cooking – Page 3 – Peaceful Reader

Weekend Cooking…a little curry dish.

I listened to my daughter and her friend swoon about the chicken curry at our local Indian restaurant and ever since then I’ve had a craving for curry. Naturally I wanted to make my own though so I pulled out Six Spices; A simple concept of Indian cooking by Neeta Saluja. My stepbrother Sean recommended this book to me as we both love Indian food and the author is his ex-girlfriend yet-still-friend’s mother~always nice to have a family connection!

I pulled the book out to see what type of curry recipe I could make with what I already had at home and decided the mixed vegetable curry would be perfect on this very chilly early evening. I had 90% of the ingredients and would have to make due and my husband was impressed as he walked through the door an hour later as I was elbow-deep in spices.

Mixed-Vegetable Curry
{Rase wali Mili-Juli Subji}

Ingredients

6 cups assorted vegetables (carrots, cauliflower, turnips, potatoes, or peas)
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 tsp garlic, chopped
1 tsp ginger, chopped
1/4 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander powder
7 T cooking oil, divided
6 T + 2 cups water
1 large tomato, chopped
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 T fresh cilantro, chopped

Method:

1. Peel and cut all the vegetables into somewhat large size pieces.
2. Place onions, garlic, and ginger in a blender. Add a small amount of water and run blender intermittently until it makes a smooth paste.
3. Add chili, turmeric, and coriander powders. Run blender again to mix the spices into the paste.
4. In a medium saucepan, heat 4 T cooking oil on medium high heat. When oil is hot, add the onion mixture. Cover pan to avoid spattering.
5. Reduce heat to medium. Stir mixture continuously to avoid burning and scorching. Add 6 T of water, one tablespoon at a time, to prevent burning. Cook until most of the moisture evaporates. At this time the oil will separate from the onion paste, and the raw smell of onion and spices will change to a more roasted and flavorful smell.
6. Add tomatoes and a little of of the salt. Cover the pan. Cook, stirring the mixture occasionally, until mixture forms a smooth paste and oil is separated.
7. Heat remaining oil in a large skillet. When hot, add cumin seeds. Stir in all chopped vegetables and fry for 6-8 minutes.
8. Add fried vegetables, and the rest of the salt to masala (curry paste). Stir the mixture.
9. Stir in 2 cups of water and let the vegetables simmer on medium heat until potatoes are cooked.
10. Garnish curry with cilantro and serve hot.

After the holidays I haven’t felt much like whipping up multi-step recipes as I think I wore myself out cooking (joyously) for the two older kids and other friends and family. This recipe brought me back to life.

The two substitutions I had to make; I did not have nor do I usually buy tomatoes in the winter so I used a little canned tomato juice from my pantry, which has tomatoes from my mom’s garden plus I somehow ran out of cumin seeds over the holidays and forgot to replace them so I added the veggies (potatoes, carrots, and peas) to the oil and then I added some garam marsala just to add something to the potatoes as they cooked.

I love everything about cumin so was sad not to have that smell and flavor. I would absolutely make this dish again and I will try more from this book. I get so used to “googling” for a recipe or searching Pinterest yet often what I need lies right in my own cabinet. Yep.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads weekly cooking meme, Weekend Cooking, where many other foodies talk about food. Click her link to find out what everyone’s talking about today.

Weekend Cooking; Happy Holidays!

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I feel like I’ve been working in my kitchen all day long! And I have. I started my day making several dozen cut-out cookies for the reception of our Christmas play. And I’m ending my evening making this coffee cake before I head to bed. The cake baking while I’m typing has me feeling hungry!

Here is my stepmother’s cut-out cookies recipe that I’ve used for years now. Whip these up and decorate them with a small person. I guarantee it will put you in the Christmas spirit.

Also I am NOT a fan of cooking with shortening and this time of the year is my one exception as I make many dozens of cookies for receptions and such and then Janice and I make dozens of cookies for the kids at school so that many sticks of butter is not an option.

