Bellingham Show and Tell

Show and tell!

The weekend before Christmas my husband and I bustled out to Bellingham, Washington for the wedding of two friends of ours. Bellingham is my college town, and if you haven't heard me extolling the many virtues of the 'ham, you haven't met me. Aside from its streets being paved with indie vinyl records and post-post modern graphic t-shirt designs, Bellingham is a haven for foodies. It has the diversity typical of Northwestern urban culture, but the many surrounding farms give it an edge on locally grown food (that includes pork, dairy and beef!) that is almost impossible to beat.

My favorite is the sushi. I snapped a shot of my favorite combo at Tokyo House on Garden Street:

Salmon skin rolls, squid nigiri and salmon nigiri.

Here's what R has to say about the town's favorite "hippie" breakfast cafe:

Incidentally, Bellingham also houses (last time I checked) the second highest coffee shop per capita ratio in the continental US. Avellino Espresso is my all-time favorite coffee shop, for ambience, food and, of course, for bean. Avellino attends to the details, like using shaved Belgian chocolate instead of chocolate syrup and real whipped cream (local, of course).

Just look at it. Isn't it the most beautiful cuppa you've ever seen?

The Avellino mocha (two shots please).

Bellingham also has a thriving arts community, most notably (imho) pottery. Good Earth Pottery is a shop in Fairhaven that houses a co-op of potters, and their work is stunning. I'm not going to lie, I spent a large chunk of our wedding present money here, and I'm so glad!

That's it for show and tell. I've cooked and baked so many things in the last week I couldn't remember to blog about it if I tried. Our trip to the 'ham was the kickoff of a mad, frantic dash of holiday events, the last of which we get to enjoy on New Year's Eve. Will likely spend January hibernating with my new copy of - you guessed it - Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". I'll be sure to let you know how that goes.

Stained Glass Window Cookies - Look Like a Christmas Cookie Goddess the Easy Way

So much cooking, so little time for blogging. Reagan and I are wandering around our favorite Puget Sound city today: the infamous Bellingham (home to Death Cab for Cutie!), and I had the chance to snap some pictures of some of the local wonders. But alas! They will have to wait for another post. The expiration date on Christmas cookie posts is coming fast!

Stained glass window cookies have become my all-time favorite Christmas cookie recipe. They're way easier than the traditional cutouts with elaborate frosting, they're arguably prettier, and they're very unique. Mom and I discovered them in a seasonal cookie magazine years ago, and I've tended to make these rather than frosted cookies to cut back on time.

Use the Cream Cheese Cut-Out recipe from my previous post for the dough and roll out as directed. Now, using either small cookie cutters or a knife, cut small shapes out of the centers of your cookies, being careful not to cut out too large of a space.

I have tiny sun, moon and stars cookie cutters at my mom's house I usually use with square or rectangular cookies, but this year the only Christmas-y cutter I had was a star, so I cut the centers out by hand.

The rest is easy. Lay the cookies out on parchment paper (the parchment paper is an absolute must! Otherwise the candy will melt to your pan and you'll never get them off in one piece). Grab a bag of jolly ranchers, unwrap and separate the candies into their respective colors. Place the colors one at a time into a zip lock baggie and smash them into very small bits with your rolling pin. This is the part where my husband always pokes his head out of wherever he is and asks if everything is okay. Just making cookies!

Once you've got your candies smashed, divvy them out into the holes you've cut in your cookies. The cutouts don't need much candy, and of course it depends on the size of the cutout; as a rule of thumb, a little pile of candy pieces which takes up most of the hole will be plenty. Don't use too much, or the candy will run over the top of the cookie.

Now Bake them in the oven at the same time and temperature you would regular cutouts. Generally, you can tell the cookies are done when the candy in the center starts to bubble and boil. Let them cool for a few minutes before peeling them from the parchment paper.

Stained glass window cookies!

I have pictures for a thumbprint cookie recipe also, and I have yet to make my signature peppermint biscotti. It seems like the holidays whiz by faster every year! With any luck I'll get a few more posts in before Christmas...

Happy Holidays!

Cracked Sugar Cookies & Cream Cheese Cutouts for Lindsey

No pretty pictures this time, Lindsey asked me for a recipe on Facebook and rather than post a comment there, I'll put the recipes here where everyone can read them (and Google can see them!).

You said dinosaur-shaped sugar cookies Lindsey, but sugar cookies are drop cookies rolled in sugar, so I think you mean a rolling cut out cookie dough. I'll give you my favorite of both:

This is one of the older recipes in my box.

Cracked Sugar Cookies:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened (my mom swears by the unsalted part, so take heed)

1 1/2 cup sugar

3 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla

As usual, cream butter, sugar and eggs then the soda, tartar, vanilla and finally flour. Roll 3 tblsp into balls and roll in white granulated sugar. Bake on parchment paper (preferably on a baking stone) 350 for 10-12 minutes. Don't let them brown.

