Pumpkin Kick

Sorry for the lack of updates this week.  The short work week felt incredibly long.  I actually did do some cooking and baking Tuesday night, but then went out to meet some work friends before I could blog it.  Then my other excuse is simply that I'm lazy and it's cold outside, so it's too tempting to go to Panera and rush to bed early!  But I promise I will be better :)

So, Tuesday: I made dinner.  It was just me and Mom, so I took advantage of the opportunity to use the jar of mushroom marinara sauce that I got for sale a week ago.  I knew anyone else would whine!  Mom has been begging for my stuffed shells, so I whipped up my most commonly used recipe: spinach and ricotta stuffed shells!  The only weird thing was that I realized I had no regular mozzarella cheese... but I did have smoked mozzarella!  So it made for a bit of a different flavoring on top.  In fact, Mom asked if there was bacon in it! Haha.  It was still good though; we both ate lots, and I took more for lunch today.  This is just a recipe that never goes wrong.

I also decided to make a batch of pumpkin cookies.  I had spotted the recipe when looking for good pumpkin things on Annie's Eats, and when I saw a pumpkin oatmeal cookie, with dried cranberries and white chocolate chips, I was pretty pumped.  It sounded like something that Kenzie would love (she loves pumpkin and chocolate chips) and Mom might even eat (she loves oatmeal and cranberries!).  The recipe makes a huge amount of cookies, so it took a while rotating my two pans, but luckily making tons of cookies was not a bad thing. These are actually really good.  They are really flavorful, with spices like cloves and cinnamon and ginger and nutmeg.  The pumpkin mixed in with that, and the oats and cranberries and white chocolate.... they are good.  I am not even a cookie person, and I will confess to taking them to work with me every day this week :)  And for a recipe that makes about 3 dozen cookies, it looks like we have about 8 left.  That's huge for this family!  In fact, I already got another request for these for a baby shower next week.

...which brings me to my mini project tonight.  I somehow got the idea in my head that I needed to make my own pumpkin puree.  I had read on another blog that it really does taste much better than the canned stuff, and it didn't sound too hard, so I figured, why wouldn't I? I have been on a bit of a pumpkin kick lately (in case you didn't notice) and if making my own puree will make my stuff taste that much better, then bring on the sugar pumpkins!  I bought two, chopped off the tops (and gave one to Neely... how adorable is he!?), cut them in fourths, and roasted them.  The "recipe" I found said it takes 45 minutes, but mine took closer to an hour and a half.  When they are done, you know it, because the skin gets all bubbly and easy to peel off.  The hardest part, frankly, was pureeing the pumpkin since my food processor, as you all know, is older than I am.  Still, it got done in the end, and I officially have a Tupperware full of homemade pumpkin puree sitting in my fridge.  What should I do will all this pumpkin!? The options are overwhelming.  What is your favorite thing to do with pumpkin? 

Recipes:
spinach and ricotta tuffed shells
pumpkin oatmeal cookies
homemade pumpkin puree

Hi from Seabrook!

My family has officially moved to Seabrook, NH for the next two weeks. While there are tons of amazing things about being here (i.e. being feet from the beach, staying with family, the ice cream truck), this year I have discovered something not so good: the kitchen. I had no idea that when my mom joked about me bringing my kitchen supplies from home, SHE WAS NOT JOKING. This kitchen has nothing, and even if you buy something and expect it to be there the next year, things disappear here.

So tonight I made stuffed shells, 40 of them to be exact. It's the spinach-and-ricotta-stuffed ones I've made many times before (and if you are looking for the recipe, just search for stuffed shells on my blog. Not sure how to link to it on my iPad). The recipe is an easy one, but only if you have the right components! For instance, when it calls for grated Parmesan, not having a grater is a big problem (thanks to Jay for slicing it for me with a knife!). And not having a bowl to mix the cheese mixture in is an issue; I ended up using the container the spinach came in! And having to clean every pan before you use it is a pain. Not to mention the fact that the gas stove made the whole house about 105 degrees! Whew.

What I learned today is that my hobby is not so fun when I do not have the proper supplies. I really miss my grater, brand new this year! But let's be positive: I fed 11 hungry beach-goers and they were all very grateful. Excuse the poor-quality iPad photo, but they were enjoying their dinner!

Back to Old Favorites

I think that it might be a good sign that I am beginning to cook and bake old favorites.  I no longer always need the "wow factor" of new recipes, because I am starting to have things that I know that I love to eat and make - for example, the herbed focaccia, Irish soda bread, and bagels.  Okay so apparently my favorite things are all bread.  Anyway, today I made some oldies but goodies.

