The first recipe I tried out was “Beef and Bean Tamale Pie.” Basically, it’s chili with cornbread on top. You cook the whole thing in the crockpot, and the chili juices soak up into the bread. It turned out great!

Beef and Bean Tamale Pie

I changed the recipe around a bit. First of all, they called for cornbread mix, but I made my bread from scratch. Also, I wanted more fresh ingredients than they called for, so I added a pepper and some tomatoes. Also, the recipe was originally for a 3 1/2 to 4 quart cooker. Mine is bigger, so I increased some ingredients. So here goes:

Beef and Bean Tamale Pie

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 15-oz cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 10-oz can enchilada sauce (I used a “tomato and chiles” sauce)
• 1 15-oz can diced tomatoes, juice included
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

In large skillet, cook ground beef and onion over medium heat until beef is thoroughly cooked. Drain and place in slow cooker. Stir in beans, enchilada sauce, tomatoes, and bell pepper.

• 1 1/2 c cornmeal
• 1/2 c flour (gluten-free folks can probably substitute cornmeal)
• 1 t sugar
• 2 t baking powder
• 1 t salt
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/4 c butter, softened
• 1 1/2 c buttermilk (or milk with vinegar)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c cheddar cheese
• 1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped (include the seeds if you want it more spicy)

Mix all ingredients except cheese and jalapeno together, beat vigorously for 30 seconds. Stir in cheese and pepper. Pour into slow cooker over top of beef mixture.

Cook on low setting for 5-6 hours, or until bread is done. Cornbread is done when you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean. Serve topped with sour cream and chopped green onions.

Pumpkin butter is this delicious thing that tastes kind of like pie, a lot like fall, and is the perfect match for cinnamon raisin bread.  My intention when I decided to make pumpkin butter was to have something to add to my collection of jars on top of my kitchen cabinets.  But pumpkin butter can’t join those jars.  It’s too special.

As it turns out, home canning pumpkin butter is really dangerous.  You shouldn’t do it.  You could get sick.  You could get others sick.  Just don’t.

What?  You want reasons?  Oh… well, it has something to do with the texture of pumpkin and how difficult it is for the pumpkin to reach the necessary temperature to kill all those bad botulism spores.  I read about it last week.  If you don’t trust me, just look it up.  You’ll see.

But not canning the pumpkin butter is alright by me.  Because I have these super cute jars I got from world market.  You know… the ones where the lid is connected to the top and kind of swings around on this fancy metal apparatus.  One of them has a green ceramic lid.  I like it.  I just poured the pumpkin butter into a couple of these and refrigerated them.  I took one home to my parents’, and sent the other with the boyfriend for Thanksgiving.

The recipe is easier than you can imagine.  I adapted it from here.

Pumpkin Butter

• 1 (29 oz.) can of pumpkin purree
• 1 cup apple juice
• 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in large saucepan.  Cook on high heat, stirring constantly.  Bring to boil.  Reduce heat; let simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.  Pour into jars and refrigerate until serving.

The worst part of coming back from a trip is unpacking all of the wires that are absolutely critical to my ability to live life.  The phone charger.  The laptop power supply.  The iPad charger.  Can we say “first world problem”?

But also, I’m determined not to take more than one bag when I travel to my parents’ house.  I mean, one bag for my clothes/toiletries.  I have a bag for kitchen tools/ingredients.  And of course, a bag for wii games, computer, etc.  And then usually a cooler.  No biggie.  But sticking to one bag for clothes/toiletries is no small feat.  I’ve left out pajamas and just borrowed from my sister before.  I also never take shampoo of my own.  But my sister has much drier, much curlier hair than I do.  And she has the shampoo to counteract her hair-type.  The kind of shampoo that makes my hair a little crazy.  I’ve missed my shampoo.

While I was home for Thanksgiving, I cooked lunch for my brother and his family.  I made the easiest baked “pasta” in the whole world.

My mom turned me onto this, and it’s delicious.  It’s gluten free on top of that, and you’d barely even notice.  It’s a super simple baked pasta without any pasta.  Use butternut squash for the noodles.  Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.

