Breakfast of Champions: Asian Pear Cream o'Wheat

Last night was New York City's first real snow. When I woke up this morning, our street was lightly dusted with the white stuff and I was desperately craving a warm, healthy breakfast. Trying hard to shed the cold that I (and the rest of my family) caught from my adorable baby niece over Thanksgiving, I finally felt strong enough to return to my trusty kitchen and give myself the nutrition that I needed. After rummaging through the fridge and pantry, I found an asian pear and a nice big box of semolina (Cream of Wheat) and I knew that was all I needed to feel better.


Asian Pear Cream O' Wheat

3 T Semolina
2/3 cup, 2T water separated
1 asian pear
1/4 cup milk, if desired
1.5 t butter (I use Smart Balance)
1/4 t cinnamon
dash freshly grated nutmeg
1 t stevia
1/4 t vanilla or almond extracts

In a small bowl, mix together the semolina and 2/3 cup water and microwave for 1 minute. Meanwhile, chop the asian pear into small chunks, cover with 2T water in a small bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Toss the fruit, spices, butter and milk (if desired) into the creamed wheat and stir until just combined. If the mixture is too thick, add in a T or two of water or milk. If it is too thin, microwave for an additional 30 seconds. Microwave cooking times vary.

Enjoy!

Flashback to Tofurkey Day

One upon a time, when I was an angsty teenager, Thanksgiving was my not my cup of tea. A whole day dedicated to two of my least favorite things (football and poultry)? No thanks. Over time, however, two major factors dramatically changed my point of view.

First, during and just after college, I elected to spend the national holiday with friends and boyfriends and their families. Through these experiences, I realized that this time the grass was not greener on the other side. My family, it turned out, was actually kind of awesome and it felt as if no other family had such a fun and traditional holiday. Similarly, I really began to miss seeing my family. While so many take this for granted, living almost 2,000 miles away for almost 10 years really changes things. Especially when my adorable and tiny niece and nephew, and three (originally 5) feisty grandparents are thrown into the mix.

The second major change in my approach to Thanksgiving is, big surprise!, my foodie ways. You probably know by now that I'm mostly self-taught in the kitchen. So back during those teenage years of aforementioned angst, it just hadn't quite yet occurred to me to make Thanksgiving my own. But now that I am a little too comfy in the kitchen and utterly obsessed with fall flavors (cinnamon, nutmeg, pecans, anything pumpkin) I understand better than ever that Thanksgiving has more foodie potential than just about any other holiday I know. And my family's turkey? No match for my favorite tofurkey. (Just because no one I know agrees with this, doesn't mean it's not true!)

When cooking and baking throughout the year, it's usually just me and my pan. Sometimes I'll bake for Baked from the Heart with one of the talented Js, but more often than not cooking is a solitary affair. Thanksgiving, however, is a whole other crock pot. Unless your time in the kitchen is after everyone else is asleep, which I did a few times this year--I won't lie, it's pretty much impossible to work alone. Almost every dish on our Thanksgiving table this year was a collaborative effort. There's something really lovely about that--even if some people like the heat more than others. Here is the spread from our Turkey day buffet (A special thanks to my sister for providing the photos!) :

From left to right, top to bottom: Our Shabbat candles were an important part of the spread because we actually had our feast on Friday night (all the men in the family spent Thursday at a football game). No Thanksgiving is complete without a Corn Casserole--my absolute favorite dish!--and a Green Bean Casserole, which we made from scratch this year. Naturally, my non-veggie family has a kosher turkey on the table--my beloved tofurkey had the honor of a special place on the actual table next to my plate. This year, I added to the spread a savory squash. If you look closely, you'll notice that I carved Butternut Squash Leaves from the thick trunk of the gourd. We also made an Orange-Cinnamon Cranberry Sauce, a recipe that my mom and I created last year. After years of hearing from the rest of the family all about her incredible Apple-Cranberry Sweet Potatoes (below), I was really excited to try it out this year in place of the old standard, marshmallow-topped dessert, er, I mean casserole (which obviously I adore).

I wouldn't dream of posting about Thanksgiving without a pie montage! This year, I made a Classic Pumpkin Pie with Leaves of Crust. This recipe was actually a challenge because I was not so sure how to make the pie parve (non-dairy). As it turns out, you can just replace the condensed milk from any recipe (including that one from the back of an orange can) with the same amount of parve soy milk.


Meanwhile, my Grandma Sylvia made an Apple Pie with a nice melted brown sugar topping and my sister created the classic Jello Chocolate Pudding Pie.

You didn't actually think I'd deprive you of some recipes, did you?

Corn Casserole

1 can creamed corn
1 can regular corn, rinsed and drained
4 T corn meal
1 c milk (or ½ c soy milk)
½ c butter, melted
3 eggs, beaten
3 T sugar
dash salt

Butter a 9x13 casserole dish and preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together every ingredient thoroughly. Pour into casserole dish and bake for 1.5 hours, or until set.


Green Bean Casserole

1 - 2 cups fried onions
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) margarine
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
14.5 ounces mushroom or veggie broth
1 cup soy milk

Pinch salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Parboil green beans until just tender, about 5 minutes. Soak in cold water, drain and dry. In a large saucepan, melt margarine over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and sautee until soft. Sprinkle salt, pepper and flour. Stirring constantly, cook for 1 minute then pour in soy milk and broth. Whisk until smooth. Simmer for 5 minutes, until the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon. Fold in the green beans and pour into a 9x13 casserole dish. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes, or until the casserole is bubbling around the edges. Top off with fried onions in any pattern you choose and enjoy! This recipe is an adaptation.

Butternut Squash with Leaves (low calorie!)