Cream Cheese Cut-Outs:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 package (4 oz) cream cheese
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

*I typically double this recipe and use a whole container of cream cheese; if you're going to spend the time to make them, you might as well make a decent-sized batch.

Cream butter, sugar, eggs, powder and cream cheese before adding flour. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, then cut into sections and work dough on well floured surface until 1/4 inch thick. Cut out in desired shapes (cookie dough can be recycled if mixed well and refrigerated again), bake on parchment paper at 350 10-12 minutes (do not brown!).

Cookie Frosting:

2 sticks (1 cup) butter, cold

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

3 tblsp cream or milk

Beat powdered sugar into the butter until stiff, then add vanilla and cream until desired consistency. Add food coloring if you want (beware your clothes!).

That's it!

The Subtle Art of Megalithic Holiday Meals: Appetizers & Desserts

Ok, indulge me in a little family history. My mom's mother, Marjorie (my namesake), was a queen of hospitality and traditional cooking. She grew up third in a family of four girls (like Jo and the Marches!) farming through the Great Depression, and - needless to say - they made everything from scratch. Clothes, blankets, tools, lace, dairy products - everything. It blows my mind to think about the quiet dedication and skill of my grandmother and her peers. My mom loved the economy of making food and household items from raw materials; after all, buying and grinding the wheat berries to make whole wheat bread cost far less than buying healthy bread from the store - it's also a great thing to do with your daughter on a Saturday. I love the environmental and economical sustainability of living from raw materials, not to mention how it makes us more capable and less dependent on the food industry. Also, it builds beautiful family traditions.

Anyway, fastforward to my mom's Thanksgiving food traditions. It's easy to see the roots of my grandmother's Depression-era training in the amazing appetizer display my mom puts on every year. There are pickled watermelon rinds, homemade kosher dills, homemade cranberry relish and dips straight out of a 1950's Betty Crocker cookbook.

Mom has a list of items she makes for Thanksgiving dinner appetizers. The list goes like this:

- Relish tray (cranberry relish, pickled watermelon rinds, bread and butter pickles)

- Pickle tray (pickled beets, baby dill, green olives, black olives, and canned apple rings.

- Veggie tray (to appease the guilt of what you are about to partake: celery, carrots, broccoli, red peppers and green onions and radishes with homemade dill dip)

- Bread and dip bowl (her favorite is to carve the center out of a round black rye loaf and fill it with spinach dip)

- Crackers and cheese or dip (this year mom made smoked salmon dip, which was every bit as good as it sounds)

- Shrimp bowl with cocktail sauce (because we all want it)

Then there's always the random extras. The homemade fruitcake my mom compulsively made 20 jars of last year, bean salad, more shrimp.

See for yourself.

Ok, so you get moderately full from appetizers then stuff yourself on carbs at the dinner table, but you still look forward to Dessert. At our house, it's the main attraction: pies. Mom has a list of staples for pies, but she lets me add a few new each year.

The pies are:

Apple

Rhubarb custard

Pumpkin

Berry (blackberry, blueberry or mixed berry)

I usually add a mousse or custard pie. This year I took the leftover dregs from the pumpkin pies and made pumpkin cheesecake.

You can read my recipes for pumpkin pie and rhubarb custard pie on my previous posts. My blueberry recipe is straight out of Betty Crocker's Cookbook, and the apple is as follows:

6 medium to large apples, peeled cored and sliced

3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 brown 1/2 white (or all cane sugar, or sub. honey or maple syrup for 1/2)

1 tblsp cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp nutmeg

5 tblsp butter

Toss dry ingredients first. Cut butter over top.

Dough and assembly:

1 cup flour to 1 stick butter (1/2 cup) ratio. Cut butter with flour until fine, add 1/2 tsp salt, one egg yolk and 2 tsp lemon juice, then 4 tblsp of water, or until it forms dough. Roll on floured surface evenly until 1/8 inch thick, lay in pie shell and cut with 1 inch excess around edges. The secret to rolling pie dough is...patience. That and continually turning over and flouring your dough. Also, lift the dough by rolling it halfway on to the rolling pin, then re-place by gently laying it in the shell. Be sure to wet the lower crust's edge lightly with water before gluing the top and bottom together.

Place fillings inside, then lay another layer of pie dough over for the crust. Cut excess leaving 1/2 inch. Fold the shell inward with your thumbs and index fingers, pinching the two layers into an even crust around the edge. Pierce the crust top in at least 6 places. Bake at 350 for 45-60 min, or until bubbling in the center.

Voila!

The pumpkin cheesecake was easy. I'll refer you to Sarah's recipe on Half Hour Meals for the cheesecake recipe; I simply added about 1 cup of pumpkin pie mix into the bottom layer.

This is actually a blueberry-elderberry pie. Cinnamon, lemon juice, maple syrup, flour and just enough tapioca made this pie stand up beautifully. I like lattices on berry pies, although cherry are the prettiest.

