First, you make homemade pimento cheese for a little taste of home.

Then you decide the next day to make some mini pumpkin muffins because you have to test different recipes for your potential fledgling business this year. Yes, I bought a mini muffin pan because I figured it would be easier to for guinea-pig purposes and sampling. Also? I have always kind of wanted a mini muffin pan. What? They’re cute.

I realize that with Valentine’s Day coming on—and with it, the nearing arrival of spring—pumpkin is probably out of fashion. Well, I have a backlog of all kinds of recipes and dammit, I just now got around to doing pumpkin. In fact, expect a pumpkin waffle surprise later this week when I inaugurate my fancy-pants waffle maker. Anyway, giving credit where credit is due, I found the recipe for the muffins on Smitten Kitchen. Honestly, Deb, if you ever read this, I should probably be paying you royalties by now, I invoke your name so much. No foolin’. These did out lovely, by the way. Now I’d like to figure out how to put a cream cheese swirl in them.

Pimento Cheese

adapted from “The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook”, by Paula H. Deen (Random House, 1998)

3 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup packed, coarsely grated extra-sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup packed, coarsely grated Monterey Jack cheese

1/2 cup mayonnaise, or more to taste

1/8 tsp. garlic powder

3 tbl. minced pimentos (sweet pickled red or cherry peppers)

1 tsp. grated onion

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth and fluffy. Add remaining ingredients and beat until well-blended. Add more mayonnaise as needed to make mixture hold together. Add salt and pepper to taste (it should be quite peppery) and use a sandwich spread or a filling for celery sticks. Can be refrigerated up to 3 days.

Pumpkin Muffins
Adapted from the American club, in Kohler, Wisconsin via Gourmet Magazine

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin (from a 15 ounce can)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice
1 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Put oven in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Put liners in muffin cups.

Whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, 1 1/4 cups sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until smooth, then whisk in flour mixture until just combined.

Stir together cinnamon and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in another bowl.

Divide batter among muffin cups (each should be about three-fourths full), then sprinkle tops with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake until puffed and golden brown and wooden pick or skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

Cool in pan on a rack five minutes, then transfer muffins from pan to rack and cool to warm or room temperature.

Matt and I have returned from New York City. Did anyone—besides that kitty overhead—miss me?

Honestly, I still don’t feel like cooking anything overly elaborate (personal reasons which I will not discuss here) but after a week of rich foods and awesome restaurants, I have to make something. Thankfully, the Southern Queen of Gluttony, Paula Deen, is here to help out.

I suppose you could call this a sandwich spread only. But you could also serve it on crackers; Saltines, preferably. Either way: it was easy , tasty and good enough for a lazy sad girl like me.

Spicy-Sweet Ham Salad

adapted from “Paula Deen: It Ain’t All About the Cookin’,” by Paula Deen (Simon & Schuster, 2007)

about 8 oz. cooked cured ham (leftovers from a whole ham are fine), fat trimmed off

1 cup minced celery

1/4 cup minced sweet onion, such as Vidalia

1 tsp. yellow mustard, more to taste

2 hard-cooked eggs, finely chopped

1/4 cup drained hot pickle relish or finely chopped hot pickles

1/2 cup mayonnaise, or more to taste

salt and black pepper to taste

In a food processor, pulse ham just until finely chopped but not pasty. Transfer to a bowl and stir in remaining ingredients. Add more mayonnaise as needed to make mixture hold together. Add mustard and salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately or refrigerate up to 3 days.

Listen, I know you’re exhausted from entertaining all those relatives at Christmas, probably even before that. But now that the fuss has died down, maybe you want to have some friends whom you didn’t get to see over for dinner, dessert and a nice glass of wine. And do I have a good recipe for you to do so. This one’s made for simple dinner parties, folks.

After you do all the prep work, the dish bakes for an hour in the oven, giving you plenty of time to hang out with said friends, and all you have to do is unveil it at the end. Dinner party dishes should always be so easy, eh?

