Vegan Pumpkin Banana Muffins: On being included

For MN and TB, two great teachers who have blessed Son tremendously.

I pack Son his snack every single day. His preschool gives a snack, but I can't read every single label of every single thing offered, so I simply find it easier to pack his lunch.  He doesn't seem to mind it, happily carrying his box of snack and water daily and skips out from his classroom holding it. He loves his school and going every single day.  He has two phenomenal teachers, who are sensitive to his allergies, and care deeply about his progress and his growth as a student.

I was very happy, when Teacher M approached me and said that they were having a Thanksgiving party at school and that some of the parents were bringing food.  She asked if perhaps I might want to bring something for Son to share with his mates and I said that I would bring some pumpkin muffins that Son could eat and also share with the class.  The rest of the offerings would not be safe for Son to eat, so the muffins would be one thing that he could share and partake in with his class.

I had Son help me make the muffins and he was pretty excited about it.  He kept on asking me when we would bring them to his class, what he would do with them and how he would carry them.  He was a great helper, mashing bananas and mixing all the ingredients for his friends.

I sent him to school the next day with the muffins, which he proudly presented to the teacher.  At pickup, his face was beaming and he excitedly asked me, "Can I make more muffins for the class tomorrow?"

"No.  Only today."

"But I want to bring them again tomorrow and share with my friends."

"No, sweetie.  It's a special treat for today."

He looked a little crest-fallen and I didn't really understand why.  Until I asked him about it later in the day.  "Why do you want to keep bringing muffins to the class?"

"Because, I like to eat with my friends.  I like to give them food."  And then it hit me.  It was the first time he ate the same thing as all of his friends at school. It was the first time he passed something out, and shared it with his friends and his friends enjoyed it.  (They did, I was assured by the teachers.  They told me they were a huge hit.)  It was probably the first time he felt included, in terms of food, in school.

Fortunately for me, Son has a birthday coming up in a couple of weeks and I have already made arrangements for him to bring a snack for his class.  It'll be another great experience of having him pass out muffins and feeling that same feeling of pride.

These muffins are very similar to the other pumpkin muffins I made, but I played around with a few ingredients to make it more friendly for children (namely reducing spices and sugar) and still maintain its deliciousness.  They are moist, warm, and not too sweet.  As a note, these taste better the day AFTER you make them (making them perfect muffins to bring to school.)

Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
Makes 12 regular, 24 mini

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup brown sugar
¼ white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup pumpkin puree (can)
2 bananas (riper the better) mashed well
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup water

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together 1 cup pumpkin puree, vegetable oil, mashed bananas and water. Stir pumpkin mixture into flour mixture until smooth. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups.
Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Printable recipe

Curried Turkey Salad: Even when you don't want to.

Today, after cooking and prepping and being in the kitchen for umpteen hours for a week straight, I decided to laze about in bed. Children were still all snuggled in theirs, and I reasoned that it wouldn't hurt anyone if I took a bit of time off and lazed about in mine.  So I did.  For a good 45 nunytes.  I answered emails, texted, chatted, all prone.

Inevitably, I heard the thud of feet as they came out of bed and the patter as the feet came towards my bedroom.  The door swung open violently and Son announced, "Mom, I'm hungry.  Can I have some breakfast please?  I think pancakes will be good mom." and then it was over.  My morning to laze about was done and gone for.  But I got up because I had to.  And I went downstairs because I had to and I made pancakes and scrambled eggs for the family, even when I didn't want to.  And they ate well, laughed and chattered as I thought longingly of the bed I had left behind upstairs.

The morning has come and gone and my chance to lie down and laze about over.   But Children are happy and laughing and enjoying this luscious Saturday morning with no Korean school and just time to just be.  And I think, well - that's pretty darn nice.

Now I know that many of you have a lump of uneaten turkey in your fridge and you're thinking, how many more days of leftovers do I have to eat?  I narrow what I do to leftover turkey into two camps - soups and sandwiches.  My favorite, being this curried turkey salad which is just great on bread with a side of the Turkey Vegetable Soup, is slightly hard to make (can you chop some vegetables) but the end result is just yummy.  So even if you don't want to, grab your cutting board, your knife, your leftover turkey and make this.  Your family (and YOU) will be happy for it.