Pie time is when all my friends crash the house after dinner with their families hunting for pie. Lindsey brought me a present to mix with my apple cider though, and we rated it a stellar day. Because we're children of the 90s.

Belated Turkey Stuffing & Gravy, With or Without Giblets

Finally, pictures!

So I realize this may be a little late, but I'm sure you know how busy the day before Thanksgiving can be for household cooks. Since the turkey is in the oven as I type, I won't have my usual pictures until later this evening or tomorrow.

Mom and I tag-team Thanksgiving dinner, but she's happy to give me the "hard" projects - i.e. pies, stuffing and turkey. This stuffing recipe is an amalgamation of my mom's traditional recipe and several years of experimentation. There are many ways to alter this recipe to accommodate vegetarian diets and particular tastes. For Christmas, I use the same recipe but add a bag of fresh cranberries. They add lovely color and a delicious tang.

I should qualify that I've never actually measured any of these ingredients. This is my best approximation. Unlike baking, there's no chemistry going on here, so you can add and subtract to taste, but the important part of stuffing is moisture level. Simply be sure to have enough liquid so that the stuffing is moist but NOT wet. It's ok if you come up short on the liquid; you can always drizzle a little water over the stuffing until it's the right moisture.

Makes stuffing for one 20-25 lb turkey, usually with enough left over to fill a small crock pot. If you aren't stuffing a bird or if you're a vegetarian, this stuffing cooks beautifully in a crock pot. More directions on that to follow.

Ingredients:
3 loaves bread, cubed and dried. (Some notes about the bread: Do yourself a favor and don't go cheap. A variety of artisan breads make an enormous difference over cheap Aunt Millie's or Wonderbread. I like to use a combination of crusty white sourdough, chewy multigrain and honey whole wheat. So suck it up, go to Panera or the artisan bread section of your grocery store and get the GOOD stuff. Also, make sure bread is completely dry. If you're short on time, lay the bread out in a shallow, wide pan and dry in the oven at 150 degrees.)

1 onion, finely chopped
3 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 cups portobello or baby bella mushrooms, finely chopped
1 head roasted garlic (diced is ok too, but not as mellow)
1/4 cup fresh sage, finely diced
1/4 cup fresh thyme, finely diced
1/4 cup fresh rosemary, finely diced (while you can substitue dried herbs, fresh herbs make a world of difference. I recommend keeping an herb box in your house to make dishes like this fresher and more fragrant.)
1 Tblsp. salt (kosher or fresh ground is best)
1 Tblsp. black pepper
1 tsp. curry powder
3 cups chicken broth (or 3 cups water mixed w/ 2 Tblsp. or 6 cubes chicken bullion)

Sautee celery, mushrooms, onion, herbs and spices in a wide, deep pan until lightly browned. Next, mix in chicken broth and cook until warm. Place cubed, dried bread in a large bowl and slowly drizzle broth mixture over bread, stirring constantly. Stop pouring when the bread becomes moist but NOT wet. If you have leftover broth mixture, strain out vegetables and put in the stuffing, using leftover broth for gravy. If bread is still dry, drizzle warm water until it's the proper moisture.

Stuff turkey until full, being careful not to pack stuffing too tightly. If you're using a crock pot instead, place stuffing in a turkey roasting bag and place in 3 inches of water in a crock pot. Poke 3 holes in the bag and slow cook for 5 hours.

It's easy!

Turkey was awesomely moist - the secret is low heat & oven bags.

If you are making a turkey, here are some tips on what to do with giblets, neck and gravy:

Giblets
Most people think giblets are pure yuck. Mom and I love gizzard and heart, and if it were just us at Thanksgiving dinner we would chop them finely and throw them in with the stuffing - which is the traditional way of cooking them. However, to prevent grossing out your guests (and wasting the giblets, if you love them like me), coarsely dice the gizzard and heart and boil along with the neck on low for 4-5 hours. This will be the broth for your gravy, so even if you don't want to eat the giblets, I still recommend boiling them with the neck for flavor.

Gravy
Unless you're a vegetarian, boiled turkey neck makes the best gravy by far. I usually put the neck and giblets on to boil while I'm stuffing the turkey and let it boil until about an hour before dinnertime. When the neck is completely cooked and the meat is falling off the bone, remove the neck and let cool in a separate dish. When it's cool enough, separate the meat from the bone. Season the broth to taste with salt, black pepper and chicken bullion, then thicken using 1/2 flour and 1/2 corn starch until desired thickness (remember to SIFT flour and corn starch, whisking constantly. Let the gravy boil before adding more, as boiling will thicken the liquid.) Finally, add neck meat. Done!

The entire meal together, in tablespoon-sized portions to save room for pie.

What do you think, Reagan?

As with every Thanksgiving, this year I'm thankful for my beautiful family. My mom's back-breaking holiday food traditions are the highlight of the year for me, and my husband is an absolute joy, as help in the kitchen and as food appreciator. What are you thankful for this year?

