One more time...

Phew! I'm back from a 5 day Thanksgiving extravaganza in North Carolina and man, am I tired! 28 hours of driving, way too much food, a little too much wine, and many rounds of LCR later, and all I wanted to do today is nap! Unfortunately, 5 days worth of emails and real life responsibilities have thwarted my attempts at sleeping for 14 hours straight. Thanksgiving was so much fun, but I'm not even going to bother posting food photos or recipes since I'm sure all of you have finished eating up leftovers and have shut the book on Turkey Day until next year. Bring on the December holidays!

I'm already in the Christmas mood thanks to the Regatta in North Myrtle Beach, and lucky you guys, I can help you with your holiday shopping, too! Online Poster Printing has given me a chance to offer you another giveaway in time for the winter shopping season (that is if you didn't finish all of your shopping in the Black Friday madness, you crazy people!).

The details:
Giveaway Prize: (1) 16x20” Rolled Canvas for One Lucky Winner
Size: 16x20 rolled canvas
Shipping: FREE UPS Ground Shipping in the US
Eligibility: Limited to US Residents due to shipping costs. We will negotiate better shipping rates soon.
Giveaway ends Monday, 12/6/09

You can check out samples of the rolled canvas prints here and read reviews of their products here. These rolled canvas prints make great gifts, whether you are printing a family portrait, a favorite landscape photo, or anything else you can think of.  I'll be using mine to print a gift for my mother, but I can't say more just in case she reads this! If you'd like to win, all you need to do is:
1. Leave a comment describing what you will do with your print. Don't forget to leave an email address so that I can contact you if you win!
2. This time, I am offering you the chance to earn up to 2 extra entries, too. Just tweet or blog about this giveaway and link back to me. Then leave me an extra comment with the link to your tweet or blog entry! Winners will be chosen on Monday, December 6th and your prize claim info will come directly from the sponsor.

So get commenting if you want to knock one gift off your list! And check back soon for more giveaways and recipes, and the big spill (cause I have fricking huge news people! But I can't tell you until all of my friends and family in the real world have answered their phones :) I know they'd kill me if they heard it here first!).

I'm so stuffed!

I shouldn't be surprised by that, since I just inhaled the plate of food you see here :) You'd be stuffed, too!

This month,  BakeSpace is hosting a recipe contest with Libby's. (Anytime I see a Libby's label I think of my poor cousin! Libby had to suffer years of torture thanks to their theme song, which now is stuck in my head. WTF.) We all had to create an original recipe using Libby's Pumpkin Puree, so today's belly buster is my entry. I've made so many pumpkin recipes in the past few weeks, I'm afraid I may get sick of it, but let's hope not!

Pumpkin Ricotta Baked Stuffed Shells
* serves 6

Ingredients:
½ c.each: pumpkin puree, ricotta cheese, shredded parmesan cheese, and seasoned bread crumbs
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. dried sage
¼ tsp. thyme
¼ tsp. nutmeg
½ lb. jumbo shells
2 Tbls. butter
2 Tbls. all purpose flour
1 c. milk or cream
¾ c. shredded smoked mozzarella
6-10 fresh sage leaves
1 Tbls. olive oil

Preparation:
Cook shells in boiling salted water until al dente (about 12 minutes). Drain and set aside.

Blend all ingredients up to nutmeg with a fork until combined. Set aside.

Melt butter over medium high heat in a small saucepan. Add flour and salt and cook, stirring constantly, until smooth and bubbly. Add milk and stir constantly until all lumps disappear. Add smoked mozzarella (seriously, I am getting addicted to this stuff. It is so delicious alone, but it adds just the right amount of nutty, smoky flavor to other ingredients.), remove from heat, and stir until melted and smooth.

Spoon 1/3 c. of cheese sauce into the bottom of a 9x9 baking dish. Fill each shell with about a Tbls. of ricotta mixture and place into the pan. Once all shells are filled and fit snugly in pan, pour remaining sauce over the top. Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes or until sauce is bubbly.

This last step is not really necessary, but I like crispy sage! It fills the kitchen with a lovely smell, and it adds a punch of flavor. But I suppose, if you must, you can skip it. If not, then heat olive oil in a small sauté pan over high heat. Add fresh sage leaves and fry until crisp, about 4 minutes. Serve shells hot with crispy sage garnish.

I also had a bunch of sauteed spinach with mine, and it was such a good lunch! I imagine it would be a nice addition to a Thanksgiving table, especially if you have vegetarian friends coming over or relatives who for some ungodly reason don't like turkey. They are quick and can definitely be made ahead of time, stored wrapped in the fridge for a day or two, and baked just before dinner time.

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We have a winner!

Congrats to Gina of Moneywise Moms for winning 50 custom cards from Digital Room! Thanks to everyone who entered, and keep coming back for more offers :)

Nigella's Eggplant Involtini

This week's theme for I Heart Cooking is potluck, which means of course, that we get to make anything we want! I picked up Nigella Lawson's Feast about two weeks ago and have read it through at least twice since. One thing I love about her books is how beautiful and funny they are, even if it's unintentional. I can almost hear Nigella talking  in her lilting little accent as I read, which makes it seem so natural and amusing when she describes the dishes and preparations. One of the recipes that immediately jumped out at me was her Involtini, made with eggplant and what looked like a fantastic creamy filling. I decided to make it this week, since I had most of the ingredients together already. Nigella says, "You get a decent wodge of involtini out of this." A wodge? So I only bought one eggplant (the recipe calls for two or three) but I only needed to feed 2 people, not 6. It still made enough invotini for dinner and lunch the next day. The only other changes I made were in the filling. Nigella calls for fresh mozzarella, which I imagine would have made the filling a little more wet. I used smoked mozzarella (thanks to Giada for turning me onto that!) for the filling and plain shredded mozzarella for the top since I had some and didn't feel like shredding any fresh cheese by hand. So what, I'm lazy!

