out on the American Tobacco Trail in awe as various characters ran (or flew!) by.  They were so surprised and delighted.

Then later that night, we hosted a little pasta party for our friend Sean, before he ran the City of Oaks Marathon the next morning.  We were hoping for some mid-meal entertainment from trick-or-treaters, but ultimately, we only got one knock on our door, by some underwhelmingly dressed teenagers.  Sean claims that the pasta helped him break his PR the next morning, but I think the dessert was the star of the night.

For dinner, I added some tatsoi into the water that a big batch of rigatoni was boiled in and then baked it all with a nice tomato basil sauce and lots of cheese.  It was simple, classic carb-loading that you’ll never hear me complaining about.  But I loved the cheese pie that I made.  It started with a homemade graham cracker crust, and then combined cream cheese, cottage cheese and yogurt into an awesome filling.  While similar to cheesecake, this recipe is healthier, but I also enjoyed it more.  I liked the lighter consistency, and the cottage cheese and yogurt gave it a nice tang.  It was fantastic with a premade wild blueberry sauce from Trader Joe’s.

Cheese pie
Adapted from Cooking Light

Preheat oven to 325°.

To prepare crust:
Create 1 1/4-cup graham cracker crumbs by processing 8 sheets of low-fat graham crackers in your food processor (or buy crumbs if you don’t have a food processor, but making your own is lots cheaper!).  Add 1/8 cup sugar and 2 1/2 tablespoons of melted butter.  Pulse to combine. Press into bottom and up sides of a springform pan; chill.

To make filling:
Combine the following ingredients in a food processor (or blender), and process until smooth:

• 1/2  cup  sugar
• 1 1/2  cups  fat-free cottage cheese
• 1/2  cup  (4 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
• 1/4  cup  vanilla fat-free yogurt
• 2  tablespoons  all-purpose flour
• 1  teaspoon  vanilla extract
• 1/8  teaspoon  salt
• 2  large eggs
• 2  large egg yolks (reserve egg whites for use)
  

Place cheese mixture into a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, beat 2 egg whites until soft peaks form. Add 2 tablespoons sugar, beating until stiff peaks form.

Gently fold egg white mixture into cheese mixture; pour into prepared crust.

Bake at 325° for 45 minutes or until center barely moves when pan is touched. Cool to room temperature. Cover and chill. 
Note: Cooking Light says to chill for four hours, but we ate ours about 2 hours later, and it didn’t seem any the worse for our impatience.

Unfortunately, the next morning, the weather wasn’t nearly as lovely.  Overnight, a cold front blew in with lots of rain.  We had to bundle ourselves all up to be out on the course at 6:45 AM to volunteer at the Mile 4 Team in Training water stop.

Even though it was chilly and early, everyone was enthusiastic to be out, and it was great to see so many TNT folks running.  Also, it was the first time I’d ever been out to see the elite runners go by.  Raleigh doesn’t get Olympic medalists like Chicago did, but it was still pretty cool to see them whiz by (not like you need any water when you’ve only been running for 20 minutes when you hit the 4 mile marker!).

Colette and Debbie at Mile 4

Then after seeing all our friends run by, we headed further along the course to catch our friend Sean before he headed into Umstead State Park around mile 15.  As you can see, I think the spectators were more uncomfortable than the runners at this point.

Spectating crowd just before Mile 15

But much to our surprise, our friends Sally and Paul bundled up their three little girls and brought them out for their first marathon spectating adventure.  The triplets were fantastic sports about it - very calm, despite all the bad weather.  And so much bigger than the last time we saw them!

Sally and Paul take the triple decker through the rain and the mud!

We made another spectator pit stop at Mile 20, by the NC Museum of Art, but it was hard to take pictures there, because they were actually letting traffic intersect the course, so it was a little crazy.  We saw Sean run past and decided to head to Mile 24 to try to catch everyone as they headed to the finish.

Sean still looking good just before Mile 24

Despite the lack of support from Mother Nature, Sean looked strong as he powered up Hillsborough Street.  Then, as the rest of the group headed to the finish to congratulate Sean, I ran in with my TNT buddies.  I managed to catch everyone at some point between mile 24 and the finish line, at 26.2.  Everyone finished the race, and they finished with smiles!