Venison Heart & Liver Steaks for the Backwoods Hemmingway Lovers

I know what you're thinking. Gross, right? I'm no fan of liver myself, but there are several factors that drive me to this post.

1: Having grown up on 40 acres with a father who hunted for sustenance made venison heart and liver a yearly tradition. It may make the vegetarians cringe, but the smell of freshly hung meat and simmering venison heart reminds me of childhood - in a very good way.

2: This year I hunted and caught the meat myself, and the harvest-to-table holistic chef in me can't pass up the opportunity to try my hand at what my grandparents considered high delicacies. Perhaps it's their "waste not" in me, perhaps it's the pride of foraging the land for food, or perhaps it's my kamikaze quest for extreme recipes. In any case, having fresh venison liver and heart is an opportunity I couldn't pass up.

3: My Pilipino husband and red-blooded Midwestern family truly enjoy these dishes. They're used to treating "yucky" scraps like delicacies, and I'm happy to humor them. After all, what meat could be healthier than wild deer - even if it is liver?

Additionally, venison heart is to die for, plain and simple. You will never find a more tender, rich, flavorful meat. OMG.

Before we get to the recipes, I have to brag. Here is my 5 point buck:

Isn't he awesome?

And here's my husband's 10 point buck:

Can you say "trophy"?

Ok, there's a story here. Long story short, my husband lives in the Land of Sunshine, and it was just his luck to land a 10 point buck on his first hunting expedition - ever. First time shooting a rifle, actually. I was tired of him whining about being left inside, and since I scored my buck early in the morning, I pushed him out the door with my dad's 45 after lunch. He waltzes back in with the heart and liver 2 hours later. And all the hunters say in unison, "AAAARRRRGH!"

Enough chest beating. Here's the recipe.

Chances are that if you have venison liver and/or heart, you probably obtained them yourself (or had them brought to you by a very happy hunter). So first we'll address cleaning.

Wash both thoroughly with lukewarm water, being careful to completely flush the heart chambers. The heart will need to have valves and ventricles trimmed off the top, leaving only the muscle. There is usually a layer of fat on the top of the heart, and I recommend trimming this back as well, since venison fat is not at all tasty.

Liver Steaks:

Slice the liver into 1/2 inch steaks, crossways. Pat them dry with some sturdy paper towels then let them air dry on the cutting board while you prepare the batter. Depending on the size of the deer, one liver usually yields 2-4 lbs, and I recommend setting half aside, sealing it in freezer paper AND freezer bags and putting it in the freezer for later - unless you have a house full of liver-hungry hunters.

Next, batter each liver steak evenly in dry Drakes batter (near the flour in the baking aisle). If you don't have Drakes, use my dry batter recipe:

1 cup white flour

1 cup fine ground corn meal

2 tblsp. coarse/kosher salt

2 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. cayenne pepper (don't worry, high-heat frying will all but eliminate the spiciness)

Prepare a large, deep skillet with oil on medium-high heat. I prefer to use virgin coconut oil - it has hands down the best flavor and nutrition, and it's excellent for high heat frying. However, I realize coconut oil is expensive and hard to get (look for your local food co-op), so if you need to use an alternative, use canola oil (never olive oil).

Fill the skillet with oil 1/4 inch deep. You want the oil to be hot before you fry, and you can test this by flinging drops of water off your finger into the oil. If it sputters and spits immediately, the oil is ready.

Meanwhile, prepare another pan with medium-high heat and fry sliced onions and bacon. For a special treat, use my caramelized onion recipe with 4-5 slices of bacon added to it.

Place the lightly battered liver steaks into the oil, making sure not to crowd them too much. Fry at high heat 2 minutes on each side, sprinkling each side with salt and pepper - don't overcook them! Remove from the oil and let drain on a paper towel for a few minutes before serving.

Serve the caramelized onions and bacon on top of the liver. Actually quite tasty, if you don't think about it too much.

Venison Heart Steaks:

Prepare and cook the heart exactly the same way as the liver, lessening the cooking time to 1 - 1 1/2 minutes on each side. You want the heart steaks to be slightly pink inside, so if you're unsure, take out a smaller piece and check the middle.

Heart steaks don't need caramelized onions to accompany them as much as liver. Their texture and flavor are far more tender and sweet, and I like them by themselves.

Another great way to cook venison heart is to simmer it whole in a crock pot for 6-8 hours, or until very tender. Stuff the heart chambers with sliced bacon, ginger, salt and black pepper before cooking. Once the heart is cooked, slice into 1/2 inch steaks and serve with a beef-based mushroom gravy and mashed potatoes. Try this gravy recipe:

2 cups water

2 tblsp. beef bullion concentrate (equivalent to 6 cubes)

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. black pepper

1/2 lb. fresh sliced shiitake or portobello mushrooms (shiitake would be best, but portobellos are cheaper)

4 tblsp. flour

Dissolve the bullion, salt and pepper into boiling water, then carefully sift in the flour, whisking constantly. Add the mushrooms and boil until thick. If you'd like it thicker, add more flour.

