One of the best things about the holidays is the excuse to bake to excess. It’s an excuse to try new recipes for decadent, sweet goodies or make some tried and true favorites. So over the last few days I’ve indulged in baking my little heart out.

This has to be the best smelling goodie of the season. Pumpkin seed brittle. Yes, it smells better than peanut brittle. I roasted some pumpkin seeds I had on hand, and made a basic brittle and the results

are a sweet, salty tasty treat that smells amazing. And who knew brittle was easy to make?!?

Today I went a little more traditional. Lemon meringue pie and pecan pie. I did make little mini pecan pies instead of one large pie (they are just so cute) for a change. I was a little concerned that they wouldn’t look good, but … well, they came out perfectly.

I started with a basic pie crust recipe, but changed out a half cup of regular flour for whole wheat. I wanted a little nuttier crust, so I think this worked well.

I love the little tart pans, but I almost never use them. I also get to use the fresh pecans Bob’s mom gave me.

I have to be very careful to not eat the entire bag myself. I did keep enough for the pies.

I also used the same crust for the lemon pie.

As a kid, I thought the yellow color of a lemon pie came from the lemon zest or food coloring. It’s nice to know it is just the eggs. They really do give a good color to the filling.

And for one of the first times ever, the pie came out picture perfect!

And it would not been the holidays without bacon bread. I found my recipe again (or at least the base recipe that I use to make the bread) so I’m hopeful that the batch will be perfect. It certainly looks perfect.

Bob also lost one of his gadgets to me and baking.

infrared thermometer. This thing came in so handy for the brittle and the bread (have to get the temp of the water/milk/butter mixture right or the yeast dies which is not good for bread). I’ve now hidden it in the kitchen and told him I’m claiming it, since is potentially means more brittle and treats for him, he’s not objecting.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and a blessed Hanukkah.

It’s not often Bob asks me to write down a recipe for something I’ve made. He has suggested it on occasion, but he almost never specifically asks. This is due in large part because he knows I don’t measure anything and I often change a recipe midstream when I realize I’m out of an ingredient or decide something else sounds good. But the stew today was really, really good. Lots of flavor, but not hot-spicy. So, as best as I can remember it …. The Middle Eastern Chicken Stew.

Olive oil for pan
1 cup chickpeas
3 chicken thighs, cut into strips
2 ribs of celery, chopped
Same amount of carrots, chopped
1/2 medium opinion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 pint heirloom cherry tomatoes
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
1-2 teaspoons chili powder
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup pearled barley
1/3 cup mix long grain rice
1 bay leaf

Heat oil in stew pot/Dutch oven and add the chicken with some salt and pepper. Brown the chicken then remove from heat. Add the chopped celery, carrots and onion to the pot and sweat the veggies until they are a little soft, about 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another two minutes. Add tomatoes and spices; mix well.

Add chicken broth, chicken, barley, chick peas, rice and bay leaf. Let cook over medium to medium low heat for an hour.

Stir occasionally.

Adjust seasoning to taste and serve.

Now, the rice … I know is a little unusual, but I use a rice mix a lot. Well, I did use it all the time in Jersey, but I’ve had a hard time finding it in Florida. However, I did find it in the grocery last week, so I had it on hand.

It’s three different rices with rye and barley. It isn’t too much of any one type so the favors are great. I really like this as an alternative to plain brown rice.

The end result of the meal –

For a vegetarian version of this, take out the chicken and replace the chicken broth with vegetable broth. Instant vegan stew, one I think I might like more than the chicken version (but the chicken was really, really good.)

And it went surprisingly well with cornbread. I fully admit to being a Jersey girl, so cornbread is not something I make often, but it passed Bob’s southern taste buds – he even went for a second piece.

With Thanksgiving coming up this week, I’ll be working on desserts and snacks this week. Bacon bread, peanut shortbread, pumpkin seed brittle and pies. /happy dance

Ever since the coffee pot died, we … ok, I have been searching for the perfect, easy to use and clean coffee pot. The one Bob found works great for the weekday morning when we get up about the same time, but by the time he gets up on the weekend, the coffee I made when I got got up is either cold or gone. The pot we have, while it does one cup, is messy and takes a bit to clean between cups. So, we found a little Mr. Coffee that can use pre made or your own coffee for a single cup. (I don’t like having to use the k-cups … I fully admit to liking my own coffee better.) So we tried it today. Not bad. The coffee is a little weaker than I would like, but I can l,ay with the grind and amount and keep trying. I can also make a single cup of hot water for tea or hot chocolate. I will keep my eye out for something else, but for now, it works.