Baked Chicken with Yukon Gold Potatoes

2 lbs. bone-in skinless chicken breasts

1 1/2 lbs. bone-in skinless chicken thighs (note: I reduced the amount of meat because I made this just for the LSC and I)

3 tbl. canola oil, divided

1 tsp. coarse salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

2 lbs. peeled and quartered Yukon Gold potatoes

1 (14.5 oz.) can undrained regular (or no-salt-added) diced tomatoes

2 tbl. chopped fresh Italian parsley

1 tbl. fresh chopped (or 1 tsp. dried) basil

2 cloves minced garlic

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Pat chicken dry. Cover bottom of a large roasting pan with 1 tablespoon oil. Heat on medium-high. Season chicken with salt and pepper. When oil is hot, place chicken in pan. Sear chicken 6 minutes on all sides until golden. Place potatoes around chicken pieces. Add tomatoes, parsley, basil and garlic. Sprinkle with cheese and drizzle remaining oil over chicken. Cover and bake 1 hour or until chicken thighs are 170 degrees.

To serve: Spoon vegetables on a serving platter with chicken on top.

You know, I am not the biggest fan of pears. It’s odd because really a pear tastes so very much like an apple and I like apples. Still, never one to be daunted by my weird food dislikes, I found a recipe for a lovely pear bread on Smitten Kitchen.

The batter took a bit long to come together but I realized afterwards I could’ve used my new Kitchenaid stand mixer to make it smoother. Ah, lesson learned. Anyway, this bread baked in a bundt pan? Get ready for your house to smell wicked awesome.

Pear Bread
Adapted from Nancy McDermott’s Southern Cakes, which attributes it to one Cornelia Walker

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
3/4 cup butter, softened, or 3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups sugar
2 to 4 pears firm, ripe pears, depending on size (you’ll need 2 grated cups total, but I don’t recommend you grate them until you are about to use them, so they don’t brown)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Heat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and lightly grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan or two 9-by-5-inch loaf pans.

Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl, and stir with a fork to mix everything well. If you’re using nuts, scoop out about 1/4 cup of the flour mixture and combine it in a small bowl with the chopped walnuts, stirring and tossing to coat the nuts with the flour.

Peel and core pears, then grate them. You’ll want two grated cups total; set them briefly aside. In a medium bowl, combine the butter or oil, eggs, sugar, grated pear, nuts (if using), and vanilla, and stir to mix everything well. Scrape the pear mixture into the flour mixture and stir just until the flour disappears and the batter is evenly moistened.

Quickly scrape the batter into the prepared pans and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 60 to 70 minutes, or until the bread is handsomely browned and firm on top and a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool the bread in the pan on a wire rack or folded kitchen towel for about 10 minutes. Then turn it out onto a plate or a wire rack to cool completely, top side up. Serve it as is, sprinkle it with confectioners sugar or drizzle it with a simple glaze made from whisking 3 tablespoons buttermilk, a dash of vanilla and 2 cups of confectioners’ sugar together.

Oh, the resolutions I’ve made. Oh, the hand-wringing and self-loathing. Well, at least this dish is a step in the right direction.

Picadillo Stuffed Peppers

1 (26 oz.) jar no-salt-added or regular marinara sauce

1 tbl. red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

4 medium green bell peppers

8 oz. ground chicken

1 small diced zucchini

1/2 cup quick-cooking barley

1/3 cup finely chopped onion

1/4 cup raisins (which I omitted because I do not like them)

In a large bowl, combine marinara sauce, vinegar, cumin and cinnamon; mix well. Spoon 1 1/2 cups into a 4-quart or larger slow cooker. Slice off top 1/2 inch of peppers; seed peppers and reserve tops. Add chicken, zucchini, barley, onion and raisins to remaining sauce; mix well. Evenly spoon mixture into peppers (pack filling if necessary); replace tops. Stand upright in cooker. Cover and cook on low 5 to 6 hours or until tender and when internal temperature of filling is 165 degrees. Serve with sauce.

Exhausted from all the rich holiday food and such-like, I present to you a pictorial of things I made and/or ate. Scroll your arrow over the pics to see what it was all about.

Pfefferneusse that have not yet found their coating.

The pfefferneusse are complete.

A pasta dish made with wilted spinach, sun-dried tomato and sausages.

This is where I started slicing the hardened caramels to make treats.

Olive oil muffins. Yes, you heard me right. Don't look at me as though I were insane. They were delicious.

I burnt this bacon-onion stuffing. Can you tell?

And finally, the mouth-watering Christmas duck.

I will be back on Sunday for a whole new year of recipes, stories and what not. I hope your holidays were awesome.

Confession time: my husband doesn’t usually care for beets. But since I put a lot of work into this soup, I expect him to at least pretend to like it.

