Friday Cheer ~ Lychee Jello Cups with Rum

It's Friday. Hooray! We've survived another week of work and chores and getting to bed too late/waking up too early. To start that weekend off properly, you really do need a drink. Okay, you don't actually need a drink...but it certainly is nice to sit back and relax after leaving work on Friday. The way I practice that action is most often with a drink in hand.

Today, my Friday Cheer is inherently fun--an adult (read: alcoholic) jello cup with some unique flavors...Lychee Jello Cups with Rum.

Lychee Jello Cup

Lychees are the fruit from a tropical tree originally native to Asia.  On the tree and immediately after harvesting, the lychee looks like a small pinkish-red sphere, about the size of a ping-pong ball, with bumpy, hard red skin that must be removed before eating.  Inside the protective skin, the flesh of the fruit is white, succulent, and highly nutritious (vitamin C, copper, phosphorous, potassium, polyphenols).  Fun fact: the white portion of the fruit is called an aril, just like pomegranate seeds!  In the center of the fruit is a single dark brown seed that is inedible. Lychees have been consumed in China and other parts of Asia for centuries (back to 2000 BCE!) and are known for their delicate, perfume-y flavor, though the perfume-y flavor is typically lost when the lychee is canned (so try it fresh for maximum impact).  

I've been intrigued by lychees and wondered how to use them. Honestly, I imagined they'd have the crunchy texture of a water chestnut, but they're actually a great deal softer and squishier. I stumbled across a recipe using lychees in jello and decided that was my chance.  So here we go...

Lychee Jello Cups with Rum

Adapted from Ingrid Hoffman, Simply Delicioso.

Ingredients:

2 small boxes of jello mix (preferably flavored with pineapple, lime, or tropical fruit)

1 tbsp. granulated sugar

1 can of lychees (preferably in juice, but mine were in heavy syrup), with 1 cup of juice/syrup reserved

1 cup water

1/3 cup white rum

To make:

-Bring the water to a boil.

-While that happens, combine the jello mix and sugar in a heatproof bowl.

-Add the boiling water to the jello-sugar mix and stir until the mix is fully dissolved (you'll know this has happened when you can no longer see or feel--with your spoon!--any gritty pieces of jello mix or sugar on the bottom of the bowl).

-Add the lychee juice/syrup and rum, stirring to combine.

-In each serving container for the jello (go for something heatproof here, like ramekins or glass cups), put a few lychees, cut in half.

-Ladle or pour the jello over the halved lychees.

-Refrigerate until set, about 3 hours. 

Notes: 

-Thinking a bit ahead is key, since you need to refrigerate to set the jello. I make mine the night before I plan to eat them, though this is simple enough that you could make it in the morning before work.

-You could also use fresh lychees (skin and seed removed) and substitute a fruit juice in for the lychee juice/syrup.  Or you could use a fruit other than lychee entirely. 

--Depending on your taste preference, you could swap the white rum for vodka.  Or you could make it non-alcoholic; maybe add some seltzer or sparkling water for a fun, fizzy texture instead.

I only used half my can of lychees, so I'll be testing some other lychee cocktail recipes in the near future!

Happy Friday!

See the Sexy Oatmeal

Thanks to my incredible new camera, I can share pictures of my previously posted Strawberries & Cream Oatmeal recipe. It has the magical ability to get me to eat every last bite of my oatmeal...and to enjoy it. So while you may not think it has the greatest looks, trust me on the taste and give it a try.

Instant oatmeal cooked (ahem, microwaved) in milk, with a strawberry-citrus sauce and chia seeds. 

Chia seeds are one of my more recent food discoveries, and remind me in size and texture to a poppy seed. But they have excellent nutritional value. Try some. You'll never notice them!

The strawberry sauce spreads out under the surface of the oatmeal, so each bite yields that delicious strawberries and cream flavor...

More food and pictures soon!

Strawberries & Cream Oatmeal

I'm going to gloss over the fact that I've been absent for awhile. Over a month, if I am correct. Oops. Unintentional, I promise. Life became that crazy but wonderful swirl of preparation and party that Christmas time engenders.  We'll sorta catch up soon, I promise.

