HAPPY HALLOWEEN! HAVE A GREAT NIGHT!

FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT HALLOWEEN:

Pumpkin anything
Decorated houses
Creative costumes
Trick or Treaters
Dracula
Witches
Princesses
Scary movies
Candy
Sugar buzz
Sugar crash
Babies in pumpkin costumes
Front yard friends

Fall Gardening

Two weeks ago I planted seeds in my garden. This is after solarizing it for eight weeks and adding four cups of Worm Gold in each garden as instructed by my friend Jill Green of Sweet Life Gardens.

We planted spinach, beets, snap peas, carrots, radishes, green onions, lettuce, and napa cabbage. And now they are all sprouting! It is a beautiful sight. I have never planted from seed--last season all plantings were transplants. It is very exciting to plant a seed the size of a grain of sand and two weeks later see tiny green healthy leaves.

Yesterday afternoon my gardens received a little gift. Darcey brought her daughter, Emma, and Emma's friend Megan, to deliver squirmy little worms to the garden. Both 7-year olds happily tossed worms into my two vegetable gardens and Tammy's flower garden. Hopefully the worms are doing their thing making the soil and plants even healthier.

We'll see how our second season of gardening turns out.....

Turkey Chili

It's that gorgeous time of year--Autumn, the leaves are changing, the mornings are crisp, the evenings cold...wait, no they're not. It's still ridiculously hot and October is almost over! But, my niece, Ellie, has been asking me to make her favorite chili so no matter that we are still running the a/c I made a batch this morning.

I also decided to use some of my dry pinto beans. I have not had great luck in the past soaking and cooking the beans--they've always turned out hard. But this time the beans turned out great. I soaked the beans for 10 hours and then cooked them in the slow cooker for 10 hours on low. Then I added them to the chili. Perfect.

This chili, by the way is very healthy. And if you are familiar with Weight Watchers a cup is only 2 points. Which if you don't know is a screaming deal!

TURKEY CHILI

1 lb. lean ground turkey
1 onion chopped
3-4 cloves chopped garlic
1 ½ cups chopped celery

1 red pepper chopped

1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 small can chopped green chilies or jalapenos
1 15 oz. can chopped or stewed tomatoes
4 16 oz. cans of beans
1 package taco seasoning
1 package Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Dressing Mix
2 teaspoons cumin
1 6 oz. bag frozen white corn
½ cup water or more depending on your preference

Brown turkey, adding onions, garlic, red pepper, and celery about halfway through. Add the remaining ingredients. Simmer for a bit.

Beautiful Produce

I know I have mentioned the Bountiful Baskets coop before but I wanted you to see just how much produce you receive for $15. This picture was taken after I had removed 4 roma tomatoes, 3 ears of corn, a red onion, and an apple. Our basket consisted of the following: 1 romaine lettuce, 3 zuchinni, 10 red potatoes, 10 roma tomatoes, 2 red onions, 6 ears of corn, 1 cantaloupe, 5 apples, 7 pears, a bag of grapes, 8 bananas, and a box of strawberries. For more information go to http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/.

Chicken Bow Tie Pasta w/Bruschetta

Tonight we had a birthday dinner for my sister, Lori. Since we just received a gorgeous bunch of vegetables and fruit from Bountiful Baskets http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/ this weekend I needed to incorporate some of those veggies in our dinner.

My friend Leslie gave me the recipes for the pasta dish and the bruschetta that I made. And both were delicious!

The bruschetta is so easy and pretty (but not easy to photograph so there is no pic). I had some great french bread in the freezer (also from Bountiful Baskets) and did the following with it:

Bruschetta

Slice any type of hearty bread--rub with garlic clove and drizzle with olive oil, toast.

In a bowl mix the following:

Chopped tomatoes (I had 4 Roma and they were great)

Chopped red onion (about 1/4 of a large red onion)

Basil

Olive oil (I used garlic-infused) - just drizzled a bit

Chopped garlic - 2 cloves

Red Wine Vinegar - a couple of splashes

Salt and pepper

Spoon the tomato mixture on top of the sliced toasted bread--yum yum!

Chicken Bow Tie Pasta

3 Boneless, skinles chicken breasts

1/2 cup soy sauce

2 T ginger - chopped

2 cloves garlic - chopped

2 ears of corn - roasted

2 red peppers - roasted

1 lb. Farfalle pasta

3 T fresh basil or 1 T dried basil

Vinaigrette: 3 T balsamic vinegar and 1/2 cup olive oil

Marinade: Place soy sauce, ginger, and garlic in a small sauce pan and bring to boil. Set aside for 30 min. Pour marinade over chicken breasts, cover and refrigerate for at least four hours. Season with pepper and grill or saute. Remove chicken and let sit for 10 minutes then slice crosswise into strips.