First, I finally got around to making Mom's beloved old mocha roll.  She has been asking for it since I started my resolution, and since I am not a huge chocolate lover, I put it off for a while, but it was time today.  She used to have Dad make it for her (this is an old recipe... it is from some magazin called McCall's in 1996!).  It was not that hard of a cake; it is very light and fluffy because you beat the egg whites before putting them in the batter.  I still have to work on my rolling techniques, because it was a little bit lopsided, but everyone who has eaten it has been quite happy with the result - especially Mom!

For dinner, I made my spinach and ricotta stuffed shells. They were just as delicious and easy as they were last time.  I do think that I probably should have made bread to sop up the extra sauce and cheese like I did last time, but I was ready for a break!

Recipes:
spinach and ricotta stuffed shells

Mocha Roll (what mom calls it... apparently its real name is a cocoa-coffee roulade)
adapted  from McCall's, January 1996

For cake:

cooking spray and butter for greasing pans
1 tablespoon + 1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 large eggs, separated
3/4 cup granulated sugar, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For filling:

1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup  sour cream
1/3 cup confectionary sugar
1 teaspoon dark rum
1  1/2 teaspoons instant coffee granules
1 ounce semiweet chocolate, grated (I used probably half this amount and it was fine... I would say it's optional.  It's just for sprinkling on the filling)


1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  With cooking spray, coat jelly-roll pan.  Line with waxed paper, and butter the paper.  Dust with the 1 tablespoon of flour. 

2.  In small bowl, combine the 1/2 cup remaining flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.

3.  In the bowl of a mixer, beat egg whites 30 seconds or until foamy with mixer and medium-high speed.  Gradually beat in 1/2 cup granulated sugar.  At high speed, beat whites until stiff, but not dry. peaks form.

4.  In large bowl, beat yolks and remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar 3 minutes until thickened.  Add vanilla.  Beat in half the flour mixture.  Fold in half the egg whites.

5.  Fold in the remaining flour and whites.  Spread into pan and bake 12 minutes, until top springs back when pressed.

Cake with way too much sugar under it!

6.  Dust a clean towel with 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar (I would not use this much again... I bet half this amount would be fine).  Invert cake onto towel.  Peel off paper.  Cool for 2 minutes.  Then, starting from a short end, roll up cake in towel.  Place seem-side down  on a cooling rack and cool completely.

All rolled up!

7.  Meanwhile, make filling.  Beat heavy cream, sour cream, sugar, run, and coffee granules until stiff.

8.  Unroll cake.  Spread evenly with filling, leaving 1 inch of plain cake at one short end.  Sprinkle with grated chocolate.  Starting with the filling-covered short end, roll up cake.  Place seam-side down on platter, and refrigerate at least 30 minutes or overnight.   (The recipe here calls for dusting with more confectionary sugar, but since the towel was dusted with so much, my cake was already white!)

Italian Night

Holy cannoli, I am exhausted tonight.  I came home from a long Tuesday with 22 11-year olds who are totally feeling the full moon, and did not have too much planned.  However, I wanted to make stuffed shells, and someow an Italian night began taking shape in my mind. Maybe it's that I am currently reading the sequel to Under the Tuscan Sun, enjoying the recipes far more than the prose, or maybe it's that I have been trying to be better about making whole meals instead of just a main course.  All of a sudden, I was planning not only the stuffed shells, but some sort of side salad, bread, and pizza!

Italian Night Dinner!

First I made the bread, since it takes longer with the rising and all.  I made my old fall-back, herbed focaccia.  This is the third time I have made it since my blog began - the only recipe I have made three times! That definitely means something.  So easy, so quick, so delicious!  It went perfectly with the rest of the meal.  I still think that this is the best bread for anyone who is nervous about trying to make bread.  It's pretty hard to mess up, and with the fresh herbs (I used fresh rosemary and thyme, and dried oregano and basil), it just has amazing flavor.

Then came Mark to the rescue with the side salad.  He whipped together a gorgeous Caprese salad; he even bought special thick and gooey balsamic.

I tried not to be offended when Nick came in from Wal-Mart angry that they were out of breadmakers.  Breadmaker?!  Isn't that what I am?  He said he wanted it to make pizza dough, and so that was my next recipe.  I knew that it was basically just a yeast dough, so it was really quick to whip that up.  The pizza would fit in perfectly with my Italian night, too!

By far Nick's best pizza... not just because of my great dough!

Last came the stuffed shells.  I made spinach-and-ricotta-stuffed shells, and they were absolutely delicious.  Such good flavor from the ricotta, spinach, parmesan, and mozzarella!  These will definitely reappear soon.  I think they would be great with some chopped basil added in to the spinach, but we were out, after putting it in the Caprese and the pizza.

How pretty are these shells?

Now that I have been on my feet cooking for about 4 hours, I would say it's time to take a break!  But I certainly recommend everything I made tonight for your Italian night dinner! (Can you tell I taught a lesson on advertising recently?)

Recipes:
herbed focaccia
pizza dough
spinach-and-ricotta-stuffed shells