Things I'm enjoying lately

1. I love a breakfast smoothie, but also I love toasted things. These cranberry orange morning rounds, toasted with delicious Kerrygold butter, are delightful. The muesli ones are also delicious. I don't really like apple cinnamon flavored things, unless it's actual apples and cinnamon, or pie, or applesauce, so I can't speak to those.

Image from trndreport.com

2. Kids & babies in Halloween costumes. I can't get enough. Parents, please keep the photos coming.

3. Thanksgiving planning. At least thinking about Thanksgiving and talking about recipes and exchanging tips. I could do it year-round, honestly. This will be the first year since 2009 that we haven't hosted or been in our own home. Back in DC we hosted every year, except for one, since we bought our house. In 2012, I was a week off sinus surgery and it was one of the busiest times of Zach's career and we just couldn't do it. We stayed home, alone, and ordered dinner from a restaurant and man, it was just awful. It was so sad. I vividly remember lying in bed that Wednesday night and thinking how it was the first night before Thanksgiving that we'd ever not had a bunch of people sleeping under our roof, with a kitchen full of food waiting to be prepped and consumed. I probably cried. Anyway! Last year we made up for it by hosting 15 or 20 people with All The Food. I made five pies! It was glorious. You know what? I'm going to do a whole 'nother post with a bunch of recipes.

4. So: Halloween (check), Thanksgiving (check), CHRISTMAS.

Photo from hlntv.com.

I unabashedly love seeing Christmas stuff in stores already. I know, it's OCTOBER! JUDGE ME! It makes me happy. Autumn into the holidays is my favorite time of year. It's cozy and happy and encompasses basically all of my favorite things: food, family, nostalgia, coming up with the Perfect Gift, specifically scented candles, traditions, hauling out beloved ornaments and old things (nostalgia, again), etc. I love it. Zach is just happy that I haven't subjected him to Christmas music yet. (If my father is reading this right now, he probably wants to punch his computer. Hi Dad! Jingle bells!)

5. Searching for an Aztec print cardigan/sweatercoat type thing. I know they're a bit trendy right now but I prefer to think I'm just really letting my inner hippie flourish, what with living by the beach in San Diego and all.  

I like this, but the collar is weird and it didn't feel nice in the store. 

Image from Nordstrom.com. I really want to take a brush to this model's hair. 

I reeeallly like this and it felt well-made in person, but it's not very Aztec-y.

Image from Nordstrom.com.

This one is pretty and very Caitlin. Though not totally Aztec-y, I still want it. Santa, are you listening?

Image from ModCloth.com.

6. Sharing my all-time favorite fall recipe: Pumpkin Lasagna. I wrote about it over at FoodLush a few years ago, and my feelings on it have not changed. It's not healthy, and it's never going to photograph well, but it's by far the recipe people ask me for the most. I used to make it every year for a fall potluck, and it was always the first to go. The last time I made it I tripled the batch and it was still gone in about 15 minutes. My friend Kate made it recently, and added arugula. Smart move.

It would be lovely served with a salad on a Friday night, at a potluck, or on your Thanksgiving table, for vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike. It's so perfect. Oh darling pumpkin lasagna, is there anything you can't do?

Photo from realsimple.com.

I like new finds. Tell me what you're liking lately? 

Cashew Chicken Chili - a new fall favorite!

I've been back into a cooking routine. When the weather cools and pumpkin everything appears, my instincts turn cozy, homey, and warm, and I find myself back in the kitchen making things that need to be seared and simmered, baked and sliced. This happens every fall.

Or at least it did when I lived in a place with four seasons. Here in southern California, things are cooling off a bit (low 70s! Oooo!), but more importantly life is finally settling into a routine, and so I am, too. Last night I finally made a recipe I've had my eye on for a while, Cashew Chicken Chili. My friend Kate is bastion of cooking inspiration, and if she tells you to make a recipe then by god, you make it. She recommended this a long time ago and I finally worked up the courage to make it. Courage? Yes. 

