penne with creamy pumpkin sauce

I totally went out of our comfort zone for this recipe. Our pasta dishes usually are topped with a tomato or alfredo based sauce but since we love Rosetto butternut squash ravioli so much I thought the pumpkin sauce would be a great flavor combination.

From Everyday Food, November 2007 - Serves 4

* 12 ounces penne rigate (ridged), or other short pasta
* Coarse salt
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
* 1 can (15 ounces) pure pumpkin puree
* 1 garlic clove, minced
* 1/2 cup half-and-half
* 1/3 cup grated Parmesan
* 1 tablespoon white-wine vinegar
* 1/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes, plus more for garnish (optional)

Directions

1. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Reserve 2 cups pasta water; drain pasta and set aside.
2. In pasta pot, heat oil over medium. Add rosemary and fry, stirring, until starting to brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer rosemary to a paper towel, leaving oil in pot.
3. Carefully (oil is hot and will spatter) add pumpkin puree, garlic, half-and-half, Parmesan, vinegar, red-pepper flakes, and 1 cup reserved pasta water to pot. Stir sauce until heated through, 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Add pasta to sauce, and toss to coat. If sauce is too thick, add some reserved pasta water. Season generously with salt. Serve pasta sprinkled with fried rosemary and, if desired, more red-pepper flakes.

Marsha - Thumbs ? - While I wouldn't go so far as to give this one a thumbs down - it just doesn't compare with our favorite butternut squash pasta so this recipe was not saved in the "keeper" files. If you love pumpkin and a very simple dish to make - I'd say go for it, everyone's taste is individual.
Jeff - Thumbs down

cluck...cluck chickens...

When one gets some beautiful new chicken plates and a darn cute red chickie roaster they have to find a great chicken recipe to break them in...
and find it I did in the form of the Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti.
Just following her detailed photo steps, I felt a little PWish and shot some photos of the steps I took as well :)
The recipe makes a large batch, I estimate 8-10 servings, so I put half of it in another casserole for the freezer.
The black, white and red make a striking table setting...
and the addition of multi grain rolls and sugar snap peas make a full meal.
My one cup serving fills (and steams) my mini plate while Jeff opted to use his rooster for a bread plate and fill the bigger plate :)
While I love my white chickie this new red one is fits my colorful personality, LOL! Setting my attempt at humor aside, doesn't it look good filled with cheesy chicken goodness?
Did you notice the candle light centerpiece? I grew up as part of the un-generation of the 1970's. Do you remember when 7-up was the un-cola? This winter I am working on decluttering the house and found my vintage 1970's un-candles packed away. They are glass containers which you fill with water and pour a little vegetable oil on top with a floating wick system. Has anyone else hung onto theirs? A quick check of ebay finds them only worth about $3.50 so I guess they are not valuable antiques just yet.
During dinner, I started to laugh and had to grab the camera once again for a close up of the candles. Jeff had to ask what was so funny...our family went to the A-B "beer school" at San Diego Sea World and one of the first things we learned was if there are bubbles on the sides of your beer glass then your glass is dirty. Guess there was some vintage dirt on the candles as well.


Chicken Spaghetti from the Pioneer Woman. The full recipe can be found HERE on her blog post from June 2007 or in her cookbook.

My notes: I used the Healthy Request soups, substituted one half whole wheat spaghetti, reduced the cheese to 2 cups (8 oz package) and used diced roasted red peppers instead of the pimentos since it is not an item I usually buy. I also went with the 1/8 tsp of cayenne pepper rather than the 1/4. We both really liked it, I was worried about adding the 2 cups of broth back into the casserole but it makes for a wonderfully sauced dish that we both really liked.

Marsha - Thumbs UP
Jeff - Thumbs UP

cookbooks...

I love cookbooks and looking for new recipes to try. In the little cupboard above my stove are the ones I use the most. Amongst them are my vintage Betty Crocker, a shower gift in 1976...
and the "used so much I wore out the binding" church cookbook filled with tried and true recipes of women of my congregation.
There are antique cookbooks and Goodwill books...
and four new ones including this homemade one of ebelskiver recipes created by Jayme. I can't wait to try my way through this one!
This blog has been lacking in activity lately as our eating habits recover from holiday overeating and we have been eating simple and light foods (not to mention it is too darn dark to take photos for the blog!). But after a couple of weeks, I am back on track and feel up to the occasional indulgence once again so this morning I sat with my cup of tea, a stack of post its and the 3 books I received over the holidays.
The New Glorious American Food book was given to me by my friend, Kathleen, of Cuisine Kathleen. She is one of nine of us blogger friends spread over the country who have became tight knit friends and are there for each other celebrating the good times and the bad times. This book in a way celebrates our friendship as it is divided into 9 regions of our country with info, menus and recipes from each region and she has given a copy to all of us. As you can see, I have already bookmarked several recipes to try soon.
The second book I received as a Christmas gift on Jeff's side of the family. You know the gift game where you bring a generic male or female gift and draw numbers and steal each other's gifts - I don't even know who to credit for this one :) It is Rachel's Ray's Big Orange Book and to be honest I haven't had much time to go through it yet so it's content remains a mystery. However, she is a tv favorite so look for some of these recipes in future posts.
Lastly we come to the book I enjoyed the most! I am an avid fan of the blog, The Pioneer Woman and have laughed out loud while reading her stories of life on the ranch, immensely enjoy her photography and love her down home cooking.

