Where we listen to John Prine and eat Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes in Spite of Ourselves

                                                    

Some days just need John Prine and Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes.


They just do.


I don't really think you should need and explanation for that.  Maybe a recipe and a link to a Youtube video.  But, no explanation.








Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes
adapted from Good Old Fashioned Pancakes

Ingredients
1.5 cups flour
3.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
zest and juice of one lemon
1.25 cups milk
1 egg
3 tbsp melted butter

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt ,sugar and poppy seeds.
Make well in center and pour in milk, egg, lemon juice and zest, melted butter; mix.
Heat oiled pan, scoop out batter and brown on both sides.
Serve hot with honey.

Enjoy!

Where we take pictures of tomato soup

Since Happy was born, there are two things I've been missing in my relationship with A. James aka Big Sister.  I miss our trips to Panera Bread after my doctor's visits.  She would always get whatever seasonal cookie they had available and we would share a soup.  Our favorite was their tomato.

I also miss cooking with her.  It is a HUGE part of our relationship and I've had her cooking since she was old enough to stand on a stool.  She's been in the kitchen since birth.  As a little baby I'd let her play with the canning jar lids as I made salsas, jams and juiced tomatoes from our garden.  Today we were lucky enough to have some time to get back into the kitchen to make a special meal: Panera Bread Tomato Soup!

6ft Alligator in kitchen  optional

We followed this recipe and slightly adapted it to be vegetarian friendly and feed fewer people.  Enjoy!

Panera Bread-esque Tomato Soup

adapted from Panera Bread's Tomato, Cheese and Bread Soup

1 large onion, chopped
5 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil (I used olive oil infused with garlic)
4 cups water or broth (I used water with two cubes of vegetarian "not chicken" bouillon cubes)
1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
1/4 cup Asiago Cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan Cheese
2 bay leaves

If soup is too cheesy, add 2 Tablespoons brown sugar to sweeten.

Ha.  She saw me taking pictures and grabbed her camera

Heat olive oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onions and saute until very tender, about 25 minutes. Add minced garlic and cook 1 minute. Add water or stock, diced tomatoes, and cheeses.  Add in bay leaves, but remember to remove before pureeing soup. Simmer soup uncovered 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season to taste with salt and pepper.   Puree with immersion blender or food processor.





Serve with rolls and enjoy!

Where I am inspired to freeze some food

As my baby (and belly) continues to grow and grow it is becoming more "real" that I am going to have some very exciting life changes in the next few months.  I am 21 weeks and over half way there. 

Which means I need to get in gear and make some plans.

A few days ago I had this panic moment.

You know.  It went a little like this:

How in the world am I going to do this?
Am I insane?
How can I manage a new baby, a three year old, laundry, cooking, cleaning, being a wife AND have time for myself?
What am I going to do about food?
I'd like to cloth diaper, but is that just crazy? Like I need more to do?!
What if I am buried alive in tons of dirty clothes and diapers?

I took some deep yoga breaths.  Did a little self reassuring and tried to think like a calm and rational human being.

Luckily for me I saw a great post by a friend on facebook.  She is also expecting and is planning on freezing her own meals so she doesn't have to cook from August to October (wow, I know right?!).  I was inspired and thought I might try my hand at doing something similar.  It sure would make things easier, right?

So, I've been stalking her blog.  Sending her tons of messages and generally picking her brain trying to figure out how to go about pulling this off.

Here are a few recipes I thought I might try.  If you have any experience freezing foods and have some recipes to try, please chime in!

Crustless Mini Quiches
Crock pot Falafel
Black Bean Salsa Quesadillas
Spicy Rice Balls
Vegetarian "Chicken" Green Bean Casserole
Oatmeal Pie Bars
Sun-dried tomato Spinach Bake

I could go on for a while, but I'm just going to leave it at that. 
Wish me luck!

Where I run out of muffin tins and bake a cake

I'm keeping my word and forcing myself to stick to my New Year's Resolution by baking delicious goodies from Joy the Baker.

I know. It is TOUGH.

 This is one I made quite a while ago, but am just now uploading pictures and sharing the recipe.

