And may the Lord shower you with Blessings!!!

I am visiting my family over Thanksgiving and will be dedicating my time to that wonderful fellowship. So, this blog will be going on break. See you again on Monday for even more blessings I have seen surrounding me.

Today did not start out well. I was having the WEIRDEST dream ever, and must have turned my alarm off during said dream, because when I actually woke up and figured out where I was, it was 6:15 am, and I had to be out the door in 15 min! ACK!

I threw on some clothes, washed up, and put some food in containers and was out the door. I even made it to class on time, but had to wait until after class to dig into breakfast. Boy was I hungry!

In the thermos I had yogurt, the last of the quince, and pomegranate arils. The other container was just some Kashi Honey Almond Flax cereal to combine with said yogurt & fruit.

Yogurt close up!

It was horrendous weather all day. It just rained, and rained, and rained. Good thing I had my new fancy boots – they kept my feet dry and warm! But to warm the rest of me up, I had to hit up the Sbucks.

Do I even have to say what’s in there?

My last volunteer shift at Agora later, and I was on my way home. First thing on my mind when I walked in the door? What’s for lunch?

I made a grilled ham & cheese sandwich with baby spinach and red pepper jelly. Too bad my cheese didn’t want to melt.

I also heated up a bowl of broccoli soup my sister had made on the weekend.

Topped with a little more cheddar. What’s better than broccoli & cheddar?!

Rainy day food, for sure!

With a Werther’s Original candy for dessert

I spent the afternoon at home, expecting an important phone call. Of course, my mom then ended up on the phone all afternoon, and we don’t have call waiting, so I figured they called and got a busy signal. But, low and behold, and 5 pm I received my call. Looks like I’ll be working with a dietitian on a project at Children’s Hospital. Alas, it is only volunteer, but still – it’s all about boosting that resume, right?

Dinner was served way too early for my hunger, so I only had a bit.

Meatloaf, green peas, and apple/craisin/pecan salad. There were baked potatoes as well, but I wasn’t feeling it. And wouldn’t you know it, all my close ups turned out poorly. So this is all you get!

I made a quick trip up to the store to get a couple things (I was all out of good peanut butter), then had a sweat session with the dvd’s. Then it was time for me to satisfy my baking desires!

I had a hankering for muffins. I thought oatmeal and apple should be involved. I searched out some recipes, decided on this one as my inspiration, concocted a variation in my head, then assembled the required ingredients.

Some mixing, grating, scooping, and baking later, and I was presented with this:

Apple Carrot Raisin Oatmeal Muffins

makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 1 cup oats
• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour (would have used whole wheat, but we had none)
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 1 tbsp ground flax seed
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 tbsp molasses
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1 small apple, chopped
• 1/2 cup raisins

Method

1. Combine dry ingredients (oats through salt) in a large bowl.
2. Combine wet ingredients (milk through vanilla) in medium bowl.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry, then add carrot, apple, and raisins.
4. Mix until just combined – don’t over mix! (you know how muffins go).
5. Divide equally between 12 greased or lined muffin cups.
6. Bake at 375 F for 20 min, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

These turned out really well. I was a little worried that my wet to dry ratio would be off, but it was perfect. They are hearty, moist, slightly sweet, with a nice balance of spices. Both of my parents tried them out, and gave them the thumbs up. I think they would be a great breakfast muffin, pairing nicely with your favourite nut butter.

Obviously, I had one as my evening snack, with a another cup of chamomile tea.

I still have another project on the stove, but it’s totally time for bed, so I guess I’m calling it done. I’m sure you’ll get to see it tomorrow. Night!

Today I did oh-so-much laundry and made oh-so-many rolls.  So much starch in my house, and tomorrow there will be even more!

Oh, and I’m halfway through my last application.

I also watched a Nova documentary about the Roman baths on Hulu.  Oh, ancient technology, you are so awesome!

5 Things:

This [via ONTD].  Actually, I find this magnificently embarrassing, but it’s also hilarious.

Bread!

My local groundhog.

Scrambled eggs with cheese.

This nice scene-analysis of Barton Fink. Love that movie.  Chet!

What’s your signature dish? That recipe you pull out when you’re having company or need something to bring to a dinner party?

A pumpkin pie with the perfect crust? Steak frites to rival the best in Paris? Or maybe the best curry outside of India? It may be as simple as perfectly grilled salmon or as complex as Oaxacan black mole, but whatever it is, you know it’s going to shine.

