Butter Beer Our Way

Double Vanilla Butter Beer

We finally made it! D's 10th birthday was celebrated with a Hogwarts style dinner with a 3-course menu that made 16 kids really happy. But the highlight of the feast was not the food, or even the fantastic cake and jell-o extravaganza inspired on Aunt Petunia Pudding, but our interpretation of butter beer.

The mix was really easy to make and combined four delicious ingredients. The literal butter was "covered" by adding the whipped cream, looking like beer foam. To add mystery to the drink I added creamed honey as yet another mystery butter, which worked really fine, because the guests had to guess what was the "pretend" butter that was added to the mix in front of them. To celebrate a birthday or a grown-up cocktail party (just add 2 oz vanilla vodka to it), here's the recipe:

1/2 cup French Vanilla Ice Cream (TJ's)
4 oz Dry Sparkling Vanilla Bean
1/2 teaspoonTrader Joe's Creamed Honey
Dairy Whipping Topping (Berkeley Farms)

Add ice-cream to the bottom of a transparent cup, top with vanilla soda, add honey (the wannabe butter), stir with a spoon, and top with cream. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

No Bake Chocolate Clusters

Hello Spring! This might be a great way of using leftover chocolate bits and pieces (aka broken and forgotten easter eggs) and make them part of a healthier treat. The first version is the one I made with kids at school: just a swirl of melted chocolate ove a nest of grains and mashed banana, and grapes are pretend-to-be eggs. The second, made with leftovers of the project is based on lots of chocolate biding grains and coconut. It was a nice way to celebrate Earth Day and shape the clusters like little planets. Just choose yours and play with the imagination to make your nest a unique piece of art.

No Bake Chocolate Clusters

Before beginning to mix and shape, melt chocolate chips on a double boiler (my favorite process), or in the microwave (70% power stirring every 30 seconds up to when chocolate is totally melted and ready to swirl. 

1  cup quick oats
2 cups high fiber cereal shaped like wood chips or sticks
Bananas (1/4 per person) - optional if just swirling chocolate
1/2 cup dried unsweetened shredded coconut (optional)
8 oz semisweet or milk chocolate chips or any chocolate you find in the house, melted

Mix all dry ingredients. Mash bananas on the plate to make the base for the clusters, nests or planets. After adding cereal mix  shaping bind with a swirl of melted chocolate. If your choice is to make just the cereal chocolate shapes, forget the bananas and fold chocolate into dry mix. Shape with the help of two spoons or inside a baking cup, and let it sit at room temperature up to when chocolate is back to solid.  Decorate with grapes or chocolate candies. 

Coconut and Raspberry Macaroons

It's the last night of Passover and I've been cooking so much for these holidays that I didn't have time to sit quietly to share my latest recipes here.
Belonging to a interfaith family has its advantages but sometimes is just plainly overwhelming. It's great that Passover lasts for 8 nights, so that we can keep trying new recipes and variations over some staples, like matzo balls soup and gefilte fish.
I made theses sweet treats for the first night of Seder when we had some friends and family over, and despite of the extreme sweetness, it just almost vanished from the table. This photo was taken today, with some hidden in the fridge goodies.
Usually guests bring these as dessert but at this time I just thought it would be nice to make them anyway. For my luck they were the only macaroons on the table, so no competition - and absolutely one of the items that I will incorporate to my family's tradition. They are good on their own or topping a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Raspberry Coconut Macaroons

This is a variation of Mark Bittman's recipe. I added and substituted some ingredients and needed to adjust some of them, as I added more texture with the dried raspberries. 

3 egg whites, lightly beaten with 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
2 cups dried shredded unsweetened coconut
1 cup toasted shredded unsweetened coconut (10 minutes in the oven before using)
3/4 cup ground dry raspberries (I used Trader Joe's), measured before grinding
1 teaspoon orange oil

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. With a wired whisk, beat eggs with salt up to very soft peaks. Slowly fold in sugars and orange oil, and finally coconut and ground raspberries. The mix will look very dry.  Using two teaspoons, lay each macaroon on the baking sheet, and shape them like pyramids with wet hands. Bake for about 40 minutes or up to when peaks are looking slightly charred. Cool down on a wired tray and transfer to the fridge up to when serving.

