Kitchen Gadget Girl Cooks

Cupcakes? But Gudrun, it is supposed to be Cookie Thursday. Where is the cookie?

Well, my loyal readers, I changed my mind today and made cupcakes, mostly because I wanted to use the cute little Martha Stewart Halloween stencils I picked up at Michael’s a couple weeks ago. I mean, look at that, how cute they are! And tomorrow is Halloween, I don’t have that much time! Fortunately, I was able to find a cupcake recipe that incorporated both pumpkin (for the husband) and chocolate (for the kids).

I started with a recipe from Pinch My Salt, and changed things up, as I like to do. The cakes are great – the flavor reminds me of really good Devil’s Food cake, very moist and not at all pumpkiny. In the original recipe, Nicole used mini chocolate chips, but I kind forgot to add those (oh, I had them in the cupboard, I failed to put them in). Also, she used plain yogurt, which I did not have, so I went ahead with buttermilk. And apparently, typing in the recipe now, I realize I also skipped the vanilla!

Here is the recipe:

Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes

• 1 1/2 cups cake flour
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 3/4 C. canned pumpkin (15 oz. can)
• 2 t. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups lightly-packed light brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease or line with paper lines, 24 cupcake cups.

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Mix together buttermilk, pumpkin puree and vanilla (don’t forget the vanilla like I did!).

Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in eggs, one at a time, and mix well. Starting and ending with the flour mixture, alternate adding flour and pumpkin/buttermilk, mixing well after each addition. Stir in chocolate chips.

Using a 2-inch cookie scoop, spoon batter into cupcake cups. Bake in middle of oven 20-25 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely, then frost or decorate* as you wish.

* I used  Martha Stewart stencils that I bought at Michael’s, just for decorating cupcakes. You could also make your own using the Halloween stencil templates on Martha’s site. 

When the opportunity comes up, my favorite choice for romantic hotels involve great food and relaxing accommodations. For two years now, when my in-laws come to visit, my husband and I have manged to sneak away for two nights to Yountville, California, just north of Napa, in the middle of wine country.

We enjoy staying at the Villagio Inn & Spa, right in downtown Yountville. The Villagio itself is a gorgeous property, Italian in style, with lovely walkways, small villa-like buildings, and rooms with private balconies. The comfort of the rooms immediately sets us at ease, and we always enjoy the fireplace and huge bathtub, no matter the weather outside.

Immediately across the street are no less than 5 excellent places to eat (Bistro Jeanty, Redd and Bouchon are three of our favorites), and the Inn is just a short walk from The French Laundry (reservations are now available through OpenTable, check here for tips & tricks). On our last visit, we tried Redd, and enjoyed their 5 course tasting menu, which they present with a twist – you must order it for the entire table, and for the two of us, they brought out 10 different tastes, so that my husband and I were able to try twice as many of their outstanding offerings!

In the mornings, after a visit to the gym next door, we enjoy a delicious champagne breakfast buffet in the main building, which includes several hot and cold dishes, fresh fruit and baked goods. When the weather is nice, we sit outside on the covered patio, over-looking the pool, and plan our day of wine tasting.

Yountville is located right off the St Helena Highway, not far from the Silverado Trail, and in that part of Napa, we enjoy visiting Consentino, Robert Sinsky, and Nickel & Nickel. In order to not totally wreck our taste buds for dinner, we limit ourselves to three wineries and usually focus on reds, unless an outstanding white or sparkling is on the tasting menu. And we are always up for bringing a bottle or two home to try sometime in the future.

When not wine tasting, Yountville has excellent paths for long walks and bike rides, and unique boutiques for my retail-therapy needs. I come home from each romantic visit to the Villagio relaxed and renewed!

After our weekend away in Santa Cruz, and expedition to the Corralitos Market & Sausage Company, I was looking forward to a nice warm dinner, incorporating the Polish sausages (fine and coarse) that we picked up. I came up with this simple recipe, using onions, peppers, tomatoes, and sausage, and serving the whole thing over creamy polenta. My kids ate this up! Made for a nice Sunday dinner:

Sausage with onions, peppers and tomatoes

• 1 onion, cut in half and sliced thin
• 3 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
• 2 red bell peppers, cut in half and sliced thin
• 4-5 medium tomatoes, chopped (medium is slightly larger than a golf ball)
• 2 teaspoons each basil, thyme and oregano
• 1 pound pre-cooked sausage, any flavor
• 1 recipe creamy polenta (recipe to follow)

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a cast iron (or other oven proof pan), sauté onion and garlic in 2 tablespoons olive oil, for 2 minutes. Add in bell peppers and sauté another 2 minutes. Add in tomatoes, herbs and season with salt & pepper to taste. Transfer to oven and bake for 20 minutes. Arrange sausages over the top of the onions and peppers, and bake another 10 minutes, turning sausages once, until they are heated through. Serve over polenta.

