Russian Tea Cakes

My friend Noel makes Russian Tea Cakes every Christmas just as her mother did and, I believe, as her grandmother did as well. Her grandma, who was of Czech descent, refused to call them Russian Tea Cakes because of what the Russians did to the Czech people. I believe the family still calls them pecan crisps or something like that. Pictured above are some of the actual cookies made by Noel. She sent some home with us after her most recent holiday fete.

Butcher and the Boar

Dale and I went to Butcher and the Boar for dinner last night. I had wanted to go for New Year's Eve but they were booked. Thankfully they weren't to busy last night. I had steak and he had BBQ'd octopus. Also had a couple martinis.

Christmas 2013 - Imbibing

Top left - Morning shot of pumpkin pie flavored liquour. 

Top right - Lunchtime martini. For lunch we made Hawaiian pizza.

Bottom left - Sample of the wine Dale used for the beef bourguignon. Amazing.

Bottom right - After dinner Bailey's Irish Cream

Christmas 2013 - Beef Stroganoff

Dale and I had originally planned to make Julia Child's beef bourginoine recipe for this year's Christmas Day dinner. That would have meant spending a good chunk of Christmas Eve day preparing it and with having to sing for two Christmas Eve services we decided that there wouldn't be quite enough time without making the day overly stressful. Instead we combined the bourginoin recipe with out crock pot beef stroganoff recipe which cut the total prep and cooking time by more than half.

First Dale sauted garlic and green onion and then the mushrooms. Next he browned the meat on the stove and then put it in the oven for about a half hour. After that he added wine and mustard and then cooked it in the over for about three hours. Before serving he added sour cream. We served it over egg noodles. The result was heaven.

Turkey Pot Pie

Made tonight. So divine. We used this Thanksgiving's turkey and gravy and the result was out of this world.

Thanksgiving 2013 - Finished Pumpkin Pie

I made these cookies from extra pie dough. I tried to add the one in the center before baking but that didn't work very well. It just sank in the batter. I baked it by itself and then set it on top of the finished pie which, by the way, turned out quite well. I think I like it with the stewed and mashed pumpkin rather than puree. It tastes a bit grittier and more rustic. I can't remember where I got the Minnesota cookie cutter. I think Mom gave it to me quite a few years ago. I bought the snowflake cookie cutters just last year. I anchored the snowflake cookies to the side of the crust but some of them sank to a greater or lesser degree. From above it looks like snowflakes in a hot tub with some trying to float their legs on the water and some with their legs submerged. 

Thanksgiving 2013 - Pumpkin Pie

This morning I continued the adventure of making pumpkin pie that I began last night. 

Top left: My own puree.
Top center: Adding the other ingredients (see below)
Top right: Mixing
Middle left: The baker
Middle center: Yes, it's Thanksgiving 2013
Middle right: Embellishments added before putting in oven
Bottom left: Out of the oven!
Bottom center and right: I watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade as the pie baked. I love Snoopy. This balloon is his 7th incarnation according to Matt Lauer.

Here's the recipe I used from allrecipes.com:

"Ingredients

2 cups mashed, cooked pumpkin
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

In a large bowl with mixer speed on medium, beat pumpkin with evaporated milk, eggs, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Mix well. Pour into a prepared crust. Bake 40 minutes or until when a knife is inserted 1 inch from the edge comes out clean."

Note: I added a dash a ground cloves, used a Pillsbury pie crust, and left in the oven about 5-10 minutes than called for by the recipe. This whole process was a blast!

Thanksgiving 2013 - The Big Day

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Eve 2013 - Getting Ready for the Big Day

We managed to get to Kowalski's by around 10 a.m. to pick up all the food for tomorrow. Dale called his mom and dad when we got home. Athena rested on his foot while he chatted with them.

I'm attempting to make pumpkin pie this year using an actual pumpkin and not just the canned puree. I started the process of getting the pumpkin ready at around 9:00 p.m.

Top left: The pumpkin

Top center: Halved

Top right: Seeded

Middle left: Cubed

Middle center: Boiling

Middle right: Skin removed (I think next time I'll remove the skin before boiling. 

Bottom left: Ready to mash

Bottom middle: Mashed!

Bottom right: Ready to spend the night in the fridge until tomorrow morning when the pie will be made.