Involtini with Eggplant

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant (approximately 1 lb.), sliced lengthways in slices at most 1/4 inch thick

1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil

1 cup tomato sauce

1/2 cup shredded mozarella

For the filling:

1/2 c. crumbled feta

1/2 c. smoked mozzarella, cut into small cubes

1/4 c. shredded Parmesan

1/2 c. pine nuts

1/3 c. raisins, soaked in hot water for ten minutes and drained

4 Tbls. extra virgin olive oil

3 Tbls. bread crumbs

1 garlic clove, minced

Zest of one lemon

1 tsp. fresh mint, chopped

2 Tbls. fresh parsley, chopped

1 egg, beaten

Preparation:

First things first. You need to slice up that eggplant. The one I bought was easily the largest eggplant I've ever seen, and it was a serious bitch. Maybe if I had a giant mandolin slicer it would have been fun, but no (add that to my wishlist!). I f'd up the slices completely. Maybe 3 or 4 of them were even and the rest were a wonky mess. Ah well. Once you have your eggplant sliced, you need to brush the slices with olive oil and cook for about 4 minutes per side, until they are softened. I used my pretty little grill pan, not realizing it was only big enough for one slice at a time until it was already hot and oiled (now that just sounds wrong!). Had I realized this earlier, I would have just cooked the eggplant on the outside grill and had it over with in ten minutes! Set them aside to cool.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees while you make the filling. This part is easy! Just dump everything in a bowl and toss it together. Looks yummy just as is, no? Now take a slice of eggplant, plop a dollop of filling onto one end (maybe a large tablespoon, I didn't really measure, and neither does Nigella), and roll. Place the rolled eggplant, seam at the bottom, into a 9x9 inch baking dish. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Once all of the involtini are snugly resting in the pan, pour tomato sauce over the top. Now don't go using any fancy pants pasta sauce here. You want plain and simple canned tomato sauce with nothing added to compete with the flavors in the filling! Sprinkle shredded mozzarella over the top and bake for 25 - 30 minutes. Allow the dish to rest 10 minutes before serving.

I've got to tell you, we frickin' loved this. The combination of the smoky cheese and the brightness of the lemon zest, wow. E couldn't figure out what he was eating because with every bite he'd taste something new. "Wait, are there raisins in this? And lemon? Nuts?" While this wasn't the quickest dish to make, I will absolutely make it again. I actually prepared the dish the day before and baked it just before dinner. You could certainly cook the eggplant and make the filling a few days ahead, too. In fact, I have extra filling sitting in my fridge right now! I'm thinking I'll roll it in a bit of parma ham and make a grilled cheese sandwich, yum!

p.s. I did participate in last week's theme (Man Food) but decided not to post it until I've really perfected the recipe. I had E choose a recipe from Feast and of course, he picked the T-Bone Steak with Potato Wedges and Onion Rings, which I immediately refused to make. No deep fried food in this house thank you!  Instead I thought to marry the two sides into one dish. I made baked sweet potatoes with a crusty coating made from a little bit of  French's Fried Onions and a Rib Eye. It was delicious, but the potatoes weren't quite right, so I'll post them once I work out the kinks!

Cake Fail!

or How Not Following Directions Can Be a Good Thing

On my last visit home, I got to spend an afternoon with my sister Christina at her school's Health and Wellness Fair. As the school nurse, she had to give out free blood pressure readings, while I cruised around entering raffles, making fun of the hoola hoop teacher (although at 55, she had a slammin' bod, and all the moms in the room were eyeing her with hatred), and getting free massages. I didn't win anything (I don't know what I'd have done with a basket of jump ropes anyway), but I did get a recipe from the people manning the apple table from Oak Haven Farms. The recipe is supposed to be for apple brownies, and I couldn't wait to try them. I have also been trying to figure out a way to get rid of the rest of the caramel candy corn I bought for Halloween. The bag has been taunting me from a high shelf for weeks, and my strength to resist was fading. This seemed like the perfect marriage of flavors, so I started messing with the recipe.

It wasn't until the batter was in the oven that I realized that I have made these before. Way back in high school I worked at a little coffee shop called Java. It was the first and only job that actually paid me to bake. I loved it! It was there that I first learned to make chocolate meringues, scones, and what I thought were crazy muffin flavors. The owners let me make anything I wanted from a huge shelf of cook books, even if no one ever bought them (who knew Raspberry Cream Soda muffins were a bad idea?). The owner also had a family recipe for apple brownies, which I made all the time and had completely forgotten about. Once that smell filled my kitchen, though, it was like I was transported back in time.  I wish I still had that recipe, but sadly I have lost touch with them and the shop closed years and years ago!

You can see why I'd be excited about this new recipe, hoping it would turn out like the first. After about 40 minutes of baking, I checked the pan and... mush. The center was wiggle jiggle central, while the edges had just begun to crisp. Blast! I looked back at the teensy print and realized I wasn't supposed to use a 9x9 pan, but a 9x13 pan. WTF? I was soo mad at myself, but I just let it bake and bake and bake. An hour and 15 minutes later, the brownies were cooked through, and I left them to cool.

Once cooled, I ran a knife around the edges to loosen the brownie and tipped it out onto my cutting board to slice. Lo and behold, the bottom of the brownie was amass with glistening caramel, which oozed down the sides into little pools. The candy corn had sunk to the bottom (although oddly the apples had not) and melted completely to form a sticky caramel sauce. It looked just like an upside-down cake. I was irritated for a minute, but then I figured, "Whatever, it'll probably taste ok!" Oh my God, you guys, it was so good! Much better than I remembered with the addition of the caramel! The "brownie" turned out to be nothing like a brownie at all, but was more like a dense, moist cake. It was delicious served warm with a little vanilla bean ice cream, and might be a good Christmas morning treat. That's a list that's steadily growing in my head, and it isn't even Thanksgiving yet. Sheesh.