Creamy Polenta, microwave style (from the back of the Golden Pheasant brand of Polenta)

Mix 3 cups of water, 3/4 cup polenta and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a 3 quart casserole dish, with lid. Cover and microwave on high 8 minutes. Remove and stir until well blended. Microwave another 2-3 minutes until desired thickness is achieved. Serve.

All this talk about pumpkin patches and pumpkin hunting had me craving a pumpkin-based cookie this week. Searching through my cookbooks, I found an appropriate one in The Kid’s Holiday Baking Book, by Rosemary Black. Easy enough to put together in 30 minutes or less, longer with “helpers”, i.e. two young ladies. I tweaked the recipe a little, as I could not find any brown sugar in my house (used turbinado instead), only had squash puree (not pumpkin) and switched up the flour to be 1/2 all-purpose and 1/2 whole wheat. Original recipe included a vanilla icing, but I could not be bothered – straight out of the oven was good enough for me!

Pumpkin Oatmeal Drop Cookies

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup quick cooking oats
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup pumpkin (or squash) puree
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly spray baking sheets with cooking spray.

Mix dry ingredients, flours through salt, together in a mixing bowl. Set aside.

Beat butter with sugars, until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg, mix well. Add pumpkin puree, and mix well. Slowly add in flour, scraping sides of the bowl, until all incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.

Using a medium cookie scoop or two spoons, scoop about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough onto cookie sheets, spaced 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake for 12-15 minutes, switching trays front to back and up and down. Remove to rack to cool.

I will admit, I have not spent that much time on Etsy, not like my friend Erika, aka Plain Jane Mom, who has a whole new blog devoted to Etsy-goodness, Try Handmade. However, the other day, while browsing around the web (not sure what I was looking for, that happens sometimes), I found a cool post on Kim Vallee’s site about personalized baking stickers and stamps. I have been looking for something to put on the jars of Limoncello I made this summer, and Kim had several Etsy suggestions.

In keeping with the food theme, I went over to Etsy to see what else I could find. SugarCake has beautiful, crocheted food toys, including a set of 4 fruits, a bowl with 6 vegetables and even chocolate covered strawberries! If my daughter was even remotely interested in a play house, I would buy these little treasures for her kitchen.

For more play food treasures, I looked to Just Felt Hungry, who creates adorable play food out of, you guessed it, felt! Her designs are creative and fresh, and just in time for Halloween, Sugar Skulls. And then I get side tracked looking at these nifty meal planners. And these neat magnets with vintage fruit box labels. Oh, and this cute cupcake notecard stationary.

But back to my original quest, stickers for my Limoncello bottles – I think I am leaning towards this. Or maybe this. Or even this. What do you think?

Picture courtesy of Rob Qld.

My husband grew up in Los Alamos, NM, so when we host dinner parties, we often go straight to New Mexican fare, as it lends itself well to groups and gives my husband a chance to shine in the kitchen. Over the years, our menu has evolved and we have put a California/Tex-Mex spin to the menu. Hence the title New New Mexican. Tonight’s guest list included our friends Jen and Bharat, Donia and Mitchell, and Lisa and Mike, along with their offspring. We wanted to develop a menu that would offer many options for our many different guests. Tonight we offered:

• Prickly Pear Cactus Mojito
• Half Moon Bay Halibut with cilantro pesto
• Black bean and cheese enchiladas with green chile salsa
• Posole as a vegetable
• Refried beans
• Ensalada de Noche Buena
• Brown rice
• Tortillas

Following a recipe from Feed Your Vegetarian, I pulled together a Prickly Pear Cactus Mojito. I could not resist the prickly pear cacti in the store, they were so beautiful – and once I had peeled them and whirled them in the hand blender, I mixed the juice with sugar to create a simple syrup, and followed the rest of the recipe. Our guests gave this a universal thumbs up!

I made the cilantro pesto a week ago, from fresh cilantro in our CSA box. I adapted the recipe I usually use for basil pesto, from Marcella Hazen’s book. A bunch of cilantro leaves, 2 garlic cloves, 2 TBS pine nuts, 1/4 cup olive oil, S&P, whirled in my hand blender. Spread over the top of the halibut (or salmon) fillets, then baked at 400F for 15 minutes.

