homemade peanut butter cups

So, here we are.  Day thirteen of twenty thirteen.  A lot of people didn't think we'd make it this far, whether it be God's wrath, Mayan prophecy, or zombie apocalypse, but we're still here, alive and kickin', brains intact.

It's hard to believe that this month is about half over already.  I know I'm constantly commenting on how fast the time flies by, but seriously... it does.

To recap this month so far:

 

My New Year's celebrations were on the seriously mellow side this time around, but I have to tell you... I'm not at all ashamed to inform you that I called it a night at the respectable hour of 9:45pm this January 31st.  Or that I spent the better part of the morning January 1st scrubbing the greasy crud from my kitchen stove. 

These simple acts, cleaning my home because I have the day off and the urge for a project, snuggling up to my sweetheart hours before any fireworks are thinking of exploding in colorful celebration, make me feel good.  It's just that... well... simple.

coconut chia vanilla pudding

Lately, I've been thinking about dairy. 

It's one of my favorite categories of food, for one.  I've only ever met one single kind of cheese that didn't do it for me (the raunchiest of bleus), and if a recipe contains the words au and gratin, particularly in that order, I always always do a double take, reading through it, savoring the thoughts of heavy cream laced with Gruyere.  I've even gone so far to joke that I'm a 'cheese whore'... hey baby, I'll do anything for a wheel (of course, I'm kidding... or am I?)

But, now that my days are chock full of nutrition speak, and I'm rediscovering what a truly healthier life entails, the notion of a dairy-soaked existence isn't quite as glamorous (insert image of cheese whore) as it once seemed to be.

raspberry coconut tartelettes; dairy, gluten & grain-free

I've noticed a lot of talk about fall here on the food blogosphere.  In my last post, I even threw out words foretelling the end of summer and the imminent need for woolen sweaters.  It turns out we're all a little ahead of ourselves on this fall thing.  My sunglasses are still getting daily use here in Seattle, and although the nights have been sweater-worthy, the sun hasn't given up yet, and our days have been pleasantly warm.

Yesterday, I went to the Captiol Hill Farmer's Market, and the booths were still filled with summery things like tomatoes, broccolini (just wait until you see what I made with that), and berries.  Nothing says summer like the delicate vibrance of berries.  The harsh chills of winter simply cannot support the dainty frailness of summer's tiny fruits.  

When the berries are gone, then I'll believe that winter is finally on its way.

banana oat cake, gluten-free & vegan

I'm always, always, always finding recipes on other blogs that I'm dying (in the moment, anyway) to try out on my own.  I'm also always, always, always guilty of not doing it. 

I have multiple folders stuffed with recipes clipped from magazines.  The folders continue to grow fatter.

I have a Pinterest account, primarily, to bookmark the recipes I find online.  A digital recipe folder, if you will.  The bits or bytes or whatever the hell you want to call them, those babies are growin' fatter every day, too.

My mom sends me envelopes full of recipes that she clips out of magazines and newspapers.  Luckily (for my hoarder status), she hasn't sent one in awhile.

Whenever I see that the new Bon Appetit has hit the news stands at Safeway, I check my P.O. box daily until I see mine folded up inside there.  I get giddy.  Bon Appetit day is definitely a good day.

I collect cookbooks, too.

I haven't read many of them.

My sweetheart thinks I may have a problem.

Don't even ask me about all of the salts and vinegars I have stashed away.  I have a separate fridge for vinegars and flours, if that tells you anything about my habits.

apple crisp and my sugar addiction

First off, I gotta say I'm giddy from the wonderfulness of making the Foodbuzz Top 9 with my huevos rancheros recipe.  So cool.

Second, I must tell you about what's been on my mind.  Don't let the photo of tasty dessert fool you.

Lately, I've been having an internal conversation with myself about my sugar consumption.  I know, sounds like a real downer, doesn't it?  But, an idea has been taking shape in my noggin to enter into a period of self-inflicted self-deprivation.  I want to say adios to the refined sweets.

At least for a little while.

