Yummy pumpkin roll

One of the desserts I made for Christmas was this pumpkin roll. I had made this recipe on a whim about a month ago and it turned out so well that I wanted to make it for my in-laws.

Pumpkin Roll, courtesy of Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Put parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice. Stir in pumpkin puree, eggs, and lemon juice. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Spread the mixture evenly.
3. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 15 minutes.
4. Lay a damp linen towel on the counter, sprinkle it with confectioner's sugar (note: I skipped the extra powdered sugar), and turn the cake onto the towel. Carefully roll the towel up (lengthwise) with the cake in it. Place the cake-in-towel on a cooling rack and let it cool for 20 minutes.
5. Make the icing: In a medium bowl, blend cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and sugar with a wooden spoon or electric mixer.
6. When the cake has cooled 20 minutes, unroll it and spread icing onto it. Immediately re-roll (not in the towel this time), and wrap it with plastic wrap. Keep the cake refrigerated or freeze it for up to 2 weeks in aluminum foil. Cut the cake in slices just before serving.

   

This recipe is surprisingly easy to put together. Make sure you put parchment paper on the pan, as it will save you a lot of time/effort - you don't want your roll to stick!

I can't wait to make more of these rolls - next up will be a chocolate one!

Best Bolognese Sauce ever!

I was lucky enough to have Christmas Eve off, so I planned one of our favorite meals for the evening. I made Giada's Bolognese sauce over pasta, with garlic bread on the side. This is one of my favorite recipes, and it actually gets better if you make it a day or two before and keep it in the fridge.

Simple Bolognese Recipe (visit Giada's website)

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil*
• 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 celery stalk, coarsely chopped
• 1 carrot, coarsely chopped
• 1 pound ground beef**
• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 cup flat-leaf Italian parsley, chopped
• 8 fresh basil leaves, chopped
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano

*I only put a tablespoon or two of oil in the pan, as you really don't need 1/4cup for the onions.
**I substitute ground turkey to make this meal a little healthier.

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet, then add the onions and garlic (about 8 minutes). Add the carrots and celery and cook for 5 minutes, then add the ground meat and cook until no longer pink. Add the tomatoes, parsley and basil and simmer for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper (note: if your canned tomatoes already have salt I recommend omitting the extra salt). Add the cheese and serve!

Date Night at Time Out Burger

One of my favorite date nights consists of dinner and a movie. Whether that be dinner at a restaurant and then a movie theater, or a home-cooked meal enjoyed while sitting on the couch in front of the TV, I enjoy the simplicity of good food and good entertainment.

One of our recent date nights found us at Time Out Burger, which is located in Mt. Lake Terrace. This Greek & American restaurant is home to the most amazing peanut butter milkshake ever (it honestly tastes like you're drinking a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup), and their entrees are delicious, too. I don't usually eat lamb, but I will eat lamb at this restaurant.

I had the Kronos Gyro, which is "4 strips of kronos beef and lamb gyro meat, tomatoes, onions, tzatziki sauce and a few fries wrapped in a 7" pita." I am in love with this pita - it truly is one of my favorite meals. I haven't tried many other things on their menu because every time I come here I just want this gyro!E. had the Time Out Burger: "1/3 lb patty, sauteed mushrooms, bacon, american and swiss cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles and mayo." This burger is enormous, and is super tasty, too.I can't wait to visit this restaurant again - that gyro and shake are calling to me!

Buche de Noel

It's a tradition at my work to have a Buche de Noel cake at our holiday party. My boss always gets the cake from Larsen's bakery.

This cake tastes like a regular roll cake, but it has fairly intricate icing (check out the little mushrooms). I told my boss that I'd put the cake on my blog, so here it is!

An English Country Christmas Feast

I recently took my 2nd cooking class at Diane's Market Kitchen, which is located in a cute little building in downtown Seattle. I first met Diane when I took a 5-class course with her earlier this year, and I was looking for another opportunity to take a class from her. Diane is an excellent teacher and chef, and it's always a fun experience getting to cook with her in the kitchen.
In this 3-hour class we made: Prime Rib, Yorkshire Pudding, Sausage Rolls, Damp Gingerbread, Broccoli Salad, and Parmesan Baked Parsnips. The food was outrageously good, and it most definitely was not low-calorie! The prime rib was melt-in-your-mouth delicious, and I appreciated that it was grass-fed and locally sourced.
I encourage you to check out Diane's classes, as it's a guaranteed fun time and always educational. One of my favorite tips from this class is to grate frozen butter for pastries. It's the perfect size to use and you don't have to cut-in your butter and flour when making the dough!

I can't wait to take another class - I've got my eye on her "Italian Cookery" series!

Dessert Sushi

Over the weekend we attended a Sushi and Sake party. There were so many delicious foods; sushi rolls with raw fish and also veggie ones, Udon soup, potstickers and eggrolls, baked brie with crackers, and the list could go on and on. We also sampled 4 different sakes, and at that point I had to switch to water for the rest of the night. :)

I made cheesecake dessert sushi rolls for the party, from Cake, Batter, and Bowl's recipe. Here are all of my ingredients:
After mixing everything together, spread the chocolate "dough" in between 2 pieces of parchment paper and roll out to about 13" by 6". Spread the cream cheese mixture down the center, top with the fruit (I used mango and banana), roll up and cut into pieces.
Sounds easy, right? It's not. The assembly was fine, but when it came to rolling it I ran into major problems. The fruit kept sliding out, the dough kept cracking and in the end my rolls looked misshapen and slightly ridiculous. They were still super tasty, but I definitely need to work on my technique!

Braised Pork Chops with Onions

One of my favorite recipes is this delicious (and fast) pork chop recipe - plus it's a one-pot-wonder dish. Love that! This recipe comes from a class I took at Diane's Market Kitchen.

I used 3 boneless pork chops and cut them in half, then pounded them flat between pieces of saran wrap. Toss the chops with some soy sauce, sugar, and mirin, then lightly flour them (and I mean lightly - just barely dust them).

Put them in a pan with hot oil and cook each side for about 2 minutes (when the chops easily release from the pan they're ready to flip). Once both sides are browned remove them and add your chopped onions. Saute them until soft, then add the chops back to the pan. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.Serve with rice, noodles, veggies, or whatever sounds good to you!

Welcome!

Welcome to Subtle Seasonings! I've created this blog to document (and share) my culinary journey, and hope that this will be a place where we can share recipes, tips, ideas, goals, etc.

A little about me:
I'm a self-taught cook who enjoys trying just about anything (food-wise), but right now I have a special interest in learning how to cook vegan and vegetarian recipes. That doesn't mean you aren't going to find frequent posts with recipes that have meat and animal products in them, it just means that I am spending a lot of time finding and trying veggie-only recipes, too.

I still cook mostly from other people's recipes, but I hope to start creating my own recipes soon. I'm definitely still a work in progress. :)

With that said, come on in and enjoy the blog!