I gotta say, it’s a lot more fun to be in the kitchen when you have a little shadow chef to chat with while you’re working. I am contemplating getting Mecho a mini apron and chef’s hat…
This morning, Mecho and I had a long chat about what our friend Mr. Lei would like for his birthday and to my surprise, Mecho suggested I go with one of Ina Garten’s delicious tarts. Maybe when I’m away he is watching Food Network? I wouldn’t be surprised. I think this tart could be a nice substitute for traditional pumpkin pie at your Thanksgiving table. Since it has a mousse filling, it’s light and fluffy and much more palatable after a gutbusting meal!
For the Recipe, click here:
Pumpkin Banana Mousse Tart
Most of the time when I’m making cookies, it just comes down to what I have in my kitchen. I’ve gotta have an extreme craving to make me actually go to the store for specific cookie ingredients. I prefer to improvise with what I’ve got in my pantry. This time, I had a couple bananas that were past their prime, a bit of butterscotch and a bit of chocolate. So these came about!
The best cookies come from a little improvisation. That’s what I’ve learned. So I’m teaching my little sous chef Uni the tricks of the trade. He is a master chef in training as you can see.
For the Recipe, click here:
Banana Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies
I have been waking up earlier and earlier. This actually happens to me every year around this time when the weather is turning and there seems to be so much to be missed if you’re not up at 8:30am. To some this may seem like sleeping in, but to me, considering my work schedule, believe me, this is a wee early hour.
Inevitably, since Ivan tends to sleep a more reasonable number of hours, I’m sitting around like a child on Christmas morning, anxiously waiting for him to wake up. Also inevitably, since the only thing I can think about in the morning is eating, I end up scouring food blogs, raking through recipes on Epicurious and dreaming up things that will waft to his nose and spring him out of bed!
In fact, most of my cooking happens in the morning. I love getting to the grocery store when everyone has a coffee in hand and the produce has just been stocked the night before. It always seems a little more special. So these muffins were inspired by a box of oat bran found on one of my morning excursions and sure enough, Ivan was a happy camper when he finally got up!
For the Recipe, click here:
Banana Pecan Oat Bran Muffins