Colie just before the finish, looking awesome in TNT purple and pink gloves!

Like I said, it was a good weekend for a run!

The Great Pumpkin

With Halloween just around the corner, those gigantic pumpkins, which are grown just to be carved up, are the focus of everyone’s attention.  I love a good carved pumpkin as much as the next person, but it’s a really a shame that more people don’t pick up pumpkins that are good to cook up.  A few years ago, I realized how easy it was to work with fresh pumpkin, and it was a revelation.  I was immediately smitten with putting fresh pumpkin puree into a variety of sweet treats, and I fell in love with sweet and spicy roasted pumpkin seeds.  But this fall, I’ve branched out even further to include pumpkin in a variety of savory dishes.

So, before you get worried about whipping up the perfect pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, grab a baking pumpkin and try one of these.  They’ll be a nice break from all that leftover candy you end up with, after you buy some extra “just in case” you get an extra couple dozen kids trick of treating at your place tomorrow night. And, if you’re not sure you like pumpkin in savory dishes, try a familiar dish, and use the pumpkin to vary up your standard ingredients.

Quesadilla with spinach, roasted pumpkin and feta cheese

I think quesadillas are a great standby - they’re an easy, but consistently good way to mix things up foods that you have around in a new way.  And cheese makes everything better.  For this one, I chopped the pumpkin up into small bite sized pieces and then roasted it at 450 degrees with some olive oil for about 35-40 minutes.  Then I layered it was fresh spinach and feta cheese.  The saltiness of the feta works great with the sweetness of the roasted pumpkin.  It’s a great starter dish to try out with pumpkin.

Caribbean Black Bean and Pumpkin Soup

I would have never come up with this combination on my own, but I was glad to find it.  I like the combination of the creaminess of the coconut milk, the zing of the lime, the flavoring of the cilantro, the heartiness of the black beans, and the sweetness of the pumpkin.  It’s a quick, easy, tasty soup that gives you a good dose of Vitamin A, fiber and iron while using familiar tastes, with cumin and cilantro balancing the black beans and pumpkin.

Finally, if you really want to embrace pumpkin as a dinner ingredient, try out this pork stew.  As with the other dishes I’ve offered up, it balances the pumpkin with a variety of other flavors - pork, red bell peppers, tomatoes, corn, and parsley.  I was surprised to find that sage and orange zest complimented all of these flavors nicely, but I think it really does.  And, with the noodles mixed in, it’s a great one dish meal.

Pork stew with pumpkin, peppers, and corn

Happy Halloween!  Just don’t let pumpkin scare you as a fresh, fall ingredient!

Beans and greens

This week marks the third week of our winter CSA share.  I haven’t been posting photos of our full box of goodies for two reasons.  First, it’s harder to take photos interesting photos of the variety of greens we get all together.  Also, Coon Rock Farm doesn’t clean all the produce before we get it, so it looks a little shabby until I spend some time prepping it, and that’s not always right after we get it.  However, we have been getting a lot of good greens that encourage me to be a little more experimental with my cooking.  So I’m thinking I’ll highlight new produce as it comes along, and I thought I’d kick off the series with this lovely purple mizuna.

Mizuna is a Japanese green, and it seems that most recipes that call for it are stir-fries and soups.  But when I saw this a simple NY Times recipe for a Mexican bean dish with greens, I thought it’d be a good one to try out with the mizuna.  Indeed it was!

I got a little nervous about whether I’d find the beans bland, since I’ve found that’s my complaint that’s biased me against black beans in the past.  So I halfed the beans but maintained the seasoning quantities.  It worked.  The beans have a nice round flavor from the combination of garlic, cilantro and salt, and the greens just sit nicely with that. In fact, I tried this with rice and without, and I actually enjoyed the beans by themselves, because they kind of loose their gentle flavor when combined with rice.

Also, I think the blanching is probably a great idea for greens that can seem a little too bitter with other short cooking methods.  It’s a great standby process - if you can’t find amaranth or mizuna, I’m sure you could do this with a variety of other greens.

The recipe takes some time - between soaking the beans and then cooking them over low heat.  But I think it’s a great one for a dreary weekend afternoon, like the ones we’ve been having recently, or for a long night, when you’re getting ready for a busy day the next morning.  It’s a healthy, one-dish meal that’s easy to reheat, cheap but filling.  I’m a fan.