Mmm! Tastes like Little House on the Prairie.

Easy, Cheesy Party Pizza

Just because pizza is party food doesn't mean it has to be saturated in grease and come from a cardboard box. Making pizza for parties is a tradition my mom started when I was in middle school, and it's become a staple for birthday parties, holiday parties and just-because parties.

It's always amazing how making food from scratch changes the chemistry of gatherings. Rather than everyone rushing to the pizza box, eating standing up then throwing their plates away and moving on to the next activity, the focus of the night shifts to the communal activities of making food, nourishing our bodies together and enjoying one another's company.

Pizza in particular is an amazing catalyst for community-style parties, because it's a longer process (you can only bake one pizza at a time!) and because everyone gets to take part by choosing toppings, watching and even engaging in the process. My kitchen-friendly friends often enlist to chop fresh vegetables, mix sauce and even assemble the pizzas. Overall, pizza-making parties can become reminiscent of gatherings which used to be traditional in Midwestern homes decades ago - like the kind my grandmother used to hostess.

Enough about food-making and community. Here's the recipe. (Makes 3 large pizzas or 4 thin crust)

Pizza dough:

1/2 cup warm water

2 tsp honey/brown sugar

4 tsp (2 packages) baker's yeast

Activating the yeast. This is the trickiest part - follow these directions exactly, and you'll be fine. The water needs to be barely cool enough for you to hold your hand in it; if it hurts your hand, it will hurt the yeast. *Note: if you're using a metal or glass measuring cup, fill it with hot water to warm it first, otherwise it will lower the water's temperature.

Quickly dissolve the honey/sugar in the warm water, then dissolve the yeast in the sugar water. Mix out all the lumps with a wooden spoon, then set the mixture aside for 5 minutes, or until about 3 inches of foam have formed.

While waiting for the yeast to activate, mix:

4 cups flour (I like to use 1/2 whole wheat flour)

3 tbsp. olive oil

1 cup warm water

3 tsp salt

Once yeast is activated, add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture and knead (if you're using a mixer, use a dough hook for this part. If you're kneading by hand, use a very lightly floured surface) until satiny and smooth.

Grease the bottom of a large bowl and place the dough in it, then place the dough in a warm place where it will not be bumped. A warmed oven is ideal, but DON'T forget you've put it there (that's the story of how I ruined my mom's favorite tupperware bowl).

Let the dough raise for 1 hour, or until tripled in size. Punch the dough down and knead the air out of it, then split it into sections (3 for regular large and 4 for medium thin crusts) and start rolling.

Tips on rolling pizza dough: squish each ball into a flat circle and knead flatter with your hands. Roll with a wooden or marble rolling pin on a lightly floured surface, turning over ever 3-5 rolls. The dough is very elastic, so it will take some muscle to get the dough the size you want. I like to toss mine intermittently to aerate the crust and make the rolling process go faster.

When the dough is a circle 1 inch bigger than your pizza pan, sprinkle your pan with corn meal and shift the dough onto the pan. With your finger, dampen the outside edge with water, then fold 3/4 inch in and press down with your fingers - like a pie crust. Now you're ready for sauce.

Fresh tomato, red peppers, poblano peppers, bella mushrooms, basil leaves and parmesean make this a high-powered Margarita pizza.

See? It's not hard.

Sauce:

1 14oz can tomato sauce

1 6oz can tomato paste

2 tblsp. parsley flakes

2 tblsp. oregano

3 tsp. salt

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 - 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese (fresh is best!)

Mix these all together and spread thinly on rolled pizza dough, being sure to reserve enough for the remaining pizzas.

You can substitute this tomato-based sauce with pesto and olive oil for a delicious, mediterranean twist.

Toppings: Everyone likes different toppings, but here are a few of my favorites:

sliced tomatoes

spinach leaves

artichoke hearts

black olives

basil leaves

broccoli

fresh cooked sausage

fresh fried & crumbled bacon

sliced baby bella mushrooms

sliced green peppers

red peppers

poblano peppers

canned banana peppers

Beware of piling ingredients too high, or the crust will be doughy in the center. Try to limit yourself to 3-5 of your favorite ingredients, and resist the urge to go crazy with the mozzarella. Also, water-laden vegetables like spinach and tomatoes tend to create a soggy top if too many are used.

Some toppings are fun to hide beneath the mozzarella cheese, like tomatoes and basil leaves. I like to grate fresh parmesan cheese over all the toppings to help them stick.

For meat-lovers, fresh fried sausage, red peppers, poblano peppers and parmesan.

Bake at 400 F, or until the edges of the cheese begin to brown. Let sit for 5 min before serving.

