Makin' Cake ... We Should Cocoa

I was looking back at past posts and realized that it has been an age since I made a cake. A chocolate cake - a cake that is so rich and gooey and crumbly that it makes you tremble with the initial sugar hit and puts your teeth on edge (in a good way). I realized that this chocolate cake deficit must be rectified almost immediately.

Viennese Potatoes ... or ... Glorified Home Fries

So ... the first time we had these taters we had them with lamb kabobs and a side salad. The second time we had these, I plopped eggs in the center instead of that sour cream and cooked them to a soft yolk finish.There were dollops of plain yogurt on the side. Tonight, we had them as the cookbook suggested  (with the sour cream front and center). They shared the dinner plate with vegetables all around to make a meatless meal.

IHCC - You Made Me Love You ... Bulgur !

Let me introduce you to the perfect side dish ... this is a fruity, spicy dish of bulgur with sweet red peppers, sweet Vidalia onions, and a hint of tomato paste. It is such a surprise to me because I have tried bulgur in the past and it has always been too chewy, too coarse, to dry. But THIS bulgur is none of those things. Yotam Ottolenghi credits this dish to a friend - Itamar Srulovich. I fell for making it when I saw the illustration in YO's cookbook called Plenty. It reminded me of couscous and when I read the description of the bulgur needed (medium grind), I thought that I might have to try bulgur one more time.

Pflaumenkuchen with Almond Streusel

The plums of September are not the plums of August ... no huge round orbs of sweet flesh with tangy after bite. The prune plums of September are small blueish ovals, sweet and fleshy and easy to go soft.

Every autumn, one sees the foragers in Germany gathering these blue prune plums along agricultural paths or off along the walkways of parks. Home they go with their cache to make pans of Pflaumenkuchen for their daily Kaffetrinken. This 'cake' is a soft cross between a coffeecake and a soft bread with a fruit topping (kinda like a pizza, SB, but NOT !)

Winner, Winner! Chicken Dinner!

This was a busy Sunday! SB, the forester guy, gave a guided walk on a piece of conservation land this afternoon and I was the designated photographer, so dinner was thrown together when we got home from the wilds ...

Chop, chop, rub, rub, sprinkle sprinkle, whiz, whiz, roast, roast, voila! We ate like lions - lions, I tell you!

Morning Snack ... Winter Supply

I made apple jelly at the crack of dawn ... and by 9 AM I was snacking on sharp Cheddar, dollops of apple jelly and super crisp wheat crackers.

A Tailgate Supper - Slow Cooker Pulled Pork and Creamy Cole Slaw

Fall's here in the Monadnock region of New Hampshire! No more knocking on the door with a tentative crisp day or a showy bright blue fall sky. Labor Day has come and gone and now it's back to busy school days, harvesting the final garden produce and beginning the buttoning up of things for the coming (say this word in a whisper!) winter. Soon we'll be raking leaves, planting spring bulbs, cleaning out the greenhouse and stacking the planters and hanging baskets for the season, cleaning out the gutters, stacking the wood up closer to the house,and enjoying the occasional high school football game. Busy days, indeed!

Tomato Basil Tart - A Simple Work of Art

This was the easiest tart that I've ever made ... and in fact, Silent Bob and I are having a debate on whether it is a tart or a pizza. I say tart because the crust is made with freezer-aisle puff pastry and not yeast dough. SB says it doesn't have the depth of a tart, is baked flat on a pizza pan, and has cheese and tomatoes,not to mention copious amounts of basil. It's a pizza in his eyes. Whatever the case, it is a simple affair to make, looks dramatic, and tastes wonderful!