Test kitchen

Maybe it's the sudden drop in temperature. Maybe it's the fact that we're leaving for our vacation next weekend and won't be cooking for ourselves for three weeks.  Maybe it's because cooking is a form of stress management for me.  Whatever it is, David and I have been cooking all weekend long.

Here are todays hits and misses:

Pumpkin waffles with maple cream cheese syrup

Grade: B

I think this was a recipe from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian," but I'm not certain because I was sleeping when David and Bee whipped these up.  Bottom line, you couldn't really taste the pumpkin and the syrup was a bit congealed.  However, I love waffles in all their guises.

Pumpkin bread (with the pumpkin I stewed yesterday)

Grade: A+

I used my Mom's recipe and it never disappoints. The fresh pumpkin gave the bread a great color and lighter texture than the canned variety.

Applesauce

Grade: C-

It tastes wonderful, despite the fact that I initially added chili powder instead of cinnamon (a quick rinse in cold water saved the apples), but I didn't peel enough apples and cooked them a bit too long.  Yield-less than one cup.

Chipotle roasted pumpkin seeds

Grade: A

I soaked the seeds in saltwater overnight and then tossed them with olive oil (dry off the water first) and chipotle popcorn seasoning.  Bake on a cookie sheet in a 300 degree  for 40 minutes, stirring the seeds every 10 minutes or so so they don't stick.  

Later today:

Sugar cookies (with halloween cookie cutters). I'd like to decorate them with royal icing but we'll see whether I have any energy left.

Vegetable stock (all the veggies are ready to go) and then Sunday's soup.  We still need to roast the red peppers.  

I'd also like to clean the house, start packing (beachwear), make playdoh, and go for a jog.  This is overly ambitious, I know, but this is why weekends ought to be three days instead of just two.