Whitney's Wedding Weekend

One of my oldest and closest friends got married this weekend! Whitney and I have known each other for 15 years. Our friendship has certainly stood the test of time, considering that we met in 6th grade chorus (hello awkward phase!) and have remained very close ever since, despite usually being across the country from each other. On Saturday, she married JR, who I love and is perfect for her.

They married at The Taj in Boston, MA. It was a perfect fall day and such an amazing time! The weekend was full of family, friends, fun activities and wonderful food!

After a tour of Fenway Park on Friday, we gathered at The Taj for a rehearsal, and then went to Assaggio, an Italian restaurant in the North End for the rehearsal dinner. I stuffed myself with bruschetta, fried calamari, salad, and seafood risotto. I also helped Kathryn with her chicken Parmesan, which was incredible! We finished the meal off with fresh canollis! I wish I took some pictures of the food, but I was too hungry to think about photography!

After a few hours of hair and make-up on Saturday, all of the bridesmaids and the bride got ready in a special room. Whitney's father had some lovely food sent to us to have while we dressed!

Tea Sandwiches

More Tea Sandwiches!

Fruit Tray

Fresh Baked Cookies Resting on White Chocolate Chips

I used raspberries and orange slices from the fruit tray to add to our champagne.

After a few champagne toasts, we got into our dresses, posed for some pictures, and Whitney made her stunning entrance! The ceremony was beautiful and it was obvious for all to see how incredibly in love Whitney and JR are!

The food at the reception was delicious and elegant. I joined Whitney and JR in August for their  food and wine tasting, and was still impressed by how great everything was.

Gnocchi Appetizer:

Chicken Breast with Polenta and Mushroom Sauce:

Dessert #1 - Lemon Meringue Tart with Berries and Raspberry Sorbet:

Dessert #2 - Wedding Cake - Vanilla Cake with Hazelnut Bavarian and Milk Chocolate Ganache:

Dessert #3 - Homemade Italian Cookies

(I didn't get a picture of these, but they were absolutely unreal! Whitney's aunt made them and I will definitely be begging for the recipe)

Congratulations Whitney and JR! What a perfect wedding for a perfect couple! Much love to you both!

A Big Bowl of Heaven

aka ... layered bowl of squash, sauteed onions, pasta, and ricotta cheese.

Today was a cold and wet one. I looked out my office window all day, waiting for the rain to let up just a little bit so I could run without being soaked to the core (all I had for running clothes at work was cotton, which doesn't hold up so well in torrential downpours). The rain didn't let up at all, so when I got home I went to the gym for a 45 minute tempo run. Most days I enjoy running in the rain, but today was so cold and I'd had a pounding headache all day, so the gym looked like a much more desirable option. 

I busted out a good 45 minute tempo that I felt really great about. I haven't gotten much sleep this week and have felt myself dragging, but sometimes a good workout is all you need to bounce back (even though that's usually the last thing you want to do). I walked home from the gym, so I ended up soaking myself anyway, and when I got inside I was cold, wet and starving...which calls for some hot, satisfying comfort food. Lately I've had an insatiable appetite for ricotta cheese, and I pretty much think about squash on a daily basis. So that was my starting out point for this meal. The other ingredients were things I happened to have at home (since there was no way I was braving the weather again to go to the grocery store). Thus A Big Bowl of Heaven was born!

Ingredients:

• Squash
• 1/3 onion, thinly sliced
• Whole wheat penne
• Ricotta Cheese (to taste)
• Olive oil
• Spices

At the farmer's market on Sunday I bought this beauty:

This is Amber Cup squash, which is very similar to butternut squash (my favorite) but is said to be a bit sweeter. I heated it in the microwave for 3 minutes so I could easily cut it in half. I  scooped out all of the seeds and placed the halves face down in a pan and added a few tablespoons of water.

Cook at 375 degrees for about 35 minutes.

As the squash cooked, I prepared my whole wheat penne and also sauteed my onions.

I cooked them until they were translucent and a tiny bit browned.

Take the squash out of the oven:

I only needed half of the squash for this recipe. I scooped out all of the squash and put in a bowl, added some spices (thyme and pepper) and mashed the squash up with a fork.

In a nice big bowl I made my layered pasta (I wish it was a glass bowl so you could see the layers, but I'll give you the play by play):

Bottom layer: Mashed squash

Next layer: Sauteed onions

Next layer: Ricotta cheese

Next layer: pasta

Next layer: Sauteed onions

Next layer: Squash

Top it off with a scoop of ricotta!

All of the ingredients were hot except for the ricotta cheese. If I'd made this in a Pyrex I could have popped it in the oven for 5 or 10 minutes, but instead I just microwaved for 2 minutes to heat the cheese.

