Halloween 2012 Pumpkin!

It's pumpkin season again! Per my annual tradition, I decided to carve a pumpkin this year.  Luckily this year it was pretty easy to find a pumpkin - I just went to my local Whole Foods!

I always love roasting pumpkin seeds after carving my pumpkin.  This year was a disappointment though.  Sadly the pumpkin I picked barely had any seeds.  Any tips on how to pick a seedy pumpkin?

Here is my pumpkin this year - a witch's brew pumpkin!  Spooky isn't it?  I followed the steps outlined in my Pumpkin Carving Tutorial here.

Pumpkin carving - Witch's Brew Pumpkin

To create some different shading for the 'smoke', I thinned out the pumpkin meat from the outside.  If you remove the orange outer skin, it lets more of the light form the candle through, allowing for the appearance of a different shade.

Chinese New Year and Dragon Cupcakes!

It's the year of the Dragon!

I'm hoping that this new year will bring good tidings to you all [and a change of luck to those of us who need it!].  It doesn't hurt to follow the usual Chinese traditions to start the new year off on the right foot.  Hey, I need all the help I can get!

Here's my checklist:

• Get together with family [check]
• Have a new year's feast [check]
• Clean the house apartment [check]
• Clean myself! [check]
• Wear red [eh... I'm hoping pink counts! Red just didn't match today's suit]
• Wish friends and family a happy new year! [check and check]

As my family gathered over the weekend to celebrate the new year, we ate lots of traditional food like fish (to wish for a plentiful new year), noodles (longevity), meat balls with strings of seaweed (prosperity), and oysters (good tidings).

Chinese New Year feast cooked by my Dad!

My contribution to the feast was dessert - hoping to put my skills from cake decorating class to good use! I wanted to do cupcakes this time and wound up honoring the new year of the dragon.  I got the idea from Hoosier Homemade's blog and was so impressed/inspired by her dragon cupcakes!  Here is how I put my own spin on it...

Non-traditional Christmas Dinners

361 days until Christmas 2012! I hope you all delighted in holiday festivities this year and enjoyed and embraced with loved ones.

This year, we split our time between hubby's family and my family, and lucky for us, that means not one, but TWO Christmas dinners!

Our families are prime examples of how there are many different ways to celebrate the holidays.  One tradition is Asian style (over Korean BBQ or Chinese food), while another is the traditional American feast at home.  Here are some pictures of how we feasted over the holiday.  After all, remember food is just the accessory when you're surrounded by the people you love!

While visiting family in New Jersey on Christmas Eve, we wandered over to Chung Sol Bat in Edison for a fantastic Korean BBQ dinner. The portion sizes were plentiful and the quality of food was very good.  Everything is shared amongst your party and the meats are cooked right in the middle of the table.  If you're ever in the area, this place is a solid choice!

Assortment of banchan (small side dishes) were shared with the table

Kalbi cooking over hot coals

Almost ready to eat!

The whole spread.  Plentiful? YES!

Baking: Peppermint Layer Cookies

Are you still searching for cookie recipes to round out your assortment this year? These Peppermint Layer Cookies (recipe via myrecipes.com) are so pretty and perfect for the holiday season! They also taste delicious too, it's like eating a candy cane in cookie form.  The peppermint flavor from the extract and also the crushed candy canes give it an extra special twist.

This recipe involves a lot more steps than my recipe for cookie press cookies, but the extra effort does show.  Look how pretty they are!

Peppermint Layer Cookies

Peppermint Layer Cookies

Makes ~70 cookies

1 cup Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
1 1/3 cup Sugar
3 cups Flour (have more on hand for rolling the dough)
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 Whole Egg + 2 Egg Yolks
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 tsp Peppermint Extract

20-25 drops Red food coloring
15-20 drops Green food coloring
10 oz. White Chocolate, melted
4 Candy Canes, very finely crushed

Baking: Butter Cookie Recipe for Cookie Press

Yesterday I got on the step stool and pulled out my collection of sprinkles, holiday cookie boxes, and all my baking tools from the top shelf of my cupboards.  You know what that means! It's time for holiday cookies!!

I love gifting baked goods for the holidays - it's thoughtful and delicious too!  One of my basic staples for the holidays (and not just Christmas!) is butter cookies made with a Cookie Press.  Some poo-poo cookie press cookies as an easy way out, but I totally disagree! These wind up taking me just as long to decorate as it would to bake a more complex cookie.  Besides, they're so delicious, you can't have just one!

Here is a butter cookie recipe that has been passed along from my mom.  It calls for minimal ingredients, all of which are kitchen standards anyway.  This is also a great holiday activity to do with kids!

Basic Butter Cookies
1 Stick of Unsalted Butter, left at room temperature for 15-20 minutes
1/4 cup Brown Sugar (packed!)
1 Egg Yolk
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 cup Flour

For decorating:  Sprinkles!!!

Cream butter and sugar. (Begin by cutting the butter into the sugar using two knives, until the butter is is tiny chunks.  Then finish off with a pastry blender).

*Baking tip: Don't throw away that butter wrapper just yet! Use it to grease your cookie sheet.*

Cooking: Roasted Chestnuts

Bring on the holiday tunes and all the glitter and ribbons!  Roasting chestnuts is just one of the things I look forward to during this season.  What's great is they're super easy to make and affordable too. You can pop these quickly in the oven, but I just use my toaster oven and that works great too!

Roasted Chestnuts

Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 20 mins

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Rinse and thoroughly dry your chestnuts.

Mark an 'X' on the flat side of your chestnuts with a knife.  This is essential, because it allows the steam to escape while the chestnuts are cooking.  Otherwise they may explode in your oven!

Pumpkin Bread and Happy Thanksgiving!

It's my favorite holiday of the year! We have much to be thankful for, especially you - our readers who share our love of all things food.  Sending you wishes to enjoy the day with plenty of food, drinks and loved ones!

In honor of the holiday, here is my mom's recipe to her delicious Pumpkin Bread.  It doesn't feel like Thanksgiving without it!

Cooking: Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

After you carve your pumpkin, you can reward yourself not only with an awesome looking pumpkin, but also pumpkin seeds!

It's super easy and you only need a few ingredients to make these yummy crispy seeds:

Olive Oil
Salt
Garlic powder and/or your choice of seasonings

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

After scooping all the seeds out of your pumpkin, rinse them.

In a small saucepan, add 3-4 cups of water, the seeds, and 2 TB of salt.

Halloween Pumpkin Carving

Happy Halloween!!!

Every year I try to carve a pumpkin to celebrate, and conveniently it's also an excuse to roast pumpkin seeds!  (Clearly I can be baited into doing anything for food).

Here's my pumpkin this year:

My spooky owl pumpkin!

Granted it's a few notches harder than the jack-o-lanterns with triangle eyes I used to carve as a kid, but believe it or not it's totally doable! All you'll need are some basic pumpkin carving tools, a pattern to carve, toothpicks and a glue stuck.  Oh, and a pumpkin!