“Happy Day” Cut-outs ~{Diane’s recipe}

1 cup shortening
1 1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond
4 1/2 cups flour

Blend together and roll out on floured board. Bake @ 350*. That’s it. Easy Peasy. That’s all she wrote on the scrap of paper and I know how to put them together but of course you will add ingredients in increments after creaming together the sugar and the shortening. I put the soda, salt, and flour together and add slowly to mixing bowl after that. Decorate with icing and lots of red and green sprinkles! One might ask why they are dubbed “happy day” cookies? Because this is my stepmother’s idea of what to do on a rainy, snowy, quiet, or sunny day and that any day then would be made happier just because you are making cookies! You knew that, right?

I made these bars this week when my husband needed treats for a Christmas Opening Night event…..Monster Magic Cookie Bars. They tasted great and looked like one of the elves threw up-perfect holiday treat. I did discover this great blog, Life and Kitchen, though while searching for the Christmas-looking recipe.

While browsing the internet this week I found this well-written article by Musing Mamma to be interesting and accurate. Reading the article really made me wonder how we can get toy companies to make changes to be more representative of all children.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click her link to find many other food related posts. I’m off to bed.

Weekend Cooking; Fresh pizza dough

I made pizza this weekend and it turned out fantastic. The dough was triple light and airy because I rolled it out early and let it sit on the pizza stones in the oven for 3 hours while I went to another event.
When I came home and pulled the stones out of the oven to decorate the pizzas and let the oven heat up the dough was this puffy, airy mass. I poured some red sauce on and set it in the middle of the table.

One of our little guests, Jackson, took a break from petting Sadie the rabbit to help me put topics on the pizza. YES, mother, he washed his hands thoroughly before adding straight cheese and a few tiny mini sausages to the kid’s pie. He liked helping so much he topped the adult pie as well with sautéed mushrooms, black olives, fresh spinach, and plenty of cheese! I didn’t want to seem like a dweeb as we made these pizzas but they were picture-worthy. Thank you to Jackson for you pie decorating abilities.

Here is the dough recipe I used

Pizza dough
adapted from Rodale’s Basic Natural food’s cookbook

2 cups warm water
2 T. local honey
2 full T. of yeast
3 T. vegetable oil
5-6 cups unbleached flour-can use a mix of white and whole wheat

In a large bowl combine warm water, honey, and yeast and let proof. (Proofing means let it get active, it will be bubbly) Then add oil and enough flour to make a firm dough. Turn dough onto floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic., adding flour as need. Place dough in a well-oiled bowl, and turn over to coat. Cover bowl with a damp warm towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch down dough, knead briefly in bowl and let rise again. Then divide dough into two balls. Form each ball into a flat circle and roll out into a circle. I use my Pampered Chef silicone mat for this and it makes it so easy to lift up the dough flip it and turn it over.

We used most of the dough up last night but the rest is going to be turned into a calzone for tomorrow’s lunch box main dish for Groovy Girl! I’m off to create that with her now. This holiday time make some dough and have an easy pizza party. I had all my ingredients prepped and in lidded containers so I could just whip them out and let Jackson go to town. It made for a very easy entertaining trick.

Have a holly jolly week!

This is loosely linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click her link to find many other food-related posts.

Weekend Cooking; The holiday recipes

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Ohhh, we had a lovely Thanksgiving Day, filled with good food and a visit from dear friends. I made a simple roast chicken, baked potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts, and fresh cranberries. Everything was easy to put together and I didn’t spend much time in the kitchen. The highlight was putting together 2 desserts; a sweet potato pie (which we much prefer over pumpkin) and bread pudding with bourbon sauce.

Bread Pudding recipe (adapted from an old Vegetarian Times recipe):
Oven at 350*

3 large eggs + 2 egg whites
1 cup skim milk
3/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
5 cups, cubed day old whole wheat bread (1/2 cubes/I say bite-sized)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Whiskey Sauce:
1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup water, 1/4 cup bourbon

To assemble:

Whisk together first 7 ingredients. Fold in cubed bread, raisins, & cranberries. Let stand for 5 minutes or so to allow the custard to absorb into the bread.
Coat 9-in square pan with spray and spread mixture in pan. Bake 35-40 minutes until no egg mixture is bubbling up.
While it is baking make the sauce: In a small saucepan heat the water and brown sugar together. Boil on medium heat for two minutes. Remove from heat and add in bourbon. Boil two more minutes. Remove from heat and transfer to a small pitcher and allow to cool just a bit. Serve warm over bread pudding. Serve in bowls with homemade whipped cream on top. Yum!

