I’m obsessed with….

Bananagrams…. look it up people!

hopefully there are no mistakes!

the Catskill Kiwi goes COWGIRL!

Giddyup folks.. that’s right I’m in Texas, San Antonio to be exact and apparently its the sixth largest city in America.

Mr Weiss is down here for a 3 month stint working, whilst I’m doing my best to….

a. get my cowgirl on

b. eat as much barbeque as possible and

c. gorge on mexican cuisine

….all of which are fantastic.  I’ve taken a stroll around the ole Alamo,  lurched about the River walk, both by land and sea and so far cannot get enough of the queso, a hot melty cheese dip.

I’ve yet to find some cowboy boots, but I’m looking that’s for sure.  The weather here is a fantastic 70F which is a far cry from the chilly 30′sF of NYC, what suckers!

heave ho…

That’s the sound of another year shedding…. Here’s to an absolutely kick ass 2012, upon reflection I feel my 2011 was fairly mediocre and I’m not willing to settle for another one like that, so without further ado, lets bid a rip roarin raging massive HOWDI to 2012!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR Y’ALL.

pumpkin loaf

I love baking loaves, all kinds, blueberry, gingerbread, lemon/yogurt,  zucchini, banana, whatever, but I saw this recipe and it hit the holiday spot.  The problem is a lot of the loaf recipes they sometime make for too bigger quantities for a household of two, and sometimes I’m just cheap enough that I don’t want to donate 3 cups of flour into one recipe.

So with some creative math and a bit of fudging here and there I came up with this one loaf recipe adapted from here.

Pumpkin loaf

1 1/2 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinanmon, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, 1/4 tsp allspice, 1/4 tsp nutmet

t tsp salt

2 eggs

1 c sugar

1/2 14oz can pureed pumpkin

1/2 c vegetable oil + 1/4 c water

1/2 c chopped pecans (or walnuts) 1/2 c dried cranberries

Oven 350F

Line a 8 x 4 loaf pan with parchment and grease.

Mix the dry ingredients together, combine the wet, mix in nuts and cranberries. Pour into pan, Bake 50 mins, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

Spied this on the Huff Post this morning… can’t imagine the electric bills!

thank you Huffington Post for being a constant source of inspiration!

2011 food trends..

I love it when the end of the year rolls around all the lists start popping up… best stories of 2011, best wedding dresses, celebrity couples, celebrity breakup, you get the idea and then there’s the inevitable food trends. I spied this on the Huffington Post.

1. Insects… seriously, I mean really? are we that hard up for protein?? Gimmick fad that will fade, my prediction.

2. Fancy Donuts… now this is more like it. With my close proximity to Donut Plant on Grand street I have more than sampled my fair share of fancy donuts. My favorite flavors include coconut cream filled, PB&J, key lime, mango, pear, pistachio…

3. Bitters. Personally I love bitters, nothing punches up a refreshing glass of seltzer with a good splash of bitters.

4. Uncommon Chinese flavors… any Chinese food is all good with me.

5. Pimento cheese ball… with the classy Ritz crackers of course, welcome back to the 70′s.

6. Foraging.. from the farm to the table to foraging for your food this is probably the biggest food trend for this year, just mind your mushrooms, what you don’t identify just might kill ya.

7. Fancy fried chicken.. not sure what constitutes “fancy” the rosemary garnish? but I’ll eat any fried chicken fancy or otherwise, fried is fried!

8. Macaroons… I’m more in love with the look of them rather than the taste.

8. Meatballs… takeaway the sub and you got yourself gourmet.

dream kitchen…

This is what my dream kitchen would look like…

the thing about this dream is… that it might just be attainable.

maple pecan bars…

Seeing as there are only two of us and not wanting to promote excessive eating habits, Mr Weiss and I rarely make pies or any other desserts where we are committing to sitting down and stuffing in half each! Unless its a pavlova of course.. which it was. But anyway whilst trawling online for baked goodies to have on hand I felt like something pecan-y and came across this really easy super yummy pecan bar recipe, sourced from the Pioneer Woman’s Tasty Kitchen website.

Maple Pecan Bars

for the shortbread crust

1 cup flour ( I used 3/4c ap flour and 1/4 c brown rice flour) basically because I had some and I can’t bring myself to follow a recipe without screwing around with it first.

1/4 c packed light brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

6 tbsp cold butter cut up

for the filling

4 tbsp butter

1/4 c maple syrup

1 tbsp cream

1/2 c packed light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup pecan pieces

Combine shortcrust dry ingredients, cut in butter, using hands to resemble coarse crumbs. Press into a pre-sprayed 8 x 8 inch or 9 x 9 inch pan. Bake 350 for 20 mins or until golden brown. Remove and set aside.

Melt butter in a small saucepan, add remaining ingredient (except nuts) stir constantly for about 2 mins. Add pecans, pour over crust and bake another 18-20 mins. Remove, cool and cut into bars.

a very veggie thanksgiving..

We had a very quiet thanksgiving for two! And as Mr Weiss does not partake in the gobble gobble and I’m hardly gonna cook one for myself we opted for a festive pumpkin lasagne, much more manageable for two.

Roasted Pumpkin Lasagne

Pumpkin

3 lb butternut squash

4 tbsp butter

2 tbsp chopped sage

salt & pepper

1 clove chopped garlic

1 tbsp lemon juice

Cut squash lengthwise, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper roast 375F for 50 mins or until tender, scoop 2 cups flesh into bowl, reserve rest for another recipe.  Melt butter saute garlic 1 min, add pumpkin, sage, lemon and combine.

Ricotta Mixture

1 cup ricotta

1/2 grated parmesan

1/4 c chopped parsley

salt & pepper

Bechemel Sauce

2 tbsp flour

2 tbsp butter

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 1/3 c milk

Melt butter over low heat, slowly stir in flour, keep stirring until flour turns golden brown add salt, pepper and nutmeg, quickly stir in milk until mixture thickens.

In a 8 x 8 pan or close to…  start with a thin layer of Bechemel sauce cover with a layer of no cook lasagne noodles, then layer of ricotta, followed by pumpkin. Repeat until all three mixtures are finished. (for extra cheesey-ness add a layer of parmesan in).

Bake covered at 375F for about 35 mins, remove foil, bake uncovered for another 10 mins.

we followed our lasagne with my signature Pavlova… which turned out to be one of my best!

 

blanket finished…

So I finished my first knitting project. Well kinda, I’ve decided to add on one more row in length, but this is how it looks so far.

I’m very pleased and already scheming up my next knit-a-thon!