I feel about sugar the way I once felt about cigarettes (which I actually did quit).  "I know that this substance I'm consuming is harmful to my body, but OH MY GOD does it go great with a whisky sour."  Only in this case, the substance in question goes good with just about everything.   Even my toothpaste.

It's all about moderation, though, right?  Exercising self-control? Well, anti-moderation slogans like, "I want a dessert buffet," having been tumbling from my lips as of late.  A dessert-only potluck was suggested (by me, of course) in honor of my coming graduation.  I guess moderation isn't my forte.  I'm more of an all-or-nothing kind of gal.

gluten-free coconut dark chocolate banana bread: the recipe

Apparently, some of you have been dying from the anticipation of this post.  I can't say I blame you, really.  I mean, come on.  Who in their right mind wouldn't be a little anxious to bake something with a title as conspicuously delicious as this one?

Nobody I know.

I've already described to you the inspiration for this recipe.  You can read all about it here, if you haven't already.  The idea was to provide a little teaser while I labored on an even better recipe than the one I'd put together for round one.  Well, time got away from me, as it tends to, and then I failed a batch (edible, but texturally disappointing).  Anyway, it's taken me a little bit longer than expected to get the recipe up to par with my vision of the perfectly moist, fruity, nutty, chocolaty loaf of (drum roll, please)...

Gluten-free Grain-free Coconut Dark Chocolate Banana Bread!

(hold for applause)

Well, here it is, folks.  And yes, the formula for success is included at no extra charge.  

Merry Christmas

The sun has set this Christmas day, and I type this as we've reached a lull in the action of our day.  I'm drinking tea, and Dan is napping on the couch.  Not that there's really been too much action.  Wedecided that this year we'd spend a quiet day, just the two of us, free from the strains of company and a dinner deadline.  No time schedules today.  No planning around anyone else but us.  Sound selfish?  Good.  That's what we were going for.

It's been a good Christmas so far.  We ate a killer breakfast that included potato cakes and poached eggs.  Expect more on that later.  After we'd digested a bit and talked on the phone to our families in their parts of the country, we went for a walk.  Someone ordered sunshine today, and the weather gods relented, giving us clear skies as the short afternoon turned to dusk.  We sojourned to our community garden to pick rosemary and sage for our dinner tonight.  Then we pseudo-hiked through Ravenna Park, the wooded ravine near our apartment with trails cutting through amongst giant trees and ferns and other greenery that almost lets you feel like you're walking in the woods.  The sun and the park turned into a great prize in the Cracker Jack box of our day.

Ginger Pear Upside Down Cake

This is the third post in a series focused on ginger, its health benefits, and the versatility of the root in recipes. I would love to hear your favorite uses for ginger, so please feel free to comment or email if you have something you'd like to share. If you missed the first two posts in this series, just click on the links below:
Ginger, Lemon & Honey: Tea for the Season
Carrot Ginger Soup

---

Now that the time has changed, my body has shifted to a different schedule.  I'm all yawns and heavy eyelids by about 9:30 at night, and I can't stay under the covers any later than 8 am, even on the weekend.  This schedule suits me, though.  Getting up early and taking my time, having some tea, and gazing at the now-orange leaves of the tree outside my window as I think and type and relax with just me.  I can see myself working from home some day and absolutely loving it.

For now I guess I'll settle for the Saturday morning blogging session.  Today's post is very exciting for me for two reasons.  The first is that I get to share more of what I've learned about ginger.  Now that I've read that line, I realize that I'm much more interested in the second reason.  I will be sharing with you a recipe of my own devising that happens to be baked, gluten-free, and a serious party in your mouth.  

Bourbon Peaches 'n Cream

Peaches, peaches, peaches! They may, in fact, be my favorite fruit.  They've been making their way into my smoothies, onto my dessert plates, and into my mouth with striking regularity this summer. My little farmers market must have at least a dozen vendors selling these fuzzy, juice bombs.

I love the luscious explosion that forces me to eat peaches over the sink.

When I started buying peaches from Billy's Gardens this season, my mind began working on ways to take the perfection of a lone peach and make it even better.  Peaches...  and, oh, I don't know. How about some cream? (cue Beck)

Well, I'd already mastered the art of whipping cream, so now it was just a matter of adding peaches.  Or so I thought.  Then I came across a recipe called Boozy Peaches.  This recipe is super-duper special because it calls for my most favorite of all liquors to be whipped into the cream.

