It’s meant to be flexible and unfussy. Sometimes I brown some beef, sometimes I pour in a little beer. Lately I’ve been adding a can of pumpkin and loving it.

Tonight’s unscripted chili was a collaborative effort, pulled together by loved ones who unknowingly donated to this gigantic pot of food on my stove. Blame it on New York rent prices, blame it on the shitty economy, blame it on the fact that I have an English degree and made the silly decision to work at a non-profit and, you know, help people — no matter how you look at it, at best, cash is tight right now, and there’s nothing like a big bowl of chili to nourish me from the inside out.

My “recipe”:

-Peppers, tomatoes, and beer from a friend who took pity on my desolate fridge, the interior of which could be used as a stunt double in Ghostbusters.

-Cannellini beans from my sister.

-Hot sauce, a gift from my last birthday. I used half the bottle.

-An onion and garlic I borrowed from the Roommate. When you’re roommates, it’s borrowing.

-Canned pumpkin, purchased by the Roommate after Trader Joe’s inexplicably didn’t have any. (Way to let me down, TJ’s. I’ll just take my very cheap wine and be on my way, thankyouverymuch.)

-Packets of Sazon seasoning that originally belonged to an ex-boyfriend. I’m not sure how they ended up in my kitchen. Consider it alimony.

-A can of tomato sauce I stole from my mother the last time I was upstate. When I ‘fessed up, she said, in typical Mom fashion, “Oh, honey, I’m happy you took it! I was thinking that we had too much tomato sauce in the pantry anyway.”

Directions: while wearing yoga pants and an old sweatshirt, mix all ingredients together on stove top until they resemble chili. Serve over an old potato you found in the street. Recession, what now?

******

Footnote: I clearly need professional aid when decanting chili in freezer-friendly Tupperware containers, because the mess I made makes it look like I just murdered a Chihuahua. Which I would never do, because I am a dog-lover. Even of those stupid small ones. Mostly.

Last week my sister and I stumbled upon something on Our Best Bites that took immediate priority over everything else in our respective lives. My sister and I were roommates for a few days while the Boyfriend was out of town for training. The predictable girl stuff ensued: lots of chitchat and hanging out, plus a smattering of shopping at Target. But the very best thing about living with the little sister again was someone to share my unabashed excitement for making Pumpkin and Cream Cheese Whoopie Pies.

Don’t be shy — go make these immediately. We won’t tell your boss why you called in sick.

To avoid nosey questions from the Boyfriend about the necessity of $9 of canned pumpkin, I made him pumpkin pancakes. Can’t ask silly questions if your mouth is full of delicious pancakes, can you?

I also threw in some leftover ricotta I have from God-knows-what-recipe.

Warning: these pumpkins are VERY filling: Pumpkin Ricotta Pancakes

Didn’t stop the Boyfriend from devouring them in a quick and tidy manner:

As such, I’m not in the best mood and I’m not feeling the positive and calming effects of refresh week. I won’t bore you with my morning bowl of oats (which is pretty much the same every day). Lunch was a repeat. Dinner was kind of weird looking, but totally delicious.

I had really wanted to make that pumpkin risotto that I love so much, but I cannot for the life of me find canned pumpkin! Are you telling me that I am the only person in the Albany area who uses pumpkin post Thanksgiving? The next time I find cans of it I’m stocking up!

In lieu of pumpkin-y delight, I used up leftover avocado in this:

Omelette (or something…) with mushrooms, avocado, and cheddar. Hot sauce added after the photo. Not the prettiest plate, but I think it’s sort of fun.

LOST is in a half hour. I love LOST but I’m already… lost. I can’t remember anything from last season. Bad. Hopefully it will all come back to me when I’m watching it!

The ultimate comfort food to me is my mother’s risotto.  Good heavens, that woman can cook a risotto that tastes like pulling a warm blanket over you on a chilly afternoon.  For that reason, I have never attempted risottos.  But I was craving something relatively quick and supremely comforting, and I happened to have an abundance of homemade chicken stock and arborio rice lying around.

