Does that look yummy, or what? It’s so pretty. Extra flavorful. Easy to make, although you must concoct three different mixtures – the cake batter, the pumpkin and dried cranberry middle and the nut streusel for the top. They’re layered in a springform pan and that’s all there is to it.

Reading Canela y Comino’s blog, she raved – with lots of superlatives – in the write-up about this coffeecake. Since pumpkin in just about anything is “my cup of tea,” there was no question I’d be making it. My DH was having his Bible study guys here, so it was a perfect occasion to make it. Festive for the holidays.

The cake batter is a normal type – this one contains buttermilk (I used whole-milk yogurt because that’s what I had on hand). The recipe calls for pumpkin pie spice. I don’t keep that combo in my spice pantry, so just added my own mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves, in descending quantities. If you make your own as I did, do note that there is pumpkin pie spice in both the cake batter and the streusel.

The pumpkin was Libby’s canned. And I used walnuts in the streusel, just because I didn’t have any pecans on hand.  I didn’t take photos of all the different processes (but if you go to Gretchen’s blog, she has photos of every step). The pumpkin layer, although not all that much quantity, really (it starts with a cup of canned pumpkin), does give you almost a pumpkin-pie type consistency. But it’s thin as you can see in the photo above and right. You place half the cake batter on the bottom, the pumpkin in the middle, blobs of the cake batter on top of that (which must be carefully spread out to the edges) then the nut streusel generously sprinkled on top. The recipe indicated the cake should be baked for about 60-65 minutes. I did 60, poked my cake tester in it in several places. What I didn’t do was poke the tester right in the center. Once the cake cooled, I discovered it was still doughy in the middle, so it likely should have baked another 10 minutes. The other option would be to bake this in a bundt pan for about 50-55 minutes (my guess on time).

So, if you’ve still got some pumpkin lurking in your pantry, this is a winner. Try it! Gretchen says the recipe came from a cookbook (magazine maybe?), Holiday Baking, 2009.
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A year ago: Panettone bread
Two years ago: Salmon with Maple Syrup and Thyme

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Last week we made a purchase . . . of a Brinkman electric smoker (at Home Depot, for about $70). I’ve wanted one for a long time, but it meant just one more “appliance,” and this one with storage issues. But with only one kitchen oven at our house at the desert, initially I thought we’d smoke the turkey. But we ended up not doing so – we baked the turkey and all the sides were able to go in the heated oven once the turkey was removed, and the turkey rested (foil tented). It worked out just fine. But in the interim, we did buy a smoker anyway. We bought an electric one because I figured my DH would not really want to tend to the briquettes over many, long hours of slow cooking. That was probably a good decision, although you can’t control the temperature much with an electric smoker.

First, I wanted to give the smoker a test run, so I bought a beef brisket. I dutifully read the brochure that came with the smoker. It indicated about 25-30 minutes per pound of brisket. Having had no experience with a smoker I assumed it was correct. I also went online to read some of the smoker websites to get another opinion. They all said about the same thing. Well, no the time was wrong, maybe because of the small size. I really don’t know. After 2+ hours the meat had only gotten to about 110 degrees which made no sense at all. The smoker was at about 250. Finally, after another 30 minutes and hardly any increase in temp, we brought it in the house, I wrapped it in foil and put it in the oven for about another 1 1/2 hours. THEN it was cooked through and tender as could be. Everybody enjoyed the meat, once it was cooked enough. Uhm. Shall I tell you what time we ate? Probably about 8:30 pm. Not one of my finer moments!

So I should have learned that the smoking meat seems to take longer than you might think. So a few days later I bought two 7-pound pork shoulder roasts. We were having a big dinner party for 18 people (well, 15 adults, 2 youngsters and a 2-year old baby). First I brined the roasts in a store-bought brining mix. I started this a day before, and they brined overnight. Then I dried off the roasts with copious sheets of paper towels, then patted the roasts all over with a store-bought rub for pork. Then they went into the preheated smoker. For hours and hours. With some mesquite wood chips and a pan of water in the bottom. The roasts smoked for about 6 hours. Not long enough. But at least they were cooked. I ended up having to slice the meat rather than pulling it apart, as was my plan. The flavor was stupendous, though. And we can’t wait to try it again. I now have a smoker cookbook in hand, and will use some of its sage advice before we try the next smoked meat. I made a Kansas City-style cole slaw (not memorable, no mayo, slightly sweet), some of the delicious garbanzo bean salad with Feta, green onions and cilantro, a friend brought a green salad, and I served the pork for soft sandwiches. I also made a new batch of the red peppers for meat, which went well with the pork sandwiches. And I had a generous bottle of barbecue sauce for those who wanted it that way. We ate one whole roast and part of the second one. Hungry crowd. I’ll let you know how the next one turns out.