Back to Basics: Whipping Cream

I like to consider myself a pretty good cook.  I've clocked many, many hours in the kitchen, my friends and family are usually oooing and ahhing over the dishes that I serve them, and even when I make mistakes, those mess-ups are acts of passion.

So, yes, in my mind, I'm 'pretty good'.  But I want to be better.  I want to be a great cook.  I want ingredients to form into the most delicious meals possible when my creative little hands get hold of them.  I want mouths to constantly be watering and tummies to rumble with anticipation when they know that their meal is coming to them courtesy of moi.  I know I'm being a little silly and dramatic, but these are the thoughts that I have when I'm considering my prowess in the kitchen.

What I'm realizing more and more is that my knowledge is lacking in some of the most fundamental methods of cooking.  I recently picked up this book from the library that's sort of an encyclopedia of different techniques with pictures and tips on how to correct mistakes and such.  Flipping through the thick volume, it quickly became clear that no matter how good I think I am, I don't know squat about basic culinary technique.

Time to start learning.

I figured dessert was the logical place to begin (so I could reward my learning with sweets, of course), so I whipped up some cream (whipped it real good).

I purchased heavy cream from a local dairy called Golden Glen Creamery in Skagit Valley, WA.  They sell amazing products at both my local farmers market and some health food stores around Seattle.  Their cattle are hormone free and mostly grass-fed.  As their website states, they use antibiotics ONLY when an animal has a treatable illness, and that animal is taken out of the 'milk stream' until its milk is tested free of antibiotics.  Not only that, but their milks are not homogenized (so there's a beautiful layer of cream on top), minimally pasteurized, and they come in old-timey glass bottles that can be returned for a $1 deposit refund. Oh, and they make awesome cheeses and butter, too.

I heart Golden Glen Creamery <3<3<3

Now on to the whipped cream.

It's actually quite an easy thing to accomplish.  Especially if you have an electric mixer.  I have no such technologically advanced device, so a whisk and some elbow grease it was for me.  I'll tell you that this 'by hand' method is not for the weak of will.  You must want the whipped cream (and not mind feeling it in your forearm).

Whipped Cream
makes about 2 cups

1 C. heavy cream, very cold* (avoid 'ultra-pasteurized')
1-2 T. sugar (brown, granulated, powdered - they all work)
1-2 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)

*Apparently cold cream is analogous with success in the world of whipping.

Pour the very cold heavy cream into a glass or metal mixing bowl (some recipes say to chill the bowl prior to whipping to aid the process - I did not).  Using a large whisk, begin to whip the cream using large circular motions to incorporate the most air possible.

After a few minutes the cream will begin to thicken.  Add the sugar and continue to whip.

After a few more minutes the cream will begin to billow and expand in volume.  Add the vanilla if using and keep whisking!

(Are you feeling it yet? Don't worry, you're getting closer! Keep whisking!)

When the cream begins to form soft or more firm peaks (depending on desired consistency) you have achieved your goal!  Here's a picture of how my whipped cream looked on the whisk when I was through.

Additional advice:

• Be careful not to over-whip the cream.  It will separate and become gritty.
• Refrigerate immediately!!
• Whipped cream is best when used within several hours of creation.  It will lose volume when left in the fridge, but can be re-whipped (although not with the same results as the initial whipping)

Stay tuned for the ultra-tasty recipe that I used this whipped cream for.  It involves peaches and booze - two summertime faves :)

Zucchini-Pecan Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

I feel like some milestones have passed in the last month or so. I feel like I've stepped across some threshold, and now, here I am, back and better than ever.

What have I accomplished?  Well, this blog, for instance, turned 1 back at the end of June. One whole year of photographing my dinner and sharing it with the world. I feel guilty that I didn't properly celebrate, but I had just started a new quarter of school, and my head was wrapped up with calculating the heat capacity of metals and exploring themes in modern fiction. It's difficult to schedule my blog posts to coincide with dated events when school is in session.

