Sorry for the month hiatus.

It's been a busy month, so I apologize for not posting. Before anything else, I just want to recognize that my Secret Snowman at work (Joli) was awesome, and got me, among other great gifts, some food magazines! I am now in love with "Bon Appetit." I read it cover to cover in one sitting. I think it's mostly the pictures. Beautiful food pictures. Thanks, Joli!

I made some almond coconut cookies. They were chewy, thanks to the use of whole wheat flour, and the whole almond on top added a nice crunch. It was reminiscent of a jordan almond, but in cookie form.

I had a beef rib in the freezer that I wanted to use up, so I marinated it in grapeseed oil, soy sauce, ginger, horseradish, and sesame seeds. Then I broiled it with chopped onions and red and green bell peppers. Pretty tasty.

The other thing I made recently was an apple crisp. Chop 6 granny smith apples, mix with brown sugar, cinnamon, and a little cornstarch. Put in greased 8x8 pan. Mix oatmeal, a little brown sugar, cinnamon, and some butter together to make a crumbly topping. Sprinkle over top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or so, until the apples are tender. I think you don't really have to be exact with something like an apple crisp; just use your judgement. Make sure the apples are coated, but not too heavily. Make sure the topping sticks together.

Thanksgiving!

The turkey - brined and herbed.

Pear, kiwi, and pomegranate "salad" - pretty and tasty.

Sweet potatoes mashed with coconut milk, cardamom, cayenne, and vanilla, then baked for an hour with pecans. The flavors intensified with baking. Delicious and not so goopy-sweet as holiday sweet potatoes often are.

Apple-cranberry-sausage stuffing. This was my contribution to dinner. Tasty, but a bit dry. I would use more stock next time.

Roasted vegetables with ginger. It was broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, and yellow/orange/purple carrots. Yum yum!

Garlic mashed potatoes with fried shallots to garnish.

My plate. I think I was only able to eat half of everything. It was yummy :)

Turkey stock made with the carcass, leftover herbs, onion, carrot, and celery. A little cloudy, but I think it will be delicious when I use it!

Ginger Scallops and Brown Rice

I made this dish a while back as a quick and easy meal to use up some veggies I had in the fridge. I had a bag of frozen scallops from TJ's, which I thawed and sauteed with a little olive oil and ginger paste from a jar. I might have added some lemon or lime juice too, but I can't remember right now. Anyway, I sauteed the scallops, removed them from the heat and drained all the water from the pan, then sauteed some julienned carrots and made the ginger/lime or lemon sauce. Then I added the scallops back in and finally tossed in some chopped green onions to add some green. Served over a bed of brown rice. There was enough sauce to cover the rice, so it was pretty tasty!

Pumpkin Curry Soup

I made this soup a few days after the pumpkin coconut bread to use up the rest of my coconut milk and pumpkin puree. I added in some veggies that I needed to use up. First I made a curry paste with butter, flour, and curry powder (like a curry roux). Then I added a box of vegetable stock and the chopped veggies (potatoes, carrots) and brought it all to a boil. Then I added the coconut milk and the pumpkin and stirred it in, and I brought the whole thing to a boil, then I let it simmer for a bit. I added in the green onions at the end. Seasoned to taste (it could have used a bit more salt). Pretty tasty and super fast and easy to make. I think this one might be good to experiment with in a slow cooker, and maybe with chicken and chicken broth.

What I ate last week

Molasses Bread

I made this in the bread machine with a recipe from allrecipes.com. It has a hint of molasses flavor, so it's a little sweet. I offset the sweetness with an olive-pepper spread I had from Trader Joe's.

Pumpkin Coconut Bread

(adapted from a recipe from Coconut and Lime)

This bread has canned pumpkin and coconut milk in it. There are no spices or vanilla or anything in it, just the coconut milk and the pumpkin. I used unsweetened coconut flakes in it too, and sprinkled coconut and pepitas on top before baking. This bread was light and delicious. I took it to work to share with my co-workers, and everybody loved it.

Chicken and Dumplings

I looked at a few recipes before I made this, then just made up my own. I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs and boiled them whole in 6 C chicken stock. Then I added chopped onion, garlic, and carrots, and then when the meat was cooked through, I took it out and pulled it apart and returned it to the pot. Then I added a couple cans of cream of celery soup and stirred that in. I let that come to a boil. At this point I had meant to add some frozen peas, but I forgot about them. In the meantime, I mixed up some biscuits (just Bisquick and milk). I reduced the heat and added the biscuit dough in drops. I added a little chopped rosemary to the soup and the biscuit dough, just because I had some to use. Then I covered the pot for a few minutes, and when the biscuits were cooked through (I checked with a fork), it was ready to eat! Seasoned with salt. Delicious. And even better the next day - thicker and a little saltier tasting.

A week in food

What I made last week:

Turkey Barley Soup

Ground turkey, barley, carrots, red potatoes, green bell pepper, onion, chicken broth, and whatever seasonings you want. This one has pesto and parmesan in it, but the last time I made it it had tarragon. It's good both ways. Brown the meat, drain the juice, add the onion and soften, add broth and other veggies, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for an hour. Season to taste.

Autumn Ice Cream Sandwiches

I made these for pizza and beer night with some friends. It's my first attempt at ice cream sandwiches. A week or so ago I got some pumpkin ice cream at the grocery store, but a whole carton of pumpkin ice cream is a bit much for one person. I was starting to get sick of it. So I devised these autumnal ice cream sandwiches - take homemade ginger snaps, fill with a couple spoonfulls of pumpkin ice cream, and roll edges in mini chocolate chips. Put back in freezer for a bit to harden. These were pretty good. I'm thinking I'll try some other variations soon. I have some raspberry ice cream that I was thinking of mixing with vanilla wafers and dark chocolate.

Plain ol' gingersnaps

A manifestation of my current endeavors

When I was little, I had a kid's baking book with a ton of cookie recipes.  I must have made every cookie in that book at least once, and some several times, because I liked the feeling of making something delicious out of individual ingredients that were not "food" on their own.

Since then, I have gone through phases of baking, cooking, and not baking or cooking, but I have recently come back to cooking.  After years of experimenting with cooking and baking with less than desirable results, in the last year my passion for cooking has made itself known

, and I have become more able to determine what will taste good with what.  I am nowhere near being a Great Cook, but I think I'm a Good Cook, at least.  

And it's not just how food tastes that appeals to me - it's everything about it - putting different ingredients together, all the little decisions that you make when you're creating a meal, how you cook it, how it smells, how it feels in your mouth, how it looks.  

The looks are what got me really going, I think, because I've been posting my food pictures on facebook for a few months now, and more and more I'm getting comments asking for recipes and whatnot.  

So, I decided to put everything up here, on a blog, to make it easier to share with everyone.

So here's what I've been eating.  It's mostly experimental, and I'll try to comment on how each dish turned out and what I would do differently the next time, and if you have suggestions or comments, I would love to hear them!