Make-your-own fruit tart bar, with masquerade mascarpone

A make-it-yourself bar is one of my favorite ways to coax even the most reluctant kids to help out with preparing food and try new flavors. And in summer, it's an especially fun way to relax, laugh, and play at the table together. We've been gorging on summer fruit, and I craved something special. Like a pie or tart... but the boys and I all wanted to showcase different fruit. So we used all of them!

I baked tart shells and cut up fresh fruit. I had almost everything we wanted, except mascarpone. I waffled: Run out to the store? Push this back a day and make fresh mascarpone? I settled on a third way: Make some Masquerade Mascarpone out of light cream cheese and Greek yogurt, a more-than-decent stand-in for the real thing.

I set it all out on the table and the let the kids go to work. They built beautiful small-scale masterpieces and then happily devoured them.

It had been a while since we'd enjoyed a make-it-yourself treat. It was a good reminder that food is best enjoyed with good company and good fun. For more ideas, check out how we've done build-it-yourself bars for homemade pizza grilled cheese, fall fruit salad, mini fruit tartelettes, and chocolates. 

Make-Your-Own Fruit Tarts

tart shells (homemade or store-bought)
filling: mascarpone (you can substitute Masquerade Mascarpone, below, or make your own), creme fraiche, jam
fresh fruit, such as berries, mango, kiwi, grapes, pineapple, apple

Set out tart shells, filling options, and fruit and invite everyone build their perfect fruit tart.

Masquerade Mascarpone

Mascarpone is simple to make, but you need 24 hours’ lead time and tartaric acid, which admittedly is not a pantry staple. This quick alternative is a great stand-in — and much lighter than the real thing.

8 ounces light cream cheese, softened
4 ounces nonfat plain Greek yogurt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1/2 vanilla bean

Combine all ingredients and blend well. Refrigerate a few hours, if possible, for deeper flavor. Store in the refrigerator for a week or two.

A neat trick to make perfect sorbet with any fruit juice

Desperate to use up the juice crowding our fridge, I stumbled across this very cool technique for making a creamy sorbet out of any fruit juice. All you need is juice, sugar, water, and one intact egg. You don't even need an ice cream maker.

Gather the kids 'round for this one. It’s science in the kitchen, folks!

Read Zoë François' post on Sorbet 101 for the full details. In brief, here’s how it works: An egg that normally sinks to the bottom of a bowl of juice will float if enough sugar is added. The amount of sugar needed to make it float happens to be just the amount you need to get a nice, smooth sorbet instead of a chunky, icy one.

Out of a half-dozen juices stuffed in my fridge, thanks to my kindergartner’s recent science fair project on cleaning pennies, I chose blood orange juice for my first test. Ferry Farms’ oranges had brightened my table throughout the gray days of winter. By mid-March, I thought I was finally over citrus for the season. Then I tried their blood orange juice at the farmer’s market, went weak in the knees, and brought it home.

The second ingredient: simple syrup. I simmered equal amounts of water and sugar until the sugar dissolved, then let it cool.

And then the egg. I washed one and checked to make sure it was a guaranteed sinker. Fresh eggs sink; old eggs float. (Zoë says don’t worry about it, but on the heels of the science fair I figured it couldn't hurt to ensure a controlled experiment.)

I poured the last of my blood orange juice into a pitcher and gently lowered in the egg. It disappeared into the murky depths. I added a half-cup of sugar syrup and the egg bobbed up like a cork. Done! This looks a bit like a crime scene, but it gives you an idea of what you're looking for:

I strained and poured the mixture, chilled it in the fridge, then let the ice cream maker work its magic.

The final result: perfect. Mouthwateringly wow.

The boys helped make a second batch, this time blending cherry and regular lemonade with a splash of limoncello. We needed less than a cup of sugar syrup to get our egg floating nice and high. I froze this one in a deep dish, stirring every half-hour or so until it was the right consistency and blitzing it with an immersion blender once it was good and slushy.

Oh, my. This is good stuff.

The guava juice is next in line for sorbetification, and then I want to try Cold-Brewed Iced Coffee, green tea, Lavender Lemonade, rosewater, herbal infusions, vegetable juices — maybe even beets? It's going to be a crazy summer around here.

