You know that smell. When you unexpectedly walk into a cloud of that sweet and salty aroma at festivals and faires, you know exactly what you’ve stumbled upon.

Kettle corn. You can smell the metallic tinge in the air from the fiery-hot cast iron kettle being super-heated, the charred smell of burning wood cracking and blistering open under the kettle belly, and the almost sun-kissed hay-like smell of the corn kernels bursting open as they explode from the intense heat.

And then there’s the flavor. Toasty and lightly coated with the thinest lacquer of sugar and a sprinkling of briny salt. I always loved it when there was barely any coating at all on the popcorn because it made me eat more and more of it in an effort to get enough of that elusive flavor onto my tongue.

I’ve tried to capture that same experience with these toasted “kettle corn” pumpkin seeds. Two favorite fall treats combine to form one irresistibly sweet and salty snack.

Here’s what you need: The seeds from one small pie pumpkin, melted butter, sugar, and salt. That’s it.

You just pour the butter and sugar over the seeds and stir to combine, then pour them out onto a foil-lined baking sheet and sprinkle over a thin layer of salt.

Those get baked at 300 degrees for 25 minutes, just long enough for the butter and sugar to caramelize on the toasted seeds.

And they are heavenly! The subtle sweet and salty flavor of kettle corn is unmistakably recreated in these pumpkin seeds. They are a delicious and mostly healthy treat that is perfect for fall snacking.

Toasted "kettle corn" pumpkin seeds

Two favorite fall treats combine for a salty and sweet snack.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

• the seeds from one small pie pumpkin
• 2 tbsp. melted butter
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• sprinkle of salt

Cooking Directions

1. Remove seeds from pumpkin, rinse, and let dry on a kitchen towel.
2. Combine seeds, melted butter, and sugar in a bowl and stir.
3. Spread seeds out in one even layer on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and sprinkle with salt.
4. Bake at 300 degrees for 25 minutes.

Enjoy them on a crisp and cool fall day or anytime!

October 21, 2011 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 9 comments

Ah! It feels good to blog again! I really think I’m inspired to keep on a schedule now.

I’m so glad to be able to focus my attentions on other things again. I’ve been so focused on the move and some other stuff going on in our lives for so long now that I couldn’t even bring myself to cook anything new. Seriously, we’ve been surviving on the same few dishes for months. It was definitely time to try something new.

I made this awesome turkey mushroom bake a couple nights ago that I’ve just got to share with you because it is so delicious!

Turkey Mushroom Bake

A filling pasta bake with turkey and peas in a thick onion and mushroom gravy.

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

• 2 turkey breast filets
• half a box of dried penne pasta
• approx. 1 cup frozen peas
• approx. 2 cups crimini mushrooms (sliced)
• 1 medium onion (sliced)
• 2 large cloves of garlic (minced)
• 4 tbsp. butter
• 4 tbsp. flour
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• olive oil, salt, and pepper as needed
• parmesan for grating over top

Cooking Directions

1. Roast the turkey coated in olive oil on a foil-lined baking sheet for 40 minutes at 400 degrees. When turkey is cool enough to handle, shred with hands or a fork into small pieces.
2. Boil pasta and peas together until done and drain.
3. In a large non-stick pan, saute onions in butter until translucent then add garlic and mushrooms. Cook until softened.
4. Sprinkle over flour and stir in until it makes a thick paste with the onions and mushrooms. Add in vegetable stock and stir until the flour paste in smoothly incorporated. Stir in sour cream. Salt and pepper to taste.
5. Fill a 9x13 baking dish with the pasta, peas, and shredded turkey. Pour over the mushroom sauce and stir to combine.
6. Grate over parmesan cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

One way I’ve made this recipe quicker is to roast the turkey ahead of time. I like to buy a huge full turkey breast and cut it into 6 filets, then roast them all or save a few for dinners throughout the week. Then I can shred up all the roasted turkey and either freeze it or use it in other dishes. It really doesn’t take a lot of effort up front but saves me lots of time later when I have delicious roasted turkey on hand to use whenever I need.

I’ve also been getting ready for fall, which for me means a freezer full of pumpkin puree. I roasted this little organic pumpkin and I’m going to roast the seeds in a day or two as well. The big one will be a jack-o-lantern since we’ll undoubtedly get trick-or-treaters this year.

It’s getting really cold here too, almost time to turn on the heat. I’ve been trying to put that off as long as possible to save us some money, so the cats are having to find creative ways to keep themselves warm….like by falling asleep in the warm clean laundry.

YARN!!!!!

I’m just going to end up covered in their fur anyway, might as well save myself a step and apply the fur directly to the clothes as soon as they come out of the dryer. It’s easier that way. 😉

This weekends project: Finish sweeping out the basement and possibly even mop it, then bring down all the stuff we intend to store in it so that we can actually use that second bedroom for something. Yoga studio? I think so.

Where is the strangest place you’ve found your pet asleep?

October 20, 2011 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 1 comment

I *think* that things have finally slowed back down to normal now.

I cannot tell you how much happier I am now that we’ve moved. I didn’t even realize before how all the little frustrations I had with different aspects of our last place were adding up to affect my overall mood. It took all of about 2 minutes to feel completely at home in our new place, though. I honestly already feel like we’ve been here a long time, and that this is a place that we’ll continue to be happy in for many years.

Tour time! Here’s the living room setup, just needs decorating now. There’s a small room of to the side of it that I’m using as an office. The natural light in there will be great for blog photos!

Lucas and Liam are loving it. So many new windowsills to sit on, squirrels to watch, things to sniff…

We have a small dining room adjoining the living room and kitchen. We went out and bought this corner bookshelf from Ikea on the first day to add to our bookcases since there’s nowhere in the house that all three of the standard size ones can fit side by side. See me in the glass?

And I still have a few more books to put away…

Then there’s the kitchen. It’s pretty small, but there’s a ton of good counter space and lots of cabinetry.

Jeff even gets his own cabinet for tea. Well, he generously gave up a shelf for my spices since I can find nowhere else to put them for now.

And this little beauty, a gas stove! Everyone knows that the pros use gas. This is my first time using one and I already love how evenly it cooks compared to an electric.

The pantry is out in the hallway. Actually, I think this is supposed to be a linen closet, but with how much kitchen stuff I have there is absolutely no room in the cabinets for food. Pantry it is!

This might just be my favorite part of the house though….the shower!

We had a really gross and crappy shower in the last place. This one is large and clean and has these nifty little stone shelves built right in. Seriously, for me at least, a hot shower is one of life’s greatest pleasures. I wish I could spend hours in there.

Our bedroom is pretty large. It does have a relatively small closet though that Jeff and I share, but it seems to be just big enough for us.

And the other bedroom is currently housing a bunch of stuff that we need to put in the basement. We need to clean the floors down there first though, so what will one day hopefully become a nursery is for now a junk room. The closet in this room is really small and the staircase leading downstairs cuts into it so there’s very little usable storage room there.

And here’s the creepy steep staircase down to the basement where our washer and dryer are. It’s a tight squeeze and my hamper actually doesn’t fit through the door! I’m on the lookout for a bag-type hamper that I can throw over my shoulder like a backpack to replace it with.

That’s it for now, I’ll show some more as we get it decorated some. I’m really ready to get back into posting recipes and such though, so hopefully I’ll have something new for you soon.

I’m sitting here listening to the sound of walnuts loudly thunking the rooftop as the wind blows them out of the trees. It’s a sound I’m already coming to love as a part of our new home.

October 19, 2011 Alayna Discussion 8 comments