Wednesday, November 30, 2011

The last three days have not been very exciting....

Monday my mom and Janell came over for lunch. I made Turkey and Mashed Potato Potpie (ala Martha Stewart) with all the left overs. It turned out well. I had enough to put two ramekins into the freezer for another day. Can't go wrong with mushrooms, leeks, turkey and potatoes. I even threw in the rest of the corn, lol. We watched movies in the afternoon then went out to dinner at Hacienda. Jordan made it home from LA safe and sound.

Tuesday I baked the cakes (chocolate and spice cakes) for my cake truffles due Monday December 5. Once they cooled, I cut them into pieces and put them into the food processor to make fine crumbs. I put the crumbs into a large bowl, then mixed in cream cheese frosting. Once all the frosting was incorporated, I put the mixture into the fridge to firm up. I left them in overnight. The rest of the day was spent doing errands.

Today, more errands in the morning, then I rolled the cake truffle mixture into balls, put them in a Tupperware container and placed them in the freezer. They can stay in the freezer for some time, but I will likely dip the cake balls in chocolate on Friday or Saturday in anticipation of delivery on Monday. I have not come up with a topping for the chocolate, but I plan on dipping the spice balls into white chocolate, then sprinkling the white chocolate with a little cinnamon before the chocolate sets. Should be very tasty!

Jordan called at 4pm to see if I wanted to see a movie on Patagonia at UNR. I said yes! The movie was about Patagonia and the five dams they are talking about putting on the two largest rivers, the Baker and (oh, great, now I can't think of the name of the second river, lol!).....
There were pros and cons, but I have to say, I had no idea how much dams damage the ecosystems surrounding them. It was an eye-opening film.

Janell and Mom are coming for dinner tomorrow, so guess I better decide what to make!

Sunday, November 27, 2011

A quiet weekend. I did not go out shopping on Black Friday, just went to get my haircut. Lots of people out, I guess they spent a good amount of money Friday! Jordan and I watched a movie called "Woman Cut in Two", a French film with subtitles. Jordan is not a big movie fan so I was a little surprised he came home with four (!) movies to choose from. It was an ok film about a young woman and the choices she makes in life. It's a little sad really.

Saturday I had lunch with my sister and my mom. We went to Grimaldi's Pizzeria. Just ok, but now I am going to write a review of it (I still owe ABBI PR a review of the place) and need to be kind. The pizza is not bad, in fact the crust is quite good. The toppings and side salads, however, do not have a lot of taste. I told my sister and mom to put some salt on things, it would help, lol, and it did somewhat. Saturday evening Jordan and I watched a second movie, "The Proposal" with Sandra Bullock and Ryan McPherson (?). Cute movie, made me laugh a few times. Jordan said it could have ended two different ways but I prefer the happy ending. He says both endings could have been happy.

Jordan left this morning for LA. He has meetings tomorrow at USC. It was just me and the cat. I thought I was going to have company (Mom and Janell) but they stayed home today. I baked some Baby Berry Pastries, using leftover cranberry sauce, cream cheese and Pillsbury Crescent rolls. They turned out better tasting than I expected! See what you think-I included a picture.

Baby Berry Pastries

1 can Pillsbury Crescent rolls (8 count)
1/2 cup whipped cream cheese (spreads easier than regular cream cheese)
1/2 cup cranberry sauce (or raspberrry jam)
For Glaze: 1 Tbsp butter, 1 Tbsp milk, 3/4 cup powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Open the crescent rolls on the parchment lined baking sheet and divide them into 8 triangles. Spread with cream cheese, then the cranberry sauce. Cut the triangles in half lengthwise with a sharp knife or pizza cutter. Roll the smaller triangles up, stretching the dough slightly as you roll. You should have 16 crescents. Reposition them evenly on the baking sheet and bake in the pre-heated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool before you glaze them. Heat the milk and the butter either in the microwave or on the stovetop until the butter is melted. Slowly mix in the powdered sugar using a fork. Drizzle the glaze over each of the crescents and let set before you serve. Enjoy!