Master recipe for juice sorbet

Thanks to Zoë Bakes for the brilliant technique. Be sure to read her post for more tips, including using tart citrus juices. If you have leftover simple syrup, refrigerate it for the next batch or use it to sweeten iced tea or coffee. You can easily make more less — the magic egg will make sure you have the perfect ratio.

1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 cups juice
1 whole, uncooked egg in its shell
optional: herbs, citrus zest, a spoonful or two of liquor

To make simple syrup: In a small saucepan, combine sugar and water over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. (Optional: For added flavor, add citrus zest or herbs and let them steep. See the Lavender Lemonade recipe for an example.) Cool.

Pour juice into a container deep enough to fully submerge an egg. Carefully lower the egg into the juice and make sure it sinks. Remove it and stir in a quarter cup of cooled simple syrup, then add the egg again. Repeat this step until the egg floats — the part above the juice mixture should be about the diameter of a quarter.

(Optional: If you like, add a spoonful or two of liquor. This helps ensure your sorbet won't get too icy, but it really isn't necessary.)

Strain mixture into a container and refrigerate until well chilled. Pour into an ice cream maker and prepare according to the instructions.

If you don't have an ice cream maker, pour the mixture into a deep container and stick it in the freezer. Check on it every 30 minutes and stir until smooth. If it gets too chunky, use an immersion blender or a food processor to make it nice and smooth, then freeze again. It should take 2 to 3 hours total.

St. Paddy's Potato Patties

If parsley and spring onions could be picked out of the prattie's patties, we'd probably have just awesome reviews from the mini-chefs at the school's cooking club. But to our surprise most of the children ate the patties they prepared with enthusiasm, totally forgetting their dislike for green leaves. Maybe it was just the influence of a leprechaun... or the naturally green eggs brought by mom K, who cooks with me at school and has Easter Egger chickens that lay real green-shelled eggs.

So if you'd like to celebrate St. Patrick's in easygoing style, here is the recipe. It is really easy, and with a little help using a skillet or griddle, kids may have lots of fun making them. At school they shredded parsley, used kid-safe scissors to cut the spring onion, little finger tips to peel the potatoes, forks to mash potatoes, and lots of energy to pat the potato dough and press it flat on the griddle.  

If you want to add some Irish mystique to the cooking, you can — as we did — read Jamie O'Rourke and The Big Potato, by Tomie de Paola. Irish or not, Happy St. Patrick's Day!

St Patrick's Pratties Patties

Ask the little ones to carefully pat the potatoes after you put them on the griddle, which helps the patties stay firm and cook all the way through. This recipe makes about 8 potato patties.

2 russet potatoes, baked with the skin on
1 egg
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Kosher salt to taste
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped spring onion (just the dark green part)
1 tablespoon parsley leaves (just the leaves), shredded

Preheat griddle to 350 F, or skillet to medium heat. Mash potatoes with the tip of a fork (or potato ricer) and transfer to a bowl.

Beat egg lightly and add to the potatoes, integrating the egg to the mashed potatoes. Sprinkle salt and garlic into the mix. Add parsley and spring onions, and mash a bit more to make sure that the potato mix is even.

Form little balls with a spoon, put on the griddle, and pat each one flat with the back of a wooden spoon. Grill for about three minutes on each side or until golden on both sides. 

Sweets for your Valentine sweets

This is a busy week of holiday treats at my house! We try to acknowledge a wide range of holidays, and so far we've ushered in the Year of the Serpent on Sunday with long noodles and mandarin oranges, and Mardi Gras with a delicious king cake. My third-grader just read a book about Purim and is asking if we can try hamantaschen next week — and I still haven't decided how to mark Valentine's Day. Berry-filled meringues? Homemade truffles? Brigadeiros? Bonbons?

They sound fancy, but they're terrific choices when time — and energy — are in short supply. These sweets score big points for drama and presentation without much effort. They can be pulled together with a few ingredients you're likely to have on hand.

First up: Rose Meringue Clouds, lightly sweetened edible baskets filled with fruit. This version calls for rosewater, but you can substitute almost any flavor extract you like. They don't take much hands-on time, but they do spend up to two hours in the oven. If you don't have fresh berries, grab frozen fruit from the freezer.