Curried Turkey Salad
Serves 6

Ingredients
3 cups of turkey, dark or white mixed, chopped into small chunks
¾ cup of celery, chopped fairly fine
½ cup chopped red onion, chopped fairly fine
½ cup of dried cranberries
¾ cup to 1 cup mayonnaise (depends on how creamy you like it)
2 tablespoons curry powder, more if you like it more curry-ish
3 tablespoons of chopped cilantro (optional)

Method
In a large mixing bowl, mix together all the ingredients. Serve on bread, on lettuce, or atop crackers. Store leftovers in a container and seal tightly and refrigerate.

Printable recipe

Great ending to a "something you don't want to do."

Turkey Vegetable Soup: And NOW what do I do?

My kids say it to me all the time.  NOW what do I do?   Especially when they are bored or just looking for ways to drive me nuts.  Here are the top 10 things I say to them in return.

10.  Go to the bathroom.

9.  Help mommy clean up the living room.

8.  Help mommy clean up the kitchen.

7.  Go brush your teeth and your hair.

6.  Clean your room.

5.  Practice piano.

4.  Do some extra math pages.

3.  Clean off your desk.

2.  Clean up your toys.

1.  Go read a book.

Rarely do they listen to this list of things I ask them to do.

I'm hoping my blog readers are better listeners than my children.  I know that they are thinking, now that the turkey is done, what do I do with the leftover bones?  STOP.  Don't throw it away.  Make SOUP!  I'm telling you this soup will just knock your socks off!  Especially now that we are in the colder months, there is NOTHING like a bowl of great vegetable soup to make you feel good inside and out.

It's not hard to make, but it does take a bit of time.  But do not be daunted.  Try and you will succeed!!

Turkey Vegetable Soup
Serves 12-14

Ingredients
Serves 8

For the stock
4 quarts water
2 carrots, whole peeled
3 celery stalks, whole
1 large onion, outer skin removed
3 garlic cloves (optional)
1 bay leaf
1 leftover turkey carcass (meat, bones, skin all good)

For the soup
3 tablespoons olive oil
6 carrots, diced
6 celery stalks diced
1 large onion, diced
12 oz green beans, cut into 1 inch pieces
12 oz of broccoli florets cut into bite sized pieces
12 oz of cauliflower florets, cut into bite sized pieces
15 oz can of crushed tomatoes or chopped tomatoes
1 cup of basil, roughly chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
In a large pot, put in water, carrots, celery stalks, onion, bay leaf, garlic cloves (optional), and turkey cacass.. Bring to a boil and allow to simmer, covered, about 45 minutes. Remove turkey carcass from broth and set aside to cool, so that you can remove the remaining meat and shred it.

Heat a another large pot over medium heat. Add oil, carrots, celery and onions. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, and saute until onions are translucent. Add about 3 quarts of hot broth. Add green beans, broccoli, cauliflower and crushed tomatoes. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, simmering for about 20 minutes, until vegetables are tender. If the turkey carcass had leftover bits of meat, shred it and toss it into the soup. (optional) Add basil and allow soup to cook for an additional minute or two.. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve some and freeze some so you always have some on hand..

Printable recipe

Nothing beats the combination of soup and sandwich.

Gravy: Make it simple or make it more complicated.

The most BASIC of recipes for gravy is just the idea of flour cooked in butter and having broth mixed in.  That's pretty much it.  Salt and pepper of course but the three key ingredients are the foundation of any gravy.

Now people make a big deal out of making gravy with drippings, because it tastes better, and whole-heartedly I have to agree.  It's just not always POSSIBLE to make gravy out of drippings because sometimes you don't have that much drippings.  For those of you who WET BRINED your turkey, your drippings are actually too salt to use in your gravy.  Those of you who DRY BRINED the turkey, drippings in your gravy is totally allowed and doable.  But just because you can't make gravy with the drippings doesn't mean you shouldn't make it homemade.  You can and it is incredibly easy.

So what do you need to do to make a delicious gravy out of your drippings?  FLAVOR your drippings.  Underneath my roasting pan, I like to throw in carrots, onion parts, and celery.  Adding these things to the bottom of the roasting pan means that the drippings will cook with these ingredients flavoring them.

