The Crust

It's been a LONG time since I have made a pie crust.  So I was a little worried.  But this came together beautifully and tasted great.  And as I mentioned in the Cran/Blue Pie Post it still tasted great three days after baking it.  Don't be afraid!  It was well worth the effort.

Cranberry and Wild Blueberry Pie

So I decided to go in a different direction from the usual apple, pumpkin or pecan pie for Thanksgiving.  And boy am I glad I made this beauty!  I am not usually a blueberry pie fan but combined with the cranberries this was spot on.  DELICIOUS!  And I made both the crust and the filling the day before so all I had to do Thanksgiving morning was roll out the crust, dump in the fruit and bake it.  Easy as...well...pie.  Sorry.  Couldn't help myself.  So here we go.  

Indian Pudding

So I've been feeling a little nostalgic lately.  My Granny used to make Indian Pudding for me on Thanksgiving.  I'd never made it before, but I have her Joy of Cooking so I thought why not give it a try.  And since I am making a berry pie for Thanksgiving dinner I thought Indian pudding would be a good second dessert, then we could cover both the fruit and spice flavors.  I have to admit that I wasn't as happy with the outcome as I had hoped to be.  It just didn't taste quite right.  Typical right?  Nothing ever tastes quite as good as it did when someone special made it for you.  Here is the recipe - right from Gran's Joy of Cooking (she even had an x next to the raisins - I hate raisins) I'll put in italics what I think might improve the flavor.  As is it has a very strong molasses flavor, which is good, but for me it needed to be cut with vanilla ice cream.

Pumpkin Nutmeg Dinner Rolls

 

Yep.  That's right.  Pumpkin dinner rolls.  One pan sweet (only slightly) and the other pan savory.  Does it get better than that?

So these are headed to Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.  And to keep myself from eating a whole bunch and showing up with pans missing many rolls I put them in the freezer.  But I have been thinking about them since Sunday.  And when ever I pull open the freezer I see the two packages wrapped in foil and I can wait to eat them!  Last night I actually considered busting a package open and warming a couple of rolls up in the oven, then I thought of the looks I would get turning up with what was once clearly a round pan full of rolls with gaps.  So I left them where they were.  Lucky for the rolls.

Jazzed up Corn Muffins

These were super quick to pull together.  They were great with chili last night and just as good with scrambled eggs this morning.  The original recipe was from Gourmet, January 1999.  I added more pumpkin seeds, more cheese and the scallions.

Let's just get right to it, you're probably hungry and impatient for the recipe!  

Sweet Potato, Swiss Chard and Smoked Gruyere Turnovers

 

Three things that I love.  Wrapped in pie crust. What could be better?  

I found the recipe for these beauties in Real Simple a year or so ago.  The only things I changed were to swap the fresh thyme for dried and the Gruyere for smoked Gruyere.  Here is my reasoning.  I always have dried thyme in the cupboard.  If I buy fresh thyme I will not use it all before it starts to wilt.  I like smoked Gruyere better.  That is all. 

Thanksgiving here I come!

I am getting really excited for Thanksgiving!  I mentioned my addiction to the Epicurious slideshows.  I have been looking through all of the Thanksgiving ones and drooling.  I have been put in charge of desserts for next Thursday.  Is anyone really surprised?  I am thinking of making a cranberry blueberry pie and individual Indian puddings.  That way we have both fruit and spice flavors covered.  And since there will be a maximum of six or seven people individual Indian puddings make much more sense than a giant bowlful, especially since everyone always wants the edge pieces.  I also found a recipe for squash pan rolls that I think with a little tweaking will be really delicious.  The grocery list has eggs and butter underlined several times.  Stay tuned!

Green Beans? Broccoli? Please?

This is classic Pippa.  Searching for food.  Hoping, just hoping, something will hit the floor.  Please Mum, I really want some veggies.  I am so cute!  Give me the green beans.  If I stare at you with my big brown eyes you HAVE to give me the broccoli.  GIVE ME THE BROCCOLI!  Please? 

Spiced Cranberry Bundt Cake

So I posted this once already today.  And then I was trying to fix some of the settings.  And I deleted it.  Not cool.  So here we go again.  I will do my best to remember what I had typed before.  UGH!

 

So I have a slight addiction to the recipe slideshows on Epicurious.  I spend a lot of time browsing.  And getting hungry.  And convincing myself that I absolutely HAVE to make SOMETHING.  I was intrigued by this recipe because not only did it have the spices you would expect to find - vanilla, cinnamon and ginger - it also had Chinese five spice.  I was curious about baking with almond flour, having never used it before.  I was also looking for a different type of holiday dessert and I am pretty sure this cake will be making a reappearance.  It is delicious!

In my earlier post that I deleted I gave you the whole back story on the adventure to find the Bundt pan and the almond meal.  At this point I really just want to get the recipe up so you can make this for yourself!  So just a quick note - go directly to the natural foods store to find the almond flour.  It may be listed as almond meal and I think Bob's Red Mill will be the easiest to find.  It is pretty expensive so you may want to have some other recipes that use almond flour on hand since it is simply finely ground nuts and you wouldn't want to spend the money and then have it go rancid.  Be sure to store it in the freezer.

 

Lentil Soup with Turmeric Yogurt

I love soups in the fall and winter.  Who doesn't?  My soups need to have a lot of flavor and maybe something unexpected.  The something unexpected in this soup is the subtle kick from the spicy smoked paprika and the turmeric yogurt that melts in and around the lentils and clings to the kale.  It is warming and hearty and delicious!