If chocolate's more your thing, go for truffles: Melt cream and chocolate together, add extra flavoring if you want, chill, and roll into truffles. We've featured lemon chamomile, lavender, and rose variations, but even plain ganache truffles are swoon-worthy. Try a dash of peppermint or orange extract for something less exotic. Invite the kids to join you as chocolatiers!

Brigadeiros have been a favorite of ours since Anna introduced them to us at a birthday party. Condensed milk + chocolate = addictive little candies! These take a few minutes on the stove plus rolling them by hand. It's messy, sticky work, but someone has to do it. And then lick their fingers. Another great one for kids, but be prepared — they're likely to eat half of it in the process.

If you love chocolate and don't mind mess, enlist the kids to make Fleur de Sel Bonbons. You can manage a version of these with just a bag of chocolate chips, but you do need a candy mold. These will beat anything you might get in a heart-shaped box at the store, because the kids will have these themselves.

Mardi Gras king cake

Tomorrow is Fat Tuesday, the festive end to the Mardi Gras season, kicking off the start of Lent. My 8-year-old is our household's Mardi Gras king this year: He found the plastic Egyptian soldier in our king cake! The prize trinket is typically a plastic baby, but I keep forgetting to procure plastic babies — last year the trinket was another Playmobil soldier.

In the southeastern U.S. king cakes are a treat throughout the season. Whomever finds the baby or other trinket in their slice is named king or queen for the day, and may have to host the party or bring the cake next year.

I confess, I've never had authentic king cake. I've made it twice in two years, and that's the extent of my experience. People have strong opinions about their king cakes, and this is just one version. A delicious version: my cake-averse child inhaled it and my guests wanted leftovers.

It's a slightly sweet yeast bread rolled up with a tangy cream cheese and cinnamon filling, then glazed
and decorated with colored sugar. Crunchy topping aside, it's more like a breakfast pastry than what you expect from a cake. Enough so, at least, that I let my kids have seconds for Sunday breakfast.

This one takes just over 2 hours to make from start to finish, but most of that is rising time. If you use a mixer to knead the dough, it isn't much work at all. The hardest part is joining the roll of dough into a ring. Mine came out a little wonky on one side, but it doesn't matter. Kids can help with any part of this — except, perhaps, hiding the trinket!

The baby (or Egyptian soldier or whatever) goes into the cake after baking. You can slip it in through the bottom of the cake. Do be careful with choking hazards: Our Playmobil figures are a little big, but I don't have to worry about anyone swallowing it. Lego toys, for example, are out of the question.

Our cake this year is bright but tame compared with last year's happily lurid version. We went with untinted frosting and let the colored sugar take central stage. Last year, we used colored icing and colored sugar for a much bolder look. And if you've seen many king cakes, you know bolder is better.

If your family isn't familiar with Mardi Gras celebrations, National Geographic has a few G-rated videos (trust me, do not just search for "Mardi Gras New Orleans" on YouTube). We liked this one on Mardi Gras after Hurricane Katrina and Carnival around the world, and this one that explains a little about preparation for Mardi Gras, including king cakes.

King cake

Adapted from Food.com. If you don't have a baby figurine, substitute another small toy or even something edible, like a large bean or nut.

Dough
2 tablespoons butter
8 ounces light sour cream or Greek yogurt
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 envelope yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup warm water
1 egg
1 tablespoon cinnamon
3 1/4 cups cake flour (see tips below) or all-purpose flour

Filling
8 ounces light cream cheese, softened
1 egg white, lightly beaten with a fork
1/4 cup white sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Frosting and decorations
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 to 3 tablespoons orange juice
yellow, green, and purple food coloring (optional)
yellow, green, and purple sugar (or make your own, see tips below)
small plastic baby or other figurine

In a small saucepan over low heat, combine butter, sour cream, 3 tablespoons sugar, and salt just until butter melts. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

In a large mixing bowl, combine yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar, and warm water and let sit for 5 minutes. Add the melted butter mixture, the egg, 1/2 cup of flour, and the cinnamon and beat 1-2 minutes until smooth. Gradually stir in the remaining flour. Knead the dough in the mixer or by hand on a floured board until smooth and elastic.

