Another Belated Birthday

With all the excitement over fall baking, I can't believe I forgot to share this delicious birthday cake recipe I made (now a month ago) for my cousin and aunt's birthday celebration.

If you've read this blog with any regularity over the last year it's likely that my family's love for a good birthday celebration has become apparent. And it's true. We, and especially me, love a good birthday gathering. Since there are so many birthdays clustered in the summer and fall months, with mine not being one of them, I have come to look forward to the birthday's of others for the cake. I love most desserts, but cakes especially have always been a favorite for me (hence my love of cupcakes...mini cakes!). Thus, you can imagine my joy when others allow me to craft their birthday cakes!

My cousin and aunt both have birthdays in my favorite month (October) and often celebrate jointly. This year I jumped at the opportunity to craft a cake for the occasion. It was my first time with this recipe and it did not fail. The perfect, simple vanilla cake, dressed in my favorite buttercream frosting, and topped with a colorful menagerie of sprinkles. Definitely keeping this as my new go-to vanilla cake. Hat tip to Martha yet again!

Versatile Vanilla Cake with Vanilla Buttercream

My cousin was turning the big 3-0 so her mom ceded cake decoration to her 

Ingredients

Via Martha 

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pans
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3 large egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup low-fat buttermilk

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 8-by-2-inch cake pans, tapping out excess flour. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt
2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. With mixer on low, beat in eggs and yolks, one at a time. Beat in vanilla. Alternately beat in flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix just until combined
3. Divide batter between pans; smooth tops. Bake until cakes pull away from sides of pans, 32 to 35 minutes. Let cool in pans 10 minutes. Run a knife around edges of pans and invert cakes onto a wire rack. Let cool completely
4. Place one cake, bottom side up, on a cake stand. Tuck strips of parchment paper underneath. Using an offset-spatula or table knife, spread top with my favorite buttercream [also from Martha]. Top with remaining cake; frost top, then sides

Another favorite part of birthday celebrations--birthday crowns 

[with Sister and one of my cousin's daughters...pretty much the only child I somewhat enjoy]

Election Day Treats

Election Day has come and gone (finally). While I love politics, I must admit that this campaign season dragged on for longer than I would've liked. This was, however, my first election year living in the District and I was excited to see how the city celebrated the night. The night before the election I was abuzz like a kid on Christmas and needed a way to busy my idle hands. Enter baking. And since, despite the recent cold snap, there's still one month of fall remaining, I turned to my pile of pumpkin recipes to find the perfect treat to craft. 

During our hurricane hiatus from the office last week I finally got around to trying to roast a pumpkin in my crock pot. This had been a longstanding dream of mine for sometime, and I was beyond ready for the pie pumpkins that were taking up space on my counter to be gone. At least twice I'd tried to saw them, but to no avail. Thus, you can imagine my elation when I discovered I could literally stick the whole pumpkin in the crock pot, wait for a couple hours, and bam---pumpkin is cooked and finally soft enough to cut into! Best recipe discovery ever!

Once cut into, it was super easy to scoop out the seeds for roasting 

The rest was scooped out and put in a bowl for pureeing 

Enter hand mixer for pureeing and voila, fresh pumpkin puree for cooking and baking!

Dressed in a little olive oil and kosher salt, the pumpkin seeds were put to good use as well

I used my homemade puree in creating my election night treats:

Oatmeal Pumpkin Creme Sandwiches

Original recipe thanks to Sally's Baking Addiction

Ingredients [cookies]

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 and 2/3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup all-purpose flour

Ingredients [frosting]

• 4 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 1/4 tsp nutmeg (or 3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice)
• 2 – 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 1/4 cup flour (to thicken, as needed)

Ready to go in the oven

Preparation

1. In a large bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment or with a handheld mixer, cream the softened butter and sugars until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well
2. Slowly stir in the baking soda, cinnamon, oats, and flour. Mix together until just combined. Do not overmix
3. Chill the dough for at least one hour in the fridge. Cookies will be very flat if the dough is not cold
4. Preheat oven to 325 F 
5. Roll 2 teaspoons of dough into a ball and drop onto parchment paper covered baking sheet. Bake for 9 minutes [cookies will appear underdone, but will firm up with cooling] and let cool on baking sheet for a minute or two before transferring to a wire rack
6. While the cookies are cooling, prepare the pumpkin frosting. Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, mix the cream cheese, butter, pumpkin, and spices on medium speed until creamy.  Add 2-2.5 cups of sifted powdered sugar depending how sweet you’d like it.  If frosting is much too thin, add in the flour to thicken it
7. Spread a generous amount of frosting on the underside of a cooled cookie and sandwich another cookie on top

Assembled and ready to be devoured. I chilled them after assembly to keep them from sliding during transportation and it worked well (they thawed out fast too)

3 Pumpkin Must Bakes Before Fall Ends



Well, hello there November. Once again, another month has flown by and even more upsetting, I only have one month of pumpkin baking left. Not ok. Luckily, I have a slew of events this month (in addition to my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving) that require baked goods so with a little planning, hopefully I can make my way through the remaining recipes on my list. But alas, only time will tell...