Caramel Apple Accidental Upside-Down Cake
Adapted from a recipe from Oak Haven Farms, Scotland, CT

Ingredients:
1 cup softened butter
2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
3 cups crisp apples (like Cortland, Red Delicious, or Fuji), peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup carmael candy corn
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. allspice

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the sides and bottom of a 9x9 inch glass dish with cooking spray. Don't be stingy!
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar, beat in eggs. Add remaining ingredients except for apples and caramels, stir until just combined. Fold in apples and caramels. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 1 hour and 10 - 20 minutes, or until top is golden brown and crusty and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Allow to cool completely in the pan before running a knife around the edges and tipping out. Slice into squares and serve upside down, so caramel drips over the sides.

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Pumpkin Pie Bread Pudding

After getting obsessed with Zoe and Jeff's Master Bread recipe, I decided to jump on board the baking group for their new book, Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. It's based on the same principles of the original book (baking fresh bread with ease and simplicity, and no kneading!), but with many healthier alternatives. Michelle of Big Black Dog is the group's host, and you can learn all about the baking group on her blog if you are interested in joining. Once the book is released in January, we will bake our way through it. I can't wait to get my copy, which I won from a random giveawy on Michelle's blog. There is also a "secret recipe" released just for the group in November and December, so we are all getting an early start. This month's bread was Pumpkin Pie Brioche. You'll have to visit the blog to get the recipe (we are not allowed to post the recipes due to the copyright), but it's well worth it!

The other nice thing about the group is that you have lots of participants to ask for tips and opinions, which is important for a bread baking newbie like myself. I'll be honest, looking at the breads made by other members of the group made me so very jealous! They are all beautfully golden, sparkling with sugar, and perfectly photographed. My bread, well, let's just say it came out badly. It looked flat, dense, and, even though I doubled the spices as recommended by group members, it didn't have the punch of flavor I had hoped for. I decided to dress it up a little and make a bread pudding. Of course, it turns out I wasn't the only person with this idea! Michelle's bread pudding is so pretty. I made mine after dinner, but I hate taking pictures of food at night because the lighting in my kitchen is garbage, and everything looks muted and sickly. Despite that, it was delicious, and I'd definitely make it again.

Individual Pumpkin Pie Bread Puddings:

Ingredients:
1 cup half and half
2 eggs
8 oz. pumpkin puree
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. allspice
4 slices of pumpkin pie brioche, slightly stale, cut into cubes
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preparation:
Whisk together all but the last two ingedients. Fold in bread and cranberries. Spoon evenly into greased ramekins and let stand for 15 minutes. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes, or until tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Serve warm, topped with a drizzle of maple syrup and whipped cream.

So yeah, not the prettiest dessert I've made, but E ate the whole thing, which sometimes attests to the fact that he loves something, and sometimes is only proof that he's hungry. He is a champ when it comes to inhaling a bag of Doritos in 3 minutes, so his finishing a dish isn't always the highest compliment :)

If you want to be really impressed by this bread, your best bet is to check out the mouth watering posts by the other group members here in the Bread Braid. You'll be drooling all over your keyboard, I promise.

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Giveaway time again!

Hey peeps! I get to host another giveaway, this time thanks to the folks at DigitalRoom.com. They make high quality  greeting cards, prints, and more. You can check out reviews of their products here if you are so inclined. And since we are friends, I need to tell you that in addition to offering you guys a prize, I get a set of 50 cards myself as a thanks for hosting the giveaway. Double sweet :)

Here are the details:

Prize Offered: (50 ct.) 7 x 5" (folded to 3.5 x 5") Custom Thank You Cards with plain envelopes

Shipping: Free UPS Ground within United States

Eligibility: Limited to US Residents.

How to Enter: Just leave me a comment! Tell me what you'll do with your cards, and don't forget give me your name and email address so that I can contact you if you win.

What to do with your cards: Send thanks to your friends and loved ones, duh! Even if you haven't had a big wedding, a birthday party, or any other bash lately, it's always nice to send thank you cards. Why not send one to your best friend for being so full of awesome? To your mom for being supportive? To your significant other for taking out the trash?

This giveaway ends on November 22nd, so get to commenting! Good luck everyone!

Happy Veteran's Day

To my Papa, a Veteran of the Korean Conflict and hands down the greatest man I've ever known. He was one of those sadly dis-appearing people who would give anything for his country and family, who respected everyone no matter what race, religion, or belief, and who gave love and support in place of anger or disapproval. We all miss you dearly!

To my Uncle Tom, a Vietnam Vet and kayaking, wood chopping, lobster boiling badass. Sure that's a funny description, but it's true! He's one of the coolest people around, and has been an essential part of keeping our family traditions going strong.

To all of you out there who fight for us, even when we criticize you, the military, and our government as a whole. Thank you for knowing there is something bigger going on out there, despite personal politics, and that we are all worth being protected, no matter what we believe in.

Anthony Bourdain at the Michigan Theatre

In case you didn't know, I love Anthony Bourdain. I read Kitchen Confidential back when I was still working in restaurants, and immediately knew that if I could ever hang out with any chef around, this was the guy. Smart, snarky, no bullshit, arrogant, and a fabulous writer, not to mention he can cook. I've been hooked on No Reservations for all seven seasons, so when I learned that Anthony Bourdain was going to be the next participant in the Michigan Theatre's Ann Arbor Conversations series, I jumped. I wasn't sure what the format of the show would be, but I didn't care; I just wanted to be there.