Set dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turning to coat, and cover with plastic wrap or a towel. Let rise for an hour, or until doubled in size.

While dough rises, make the filling: Combine the cream cheese, egg white, white sugar, salt, and vanilla in a bowl and mix until smooth. In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar and cinnamon.

Punch down dough and roll out to 10- by 28-inch rectangle. Spread the cream cheese over the dough, and sprinkle with cinnamon brown sugar. Roll up dough starting with the long side to make a long roll and pinch the edges to seal closed.


Oil a baking sheet or cover it with parchment paper or silicone mat. Transfer the roll to the baking sheet and form it into a circle, pinching the short ends together. Cover and let rise 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. After cake has risen, bake it for 15-20 minutes. Check on it after 15 minutes — if it's browning but needs to bake longer, cover it loosely with foil.

As cake cools, make the glaze: Stir orange juice into powdered sugar, a spoonful at a time, until you get the consistency you want. Tint the glaze with food coloring if you wish. Spread glaze over cake and sprinkle on colored sugar.

Don't forget the baby! Carefully lift up the edge of the cake and insert the figurine into the cake from the bottom. Laissez le bons temps rouler!

Tips:
Cake flour: This makes a light, soft cake, and it's easy to make your own substitute. Scoop 2 tablespoons of cornstarch into a measuring cup and then fill with regular flour to make one cup of substitute cake flour — be sure to sift it well.
Colored sugar: To make your own, put 1/4 cup of sugar into each of three plastic, zip-top bags. Add a drop or two of food coloring in each bag, seal, and shake vigorously until the color is evenly distributed.

Ice Cream Cake Winter Penguin Fest

December is the craziest month in my home. The two boys' birthdays pile up with Hannukah and Christmas and all the functions that come together for the end of the year. Normally I rush so much that the birthday cakes are not well photographed, and I never get to post about them. The same happens to my latkes, Christmas cookies, and all other festive food prepared for the season.

But this one here was different: It sounded like the easiest cake ever, so I dared to organize my bag with the camera and decorations for the cake and hope that everything would go well before putting the cakes together.

But it was one of the most challenging cakes I ever prepared, because it was a first. The result was so interesting that I decided to share it here, because I could not find a good recipe with step-by-step instructions and had to work with my own intuition.

My 5-year-old, who is turning 6 today, was adamant about having a ice cream cake, and his theme was penguins. I figured out that edible penguins could be added to the side of the cakes, and cute plastic figurines could add action to the penguin playground.

The day before assembling the cake, I baked a single layer in one the molds that became the first base for the rest. But putting it all together was not as easy as I imagined. I had some difficulties, like spreading the ice cream evenly and making sure that all would be set.

The birthday boy helped destroy cookies to make a layer of crunchy yumminess. And later, he celebrate with his friends and an avalanche of ice cream cake. Happy birthday to my creative and inspiring boy!

Ice Cream Cake

You can certainly play with flavors and shapes, and add your own touches. It's best to assemble it one day before the party, and take it out from freezer one hour before serving (depending on the weather). 

                                                        What you will need:

2 springform cake pans
4 1.5-quart tubs of ice cream (I used Breyer's  French Vanilla, Cookies and Cream, and Strawberry)
1 package vanilla-filled chocolate cookies (like Oreos)
1 package vanilla wafers (like Nilla)
1 recipe of cake, baked
1 package mini marshmallows (for hot chocolate)
1 tub whipped cream
1 package (or less) jumbo-size marshmallows
Penguin-shaped cookies and chocolates

Cover the bottoms and sides of the springform pans with parchment paper. Bake one layer of your favorite cake recipe on the bottom in each pan. On the next day, top the cooled cake with a layer of ice cream and then crumbled chocolate cookies. Cover with parchment paper and gently pound with a flat kitchen tool (I used a potato masher) to level it. Put cake in freezer for one hour, and then add the second layer of ice cream. Top with whole vanilla wafers. Repeat layers until both molds are full of ice cream and cookies.

When taking out of the pan, cover with whipped cream and marshmallows and decorate. To prevent an avalanche (like the one I had here with chocolate),  use vanilla or cream ice cream on the last layers to mix the white with the white cream so to avoid a "landslide" of chocolate ice cream.