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

I finished the two side dishes I needed to make for my sister and my mom, first thing this morning. I also made up the mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving as one of the side dishes was mashed potatoes with caramelized onions. Yum! I baked a pumpkin pie using a new recipe out of a book my sister lent me called "Perfect Pies". Nice book, good pictures.

My mom and sister came over about 11am. I baked the Pumpkin French Toast dish, fried up some bacon and made a small fruit and yogurt cup. Then we finished watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Dinner was ready by 4pm. We had stuffed turkey breast, mashed potatoes, cheese corn casserole, roasted Brussels sprouts, stuffing Janell made, and cranberry sauce. A good time was had by all!

Jordan napped but after dinner Janell, my mom and I watched Christmas movies, then had pie. The little mini apple pies baked in the half pint canning jars sure are cute! And taste as good as the full sized pies. Mom and Janell left about 9pm. After spending some time with Jordan, it's time for bed.

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

It's the day before Thanksgiving and I spent it making dinners for my mom and sister (they are clients now!) rather than getting ready for Thanksgiving. My sister wants to be able to do some of the cooking, so I readied the meat and shrimp (2 chicken dishes, 2 pork dishes, 1 beef dish and 1 shrimp dish). I also made up the sauces for each dish (Balsamic Mushroom Sauce for chicken, Orange Ginger Sauce for the beef, a sweet spicy sauce for Piri Piri Shrimp, and a Pomegranate Glaze). I also made a casserole she can bake later (Easy Chicken Parmesan). And finally a Corn and Crab Chowder. Once I was finished cooking and putting things together, I delivered the meals. Turns out my mom and sister had the Corn and Crab Chowder for dinner tonight. My sister called after dinner to say how much they liked the chowder. Happy to hear that!

I did get some small apple pies baked this morning. All I need to do is make a pumpkin pie. I have a turkey breast stuffed and ready to roast. Just need to made mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, cheesy corn casserole and Brussels sprouts for tomorrow. Couldn't make up my mind about rolls, so will likely go with crescent rolls.

I also put together a baked French toast dish. It looks more like a bread pudding than French toast, as the bread is cubed. 8 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, pinch of salt, one 15 oz can puréed pumpkin, 1Tbsp sugar, one loaf thick cut bread (I usually use ciabatta for bread puddings)-cubed, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 2 Tbsp flour, 2 Tbsp butter (softened), 1/2 tsp cinnamon is all you need for Baked Pumpkin French Toast. Mix together the eggs, vanilla, spices, sugar and salt together. Once those ingredients are mixed, add the pumpkin purée. Layer the bread cubes into a 9x13 inch pan, in a single layer if possible. Pour the pumpkin mixture over it. Next, using a fork, mix the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and butter until crumbled. Sprinkle this over you pumpkin bread mix. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, or until top is golden. I stopped short of baking this because it's for tomorrow. I wrapped it up and put it in the fridge. I'll let you know how it turns out!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Had my last bout of PT this morning, so won't be doing that anymore. Body Wisdom has been very good in helping me work out the aches and pains of returning to a normal gait post-op. Of course, it helped that they loved the goodies I brought them.

I had my mom and sister over for dinner this evening. I baked a Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bundt Cake (I need to take a picture, lol) this afternoon. For dinner, I made Plum Curry Glazed Cornish Game Hens, Wild Rice Pilaf, and Roasted Broccoli. Everyone thought it was good. Jordan asked my mom what she thought of my leaving nursing to make a new career out of cooking. My mom told him as long as I could make a living, she's ok with it (and she thinks I'm a good cook!). It's been nice seeing my mom again. Hope she has a good time while she's here!

Monday, November 21, 2011

I made some cookies this morning to give my mom and sister. Dried Cranberry, Macadamia Nut and White Chocolate cookies in a cinnamon dough. Not bad, lots of flavor. I had some computer work to do (Jordan has given me the same assignment to do as he gave his students to see how long it would take me and if a lay person could do the assignment), which took up an hour or two this morning.

