October 31, 2010

BOO!

Blah. Tired now.

Menu Halloween 2010

Butternut squash and caramelized onion pizza (Beehive Parm out of Uintah, UT is tasty!)
Medjool dates stuffed with goat cheese, wrapped in basil, and wrapped in proscuitto
Mango Chutney Dip with fritos (thanks Kathy!)
Pumpkin butter with 'bone' breadsticks
Mummy dogs
Cheese leaves and crackers
Sweet and salty pumpkin seeds and garlic pumpkin seeds
Caramel apples
Popcorn Balls
Blood orange soda
Ghost mallows

Alan and I dresses up as Mario and Luigi. Grandma Roma, Cindy, and Ali joined us and the tots. We had Mary Poppins and Burt, a unicorn, a super Owen, a pumpkin witch, a green witch, and an Air Force Sgt.

What did you all serve/do?

October 27, 2010

Daring Bakers Challenge October 2010 - Nuts About Donuts

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

I decided to make the yeast donuts as I wanted something light.  I followed Alton Brown's recipe, using egg nog for the milk. Winder Dairy Egg Nog!!! Mmmmm... tasty! The dough ended up too wet for me so I had to add a touch more flour.

The glazes are plain sugar on the rounds, maple squares, and cinnamon and sugar dust on the rest. I even used some sprinkles on some for the kids.

Thanks Lori for a fun challenge!









October 26, 2010

Lucky

I'm having a string of good luck. Found a job, won a 6 month membership to Gold's Gym, and today I won a bit a of cash from a grocery store.

Here are some pics from our recent trip that I think are my favorites:

DockedSoon to be dinner


It is what is inside that countsOne stands out

October 19, 2010

Veggies!

Day 2 of adjustment is going ok. We ended up getting up at 5:30 this morning. Not normal for me but I took advantage of the early hours and made apple cheddar scones fresh for breakfast. The recipe was posted on a blog I follow, Smitten Kitchen. I think the recipe ended up a bit wet for me so I might reduce the cream a tad and chill them once cut to see if I can't get more rise out of them. I also think I might reduce the apples but I can't decide. They taste pretty good but I want more cheese flavor to balance out the apples tartness.

We picked up our first box from our first CSA last night. I am so excited! We signed up for the Fall/Early Winter Share that will go to the end of November. We signed up with Bell Organic out of Draper. David and Jill are super nice and were very helpful when I was researching CSAs early on.

The first box had a bag of mixed salad greens, a bag of arugula, a head of cabbage, kale, turnips with greens, 6 large tomatoes, and a bunch of purple dragon carrots. It all smelled so fresh and I can't wait to use it.

We used some of the greens already on BLTs last night. I plan on making meatball and kale soup with the kale. The cabbage will be peanut curry bacon slaw and stir fry. The turnips are going to be made into a turnip gratin and be served with some opah fish. I am not sure about the arugula. It isn't my favorite but I intend to eat it! The tomatoes are always used in salads or just for eating. I am not sure what to do with the turnip greens though. I'm looking into recipes.
The carrots had to be my favorite part of the whole box. They have a dark purple skin but are orange flesh. They are crisp and have so much better of a flavor than store bought. I might just eat them all fresh!

And the other good news is that our pork is ready this Saturday too. Mmmmm.... bacon! Hopefully our beef is soon too.

October 18, 2010

What time is it?

So we have returned from our honeymoon. The trip was so wonderful. It was really great to spend so much time with Alan. Now that we are back he has already rushed off to work. It will take me a couple of days to get back into the swing of things.

I can't believe it is fall already. I am in desperate need of a Halloween costume, some pumpkins, and lots of candy. Maybe I should make caramel apples...

I am going to be working on the next Daring Bakers Challenge this week so that I can post it on the 27th. It should be a good one!

For now I will leave you with a photo I took at Red Butte Gardens when I went with the Munchkins, Brian, and Shirley.

October 5, 2010

Yes is no and no is yes

The words for yes and no have reversed. Greece is stunning.

I'm blogging here for a while...

:)