Spiced Coconut Panna Cotta

Once upon a time, having meatless friends over for dinner inspired panic: The vegans are coming! The vegans are coming! Luckily, my most frequent veggie-loving guests are flexible and appreciative of even the simplest vegetarian presentations, and I'm getting better at rising to the occasion.

Desserts still challenge me: Fruit is an elegant, straightforward finish to a meal, but the kids are inevitably disappointed. I know many of the tricks for making baked goods dairy-free, but as the daughter of an excellent baker I find myself missing the real thing.

This rich, dairy-free panna cotta, made with coconut milk and coconut cream, just might top any of the dairy versions I've had. Cardamom, allspice, vanilla, and cloves infuse it with just the right spicy kick. Best of all, you can make it well before your guests arrive.

I used coconut cream I found at Trader Joe's along with full-fat coconut milk. You can make a lighter version with a blend of regular and low-fat coconut milk, but you need some fat to keep it creamy. I love the vanilla bean speckles, but if you want a pure white panna cotta either substitute vanilla extract or keep the bean intact.

Spiced Coconut Panna Cotta

I used one 14-ounce can of coconut milk and 10 ounces of coconut cream. You can use up to 2 cups of low-fat milk with a cup of full-fat milk. This makes 6 to 8 servings. Don't feel tied down by the specific spice ingredients here — adapt types and amounts to suit your taste and what you have on hand.

3 tablespoons water
1 package gelatin
3 cups coconut milk (can use a combination of milk and cream, but don't use more than 2 cups of low-fat coconut milk)
1/2 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped (or substitute a splash of vanilla extract, preferably clear)
15 cardamom pods, gently cracked open
3 allspice berries
3 whole cloves
1 star anise

Sprinkle gelatin over water and let sit for 5 minutes. Warm cream over low heat and add gelatin, stirring to dissolve completely. Add sugar and cook, stirring, over medium heat, until mixture just begins to steam. Turn off the heat, add vanilla bean and spices, cover, and let sit for 20 to 30 minutes.

Lightly oil 6 to 8 ramekins. Pour mixture through a fine mesh strainer into prepared ramekins and chill at least three hours or until set.

To serve, run a knife around the inside edge of each ramekin. Turn upside-down over a plate to unmold. Serve garnished with toasted coconut, chopped pistachios, toasted sliced almonds, or a drizzle of pomegranate molasses.

Liquid Pumpkin Pie

If you are still inspired to make pumpkin-based food, here's a little recipe tested many times at school. The reviews were very diverse but surely all children from our Cooking Club enjoyed making a very different version of a pumpkin pie, to celebrate Thanksgiving season.

The whole experience was exciting: First some kids were not very happy to smell both pumpkin and butternut squash, but were very enthusiastic when they saw the other ingredients. It was unanimous that  most of them loved sugar, graham crackers, and condensed milk. Uncertainty was present when asked about coconut milk and coconut flakes. Curiosity, though, was also there, and even if some kids refused to go further after a first spoonful, they at least had tried something different.

Smashing the pumpkins, punching the bags with graham crackers and using the dangerous-looking hand blender were the high points of the class. After the experience, the teacher asked the kids what they thought about the recipe, gathering some adjectives on the board. As you can see, it was a wonderful way of understanding that, after all, it's all a matter of taste.

Liquid Pumpkin Pie

I will soon freeze a batch in an ice cream machine to test the outcome. Probably it will be sweet enough to be in our repertoire for next Thanksgiving!

1 cup mashed sweet pumpkin (can be organic from a can)
1 cup freshly baked or cooked butternut squash
2 cups coconut milk
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
4 tablespoons sugar (preferrably brown, but kids preferred white sugar)
Condensed milk, to garnish
Toasted coconut curls or grated coconut to garnish
3 graham crackers, broken into small pieces in a plastic bag

Place pumpkin and butternut squash chunks on plates and mash with a fork. In a bowl, combine mashed pumpkin and butternut squash with coconut milk and set aside. Punch the bag full of graham cracker to transform them into cookie crumbles.