Then there was my birthday. My 30th birthday, in fact, was just several days after The Weather in Cascadia's. I have to say that I wasn't freaked out (and still am not) by reaching the three decade mark. It's satisfying to be thirty.  It feels empowering, although people now feel the need to tell me that I "look good".  I'm pretty sure I didn't get a single "You look great!" the entirety of my twenty-ninth year, but as soon as the word 'thirty' hits people's ears, they seem to think I need the encouragement. It's true that I'm "older". Not old, mind you, but apparently no longer wearing the badge of youth that came along with my twenties. 

Beyond the birthdays this month, I've also made it past the halfway point of summer quarter.  Summer school is an intense 8 weeks of class into which 11 weeks worth of material is crammed.  The classes are longer, but there isn't really any time to lag.  This is also my first quarter of chemistry since my junior year of high school -  I'll let you do the math on that one.  So far so good, though.  Just four weeks to go, and then a month off to catch the final bit of Seattle's fleeting summer.  I'm really looking forward to it.

In the mean time, between essays and exams, I'm still finding time to spend in the kitchen.  When I want to take a break from my school books, I pour over cookbooks and food magazines instead and daydream of shopping sprees at kitchen supply stores.  Kitchen Aid mixer... Wusthof knife set... All Clad cookware...  And visions of Cuisinart danced in her head... 

Back in the reality of my mixerless kitchen, I've found some interesting and delicious-looking recipes in this month's Bon Appetit.  They feature a zucchini-themed section that includes a recipe for zucchini cake.  Hmmm.  When was the last time I baked a cake?  I honestly couldn't tell you.  As the daughter of a once professional cake baker, I think I've shied away from cakes.  My childhood sort of burned me out on them.  This cake however was instantly intriguing.  I know from eating my fare share of carrot cake and zucchini bread that adding veggies to baked goods is a sure-fire way to end up with moist, delectable treats.

The holes you see were left over from the birthday candles
used to  celebrate a good friend's birthday.
I had 3 other Cancer friends turning 30 this year.

Since I've recently determined that I have a gluten sensitivity, I needed to adapt this recipe to be gluten-free.  I immediately turned to a leavened, gluten-free flour mix called Pamela's Pancake and Baking Mix.  It's a blend of rice flours that already contains the necessary xanthan gum and some baking powder.  This mix had turned out some excellent chocolate chip cookies, so I figured I'd give it a shot.  In the end, I was far from disappointed.  It was so, so good.  My gluten-eating friends didn't even know the difference.   I highly, highly recommend this cake.  You can tell I'm serious when I start doubling up on my adverbs.

Gluten-Free Zucchini Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
adapted from Bon Appetit, August 2010

makes 1 - 9" cake

for the cake:  
canola oil spray
1 1/2 C. Pamela's Gluten-Free Pancake and Baking Mix
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. coarse sea salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
3/4 C. olive oil
3/4 C. packed brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 C. coarsely grated zucchini
3/4 C. chopped pecans 

for the frosting:

4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
3 T. unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 C. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 F with rack in center.

Line 9-inch cake pan with parchment paper and coat parchment paper with non-stick spray.

Whisk Pamela's Mix, baking powder, sea salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg in medium bowl to blend well.  In a separate, large bowl, whisk oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until well combined.  Fold the dry ingredients into the wet, then fold in the zucchini and pecans.  Don't over-mix!  Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake the cake 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack, about 1 hour.  Cut around the sides of the pan to loosen cake.  Turn the cake out onto a serving dish and peel off the parchment paper.

While the cake is cooling, commence the frosting making.  Using an electric mixer*, beat the cream cheese and butter until blended.  Beat in sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon.

Once the cake has cooled and been transferred out of the pan, spread the frosting over the top and sides of the cake.  Slice and serve**.

*If you lack an electric mixer, a food processor works just as well.  Simply add all of the frosting ingredients and process, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary, until the frosting is smooth.