Until then, I needed to tell you about this sexy oatmeal creation I enjoyed a few mornings ago. Yes, oatmeal can be sexy. At least this oatmeal is. Inspired by Women's Health magazine's recent article on variations on your everyday oatmeal, I tried my own recipe.

1.  Combine a packet of instant oatmeal (I love the Nature's Path brand) and milk in a microwave safe bowl. I added more milk than the instructions called for, but not too much because I didn't want soupy oatmeal. Just eyeball it. 


2.  Microwave according to packet's instructions


3. After microwaving, add more milk to get a thick soup/stew consistency.  Add strawberry sauce (recipe below) and walnuts.  Devour.

*Strawberry Sauce:  in a saucepan, combine a package of frozen whole strawberries (or you can use fresh, trimmed of their leafy green tops), some orange juice, some lemon juice, some lemon zest, and a hearty pinch of tapioca pearls (for thickening).  Bring to a boil for a minute or two, then turn off heat. Store in refrigerator and use on yogurt, ice cream (especially tasty with chocolate sauce!), or oatmeal. You can do this with nearly any fruit and juice combination....so use your imagination.


I apologize for the complete lack of photos...but I'm sincerely hoping to remedy that problem very, very soon. In which case I will make this oatmeal and show it to you in all of its delicious, sexy glory.

Time Warp

You know how some people have a theme for the month, like a lot of guys have a month where they don't shave their facial hair -- No Shave November or October Mustache Month.  Well, I apparently had No Blog November.  I wasn't aware of this fact until I looked at the calender, saw it was December (already???), and realized November had flown by.  It didn't feel like it was flying at the time, but it never does.  It only seems like it zipped past when viewed retrospectively.  Still, I think November moved along with a wee bit more speed than a month usually does.

This November, I...
(get ready, it's a list!!! yay!)

• Was bursting with pride when the new store space for Runners Plus & Soccer Plus officially opened on November 1st!!!!  The stores moved into a new space that was bigger and that they remodeled to their specifications. It looks amazing and I know how much hard work was put into this massive project, because Eric had some very late nights during the move. I'm so proud of Eric and the store and I'm so happy for them. If you're in town, you have to check it out. If you're not in town, check out their Facebook page. 

• Attended another science conference, this time in Cleveland and with more of my coworkers. To me, the highlight of the trip were our two dinners.  The first night we went to Michael Symon's B Spot Burgers, and I went bananas over the pickle bar (!) and fell in love with three of the six house sauces. They also had an entire wall covered in retro beer cans--including several brands I'd never heard of--making the logo of the restaurant. The second night, several of us students went to a fancy French restaurant.  While it was obvious we were not the typical clientele, the food was incredible! 

• Took a road trip with my guys to see two of our friends in Indiana.  We've been wanting to make this trip for over a year and it finally became reality. And it was awesome!  I wouldn't expect anything else from a visit with Jac and DB.

• Went on another road trip with Eric to Tennessee, where I attended my very first Tennessee football game! I'd believed it to be my first D-I collegiate football game, but I was wrong. I have a very hazy memory of attending a Notre Dame - Michigan football game in South Bend when I was a wee tyke. I can't recall any of the game, but I clearly remember being enamored and impressed with the incredibly cool football shaped menus at whatever restaurant we went to.  They even wrote the score of the game on the menu! Oooooo, right?  

• Discovered Trader Joe's Apple Cider. It's perfect. Go try some.

• Had two Thanksgiving dinners in one day...and didn't get sick from it. That's an accomplishment if I've ever heard one!  It probably helped that I ran the Turkey Trot race that morning, to make room for all that deliciousness.

