Am I thinking about beer because it is October?

Ok, so Oktoberfest is actually in September, not October, but we Americans aren't known for standing on tradition. I'm not actually a beer fan, but I do love German food. German potato salad is one of my favorites. For my husband's birthday, we made a trip to Full Throttle Bottles to replenish his beer stock. As if it was in fear of running out! I think that got my brain heading towards thoughts of beer. Although, he purchased a lovely bottle of chocolate wine for me on the trip, so I guess I shouldn't complain.

Today I decided I'd raid some of his older beer and make some beer bread. It just sounded so yummy on a cool yet sunny Seattle day. I really wanted some cheddar beer bread, but already had plans to use the remains of my cheddar cheese making Scalloped Hasselback Potatoes and I didn't really feel like making a trip to the grocery. So I started thinking about what might sound good and what was handy. I had some lovely parm and garlic, and well, how can you go wrong with that combo!

When it came out of the oven, Sean was ready to jump all over it. My hope was to have a bit with dinner and then I'd have some left to join my potato leek soup this week. He opted to cut some and start sharing it with the kids, the neighbor, and the neighbor's kids. Blargh! Luckily there is still half a loaf left, so I should be good for a day or two. Next time, I hide the bread!

You'll notice I've split the butter in half. I did this due to a lucky accident I had with a beer bread mix a number of years ago. I wasn't paying attention and accidentally added the melted butter to the mix. I realized too late, so I melted another 1/4 cup and poured it on top. It made the box mix so much better.

Black Cat Cookies

Today I was trapped at home with two sick kids. By early afternoon they were feeling better and getting ratherly squirrely. I've been wanting to make RecipeGirls' Black Cat Cookies and this seemed like a perfect time.

I followed her recipe without any changes. I did make one small mistake, I should have used my medium scoop rather than my large scoop, so I ended up with 20 cookies rather than 24. As a result, I had to cook them 15 minutes. Oh well, note to self for next time. I also didn't put sticks in them. While cute, I'm quite happy to get my fingers dirty eating them.

I am planning to have kids make this Sunday at a Halloween Craft Party. I'm going to premake and measure the dough, then each kid will smash, whisker and decorate 2 cookies. Nothing like chocolate cookies.

Sadly I do not know of a nut safe black chocolate. :( I guess I'll just need to keep looking.

Ian's cookies left, Lucy in the middle, then mine.

This made for some fun this afternoon and helped get us through a hump where they were bound to get into trouble.

Fall is here, time for meat in the oven...

Last week the weather began to turn here in Seattle. I pulled out the flannet sheets, made some hot chocolate, and broke out the long sleeved tshirts. Of course, as soon as I did that, we are back in 70 degree weather. You're welcome Seattle.

While it was cold, I decided it was time for a big, warm meal. I just happened to have a lovely Living Social Whole Foods deal and was going to be near a Whole Foods, so I decided to look for a brisket. They had 1. It was fate telling me to make a brisket! I actually didn't take the whole brisket, it was more than my family needed, and the lovely people at Whole Foods will give you a smaller piece if that's what you want.
This recipe calls for a big brisket. This recipe is a party recipe. Or you have a family of serious carnivores. I've made it with as small a brisket as 1-1/4 lb. I generally do a 2-3 pound brisket. I don't reduce the sauce. The sauce is my favorite part! Especially as it drips down your chin! So don't be put off by the chunk of meat it says in the recipe, use whatever size you're comfortable using.

This wonderful recipe is from an old friend in Ohio. She got it from someone when she lived in Louisianna. I have lost this recipe a couple times and she has kindly shared it again.

30 seconds too late

Someone asked me if I would help them out by providing some muffins for an event. We chatted about what to make and settled on some pumpkin muffins. I happened to have some canned pumpkin guts in the pantry (doesn't everyone?) I pulled it out and opened it. I like to make sure everything from the pantry looks good after it is open before doing mise en place for all the known (daily used) baking ingredients. I opened the can, it looked good, and 30 seconds later I get a message, never mind, I don't need them.

Blargh!

So now I have an open can of pumpkin guts and I'm wondering what to do. I had scanned recipes for pumpkin chip muffins, so I decided half the can would go to that endeavor and half would go to a pumpkin pie. The pie will make the hubby very happy as it is one of his favs. So I looked at a few different recipes and came up with this. I might add some buttermilk next time to up the moisture. But I wanted to avoid the huge amounts of oil that are in many pumpkin bread/muffin recipes. It was a huge success. And when I asked my son for a nibble of his he replied, no, you can get your own.

And in case you can't tell, I'm not really a pumpkin fan, hence pumpkin guts. I gave it a proper name in the recipe.

Waffles!

Who doesn't like waffles? I mean really, those adorable little holes that suck up whatever yummy goodness you put on them? I remember loving to pop them in the toaster and gobble them up as soon as they popped. It wasn't until I was older that I realized waffles came from an appliance other than the toaster! Not long after I was married I purchased a waffle iron. I used it a few times with a simple box mix, and they were ok, but not great. I would probably pull out the waffle iron once a year. But it was handy to have around.

5 years ago I gave birth to a beautiful son with peanut and tree nut allergies. As a result, processed food and box mixes have been removed from my pantry. I started working to find the best recipes for many items. Our family loves Brinner (breakfast for dinner), we make waffles or pancakes, bacon, sausage, fried potatos, fruit, and orange juice and end the day with a bang! There are many great recipes out there, but the other essential part of the recipe for me was simplicity. I started with a simple recipe and I combined the flavors I use in my angel food cake, almond and vanilla, to make a waffle that tastes good even plain. These make a lovely, flavorful waffle that are great topped with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. Brinner is served!

Meh....What's up Doc?

Two years ago my in-laws were visiting. My father-in-law and husband built a deck on the front of our house and a play house for my children. My mother-in-law watched the children. I went to work. I would come home each day to find more things done to my home. One day I came home to find that my mil had found an old cookbook on my shelf. It was a cookbook she gave me for my bridal shower almost 20 years earlier. Each family member filled in a page of the book with a favorite recipe. That summer and fall I prepared a large number of the recipes in this book with my children and took pictures of them preparing the food. I also scanned in all the recipes. I then compiled it into a book for my mother in law.

This recipe is from that book. It is for a food that I'm not overly fond of, carrot cake. While I was making the book for my mil, I was doing my best to prepare as many of the recipes as possible. I skipped things that would kill me, like shrimp ones. I also adjusted those with nuts or just plain skipped peanut butter ones. But I ended up doing almost all the recipes. That includes making carrot cake. The kids and I made it and took it to a neighborhood party. It was a huge hit. I started getting requests to make it for neighborhood birthdays and other parties. So I have made it a few times and the carrot cake people all seem to really like it. I actually will eat it. Anything with cream cheese frosting I'll eat at least a bit just for the frosting.

I'm strong to the finish....

I am generally not a healthy eater. Ok, I'd rather live on chocolate and potato chips. But now I have children and I'm over 40, so I try to eat better. One thing we do regularly is baby spinach salad. My friend Kathy shared her wonderful dressing and we just love it. Now, it says it makes 8-10 servings. I try to use about half of a normal serving just because I worked out the calories on it. :) And I like to add extra goodies to it.