**This cake tastes just as delicious cold as it does at room temperature.  If there are leftovers, just wrap the serving platter and cake with plastic wrap and refrigerate.  Toothpicks inserted into the top of the cake can prevent the plastic wrap from touching the cake and sticking to the frosting.

Camera Shopping; and an update on iced oatmeal cookies

I've decided to invest in a new camera. One of those fancy DSLRs. I've been reading reviews and specs 'til my eyes want to bleed and finally ventured out to Seattle's fantastic Glazer's Camera to test drive a few different models and, hopefully, come to a decision. I must say that it's a little scary for me to be making this purchase. I've never been one to spend a lot of money on gadgetry, and I have a certain distrust for computerized machines (it took me ages to get comfortable with this here laptop).

Up to this point, this blog has been adorned with photos taken with either a Canon digital point-and-shoot or a Nikon FE2 35mm slr. The latter of these I absolutely adore. It is completely manual, takes amazing photographs and is astounding in its simplicity. I use a 50mm fixed lens on that puppy with results such as these... and these. I love it.

So why the change? Well, for starters, the cost of film and development is forever increasing, and my meager student income does not allow for a lot of extras. This means that I take very few shots in order to conserve exposures. This conservation leads to extended periods between trips to the developers, which in turn leads to huge delays between cooking time and posting time. Unless I use the little Canon. It takes good pictures also, but then I miss playing around with the depth of field. I'm a sucker for fuzzy backgrounds, what can I say?

I long for the convenience of the digital world and the luxury of the slr. So I'm taking the plunge (and the hit to my bank account) and nabbing myself a new camera. I'm so excited!

So what prompted this post were the iced oatmeal cookies that I made and posted about a little while back. It felt kind of wrong to post the recipe without a mouth-watering photo alongside, so I waited. Well, I still haven't used up the 24 exposures on that particular roll of film. So here I am with a great recipe and no visual imagery. So sad.

What I've decided to do is post the recipe anyway. Sooner or later I'll have those pics, and I'll post them up (assuming they turned out well) at that point. Believe me when I say that pleasure will spew forth when these cookies are consumed. I had plenty of helpers to eat mine up, and nary a negative word was heard. Enjoy!


Iced Oatmeal Cookies
makes 20-24 cookies
vegan friendly

Cookies:
2 T. flaxseed meal
1 C. oat flour*
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 T. vegan margarine (or butter)
1/2 C. brown sugar
1/4 C. sugar
1/4 C. applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 C. old-fashioned oats
1/2 C. raisins

Icing:
1/4 C. confectioners' sugar
2-3 T. lemon juice

For the cookies: Stir together flaxseed meal and 3 T. water in a small bowl. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the oat flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat margarine, brown sugar and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add flaxseed mixture, applesauce and vanilla, and beat until smooth.

Stir dry ingredients into wet with a wooden spoon. Add oats and raisins, stirring to combine.

Cover and chill the dough for 2 hours or overnight. (this step can be omitted - cookies will be softer)

Preheat oven to 350 F and grease cookie sheets. Roll dough into balls about the size of golf balls (if you skipped the refrigeration step, go ahead and drop spoonfuls of dough onto the pans and proceed to bake!) and place on cookie sheet. Flatten each cookie to 1/4" thickness with a drinking glass dipped in water.

Bake cookies 10-14 minutes until they look dry on top and are just beginning to brown.

For the icing: Whisk together the confectioners' sugar and lemon juice in small bowl until smooth. Icing should be thick but spreadable. Dip cookies into the icing (or use a pastry brush to apply icing to each cookie) and allow the cookies to cool and the icing to harden.

Eat them up!

*a note regarding oat flour. You can make it yourself by throwing some rolled oats into your food processor and grinding them up into a powder. It can take a few minutes, so be patient and keep stopping the processor and stirring them up. If it doesn't get as fine as flour normally is, don't sweat it. You won't even notice the slightly larger flakes in this recipe. Use about 1 1/4 C. of oats to get 1 C. of flour.

