Happy Thanksgiving

I have much to be thankful for.

New Phase

Yes, he has a sock in his mouth. He was carrying it around like this for a good part of the morning.

Just hanging out...chewing on his sock.

It's the same thing our dog Lucy does - I'm pretty sure that's where he got the idea.

BIG News...

James took his first steps today.

He walked 3 steps from me to Kerianne, and then we got out the video camera, and he was so excited that we were so happy about it that he kept bouncing and losing his balance. We repeated this process several more times throughout the day, never getting it on camera. I have high hopes for tomorrow.

James is 9 months old.

Pumpkin Coffee Cake

Reasons why I love coffee cake:

1. It is dense and moist.
2. It usually has some yummy crumbly topping inside or out.
3. It always accompanies a delicious hot and frothy drink.
4. It is the perfect thing to serve on a fall or winter morning, or after dinner with friends.
5. It feels like you're eating super delicious bread - not cake.

I am not a huge fan of pumpkin pie. I like the tradition, but actually sitting and eating spoonfuls of warm pumpkin custard - not that great. So, I'm working on pumpkin recipes that I will enjoy, because it's pumpkin season. This coffee cake was an instant success with my family. Its a mild pumpkin spice flavor with a brown sugar and butter crumble. I recommend serving it with White Hot Chocolate.
(Regular hot chocolate would be great too, and you could do a chocolate drizzle on top, or even fold chocolate chips into the batter - whatever mood you're in)

Ingredients
2 1/2 c cake flour + 2 T
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1 t ground ginger
1 t nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
1 1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 1/2 c pumpkin puree
3 extra large eggs
1 1/2 t vanilla

For the crumble:
3 T butter
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t salt

Method
Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixer using the paddle attachment. Then add the eggs one by one, then the vanilla, then the pumpkin. Sift together the flour baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Set the mixer to low, and add in the dry ingredients until just combined. Turn the mixer off and finish folding the batter together with a spatula. Pour the batter into a greased 8 inch springform pan. (You can also use a tube pan, or a square baking dish. Smooth out the batter and top with the crumble. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes.

*If you do use a tube pan, invert the pan to turn out the cake, and serve crumble size up.

For the crumble:
Place all the ingredients in a bowl, and pinch together with your fingers until you have small pea sized pieces

Pumpkin Puree for Katherine

My sweet newly-wedded cousin Katherine recently moved to England. She's living in a quaint little town called Cambridge - you may have heard of it. Her brilliant Husband is doing some Masters work over there. ANYWAY, she sent me an email the other day telling me that there is absolutely NO pumpkin puree to be had in Cambridge. Can you believe that? So, not only is she in a new place far far away from family and friends, she can't even cook familiar comforting holiday foods like pumpkin bread or pumpkin pie. So, if you are in a similar predicament, or if you are suffering from Libby's crop failure and subsequent shortage of canned pumpkin in Grocery stores, here is how you can make your own.

Head over to your grocery store and buy some cute little "pie pumpkins". They should be in the produce section with various other gourds and squashes. Cut them in half, scrape out the pulp and seeds, brush them with melted butter, sprinkle on some kosher salt, and roast them in the oven at 375 for 1 1/2 hours. They will look like the above picture.

Next, drain off any excess liquid, scoop out the soft flesh, and puree it in batches in a food processor or a blender until perfectly smooth. When your done you will have a big bowl full of pumpkin puree that is a beautiful orange autumn color. One pumpkin makes just over 1/2 cup puree.

And you can use it to make something like this, which is my pumpkin coffee cake recipe, that I will post tomorrow.

Love you Katherine.

Mama's Boy

James is a lot like me - he prefers Shane from everyone else. It's a beautiful thing.

I Know....

I've been gone from the blogging world for a long time. So, I'm just going to throw up a ton of pictures of what we've been up to, so I can get back to business....or food.

You get the general idea.