For me, it’s a tarte Tatin. (Molly of Orangette has a fantastic, virtually fool-proof recipe. In fact, I’m making it for Thanksgiving!)

For Grandma H., that signature dish is lefse. She may have another opinion, but she can’t argue about her reputation as a master lefse baker!

Lefse is a Norwegian flatbread that resembles a tortilla, but is made with potatoes. It’s often served with butter and sugar, and is sometimes used as a wrap for pølse, a type of sausage similar to a hot dog.

Grandma had been wanting to teach me how to make lefse for quite a while, and although she had given me a lesson in rolling the dough before, this month we did the whole process together for the first time, from making the dough to finishing the lefse. (Though one could probably make it in one day, it’s really helpful to split it into two.)

By the end of the second day, we had about three dozen of these delicious treats, and had consumed a number of them in the process. (Did I tell you how wonderful they are hot off the griddle with butter and sugar?)

Most of them are tucked away in the freezer now, waiting for the perfect opportunities to serve them. I’m thinking of pulling some out for Thanksgiving, and I’ve already promised my book club that I’ll save some for our meeting in a few weeks.

In any case, the thing that makes baking lefse the most special to me is the time spent with loved ones. Grandma, Mom, and I had a great time making lefse together earlier this month, and I hope to we can do it together again soon.

It’s after 11 and I JUST put a pie in the oven… something tells me that making one apple pie is not supposed to be an all-day affair.

Anyway, short post because today wasn’t all that interesting and we have good TV to watch

Last night we stopped at Whole Foods after dinner so Brian and I could fulfill our respective vices. Him: Altbier. Me: Marshmallow Oaties (Lucky Charms). So guess what I had for breakfast this morning?

This x 2.

After breakfast I gathered up Thanksgiving recipes and made my shopping list. My mom cooks a TON of food, but as I’ve said, she’s extremely anti-orange… so I’m making the sweet potato casserole. She’s also nixed mashed potatoes from the menu in favor of green beans with new potatoes and ham. When I informed Brian of this, he looked like I’d slapped him- so I’m bringing mashed potatoes as well. And finally, apple pie.

I met my parents for lunch at Garden Cafe. I had the meatloaf with mashed potatoes and a side salad with lemon vinaigrette dressing.

Spent the rest of the afternoon running errands: Super Target, Walgreens, and post office. Exciting. Brian actually got home from work around 3:30, so I assembled the pie crust and then we laid on the couch with Chloe and watched bad TV.

We paid a short visit to my grandparents’ tonight and stopped at Fat Daddy’s for dinner on the way. The usual turkey burger and fries:

The grandparents were good, and now we’re home and pie making. I used the apple pie recipe from Baked. It’s pretty basic, though the filling does contain a little whiskey (woo woo!). It’s in the oven for an hour, but here’s what it looked like pre-baking:

Gotta run- Brian just turned on Modern Family.

Hope everyone has a FABULOUS Thanksgiving!!!!!!!

Oh- I almost forgot! The winner of the Bot Water Giveaway is (from Random.org):

Result: 16

Melissa Says: November 24, 2009 at 4:59 pm e

Bot Water sounds great, would love to try it out!

So congrats, Melissa!!! Send me your address at heatherbakes@gmail.com and I’ll forward it on to Bot!

I love presentation of food. I was itching to use my square cupcake tins or mini cake pans (which ever you prefer). Family get togethers are the perfect time to try and share new things. I made a simple white cake batter and baked it in my square muffin tins at 325°F for 15 minutes. Once cooled, I used my cake wire to cut the squares into three tiny layers. I layered my raspberry jam on top of each layer. I piped the top of the mini cakes with white chocolate frosting and then arranged a few fresh raspberries and garnished with fresh mint leaves. The raspberries around some of the ones I picked this summer and froze, thus the frost in the picture (the hadn’t thawed yet). I arranged the mini cakes on a silver plate and they were ready to serve.

I am hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for my family tomorrow — my first official holiday dinner soiree at my new apartment! I know that I should be cleaning the house and getting ready for the big night, like my upstairs neighbor who was vacuuming the floor with what sounded like an industrial-sized machine (it was loud!).  Instead, I decided to bake couple loaves of bread to give out tomorrow as a “thank-you-for-coming” presents for my family. I know that my parents eat toasts for breakfast religiously, so a home-baked bread should be a perfect way to wake up from a turkey coma the next morning! Of course, I’m planning on serving the bread during dinner as well.