Two years ago: Free-form turkey tortilla soup (from leftover Thanksgiving turkey)

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I know, I can hear it – garlic and cranberries? They don’t seem to have any affinity for one another, do they? Well, it may not sound like it, but it works. That’s all I can tell you. It works. This was the vegetable I served on Thanksgiving Day, and it was enjoyed by all. Mostly nobody knew there was garlic in it – you’ll notice in the recipe that there are 6 cloves, which is a lot – and I didn’t tell, either. The dried cranberries added a really nice touch to the veggie. It came from that Thanksgiving cooking class I took a few weeks ago with Phillis Carey. The photo above I took at the class – I was so busy on Thanksgiving Day getting all the dinner last-minute things done that I didn’t even take a single photo. This would make a really nice side veggie with any festive holiday meal. It’s dried cranberries, so you could make it any time of year, really, but it was just perfect with the turkey and dressing.
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Two years ago: Bishop’s Bread (my favorite Christmas bread)

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Turkey day has long passed, and I should be moving on with holiday cooking, but I just have to share this recipe with you. Because this is the turkey I’ll be making next year. And the year after, and the year after that. My friend Cherrie and I went to a cooking class about 10 days before Thanksgiving, and were blown away by how delicious this turkey tasted. It did require some advance work. Actually I bought a Kosher turkey, which is already brined, but if you didn’t have a Kosher bird, you’d want to brine it for a day or two before starting this process.

Brined birds are soaked, obviously, so a day before baking, you’ll want to remove it from the brine and allow it to dry off. A spatchcocked bird is merely one that’s had the backbone removed. So instead of a round mound, you have a flat turkey. So much easier to handle, and faster to cook too. Phillis Carey recommended that we buy a pair of Joyce Chen scissors (I did). They’re quite small – amazingly small – scissors, but they have a lot of strength. I did have trouble cutting the neck off – at the neck. Finally had to enlist my hubby to help. He used another pair of kitchen shears to pry, but I finally was able to cut the last connection with the other scissors. We had a 16-pound turkey, and she had a really strong neck! But once that was removed, it wasn’t difficult from there.

You splay the turkey and then you have to break the breastbone. I don’t know that I did such a great job of that – once I saw the finished turkey, I think maybe I hadn’t flattened it enough. I pressed and pressed on the bone and it finally gave a crack, so I assumed it was done. If you look at the photo below, you’d think it was flattened, right? It was, but I’d try harder next time!

You prepare a paste of fresh herbs, mustard, lemon juice and olive oil, which gets pressed underneath the skin (breast and legs). To give it added flavor and moisture. Then the whole bird is turned over, skin side up and I spread the remaining herbs all over the outside.

Then the flattened bird is placed in a large roasting pan – on a rack – along with a chopped onion and some celery leaves in the bottom of the pan, and roasted in the oven for just a couple of hours. The recipe indicated 2 1/4 to 2 3/4 hours. Mine, at 16 pounds, larger than Phillis’ recipe indicated, took just a hair over 2 hours. So next time I might reduce the temp by 15 degrees.

Once out of the oven, you salvage the drippings. And you add the fat-skimmed mixture to the turkey stock you’ve made (from the neck, backbone, gizzard and heart – NOT the liver), with a moderate amount of shiitake mushrooms. This was, by far, the BEST turkey gravy I’ve ever made, and we even forgot to add the heavy cream. We still have a bit left over and I’ll be hoarding it for leftover dinners.