Decked in his typical skinny jeans and cowboy boots, Bourdain (aw heck, let's call him Tony), spoke a little nervously for almost two hours about food, TV, celebrity chefs, travel, and stupid Americans. While he started with a promise not to make any Rachael Ray or Sandra Lee jokes (while the audience moaned their disappointment), he didn't keep it. He has apparently discovered a modicum of respect for Rachael Ray after learning that she booked The New York Dolls for a music festival, but it's clear he still thinks Sandra Lee is the antichrist. The show was hilarious, interesting, and worth every minute, as long as you weren't an uptight vegan or a cousin to Alice Waters.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the night:

"Chlamydia, just because it sounds Italian, doesn't mean it's good."
"I spent 28 years working the line, hanging with cooks and talking dick dick dick dick dick."
"I like money. I'm all for selling out."
"She [Rachael Ray] sent me a fruit basket. The card said, 'Please don't shoot the puppy.'"
"Cooking is about dominance and control. Eating is about submission."

I've heard this last one a few times on the show, but unlike the other quotes I've listed, this one hits on more than my funny bone. I don't remember which episode it was when I first heard him comparing the experience of eating a meal to submitting, but I do remember how much that statement connected with me. Eating for me is about opening yourself up to whatever is coming, allowing yourself to experience it fully. That doesn't mean there aren't times when I stand over the sink, hoovering down a turkey sandwich because I'm late for work. It just means that I respect food and the people who make it enough to truly enjoy and learn about it as much as I can. I don't get people that don't like eating. Those people who eat just because they need sustenance. They don't know what they are missing!

Cooking for me, like everyone in my family, has always been a labor of love, but even before I could cook, I was all about food. Almost every family memory I have is connected in some way to food. My friend Sophie told me a story that night about standing in a shop and tasting a piece of pastry, when she was suddenly pulled back in time to her childhood. That bite brought back a moment so vividly and palpably that she had tears in her eyes. Sometimes food can be that powerful. If you're closed off to it, you miss it, and that's just sad.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

Look what I got! I know, you're so excited you could pee your pants, right? No? Well, I am! My last soup post included quite a bit of uncharacteristic whining about my disturbing lack of a dutch oven. Now I know I did lay down lots of not-so-subtle hints about birthday presents, but my birthday isn't until next month and I'm not very patient. I also don't happen to have a money tree, so I never thought I could just run out and pick up a glorious piece of cookware like this (that is the one I really wanted in my heart of hearts. It's my color!). I am partial to a dose of reality now and again. But then, then my friends, came the new World Market flyer in my mailbox! Not only were they advertising 5 quart cast iron dutch ovens for $49.99, but there was a coupon for $20 off any $50 purchase attached. Jackpot! I was in the car faster than you can say cassoulet.

I came home, washed her up, and started cooking. I've had soup on the brain for days anyway, since it's already snowed here and it's not even December. No better way to break in this baby than with a soup, which also happens to be the Test Kitchen challenge at Bakespace this month. Oh aaand, I've just joined the I Heart Cooking Club, a group of food bloggers who cook and post recipes from one chef for a 6 month period with a new theme each month. They are doing an Autumn Harvest theme this month. How convenient! Locally grown produce and a thick, hearty soup spells Autumn to me!

I started with a quick glance throught my cupboards and then went to one of my favorite ladies for inspiration, Nigella Lawson. Her food is so delicious, without any pretention or bullshit, and besides, she's gorgeous! That's why I was excited to find the I Heart Cooking club was working on cooking all Nigella, all the time. Her Lentil Soup recipe became the model for this soup. I had to make several changes due to missing ingredients, plus I added some sriracha for kick and some bacon because, well, it's bacon.

Middle Eastern Spiced Lentil Soup

Ingredients:
6 slices of bacon, chopped
2 medium yellow onions, chopped

3 carrots, peeled and chopped

3 stalks of celery, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup olive oil

2 Tbls. tomato paste

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. thyme

2 bay leaves

3 tsp. brown sugar

1 tsp. sriracha (Thai hot chili sauce)

3 cups water

5 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 can diced tomato, drained

2 cups lentils, rinsed

Preparation:

In a skillet, cook bacon until browned and crisp, set aside on a paper towel to absorb grease.

Heat olive oil in a dutch oven or large stock pot over medium high heat. Cook onion until softened, but not browned. Add carrots, celery, and garlic and cook 10-15 minutes or until softened. Add tomato paste and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add half of bacon and all remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.

Aww, look how pretty this little pot is on my stove!

I think I'm falling harder for her than I did for my stand mixer!

Reduce heat to low and cook for one and a half hours. As the lentils cook your soup will get nice and thick.

Serve with reserved bacon sprinkled on top.Which I did, with a big hunk of buttered pumpernickle. Yum!

I'm also pretty proud of myself for figuring out something that for most people is probably simple, but for me has been mind boggling. A big shout out to the adorable Cassie of How to Eat a Cupcake for her help! See the nifty little printer icon below? Now you can click to print a recipe and cut it into convenient 3x5 inch recipe cards. I'm working on updating old posts to include this feature, but it's going to take me a little while, so please be patient:) If there is a certain recipe from an old post that you'd like to print, let me know and I'll make those a priority.

Now I'm off to plan my pre-Anthony Bourdain at the Michigan Theatre-show menu for tomorrow night.

I'm so excited!

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The Red Queen's Tea Party

My awesome craftster book/swap club read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass last month. If you've never actually sat down and done it yourself, you really should. That's doubly true if your only experience with the story is the Disney movie, or even worse, that made for TV version featuring Whoopie Goldberg. I highly recommend the definitive edition, even with its snobby name. The notes take as long to read as the story, but it's well worth it!

