"A smart mouth" news and stories

One may be hard-pressed to initially recognize these shards as peppermint candy, but the fiery red pieces are indeed a festive, edible holiday treat. And -- an important asset during the holiday bustle -- for such a sophisticated appearance, they're surprisingly simple to make and require only a few ingredients.

Though they're delectable on their own, blogger A Smart Mouth ingeniously elevated them even further, using them as the "stained glass" center of gingerbread cookies -- and promises that "they're divine." The cookies even serve as edible Christmas ornaments -- though we can't imagine they'd last too long on the tree before being devoured.

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Since the colder weather finally settled in, I've been making at least one pot of soup or stew a week. However, I often feel like a bowl of steaming, brothy goodness isn't complete without a bit of bread or a couple of crackers to go along with it. Some weeks I buy a multi-grain baguette at the farmers market but sometimes I like to make my own rolls or biscuits.

I've had my eyes open for new quick bread options lately and there are two that struck my fancy today. I haven't actually made either yet, but I've printed out both recipes and they are destined for the "Must Make" stack in my kitchen. The first is the recipe for Jalapeno Whole Wheat Scones from from A Smart Mouth. I don't have all those exotic flours on hand, but I've been looking for an excuse to buy buckwheat flour and this may be reason enough. The other is the recipe for Cornmeal and Bacon Muffins that Erin (of Erin Cooks!) made over the weekend. She says she wasn't quite happy with the texture of these, but I find that the drier, crumbly breads go quite nicely with soup, so these might still be salvageable yet.

Several weeks ago, one of the vendors at the Headhouse Square Farmers Market had just four purple cauliflowers. I got there early, and so had my pick of his crop. I brought one home and kept it around for a while, just to because it looked so pretty each time I opened my fridge. When I finally cooked it up (my sister and I sauteed it with broccoli and bok choi) it held on to it's vibrant, purple character, enlivening our dinner plates.

Thanks to Anjuli for adding this lovely picture to the Slashfood Flickr pool.

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