Where Have I Been?

Without my camera, that's where!! :( A couple of weeks ago, I dropped my precious Canon and it's off now being repaired. I don't know when I'll get it back, but I hope it's soon. I can't stand not being able to take pictures regularly!

Pumpkin Seeds

I roasted seeds from 4 medium-sized pumpkins this weekend and they came out quite good! I found all of these recipes for the seeds online, but I decided to go the simple route. I lightly coated them with olive oil, sprinkled salt on them and let 'em bake. They were a hit!

Spinach and Artichoke dip

I love Spinach and Artichoke dips! I used to go to restaurants just to eat some whenever I craved it. I always thought it would be too much of a hassle to make, but I finally decided to find out how to make it so I wouldn't have to go out and pay big bucks for it at some overrated chain restauarant.

This recipe from Kraftfoods.com is the best one I've found so far. I was surprised at how easy it is to make. Why didn't I get the recipe sooner? The only different thing I do is use real minced garlic rather than garlic powder. The crappy thing about this recipe is that the finished dip is such a small amount (for my family)! We eat it too quickly. Next time, I definitely have to double the recipe. Mine doesn't look as pretty as the one on the Kraft website looks, but it still tastes good!



I noticed that on the website, someone gave the recipe 1 star. I have to disagree with that person. Although, we do love spinach and cheese around here, so too much spinach is never a bad thing! I don't think this recipe is too thick and spinachy though. It's perfect.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

The Joy of Cooking is my favorite cookbook. Someday I'm going to read it cover to cover instead of skipping around and reading a chapter at a time. I absolutely love the section in the book on baking. I've learned a lot from it. These PB cupcakes are from a recipe in the book. The frosting is awesome! The cupcakes ... they're good, but only because of the frosting. I don't know if I'd make the cupcakes again. They were easy to make though, so I don't know.

Pesto

I love pesto! But not traditional pesto. Instead of basil and pine nuts, I make mine using spinach and walnuts. It's one of my favorite foods, even if it is rich and fattening.

One of these days, I'm going to make several batches of my pesto and freeze them so that when the mood strikes, I'll have pesto in an instant. Not that it's hard to make or anything. I just throw all the ingredients (a package of frozen spinach thawed and drained, garlic, olive oil, walnuts, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper) in my food processor and it's ready within minutes. I like using it on bowties or penne, rather than noodles. Roasted red bell peppers tossed in add a nice flavor.

Garlic

I'm going to smell like garlic for days! But that's okay because I like garlic (and so does my husband =P). Today I prepared my monthly supply of garlic. I got about 10 bulbs of garlic, soaked them in water overnight, peeled the outer skins off of them, broke them apart, soaked the cloves in water, peeled the skins off one by one, minced them in my cheapie (but works great) food chopper and stuck the finished product flat in the freezer on a cookie sheet. Phew! It's a lot of work, but it's worth it to me to have fresh (frozen) garlic on hand anytime I need it since I use a lot of it. I don't like the stuff that comes in a jar at the grocery store. It has a funky taste to me!

Now that my garlic is frozen, I'm going to break it up in chunks and put it in a glass jar and store it in the freezer.

Watercress

Watercress is one of my favorite vegetables, when prepared Korean style that is. Even though it's time consuming to make and the end product is such a small amount, I do it anyway because it tastes so good!

Here is my last batch of watercress - 2 bunches of watercress thoroughly washed and picked over.



Done - seasoned with sesame oil, garlic, salt, a little bit of soy sauce and sesame seeds.

Strawberries

During the summer, we picked strawberries and they were soooo much better than store bought. Prettier too! I wish I could grow my own.

Chocolatey Goodness

Chocolate cake from scratch is the most wonderful thing ever! Especially with homemade frosting. I used turbinado sugar instead of white and it was delicious! Not too sugary sweet, but still sweet. And moist and so good. I want to make another cake now, but I don't know which kind to make next.

Making a cake from scratch isn't that hard. Boxed cake mix is convenient, sure. But you still need to add several ingredients, so it's not that much more convenient. I don't think I'll ever use boxed cake mix again. The taste between the two just can't compare!