When Life Gives You Pumpkin …

Make pumpkin bread!

pumpkin bread via flickr.com

And pumpkin biscuits.

Pumpkin biscuits via flickr.com

Yes, I had leftover pumpkin after completing my Thanksgiving dessert, bourbon pumpkin cheesecake. So flipping through recipe books I decided upon these two oldies but goodies. Other runner ups for leftover pumpkin recipes includes pumpkin pancakes (I would have had to make that one up as I went along, since I don’t have a recipe) and cream of pumpkin soup (we actually had cream, but no chicken stock on hand and my goal was to use ingredients in the house).

The pumpkin bread recipe is your typical quick bread type, this particular one courtesy of our Better Homes Cookbook (the big red one). The pumpkin biscuits is a fantastic recipe (includes the directions for orange-honey butter, which I didn’t bother with), courtesy of Cooking Light magazine (November 2003).

BTW, I’m surprised to find Cooking Light’s recipes no longer behind a subscription wall. I stopped going to their Web site after I cancelled my magazine subscription (at some point I just stopped cooking as much and subscribing to a cooking magazine seemed a bit much). Anyway, it seems their business model has changed. Check for yourself.

Little sweet nothings

Get ready for a deluge of postings. Yay!

I’ve finally downloaded some pics from my camera. I’ve been forgetful in posting these. Here are some yummy desserts for your viewing pleasure:

German chocolate cake and a mini pumpkin bundt cake. Both from the Metropolitan Market. Enjoyed on Oct 5.

A Top Pot doughnut (purchased at a Starbucks, despite my best intentions of banning Starbuck because of the debacle that is the Seattle Sonics. I blame Howard Schultz for the mean out-of-town owners. But I digress). Oh yeah. Chocolate Glazed. THE best.
Enjoyed on Oct. 6.

Print this page (no, don’t really)

HP Photosmart C6189 All-In_One Printer - Amazon.comWe recently purchased a new printer. It’s not just a printer, though. It is the HP Photosmart C6180 All-In-One Printer. It copies, scans, faxes. Slices, dices, chops. Oh, yes, it prints, too, of course.

Installing the software took a bit of time. The first mistake we made was connecting the device before turning on the laptop. The laptop was so confused it hurt. Unplugged, restarted, then plugged and all was good. Installed the software, and was able to print pretty much right away. The printing time is fast, relative to our old ink jet printer. I printed a one-page calendar created in Excel and it took just a few seconds (according to Amazon, printing time is 32 ppm. Not too shabby). Print quality is good, though I haven’t tried printing out an image yet.

My next experiment was scanning. I attempted to a few times and the printer (which, really isn’t a printer, buy sca-cop-fax-inter is too difficult to say. AIO for short). wouldn’t talk to the laptop. So, restart the laptop and suddenly everything is hunky dorry. Scanning quality is decent, for its purposes. Take a look:

Cake! What else would I show you? Our wedding cake. Don’t ask me what kind of cake it was because I can’t remember. Neither can the husband. Different tiers were different flavors, but that’s all I remember. But I digress.

So, scan quality is not terrific, but does its purpose.

HP software offers image editing but I probably won’t bother since I already own a couple of other ones. One of the cool things about the AIO is that you don’t require the PC to operate it. You can scan and save to a memory device (i.e. USB flash drive). You can insert a memory card from your digital camera, and the AIO accepts all sorts of cards, including CF (compact flash), which is what our old Canon PowerShot uses. Yay!

Initial verdict: I like it. It’s pretty intense, lots of features. Now that the initial installation is over I see it is fairly intuitive, as you’re able to control it either at the printer or from the laptop.

Haven’t tried the fax yet. That’s next up. Will report later.

Big bite brownies. Just plain big cookies.

By far, this is the favorite dessert photo I’ve taken since I started this project:

Four “Big-Bite Brownies” stacked. Courtesy of Metropolitan Market and their fabulous “free with coupon” offer to Bryant shoppers. Look for yours in the mail! Except for E., who for some reason does not receive the coupon.

At one time they were called “Two-bite Brownies”. I don’t know what marketing maven decided to change it from two normal bites to one big bite.

Whatever the decision, it didn’t really change the flavor. They are good, but not overwhelming. I am more excited about getting the bargain than about the brownies themselves.