Janell picked me up at 12:15pm and we went to the airport and picked up my mom. It was so good to see her again. It's been almost a year since we've seen her! She's staying with Janell but I'll still get to see lots of her. We went to lunch as India Kabob-Indian being one of my mom's favorite foods, but not so much for Janell, lol. I like Indian food but don't get to go often so it was a treat for me.

We did just a little shopping then took my mom to Janell's apartment to rest. She came with two suitcases, an overnight bag and a rather large walker with four of the biggest wheels I've ever seen on a walker. My mom says it works well, plus has a seat she can either sit down in or rest her purse and coat on. She came all this way and brought her own chair, lol!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Friday the wind was so strong that I ran a few errands then came home. Not to mention the fires around southwest Reno. My oh my!
I did manage to get some baking in. I was going to make Pumpkin Pie Pops but the filling was a little too runny for that I thought, so a compromise. I made mini Spiced Pumpkin pies (besides the usual spices, I added a few more including Cayenne pepper to add a little bite). They turned out ok, but I won't be buying pumpkin pie mix anytime soon (and I'll read the label first, lol)! It was snowing by the end of the day, so I was really glad I decided to stay home!

Saturday, Jordan and I had breakfast with friends at Krumblz, a deli and bakery started by two pastry chefs who had been working at the Sienna when it closed. They decided to go into business for themselves. Breakfast out is almost always good. Nice people at Krumblz. The rest of the day was spent working on the LAHI project. When I couldn't do any more, I looked at cookie recipes! Love baking cookies, just don't have enough outlets so don't bake as much as I used to.

After dinner we watched "Men Who Stare at Goats". The movie has George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey. Strange but funny.

Thursday, November 17 2011

I was up early because I needed to make cookies for Karen (of Hill Billy Hot Dogs). She forgot to call me over the weekend to ask for a dozen bags of chocolate chip cookies. Only I had to go out and buy eggs before I could make cookies! I'd forgotten I used all my eggs for the 40 loaves of Spiced Pumpkin Bread. I finished baking and packaging the chocolate chip cookies pretty quickly, got them delivered, then went and saw Janell for a little bit. She had two bags of "stuff" for me.

I had a 2pm conference call with Jordan and David, which went well. David acknowledged the information we need on LA hospitals is "out there", it will just take someone doing research to pull it all together. We'll see if this turns into some type of employment for me (like Jordan thinks will happen-at least something to supplement my income).

I spent part of the day sitting on the couch, working on the computer, which Ah Choo loves. He likes the attention! And the belly rubs, lol. Jordan says he's not sure which one of us is more trained to do the bidding of the other.

I am reading about pies and small or miniature desserts, which have taken center stage right along with cupcakes. People don't feel so guilty buying and eating one cupcake, but don't always want to buy an entire cake. Same with pies and candies and other little pastries. I am making mini pies for one of my meetings in December. And they really are cute!

I managed to finally make "Holiday Jam" and get it canned. Holiday Jam has fresh cranberries, strawberries and sugar cooked together and reduced to a wonderfully thick consistency. Nice combination, cranberries and strawberries.

Jordan and I had dinner out at the Steakhouse at Hobey's in Lemmon Valley. The food was quite good and the restaurant itself reminded me of Harrah's Steakhouse. Kind of old school, old world decor and service (although nothing "table side"). We'll definitely go again. I had lobster bisque that had big chunks of lobster in it (usually lobster bisque is more "essence" of lobster, so the chunks were a surprise) and we split a steak. For dessert we had chocolate cheesecake. The restaurant makes everything in-house! That's not as common as it used to be-at any restaurant. Marco, the maitre'd has worked at several high end restaurants in Reno as well as the Bay area. He's been at Hobey's for 9 years. Nice guy, Marco.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

I delivered my (biblical sounding) 40 loaves of Spiced Pumpkin Bread this morning. I figured since I was done with them, I might as well just deliver them (and bill for them, lol). They turned out well and Anne seemed to like them, so that makes me happy!