We also started our day with a quick brunch that included homemade Bloody Mary’s. It was a trial run for another Christmas event that we always host that includes family friends and a hunt for an evergreen tree. Instead of buying Bloody Mary mix I wanted to try my own and found a keeper in this recipe. If you love Mary’s as we do, this recipe will make you smile and it was very easy.

One year I made fresh cranberries and I had a perfect recipe that used less sugar adding orange juice for flavor~I didn’t save the recipe (pre-Pinterest) and can’t find it but I did find this recipe and I just squeezed in a whole orange from my counter. I love, love the bright taste of this fruit and wonder why we don’t eat this all year long! I saved this recipe and will make it again at Christmas time for teenage boy who loves this crisp red berry as well.

Happy Weekend cooking! It’s just one short sleigh ride into Christmas…

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme where she gathers together many other food-related posts.

Weekend Cooking; Treats.

Wow. Two weeks flew by quickly.

And in that two weeks I’ve done some baking. Just because. Baking is good. Healing. A friend from work, my “egg man”, gave me a whole bushel of apples. Un-perfect, farm apples. Beauties that my camera won’t do justice. We’ve sliced them and had them as snacks yet their numbers didn’t diminish.

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I remembered back to a recent Beth Fish Reads post about an apple cake that caught my eye. Oh my. I made it last week and that cake was delicious. The frosting-heavenly. I’m waiting patiently for a new occasion to arise just so I can make it again. Looking back at the post to link it I was reminded that it came from a King Arthur cookbook which makes perfect sense. Get some apples. Eat the apples because they are so good for you raw but then make the cake to reward yourself.

The next delicious treat I made is from Katie Workman’s fantastic book, The Mom 100 Cookbook. I needed a quick treat to make for my 5th grade book club. I searched through two or three books and happened upon this one on page 328 in the Bake Sale section. The kids loved them. Very rich chocolate taste without a lot of work. Perfect when you are making them at 9:00 at night.

Fudgy One-Pot Brownies
Makes 12 huge or 24 reasonably sized brownies

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus butter for greasing the pan
Nonstick cooking spray (I used coconut oil to smear around)
3 ozs unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar ( i know that IS a lot!)
1/2 tsp kosher or coarse salt
1 T. pure vanilla
3 large (farm) eggs
1 1/2 cup (unbleached KA) flour

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter a 13 x 9-in pan.

2. Place the butter and chocolate in a medium-sized saucepan over medium-low heat and let melt together, stirring until smooth. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the cocoa powder, sugar, and salt, then blend in the vanilla. Beat in the eggs one at a time, stirring to mix quickly so they don’t have a chance to cook at all before they are blended in. Blend in the flour.

3. Scrape the thick batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake until the edges just begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

4. Let the brownies cool in the pan on a wire rack. When completely cool, cut them into 12 or 24 squares. (The side note says it is better to cut these the next day if possible.)

Brownies were so good I had to make a second batch for home and to share with the in-laws arriving this week. I have to keep slapping my own hand from taking the crumbles.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Stop over and have a look at the many other food-related posts.

Weekend Cooking; A few recipes from our week

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“Welcome to the weekend!”, is just what I said on Friday afternoon as I headed out of school. It is exhausting getting back into the swing of school days. Now that it is Sunday afternoon and I still have a bucket-load of work to do I’m trying to reel Friday night back. It’s okay, I’ll get it all done after a little nap.

Our oldest daughter, my step-daughter, Kaylee, spent the week with us in-between her job as a camp counselor in WI and before she heads back for her senior year at Oberlin. I cannot even wrap my head around the fact that she will graduate this year. We did have fun while she was here though and that will have to last us as we won’t see her again in person until Christmas.

The first night she arrived I made an easy taco bar with seasoned rice and black beans as the main ingredients. We had fresh lettuce, chopped tomatoes from the garden, salsa, and some shredded cheese to decorate our flour tortilla shells. This is often my go-to meal on busy week nights. I probably make a variation of this theme at least once a week. I’m glad my kids like rice and it is a perfect meal for self-expression as everyone can design their own taco ideas.