This weekend I was in the mood for peanuts. Or at least something with a good peanut flavor in it. I searched a ton of satay recipes but didn’t find one I really liked. So, as usual, I just took those recipes as a guide and made it up as I went along.

Last weekend I used part of a pork loin for dinner. This weekend I took the rest of it, cut it into medallions and marinaded it in a combination of coconut milk, peanut butter, soy sauce, chili paste and garlic.

I fully admit that it doesn’t look appetizing, but it smelled pretty good. After a few hours in the marinade, I cooked the medallions in a hot pan, just to cook them through.

While those were cooking, I made a sauce of vegetable broth, soy sauce, mirin, and garlic and brought it to a boil. After it reduced a little I added peanuts, sugar, chili powder and cilantro to the food processor and mixed it all together.

The result was a super flavorful sauce that if I added some more liquid to would make a great dipping sauce for spring rolls.

I also wanted some rice, I was just in the mood for rice. So I made some and some edamame for texture. To go along with the whole dish, I made a cabbage salad with a dressing of honey, soy sauce, sherry vinegar, chili paste, garlic, peanut oil, sesame oil, canola oil (I mixed them together to prevent any one flavor from over powering …. and I had them all on hand and could not decide which to use) and ginger. Cabbage, carrots, red peppers and cilantro finished the dish.

The final product was mostly really good.

The rice was a touch over cooked, but I’m still glad I had it there. The peanut sauce was the perfect and Bob said the pork was super tender. (I will agree on that one) best part is I have the rest of the salad with the edamame for lunch tomorrow and Bob can have the leftover pork with the peanut sauce.

Recently, after another round of playing “what did this use to be” with the fridge, I decided to start shopping in a more European fashion. I pass three or four grocery stores on the way home so rather than make one large trip each week, I’m going for just what I need for that meal shopping. It means more trips to the store, and some very creative cooking/substitutions on occasion but I don’t have to feel guilty for not cooking that zucchini or finding the molded something in the back of the ice box. The other downside is that when I don’t stop at the store, I have limited options for dinner.

Earlier this week I decided I’d do an egg dish. I was going to go for a nice soufflé but Bob is more of a quiche man. And I can say that because when I asked if he would be ok with a soufflé he said he would “lean more towards a quiche.” (yes, I still have the text) so I changed my scouring of soufflé recipes for quiche recipes. I didn’t see anything that struck me as perfect so I improvised.

Don’t judge too harshly, but I was fascinated by a Martha Stewart recipe for a soufflé with a hash brown crust. Now this recipe calls for things I don’t have on hand like frozen hash browns, sour cream and a dozen eggs. But I do have potatoes, some eggs and heavy cream so … I use a pie plate instead of a springform pan and buttered the bottom. I grate the potatoes and mixed them with one egg and some grated Parmesan. Bake in 375 oven for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, I mixed together 4 eggs and 3/4 cup cream. To that I added one grated zucchini some goat cheese and some more grated Parmesan with salt and pepper. Mix well so the goat cheese smooths out and the whole thing is nice and creamy. Once the potatoes set, fill the shell and return to the oven for another 25-30 minutes.

I have to admit, this would have been way better with bacon, but I didn’t have any on hand. It was good – really good – but everything really is better with bacon. I also think I was just in the mood for soufflé, but this has a light texture and great flavor; it is probably one of the simplest dishes I can make. Sometimes simple is best.

It’s a good thing I made a few dishes last weekend. It was a very busy start to the week so having something to warm up was really, really nice. And tasty. But later in the week I made a point of getting out of work on time and cooking something that I’ve been dreaming about since I saw a recipe for it a few weeks ago – Caramelized onion tart with roasted tomatoes and goat cheese.

First step in this was acquiring a good, mild goat cheese. When Mom and I went to the farmers market last weekend I made a quick stop to the cheese shop and found a super rich, really creamy goat cheese.

This one has a nice herby quality but it is such a mild flavor it becomes difficult to stop eating it. I briefly debated about a whole wheel vs a half wheel but, really, it’s goat cheese. Whole wheel. It’s not like we won’t eat it. So … The tart.

Step one, start to caramelize some onions. There are two tricks to this I find – use more than you think you will and be patient. Very, very patient. Despite what some recipes say, you cannot rush caramelizing onions and it takes a good 45 minutes to get them right. Medium heat and judicious stirring.

In the meantime, the tomatoes.

I picked up some really pretty yellow and red cherry tomatoes last weekend so I used those with herbs (thyme, oregano, salt and pepper) and roasted them for about 20/25 minutes.