I did a little more work on the LAHI project. David sent Jordan and I an example of what he is looking for. I'm not sure that info is out there, at least not in one place. Not to mention the fact that most of the hospital websites do not offer a picture or diagram of their facility, which is what is needed to give David the info he wants. We'll see what happens tomorrow when we conference call. My Internet stopped working this afternoon, so I couldn't finish the work.

I had lunch with Ric at Arlington Gardens. They changed their lunch menu-"dummied" it down some. Probably economics. They do offer interesting specials. We both had Pasta with Bolognese Sauce. Pretty good actually!

Home for a couple of hours, then I went to Campo's grand opening. The early session of 4-6pm was for the media (still hard to think of myself as "the media"). We got a small tour, got to look behind the scenes at the kitchen, etc, had some wine and food (pizza, charcuterie (made right there by Mark Estée), olives, dips, chocolate truffles, chocolate orange mini biscotti and Limoncello mini cupcakes) before the general public came. By 7pm, the place was packed! They also had a live jazz band playing. I met a few new people and saw some old acquaintances. Michael, who used to be matre'd at Harrah's Steakhouse, was there and he even remembered me! He says hello to the doctor by the way. I left about 7:30pm-too many people. I'll go back another time with Jordan and try out the menu. I liked their pizza (made in a wood burning Italian pizza oven) and the charcuterie was fabulous!

Jordan had to teach from UNR tonight because of no Internet so he didn't get home until late. Guess we'll figure out the whole Internet thing tomorrow. I'll also try to add some Campo pictures tomorrow once we have Internet service again.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

PT early this morning. Only one more left after this one, then I am on my own. After PT, I made another trip to the grocery store. More eggs, ground cloves, pumpkin and a couple miscellaneous items. I made a rookie mistake though! I bought pumpkin pie mix in a can instead of the pumpkin puree! Didn't even look at the label! AND, I didn't realize it until I had opened the can to use it and looked at the label then, lol. Oh, well, guess I'll be making pumpkin pies soon!

Believe it or not, I finished baking my 40 loaves of Spiced Pumpkin Bread by 2pm! I let them cool and had them wrapped and boxed before 5pm. Sometimes I amaze even myself (just kidding, lol!). Either I am getting faster or more organized, not sure which it is. And making quick bread (bread made with baking soda and baking powder instead of yeast) , is as the name implies, quick. Now I just need to figure out what to make for dinner. Jordan brought home lamb chops last night but I had already made chicken and rice, so I'll use the lamb tonight.

I have been obsessed with pies since seeing a show on the Cooking Channel called "For the Love of Pies". They all looked so cool! I especially like the small or mini pies made in muffin tins and the pies made in little mason jars. And a couple of the people interviewed, had some unusual ideas. I liked that! Putting chopped chocolate in pie crust or flavoring the pie dough with cinnamon to add a boost of flavor to the entire pie. It inspires me to be more creative myself!

I guess my next job is making some meals for Janell and my mom. They just need to let me know what to make! (Just pick off the menus I gave them-how easy is that?)

Monday, November 14, 2011

I worked on the LAHI project this morning while waiting for my "paper" pans to come (which they did about 2pm). Jordan looked at the list before he left for work and showed me a few places that needed to be "cleaned up". Once that was done I sent the list off to PhuongLan Nguyen to look at to see what she could add. Since it's GIS week (not sure exactly what that means but it made sense to Jordan), she will not get a look at it until Wednesday. I also added a list of services hospitals offer, which at some point in the future will be matched up to the various hospitals.