Another night we went to a new local Thai restaurant. It was packed and busy but once our food arrived we were all very happy with the flavors. I had a tofu red curry dish and Kaylee had a coconut chicken noodle dish. I have leftovers to eat today!

We also made fresh Iowa sweet corn one night using this new method my mother-in-law turned me on to through this video:

The corn does come out VERY hot so make sure you have an oven mitt on your hand. I didn’t the first time I did it and I almost dropped the ear of corn getting it to the cutting board. The corn comes out if you help it along and it tastes delicious. I think of all the years of boiling a big pot of water to feed my summertime sweet corn love.

We made my friend Stephanie’s margaritas (recipe is at the end of this long-winded post but well-worth the scroll) last night after we’d spent the day at a downtown festival. Happy hour rushed right into dinner as I sipped and pounded meat at the same time. We had the chicken cutlets from Dinner; A Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach. This has become Groovy Girl’s all-time favorite meal. She not only ate her cutlet but begged for the rest of her dad’s when he was resting between bites. “Can I have that?” as she pointed at his plate. He raised his eyebrows in a funny way and said, “I’ll split it with you” and she took him up on it. I’m not making this every night yet it is a delight to have her eat heartily and not pick. Find that cutlet recipe at this previous blog post.

She and I biked to the farmer’s market in the morning and we picked up a bag of green beans, a big bunch of beets, and some eggplant. We found a new type of eggplant and had to bring some home. The grower says it will be good in a stir-fry so that will be on the menu for this coming week.

{Aren’t they cute!}

{Beets, of course}

{Japanese eggplant}

Groovy Girl and I carry our own bags to the market (really, where ever we might shop) hardly ever accepting despicable plastic grocery bags. The ones we do pick up on occasion are reused to pick up doggie poo. It kind of annoys me that all these growers hand out plastic bags with every little thing, just like the big box stores. I wish they could be motivated to move beyond the bag-offer a discount-for anyone going bag free. I know not everyone comes prepared yet it seems we are enabling the customer to be lazy. In my utopia plastic bags would be outlawed. Just my little green soap box for today…thank you for listening. I’m sure I’ll feel better now. Do you carry your own shopping bags? If not, this is such an easy thing to change as so many retail places offer their own variety of canvas bags. The ones I carry around in my purse fold into their own little sack, making it easy to take them everywhere. Mine look a little like this example.

We were somewhere this summer (on the East Coast) where they were NOT giving away bags-you had to pay for a bag and I was in heaven. Enjoy the produce photos. Eat healthy this week. Try the cutlets just because Groovy Girl loves them.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads weekend cooking meme. Click the blog link to view many other food-related posts and join in with one of your own. And now that I’ve typed about food for over an hour I find myself a bit peckish. Roasted beets or leftover Thai?

Weekend Cooking; Desserts {feeding the men}

It has been a crazy week here and some how in the midst of that I made two pretty incredible treats. While we were out of town my mom stayed at our house to dog sit and garden sit and we thank you for that so much! She even had dinner waiting for us on Monday night as we drove in to town. Thank you Mom!

She left us some rhubarb (yes, MORE!) so I made a pie. When College Boy was young he made this blindingly goofy statement to us that he didn’t like pie “never tried it, never will”, which is funny coming out of a 5-year-old’s mouth. And then about middle school he tried it. I don’t know what inspired him to try it but it was while we lived in Arkansas. It is my husband’s favorite dessert-especially rhubarb. I found this wonderful Martha Stewart recipe for rhubarb pie-with a crumb top. I think this might be my forever-go-to-pie. It was that good and pretty easy. I made my own crust.

Then as I cried my eyes out on Wednesday night (see this related post for explanation) I made amazing chocolate chip cookies. I’ve spent time looking for a wonderful recipe and this one just might be it. I found them at The Tender Crumb blog. I didn’t have pastry flour and I did use dark chocolate chunks instead of the chocolate suggested but I loved that this recipe made a large quantity. They were delicious and I was able to pack up a large box for College Boy to take on his road trip and fishing.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads’ Weekend Cooking meme. Click her link to find many other food-related posts.