Corn: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the silk from the corn and all but one layer of the husk; dip corn into water to moisten. Cover with layer of husk, place on baking sheet, and roast for 45 minutes. Scrape kernels from the corn and set aside.

Red peppers: Rub peppers with olive oil. Place on baking sheet and roast for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from oven and place in closed brown paper bag until cool. Peel the blistered skin and remove seeds. Slice peppers into strips. Set aside.

Vinaigrette: Wisk together olive oil, balsamic vinegar, basil, and salt and pepper to taste.

Pasta: Cook pasta according to directions

Toss chicken, corn, peppers and vinaigrette with the pasta.

Care Card

For several years now I have purchased a wonderful little card known as the Care Card. For $50 (tax deductible) the Care Card offers a 20% discount to over 400 stores throughout the Valley. It is produced by the Board of Visitors (the oldest charitable organization in Arizona) and 100% of the Care Card sales price goes to directly to Ryan House, a respite home for children with life-limiting conditions.

The Card is good at participating retailers from October 17 - October 26. And the stores are great! I'm talking Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Domestic Bliss, Ann Taylor, Anthropologie, Gap, Restoration Hardware, I could go on and on. Instead, go to the website and take a look yourself--http://www.thecarecard.org/retailers.html The 20% discount can really take the sting out of dreamed-about items from some of these stores.

Happy shopping! And remember, it's for a great cause!

Buttermilk Salad Dressing

Since I had leftover buttermilk from the banana muffin recipe, I started searching for some recipes that included buttermilk. I found an easy and delicious buttermilk salad dressing which couldn't have come at a better time given that we have a ton of vegetables in the house.

My sisters, Tammy and Lori, and I participated in the Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op this past weekend and we all have a lot of produce. If you haven't heard of this co-op, check out its website http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/. You will save some money on produce (if you can eat it all and not let any go to waste!)

This recipe is from Gourmet magazine via http://smittenkitchen.com/ and we loved it. I don't know about the calories but since it has so much flavor and is very thin you really don't need much to dress your salad.

1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

2 tablespoons minced shallot

1 tablespoon sugar

3 tablespoons finely chopped chives


Whisk together buttermilk, mayonnaise, vinegar, shallot, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl until sugar has dissolved, then whisk in chives. Done!

Banana Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling

We had a beautiful morning today--opened the windows for a while (that was a treat) and enjoyed a great General Conference. Hope and gratitude! That was definitely the message I received this weekend.

And I also tried a new recipe. My sister, Lori, had some over-ripe bananas that she didn't want so I used some in a new banana muffin recipe and stashed the rest in the freezer.

This recipe comes from a blog I visit now and then called Pinch My Salt http://pinchmysalt.com/. It is very easy and while the muffins are not beautiful (I'm sure yours will be) they are delicious. Enjoy!

Cream Cheese Filled Banana Muffins

Filling:

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

Muffin batter:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup sugar

2 bananas, mashed

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup oil

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 12-cup standard muffin pan.

2. In a small bowl, beat together cream cheese, sugar, and egg. Put bowl in refrigerator while you make the muffin batter.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and soda, salt, and sugar; set aside.

4. In a medium bowl, whisk together bananas, buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla.

5. Pour wet ingredients into the large bowl filled with flour mixture then stir with wooden spoon just until the mixture is combined.

6. Spoon enough batter into muffins cups so that they are just under halfway full. Add one spoonful of cream cheese mixture into each cup, then top with remaining muffin batter. Muffin cups will end up being almost completely full.

7. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 375 degrees. Check after 20 minutes, muffins are done when a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

BOOK DISCUSSION 2008

I know we still have a few more months before 2008 is over (may 2009 be much, much better). But I was with a group of great friends last night discussing favorite (and not so favorite) books read this past year. Here is a list of our top 12 favorite books for this year:

Luncheon of the Boating Party - Susan Vreeland

Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life - Steve Martin

Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson

Loving Frank - Nancy Horan

Leadership and Self-Deception - Arbinger Institute

Team of Rivals - Doris Goodwin

My Name is Asher Lev - Chaim Potok

Virgin of Small Plains - Nancy Pickard

The Clan of the Cave Bear - Jean Auel

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Shaffer & Barrows

The Third Option - Vince Flynn

OTHER GOOD READS:

Watership Down

Out Stealing Horses

Farewell My Subaru

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

Friday Knitting Club

Summer at Tiffany

Thank You for Smoking

The Book Thief

Run

Rise and Shine

The Chosen

Here be Dragons

Enchanted April

The Sum of Days (or anything by Isabel Allende)

Unaccustomed Earth

Happy Reading!