Once my pans got here, I started baking. I made 14 loaves of the spiced pumpkin bread this afternoon! It went quickly so I think this won't take me long. I was thinking as I mixed a double batch of batter, that I was getting used to "mass production" although still on a smaller scale (not like Sarah Lee, lol). After dinner (baked chicken and rice with a mushroom sauce and brocolini), I wrapped the loaves I had made. I first put them in a cellphone bag, then wrapped a 4 inch wide piece of (gorgeous) decorative paper around the center, then added a matching ribbon to that. I got the idea after looking at the Martha Stewart website at packaging and gift wrapping. Say what you will about her (Jordan asked me if she learned that trick in prison!) she does have some creative ideas. I am pleased with the way the packaging turned out.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

It's been a quiet weekend, just me and the cat. Saturday I had breakfast at Arlington Gardens with some of the usual suspects, as Kasia would say. They changed their menu a bit, but nothing too exotic. After breakfast I was off to find paper and ribbon for the Spiced Pumpkin Breads I am making for SCOR marketing. 40 loaves by Thursday! Better get busy, although my loaf pans have yet to arrive from King Arthur Flour. They should be here Monday.

I did make some Apricot Chews Saturday afternoon. They have diced dried apricots and coconut for flavoring. And they are moist and chewy. Otherwise I worked on recipes, etc. and did some reading.

Sunday (today), I finished what I could of the LAHI project. I'll have Jordan look at it then send it off to Ms Nyugen to see what she can add. I am done, at least in part, for now with that project. I baked some Pistachio and Dark Chocolate Toiles (a cross between a cookie and toffee) this afternoon. I am thinking of giving this as a Christmas gift, but needed to see how the recipe worked. The Toiles turned put to be quite tasty and I was amazed at how much flavor the pistachios added to the cookie. I think I chopped the dark chocolate a little too fine, so next time I will leave it in bigger chunks. All in all, a success, and an easy recipe.

I wrote an article for the examiner.com about Mark Estee's new restaurant, Campo. The grand opening is Wednesday, the 17th from 6pm to 9pm. There is an earlier press party from 4-6pm that I have been invited to attend and I will be going. It's free to the press, so I guess it's nice to get some perks, however small! Should be interesting. You otherwise have to have tickets to attend, which cost $20 and includes wine and beer and small bites. The proceeds are going to two charities, which is nice of Estee. Hope they get a good turnout.

Jordan didn't get home until almost 8pm! He was bumped off his United flight because it was overbooked. So he ended up buying a new ticket on Southwest. He says that's what he gets for letting other people buy his ticket.

Well, tomorrow is another day, with new adventures of it's own. But now, bedtime....

Friday, November 11, 2011

Happy Veteran's Day with a salute to all those men and women who have given their time and effort to make sure we have continued freedom!

Did you ever notice that when you want to sleep in a little later that that will be the time you wake up early? That's what happened this morning. At least the cat seemed happy I was up as he had his first breakfast, then second breakfast in about an hour (sounds like a hobbit!).
Janell and I ran errands in the morning, had lunch at BJ's Brewery, ran a couple more errands and then came home. I have not been spending much time in store the last 6-9 months, unless you count grocery stores! Everyone has Christmas decorations up and I even heard a few Christmas songs! Janell told me about a cartoon she saw of a Thanksgiving turkey and Santa Claus. The turkey says to Santa-"back off fat boy , this is MY holiday!". Seems like a good attitude to have, lol. So many things are commercialized, my oh my.

I spent the afternoon finishing up my first go round with the LAHI list. Now I just need to add the hospitals from the EMS list that were not on the OSHPD list. It all gets very complicated.

I talked with Jordan. The faculty meeting went on all day! And tomorrow he was invited to attend the USC Homecoming game so that's what he'll be doing tomorrow. Me, I feel the need to bake and try a new recipe. But that's tomorrow and now it's bedtime...

Thursday, November 10, 2011

I had a dental appointment this morning. Now that I've had a partial knee replacement, I have to be premeditated with antibiotics before all dental procedures or anything they consider "invasive". Just four pills one hour before the procedure.

