Pumpkin French Toast

Tags

bread, breakfast, easy, fall, pumpkin, quick, recipes

Yesterday I went to a David Sedaris reading/signing and he was hilarious.  If you ever get the chance to see him, GO.  He read some stories from his new book (Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk), shared snippets from his diary, and answered several questions.  Though I’ve read a few of his books, I haven’t read the new one yet, but really liked what we heard from it.  It basically seems to be a collection of short stories from the perspectives of personified animals and insects, but coming from the mind of David Sedaris, they’re super clever and funny.

My friend and I waited in line for the signing, but there were SO many people there that we hardly moved.  He had asked people to tell him jokes (he’s been collecting them this book tour!), so I’m guessing that’s part of why it took so long.  Oh, and we didn’t manage to stick around the whole time.  I have no idea how long he stayed there to sign books, but it had to have been at least until the store closed!

Thai Red Curry Squash Soup

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coconut milk, cooking, curry, fall, gluten-free, recipes, soup, squash, Thai, vegetarian

You know when you’re looking through a bunch of recipes, and you find one that sounds really good, but the main ingredient won’t be in season for at least another 6+ months?

That’s what happened when I ran into this soup.  I was perusing the the archives of the great 101 Cookbooks when Thai-spiced Pumpkin Soup caught my eye.  It was March.  However, with Thai curries being among my absolute favorite dishes, this one did not slip my mind, even three seasons later.

Recently while looking for Thanksgiving recipe ideas on The Bitten Word, I ran across a similar recipe from Food & Wine.  It was a bit more fussy, but I liked the sound of some of the additional ingredients.  What I ended up doing was sort of combining the two, and I was happy with the results!

Pumpkin, Sage, and Brown Butter Muffins

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baking, browned butter, fall, muffins, pumpkin, recipes, sage, walnuts

I had a brilliant idea.  Savory pumpkin bread!   With sage!   And brown butter!  Boy, was I onto something!

Then google burst my bubble.  Sorry, hon, but Martha’s been there, done that.

Figures.  Fine…I’ll make muffins!

I’m not complaining, though.  I’ve found her recipes to be pretty foolproof, and thank goodness for that because I was kind of a fool when I made these yesterday.

Usually, I reread amounts and steps in recipes in an OCD way just to be sure I’m doing the right thing.  Yesterday, my mind was so distracted mainly because I was hungry and hadn’t been properly caffeinated yet.  Why I decided to bake first instead of address these issues is a mystery.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tags

baking, chocolate, cookies, fall, oatmeal, pumpkin, recipes, soft cookies

See? I wasn’t kidding about the pumpkin madness.

How does one run a baking blog and not gain tons of weight?  Answer: bake something, have a little of it, then give the rest of it the heck away!  (and the rest of the time, try to eat on the healthier side…)

For me, this is especially true with cookies as they seem to be both my specialty and my weakness.  When I made Chai-Spiced Snickerdoodles a couple weeks ago, I may or may not have ruined my dinner a few nights in a row because I had no one to give them to.  Definitely should have halved that recipe, or at least put half the dough in the freezer…there’s another idea!

Being an orchestral musician, symphony concerts are the perfect excuse to bake.  I just bring the cookies backstage with me, and hungry musicians gobble them up during intermission and after the concert!  It really is a win/win situation.

Spicy Pumpkin Black Bean Chili

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black beans, chili, chipotle, cooking, easy, fall, gluten-free, healthy, low-fat, pumpkin, recipes, vegan, vegetarian

You know how some recipes only use a portion of canned pumpkin, so then you’re left with half a can or so of the stuff?  Sure, you could make something else like pumpkin muffins, but more than likely, you made something sweet and not super healthy in the first place.

That was exactly the predicament I was in after making Cinnamon Swirl Pumpkin Yeast Bread.  Nothing a little dump-it-all-in-a-pot improvisation can’t fix!

I don’t think I’d heard of chili with pumpkin in it until a few years ago, but I never did try to make some.  Having leftover pumpkin inspired me to give it a go…afterall, what was there to lose?

Cinnamon Swirl Pumpkin Yeast Bread

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baking, bread, cinnamon, fall, pumpkin, recipes, yeast

Wait, what?  How is it November already?  And how have I not made anything with pumpkin until now?

Well, look out, folks, because I’m about to go bananas with pumpkin.  (oh, huh..there’s an idea!)  FYI: pumpkin pie is NOT in the forecast.

First up is pumpkin bread.  Sure, when people hear “pumpkin bread” they think of a quick bread, myself included.  While I do love me some of that, I was super intrigued when I found a couple recipes for pumpkin yeast bread at King Arthur Flour.  My yeast bread-baking experience is pretty limited.  In fact, I had only made one recipe twice (it’s awesome!) before this one, so I’ve been wanting to expand my horizons in the Land o’ Carbs. 

Halloween Pasta!

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bell peppers, butternut squash, cooking, fall, garlic, Halloween, holiday, olives, pasta, recipes, weird

Don’t panic.  Open your mind.

This pasta is indeed black.

Does it make you feel better if I tell you that it’s not dyed with artificial colors?

How about if I tell you that it’s colored with squid ink?

(…still there?  I promise it doesn’t taste like squid!)

Chai-Spiced Snickerdoodles

Tags

baking, chai, chewy cookies, cookies, crisp cookies, fall, recipes, snickerdoodles

So, it’s fall, I hear…  It is cooler here in south Texas than it was a couple months ago, but not exactly sweater weather (mid-80s, anyone?).  That said, I have brought out my hoodie for the occasional slightly chilly morning or evening.

Chai is always something that makes me think of fall and winter.  Doesn’t it seem weird to drink it in early summer, or is that just me?  I actually stopped ordering chai lattes a few years ago because they began tasting too sweet.  Turns out that maybe that’s just at a certain large coffee franchise…last week, I tried a sip of my friend’s chai latte at a local coffee shop, and liked it!

I guess that sip is what inspired these cookies.