'Tis the season for pumpkin carving, but don't throw out the scraps! AOL Food's toasted pumpkin seed recipe and these tips make it easy to turn a pile of pumpkin seeds (or pepitas) into a tasty and healthy snack.
Posts with tag fall
Tip of the Day - A Quick Lesson in Quince
Fall is all about apples, but why not try baking with the "golden apple," quince?
Tip of the Day - Sweet Potato or Yam?
As fall gets underway, do you know the difference between a sweet potato and a yam? The subject of much confusion, the orange-colored tuber that is often referred to as a "yam" is in fact, a sweet potato.
Heavenly Honeycrisp - Feast Your Eyes
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| Honeycrisp apple. Photo: Happy in a Bag. |
Based on the status updates of food lovers all over Facebook, it seems many were lucky enough to get their hands on Honeycrisps over the weekend, including blogger Happy in Bag who managed to hold off biting into this one long enough to snap a picture.
[Via Happy in a Bag]
Fall Sauvignon Blanc - Wine of the Week
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| Photo: Constellation Brands |
Autumn officially arrives next week. Labor Day has come and gone, and we've traded our barbecue tongs for pots of soup and our shorts for sweaters on chilly nights. But before you put away all your summer wines, consider this: Many of them, including Sauvignon Blanc, won't taste oh-so-fresh by the time you're in the mood for them again. Some of the best Sauv Blancs from the Loire Valley and Bordeaux can age for several years, but most inexpensive bottles are meant to be drunk ASAP.
What happens when you brave an old bottle? I tried a 2005 recently and the first word that came to mind was dank. It was like tossing a salad, forgetting about it for a week and then trying to eat around the decaying pieces. Blech. So here's my PSA for this week: drink all your unquestionably delicious Sauvignon Blancs now, before they become questionable -- the 2007s from the northern hemisphere and the 2008s from the southern hemisphere. Soon, the 2009s from New Zealand, Chile and South Africa will be on shelves, and in the spring, the 2009s from California, France and Italy will arrive.
After the jump, Sauvignon Blancs I loved, and a question for you: Which Sauv Blanc region steals your heart?
Cabbage Stuffed with Beef, Zucchini, and Herbs - In Season
Only recently have I discovered an appreciation for cabbage. I suppose I grew up with the mind-set of "it's green and smells, therefore it must not taste good." I felt the same way back then about Brussels Sprouts, beet greens and asparagus.
Cabbage stuffed with beef, zucchini and herbs is a hearty dish that showcases the flavor of each ingredient, without loosing the integrity and texture of the cabbage. Cabbage, packed with vitamins K and C is also fairly inexpensive in a time where grocery bills have increased greatly.
When choosing cabbage, the heavier the better, but stay away from heads of cabbage with extra, giant leaves on the outside. Make sure the head doesn't give, as well, as that can be a sign of interior rot.
Continue reading Cabbage Stuffed with Beef, Zucchini, and Herbs - In Season
Slashfood Ate (8): Seasonal punch recipes
Mmm, seasonal punch, fall cider, apple-related-alcohol, whatever you want to call it, it's good. Warm or cold, alcoholic or non, even spicy or streudelly, there are a number of ways to enjoy a good autumnal apple drink. Here are links to eight delicious recipes!1. A solid booze-free basic
2. Classic brandy with cider
3. Heat up some apple juice and put rum and a cinnamon stick in it. No link required!
4. A whiskey version
5. Cider with tequila!
6. An ultimate indulgence with hibiscus and cayenne
7. Decadent cider streudel (streudelly)
8. Chilled and sparkling!
Click here for more things you can do with apple cider.
Slashfood Ate (8): Liquorice
It's easy to get into the spirit of fall produce -- what's not to love about fresh apples and beautiful root vegetables? But it takes a true fall-lover to embrace the all of the candies of fall as well. You have to take the candy corn with the caramel apples, the liquorice with the maple sugar candy. Liquorice it seems, is a pretty divisive candy. If you hate it, you hate it. I love it, and here are some yummy variations that I've spotted across the web.Liquorice Root Tea from Teaviews
Liquorice Altoids, reviewed by Candy Addict
Liquorice Caramels from the Vermont Country Store
Liquorice Pudding from Epicurious
Very Salty Liquorices from Dutch Sweets
Liqource Cupcakes from Apple & Spice
Liquorice Ice Cream from Chow
Chocolate Licorice from Chocolate Heaven
Slashfood Ate (8): Fall bread recipes
Not everyone looks forward to the cooler weather of fall, and I'm one of them. I really prefer warmer temperatures, but I do look forward to fall food. All of the different squash dishes, puddings, and citrus flavors are so welcome that I can almost forgive the chill in the air. I've been searching for different fall influenced bread recipes and I think I've found some good ones. Check them out and you be the judge.