This recipe was intended to to be muffins, but I didn't have any of those little muffin tins, so I just poured the batter into a round cake pan.

I am so pleased with this cake recipes. It is so hard trying to find something that isn't from a box and tastes moist. I knew it could be done---unless everyone in the pre-Duncan Hines era consumed dry cakes---but I've been having trouble finding a yellow cake/white cake that meets my standards. If you know of any—please feel free to share.
Until then, I'll just keep making fruity combinations like this one:

 Browned Butter Cranberry Lime Muffins (or Cake)
From Joy the Baker

oven preheated to 350 degrees
7 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
1/3 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
zest of one lime
juice of one lime
1.5 cups flour
¾ cups sugar
1.5 tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
1 cup dried cranberries
½ cup cranberries
¼ cup sugar for topping
Melt butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Keep cooking until little brown bits form in the butter. The butter will crackle and little flakes of brown goodness will form. Remove from heat.

Whisk milk, eggs, vanilla, juice and zest until well combined.

Mix together dry ingredients: flour, sugar, salt, baking powder.

Add together milk mixture and browned butter. Fold this into the dry mixture and add in the cranberries (fresh and dry).

Pour into your muffin tins or your cake pan (greased) and let bake until a toothpick comes out clean (18-20 minutes). About five minutes before finished, sprinkle on sugar for topping.

Enjoy

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Jambalaya

Today a friend asked if I had given up on my weekly menus.

Here is the nitty gritty:
We've had some Internet troubles the past month and after failing to convince our service provider that we didn't illegally download episodes of "True Blood" (seriously?  True Blood?) we've had to switch providers.

However, the service we have now is cheaper, we've learned that if you have a router anyone can use it to download whatever they please and apparently someone in our neighborhood loves them some Naughty Vampire Romance.

I guess I've made good on my resolution to go without Internet for 48 hours.

In my month with limited Internet (thanks Library for free wireless)---I noticed how much more I accomplished when I wasn't constantly distracted by the call of the world wide web.

So, I'm going to continue the trend and limit my Internet activity immensely.  It is amazing how much of your day gets wasted online.

Long story short: No, I haven't given up on weekly menus.  I have a memory card stocked with photos I just haven't had a chance to upload.  I started using these old fashioned things called "cookbooks" with recipes on pages instead of internet sources so my menus were all written down----on paper.

I'm sharing one today.
Husband stole my camera batteries so no photos on this one, sorry.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Jambalayaadapted from
Betty Crocker Easy Everyday Vegetarian

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
2 Sweet Potatoes peeled and cut into cubes (about 3 cups)
2 cloves garlic
14 oz vegetable broth
3/4 cup uncooked rice
2 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T Paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp each: basil thyme, oregano
1 can black beans, drained
In skillet, heat oil over medium heat.  Add garlic and sweet potatoes and cook until sweet potatoes start to turn golden brown.

Add in broth, uncooked rice, worcestershire sauce and all of your seasonings and spices.  Heat to boiling.  Reduce heat, let simmer about 10 minutes.

Stir in beans.  Cover and cook until rice is tender.

Enjoy.

Fact: Sick Kids Love Salt Dough

I had to think of something to get us off the couch and doing something besides wallowing in our own self-pity.

Then I see this.  Salt Dough Conversation Hearts.

Bingo.

1 cup flour + 1/2 cup salt + 1/2 cup water = Fun times.

Poor Sick A. James

She was pretty excited about her name.

 .

Check out those awesome basil plants growing in the back ground.

Sorry Abby.  If you insist on laying at her feet you'll get salt dough in your fur.

Then we had to make some "real dough you can eat" according to A. James (who was having a hard time understanding the inediable nature of salt dough).

Much tastier.

Where A Weekly Menu is successful

As I mentioned a few posts ago, we are trying a weekly menu.  I was really very determined to stick with the plan---and I am proud to say that everything went fairly well.

I am especially pleased with myself because this happened despite all the craziness that was last week.  Sick grandparents, staying away from home for two nights and now a sick little A. James.  The odds were not in my favor friends.  But, I pulled it off.  Everything was made (for better or worse) with the exception of the Pineapple Pie. 