I used Martha Stewart’s recipe from her Website. (This exact recipe appears on her baking book that I own but it is still inside a box that I’m currently using as a TV stand … hahaha.) Never mind the jail thing, or the ice queen thing … I love Martha. I love her show, her cookbooks, her style, everything! Everything that I’ve tried so far from her cookbooks and online recipes have been a huge success and this one was no exception.

What I love so much about the recipe is that it calls for ordinary ingredients that you can easily find at any regular supermarket.  The only ingredient that you might have difficulty locating is wheat germ (I bought mine at Whole Foods).  I used to be intimidated by this cootie-esque ingredient until I purchased a bag for the homemade granola bar and realized that these little brown flakes are not as scary as the name suggests. This recipe also does not require you to have any special machines or gadgets, so you’ll be okay even if you don’t own a Kitchaid stand mixer.

I must admit that I did make some alterations to the recipe. First, instead of two packets of active yeast, I used one (I totally misread the recipe), and I only put in one tablespoon of salt instead of two (two just sounded way too much). But surprisingly, the loaves still came out delicious!

I love watching the dough double in size. As I watched it get bigger by the minute, I realized that we are no different than a bread dough … if you eat sweets (yeast feeds on sugar) and lay out in the sun (you need to put the dough in a warm place, like on an unheated stove top), we too will double in size! Yikes!

Kneading the dough is such a stress reliever! If you’re ever angry, knead the dough and let your aggression out! It’s a win-win situation!

Divide the dough in half and put each in a canola oil-greased pan and wait for them to double in size again.

After baking the loaves for about 45 minutes (the recipe calls for 50-60 minutes but mine only took about 45 minutes), let them rest for a while until you slice into them! I know, it’s difficult to wait when you have these lovely loaves waiting for you!

The inside came out fluffy and perfect and the crust was flaky and chewy!

This is such an incredibly stress-free recipe, I hope you will give it a try! You definitely won’t be disappointed with two loaves of wonderful wheat bread that’s ready to sandwich turkey leftovers!

A few years ago, there was a great little bagel shop down by the Barnes & Noble.  Bagels and pastries baked fresh, on-site, each morning, the way it should be.  They were open through lunch, offering deli style sandwiches and nice little baked desserts.  My favorite was a mambo turkey sandwich served on focaccia bread.

The store is long gone, but the memory of the sandwich lives on.  Here is my version of their focaccia bread. Don’t know if it’s the same, but it tastes real good.  Try it!

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 packet of dry yeast

1 Tbsp Rosemary

1 Tbsp Thyme

1 Tbsp pressed garlic

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp salt

3 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 1/2 cups warm water

Mix everything together, using a stand mixer on medium speed, until batter is sticky.

Put dough in a greased, 9 x 13 pan.  Cover and let rest for one hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Once dough has rested, poke with your finger, causing little indentations  all over the dough.

Drizzle a little more olive oil on top of the dough.

Sprinkle a little more Rosemary and Thyme on top.

Bake until it starts to brown on top. Start with 30 minutes, but expect 35 to 40 for it to be done.

Once it’s done, enjoy!  (It won’t last long!)

< For a picture, check out the post entitled: The Ultimate (Leftover) Turkey Sandwich! >

Today should become a national holiday.

Pre Thanksgiving Baking Day

Swedish Chocolate Cake

Innovative thinking, haha. No Kitchen Aid so I made do with what I had

Pumpkin Rolls

Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie

Maple Pumpkin Pie

Original Pecan Pie- that was a bit over done, whoops.

Original Pumpkin Pie

Lots+lots of baking. So fun, I love to bake!!

I didn’t escape the baking fun without fault, however.

