The Monster Mash

The boys will be celebrating their first Halloween this year and it was SO FUN to get them together for a photo shoot! And check out those beanies! Aren't they just the cutest?? And I promise this post relates to food eventually...the mash part of Monster Mash is a Mashed Butternut Squash recipe, stay tuned. I just had to show off the little men in my life!

Bat Boy! Owen is still a tinge nocturnal, thus for Halloween, we discussed it and he decided he'd like to be a bat. Obviously he won't be trick-or-treating (although Jeremy thought he'd take Owen out and get some candy for himself...), but he had to have a costume for his first Halloween!

Alright, now on to the food. Yes, I made the Arugula Salad with Fennel, Grapes and Gorgonzola - its hard to resist. I also made the most delectable Mashed Butternut Squash - seriously delish. And my dear friend Ina strips this squash of all of its nutritional value by adding copious amounts of butter, brown sugar and cream - oh my! SO GOOD.

Mashed Butternut Squash

Adapted from Barefoot Contessa Family Style

Ingredients

2 medium butternut squash (4 to 5 lbs total) - I used 1 3 pounder and adjusted everything accordingly.

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

1/4 cup half and half - I used heavy cream because that is what I had in the fridge.

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400*.
2. Cut off and discard the ends of the squash. Peel the squash, cut them in half lengthwise, and remove the seeds. Cut the squash into 3/4 inch cubes and place them on a baking sheet. Add the melted butter, brown sugar, salt and pepper. Toss all the ingredients together and spread in a single layer. Roast for 30 minutes, or until the squash is very tender. While roasting, turn the squash once to be sure that it cooks evenly. Do not let it brown.
3. Transfer the squash and the pan juices to a large mixing bowl, and mix with an electric mixer until smooth. It should have the consistency of mashed potatoes.
4. Season to taste and serve hot. If the squash is too thick, thin it with milk, orange juice or water.

Don't do what I did...

If you look closely at the bottom of the cake, you'll notice that a good 1/2" of the cake is embedded on the cooling rack - nice going Meg! I should have used my cooling rack that has squares. At least I think it wouldn't have caused such a problem of removing the cake to a cake plate. But maybe I'm wrong. Anyhow, when making this DELISH cake, just don't press down like I did...and don't use a cooling rack that only has horizontal bars!

YUMMY! This cake is SO GOOD, especially if you don't mess it up like I did :) Jeremy's grandfather, aunt and uncle and sister drove all the way from Michigan to meet Owen. Uncle Darrell drove for 10 hours on his birthday for the visit, so I made him a birthday cake! He loves German Chocolate Cake, so my mom suggested this gem: Inside-Out German Chocolate Cake from the now defunct Gourmet magazine. Now, as a new mom, I didn't have time to make this baby from scratch - I used a German Chocolate cake mix, split b/w 3 9" round pans. However, I'll provide the whole recipe in case you have more time than me! The best part of this cake is the filling - coconut (my new obsession, besides Owen) and pecans, AMAZING.

Inside-Out German Chocolate Cake

Adapted from Epicurious.com

Ingredients:

For cake layers (or just use Betty Crocker German Chocolate Cake Mix)

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
• 3/4 cup boiling-hot water

For filling

• 7 ounces sweetened flaked coconut
• 4 ounces coarsely chopped pecans (1 cup)
• 14-ounces can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

For glaze

• 2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
• 10 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate
• 3 tablespoons light corn syrup

Instructions:

Make cake layers: (again, if you are short on time, that cake mix is just as good!)
Preheat oven to 350°F and oil cake pans. Line bottoms of pans with rounds of parchment or wax paper. Sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk together whole milk, butter, whole egg, yolk, vanilla, and almond extract in another large bowl until just combined. Beat egg mixture into flour mixture with an electric mixer on low speed, then beat on high speed 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and beat in water until just combined (batter will be thin). Divide batter among cake pans (about 1 1/2 cups per pan) and bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of pans and rotating them 180 degrees halfway through baking, until a tester comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes total.

Cool layers in pans on racks 15 minutes. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Carefully remove parchment or wax paper and cool layers completely.

