Posts Tagged ‘autumn’

**sings** It’s the most… wonderful time… of the yeaaar!

Okaaay I know that’s actually a Christmas song but it’s far more appropriate for me to sing it during Halloween. This weekend/day fills me with more joy than almost anything else and I decided to celebrate this year with a nice little shindig in my apt. Not as much of a production as my Oscar party, but still just as fun. I wanted to keep the food simple, seasonal, and a little on the playful side, so I whipped up a delicious cheese ball and some finger foods (not literally), and a deliciously spicy and sinful punch. Everything was pretty easy and left plenty of time to focus on my costume… which was one of the most ambitious things I’ve ever done.

I’m a Lichtenstein painting!

Happy Halloween, everyone!

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Do you smell it? Do you feel it? The refreshing, crisp wind. The shutting down of the AC. The first morning where you can see your breath walking to your car.

Autumn is finally arriving after a brutal summer here and with it brings all the glorious weather changes along with some great personal changes for me as well.

I got a new job at a new company (well, old company I used to intern for) as a full-time food stylist last week and things are going very well. I’m still in the same city (thank the heavens a move wasn’t necessary) and now get to spend all my time either in the studio or prepping in the kitchen, which is fantastic for my spirit (but definitely hard on my feet!) I feel so revived and ready for this next step in my life, and combined with this glorious weather, my zest for cooking has returned tenfold.

A friend of mine texted me the other day asking if I knew how to make applesauce. I rattled off a recipe to him and then seeing honeycrisp apples had arrived the next day was instantly inspired. Fall is the time when I feel most alive and excited about life, and it’s food like this that makes me love the season more than any other.

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Baby, it’s cold outside.

As I write this my 100-year old iron radiator in the kitchen sounds like a rocket ship about to take off and my feet are nestled in down booties where I hope they stay for the next 3 months. It’s coooold! If there was one thing I didn’t miss about the Midwest it was the harsh (cruel, evil, torturous) winters. I love copious amounts of snow but the brutal sub-zero temperatures are just rough after awhile.

Thankfully, a big Dutch oven full of delicious risotto will take that chill off easily. Now, I’ve never been a huge risotto fan. It’s a texture thing more than anything. Foods where I don’t know whether to chew or swallow kind of irritate me (oatmeal being the exception) and I just never really had a fondness for it. However, a coworker has been developing risotto recipes in the TK recently so after eating them so many times lately I really grew to love it. It’s like listening to a song you dislike – hear it enough and it grows on you.

This dish has one of those stick-to-your-ribs qualities about it (without being over-the-top heavy or calorie laden, which let’s face it, is a welcome thing for weight-gain season). I don’t mind standing at the stove stirring risotto for 30 minutes but jeez, if you can just skip it and get delicious, creamy, wonderfully flavored results without that work, why would you bother?

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I’m tempted to create a tag which reads “Slow Cooker Sunday” since that’s all I seem to be doing lately, but it’s just so perfect for my life (and food cravings) right now, y’all just have to roll with me for awhile.

I know this is far from what a real cassoulet is (mmm pork fat) but let’s just call this a lightened, long-cooked homage to the French classic. You still get the meaty, rich white beans and aromatics with vegetables, but just a whole lot less pork and fat. I’m just on a mad hunt for any slow cooker stews that are figure-friendly but also very filling, and let me tell you, it’s harder than it seems, so this recipe was a delightful surprise.

Be sure to leave your vegetables very chunky and thickly cut for this recipe. If you slice them too thin or small they’ll disintegrate over the long cooking period (same with the sausage, which I just add at the end). If you’re vegetarian, feel free to use meatless Italian sausage or just add more beans to make this a little heartier.

Good news, folks! I have a whole new group of people to bake for!

Haha, that’s slightly snarky but still true. I got a 2nd job working part time retail to bring in enough extra income to afford a (very) soon-to-be needed car payment. My dear Volvo, as much as I love it, must be put to sleep soon, and my former “Ooh la la!” France savings has turned into the “Vroom Vroom” account. But a new job outside of the kitchen means new guinea pigs I can try my baking out on, which is great news for me!

I decided to greet my new coworkers during a Sunday evening floorset with these cookies which are deliciously spicy-sweet and perfectly chewy, plus dead easy to throw together. Rearranging everything in the store, dusting, putting up new displays… it’s not so bad when you can chat and chow down on cookies like these.