After the tomatoes came out, I popped in the puffed pastry shells. Yes, I could have made a dough or I could have use regular sheets of puffed pastry, but these looked so cute I just decided to go for it. But once they puffed, I took the tops just in time for the onions to be done. So … little rounds of goat cheese on the bottom, caramelized onions in the middle and topped with the tomatoes. Back in the oven for fifteen minutes or so and …. Dinner.

Friday I went much simpler, and way more traditional – spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread.

Saturday was out cheese box for the month

So when John came down to see Thor with us, we had a nice repast for dinner with the cheese and some cider for me and beer for the boys.

The Midnight Moon is still one of my favorite cheeses ever. I can’t describe it, but oh wow is it good. Combined this month with an English Cheddar and a Camembert and we had a great little dinner. I included the Field of Creams and the other cheese I picked up last week so it was a lovely little dinner.

I did a puller pork today, but I’ll save that for a separate post.

The weather front came through yesterday bringing actual fall like temperatures. For south Florida this means I can turn the air off. Have I mentioned how much I like living here recently?

But beef stew. I’ve made several iterations of this over the years, some more successful than others. Today I decided to make a batch so I had options for lunch and dinner this week. (Made the farro butternut squash salad yesterday.) No recipe, just what I remembered worked. So how did it turn out? Rather well. I am now firmly convinced there are a few essentials for good beef stew.

1. Bacon. Yes, it is trite that everything is better with bacon, but in the case of beef stew (or Beef Bourgogne if you are getting fancy) it really does add a lot to the dish. I don’t use much – just a slice or two from regular bacon, but I start with this. Once it has started to render, I add the garlic and shallot (and carrot) and make the base. Which brings me to …

2. Shallots. A taste the crosses onions and garlic, I find shallots indispensable in beef stew. I can add garlic and onion, or not, but for some reason if I leave out the shallot, it just doesn’t work. Chop small like garlic and don’t over cook.

3. Good wine. I don’t advocate really expensive wine for cooking, but if you won’t drink a glass, don’t cook with it. Beef stew (at least the way I make it) has less than a half cup of wine. It varies as I don’t measure, but figure about a third of a cup. The type doesn’t make a difference, as long as it’s pretty good. I’ve used Zinfandel, Pino Noir, Bourdeux, and Cabernets. I refuse to spend more than $20 for a bottle of red, and usually it’s less than $15. But the good wines produce good sauce and sauce is the key to good beef stew.

4. Cook low and slow. Slow cooker, pressure cooker or stove top, low heat and long cooking times produces the most tender beef. It also allows you to use chuck roast and get just as good a flavor and texture as a filet. Low heat and for a few hours. It does pay off.

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5. Aromatics and seasoning. Do not skimp on these. Salt the meat, use herbs – bay leaves, thyme, rosemary, oregano etc. They all work but if you don’t use them you will not get the flavor. The best beef stew I ever made had thyme, oregano and bay leaves in addition to salt as I browned the meat and again at the end of cooking.

Fall and winter are perfect for beef stew, so whether it’s with potatoes, over rice, barley or polenta, just go for it. And don’t forget the wine and seasoning. …

Oh … And I made a buttermilk marble cake today. It needed no icing. At all need I say more?

Some weeks everything works out. I get home from work at descent times, the pets all behave, I avoid whatever cold virus is going around and the food I cook works. Some weeks, I get sick, the cats keep me up half the night, I spend way too many hours at work and the food just doesn’t come out the way I expect. This week was a little of both.

I started out with a great idea – goat cheese risotto. I was so excited seeing as how we loved our cheese basket this month. But what sounded like a good idea, and started out looking pretty fantastic

just did not end up working. Both Bob and I were feeling a little under the weather by this point, so the pungent, heavy goat cheese (not your typical fresh, mild goat cheese) overpowered the dish to the point that we just could no eat it. The roasted orange peppers didn’t help any. Talk about a clash of favors. On the up side, the pizza we ordered was good and we had leftovers for the next day when not only did I get out of work way too late, I also succumbed to Bob’s cold.

After that mild disaster, I was a little reluctant to try something totally new again. I do this. Something doesn’t work and I get scared to try again. I loose confidence in my palate and cooking skills. But … Once I felt better Sunday, I tried again. Oh, not the same thing, but a new experiment – curry!