Hopefully I’ll discover plenty of other fun recipes as the days get shorter and shorter and we get more greens to try.  For now, let me know how this one works out for you, and also, let me know what other ways I should explore our winter CSA goodies!

Black beans and winter greens
Adapted from Martha Rose Shulman

Pick through 1/2 lb. of black beans to remove any dirt or pebbles.  Wash beans.  Place beans in a four cup measuring cup and fill measuring cup with water.  Let sit overnight.

The next day, heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.  Spray pan with cooking spray.  Add 1 small onion, chopped, and 4 cloves of garlic, minced.  Saute for 5 minutes.  Add beans and their soaking water to the pan.  If necessary, add water to cover by two inches. Bring to a boil and skim off foam.  Reduce heat to low, and simmer for 1 hour.

Add 3/4 teaspoon of salt, cover and simmer for an additional 30 minutes.

Add 1/3 cup chopped cilantro and simmer for an additional 30 minutes, covered.

While the beans are in their final simmer, wash the 1/2 lb. of greens (mizuna, amaranth, or other winter greens) in two changes of water. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and fill a bowl with ice water. When the water comes to a boil, salt generously and add the greens. Blanch for two minutes, and transfer to the ice water. Drain, squeeze out excess water and chop coarsely.

About five minutes before serving, taste the beans and adjust seasoning, with salt and pepper. Then, stir in the blanched greens, simmer very gently for five minutes, and serve.

Serves 4

Celebrating with friends

Over the past week, we’ve had lots of chances to celebrate fun things with friends, including a 30th birthday, a new baby and an unusal dinner party!

A week ago, we helped conspire with our neighbor, Chris, to put together a surprise birthday for his wife, Angela.  We had fun “breaking into” the house to decorate and then keep look-out until they arrived home from dinner out.  Despite the fact that she ended up seeing the party guests before we managed to yell “Surprise!” it was a definite success, because she had thought that her birthday had come and gone in the middle of her comprehensive exams for her PhD program and never expected all the plotting we were doing behind her back.  Though it took more lying than your spouse probably ought to be doing, it was certainly a much more fun way to ring in the big 3-0!

Then the next day, we had the pleasure of meeting our new friend, Atticus.  Amazingly, he’s already a month old, but already, so cute!

Squirming around already!

We enjoyed a nice meal of one of my fall favorites - butternut beef chili, which was yummy with cheddar-jalapeno scones from Smitten Kitchen, and topped off with an awesome, improvised chai pudding.  It was a great casual meal for a autumn evening catching up with the new family.

I was inspired to try a new take on pudding after seeing my cousin post some on her blog, The Sweet Life.  Her post was a good reminder of how much I enjoy homemade pudding, but I was thinking I needed something a little more fall-like.  I think it was quite a success.  I think I’ll definitely make it again, and whether you’re a fan of warm or cold pudding, I think you’ll find this is a great one to try this autumn.

Chai pudding
A Yummy Things original

Combine in a small saucepan:
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons white sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon cloves
a pinch of nutmeg
a pinch of cinnamon
a pinch of allspice
Stir with a whisk until well combined.

Add:
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 cups of skim milk
Heat over medium heat.  Whisk frequently, until mixture begins to boil slowly.  Continue to cook 2-3 minutes as pudding thickens.

Pour pudding into four custard cups.  Enjoy warm, or place plastic wrap over top of pudding to prevent a skin from forming and allow to cool in the fridge.

Guests, chefs and the wait staff from the unusual dinner party

The last outing was the most unusual - a dinner party where our hosts actually served as the chef and waiter at “Chez Davis,” but we didn’t actually know what we were ordering.  We got a menu and the opportunity to select what we got for each of four courses, but the menu selections were all mysterious dictionary words and unknown to us when we were ordering, they included our utensils!  Luckily, none of us got so lucky to get a course that was only utensils, but Dan did get dessert (“waddie”) first, whereas I got mine along with a side of potatoes and carrots.  I was the lucky one who got a spoon with my soup though!