I ended up making risotto Friday and Saturday since we, uh, did not have any leftovers from the first night.  My very first risotto was a take on my mother’s Tomato Basil Risotto from Marcella Hazen’s Italian Kitchen.

This particular version came out a tad bland, so if you have fresh basil, use it.  And don’t be shy with the Parmesan and salt and pepper.

Saturday night I sort of made up a version of pumpkin risotto which turned out to be heavenly.  Photographic evidence:

Check out my recipes. They are not that difficult to make and are incredibly warm and comforting.  Enjoy a bowl of risotto on the couch while watching It’s A Wonderful Life.  You won’t regret it.

Since the three of us actually have real families in different cities, we won’t see each other on Thanksgiving.  But together we are still a crazy little familial bunch, so it’s fitting that we would celebrate together.  The Roommate and The Boyfriend love each other like a brother and sister.  A brother and sister who bicker and need to be sent to their rooms to think about what they’ve done.  Sometimes, yes, I do have to turn this car around.  And sometimes I have to sit between them on the couch when we watch a movie.  I’m sure it’s good practice in case I ever have children.

What was I saying? Something about love and family… oh, dinner! We’re had Thanksgiving dinner tonight.  It was a scaled-down version since we are all headed to our respective parents’ houses on Wednesday.

Roast turkey and sausage with onions, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with a maple glaze, spinach salad with pomegranates, goat cheese, and toasted walnuts, garlic green beans, apple and onion stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pecan pumpkin pie.

You know. Things happen. You start cooking, and all of sudden it’s, “No, we HAVE to have my mom’s maple glazed yams AND mashed potatoes.”

Worth it.  My plate (plus a bowl of salad on the side):

Eh, that’s mostly vegetables on there, right?

We took a brief intermission between dinner and dessert so I could go get my sister from the train station.  Then the four of us settled in with cups of tea and this:

Want to make some of these recipes? Check out the recipe page!

Maple Glazed Yams

Pecan Pumpkin Pie

Specifically, I’ve been dreaming about this cake:

That would be the pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting I had at Scratch Bakery Cafe last week.

Yum.

I finally recreated my own.  It’s a little healthier, yes.  But it is still cake.  The recipe is basic and easy:

Pumpkin Cake

• 1 box yellow or white cake mix
• 1 c. canned pumpkin (not the pie filling, just the plain pumpkin!)
• 1/2 c. sour cream or plain yogurt

Mix it all together.  Pour it into a greased cake pan. Bake according to the box’s instructions.

I used our jack-o-lantern cake pan.  It’s still pumpkin season, people.

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 oz. package of non-fat cream cheese
• 1 (ish) c. confectioner’s sugar (I just sort of dumped a heap of it into the bowl and mixed away. Adjust the amount to your taste.)
• 1 t. vanilla extract

Mix it all together.  The end.

I will take this opportunity to note that I am INCAPABLE of using powdered sugar without getting it all over myself.  As I type this my jeans are slightly whiter than before this culinary fiasco began.  Confectioner’s sugar just does not want to be confined to a silly bowl.  Hopefully you fare better than I did.  Godspeed.

Anyway, this cake is not birthday cake sweet, but it is midnight snack perfect.  And it’s another step on my journey to consume all of my vegetables in the form of baked goods.

Scratch just looks so cute from the outside that I’ve been wanting to eat there for ages.  It’s a really low-key bakery and sandwich shop with some surprising menu items. The sandwich fare is basic, but delicious.  I got a turkey sandwich with tomato, lettuce, avocado, Swiss cheese, and pesto mayonnaise.

The pesto definitely made the sandwich.  And can we just take a moment to appreciate the glorious things avocados do for any sandwich? Mmm! It came on soft wheat foccacia with a pickle and carrot sticks, which upped the cute factor for me.  The Boyfriend got a turkey panini with sundried tomatoes and Provolone cheese which left him, to quote, “full.”  (This is a big deal in The Boyfriend’s book.)