So, I know this recipe is tediously long. Get someone else to help you with some of the steps, perhaps. But you’ll find that it’s mighty fine food when all is said and done!
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A year ago: Banana Bread
Two years ago: Cranberry Vinaigrette (hmmm, sounded better than it turned out, but it was festive)

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A week or so ago I was trying to find yet another pudding that my friend Norma could eat. Since I’ve made so many, I’m having some difficulty trying to do something different. I’ve done some twice, but my eye scanned over a lemon pudding cake and this one I found in several places on the internet had different proportions than the recipe I’ve always used. How odd, I thought. You’d think a pudding cake would require almost identical quantities of liquid to flour to eggs. But, with this recipe, I’ve now learned that it does not. This one has more eggs, less milk, more flour and more sugar. Very odd altogether. But it worked. This one is less lemon-forward, if you will. But it was tender and unctuous. I made one big bowl and poured just a tad of batter into these teensy-tiny little bowls I have (above) which provided about 6 bites for each of us. The bowls are hardly larger than the bowl of a spoon, as you can see. The sliced almonds are placed in the bottom of the buttered dish. And you do have to put this in a water bath – although my water bath wasn’t big enough for both of these little puds, so the one above actually sat out on the oven shelf. It was fine! A little more done than the other one, but still very moist and tender. So if you don’t feel like doing the water bath, I’m not sure it’s necessary!

Here the progression:

There’s the buttered bowl with the sliced almonds sprinkled all over.

The egg whites were whipped up and sweetened. The egg-lemon cake batter was mixed, then the two were gently combined. The mixture was poured into the prepared dish (and the two little ones I did on the side).

There it is just out of the oven, still sitting in the water bath. You let it sit for about 15 minutes to cool enough so you can pick up the bowl. Ideally you should let it cool completely, then, and chill before serving. Sometimes I serve pudding cake with a dollop of whipped cream, but my favorite is a little bit of half and half. This was good. I suppose I’d have to taste my other recipe side by side with this one to determine whether I like one better than the other. This one, however, is fairly low-fat. That’s always a good thing!
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A year ago: White Turkey Chili
Two years ago: Apple Parsnip Soup

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Gosh, Thanksgiving is barely past, and now it’s time to think about making Christmas goodies. Cookies, breads, a cake or two, some soups to have on hand, a casserole or two in the freezer for a big family meal (ones that will appeal to grandchildren). So, I thought I’d give you a list of the things I’m going to be making this month. Well, I must say, as I’ve compiled this list, I likely will not make every one of them. But these are the tried-and-true recipes that I turn to in December. If I positively am going to make them, you’ll read about it in the write-up about the item.

Chocolate Scones – I mean, if you’re going to indulge in scones, why not make them decadent as heck and add chocolate to them. They’re luscious.
Cranberry-Orange Scones – perfect for the holidays. You could make these on Christmas morning if you have guests to feed. Eat them all right then, and freeze any leftovers.
Panettone Bread – it was just last December that I decided to make my own, from a recipe on Baker’s Banter (the King Arthur Flour food blog). Mine had candied ginger, dried apricots, chocolate chips, walnuts and raisins in it. Made fabulous morning toast! I’ll be making it again this year.
Breakfast Eggy Muffins – very easy. These will be your complete breakfast (egg, bacon and bread) all in one fell swoop. You need soft bread to make the cup part. I’ve made these over and over, although they do have to be made just before baking. From my food blogging friend in England, Marie.
Ham & Egg Pesto Cups – another option for a breakfast in a muffin cup. Very easy as long as you have some thin-sliced ham on hand. And pesto.
Spiced Peaches – an old favorite – canned peaches done in a sweet and sour syrup. Perfect for serving alongside a sumptuous brunch.
Pineapple Upside/Down French Toast – a big casserole using King’s Hawaiian bread and canned pineapple. Very sweet. A family favorite.
Bishop’s Bread – I make these every year, without fail. This year will include several loaves, for sure. I don’t like fruitcake, so these, filled with chopped-up maraschino cherries, walnuts and chocolate chips are perfection to me. What’s there not to like about that combination?