I decided to send a tea party kit to one of our organizers, Jennifer, designed to fit her favorite character, the Red Queen. I realized that after the debacle at Alice's celebration dinner, it was only right that the Red Queen should make amends and host a proper tea party. I made her a set of invitations using one of the original Tenniel illustrations, mulberry paper, stamping, and flat cards from PaperSource in blossom (you'll recognize the color later!). I also made her an embellished tea tin full of tea, a little note book made of library card catalog cards for jotting down party info, a menu full of recipes for foods from the book, a jar of my Gingered Asian Pear jam (for "you can have jam yesterday, and jam to-morrow, but never jam today!"), and a batch of The Queen of Hearts' Raspberry Tarts. I hope she likes everything!

The cookies are almost too pretty to eat, but I didn't take a really pretty picture of them. I felt bad manhandling food that I am sending to someone as a gift, so the assembled cookies on a rack will have to do! These are essentially the same as the Pumpkin Maple Buttercream Sandwich Cookies, but with a different shape and filling.

The Queen of Hearts' Raspberry Tarts:

For the cookies:

One batch of cream cheese cookie dough

Roll chilled dough on a lightly floured surface to a 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into rounds with a scalloped biscuit cutter. Cut small hearts from the center of half of the rounds and remove. (You can bake the hearts up and use them like little confetti cookies to decorate your plate later!)

Put the solid rounds on one cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat mat, and the heart cut-out rounds on another. The cut-out rounds bake a minute or two faster! Bake for 5-7 minutes or until just golden. Allow to cool on cookie sheets for five minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

For the Filling:

You can always use a store bought raspberry jam! I just happened to have made raspberry jam this summer using a bunch of berries from our farmer's market!

4 cups granulated sugar

5 pints raspberries, washed and picked over

Juice of one lime, plus 4 strips of lime peel

Place berries, lime juice, and peel in a large stainless steel or enamel saucepan. Bring to a full boil over high heat, mashing berries with a potato masher as they heat. Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add sugar, return to a boil, and boil until mixture will form a gel , about 5 minutes. Pour into sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe jars clean, seal, and process in a canner or large pot of boiling water. If you are using a pot, make sure the water covers the jars entirely and heat at a full boil for 10 - 15 minutes. Remove jars with tongs and set aside to cool.

* If you want to learn more about canning, freezing, or preserving fruits and vegetables, this is a great resource!

Assembling your cookies for eating at home:

Just spread a teaspoon of raspberry filling over the top of a round cookie and place a cut cookie on top.

Assembling your cookies for shipping:

Shipping jam filled sandwich cookies can be a little tricky. They can slip around and turn into a hot mess. I use a tiny smear of royal icing on the bottom of a cut cookie to glue it to the top of a round cookie. Then I spoon a little jam into the heart shaped hole on top. Allow them to set for an hour before packaging. You'll want to seal the cookies in an air tight container or bag to preserve their freshness and ship them priority if not over night! They'll last about 3 or 4 days before getting stale!

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Operation! You're the doctor!

I'm such a nut for Halloween. I love everything about it, and usually spend tons of time getting ready. This year we did pretty minimal decorating, so the majority of my time could be spent making E's Halloween costume. Now, those of you who know my husband may know that he has worn some pretty embarrassing things on Halloween's past. He was once a huge, fuzzy, mascot-style Pink Panther, which was really impressive even if he was dressed head to toe in Pepto Bismol fur. He was also a cute little mouse one year, which he claims I made him do. Not true. Yes, I provided the makeup and mouse ears, but it wasn't my idea and I didn't even go out that night. Besides, he's the one who got hit on by every lady at the bar, calling him "adorable." He complains about it still, but personally, I think he loves the attention.

I didn't take much to convince him to let me dress him up this year, thanks to the support of a couple of our friends. Once the girls exclaimed that it was an awesome idea, he totally caved. Thus, I present you with the Operation Game Guy. While it did take a while to make, it was relatively easy. It was also completely worth the effort to see this puppy in motion: nose flashing, buzzers zapping, and dogs chasing tiny body parts around for hours. E was a big hit, and I think it's pretty obvious that he's very comfortable being party guy. (p.s. You can vote for us in Craftster.org's costume contest here starting November 6th!)

We also spent Halloween day carving our not-so-original pumpkins. I think everyone and their mother has done a vomiting pumpkin and a baby being eaten by a monster pumpkin. Depite that, I needed help with all of the scraping, and the only way to get E to lend a hand was to let him make something gross. They ended up looking great, and I kept hearing "Whoa!" and "Awesome" through the door as trick or treaters came up the steps. It was always the dads. What is it with guys?

My last little Halloween project was the cupcakes for the party. I've been dying to make them since I bought Martha Stewart's new cupcake book. I used her recipe for Devil's Food Cake and used a basic vanilla butter cream for the frosting. The mummy eyes are mini chocolate chips, and all of the monster bits are marshmallows, gel icing, gumballs, and caramel candy corn (which, by the way, is the greatest candy ever! I must figure out what to do with the rest of that bag!). I love this cake recipe, and will definitely make it agin. The cupcakes were so moist (God, I hate that word!) and chocolatey, and the recipe makes a huge batch! There are so many other recipes that I can't wait to try in the book. I keep flipping through it and marking pages, waiting for someone to invite me to another party. Maybe I should just have my own and serve nothing but cupcakes. Maybe everyone would love it, maybe everyone would get sick, who knows. I've been to a desserts only party before and it blew, but I think I could do it better. Anyone wanna come over for a sugar rush?