I picked up the brownies yesterday. Then, this morning, having forgotten we had brownies at home, I picked up a couple of cookies while at PCC after rowing. Of course, I remembered on the way home that I am trying to avoid cookies in the first place, nevermind that we had a small tub of brownies at home waiting for me. Ah well. Tough life.

One peanut butter chocolate chip cookie, and one ginger snap cookie. Both vegan, both from PCC, as I mentioned earlier.

I’ve had them before. I know they are gooood. I bought the PBCC for the husband. I personally enjoy the spicy molasses of the ginger snap (which is chewy, not crunchy, by the way).

Happy Autumn! Time for some cocoa.

Oh what the heck. One more post about food. Tonight I whipped up some hot cocoa, one of our favorite cold-evening desserts. Usually we rely on the instant stuff, no sugar added.

Instead, today I combined sugar and dutch-processed cocoa, with water, milk and vanilla over the stovetop for some homemade goodness.

Just enough for two mugs of yummy chocolatey goodness, without the false sweeteners, and without the ginormous calories of a chocolate pie that we contemplated getting from the store tonight.

Dessert double whammy

Dessert from the past two days:

Apple pie a la mode
Apple pie from the Market. Dreyer’s Peanut Butter Cup (slow-churned, of course). A classic. I don’t think I need to say anything more.

Red bean paste buns
The husbands thinks these are gross. It’s one of those thing where you bite into something thinking it’s one thing (like, say, a bbq pork bun), but it’s something else. Shocks the system. He’s not recovered.

I purchase these frozen from the asian market. Steam them for eight minutes.

Grammatically, I suppose it should be “Red-bean paste buns”. The Chinese translation on the packaging is never correct.

(Sorry, I wish the buns pic was better).

mmm…doughnuts…

Clip Art Media from Microsoft.com/officeI LOVE doughnuts. Love ’em, love ’em, love ’em. My favorites include the cruller and chocolate glazed (I’m a simple girl, with simple tastes).

I do not eat them as much as I would like, however, because of the obvious. Too much sugar. Too many calories wasted on 5 minutes (ok, 45 seconds) of oral gratification. Yeah, I said it.

I didn’t always know that doughnuts weren’t good for me (surprise, surprise). When I was in college, this guy I had a huge crush on broke the news.

He said he never ate doughnuts.

Never? I asked.

Never.

Then he said those awful words. “Do you know how many calories are in a doughnut?” **

I didn’t. I do now. And since that day I think twice before succumbing to temptation.

In grad school there was a quarter (or 2) where someone was bringing doughnuts into the “newsroom” at least once a week. If you can’t indulge in a Dunkin’ once in a while, what good is your life, really? (Dunkin’, by the way, available in every other city I’ve lived in, except Seattle. If there is one out here, it certainly does a good job at hiding itself)

These days I am violently against the Krispy. But will always say yes to the Top Pot. So I was thrilled to see that TPD made this list of America’s Best Doughnuts. Woohoo!

One more tip. Surprise yourself with a vegan doughnut from Mighty-O. Sounds like an oxymoron, but they’re quite tasty.

Clip art media from micirosoft.com/office

**Off-topic, but if you are wondering, what kind of a GUY says something like “do you know how many calories are in a doughnut?” well you are asking the right question. What kind of GUY does ask something like that? Apparently strangely neurotic guys that I have crushes on say that kind of thing. I must have been going through some ‘phase’ in college. How does one go out with someone who doesn’t like doughnuts? Go figure. Just eat the frikkin’ thing.

When is it okay to have two desserts? When isn’t it?

Another so-so dinner, capped by a much more enjoyable dessert. Or two.

Do you sometimes have a craving for something but perhaps can’t get to it for days? For me, that craving has been ramen noodles. The good old-fashioned kind that my dad used to make many a Saturday or Sunday lunch growing up (it was either ramen or fried rice). A week or more ago Rick in the vanpool mentioned something about ramen noodles. Something about feeding it to his kids on a regular basis. I had to remind him that, actually, ramen noodles aren’t really good for you (fried, probably more than once. How else do you suppose you’re able to cook it in under three minutes?). Since that day (a week or longer ago), I’ve been thinking about ramen noodles.

