Nan-e Barbari (Persian Flatbread)

Let’s chat book clubs again!  This bi-monthly Cook the Books Club pick is The Temporary Bride, hosted by Claudia from Honey on Rock.

The Temporary Bride is a memoir by Jennifer Klinec. 

Warning!  Spoilers ahead!!!!

The book briefly touches on Klinec’s childhood in Canada, a bit more on her early adulthood in London, and finally a culinary trip to Iran.

I’m not gonna lie, I’m still not completely clear why Klinec chose to go to Iran when she needed a break from her totally awesome (yet exhausting) job teaching cooking classes (very successfully) out of her home, after leaving her other successful corporate career.

Mini Pumpkin Pies

You know, sometimes you just don’t need a whole pie.  I mean, my family would totally eat a whole pie, but 3 of us (Dude doesn’t participate in pie eating) probably don’t need to eat a whole pie.

Or maybe you, like me, need to bring a baked item to a turkey bingo bake sale (Spud totally won me a turkey – woot!) and want to bring pie.  But who buys a whole pie at a bake sale 2 weeks before thanksgiving?

I’ve always wanted to make mini pumpkin pies, so here we are.

I had originally intended to make 4 or 5-inch pies (I have a couple ceramic pie plate I use for that) but since I was making these more a bake sale, I needed foil pans.

I could get, like, a gross of them on Amazon (2 days later than I needed them, because I found out about the bake sale 18 hours before the sale) and nothing locally.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies

A few weeks ago, I shared some amazing pumpkin muffins that are really more like pumpkin cupcakes, but I would totally serve them for Thanksgiving breakfast anyway, because Thanksgiving is an eat-a-thon anyway, so why not start off with a dessert-like breakfast?

But if you want to make more responsible choices before tucking in to turkey, I also have a tasty (and healthy!) breakfast cookie to share today!

And even though there’s pumpkin here, they’d be amazing year-round.

Pecan Pie Mini Cheesecake

It’s Fantastical Food Fight time, hosted by Sarah at a Fantastical Sharing of Recipes.

As often is the case, the challenge really stretched me this month.  The theme was Pecan Pie.

Would you believe that I’ve never really had Pecan Pie?  It’s on the table every thanksgiving (my mom makes one), but it looks so unappetizing, I’ve just never taken more than a bite – especially since there’s also always homemade pumpkin (my favorite) and apple pies!

Gluten Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

So, it’s almost Thanksgiving, but the radio and the store and literally everywhere are all skipping right over Thanksgiving and going straight to Christmas.  But not here!  Nope, I’m still fully in pumpkin mode and it’s going to get read this week!

A couple weeks ago, I was asked to bring pumpkin cookies to an event.  Since we knew there were also going to be some gluten-free families in attendance, I wanted to make a gluten-free option as well.

The oats and spices in this version are reminiscent of oatmeal raisin cookies, but with a distinctively fall flavor.

These cookies are sure to please everyone – whether they typically follow a gluten-free diet or not!

Chicken & Dumplings

Disclosure: I received a complementary copy of Jubilee by Toni Tipton-Martin for review

It’s cookbook review time, and this one was fantastic!  The cookbook is a collection of recipes that represent African American cooking over the course of the last 200 years.  Tipton-Martin’s goal in writing Jubilee was to bring to light the diversity in African American cooking beyond fried chicken and soul food.

Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African-American Cooking: A Cookbook by Toni Tipton-Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well written, and beautifully photographed. I learned a lot about the history of African-American cooking and how much more it is than fried chicken and soul food.

My favorite part was the inclusion of recipe snippets taken from Tipton-Martin's extensive collection of antique cookbooks. They added a fascinating dynamic to modern recipes.

View all my reviews

Tipton-Martin traces the history of African-American cooking back to the days of slavery when culinary skills were typically developed either

1.      by necessity as in the field slaves who had to make do with whatever second-hand ingredients came their way or,

2.      by aptitude as slaves working in the kitchen. 

It was a fascinating read.  Plus, the recipes looked amazing – I have many bookmarked to try!  My favorite part, however, was that Tipton-Martin included snippets from her collection of antique cookbooks next to many recipes, giving the reader a glimpse of how a particular recipe may have looked long ago.

Bitoque (Portuguese Steak & Eggs) #eattheworld

It’s the 10^th of the month, which means we’re traveling the world for this month’s Eat the World Recipe Challenge!

This month’s challenge takes us to Portugal!  I had a great time searching Portuguese recipes, and had quite a list of options.  Yet, I kept coming back to Bitoque.

Bitoque is essentially what I’d call a Farmer’s Breakfast.  Two proteins, two starches, with a side of salad.  This is meant to fill you up for a full day of hard labor!

Pumpkin Spice Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting

Today I have a pumpkin muffin for you.

A pumpkin muffin with frosting.

So is it really a muffin or is it a cupcake?

Despite what the frosting says, and the fact that I ate these for dessert, these are, in fact, muffins.

Let’s call the dessert muffins ok?

So what makes these a muffin and not a cupcake?