I wish it were more complicated, and I could post some fancy recipe.  But basically…

Baked “Pasta”

• peeled discs of butternut squash (or half moon shapes from the bottom)
• your favorite spaghetti sauce (with or without meat)
• mozzarella cheese

Layer the squash and sauce.  Top with mozzarella.  Cover and cook at 350 for about an hour and a half or until tender.  Uncover and cook until the cheese is just starting to brown.  Just like that.

Pecan pie is made from corn syrup.  And sugar.  And brown sugar.  There’s a lot of sweet going on in that thing.  And it’s no wonder, your average slice of your average pecan pie is going to cost you 65 carbs.  Cutting the number of calories per serving that dramatically probably means one of two things: 1) Artificial sweeteners; 2) Ew.  In fact, it means neither.  But I’m not miracle worker.  This isn’t really pecan pie.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

One of my father’s favorite desserts is pecan pie, and who can resist eating that around Thanksgiving.  My main goal then was not to make him pecan pie.  I knew that couldn’t be done well.  Instead, I set out to make something reminiscent of pecan pie, something decadent, and something without anywhere near that amount of sugar.  And the roommate seal of approval says this recipe is ready for the Thanksgiving table.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Pecan Creme Brulee:

For the custard:

• 6 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk together egg yolks and sugar.  Add in the cream and vanilla.  Whisk until smooth.  Now strain through fine mesh strainer.  Pour into 4 ramekins.  Now bake in water bath at 300 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour.  When just set on the edges, remove from oven and let chill in the refrigerator for at least a few hours (I usually go overnight).

For the pecan topping:

• 1/3 cup chopped pecans
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

In a large skillet, toast the pecans over medium-low heat.  When aromatic, add in the butter and sugar.  Stir until coated.  Pour into a bowl and refrigerate.

To assemble:

Take the custard and top with about 1/2 teaspoon of dark brown sugar.  Set your kitchen torch to low, and torch them babies (keep moving… it’s easy to burn).  Then top with the sugared pecans.  Serves 4.

In the absence of a kitchen torch, you can totally use your broiler.  Just be careful not to burn the tops.

Today, let’s talk pie.  Pumpkin pie.  Remember my old recipe?  It’s been revamped, and you won’t miss the gluten a bit.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Pumpkin Cheesecake:

Crust:

• 2 1/2 c. Bob’s All Purpose Gluten Free Flour
• 1 T. xanthan gum
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1 T. molasses
• 2 t. ground ginger
• 1 t. cinnamon
• 1/2 c. salted butter (cut into 1 cm cubes, very cold)
• 1 egg
• 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 c. cold water (more, if necessary)

Mix first six ingredients together. I like to use a pastry cutter to really work in the molasses. Then, cut the butter into the flour mixture until shaggy. (I never understood that term until I started working on this recipe. Trust me when I say that you will too.)  Now pour the dough out onto the counter and create a sort of volcano.  Drop the egg and the vinegar into the middle and mix it all up.  Add cold water as necessary, but be stingy.  It may seem dry at first, but keep working it.  Refrigerate dough for at least 3 hours.  (Let’s be honest: I usually can only tolerate an hour, and it doesn’t turn out so bad.)

Filling:

• 1 pkg. cream cheese
• 2/3 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. sweetened condensed milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 can pureed pumpkin
• 1 t. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 t. ground ginger
• dash of ground cloves

With electric mixer, mix thoroughly cream cheese and brown sugar. Stir in condensed milk, eggs, and pureed pumpkin. Finally, mix in cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.

Putting it together:

Adding flour if necessary, push a tablespoon of dough into each muffin cup and up the sides. It’s important to make sure there are no holes in the mini pie crust. Spoon filling into crusts until full. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for approximately 40 minutes. You want the filling to be nice and puffy and the crust to be golden brown.

It’s really not, though.  I promise.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Curious, aren’t you?

These babies are chewy.  They’re chocolatey.  They’re peanut buttery.  They’re good is what they are.

Lots of people had this idea where you make gluten free peanut butter cookies.  I’ve done it before.  And plenty of others have adapted that recipe to use nutella.  I was sad to not be more original, but it’s the sad state of things.  Unfortunately, people seem to be putting too much sugar into them.  And that makes me sad.  How would you taste the peanut butter?  Better yet, the nutella?

Peanutella Cookies:

• 1/2 c. peanut butter
• 1/2 c. nutella
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Mix the ingredients together.  Chill in fridge for an hour or so.  Place by rounded tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and bake at 350 for approximately 10 minutes.