Finally A Break; and some iced oatmeal cookies

Full-time student. That has become my identity since about this time last year when my job dematerialized, and I decided it was time to stop putting off the whole college thing. So here I am, more than halfway towards receiving my very first incredibly expensive, increasingly useless certificate of higher education (just an AA folks, nothing fancy). How does it feel? Well, the initial excitement and romance of academia has definitely worn off. That shiny veneer has been rubbed (quite vigorously) down to reveal the stressed-out, tired reality of student life. No wonder people do this when the energy of the early twenties is still coursing through them. I'm reassured of the judiciousness of my choice to tackle college at a later age. I know what I want now (do I?). I'm more focused (in theory). The well-meaning people who tell me these things are obviously not writing research papers at 2 am. The only benefit I can see is my qualification for more financial aid.

Beginning yesterday, however, I am on spring break! How lovely it is to catch some extra sleep, to ride my bike in the sun (well, yesterday was sunny anyway), and to spend as much time as I'd like puttering around in the kitchen. I can cook every day if I want to, instead of relying so heavily on leftovers to get me through the week. In fact, I've already been hard at play in the kitchen.

On Tuesday night I concocted a spiral pasta in a homemade tomato sauce with tempeh crumbles and steamed kale and garlic toast on the side. My dinner companions were pleased, indeed. Last night's dinner menu featured salmon tacos with salsa, fresh guacamole and shredded purple cabbage on homemade corn tortillas. Muy delicioso! My first foray into the world of tortilla making was a resounding success thanks to this post on I Am Gluten Free (scroll down the post). I never knew it could be so easy to reach the level of satisfaction that those yellow corn rounds brought to me.

But the real reason for this post isn't to fantasize about yesterday's Mexican. It's to tell you about today's afternoon endeavor: Iced Oatmeal Cookies. I haven't even started to make them yet, but my oh my am I looking forward to some lemony-glazed, oats spending time on my tongue. I'll be sure to let you know how they turn out.

Not My Mother's Pumpkin Pie

Everybody seems to have their favorite holiday treat. That one thing that they look forward to all year and which makes the stress of relatives, meal planning and shopping malls seem to be worth the trouble (I personally feel that shopping malls are never worth the trouble, but I know I'm in the minority in this country). For me, that special food, that wonder of wonders, that oh-please-give-me-more-mouth-watering-deliciousness is none other than my mother's pumpkin pie. So creamy, so spicy, so flaky in the crust... I could conquer a nine inch round of that orangey goodness in one sitting without a second of regret. Could you hand me a fork, please?

My passion for this pie began long, long ago in a faraway place called Ohio. There, in our family's kitchen, my mother and I would labor to create goodies for the upcoming holiday celebrations. Well... she would labor. I would stand by, the ever-faithful sous chef, prepared to pour, dump, stir or taste whenever given the opportunity.

Pumpkin wasn't the only flavor that my mom's pies came in, but in my mind, it might as well have been. Pecan, apple... what did those taste like? I didn't know. I was too busy shoveling pumpkin into my mouth to be bothered by those other pies.

This year I decided that it was waaay past time for me to learn the ins and outs of pumpkin pie bakery. My imagination was flooded with images of the conversation that my mother and I would have. Whispered, of course, because pie that good surely must be born of some recipe masked in secrecy...

I was sorely mistaken. "Oh, it's just the recipe from the can of Libby's brand pumpkin," she informed me. The words were like poison-tipped darts to my ears. What?!! All these years I thought this pie was a gift from the gods, and it turns out that it was just a gift from some canned pumpkin manufacturer. I felt jaded.

I decided to put my disillusionment aside and do the right thing. Taking pencil in hand, I copied down her instructions for both crust and pumpkin filling.

Crisco shortening? Evaporated milk? How much sugar? The kale-and-quinoa-eating voice inside me screamed in agony as I listened to the ingredients list. Sorry, Mom, but the most perfect pumpkin pie in the world was obviously in need of a makeover.

Here is what I came up with:

Not My Mother's Pumpkin Pie
makes 1 - 9" pie

Preheat your oven to 425 F.

Crust:
1 1/2 generous C. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 C. organic, non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening
2 1/2 T. ice water
1 egg
1 tsp. cider vinegar

In a large bowl, mix flour and salt together. Then, cut in the shortening in small pieces with a pastry blender until the mixture is in pea-sized clumps. It will kind of resemble cornmeal.

