Bad idea

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin and Nutella

Not a big fan of pumpkin pie, but I eat it every Thanksgiving like every good American should, but I don't enjoy it. However, I have come to really enjoy this pie. How could anything with Nutella be bad? It really does the trick for the pumpkin.






Pumpkin Nutella Pie

1 pie crust
1/2 cup Nutella
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 egg yolks
2 eggs
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Preheat oven to 375. Pre - bake pie crust for 10 minutes. Then turn oven down to 325 after removing pie crust from oven.

In medium bowl blend Nutella with 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk and 2 egg yolks, stir and mix thoroughly. Spread mixture into pie crust and bake for 30 minutes until puffy and set. You may want to cover the edge of pie crust with foil at this point to prevent burning.

In a separate bowl, stir together remaining sweetened condensed milk, 2 whole eggs, pumpkin and spices. Gently spoon mixture over chocolate layer of pie. Bake for another 25-30 minutes. Make sure knife comes out clean when testing for doneness.

Peek-a-boo

I like these shoes and this necklace, both from White House Black Market.

Duran Duran

Look who's coming to Providence for my birthday!! How did they know??!! How thoughtful of them. And in case you were wondering which one was my boyfriend...the one in the middle, Simon Le Bon.

Bread Pudding

Kathryn requested a bread pudding recipe. I love this one that Judy Tyler made. I just serve it with homeade caramel sauce instead of the cinnamon rum sauce. I also love this pumpkin one and I omit the raisins and substitute chocolate chips...much better. Speaking of Judy, one of the best cooks in the world...she made this pumpkin soup once and I love it, lots of interesting flavors, really good with hot, crusty bread on a cool fall day. I make it every year. Deee-lish. I will be posting more pumpkin recipes soon.

Fresh Sage Stuffing

Rebecca asked for this recipe, so I will post it since Thanksgiving is coming soon. This recipe is from Williams Sonoma. One year at Thanksgiving, my Dad put raisins in the stuffing. After everyone had eaten their Thanksgiving dinner, each person had left a pile of raisins on his/her plate. So, the moral of this story is don't add raisins to your stuffing.


Fresh Sage Stuffing

1 stick butter
1 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 1/2 cups finely chopped celery
8 cups dry bread cubes
3 T. finely chopped fresh sage
1/2 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 t. salt plus more if needed
1 t. pepper
1/2 - 1 cup turkey or chicken broth

In fry pan over med. heat, melt 2 T. of butter. Add onion and celery and cook, stirring often until soft, but not brown 6-8 minutes. Melt remaining 6 T. butter separately. IN a large bowl combine bread cubes, sage, parley, salt and pepper. Add the onion and celery and melted butter, toss to combine. Slowly add the broth, just enough to moisten it, do not get too much or it will be soggy. Add more seasonings at this point if more is needed. At this point you can either stuff the turkey or bake it alone. I usually bake it in the oven at 350 for about 20-30 minutes or until heated all the way through. Makes 9 cups.

Buyer's Remorse

Most people have buyer's remorse after making a big purchase. I have buyer's remorse because I see a cute thing and don't buy it and then I obsess about it until I have to go to great lengths to find it and pay extra just to have it. I know I am crazy, I even had to make a New Year's resolution last year that I would just buy things as I saw them, but I hate impulse buying. I need to do better, I need to buy things, I can always return them, right? I saw a tote bag like this in Sun Valley in the local drugstore for 10$, why didn't I buy it? I don't need a tote bag, but it was cute and only 10$. Now I am looking all over the internet to find it and can only find this bowling bag and a laptop carrier, both well over 10$. The company that makes them is called danicaimports and they are a Canadian company, they make a lot of other cute things for the home etc. Just so you know that I am extra crazy here (in asian plum) is another bag that I passed up while in Sun Valley. Why do I do this?