Once that was done, I did some grocery shopping at Trader Joe's although Jordan left for LA tonight for the biannual USC staff meeting so we didn't need much. He'll be back Sunday.

I also stopped by Hillbilly Hot Dogs. She owed me some money and wanted me to pick it up. She's had a harder time selling the Oatmeal Raisin cookies so if she needs some next week, I'll go back to making chocolate chip cookies. The public is fickle!

Most of the rest of the day was working on the LAHI project, no cooking, although I picked up a mini boule and used it for a bowl for Chicken Corn Chowder. Yum! I did make a loaf of no knead bread though. Love that stuff, it's just like artisan bread and so easy!

More work on the LAHI project tomorrow. It needs to be done by the first week in December. I think I will make cookies though.....

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

I was up at 4am this morning so I could be in Dayton by 6am. Wellness clinic at the Smith's on Hwy 50. I was a little late because it was further out than I remembered. Oh, well. The clinic ran over an hour-people kept coming and Robin (the lead) kept saying yes. More money for the both of us! I was home by about 2pm.

Spent the afternoon on various business calls, etc, then on to the LAHI list. I made it through Kaiser (not much info on the web about the individual Kaisers, just the Foundation in general.

Jordan taught til 8pm so I finished off some left overs (stuffed turkey breast, made new mashed potatoes, a salad and used the two leftover globe artichokes as a side). I am a tired puppy, so I am going to bed early. Tomorrow is another day!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Monday morning was spent baking and putting together Whoopie pies. The traditional chocolate Whoopie pies with a vanilla-marshmallow filling and the less traditional Pumpkin Whoopie pies with vanilla-cream cheese filling. They ARE labor intensive but the results are tasty. I found the chocolate pies filled with the vanilla-marshmallow filling to be a little too rich and sweet for my tastes. I had some vanilla cream cheese filling left over and put some of that filling in extra chocolate cookies I had left over and I thought that combination was much better. Once I was done baking and assembling and packaging attractively, I schlepped them all down to Anne at SCOR so they could make the final decision as to what they wanted to give for a marketing gift: Spiced Pumpkin Bread or Whoopie Pies (chocolate and pumpkin combo). Me, I vote for the pumpkin bread, lol. It tastes good and packages well and is much less labor intensive.

The afternoon was spent working on the LA hospital list for Jordan. It is crazy how much information is out there on the web and how much of it contradicts another source! I am probably a third of the way through the first and most important list (there are four).

For dinner I tried two of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food Magazine meal suggestions. There were about six recipes that revolved around salsa. For the first recipe, Creamy Salsa Soup, I combined a jar of Pace mild salsa (minus about 1/4 cup for my second dish) and 3 cups of chicken stock. I heated the soup to just boiling, then put the soup into the food processor (or blender) with 2 Tbsp cream and puréed the soup. I then returned it to the pot to reheat some. When it was time for dinner, I put the soup in a bowl and topped it with a bit of sour cream, a few diced avocados and some crisp tortilla chips. Very pretty! The soup was a little too spicy for me, even in it's milder form, but Jordan liked it well enough (no raves, lol). I also served a warm open-faced tuna sandwich. I took one can of tuna, drained it, then mixed it with 1/4 cup of mayonnaise and one cup of the mild salsa. You can add salt and pepper but I didn't think it needed it. I spread the tuna mix over a split section of baguette, put some sliced Manchego cheese on top and placed it under the broiler. The recipe said to try Pepper Jack cheese, but I didn't have that, so you use what you have. I topped the meal off with a Globe artichoke-easy to cook and tasty too!

Today, Tuesday, the morning was filled with PT, a teleconference call with one of the women that works for USC in the real estate department (who would have thought a university needed or even wanted a real estate dept?!) about the LAHI (Los Angeles Hospital Inventory) project USC is doing, and getting the oil changed in my car.

