Punkin'

So he tells me I do this all the time.... obsess over an ingredient... run it into the ground.... decide I need to break up with the ingredient... only to start the vicious cycle all over again with something else.

Is there a helpline for problems such as these?!

So right now... and for the past month or so I've been obsessed with Libby's Canned Pumpkin Puree. I put it in everything.

My love affair with pumpkin is definitely a healthy one- fiber, vitamins A, K, C, and E, antioxidant, magnesium, potassium, and iron- that's a pretty rockin' nutritional resume!

So to get the mornings going there have been one of two breakfasts!

The first is a Pumpkin Smoothie

The night before I freeze a peeled banana. Add the banana to the following in a blender, and swirl!

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1 cup greek yogurt

3 TBSP Agave Nectar

1/3 cup Almond Milk

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

( I also tossed in an apple to the mix one morning... it was awesome!)

extra tasty with a side of graham crackers!

The second is for mornings that require some warmth.

Pumpkin Oat Meal

I make normal oatmeal- 1/2 cup Old Fashioned Oats, 1/2 cup Almond Milk, and some water depending on consistency desired. In to the mix also goes pumpkin pie spice, 1/4 cup of pureed pumpkin, and 1 TBSP Raw creamy almond butter. I crumble a graham cracker on top, sit back, and nom nom nom....

So my dear pumpkin- who makes fall that much more enjoyable with your round little body, and healthy packed deliciousness- if lovin' you is wrong, I don't wanna be right!

Sunday- Yumday

I am a lady of luxury... or so I was today! I left the house this morning to go pick up my mom. We visited a sick friend, headed over to my childhood friend's baby shower, ran errands around town- all before heading home to a 'licious dinner being fixed by hubs!

Hubs had it going on tonight.... on my way home he asked THE question- what are you feeling for dinner?

I mean after all it is a feeling- well, I'm feeling seafood, salad, I don't know why do I have to commit to one thing?!?!

I countered with what are YOU feeling?

This can go on forever some nights...

His answer was hmmm.. I was thinking Asian food!

PERFECT, I thought an Asian Seafood Salad sounded wonderful!

Fast forward 30 minutes and I arrive to the preparation of Asian Squid Salad, Grilled Curry Chicken- and Teriyaki Chicken, with a side of rice noodles and grilled veggies!

It satisfied every ounce of craving! The salad had a Nuoc Cham dressing (which was made from garlic-3 smushed cloves, Agave nectar- 2 Tbsp, fish sauce- 3 Tbsp, water -3 Tbsp, lime juice-3 Tbsp, and Chili garlic sauce- to taste). Dinner was amazing, the company- even better!

Now it's time to wrap my mind around the 3 day work week, before Turkey Day!!

I'm extra Thankful for the time I get to spend with the hubs and these two!

Lost Blogger...

MISSING:

1 blonde 20 something who used to take pictures of her food and write about it-

last seen wrangling 23 little ones into book bags to be whisked away on a bus home....

I guess it goes without saying that I've been MIA! Obviously, I've still been cooking- and sometimes making DELICIOUS meals!

Caution- time to get your violin out for excuses- The Internet where we live was less than desirable (I could open email, but didn't have enough juice to respond.) With a new set up rolling, we are back in business... for now...

With my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE holiday only 4 days away, I figured now is as good a time as any to get back in the swing of things- after all I enjoy cooking, snapping photos, and jotting down random thoughts about the whole process!



With last years near melt-down state over lumpy gravy and a save by the Moms, there are sure to be interesting stories to share!

I leave you with a few pictures of random Fall eats and of course pups, and hope to return with my trials and tribulations in 2nd annual Thanksgiving Dinner - at our place! With answers to questions such as how long does it take to defrost that bird? And- ooooh that's why I should have gotten a baster- what do I do now?

Baked Spice Rubbed Chicken Ready for a Cranberry Topping

The pups in all their cuteness- somewhere along the way we adopted another one (that's a whole blog post!)

Tampa Chicken"- courtesy of my step father after a wine tour with my mom and sister

The Tower of Wine- at The Hague Winery

Fall off the bone...

.... and into my mouth RIBS!!! I LOVE making ribs... and hubs loves when I make ribs too! We celebrated Sunday with bbq ribs, coleslaw, grilled asparagus, and a salad!

It all started with a dry rub! Ground mustard, onion, garlic, cayenne, chili powder, salt, and fresh cracked pepper created the perfect crust on the ribs!

After a generous spicy massage, and long rest, this bad boy went on a 500 degree grill for a few minutes on each side!
After getting a seared edge, into the crockpot it went.
The slow cooker did all of the hard work- a couple of hours on high, followed by a couple of hours on low- and the meat was falling off the bone!
I pulled the ribs out of crockpot, slathered them in a bath of bbq sauce (Sticky Fingers is my fave!) and popped them in a 350 degree oven for a few minutes to get the sauce extra sticky!


While the ribs were doing their thing in the oven, a side salad was thrown together!

Dinner was served- and enjoyed! This dinner was great way to wrap up a long and emotionally draining summer. I decided I am DEFINITELY ready for fall! Bring on crisp days, warm sweaters, running with OUT humidity, pumpkins, apples, and butternut squash (in everything!) And definitely more blogging about eats and adventures!!!

