New Recipes: November

November was a fun month around these parts.  I went to a wedding, a baby shower, a Friendsgiving potluck, hosted my brother for a long weekend and of course, celebrated a traditional Thanksgiving this past Thursday. The slew of fun events were almost enough to distract me from the very cold weather in the middle of the month, but as you will see from the dinner recipes below warming foods were very much on my mind.

Recipe 1: Pork and Poblano Stew

I made this the first weekend of November, and in spite of eating it for a whole week, I am not recalling much about it at the moment.  I don't think the chili peppers at my local Giant were properly labeled, so this would probably be spicier (and tastier) with the right pepper.

Recipe 2: Italian Chicken Sausage and Artichoke Soup

This soup is just from last weekend, and I finished the last serving yesterday so it's much fresher in my mind.  This soup was good and really easy to make.  The Italian sausage provides a lot of flavor, and the generous amount of chard (or in my case, collards since I didn't see any chard at the store) makes it full of vitamins.  The artichokes were a nice addition too, and something I wouldn't normally add to soup.  Best served with some parmesan cheese and warm crusty bread.

Recipe 3: Pan-Seared Brussel Sprouts with Bacon

(No photos of this one, sorry!) This recipe was one of my two contributions to my Friendsgiving feast with fellow UVA MUEP alumni.  It was pretty quick to make and not surprisingly, pretty tasty with the butter and bacon.  I made this in the morning for dinner later that night but I think it would be even better served immediately.

My other dish was dessert (but doesn't qualify as a "new" recipe): Apple Crumble a la Naoko-sensei. I had known about this potluck for weeks, yet didn't choose recipes or buy ingredients until the morning of and thus appreciated the simplicity and awesome deliciousness of this recipe.  Apples, lemon juice and some sugar simmer on the stove while flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and a stick of butter are mixed until crumbly for the topping.  Filling + topping are combined in a baking dish and the results are hard to resist. This nearly perfect dish was made even better by some local salted caramel ice cream brought by another Friendsgiving attendee.

Recipe 4: Salted Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake

As if Thanksgiving dinner isn't rich enough on its own, for the past three years I have felt the need to add an over-the-top pumpkin cheesecake to the dessert buffet at my aunt and uncle's house.  The first two years I made a pumpkin ginger cheesecake, but when I stumbled on the recipe above going through old holiday magazines before moving in August, I felt like it was time to switch it up.

This is one of the most beautiful cheesecakes I have ever made; I should have taken more pictures as it really did turn out very similar to the one in the recipe photo. Aesthetics aside, this cheesecake also received rave reviews for taste and decadence. I shared the leftovers and finished off my portion for breakfast this morning. It will be a bit hard to go back to multi-grain toast tomorrow morning, but it's all for the best: Christmas and the seemingly unlimited holiday treats will be here shortly!

I'm not sure how many new recipes I will have to review at the end of December.  There are a half dozen or so that I only make around the holidays and I would really hate to miss out on them by breaking with tradition.  Perhaps I will just have to share some of those instead!

Thank you for following along with my sporadic posts here on 2BB!

Currently

I am not a very good blogger, and I'm not just talking about the long stretches between posts lately. I'm referring more to my passive participation in the blogging community.  There are probably about a dozen or so blogs I follow on a regular basis, but I only comment on one or two of them, and even that is rare.  

One blog I have been following for a while (but have yet to comment on) is Anne in Residence. She gives great packing advice, has amazing monthly review posts, and presents everything in a professional, yet fun and friendly way.  Near the beginning of the month, she hosts a link up where bloggers share what they are "currently" up to.  I've always enjoyed reading these posts, and thought I would try one of my own based on November's prompts.

1) Reading -- At Home by Bill Bryson. This is the probably the third or fourth Bill Bryson book I've read, and I am enjoying it just as much as the others. I've even learned a few things, although there is so much information packed into these pages it can be a bit hard to absorb sometimes.

2) Wishlisting -- Some new furniture/decorations for my apartment. My walls aren't exactly white, but they are pretty bare and my living room definitely lacks a focal point.

3) Loving -- I think the leaves have been especially nice this year, and I have enjoyed this pretty stand of trees on my way to work the past few weeks (that's my office building in the background). It doesn't hurt that my go-to pair of sunglasses have a brown tint, which really brings out the color.

4) Appreciating -- So many things: a job with a future, a roof over my head and my good health.  And what does a Hello Kitty power wheel have to do with any of that?  Not much, but the photo was sent to me by my brother, who will be visiting this weekend, and reminds me of the 9-question Hello Kitty quiz Keizo read to me while I was getting ready this morning.  Getting to adventure all over Japan with Jamie is the only reason I could answer any of the questions (did you know Hello Kitty weighs as much as 3 apples?), so that flashy toy has me appreciating a lot of special people in my life as well.