I had lunch with Janell (who was also at Big-O getting an oil change and new tires) at the Fifth Street Bakery (one 5th and Keystone). I had read about them some months ago and been wanting to try them. I had a Hot Pastrami sandwich with crispy hot fries and Janell had a Grilled Tuna sandwich with fries (here's were hot and crispy too, lol). The prices are all under $10 but it helped that I had a coupon from Living Social, the online site where they offer different discounts at different businesses everyday. Janell got a White Chocolate Macadamia Nut cookie to go and I bought a Caramel Apple Croissant. I haven't tried it yet, but I'll let you know how it tastes! All in the name of research, lol.

This afternoon will be more work on the hospital list. I haven't figured out dinner yet.....

Sunday, November 6, 2011

It was kinda cold this weekend so it was a good time to bake. I made Spiced Pumpkin Bread as a part of my marketing trials. I got this recipe from Michael's mother years ago and it is still good!

Spiced Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/3 cup water
1tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour (you could use all all-purpose flour also)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves

Method

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan and set aside.

Beat together the sugar and vegetable oil until well blended. Add in the eggs, pumpkin and water and beat again. Mix together all the dry
ingredients, then add to the pumpkin mixture. Mix only until ingredients are thoroughly mixed. Pour the pumpkin mixture into the prepared loaf pan and bake for about one hour or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf pan comes out clean. Cool for 30 minutes in the loaf pan. After running a knife along the edges, turn the pumpkin bread out of the pan and continue to cool on a wire rack. Do not cut until it has cooled completely.

I made three smaller loaves to see how many this recipe would make. It helps me figure out how much to charge for each loaf. I used paper baking pans from King Arthur Flour and I must say, they are great to use. They look nice (dark brown with a gold pattern on them) and stand up well to baking. They also help with the packaging as well. I am offering two types of wrap and SCOR can chose which one they want. One is wrapped like a present in waxed paper with a thin ribbon wrapped twice around the long way. The other is wrapped in cellophane with a four inch wide piece of pretty tissue paper around it's middle and a ribbon around that (ala Martha Stewart. Say what you will, the woman has some great ideas! Either her or the people around her.). I'll make Pumpkin Whoopie Pies Monday to add to the offerings and let Anne chose which one she would like. Apparently Whoopie Pies are the new cupcakes according to some people!

Whoopie Pies originated in New England and are historically chocolate cake-like cookies filled with a vanilla cream filling. Some also say they originated in Pennsylvania from the Pennsylvania Dutch folks. The women would sometimes make these as a treat for their husbands and pack them in their lunch bags. When the husbands saw these treats, they said "Whoopie!". The people in Pennsylvania, however, call their Whoopie Pies, "Gobs". Don't know where that name came from!

Once Jordan finished teaching this morning, we went to brunch at the El Dorado. Nice buffet and Jordan's favorite. We stopped by the grocery store on the way home, but I forgot to buy more pumpkin so couldn't work on the Pumpkin Whoopie Pies. And with the time change, it's bedtime early tonight, lol.

Friday, November 4, 2011

I spent the day at Walmart at their flu shot clinic. A long day, mainly because from 9am to 1:30pm, I had no patients! I gave my fist flu vaccine at 1:30. Bummer... I did end up giving 17 flu shots. Otherwise I spent the day reading, people watching and checking emails. Not too exciting, although I took Martha Stewart's Everyday Food with me and got some good cooking ideas. It even inspired me to buy some salsa so I could try a couple recipes. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Not much else to report other than I am going to Maui December 8-23 for a private chef gig. How exciting!!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Kitty trauma this morning changed the day. I cancelled PT thinking I would be taking Crazy Mary back to the Humane society this morning. You can't talk to a human, you only seem to get voicemail so I left a message. When they finally called back, they told me I needed to schedule an appointment to return Crazy Mary. Of course they did not have an opening until tomorrow, when I will be at a flu shot clinic all day! Jordan got elected to take Ms Kitty back. She's not talking to me anyway, lol. I do feel bad/sad it did not work out.

