Italian Cooking - Types of Pasta

For those who love Italian food, like me, pasta is practically a way of life! Having been to Italy (more than once), and being of Italian heritage myself, there is little I love more than a good pasta bowl! Here is some info on pasta for those wanting to know a bit more about this yummy meal option.

Image via WikipediaThere are two main categories of pasta used in Italian food: dried pasta and fresh pasta.  Right now there are over 350 different shapes and varieties of dried pasta available for use in Italian cooking.  Some varieties are common and others are specific to a certain regional area.  The shapes used can range from the classic tubes and strands to butterflies or bowties and even unique shapes such as tennis rackets.  Italian food is taken very seriously in Italy and by law all dried pasta is required to be made with pure durum semolina flour and water.  This standard is adhered to by most pasta makers all over the world and only this type of dried pasta is used in good quality Italian food. 

One reason that Italian food in Italy tastes different than the Americanized Italian food is because pasta makers in Italy take more care in making quality pasta.  Dried pasta is meant to hold onto the sauce with which it is being served.  After all, Italian food wouldn't be Italian without the sauce.  The pasta is made with ridges or into complex shapes in order to grab onto the sauce.  These ridges are formed during a process known as extrusion.  This is the step in pasta making where the pasta is forced out of a copper mold and then cut into the desired length before being dried.  The copper molds are the key.  They are expensive and likely to wear, but they make the best pasta.  Unfortunately, most of the pasta used in American Italian food is made with steel molds that make the pasta too slick to hold onto the sauce.  However, more and more pasta makers outside of Italy are beginning to use the copper molds in an effort to make better quality Italian food.  The drying process also greatly affects the quality of the pasta and the resulting dish.

Pasta should be dried for a specific amount of time at a specific temperature depending on the variety.  Pasta made in Italy is allowed to dry for long periods of time - up to fifty hours, and at relatively low temperatures.  Companies outside of Italy typically dry their pasta at high temperatures in order to get it dried quicker.  This method comes at a price and diminishes the quality of the pasta.

Image via WikipediaThe other form of pasta used in Italian food is fresh pasta.  All pasta actually starts out as fresh pasta but certain pasta recipes require that the pasta be eaten fresh and soft, not dried.  Fresh pasta is often made with slightly different ingredients than dried pasta.  In the northern parts of Italy fresh pasta is most often made with all-purpose flour and eggs.  However, the southern parts of Italy make their fresh pasta with semolina and water.  It should be noted that different recipes can call for different variations.  These different recipes give a distinct flavor to the Italian food of different regions.  Some types of pasta are meant just to be eaten fresh, while others are meant to be dried.  There are also some types of pasta that can be eaten either fresh or dried, depending on what Italian food dish is being prepared.

When a variation of pasta can be either dried or fresh it is sometimes argued that the fresh style is best.  Making fresh pasta is a point of pride for many Italian households and is reflected in the quality of the Italian food that they prepare.

   

Leftover Turkey Recipes

Image via WikipediaTo those of you who bought an 18-lb turkey (or more!), you may be wondering, what the heck do I do with all these leftovers?  After all, there are only so many turkey sandwiches a person can eat, right? I found this great article for you, which lists 15 different recipe ideas for all those Thanksgiving leftovers. You and your family are sure to be less than bored with all these yummy options. In fact, you may just want to make another turkey!  :-)

15 Recipes for Thanksgiving Turkey Leftovers - Joelen's Culinary ...
Perhaps you'll warm them up and enjoy them as is or you'll be looking for something different to use them up in other recipes. Here are 15 recipes for Thanksgiving Turkey Leftovers that may come in handy! ...
Publish Date: 11/19/2010 10:27
http://joelens.blogspot.com/2010/11/15-recipes-for-thanksgiving-turkey.html

Related articles on Thanksgiving Leftovers:

• Turkey gumbo: Perfect for after Thanksgiving guests (mnn.com)
• Thanksgiving Gallery: 10 Recipes for Leftovers That Top Cold Turkey (blisstree.com)
• Autumn Turkey Stew (frugalrecipes.wordpress.com)

Martha Stewart Thanksgiving Recipes

Thanksgiving involves so many dishes, it would take many blog posts to cover all of them! Rather than try to do this, I thought I'd share a list of the best of Martha's recipes. Click the link to the article, and then browse through each slide and click the link for each recipe. You will find such tasty ideas as Roast Turkey with Rosemary & Lemon, White Wine Gravy, Roasted Potatoes & Carrots with Dill, Maple Whipped Sweet Potatoes, Maple Cheesecake with Roasted Pears, and many more side dishes, pies, tarts, muffins, and more.