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Dear Rachael Ray,

As a long time supporter and fan and a weekly viewer of your talk show, I must admit to being ashamed and disappointed while watching today's segment on "Body Parts That Age You." For a woman who promotes health and well being, particularly for women and their families, I don't understand how you could feature and promote such ideas on your program. Woman today are already obsessed with weight, overwrought with concerns about their breasts, love handles, and backsides, and now we need to worry about our earlobes (at 1500 dollars a pop, no less!)? Once I heard Dr. Drew Ordon say that he feels bad for women with cankles, I shut the TV off. I had had enough. I just can't bear to listen to comments that perpetuate the idea that women are never beautiful enough, skinny enough, or perfect enough for our society. It's not surprising to hear these words emerge from the mouth of a man who makes his living off of this idea, but it was certainly a surprise to see it on your show. Maybe this segment seemed like a useful one for women concerned with aging, but in reality it was just the same old stereotypes being plastered across the screen in "before and after" photos. I think even the audience knew it, as their applause was scattered and seemed forced. While women everywhere can appreciate fashion tips, makeup ideas, and new haircuts displayed in your fun makeovers, this just goes too far.

While I will certainly continue to think of your website as a good place to find quick recipes, I will no longer be watching your talk show. Your viewers deserve better content than this.

Sincerely,
Joanna

* Note: For a moment there I was tempted to sign this letter with "Love and Best Dishes" but I'm too aggravated to be snarky! We'll see if I get any response to this email!

Perfection, my ass

I am such a sucker.

I'm also a bit of a girly girl. I love pink, fluffy slippers, bath and body products, and sparkles. I can't ever buy enough scented lotion, and I spend too long getting ready on date nights. However, I've always considered myself to have a pretty good grasp on reality when it comes to what I really NEED to have. I'll shop sales and only buy when I'm running out of something, except for two very glaring exceptions. Mascara and lip-gloss. Very few people in the world have ever seen me without mascara and lip-gloss, and it is essentially my one true goal in life to prevent that number from growing. Therefore, I keep secret stashes of these products in every conceivable hiding place: pockets, glove compartments, drawers, the toolbox. I do have my favorite, go-to brands and shades to which I will always stay true. But on occasion, some glossy new ad or gimmick will tempt me, and I fall into Freak Fad Frenzy.

This is what happened to me when I discovered the emergence of the new vibrating mascaras. I first spotted the Lancome vibrating mascara (sexily dubbed Oscillation) in a magazine this summer. I got giddy. I had to have one. But I didn't want to pay 34 bucks for it, so I waited until there was a cheaper version sold at CVS. Happily, a few weeks later I discovered Pulse Perfection™ by Define-A-Lash® Vibrating Mascara. See all of those trademarks? It's patented technology people! It must be good! The packaging promised that this product would give me the 7 elements of amazing lashes. Now my lashes are naturally light and not super thick, so that sounded good to me. I waited until I had used up my other mascara to try it, and this was the week. Bring on the perfection!

It was only when I was standing before the mirror yesterday, wand in hand, that I realized I was now about to angle a piece of hard plastic covered in tiny, vibrating spikes, into to my eye. Maybe I hadn't thought this through. But I wasn't about to cave that easily. I followed the detailed instructions on the packaging and waited to see my glorious lashes emerge...

"Uh, why do I look like a large, furry spider is napping on my eyelid?" Because this crap doesn't work. It's ridiculous. I looked like I had a solid clumps of lashes, like one of those old napping baby dolls whose lids flap up into their heads when you pick them up. It took me almost five minutes of slow separating with my lash comb, followed by wiping all of the excess on a tissue, and more combing. There was so much mascara on that wand that even Tammy Faye would have cringed. Sadly, I had to go to work, so I had to do it again on the other eye or risk not matching and looking like an even bigger wacko. It usually takes me a total of ten minutes to do all of my makeup, but it took me longer than that just to put on this mascara. At the end of the day, my eyes started to itch. I looked in the mirror and realized it was because the mascara was flaking off and nesting inside my lower eyelids, where it created the appearance of smudgy, dark liner and also an increasing amount of discomfort. I'll admit that the liner effect, while entirely accidental, looked kind of sultry, but I'm not into all that pain in the name of fashion bullshite. I couldn't wait to get home and either wash my face or tear my eyes out.

The good news is CVS has a great beauty returns policy, so this shit is going back to the store. When someone invents injectable lipgloss, remind me of this experience.

Sweet!

The lovely and crafty Claire sent me a set of cute cookie cutters in fall shapes recently and I couldn't wait to use them! I decided to use the maple leaves to make these sandwich cookies. I've made these raspberry sandwich cookies for Christmas the past two years, and loved the dough so much I had to try something new with it. I swapped the mascarpone for cream cheese since it was all I had in the fridge, and it worked just as well! The batch went to the office with E and was gone in minutes. Honestly, I know the same would be true if I sent in some grocery store donuts, so I'm not all that flattered by his coworkers' tastes. I tried one, though, and they were pretty f'in good! So yeah, that's why E got to take them to work. I have a dress to get into next weekend!

Pumpkin Maple Buttercream Sandwich Cookies:

For Dough:
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
dash of salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1/2 cup cream cheese, at room temperature
2 1/2 cups flour

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Beat butter on medium speed for 30 seconds until pale and fluffy. Add sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla, egg, and cream cheese, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in as much flour as possible using your mixer, 1/2 cup at a time. Fold in any remaining flour with a wooden spoon. Divide your dough in half. *If you want to, you may wrap in plastic wrap and chill for an hour or two, but it's not necessary. This dough is easy to work with! You can also freeze it for up to two months.
On a lightly floured surface, roll half of dough to a 1/8 inch thickness and cut into shapes. Bake on a cookie sheet lined with a Silpat or parchment paper for 5-6 minutes or until edges just start to brown. *Keep an eye on them as they will burn quickly! Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely before frosting.

For Frosting:
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. maple syrup
1 lb. confectioner's sugar

Beat pumpkin and butter until well combined. Add cinnamon, ginger, salt, vanilla, and maple syrup and beat until combined. While your mixer is running at medium speed, add sugar 1/2 cup at a time. You may not need the entire pound, so taste it and see! Also, don't worry if the frosting looks a little grainy as you start adding sugar. It will become nice and fluffy!