 

Yesterday, my Sooners were slated for an early kickoff and I decided it was the perfect time to pick out recipes for the month ahead as well as share some that had yet to make it the blog. So, in honor of my final month of pumpkin baking, I present to you the three pumpkin desserts you must try before fall officially comes to an end.

 

 

1) Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Cookies 

 

Ingredients

Recipe courtesy of Tasty Kitchen

2-¼ cups All-purpose Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

2 teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice

½ teaspoons Salt

½ cups Butter, Softened

1 cup Granulated Sugar

½ cups Brown Sugar

1 cup Pumpkin Puree

1 whole Egg

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1-½ cup White Chocolate Chips 

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and salt in a medium bowl; set aside
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars. Add the pumpkin, egg, and vanilla and combine thoroughly
3. Slowly add the dry ingredients. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop spoonfuls of dough on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool for a couple minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer to rack for remainder of cooling time

2) Pumpkin Butterscotch Blondies



 

Ingredients

Recipe courtesy of Brown Eyed Baker

• 2½ cups all-purpose flour
• 2½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ¾ teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon ground allspice
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 (15-ounce) can pure pumpkin puree (about 2 cups)
• 1 cup butterscotch chips
• 1 cup white chocolate chips

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan and line with parchment paper, with enough to hang over the sides; set aside
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, baking soda and salt; set aside
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and both sugars until completely smooth and no lumps remain. Add the egg and vanilla and whisk to incorporate, making sure the egg has been completely mixed in. Add the pumpkin and again whisk to fully incorporate. Add the flour mixture to the batter and, using a rubber spatula, fold the mixtur until combined and no pockets of flour remain. Fold in the butterscotch chips, white chocolate chips and pecans. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth into an even layer
4. Bake until a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Set the pan on a wire rack to cool completely, then use the parchment handles to lift the bars out of the pan and cut into squares 

3) Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

 

Ingredients



Cookies

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened 
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
•  2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
• 1 cup pure pumpkin puree
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting

• 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 6 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Lightly grease or line four baking sheets with parchment paper
2. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter and sugar in large mixer bowl on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add pumpkin and vanilla extract; beat until smooth
3. Stir in flour mixture until combined. Drop by heaping measuring teaspoons onto prepared baking sheets
4. Bake for 10 to 13 minutes or until springy to the touch. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely
5. While cookies are cooling, beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl on medium speed until fluffy. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until light and fluffy
6. Once cookies are cool. Spoon a heaping tablespoon (possibly more or less depending on size of cookies) of filling onto flat side of one cookie; top with flat side of second cookie to make a sandwich. Repeat with remaining cookies and filling. Store in covered container in refrigerator

 

Halloween Treats

Well, day 2 of hurricane hibernation is well underway. Although the hurricane has passed (and thankfully Bax and I survived safe and sound and, more importantly, with electricity in tact), the officina was closed again today, causing me to once again spend the majority of the day on the couch. Fortunately, Bax and I were able to walk outside a more today than yesterday. She was such a trooper, but the 24 hours of rain made going potty a very unenjoyable task for her. I also caved and went for a mid-afternoon run in the rain. My building has a small gym with a treadmill in the basement, but I hate treadmills like no other and my desire to avoid the dreaded treadmill trumped my desire to stay warm and dry. As it was, half the town was out running as well (and the rest were in the gym, which I stopped by during my run for some weightlifting). I complain a lot about DC, but I do enjoy the health conscience nature of many of the people here.

A driving factor in my decision to go for a run in the rain were the leftovers from today's recipe that still remain in my fridge. I made this recipe twice last week for two different Halloween parties and it was a hit with both. It's super easy to throw together in a hurry (a huge selling point for me last week) and it's so delicious people will think you're a culinary genius. Plus, it's topped with the most addicting cream cheese frosting (which, for reasons unknown to me, I had never made before a couple weeks ago) ever! I've had leftovers from party number two in my fridge since Sunday, with the intention of taking them into work, but the surprise string of days off from the hurricane resulted in me eating about half of the leftovers. Consequently, I'm actually excited to go into work tomorrow as I can finally get rid of these crazy addicting bars before they all end up in my stomach!