I know.  That should have been made first.

So here are the results.

Artichoke-and- Red Pepper Pizza.  Great, but all homemade pizza is.  The dough was from scratch (the recipe calls for store bought).  Used canned roasted red peppers, garlic, spinach and goat cheese (yum).  Instead of marinara we used Alfredo sauce.  On second thought, we didn't follow the recipe at all.  Except that we used Artichokes. 

Carrot and Coconut Soup.  I am seriously hoping that I did something terribly wrong and people don't eat soup that tastes like mine did.  Maybe I should have cooked the carrots longer. 

Butternut Squash and Sage Lasagna.  Wow.  This was wonderful.  Without a doubt this will go into our meal rotation.  I didn't change very much about this recipe.  I did bake the butternut squash in the oven and puree it with spinach and red onions (recipe didn't call for either).  Also, I didn't have fresh nutmeg, sage or homemade vegetarian broth.  Mine all came from a bottle.  Sorry Martha to let you down.


So what is on the menu for this week?

 Minestrone Soup (with Sausage for N. James) from Taste of Home and Goat Cheese Biscuits via Joy the Baker

Curried Orange Rice from Campfire Cafe and Orange Chicken from A Year of Slow Cooking

 My Cousin's Ruben's with Sauerkraut and Veggie Dogs with Rye Bread

Butternut Squash with Cranberries from BHG or maybe Wild Rice with Butternut Squash, Cranberry, and Pecans.  Who cares as long as I get to eat some butternut squash with cranberries?



Where I try a weeky menu. For the 500th time.

The Notorious Weekly Menu.

Does anyone really do this?

Please tell me your secret.  I've only been trying to pull it off for months and months.

When do you plan it?  How do you shop?  Most importantly, how do you convince your family to eat what you've cooked instead of something else?  Do I start with baby steps?  One day a week have a special meal?  Or just boot camp it and stick to it OR ELSE?

Here is my attempt.  I'll post my ideas every week (we'll see how that goes) and then I'll do a follow up and let you know how miserably I've failed well, I've done!

This Pineapple Pie I found over here.  Like how the pie is to priority?  I do, too.

Artichoke, Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Pizza adapted from here

This Creamy Carrot Soup with Coconut I found over here.  And Yes, I am sure mine will be just as pretty.

Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna from here and here.  I figured they'd be better together.

Where More Appliances Break and We Make Kale Smoothies





Unfortunately, the great appliance death has not left our house just yet.



My blender has now joined the ranks of the fallen and much loved appliances in my house hold.

That is okay.  I've had it since high school and I've really been wanting a Ninja.  Sorry blender, but can you blame me?

How cool are these?!  Not only does it have an awesome name like Ninja, but it can do anything.  Chop, blend, dice, puree, vacuum your car----





Well, maybe not that last one, but that doesn't make it any less cooler.

Good thing I stole that Magic Bullet Blender from my mom forever ago.  Otherwise we wouldn't have been able to make Kiwi-Kale Smoothies for breakfast. 

Yum.

This smoothie was inspired by Joy the Baker's recipe here. (You might want to get used to me talking about her blog constantly).

My initial thought when I saw the title was "eww."

Then I saw the bright green drink and I had to try it.  Remember the pea cupcakes?  I'm certainly not afraid of some strange food.

I even went out and bought an embarrassingly large bag of  kale specifically for this recipe.  Seriously, the only bag of kale I could find was almost as big as my cart.  I'm sure I looked like a woman who really, really enjoyed her kale.  If you have any great kale recipes, please pass them along.

In the meantime, I'll be making several of these.

Kiwi-Kale Smoothiesinspired by Joy the Baker

1 frozen banana

2 kiwis, sliced

1 handful of spinach

1 handful of kale

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

1/4-1/2 cup juice (I used Naked Juice Mango)

Blend, blend.  Enjoy

 To me, the coolest part about this smoothie--- other than it being green---is hiding things in it that most kids won't eat.  If you have a hard time getting your kid to eat her spinach try this!  As long as you don't let your kids WATCH you make this smoothie, I bet you could get them to drink it. 