I used about a teaspoon if frosting to sandwich cookies together, then used a little melted chocolate to pipe on veins for the leaves. You can use more frosting, but it will squeeze out when you bite into the cookies! However, if sweet and messy is your thing, then go for it!

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Slow Going...

What is it about the fall that makes me instantly turn into sloth girl? The colder weather is certainly a part of it (35 degrees here when I woke up! Aah!), but I think it is also the smells, the colors, and obviously, the food. I like to cook things slowly in the fall, since I'm happy to let my oven warm up the entire house now, unlike summer when the grill is the only heat I'll allow! My slow cooker is out of the cabinet and becomes pretty much a counter fixture the second September rolls around. It's my saving grace now that I work lots of evenings.

This weekend I had lots of cooking time on my hands since E and I were laying around pretty depressed about the impending doom that was creeping up on the Red Sox (not a word Bobbins! I'll come over there!). The only thing to do once fate was clinched and the series was not was to eat lots of comfort food. To me that can mean lots of things: spaghetti and meat balls, homemade mac and cheese, chicken and dumplings, tuna noodle casserole. This week it meant my version of onion soup for lunch and my mom's banana bread with huge cups of tea all late afternoon. Nothing better to soothe the slow ache of a season gone down the tubes.

How to make my Potato Onion Soup:

Ingredients:
4 cups yellow onion, sliced thin
2 medium red potatoes, sliced in half then sliced very thin (use a mandoline or a food processor for this!)
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/3 cup red wine
3 Tbls. tomato paste
6 cups chicken stock
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 Tbls. olive oil

If you have a dutch oven for this soup, you're money. I don't have one, and it is the bane of my existence. (Maybe one day a fairy godmother, or my husband, will get one for me? Hint hint!) If you are sadly devoid of a dutch oven, use a big pot; it'll be ok.

Heat olive oil in the pot over medium low heat. Add onion and cook over low heat for 45 minutes, stirring every once in a while. Yes, I said 45 minutes. Your onions need to get super soft and turn a dark golden color before you add anything else or you won't get the right flavor. See those? That is 30 minutes in, and they may look soft and yummy, but they are not ready! Keep going until you see this caramel color. Please ignore that I forgot to take a picture before adding the potatoes! But really, that's how dark your onions need to be! Once you get them to that point, stir in garlic, red wine, tomato paste, bay leaf and potatoes. Let that simmer for about 5 minutes before pouring in your stock. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 35 - 45 minutes, until your potatoes are fork tender. Season with salt and pepper, remove bay leaf, and serve.

We ate ours with little Blue Cheese Crescent Rolls and lots of sorrow. It was delicious and did make me feel a little better. The entire house smelled of onions, which I love, but E doesn't, so I baked a banana bread to cut the odor. I don't like most banana breads, and I will never buy it in a bakery or coffee shop because it is always too dry. I know everyone says it, but my mother's recipe is the best! It is so moist, and it will stay that way for days as long as you wrap the bread tightly in foil. This is perfect with a little butter or cream cheese and a big cup of tea! Plus, you can have a loaf in the oven in literally 10 minutes.

Suzy's Banana Bread:

Ingredients:
3 very ripe bananas (ultra ripe, brown skinned, and soft)
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Blend banana, egg, oil, and sugar with a hand mixer until well combined. Beat in flour, salt, and baking soda. Fold in nuts and pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Eat it 'til it's gone!

Although this is one of my favorite comfort foods, we have to be real here. Is it good for you? No, but neither is binge drinking and how many of us did that this past month (err, weekend? yesterday?)? If you really want to lighten it up a little you can use 1/2 a cup of white flour mixed with 1 cup of whole wheat flour, and replace 1/3 of the cup of sugar with Splenda. It won't hurt your final product, but I haven't gone further than that. I don't want to mess too much with perfection! Off to eat my second slice of the day; maybe I should fit in a workout!

Freckles and the Spaniard

Thanks to Jenny's suggestion, I've decided it is time for me to share the tale of our former neighbors, partly to amuse her (and I didn't forget about you, Tim! Hi!) and partly to attempt to rid myself of some of the lingering bad feelings that arise any time I drive by the State Theater.

When E and I first moved to Ann Arbor, we settled into a condo complex full of (unbeknown to us) old people and U of M dental students. Actually, our new development is also full of blue hairs, so maybe that's just our thing. Anyway, we were invited to a get-together by a neighbor that first fall, and being the friendless losers that we were, we kindly accepted. I whipped up a tray of fancy grasshopper brownies and we marched over on a Friday night, not quite hopeful. A man answered the door and we introduced ourselves. "Miriam invited us!" I chirped. It was only when he gave me a strange glare that I realized his wife's name was Gwen. Strike One!

It was at this party that we met the middle aged lawyer who said everything was "off the hook," the Baptist who was thrilled to meet Rhode Islanders (random fact: Roger Williams co-founded the first Baptist Church and Providence is a type of Mecca to hardcore Baptists) and also, Freckles and the Spaniard. This married couple was friendly, talkative, and seemed perfectly harmless. She was a bright, Irish lass who worked for the University and had a passion for beer and art. I'll call her Annie, cause I'm creative and I like pseudonyms. He was a translator from Sevilla (which he pronounces Seh-VEE-Ya! with an exclamation point) with a great accent. I'll call him Hernando. You'll see why later. They invited us out to a movie, and again, we kindly agreed. We are so naive.

