A Spooktactular Halloween ...

I love this time of year.  The fall, with the chilliness in the air and colorful leaves falling to the ground, signals the start to the holiday season.  Halloween just happens to be one of my favorite holidays...simply because I get to decorate the house with orange and black (the best color combination and certainly one of my very, very favorites) and I can make some very special and artistic treats and I get to give them to friends and family.  I smile to think of the excitement the kids feel as they anxiously await All Hallows Eve and the candy they will accumulate while trick-or-treating.  And who doesn't love wearing a costume ... a chance to be a superhero or beautiful princess or cartoon character for one night ... so much fun.

With October about half over, I wanted to share some pictures of our decorating this year.  Our house is filled with lots of little creatures spooky in their own right ... spiders and bats ... mice and crows.  There are pumpkins and skeletons and Maurice the spooky butler.  There are tasty candies and cleverly decorated baked goods that make the kids eyes wide with excitement.  There are caramel apples filling a plate and jars of orange, yellow and red candies filling the buffet table in the dining room.   The table is home to a creepy skull covered in a cloche.  All placed with a purpose to create a perfectly spooky setting. 

Chris jokes every few days when I add just another little piece here and there that maybe we need just one more thing.  And I just giggle because there is so much more that I would love to add.  Each day though I hang just a few more strings of spider web or place another small spider on a lampshade or table runner ... just for fun and see him smile when he discovers my latest addition. I still have a bit of kid in my heart and feel the same excitment that our children do when the house comes alive with all the the scary props.

At nights when the lights are turned down low, the pumpkins shine eerily up the staircase and Maurice lets out a very spooky laugh and nearly scares us all out of our minds,  A crow sits with his wings spread in the bird cage on the porch watching over the house for visitors, lit underneath with a scary green light.  A black light shines on a skeleton breaking from the ground in a little well-placed cemetary in our front yard.  But its all in good fun and the house feels so playful ... because its all in the spirit of this fun-filled holiday where we can for one night pretend to be someone else and roam from house to house in the chilly evening air begging for treats.   And I have to admit that I love to dress up too, as a witch, and stand by the door greeting each little costumed trick or treater who is brave enough to venture past all the spooky things to our front door.  Happy Halloween...enjoy the season!

Perfect for a picnic or dinner around a fire....

I have to say that this is one of my favorite things to eat and its considerably healthy and best of all, its portable.  And we all know that I love portable food!  A couple of months ago, I decided to indulge and buy myself a little something ... not shoes or clothes .... but a Breville Pie Maker from Williams Sonoma.  Oh my gosh do I love this thing.  How could I not ... its makes my favorite treat in the world ... a pie (or an individual pie I should say) in about 4 minutes.  Yes, you read that correctly ... 4 minutes.  Now you have to keep in mind that doesn't include the time it takes to make the filling or the crust but it is very simple and I absolutely love it. 

Anyway, I have been experimenting with it alot lately and not only have I been whipping out fruit pies but I also made some really exceptional pot pies that are fun to wrap in some wax paper and slip into a picnic basket and eat just about anywhere you want.  And they are beautiful, as well as, tasty!  Go figure!

The ones you see in the image to the right happen to be chicken pies but you can do just about anything from veggie pies, beef pies, enchilada pies to chicken pesto.  Basically, all you have to do is start with a base ingredient like chicken and add all the yummy complimentary veggies and then make a thickened sauce that will tie it all together.  Cheese and other things are optional.  Below, I decided to pass on a basic recipe for a chicken pie that you might like to try.  

Chicken Pot Pie

Favorite pie Crust (rolled out into two rounds)
2 chicken breasts (chicken chopped into bite sized pieces)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp chopped thyme
1/2 tsp chopped sage
2 carrots cut into bite size pieces
2  potatoes cut into bite size pieces
1/2 cup of chopped celery
1 cup of frozen corn
1 cup of frozen peas
1 cup of green beans
1/4 cup sour cream
1 can of Campbell's Cream of Chicken soup

Cook chicken breast in a large sauce pan with 1 cup of water.  Bring to boil.  Add salt, pepper and chopped sage and thyme.  Add carrots, potatoes and celery.  Cook for 8 to 10 minutes.  Add corn, peas and green beans.  Continue to cook for 4 more minutes.  Remove from heat and sour cream and soup.  Stir until well combined. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a pie tin with 1/2 of the pie dough rolled into a circle.  Pour the chicken and veggie mixture into the crust.  Top with the remaining pie round and seal the edges.  Cut a couple of slits in the top of the crust for venting. 