I took some chicken thighs and just browned them a little; I took them out of the pan and added chopped garlic and just sautéed that a little. I then added tomato paste, chili paste, and curry powder. Mixed all of that together then added coconut milk and some chicken stock. I let that mix and simmer and was tempted to chuck it (whole lack of confidence thing) then added salt, pepper, a little more curry powder and a cinnamon stick. I let that boil and then simmer for about 15 minutes then added the chicken back in along with some chopped tomato, zucchini and carrots. I let all of that cook for about 20 more minutes and then put the whole thing over some left over faro. The result …. Spot on flavor, but a thin sauce. I added too much chicken stock (about 1.5 cups to one can of coconut milk) and didn’t let it thicken enough. But the flavor was really good. Bob loved it and I got my kitchen confidence back just a little. Enough to attempt peanut brittle today!

Peanut brittle sounds simple – sugar, corn syrup, water and peanuts. Just get it all up to temperature, add some butter and baking soda and you are good. But …. I am impatient, so the waiting was torture and then I realized I was having a hard time stirring because … well …. plastic handled scrapper is not the best instrument to use when getting candy to 300 degrees.

Yep – totally and completely bent it. So the handle was bending and not stirring anything. My favorite one too – perfect size and all. But of well. I did manage to get the syrup to go from this

to this

and then finally this

It’s not clear candy like the picture, but it does taste fantastic. So I’m ok with cloudy candy for a first attempt.

And the coffee pot started to die this week. It wasn’t a total death, but the seals were splitting and whenever I made a pot of coffee (as in every morning) there would be a puddle of coffee to accompany my cup. So Bob found a fancy new coffee pot

that lets me customize just about everything from how much, to strength to intensity. I can make a whole pot or just one cup

which really is very neat. But it is taking some getting use to and part of me misses the old coffee maker. But really, I just want my morning cup of coffee.

Today was a day where I wanted to spend it in the kitchen, cooking or reading cookbooks, cooking blogs or cooking stories. Some people take pleasure in cleaning or planting flowers or doing a home project. I take pleasure in cooking, so today, in between laundry and catching up on reading for my class (yes, I’m insane enough to take an online class while working) I cooked.

I wanted to go a little more traditional today. It’s been a while since I’ve made a meat, vegetable and starch plate, but I was in the mood. We picked up a nice flank steak the other day, so I marinaded that in some soy sauce, canola oil, chili garlic paste and shallot overnight. While the steak was coming to room temperature today I coated some green beans in oil, salt and pepper.

Those went on the grill while I boiled some potatoes

for mashed potatoes. When the beans were almost done, I put the steak on the grill. A few minutes for each side then pulled off to rest while I finished the potatoes. I added roasted garlic and a little butter, salt and cream to the potatoes before mashing. The result …

A really nice little lunch. Bob was super happy with the steak and I have to say, it was pretty near perfect. Silky texture and tons of flavor. The green beans and potatoes were super flavorful and it was a homey meal. Perfect for a fall day.

I also decided to make another squash soup. I had both butternut and sweet dumpling squashes in the fridge, so I roasted them with some garlic, apple, onion and shallot. I didn’t bother chopping them up this time

but in retrospect, I should have; there is just a lot more flavor when they are roasted in pieces. But … everything into the food processor with some vegetable stock, purée well then add the roasted garlic and some spices (curry powder, salt, pepper and nutmeg). It was good, but not as good as the pure butternut squash soup from a few weeks ago.

I did pair it with a nice Zinfandel and the Georgia Gold cheese from yesterday’s basket and it was a fantastic little dinner.

And I have to bake, or do dessert. I just have to. Diets be darned, dessert is too important to pass up. I wanted something peanut today. So I scoured recipes and found one for peanut butter cupcakes. Ok …. I can do that and Bob was all on board for these. So … I had everything except the brown sugar. But I did have white sugar and molasses, so … I made my own brown sugar.

I may never buy brown sugar again, this was so easy. One cup sugar, one tablespoon molasses and mix. That’s it. Add more or less molasses to change it to light or dark brown sugar, but there you have it.

Home made brown sugar.

But … Cupcakes. They need something to top them, but I am horrible at icing. Ever since trying to make Grandmom’s chiffon cake icing I have failed at every turn. But I try again. First I made caramel – this I can do.

A stick of butter, some home made brown sugar and a little salt. Let it almost boil, add cream and let low boil/simmer for a few minutes. Turn off the heat and add vanilla extract. I let that cool while the cupcakes cooled

then beat the caramel with a mixer and slowly added in confectioner sugar. Sure enough, I had icing!

I was actually able to make cupcakes with icing and oh boy were they good. Sweet and salty with a touch of savory thrown in. … Actually, I think I want another. Hope everyone has a good week!