In a separate small bowl, whisk together the water, egg and vinegar. Add this mixture slowly to the flour, using a fork to stir and mix everything together. Its good to get in there with your hands to form it into a ball.

Be generous with the flour when you roll this dough out. Flour your work surface and your rolling pin, and then roll a few times and flip the dough so it doesn't stick. This dough can be worked pretty heavily without fear of poor texture. Roll it out into a circle about 1/8" thick if you can get it that thin. My mom thinks that it's possible to get two crusts out of this recipe, but she's apparently got skills that I am lacking.

So, once your crust is rolled out, transfer it to a 9" pie plate, trim off any excess from around the edges, and you're ready for filling.

Filling:
2/3 C. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 heaping tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2+ tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

2 large eggs

1 can (15oz.) pure pumpkin

10 oz. milk or milk substitute (I used rice)

First, mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in a small bowl. Whisk the eggs in a separate, large mixing bowl, and then stir in the pumpkin and the sugar/spice mixture. Gradually stir in the milk. Pour this pumpkin mixture into your pie shell, and you're ready for the oven.

Bake the pie in the 425 degree oven for 15 minutes, and then reduce the temperature to 350. Bake an additional 40 to 50 minutes (50 was my magic number) or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool your pie on a wire rack for 2 hours, and then dig in!

Brownies: Revisited

Several sun-scorched days ago, I typed out a recipe for sweet, chocolaty brownies to share with you all. By some technological mishap on the part of my film developers, the shots I'd taken of said brownies were sans color. Since then, those film developers have taken the steps of the considerate and redone those photos. I have them now, hue intact.

Because those cake-like treats appeared oh-so-much more delicious the second time around, I thought I would post the corrected pictures to inspire more mouth-watering and spur more of you to action in the kitchen.


I wish I was eating one right now. If I get started early enough tomorrow, I may be able to use the oven without roasting myself in the process...

Brownies - In Black and White

It reached one hundred and three degrees today in the city of Seattle. At 10 pm I'm still sprawled in front of the fan, pressing an ice pack to my skin to keep my blood below the boiling point. For the past two days, the temperature has reached up into the hundreds, and the weather man says that we're in for more of the same. Thankfully I baked something before it got this hot. Twisting that oven knob to the "on" position would, I'm sure, be the end. Death by brownie baking.


The increasing temperatures seem to be having unexplained effects on some in the community. Particularly in the film development world. Strangely, the photographs that I took using Kodak 400 speed color film came back to me on a CD without any color at all. In the age of Photoshop's one click gray-scale, I feel it's unnecessary to use black and white film, but I decided to be flexible on this one and pretend that I had every intention of capturing these brownies without, well... without any brown.

This is the first time that I've ever made brownies from scratch, in fact. As a child, they were always brought to our kitchen via the Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker box. In my adult life, brownies have just never made their way into the line up, what with all of the pies and crisps and cookies taking up that prime oven space. At the request of my chocoholic boyfriend, I broke out the mixing bowls to try my hand at some. All in all, I am pleased with the results, although next time I'll use less baking powder and baking soda to make them a little less cakey and a bit more fudgey.


Brownies!
(Vegan Friendly)
adapted from Chef Joey Z's recipe on RecipeZaar

1 1/4 C. unsweetened applesauce
1/2 C. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 T. ground flax meal
3 T. water
1 C. spelt flour (feel free to use wheat)
1/2 C. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 C. dark chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Lightly grease a 9x9” square baking pan. Measure the water into your smallest sauce pan and heat over medium-high. As soon as it starts to bubble, add the flax meal, turn the heat to low and whisk for a minute or so until the mixture is gooey (similar to an egg). Take off of the heat.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, stir together the applesauce, sugar and vanilla. Add the flax meal mixture to this and stir until well combined.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the wet, stirring until just combined. Make sure you don't over-mix. Fold in the chocolate chips and spread the batter in the prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until your toothpick comes out clean. Cool, cut and scarf. I suggest upping the ante with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Hurry before it melts!