Happy Halloween!

My little stegosaurus says howdy. And he thinks you should go make this right now:

Yeah, those are tiny pumpkin-shaped pumpkin pies. Catch the recipe over at Cookies & Cups. Egon would also like those of you in California to go and eat this:

A not-half-eaten version of it, anyway. That's the seasonal ice cream sandwich at Umami Burger. It's pumpkin ice cream between two ginger cookies. Have you ever wept with gratitude toward ice cream? Well, get ready. It's insane.

Have a fun and safe night, everybody!

Gross Zombie Eyeballs!

Different versions of this have been knocking around Pinterest for a few weeks, so I cannot take credit for this disgusting idea. But here they are! Zombie eyeballs! You hard boil eggs, crack the shells as though you're going to peel them, then dye them in their cracked shells. Remove from dye, let dry, then peel them for real. Nasty! These will be deviled eggs tomorrow.

 I didn't have any Easter-egg-coloring tablets on hand, so I found this recipe for egg dye using food coloring. But then I had the idea to make a big egg-dyeing bath, and I didn't have enough food coloring for that, so I improvised with some Wilton icing color, like you see here. I used Leaf Green, but Kelly Green would probably be equally repulsive.

Icing Color Egg Dye Bath

1/2 tsp gel icing color
8 tsp white vinegar
4 cups boiling water

Combine ingredients in a heat-proof mixing bowl. Stir until gel is fully integrated. Allow eggs to sit in dye ten minutes for full saturation.

I was able to dye seven to eight eggs at a time, which made my life a lot easier. I'm thinking of doing this with Easter eggs in the future. Can you imagine? You could mix four or five bowls of dye, and then your eggs could all be finished in ten minutes! I know, the joy of coloring Easter eggs is in the act of coloring them, but jeez. Sometimes there's a party and crap needs to get done.

Happy Halloweekend, everybody! I hope you have something spooky planned!

It's Pepita Time!

Roasted pumpkin seeds are one of my favorite foods, to be sure.  For me, during Hallow-week, there's no contest between that big bowl of candy bars and that other big bowl of crunchy pepitas. The one thing I don't love about them is how messy they can be to eat. But I found a much better way to cook these than the standard coat-in-oil-and-bake method.

Toast the seeds all by themselves in a skillet, as though you're toasting a spice. They'll turn golden brown and some of them may even pop. Once they're cooked, add the tiniest touch of olive oil to the pan, just enough to very slightly moisten the seeds when you toss them around, and then season! 

I made three batches this afternoon. I seasoned the first with chili powder, cayenne pepper, and salt, the second with lemon pepper, and the third with this insane veggie/parmesan bread-dipping seasoning that I'm putting on everything lately. In a blind pepita taste test (kindly conducted by volunteers Jonathan and Erin), the chili/cayenne/salt beat the lemon pepper by a hair. That's not to say that the parmesan flavor didn't fare well. It was kind of swallowed up by the flavor of the seeds themselves, making it maybe too subtle for this crunchy snack.

I can't wait to throw these on a salad or use them in place of nuts on a cheese plate! Nom, nom! Any other ideas for pumpkin seed seasonings?

New Fall Recipes to Try!

Happy Friday!! I'm so very excited to celebrate Halloween and fall, despite the complete lack of leaves and bluster in sunny Southern California. Here are some recipes on my to-try list. Have a great weekend!

Apple Cider Donuts

Caramel-stuffed Apple Cider Cookies

Apple Cider with Shrunken Apple Heads

Pumpkin Pie Creme Brulee