I love ramen, but I don’t eat it on a regular basis. I used to. Used to always have a few packages around the house. But the fried-ness, and my attempt to stay healthy (disregard for a moment the numerous posts I’ve done on cookies). Maybe once every few months. Maybe.

I’m very particular about my ramen. Manchurian? No, thanks. Top Ramen? Uh-uh. There are only certain kinds that I’ll purchase. I don’t know the name brands (one might be “Nissan”). Just the packaging, because usually they are in an Asian language. Lucky for me, the QFC carries the brands I want. Unlucky for me, I was standing in the Market, and all they had was Manchurian and Top Ramen. Huh? The Market? The one with the ridiculously pricey cookies from Italy? Expensive fig bread from Spain? Highfalutin everything? Nope. Couldn’t be bothered with a $0.59 package of ramen.

So the alternative was going home and making soba noodles from the pantry. Decent, but not the same. You know how you’re craving something…the alternative, no matter what it is, is never as good. You taste it hoping for one thing and it’s just not it.

BTW, I make REALLY good ramen noodles. I know, it’s nothing fancy, but if you’re going to do it you’ve got to do it right. Maybe it’s an Asian thing, but there is WAY more to ramen noodles than the silver packet of ‘spices’ that it comes with. I’ll take a trip to the Asian market this weekend to pick some up, and will post my special recipe then.

Ambrosetti Luna di Miele. Look for the woman on the tagAnyway, on to dessert. This morning, at PCC, I picked up another packet of Ambrosetti cookies. They didn’t have the Occhi type that I was ga-ga over last week. They did carry the “Luna di Miele”, a biscotti-like cookie half dipped in yummy chocolate. Same flavors as the Occhi. Less chocolate, but nevertheless, delicious.

I had just finished taking photos of this cookie (not a great pic; why is it so hard to take a photo of a cookie?) when the husband returned home. He had stopped at Whole Foods and surprised me with my favorite, the Whole Foods mini-apple pie. I don’t know if they make it on the premise or get some generic company to bake them, but I love these little apple pies. The lattice topping is delicate, the filling more sweet than tart, the portion just right for two people (or one, if you are feeling selfish).

Apple Pie from Whole Foods

Anyway. I figured, with the disapointing noodle dinner, on top of having gone to the gym AND practice today, today was all right to have two desserts. So be it.

Cookie and ice cream

The last two evenings, dessert has been much more memorable than dinner. Tonight’s dessert included walking to the Market. I had expected to get another bag of Ambrossetti cookies (as I discussed in an earlier post), however to my surprise they had none. The woman at the bakery didn’t know what I was talking about and led me down the wrong aisle.

So instead I chose the Dancing Deer Baking Co.’s Cherry Almond Ginger Chew. The ginger is fresh, not like the traditional ginger snap flavor. It slightly overpowers the cherry and almond. If you’re not into ginger, you may want to pass. I added a scoop (or two) of Dreyer’s French Silk ice cream (Slow-churned, i.e. reduced fat. I don’t even know what full-fat ice cream tastes like anymore). For those of you on the East Coast, Dreyer’s is Edy’s. Get it? Edy’s is Dreyer’s.

Cherry Almond Ginger Chew with French Silk Ice Cream

An Italian chocolate cookie

I’ve enjoyed reporting on my evening meals just about each night. Tonight’s highlight, as with each evening for the past four nights, has been the cookie. A good cookie can help me forget the majority of my problems on any given day (my life, it’s pretty simple). At Whole Foods on Monday night I had hoped to find my mini apple pie but there were none (out of season? not sure). As an alternative I picked up this lovely bag of cookies and haven’t regretted it at all. I’ve also seen these at Metropolitan Market. I will be getting them again.

Ambrossetti Occhi Cioccolato. Image from Ambrossetti.netAmbrossetti’s Occhi Cioccolato. A bag of five cookies cost $5.99. Each cookie has a rich chocolate patty sandwiched between two buttery biscotti cookies (like a biscotti with a shiny egg wash). So wonderful. And each cookie is sizeable enough that one is plenty (Abrossetti’s smaller cookie assortment are smaller and you want to eat many). Delicious! 

Alas, the photo I took of the last cookie I had was not great. Add that to the fact that the top cookie was cracked. This image is from the Ambrossetti Web site.