The Holy Grail of Carbs and Comfort: Pasta (homemade!)

Everyone has things they want to accomplish in their lifetime. The 'Bucket List' if you will. I don't really care for that term, but I do like (love) lists and make a new list of goals each year. Some are 'real life' goals like paying off student loans but most are little accompliments meant to make life better. Unsurpsingly enough, that means many of them involve food and books. 

I managed to make bread just fine a bunch of times so I moved on to my other favorite carbohydrate, pasta. I of course started with the red and white checkered bible that is 'Better Homes and Gardens' cookbook - I assume this is what people used before they had google. 

I made my pasta half white, half wholewheat flour and I'm not sure if that was the true culprit but this dough was so hard to work. I mean, like trying to bend cold rubber with stiff mittens on. I had to get help kneading it. Because of the crippling arm fatigue, so photos exist of the early stages. 

As a rule, I always wear my harem pants for Sunday cooking adventures

After finally rolling it flat and letting it rest, I aimed to make parpadelli.

...it went a bit wide. In retrospect it wouldn't have hurt to use a straight edge.

Pile o' pasta. And the pasta cooking times were on the page next to pies,
I promise I did not get that confused

After two batches were cut, I decided to try my hand at a few other 'shapes' and drying the pasta for storage.

Sort of linguine...

And bowties / farfelli! There's a sliding scale of success evident here.

I almost feel bad for my little pasta children

Four bowtie, outstanding in their field

I was pretty worried about how this whole project was going, not to mention the wife had asked for lunch about two hours before I even got the pasta into the boiling water. 

Eventually, the pasta cooked, I only burned myself half a dozen times, and lunch was on the plate half a day later than expected.

It looks all right though, eh?

Queen of Tarts: or a Rustic dessert of Tart-like proportions

Summer brings many highly anticipated things: warmth, vacation, fruit...right? I love fruit and there are so many varieties that are at their best during the summer months. But sometimes, a (wo)man cannot live upon fruit alone for dessert and then it's time to step it up.

Enter...the rustic tart / galette!

Mmmmm

  All you need is a pie crust (I didn't make mine from scratch, so I won't tell if you don't), some cut up ripe tasty fruit (white peaches and raspberries!), and some sugar (I used the 'naked' variety).
 

Lay out the crust and cut up the fruit. Sprinkle a little sugar on the crust, depending on how ripe your fruit is (the riper the fruit, the less sugar needed), arrange your fruit in a nice pattern, covering a good portion of the pie crust, then fold over the size to create a nest of crust and fruit. Sprinkle a little more sugar on the crust / fruit and throw it in the oven.

Bake until crust is golden brown and fruit smells like heavenly goodness. Let settle for a few minutes so you do not burn yourself with molten fruit juices, and enjoy!

Whipped cream is important, though otherwise it's fruit so it's healthy!

Eat it...eat it all

 

 

 

 

...and it looks so French countryside casually chic you could even serve it to guests...that is, if it lasts past the first day.  

The only Soup you'll ever need

The lovely American holiday of Thanksgiving is only mere hours away and while I have an afternoon of sitting in traffic to look forward to, here is easy, healthy, and most importantly delicious recipe that can be made ahead and is sure to impress.

I discovered this recipe years ago and the first time I made it was one of those landmark moments in my life where I felt I knew how to cook for real. My Mom and I both make it and it is always a crowd pleaser. Incredibly creamy and sweet-savory, autumnal and beautifully orange, it's rich without being overly so and would be a perfect accompaniment to a holiday feast.

Creamy Butternut Squash Soup

2 pounds skinned butternut squash, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 cup chopped onion
2 carrots, chopped
2 cups chicken stock (veggie stock, if you are so inclined)
2 tablespoons butter
½ cup light or heavy cream

Chop all vegetables and place in soup pot with chicken stock.  Simmer until squash is tender; about 40 minutes.  

Carefully transfer cooked vegetables and stock into a blender and puree until smooth.

Add butter and mix well, making sure butter is completely melted.

Return puree to soup pot and whisk in cream.

Serve.

Makes 6-8 helpings.
Freezes well; thaw and reheat on the stove top or in the microwave. Stir well before serving.

Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!

Snackles: Is it dessert or breakfast?

It’s fall and that means all the stereotypical autumnal ingredients: apples, pumpkin, turkey, cinnamon, cloves, cranberries...

Of course the New England region probably deserves some credit for this seasonal list of tasty treats, as we do traditionally incorporate them into our local dishes and produce many of them quite well.  So in celebration of the season, my home, and pretending dessert is healthy, here’s what I’ve been cooking lately...

Slow Cooker Apple Crisp (dessert and breakfast in one pot!)

One quart slow cooker

3-5 apples, peeled and chopped (enough to fill the slow cooker pot  3/4ths full)
One cup of old fashioned oats or granola cereal (or a mix)
Heaping teaspoon cinnamon
Tablespoon walnuts (or other nuts, or no nuts)
⅓ cup Light Brown Sugar
3 ½ tablespoons butter, melted

1. Slice and dice the peeled apples into uniformly sized pieces.  Put about half in the slow cooker pot, add some thinly sliced butter and layer the rest of the apples on top.

2. Mix the oats / granola, cinnamon, and walnuts together and spread evenly over the apples.

3. Layer the brown sugar on top evenly.

4. Pour the melted butter all over that goodness.

Cook on high for 30 minutes and low for 60 minutes OR the slow cooker recipe book I have says cook on low for three hours. The 30 minute high and 60 minute low seems to work for me.

Serve with whipped cream, yogurt, or ice cream.

Makes four servings (or two, depending on how you go about it).

I’ve had now made three different versions of this recipe (different apples and different topping mix) and it has always come out beautifully. In a one quart slow cooker, this makes enough for two decent sized dessert servings and two leftover ‘definitely healthy enough for breakfast’ servings. It’s apples, people. Enjoy!