Here's the directions for preparing the pumpkin from allrecipes.com:

"Use 1 1/2 pound of skin-on, raw pumpkin to yield 2 cups of mashed. Halve pumpkin and scoop out seeds and stringy portions. cut pumpkin into chunks. In saucepan over medium heat, in 1 inch of boiling water heat the pumpkin to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until tender. Drain, cool and remove the peel. Return pumpkin to the saucepan and mash with a potato masher."

Note: I didn't pay attention to how much the pie pumpkin I bought weighed. I chose one that wasn't too big and wasn't too small as compared to the other pie pumpkins at the store. I ended up not cubing about 1/8th of the pumpkin. What I yielded from what I used was about twice as much as I need for the pie. Next time I think I'll save what's left over for another pie!

Thanksgiving 2013 - A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

We watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving tonight. I watched it with the kids at school the other day. They loved the scene where Snoopy goes at it with a lawn chair. Pretty funny. The special dates to 1973 which means it's 40 years old! I remember Sam, Pete, and I watched this as kids. Dale and I tried to eat a healthy dinner tonight in anticipation of tomorrow: chicken breast and broccoli - not bad, huh?

Pumpkin Muffin

Out and about with my friend Noel yesterday. We stopped by Breadsmith and I picked up a pumpkin muffin for myself and a pumpkin scone for her. I just can't get enough of all things pumpkin.

Pumpkin Ice Cream Sandwiches

Made lasagna for dinner tonight and it a fairly good effort. Pumpkin pie flavored ice cream sandwiches for dessert.

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Again the pumpkin bread I made this past weekend was quite divine. The recipe came with the Nordic Ware pan I purchased. Here it is:

Pumpkin Bread
1 (16 oz.) can pumpkin
1 3/4 cups sugar (I used baker's sugar)
2/3 cup vegetable oil (I used canola)
1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup raisins or dried cranberries (I did not use either)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour pan (I used Pam); set aside. In large bowl, combine pumpkin, sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs; blend well. Stir in remaining ingredients, except raisins. Mix until blended. Stir in raisins. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 65 - 75 minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes; remove from pan and cool completely.

Making Pumpkin Bread

Made pumpkin bread today. First attempt of the season. Here's the step-by-step:

1.   Pumpkin puree mixed together with sugar, canola oil, vanilla extract, and eggs.

2.   Added flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and baking powder.

3.  Poured in my cool new loaf pan.

4.  Actually filled the pan too full. It rose way too high.

5.  Cut off the top of the loaf and found there was a part that wasn't quite done.

6.   Baked for about 10 more minutes.

7.   The finished product.

8.   With butter. Yum.  It turned out quite well if I do say so myself.

Pumpkin Loaf Pan

It's been a while since I've made pumpkin bread. I came across this loaf pan today and will try to bake some up tomorrow. Dale does love himself some pumpkin bread. So do I.

Kowalski's

Interior shot of my favorite grocery store, Kowalski's.

Feelin' Like Fall

Dale and I made a chicken pot pie for dinner and had pumpkin pie flavored ice cream for dessert. It's feelin' like fall.

Oh, Happy Day

Today the Minnesota House approves the gay marriage bill in a 75-59 vote! Dale and I went to the Lowbrow to celebrate. That place is fast becoming one of my favorite restaurants.  We both had the rigatoni with spinach and broccoli in cream sauce. So delicious. Dale had an ice cream sandwich for dessert which was really vanilla ice cream between two of the most wonderful chocolate chip cookies I've ever had! I had the chocolate stout cake. As the name suggests, it was made with Guiness beer which kept the cake extra moist. It had a cream cheese frosting as well.

Dinner with Chris, Alyn, Ellis, and Eric

We had Alyn, Chris, and Ellis, along with Eric V. over tonight. We served baked rigatoni and used gluten free pasta instead of the regular stuff (Eric's gone gluten free). For dessert we had sea salt and caramel ice cream from Pumphouse Creamery. Of course, it was all very delicious and it was great to see these guys as it's been a while. 

St. Joseph's Day 2013

Fish is a pretty traditional dish for St. Joseph's Day in countries where it's observed. Today I had to settle for a Filet-O-Fish sandwich from McDonald's due to having class tonight.