Only the US would have a holiday devoted to eating

...But I am NOT complaining.

In addition to going to home for the longest period since May, I spend a lot of last week/ weekend making and eating some really delicious food. It began on Tuesday with this...

That's right. An inside-out, deep fried pizza, full of broccoli and onions. Courtosy of Kyle's hometown pizza shop. I'm not usually a big deep fried person, but I was in heaven with this. Yes, I did eat the entire thing. And no, I didn't regret one bite.

My family's thanksgiving feast was fabulous as usually. I didn't miss eating turkey at all really, and my Gram's famous stuffing recipe is conveniently vegetarian. By Saturday there were enough leftovers to justify make MORE food. My friend Mike and I whipped up a whole bunch of goodies. 

I'm not going to go through intricate detail since I'm a little strained for time (the number one thing I will not miss about college is finals). But here are some pictures and recipe links, enjoy!

Orange, Cumin, Vegetarian Chili

Betty Crocker Smores' Bars (with pumpkin spice marshmallows, peanuts, walnuts, and pecans!)

Peanut Butter, Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip Cookies

The Best of Fall in a Single Cookie

I don't know about you, but when I read/hear anything about the flavors "pumpkin," "ginger," or "molasses" I immediately think of the months October, November, and December. And what better way to celebrate the season (/ console myself that the weather is actually getting colder now) than to make a recipe to combines all three?

Eat, Me, Delicious had posted this recipe for Pumpkin, Ginger, Molasses Cookies last Monday. And with my first few hours of the week on Friday (yeah, it was one of those weeks) I knew I had to make them. I had a suspicion I knew someone who'd be all about helping me, so I invited Kyle over to help:

(Yep, I'm super lucky, and my boyfriend actually likes baking with me. Or he's a really good liar).

I had the ingredients on hand for the most part. I was a tablespoon short on the butter, so I just added two extra teaspoons of olive oil. 

It was pretty much your basic cookies recipe. I liked that it called for whole wheat flour from the beginning. I creamed the butter and sugar, and Kyle measured and mixed the flour and spices

I didn't realize the dough was supposed to be refrigerated for an hour before baking when we started, and I was kind of short on time (FeelGood was making sandwiches for The Original Magazine's Release Party - shameless plug, I know). Instead I put it in the freezer for 20 minutes or so and that seemed to do the trick. 

Next, we rolled balls of dough in sugar and put them on the baking sheet. Kyle gets most of the credit for this since I was running around cleaning and getting ready.

I think we ended up making them larger than we were supposed to. They took almost 20 minutes per batch (vs. 10-12 min) and we only got about 2.5 dozen (instead of 3.5). However, it did give us an excuse to eat them immediately when we took them out of the oven though! (Had to make sure they were done, right?)

The sugar baked into them more than the original recipe, or at least that's what I figure from the pictures. Either way- these were delicious! (and also fantastic with ice cream, if you're feeling adventurous). Christmas cookie season is quickly approaching and I can definitely say that this recipe will be repeated.

Happy Early Thanksgiving!

..and 15 minutes later it was gone.

That got your attention, right? It's not even an exaggeration. I brought this taco dip to a FeelGood pot luck we were having and within minutes if me setting it down, there were maybe a few chipful's left. For an added bonus, it took about 20 minutes of active work to make, and almost all of that was cutting veggies. AND it was just-about vegan (ie. it would have been vegan had I put out the extra dollars for dairy free sour cream). I bookmarked the recipe ages ago in my Google reader, but I was waiting for a good occasion to make it.

Ingredients:

FeelGood errands have me in The Strip District every Wednesday, so I was able to pick up refried beans from the Mexican Grocer and get discounted veggies from Stan's.

I really don't enjoy cutting veggies... so I did that first:

I didn't end up photographing the next few steps. It really just was a matter of spreading the layers. First, the beans, than the avocado, then the taco seasoned sour cream. I didn't end up using all the taco seasoning (didn't want to burn anyone's mouth), but I did add the 3 jalapenos (the recipe called for 2-3, I was living large).

Finally, I just popped it in the oven for a little over 25 minutes. Conveniently I was still getting ready, so it had a little time to cool before I carried it to my friends place.

And then we dug in. The picture was taken mid-destruction with my rather terrible phone camera, but you get the idea.

I'm sure the Trader Joe's Flaxseed tortilla chips helped a little too (seriously though- they're like crack). I also skipped the cilantro because I knew some of the people who'd be dying to try this (Alyssa) weren't fans. In the end I forgot about the parsley substitution as well, but clearly, neither was needed :)

Halloweekend

If there's one thing I've learned in the past four years of college, it's that there is no such thing as a calm Halloween weekend. Not in Pittsburgh, at any rate. This year was even more crazy since I had been away the weekend before (read: no Halloweekend prep time). In addition the normal levels of crazy (you know, the ones related to costume shopping, increasing one's alcohol tolerance, etc.), there was a whole lot of food to be cooked. 

I won't bore you with all the detailed cooking instructions like I usually do. Instead, here's some Halloween themed food porn. Enjoy!

