Herbed Goat Cheese and Harvest Vegetables

This time last year, I took a noticeable absence from the blog world. We had found out I was pregnant on October 16th–a total surprise (nothing short of miraculous!) which you can read more about here. My HCG levels were roaring in at 5,000 when we first learned of the good news (a home pregnancy test will pick up levels as low as 15) but the nausea didn’t set in for a week or two. When it came, it came strong. I could barely get out of bed, let alone bake and blog. Any and all energy went into making the eight wedding cakes I’d scheduled for the fall season. I barely made it through, and I won’t ever be able to repay the kindness of close friends and family during those hard and trying weeks.

The one thought that motivated me through the nausea and exhaustion was this: holding my sweet baby. I would visualize the two of us, cuddled up on our antique sofa. I could almost feel that baby-fine hair against my cheek. I could almost smell the muted sweetness of her skin.

Just moments ago, I put Lucy to sleep, and I held her in my arms for a few extra minutes so as to compare the reality with my imagination. I can wholeheartedly that holding her is just as beautiful as I’d pictured it…if not better.

Because of my extreme morning sickness, I largely missed out on my favorite culinary season: fall. Pumpkin, butternut squash, roasted meat, Brussels sprouts…they were as foreign to me as if I had been living on a tropical island in the Pacific Ocean. Thankfully, I was able to enjoy Thanksgiving Dinner. I had my first day of reprieve on the night before feast day. I cried tears of joy when I was able to sit down and eat my Thanksgiving plate (no exaggeration…just ask anyone who has battled morning sickness…you feel like its NEVER going to end).

This year, I have both my baby and my appetite. When Eileen from the Joy Of Caking asked me to participate in a Virtual Fall Feast, I jumped on the opportunity to contribute to a seasonal table. I was asked to bring an appetizer, and I prepared something rather simple: an herbed goat cheese that would go beautifully with a loaf of savory pumpkin bread or a platter of fall vegetables. These Roasted Ginger and Cumin Harvest Vegetables are perfect accompaniments to the tangy goat cheese.

Please take a moment to jump over to Eileen’s blog where you’ll find a menu worth making and sharing. She’s pulled together a lovely set of bloggers, who have each contributed a dish to our larger meal.

Herbed Goat Cheese

1 log (4 oz) goat cheese

1-2 teaspoons of Herbes De Provence

Place Herbes De Provence on a medium plate. Roll goat cheese in herbs. Refrigerate log until ready to serve.

Roasted Ginger and Cumin Vegetables

1 teaspoon roasted ginger

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon course black pepper

1 cup carrots, cut into 1-inch chunks

1 cup red onions, cut into 1-inch chunks

1 cup parsnips, cut into 1-inch chunks

1 cup red potatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks

1 cup butternut squash, cut into 1-inch chunks

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons orange juice

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Farhenheit. Mix ginger, salt, thyme, cumin, and pepper in a small bowl, set aside. Combine vegetables in a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil and orange juice. Stir until vegetables are easily coated. Spread vegetables onto a foil-lined baking pan. Sprinkle with spice mixture. Roast in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, or until vegetables are tender and golden brown.

Monet

Anecdotes and Apple Cores

Almond Streusel Cheesecake Bars

“When it rains it pours.” We’ve all heard it said before, and Ryan and I certainly experienced the oft-cited phrase this weekend. Our water heater broke on Saturday evening, soaking our basement carpet AND THEN our car broke down in Denver today….just hours before a scheduled engagement photo shoot back in Colorado Springs. Thankfully, our car choose to malfunction in perhaps the best possible place–the parking lot of a Whole Foods–so Lucy and I strolled around the aisles (picking up chocolate bars, bags of popcorn, and soft pretzels) while we waited for my sweet sister to make the 60 mile drive from the Springs to rescue us.

So here we are on Sunday evening, tired and overwhelmed with unexpected money woes. How are we going to afford a new water heater? Are we going to have to replace the carpet? Is it time for us to retire my Jeep (I’ve had the car since I turned 15 and its wracked up an impressive 280,000 miles)? Do we even have enough money in the bank to buy another used car?

It’s also been said that couples fight most over money and kids. Thankfully, Ryan and I didn’t even raise our voices this weekend. Perhaps it was the blue sedan we saw on the way home from Denver that stymied any possible fight. A car had flipped off the interstate, and we drove past it just moments after the accident must have happened. The windows were blown out, and we couldn’t see any bodies in the car. A state trooper pulled off the highway to assess the scene. We all looked at each other and remembered the car accident that had taken my oldest sister and nephew’s lives two years ago. A car accident eerily similar to the one we were seeing as we drove home. How quickly we realized that all these “problems” really amounted to nothing. We’ll figure these messes out, and as my dad has always said, “Money comes and money goes.” We had each other, and we were safe. What a precious gift that truth is!