*Note: if you're using a pizza stone (which are awesome), be sure to pre-heat the stone to avoid doughy crusts. Always make sure baking surfaces are adequately dusted with cornmeal. A properly cooked pizza can be removed from a hot stone with a peel or flat-edged cookie sheet.

What do you think, friends?

Thanks, guys.

Real Pumpkin Pie

A girlfriend stopped by last week on her way to have dinner at my mom's house up North. We had tea and talked about pies, and it inspired me to make pumpkin pie. This is my favorite recipe; it's is based on the tag of a sugar pie pumpkin I bought years ago from a farmer's market. I like it because it doesn't call for evaporated or sweetened condensed milk, which I can never seem to keep on hand.

A tip on cooking with real pumpkins: it's easier than it sounds, if you cook a lot at once and freeze it. It keeps in the freezer well, and you can pull it out and use it just as easily as canned pumpkin. It's also an awesome winter ingredient to add to stews, sauces or to spice up mashed potatoes.

Low on the sugar, if it's made with real, pureed pumpkin, it's like cheesecake.

For 1 deep 9" pie pan.

Cooking pumpkins can be a challenge, and there's no particularly easy way to do it. I like to buy small sugar pie pumpkins that fit in the oven whole, then de-seed them after they've baked, but if they're soft enough, cut and seed them and bake large slices in 1" water ~375 for an hour, or until soft.

3 cups pumpkin, cooked and pureed

1 cup cane sugar, honey or maple syrup

2 cups heavy cream (whipping cream)

3 eggs

Blend all in a blender or food processor, then add spices:

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

After blended to a smooth liquid, pour filling into an unbaked pie shell. Bake 375 F for about an hour, or until middle just begins to crack. Let cool before serving!

Here's my pie dough recipe. It makes two shells, or one covered pie.

1 cup flour

1/2 cup butter

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg yolk

2 tbsp lemon juice

Crumb ingredients, then knead with 1/4 cup cold water. Do not pour all water at once; mix in water in increments until it reaches dough consistency.

The same girlfriend sent me a link to this McSweeny's article about it being decorative gourd season. I love my home-grown decorative gourds.

Matt, our artist friend, carved pumpkins while I made pumpkin pie. This was the effort of his labor. Good job, Matt!

Fried Squash Blossoms: A Weird and Tasty Delicacy

"But I don't have any squash blossoms to fry," you say. Well, this is also a tempura recipe, and tempura can be used on just about anything. So keep reading even if you don't have squash blossoms.

There's a delightful little man at Fulton Street's Saturday Farmer's Market who has a very, very small stall compared to the other vendors. He has tiny little baskets laid out on his display table containing "specialty produce" like serrano peppers, plump tomatillos, colored carrots, herbs and other unique veggies.

For example: towards the end of summer he sells squash blossoms. They're not just any squash blossoms; they're picked at a very precise time so that there are just a few inches of brand new squash attached to the half-open blossom. They're very pretty, so I asked him what they were for, and he told me to stuff them with cream cheese and fry them in a tempura batter.

Weird? Yes. Naturally, I had to try it. The tempura batter recipe I found was awesome - so crunchy and light. Almost anything can be fried in tempura batter, so you could try this with green beans, mushrooms, shrimp, chicken, onions, summer squash, asparagus - the sky's the limit. I highly recommend mushrooms stuffed with cream cheese fried alongside thick sliced summer squash. OMG, stuffed mushrooms...mmm. Also, it's really easy.

Tempura batter:

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp softened butter

1/2 tsp white sugar

1 egg yolk

1/3 cup ice water

Mix dry ingredients, then fork in wet.

To make fried squash blossoms, have some room temperature cream cheese on hand. Carefully lift up petals until you can see inside the cavity, then spoon in cream cheese until the blossom is nice and plump.

For stuffed mushrooms, you'll want to hollow out the mushrooms with a paring knife. Use fresh whole button or mini bella mushrooms - the kind with nice, big bulbs. Remove the stems and carve some of the inside out to make room, then stuff with cream cheese and plug up the hole with a thin slice of the stem.

To fry:

Heat cooking oil (coconut oil is the best in flavor and nutrition, although it's quite pricy) on medium high until sizzling (test by sprinkling water drops in the oil; if it sizzles immediately, it's ready). You'll want to make sure there is enough oil in the pan to cover the contents. Evenly coat blossoms, mushrooms, veggies or whatever in the tempura batter then drop in hot oil. Cook about 2 minutes on each site on high, or until golden and crispy. ***NOTE: when turning tempura veggies, make sure to lift them from the pan using a thin spatula first - otherwise the batter may stick to the pan and come off.

I had some leftover squid in the freezer when I made fried squash blossoms, so I went ahead and made some fried calamari rings. So good! Don't cook them too long...

The squash blossoms were absolutely delicious. Very nutty, sweet and tender. I liked the blossom part best and Reagan liked the squash part best, which worked out well.