Dan enjoys his dessert first, cutting small pieces with his knife, since he was sans fork

Amusingly, our group of graduate degrees kept thinking there was going to be a test on the names of each dish, or that there was some code to what was what that we might have been able to figure out if we were better ciphers when ordering, but it wasn’t that complicated.  It was just an unusually fun night out!

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Kathryn took a try at eating her soup with a fork, while Paul and Brennan were forced to drink theirs! As it turns out, butternut squash soup is thick enough that both actually work pretty well. Compliments to the chefs!

Pretty pepers

All the food blogs I’m reading are flush with delicious recipes using pumpkin, squash, and apples.  Yum!  However, since I got a flash of winter in Chicago, I’m loving the sunny, warm weather that we’ve been blessed with this week in NC.  Thus, while I settle into our fall CSA share (photos soon!), I’m also grabbing at my last summer flavors, before they disappear completely.  So, if you can still find some colorful bell peppers that aren’t flown in from another continent for $5 a piece, try one of these great dishes. If you’re somewhere that it’s snowed already(!), sorry.  I’ll get you some warm, autumn flavors soon.

Tuna with black bean salsa

For some reason, I thought that I didn’t like black bean salsa for a long time.  But this recipe changed my mind.  I think I tended to believe black bean salsa was a little too bland, but here, it’s the perfect foil for a well seasoned tuna steak.  Chop all the peppers and tomatoes, and toss the salsa before cooking the tuna, because it’ll be done before you know it.  It’s an impressive looking, delicious tasting, easy weeknight meal!

Head on over to Cooking Light for the recipe - I just made it exactly as directed, and it was great!

Stuffed peppers with quinoa, beef, and corn

This meal is a nice one to transition from warm days to cool nights.  It’s got the fresh flavors of bright peppers and corn, but also has the nice warm, smoky flavors roasted in.  It’s an original recipe, and it’s a keeper!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Boil 2 cups of water.  Add 1 cup of quinoa, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of cumin.  Reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until water is absorbed and germ ring is visible.

Meanwhile, heat large skillet over medium heat.  Saute 1/2 medium onion, chopped, until they begin to sweat. 
Add:
1/2 pound of ground beef
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon of chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
Cook until beef is browned.
Add kernels from 1 ear of corn (or 1/2 cup of frozen corn kernels).  Saute for 2 minutes. 
Stir cooked quinoa into the beef mixture.

Cut 2 red bell peppers in half vertically, and remove seeds.  Place peppers into a ceramic baking dish, cut side down.  Place 1/4 cup of water into the baking dish and cover dish with plastic wrap.  Microwave dish for 4-5 minutes, until peppers become soft.

Fill peppers with quinoa-beef mixture.  Top peppers with 1/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese.  Bake stuffed peppers for 10 minutes, until cheese is melted and browned.

Other Chicago fun

In addition to all the running, we also enjoyed some other fun while we were in the Windy City.  Some of my favorites included:

• Impressive dinosaur bones at the Field Museum
  
• Lunch at the Chicago Green City Market
  
  
  A crepe with Swiss chard, tomato and delicious local cheese
  
  
  Apple cider donuts!
  
  
• The pre-race pasta party
  
  My Eastern North Carolina Team in Training buds!
  
  
• An evening walk along the river with Dan the night before the race
  
  
  
• Deep dish pizza the day after the marathon, with absolutely no concern about the calories!  (Sadly, I was too busy eating, and didn’t take any photos.)

I’m already pondering my next running trek.  Right now, I’m feeling the pull of the Austin Half Marathon on Valentine’s Day.  Any sweethearts out there want to run 13.1 on 2.14 in the lovely, weird city of Austin?

26.2 miles...done!

My name, printed in the Chicago Tribune, along with 30,000+ other finishers

Just one week after the fact, it’s almost hard to believe I did it, but on October 11, I became a Chicago marathon finisher!  It was cold, but it was great.

About 40,000 people ran through the streets of Chicago for the marathon!

At the start, it was a blustery 31 degrees!  In the first mile or two of the race, people were abandoning layers all over the ground.  Luckily, I got some visitors at the start, so I was able wear warm stuff up until about 20 minutes to go, and then throughout the run, an old piece of athletic long underwear from my days of rowing in Rochester kept me comfortable.