• Re-discovered and most likely enhanced my love of drinking champagne. Kayleigh tried a new drink recipe (I believe we're renewing our weekly make-a-drink ritual, which is quite fun) that featured champagne. Now we're hooked. Here's the recipe (from Wegman's):
• Put about a cup or so of washed cranberries on a baking sheet. Sprinkle ground clove on top (about 1/4 to 1/2 tsp) and roll the cranberries around to coat.  Put in a 450 degree F oven for about 10-15 minutes.
• While the cranberries are cooking, make a simple syrup on the stove. In a small saucepan, combine equal amounts of sugar and water (I used 1 cup each).  Over low to medium heat, stir until the sugar dissolves, then turn off heat. Avoid high heat or prolonged cooking, so you don't make caramel!  The end product should still be clear, with no visible sugar granules.
• When the cranberries are done cooking, put them directly into the simple syrup. Let them steep for at least 15 minutes (that's how long we waited) and up to an hour. The syrup will turn a lovely pink color.
• Ladle some of the simple syrup plus a few cranberries into the bottom of a class. Top with chilled champagne. Careful, it fizzes like crazy, so we added champagne in increments and held it over the sink.
• Cheers! 

• Helped host a dinner party in honor of my mom's birthday. We had a scrumptious Italian feast, with an antipasti plate, two pastas, salad, garlic bread, and chianti. And don't forget the desserts! Leftover Thanksgiving pies (I loved the elderberry, from a family friend's bakery in Columbus. My first taste of elderberry and it was glorious!), plus a flourless chocolate cake made with 70% chocolate. It was served with raspberry sauce (a la Ina Garten) and three ice creams (pistachio, vanilla, and Jeni's Queen City Cayenne).  My contributions to the party were a from-scratch marinara (using Mario Batali's Basic Sauce recipe plus some red pepper flakes), compound butter for the garlic bread (hot damn, garlicky!), the flourless chocolate cake and the raspberry sauce. I had so much fun working with my aunt and uncle to prepare this dinner and I believe everyone enjoyed themselves. This underlines the fact that I love dinner parties, especially relaxed ones.

• Finished my crystallography class, woohoo! Let me tell you, there is a lot of math involved in understanding how crystallography works.  Also let me tell you, Wikipedia can be awfully useful in reminding you about math concepts when you haven't taken a math class in over 10 years. Thanks, Wikipedia.

• Also finished my TRX  circuit class. After the first session, the only people who showed up to any (and to all) of the other classes were the instructor, myself, and the only other girl in the class.  Even though it kicked my out of shape butt, I had a blast and plan to sign up for at least one TRX class next quarter.  I have to admit that I'm on a TRX kick right now, so much so that I spent some time perusing their website.  I am even so crazy that I want to buy a TRX setup to use at home and I even want to take their instructional/certification classes. I'm obviously obsessed at the moment!

November, I'm sorry I didn't take the time to savor you, but I certainly had some fun!

December, I'm looking forward to all you have to offer!  Family and friends, getting into the Christmas spirit, binges of baking Christmas treats, dressing up for holiday gatherings (I promise to continue to wear my collection of leather boots at often as humanly possible on the weekends), Christmas ale/Winter ale (try Christain Morlein's Christkindl!), planning Christmas gifts to delight my loved ones (I'm seriously addicted to that), hot cocoa, hot cider, and champagne toasts!  

Happy December!!!

Sweet Revenge

Happy Halloween!!!!

 As you get older, Halloween is celebrated so differently from when you were a kid. Back then, it was all about the coolest costume and how much candy you could acquire in a single night. You'd look forward to Trick-or-Treating with the same, overwhelming amount of anticipation that you'd feel on Christmas morning. I remember my favorite costumes were the ones my mom made - Princess Jasmine from Aladdin and Pocahontas (but way before Disney came out with their movie). I definitely wore those a few years each!

 This year, my Halloween encompassed going out on Saturday night in a costume cobbled together at the last second with my regular wardrobe. Yup, I was a "cowgirl", in my plaid button-down shirt, jeans, a leather boots. Sorry, I didn't even have a cowboy hat to make the ensemble work. We visited two bars, neither of which was very busy or having a Halloween party. It was a complete reversal of last year's Halloween festivities in downtown -- every place was packed with costumed people, it took forever to get a drink, and we had to park blocks away.

