Old-Fashioned Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting

Something Wicked This Way Comes…For Now

Halloween has me a little concerned this year. In the past, costume planning started in January. This year serious planning didn’t start until September. Well, except for my daughter; she still started planning in January. She will be going as a hamster. Without the human-sized hamster ball though. She’s totally bummed…and, yes they do make human-sized hamster balls.

The boys were seriously less enthusiastic. Getting them to commit was worse than pulling teeth, and the ideas kept changing from day to day. Scooby Doo and Shaggy were their first options. Frankly, I thought it was an awesome idea, but my opinion may be why it was nixed immediately.

One of the boys wanted to be this blow up ostrich thing—just too weird. (Really? Who comes up with these?) The other one was first thinking about being a caveman, and then the lime green unitard guy…ummmm, no!

The good news? No blood and guts for 2014. Instead we have a Spartan (that in no way resembles Tommy Trojan. I made sure of that. Go Ducks!), a nerd, and of course a hamster named Peanut—complete with a bag of peanuts. (This is an essential part of the costume as is the sign that says: Hi, my name is Peanut. My daughter is nothing, if not thorough.)

All of this semi-drama leads me to believe that it might be the last year for Halloween fun, at least for the boys. This goes way beyond the usual complaining when I take pictures of them in their costumes before school. Next year they hit Middle School and the innocence of the Buzz Lightyear costume morphs into I’m too cool for school. What-evs! And bring on the T.P. mischief.

I’m not ready for it to be over. Next thing you know we will loose Santa, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny. Total childhood anarchy. I refuse to accept it. So I have been self-medicating with cake.

I made this one over the weekend. It seemed to help… Read more…

Traditional French Cassoulet

When it comes to cooking, I’m always up for a challenge.

The first time it happened, was maybe my sophomore year in high school—or possibly even younger, and I was desperate to make this incredibly difficult chocolate cake that I saw on Great Chefs. It had dark and white chocolate, chocolate ganache, and chocolate shavings.I had no business attempting to make this cake but I did it anyway.

The cake was beautiful. Though it didn’t turn out exactly as it was supposed to, it was still impressive. (So was the mess. Just ask my mother!)

Over the years I have attempted many other considerable challenges. Fresh butternut squash ravioli was one. There were also a couple of dishes from the master, Julia Child. Lately I have found that most recipes from Thomas Keller can be tough to make look “right”. They tasted pretty good, though.

There is one dish I have really wanted to make over the years that isn’t exactly difficult, but does require some time: Traditional French Cassoulet.

The main reason I have put it off is that it usually requires a Confit of Duck that I really don’t have time to make. A few weeks ago, I found a post on Serious Eats, the clouds parted, and the sun shone down. (Cue angelic singing.) J. Kenji López-Alt’s recipe made making a cassoulet so much more approachable, that I just had to try it. So over the weekend, I did.

It still required work and time, but the end result was worth it. The beans were unbelievably tasty and creamy. The chicken was tender. My only complaint was that it was too salty for my tastes (López-Alt warns about this in the post.) The rest of my diners didn’t think so. I include my kids in this—they actually went back for seconds. I think next time I will cut the amount of salt pork in half just to see. And there will be a next time.

This is definitely a Sunday dinner type dish because of the time involved, but the recipe is a keeper and it is the perfect lazy, rainy weekend dinner. Read more…

Inside-Out Pumpkin Muffins

Goin’ Out of My Gourd
Maybe it’s the weather. Maybe it’s the fact that Fall is officially here. Then again maybe I’m just impatient since it’s not even October yet, but I have done gone pumpkin crazy.

I’ve noticed recently that any time I am in a position to be choosing a flavor for something, like a latte or a cookie, I find myself choosing the pumpkin option without fail or forethought.

This past weekend, I was overcome with the need to make pumpkin bread. Yes, the temperature was in the low 90s but I needed a pumpkin fix and it was worth a hot kitchen to get it.

Fall is my favorite time of the year so some version of my fall food mania is an annual occurrence. Of course, similar mania happens in the Spring with its fresh peas, and Summer with the arrival of stone fruit. I guess it’s fair to say that I’m just a year-round lunatic.

The intensity of my pumpkin craving is turned up a notch this year, and I am laying the blame at the feet of my flock. Thanks to the girls, there are no more squash plants of any kind. I am feeling a bit desperate.

The good news? There are many possibilities out there to satisfy my need for pumpkin. This recipe for Inside-Out Pumpkin Muffins is from my King Arthur Flour newsletter and is a perfect way to soothe any pumpkin addiction as well as a craving of equal intensity… Read more…

Cock-A-Leekie Soup

Rooster In The Hen House

We have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the first eggs from our chickens since they are now of age. It has been fun to watch them grow from chicks to hens, and to get to know their personalities…and they do have personalities. Some of the biggest characters have been given names.

There’s Trouble, who got her name because if the chickens are found doing anything naughty, chances are she’s at the head of the pack egging the others on. She is also the one who likes to come and peck at our back door to see what we are doing.

Then there’s Turtle and Seagull. They were the easiest to name because Seagull looks like one and Turtle is short for Turtleneck. She has a ruff of feathers around her neck that makes her look like a Shakespearean reject.

The kids named one of the Rhode Island Reds Huevo—short for Huevos Rancheros. Apparently, sarcasm and irony are genetic.

And then, there’s Sparkle who got her name because she’s just not that bright. Now, I realize it’s relative. They are chickens after all, but she is exceptionally tragic. I watched her continuously run into the wire fence the other day, because she couldn’t figure out that she needed to fly back over it, which is the way she got out in the first place. I took pity on her and picked her up to give her a hand. Sigh.

We missed the mark on one of the chickens. As we watched the chicks grow bigger and bigger we noticed that one of the Rhode Island Reds was really tall. We figured she was part of the blessed 1% of poultry who could be referred to as Super Model Chickens. We named her Cindy for Cindy Crawford. The problem is Cindy is actually a rooster. So we changed his name to RuPaul.

Ru has become a problem, as you can imagine any adolescent rooster would. The girls want nothing to do with him, and unfortunately he’s the guy at the bar who just won’t take the hint. Therefore, we were compelled to find him a new home. This weekend he will be going to a nice farm where he can speed date with other chickens who might be more accepting of his nature. It’s a way better fate than the soup pot.