If you’ve worked with beets you know they’re messy; if you haven’t, might I recommend wearing an apron, maybe some gloves? Beet juice stains like a mofo so don’t let drips and spatters linger too long on any surface you don’t want to purplish-red.

Also, I’m taking suggestions for the many many cookies and candies I need to make within the next five days. Just keep it simple, keep it awesome. Oh, and have some beet soup won’t you?

Beet Apple Soup

adapted from Sheila Lukins

6 beets, trimmed and scrubbed

8 cups vegetable or chicken broth

2 cups apple juice

3 tbl. unsalted butter

3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced

3 tbl. fresh lemon juice, or to taste (from 1 large lemon)

salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

creme fraiche for garnish, optional (I used plain fat-free yogurt)

Place the beets in a large, heavy pot and cover with the broth and juice. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, partially covered, until tender, about 45 minutes. Transfer the beets to a bowl with a slotted spoon. When cool enough to handle, slip off the skins and cut the beets into pieces.

Strain the broth through a fine sieve lined with two paper towels and return it to the pot.

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the apples and saute until just caramelized, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Puree the cooked beets and sauteed apples together in batches in a food processor, adding some broth through the feed tube. Return the puree to the pot and combine with the broth. Stir in the lemon juice, salt and pepper. Pass the soup through a strainer, if desired.

Serve the soup hot or cold, dolloped with creme fraiche if desired.

I realize that it’s only the 14th but seriously, I feel so left behind. I bought these really cute cellophane bags with Christmas trees on them at the store so I have visions of me filling them gleefully with cookies and candies but I have yet to decide which recipes I am going to do those with. And guess what? Time’s a-wastin’. I should’ve started doing stuff Saturday but I was so hungry for pancakes—the delightful Matt had his dance card full so no help from that quarter—that I made my own pancakes. THEY TOTALLY SUCKED.

I used a recipe from the sainted Mark Bittman so I have no clue what I did wrong. I suspect that my electric griddle (hee, I love that word, “griddle”) wasn’t hot enough. Anyway, I include it below for sake of symmetry and nothing more. I had better luck with the BLT pizza I whipped for us Saturday night, though. I keep harping on this, my lack of homemade pizza-dough making, but the kind I am getting from the IGA works a treat. Pile some roasted chicken on there, along with bacon, sliced green onions, cubed tomatoes, add shredded cheese and you’ve got a treat. The “L” part? Some nice bitter arugula, which I heart.

One of the things I used to pick up all the time at Whole Foods was their gingerbread. I heart gingerbread big time. When it’s done right, it’s the perfect amount of sweet, the perfect amount of gingery heat with a pleasant moist crumb. For years, I thought about either trying to get the recipe from them or just finding one elsewhere that might give me the same result.

I think I found a keeper. I searched Smitten Kitchen (of course) and Deb has the gingerbread recipe from Gramercy Tavern. I’ve made it twice in the past two days. It’s what I’ve been looking for; it owes a lot of its rich depth to the oatmeal stout the recipe calls for. Seriously, don’t substitute it…besides, you get to drink the leftover stout you didn’t use.

Also: this recipes works well in smaller loaves, just keep an eye on it to make sure there’s no burning.

But wait, there’s more! Yesterday’s fancypants breakfast was migas with tomato-chipotle coulis. But you know me, I made some minor adjustments.

Bad Mexican that I am, I used—gulp!—tortilla chips instead of freshly fried tortilla chips. I can explain! I have a couple of huge bags of them in the pantry and decided to use them up.

Also, I increased the heat of the coulis by using a whole chipotle in adobo. By the way, what do you guys do with your leftover chipotles? I don’t want to waste them but I don’t have anything coming up where I need them. Can I freeze them?

So: I am a busy bee. But not too busy to keep you guys informed.

Everyday Pancakes
Adapted from Mark Bittman, New York Times 12/20/06

Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar, optional
2 eggs
1 1/2 to 2 cups milk
2 tablespoons melted and cooled butter (optional), plus unmelted butter for cooking, or use neutral oil.

1. Heat a griddle or large skillet over medium-low heat. In a bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Beat eggs into 1 1/2 cups milk, then stir in 2 tablespoons melted cooled butter, if using it. Gently stir this mixture into dry ingredients, mixing only enough to moisten flour; don’t worry about a few lumps. If batter seems thick, add a little more milk.

