Happy Halloween

I was off to a late start this year. We went to a farm to pick our pumpkins two weekends ago but it wasn't until last night that I gutted them and it wasn't until this morning that I cooked the seeds and carved the pumpkins. 

 

I usually just rinse and roast the seeds in the oven with a little olive oil and salt. This year I tried a different approach I found on Simply Recipes where you simmer the seeds in salted water (1 Tablespoon salt and 2 cups water for every 1/2 cup of seeds) for 10 minutes and then bake them at 400 on an oiled cookie sheet for about 20 minutes. I had enough seeds for 2 cookie sheets so after I took them out of the oven I tossed half the seeds with salt and the other half with cinnamon and sugar. 

Then it was time to carve the pumpkins. 

I usually really enjoy looking at the pumpkin and deciding what it "wants" to be but this year I felt a time crunch and decided I would try using some tools to create simple patterns and speed up the process. I used a large chisel and a drill with a variety of bits. 

Now we just need some trick-or-treaters!

Oktoberfest Foods

Hello October! We planned to have some friends over and since it's October I decided to try out some Oktoberfest foods. The links are included below for the recipes I tried. 

Most importantly, beer in an authentic German stein


We made spent grain pretzels with a traditional German cheese dip called obazta.
And also had mustard to go with them.


Potato pancake with homemade applesauce and sour cream. To make the apple sauce I peeled a few apples and chopped them in cubes then put them in a pot on the stove with some cinnamon and a little maple syrup and let it cook down. I cut the apple in varying sizes so some would cook and be very mush and some would stay a bit chunky.


German potato salad 


Braised Red Cabbage although I used some green cabbage as well because I used the cabbage I had growing in the garden. 


A German inspired corn dog. My first attempt at a corn dog.



Grilled ham and cheese. I did not find the recommended Cambozola cheese but I read that it was similar to a camembert or brie with blue cheese in it and I found d'affiniod brie at my local grocer so I used that instead and it was lovely.

I also tried a cheese soup which got mixed reviews. It seemed to be a bit of an acquired taste and seemed much better the second day than on the day I made it.

And of course beer boiled bratwurst with sauerkraut and mustard.

Then I tried a few recipes to satisfy every sweet tooth.


Pfeffernusse cookies which had the flavors you'd expect from a Christmas cookie or gingerbread. They were quite tasty.


A German rum ball with chocolate and hazelnuts.

And of course an apple strudel . The fillo I had was about half the sheet size as that in the recipe so I made two strudels instead of cutting the filling recipe in half. 

Meatless Chili

As fall approaches and the weather starts to cool off I start to think chili. I tried this recipe from epicurious with a few adjustments.

In a pot on the stove heat
1 tablespoon olive oil
Add
1 diced onion
1 carrot
2 jalapeño
until onion is soft then add
3 cloves garlic
saute about one minute then add
1/2 cup couscous
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
until combined

Stir in
2 cups chopped tomatoes
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce
1/2 a beer
1 can of black beans (drained)
1 can of pinto beans (drained) because I did not have kidney beans
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper

let simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally

I served it with sliced avocado on top and a little cheddar cheese is always nice too.

Citrus Basil Cookies

Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of these but they were a lovely bright tasting cookie I'll be making again!

For the cookies
1 cup flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter, chilled
2 tablespoons sliced fresh basil
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon grated lime peel
1/4 teaspoon salt

put everything in a food processor and plus until large clumps, remove from food processor and make a large ball then from that form small balls and press with the bottom of a glass into thin rounds
bake at 375 for 15- 20 minutes

for the Lime Glaze
3 1/4 cup powdered sugar
8 T lime juice

mix until smooth and spoon over the cookies

Quinoa Cookies with chocolate almond and espresso

I came across this cookie recipe, made a few adjustments based on my pantry and gave it a try.

in a bowl combine:
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 cup coconut sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

in another bowl mix together the dry ingredients:
1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup spent grain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

mix together both bowls of ingredients
then fold in
1 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup sliced almonds
3/4 cup quinoa

and
Bake on lined baking sheet at 350 for 10 minutes

5 for the Fourth - festive cookies

Getting ready for a party on the 4th and decided to try out some new festive cookie recipes to bring to the potluck.

Hot Dog Cookies
recipe from serious eats
These were too cute not to try! I made them much smaller than recommended which seems to have worked out well. Hot dogs are only about 1" long. For the 'mustard' I did a simple powdered sugar, water frosting with yellow food coloring.

Red White &Blue Cake Balls
I used the same cake recipe I used for rainbow cake balls  to make these but I decided not to wrap the cake in brownies and I coated them in semi sweet chocolate chips.

Carmel Brownie Bites
I used this brownie recipe 
Then to make them look festive I found inspiration here. I cut them in to bites and coated them with candy melts.

Pinwheel Cookies 
I came across these on Just A Taste. I should have followed some of the instructions a little more closely… instead of rolling the dough between wax paper I used flour which then made it hard to roll the dough and get it to stick together as a pinwheel. I also found that they needed to cook for about 20 minutes, twice the recommended time.

s'mores
Nothing beats roasting marshmallows over the campfire but these are a close second! I came across this recipe and put my own twist on it, partly because the recipe requires a microwave which I do not have.
Ingredients: graham crackers, marshmallow fluff, nutella, milk chocolate chips, red candy melts
I split the graham crackers into quarters along their existing lines, I put fluff on one side and nutella on the other then coated half of it in milk chocolate and half in candy melts

 Fireworks Cookies
These are a Martha Stewart recipe 

These were a lot of fun to decorate but it was time consuming. 

For the icing I used powdered sugar and water. I tried store bought gel frosting which looked cool but was sticky and made it hard to stack and store the cookies. The above cookies were decorated with gel icing. I also tried decorating some with food colored powder sugar icing, pictured below. 

Chocolate Avocado Cookies

I love avocados. I have been hearing about baking with them and happened to have one that is too soft to eat sliced so I decided I'd try baking it. So I decided to try this avocado cookie recipe.

They are amazingly quick and easy to make and I was pleased by the resulting soft chocolatey cookie. While my husband said he couldn't taste the avocado, for me, the first bite of each cookie (I've sampled a few) tastes like avocado, which could just be because when I pick one up I think 'this is an avocado cookie' and after the first bite I don't notice the avocado flavor anymore.

So, here's what I did
Use a mixer to combine
1 very ripe avocado
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
once the batter is smooth mix in by hand
1/2 cup chocolate chips - I used large milk chocolate chips

Put dollops of batter on a lined cookie sheet. They don't spread so you may want to push them down a little with the back of your spoon to shape them. Then bake at 350 for 10 minutes.
Store in the fridge