Mix it up a little bit and dig in!

This was exactly what I was in the mood for after a hard workout and a cold walk in the rain. And yes, I did eat the entire Big Bowl of Heaven!

Pumpkin Muffin Mania!

A couple weeks ago my sister sent me some brioche-shaped muffin tins that came with a recipe for pumpkin muffins (from Barracks Road Shopping Center in Charlottesville, Virginia). At the time there was a canned pumpkin drought at all of the local grocery stores, but luckily Trader Joe's has stepped it up (as usual) and now is fully stocked with canned pumpkin. Today I set about making my pumpkin muffins. Below is the original recipe, and I'll also tell you about the changes I made and the variations I tried.

PUMPKIN MUFFINS

Makes 2 dozen muffins

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs
• 2 cups canned pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1 cup vegetable oil (soy or canola)
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

• 3 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in the first group above. Sift together all the dry ingredients in the second group. Mix wet ingredients into sifted dry ingredients. Bake in greased molds or muffin tins lined with papers. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the muffins spring back when touched lightly.

My changes:

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs
• 2 cups canned pumpkin puree (I used 2 cans because I read this wrong)
• 1/2 cup golden raisins (I skipped these)
• 1 cup vegetable oil (soy or canola) - (I used 3/4 cup organic, unsweetened apple sauce and 1/4 cup vegetable oil)
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (skipped in the main recipe but added in later)

• 3 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 3 cups granulated sugar (I used 2 cups sugar and 1 cup granulated cooking Splenda)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Organic pumpkin from Trader Joe's:

* This is a good example of why you should always read a recipe all the way through before starting, and you should always read it carefully! I used 2 cans instead of 2 cups - a major measurement error like this could mess up a lot of recipes, but luckily these still came out great, and were very moist!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

All of the wet ingredients (first group of ingredients in list) in the mixing bowl:

All of the wet ingredients mixed together:

Sifting the dry ingredients (second group of ingredients in list):

All of the dry ingredients sifted into large mixing bowl:

Instead of making the entire batch of muffins with golden raisins and walnuts as the original recipe suggested, I divided my batter into fourths so that I could try some different variations.

The first: Chocolate Chips (used about 2 small handfuls)

The second: Craisins (also used about 2 small handfuls)

The third: Craisins and Chopped Walnuts (1 or 2 handfuls of each)

I saved the remaining fourth to be good old plain pumpkin.

All 24 muffins read to go into the oven:

I baked at 350 degrees for just under 20 minutes. I checked them at 15 minutes and 18 minutes, and took them out when a toothpick inserted into a muffin came out clean.

After making the 24 cupcakes, I still had extra batter (probably because I almost doubled the amount of canned pumpkin!). Pat requested that I make them with extra cinnamon and sugar.

I used the brioche-shaped tins that came with the recipe for these. I coated each tin with baking spray before filling with batter (baking spray is similar to cooking spray, but it also has flour in the spray to prevent breads from sticking).

And once they came out of the oven:

These were quite easy to remove from the tins. I just turned them over and they fell out!

All of the other muffins, ready to eat!

Roasted Beets, Toasted Pistachios, Goat Cheese and Watercress Salad

This morning I woke up to fresh coffee and donuts that Pat had gone out to get. I'd planned to go for a 9 mile run, but it is extremely rare when Pat is up before me in the morning, and also rare that I turn down coffee and donuts. So instead I enjoyed my treats and postponed the run until later in the day.

I went home for the afternoon to get a few things from my mom's house and to have lunch with my mom and Jim. We went to New London Pizza in Concord. Back in my vegetarian days I frequented New London for their vegetable subs, and I still haven't found a place that makes them quite like this.

Tomatoes, peppers, and shredded lettuce with salt and pepper and a drizzle of oil on a toasted bun. Yum!

When I got home this afternoon I went out for my 9 miler. Everyone has probably heard me say this about a thousand times, but there is nothing like running in the fall. And there's nothing like fall in New England.

The leaves are starting to change color!

While I ran, Pat made lasagna. I can't tell you how nice it was coming home to the delicious aroma of lasagna after a long run.

After a big glass of chocolate milk and some stretching, I dug in.

Sorry, his recipe is top secret!

After showering I made a post-dinner salad:

Roasted Beets, Toasted Pistachios, Goat Cheese and Watercress

Ingredients:

• Beets
• Watercress
• Pistachios (raw, unsalted)
• Goat cheese
• Olive oil
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Dijon Mustard
• Maple Syrup
• Green chili powder (or spice of choice)
• Salt

First: the nuts.

