Don't throw out your pumpkins!!!!

I always feel  guilty throwing away my pumpkins after Halloween night......The Italian "don't waste anything" mentality kicks into high gear when I drive down my street, November 1st and see all the beautiful jack-o-lanterns on the curbside, waiting to be picked up by the garbage truck.

This is what I do......

Place your cleaned out pumpkin, cut in half,  flesh side down on a large baking sheet.  Bake at 350' for 45 min.  Remove from oven, let cool.  Scoop out all the flesh into a bowl, mash up with a potato masher, and measure out into 1 cup servings and drop the cooked pumpkin into a ziplock bag.  Freeze.  This will last several months in the freezer, and you can use it in any recipe calling for pumpkin puree.
Or you can just buy a can of pumpkin puree......you won't offend me!!

Moist, and delicious.  Is it a cake, cookie or muffin top? These pumpkin chocolate chip cookies got over 600 four star ratings on thefoodnetwork.com, so of course, I just had to try them.  Keeper.

Here is the recipe:

Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

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• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree (What do you think I used?????)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 cups (12-ounce bag) milk chocolate chips (I used semi sweet)
• Nonstick cooking spray or parchment paper ( I used parchment, ....easy clean up!!)
• Directions
• Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray cookie sheets with nonstick spray or line them with parchment paper.
• 
  
• Using a mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Beat in the white and brown sugars, a little at a time, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time, then mix in the vanilla and pumpkin puree. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Slowly beat the flour mixture into the batter in thirds. Stir in the chips. Scoop the cookie dough by heaping tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cookies are browned around the edges. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let them rest for 2 minutes. Take the cookies off with a spatula and cool them on wire racks.
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Bones anyone?

These adorable little things are easy to whip up.  They are a nice little gift for teachers  and classmates.  I used my mixer to whip up the egg whites, and then put them into a large ziplock bag and cut the tip off then piped them onto parchment paper on a baking sheet.
Here is the recipe:

Makes about 2 dozen cookies



1‑1/2 cups sugar
Pinch of salt
5 egg whites at room temperature ( IMPORTANT that they are at room temp)
Pinch of cream of tartar
1 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract


1. Preheat oven to 220°F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Combine sugar and salt in small bowl. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in small bowl with electric mixer at low speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar mixture, beating constantly. Beat until stiff peaks form and meringue is shiny and smooth. Add extract; beat just until blended.
3. Fill ziplock bag with meringue. Pipe log 3 to 4 inches long. Pipe 2 balls on both ends of each log. Smooth any peaks with wet finger. Repeat with remaining meringue.
4. Bake 30 minutes; turn off heat. Leave cookies in oven overnight; do not open oven door.

Easy! I told you! Just don't make the same mistake and ASSUME the ziplock bag is sealed shut.....Huge mess!!

ENJOY:)

You're not gonna foggetcha this focaccia!

Welcome to the official blog....Leave it to Lucia!


I couldn't think of a better way to start this blog, then with my favourite focaccia recipe.  This fluffy, moist, bread is a go - to recipe.  Served warm or cold it is sure to become a hit at your next family dinner.    This is a simple, yet delicious recipe and I know you will thank me!

Focaccia Bread

3 Cups of Flour
1 Boiled Potato, mashed
1 TBSP Salt
1/2 TBSP Sugar
5 tsp Active DryYeast
1 1/4 Cups of lukewarm water

Toppings:

1/2 Cup Olive Oil (separated)
1 Cup cherry/grape tomatoes or romas cut up into quarters
1/2 TBSP Salt

-You can also try:
-Mixed grilled veggies, peppers, zucchini , onions, mushrooms, etc.  be creative!!
-Fresh rosemary, olive oil, salt (this is a great appetizer, with olive oil and balsamic vinegar dipping sauce)
-Red grapes, (i know this sounds funny, trust me here....) salt, fresh rosemary


-Dissolve sugar in water. Add yeast. Let sit a few minutes until foamy.
-Place flour in a large bowl. Add mashed potato and salt.
-Mix batter and knead very well, the more you knead the better it will turn out! The dough should be smooth and tacky, not hard and dry.  Cover with plastic wrap and a dish towel over the plastic.  Forget about it for a while, and get to the dishes.......
-Once it has doubled in volume, pour  1/4 cup of olive oil into 9x13 pan
-Mix batter in pan, spreading gently to outer corners with your fingers (no rolling pin required!)
-Arrange cut tomatoes on top of batter. sprinkle with salt and oregano. Drizzle with remaining 1/4 cup of  olive oil on top
- Bake 30-40 min @ 400' until golden
- Serve warm or cold, you probably wont have any left to eat cold though......

Enjoy!