Ouch!

gross right?

i tackled the gym again 2 days ago. another 1/2 hour on the elliptical leaving my legs and abs aching, followed by a brisk walk home in the rain. stupid me forgetting my umbrella at home… Lots more walking yesterday and today. i’m trying to work on cardio for a week, then mix in cardio and pilates/yoga the next week, then the next week do weights in addition to the others and so on until i have at least 5 days of different activities that i can rotate and randomize. very similar to p90x, but not as intense. when you have a delicate back, such as i do, you have to take it easy or you’re popping pills and writhing in pain. i’ll pass on that thankyouverymuch.

maria said i’m looking skinnier again though. yay! walking and sensible breakfast/lunch (see below) are working! though i’m sure the massive cinnamon bun yesterday from corner bakery and breakfast from mcdonalds cancelled out both. what?! they’re comfort food and i’m stressing.

rabbit foods

also spoke with mama k 2 nights ago. this woman is adorable. she’s so incredibly thoughtful, it blows my mind some times. mama k sent rusty and i an engagement card with two fortune teller fish inside and a very sweet message. i cried (big surprise). i spent about 45 minutes on the phone with her and if rusty and i can have half the marriage mama k and mr. matt have, i’ll be more than fulfilled. she told me all about a few of the adventures she and mr. matt have had together doing the little things – wall papering, jobs, raising kids, the mishaps on their wedding day, and gave me some sound advice on living, loving and remaining sane. and almost made me cry. again.

• take time for each other.
• save money, always.
• be supportive and respectful.

love her.

dinner with kat = pho. check out this wonderment:

domo arigato, pho!

can i tell you how happy i am that we’re living close to one another again? i will. i’m SUPER happy what’s that? caps lock?!? yes, i’m that happy. she’s the only person outside of family that has known me for the longest… pretty much for my entire existence. that’s a big deal. one of the many reasons i love her.

but tonight. tonight i made pie… nay, pies. i love making pies. Its super relaxing and my favorite of the bakings.  can you have the recipe? hell no! these things are my pride and glory. but i’ll give you a hint: there’s apples in there!

the before

mmmmmmmmmmm pie

wait for it....

pan licker.

the hubs was upset i didn’t have extra apples to make him his own pie.  muhbad.

happy turkey day!

It’s amazing what a good night’s sleep will do.  I woke up this morning ready to go.  Thank goodness so much got done yesterday.  Connecting yesterday to today.

Now it’s a new day and there are two disks of pie dough waiting to to be worked with the rolling pin.  I love this part of cooking.  In particular, I’m always amazed out how much flour I can get all over the kitchen.  I’ve never been a very neat cook.

Pie dough rolling is quite a bit of work for someone not so tall.  That darn phone book has to come out to give a little vertical help.  It’s hard to roll dough when the countertop is almost chest level.  But I manage.  First up is the Pumpkin Pie requested by my very good neighbor, Matt.  Nothing fancy, dancy again….just the recipe from the Libby’s Pumpkin can.  Is there any other recipe so easy to find?

I’ve recently discovered a new bit of information about my son…he likes pecans.  Not bad for a ten year old.  I also know for a fact, he likes chocolate.  Just like his mom.  Off to Epicurious.com I go to find the perfect combination of pecans and chocolate.  The result?  Bittersweet Chocolate Pecan Pie originally in Gourmet’s November 2007 magazine.  http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Bittersweet-Chocolate-Pecan-Pie-240605.

I’ve been staring at the crisp Granny Smith Apples in the fruit bowl for a few days now.  No sense in letting them going to waste.  But I sure don’t  feel like doing another pie.  Cusine at Home to the rescue.  My favorite edition of this magazine is from October 2006.  I think everything in there has been made at least three times. (The pot roast is incredible.)  But I’ve yet to make the Brown Butter Apple Tarte Tatin Cake.  It’s like a pineapple upside down cake but with apples and carmel.  I can’t wait to cut into it.  

And now the final curtain…..just need to add tomorrow’s Gingerbread Pumpkin Mousse Trifle.  Connected to the Baker in me.

Connected to Thanksgiving

Hubster’s family gets Thanksgiving Day (which is hard for me, because they don’t watch the parade in the am!). The first year I was involved in their festivities he didn’t inform me there would be two dinners. After stuffing myself in the Thanksgiving fashion at his maternal aunt’s dinner, he said, “I hope you saved room!” Now he tells me! Then we headed to his paternal grandmother’s house for another round! His grandmother kept placing more and more food on my plate (after my first plate), insisting I needed more meat on my bones. I was struggling not to get sick and not to offend my future family.