But if I ever needed a cheesecake bar, it would be after a weekend like this one. These Almond Streusel Cheesecake bars are the perfect pairing of creamy and crunchy. The graham cracker crust and the spice-laden streusel sandwich a thick layer of sweet and creamy cheesecake. You couldn’t ask for a more decadent treat. They’d be lovely on a holiday dessert table (or as a gift for a friend who survived a stressful week). I hope you make these for happy circumstances though. I don’t wish a broken water heater or car on any of you! (And look at this picture below…this really is all that matters in our world)

Almond Streusel Cheesecake Bars

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1/3 cup flour

1/3 cup quick-cooking oats

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) cold butter, cut into chunks

2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a small bowl, mix together crumbs and melted butter. Press firmly into bottom of a parchment-lined 9-inch square pan. In a medium bowl, mix flour, oats, brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon in medium bowl. Cut in cold butter with pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in almonds. Set aside.

Beat cream cheese, granulated sugar, remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended and smooth. Add eggs; beat just until blended. Pour over crust. Sprinkle streusel mixture evenly over cheesecake mixture.

Bake bars for 45 minutes or until center is almost set and topping turns golden brown. Cool bars in pan on a wire rack and then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Once chilled, cut into bars and store any leftovers in refrigerator.

Monet

Anecdotes and Apple Cores

Little Things

Simple shots of our life this past week. Tune back next week for a similar post! I’d also love to have you follow me on Instagram (@cakestand) if you’re interested in more photos of food and baby!

Lucy sporting her new pants from Kate Quinn Organics.

These flowers from Beet and Yarrow. Look at that Ornamental Kale!

The queen of tummy-time.

We celebrated my niece’s 11th birthday…and I made her a Parisian inspired cake.

One of Lucy’s many expressions. They get better each week.

And in case you missed it…these pumpkin spice doughnuts were pretty good.

Monet

Anecdotes and Apple Cores

Pumpkin Spice Donuts with Simple Vanilla Glaze

Lucy goes to bed before eight now. The night we put her to sleep at 7:30 (and she stayed asleep the entire night) felt nothing less than miraculous. Those three or four “babyless” hour swell with possibility. Especially since Lucy has also entered into a phase where she likes to be held, by me, ALL THE TIME. I am thankful for this evening reprieve, but I’m also overwhelmed with the choices. Should I spend those hours with Ryan? Should we pour ourselves glasses of wine and watch a Woody Allen movie? Or should I steal away into my office, where I can write and read and work on the development of my craft? Or what about baking? On Friday night, I spent those three hours making crepes and decorating my niece’s 11th birthday cake. Not to mention the question of friends. Should we invite Troy and Sarah over? Should one of us go out and meet someone for coffee?

Motherhood has made me life both bigger and smaller. Its expanded my world and taught me what it means to be selfless. But its also made my world smaller…I have so many ideas, so many ambitions, and I’m realizing that I simply can’t do it all. On mornings like today, those limitations feel crushing. I can barely carve out time to write, and so I have this memoir sitting on my desk, just waiting to be finished. It stares at me every day as I bounce Lucy on an exercise ball or as I rock her back and forth in my arms. I remember the first year of my MFA. How foolish I was to not spend more time writing! The luxury of selfish living is becoming more and more apparent. And then there’s my desire to delve deep into the world of photography. So much to learn, so much to experiment with, and yet I only have a few hours each evening to myself.

But then I hold my baby in my arms. I feel her body grow heavy as she falls asleep nestled against my chest. I picture the smile that crosses her face when we dip her into the warm water of her evening bath. And I hold onto those sweet glances she gives me when she nurses. Yes, Lucy limits me. I can’t do all the things anymore. But she’s also teaching me to prioritize. She’s helping me find that which brings joy, that which fulfills the hidden places of my heart. I’m doing away with busyness and finding meaning. And so in these three precious hours tonight, I write. I write for you, and I write for me. I ignore dirty dishes and the cat hair collecting on our living room floor. I sit with a cup of tea, one of these pumpkin spice doughnuts, and a thankful heart.