Ouch

18 seconds and 1 dollar more and this lovely handbag could have been mine, all mine!!! Blast that girl who outbid me! You know how it goes, isn't it the worst feeling ever to think you have won and you didn't?! AAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH! I am so mad about this. Look how cute and brown it is. It was only $29.00 when I started bidding and ended at $46 dollars. I guess these bags have been around for awhile, but I am just now catching on. I saw them while shopping in Sun Valley last week. Apparently they are called Dogy Bagz or so I am told and made by a company called Un Apres Midi de Chien. So sad... if you happen to see one like this...give me a holler. I'm going to go cry myself to sleep now.

Is there anything better?

Do you love this apple juice as much as I do? Mmmmmm. I better jump on the apple bandwagon before apple season is over. I have a recipe for apple fritters that I love. The recipe says to fry in bacon fat, but I just use butter. I am sure it would be delicious with the bacon fat. Let me know what you think.

Apple Fritters

1 cup flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
2 T. sugar
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup milk
1 apple peeled and chopped or grated
bacon fat(or butter) for frying

Sprinkle with mixture of:
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 t. cinnamon

Mix dry ingredients except confectioner's sugar and cinnamon. Beat egg, add milk and add to dry ingredients, then gently fold in apples. Drop by spoonfuls and fry in a medium hot skillet/fry pan in lots of butter until golden brown and set in center. Roll in confectioner's sugar/cinnamon when hot. Eat.

Is there anything better?

Do you love this apple juice as much as I do? Mmmmmm. I better jump on the apple bandwagon before apple season is over. I have a recipe for apple fritters that I love. The recipe says to fry in bacon fat, but I just use butter. I am sure it would be delicious with the bacon fat. Let me know what you think.








Apple Fritters

1 cup flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
2 T. sugar
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup milk
1 apple peeled and chopped or grated
bacon fat(or butter) for frying

Sprinkle with mixture of:
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 t. cinnamon

Mix dry ingredients except confectioner's sugar and cinnamon. Beat egg, add milk and add to dry ingredients, then gently fold in apples. Drop by spoonfuls and fry in a medium hot skillet/fry pan in lots of butter until golden brown and set in center. Roll in confectioner's sugar/cinnamon when hot. Eat.

Free Speech

I am sorry that I implied on Liz's blog that my husband shouldn't be able to participate by commenting. I retract that statement and express my regrets that I ever implied that his posts or comments are embarrassing to me or my family.

Jenni

Banoffee Pie

Have you tried this? Pure heaven! There are many variations and recipes, so if this one doesn't look do-able, you can try many others. It is probably one of those things you should eat before you die.

11 years ago...

Robert proposed to me here. I don't remember the exact day, but I know he does...he won't tell me because he likes to hold it over my head that he is the more romantic one. He is good about those things, I am not. I do still remember our anniversary, though. Anyways, points for me remembering the approximate date of our engagement. Here's to you, honey buns!

No Reservations

I love this show. Of course it is about food, but more than that. This Anthony Bourdain is very witty and sarcastic. He travels the world...eating and he will eat anything, and I mean anything...brains, stomaches, feet, you name it and he really enjoys it. The only thing I've seen him eat that he didn't like...a deep fried twinkie. His book, Kitchen Confidential looks like a good read...but then again maybe not if you don't want to know what's going on behind the scenes in your local restaurant.

Crepes

This is what I made this weekend for breakfast. This is standard fare in our household since my kids won't eat pancakes...huh? What is wrong with them??!! I like to put chocolate, bananas and whipped cream in mine, although there are a million good things to put inside. Here is the recipe:


1 1/3 cups whole millk
1 cup all purpose flour
3 large eggs
3 T. melted butter
1 T. sugar
1 t. vanilla
1/4 t. salt
2T. -1/4 c. wheat germ (opt.)

Mix all of the above ingredients in blender, or hand held immersion blender. Heat skillet over medium heat and spread a thin layer of butter to coat. Pour 2 T. or so of batter into pan, enough to cover bottom of pan making a very thin layer by swirling. Cook until edges are light brown and flip to cook other side. Fill with lots of good things. See how easy?