Also, I recommended in my post about cooking your bird, that about 30 minutes before you actually take the bird out of the oven, is to pour a cup of warm white wine over the bird. This helps flavor the bird a bit but also flavors your drippings! (which means more flavor for your gravy.)

Once your turkey is out of the oven, and if you're doing a drippings based turkey, you'll need to get the turkey out of the pan so that you can get to the drippings.  Once you do, you'll need a gravy separator to help you get the drippings in the most efficient manner.  (don't worry if you don't have one, you' just have to work a bit harder.)  A gravy separator will separate the fat from the delicious liquid.  You want more of the liquid and less of the fat.    If you don't have one, you'll have to struggle a bit to get the fat separated from the liquid, like asking your husband to sit there and spoon off all the fat so that you can have the other part.

This is my gravy separator, and you can see the fat has risen to the top, and the turkey based liquid is on the bottom.  This particular separator has a squeeze handle so that I can simply squeeze the liquid and not the fat.

Gravy
Makes 4 cups - easily halved or doubled

Ingredients
1/2 cup of butter or the fat from the drippings, or a combination
1/2 cup of flour
4 cups of hot chicken stock or hot separated liquid from the turkey pan.

Method
In a heavy saucepan, melt the butter and/or the drippings over medium heat. Add the flour and mix together, creating a roux (fancy word for a mixture of butter and flour). Cook whisking often, until the roux is bubbly and begins to darken, about 3-4 minutes. Add all at once, HOT broth or hot liquid from the turkey pan (hot broth prevents lumpy gravy.) and continue whisking. Bring gravy to a boil, and it will thicken. Season with salt and pepper. Serve HOT.

Printable recipe

Korean Spinach and Bean Sprout Soup (시금치콩나물국): Just momma

Growing up, I was an extremely late bloomer.  I started high school with only the barest knowledge of boys, relationships and how to be cool, and really spent much of high school without a clue.  I was never the girl that guys noticed and instead always ended up being everyone's friend.  Inevitably my nickname was "momma" or "mom" and that was how people viewed me - as the mother hen and not the hot chick.  Looking back, I know that growing up like that really protected me from lots of potential ugliness and pain.

And even if I was never the girl that guys fell for in school, Husband definitely makes up for it.  His face still lights up when he sees me and to him I am his prettiest girl. (Okay - truthfully, I know that Daughter #1 is the apple of his eye, but for the sake of argument go with it.)  Husband sees me as pretty darn fantastic (and I do him) and as long as the person I'm with sees me that way, what else do I need?

But a couple of weeks ago, after a day that we celebrated Brother #2's wedding in Los Angeles, I drove home in my car.  On this day I put more effort into my appearance than normal, makeup, blow-dried hair and high heels.  While waiting at the stop light, I took a quick glance in the mirror and thought that I looked pretty good.  Just at that moment, a car pulled along side me and the driver gesticulated something which I took to be an obscene gesture.   He kept on signaling something, which I could see out of the side of my eyes, and he was clearly trying to make eye contact with me.  The following series of thoughts went through my head.  Yeah right.  I'm not going to pay attention to you.  I'm too good for you.  I know I look good, but you're not for me.  You can't have me.  You can't even catch my eye.

The signal turned green and as we were crossing the intersection, it suddenly became clear why he had been signalling me all along.  He wanted to cut in front of me so that he could go straight instead of turning right, which he was forced to in his lane.  As I slowly moved across the intersection, he waved at me and cut right in front of me.  It wasn't me he was after, but rather my position in a lane.  In a split second, my face turned beet red, and alone in the car, I discovered, that yes, it is possible to die of embarrassment all by yourself.

A brief moment of feeling like the hot momma very quickly turned to being just momma.  I'm back right where I belong.

This Korean soup is very much like me.  It's homey, comforting, "momma" like, slightly countrified, but oh so good.  And I'm happy to be like this soup because making it is pretty darn simple and straightforward and the results are really wonderful.  (Like me!)  The best thing about this soup is that it won't embarrass itself and it won't embarrass you either. It is best served with a side of Korean radish kimchi 깍두기 and steaming hot rice.

Cooking tip: Whenever I make Korean oxtail soup, I always make sure I freeze a couple of containers worth of soup so that I can easily flip this soup out.

