A whole lotta turkey

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving! I hope you had a wonderful dinner with family, the kind that inspires meaningful and heartfelt discussion about gratitude and the truly important things in life.

I kid, I kid - who actually has those family holidays so reminiscent of a Publix commercial? The idea is nice, but at our house, there's usually chaos as everyone tries to sit down before everything gets cold. (We are a family of cold-food haters!) This year, I even toyed with the idea of idea of throwing in my own little message, but it seemed a little out of place, considering the grace delivered by my mother. It could be rivaled only by, say, Homer Simpson. (Sorry, Mom.)

And of course my brothers, the great conversationalists of the family, only add to the Rockwellian atmosphere at our Thanksgiving table. To paraphrase George Bernard Shaw, if you can't get rid of a family skeleton, may as well make it dance, right?

But it's ok. Life is not a Publix commercial (thank God - talk about pressure). And the next morning, as I stood on line at 6 am for a flat-screen TV with my loyal mom and dad, ready to spar - well, verbally - with anyone who dared try to ruin Hub's Christmas surprise, I realized that while no family is perfect, I'm pretty lucky to have the one I do.

Pumpkin Madness cont'd

For some odd reason, I got the urge to make pumpkin bread at 8 pm last night. Really, I could have tackled any number of higher-priority things but when the mood strikes, go for it, right? (This is generally my motto in all areas of life.) This baby is from the Joy of Cooking - a mammoth tome given to me by my mom's friend as a bridal shower gift. Seriously, it's more than 1,000 pages.

PUMPKIN BREAD
*My modifications: I doubled the recipe with no problem, and used 4.5 tablespoons of butter and 4 tablespoons of sugar-free applesauce. (If you make one loaf and want to halve the butter, I'd do 2.5 tbl. butter and 2 tbl. applesauce.) I also added chopped walnuts and golden raisins.

One 9 x 5-inch loaf

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.
Whisk together:
1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1⁄4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1⁄2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1⁄2 teaspoon grated or ground nutmeg
1⁄4 teaspoon ground cloves

Combine in a small bowl:
1⁄3 cup water or milk
1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla

Beat in a large bowl until fluffy:
6 tablespoons (3⁄4 stick) butter, softened, or 1⁄3 cup vegetable shortening
1 1⁄3 cups sugar or 1 cup sugar plus 1⁄ 3 cup packed brown sugar
Beat in one at a time: 2 large eggs

Add and beat on low speed just until blended: 1 cup cooked or canned pumpkin puree

Add the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the milk mixture, beating on low speed or stirring with a rubber spatula until smooth and scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Fold in: 1⁄2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
1⁄3 cup raisins or chopped dates

Pour into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Let cool in the pan on a rack for 5 to 10 minutes before unmolding to cool completely on the rack.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Whew! If I thought I was behind in other areas of my life, keeping up with this blog takes the cake. Anyway, onward and upward.

I really can't believe it's October - the END of October actually. I don't know if it's the election, all of the depressing news about the economy or the phenomenon described to me by those wiser who say time starts to fly as you get older - but the past few months really passed quickly.

A couple of weeks ago, hubs and I went to our alma mater homecoming game, where we sweated profusely but had a great time cheering on the Bulls.

Last weekend, Zachy and friends dressed up in their Halloween finest and went to the annual pet costume contest in the Park. (Pics to come.) It was a great time, as usual. Dogs amuse me to no end.







Luckily, this week brought the first cold front, so I broke out my new boot(ies) and put my flatiron away. Yahoo! And Halloween is this weekend. I know Halloween is a love-or-loathe holiday for many, but I happen to love it. This year, I'm breaking out the full gore and going as a vampire. For once, Hubs can take part in the revelry, so he's going as a pirate. No lame-o couple costume for us!

I've also been cooking up a storm lately, probably because I get jazzed every year by the proliferation of pumpkin-flavored things. I came home with 10 cans of packed pumpkin the other day (yes, Hubs thinks I'm insane). So on that note, I'll leave you with a little somethin-somethin I whipped up for dinner the other night. Hubs gave it an A+.

Butternut Squash Risotto Recipe
(from Simply Recipes)
Ingredients
6-8 cups chicken broth (use vegetable broth for vegetarian option)
5 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided into 4 Tbsp and 1 Tbsp
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cups butternut squash, peeled, and finely diced
2 cups arborio rice (can substitute medium grained white rice, but arborio is preferred)
1 cup dry white wine (such as Sauvignon Blanc)
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp chopped chives or garlic chives
Salt

Method
1 Heat broth in medium sized saucepan and keep warm over low heat. Melt 4 Tbsp of butter in a large saucepan; add onion and butternut squash. Cook over medium heat until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.

2 Add rice to onion and squash. Cook 1 to 2 minutes. Add wine. Cook, stirring constantly until wine has been absorbed by the rice or evaporated. Add a few ladles of broth, just enough to barely cover rice. Cook over medium heat until broth has been absorbed. Continue cooking and stirring rice, adding a little bit of broth at a time, cooking and stirring until it is absorbed, until the rice is tender, but still firm to the bite, about 15 to 20 minutes.

3 During the last minutes of cooking, add remaining tablespoon of butter, 1/3 cup Parmesan, and chives. At this point the rice should have a creamy consistency. Add salt to taste. Serve with remaining grated Parmesan.

Serves 4 to 6.