Get ready for fall recipes! October cooking means more than just pumpkin pie...

Eating In Season: Hot Harvest Curry

If you live in the Grand Rapids area, you probably know that the Fulton Street Farmer's Market is a homegrown haven for cooks during the summertime. With vendors covering every food group, from whole grain breads to cheese, sausage and eggs. The vegetables, though, are my favorite part. Organic farms show up with the ordinary and bizarre; brussels sprouts on the stem, sweet purple potatoes and tiny wrinkled peppers.

My Pilipino husband gets bored if our meals don't have a regular kick, so I like to experiment with the hot peppers. When you have a wide variety to choose from, it's fun to experiment with the different flavors and levels of heat. The cherry bomb is my personal favorite; it's like a stoplight colored strawberry, and it packs a punch.

These peppers are cayenne, hot banana and one orange paprika pepper in the bottom right corner. The cayenne are just plain hot, but the banana peppers have a mellow citrus with lots of heat. Paprika peppers are sweet, fruity and citrusy like a tomatillo.

Anyway, I decided to try using all in-season foods, so I came away from the market with broccoli, hot peppers, sweet corn, tomatoes and hot banana peppers. I fried them all up in cut thick sliced bacon (which Reagan proudly processed last winter). In a moment of genius, Reagan suggested coconut milk, so I just turned it into a curry. Here's the recipe:

6 strips thick bacon, cut into small pieces

2 large hot banana or hungarian peppers, finely chopped

2 tsp salt

Fry bacon with peppers and salt until all begins to brown, then add:

6 cobs fresh sweet corn, with kernels cut off the cob (~4 cups sweet corn)

1 cup coconut milk, including fat

1 head broccoli, crowned and cut into bite-sized pieces

1 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp ginger

Simmer this for approximately 15 minutes on medium heat, or until the corn begins to darken and the broccoli is bright green but still firm, then cook for 5 minutes more with:

2 large beefsteak tomatoes, coarsely diced

That's it! Although it's not quite ethnically correct, it would be great served with some toasted nan. It's sweet, creamy and spicy with a fresh crunch. Add more peppers if you like to cry.

Caramelized Onions: the Lord Byron of Savory Foods

I've had a crappy day. But even as I write this, I feel better (even if it's temporary). Why? Because just thinking about food makes me happy. Like Keri Russel's character showed in Waitress, food is therapy - and making recipes? That's taking control of your own destiny.

As you may have noticed, things around here are looking different. I've changed my blog's name to Caramel Onion, and I'd like to detail a few reasons why:

1) the old name was lame

2) I've always hated onions, so I guess you could say I'm forcing myself to "know thine enemy"

3) caramelized onions are one of the greatest inventions in the history of food

4) onions are a metaphor. Like Shrek said: they have layers.

To honor the new name, I'm dedicating this post to caramelized onions. First, a few things you should know about them:

They're extremely easy to make.

They're the best of both worlds: still that savory onion flavor, but drastically tempered and sweetened into a taste and texture that even onion-haters (like me) can't resist.

Drastically reduces risk of halitosis, which is one of the reasons I'm normally so wary of onions. Caramelizing basically does the same thing for onions that roasting does for garlic: it removes both bite and horrible post-meal breath. Btw, roasting garlic changed my life; it's the secret to perfect garlic mashed potatoes AND garlic bread.

They can be used to add elegance and sophistication to almost anything. See my list below.

The recipe:

2 large white or yellow onions, sliced and quartered (or left as whole circles, if you prefer)

1/4 cup butter

3 Tbsp. sugar

This is so easy. Warm butter in a saucepan, then throw in the onions. Sautee them at low medium heat, stirring every 2-4 minutes for at least 15 minutes, or until onions begin to soften and change color. Add the sugar and more butter if necessary, and sautee for another 10 minutes, until onions are (surprise!) caramel in color.

Eat! Here are a few of the many ways to use caramelized onions:

- on toast, garlic bread or focaccia bread

- in casseroles

- sauteed with mushrooms and heaped on steak (excellent with venison)

- pizza topping

- heaped on roast lamb, pork or beef (always with rosemary and more butter)

- in tarts (wrap puff pastry around a few oz. of cream cheese and a sprinkling of caramelized onions and bake for 20-30 minutes for a divine breakfast treat)

- in pasta salads

- eat them plain! (I was going to make tarts out of mine, but they magically disappeared after Reagan taste-tested them)

The sky is the limit!

Thanks for stopping by. I've got a lot of great recipes in my head (and photo file), so come by again soon.

Chic Crocheted Goods - for Charity!

As many of you know, crocheting is one of the many domestic activities I love. As many of you may also know (sorry, Gretchen, that I gave you a half finished rug for Christmas; I swear, I'm finishing it), I struggle with finishing projects.