Our niece, Lisa, went to the PW's book signing at the Mall of America in November and waited in line a LONG time to have her sign a copy for herself and one for the J family gift exchange (as mentioned in the RR paragraph). She made the mistake of mentioning it to me at the Thanksgiving gathering so I told her I would be ruthless in the game and end up coming home with that book :) In MN, our weather doesn't always cooperate with our plans so Lisa wasn't able to be there for the gift exchange, but the next week I about screamed with joy when I got a package in the mail with a note from Lisa wishing me a happy birthday and enclosing the book. Isn't it a beauty? Starting from the title page with Ree's inscription and the photos of her and Lisa at the MOA to the very last page of a "cowboy view of The End" I have read every word and poured over every photograph.
It reads like a novel with her personal sharing of herself and family and life on a ranch. The colors, step by step photos of recipes, clipart and photos all come together to make it such a fun read...where else would you find a horse next to a photo of potato skins?
The recipes are all full fat down home cooking, the kind my husband loves and with the off recipe topics, I have come away educated and now know the difference between chaps and a chinks.
This is the only cookbook I have ever read that "keeps it real" showing the aftermath of what one's kitchen looks like after a day of cooking :)
If you are one that is put off by photos of dogs and cows and the brown "mud" made by a herd of cows then this book is not for you but I for one couldn't put it down and have browsed it several times since. Tomorrow's post will be the first recipe I tried from the book.

It is Lisa's birthday this week and I need to start thinking of a gift that she would enjoy as much as I enjoyed this gift - this one is going to be hard! Happy Birthday Lisa and THANK YOU - I owe bigtime!

sweet potatoes and a sweet's birthday...

The Christmas dishes are put away but I am still using my "Frosty Friends" by Oneida plates that I bought at a garage sale this summer. They came as a box of 4 dessert plates but these days I am using them as my dinner plate as a mind trick to think I am eating more than I am since I am trying to lose a few lbs with portion control. Jeff on the other hand appreciates a man-sized dinner plate :)
Tonight we had pork for supper so I tried a new side dish recipe with sweet potatoes and apple slices.
My little plate was full but my portions were the right size - so I felt I was getting more food than a few spoonfuls scattered on a large plate.
Scalloped Sweet Potatoes
from the Pine to Prairie cookbook, Vol III

1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
3 raw, medium sweet potatoes, peeled, sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 medium apples, sliced
3 TBSP butter

Mix sugar and cinnamon together. Place a layer of sweet potatoes in a lightly buttered casserole. Add a layer of apples, sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mixture and dot with butter. Repeat layers. Cover and bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour. Makes 6 servings.

Marsha - Thumbs UP
Jeff - Thumbs UP

and now the "sweet's birthday"...
A couple of years ago I met a group of women on a food forum and over time our core group has become great friends. Suzy is the youngest one of the eight whom I call my sweet and savory friends but with us age doesn't matter. You may know her from Kitchen Bouquet, she's a great cook and a wonderful gardener. When I think of Suzy I always think of tulips (she sometimes tip toes through them, no really she does!) and the fun day trips she shares with us online. She is our resident "nurse" and we all trust her advice. She is a true southern belle full of grits and grace. No one but her could have gotten a MN girl to celebrate Madri Gras Louisiana style. Happy Birthday Suzy! I hope your celebrated in true southern style!

a ruby red slipper...

for my birthday!
**Edited - sorry there are no longer any photos here, I will have to show this cute high heeled cake server in another post. I deleted the photos from my computer without realizing that the "delete online copies" was checked and they disappeared as well!

Isn't this just the cutest little cake server you have ever seen? Yesterday was my birthday and my sister, Laura, sent me this beautiful package with a note that said "open before birthday cake" :) Only problem was that it is rare I have a birthday cake because there are usually too many Christmas goodies around...so this morning, I decided to have one of the mini cheesecakes given to us by our neighbor, Jane, on my very own high heeled ruby red slipper!

My birthday was spent with Jeff's family celebrating Christmas so today I am treating myself to a quiet day...

in the sunny dining room with a cup a tea, my ruby red slipper and the remains of a 1000 piece puzzle that Jayme and I started on Christmas day!

Thank you Laura for the wonderful gift - I absolutely think it is just the cutest little thing ever :)

To my readers who have seen these around - they are very practical too as the fancy heel is magnetic and removes for washing in the dishwasher. Thank you to all who have left birthday messages yesterday on both blogs as well!!

Christmas 2009...

Jayme and Scott gave me an ebelskiver pan for Christmas so this morning I treated them to Tarte Tatin filled pancakes or I would be more apt to describe them as caramel apple ebelskivers. I used the recipe that came with the pan rather than a mix to make the pancakes but followed the caramel and apple directions in the above linked recipe. There was only enough for 1/2 the batter so the second half of the batch was filled with nutella. I think you'll be seeing me using this pan often :) Interesting fact is that though these pancake treats were new to our family, Scott is very familiar having them at his hometown Askov's Rutabaga days..who knew?

Thumbs UP all around on these cute little pancakes.

White...

White Roses...White chocolate...and a very White Christmas...I moved the sparkly black/white centerpiece from the dining room table to the coffee table in the living room this weekend. After seeing on another blog (I'm sorry, I forgot which one) that you could make floral vases from ornaments I knew I wanted to give it a try. I found 4 large silver ornaments at Goodwill along with some clear glass candle holders to balance them on, then I added some inexpensive white roses from the grocery store and I have been enjoying them since Friday. I love a non-traditional look once in a while but the dining table is in the midst of a more traditional Christmas makeover.




Today, we tried a new Christmas snack idea shared with me by my hair stylist. White chocolate covered Puffcorn...they are good but we both agreed we like the caramel covered version better.
We are in a winter storm warning until Friday night so I am afraid we could be in for a very White Christmas!