Korean Spinach and Bean Sprout Soup (시금치콩나물국)
Serves 6

Ingredients
2 bunches of spinach washed well, and trimmed into shorter lengths
1 package of bean sprouts, stems removed (if you want to)
6 cups of beef broth (make from this recipe) OR oxtail soup broth (anchovy broth also works well here)
6 tablespoons Korean soy bean paste (dwenjang 된장)
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 green chili (jalapeno, serrano, or Korean pepper) sliced - OPTIONAL

Method
First blanch spinach. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Submerge spinach for 10 seconds and then remove from water, and place in a colander, allowing it to cool and drain. When cool enough to handle, grab small handfuls of the spinach and squeeze out the water.

In a large pot, heat the broth over medium high heat. Add soybean paste by placing it in a small strainer and dipping the strainer into the hot broth. Using the hot broth, extract the soybean flavor, but leave behind the whole beans and larger chunks. This prevents extra whole beans from entering the soup and makes for a more refined soup.

Add blanched spinach, bean sprouts and garlic. Cover soup and allow soup to simmer, for about 15 minutes or until the bean sprouts are tender and cooked.

Printable recipe

Roasting Pan Winner!!! CINDY come on down!

The winner is Cindy, who said, "I like how the side bar has all the all the updates of deals. It's so easy to scroll through and find a deal that works for you :)"

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:9Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Cindy - I need your email so I can let the folks know at Macy's....  Congrats!

Goat Cheese Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Dates with Basil: More than I can handle

For SH, my partner in crime.  Let's do some more damage.

I just completed this intense project that was more than I could handle.  I took on a big project on a tight deadline on top of my regular work of being a full-time mom and teaching.  My friends watched me nervously from the sidelinse as I worked extra long hours every single evening to get it done.  I think even a few friends bit their nails on my behalf as they worried for me and my ability to finish everything that I had on my plate.

It came to the point where I was short with my children, rude to my husband, at one point saying to him, "I have no time for you.  Do not talk to me for the next 10 days."  I barely managed Daughters' homework, piano practice and swim lessons, for every single extra moment of the day I was consumed with managing the time in order that I finish the project.  I could barely post new recipes, even though my head was overflowing with things I wanted to say and it was slow torture not being able to do the things I wanted to do, in order to finish something that I had to.

And when it was all over, boy did I celebrate.  I must have sent messages and text messages to dozens of friends asking them to congratulate me.  I opened my arms to my husband and said, "YOU CAN TALK TO ME AGAIN" which made my long-ignored husband very very happy.  My patience returned to normal and the kids could immediately sense that mommy wasn't going to go off the deep end again.

And at the end of it all, what I wanted to do was to make something.  I hosted a small little Thanksgiving luncheon for a couple of Daughters' friends (and a couple of my own) and while grocery shopping, I was inspired by some medjool dates.  This is one of those easy assemble appetizers, and in fact, as my friend SH was over, I made her a sample of what I had in mind and she actually made the rest for me. It's a great dish that you ask someone to make for you!

It's one of those intense combinations of salty, sweet, rich, and fresh.  They are a total indulgence but completely worth it.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Dates with Basil
Makes 12

Ingredients
12 medjool dates, pitted (you can pit these yourself, very easily)
6 slices of good quality bacon, cut in half
½ cup of goat cheese (I like the “Creamy Goat Cheese” they have at Trader Joes, but chevre will work just as well)
12 small basil leaves

Method
Preheat oven to 450. Line a cookie sheet (with sides) with parchment paper.

Stuff date with a teaspoonful of cheese. Stick a basil leaf on top and then wrap ½ slice of bacon around the date. Secure either with a toothpick or by sticking the seam side down on the cookie sheet. Repeat until all the dates have been wrapped in bacon.

Bake for 5 minutes until golden on one side, and then take them out of the oven and flip them over to the other. Bake for an additional 5 minutes.

Printable recipe

Bay, Sage, Thyme Dry-Brined Turkey: Gobble, gobble, gobble me up!

I probably enjoy cooking the Thanksgiving meal, more than other meal in a year, and the main reason is that I really love turkey.  I love making soup with the leftover bones, I love having turkey salad sandwiches the day after, and I love being able to go into the fridge and pick up a plate of food really easily.  It's become more complicated with Son's allergies, but I find ways to feed him from the fridge too.  After the turkey and the soup has been made, I really just spend a lot of time thinking about how the next year's Thanksgiving is going to be better.