1. This fig and anise bread sounds so amazing, I'm planning on making this one soon!
2. What could be more fall than a pumpkin bread pudding?
3. It seems more difficult to find a pumpkin yeast bread, but I found one amid all the quick breads.
4. Chestnut rye is a little more unusual of a flavor, but that's what makes it special.
5. Sweet potato rolls deserve a place on everyone's fall table.
6. This cornbread from the Homesick Texan may not be strictly fall, but the cornbread dressing you can make with it sure is.
7. Orange yeast bread is also more rare than its quick bread cousin.
8. Sure cranberry is usually paired with orange, but why not let it shine on its own?
The Baltimore Sun in 60 seconds: Fall recipes, tomato jelly and homemade pretzels
Fall is here and with it have come a wave of new cookbooks. The Baltimore Sun food section staff take a look at the new crop and narrow it down to the pick of the harvest. - This week the Recipe Finder tracks down instructions on how to make Tomato Jelly.
- After some trial and error, Rob Kasper succeeds in baking up a batch of homemade pretzels for his own personal Oktoberfest celebration.
- Kate Shatzkin uses a recipe from the new cookbook Two Dudes, One Pan to prepare a weeknight dinner for under $12.
- Elizabeth Large highlights her top 10 local restaurants that just happen to be located in strip malls.
Feast Your Eyes: Pumpkin patch
It's the first day of October and so is now officially pumpkin season (at least in my mind). My first pumpkin came my way last week, in my second to last CSA delivery, but I foresee many more drifting my way in the next month (there's even an pumpkin carving contest coming in a few weeks).
This picture, from Karen, is of a trip she and her family recently took to a pumpkin patch, to pick out their first pumpkins of the season. Great picture, thanks Karen!
Wine of the Week: Pinot Noir
The weather has been unseasonably warm this month in my neck of the woods, but it's finally starting to cool off. I'm ready to go apple picking and bite into fresh, crisp, tangy apples. I'm making pumpkin soup and roasted squash. I'm dreaming about baked pears stuffed with blue cheese and walnuts and drizzled with Port. And I'm finishing up my light summer Roses and Albarinos and Vinho Verdes and turning to fuller-bodied white wines and light reds that perfectly complement fall foods.
Martha Stewart's fall cupcakes
To continue with my cupcake boosterism, here's a link to Martha Stewart's new gallery of fall cupcakes. I'm not sure they're the "reclaimed" "elevated" cupcakes so prevalent in upscale bakeries these days, but they sure are cute. And Martha is almost always reliable for making even her gimmicky recipes tasty. Check out the apple cupcakes: Vanilla cupcakes with red icing resembling newly-picked apples, with pretzel stems and sour apple candy leaves intact. Or the pumpkin patch cupcakes, with tiny hand-made marzipan pumpkins atop spice cake batter. The carrot cupcakes are a bit more complex, flavored with allspice and orange juice and topped with cream cheese icing loaded with shredded coconut.
Signs of Fall in food
Some people think that Fall has begun when the leaves start to turn or when the air finally starts to cool down at night. For others it is the start of school or the fact that darkness comes before 8 pm. Here in Philadelphia, it isn't Fall until the Taskykake Pumpkin Pies hit the shelves of our local grocery and convenience stores. What are the food products that mark the the change of the season for you?
When do you stop drinking hot coffee and tea?
Are you a seasonal hot beverage drinker like I am?
I ask this because here we are past the halfway mark of April and I'm still drinking hot tea. This is late for me. I usually stop drinking hot tea around the start of April and start drinking diet soda and iced tea (I don't drink coffee). The weather has been cold and rainy/snowy this month, so my tea drinking has stayed at the same level it was in January. Which I like, of course, but it also worries me because I'd rather switch to drinks like diet soda that won't give me as much daily sugar intake (yeah, I know, I could drink my tea with less sugar or Splenda, but where's the fun in that?). As for hot chocolate, well, that's a fall/winter thing and I stopped that weeks ago.
So readers, are you seasonal hot and cold beverage drinkers too? I remember my mom used to drink hot coffee in the hot summer months too because she read somewhere it was good for you or cooled you down in some way I don't quite understand, but science was never my best subject in school.
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