Roasted Winter Squash

Its a freezing rain kind of day here in Washington.
ROASTED WINTER SQUASH

Trip to the Asain Market

So I was on my way to my sister's house in Lakewood WA, and said she was at an asain market,  and had found a bakery there. Now I have an obession with bakeries! So I turned my car around and headed striaght to this new world of amazing-ness. 
As I pulled into the grocery store, it was more of an Asian Costco.
These were our finds

Easiest Pizza!

Ever since my aunt came into town and bought a pizza from Safeway, my Italian husband will never be the same. That was a year ago! So about this pizza. $5 from Safeway, you have to find the $5 Friday deals and  buy the cheese one. Go to the deli and they are ready to just pop in your oven (after topping them of course.)
These pizza pies look homemade and taste just perfect!

PERFECT SEMI-HOMEMADE PIZZA

1 (or 2, possibly 3?) Fresh Cheese pizza from Safeway delI
1/2 cup Shredded Parmesean cheese
3 tablespoons olive oil

Topping possiblities:
Shrimp & Olive
Pepperoni & Sausage
...well you know what you like

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Adjust oven rack to lower -middle position. Place pizza stone on rack and heat stone for about 30 minutes up to an hour.

2. Remove all packaging from pizza. Place pizza on a sheet of parchment paper, start topping starting with meats working from the outside in, then veggies, and then to make sure it all stays in one place, top with parmesean cheese. Brush edges with olive oil for a perfectly golden and crisp crust without drying out the middle.

3. Using a cookie sheet, slide under pizza and slide off onto the pizza stone. Bake for 25 minutes,  or until egdes are golden brown. Let it sit for at least 5 minutes to give the cheese a chance to set and also so you don't have to use a fork and knife while burning your mouth :-)

Peppermint Brownies

I thought I was done baking after the french toast I had made this morning, so I decided to clean my husbands office, rearrange the computer, move the tv to act as a double moniter, and it took me about 45 minutes to untangle cords!  So after all that, I made a egg nog latte..so good. I don't know what I would do with out my espresso maker. Then I really wanted those peppermint brownies from Starbucks.
I tried to curb the craving by cleaning the kitchen, and scrubbing the oven. I searched on Pinterest on how to clean an oven. Long behold, baking soda and hydrogen proxide did just the trick. It was sparkling clean, and I could see through the window in just 30 minutes.
But it didn't help...I still wanted those brownies. I gave in.

ULTIMATE FUDGY BROWNIES
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup coconut oil
3 tablespoons unsweeted cocoa powder
1-1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup all purpose flour

Optional: Chop 1/3 cup peppermint candies and 1 cup white chocolate chips. Top brownies when they firs come out of the oven.

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position to 350 degrees. Line a 8- inch square pan (I used an 11 by 7-inch pan, since I couldn't find my square one) with a foil sling and grease the foil. Melt the chocolate, coconut oil and cocoa powder together in the mircowave, stirring often (every 30 seconds), 1 to 3 minutes. Let the mixture cool slightly.

2. In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, vanilla, eggs, vanilla and salt together. Whisk in the melted chocolate mixture until combined. Stir in the flour until JUST incorporated.

3. Scrape the batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake brownies until a toothpick inserted into center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 35 to 40 minutes.

4. Immediatly after taking brownies out of the oven sprinkle white chocolate and peppermint candies over the top.

5. Let brownies cool completely in pan to set up,about 2 hours. Remove brownies from pan using the foil, cut into sqaures and serve.

*adapted from "America's Test Kitchen 'The Baking Book' "

French Toast casserole

Ok. So listen to Micheal Buble Holiday and the Christmas decorations up, just make me want to bake, then bake, clean and bake some more.
I think its safe to say I need my own bakery someday.
I have used my trusty baking book and made a few delious baked goods.
First I had assembled "overnight french toast" a few days ago. I kept forgetting to put it in the oven! I forgot yesterday morning and around 11 I rememered to put in. I finally pulled it out of the oven and it was amazing!
MAKE-AHEAD FRENCH TOAST CASSEROLE
CASSEROLE
1 (16-ounce) loaf supermarket french bread, sliced1/2 inch thick
8 large eggs
2 cups whole milk
2 cups half-and-half
1 tablespoon grandulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Optional: mircowave 1-1/2cups raisins and 1/2 cup spiced rum for 1 minute (until boiling) and drain liquid. Sprinkle between two layers of bread

TOPPING
12 tablespoons (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1-1/3 cups packed (9-1/3 ounces) light brown sugar
3 tablespoons corn syrup
1 cup (4 ounces) pecans, chopped coarse

1. FOR THE CASSEROLE: Adjust the oven racks to the upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Arrange the bread in a single layer on 2 baking sheets. Toast until dry and lightly brown, about 25 minutes, switching and rotating through baking. Set bread aside to cool.