A) I am not a big fan of classic ground-beef-and-bean chili. It took me years to figure this out. I WANT to like it! It's a perfect, warm, cozy, simmer-on-Sunday dish. But I just don't love it. I had high hopes for this, but what if it turned out to be too chili-ish?

B) I've never worked with dried chilis before, and the base of this dish is a dried chili and cashew purée.  I was a little afraid. 

If you know a way to photograph chili while making it look attractive, I wish you'd tell me. (I should've scraped down the sides, for a start.)

I had nothing to fear. The chilis weren't too spicy, they were easy to work with, and the dish turned out to be delicious. Zach was blown away. This recipe is a definite keeper. 

If you're vegetarian or just want a break from meat, you could easily sub vegetable stock and use black beans and garbanzos instead of chicken. This chili is so interesting and different, I bet it would be great that way. If you make it, let me know how it turns out!

My cardinal rule is to follow the recipe to a T the first time. In this case I didn't, because I forgot something or had something different on hand I wanted to use up. And you know what? It still turned out great. That's the sign of a new favorite, in my book. I've written the recipe out here with my notes and changes.  Thanks Kate and Maggie!

I served it with extra cilantro on top, and Trader Joe's cornbread on the side. Enjoy!

Butter smears. Kerrygold or nothing.

Ingredients

4 dried ancho chiles (I used 2 ancho & 2 generic New Mexican dried chilis, because that's what I had on hand.)

2 1/2 cups chicken stock

(I heated the chicken stock to boiling and soaked the chilis for about an hour before pureeing. Let your mixture cool before sticking it in the blender! SAFETY FIRST! Or use a stick blender. As I'd never worked with chilis, I wasn't sure if pureeing them dry would work. I know, I know, the recipe said it would. Trust the recipe. But I figured it wouldn't hurt. It didn't.)

1 tablespoon canned chipotle chiles in adobo (I left these out because even though I had them sitting on the counter I totally forgot to put them in the purée. It was delicious anyway.)

1 1/2 cups salted roasted cashews (I used raw cashews and toasted them in a pan because, you guessed it, that's what I had on hand.)

1/4 cup olive oil

2 large onions, coarsely chopped

6 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 tablespoons ground cumin (Cumin does not agree with me so I only used a teaspoon, then added a teaspoon each of chili powder, chipotle powder, and ground coriander to start. I figured I'd add more later if necessary. It wasn't necessary.)

2 teaspoons salt

1 (31/2 to 4-lb) chicken - rinsed, patted dry, excess fat discarded, and cut into 8 serving pieces (I had boneless skinless chicken breasts & thighs, so I used those. I left them untrimmed and the extra fat helped in the absence of skin.)

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (We LOVE cilantro so I chopped up & used an entire bunch - half at the beggining, a quarter at the end, and a quarter for garnishing the serving bowls. It helped balance and brighten, too.)

2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes in juice

1 ounce bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used callebaut dark chocolate, because that's what I had on hand.)

1 (15 oz) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained (I soaked and cooked my own from dry. Personal preference.)

 Make the chile puree: 

Heat a dry small heavy skillet (not nonstick) over moderate heat until hot. Toast the dried chiles, one at a time, pressing down with tongs, for several seconds on each side to make them more pliable. Seed and devein dried chiles; discard stems. Tear dried chiles into pieces and transfer to a blender. (Here I heat the chicken stock to boiling then poured over the dried chilis. I let them soak for an hour before pureeing.)  Add broth, chipotles, and 1/2 cup cashews and puree until smooth. Note: you want a spicier chili, retain some of the seeds.

Make the chili: 

• Heat oil in a 6- to 7- quart wide heavy pot over moderate heat until hot but not smoking. 
• Add onions and garlic and cook, stirring, until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. 
• Add cumin and salt and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. 
• Add chicken and stir to coat with onion mixture. 
• Stir in chile puree, 1/4 cup cilantro, and tomatoes with juice. 
• Bring to a simmer and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally to avoid sticking, until chicken is cooked through, about 45 minutes. 
• Remove from heat and transfer chicken to a bowl.
• Shred meat using two forks; discard bones and skin.
• Return chicken to pot and stir in chocolate, beans, remaining 1 cup cashews, and remaining 1/4 cup cilantro.
• Cook over moderate heat, stirring, until chili is heated through and chocolate is melted.
• Season to taste.