Mix everything together with a blender until smooth. Serve in bowls topped with graham cracker crumbles, a swirl of condensed milk, and coconut to add texture and interest to the soup. Enjoy cold. 

A Thanksgiving feast

As a food blog, we should be bursting with plans for the Thanksgiving meal. But we've been a little quiet, because we aren't preparing big feasts this year. My family goes out for the holiday meal — and I'm grateful to enjoy the fruits of someone else's labor!

But if I were cooking, this is the meal I would plan:

Best Spiced Nuts: Slightly sweet with a kick from garam masala and Sriracha — irresistible snacking while you wait for the turkey to be done.

Dry-Cured Rosemary Turkey: This is the sole entry here that isn't from this site. This was my go-to holiday recipe for years. The blend of seasonings is just fantastic. Get started on it right away: It cures in the fridge for three days before cooking.

Chestnut Sage Soup: I dream about this soup. Creamy chestnut puree with apples, sage, bacon, and vanilla notes... swoon.

Succotash in Squash: This is a showstopper vegetarian dish, scoring huge points for flavor, presentation, and history — a nod to Native Americans and Thanksgiving tradition.

Yams with Za'atar: Give the candied yams a rest. Instead of burying veggies in sweetness, bring out their deep flavor with za'atar spice. This dish is a cinch to make, which is a blessing on a busy cooking day.

Crunchy Marinated Green Beans: Instead of burying green beans in a casserole, show them off with a touch of Asian flavors.

Black-Eyed Peas Salad: With canned beans, this takes almost no effort. And you can make it the night before, so it's one less thing to tackle on Thanksgiving Day.

Rice of Many Colors: This kid-friendly dish is packed with protein and veggies, and easily adaptable to suit your family's taste.

Minute Bread: Tasty rolls with cheese baked right in — delicious!

Pumpkin Pudding with Cranberry Sauce: An unusual dessert that takes full advantage of fresh cranberries.

Pear and Cranberry Sauce Skillet Pie: This twist on a typical pie blends sweet and tart flavors for a perfect finish to the meal.

3 ways to enjoy pumpkin for dinner

We're surrounded by sweet pumpkin treats this season — store shelves seem to get a little crazier every year. Take a break from pumpkin pie and try making pumpkin part of the main event with these vegetarian recipes for pumpkin chili, tortillas, and tostadas.

Pumpkin Chipotle Chili

We dished this up for a Halloween party a few years back — my only photo of it is squashed with shots of other treats at the party, so you get the whole thing. But it was the chili that has been repeated year after year... It calls for roasting a pumpkin rather than opening a can, which is hardly any work at all. Your home will smell delicious. Trust me.

Pumpkin Tostadas with Black Beans

This one was a flop with the kids, I confess. My kids aren't eating beans, cheese, vegetables, tortillas, or sauces these days, so it isn't a big surprise. Some day, however, they'll realize what they're missing. This fast meal can be made with canned pumpkin and beans and jarred salsa — or you can prep it all from scratch. Your choice. If you're feeling really fancy, add in some fried sage leaves. Yum.

Pumpkin Tortillas

I usually buy tortillas at the store. Every time I do, I wish I had taken the minimal time to make tortillas from scratch. It really isn't that difficult, but it's hard to pull it together on a week night. These gorgeous,  saffron-hued tortillas last a week in the refrigerator, or even longer in the freezer. Use them to give everyday quesadillas a flavorful boost, or use them to add depth to the Pumpkin Tostadas above.

4 fast and sweet treats for Halloween

These treats take mere seconds to make and are easy projects for children — or busy parents looking to slip something fun into a lunch box. Added bonus: All but one involve healthy, whole foods.


Lunch Box Pumpkins

Clementine + Sharpie permanent marker = super fun fruit in seconds! Pile 'em up on a plate and you have a pumpkin patch centerpiece.

Spooky Bananas

Gently scratch writing on a banana peel. At first it's invisible ... but the writing gradually appears over the next hour. (This one's courtesy of Cute Food for Kids.)

Marshmallow Ghosts

These require slightly more specialized equipment: edible markers, such as Food Writer pens from Wilton. Just draw a spooky face on a marshmallow. Boo!

Eyeball & Ghost Eggs

You can use a Sharpie or an edible marker for these. Aren't they gruesome?!