The black bean and cheese enchiladas were a creation of our own. Mix together one can of refried black beans with 2 cups cheese (jack or a Mexican blend). Spread about 1/4 cup of the bean mixture inside a whole wheat flour tortilla, gordito size, roll up and place into a 9″x13″ casserole. Repeat with 11 more tortillas. I made a green enchilada salsa with some roasted tomatoes from my garden, and poured about 2 cups over the top. Bake at 350F for 45 minutes.

On Simply Recipes, I found the recipe for refried beans (kitchen gadgets used: pressure cooker, strainer, cast iron pan and potato masher). Because several of tonight’s guests are foodies, I decided to make the beans from scratch, rather than buying them in a can. And, I toyed with making them black, but decided to give the pinto a try, as according to the USDA Nutrient Lab, they are about equally good for you.

The Ensalada de Noche Buena comes from Cooking Light magazine – I tried it last December, when I hosted a Tamale Making-Cookie Exchange Party (yes, we had a lot going on!), and it was very tasty. Check out Simply Recipes for a easy tutorial on cutting and de-seeding a pomegranate.

Posole as a vegetable (as opposed to soup, which is the way it is usually served around here) comes straight out of The Feast of Santa Fe, by Huntley Dent:

Posole as a Vegetable

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• pinch oregano
• 2 tablespoons red chili powder
• 4 ounces canned green chilies, chopped
• 1 cup tomato puree
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 – 3 cups canned hominy, drained

Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil over low heat, until onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Raise heat to medium, add spices (cumin through chili powder), and cook for 1 minute to develop spices. Add remaining ingredients, bring to boil, and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. The liquid should be only slightly thickened, add a little water if it seems to thick.

As I wrote about for Uptake this week, we stopped by Gizdich Ranch in Watsonville last weekend to pick up a bushel of apples for my annual apple sauce making project. Gizdich nicely provides a worksheet to help figure out which apples you need. Here is a brief summary:

Eating apples (not good for cooking)

• Honey Crisp
• Royal Gala
• Red Delicious
• Braeburn
• Fuji

Cooking apples (good for sauce or butter)

• Pinova
• Golden Delicious
• Newton Pippin
• Mutsu
• Granny Smith

Pie apples

• Golden Delicious
• Newton Pippin
• Mutsu
• Granny Smith

I came home with a 1/2 bushel each of Pinova and Golden Delicious. At the moment, the boxes are sitting in my garage, giving off the most wonderful aroma. Soon, very soon, I will begin the saucing and buttering process. Then my kids will once again be happy!

Our precious 4-legged family member Molly (short for Mollify the Wife), turned 9 this week, and to celebrate, we made her doggie biscuits from scratch, using an easy recipe I found on Sugar Law’s blog, for Peanut Butter Dog Treats. The recipe was simple and the results fantastic – Molly was thrilled with the end product and would have eaten the entire batch if we let her!

Peanut Butter Dog Treats
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup skim milk

Preheat oven to 375F. Mix the dry ingredients together in a stand mixer. Whisk the peanut butter and skim milk together until well blended. Add to the dry ingredients and mix for 2 minutes, until well incorporated. Turn out dough onto well floured countertop and using a rolling pin, roll to a thickness of 1/4″. Cut out with cookie cutters (I used dog bone cutters, Sugar Law used flower and heart shapes). Bake 20 minutes until lightly browned.

Once again, I find myself short on time this week and thought that a bar cookie would be the perfect solution. I was also looking for an addition to our breakfast cookie collection, you know, cookies that taste great in the morning with a cup of coffee, but also pack enough nutrition to count as breakfast. This recipe fits all those requirements! I started with a recipe for Oatmeal Toffee Bars from NoshWithMe, and tweaked it a little to support my chocolate craving. Here is the recipe:

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup white flour
• 3 tablespoons whole ground flaxseed meal
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup buttermilk or sour milk
• 1 package chocolate chips
• 3 cups oats

Preheat oven to 350F and grease a 13″x9″ pan.

Sift flours, flaxseed meal, baking soda, cinnamom and salt in a bowl; set aside. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Slowly add in flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk, starting and ending with flour mixture. Add in chocolate chips and oats.

Spread into prepared pan; bake 30 minutes until pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Makes about 3 dozen.

Wow, that sounds a little over the top for this post, but hopefully the title won’t scare you away.

It has been 5 months now since starting this blogging endeavor, and I thought I would write a bit about the way things work in my kitchen, how I make decisions, the foods and tools and books that I gravitate towards when cooking for my family. I also thought it might be a nice idea to lay down some ground rules about how I cook.

Oh goodie, another whole post about me!

