Gourd-geous Pumpkin Recipes!

The leaves outside are beginning to fall, there's a crisp feeling on the air, it's football season.... and we're not back at school. September and October are supposed to be the hardest months for all post grads, because we've finally realized that we won't be at homecoming! Well, except for Christina. She's left me in the kitchen while she lives out the glory days. But no worries! Before she left, we decided to whip up a batch of Pumpkin Scones! I mean, really, what sounds better?



We followed this recipe via www.littlebluehen.com though with a few minor tweeks. For one thing, I don't like raisins in my scones. Christina begged to differ, though I won out. We both agreed to leave out the pecans, and have our scones plain and simple. They turned out pretty well! And with two people in the kitchen, they were a cinch to make.


Scones are the ultimate comfort food. When I lived in London, I'm pretty sure I had tea and scones at least twice a week. But these were a great alternative! They kept for about a week and were delish with a little butter and tea. Mmmmm......












We only used about half of the pumpkin we bought, so I decided to figure out a way to use the rest. I found a pumpkin-cherry-chocolate-oatmeal-cookie recipe on www.mybakingaddiction.com . It sounded great, but the final product was a bit much. I used chocolate chips instead of white because it was all I had, and I think it added a weird tang to the cookie. Also, because I tried to use up the rest of the pumpkin puree, the cookies took FOREVER to bake. And they were super floppy. I'd use this recipe if I was trying to get rid of ingredients in the kitchen, but definitely wouldn't bring them to a party.

Our first foray into the world of post-college cooking began the same day Mary told me about tastespotting.com. The website is truly a foodie's heaven. It describes itself as "a highly visual potluck of recipes, references, experiences, stories, articles, products, and anything else that inspires exquisite taste," and it is a serious step up from the frozen White Castle burgers Mary and I would microwave and dip in ketchup after school when we were ten.

Anyway, Mary and I settled on a risotto recipe, and we decided to give it a go. For those who didn't graduate college in the past ten years, it may be hard to remember what a college student's kitchen is like. It's not pretty. Fresh veggies are a rarity, and the only thing you are guaranteed to find is pasta and cheap wine... and this is coming from someone who enjoys home cooking. Cooking my first meal back in my parents' home was a drastic change. The main difference is that my mother manages to keep the kitchen fully stocked with anything one could ever need to cook anything, literally. Mary and I stopped by our grocery store to pick up some key ingredients and were on our way.

Mary ate a lot of risotto in college, and every few minutes would interject our conversation with different quick, tasty things you could add to Arborio rice (edamame? asparagus?), but it was my first experience with the grain. It is pretty labor intensive, this isn't the kind of meal you can put on the stove and ignore while you drink a glass of wine. The prep work involved a lot of dicing, but once the ingredients get cooking, you can expect to be standing over the stove for the better part of an hour.

In the end the recipe was a total success. We ended up having to ditch the original frying pan that we used for the mushrooms and leeks and substitute a wok in its place - the recipe makes a LOT of food. Thankfully leftovers are not a problem with risotto, as they make great "risotto pancakes" the day after. Just form them into little pancakes and fry in olive oil. Yum.

Here's the recipe: http://whiskflipstir.com/2010/09/01/mushroom-leek-risotto/

Why, hello!

Why another food blog on the blogosphere, you ask? Well, we, like many before and after us, are living at our parents' house. After graduating college. Because we can't afford to move out. And what better way to pass our time when we're not (ahem, avoiding) applying for jobs? COOKING! Best friends for almost two decades, we've taken it upon ourselves to learn everything we can about the fine arts of baking, broiling, and basting. Gotta recipe for us to try? Let us know! Tell us we're going to kill ourselves holding the zester that way? We'd love to hear about it. So let's start cooking!