November 2009


 by

Maybe Sandra Lee Has a Point

dsc_0095

It was one of those weekends where I somehow managed to spend more money in two and a half days than I had all week. Sunday night must be a make-at-home meal.

Of course I refused to leave the apartment for additional ingredients so I performed a mental scan of the kitchen. Two things popped out: broccoli and cheddar cheese. I really didn’t feel like messing with a broccoli and cheese soup. Not that it’d be particularly hard, but I had a feeling I would be scouring the internet for recipes and then melding 20 different variations into one fat crock of soup that would take me two hours to make.

Instead, I decided to chop up a bunch of random vegetables, some summer veggies that were a day away from the trash and some winter veggies that could hold up in the fridge for another week. I’m not sure what defines a casserole.

Actually, can something be a casserole without the help of a Campbell’s soup product?

Read More›
in Cheese / Eggs / Recipe / Veggie 5 comments
 by

Happy Leftover Pumpkin Season!

pumpkinfilling_full

Editor’s Note: If you’re anything like us, you’re finding this manic Monday particularly difficult, as you sit among a pile of empty candy wrappers and turning-bad pumpkin, wondering how the hell it got to be November already. Fortunately, Alex is on hand with some tips about how to use up all that leftover pumpkin before Thanksgiving rolls around:

As per my seasonal tradition, I got really psyched to make pumpkin cookies a few weeks ago. (Note: butter does NOT work as well as shortening in pumpkin cookies. Disaster.) Under normal circumstances, I would normally have only bought a small can of pumpkin for this endeavor, but presumably because those New Hampshire fall colors just make you want to eat something orange, they were all out of the little cans. So I had to buy the 16-oz. can, but since I was not going to make a hundred cookies, I needed to figure out what else to do with all this leftover canned pumpkin.

Pumpkin bread was the first and most obvious choice, but I wanted to get a little more creative, so to the Internets I went, and ended up with two new pumpkin dishes: curry pumpkin soup (inspired by a recipe at pumpkinnook.com) and pumpkin pizza. Yes, pumpkin pizza.

Read More›
in Desserts / Recipe / Veggie 13 comments
 by

Farewell Summer, I Shall Not Miss Thee

The grill, covered and neglected in this cold weather

As I sit at home on this gloomy, cold day in the Mid-Atlantic, it seems like so long ago that the summer heat of August was blazing down on us, rendering me miserable and cranky in my home and kitchen. While I know that many of you  lament summer’s passing, and the associated end of grill season, I have been looking forward to the change in weather for some time.

With no air conditioning in my kitchen, the summer weather meant that we did little cooking in the kitchen. Grilling became our main source of sustenance. I longed for the days when I could whip up a one-pot meal that would produce leftovers throughout the week. And now, finally, the seasons have changed (perhaps too fast for those of you getting snow), and we are deep in the middle of fall-cooking weather.

So here, readers, are my five top foodie reasons why I am happy to see summer gone:

5. Crock pot

The crock pot never ceases to amaze me. Throw in a bunch of veggies, meat and some liquid, and eight hours later – voila! – a tasty meal. I never use it in the summer, since I don’t really crave a meat and potatoes sort of meal during the summer.

ES on crock pots: BBQ Pulled Pork

4. Hot tea, hot cocoa, hot cider…

Who doesn’t love to curl up with a hot cup of your favorite beverage on a cold fall or winter day?

ES on hot drinks: Homemade Hot Chocolate

3. Red wine

Call me crazy, but in the summer, I have no interest in drinking red wine. And I love red wine, so sometimes I’ll make sangria, but generally, I have to wait until the cool weather hits to really enjoy it.

ES on wine: How to Use Leftover Wine

Read More›
in Desserts / Drinks 3 comments
« Previous