Last year I did not have a chance to brine a turkey, and  the years before that, I always brined one.  Brining a turkey, to me, is the best thing you can do to your bird.  It must really have caught on, because you can even buy brined birds at Costco and Trader Joes.  From last year, I said I really wanted to do a DRY-BRINED bird, which is essentially salting you bird and allowing the juices to get redistributed.  I didn't have a chance last year to make one, and so this year, I have made two.

The flavor of this dry brined bird is really subtle and lovely.  I used traditional poultry flavoring dried herbs, pulverized them and rubbed them all over with salt.  I looked to Russ Parsons of the LA Times, for help in this dry brining arena and he had a great set of tips on how to do it well, which I've adapted for myself here.

You need FOUR days to get this process done right, so get your bird defrosted ASAP.  Dry brine your bird on Sunday and dry it out on Wednesday night until you cook your turkey Thursday.  The bird will be beautiful and oh so flavorful.

Bay, Sage, Thyme Dry-Brined Turkey
Dry Brine mix - enough for a 20 lb turkey
adapted from Russ Parson’s article in the LA Times, November 18, 2009

Ingredients
¼ cup kosher salt
10 bay leaves
¾ teaspoon dried rubbed sage
¾ teaspoon dried thyme
10 peppercorns

10 to 20 lb turkey, defrosted
1 cup dry white wine, optional (used in the last 30 minutes of cooking to infuse additional flavors into the bird)
a piece of tin foil, folded in half, large enough to cover the breast of your turkey. (called the breastplate)
3 to 4 tablespoons canola oil


Method
In a food processor, spice grinder, or mortar and pestle, add kosher salt, bay leaves, sage, thyme and peppercorns. Process until the mix resembles a fine powder. Set aside and prepare turkey.

Wash the turkey inside and out and pat it dry. Measure 11/2 tablespoon of flavored salt 5 pounds the turkey weighs (for a 15-pound turkey, you'd need 4 ½ tablespoons flavored salt). Sprinkle the inside of the turkey lightly with salt. Place the turkey on its back and salt the breasts, concentrating the salt in the center, where the meat is thickest. You'll probably use a little more than a tablespoon. Turn the turkey on one side and sprinkle the entire side with salt, concentrating on the thigh. Use a little less than a tablespoon. Flip the turkey over and do the same with the other side.

Place the turkey in a 2 1/2 -gallon sealable plastic bag, press out the air and seal tightly. Place the turkey breast-side up in the refrigerator. Chill for 3 days, leaving it in the bag but turning it and massaging the salt into the skin every day.

Remove the turkey from the bag. There should be no salt visible on the surface, and the skin should be moist but not wet. Wipe the turkey dry with a paper towel, place it breast-side up the roasting rack (if you can fit it into your fridge, otherwise a plate is fine) refrigerate uncovered for at least 8 hours.

On the day it is to be cooked, remove the turkey from the refrigerator and leave it at room temperature at least 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

Place the turkey on a roasting rack in a roasting pan;rub the entire surface of the bird with canola oil. Put it in the oven. After 30 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees, plant the breastplate on the bird, and roast until a thermometer inserted in the deepest part of the thigh, but not touching the bone, reads 165 degrees, about 2 to 2 ½ hours total roasting, depending on the size of your bird. For additional flavor for your gravy and your turkey, 30 minutes before the end of cooking (about when the turkey is reading 150 degrees), lift up the breast plate, pour wine all over the entire bird, allowing it to drip into the pan.  Replace breastplate.

Remove the turkey from the oven, transfer it to a warm platter or carving board; tent loosely with foil. Let stand at least 30 minutes to let the juices redistribute through the meat. Carve and serve.

Printable recipe

EXTRA Tip
On the bottom of my roasting pan, I toss in the tops and ends of celery, onions and carrots.  As the turkey roasts, it drips on top of the vegetables. This helps flavor the drippings and makes for a super flavorful turkey gravy.  If you want to make turkey gravy with the drippings, I highly suggest you go this route.  The final pour of wine on top is also really a wonderful final touch.