Waiting in line for the bathroom, before the race starts, with all old long sleeve t-shirt, a poncho to block the wind, and gloves to stay warm

Here’s everyone all bundled up to spectate, to give you a sense of how chilly it was!

The run itself was awesome. I definitely felt well prepared, and Dan mapped out an amazing spectating plan.  After meeting me at the start, he trekked the whole gang all over the city, on foot, by train and by bus, to see me 8 different times on the course!  Getting their support along the miles was fantastic.

My cheering squad in action!

Some of my other favorite moments included:

• seeing SO many spectators out to cheer the crowds on as we ran under an overpass in the first mile;
• running past pretty much every place Dan and I went on vacation in 2007, including the lovely Lincoln Park;
• cheering in my head when I saw the first green weather alert flag, meaning the temperature had warmed up enough to cause the race organizers to upgrade the weather alert from “less than ideal conditions”to “good conditions”;
• enjoying the great music, festivities, and Spanish signs in Pilsen and the energy of the crowds in Chinatown;
  
• hitting the south end of the course, looking north to see the full Chicago skyline on a beatiful clear day, and knowing the finish line was just 3 miles ahead, straight north;
• passing the 40k marker - this was a real mental milestone - after this, I knew I had the rest of the race in the bag;
• smiling and singing to the music all along the course, even at the 25 mile marker;
  
• and realizing that the “hill” at mile 26 wasn’t anything more than the slight inclines that creep up on the American Tobacco Trail and that I was ready to sprint to the finish!
  

You can see all of Dan’s photos from along the course are here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2042085&id=1192743350&l=91275dfffd.

Equally awesome is the fact I raised $4282 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in the process of training for the marathon with LLS’s Team in Training, and I got to run in honor and in memory of so many amazing people.  Even though the race has already passed, you can still see all those that I ran for and even provide you own donation on my fundraising webpage.

THANKS to everyone who supported me along the journey!  My next race is the much shorter, but equally fun Girls on the Run Reindeer Romp 5K on December 5, for any Triangle folks who might want to join us, and then after, that I’m up for suggestions.  Let me know if you’re someone out there looking for a race buddy!

Carb loading!

Sorry for being MIA for October.  I’ve been focusing on getting myself prepped to run the Chicago Marathon this weekend!!!  It’s hard to believe, but after 5 months of training, I’m totally psyched for running 26.2 miles on Sunday morning.  My parents, both of my sisters, Dan and his parents will all be there to cheer me on, and just today, I hit my goal of raising $4,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as a part of my participation in the Team in Training program.  (Of course, you can still donate if you’d like.  Every dollar counts in the fight against blood cancers!)  It’s been a grand adventure.  You would have thought that I would have posted more of the different recipes I’ve been making, because let me tell you, marathon training makes you hungry, and I have definitely been carb loading this week!  But it also makes you tired, so I haven’t managed to keep up.

So until I return from the windy city, here are some pictures of my running buddies to hold you over. I got to play photographer last weekend, because I finished earlier than everyone else since I was tapering my mileage down to get myself rested before Chicago, whereas everyone else has an additional 1 - 3 weeks until their races.

Hollie finishes with enthusiasm!

Charlie, one of our assistant coaches, runs in with Kalina, my long run buddy. Kalina was the one who helped me conquer our final 18 and 20 mile training runs!  I’ll miss her this weekend, but I’m excited for her to have the chance to run the Nike Women’s Marathon, which got me hooked on this whole running thing!

Christy, the other Durham team mentor, and Debbie fly by at the end of the 12 miler - Debbie’s longest run ever!

Christy went back to run Becca and Collette in, and they looked great sprinting to the finish!

Coach Bill

Everyone stretching at the end!

I’ll save you the pictures of the post 20-miler ice bath.  Even though it actually felt good after all those miles, just seeing all that ice in the tub is enough to give you chills!

The next photo update will have to be once I return to NC on Monday.  Until then, send good wishes to Chicago for good weather and strong running!

The end

Sadly, we’ve reached the end of another CSA season.  Luckily, we really finished off with a bang.  In the last go around, we got a lovely bouquet of flowers that I was able to divide up four ways, and our final box was full of beautiful colors.  Enjoy!