Monthly Archives: November 2010

Help me decide on cookies.

Grace would like to make cookies again on Wednesday, and she’d like them to be something other than the maple cookies we made before (tell me I posted that recipe, please).

I may fall back to a basic chocolate chip recipe, but I’d kind of like to do something really new. Any requests for something you all would like to see here?

Also, anyone know a good proscuitto recipe in the cookbooks we’ve got up so far? I’d really like to eat some, but I’d feel a bit gluttonous if I just bought half a pound and ate it straight.… Continue reading →

[60] The Pumpkin Tureen

the cover of The Enchanted Broccoli Forest

When I saw this recipe’s title, I was curious. When I read the recipe, I had to make it. It’s soup. BAKED IN A PUMPKIN!

Seriously, as I think regular readers of this blog will know, I have been itching to make this recipe since the moment I laid eyes on it. Admittedly, I haven’t gone on and on about it, but at least two posts (maybe even three) mention that I’m planning to make it “soon”. It took awhile, but I managed.

Part of why it took awhile was because I wanted to make it when we had at least one dinner guest. While Bill and I are totally worth a lot of effort “just because”, this seemed like a lot of food and a lot of effort.… Continue reading →

[59] Creamy Butternut Squash

cover of Cook With Jamie

I love butternut squash. I don’t think I had it a lot as a kid, but I definitely had it some. Mostly, my mother would cut one in half and put a little butter and brown sugar in the cavity and bake it until it was soft and delicious. In fact, I don’t think I had it any other way until years after I started making it at home. Of course, over time that sort of preparation makes you wonder if you’re having a veggie or a dessert, so I started looking for other ways to make it. Mostly, I found soups. I like them, but I still wanted something else.

That’s part of what’s been making this challenge so neat; I’m being forced to branch out in two ways.… Continue reading →

[58] Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

How to Cook Everything, Revised Edition by Mark Bittman

Until a few days ago, I’d never eaten brussels sprouts. If I recall correctly, this is because my mother loathes them. Like most people, as a child/teen, I mostly ate what my parents fed me. Especially when it came to vegetables, because I certainly wasn’t putting vegetables in my mouth of my own accord! (I wish now that hadn’t been true then. It might’ve made doing so now easier. I am getting better. Evidence? You’re reading it.)

Thus, I really hate peas, and all things that taste like peas, to this day. Peas being basically the only vegetable my father would eat (at least in any quantity). My mother hates peas, but served a ton of them anyway. I just don’t get why she’d do that to us (us being her, my sister and me).… Continue reading →

[57] Bean and Potato Gratin (with Turnips)

How to Cook Everything, Revised Edition by Mark Bittman

For the vast majority of my life, beans have been involved in many meals I’ve consumed. However, each of those meals used the exact same preparation and type of beans.

Yes, I grew up in New Mexico. So I ate a lot of refried pinto beans. A lot of them. No, even more than that. Seriously. Because I really didn’t like most meat burritos, or tacos, or well, lots of things. I was basically left with eating bean burritos every time my family went for New Mexican food (except breakfast – that glorious meal). Or some variation on bean burritos. Like bean-stuffed sopapillas. Or the bean and cheese turnover at the now extinct Ron’s (Ron & Marsha’s to my parents).

Beyond that, though, I have almost no experience with beans.… Continue reading →