Orange Cranberry Sauce: Simply better

Never underestimate the appeal and deliciousness of homemade cranberry sauce.  It's one of those things I consider a sin to buy canned, mainly because the thing is SO DARN EASY TO MAKE!  I mean E-A-S-Y.  I'ts harder to spell homemade cranberry sauce than it is to make it.  My recipe has 4 ingredients and it uses a single pot to make something that just tastes way better than what you can get in a can.  With roast turkey, homemade cranberry sauce simply elevates the meal.  The leftovers on a turkey sandwich cannot be beat.  If you do ANYTHING new this Thanksgiving, make cranberry sauce.  I promise you - you won't regret it.  (Go ahead and make this two days ahead of your meal.)

Orange Cranberry Sauce
Makes 2 ½ cups

Ingredients
12 oz bag of fresh or frozen cranberries, rinsed and picked over
1 cup of sugar
½ cup of water
½ cup of orange juice (freshly squeezed if you can do it)

Method
In a heavy saucepan, add sugar, water, and orange juice. Bring to a boil and stir until sugar is melted. Add cranberries, and reduce heat to simmer and cook until cranberries pop, about 12 minutes.

Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temp. Chill.

Printable recipe

It's not Thanksgiving without cranberry sauce.

My Thanksgiving Dinner: The company makes the food taste better!

I cooked my Thanksgiving dinner two weekends ago.  Due to a craziness of schedules of various family members, it just worked out to have it earlier.  The date was less important than just the act of gathering all together and enjoying time together.  I had a bit of my own crazy schedule that day, so I decided to go with a very simple menu for the family.  For the record, I like a crazy mess of dishes on Thanksgiving.  In the old days, I would see how MANY things I could just put on the table for the sheer challenge.  And if I had TWO OVENS (ahem...Husband) - fuhgettabout it.  I'd be all gangsta up in my kitchen.  Both ovens would be cranking out so many dishes and pies people would have to be rolled away.  Because THAT is how I roll.

But the strain of lack of time, jetlag (having just come back from Korea the week before), and just the nonsense of my work schedule meant that I wasn't going to be able to do everything I wanted to do.  I decided to go for the family favorites and sort of let go of the rest.  I'm not one to let things go either, but the jetlag must have weakened my resolve.  A simple Thanksgiving it would be.

It ended up being a really fun Thanksgiving.  I recruited the older kids to help me out in the kitchen as I wasn't fully ready, and so I had a team of junior chefs peeling potatoes and mashing them for the meal.  They helped set the table and organize the dining room as well.  And we laughed a whole lot as water was repeatedly spilled.  And even though I was a bit frustrated with my single oven situation, it didn't seem to matter once we all started eating together and enjoying the food.

Have fun choosing your menu, and if you want a compilation of many of the Thanksgiving appropriate menu items, here is the link from last year.

This was the menu.

Appetizer
Roasted Shrimp Cocktail with Homemade Cocktail Sauce
Spinach Dip and Crudites

Main
Dry Brined Roast Turkey

Sides
Cornbread Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potato Casserole with Apples and Pears
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon
Green Beans with Caramelized Onions
Gravy (this is a basic recipe )
Orange Cranberry Sauce

Dessert
Homemade Vanilla Bean Gelato (which my nephew inhaled and wouldn't stop eating.  Slightly scary.)

Caramel Apple Bundt Cake

Roasting Pan Giveaway! Thanks Macy's!

No no. The turkey is not included in this giveaway. SORRY.

Don't get mad! Instead I'm giving away something that will last longer than the turkey! The fabulous folks over at Macy's have offered one lucky reader a stainless steel roaster from Martha Stewart's collection. It'll come in pretty handy for some hard-core turkey or prime rib cooking this holiday season.

What do you need to do to enter? There is only ONE entry possible per person, requiring a comment below.  (Macy's requests each reader only enter once.)

To enter to win a Roasting Pan, you MUST do the following. Leave a comment below telling me what you found particularly interesting or helpful on Mblog, Macy's blog filled with lots of interesting articles covering things from fashion to food. (Click the home button for interviews with chefs!). Make sure you leave some way for me to contact you, in case you are the winner.  Unfortunately this contest is only open to those living in the US for shipping reasons, but if you have an address you can send your prize to in the US, go ahead and enter.