Gram's Blueberry Buckle

This post first appeared over at FoodLush, a site I loved writing for and probably would still be writing for if it weren't defunct. 

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Some of my fondest and earliest childhood memories are of being in the kitchen. Dad's homemade mac-and-cheese in the fall, or maybe Pot roast on a cold, dark Sunday in the winter, the whole family assigned to their tasks with music playing in the background. To this day I can't hear Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac, Paul Simon, or the Moody Blues without thinking of my parents' kitchen.  

I remember being 8, and Mom letting me make bacon and eggs on my own. (It's how I learned that eggs will stick to the pan unless you use something to keep them from doing so.) I remember my first cookbook: Put out by the library, it was a collection of recipes from people in the town, and many of them used the microwave. I was in love.  

My parents were pretty liberal when it came to use of their kitchen and ingredients, and for that I will be forever grateful. My brother and I loved making "potions" out of whatever we could find in the cabinets. It was a total waste of ingredients, but priceless fertile ground for our imaginations. Oh, how the concoctions would fizz when you dumped in baking soda.

My grandmother has always been a good cook, with a particular penchant for baking. I loved going over to her little yellow house, coming in through the breezeway, and making a direct right into the tiny galley kitchen. There was an orange ceramic cookie jar on her counter, and I can probably count on one hand the number of times that I lifted that little round lid -- oh delicious anticipation! -- to find it empty. Chinese chews, lemon squares, chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodles, the beloved molasses crinkles. 

Oh those molasses crinkles. 

When I was first living on my own after college Gram and I used to exchange letters. I would ask her for certain recipes (blueberry buckle, her famous apple pie, lemon lush, cereal mix), and she'd write back about her recent activities, painstakingly handwritten recipe cards enclosed, just as I'd requested. I've saved them all, in a tin box she once gave me that she used to use for recipes. What a fantastic rainy day activity that is, pawing through cards and letters with Gram's handwriting on them. The truth is I've only used the recipes a handful of times, but I can't bear the thought of her someday not being here and no one knowing the recipe for her apple pie. 

She used to always tell me, back when she still lived in a place with a kitchen, that she was saving her cookbooks for me. That she'd even written my name in them, because when the time came, they were mine. Gram's a strong, feisty, independent lady and I guess I never imagined she'd ever not have a kitchen, ever not cook. But today she lives in an assisted living home, no longer has a kitchen, and somewhere along the way she passed on several of her cookbooks to me.  

(Fret not, she's doing pretty okay: She even has a boyfriend. He lives across the hall and they have their nightly cocktail together before heading down to the dining hall. She's robbing the cradle though. He's only in his 80s!) 

Flipping through those cookbooks, seeing the splashes and dabs on the pages, her notes in the margins, the well-worn spines: It's a piece of living history, a time-machine to my childhood and part of her life. I picture her in that little kitchen, bent over the cookbook, making notes as a cobbler sits cooling on the stove, the counter covered in mixing bowls. My favorite has to be the book put together by people in her hometown church. She told me it was her favorite cookbook, and she wrote my name right on the front. Taped inside the front cover is a piece of yellow paper that says "Anything made by Anita Buddington is good."  

Well-noted, Gram. 

Thanks, Anita. 

Image from FoodNetwork.com

Anita Buddington's Blueberry Buckle

(Gram made this often when I was growing up, usually in the summer during prime blueberry season. We often ate it as dessert, but it's great for breakfast too.) 

Cake

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/3 cup milk

1 pt. blueberries

Topping
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup butter    

Cream butter, add sugar and mix well, add egg. In a separate bowl sift flour, baking powder, and salt and alternately with milk to first mixture. Fold in blueberries and pour into an 8 inch greased square pan. Mix first three ingredients of topping, then rub in butter. Sprinkle over blueberry mixture and bake at 375 for 45 minutes. Also good with chopped nuts added to topping.