I am pretty lucky.  A. James will eat anything.  She loves greens and we've sat by and watched her eat three plates full of lettuce and spinach. 

Maybe she just isn't old enough to rebel yet.

Maybe she just likes weird foods like her Mama.

Where I overcome my fear of strangely named baked goods (a.k.a An Ode to Mama Gast)

Whoopie Pies just sound gross.

I don't know what happened to me in my childhood to cause me to cringe in disgust everytime I hear the word "whoopie pie." 

Something must have though.  Normal people don't cringe at the word "whoopie pie."

Then I went to my friend Christi's and ate one.

Hers were chocolate mint and chocolate ganache.  Hers were delicious (says the girl who doesn't even like chocolate).  Hers made me want to make my own.

So i did.

I decided on Banana.  Banana is my favorite next to Pumpkin. 

Yum.  Pumpkin.

I had a pumpkin, I could have used it for this.  But, it is my last one and I'm saving it for something special. 

Just need to figure out what that is.

Cornstarch + Sugar = Powdered Sugar

By the way.  If you don't have any powdered sugar on hand. 

Regular Sugar + Cornstarch + Blender= Powdered Sugar

Also, if you don't have brown sugar:

Regular Sugar + Molasses + Mashing Together = Brown Sugar

There was a lot of mashing going on.  A. James enjoyed this part almost as much as she did the taste test.



Banana Whoopie Pies

adapted from Martha Stewart Recipes

For the Pie:
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp each: baking soda, baking powder, salt
1 large banana (mashed)
1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt
1 stick softened butter or margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp maple syrup powder (optional)
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla exract

For the Whoopie:

cream together the following

8 oz cream cheese
8 oz all vegetable shortening
1 banana

1 cup powdered sugar

Oven 350

Mix Dry Ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt

Beat Wet Ingredients: Butter, Sugar, Egg,  Maple Syrup Powder (if you have it), vanilla, banana, sour cream or yogurt.

Add dry to wet, mixing as you add.

Plop heaping spoonfuls onto pan lined with parchment paper.  Bake 12 minutes.  Let cool and top with whoopie topping: 

The difference between mine and Martha's recipe? Less sugar, more bananas= more yum, slightly less guilt.

Enjoy!

Where we bake a Thunder Cake

I would much rather read a book or bake a cake than watch a movie or a T.V show.


That probably makes me a nerd.  I am okay with that.



Delicious cakes and Neil Gaiman short stories trump Jersey Shore or Teen Mom marathons.  Every time.

I just can't get into reality television. Not even American Idol or Dancing with the Stars.




I know. I can already hear your gasps of disbelief.




Plus, what shows that I consider good always get cancelled because they don't star Paris Hilton or people who collect cats.

So I read and bake bread.  And occasionally watch re-runs of Arrested Development.



My daughter has reached one of those "perfect" reading ages. She is just now starting to appreciate books with more words and fewer pictures. This opens up a whole new world of reading material.  This makes for a very excited mama and daddy.

A few days ago I shared a book from my childhood with her.  It is always a fun game to see if she loves these books as much as I did at her age.  Usually she does and it brings me a special kind of joy to finish a book and hear her say, "read it again." Or watch her go through her entire stack of library books to find it.


This was the case with Patricia Polacco's Thunder Cake.

Every time it storms I think about this book. I think about my Grandmother's house and how she wouldn't ever let us be afraid of anything. I remember baking in her kitchen and her pouring sizable portions of the raw cake batter for us to eat. It brings images of fresh eggs cooking and the taste of raw biscuit dough. I think about stories before we went to bed around the fireplace all wrapped up in handmade blankets eating marshmallows we cooked.

While I was pregnant my mother gave me our copy of the book. My aunt bought me a copy.  This book is special to many of us. I think it probably reminds most country people of their childhoods on the farm.

So, you can imagine my excitement when A. James asked to make "thunder cake" one morning.

We read the book as we baked the cake. Stopping to "gather ingredients" along with the characters.  We talked about how one day we will have a farm and we will go outside to gather eggs from our chickens, or milk our cow. 