Let’s start with ingredients:

Butter – I use unsalted butter, preferably organic, but I usually buy what is on sale.
Salt – Baleine Sea Salt Fine Crystals.
Cinnamon – Not my favorite spice, I prefer to substitute ginger or nutmeg if it makes sense in the recipe.
Nutmeg – no, I don’t grind my own, the stuff from Trader Joes is fine with me (not that I don’t have a nutmeg grinder, I am KGG for goodness sakes!).
Milk – Nonfat, unless a recipe calls for something else. Always organic. Same with most of my dairy, if it makes financial sense.
Whole Ground Flaxseed Meal – I add this almost all my baked goods, using it to justify baking cookies each week.
Sour Cream – Daisy Light Sour Cream is the preferred brand in my house – not sure why, just like the way it tastes.
Meat and Cheese – I tend to by organic or local if possible, except if the prices scare me. Some weeks they do, some weeks they don’t.
Rice – I use brown rice in all my recipes.
Beets – are always roasted, 400F, 1 hour 15 minutes, then peeled and sliced, sprinkled with balsamic vinegar or tossed with manouri cheese. I am starting to experiment with other ways to use beets, but this is the way we like the best.
Tomato products – I buy the lowest salt version I can find, or use a jar of home canned stuff.
Canned beans (not canned green beans, I don’t buy canned veggies) – again, lowest salt version I can find.
Chicken Broth – I am partial to Swanson’s Natural Goodness in the 14oz can or 32oz carton.
Peanut Butter - all natural in this house. Nothing with palm kernel oil. Creamy and chunky are equally good.
Flour – King Arthur from Trader Joes, and I measure all my flour for baking. Sometimes the scoop & sweep method if I am in a hurry.
Brown Sugar – Light Brown Sugar in the resealable bag is my favorite, I avoid the box as it is cumbersome to measure and pack.
Chocolate – I will buy the best I can afford. These days, I like Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet, Scharffen Berger 99% Cacao Unsweetened and Dagoba Organic Cacao Powder.
Coffee – We are a Peet’s family, through and through. We even take it camping.
Mushrooms – we don’t cook with them in this house – I made a vow on my wedding day to substitute green chile for mushrooms in any recipe calling for them. My husband recommends this to all families, even if you do like mushrooms.

High Fructose Corn Syrup and Hydrogenated Oils have no place in my home. I am a fastidious label reader and will not purchase anything with those items. My husband will, however, but I am training him. Usually means a couple phone calls from the store as he shops and looks at labels.

We don’t buy sodas, we avoid lots of processed foods, we buy mostly whole grain breads and crackers and I like to buy organic fruits and veggies, especially the thin-skinned varieties. In my shopping basket every week is milk, eggs, yogurt, fruit and bread. Our veggies are delivered weekly through a CSA called Two Small Farms. Meat protein is an occasional purchase, we try to have fish 1-2 times a week.

And, my husband and I are completely fine with the double standard in our house – after the kids go to bed, we have been known to break out the ice cream and chocolate while we veg out in front of the television. One of the joys of being an adult.

Now, onto cookbooks.

Lately, I find myself going to the Food Blog Search when I need a new recipe, but these are the books I find myself turning too again and again:

Crazy Plates and Looney Spoons, by Janet & Greta Podleski
Everyday Food, Great Food Fast, from the kitchens of Martha Stewart Living
American Heart Association Cookbook
Martha Stewart’s Cookies
Cookies and Brownies, by Alice Medrich
Chez Panisse Vegetables, by Alice Waters
The Victory Garden Cookbook, by Marian Morash
How to Cook Everything, by Mark Bittman
Whole Grain Baking, by King Arthur Flour

Plus scads of recipes I have cut out from Sunset, Cooking Light, Gourmet, Bon Appetit, Everyday Food, and Real Simple. I also look up recipes on Recipe Source and Epicurious. I tend to avoid recipes that used pre-packaged mixes, preferring to make things from scratch, although I have been known to make Death by Chocolate Cake when the mood strikes.

A favorite party trick is to prepare completely new recipes when we have guests over for dinner. I like the challenge and who better to try to new recipes on. So far, no one has gone away hungry or dissatisfied.

My family is fairly tolerant of my cooking, and at dinner, while not catering to specific preferences, I do try to ensure that there is at least one dish that we have had before, along with several others, and allow everyone to choose what they eat. We sit down and eat as a family 5-6 nights a week, and have been doing that since my oldest started eating solids.

Our dining room table is the first thing you see when entering our house – we did that on purpose, food is important as is feeding our family and friends.

Wow, that is a lot of information – for an introvert, I feel as though I have over-shared. Any questions? Let me know!

P.S. I am working on finding a decent picture of myself to post, so you can put a face with a name. For now, please enjoy a picture of carrots from a recent risotto recipe!