Friday Faves & some additions to my new year's list

Additions to my life goals list:

Figure out that whole tweeting thing

Be more consistent in this space starting with:

This series: “What I Really Eat” - which should make an appearance every other Wednesday - next one coming up is on the 21st and spoiler alert: it’s one of my favorite things on the planet.

and

Friday Faves - every other Friday- Starting TODAY - fun links to recipes, articles, anything that I come across that’s interesting.

This is a big one --- stop relying on my snooze button - I’m a lifelong snoozer. That ends now.

Oops, and I added a bunch of books to my pile, because I am *crazy*.

But these are books that have been sitting on my shelves for years, pretending to have been read by me. LIES. Divide and conquer, my friends. It’s the only way.

Here are the Friday Faves, enjoy!

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summer, are you back yet?  -- warning! so not seasonal. don't get your hopes up.

this woman just slapped us all with a paleo truth stick.

one of my favorites that i've seen , what did you think?

i always thought these were interchangeable...

on my immediate "to make" list

oh man! the writing! and the irreverant use of heavy cream!

my latest obsession

great article on snoozing! see above!

HAPPY WEEKEND EVERYBODY! xoxo

Squash Pudding

Thanksgiving is hands down my favorite holiday.

I think we were about 14 years old when my best friend Deborah and I were invited to eat at the “grownup” table. We were beside our selves, what with the pretty china and crystal glasses we’d get to eat and drink from, likely with our pinkies up.

It started off all well and good. But without getting into all the details, we were not invited back the next year.

At 26, we sometimes still eat at the children’s table.
 

It’s more fun there anyways.

Mama’s fall classics make their first appearance of the holiday season on Thanksgiving, another reason for it being my favorite. Things like her fresh cranberry relish, corn casserole, cranberry upside down cake, and her squash pudding.

The general atmosphere is one of love and thanks and lovely smells from the oven permeate the cozy air.

I took my mama’s squash pudding and put a slight spin on it. Instead of regular old oats, I switched them out for some Bob’s Mill gluten free ones. And in the spirit of avoiding refined sugars, I traded brown sugar for coconut palm sugar and white sugar for honey. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

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Squash Pudding

Ingredients:

Topping:

½ cup crushed pecans

½ cup gluten free oats

⅓ cup coconut palm sugar

pinch of salt

4 tablespoons grassfed butter, melted

Pudding:

1 large butternut squash, cooked, scooped out of skin, and mashed (approx. 2 cups of mashed squash)

½ cup of coconut palm sugar

¼ cup of honey

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

¼ cup of grassfed heavy cream or whole milk

4 tablespoons grassfed butter, melted

2 eggs, beaten

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine the pecans, gluten free oats, coconut palm sugar and pinch of salt. (Do not add melted butter yet! ) Set topping aside.

In the same large ovenproof casserole dish you will be using to bake the pudding in, make sure your squash is thoroughly mashed and no large chunks remain. Add the sugars, ginger, vanilla, cream, butter, and eggs to the squash and whisk to combine well.

Spread the topping evenly across the top of the pudding. Lastly, pour remaining melted butter evenly over topping mix, so that most of the topping has absorbed the butter.

Bake in the oven for approximately 40-50 minutes or until the topping is a nice crisp golden brown.

Monday Market Haul - 10/13/2014

You guys! I can’t believe I went and made all sorts of grand promises the week before last!

And then I gave you nothing.

Ugh. Seriously. Ugh.

But really though, life kinda just walked up to me last week and slapped me right in the damn face. And hard.

So here I give you last week's market haul as well as this week's. Foregoing any sort of crazy happenings we will ACTUALLY be back to regularly scheduled programming this week.

Will try not to let you down.

Check back tomorrow. (Do even trust me?)

I think something sweet will make an appearance. Plums were a big thing.

Update & First Friday Links!

Whew! That was busy!

Seriously the month of September was a damn whirlwind! I went more places in one month than I think I did all year!

Now that wedding season is officially over for me, we can get back to regularly scheduled programming here in the sizzle & sass kitchen. And in a whole brand new season, too. For as much fall hating as I did as summer was ending I seem to be transitioning quite nicely into it.

I sometimes forget how much of my cooking and let’s face it, wardrobe, is conducive to autumn weather. I’m all about the comfort of slouchy sweaters and spicy stews.

It does help that the seasons are melding into one another nice and slowly. I hadn’t imagined that tomatoes and peaches would still be gracing us with their presence all the way into October.

They’re not peak, no, but they’re still around for the roasting.

I end this post with great promises for next week as well as my first installment of Friday Links!

I know a lot of bloggers do this, but it’s always a favorite of mine. I stumble across new blogs this way, find inspiring new recipes, or learn something interesting. So I’m paying it forward! When I see something drool-worthy, eye-popping, or fascinating, I’ll compile them here!

See you next week, y’all!!

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link love

someday I’d like to try this, how about you?

this kitchen is beyond , so is her blog

being 5 feet tall, I can relate

genius dressing

got lost in this rabbit hole of a blog

i don’t have a lot of cookbooks, but this inspires me to expand my collection

could there be something more distracting happening right now?

straight talk from bobby flay

i loved this, and totally believe in the powers of a “spurtle” as my mother calls them. In fact I just found an extra one at the flea market on Sunday (you can never have too many), along with some other neat vintage finds.

Show and Tell

There was a farm stand at the flea market!

It will be a bit quiet in this here space on the internet this week.

As mentioned a while ago, I’m not around on weekends at all this month and that is when the blog magic happens for me.

I am up to my eyeballs in vegetables due to my mother’s green thumb and my projected farm share list is abundant to say the least! I also managed to find local peaches, apples, and maple syrup at the flea market this weekend. So I might try and experiment shooting at night with the god-awful fluorescent kitchen light. Wish me luck! If it works out and Lightroom can save me, perhaps a recipe or two will make an appearance!

As you can see, my mother sent me back to the city with lots of eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes. I foresee another Chicken Enchilada Casserole happening this week. It freezes and reheats really well, p.s.

An instagram follower asked me what I would be doing with those pretty golden tomatoes I got in last’s CSA. I have yet to figure that out, but I better soon, cause those babies are starting to wither! I also have peaches to test pickle, and my farm share newsletter just gave me sneaky thoughts about chicken cacciatore. Let's see what I got up my sleeve this week.

local apples, peaches, maple syrup and other flea market vintage finds!

Talk soon <3