2. Place a teaspoon or 2 of butter or oil on griddle or skillet. When butter foam subsides or oil shimmers, ladle batter onto griddle or skillet, making pancakes of any size you like. Adjust heat as necessary; usually, first batch will require higher heat than subsequent batches. Flip pancakes after bubbles rise to surface and bottoms brown, after 2 to 4 minutes.

3. Cook until second side is lightly browned. Serve, or hold on an ovenproof plate in a 200-degree oven for up to 15 minutes.

Gramercy Tavern’s Gingerbread
Claudia Fleming

1 cup oatmeal stout or Guinness Stout
1 cup dark molasses (not blackstrap)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of ground cardamom
3 large eggs
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
Confectioners sugar for dusting

Accompaniment: Unsweetened whipped cream

Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously butter bundt pan and dust with flour, knocking out excess. (She is not kidding about this. I used a nonstick pan with a butter/flour spray and still lost a chunk of cake. I will be more generous next time.)

Bring stout and molasses to a boil in a large saucepan and remove from heat. Whisk in baking soda, then cool to room temperature.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and spices in a large bowl. Whisk together eggs and sugars. Whisk in oil, then molasses mixture. Add to flour mixture and whisk until just combined.

Pour batter into bundt pan and rap pan sharply on counter to eliminate air bubbles. Bake in middle of oven until a tester comes out with just a few moist crumbs adhering, about 50 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack 5 minutes. Turn out onto rack and cool completely.

Serve cake, dusted with confectioners sugar, with whipped cream.

Do ahead: This gingerbread is better if made a day ahead. It will keep 3 days, covered, at room temperature. I am sure it will keep well-wrapped in the freezer even longer.

Sue Torres’ Migas (Mexican-Style Breakfast)
Adapted from Sueños Restaurant, NYC

Tomato-Chipotle Coulis

2 large, round tomatoes or best available
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 white or Spanish onion, minced (Torres says the white onion is more commonly used in Mexico)
1 chipotle en adobo, from a can (I used half of one and thought it had a plenty-big kick, you can always start with a quarter and add more if desired)
Kosher or sea salt to taste

Puree all of the above in a blender jar. Heat a sauce pan over high heat. Add oil to coat. Once the oil it hot, add the sauce. Cook for 15 minutes or so and season to taste.

Demonstration tip: Torres said that if you ever end up with a sauce too spicy, you can add a splash of cream to cool it off.

Migas
2 links Mexican or Spanish chorizo, removed from casing, diced or coarsely chopped
4 tablespoons oil (a mixture of corn and olive oil works best)
8 eggs, lightly beaten
20 corn tortilla chips, preferably fresh
Fresh cilantro for garnish

First, cook the chorizo. Heat a medium-sized stainless steel saucepan over medium-high heat and add two tablespoons of oil. Add the chorizo and cook, stirring frequently, until the chorizo is golden and cooked through, about ten minutes. Add the eggs and after a minute, the chips. Use a wooden spoon to crush the chips as you stir to cook the eggs. Cook for about five minutes (mine took less) or until almost cooked through.Remove from heat.

[Deb note: I'm a stickler about not overcooking/drying out scrambled eggs -- blech -- and always remove them from the heat while they still look a little damp; they continue cooking in their residual heat even once plated.]

Set up four plates for serving. Ladle some coulis in the bottom of each dish, top with some of the egg mixture and sprinkle with the cilantro. Serve immediately.

Wow, eight days, huh? I did not mean to let that much time get away from me.

I even have these kick-ass scones for you and no picture of the finished product. But I do have the recipe, which I found on Smitten Kitchen, obviously.

But I do have a finished photo for the amazing cauliflower soup I made the other night. (Trust me, there’s about 4 inches of snow on the ground and soup was very necessary.) I think the magic ingredient in it was the curry powder.

All right: it’s holiday time so I won’t slack off for the rest of the year, I promise.

Meyer Lemon Fresh Cranberry Scones
Adapted from Gourmet

One of my favorite things about scones is how well they work when you need to plan in advance. Simply roll them out and cut them before flash-freezing them separately on a tray, and sealing them in a freezer bag until you’re ready to bake them. You can bake them right from the freezer, only needing to add 3 to 5 extra minutes baking time. Scones are always best when they’re freshly baked.