5) Creating -- Just getting started on a small hat to be gifted at a baby shower later this month.  It definitely needs some work, or it will only be a headband!

New Recipes: October

It is no longer October, which means I have officially passed the two month mark in my new apartment and at my new job!  Whatever feeling of being settled I alluded to in the last post was a lie, or at the very least, fleeting.  I am definitely still adjusting to life in a new place--which has its fun parts, like a bike ride to sample beer throughout DC with friends a few weeks ago--but it has been hard for me to get a routine established that includes important things like exercising regularly and pursuing hobbies that aren't Netflix centered.

One routine that I have been able to establish fairly well is weekly meal planning and grocery shopping.  I have used my Sundays the past few weeks to pick out some new recipes, procure ingredients, and make enough food for several meals throughout the week.  Read on for some of the new things I tried this month!

Recipe 1: Bone Builder Smoothie

I'm not sure how I came across this recipe, but Nutella and raspberries in a smoothie?!?  I even went out and bought raspberries just for this purpose.  I also added a banana when I made it and a little bit of almond milk to help things blend.  My one problem with this recipe is that 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese and a dollop of Nutella aren't exactly low-cal.  I never in a million years thought I would be someone who counts calories, but I started using the My Fitness Pal app earlier in the summer, and guess what?  When you burn more calories than you take in, you look/feel better in your clothes/skin ;-)  

This is especially important for me to remember in lieu of my confession above at how hard its been to re-establish an exercise routine.  My hilly 20 minute bike ride to work in Charlottesville has been replaced by a 10 minute-if-I-add-a-few-blocks walk to work in Silver Spring, so exercising in addition to my commute is key!

Recipe 2: Chipotle Roasted Kabocha Squash and Kale Salad

This is another superb recipe from An Avocado A Day.  A few months ago, I tried a recipe for lentil "meatballs" and with a lemon-pesto, which was well worth a bit of extra effort in the kitchen.  This recipe was easier (once I tracked down the canned chipotle chiles) and contains one of my very favorite vegetables--kabocha--aka Japanese pumpkin.  If you follow the link above, you can read about all of kabocha and kale's super food properties, but I think all any fellow squash lover really needs to know is you can eat the skin!  No more almost losing a finger trying to peel a stubborn butternut or scraping out the insides of a spaghetti squash (although I will still do those things on occasion).  I had chiles left over, so I made another batch of kabocha this past weekend.


Recipe 3: Garden Minestrone

I made several substitutions in this recipe based on what I had on hand, but I don't think that subbing kale for spinach or spiral pasta for "very short tube-shaped macaroni" had any ill effects on the final product or preclude me from pronouncing this a good basic soup recipe.  I may have forgotten the salt and pepper, so it sorely needed some cheese to help bring out the flavors, but let's be honest, I would be adding cheese anyway so no harm, no foul.


Recipe 4: Roasted Broccoli Enchiladas

This recipe came about because I bought some overpriced enchilada sauce when I went into Whole Foods looking for the chipotle chiles called for in Recipe #2.  I was looking for adobo sauce, and didn't realize until I opened the can that the chiles are packed in it.  Live and learn.  I also follow the Relay Foods recipe blog, and they happened to have a recipe for enchiladas last week.  I liked the filling, but perhaps there was not quite enough sauce to cover and cook everything as the end product was a tad dry.  Like the soup and cheese combo above, this recipe was made better with a simple addition--creamy avocado.

Recipe 5: Salmon Waldorf Salad (similar recipe here)

I don't have too much to say about this recipe, but that doesn't mean it wasn't quick and tasty.  I did most of the prep between work and meeting up with my apartment building's newly formed "running group" and only had to mix everything together and put it on a bed of greens when I got back.  One drawback is that I am hesitant to take the leftovers in for lunch due to the aroma, but after sitting in the fridge the salmon does not seem as "fishy" as tuna.

Recipe 6: Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

And lastly, another smoothie.  I've made something similar before, but this is a new recipe which does not call for protein powder.  When looking up the link to share here, I just noticed it says it serves two, or more accurately, one of me for breakfast.  Although this version is looking sadly plain, I look forward to making this again and adding some Reddi-whip and cinnamon on top.


As soon as I hit publish, I will have one blog post in the books for November!  And with all the foods of the holiday season on the horizon, let's hope it won't be the only one.  Thanks for stopping by!