Okay, these were meant to be like pop tarts, only with pumpkin pie filling. They turned out to be so much more flaky and tender and decadent than that that I’m not entirely sure what to call them! Other than, ahem, gone.

Moving on.

The long and the short of it: to make these I made pie [...]]]>

Okay, these were meant to be like pop tarts, only with pumpkin pie filling. They turned out to be so much more flaky and tender and decadent than that that I’m not entirely sure what to call them! Other than, ahem, gone.

Moving on.

The long and the short of it: to make these I made pie crust from Ruhlman’s Ratio app on my iPhone, and a pretty standard pumpkin pie filling from Libby’s. I cut the pie crust into rectangles, put some cooked pumpkin pie filling on one, then a little egg wash around the edges, then put another rectangle on top and crimped the edges closed with a fork. A little more egg wash and a sprinkle of sugar on top, then baked at 400 for about 10 minutes.

To make these super fast you can absolutely use refrigerated, pre-made pie crust. Heck, you can buy an already-made pumpkin pie (hello, Publix bakery?) and scoop out the filling — see how fast this just got? Life is short; do what it takes. Here’s the longer way around, for those who are game:

You will need for the pumpkin pie filling:

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 large eggs
• 1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin
• 1 can (12 fl. oz.) evaporated (not condensed) milk

You will need for the pie crust:

• 340 grams (2.4 cups) of flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 227 grams (1 cup) of butter
• 113 grams (1/2 cup) cold water

You will also need:

• One beaten egg + a little bit of water to make an egg wash

First make the pie filling:

1. Mix together sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves
2. In a larger bowl beat eggs, then stir in pumpkin and sugar & spice mix, then slowly stir in milk
3. Bake in a buttered glass dish at 325 F for about one hour, until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Since this is technically a custard, I set my glass dish in a larger dish, then filled the larger dish with enough water to come about halfway up the sides of the smaller dish (a water bath — aren’t we fancy?)
4. Leave in the water bath to cool, then move to the fridge after an hour or so

On to the pie crust:

1. Using a food processor, a pastry blender or a fork, cut the butter into the flour, salt and sugar till the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal, then pulse or cut in water till flour is just moistened; refer back to here to see what that will look like (i.e. it will not look like pie crust yet). Shape into a disc, wrap in saran wrap and stash it in the fridge for at least 15 minutes, but up to a day
2. Retrieve your pumpkin pie filling and make little pies! Go crazy. Use cookie cutter shapes, make rectangles, use biscuit cutters and make half moons — whatever entertains you. For each roughly pop-tart-sized rectangle I made I put in about 2 Tbsp. of chilled filling, but you can kind of eyeball it. The good news is that it’s not runny so it’s not going to go everywhere. Use a little egg wash around the edges before you seal them closed, then put a little more egg wash on the top and sprinkle sugar over it just to be pretty. Poke a couple holes in the top for steam to escape
3. Bake on parchment-lined cookie sheets at 400F for about 10 minutes, but just keep an eye on them — you want lightly browned
4. Enjoy with coffee and remind yourself that this is a breakfast pastry containing pumpkin, which is a vegetable; you’re totally not eating pie for breakfast

As promised, another recipe from The Cousin! May I say that this pairs beautifully with margaritas?

We made two sheet pans of this to feed the assorted family we had collected at the house that night; The Cousin wrote down the recipe for one sheet pan for a more reasonable size.

You will need:

Y’all, I have somehow done it again. AGAIN I have a lovely camera lens that is now in two pieces. I don’t even know how, but I do know that iPhone photos of food aren’t quite the same. Better than nothing, though, right?

This is based on the Honey Roast Orange Chicken recipe [...]]]>

Y’all, I have somehow done it again. AGAIN I have a lovely camera lens that is now in two pieces. I don’t even know how, but I do know that iPhone photos of food aren’t quite the same. Better than nothing, though, right?

This is based on the Honey Roast Orange Chicken recipe from The Minimalist Cooks at Home by Mark Bittman. The Yankee and I both loved it!

You will need:

• 1/2 cup soy sauce (lower sodium kind is great)
• 1/2 cup honey
• salt and pepper
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp. ginger
• 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

To make:

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Combine everything but chicken in a bowl and whisk to combine
3. Lay chicken breasts in a single layer in a cast iron skillet or baking dish and spoon over about half the sauce
4. Bake at 375F for about 40 minutes or until chicken is cooked all the way through, turning over halfway through cooking to keep it evenly coated in the sauce
5. When chicken is done move it to a plate to rest, then pour remaining sauce into the skillet; cook uncovered on medium high until sauce reduces and thickens
6. Slice chicken into strips (against the grain) and serve over rice and vegetables, using thickened sauce to finish it all off. So tasty!

This was so fast and easy. Let me know what you think!

What, like that’s not a descriptive name?

Kiddo’s Aunt Myrtle (hands seen above) made this for me this weekend. We may or may not have eaten it sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace and a chick flick. Ahem.

You will need:

Behold: my breakfast from now till Christmas!

These are such a lovely start to the morning. Warm and comfort food-ey and delicious even without any butter on them. I’m afraid this is another one of my scrawled-on-a-piece-of-paper recipes so I’m not sure where I originally got it, but I’ve been making them forever.

