Cherry Tomato, Corn and Zucchini Pie

Adapted (just barely - because I didn't have time to make the pie crust and let it chill) from Smitten Kitchen. 

The trouble with cooking on short notice on a school night is there is never an extra hour to make and chill pie dough. I read through the comments on the Smitten Kitchen post, but no one had discussed successfully switching out store-bought pie dough (apparently the commenters are better at planning ahead!). I was afraid the store-bought pie dough would be too small to fold galette style, so I swapped it out for a pie pan. 

I prepared the filling as she suggests, and then spooned it into the dough laced pan, and covered with Parmesan. Then into the 400 degree over for 30 to 40 minutes, and it was lovely. There was some liquid, which I was able to pour out before we sliced into the pie. Aside from the need for an insanely hot oven, this is like the savory taste of summer in pie form. Worth it. 

Game Time Pretzels

We got invited to a Superbowl party this morning, and I needed something I could put together with stuff I had on hand. I've also been dying for a chance to try these Miniature Soft Pretzels. Since I can't make pretzels as a main course for family dinner, they always seemed like slightly too much work for even a weekend dinner. But a Superbowl party with plenty of other food? Perfect. 

It look a little bit to get a hang of the twisting and folding of the pretzels, but aside from that they came together really quickly with ingredients that I had on hand. And then my Mom reminded me of this awesome football taco tray we had in the basement, which was the perfect size for the pretzels! Let's play ball!

Oh My God Rolls in an Hour

So reading the food blogs I kept seeing recipes for rolls, and I wanted to eat all of them. But since I spend the weekends doing school work out of the house, I don't have hours at home to make them. Normally, the only kind of homemade bread I am able to make with a meal is a quick beer bread or biscuits. Enter the recipe I found for these rolls, which had them listed as taking a little over an hour. Amazing. These are life changing. That I could take these big warm yeasty rolls out of the oven in an hour from start to finish? It's all i want all the time, I'll have to fight the urge to just make these for dinner and just eat them. 

Oh My God Rolls in an Hour
from Mommy's Kitchen


3/4 cup milk

4 tablespoons butter

3/4 cup hot water

4 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

4 - 4 1/2 cups flour, divided

1 heaping tablespoon instant yeast

Preheat oven to 170 degrees. Butter a 9x13 pan and set aside. Put butter and milk in a microwave safe container. Microwave mixture until milk warms and butter melts (about 1 minute). Add milk/butter mixture, hot water (it can be straight from the tap, just make sure the water is plenty hot), sugar, salt and 2 cups of the flour to stand mixer bowl fitted with a dough hook. Mix everything together for 1 minute.

Add the yeast. Slowly incorporate the rest of the flour 1 cup at a time as the mixer runs. There's enough flour when the dough scrapes the side of the bowl clean. Mix on medium speed for 5 minutes.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let sit for 5 minutes.

Spray the counter, or cutting board with cooking spray. After the 5 minute rise, lay the dough on top of it. Flatten the dough out into a rough rectangle (no need to get out the rolling pin or knead it, just shape it with your hands). Take a sharp knife, spray it with cooking spray and cut your dough into 12 roughly equal squares. Gently round the squares into balls, and put them into the buttered 9x13 pan.

Bake the rolls at 170 for 20 minutes, or until they have risen slightly above the rim of the pan. Leave the pan in the oven, turn the heat up to 350 degrees, and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until the rolls are golden brown and impossible to resist. Serve warm.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Happy Birthday to Me! 

Of course, when you find yourself to be the typical baker in your group of friends / family your own Birthday cake can be a bit tricky. In my case, I'm used to having other people tell me what they want. Val wanted something that was low-carb, and Liz didn't want anything chocolate, and you catch my drift. So first, I had to decide what I wanted. Then I had to find some recipes. My mom offered to make the cake, as long as I provided the recipes. I decided that I wanted something with a salted caramel frosting, but I didn't like any of the recipes I found. 

I ended up having her halve the recipe on this Chocolate cake recipe, and double the recipe on a traditional buttercream frosting. All the Salted Caramel Buttercream recipes I found just listed proportions for making the caramel sauce straight away, and I had already made the caramel sauce. She ended up adding a pint jar of salted caramel that I had made earlier in the weekend. It was delicious. It was fairly salty the first night, and after that it just got saltier. I was fine with this, but I recognize that not everyone shares my undying love of sea salt. Mmmm, salty and sweet, my favorite. 