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

In a small pan, dissolve about 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon green chili powder into 1/2 cup water (I added green chili powder for spice, but its not necessary). Throw in a handful of raw, unsalted, shelled pistachios. Heat on high until all water is evaporated and salt and chili powder is deposited on the nuts.

Then put nuts on cookie sheet and cook for 1 hour, stirring halfway through for even toasting (they can cook for up to 2 hours, if you want a more roasted flavor...I cooked for about 1 hour 15 minutes).

I read that you should always let the nuts cool before chopping. A lot of the oil in the pistachios is brought to the surface from the heat, and the oil needs to be reabsorbed before chopping, otherwise you'll end up with greasy nuts (and how appealing does that sound!?).

Next its time for the beets.

Turn the oven to 400 degrees.

Peel, slice and halve the beets, then add lots of balsamic vinegar (I started with just a splash but needed to add more halfway through). Put in the oven to roast for about 50 minutes.

While the beets are in the oven, make the dressing. I used the following measurements, which is enough for 1 generously dressed salad or 2 lightly dressed salads:

• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil

Put in bowl and whisk together.

Beets done roasting:

Put your watercress on a plate and top with chopped nuts, beets, goat cheese, and dressing.

This salad came out so well. The sweetness of the beets was nicely complemented by the slightly spicy/salty taste of the nuts and the creamy goat cheese. The dressing was bomb...no other way to describe it.  I'll probably make this dressing a lot now that I know how great it is! I was originally thinking of making this salad with arugula, but came across watercress at the store and decided to try something new. Its a nice leafy green that's a tiny bit peppery, and I saw that it is being touted as the "New Superfood" by Dr. Nicholas Perricone (in his book Forever Young). One serving has over a third of your daily Vitamins A and C requirements, and over 100% of your Vitamin K requirement! I would definitely recommend picking up some watercress at the store, and also trying out this salad!

Love These Girls

So last night was my aforementioned hot date with Chrissy and Callie. I love getting together with them because we always have so much fun and usually spend the whole time laughing. We met at The Cheesecake Factory for dinner, and after whipping through two or three baskets of bread, we each ordered a salad. I got the Fresh Vegetable Salad, which was: Asparagus, Green Beans, Tomato, Cucumber, Roasted Beets, Apple, Edamame, Radicchio, Romaine and White Cheddar - All Chopped with Pomegranate Vinaigrette.

I swapped out white cheddar cheese for goat cheese instead (because I can't get enough of the stuff!) and ordered the dressing on the side. The dressing was white with black specs, so I didn't think it was Pomegranate Vinaigrette, and decided not to use any. Some parts of this salad were good...the beets, the edamame and cheese especially...but overall I wasn't terribly impressed. It didn't seem like the flavors complemented each other very well, and the chopped pieces were too tiny (in my opinion). I also tasted cilantro, which wasn't listed as an ingredient, but even a hint of cilantro ruins a meal for me. Wow - I just went on quite a rant. Really, it wasn't that bad, its just that I was left wishing I had a plate of just roasted beets and goat cheese with nothing else...so I'll remember that in the future.

My less-than-stellar salad was very quickly forgotten when our dessert arrived. The three of us shared the Reese Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake Cheesecake. Yes, it was as amazing as it looks:

We dug in and barely talked for a few minutes as we devoured the cake. When we came up for air (with just a few bites remaining) the busboy came by our table and asked if he could take the dish away. The three of us all screamed "NO!" at the same time which was pretty hilarious...hilarious for us, I'm guessing it was more frightening for him.

I also got some great new loot from my friends for my birthday! Chrissy got me a new t-shirt from In-N-Out Burger since my old one is no longer with us, and she also got me a new cutting board:

It serves two purposes: you cut on it (obviously) and the edges turn up so you can easily transfer food to a bowl/pot without making a mess. I was so excited that I made some broccoli when I got home to test it out.

What a great invention!

Callie got me a headband to wear running. Its zebra material, so I'll feel fierce when I'm out on the road. I tried it on when I got home (don't mind the crimped hair, my hair was braided for most of the day).

These are called Sweaty Bands, and they're made specifically to be worn when exercising or playing sports...and they claim not to slip out of your hair. Well, I love stretchy headbands (the hard ones give me headaches) but don't wear them often because they always slip off! I decided to wear this headband to work today before I get it sweaty from running...I've been wearing it for 5 hours so far, and still no slippage!! I'm officially in love with this! I'm definitely going to order some more so I have some sweaty ones for running and some clean ones to wear other times!

Thanks for a great night and such thoughtful gifts! Happy Friday everyone!