Weekend Cooking; The true meaning of brunch…

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We love breakfast at this house and because we are like passing ships on weekday mornings it is great when we can gather for brunch on the weekends. Brunch has such wonderful memories for me; I remember as I child huge meals that my dad would make either on Saturday or Sunday after church, My dad loved making huge skillets of scrambled eggs. He sauteed the onions in butter first while he whisked the eggs together using a fork and then he’d pour the cool egg mix into the hot cast iron creating a sizable sizzle. I remember that sound like it was yesterday but I don’t think it has anything to do with why I love brunch today.

In my 20’s brunch meant meeting friends for food and beverages at classic little joints from Minneapolis and St Paul to Denver and Boulder, Colorado. These gatherings could take the better part of your day but what an excellent way to relax and enjoy your friends before husbands and children came along. Bloody Mary bars, crispy hash browns fresh off someone else’s griddle, patio dining, and laughing all come to mind when I think of those shared brunches around big round tables. We were free with our time and you only had to pay for what you ate and drank.

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Now as a family it is not only much harder to take the family out for brunch price-wise but also what we can create at home often tastes much better. Our local nature center hosts a maple syrup festival this weekend and I had my heart set on going though but with the snowy week we had I didn’t make it over there until Friday to pick up tickets and once I parked my car and trekked the long winding path to the lodge I was not happy to find the door locked. Searching the assortment of signs I saw they had closed 10 minutes ago. “Aaargh” is how I felt. I told myself it was okay I didn’t really want to go anyway and now I really didn’t plan to go! I got in my car to drive away and 5 beautiful mama deer (does) ran right in front of me through the snowy park path and my mental balance was completely restored. When I got home and explained how I’d screwed up getting the tickets, and the deer running in front of me, my husband and I decided what was most important was the maple syrup after all. For the price of the tickets I would be better off with a big bottle of their syrup anyway.. I broke the news to the kids by telling them I would be hosting my own maple syrup festival in the morning around 10 am. We ate pancakes, fried eggs, pineapple and cups of steaming homemade hot chocolate. There was laughter and good food, which is really all it takes. Bliss.

A new tradition is born; The Holt Family Maple Syrup Festival: to be held any Saturday morning we can all get together.

I followed Katie Workman’s pancake recipe but it is quite similar to this one from the recipe girl. I use whole wheat flour and I don’t add sugar. I couldn’t find Katie’s recipe online and if I keep copying her recipes to my blog they’ll be some kind of copyright issue I’m just sure…You’ll have to buy the book as I’ve done.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekly Cooking meme. Click her link to find many other marvelous food-related posts and lots of lovely conversations.

Have a peaceful Saturday.

Weekend Cooking; Curry and Chappati

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We’ve been eating…lots of good stuff. Last night I whipped up an easy batch of fettuccine (pasta, olive oil, hard Parmesan, cream, thinly sliced garlic, and loads of pepper) after a crazy day with no heat in our house. Lucky for us by 5:00 last night it was fixed otherwise my hands would probably be too cold to type. But the recipe coup of the week was the curry dish I created last Sunday night for guests. We ate the curry over brown rice, washed it down with a couple of ice cold Stella’s, and popped edamame pods for something green.

I cleaned my house early in the day so I’d have plenty of time to cook with out hurrying which leads to worrying that everything’s not going to come out right. It came out great with very little leftovers. Because of the extra time I allowed I had time to whip up something special for the side that my husband loves; chappati. ( Indian Bread) As a 4th and 5th grader my husband spent two years in Malaysia and he loves most everything related to Indian and Asian cooking. My mother-in-law who I adore and bragged about in this post wrote a short cookbook based on her experiences working with friends in Malaysia. I’ve made a few recipes from her book but the chappati one is one of our favorites. It is incredibly easy and they work perfectly as the tool to get more curry into your mouth.

The curry recipe is from Serious Eats. This recipe called for lemongrass which smelled incredible as I chopped and whirred it together with fresh ginger.

And the chappati recipe:

3 cups whole wheat flour, or atta flour

Water, enough to make it pie dough consistency

Knead the water and flour well, at least 30 minutes before you are ready to fry it. Grease the top with ghee or corn oil, cover, and leave at room temperature until ready to use.

Pull off small tangerine-sized hunks of dough and work in your hand until it is smooth and round. Roll out into a flat, round circle about 1/4-inch thick.

