0 A-a-anything from the trolley?

Yes!
Pumpkin pasties, please!

Harry Potter fans are well aware that yesterday, July 31, was Harry's birthday - a day I usually celebrate by blogging about one of the HP books. I decided to add to the festivities this year by preparing a favorite food of Harry and friends. I chose pumpkin pasties because we had the ingredients on hand. The pasties were dessert following our early Lammas feast.

I did not actually use pumpkin, but rather a squash that looked like this

Received in this week's CSA pick up

Inside the squash is very light green, almost white, rather than orange. I cut it into pieces and roasted it until it was soft, then pureed. Once I added the spices (way more than the recipe calls for) it didn't matter that it wasn't pumpkin.

This was rather time-consuming, as I had to made the pumpkin custard filling and the pastry dough (the recipe said store bought pie crust pastry could be used - I think not!). Neither the filling or the crust was really that difficult to prepare but cooking time was quite long as the filling had to bake first, then was placed into the pastry, and then everything went back to the oven again. The recipe also said not to bake for more than 10 minutes once the shells were filled. I had to bake for about 25 minutes before I saw any kind of crustiness that I was satisfied with.

These were sweet and creamy - like single-serving pumpkin pies. We had some vanilla ice-cream with butterscotch chips along with it.

Yum!

Detail: A-a-anything from the trolley?

0 Pigs in Blankets

This week we've been enjoying a visit from some Wisoconsin cousins. Extending our table with friends and family makes mealtime an especially relaxing part of our day. 

We revived an old favorite recipe at the request of our former vegetarian daughter. The last time we made this kid-pleasing dish was probably almost a decade ago, and we surely used Pillsbury refrigerated crescent dough. I wasn't about to do that at this point in my cooking journey, so I got out Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (with emphasis on Everyone) and prepared some biscuit dough. 

I sifted together 2 c. flour; 2 t. baking powder; and 1/2 t. each baking soda and salt. I cut in 6 T. of butter, and then stirred in 1 c. of plain yogurt. I rolled out the dough and cut it into strips. My cousin assisted with assembly by slicing the hot dogs and wrapping a slice of cheese around them. We then wrapped a strip of dough around each dog. There was just enough dough for one pack of 8 hot dogs. I placed the wrapped hot dogs on a baking stone and baked for 16 minutes at 400 degrees  They turned out perfect! I put out some mustard and ketchup for dipping the "pigs". The adults enjoyed this with sangria.

Detail: Pigs in Blankets

0 Tutti-Frutti-Ice-Sparkle

Things that come from the house I grew up in are referred to as "Crosby road relics". Such things are now scattered across at least four households. I was delighted to learn on a recent visit with my sister that a relic I believed to be long lost was in fact shelved amongst the cookbooks in her kitchen. The Better Homes and Gardens Junior Cookbook ("for the Hostess & Host of tomorrow") was used a lot when I was growing up, but mostly for the same three or four recipes. As this photo demonstrates the page with the Eggnog recipe was well used (those are vanilla stains, folks).

Wooden fruit is another Crosby Road relic!

  

We made this recipe quite often. It is for a single-serving of 'nog and we generally had all the ingredients needed on hand. We really had no idea that most people thought of eggnog as a Christmastime treat. We drank it. All. The. Time. Readers will note that just beneath the eggnog recipe is a recipe for a very beautiful beverage called "Tutti-Frutti Ice Sparkle". We could only dream of making this as it required three different favors of "summer drink" as well as a lemon-lime carbonated beverage - things we might have had one of at any given time on Crosby road, but certainly not all four. We also knew better than to ask. 

So, it dawned on my sister and I that we were grown ups now, and could make whatever we darn well pleased. So off I went to buy several flavors of "summer drink". Luckily, my sister already had a case of Sierra Mist on hand. 

I wound up purchasing these little "Happy Drinks" because they were cheap, and came in lots of colors.

The "Happy Drinks also allowed us to step up the original recipe by making four different colors of ice cubes. The drink did look pretty, but my sister pronounced it "vile" upon tasting. Not even our children would finish their servings. Granted, her children are 23 and 21, and mine is about-to-turn-17. They, like us, probably would have been thrilled to drink this if their ages were still in the single-digit range.

Although ours did not turn out quite as beautiful as the pictures in the book, adding a mint sprig gave it a bit of class.

We also tried putting the colored ice in sangria. DO NOT try this! You will absolutely RUIN your beverage.

Detail: Tutti-Frutti-Ice-Sparkle

0 Banana Chocolate Milkshake

Because we have a vegetarian daughter, we have a variety of kid-friendly vegetarian cookbooks on our shelf. Mollie Katzen, the guru of vegetarian cooking, has written two such cookbooks, both of which we own. Pretend Soup is written for preschoolers and has some easy and fun recipes. I was looking for just such a recipe when I decided I wanted dessert last night. This yummy milkshake filled the bill. I adapted it just a bit to adjust for things I had on hand. I didn't use the ice the recipe called for, since my banana slices were already frozen, and I used Mexican Chocolate pieces from Taza Chocolate, rather than powdered hot chocolate mix. The bananas and the chocolate chunks were put into the blender along with a cup of milk, and blended until smooth. Refreshing and delicious.

Detail: Banana Chocolate Milkshake