I'm such a foodie

I don't know why It comes to my surprise but every once in a while I realize what a foodie I am. I read and listen to way too much food-base stories. I'm always thinking about when I can make the things I just read or heard about, not that my schedule will allow it [all girl can do, is hope].

Here's an example, I heard this story on Last Chance Food on my way home from work in November about Kabocha pumpkins and how they make the best pumpkin pie. I've been roasting pumpkins and sweet potatoes for pies for a while now and thought I'd try it out. Well, November, December, . . . and almost April have gone by and I've finally got around to roasting my Kabocha [I bought it at the beginning of April]. Still haven't made my pie this weekend [I threw the roasted pumpkin in the freezer], but I did roast up the seeds. If you love roasted pumpkin seeds, then the Kabocha pumpkin is your source. It has a lot of big plump seeds, great for roasting.


I roasted them up with a little bit of melted butter, a seasoning salt from Hawaii and pepper till they were golden brown. Great for my afternoon snack or a little topping for my endless amounts of salads I've been eating.

Can't I'm going to try out the pie next week with my parents. It's my mom's recipe and she I wanted to see what she thought about the kabocha. Here's the link to the story from Last Chance Food: http://www.wnyc.org/articles/last-chance-foods/2012/nov/16/last-chance-foods-use-kabocha-pumpkin-pie-and-kick-canned-stuff/

What I did on my Thanksgiving break

My thanksgiving consisted of working on my holiday gifts while watching Castle marathon all day. Then a little cooking for dinner, steak and some steam broccoli [so sweet and tender] from the farmers market. Wanted to try out a new chocolate pudding recipe, but I was just too lazy start something new after our early dinner.

Holiday Gifts
The gifts that I was working are for the family. Started two things at the same to keep my interest going. Knitted gifts are a bit tough when you have 3 knitters and a crocheter in the family [on top of that a sister who is a great knitter]. But I've been in the mood to knit lately and I thought I better take advantage of it. I made a second bandana cowl for WG with some left over yarn [he found a crochet knight's helmet, that he wants me to make for him. Yes, I said knight's helmet. Need to get the pattern will try and start after making my gifts.] 

Working on a cotton bamboo lace-y scarf in a coral. Using the yarn I got in May when my family was here. We went to the Lion Brand Outlet and picked up a few things [few. . .hehe]. The pattern is the Lace Ribbon Scarf by Veronik Avery from Knitty.com. Been want to knit something in bamboo for a while. It has a nice drape to it, looks nice in this pattern.


The other project I started is a cowl in red merino wool. Maryse cowl by Amy Christoffers from Knitscene, Winter 2012 Something warm and cozy. The pattern is pretty easy, have ripped it out totally yet.

My Sweet Potato Pie

Been on a sweet potato kick lately. I have 3 potatoes waiting to get roasted up. I really love the sweetness that roasting them brings out. 

I made this pie a couple weeks ago for the restaurant, it seems like people liked it [got a note from a customer asking me to make more]. 

I used my mom's pumpkin pie recipe and tweaked it a bit. My mom's pumpkin pie is a favorite of our family and friends. It's very creamy and custard-y. I used alway have it as my breakfast the morning after Thanksgiving if there was any leftover. It makes a giant pie--9x13 pan. Lots to share. 

I cut the crust amount in half to make it thinner but kept the same amount of filling. So thinner crust, thicker filling. Switched out the pumpkin with oven roasted sweet  potatoes, that I mashed with potato masher so not too smooth. If you look at the picture you can see little chunks of potato.

I thought I'd share it with everyone. It's a big pie, should feed 12 to 14 or 10 big slices like we do at the restaurant.