TBWC2C Challenge: Apple-Pumpkin Brown Betty

I’m not quite sure what possessed me to volunteer to be one of the home cooks for Zach and Clay’s Super Awesome Cover to Cover Challenge over at The Bitten Word. I actually almost passed on it. When they first posted it, I could have been somewhere in the first 20 volunteers, I suspect. However, I decided not to, as Bill and I were traveling for most of the cooking time.

When they posted their request for a few more volunteers, I looked at the schedule again. I considered that our vacation rental had a kitchen. And then I said, “Why not?”

Then I got my assignment, an Apple-Pumpkin Brown Betty (APBB). I told Angelique that when I saw the recipe, I was thrilled. You know, in a food hoarder sort of way.… Continue reading →

Bill’s Myriad Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

This isn’t a recipe, as much as a general idea of how to cook something.

A couple of weeks ago we made a tasty Arizona Pumpkin Soup that said it would do well with some toasted pumpkin seeds. We bought a bag (a few cups worth) of raw pumpkin seeds thinking, how hard can it be? Well, not very, though there are a few gotchas.

The three types we made were:

* Olive oil and salt
* Cinnamon and brown sugar

* Spicy!

We used a recipe from Pumpkin Patches and More as to give an idea what temperatures to roast at and whatnot.

This is pretty loose, since it’s not a cookbook recipe, and I didn’t take very good notes (sadness!). But, nevertheless, you’ll get something to work from!… Continue reading →

[82] Fresh Applesauce

Cover of The Healthy Kitchen, by Andrew Weil and Rosie Daley

This is the only recipe from this cookbook I’d ever made before this challenge. I liked it.

I should say, for the record, that I like the photos in this book. There aren’t a lot of them, certainly most recipes do not have a photo associated, but the photos of Weil & Daley cooking and eating, or of random food are just great. There’s a lovely photo of kale in there; I think it’s growing in Weil’s backyard.

I’m saying all of this because, so far, we have disliked or been indifferent to more recipes in this book than we have liked. I occasionally think it’s time to eject the book from the challenge. I don’t think we’re going to yet, but it comes up often.… Continue reading →