Now, just for fun,  like Macy's Recipe Share Page and share a recipe!! (let me know on my facebook page and I'll also go and vote for you). (ahem....entering a WOM recipe really shouldn't count, but I don't need to tell you that, do I?) Enter a family recipe that you and your family love!  (one of the prizes is $1000 Macy's gift card, which isn't too shabby at all.)

A winner will be chosen at random on SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, at midnight PST.
(I am a former high school English Teacher, so I am bit of a stickler for rules. Entries which do not follow the instructions will be disqualified.)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake with Cardamom Ginger Soaking Syrup: Sharing makes it better

I'm a total cake fiend.  I love it in its many permutations, variations, and styles. I like cakes in all shapes and sizes and I love that for as many different people there are in the world, there are different cakes.  I have different cake "moods," days when a chocolate cake is all I can think about and others when a warm, spicy, moist cake is what I have a hankering for.  I love cake.

But you know what makes cake totally taste better?  Sharing it.  There is a reason that I always try to bake a cake when I'm having friends over or if there is more than one person with whom to enjoy it.  I love parceling it out and making people take home a chunk of deliciousness, that later, in the wee hours of the night, they can sneak downstairs and nibble on.  Cake is even tastier shared.  (It's pretty darn tasty for the person who gets to take the extras home as well.)

As Daughters and I love anything pumpkin and bundt, I knew I had to make this cake when our good friends, the J family, came over for dinner.  With the kids running around the table, laughing and giggling, I knew that this would be one that we could enjoy all together.  Daughters had a chunk and so did the J family.  And I don't know if it was the excellent company or all the crazy laughter, but this cake just tasted so good.  I loved the subtle hint of spice in the background against the chocolate chips in the cake.  It is a perfect cake to share with good friends.

As we enter into the hectic, breakneck speed of the holiday season, take some time to bake a cake to share with others.   It's a great way to slow down, to pause, and to simply enjoy being in the moment.  Share it with someone you love and it'll taste even better.

Now, for a bit of sharing fun, Macy's (check out their cool blog) wants you to share your favorite family recipe with them.  You have four chances to win something pretty darn fabulous (one of the prizes being a $1000 Macy's gift card).  Check out their Facebook page recipe share and enter for a chance to win!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake with Cardamom Ginger Soaking Syrup
Makes 10-inch bundt cake, serving 12 to 14

Cake
Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1¾ cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie mixture)
1 cup sour cream
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Cardamom Ginger Soaking Syrup
Ingredients
½ cup sugar
¼ cup of water
2 inch knob of ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
5 cardamom pods

Method
Place rack in center of oven, and preheat oven to 350. Grease and lightly flour inside of 10 inch bundt pan.

Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.

Using either a stand mixer (paddle attachment) or a hand mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Gradually add sugar and beat at medium-high speed until the mixture is light in texture and color, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating for 30 to 40 seconds after each addition. Scrape down sides of bowl as necessary. Add vanilla extract and canned pumpkin. At low speed, add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with sour cream. (Add a bit of flour, a bit of sour cream, a bit of flour, a bit of sour cream, a bit of flour.) Fold in chocolate chips.
Scoop batter into pan.

Bake cake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then invert it onto another rack. Place the cake, on the rack, over a baking sheet.

While cake is baking, make syrup. Combine water, sugar, ginger, and cardamom pods in a small non-reactive saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves, 8 to 9 minutes (to really infuse the flavors). Remove pan from heat. Using a pastry brush, dab syrup generously all over surface of the warm cake, allowing it to soak into the cake before reapplying. Let the cake cool completely.

Printable recipe

already gave a chunk away.

The cake pan I used, which is different from my bundt pan.  (thanks to SH who lent it to me after I realized I had lent my regular bundt pan to someone else.)


My regular bundt pan

Braised Mackerel and Korean Radish (고등어 무조림): Simple living

During out trip to Korea, I heavily strategized on how to pack for three children and one adult.  I needed to take a bunch of snacks for Son, as I was unsure of what selection of allergy safe foods would be available to him in Korea (and thankfully I did because many snacks made him quite sick) and I had presents to give to people.  I took 8 bags of rolos, a bag of pretzels as well as pecans because I wanted to make Pecan Rolo Pretzels as gifts for people. As a side note, this was one of the hugest hits ever!  People loved them so much and were asking me how to make them.  (sheepish grin on my face since they are so easy.)  There were special toiletries for Son since I wasn't sure of the skin care, and all in all it turned out I had to very much simplify what creature comforts my children and I could bring. I rationed out the children's items.