 And my plans for tonight, Halloween Eve, are to hit up the grocery, then hang out at my apartment with my roomie, watching a Halloween movie on tv. Not a scary movie, though, since I'm such a chicken. We were planning to enjoy the first case of Ohio-issued Yuengling, since it was scheduled to be released today in southern Ohio. Sadly, though, the release date in stores has been pushed back to mid-November...so we'll be prematurely (by one day) celebrating Dia de Los Muertos with Rogue Dead Guy Ale. [side note: I love the colors and traditional imagery of Dia de Los Muertos - and I've always loved the idea of a day to celebrate the lives of your ancestors.] Sounds perfect to me! Plus I get to eat all the candy I bought, instead of giving it away to kids. Ha, okay, I will eat some of it, but I'll try to incorporate most of it into some baked goods, like cookies or something. Sigh. Behaving is such a challenge...

 Unlike my Halloween festivities, my celebration of fall-inspired cooking are in full swing.

 Two weeks ago, I made a pumpkin pie from scratch, meaning I chopped and roasted a small pie pumpkin instead of scraping it out of a can. I learned that I prefer the ease and bright orange color of the canned pumpkin puree to my sad, pale brown pie. Both taste quite good, though.

 Last week, I took the leftover roasted pumpkin and pureed it for a Pumpkin-Ginger Bread Pudding, with raisins and a hefty dose of cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom. Very tasty, especially when warmed and drizzled with heavy cream. Okay, what doesn't heavy cream make better? And there was plenty of heavy cream and gruyere cheese in the fennel-potato gratin I made, which was such a comfort dish, I know I'll made it again this winter.

 This past weekend, I was a baking fiend. I'd postponed some of the baking I'd meant to do during the week and had to get it done on the weekend, so that my ingredients didn't go bad. I made: baked mac and cheese with ricotta and squash puree, brownie cookies, brownies (with the leftover batter from the cookies), and Alton Brown's Super Apple Pie. Yup, that's right, I made my second attempt at the apple pie that had so disappointed and frustrated me a few weeks ago. This time, I came in armed with a brand new pie bird (an adorable white and blue rooster with red rooster trimmings!) and a springform pan (in lieu of the 2 inch deep tart pan AB recommends). I made the dough for the pie crusts over 24 hours before I made the pie, so they had plenty of time to firm up in the fridge. This pie takes a bit more time than I usually commit to pies, thanks to peeling and slicing all the apples, then coating them in sugar and letting them drain out some of their juice for 30 minutes. The task was made even more difficult by the ancient peeler my mom owns, which took some serious pressure to get peeling. Naturally, that brings about a serious fear of injuring myself with said peeler. I actually longed for the lovely, sharp oxo peeler in my apartment (nerd!).

 I was worried I'd have a repeat of my previous frustrations, or an entirely new set of difficulties to deal with; it'd be my personal Halloween horror story, made worse by the need to re-try baking the pie. I cannot let a silly pie recipe defeat me!

 The chilled crust rolled out nicely. The filling had more liquid than I thought was a good idea, so I added a bit more flour. It didn't seem to do much...but it was worth a shot. I even took the time to arrange the apples around the pie bird in a manner similar to AB's demo video, though I didn't arrange them nearly as neatly as he did (this young grasshopper has no patience!). The head of this wee pie bird poking out of the top of the pie was a strange sight, and he looked as if he might be screaming "Nooooooo!" I almost felt bad. There were only two minor problems with assembly: 1) the edges of the crust were difficult to seal together in the springform pan. I did my best, but it wasn't a pretty job, and 2) the reduced apple juice was a bit too reduced, almost like candy syrup, so it didn't brush across the crush. My lack of artistry is apparent in the smudges of candy-apple-juice around the emerging head of the pie bird.

 In the looks department, this pie isn't going to win any awards. In the arena of taste, though....mmmm! This pie has it. A tender, flaky crust with just a hint of apple from the applejack brandy. Apples kept juicy with apple jelly and apple cider, complete with a subtle hint of spice from the addition of grains of paradise. And a fresh acidity underlying it all, thanks to the lime juice. Marvelous! Definitely a Super Apple Pie. My revenge on this recipe was complete and so very delicious!