First Food of Fall - Roasted Butternut Squash Pasta

The last couple of weeks at the farmer's market I've been resisting the squash. There's a long winter full of squashy things ahead of me, and best to get a last few dishes out of the tomatoes and eggplants and zucchini. I finally gave up the fight this week. It's been feeling like fall finally, and so there was only one thing left to do: Butternut Squash Pasta.

I first made this with Kelly in Syracuse, and it's been a favorite of mine ever since then. Roasting the squash, onions and bacon all together gives it this flavor that's indescribably good. Nothing ever goes wrong when caramelized onions are involved. And the squash gets all soft and slightly roasted. Plus once the squash is peeled the whole thing comes together really quickly. If you are opposed to bacon for some reason, it could easily be left out. Though I think you would seriously be missing out.


Roasted Butternut Squash with Pasta
(from Kelly at Nerd in the Kitchen)

1 medium to large butternut squash, peeled and seeded
1 medium onion, diced
4 strips of bacon, diced

Olive oil, salt, and pepper
1 lb. of pasta (rigatoni / penne / farfalle)
1.5 cups of the pasta water
1 cup Parmesan or Romano cheese grated

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

2. Cube the squash into pieces no larger than 1″. Distribute the squash, onion, and bacon on a baking sheet. Lightly coat with olive oil and sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Put in the oven for 25 minutes, turning the squash about halfway through.

3. While the squash is cooking, boil the pasta. When the pasta is done, drain it, but reserve about 1.5 cups of the pasta water. Pour the pasta back into the now-empty pot.

4. When the squash is tender and the onions have caramelized, pour the baking sheet contents into the pot with the pasta. Add the Parmesan cheese and 1 cup of the pasta water. Mix until the cheese is melted and the squash is combined. Add water is needed.

Summer is late, my heart.

"Summer is late, my heart.

Words plucked out of the air

some forty years ago

when I was wild with love

and torn almost in two

scatter like leaves this night

of whistling wind and rain.

It is my heart that’s late,

it is my song that’s flown.

Outdoors all afternoon

under a gunmetal sky

staking my garden down,

I kneeled to the crickets trilling

underfoot as if about

to burst from their crusty shells;

and like a child again

marveled to hear so clear

and brave a music pour

from such a small machine.

What makes the engine go?

Desire, desire, desire.

The longing for the dance

stirs in the buried life.

One season only,

and it’s done.

So let the battered old willow

thrash against the windowpanes

and the house timbers creak.

Darling, do you remember

the man you married? Touch me,

remind me who I am."

- Stanley Kunitz, Touch Me

Bread and Butter Refrigerator Pickles

In all of my trips to the Carbondale Farmer's Market I've been intrigued by the tiny baby cucumbers. I finally went ahead and bought a couple of them last weekend for my first foray into pickling. I wanted to stick with refrigerator pickles, because I still haven't found my metal strainer for the hot water bath canning. Whoops.

I was about to start cutting up the cucumbers when my mother requested Bread and Butter pickles instead of Dill. So to please my mother I made a trip to the grocery store for a few other spices.

Bread and Butter Pickles 
from Brown Eyed Baker

 Yield: About 4 cups of pickles

 5½ cups (about 1½ pounds) thinly sliced pickling cucumbers*
1½ tablespoons kosher salt
1 cup thinly sliced sweet onion
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup white vinegar
½ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup light brown sugar
1½ teaspoons mustard seeds
½ teaspoon celery seeds
1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric

 1. Combine cucumbers and salt in a large, shallow bowl; cover and chill 1½ hours. Move cucumbers into a colander and rinse thoroughly under cold water. Drain well, and return cucumbers to bowl. Add onion to the bowl and toss with the cucumbers.

 2. Combine the granulated sugar, white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, mustard seeds, celery seeds and ground turmeric in a medium saucepan; bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Pour the hot vinegar mixture over cucumber mixture; let stand at room temperature 1 hour. Cover and refrigerate 24 hours. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 2 weeks.

 * I had significantly less cucumbers than this. Rather than attempting to adjust the rest of the liquid ratio, I just made the full liquid mixture and ended up with more liquid than pickles. Still tasted awesome.