We talked about how grandmas are important and who we wanted to share our cake with when it was finished.


It was fun; we will do it again in the summer so we can actually gather eggs and tomatoes instead of getting them from the fridge.  The recipe is in the back of the book, but you can visit Patricia Polacco's website for the recipe as well.


Enjoy!

Where I make a farewell cake.

This is A. James' pirate face.  Arrrr.

A few days ago a friend of mine made a comment about reviewing her goals from last year.  She said she had accomplished most of the list, but was still frusterated because some of the items were still lingering.

"Unaccomplished."

My solution was to make sure you have some easy "feel good" items on that list.

She said that was cheating it was the easy way out. 
Sorry to misquote you, D.

I dont know about that.  It would mean this cake is an easy way out.  Twice. 

Something that looks this tasty can't be an easy way out! 

This cake accomplishes two of the items on my list:

Bake something you've been wanting to bake from Joy the Baker's blog.

and

Bake tasty treats for people who you appreciate (recycling center, library folks, etc).



One of my dear friends is moving off to Australia.  Awesome.  I love it when people are brave and make exciting changes that I am entirely too chicken to make.  I am sad to see her go, but stoked to be able to live vicarously through her.  Tonight is the last sewing group meeting before she leaves on a jet plane.

So I made her a cake.

It sort of  follows this recipe from Joy the Baker's blog.  Which ROCKS if you didn't already know. 

Poppy Seed Cake with Black Raspberry Glaze
adapted from Joy the Baker

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup yogurt (Joy's recipe calls for buttermilk)
2 large egg
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 Tablespoons poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 325
Add together all dry ingredients (except poppy seeds)
Add together all wet ingredients
Combine dry to wet and add in Poppy Seeds
Pour into your cake pans/bunt pan and let cook for 30-45 minutes.
Let cake cool for 20 minutes before removing from pans.

Top with glaze!

Black raspberry glaze for cake

1/4 cup black raspberries (Joy uses blueberries)
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 T greek yogurt (or milk/buttermilk)

Where another one bites the dust.

Are appliances that you love and need breaking left and right in your household?

I just need to check to be sure it isn't one of those worldwide phenomenas and I should just brace myself for the rest of this carnage.

First Olga, my new sewing machine---only six days out of the box.
Then my yogurt thermometer and finally (and perhaps saddest) my bread machine.

Right in the middle of knead cycle.

On the day I had decided I was going through my Bread Machine Cookbook and doing a bread a day.

Bad.  Timing.

That's right.  I had to knead bread by hand.  The old fashioned way.  Not that I'm opposed to doing things the old fashioned way.  Most things I do by hand---from scratch.

Bread making was not one one of these times.

So now I am in the market for a new yogurt thermometer and bread machine.

This Zojirushi looks awesome.  It does everything you can imagine, but the price tag is pretty high.  I love bread, but over  $200!  Who has that kind of money?

But think of all the possibilities!

I'm sure I could rationalize spending that much, but for now I'm on my way to the thrift stores today.  The wonderful thing about bread machines is that I seem to to be one of the few people out there who actually use them.  There is ALWAYS bread machines hanging out at yard sales and thrift stores for cheap.

I can always hope someone threw a Zojirushi into their Salvation Army box.  

Fingers crossed.

I'll leave you with my first recipe.  Which I kneaded by hand and turned out great.
It is from The Bread Machine Cookbook IV by Donna Rathmell German

Honey Wheat Bread

1 cup water/milk (I added milk)
1/3 cup Honey
1/2   tsp salt
3 TBSP vital gluten, optional (I added it in)
3 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp yeast

Orange Cranberry Craisin Bread----Oh, yeah.

Around Thanksgiving CSN Stores was kind enough to give me some free stuff to giveaway.  I asked for you to suggest some great recipes.

I have tried most of them.  However, my dear friend Lindsey sent a recipe for Cranberry Bread and I can't stop making it.

I've tweaked it a little and came up with my own vegan version.  Last night I made it for our sewing group, Seams to Me.  They loved it too so I thought I should share.

Enjoy.

