at home with ann

Perhaps you are ready for a little post-Christmas detox.  If you are like me, you ate about 200 cookies in the past 2 days.  This soup is low in fat and high in vitamins and fiber.  Just the thing to help you recover.   We had three pumpkins for Fall decorations this year, one for each of us.  Two sugar pumpkins and one mini gourd for our mini guy.  In years past, our pumpkins mysteriously ended up with bite marks in them from the various animals we have prowling around at night out here in the country.  I was pleasantly surprised that this year they made it through the season unscathed, and when December rolled around, I declared it time to bring in the pumpkins and roast them up. Since my lunches are usually spent inhaling my food while trying to keep up with my little - eating/hurling hummus around the room - machine, I like to keep it simple.  A big pot of soup I can eat all week is perfect. I made a roasted butternut soup with apples and ...

Last week I bought tangerines.  I don't know why.  I think they were the first citrus I saw at the market and I got all excited because they were so cute and orange.  The problem with tangerines, though, is that they have about a million seeds in them.  I ate one, bit into a seed, and the rest sat on the counter while I ate clementines instead.  Not wanting to waste them, I decided to whip them into a little treat.  A few quick internet searches for ideas and I came up with this super quick, simple orange bread.  Or tangerine bread, as the case may be.  Orange Bread 2 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature 1 egg 1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice 1/2 cup plain yogurt (could use vanilla as well) 2-3 Tablespoons orange zest (tangerines aren't quite as zesty as oranges, so I only had about a tablespoon, more would be better thou...

I started writing this post right after Thanksgiving.  And now we're looking at Christmas.  The shame.  Good thing apple pie is appropriate for all holidays. I've made a lot of apple pies, but this was a bit different.   We went to Friends-giving the weekend before the holiday and regular Thanksgiving, and I brought apple pie to both.  Although pastry crust is easy to make, I didn't want to do it twice, especially since Colin thinks the food processor is an evil demon sent to our house to scare him.  I made one batch of crust and opted for a streusel topping.  It's the best of apple pie and crisp combined.  Even after enduring the torture of the food processor, poor Colin is too young for pie.  I did sneak him a little bite of ice cream, though, and he seemed to forget the offense. Streusel Topped Apple Pie 1/2 batch pate brisee (if you aren't making two pies, you can freeze the other crust) 3/4 cup light brown sugar 2 tsp lemon juic...

Lately, Jon hasn't been getting home from work until late.  This means that my dinners have been less than creative.  Leftovers and egg sandwiches are frequently gracing my coffee table while I watch the Food Network. It is a glamorous life I lead.  One thing I have been cooking, however, is breakfast.  I wake up starving.  Ready to gnaw my arm off starving.  It's best if I don't have to spend a lot of time dilly dallying in the kitchen.  These baked oatmeals have been perfect.  They are healthy, quick, and easy to whip up the night before (or even that same morning if you don't have the same arm-gnawing tendencies as me).   I naively started writing this post after lunch while Colin toddled around.  I had to take several breaks to retrieve random containers he had removed from recycling and strewn around the house.  Then when I suggested he might want to stay nearby, he took all the cords out of the desk a...

My lack of posting is correlated to the speed at which Colin moves.  Gone are the days when he would bounce in his exersaucer while I cooked.  Gone are the days when he would sit on the floor in the kitchen and play with toys.  Now he toddles around, I'm lucky if he stays in the kitchen, which means he is taking everything out of the recycling bins.  More likely, he is practicing his new climbing skills on the stairs, so that when I say "where's Colin?," he peers his little face around the corner and smiles at me.  Too cute, but not conducive to cooking.  We manage just fine, but I admit the new recipes and photographs have gone by the wayside. I turned on the end of the Rachael Ray show a few weeks ago to see her plating up this mac and cheese.  Baked mac and cheese is a weakness of mine, and I love butternut squash, so I thought I would give it a try.  It was good, but next time I think I would skip the carrots and go with squash only.   ...

These cookies are so good, and perfect for the season!  I admit I jump all over the pumpkin bandwagon come fall.  I usually use the canned version from the market, but it's very easy to roast your own sugar pumpkins.  I have high hopes that our pumpkins will last through Halloween so I can cook them, but they usually get chewed up by some animal in the middle of the night.  Life in the country.  Pumpkin Cookie Sandwiches with Cream Cheese Frosting Original recipe modified from Food Network Yield: About 20-25 sandwich cookies Ingredients: Cookies: 1 cup sugar 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened 2 Tablespoons maple syrup 2 eggs 1 cup pureed pumpkin (canned or fresh) 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (freshly grated is best!) pinch ground cloves pinch salt Frosting: 2 (8 oz) packaged cream cheese, softened 1 cup confectioners sugar 1...

Hello, AHWA readers!  Colin here, sharing my perspective on life at 9 months old. I know I'm 9 months old because my mom whispered it to me when we were spending some quality time together at 3:48 AM on October 4th.  She does this every month, I wonder if she's ever going to stop.  At least it's not every Wednesday anymore.  My day usually starts with Daddy coming in to get me out of bed.  IT IS SO EXCITING - I LOVE DADDY!!!  This is usually our only time together during the day so I am very chatty and giggly.  We all head downstairs and eat breakfast.  I have only recently started eating breakfast, but I can gobble down fruit like none other.  I did not care for oatmeal, and made that clear. After Daddy heads to work, I play for a bit and then it's time for my first nap.  When I wake up, I jump up and down in my crib and sing until Mommy retrieves me.  This is when we head out for our first adventure of the day.  Somet...