Google knows when something is a big deal.  Trust me.  People are posting recipes so you can make your own, others are yammering on about how exciting the first pumpkin spice latte of the year is.  People love them.

And I’m not judging.  The pumpkin spice latte was the first time I ever had coffee and didn’t think “That’d be good… if you could just get rid of the coffee flavor.”  I just wasn’t raised on coffee.  My parents don’t drink it.  And my caffeine of choice through college was always diet coke (interestingly, this is what I would get when I had the pleasure of taking a sip of my dad’s drink as a child).  I’ve had roommates who drink coffee like it’s their job.  And when you’re a student, I guess it kind of is.  And I’ve just never really gotten into it.  I would always prefer a soda or a cup of tea.  Always.  … except the pumpkin spice latte.  It has this rich, earthy flavor… mixed with fall spices and the richness of cream.  It’s a match made in heaven really.

Did you see my birthday ice cream from a couple days ago?  Pumpkin ice cream is really a pretty good idea.  … but I really had to wonder if we could make a sort of pumpkin spice latte ice cream.  We can.  I did.  You should too.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

For the recipe, I basically merged two of David Lebovitz’s recipes together. This recipe for coffee ice cream.  And this recipe for pumpkin ice cream.  I made a few minor adjustments, and voila!  Here’s how it goes:

Pumpkin Spice Latte Ice Cream

• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1 1/2 cups whole coffee beans (I went with decaf because I like to eat ice cream in the evening)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground coffee
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix the milk, coffee beans, sugar, salt, spices, and 1/2 cup heavy cream together in a medium saucepan.  Cook over low heat until steamy (not boiling).  Cover, remove from heat, and let steep for approximately 1 hour.

Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl.  Prepare ice bath: a big bowl with a bunch of ice in it, and a littler, metal bowl sitting inside of that.  Pour the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream in the smaller bowl; then put a mesh strainer on top.

Now reheat the milk mixture.  Once hot and steamy, pour some of the milk mixture into the eggs and mix together.  Now pour the egg/milk mixture into the milk mixture.  Cook on medium until thickened.  Remove from heat.  Pour through mesh strainer into ice bath.  Mix in brown sugar and coffee grounds.  Now chill this mixture thoroughly (preferably overnight).

Whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla.  Strain again to get out any chunks.  Then freeze according to ice cream maker’s directions.

I wasn’t in the mood tonight for any of my tried-and-true recipes.  But I also wasn’t in the mood to buy expensive ingredients or make anything too involved.  Which means it was the perfect time to look through my 1970’s Betty Crocker cookbook.  I found a recipe called “Tomato-Pepper Chicken” which was exactly the sort of thing I wanted to make.

Chicken ready to simmer in tomato sauce

Basically, you bread the chicken, brown it in shortening (so 70’s!),  cook up the peppers and onions, add tomatoes, mushrooms, and tomato sauce, then simmer the chicken until it’s cooked.  It turned out great, but here are some changes I’ll make next time.  1) Use less shortening. Maybe even replace it with olive oil. 2) Use chicken thigh fillets instead of leg pieces to cut down on the fat from the skin, and to make it easier to eat.

Dinner is served! Mixed greens and fresh mozzarella on the side.

While I was making this and while I ate it, I listened to Ella Fitzgerald on Spotify.  It was a pretty perfect night!

I’m having the most amazing hair day today.  That’s not braggy, is it?  I’m as shocked as anyone else, but I just woke up… and there it was.  Exactly how I wanted it to be.  And I didn’t do anything to it.  If this is any indicator of how this next year is going to go, I’m pretty ok with that.

Pumpkin ice cream.  I was going to make cupcakes for my birthday, but then my mom made me some this weekend.  So then I thought I’d make chocolate ice cream, and on Sunday, decided we’d go pumpkin instead.  I have no regrets.  You won’t either.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

So I like this David Lebovitz guy.  He really seems to know his stuff when it comes to ice cream.  … but sometimes his directions stress me out.  There’s not enough before-hand prep, and I’m afraid I’ll burn milk if I leave it on the stove when I’m separating eggs.  I’ve switched a few of the directions around, and I edited the spices a bit (because honestly, I don’t fresh grind much of anything).  Generally speaking, though, this ice cream is my adaptation of his adaptation, which gets confusing after awhile.  Here’s what I was working with.

