Last week in food.

Sugar cookies from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. My friend and I wanted to have a cookie decorating day! Hers are the more beautiful ones. ;) I didn't think I liked sugar cookies but these ones were really good - a little shortbread-y. We used royal icing, which I was scared to eat since it contains raw egg whites, but everyone who ate an iced cookie seems to have survived.


Apple pie-crumb cake muffins from Vegan With A Vengeance. This is the first recipe I've tried from her cookbook. I thought they were decent tasting and not too sweet, and other people really liked them. The grated and chopped apple makes the muffin really moist though so they're best eaten within a couple of days or else they get soggy on top. There's a crumb topping that tasted okay but I would've liked a firmer crumb.


Curried cauliflower soup from Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special. I've been craving soup and salad a lot recently, and this is a perfect cookbook for that. I used red potatoes instead of russet which I think was not the best choice. Red potatoes are yummy on their own, but they added a strange taste to the soup.


Smoky red lentil spread from Entertaining for a Veggie Planet. I'm looking for a relatively healthy dip to eat with veggies and was hoping this might be it, but I'm pretty sure that it's not. It had a really strong onion and garlic flavour (due to the entire raw onion that was pureed into the dip). I'd try making a dip with red lentils again but maybe roast the onion first or add something else to it.


Crepes with sauteed mushrooms, cheddar cheese and green onions from The Clueless Vegetarian. This was my first time making crepes and it was incredibly exciting! They're something I've always wanted to make and talked about making but was too scared to for fear of them not turning out. The recipe even says something about not getting discouraged if the first few don't turn out properly - but they actually did turn out really well. I definitely want to make crepes again and experiment with different fillings, sweet and savoury.


Pumpkin bread from Bon Appetit, October 2000. Oh my god this was so good. I love pumpkin anything, so even if it hadn't turned out I'm sure I still would've liked it, but oh wow it turned out well. It was the perfect pumpkin bread/loaf - moist, dense, and full of flavour. A tablespoon of sugar is sprinkled on top before being baked, and it gives a nice crunchy top that I love. I substituted half of the flour for whole wheat flour and added extra spices. This is definitely a recipe to make over and over again - even pumpkin dislikers (hate is such a strong word...) liked it.

Pumpkin Bread/Loaf
Adapted from Bon Appetit, October 2000

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup canned pure pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk

Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 325°F. Butter 9x5x3-inch metal loaf pan. Sift first 8 ingredients into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until light. Gradually beat in 3/4 cup sugar. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Beat in pumpkin, lemon peel and vanilla. Whisk sour cream and milk in small bowl. Beat flour and sour cream mixtures alternately into batter in 2 additions each. Transfer batter to pan; smooth top. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar.

Bake bread until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Turn out onto rack; cool.