 Happy Halloween!
And Feliz Dia de los Muertos tomorrow!

Kryptonite...and Lunchboxes?

Earlier this week, I decided to treat myself to a new lunchbox. My current "lunchbox" is a small grocery bag from Whole Foods, about the size of an average gift bag. It holds nearly every size of plastic container I have, and it allows me to bring a variety of things in one bag without mushing things together. And, unlike a plastic bag (my previous lunchbox of choice), it keeps things in an upright orientation during travel, it doesn't make annoying crinkly noises with every step, and it doesn't need to be replaced every week.

That said, I want a new lunchbox. My current one is probably a year or so old, the colored coating is crackling off the handles, exposing white felt-like material. The inside has some questionable stains in it; who knew plastic containers leaked their liquid remnants after lunch?

I knew my criteria.  I want a lunchbox that can hold multiple containers (I hate pre-mixing things like salad and dressing, or spreading PBJ onto bread hours before consumption).  I want a lunchbox that keeps containers in an upright orientation, so it needs some stability or structure. I need something durable, because I use it every single workday. That's a lot to ask of a mere lunchbox.  But I had some  ideas...

First, I wanted to check out these BuiltNY lunchboxes. They are a neoprene (wetsuit) material with some incredibly fun patterns. My laptop travels around in one and the pattern just makes me feel a wee bit happier. But when I searched Sur La Table, I couldn't find them. A friendly clerk confirmed my suspicion - they no longer carried them. Drats.

Okay, on to Plan B. Get a new Whole Foods mini-grocery bag. So I enter Whole Foods...but only after I've made some rules for myself to prevent over-indulgence:
1) No frozen foods.  Our freezer just doesn't have any room. Seriously, no room. I'm working on that...
2) Try really hard not to get refrigerated foods. With some Tetris-like arranging, I could find room in there...but I already have plenty to eat that is hidden in there.
3) Try really hard not to get too much food overall.  And keep in mind you promised yourself to eat healthier (overall, of course. I'm not giving up stuff, just attempting to keep balance in mind).  I have way too much food in the cabinet and on the table. I must reduce, not increase the amount of food I have!


Gulp. Can I do this? Previous experiences suggest I'm not likely to succeed, though there is rare occurrence when I don't buy too much.

Armed with my 3 self-imposed rules and an over-the-arm shopping basket, I entered the store and wandered into the produce section.  Heaps of apples sang their siren song to me; NO!, I will not get more of you, I have a nice bag of McIntoshes and Honeycrisps at home, waiting to be used in my second attempt at Alton Brown's Super Apple Pie (coming soon!) and blogger Sassy Radish's Apple Upside-Down Cornmeal Cakes.  I wandered out with only a bag of carrots, needed for soup. Phew, okay, good so far.

Then I stroll up to the bulk bins and eyeball the beans and grains. I can't resist the price of arborio rice since I've been craving risottos with the arrival of fall.  Nor can I resist the opportunity to get a small amount of amaranth.  With only one recipe using the grain that I have found, I'm not sure what I'll do with it.  But I enjoy the challenge an unfamiliar ingredient offers.  Plus it's good for you!  I oogle the dried fruits, chocolates and nuts on the opposite side of the aisle.  My hand picks up a container of kale chips.  My mind turns over the idea. Hmm, they don't seem so bad. Maybe I'll like kale this way. Kale is awfully good for you...but $8 is really rather expensive... Hmmmmm...  No, I'll put it back and try some other time.   Whoa. I return to my senses. I almost bought kale chips. Kale. My mother's veggie obsession. I admit my self-control is slipping.  So I leave the aisle and enter the next.

