Crustless Pumpkin Pie. Autumn in a pan, basically.

If you follow my Instagram feed (or my personal Facebook page), then you may have already seen and/or requested the recipe for the Crustless Pumpkin Pie I made last week for our office Hallowe'en Party. If not, well, prepare to be impressed with my incredible baking genius. *Uh, not really. I just followed the recipe. Mostly.

We have a number of folks who are gluten-free at my office, and since I was part of the crew to plan said festivities, I thought it might be nice to make sure everyone had yummy grub to eat, so signed up for a gluten-free side and dessert. I made homemade salsa & brought gluten free tortilla chips as the side, then a gluten-free crustless pumpkin pie as the dessert. It was pretty dang scrumptious and really easy to make. I had everything in my house actually, which was a complete bonus. 

Lunches This Week - #10

Man, we had a fast weekend. Good thing I've been cooking ahead, otherwise, lunches this week would cause me much sorrow - and potentially coin. 

Monday - today was a defrosted section of my recent casserole hack, 1 cup of homemade whole milk yogurt with 1 cup organic raspberries, and a Slim Cake, which really hits a sweet spot for me. 

Tuesday - serious splurge, as I'm taking myself either to Chipotle or a local joint called Yabo's Tacos. It'll be a game day decision. 

Wednesday - repeat of Monday, except that I'll use defrosted peaches instead of raspberries in my yogurt.

Thursday - Monday's menu but with strawberries, instead of peaches or raspberries.

Friday - unless I get cooking this week, as in a week night, Monday's menu, but with strawberries again. 

Short post but never forget that:

Have a fabulous week!!!

Four Burner plus Oven Kinda Weekend.

Jen's Lunches This Week (#4)
I was a cookin' fiend this weekend, folks. Had all four burners plus the oven going yesterday - WOOT!! Apparently to make up for being an über slacker the last two weeks. Felt really good, to be active in the kitchen and making things. It's cheap-ish therapy - for me, anyway. 

Here's a quick list of what occurred in my kitchen between Saturday and Sunday:
- New batch of Greek yogurt, with whole milk.
- Batch of Marcella Hazan's Tomato Sauce, which I combined with Food Merchants Organic Polenta, for quick and tasty lunches this week. 
- Cooked 1 lb. of lacinato kale and 1/2 lb. baby spinach, cooled it and squeezed all the water out.
- Steamed a bunch of asparagus (as in one bunch, not like so much that I'm generalizing as "a bunch").
- Cooked up 2 cups of red quinoa and 1 1/2 cups of wild rice.

 

The only things I didn't do, but need to to in short order, were prepare a gorgeous head of leaf lettuce for salads; roast 8 large and lovely brussel sprouts; deal with a large head of broccoli. 

Happy Accidents in Roasted Veg Lasagna.

Way back in July, when I first began this blog, in my first post even, I promised to post missteps, in addition to posting my successes - knowing eventually I would have a misstep. Guess what? 

I am in that contingent of folk who are gluten-sensitive, meaning I can eat gluten, but sparingly. I'm always experimenting with ways to cut the gluten out, but without making me feel like I'm missing something. 

With an over-abundance of squash and zucchini in this summer's market bag, I began to experiment with using the squash in recipes and one that has worked well, in a few iterations, is Roasted Veg Lasagna. 

Roasting veggies is basically the easiest thing on the planet. And the right combo of veg leads to a great pasta substitute. 

Here's some little brownies for your soul.

Bratty Sister was the first of us to get hitched, and due to hilarious connections with her hubby's family <back story to come>, and the fact that our family was also small, we have spent many a holiday co-celebrating with them. 

While every single one of their respective members are super lovely and delightful people, my sister's father-in-law is/was one of my favorite people. He was in a rock band with his buddies, called NOS (Not Otherwise Specified), loved The Big Lebowski so much his grand-kids call(ed) him Grandpa Dude, and was one of the most loving, authentic, alive people I've ever met. 

Unfortunately, cancer got him. Effin' cancer. 

Where I discover I am a baking genius.

Last week, in my workplace, something like 26 people moved to new cubes/office - including me. In the last six months, most of the building has moved, basically - at least three whole departments + one department moving to a different building and one department being blown up <ugh>. 

Today, we're having a little event called "The People in Your Neighborhood" so we can roam about, and figure out where everyone is living now. We were asked to bring in a dessert or dip to share. 

This weekend also happens to be the official 40th birthday party for Bratty Sister and I am making the desserts. Her brother-in-law (her Spouse's brother) is vegan + I know a number of people attending are gluten-free + I had some canned pumpkin that I thought would make a tasty dessert. Enter my gluten-free, vegan punkin' cookies. And where I discover I am a baking genius. <not really>

Side note: how in the heel <deliberate typo> am I old enough for Bratty Baby Sister to be 40? Egads. 

Us, circa 1977-ish