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

[Brought into my life by Kitchen Daily]

 

Post baking. Cooling and awaiting the finishing touch of frosting

 

Frosting complete. Ready to be cut and enjoyed by the masses....or one very stir crazy girl :)

Bars

• 1 (15 oz.) can of pureed pumpkin
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda

 Frosting

*I ended up doubling the original recipe (the below is the doubled version) and it worked much better. I think it would've been too dry otherwise.

• 8 oz. (1 package) cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 cups confectioners sugar

 Preparation

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees
2. With an electric mixer, beat eggs, sugar, oil, and pumpkin in a medium bowl.  Add flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and baking soda and beat until smooth and thoroughly blended
3. Spread mixture evenly onto an ungreased pan. And based on the size, you can bake accordingly:
• 10 x 15 x 1 inch pan- bake for 20-25 minutes
• 9 x 13 x 2 inch or 10 x 13 x 2 inch pan- bake for 25-30 minutes
4. For the frosting, beat cream cheese and butter with electric mixer until smooth. Stir in vanilla.  Slowly add confectioners sugar a little at a time, beating until mixture is smooth
5. Spread evenly on top of the cooled bars. Cut into squares

Roasted Butternut Squash

Nothing like an impending hurricane to get me caught up on some blogging. With Hurricane Sandy's arrival imminent, I spent the better part of yesterday on my couch, both recovering from some Halloween festivities the night before and anxiously stalking Twitter/email for news that I wouldn't have to venture into work today. Mother teaches in Maryland and her school district was one of the first to see the writing on the wall and tossed in the towel yesterday morning. This further heightened my hopes of a day off work as well. Although the feds (I work for the government) spent most of the day toying with me, they finally made the call around the dinner hour and I was gifted another day to do all the things that I didn't do yesterday (namely cleaning and sharing the recipes I had stockpiled from last week).

And so, here we are. The rains have been present for some time and poor Shepherd dog is not amused. She hates been damp more than anything in the world. Despite my care to dress her in her rain slicker every time we go out, she's already begun to pray for daylight. Here's hoping that city living has some perks and we can survive the storm with electricity in tact. While we await the end of this storm, I'll be spending some time thinking about all the fun fall flavors in this recipe:

Roasted Butternut Squash Linguine

Ingredients

• 1 medium/large butternut squash
• 1 package of whole wheat linguine
• 2 cups fresh kale (washed and torn into small pieces) 
• 3-4 cloves garlic (minced)
• 1/2 cup olive oil + some for drizzling
• 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Slice butternut squash in half starting at the stem. Using a spoon or fork, scrape out seeds. You can either wash and toast them (like pumpkin seeds) or discard. Sadly, I was not feeling up to picking through and cleaning the seeds, so I opted to discard them this time around.
3. Drizzle halves with olive oil and place skin side down in a 13x9 baking dish
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until tender
5. While squash is baking, bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions
6. In a large skillet, saute minced garlic in 1/2 cup olive oil + Italian seasoning (this will create an olive oil and garlic sauce to be used on the pasta)
7. Once squash is cooked, allow to cool and then remove skin and dice into 1 inch cubes
8. Add pasta, squash pieces, and kale to large skillet. Toss with olive oil and garlic sauce. Heat through until kale begins to wilt before serving
9. Enjoy!

Tour of Italy

So apparently it is as hard as I anticpated to stay put long enough to complete a blog post during the gorgeous fall season. The leaves are finally starting to morph into their beautiful colors and the college football season is alive and well. As the daylight hours begin to get shorter, I find myself wanting to be outside and doing as many fall activities as possible before the darkness of winter sets in. Consequently, this means I recently found myself with several recipes that yet to share. Shameful.

Although this recipe was made most recently, and thus should be featured last, I am still riding a weekend high and am anxious to relive it before settling into the harsh reality that is the work week. So induldge me if you will...

