So good you want to lick the screen...

Lactation Cookies

I am a huge fan of food blogs. Actually, I like food books, food magazines and just food in general.  When my daily fare starts to look a little sad, I frequently turn to the web for inspiration. 1.) Because cupcake closeups look so good on my big screen and 2.) Because looking up a recipe at work really isn't goofing off. (I mean a girl has to eat and the grocery store is on the way home )


Lately I noticed my selection of food blogs had gotten a little stale, so I did some updating.  I wiped everything off my list except my favorites, 

• Cook and Eat
• Delicious Days
• Pinch My Salt

To those, I added my new favorites, 

• Cooking Light (not a blog, but great recipes)
• Honest Fare (the Pumpkin Pie Smoothie won me over)

My favorite recipe of 2010 was actually medicinal.  The Lactation Cookie Recipe was circulated all over the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit when Pudge was in the hospital.  Made with flax seed, oatmeal and brewer's yeast, the cookie is said to aid in lactation and help boost your milk supply. A medicinal cookie that helps me feed my little baby... sign me up.  Nowadays, Pudge is doing great, but I still love these cookies.  Aside from the health benefits nothing is funnier than handing someone a cookie and casually mentioning they are lactation cookies (preferably when they have a nice mouthful).  One gentleman at the hospital was concerned that having eaten a cookie he might start lactating.."um no!"  So if you are feeling wicked, or could actually benefit from the healthy ingredients, by all means give them a try. 

Fall is for food

For me, September starts off 4 months of truly inspired cooking. As the temperature cools, a warm kitchen becomes a cozy and relaxing place to spend an afternoon. Fall produce is rich with soft, starchy comfort foods, just think potatoes, pumpkins, squash, yams and apples; and cooking becomes an acceptable alternative to gardening.

If summer food is about simple and basic, such as the sweet and subtle acidity of a ripe tomato, than fall food is about complexity: layers of texture, flavor and smoky undertones. As a cook, in the Fall I feel like an artist, my paints are whatever ingredients I can get my hands on and my brushes are my Le Cruset pots and wooden spoons.

Every fall I pick a signature dish, I’ll cook it several times, tweaking it and making it my own before I release it on to family and friends. Last year, I settled on this chicken pot pie with lots of vegetables, dark meat chicken and a really creamy sauce; all covered with puffed pastry. It’s pretty damn good if I do say so myself. This year, I am toying with several ideas, so far I am thinking about these:

Sweet Potato Pie
I am in awe of the concept of vegetables in a pie. Sweet potato is my absolute favorite pie followed closely by pumpkin. Good sweet potato pie has a creaminess to it that I think would benefit from marshmallow and perhaps a little chocolate. hmmm?

Mashed potatoes
Mashed potatoes make me swoon, particularly when they have other notes like horseradish, leeks and bleu cheese.

Poutine
A Quebec comfort food consisting of French fries covered with gravy and cheese curds. I think I can make this slightly healthier with baked fries, and really light gravy.

Stay tuned, I'll keep you posted...

Fall: Let the cooking begin...

Ordering in Preparation for Fall....


Kenyon's Clam Cake and Fritter mix from Farm House Wares. I love my new hometown, but take every chance I can to celebrate the culinary joys of my New England childhood.. I love!!!!! Clam Cakes.. they are perfect on slightly chilly days... And the only place I have ever had them is the New England Area..