We picked up Hernando and drove to meet Annie downtown. We actually passed by her on the street, which was followed by lots of screaming out of windows, slamming on of brakes, and a slight feeling of foreboding. After sitting in the sticky and slighty dank smelling State Theater for two hours of Transiberian (which is a great movie by the way, just not really a "couples night" type of movie) we walked to a local bar. They commented loudly about the movie. Well, he tried to make a point and she shouted over him constantly. At this point I was done, but I thought I could suffer through one beer. Freckles and the Spaniard ordered dinner. E and I then sat through another 2 hours of conversation. By conversation I mean she talked and talked, he simpered, and we threw in occasional comments while chugging beer after beer. She used the phrase "a young gal living on a single income" at least 8 times. Strike Two.

We knew we couldn't continue to have a relationship with these weirdos, especially once we got the feeling that they were only married so that Hernando could continue living in America. They so obviously didn't like each other. Unless you consider emasculating your husband in front of practical strangers affectionate, I imagine they had a pretty loveless home.

We tried to be casual about it. We ran into Hernando at the gym and pretended we had lunch plans. I bumped into Annie in the parking lot and faked an appointment when I was just getting something out of my car. I actually drove away. I didn't have my purse, so I did a few loops around the neighborhood before sneaking home. She thought she had me one day when she was off to work, shouting that she was getting a promotion. The office, where she had worked "since she was a young gal living on a single income," had planned a party. Instead of bringing her husband, she was bringing the elderly woman named Esther with the hunched back who lived next door. Sweet as pie this woman, but I can't picture her as a swinging party guest. "Oh, is Hernando working that night?" I asked.
"No." Hmmm.

One night, not long after the party, the doorbell rang. We opened the door to see a newly mustachioed Hernando in a jogging suit. That would have been enough for me, but no. It was a little handlebar mustache. And he had waxed the ends. He looked like a baby Cortez out for a night of debauchery in his swishy pants. He was there to tell us about his discovery of the New Yorker Magazine online, where you can read many interesting articles from the archives of many, many years of magazines. He proceeded to describe several of these articles to us. Then he asked us to go Flamenco dancing. I pretended I was too cold to stand there with the door open any longer, and before he could somersault into our living room, E shut the door. Strike Three.

Luckily, we moved a short time later, before they could suck us into their weirdo lair. I can picture it now. Expensive art scattered with antique furniture, Spanish guitar on the stereo, and enticing spicy smells to get you in the mood before they drag you, drunk and confused, into the black walled sybian room dressed in soccer jerseys. (If you don't know what a sybian is, please don't Google it while children are in the room. I don't want to be responsible for anyone's nightmares but my own.) And this is why we won't ever again make nice with our neighbors.

Bridesmaid-zilla

My fabulous BFF Jessica is getting married! And I am honored to be a part of her wedding party. I like nothing more than all of the excitement of planning and throwing the parties, dressing up, stuffing my face with passed hors d'œuvre and champagne, and dancing the night away. There is also the fun fun fun of trying on (dun dun duuun), the dreaded bridesmaid dress. Unfortunately, the lovely ladies of this wedding are scattered across the country from California to Rhode Island, making it impossible for us all to get together for a day of bubbly, giggling, and bridal boutiques. This has, of course, left us with the only realistic option. David's Bridal.

Now I'm not going to hate entirely on David's Bridal here because I am a realist. My friend Jen and my cousin Libby both bought their gowns there and they were gorgeous! I even loved the bridesmaid dresses we all wore for Libby's wedding. However, the general experience I have had in several David's locations have, to put it bluntly, sucked. A few examples:
- They wanted to charge me over 200 dollars to hem a dress, which my mom ended up doing herself in under an hour.
- The seamstress who worked with Libby was argumentative, rude, and inexperienced, and my aunt had to re-pin the entire bodice while the seamstress was out of the room. The anxiety and stress resulted in tears, which no bride wants to deal with!
- While planning out the gown for my wedding, my mom and I went to try on dresses for shape ideas. I literally hated everything I put on. Half of them had no lining and showed every curve. The other half just felt cheap. I came out of the dressing room at one point saying, "Now this one is just awful..." only to see the salesgirl's face and stutter, "awful on me! Yeah, just awful on my body type. I'm sure it would be adorable on other girls!" Turns out she had just finished telling my mother how she wore the dress at her wedding a few months earlier. My constant foot in mouth syndrome marches on.

Luckily, I have a generally positive outlook, so this weekend I grabbed a girlfriend and my camera, and headed over to David's to take one for the team ;) We had had quite an evening just hours before, so we were in high spirits. I tried on seven dresses in under 30 minutes, while my friend snapped quick photos. She took one shot of each dress, which often caught my immediate reactions upon seeing myself in the wall of many mirrors. I don't mince words, and I make judgments very quickly, so it was a painless enterprise.



Allison's comment: "What is that thing hanging between your legs?" I think it's to soak up thigh sweat.











This one is made of what they call "crinkle chiffon." It actually feels like public restroom toilet paper. Handy for wedding tears.












This time, Allison said, "Um, I like your shoes." Yeah.














I didn't actually think I dress could make me look more flat chested, but I have been proven wrong.











Now this one we both liked! Cute shape, nice fabric. Overall, an adorable little black dress. In yellow? Maybe.










This one is also cute and very comfy. I love jersey. Again, I'm not sure how it will look in yellow, but it fit well, and that's half the battle.





Why I do declare! I think we found a winner! I love this dress. Great fit, great shape, great fabric, and pockets! I love pockets. Ignore the fact that this color is atrocious (Tangerine? Really?) and you'll see why this is my favorite.

You are probably wondering at this point why on earth my friend would choose me to be in her wedding party. I am clearly very opinionated. I am not going to wear taffeta or a butt bow and I'm not going to cut or color my hair. But guess what, she wouldn't ask me to. She's stylish and normal and actually likes her friends enough to not want them to look shitty at her wedding. Plus, shitty looking bridesmaids ruin the pictures.