Pumpkin and Spice

Still staring down the last remains of turkey in your fridge? Can't stomach the thought of anymore turkey sandwiches?

Personally, I underestimated my family's turkey-eating capabilities and had hardly any leftover turkey (in retrospect, I would have gone up a couple pounds, so as to have more leftovers.) However, I greatly overestimated how much cornbread dressing eight people could eat, and had three (!) tupperware containers filled with dressing. I froze one, we ate the other as sides with various meals, but I wasn't really sure what to do with the final tub. I mean, I loooves me some cornbread dressing, but even I have my limits.

I was fully intending to post my turkey recipe prior to Thanksgiving, you know, when it might have done some good. But I was a little busier than I anticipated- I worked every day for eight days before Thanksgiving, so there was a lot of pre-holiday prep work that occupied my evenings (when I might have had time to blog), plus with family coming into town there was a lot of cleaning to do. I kinda overestimated my free time, I'll be honest.
Well, there's always the Christmas turkey.

(Also, before we go any further, my "h" key is sticking, sooo... if any words are missing "h's", that's why.)

One of the sad things about living in a tropical clime is that my favorite season, autumn, is really more of an idea than a reality. Sure, you go shopping right now and there are cute sweaters, cozy looking flannels, corduroy pants and chunky boots... but it's still flip-flop and tank top weather. The leaves (on the palm trees) never change color, the air is never brisk and crisp, and I'm not entirely sure pumpkins can even grow in Florida. While it is finally starting to cool down (just the other day I stepped outside and thought "Oooh! It's nice and cool out!"-- it was 85. No lie.) it's still not really cozy comfort food weather. However, something inside me starts craving fall foods this time of year, regardless of the weather.

Recently, I was really craving cabbage rolls. I'm really fond of cabbage rolls- whether meat or veggie filled, I love the savory filling, the sweet and tangy tomato sauce and the soft cabbage. What I am not fond of is rolling up cabbage rolls. There are some foods I'm willing to fuss around with, but I'd rather not spend that much time making little pockets of cabbage. And, since I don't have a Polish grandma to tell me I'm not doing things right, I decided this time around to make myself a cabbage casserole.

Lately, I've been doing a bit of baking-for-cash, with cinnamon buns being a re-occuring theme. I don't eat many cinnamon buns, partially because that is waaaaaay too much sugar for me as a breakfast food (I'm more of a salty foods for breakfast kind of girl- I prefer sweets as, say, an afternoon snack) and partially because I am really picky about how I like them. I want them to be soft- like just barely baked soft. I want a thick slop of gooey icing on top- preferably not cream cheese icing, though I'll take it in a pinch. I do not want nuts or raisins in my cinnamon bun. (Nuts are acceptable to me in sticky buns, though.) And, while most people consider them a sort of gold standard in the cinnamon roll world, I'm kind of ambivalent towards Cinnabon's cinnamon rolls- I mean, they actually meet all my above criteria, but I always feel like I need a nap after eating one. Or, maybe I shouldn't eat the whole freaking thing. Maybe if they came in a smaller size...

Anyway, I digress. What I'm getting at is- I have made a lot of cinnamon buns in the last month. They have been really good. I'm going to get fat if I keep this up.

Peanut butter is, for American children, at least, a comfort food without peer. It's sweet, salty, creamy, gooey, and nutritious. Unless you had a nut allergy, odds are it was a lunchtime staple when you were growing up, be it on a classic peanut butter and jelly (apricot preserves have always been my "jelly" of choice) or a fluffernutter (peanut butter and marshmallow goo? Yes, please!) or even just plain on a spoon. To this day, a bowl of Campbell's Chicken Noodle with a PB&J ranks a close second to grilled cheese and tomato soup as my favorite soup/sandwich pairing.

No discussion on peanut butter is really complete without addressing the subject of peanut butter cookies. There are so many variations on the peanut butter cookie that it's difficult to say with any authority what the "best" way to make one is. Some people like them crispy, others prefer chewy, with nuts, without nuts... Well, I'm going to throw this out there, feel free to disagree if you like... I make a pretty damn fine peanut butter cookie. They get my brother's stamp of approval, and he is to peanut butter cookies what a sommelier is to wine, so they have to be decent. And, one of the best things about them is that they are easily customizeable to your cookie tastes. (I'm not claiming these cookies are revolutionary, just that they are a good, solid cookie recipe- one of my trusted go-to recipes.)