happy hallOMween.

pOMpkin carving...

 

my great pOMpkin lit up!

and we had to roast the pOMpkin seeds...

roasted pOMpkin seeds

- preheat oven to 375 degrees

- toss pOMpkin seeds in olive oil

- add a dash of salt & pepper

place seeds on greased cookie sheet in the oven for 30 minutes.

enjoy!!

happy hallOMween my friends!

farm share.

hi friends & followers! check out my guest blog post over at a tale of two farm shares. 

one week!

a short post here...

writing my LAST paper for grad school tonight! yippee!! i definitely won't miss you footnotes...or citations. i've enjoyed you for the past two years, but it's time for you to go!

as i mentioned in a previous post, i'll be back here full-time in a few weeks sharing all sorts of goodies. but until then i'll be catching up on some much needed sleep and spending some much needed quality time with my family and friends. 

oh, but wait, i should mention a fun little project that i will be taking part in over at a tale of two farm shares... i'll be guest blogging for a week (8/15-8/22) while denise, one of the authors, is away getting her own R&R. so if you're interested in seeing what i do with a weeks worth of vegetables from the farm, hop on over there for a visit and check out my posts.

smitten.

i'm smitten over smitten kitchen—my new favorite food blog that a friend recommended to me. her recipes are so creative. and don't get me started on her photography. all of the pictures she takes and posts make me want to eat my computer screen!

this photo below is my attempt at her shaved asparagus pizza...

i don't have much time for cookin' these days since i'm focused on finishing grad school this summer. but this recipe was so tempting that one sunny sunday afternoon i made the pizza...and from scratch to boot! and boy oh boy was it was delicious! who would have thought to shave asparagus?

i ended up using a different recipe for the pizza crust then the one she suggests. i wanted a whole wheat dough. so i went with this one from eating well and added some fresh herbs from the garden. it made enough for a few more pizzas, so i froze the rest to use for a later date.

her blog is definitely worth checking out. right now i'm drooling over her chocolate doughnut holes...

a tale of 2 farm shares.

i'm so excited to share with you all a little project that i've been working on for a friend and her girlfriend. they asked me to help them design a template for their blog, a tale of 2 farm shares. you can view the design and their blog here: http://twofarmshares.blogspot.com

denise and ruth, the authors of a tale of 2 farm shares are two amazingly skilled women who are fabulous cooks! i encourage you all to follow them over the next 20 weeks to see how they figure out how to put to use the farm shares that they've purchased to feed their families.

i am certain that you will not only find some very delicious and very creative recipes on their blog, but you will also enjoy their commentary and humor as they figure out what to do with some of the wildest of vegetables!

soupee.

i'm a soupee! i love soup. and so does soup girl, a new cart that i've discovered near where i work. she loves soup just as much (if not more than) i do!

my favorite soup is roasted butternut squash (pictured above).  but i also enjoy lentil, black bean, and tomato.

for my web programming class, we had to create a recipe page demonstrating all that we've learned so far. so, naturally, i created a soup page! it's very simple in terms of look and feel. but i kid you not this page took me several hours to hand code. i definitely appreciate the lovely wysiwyg editor i use for this blog so much more now.  

p.s. the form at the bottom of the recipe page doesn't work. that's something that i'll be learning more about in a future module of the course.

cherries.

i do not like cherries. or at least until last weekend. i was having dinner at a friend's house and the theme of the dinner was mexican. so we made guacamole and, get this, cherry salsa for appetizers. the cherry salsa were truly unbelievable!!!


:: cherry salsa :: courtesy of the foodnetwork

:: 4 cups cherries, stemmed, pitted, and chopped
:: 8 green onions, chopped
:: 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
:: 1/4 cup lemon juice
:: 1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
:: 1 clove garlic, chopped

Mix all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl until well combined. Serve with your favorite chips.

my buckle.

no. it's not a belt i'm talking about; it's my homemade blueberry buckle. i made it three times over the course of two days a few weekends ago, and i'm ready to make it again! it's the type of baked good that can be enjoyed in the morning with a cup of coffee or in the evening hot out of the oven with a scoop of chilled vanilla ice cream. yum!



more often than not, i use frozen blueberries, which are just as good as fresh or even canned blueberries. as long as you incorporate two cups of them, it doesn't matter what kind you use.

this is the buckle minus the crumble topping

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blueberry buckle

bread ingredients
¾ cup white sugar
¼ cup butter
1 egg
½ cup milk
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)*

1. preheat oven to 375°. grease 8x8 pan.
2. cream together sugar, butter, and egg.
3. in separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. alternate flour mixture with milk as combining with sugar/butter/egg mixture.
5. stir in blueberries.
6. pour into pan.


topping ingredients**
½ cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ cup butter (softened not melted)

1. combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter.
2. sprinkle over cake batter.
3. bake for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick pull is clean.

* if you are using frozen blueberries, i recommend thawing them a little first. it will help when you mix them in with the batter.
** i always double the topping (a.k.a. crumble). you can never have too much butter, cinnamon, and sugar with your buckle.

enjoy!!!!!

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butternut squash + friends = a fabulous fall day

my friend visited yesterday with her son, noah. i cooked them up a batch of yummy butternut squash soup!

i have to admit it was my first attempt at making the soup, and it came out so good! i used a recipe from realsimple.com.

i also made some homemade croutons from this bread i bought over the weekend from a bakery in port chester, ny, the kneaded bread. if you are in that area of ny, go there and try the aged provolone. you will not be sorry.


after lunch we got some fresh air and went for a walk. it was the best way to spend a fall sunday in october.


oh, and i had to take a picture of mr. noah in the hat that i made for him last winter. it still fits!!