This year, my MIL is hosting dinner at her house, so both sides are attends. One dinner. Huge *sigh* of relief! I’m bringing a dessert and decided to try out a new recipe as well as my new mini bundt pans. After his cousin, who’s also bringing a dessert, called me to coordinate, I decided to make a gingerbread cake and add some chocolate. Many chocolate gingerbread recipes aren’t the right balance for me, they add cocoa powder to the batter. I wanted to keep the gingerbread batter’s own flavor. I baked my gingerbread mini bundts for 18 minutes at 325°F, my batch of batter made 18 cakes. I decided to add chocolate chips to the batter and pour a chocolate ganache over top. If everyone enjoys this dessert, maybe I’ll make some to take to my sister’s Christmas!

Super simple, super moist.  Sounds very Sandra Lee but it’s true.  This recipe from Bon Appetit is easy to add on last minute to round out your Thanksgiving menu.  It has ingredients you probably have in the pantry or on hand for other dishes.  I made it last week for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner and there were no leftovers.  It has just the right amount of sweetness and if you spoon some cranberry sauce on top the contrast of sweet and tart is great.

The main ingredients: corn meal, honey, fresh sage

I don’t have a cast iron skillet, yet.  It’s on my after-Thanksgiving shopping list.  Instead I used a 10″ pie dish.  I’m sure the cast iron adds an extra earthy flavor but when the cornbread came out of the oven it still had a really pretty golden edge.

Inverted and onto a platter with a few sage leaves for garnish.

Sage and Honey Skillet Cornbread
Bon Appetit Magazine, November 2007

my recipe notes:

• I didn’t put the sage leaves at the bottom since I didn’t have a cast iron skillet, so the sage leaves wouldn’t be able to crisp with the butter.
• Recipe says to melt 1/2 stick of butter into the skillet, but I cut it down to 1/3 stick and just added it to the batter.  I didn’t notice anything missing.  It was still really moist.

Happy Thanksgiving Cooking and Eating!

My BBA Challenge Foccacia turned out better than I expected.  My experiences with ciabatta (BBA and otherwise) had me worried;  while these aren’t the same breads (aside of both being Italian), I imagined foccacia required a rather wet dough to achieve plenty of big air pockets, much like ciabatta.  Considering, per my husband, that my ciabatta was like  a “brick”, I was expecting the same trouble with my foccacia.   (How hard it is to add more water?  Apparently for me, hard).

I added the maximum amount of water called for in the recipe (not that this helped with ciabatta, but I don’t learn).  In fact I even worried I had added too much water.  The recipe says that the dough should clear the sides of the bowl once it’s mixed.  While mine did that, it did not pull away cleanly–which is what I typically understand that instruction to mean.  Rather, a few streaks of dough still clung on the sides of my kitchenaid bowl.  But in retrospect, perhaps this is what was called for!  In addition, this dough has quite a bit of olive oil inR it, which gives it a softer texture.

Like the ciabatta, the envelope folding technique was employed several times during the rising process; i.e. pat the dough into a rectangle; stretch out each end and fold back in thirds, over itself like folding a business letter.  I don’t know what this special technique does.  At least for puff pastry and croissants, it creates layers of dough and butter which then allow for the dramatic rise (if you do real puff pastry, apparently up to 9 times in volume.   I am happy enough with the mere 4-5 times I get out of quick puff, which only takes about 1/2 hour rather than 9 or 10.  An acceptable tradeoff!).   Considering Peter Reinhart eschews that type of mattress-thick foccacia, I’m guessing this serves some other purpose.

Once the folding and rising process is through, you spread your dough into the baking pan.  You don’t actually press it out to fill the pan, the idea is that it will expand outwards as well as upwards to fill the space.  I was nervous about this–for this growth to be accomplished I reasoned a pretty slack dough would be necessary, bringing up my concerns about sufficient hydration.  On the other hand, did I mention how much olive oil was in this already?  That would certainly allow those little gluten molecules to slip all over the place and expand all over the place!

While I had to give it some help, my dough did do a pretty good job of growing properly.  The finger dimpling (to release some air without deflating, but quite possibly also to create pockets to absorb even more olive oil) helped fill in those corners where the dough had failed to reach.

And just for a “dramatic shot”–shadows and light–more foccacia just before baking:

Success!  The finished bread was a great foccacia–delicious flavor from the olive oil (and I didn’t even use a flavored oil) though I note a slightly unctuous feel to the bread.  (This is not a bad thing–this is what foccacia is supposed to be like–but quite a departure from other breads I have made recently).  As Peter Reinhart says, his version is far preferable to those foccacias that are so ubiquitous but are really just flavorless, too-thick and starchy breads.  (All volume, no substance!)  Despite copious additions olive oil, this is still light tasting, flavorful, and delicious!