2. Grease a 13 by 9-inch baking dish. Layer the toasted bread tightly into the prepared dish. (Sprinkle raisins between layers if using, you should have two layers.) Whisk together the eggs, milk, half-and-half, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg and pour evenly over breaed. Press lightly on bread to submerge.

3. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours up to 24 hours. When ready t bake, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees.

4. FOR THE TOPPING: Mix the butter, brown sugar,and corn syrup together until smooth, then stir in the pecans. Spoon the topping over the casserole in an even layer. Place dish on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until puffed and golden brown, about 60 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving.

Now I liked to spread cream cheese on top, however, my husband loves to drench his in maple syrup.

* adapted from "America's Test Kitchen 'The Baking Book' "

Pineapple Pie

I have never had pineapple pie, nor have I ever tasted one. But despite my pleas for not wanting to make this pie, my grandfather, keeps persisting that I do ( for the past 9 months to be exact). So I went on a quest for this pie. Is it supposed to be a custard pie topped with whipped cream or is it a double crusted pie? Well I asked him about this and he said its just like a peach pie but with pineapple. Okay so double crusted pie it is. Next question is where do I find the recipe? Apparently this was made during the 1950's depression era, so limited ingredients and canned stuff. All the recipes were practically the same and sounded so gross!

Lemon pudding
crushed pineapple
unbaked pastry pie shell

That was it!  Every once in while I found one with sweetened milk, or cornstarch, one even had cornmeal...yuck.   Now what do I do? I guess I have to just make it up as I go. Here it is, we will find out tonight if this is what my grandpa meant by pineapple pie.

Pineapple Pie
1 recipe for double crusted flaky pie crust 
zest of 2 lemons 


3/4c sugar
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
2 Tablespoons milk 
1 Tablespoon sugar 




Mix in the lemon zest with the crust and refrigerate for an hour according to recipe directions 


Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

In a medium saucepan combine sugar, cornstarch, pineapple with juice, and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened, then allow to boil 1 minute.


Cool slightly and pour mixture into pastry-lined pie pan. Cover with top crust and seal. Make a few steam vents in crust, then brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Place in preheated oven and bake for 35 minutes. 


Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Medical Conditions

I am sitting here today, feeling just miserable. Its a clear, crisp fall day and I am not soaking it all in. Instead, I am at the computer, eating speghettio's with hotdogs. I haven't had this since middle school. Anyways, I am feeling overwhelmed at the moment, because of my job.
I am a cake decorator at Costco. I truely do love my job, but it's killing me. Literally. I have been diagonsed with Tietze Disease and Carpel Tunnel.
The CT (in which refers to Carpel Tunnel), is common in my line of work. We use our wrist as we smooth the icing around the cake, we spin the turn table around thousands of times a day, and we squeeze the buttercream through the tiny little holes as we tighten the bag with our hands and fingers. I get it. But it never said that I would come across the numbness, the tingling of fingers through the night. I never knew the pain that would bear in my forearms at the end of the day, where if I were to swallow 9 ibprofen and ice for an hour, it wouldn't go away.
Tietze Disease/Syndrome was something I have never heard of. I ended up going to the emergancy room due to severe chest pains. I knew it wasn't a heart attack, but I also was fully aware that if you have shortness of breath and chest pains, you go to the ER no questions asked. So after hours of tests, waiting, probing and somehow metal stickers (from the EKG) were in the equation; I left with no answers. The next week went in for a follow up appointment with my doctor, and found out about this "disease".
With a name to match the pain, I began my search, which lead me here. What I found was that it was from overexertion to the chest and breast area. The best way to controlling pain and the best results is from massage or chiropractic.
So my conclusion is either I have a massage every month (which isn't a bad idea) or just quit my job (which is awful).
I guess it could be worse. Now that I have half way done eating my bowl of sodium and noodles, I think I will just go to sleep and take a nap. Even though it is only 1:30 in the afternoon. Oh well. Enjoy your day.