(more to come about that last pic, Happy November!)

Win.

The same night of the butternut mac n chz almost-fail, Nick and I had incredible success making caramel corn. The recipe is part of this year’s 12 weeks of Christmas cookie’s on Baked Brie. I’ve been following these posts closely because cookies are my go-to thing to bake, and even though this wasn’t a cookie recipe, I knew I had to make it.

Minus the popcorn (because I’m really not a huge fan of it), every other ingredient I had on hand. We didn’t have quite enough vanilla, but the end result was so good I’m not sure it mattered a whole lot.

After popping the corn, we combined all of the ingredients except the vanilla and the baking soda:

Nick took care of melting the concoction over the stove, and adding the last two ingredients. Next, we poured over the popcorn.

Then we baked in the oven for 10 minutes at 200 degrees in two very well sprayed dishes. And…voila!

Unfortunately I didn't realize how unfocused this picture was when I took it, but believe me, it looked gorgeous. By the time it had come out of the over, Don and Ryan had arrived, so the five of us went to town. We could not seem to get enough of it (def. made up for the mac!). Don even snapped a few pictures of our excessive excitement: 

I may have already gotten a request to remake this.

In the spirit of Halloween (/ any holiday ever really? I love the U.S.) there is a TON of festive baking going on in the very near future. Nick's hosting Halloween festivities, which of course translates to an excuse to bake. I made something tonight that smells delicious, but I have to wait for the taste-testers to let me know how it actually is. 

Happy Halloween! 

Butternut Squash Mac n Cheese...wait what?

I’m obsessed with seasonal things. I’m pretty sure I got it from my mom (who takes pride in decorating the house for every little holiday). This year instead of placing my entire focus on pumpkin, I found myself foodgawkering butternut squash. Then I found this recipe for butternut squash mac n chz, on Angela’s delicious blog. I’ve made countless recipes from this blog, but sometimes the vegan substitutions intimidate me a little (I just don’t trust myself with cashews and nutritional yeast). So after some more foodgawering I came across this recipe and knew I had to try it.

Nick was a hundred percent on board. He came over my place Thursday night to make it with me. I bought a 5+ lb butternut squash from the strip (Note:  I think I got 8 cups of squash at least out of it… the recipe only called for 2). We used almond milk instead of regular milk because it’s what I had (Nick and Ryan were sure they could taste it, unfortunately. I hadn’t thought the difference would be that noticeable). The rest of the ingredients were things we had on hand:

Since the squash I got was so big, I roasted the part of it that I wasn't using for the recipe:.

Making the squash puree ended up being easier than roasting it. I managed not to cut a finger off cubing it, but I easily could have (so if you make this please be careful!). Then I boiled water, and tossed the pieces in until they were tender. Next, we tossed the it all in the magic bullet and pureed it. (Note: Don't forget to add the veggie broth before processing it- Nick kindly reminded me that I was on crack and added it himself- and the mixture got so much smoother).

Nick took care of the next few steps. He boiled the pasta (as you normally would) and set it aside. Then he combined the rest of the ingredients in the pot, adding the cheese last.

And finally we sat down to enjoy with Alyssa!

Unfortunately, it didn't taste quite as amazing as it looks. Like I mentioned earlier, the almond milk wasn't a great choice. We also didn't add quite enough salt. But with the help of some Parmesan cheese, we all finished our bowls. I'm excited to polish over the left overs this week, even if no one else was begging to take some home.

But, as my friends reminded me, not every recipe can be amazing. I may try to make it again in the future with some improvements. 

After we finished the mac, we moved on to bigger and better things! But that's for the next post so stay tuned!

Guest Post Dois!

The summer before last I got the opportunity to visit Brazil as part of a class I was taking. It was undoubtedly one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had. The class was about sustainable engineering technologies, which Brazil happens at the forefront of. In addition to visiting various plants and factories, I had a whole lot of adventures- all of which gave me a huge appreciate for Brazilian culture. Part of that culture, of course, was food.

Our favorite snack/side/hangover food was easily Pao de Queijo (Brazilian cheese bread). When my friend Ryan and I got back to the states, we were determined to find some here. I looked up a recipe, and found that it's made from tapioca flour. I spend more time in the baking aisle than average chick my age, and I had never seen/heard of it. Over the next few months I tried to get in the habit of glancing over the flour types in every grocery I went into (yes, I am that cool because no, I was not about to pay S&H and order it online). Eventually, I stumbled upon some at the East End Food Co-op. 

This is another one of those recipes that everyone seems to like. But I guess it's hard to go wrong with cheese and bread. Ryan made some the other day and meticulously documented so I could share it! He found a recipe from over here. This recipe is a little different than the one we've used in the past. The recipe here didn't top it - and it was a whole lot messier. The end result was still damn delicious though.

The recipe calls for vegetable oil, but since the olive oil was on hand he used that instead. He also added some chili powder for kicks (get it? ha..). 

This coming week is crazy, but I owe a few people baked goods so I won't be gone long.

Thanks for this week's post, Ryan!