Vegan Orange Cranberry-Craisin Bread
adapted from TasteofHome

makes one loaf

2 cups flour
1/4 cup wheat germ (optional)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup cranberries
1/2 cup craisins
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup sugar (I've lowered this to 1/4 cup with no problem).
                                                                                    1 cup orange juice
                                                                                    1 Tbsp Flax seed +3 Tbsp water (or 1 egg)

•  Oven 350
• In one bowl mix: sugar, oil, flax seed + water, orange juice
• In another bowl mix: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt
• Mix together Bowl One + Bowl Two
• Add in Cranberries and Craisins
• Grease Bread Pan (or muffin pan)
• Bake for one hour (less time for muffins) or until toothpick comes out clean
• Let cool for 10 minutes before slicing.

If you are opting to use the flax seed for the vegan version occasionally, you might find that it has been an hour and the bread is still sticky in the middle.  I'm still toying around with the recipe for best results.  Check at 45 minutes and if it is still pretty sticky---lower the oven temp to 325.  Check in an hour and it may have to go an extra 15 minutes.  I don't know if this is kosher, but it works for me. 

Enjoy!

Giveaway! Giveaway!

I can't believe it is already time for Thanksgiving.  Fall is my favorite time of the year.  Especially when it feels like it did today.  We went for a night walk and I didn't even need a jacket.  Amazing.

Also,  I've been trying out dishes for possible Thanksgiving meals today.

Eggnog Fudge with soy eggnog (still cooling off)
Vegan Banana Bread which was AWESOME

Now I am looking for some carrot recipes, turnip recipes, asparagus recipes and something yummy to do with brussel sprouts.

Oh, well.  On to what you are probably here for.  The giveaway!

Want to win something?  How about a $35.00 gift card to use at any of CSN's online stores?  Sound good?

Awesome. 

CSN has so many wonderful goodies to choose from.  How about a barstool?  Or a new stand mixer?  Need something for a new baby?  Anything you can think of they probably have it.

Just in time for the holidays too!

Here is the deal.  Post your favorite Thanksgiving recipe (or a link).
Everyone who posts a link will go into a random drawing.
I'll pick a winner Friday.

Easy enough?  Happy Harvest!

Going out on a limb

Maggiano's Pumpkin Cheesecake

I pretty much order the same boring thing at every restaurant we go to.  Eggplant Parmesan at any Italian place, Three Cheese Nachos at Qdoba, Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich and Greek Salad at Panera Bread---you get the drift here.

It isn't that I don't like trying new things.

I don't consider myself "boring" when it comes to food.

I just don't like paying for something and then not liking it and being hungry.

It is fear that drives me.  And my cheapness frugal nature.

So for a mini-family vacation we went to St. Louis this past weekend.  Our Hotel served a really nice breakfast so we ate there, had PB&J for lunch and splurged on dinner at Maggiano's.  The last time I ate there with N. James I fell into my cozy old habit and ordered the Eggplant Parmesan.  It was wonderful, of course.  So this time I was planning on doing the same until I saw this on the menu:

Butternut Squash Ravioli.  Little homemade raviolis filled with butternut squash and drizzled with Parmesan Sage Sauce and candied pecans. 

Whoa.   

I was at a crossroads. 

On one hand I didn't want to be let down by my food, and on the other well c'mon!  Butternut Squash Ravioli!  It sounds crazy good.

So my curiosity won out and I am so very glad it did.  It was amazing.  Very different.  Sweet Pasta isn't something I've had before. 

Now I am determined to branch out at home as well.  The same rules apply in my cooking.   I didn't want to go out and spend money on ingredients and have it end up tasting horrible.  Especially when making Italian food!  It calls for heavy cream, fresh herbs, and fancy (expensive) cheeses.

So I've gone and found a few recipes that use similar ingredients and I am going to make them this week.  Here are the contestants:

Penne-Wise Pumpkin Pasta
Butternut Squash Ravioli with Butter Sage Sauce
Spinach and Artichoke Pasta

I'll let you know how it goes.  Wish me luck.
Also, if you have a recipe for Pumpkin Cheesecake with ginger crust and candied walnuts and Amaretto whipped cream....let me know.