Which is why I was so impressed when I saw that Kati Mora, an old middle school friend, had started her own web-based crocheting business with her mom. Not only does she START projects involving brightly colored dishcloth sets, purses, blankets and scarves - she FINISHES them, and publishes them all on her Etsy store and corresponding blog. And she would probably kick my ass in a crochet death match.

Kati and her mom have only been doing this since June, but they already have over 100 Facebook Fans (become one now!) and a wonderful selection of pretty handmade things. Plus, 15% of all proceeds go to a charity organization chosen annually (this year it's Postpartum Support International).

I'm not normally (ever, so far) motivated enough to dedicate a post to a business, but Kati's venture is ambitious and admirable, and my small but dedicated army of readers should go to her site. And buy something. And comment on her blog. And become Facebook fans. And tell their friends. Now!

Here's her store: www.hooksofhope.etsy.com

And blog: www.hooksofhope.blogspot.com

Thanks, readers.

BTW, the Mojo is getting a major facelift. That's right, folks, this is going to become a real, bona fide blog with a domain name and everything - there might even be graphics. The Mojo's name is changing to Caramel Onion and will focus mainly on my favorite (and therefore the easiest) topic: food. With an occasional film review thrown in for fun (District 9: a pat on the back for Pete Jackson, but I would only recommend this movie for women trying to impress their boyfriends/husbands. Lesbians, don't bother.)

Caramel Onion. Tell your friends.

The Homemade Wedding Cake Adventure

So, a few months ago my friends Matt & Val asked me to make the cake for their wedding. Why would they do this? This isn't an ordinary request. It requires fearless courage, a critical eye and perfect chemistry. They asked me because they know I'm crazy. And I never turn down a domestic challenge.

Matt & Val initially said they wanted a wedding cheesecake. "A cheesecake, hmm..." I said, thinking desperately of ways to make cheesecake pretty and wedding-y. "What about...a custard cake?" So we had a cake tasting party to make sure the cake was right for two people who normally don't like cake. This is what it looked like:

White sponge cake with fudge filling

A pastry cream filled white cake

Raspberry-cream filled white sponge cake

There was also a baked-custard cake with raspberry jam, but for some reason I didn't take a picture.

Half the cakes were frosted with buttercream and the other with rolled fondant. The consensus was that the sponge cake was preferable, and all the fillings also preferable. This is what we decided on:

The top tier would be for Matt & Val's 1st anniversary.

Originally a Norwegian recipe, the spongecake I used was much denser than normal white cake, but it converted to refined cake flour and sugar so well that it made a very moist, dense (thanks to the butter) white cake which tasted light but richer than regular white cake.

Here's the recipe for my "wedding" spongecake. You can easily convert it to regular sponge cake (bunt pans are good) by using regular flour and granulated sugar (honey or maple syrup).

1 cup cake flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cup confectioner's sugar

1 cup butter (room temperature, salted)

1/2 cup milk

2 beaten egg whites (whole eggs are ok for regular cake)

1 tsp vanilla (clear, if wedding cake)

For the highly curious, the fillings went like this:

Pastry Cream (good for lots of occasions other than filling cakes, such as vanilla pudding or banana cream pie)

2 cups milk

1/4 cup sugar

2 large egg yolks (beaten)

1 whole egg

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/3 sugar

2 tbsp butter

1 tsp vanilla

This is a bit of a chemistry trick. Carefully sift and whisk all the cornstarch into 1/2 cup of reserved milk. Heat the rest of the milk on the stove with the first 1/4 cup sugar until boiling. Then very carefully drizzle and whisk eggs at a very low boil, then cornstarch dissolved in milk. Once smooth, bring the whole mixture to a boil for several minutes, until thick and falls off the spoon in globs. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla. Chill in a bowl covered with cling wrap (touching the custard so a skin does not form).

Raspberry cream:

2 cups whipping cream

2 tbsp sugar

1 pint crushed raspberries

8 oz cream cheese

Whip the cream with sugar until forming soft peaks, add raspberries gently and room temperature cream cheese.

Fudge Frosting:

2 cups confectioner's sugar

2 bricks unsweetened chocolate

1/4 cup butter

Melt the chocolate in the butter and pour, when lukewarm, into sugar while beating. Add more confectioner's sugar until desired consistency.

So I baked (12 cake batches) and froze and trimmed and leveled and frosted the oversized cakes into submission, then built it into a tier. Ironically, the actual decorating part (which happened in between morning-of preparations) only took 15 minutes.

don't you love Val's Willow Creek wedding topper?

The highlight was being asked by two ladies with professional cake experience what my recipes were. Someone else mistook the frosting for fondant because I had smoothed the buttercream to appear like fondant. Hurray for my new best friend, the warmed pastry knife!

(perfect buttercream frosting:

5 cups confectioner's sugar

3 sticks butter - room temperature ONLY

1 tsp vanilla)

Overall, it was too much fun. Mommy saved me (as always) by making a delicious Texas sheet cake for the groom's cake. Thanks to Matt & Val for giving me fodder for the mojo.