Applesauce Spice Cake with Caramel Icing – a very nice Fall dessert that’s easy and filled with good flavor. Don’t eliminate the icing because that makes it.
Chocolate Steamed Pudding – if you like steamed puds, this one may satisfy. I’m not much for suet steamed pudding, with raisins, dates, citron, etc. So when I found this recipe about 30 years ago, it became a favorite. You can make it ahead. It’s not overly sweet. I probably enjoy it more than my family does, so I probably won’t be making it this year.
Gingerbread Pudding Cake – perfect for the holidays, or anytime in the Fall. I enjoy gingerbread, but often it’s a bit on the dry side, so this one comes with its own moistening sauce.
Pear Crisp with Vanilla Brown Butter – this was awesome when I made it earlier this year. You need a whole lot of pears, but the brown butter sauce just lifts this dessert to an all new level.
Escoffier’s Peppers for Cold Meats – this is a red pepper based condiment that also contains some onions. It’s absolutely wonderful on sandwiches, or as a side condiment to serve with some leftover cold meat, like turkey or roast beef. I made these again yesterday – to have with a big pulled pork dinner we’re doing for 18 people today. Perfect for the true Kansas City kind of barbecue.
Peppered Pecans – I make these in quantity when I do make them – they add a really nice touch in salads. Even if you don’t have time to make a big “fancy” green salad, add these to a simple salad, and it makes it special. They keep on your kitchen shelf for several weeks. Easy to make. It’s merely black pepper, not chiles in it. They’re zesty, though.
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If you need to have some casseroles or easy meals on hand for a crowd, look no further. I could have made this part of the list infinitely longer, but chose just the best for family meals.
Chili Spaghetti – like Cincinnati chili. This is a chili, just layered in a casserole with cooked pasta and ample grated Cheddar cheese. The kids will love it and adults will too.
Mister Charlie – an old favorite, a kind of Italian pasta casserole. Nothing all that fancy or different. But very tasty and you can make it ahead.
Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce – this really is a side dish, not a main. But it’s so incredibly easy (canned tomatoes, cream cheese and hot pasta added in). You could easily add some diced turkey to this and make it a meal with a big green salad. This dish is amazingly delicious.
Italian Sausage Soup with Tomatoes – a recent addition to my repertoire. I’ve made it twice in the last couple of months, it’s so gosh darned good. It should freeze fine, although none of it has lasted long enough to go in the freezer. It has some cannellini beans and a bit of orzo in it, but mostly it’s Italian sausage and canned tomatoes.
Cabbage Patch Stew – this is an old family favorite. It could all be done in advance except for adding the cabbage. It’s served over mashed potatoes. Either make those just before serving, or make them ahead with ample cream cheese (to help keep them moist and hold together) and you can reheat the potatoes in the microwave. It’s made with ground beef or ground turkey, with celery, onion, kidney beans and plenty of sliced cabbage.
Beef, Corn & Biscuit Casserole – a ground beef casserole, with some corn in it, and topped with either canned biscuits, or you can make homemade buttermilk biscuits to go on top.
Creamy Tomato Soup – this is my always go-to tomato soup recipe. It does have heavy cream in it, but it could be a complete meal with a salad on the side and a loaf of crusty bread.
Bombay Chicken – from my friend Linda; it’s especially good for a crowd. Much of it can be made ahead, then it’s just baked for an hour. All you need is a salad to go with it.
Bombay Cheese Ball – this is a new recipe I got at a recent cooking class. It’s SO SO easy, and would be a great dish for guests or a holiday party. Just buy some good chutney to keep on your pantry shelf and some shredded coconut.

Hope that’s enough to get you started cooking this month. If you try any of them, let me know what you think! I luv hearing from my readers.

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As I write this, I’m laughing at myself. It must have to do with [my] left-brain thinking. (In case you’re interested, it’s only when I have a watercolor paintbrush in hand that I seem able to force my brain to work on the right side and only then with some difficulty!) The recipe said “Rum Raisin Apple CAKE” (that’s my emphasis on the word cake). But it was baked in a loaf pan – a bread pan. So my left brain said bread pan = bread. No, Carolyn, you’re wrong! So as I cut, with my camera poised (still thinking bread), I made a narrow slice expecting more of a bread consistency. I don’t know why I’d think that since there is just a cup of flour in the batter and whole lot of apples. But I didn’t pay any attention to that part as I made it!

Well, as the saying going, “that makes no never mind.” because this thing – this CAKE – is really tasty. Very moist. I mean VERY moist. It has lots of complex flavors going on – from the dark rum-soaked golden raisins, to the multitude of apple chunks, to the apricot glaze on the top. It’s not difficult to make – peeling, coring and dicing the apples was the most time consuming. The batter came together relatively quickly, then you fold in the soaked raisins and the apples. The CAKE doesn’t rise much (how could it, with so little batter – it’s almost more like apples with a little something to hold it together).

Here’s the progress:

Not all that much batter, actually. Maybe I’d scale this recipe up by a third so it would be a tad thicker (and bake it longer). But really, it’s fine just the way it is – but it won’t serve all that many people – probably 6? Or possible 8 smallish pieces.

There’s the batter poured into a LOAF pan. Ready to pop into the oven for an hour. See, even here I was thinking wow, that batter has a long way to rise to mound over the pan edges. Jeesh – there was only 3/4 teaspoon of baking powder in the batter. How the heck could that happen?