Fry on a very hot griddle until golden brown on each side. May brush on a small amount of ghee or oil while frying to make chappatis soft. If they puff up while cooking, press the air out. Continue making until all dough is used up. Keep warm in oven or between layers of towels. Makes 10-12.

Thank you Phyllis!

There is a curry puff recipe here that is on my list to attempt soon.

I also have all the ingredients to make this Mexican Tortilla Casserole that I first spotted at Beth Fish Read’s interview with Katie Workman and now I have the book. I hope all my peeps like it.

We won’t be having it tonight though as Groovy Girl and I have tickets to the ballet…the Russian Ballet performance of Cinderella so we are donning our dresses and heavy winter coats and heading out, one foot in front of the other to the ballet!

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click her link to find many other food-related posts.

Enjoy your weekend…

Weekend Cooking; Pinterest Oatmeal and my dinner plans

We’ve all been healthier this week and I’ve made a few good dinners. It’s been busy though and our tree is being decorated in bits and pieces. Unlike the beautiful ceremonial traditions of decorating the tree together that other families might participate in we’ve done a little here and there all week long.

Groovy Girl has an electronic addiction and can often be found watching HGTV before anyone else is up. One day this week we came down and she was watching a redecorating show that not only spruced up a couple’s condo but made it ready for Christmas as well. The couple have no children and were looking for a very neutral/natural look. Husband, wee girl and I were all transfixed as we ate our cereal and watched how they transformed their space into Christmas without splashing it with red and green. The next day husband and I chatted with GG about what we liked about the decorations and we formed our own plan.

We created our own natural ornaments using a big tube of green balls from Hobby Lobby. The matte and sparkly balls we kept and hung but the super shiny more traditional balls we wrapped in a natural oatmeal yarn I had on hand. We also happened to have a bag of pine cones from my mother’s farm and we’ve hooked those around the tree to blend in also. My husband hated the idea of spending $15.00 on new lights to decorate the tree so he loosely went round twice on the skirt and left them laying. Interesting. It looks great except when it starts to turn dark in the house and the ornaments have nothing to light the way.

What have I cooked this week?

Monday-organic chicken breasts, baked potatoes, steamed broccoli, and salad. This meal was so “traditional” I felt like I wasn’t at my own house.

Tuesday-cheese quesadillas with salad on the side. I had these plated up beautifully but failed to take a photo of them.

Wednesday-$5.00 pizza for Teenage Boy. I slow cooked garbanzo beans that night though prepping for a later meal. One day of carry-out is still pretty unusual for us but we have two plays going on and I have forgiven myself already.

Thursday-Husband’s night to cook and he made/burritos which were yummy! I love it when he has a plan and carries it out. Thank you sweetheart.

Friday-we had leftovers and appetizers as we were all heading to different events. (I prepped and roasted the butternut squash, which is the last vegetable to be eaten from our garden!) I am always happy with chips and salsa for dinner.

Saturday-I am making a pasta recipe using the golden squash, some spinach, and some of the garbanzo beans based on this recipe from Epicurious and a recipe my mother-in-law sent me.

I made a wonderful baked oatmeal dish this morning that I found as I lay in bed early (like 5 am) and used my time to scroll through pinterest. At around 8:30 when I actually forced myself to get up I tossed this dish together in my slow cooker and it made the house smell so flavorful! Groovy Girl dismissed it as too creamy (yes, she is a brunette Goldilocks) but husband and I gobbled it up. He ran a Jingle Bell race this morning and I cheered him on so we were both chilly. The next time I make it I would chop the apples up more. I only sliced them using my OXO apple slicer and that was the first thing that bothered GG-huge soft apple slices in the middle of her bowl. Oh, the horror! Husband and I will be eating this all week long for an excellent breakfast treat.

(brown sugar, cinnamon, and sliced apples ready for oatmeal)

We are about to eat the pasta, butternut squash, spinach dish. I made large cheese curls from a Parmesan cheese triangle but I also have some fresh Gorgonzola from our dairy because their is something about squash that pairs well with Gorgonzola’s pungent flavor.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click to her link to find other food-related posts.

In other news I really want these gorgeous purple shoes, love the price but hate spending $10.00 on shipping. What do you do? I am about half way through Louise Erdrich’s The Round House and love her writing.