This time of year always creeps up on me, no matter what I do. I think it might have something to do with living in this season-less area of the world I live in. I am sitting here, the day before Thanksgiving, drinking a beer in a short-sleeve shirt. That ain’t right.

Somehow, I went upstairs this year and when I came back down, my living room looked like this:

All that’s missing is the smell of gingerbread and the ornaments.

I’d rather deal with gingerbread than two boxes of fiddly ornaments, I thought, so I got to work.

The cookies turned out beautifully.

But tasted like cardboard. So, I’m not going to pass along the recipe, though I’m sure the cardboard taste was my fault and not the recipe’s. Still. You guys probably already have all the cardboard you need. The glaze was delicious, though. I caught Drew scraping it off the counter with a spatula. It made me feel like a bad wife, just the way I feel like a bad dog mom when I catch Truman pitifully licking the bottom of his empty dog bowl. Can’t I at least provide my husband with cookies to go along with the spilled glaze he’s licking off the counter?

No. Apparently no I can’t.

In honor of Thanksgiving, I picked my apron up off the ground and put it on again. I won’t be beaten by cardboard gingerbread.  So far, there’s this English Toffee Pecan Pie , a recipe from Marjorie Johnson who won Martha’s pie contest last week. In case yall didn’t see Marjorie, here’s a link to the video of her with Martha. She’s four-foot tall, 80-something years old, and she wore bright red stilletos to show Martha how to make her pie. She’s officially my hero.

Also in the oven over here is this Old Fashioned Apple Pie of Martha’s, my favorite apple pie I re-visit every year. I tried to buy my apples at the Houston Farmer’s Market this year in honor of global warming and the shrinking of the coast line and eating locally, but our Farmer’s Market didn’t have apples. They had an excess of beets and turnips, but no apples. I bought the beets and turnips just for fun, and I’ve been just completely surprised at the lack of enthusiasm my family has been able to conjure up at the sight of all my locally grown root vegetables. No one else seems to think beets and turnips are “fun.”

Thankfully, we have a double oven because we’re also baking a challah loaf right now from a tutorial and recipe I got on Brown Eyed Baker’s site. Somehow carbs are more fun when they’re braided.

In the morning, there’s the Turkey Trot. Because what better way to ring in the holidays than to use your day off to get up at 6 AM and run six miles with 5,000 of your closest friends? Last year, Drew got stuck behind a double running stroller at the finish line and I was able to cross the finish line just before him.

Fingers crossed for a lot of double strollers tomorrow morning.

After seven and a half hours at the mercy of public transportation across three states, I’m finally home for Thanksgiving.

But before I left Amherst for Brooklyn, I got some good great fantastic news.

You might remember me posting about writing a bunch of essays here, getting a recommendation from my professor here or mailing a particularly nerve-wrecking piece of mail here. Well, the fruits of my labor have ripened, as I read the first line of this email:

Dear Olga,

I am pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into the New York Union Semester spring 2010!

Many of you know that I’m graduating a semester early and have been really nervous about what I’ll be doing. Well, now I know! The Union Semester is an internship/academic program through the CUNY Murphy Institute in New York.

So, next semester I’ll be:

• Spending 32 hrs a week working at a labor union or labor-related organization
• Completing a bunch of graduate courses to receive a Certificate in Labor Studies
• Living and going to school in NYC!

It’s pretty exciting…almost as exciting as this:

I received a coupon for Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets as a part of the Foodbuzz  Tastemaker Program. One of my dear friends came over today and we decided to bake while chatting.

We found a quick and easy recipe for Individual Puff Pastry Apple Pies, and c’mon…how good does that sound?

The process:

Don’t judge…couldn’t find a pastry brush, okay?

And only 20 minutes later:

These turned out fantastic! The puff pastry is so convenient and flaky. I bet you someone with some creativity could whip up something delicious really fast. Like my mom.

I’m going out in Williamsburg with a bunch of friends tonight and it’s getting ready time.

I hope you have a happy and delicious Thanksgiving!

Evening!