I was all about the sandwiches, but I did notice a small selection of notable lunch options: Chobani and granola to go, sundried tomato macaroni and cheese, and quinoa and cranberry salad.  They do some regular off-site catering gigs, too, which probably helps business.  There were only two other people in the cafe when The Boyf and I walked in and a few passers-by popped in for coffee.  The place seems like a great little neighborhood haunt.

I was already sold on Scratch’s sandwiches, but I stopped to admire the small selection of homemade baked goods.  They have the typical pastry and cake as well as some vegan and gluten-free options. The Boyfriend caught me drooling over the Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and bought slices for The Roommate and myself.  There’s just something about the combo of pumpkin and cream cheese that really does it for me I guess.  I ate my slice for dinner (pumpkin is a vegetable!) while folding our laundry.

The cake was divine and presumably the same thing could be said about the other baked goods at Scratch Bakery.  I’m willing to be the guinea pig and test them out. Just a team player like that.

If you’re in the Albany area, definitely check out Scratch Bakery and Cafe for a laid-back lunch.  Take your own boyfriend or a friend you haven’t seen in a while.  Scratch has a quiet, casual atmosphere that is perfect for catching up.  They also have a nice selection of beverages including tea and coffee, and some items from the cooler.  I’ll leave you with my Honest T bottle cap quote:

I really enjoy this quote. And I’m glad I snapped a photo because I totally threw the bottle cap away even though I was going to save it as a reminder to my scatterbrained self…

**Chobani Giveaway

Don’t forget there is still time to enter the Chobani Giveaway! Enter via comment or tweet!

Like I said, this is not a post about apples.  This is a post about an orange food that happens to be my other favorite fall produce: pumpkins.  And also a post about one of my favorite hobbies: tricking myself into eating vegetables by hiding them in baked goods.  (Remember my Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread?)

For Sunday brunch I made Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins.  I’ve been trying to recreate the ones you can get at Starbucks because they are heaven.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

• 3/4 c. white flour
• 1/2 c. wheat flour
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 t baking powder
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/4 t nutmeg
• 1 t vanilla
• 1/4 t salt
• 3/4 c. pumpkin (not the filling, just canned pumpkin)
• little less than 1/4 c. applesauce (**I used the applesauce I made last week, which made the muffins sweet and dense.  Store bought applesauce would make them a little lighter.  And substituting oil for applesauce is an acceptable, if not healthier, option).

I was not a lady about it and I just mushed all of the ingredients together until they were just blended.  After you’ve mixed the batter and put it in a greased muffin tin, in another bowl, make the cream cheese topping.

• 4 oz. cream cheese
• 1 T brown sugar
• 1 t vanilla

Blend the ingredients with a hand mixer.  Spoon one plop of the cream cheese mix onto each cup of muffin batter, like this:

I suppose “plop” is not an official culinary term.  But in my head, it equals 1 tablespoon.

Bake the muffins at 375 for 25 minutes.  They come out dense (from the heft of the pumpkin and applesauce) and filling, in a good way.  This recipe makes 6 large muffins that stay moist for days afterward.

While the muffins cooled, the Boyfriend and I made two kinds of roasted pumpkin seeds: sweet cinnamon-sugar and savory Adobo.

First, clean the seeds:

Dash a little olive oil on there and sprinkle your favorite seasonings.  Do you prefer cinnamon-sugary goodness?

Or salty-garlicky delight?

Spread em’ on a baking sheet and stick ‘em in a 400 degree oven.  Sea of seeds:

After 15 minutes, take the seeds out and stir them a little so they bake evenly.  Put them back in the oven for another 10 minutes or so.  The final product:

Who doesn’t love pumpkin? My mother’s husband went on a pumpkin spree the day after Halloween because that’s when the stores toss their pumpkins.  You can use pumpkin well into the winter! Soups, salads, entrees, side dishes, cakes and muffins and breads… These little orange fellas are useful way after October 31.