You will need:

The first time I tried hummus? Not. A. Fan. I couldn’t even tell you now what I didn’t like about it (it was years and years ago) but I can for sure tell you I didn’t like it. Fast forward to this month when Kiddo’s BFF’s mom made it at her house. Seeing as how [...]]]>

The first time I tried hummus? Not. A. Fan. I couldn’t even tell you now what I didn’t like about it (it was years and years ago) but I can for sure tell you I didn’t like it. Fast forward to this month when Kiddo’s BFF’s mom made it at her house. Seeing as how it’d been years and years I wanted to try it again, so I sort of held my breath and took a bite. YUM! I don’t know what the difference is, but now I can’t get enough of the stuff.

Vanessa sent me her recipe so I made a big batch of this for last night. Halloween night at our place is hanging out with the neighbors on the front porch with food and wine while we hand out candy; we don’t go trick or treating because Kiddo doesn’t like candy (of course) so we just make it into a party (and I LOVE it!). In the three and a half seconds I spent looking in the grocery store I couldn’t find the tahini Vanessa’s recipe called for so I used natural peanut butter instead, a la Alton Brown.

Gather up:

• 1 can chick peas (drain, keep 1/3 c of liquid)
• 1/3 cup natural peanut butter (or tahini)
• 2 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2-3 cloves garlic, peeled or a couple spoonfuls of jarred minced garlic
• Healthy pinch of salt
• Cayenne pepper to taste

1. Put everything but the chickpeas in a food processor and process till garlic is well chopped; add in chickpeas and process till smooth and give it a taste — adjust salt and cayenne as desired
2. Chill; eat with pita chips and/or baby carrots

Enter: Jason’s Guac Starter. It’s made by a local guy, which is awesome, and I can pronounce everything in there. Also awesome. AND [...]]]> I resisted “guacamole mixes” for years. I mean, what exactly is IN those little packets of “spices,” “flavor enhancers” etc.? Likely stuff I can’t pronounce. And you KNOW how I feel about that.

Enter: Jason’s Guac Starter. It’s made by a local guy, which is awesome, and I can pronounce everything in there. Also awesome. AND it’s stuff I put in my guacamole anyway, so it’s a triple threat of awesomeness.

Plus? It’s GOOD.

I’m a woman converted.

So here’s what guacamole looks like in the OPK household these days:

To make this you will need:

• Two ripe avocados
• Two roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1/2 cup Jason’s Guac Starter
• Salt to taste
• Eight ounces lump crab meat
• Chips (duh)

Quick assembly:

1. Scoop out the avocado into a bowl and mash with a fork, then stir in guac starter and diced tomatoes; taste and add salt as necessary
2. Top with eight ounces crab meat, drained
3. Nom nom nom all the while reminding yourself that avocados are the good fat

Disclaimer: I spent my own monies on Jason’s Guac Starter and was not compensated for this post. I am not a paid spokeseater, I am merely a crazed fan.

I love the simplicity of this one-pot macaroni and cheese; however, after 20 hours in the car with Kiddo (who, by the way, was a car-traveling champ) in the last four days I wasn’t really feeling the urge to watch the pot as closely as I would need to in order to avoid a boiled-over-milk [...]]]>

I love the simplicity of this one-pot macaroni and cheese; however, after 20 hours in the car with Kiddo (who, by the way, was a car-traveling champ) in the last four days I wasn’t really feeling the urge to watch the pot as closely as I would need to in order to avoid a boiled-over-milk scene on the stove.

I also had some pimentos that had ripened in the garden while Kiddo and I were gone.

So I crossed my fingers and totally made up tried this — and it worked!

You will need:

• 3 Tbsp. all purpose flour
• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 2 cups milk
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. dijon mustard (optional)
• 1.5 cups dry pasta
• 2 cups shredded cheese
• 3 fresh pimentos, peeled (like this, only tiny), seeded and minced

One-pot assembly:

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. In a heavy, oven-safe sauce pot melt butter till foam subsides, then add flour and whisk until fully combined; add milk while whisking and turn off stovetop heat
3. Stir in salt, mustard, dry pasta, cheese, and pimentos; cover pot and place in oven
4. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through; top with additional cheese and uncover for the last few minutes if you so desire

That’s it!

Fast forward ten years (or so… ahem) [...]]]> When I was 14 and babysitting for a family in town the mother called home around 4:00 in the afternoon and asked me to cook some fresh green beans for supper. I immediately called my mother and asked her exactly how to cook them. “For today?” she replied incredulously.

Fast forward ten years (or so… ahem) to the first trip The Yankee and I made together to his homeland of the frozen tundra Detroit area where I ordered green beans at a restaurant. What arrived on my plate was something bright green and very crunchy. They were, er, not my favorite part of the meal.

So this pot started cooking about noon for supper that night:

Here’s what’s going on in there:

• Green beans from last year’s garden (they’d been frozen; I try to avoid the BPA in canned ones)
• Pork jowls from our CSA
• Olive oil
• Chicken broth from the freezer
• Garlic from Tywater’s produce stand at the feed mill
• Salt

Here’s how I make green beans that even my nanny kids will eat:

1. Pick a heavy-bottomed pot and pour in enough olive oil to cover the bottom; use that to fry a couple strips of bacon or pork jowls
2. When the bacon is cooked through toss in a couple handfuls of fresh green beans, a clove of garlic, a sprinkling of salt and enough chicken broth to cover the beans; cover pot with lid and gently simmer… for a long time

You can also add some red pepper flakes and or some Worcestershire sauce into this if you’re so inclined. It’s pretty fabulous.

This is easy, right? And of course you can control exactly how cooked they are this way.

Now if only I could get the Yankee to try them….