Pumpkin Ice Cream

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
5 large egg yolks
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon (gluten free) vanilla extract
3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree (100% pure)

Make an ice bath: a big bowl with a bunch of ice in it, and a littler, metal bowl sitting inside of that.  Then put a mesh strainer on top.  Keep this handy.  You’ll use it later.

Separate your eggs and whisk up the yolks.  Keep ‘em close.  Mix the milk, cream, sugar, spices, and salt over medium heat.  Stir constantly, and heat until just starting to bubble.  Now pour some of the milk mixture into the egg yolks slowly, while whisking the eggs yolks.  Do this nice and slow so you don’t cook the eggs.  That’s gross.  Now pour the egg/milk mixture into the rest of the milk mixture.  Cook over low (let’s be honest, I got impatient and turned the heat up) until thickened.  If you’re questioning whether it’s thick yet, it’s not.  You’ll know.

Now strain the thick custard mixture into that littler metal bowl that’s sitting in the ice bath.  Stir until cool, then refrigerate until chilled (preferably overnight).  Whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla, then strain again.  Now freeze according to ice maker directions.

This ice cream tastes like fall.  You won’t regret it.

If I were in kindergarten, I would get a big fat for “follows directions”.  It’s amazing I ever made it through college the way I completely disregard directions.  As I’m sure you can imagine, sometimes this “flaw” leads to absolute disaster.  It’s why I’m a bad baker.  And other times, it leads to complete brilliance.  It’s why I’m a good cook.  True facts.

In ice cream making, it generally leads to a mess.  You know… if you don’t freeze the bowl completely before trying to freeze the ice cream.  For the record, it was frozen-ish.  I didn’t completely disregard the owner’s manual.  It was just… a bit sloshy inside, still.  Just a bit.  My first ice cream recipe didn’t so much turn into ice cream.  It more turned into a delicious beverage.  The second time wasn’t much better.  Third time’s the charm, though.

And now that I’ve gotten the freezing part down, I’m back to not following directions.  In this case, it turned out great.

See?

I found this recipe.  It’s posted all over the internet.  Apparently, this David Lebovitz guy knows a thing or two about ice cream.  And I’m sure it’s a good recipe.  I’m also sure that what I ate this afternoon was not that recipe.  So by all means, try his.  But also try this one.  Because, while similar, my version has an absolutely intense chocolate flavor that was probably created by the extra chocolate I put in it.  Whoops.

Before I tell you that this is the best chocolate ice cream I’ve ever eaten, you should know something.  I don’t actually like chocolate ice cream.  When the boyfriend and I are picking out ice cream, he always goes for something with a chocolate base.  I always choose something with a vanilla base.  We’re ice cream incompatible.  Not sure if that’s a deal-breaker…  But this ice cream has changed all of that.  It’s chocolate.  It’s ice cream.  And I love it.  So does the boyfriend.

Chocolate Ice Cream:
Adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 3 Tablespoons cocoa powder (I skimped, it’s true.  Go Dutch-processed if you want.  I’m sure it’d be good.)
• 8 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• pinch of salt
• 5 large egg yolks

Start by whisking together the 5 egg yolks.  You can do this later, but I have trouble multi-tasking.  Get them ready and out of the way.  Do it in a medium bowl.  You’ll use this later.

Whisk together 1 cup of cream and the cocoa powder in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Bring to a boil, then reduce temperature.  Simmer for 30 seconds.  Remove from heat and add the chocolate chips.  Mix together until the chocolate has all melted.  Slowly mix in the remaining cup of cream.  Pour this into a second medium bowl.  Place a mesh strainer on top of it.

Now take the same saucepan and mix together the milk, sugar, and salt.  Warm milk mixture over a low heat.  When it’s warmed through, slowly whisk the milk mixture into the egg yolks, just a bit at a time.  You don’t want to scramble the eggs.  Now transfer the egg mixture back into the saucepan.  Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat until thickened.  Pour the mixture through the mesh strainer into the chocolate mixture.  Now place that whole bowl into an ice bath and stir until cool.  Chill the mixture until cold to the touch.  Then freeze according to ice cream maker’s directions.  (Seriously.  Do what they tell you to.)