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the crust is nicely browned. 

Chicken Mac and Cheese ... a new take on an old classic

I just had to share this with y'all!  Chris and I were having a quiet dinner the other night together.  Given our recent cold spell and the stress of the  past few weeks, the ultimate comfort food sounded perfect.

So after the kids were all settled doing there things for the evening, I decided to whip up a really tasty favorite of mine ... a gourmet macaroni and cheese that is made with chicken, bacon (of course), and gorgonzola, muenster and monterey jack cheeses.  Its really not all the difficult and pairs well with a salad of fresh baby greens with herbs, tomatoes, red peppers and a zippy vinegarette (I usually prefer a balsamic or a greek myself).  I also love baking it up in individual baking dishes or ramekins depending on how hungry you are or if it is going to be a side dish. 

Also, you can use any type of pasta that you prefer ... I used ziti in this one because I love the way it looks; however shells or elbows or bowties work fine.  You can also subtract the meat and make it vegetarian by replacing the chicken and bacon with roasted red peppers and sauted mushrooms ... or add them to this recipe if you want some excitement.  You can also increase the amount of cheese in the recipe depending on how cheesy you like it but the gorgonzola should remain the same as suggested in the recipe.

Chicken and Bacon Three Cheese Macaroni and Cheese

4 tbls unsalted butter

4 tbls all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cups of whole milk
2 ounces of gorgonzola cheese
1 cup of shredded muenster cheese
1 cup of shredded monterey jack cheese
1/2 box of pasta (ziti, elbow, bowtie, or other)
2 chicken breasts cubed
olive oil
4 strips of bacon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare pasta according to the package instructions in a 6 quart pan.  Once boiled al dente, drain and return to the pan.  While the pasta is cooking, place the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Add the cubed chicken breast meat and pan fry until the chicken cubes are browned and cooked through.  Add this to the drained pasta in the 6 quart pan.  Using the same skillet, fry the bacon.  Once crisp, remove the bacon to drain and once cool, crumble into the pasta and chicken. 

Using a small sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the salt and pepper and flour to the pan and whisk together until thoroughly mixed.  Allow this to bubble for about a minute to cook out the flour taste.  Add the milk to the pan whisking while pouring to mix and prevent lumps from forming.  Continue cooking over medium heat, whisking occasionally to prevent sticking until the mixture begins to thicken (like a sauce or gravy consistency).  Now add the cheese to the milk mixture, stirring until all the cheese is melted and the sauce is thick.  Pour this mixture over the pasta and meat in the pan.  Divide among four individual ramekins or baking dishes or place in one large baking dish which has been sprayed with PAM.  Sprinkle the top with a little monterey jack cheese.  Place in oven and back for 25 minutes or until the top is browned and the mixture is bubbly. 

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving.  Eat up and smile!

Honey almond cupcakes anyone ...

My friend Hallie from the Downtown Raleigh Farmer's Market asked me if I could whip up some cupcakes for an event that was planned this month for one of our Wednesday markets ... the Honey Buzzival which highlighted our local honey producers and some unique and creative ways to use honey.  She suggested bees given the honey theme and I was so, so, so very excited ... I love being creative ... its my middle name afterall :)

I wanted to make not only something cute but a cupcake that was made from honey too.  After much thought and consideration, I decided to make a very tasty and healthy cupcake .... a honey almond cupcake topped with a honey cream cheese buttercream.  Yum, yum, yum!!!!  You can find the recipe below. 

I do have a few pointers though that I wanted to pass on.  First, I love shortcuts ... especially when I am in a hurry ... so instead of the toasted and ground almond slices, I opted for the easier route ... ground almond meal.   Thanks to the folks at Trader Joe's ... this allowed me to save a bit of time and effort. 

Another pointer would be to drizzle the honey into the bowl as you are mixing the batter on low ... this will allow you to evenly incorporate the honey into the batter. 

For the cream cheese frosting, I also suggest that the cream cheese be cold when you add it to your mixer.  Plus, cream cheese frosting has the tendency to soften quite a bit during the mixing process or if left out of the refrigerator, so I would recommend refrigerating for at least an hour before decorating your cupcakes. 