1 whole butternut squash
cooking spray
chili powder
garlic powder
salt
pepper
dried oregano

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut squash trunk into several 1/4 inch round slices. Peel bulb, scoop out seeds and chop into small chunks. Place in a greased baking dish. Coat squash with cooking spray and set aside. Use a small leaf-shaped cookie cutter or a pairing knife to cut the squash into leaves. Make small lines with a knife to create veins and coat with cooking spray. Place leaves on greased cookie sheet. Lightly sprinkle a desired amount of spices over the tops of the squash leaves and chunks. Bake until squash is soft and can just be pierced with a dull fork. Form a wreath with the leaves around squash chunks in the dish.

Orange-Cinnamon Cranberry Sauce

3/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
12 ounces fresh cranberries
2 t cinnamon
zest of one half orange

Bring water and sugar to a boil. Toss in the cranberries and return to a boil. Toss in the zest and cinnamon. Stir and let boil for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and set aside until cool. Refrigerate for an hour and serve cold.

Apple-Cranberry Sweet Potatoes
Recipe TK!

Classic Pumpkin Pie with Leaves of Crust

pie filling:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1/2 t ground ginger
1/4 t ground cloves
1/4 t ground nutmeg
2 eggs
15 oz pumpkin puree
12 oz soy milk

pie crust:
2 1/2 cups flour
2 Tbsp sugar
pinch of salt
3/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp cold butter, cubed
1/2 cup ice water

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Sift together the flour, sugar and salt. Combine with butter and ice water. Knead on a floured surface and cut in half. Refrigerate for 30 minutes – 1 hour. Roll out into 2 large circles or 10 small circles. Place one circle in pie pan and trim edges to fit. Pinch the edges to make a decorative trim, if desired. In a large bowl, combine all filling ingredients and mix thoroughly; pour into pie crust. Bake for 15 minutes. Use tinfoil or silicon cover to cover the crust of the pie to prevent burning. Decrease heat to 350 degrees and bake for 40 -50 minutes, or until set. Meanwhile, use a leaf-shaped cookie cutter and make several leaves. Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, or until golden. Place decorative leaves on pie as desired.

Halloween Dinner Party

I am a HUGE Halloween nut. As a kid, I loved trick-or-treating and eating from my huge bucket of candy every day after school, all year long. But it wasn't until I went to college that I started craving a fun, sophisticated Halloween experience. You see, I went to a small university where the students just weren't interested in the spooky holiday. I almost went trick-or-treating for UNICEF once, but I sprained my ankle and was sidelined indefinitely. When I moved to New York, I was so excited to watch the annual village parade and attend parties thrown by friends and acquaintances, and I had a great time doing so. Just over two years ago, though, after being a devoted Martha fan for a few years, I began to crave a slightly different Halloween experience: the dinner party. This year was our third annual Halloween party and I think I have finally come up with a magic formula. To throw a successful, but still small, bash you need:

• A spooky but sophisticated ambiance

• Several courses of tricky treats

• A grand dessert finale

• And of course, required costumes!

Before delving into recipes, I'd like to say a little something about the meaning of the holiday. Although the day has roots in several cultures and religions (Roman Parentalia and feast of Pomona, Celtic Calan Gaeaf, Mexico's Day of the Dead, and All Saint's Day, amongst others), I believe that it's current meaning is more secular and philosphical.

You see, I hate all things scary. Horror movies, frightening practical jokes, any potentially dangerous situation, and above all, the dreaded nightmare. I prefer to be safe, secure, and away from all that stuff. So, why then, do I love this spooky and scary day? I finally get the chance to mock and tease all of the things that I am afraid of! I find it really empowering. I'll admit that I still tend to focus on fictional frights (goblins, ghosts, vampires and zombies) rather than the grotesque and possible (psych units gone awry and anything slasher), but I still feel satisfied and relieved by the end of the frightful night.

This year, I opted to place a menu with silly, spooky names at each place setting. This was a huge hit at the party and guests loved to look back and forth between their plates and the menu in order to figure out which tricky dish they were eating at the time. My favorite recipes from our 2010 Halloween Dinner Party:

Eyes of Newt Salad with Cockroaches Combine fresh baby spinach leaves with cubed apples or pears, and candied pecans. Top the salad off with peeled concord grapes. Served with my signature Spiced Sesame Salad Dressing.

Sauteed Broken Bones with wild fungus in a garlic creme sauce. This recipe was adapted from a ricotta gnocci from The New York Times. I sauteed an assortment of mushrooms in olive oil with fresh sage and tossed with the "broken bones" before serving. I can't wait to make this again, and maybe with a butternut squash sage sauce (for semi homemade recipe, cartoned soup would work nicely).

Goblin Claws Roasted artichokes, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with breadcrumbs. Roast at 425 degrees until the outer leaves are golden and fanning outward, while the bottom of the stem is easily pierced with a fork.

Jack O'Lantern Brulee I combined Emeril Lagasse's pumpkin custard with Martha Stewart's candied pumpkin. This was one of the biggest hits of the whole night and I hope to be able to make it again for Thanksgiving! Guests loved being able to eat the shell.

Throughout this post, you've found a few photos from this year's bash. I'd also like to show you some of my favorite photos from Halloweens past:

Red Velvet Skull with marshmallow fluff icing

Red Velvet Zombie
with Cranberry Sauce, Twizzlers and White Chocolate Covered Figs

Pear Skull Pops with butterscotch and white & milk chocolate
Meringue Bones dusted with cocoa powder Witches Fingers

Homemade Candy Corn Boozy Chocolate Fig PumpkinsHard-Boiled Eyeballs with guacamole
I hope you had a happy Halloween!

Food Photography

Because I have taken so many photos over the years of foods that I or others have made, I thought it would be fun to upload them all here in a slideshow. Enjoy!