I spent the last couple of days in OKC, which isn't unusual at this point, but this visit included a visit to my alma mater (the University of Oklahoma) on homecoming weekend. As a student there for 7 years, (I feel the need to mention that this was for college and law school...I think my parents may have killed me if I stretched out college that long, although I now miss it desperately and it doesn't seem like the worst idea in the world) I always ensured that I had season tickets to the football games and going to the games basically commandeered my fall Saturdays. It's been 3 years since I've been there during football season, so when I found out I'd be in town at the same time as a home game, I was beyond thrilled. I spent most of last week marking off the days as the excitment continued to build within me like a child waiting Santa's arrival. Finally, Saturday came. The game wasn't until the evening, so I wanted to spend as much of the day down there as possible. Being the kind girlfriend that I am, I obliged TF in his request to dine at his favorite Mexican restaurant beforehand. We're both somewhat connoisseurs of Mexican food, but when we'd taken me to this place years ago I was less than impressed. Well, as it turned out (much to his joy) I kind of loved it. I hate giving TF any reason to say 'told you so,' but it was kind of impossible for me to deny this one. Damn. I'm chalking up my enjoyment to the fact that my eating tastes have evolved substantially since the last time we ate there (I still ate meat for starters). Plus, any presentation of food that is this beautiful and laiden with fresh ingredients scores major points with me:

After the joy that was my meal was over, the fun continued. I often find it difficult to explain to people that didn't come from football schools how big a deal Sooner football is...it basically shuts down the town and there are people adorning crimson and cream for as far as the eye can see. TF and I had been somewhat indifferent about whether we wanted to try and scalp tickets to the game. Since it was homecoming, we were playing Kansas (not a challenging opponent, as proven by our 52-7 victory) so neither of us was into spending much on a ticket. Well, as luck would have it, we ended up finding tickets for $10 each (down from their original $65 value) outside the stadium, thus making my day even better than it already was. TF grew up in Norman attending football games with his family, but I never went until I was a student at OU. Consequently, until Saturday, I had never experienced the wonder that is having an assigned seat, not having to get to the game 4 hours before kickoff, and not having to spend the better part of the game standing. One thing I do not miss about college: life in the student section. Our seats ended up being fairly decent (the stadium holds 85Kish, so being super high up is always a fear of mine) and I was beyond thrilled to be back watching my Sooners play live (and stomping Kansas).

While my day in Norman was clearly the highlight of the weekend, I did find some time to try out my ever-improving cooking skills on TF. Unlike me, he is a huge fan of the Olive Garden. Since he'd already gotten his way with choosing our dining place Saturday, I was not willing to allow a trip to the Olive Garden into the mix as well. Aside from my growing distain for chain restaurants, I also dislike paying for food that I can make healthier and better in my own kitchen. So, as a compromise, I agreed to create a pasta sampler based on TF's favorite Olive Garden dish: the Tour of Italy. We hit up our beloved Whole Foods for fun pasta noodles and then got to work picking out the sauces to include in our feast.

First up, one of TF's ultimate favorites, broccoli alfredo, gets a healthy makeover.

Broccoli Alfredo

[hat tip to Minimalist Baker]

Ingredients

• 1 box pasta noodles of choice
• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup low-fat milk [plus more if sauce is too thick]
• 1/2 cup veggie broth [or chicken]
• 5-6 Tbsp flour
• 1/4 each tsp. salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1-2 cups fresh broccoli (cooked for 2-3 minutes with pasta)

Preparation

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil (add pasta when ready) and cook until al dente. Add broccoli 2-3 minutes before pasta is done
2. Heat medium to large saucepan over medium heat. Once hot, add olive oil and garlic, stirring quickly to ensure it doesn’t burn
3. Next, add milk and veggie broth and stir
4. Then, begin adding 1 Tablespoon of flour at a time, stirring with a whisk to reduce clumps
5. Add salt, pepper, and cheese and stir
6. Reduce heat slightly and let simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. If you notice the sauce is too thin, add a little more flour. If too thick, add a little more milk
7. Once sauce is done, drain pasta/broccoli and mix with pasta in saucepan. Toss until evenly coated. Top with parm and serve

I'm not an alfredo fan (and actually didn't even taste any because I made it with chicken broth at TF's request) but it looks and smelled delicious.

Next up, another sauce of TF's choosing, carnbonara, joins the party courtesy of this Food Network find.