Oatmeal. Ohhhhh man. I want it all! Steel cut, old fashioned, quinoa flakes....  This is where I officially lose it.  I fully admit that high-end grocery stores are my kryptonite. One of my many kryptonites, but certainly a highly potent one.  It's a painful admission, but with this clarity comes a little bit of self-control.  I'm able to resist more than I thought I would. I promised some items that I'd come back and try them later. Don't worry, though. I still found several items that made their way into my basket, including:

• Dried Anasazi beans - Bob's Red Mill knows the way to my heart. I never buy dried beans, but the label promised these cooked faster than most other types of dried beans. The label also asserted these are "Incredibly Tasty" (seriously, it's in the line above the name) and very nutritious.  Plus I've never even heard of them before and I loved learning about the Anasazi Indians when I was in school. 
• Canned Borlotti (cranberry) beans - I've heard a lot about these, but have never seen them. Had to try. I blame the Anasazi beans for pre-weakening my resolve. 
• Dried Thai bird chilis and dried galangal - Two key Thai flavors, neither of which I've seen before! They were also relatively inexpensive.  And I've always had a weakness for spices...  I can't wait to try pad thai with these!
• 2 jars of Whole Foods Brand tomato sauce - inexpensive, probably tasty, and I needed sauce, so these would be a fun change.
• Ground cardamom - I nearly did a jig of excitement when I found a jar of ground cardamom for way less than $12.  Had to. And I warned you that I have a weakness for spices.
• 2 bottles of wine - Whole Foods had some well priced wines.  I almost picked up a bottle of Tarima, the new Spanish Monastrell by the guy who made the late Luzon Verde (also a Spanish Monastrell/Jumilla).  Similar price and it's harder to find Tarima than I expected.  I resisted, but I know I'll be going back sometime for it.
• Kettle Brand krinkle chips in Sweet Chili Garlic - I couldn't resist a new flavor in my favorite potato chip. Could you? I thought not.

My basket was very heavy by the time I walked up to the registers. I'd taken to setting it on the floor while I walked up and down the length of the aisle, slowly scanning every item.  When the cashier started ringing up my groceries, I looked for the mini grocery bag to buy and use as my new lunchbox.  None were to be found.  The closest item was an intermediately sized grocery bag, advertised as a Trick or Treat bag, complete with a Halloween pumpkin, some bats, and Trick or Treat written across both sides.  Hmm, thanks, but I'll pass on this.  

So the lunchbox search continues.  And I learned a little something about myself.  Well, I admitted it to myself, since I already knew I liked being in high-end grocery stores way too much.  

A Fall Preview

Well, who knew almost a month has passed since I last wrote?  It certainly didn't feel like a whole month. It barely felt like a week!  As you would guess, I've been busy...so I'll see what I can recall from the abyss of my memory to share with you.

First and most pressing on my mind, I have my first exam on Friday for my crystallography class. 
I need to study. Like crazy. If you couldn't tell, I'm stressing out over this exam, for a variety of reasons, most of which are probably awfully silly.

So the rest of today and tomorrow are for studying. Friday morning we have our school's grad student research forum, where I have to present my poster (from the thermo conference I recently attended) for a few hours.  Since the exam is in the afternoon, I'll probably be skipping my bi-weekly yoga class, which is a huge bummer....

I've been doing better at exercising!
Not perfect, not everyday, but much more consistently. I think much credit for this success should go to the fitness classes at the gym that I've been checking out. Luckily, most of the fitness classes at our gym are free with your membership, so I can just pop into different classes as my schedule and interests dictate. I've been regularly attending a power yoga class during lunch twice a week. I love the instructor and I feel like I've made some progress, though I am definitely not an uber-flexible and mentally peaceful yogi!!!  And I probably never will be. But I've been enjoying the challenges of her practices and I look forward to class quite a bit. I even bought a cushy yoga mat that I keep at work!

I also tried my first spinning class...and I didn't fall off the bike from sheer exhaustion like I had anticipated.  Actually, I really like spinning and want to try to make a class once a week.  Unfortunately, the popularity of spin class plus the limited number of bikes available make it challenging to meet that goal (last week I wasn't able to snag a bike because of the gaggle of girls hanging out at the counter, snatching up bike tickets the moment they were released).   I'll continue my efforts, though!

I even registered for a TRX circuit training class on main campus that I have to pay for. It works out to $3 per class, which is such a deal. I've only done TRX once before, but I loved the workout it gave me. I did not love the extreme soreness of random muscles nearly as much, but I think circuit training will keep me interested and having more fun than just doing my own workouts (because I do such an excellent job of wiggling my way out of my more intense workouts).

