b is for baking

and then c is for cooking. and d is for dinner, and then e is eating and exercise.

yes- i have been sewing (i won't go all the way down the alphabet to get to s) and i have actually started some christmas gifts (please no one search back through my posts where i foolishly mention all the christmas gifts i was going to finish in september. oh well. next september- next september.

but- i have been sewing for the craft fair (huge sigh right now) and for a little fun.

but what i have been doing a lot of is experimenting in the kitchen.

now, i have zero pictures. but great kitchen wonderings to share. try not not get to hungry.

i've made: homemade creamy harvest soup, pumpkin oat muffins, pumpkin ice cream torte, and a fairly good chicken florentine, and chocolate peanut scrumpets.

and no, i haven't gained a ton of weight- i exercise while most of these are baking (well i've been exercising the last few times sam's made cookies- that is pretty much torture. try to perform lunges when the sweet smell of cookies are circling around you)

so on to the good stuff:

homemade creamy harvest soup. i based my version from this recipe.

what i did: i roasted a whole butternut squash (sliced in half, seeds removed, placed face down in a pyrex with a little bit of water) for 45 minutes at 425 degrees. while that was cooking, i had 3 carrots cut up in circles, with 2 celery stocks diced up cooking in 2 cups of chicken broth (i think i seasoned with salt and pepper). when all of that was a nice soft texture, i moved it all to the blender and pureed, pureed, pureed. i added a little bit (about 1/2 cup) of non fat milk to help it mix well. i then returned this to the pot on my stove, added a little bit of half and half (about 1/4 cup) and then tasted it- it was really sweet, so i added lemon juice (2 T?) and a couple of dashes of tabasco sauce and salt and pepper.

this soup was served with light sour cream.

it was fantastic!

ok- the pumpkin oat muffins and the chocolate peanut scrumpets were from a little quaker oats recipe magazine that sam and i picked up at the grocery store last week. the muffins were so moist and delicious- and gone very quickly. i highly recommend them.

the scrumpets i made quickly this morning when i wanted sam to have something to take to a meeting today. i didn't have all the honey for this recipe- but they were still pretty tasty. the one thing i would say- you should really add a little bit of salt to this recipe. i didn't do the glaze, and wished i would have sprinkled a little bit of sugar on top, but they were delicious as well.

everything is delicious.

my 3-cheese chicken penne florentine was based off of this recipe from cooking light. now, sam hates mushrooms- so i didn't put them in this recipe. so- i put in 1 can of artichoke hearts (for a yummy result). i didn't use the the whole 1 cup of red bell pepper- it was really more like 1/4 cup (cause sam isn't a huge fan) and i didn't put in onion (which i hate). i used a mexican reduced fat cheese blend that was already shredded (to save time) and while this dinner baked in the oven i was able to get all of my dishes done.

totally awesome. and so was the dish. tender penne with chicken, artichoke, and cheese? with healthy spinach in as well? sam went back for seconds and then ate the rest today. not something i can always say.

and the great pumpkin ice cream torte. another cooking light recipe- from this month's magazine, but the recipe can be found here. i followed the recipe almost exactly, the only things i didn't do was to add allspice to the pumpkin ( i substituted nutmeg) and i didn't put pecans on top (i didn't have enough after putting some in the crust, and pecans are expensive). i even put caramel on the bottom of everyone's plates and then set the pie on top.

this was incredible. i actually saw sam licking his plate.

so good.

after all of this goodness- i leave you with a link for the goodness i just found, another pumpkin torte recipe that i have to figure out just when i can make it: pumpkin ice cream torte with ginger crust.

pumpkin ice cream torte with ginger crust- you have a date with my tummy, soon.

again, sorry about no pictures. however, i do think that would have made this post simply painful.