Carbonara Sauce

Ingredients

• 6 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 12 ounces pasta (we chose a fun squiggly noodle....definitely not the correct term, but just go with whatever speaks to you)
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
• Salt and pepper (to taste)

Preparation

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil
2. Combine the bacon, olive oil, garlic and 1/4 cup water in a large skillet Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the water evaporates and the bacon crisps, about 12 minutes
3. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in boiling water as the label directs. Mix the eggs, cheeses and 1 teaspoon pepper in a bowl. Drain the pasta, reserving 1/4 cup cooking water
4. Return the skillet to medium-high heat. Add the pasta, reserved pasta water, and the egg mixture. Toss until heated through, gently cooking the egg 1 to 2 minutes to make a creamy sauce. Garnish with more parmesan

Similar to the alfredo sauce, since I don't eat bacon I didn't taste test this one, but it too looked divine  If I liked eggs I would possibly try a vegetarian version of this.

Finally, the last chosen sauce was I could get on board with. It's definitley a go to favorite for us that we've been making for years and it never fails. You can make it as chucky as you want to suit your tastes which is one of my favorite things about this recipe. We both perfer a chunckier sauce, but like I said, it's definitely amendable.

Chunky Marinara

Ingredients

• 2 (15oz) cans diced tomatoes
• 1 (large) can whole peeled tomatoes
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Combine dice tomatoes, garlic, and whole tomatoes (drained) into a large pot
2. Simmer on medium until tomatoes are cooked down (about 25 minutes or so)
3. While tomatoes are cooking down, crush tomatoes with the back of a wooden spoon and season as desired 
4. Serve over warm pasta of your choosing

As this was the only one I could eat, it was my favorite :)

And then Pumpkin Met Risotto

Last week was one of those weeks where I felt like I was just trying to make it through each day without anything else going wrong and Tuesday was the worst of the worse. It was raining when I awoke (never a good sign). The only silver lining was that it just so happened that I'd acquired a new pair of rain boots over the weekend and was dying to break them in. As I began my walk to the metro,e in nothing short of monsoon-like rain, I was thankful that they came into my life not a moment too soon! Despite my attempt to have a decent outlook on the day, my mood was soon shot to pieces when I arrived at the metro to a crowd of people.

Unlike many in the District, I've often tried to keep an open mind and fairly good opinion about the metro and its workers. Not today. I'm oddly aggressive in crowd situations and pushed my way to the front, only to learn that the workers were not being very forthcoming with information as to why we were not being allowed to enter the station. The only thing worse than waiting, is not knowing why you're waiting! This went on for sometime (it was also still pouring down) and with each passing minute I began to get increasingly irritated. Not only had I actually planned on being early to work today (early for me is arriving before 9), but I also had a meeting to call into at 9:30 so time was more of the essence than usual. After standing in a huff (and starting to feel sicker by the minute while doing so) for a good 20 minutes, with no freedom in sight, I threw up my soaking wet hands and began the trek home.

By the time I arrived back in my apartment I'd spent a solid hour out in the rain and was a sweaty, hysterical mess. I cleaned up and I ended up working from home for a second day in a row. Of course, in keeping with the theme of the week, things did not get better, as I'd expected, once home. Instead, my work computer decided to betray me like Judas, yet again. I really hate that thing and cannot wait for it to be replaced (this is actually a realistic dream as they're in the process of replacing everyone's laptops...my name is just apparently on the bottom of the list). I got completely locked out of the network and had to spend the day working on my personal computer and using webmail (I hate webmail). Ugh. I was also late to the meeting because of the rain fiasco. Luckily, I work with understanding people. The only good thing that came out of the day was that I got to try a second crockpot recipe: pumpkin risotto.

This was my first time making a risotto, but I'd heard that doing it in a crockpot (rather than on the stove with all the incessant stiring) was the best way to go. In keeping with the theme of the day, making this dish was not without its issues. I'd acquired two pie pumpkins at the farmer's market over the weekend and was all set to finally start using real (rather than canned) pumpkin in my dishes. Well, that plan was shot when I couldn't get a knife to cut into either of them! I tried for a bit, but after a while I became fearful that I'd cut a finger off (and mother would joyfully sing "told you so") and said to hell with it and broke open one of the cans I had stockpiled. Desipte my inability to use a real pumpkin, the dish still turned out devine and was truly the highlight of my otherwise miserable day!

Crock Pot Pumpkin Risotto

Ingredients
[Adapted from Chaos Served Daily...a fitting name for my week]

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 cups Arborio rice
• 6 cups vegetable stock
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• ¼ cup dry white wine
• ½ cup grated Parmesan

Preparation 

1. Combine olive oil, onion, rice, and stock in crockpot. Cook on high for 2-4 hours, until rice is tender (Mine took a little over 2 hours)
2. Stir in pumpkin, wine, and cheese before serving. Sprinkle each serving with fresh parsley and serve (I also made some fresh brussel sprouts to have on the side as well)