1 1/2 tablespoons freshly grated lemon zest (from about 2 lemons; preferably Meyer)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar plus 3 tablespoons additional if using fresh cranberries
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
1 1/4 cups fresh cranberries, chopped coarse, or 1 1/4 cups dried cranberries, if you insist
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 cup heavy cream

Accompaniment: creme fraiche or whipped cream

Preheat oven to 400°F. and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

With a vegetable peeler remove the zest from lemons and chop fine, reserving lemons for another use.

In a food processor pulse flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, butter and zest until mixture resembles coarse meal and transfer to a large bowl.

In a small bowl toss together fresh cranberries and 3 tablespoons sugar and stir into flour mixture. If using dried fruit, add to flour mixture.

In another small bowl lightly beat egg and yolk and stir in cream. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just combined.

On a well-floured surface with floured hands pat dough into a 1-inch-thick round (about 8 inches in diameter) and with a 2-inch round cutter or rim of a glass dipped in flour cut out as many rounds as possible, rerolling scraps as necessary. Arrange rounds about 1 inch apart on baking sheet and bake in middle of oven 15 to 20 minutes, or until pale golden.

Cream of Cauliflower Soup

from Sheila Lukins

2 leeks, including 2 inches of green, roots trimmed

2 tbl. olive oil

2 tbl. unsalted butter

1 celery rib, with extra leaves, coarsely chopped

2 tbl. finely minced garlic

2 tsp. curry powder

2 tsp. ground ginger

6 cups chicken or vegetable broth (more if necessary)

juice of half a lemon

1 head cauliflower, cored and broken into florets

1 cup half-and-half

salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Cut leeks in half lengthwise. Wash to remove dirt. Pat dry and thinly slice crosswise.

Heat the oil with the butter in a heavy pot over low heat. Wilt the leeks and celery with leaves until softened, 10 minutes; add garlic during the last 5 minutes.

Stir in the curry powder and ginger, and cook over very low heat to permeate the vegetables, 1 minute.

Add the broth, lemon juice, and cauliflower florets. Raise the heat to high and bring to a boil; reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the cauliflower is very tender, 15 minutes. Cool slightly.

Puree in a food processor (or use an immersion blender) until very smooth, adding half-and-half through the feed tube. Add extra broth for desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper.

Winter’s coming with a vengeance here in Quebec. There have been days of snow off and on; soon enough it will be the kind of cold where the precipitation really sticks. I suppose now is the time to file away all my summer and autumn recipes that don’t quite fit the bill.

I think this recipe just barely made it. It starts off with you slowly browning some butter with garlic and sage (the only herb left in my garden that hasn’t succumbed to the cold) which, in turn, makes your house smell awesome. In fact, if you’re like me, that smell makes you think, “Dammit, I should have put that bread together to go with this.” Because a fresh baked loaf of bread would be fantastic with this…as well as a very buttery white wine.

I know it sounds indulgent, what with all the cheeses AND the butter, but actually compared with the potato and cabbage in it, it’s not as bad as you feared. It hits all the right notes: crispy, crunchy, melty, hearty. It’s one of the few dishes I’ve made recently that feels like winter. I may have to put this one in the “make again” files.

We’re having the leftovers for dinner tonight. I can only imagine how good it will taste a second time.

Pizzoccheri

1 stick butter (1/2 lb.)

4 fresh sage leaves

1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed

1 medium potato, peeled and thinly sliced

1 small head Savoy cabbage, trimmed and thinly sliced

1/2 lb. flat, broad buckwheat noodles (pizzoccheri) or whole wheat noodles

1 cup Fontina Val d’Aosta (or other good semisoft) cheese, grated

1 cup Parmesan, grated

salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 cups homemade bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to boil. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt butter with sage and garlic until butter turns nut-brown; be careful not to burn sage leaves. Set aside.

Cook potato and cabbage in boiling water until they begin to soften, just 5 minutes or so. Add pasta to same pot and continue to cook until pasta is nearly done. Drain.

In a large oven-proof dish, spread a layer of vegetable-pasta combination, then a layer of grated fontina, then a layer of grated Parmesan; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Continue this layering until all ingredients are used, ending with a layer of Parmesan; ideally you will have four layers of each. Cover dish with bread crumbs and drizzle with melted butter and sage (discard garlic). Bake for about 15 minutes, or until top is golden-brown and cheese has melted. Serve hot or warm.