5 pairs of underwear.  Son got a 6th pair because he has sometimes accidents.
4 pairs of pants (Girls - two pairs of jeans, two pairs of leggings).  Son got an extra pair since he sometimes has accidents.
5 tops.  4 long sleeve, one short sleeve.  Son got an extra because he spills
One zip up sweatshirt.
One puffy vest.
Two dresses for an occasion.  One tuxedo for an occasion.
5 pairs of socks, including two pairs of tights for the girls.
One bathing suit a piece.

One mini stuffed animal each.  Son got to bring two small cars.  4 books a piece.  2 pencils each.  2 workbooks each.

I did very much the same, getting an extra outfit for working out and one more dressier outfit in case Husband and I could find some private time together.

Our space in Korea was small - the five of us stayed in a two bedroom apartment in the heart of Seoul.  The kitchen was the size of my powder room, and it was stocked with 2 pots and two fry pans.  There was plate service for 4.  The fridge was tiny and could barely hold the needs of a family of five for 3 days.  The kids slept in one queen bed all in the same room.  We were blessed with two bathrooms thankfully and so I couldn't complain.

We didn't have a car.  We walked, took taxis, or a bus everywhere that we went.   I didn't have wired access everywhere so I wasn't on facebook all the time or checking my email.  The kids went to school and didn't have any extracurricular activities, aside from the fun of getting to and from school.

We lived, for three weeks, very simply.  No toys, no ruckus, no extras, just enough.  I have to say - it was nice.  I didn't worry about filling up gas, what email I was missing, how I was going to get something - instead I just worried about which bus would get me where on time.  And it was really nice.  Really great. Daughters seemed to do pretty well with the changes, but it was Son that had the hardest time.  He said at one point, "Mom.  I want to go home.  I really miss my toys."

Ah well....there goes simple living for him.  But I really want to bring some of that home with me and I think the place that I brought it home with me is in this braised mackerel dish.  It's simple - layer vegetables and fish. Make sauce. Pour over.  Braise. Nothing much more than that.  I will say that cleaning and gutting a fish - if you're not into it, could be unpleasant.  I'm not into it, so I asked my fish guy at the Korean market to do it for me.  He did.  I told him heads off, body cut into chunks and give it to me gutted and cleaned.  The vegetables and the other stuff I was happy to do and the fish was done for me.  It is very very simple.

This is one of those super comforting, super delicious meals with plain rice.  Think of it as a Korean cioppino or chowder and you'll get the idea.  Fish and vegetables braised together.  Ah....simply...so good.

Braised Mackerel and Korean Radish (고등어 무조림)
Serves 4

Ingredients
2 mackerel, cleaned, gutted, heads removed, and cut into 3 or 4 pieces. (this will be about 1 ½ lbs.)
½ a large Korean radish
2 inch knob of ginger, peeled and sliced into rounds
1 onion
1 or 2 green peppers (Korean spicy green peppers or jalapenos will work)
2 red peppers (for color - sweet is fine)

½ cup of water
7 tablespoons of soy sauce
¼ cup sake
3 tablespoons chopped scallions
2 tablespoons Korean red chili powder (고추가루) - use less if you want it less spicy
2 tablespoons of honey
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon Korean red chili paste (고추장)


Method
Prepare vegetables. Peel radish. Slice radish into 1/2 inch thick rounds and then cut each round into fourths. Slice onions into ½ inch pieces. Slice both peppers into 1 inch pieces. Set all vegetables aside.

In a large bowl, mix together, water, soy sauce,  sake, scallions, red chili powder, honey, minced garlic, and red chili paste.

In a large pot with a lid, place all the onion and radish on the bottom.  Sprinkle ginger pieces.  Add the fish on top. Pour the sauce over all the vegetables and turn the heat to medium high. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer, and cover pot for about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove lid and check to see that the fish is done and the radish is tender. Then add both the red and green chili peppers and allow them to cook for an additional 2 minutes.

Serve piping hot with beautiful rice.

Printable recipe

simply good