As many of you know, I’ve been working with McCormick this past year. With the fall months ahead of us, I’m pulling out my favorite spices. Cinnamon. Cloves. Nutmeg. Cardamom. These pumpkin spice doughnuts felt like one of the best ways to welcome fall. I added teaspoon after teaspoon of spiced goodness. My kitchen smelled like my grandmother’s house on Thanksgiving day. When I pulled my doughnut pan from the oven and saw the rich golden color of these round doughy treats, I smiled. Mornings have become my time to bake. Because not only is Lucy going to bed at 7:30…she’s also sleeping in until 8:00. I’m really a lucky woman!

And then to make these gems even better, I whipped together a simple vanilla glaze. Pure vanilla extract, powdered sugar, and a dash of cream was all I needed. I colored the glaze orange, in honor of Halloween (and the hoards of children that I know will soon be knocking on our door). While you probably can’t ever consider doughnuts “health food”, I love that these pastries are baked, not fried. The pumpkin makes them moist, the spices make them flavorful, and the glaze makes them festive. Really, you can’t go wrong.

Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts with Simple Vanilla Glaze

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups pumpkin purée

1 teaspoon McCormick cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon McCormick nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon McCormick cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground McCormick ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 cups all-purpose flour

Simple Vanilla Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1-2 TBSP heavy cream

1 teaspoon McCormick vanilla extract

3 drops yellow food color

1 drop red food color

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease two standard doughnut pans. (If you don’t have doughnut pans, you can make these in standard muffin tins. They just won’t be doughnut shaped…they’ll still be delicious though!)

Beat together the vegetable oil, eggs, sugar, pumpkin, spices, salt, and baking powder until smooth. Stir in flour until just combined.

Use about 1/4 cup of batter to fill each doughnut well. They should be about 3/4 full. Bake in preheated oven for 15-18 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the doughnuts to cool for about five minutes before loosening the edges. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Meanwhile, whisk together powdered sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla extract, adding more cream to reach the desired consistency. Add food color. Drizzle glaze over cooled doughnuts and serve with a hot cup of coffee or hot chocolate.

Monet

Anecdotes and Apple Cores

Pumpkin Cornbread

We came home on Thursday to trees bathed in yellow and to a half-eaten pumpkin (our neighborhood is prowled by bears). After a week of near sweltering heat, we welcomed the coolness of Colorado. I took out my notepad that evening and scribbled down meals for the week: chicken stew, roasted pork, Brussels sprouts and candied pecans. This pumpkin cornbread came to me a while later, as we were driving home from two perfect mugs of cappuccino. The thought of thick squares of cornbread sitting beside bowls of steaming soup was enough to compel me to stop at the store. You see, I’ve been known to lapse into cornbread obsession. I feel it coming almost every fall.

My biggest fear with a new cornbread recipe is that I’ll end up with dry and crumbly instead of dense and moist. The ratio of cornmeal and flour has to be just right…and you have to add enough fat and moisture to guarantee success. As aficionados of pumpkin will attest, this fall squash can do wonders in making baked goods moist. So when I thought about adding a can of pumpkin to my favorite cornbread recipe, I knew I’d gain brilliant color as well as texture and flavor.This cornbread recipe happens to be vegan. As you all know, I’m not vegan (far from it) but this is one of those cases in which the vegan variety happens to be far better than any recipe I’ve tried with butter, milk, or eggs. The ingredients needed to make this bread are pretty standard. The only exception being flaxseed meal (which serves as an egg replacement). So if you’re not vegan, and you don’t have any meal in your pantry, don’t fear! You can easily take out the flaxseed and just add an egg.

Along with this cornbread, Ryan and I have been enjoying each other, our friends, and our precious girl. We often lapse into states of open wonder: we created this child and yet she’s already so much more than anything we could have fathomed. We’re drinking good coffee, we’re making big pots of stew, and we’re taking walks when the Colorado sun shines brightly, warming up even the chilliest of days.

Pumpkin Cornbread

1 1/2 cups cornmeal

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 TBSP baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

1 cup soy milk (or regular milk)

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup maple syrup

1/2 TBSP apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup flaxseed*

1 can pumpkin puree

*Or 1 egg

Line a 13 x 9 inch baking pan with parchment paper and grease well. In a medium bowl, whisk together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together soy milk, vegetable oil, maple syrup and apple cider vinegar. Stir in flaxseed. Fold in pumpkin puree. Fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Spread mixture into pan and bake in preheated 400 degree Fahrenheit oven for 25-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool before cutting and serving.