Whiskey in the Kitchen

Everyone could use a little Whiskey in the kitchen, in my case Whiskey the new pup! She is lively, fun, full of unimaginable energy. One of her neatest traits is her lean- she will rest up against the wall, furniture- or my favorite me!

She was ever present in the kitchen tonight, while hubs and I had our 2 person party! We wanted to SPOIL ourselves with a fun date night in!


So we grilled up some lobster tails, corn, and red snapper- and made homemade mini crab cakes for our feasting pleasure. We brushed the lobster and corn with olive oil, salt, and a little pepper. The red snapper was dusted with garlic, cayenne pepper, chili pepper, and salt before going on a HOT grill!!

This went oh-so-well with mini crab cakes. When the decision was put before hubs-crab cakes or grilled scallops, he said hands down crab cakes always win!

Alongside all this food was Sierra Nevada Brown Ales- thank you brown ale gods! Music was going great, but went horribly wrong somewhere around 10PM... only to be remedied by David Gray's newest released album! His voice was PERFECT for our romantic night in!

This message brought to you by Whiskey- the min pit!

So with a new pup, new school year, and insanely over scheduled hubs this weekend was the prime opportunity for a house cleaning- top to bottom, outside and in. I started off inside, and finished downstairs, hubs went to work outside. 8 hours later the outside was powerwashed and 1/2 of the inside was done- I was outside making sure he didn't fall off the roof most of the day! Pup was pooped from being out all day, and all was good in our well spiced home!


For dinner I had my heart set on Risotto... hubs never has his heart set on risotto. I usually don't tell him that's what I've made until the 18 minutes of constant stirring is complete. When prompted though, I couldn't lie, and under muffled breath stated seafood risotto?!?! No takers! Okay quick switch- fettucini with a cream sauce- still the same concept, rich and creamy, but with noodles-not rice!


GASP

Cream sauce you say?!

Cream sauce indeed- made with white wine and 1/2 and 1/2 instead of heavy cream. I believe in moderation, and yes even a little white sauce once in a while. While I poured light on the cream and heavy on the wine, the sauce came out perfect and was perfect along side scallops, shrimp, and jumbo lump crab meat.


While chores dominated the weekend, it is so nice to come away from it feeling like we accomplished so much.

Seafood Pasta Recipe

1/4 lb Jumbo Lump Crab Meat

8 Jumbo Shrimp

6 Scallops

1/2 cup half and half

1 cup white wine

3 cloves garlic
salt and pepper
3 tbsp fresh torn Basil
1 thinly sliced zuchinni
1/2 red onion
Olive oil... as much as you need :)
Parmesean Cheese
Cooked fettucini noodles-not rinsed!

Finely chop onions, and cook in olive oil on med low- about 10 minutes. Add garlic- cook another 2ish minutes. Dry shrimp and scallops on a towel, and turn up heat in pan to mediumish- not quite med-high. Cook shrimp and scallops- add zuchinni to pan and sautee a bit longer- turn down heat a tad. Add wine, then cream and simmer until thick. Crack pepper in pan, grate some parmesean over to taste. Gently add crab meat to sauce, and mix together. Add cooked noodles, continue to mix, and serve.... yum!

Workin' for the Weekend!

This week flew by in a blur. I remember the students came back on Monday, there were some meetings sprinkled in through out the week, school supplies were stuffed into cabinets, forms, forms, and more forms were filled out sorted and inventoried, and then FRIDAY... glorious Friday! Last year I was lucky enough to work directly with some amazing women. I made incredible life long friendships- as we shared a hallway, we got to see each other multiple times a day! This year my friends and I are split up into different buildings for some, and opposite ends of my building for others. I am so happy to have my new team, and LOVE where I am, but miss seeing my girlfriends everyday! To catch up on the first week of school, we made it out to Weston Farm Vineyard and Winery to have our first "wine down" of the school year. I expect to have many more at this fabulous location. We tasted all of the wines, ordered a glass, and set out on the deck to overlook the acres of grapes, farm animals, and cloud covered countryside that relaxed even the most frazzled teacher-accompanied by random gun shots- someone gearing up for hunting season perhaps?! AHHHH sweet country living! I went with a glass of their Rosso- a blend of Cab Franc and Norton (norton being an all time fave wine)!

Picked this up to accompany dinner!

Our time passed too quickly, as we all dashed off to Friday night plans! Mine included a puppy play date with my younger sister and her two dogs. In an effort to keep up the "socialization" of our Min Pit- miniature pit bull- with other dogs we invited her to come out bring the dogs, and stay for dinner! It was a blast. The dogs wore each other out- and even had a visit from 2 neighborhood goldens, that make it an effort to sneak down here as often as possible (or just to the creek to cool off and get muddy)!

Dinner was simple, healthy, filling, and tasty! Mojo marinated grilled chicken breasts over brown rice, with lightly sauteed veggies and black beans. It was put together quickly- almost too quick for a weekend dinner! The veggies were sauteed and seasoned with cumin, garlic, pepper, and chili powder!

Wine was had.

Conversations continued.

Jokes were made.

Laughter filled the room.

This Friday definitely set a precedent for others!