I had a flu shot clinic from 1pm to 6:30pm at the Pepsi Co. I gave 25 shots! Nice people though. Did you know they can buy Pepsi in bottles, as well as water and a few other drinks for $0.25 each? Gotta have some perks, I guess. Otherwise, they have a drink dispenser where they can refill Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, water, Sierra Mist and Iced Tea for free (just like at the fast food restaurants!).

This was a quiet evening. Jordan had a dinner meeting to attend, I stayed home and had leftover lasagna for dinner with garlic bread. No drama this evening, at least not yet!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

I had a wellness clinic that started at 7am this morning. It was at Carlisle's Food Service (I had no idea They even existed!) off of Lemmon valley Drive. Everyone seemed very nice, although I was surprised by the number of Spanish speaking only people they had working there.

We finished early, so I was able to stop by SCOR and pick up at least part of my service ware. Turns out rather than the 20 they were expecting, they had only 12 show up, out of about 20-30 partners. Too bad. I did learn that the SCOR staff got to finish the lunch, so Anne got two meals for the price of one. Apparently the meal was a huge success. That is always nice to hear!

Once I finished my clinic and stopped by SCOR to pick up my utensils et al, it was on to a doctor's appointment. The afternoon was quiet, so I did some cooking. Not much else to report.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Wow! Where does the time go? It's November already!

Today I got early so I could make lunch for the Standards of Excellence employees. I must confess, I bought a pie crust. Just did not want to take the time to make my own. I also bought two disposable tins to bake the quiches in. I sautéed shallots along with asparagus and spinach, then put all that into the blind baked pie crust (to blind bake means to bake the crust while it is empty. It assures that the crust is crisp and flaky and not undercooked and doughy.), then added shredded Gruyere cheese. I topped all of that with a Royale made with eggs, half and half, Creme Fraiche and salt and pepper and a little nutmeg. Smelled really good-hope the SOE people liked it! Before I left to drop it off, I mixed up dough for Parker House rolls for the doctor's meeting. After I dropped off lunch it was on to my personal chef job.

That was easy today! Just three meals to make: Maple Chipotle Salmon with Wilted lettuce, Stuffed Turkey Breast with Mashed Potatoes and Orange Ginger Glazed Carrots and last but not least, Mediterranean Pork Chop with Green Olives and Preserved Lemon and Roasted Tomatoes on the vine. I stayed for lunch. We had the salmon. I served it with a mixed green salad with dried cranberries, toasted pecans and sliced Seckel pears. I found the seckel pears at Whole Foods. Cute little things that went well with the salad and raspberry red wine vinaigrette. I was done by 12:30pm! Almost didn't know what to do with myself, lol!

But then it was off to finish tonight's dinner for the doctor's. I rolled the dough into a ball shape, lined them up on a parchment lined baking sheet, let them rise a second time, then baked them off. I added more salt to the recipe this time because the last time I made them, a few weeks ago, I thought they lacked salt. Parker House rolls is a sweeter dough anyway but the extra salt adds to the flavor. Because I prepped yesterday ( did my mise en place-made sure I had everything ready for today), today was less stressful. I baked the stuffed turkey breasts, made gravy, whipped the cream for dessert, reheated the potatoes and carrots and I was done!

Then it was time to pack up everything, load up the car, and deliver dinner. Once there, I saw Rob Welti, one of my old bosses from Regent. He was very surprised to see me, lol. Wanted to know what I was doing at SCOR? I told him delivering your dinner! He had a lot of questions. I got dinner all set up, then it was back to the house. I'll pick up my chaffing dish and all the rest tomorrow. I had to tell Anne I was charging more for this dinner because of increased food costs (for a holiday dinner) and because this was a labor intensive meal. We'll see what she says when she sees the bill!

As for Jordan and I, we had lasagna for dinner, broccoli and salad. And now I am ready for bed! Got to get up early for a wellness clinic in the morning!