Make filling:
Reduce oven temperature to 325°F. Spread coconut in a large shallow baking pan and pecans in another. Bake pecans in upper third of oven and coconut in lower third, stirring occasionally, until golden, 12 to 18 minutes. Remove pans from oven.

Increase oven temperature to 425°F. Pour condensed milk into a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate and cover tightly with foil. Bake milk in a water bath in middle of oven 45 minutes. Refill baking pan with water to reach halfway up pie plate and bake milk until thick and brown, about 45 minutes more. Remove pie plate from water bath.

Stir in coconut, pecans, and vanilla and keep warm, covered with foil.

Make glaze while milk is baking:
Melt butter in a 3-quart saucepan. Remove pan from heat and add chocolate and corn syrup, whisking until chocolate is melted. Transfer 1 cup glaze to a bowl, reserving remaining glaze at room temperature in pan. Chill glaze in bowl, stirring occasionally, until thickened and spreadable, about 1 hour.

Assemble cake:
Put 1 cake layer on a rack set over a baking pan (to catch excess glaze). Drop half of coconut filling by spoonfuls evenly over layer and gently spread with a wet spatula. Top with another cake layer and spread with remaining filling in same manner. Top with remaining cake layer and spread chilled glaze evenly over top and side of cake. Heat reserved glaze in pan over low heat, stirring, until glossy and pourable, about 1 minute. Pour glaze evenly over top of cake, making sure it coats sides. Shake rack gently to smooth glaze.

Chill cake until firm, about 1 hour. Transfer cake to a plate.

Cooks' notes: ·Cake keeps, covered and chilled, 3 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.
·For easier handling when assembling cake, place bottom layer on a cardboard round or the removable bottom of a tart or cake pan. Hmm...if I had read this part, maybe I wouldn't have had such a problem...

The fam spending time with the newest "William!"

Owen in the Kitchen

These days, if I want to cook, the little man wants to cook too...or maybe I am the type of mother who doesn't like to leave him alone for one minute because I'm addicted to him? Either way, I've been cooking with the little man either in the baby papasan or the Moby - as pictured above :) It is still fairly warm in Kansas, so the only way the Moby works in the kitch is if the little man is stripped down to his diaper, otherwise he sweats up a storm. And he LOVES his wubbanub! And so do I...it makes it way easy to find the foffy* when it inevitably drops in the Moby, or the infant car seat, or the swing, etc...and it is far less likely to fall out because the little puppy has beans in its paws, so it tends to stay put if he is reclined...

* "Foffy" is our family's name for pacifier. When I was young that is what I called it, and apparently all my cousins thereafter called it the foffy as well. Thus, the foffy is back.

Anyhow, during our little cooking school, I taught O how to make the above salad - Arugula Salad with Grapes, Fennel and Gorgonzola from Cooks Illustrated. I didn't make it exactly as it called for as I live in the Little Apple and I'm limited on ingredients...like arugula. And apricot jam. And celery root - but that is for a different recipe...

Arugula Salad with Grapes, Fennel and Gorgonzola

Adapted from Cooks Illustrated

Ingredients

4 teaspoons apricot jam (I used apricot preserves)

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

3 tablespoons EVOO

1 small shallot, very finely minced, about 1 tablespoon (I used 1/2 of a large - O doesn't take kindly to onions and garlic so I've been trying to cut back!)

1/2 small bulb fennel, cored, trimmed of stalks, and sliced very thin, about 1 cup; fronds chopped coarse, about 1/4 cup (I forewent the fronds)

5 ounces lightly packed stemmed arugula, about 8 cups (I used mixed greens, and just enough for J and me for dinner and then me again for lunch today!)

6 oz red seedless grapes, halved (Again, I eyeball this, we love the grapes so I probs do more)

3 oz gorgonzola cheese crumbled, 3/4 cup (I forgot this last night, but I couldn't tell the diff)

1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted

1. Instructions:

   Whisk jam, vinegar, oil, shallot, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in large bowl. Toss fennel with vinaigrette; let stand 15 minutes. Add arugula, fennel fronds, and grapes; toss and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper. Top with gorgonzola.

   
   

   Bon Appetit!