My honey bees were made from layered strips of fondant cut and hand-molded and then you simply place two sliced almond wings on either side of the fonant body.  Simple!

Honey Cinnamon Cream Cheese Cupcakes
Yields 12-15 cupcakes

Honey Almond Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups almonds slices (toasted and grounded)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (170g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup (170g) honey
1/4 cup (110g) sugar
3 large eggs (separate the whites and the yolks)
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Line cupcake tin
2. Toast 1 1/2 cup of almond slices in the oven for about 6 mins.
3. Grind the almonds in a food processor with 1/2 cup of the flour until very fine. In a medium bowl, combine the grounded almonds, remaining flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
4. Beat butter, honey, 1/2 of the sugar, almond extract and vanilla in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy.  Add the orange zest.  Add egg yolks one at the time at low speed... then switch to medium speed and continue beating for about 6-10 mins.

5. Add flour mixture in 3 equal parts to the yolk batter with a spatula, and then beat on low speed for 6 counts. Set aside.
6. Beat the egg whites with the remaining half of the sugar on low speed for 5 mins plus minutes.  Make sure the whites are not too stiff. When you lift up the paddle, the whites should drop to foam (a small hoop at the tip.)
7. Gently fold the whisked egg whites into the yolk batter in 3 parts. Fold with spatula lightly and quickly just until mixture is fully incorporated. Be careful not to over beat the mixture.
8. Spoon into cupcake liners and bake for about 20-25 mins

Cinnamon cream cheese frosting:

1 pkg cream cheese
2 ounces/4 tbls butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 Tbsp. honey
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 cup confectioner sugar

Just beat everything in the mixer. Refrigerate.
You can make the frosting a day in advance.
Decorate the cupcakes with some toasted almonds and dusting of powdered sugar.

*Recipe can be used for a loaf or bundt cake

A few of my favorite things ....

For those wondering ... I have not disappeared :)  It has just been a hectic and very busy past few weeks and I have just now found a few minutes to sit down and blog about a few of my favorite things ... or specifically my favorite baking/cooking accessories ... measuring cups.  Okay, okay I don't always use them and often prefer the dump and pour method ... using my hand in place of a measuring cup or just basically "eyeing it" but I do love them. 

Oh my gosh do I love beautiful things ... and where a lot of women will collect and adore jewelry or shoes or china, I must say that I love meauring cups and aprons ... especially vintage ones or vintage looking ones.  A few years ago while in Boston, I picked up these beautiful pewter measuring cups embellished with dragonflies ... another thing that I think is quite lovely and another one of my favorites.  It was like a match made in heaven and I have kept them close by in the kitchen since the day I brought them home.  I was also excited to see that Paula Dean uses a set from the same designer.  I think she has ones that are ocean themed ... also amazingly beautiful. 

So recently, while Chris and I were on a trip, I went to another one of my favorites, Anthropolgie, for a little window shopping and to see if I could find some amazing treasure at a good price.  Here is their website http://www.anthropologie.com/ .   I must say that this beautiful store sings to my soul.  I walk in and feel like a kid in a candy shop. And if you get the chance to visit one in person rather than just visiting their online site, you will understand why I adore them.  The clothing, accessories, shoes and home goods are so nostalgic and can transport you back to another time or bring fond memories to mind that were locked away temporarily. Its funny that just walking into the store seeing the lovely vintage designed dresses and smelling the rose water perfume somehow remind me of my Grandma Burke in her "house dresses" skittering about busily in the kitchen preparing food and tidying the house.  Typically, you would find one of everything in the store on my Christmas list.  Alright, back to my story, I have to share with you what I found.  As I was strolling leisurely through the home section, I just happened to find a wonderful collection of measuring cups ... all in different colorful patterns.  One in particular caught my eye and I just knew that they had to go home with me.  Are you ready? Are you ready .... beautiful aren't they? So delicate and fragile and colorful.  They remind me of times when I was a child watching my grandma bake.   And honestly they just inspire me to want to bake up some beautiful cupcakes and cakes.

I just want to decorate a cake for someone ... along the sides would be those lovely stripes in the same vibrant and happy colors and then embellish the top with dainty red and blue posies.  I can only image how pretty it would be and how much the person that I made it for would enjoy receiving it as much as I would enjoy making it.  I wonder who would love one?  Maybe I should start baking and surprise someone special ....