Fall foods have captured my attention in the kitchen.
I seriously have so many recipes to try for apples and pumpkins that it's laughable.
 
I made a standard apple pie with a oat crisp crust. Tasty, as always.
 
Inspired by my first apple pie of the fall, I wanted to try a new apple pie recipe (Alton Brown's Super Apple Pie).  It was not exactly my best-looking pie. To be honest, I called the end result the Pie of Endless Frustration, because I'd had a frustrating day at work and the pie also chose to sass me (the crust wouldn't chill and firm up even after a few hours in the fridge, so the top crust of the pie was, um, edited out).
 
I also had the crazy idea to make a pumpkin pie from scratch.  An adorable little pie pumpkin looked at me in the grocery store and encouraged me - you can do it, it's not that hard, I might even make pie taste better (as if pumpkin pie could get any better!).  After a short delay, I muscled my pie pumpkin into cubes for roasting. No problem.  Making the pie filling, though, was a bit of an adventure. I mushed the roasted pumpkin (hmm, this looks like the contents of a regurgitated stomach) and stirred in the evaporated milk and eggs with a bit of patience and effort. The pie tastes quite good, though it isn't any better than one made from canned pumpkin. However, my sad, dull brown color of pie filling didn't even look remotely pumpkin.  I'll be returning to the ease and lovely color of canned pumpkin for future pies. But I'm glad I gave it a go.
 
I tested a new dish - roasted brussel sprouts with shallots, pear, and lemon juice. Very easy to make and quite tasty.  Unfortunately, I don't think I really want to eat more than about 4 brussel sprouts at a time.  So the remnants of this dish eventually made it to the trash can.

I also experimented with veggie "pancakes" - shredded zucchini, onion, black beans, and corn mixed with a mix of flour and egg and chili powder.  To be honest, I had no idea how much flour and egg to add, so I kept plopping another spoonful in, stirring, and guessing.  It worked, though, because there is enough batter there to hold the veggies together and to brown without being a full-blown pancake. I smothered these veggie pancakes in greek yogurt and hot sauce for a tasty little meal.

Despite my desire for fall foods and baked, cheesy dinners, I'm not ready for the fall (and then winter) weather.
As I've aged, I've definitely developed a stronger and stronger dislike of cold, rainy, dreary weather. It no longer means days off from school/work.  It just means I have to trudge outside, drive a car in the sub-optimal conditions (a feat made infinitely worse by the hundreds of moronic drivers in the Cincy area), and be freezing cold all the time.

I'm not ready to say goodbye to my pretty, fun, easy summer clothes and shoes! I'm not ready for months of grey skies and rain, with so little golden sunshine!  I'm not ready for a frigid apartment (being on the end of the building is not conducive to a warm set of rooms)!  I'm not ready for shivering in the shower because the bathroom window lets too much cold air through, even when closed!

What I am looking forward to for fall and winter:
-seasonal produce, like honeycrisp apples and pumpkin out the wazoo!
-holidays with family and friends, seeing everyone, and eating!
-wearing leather boots with a skirt (I've been wanting to try this since last year, but am paranoid about looking silly and ruining my boots with precipitation)
-possibly going to a Tennessee football game with Eric!
-watching football every Saturday
-Christmas shopping. I love it. I know, I'm weird. I also figured out most of my presents for others awhile ago.
-baked mac and cheese, grilled cheeses (ooo! try Trader Joe's Colby Jack slices on wheat/10 grain bread...you will melt more than the cheese!), potato gratin, stews and soups, chili....mmmm!
-the arrival of Yuengling beer in Dayton and Cincinnati on October 31st! Can you tell I'm counting down???
-the return of new episodes of Psych!
-a recently purchased, adorable stuffed penguin with scarf and hat and a matching fleece blanket from Target

Wish me luck on my test on Friday! When it's over, I plan to enjoy my weekend thoroughly!!! I have a potato-fennel gratin planned, as well as brownie-cookies, watching Psych with Eric, and seeing the new store close to being open! So exciting!