Once out of the oven (the cake doesn’t brown but a little bit) I was still thinking I must have made a mistake in the recipe because the cake hardly rose a smidgen. What a dope I am! I looked again at the recipe to make sure I’d put in the correct amount of baking powder. Yes, I did. But I went on ahead . . . you cool it in the pan for 15 minutes, then carefully remove the cake out onto your outstretched palm and arm and turn it over onto a serving platter. While it’s still hot, you press apricot preserves through a fine-mesh sieve onto the top of the cake. What’s left in the sieve (the chunks of apricots) can go right back into the jam jar. I think I used less than the 1/4 cup called for – I used Trader Joe’s organic reduced sugar apricot preserves, and I let just a little bit of it drizzle over the side. Then you let it cool completely.

If you have lots of apples around, here’s a way to use up at least two, maybe three. The recipe calls for a pound of apples (juicy type, not like a Granny Smith – you want Rome or Fuji – I used 2 large Braeburns which weighed in a 1.2 pounds). And when you CUT the CAKE, just do it in squarish servings, okay? Don’t cut it like bread. Your family might laugh at you! But they’ll only laugh until they put the first bite in their mouths. They’ll luv it in whatever shape you happen to cut! The recipe came from one of my favorite blogs, Alpineberry. She got it from Simply Sensational Desserts by Francois Payard.
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A year ago: Stuffed Poblanos with (Leftover) Turkey & Cheese
Two years ago: Dilled Broccoli & Leeks

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Since I’m going to be ultra-busy on Thanksgiving Day, I’m posting a little whimsy for you this morning. I’m not a huge poetry fan, but this one just seems apropos.

The Pumpkin

. . . Ah! On Thanksgiving day, when from East and from West,
From North and from South come the pilgrim and guest,
When the gray-haired New Englander sees round his board
The old broken links of affection restored,
When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,
And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before,
What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye?
What calls back the past, like the rich pumpkin pie?

Oh, fruit loved of boyhood! The old days recalling,
When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were falling!
When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin,
Glaring out through the dark with a candle within!
When we laughed round the corn heap, with hearts all in tune,
Our chair a broad pumpkin, our lantern the moon,
Telling tales of the fairy who traveled like steam,
In a pumpkin-shell coach, with two rats for her team!

The thanks for thy present! None sweeter or better
E’re smoked from the oven or circles in platter!
Fairer hands never wrought at a pastry more fine,
Brighter eyes never watched o’re its baking, than thine!
And the prayer, which my mouth is too full to express,
Swells my heart that thy shadow may never be less,
That the days of thy lot may be lengthened below,
And the fame of thy worth like a pumpkin-vine grow,
And thy life be as sweet, and its last sunset sky
Golden-tinted and fair as thy own Pumpkin pie!
. . . John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892)

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I’m a bit busy this week with family arriving, many meals to fix, Thanksgiving Day planning to do. So I’m just giving you a photo of a bougainvillea bush just outside our kitchen window. The sun was shining brightly, and if you live anywhere other than in Southern California, you probably don’t want to know how nice the temperature was today.

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Here’s the kitchen in our Palm Desert home. I’m standing in the middle of the family room. The kitchen is functional, for sure and has 2 pantries, one large and one small (over on the left). The refrigerator is the biggest problem – it’s simply not big enough for times like this week when we have a house full of adults and children. After I put the turkey in there, there’s not much room to spare. I installed a Dacor wall oven and microwave convection oven a few years after we bought the house, when it was a week or two before Thanksgiving and the not-old GE oven just died. And too expensive to repair; I’m glad I did. The house has an open great room, of which the kitchen is one corner. If I turn around 180, here’s the view out the window . . . I did step outside, though, to get a closer look at the lake and golf course.

This is where we are this Thanksgiving week. Our children arrive tonight, with 2 of the 3 grandchildren. The last of them arrive tomorrow night late, in time for Turkey Day. Our golf cart gets a huge workout this week – the grandkids just LUV riding around our development. They’d like to drive it, but the area does have rules: no kids under 12 may drive a golf cart. When we’re here alone, Dave and I often take early morning or sunset drives in the golf cart around the golf trails and quiet streets. I enjoy taking my camera along to snap pictures of the ducks, the herons, rabbits and flowers. There are man-made lakes all over the two 18-hole golf courses, so there is no lack of beautiful scenery. So far there hasn’t been any snow on the high peaks yet, but I’ll hopefully take some snaps of those eventually.

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