Pumpkin Bread Pudding

(Insert random excuse why neither of us has posted in so long)

It’s fall in Southern California, and while the temperature isn’t all that cold, fall foods beckon. Especially my favorite squash, pumpkin. The dear husband, also a pumpkin lover, and bread pudding lover, volunteered me to make a pumpkin bread pudding for Nick’s raging fall party. I settled on a recipe from epicurious, but being who I am I didn’t follow the recipe exactly.

The first thing that I did differently, noted in the video, was substitute half the bread for some leftover Trader Joe’s pumpkin bread. The other half I used egg bread, specifically challah. The pumpkin bread had a lot of raisins, so I omitted the golden raisins. To the custard I added 1 heaping tablespoon of pumpkin butter. Baked for 50 minutes, and served with vanilla ice cream. It was so tasty it didn’t need the fancy caramel sauce, but I bet it was good too.

There is nothing more upsetting than finding the World's Most Perfect Peach on the bottom of your bag, a bruised and juicy mess.

Egg Sandwich, Re-Vamped

You know how I've been complaining about a lack of interesting breakfast ideas? I accidentally came up with a good one today.

I was planning on making turkey bacon, toast,eggs, and guzzling down a glass of orange juice. But I realized that I was short on time and would have to figure out how to take everything to-go, so I turned my breakfast into an egg sandwich. The problem was, I reeeeeeeeally wanted that orange juice, and since I don't have cup-holders in my car I was forced to get creative. Last week at a rehearsal for an extremely sexy Bulgarian women's choir, one of the girls brought coffee in a jar. I was floored by this simple innovation -- It was a jar!! With a lid!! No more coffee spills from supposedly spill-proof mugs! No more stale coffee smells permeating my car! No more showing up at work with coffee stains on my pants! Brilliant!

And so I was inspired to take my orange juice in a jar (with a lid!!!). I looked around my kitchen for a mostly-empty jar, and happened upon a jar of olive tapenade. Tapenade on my egg sandwhich? Sounds tasty! Next to the tapenade, there was a small bag of neglected onion sprouts, which also sounded tasty.

And so my re-vamped egg sandwich was born:
-2 slices multi-grain toast
-2 slices lean turkey bacon, fried
-2 eggs, any way you like 'em
-onion sprouts
-the rest of the tapenade in the jar

Ta-da!

The Perfect Granola?

Friends of GOGC, I have a quandry. I am in love with some rather expensive granola over at Urth Caffe. As far as I can tell, it consists of oats, almonds, raisins, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, spices, and a little honey. But there's more to it, and I just can't figure it out. It's perfect because it's oven-baked, so it's dry and crunchy, it's not too sweet, and the different textures make each spoonful interesting.

Anybody got any good granola recipes?

Better suited for St. Patrick's Day?

I can’t remember if M and I have ever eaten out on Valentine’s Day. Here’s our simple V-day dinner menu:

Grilled Halibut Steaks with Shallots, Pepper and Basil
Halibut steaks were rubbed with EVOO, salt, lemon pepper then grilled on direct heat. While the steaks were grilling I sautéed a chopped shallot and crushed red pepper in EVOO, added white wine, boiled until reduced by about half. Mixed in some chopped basil. Spooned the sauce over fish.

Grilled Asparagus
Asparagus was dressed with EVOO, salt and lots of lemon zest. I do love my microplane.

Salad
Baby greens, croutons, and Parmesan cheese, dressed with lemon juice, honey and EVOO



Farm Brownie with Double Rainbow French Vanilla Ice Cream and Chocolate Sunflower Seed Drops



The Chocolate Sunflower Seed Drops are a Trader Joe's find. They are sunflower seeds coated in chocolate then candy covered. What made me buy them was the fact that they are free of artificial flavors, colors and preservatives, hence why they aren't crazy colored. They are really unbelievable; neither the chocolate nor the candy coating dominates the sunflower seed.

Valentine's Day Drinking Chocolate - Video Recipe Card #1

Specially for Valentine's Day, here's the first GOGC video podcast! In just a few minutes, learn to make some delicious drinking chocolate... like Chantico from Starbucks, but better.

Download Video Recipe Card #1 right here (video iPod compatible)

The Good vs. EvilCast

Listen as your beloved co-hosts tackle dark chocolate infusions and GoGurt in the same evening! That's right: GoGurt.

Download The Good vs. EvilCast here...