31 Days to Thankfulness!

I am joining a group of Bloggers 

who will all be writing 31 days of "something"

for the month of October. 

I've been challenged by a study written by

James MacDonald to be more deliberate

in being thankful for all that God has 

given me.

This project seemed like a perfect opportunity to 

grow my thankfulness.

Let's see where it goes!

Click here for the most recent postings
http://makingitmerry.blogspot.com/

or
You can also get to subsequent days by clicking on
"Home" at the bottom of this post :o)

Here's the link to the gal who started this mayhem :o)
http://www.thenester.com/

Happy Birthday to Me!

I have always considered September

My Month.

And the way I have been able to stretch it out, 

it just may take a month to get all the 

celebrating in!

Dinner the Saturday before at the Turf Room with Honey. 

Lunch at Nosh with Lory and Ken.

Dinner the night of at home with Lou (Malnati) and Honey.

Lunch at Bien Trucha with Kristina.

Lunch at Frontera Grill with Dirk.

Dinner at home by Dirk.

Lunch at Cheryl's with Cheryl, Carol and Val.

Lunch at CPK with Mom, Big and Gaye.

Whew, I think I might be done!

Don't you love how I measure my life in food :o) 

Er, NO, The people! It's all about the people.

I believe my next date will be with Jenny.

Craig.

Guess What I did Yesterday?

How cool to have at my disposal a city where I can

eat at a world renown chef's restaurant,

see art in food,

see art in buildings, 

see buildings as art, 

 see "real" art

and be home in time for dinner?

Thanks for a great day Dirk!

GPBS Soup

It's title is too descriptive.

But it's how you turn this:

into this:

The recipe calls for you to add a cup of whipping cream at the end. 

I didn't for a couple of reasons. 

I want to freeze some for Nancy and I think it will freeze better without 

the dairy, and, Mike and dairy don't get along.

I did throw a splash of cream in my bowl and it really helped

to mellow out all the flavors. 

If you can stand to do it, you should.

Oh, and this wonderful soup is called,

German Potato Butternut Sausage Soup. 

Whew. 

http://reluctantentertainer.com/2011/02/making-soup-together-german-potato-butternut-sausage-soup/

It's International Speak Like A Pirate Day!!!!

And I did nothing to celebrate.

I am very sad about that. 

I feel as if I have let Pirates down all over the world. 

I am hanging my head in shame. 

Chumbucket.

Does Your House Have A Season?

Because mine does and it's fall. 

I have decorations for every season and holiday.

Fall is the one season I have the least amount of

decorations stashed up in the attic for.

And it's the easiest season to 

impart on the house.

Even the front door is fall.

So, I was just wondering if anyone else's house had a season.

Happy fall, ya'll. 

Roasted Lamb Curry

Or as Aarti likes to call it

Night Night Curry.

It had really good flavor but I thought the meat was 

a little dry so I think next time I will try making this in

the Crock Pot.

It was definitely worth a second shot.

Something not worth  a second shot?

Shelling and hulling enough cardamom pods to equal 2 tablespoons 

of these:

Not the "big " black ones in the front. 

Nooo, you need a tablespoonful of those tiny green ones.

So that you can make your own Garam Masala

of which you will use 1/4 teaspoon.

Live and learn.

I'm just here to help.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/aarti-sequeira/night-night-curry-roasted-lamb-curry-with-garam-masala-caraway-and-apricots-recipe/index.html

Vegetable Lasagna

Or, creating havoc.

You see, I had these monster zucchinis. 

I thought it would be good to do the whole lasagna thing

with zucchini ribbons in place of the pasta.

But then, it's Meatless Monday so why not

go all veg?

And then why not go white?

So, here's the line up:

zucchini

sweet potatoes

onions

mushrooms

roasted red peppers

kale

asparagus

basil cream sauce

ricotta

parmesan

mozzarella.

Between the blanching, roasting and sautéing, 

the prep was a little intense.

But totally worth it!

Bread Pudding

Or, recycling.

I think it's really funny when a chef suggests

this as a great way to use stale bread.

I have to import stale bread.

Big saves the crusts from her cinnamon bread.

Perfect for bread pudding!

I pulled this recipe from All Recipes.com

But really, you just need a basic custard recipe.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/bread-pudding-ii/detail.aspx

I used almond extract instead of vanilla and cut 

the sugar way back, probably to about 1/4 cup.

I didn't use any cinnamon because, 

hello, cinnamon bread :o)

And there you have it!

One of my favorite ways to recycle.

Maybe I should call it 

Green Bread Pudding?

Tamale Pies

In zucchini bowls.

Everybody slices a zucchini lengthwise, fills them, and calls them

"boats."

I sliced across and called them 

"bowls."

That's just some ground beef, onions, tomatoes, 

olives, chilies and some mole spices with

a corn bread top. 

It worked out great just next time I think I will

bake the bowls a little before I fill them,

the zucchini didn't get tender. 

Wait a minute, who am I kidding?

How often am I going to have monster zucchinis in

my kitchen?

Individual crocks. 

That's the ticket.

Meatloaf Cupcakes

But really, they look like bombs.

With a hat. 

I saw it on Food Network. 

Duff went somewhere

in Chicago that makes meat cupcakes.

The show is called Sugar High. 

He was at a meat shop.

Huh?

I was intrigued.

Eh.

They tasted good, just not the look I was going for. 

Live and learn.

But PS, there's the first use of the

Monster Bigger Than My Dog Zucchini.

Sautéed with some onions, 

mushrooms, yellow tomatoes, and a hit of pesto. 

Onward and upward!

Brownies

Alton Brown style.

The good thing about this recipe is that you probably have

everything it takes in your pantry. 

Oh, and they taste great, even if you forget the vanilla :o)

oops.

Now for my couple of points of interest.

I didn't see this episode so I don't know how he

managed to sift brown sugar.

My arms got a real workout. 

I would have liked to have known his reasoning for it ,

but, alas, I did not see the show.

The other little heads up, he has you baking them at

300 degrees.

It wasn't till I got to comment #300-something

that I noticed some people were having issues with 

the goofy things getting done.

That's when I cranked the oven to 350 for the last 15 minutes.

Oh, and I used Hershey's Special Dark cocoa.

Good choice.

Now to figure out what to do with a zucchini

the size of my dog!

Sweet Basil Cheesecake

I could have eaten the whole thing.

But I didn't.

Only because we had a couple other things with it.

This is one of my favorite kinds of dinner. 

I hate to tell you who this came from.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/sweet-basil-cheesecake-recipe/index.html

It's really good and not difficult to put together at all. 

Just a couple of points;

the cheese and eggs need to be at room temp before you mix it up

and about the 4 1/2 inch spring form pans,

I could only find a set of 4 inch pans at Walmart.

I was actually (actually) able to make 2 cheesecakes

from the one recipe.

So I shared one with my friend Nancy.

And some socks.

Prayers for Nancy please as she begins her battle.

Pfoetchen

Pfoetchen is back.

She's a former show dog.

I mean Dog, not Burlesque.

Can you tell?

She turned me into a dog lover.

Look at that face!

How could you not fall in love?

The Pfoetch has been on strict crate rest

for about a year.

She has a bad back 

(real bummer when you're a wiener dog)

and it went totally out.

We thought she was going to need wheels. 

But NO!

She's a wonder dog. 

She may even be a guest blogger. 

we'll see.

Bok Choy

Not a fan.

I have been on a quest the past year or so to find new vegetables

to add to my stable.

Kale was a winner. 

Parsnips were a winner.

Bok Choy was not. 

Any suggestions?