My cookies turned out nicely – a little too gingery for my taste, but Patrick seemed to like them so I suppose all is well

After dinner I went over to my sister’s lab with her to keep her company while she finished up some things I can’t imagine working in a lab – there’s so much importance in what you do each and every day!

We ordered pizza to pick up on the way home where my mom (who just flew in!) and Patrick were waiting for us

After quick hellos and hugs – we all dug in! We were a hungry bunch

This pizza was actually a little too cheesy for my liking so I just stuck to this one piece and let my side salad fill me up the rest of the way.

It was a delicious, cozy meal all together – though we’re missing our oldest sister, our brother-in-law and our nieces terribly!

Hope you’re all safe wherever you are and having a wonderful kick off to the holiday!

Night All!

CHOCOLATE GOOEY BUTTER COOKIES

How many: about 2 dozen gooey cookies

What you need for the GOOEY COOKIES:

- 1 brick (8 oz.) of cream cheese (room temperature — warm)
- 1 stick of unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 box (18 oz.) of moist chocolate cake mix
- confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar) for dusting!

How to make the GOOEY COOKIES:

- preheat preheat to 350° F
- with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth
- beat in the egg and vanilla extract — mix well
- slowly mix in the cake mix
- once fully mixed, cover and refrigerate for 2 hours
- roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls
- roll individual balls in confectioner’s sugar
- place them on an ungreased cookies sheet two inches apart
- bake for 12 minutes
- cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioner’s sugar (haha though NOT required..)

YUM! ENJOY!

Huh. This is weird. Really weird sort-of-weird. Today is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. The day I dread most out of all 365 of them. Know why? I’ll tell you why – it’s because today is the day I have to bake pies. I hate baking pies and pie-baking hates me. I can’t do it. Simply CAN NOT do it. I cry. I beg and plead and whine. Then I call my mom and cry some more. It is not pretty, folks.

I was prepared this morning for my usual pie baking fiascos. That’s what I do now – I just plan around the inevitable. I made sure I wouldn’t have either of the girls today so I could have my meltdowns in private. (No need to scar them – when they get older, they are totally in charge of pies and I don’t want to ruin their confidence when it comes to pie-baking unless I absolutely have to.) I bought three bags of flour and 12 sticks of Crisco so I could start over as many times as I needed to. I had emergency store-bought pie crusts in the freezer in case I had to lie. And I had lots of alcohol on hand in case I needed to drink away the memories. I told you I was prepared.

When it was time to start, I went through my checklist. Rule Number One: Put on Christmas music. Check. Rule Number Two: Put on the magic apron. Uhh…I don’t have my mom’s magic apron, so I put on an old ratty Gibney’s t-shirt from where my mom used to work. Check (sort of). Rule Number Three: Pull out the spaghetti pan for mixing the dough and the magic pastry cloth to make the dough roll out easier. Check. Rule Number Four: Call and warn Mom that I was starting the pies. Check. I was good to go – and an hour later was when I realized that the apocalypse was near and that we’re all going to die.

I rolled out four pie crusts – two bottoms and two tops – in my first four attempts.

I didn’t understand: there were no emergencies, no cursing, no second attempts, no lemon volcanoes in the oven. Everything just sort of went…perfectly. I started at 11 a.m. and my kitchen was clean by 12:30. Then I tried to figure out what to do with the rest of my day.

I haven’t figured it out yet, but in the meantime, if the world ends soon you can totally blame it on my perfect pies.

We all know Christmas is just around the corner and we all know Christmas can be expensive. Why not save a bit of money and think about making some of your gifts and decorations, they don’t have to be daggy items that no one will keep either!

Little hand made Christmas decorations are an easy and fun to make. With a bit of felt, knowledge of blanket stitch, a few beads and a ribbon you can quickly whip up a pretty star or Christmas dove.  No sewing machine is required!

Or if you are a little bit handy in the kitchen how about making some jam, lemon butter, cookies or a small fruit cake. You can then make your own labels for the jams, decorate a box for the cookies and find a pretty ribbon for the cake. 

 And if all else fails visit your local library for further present and decoration ideas!

via

Made me laugh. Perfect when you find yourself baking for pumpkin pie haters (ahem, george, nathan), but know yourself that Thanksgiving cannot be complete without them. Maybe I’ll employ this method next year instead of baking two different pies… but then there’d be less pie! Oh, pie dilemmas!