Mini Lemon Cheesecake

I tried a new recipe and it was a hit so I am sharing it with you.

This is originally from the July issue of Victoria magazine. I am always leary of recipes from magazines that aren't devoted to cooking becaue I've had problems in the past. This one was no different. First the recipe is called Lemon Tartlets--they aren't really tarts, more like cheesecake. Then it called for an 18 cup mini cheesecake pan--no such thing. After a ridiculous amount of research I could only find a 12 cup mini cheeecake pan (for $24 at ABC Cakes in Phoenix, what a fun little shop).

While making the filling I added more lemon juice, which is reflected in the recipe below. There is enough filling for 12 mini cheesecakes but I had a lot of the crumb mixture left over which I tossed.

But these are super easy to make and very yummy--enjoy!

2 cups gingersnap crumbs (made from about 1 lb cookies, finely ground in food procesor)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1 egg white
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
3 tablespoons lemon zest
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (recipe called for 1 tablespoon)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat over to 350 degrees
In a large bowl, mix together the gingersnap crumbs, brown sugar, butter, and egg white until well blended.
Evenly divide the gingersnap mixture between each well of a 12 cup mini cheeecake pan. Press the mixture into the bottoms and up the sides of the wells (it won't go up too much on the sides), bake for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, sugar, egg, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. Using an electric mixer at medium speed, beat until the mixture is smooth, about 4 minutes.

Evenly spoon the filling into the prepared crusts; bake for 10 minutes, or until the centers are set. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Garnish with lemon zest strips or a rosette of whipped cream.

Cook's Illustrated & Tilapia Fish

My friend, Cassandra, was lucky enough to unexpectedly receive two free issues of Cook's Illustrated Magazine. And I was lucky enough to have them passed on to me.

Cook's Illustrated http://www.cooksillustrated.com/ is about a 35-page magazine (with no ads!) that tests all sorts of favorite classic recipes (the best brownies, the best roasted chicken, etc.), cooking products, and new ideas. You probably have seen the Founder and Editor, Christopher Kimball, on our local PBS station (wonkish-looking guy with the bow tie and wire-rimmed glasses).

I love this magazine! I love when they test the best pizza cutter and it turns out to be the less expensive OXO Good Grips 4 inch pizza cutter that you can get for around $8 at Bed, Bath, and Beyond with one of the dozens of 20% coupons you have lying around the house.

But here is the latest tip I wanted to pass on. I know a lot of you prepare tilapia fish and may have noticed that sometimes it can have a muddy flavor. The test kitchen tried a few ideas and found the best thing is to soak the tilapia in buttermilk for one hour before cooking. Then rinse off the buttermilk, pat the fish dry, and proceed with your recipe. I will definitely try this the next time I cook tilapia.

Cassandra is now subscribing to the magazine and since she saves nothing (maintaining her clutter-free house) she is going to pass them on to me--yeah!

Pandora's Music Box

Just returned from spending a week attending BYU Education Week. You can't go wrong spending time in Utah during the hideous month of August.

My sisters, Lori and Tammy, and my friend Linda, and I traveled together staying at our friend, Julie's beautiful, large, and comfortable home in Provo, Utah. We did this last year and had such a great time we wanted to repeat. You know how sometimes repeat trips just don't work as well as that first trip? Well, that didn't happen. It was just as great as last year.

Every year BYU http://ce.byu.edu/ed/edweek/ offers a ton of classes for adults with topics on religion, parenting, communication, the arts, etc. One of the classes I loved was all about classical music. I learned about a free personalized internet radio service called Pandora http://www.pandora.com.

Click on Pandora, register for free, and start selecting music that appeals to you. Pandora will select music that you may like based on a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" rating that you select--similar to TIVO. Pandora come from the Music Genome Project which analyzes music and breaks it down to somehow figure out what a person likes (I am totally paraphrasing). However, I am finding all sorts of new pieces that I am loving. A piece by Carl Stamitz is playing as I type this. I put in Mozart and Mozart-like pieces come up. I really wasn't familiar to Stamitz but I'm liking his music. See below for a sample.

Carl Stamitz

Stamitz: Four Symphonies

Symphony In D Major "La Chasse": II. Andante

performed by: London Mozart Players

Loading SamplePlaying SamplePlay Sample

Features Of This Song

Classical stylings
a symphony orchestra
tonal harmony
major key tonality
a walking pace tempo
an emotional aesthetic
a symphony

These are just a few of the hundreds of attributes cataloged for this song by the Music Genome Project.

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