Enjoy! And as always feel free to comment and share your favorite Thanksgiving recipes!

Martha Stewart Thanksgiving Recipes: Turkey, Stuffing, Side Dishes ...
It's not Thanksgiving without a Martha Stewart recipe or technique, so we asked Martha Stewart's Everyday Food to share their Thanksgiving recipe lineup with HuffPost Food readers.
Publish Date: 11/20/2010 15:39
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/20/thanksgiving-recipes-martha-stewart-2010-turkey-stuffing_n_786410.html

   

Thanksgiving Menu Planning Ideas

Thanksgiving is many things to many different people. In America it is a day we set aside to give thanks for all the things that are important to us and pay homage to an excellent dinner with an afternoon of football watching and yelling at the television screen (at least that is what you do if you live in Ohio). In other areas of the nation people may do things together such as playing board games, touch football, or any number of other games that can be enjoyed by young and old alike. Other traditions are to gather the ladies together to plan the shopping strategy for the next day's shopping on Black Friday!

Image via WikipedBut, the traditions that go along with Thanksgiving and giving thanks do not solve the dilemma that many face each and every time Thanksgiving is celebrated in their homes. That dilemma would be what to prepare for the big meal. There are plenty of options and as hostess and chef extraordinaire it is entirely up to you what the menu will be. The best piece of advice that can be given however, is the less food left to prepare on Thanksgiving day is the less food that has the opportunity for something to go wrong in the preparation process.

Here are a few great menu ideas, tips, and tricks that should help make your Thanksgiving Dinner preparations go a little more smoothly.

First of all, plan ahead and make sure you have all the ingredients you need and any special menu items that may be required well ahead of time but in a manner that allows for maximum freshness. If you must wait until the day before to get some of your shopping done, then do so as early in the day as possible. Otherwise make a point of getting all the non-perishable ingredients that are necessary a week or so ahead of time. Also if you are going to order a smoked turkey or something along those lines do so far enough in advance that you have no doubt at all that your order will be filled on time.

Image via WikipediaSecond, if you can afford to have something ordered and prepared offsite and it doesn't hurt your sense of pride, do so. You do not have to have everything catered but having a few items catered (or having a family member prepare and bring certain items) will leave your day much less stressful, making the risk of something going wrong a little lower than if you were cramming everything into one morning and doing it all yourself. Bread from the bakery, smoked ham or turkey, and certain favorite side dishes that are complicated and time consuming as well as some pies can be great things to make ahead (or have someone else prepare the day before and bring) and save a lot of time that would be better spent enjoying the day.

Third, recruit help. There is absolutely nothing wrong with grabbing a passing child or adult and asking for a little help with the chopping, washing, or mixing that must take place in order for the dinner to go off without a hitch. The thing is that while people often don't mind helping, they are afraid to offer for fear of seeming to imply that you aren't doing well enough on your own. There is no harm in recruiting help especially among friends and family!

Finally, keep the animals outside or locked away from the festivities and, more importantly, the food. Animals are great friends to have but most of your guests do not appreciate them in the kitchen or at the table. You do not want Fluffy or Fido to run off the food you've worked hard to prepare, so remove them from a situation that it might prove tempting.

The most important thing about your Thanksgiving dinner is that you are not so stressed from the preparation that you do not have the time or peace of mind to enjoy it. The advice above should help with that.

Video - Crockpot Spicy Cajun Beef

Here is an easy-peasy crockpot recipe for you Cajun-food lovers. This one takes no more than 10 minutes to throw together, and then cooks all day in the crockpot. Can't beat it for a tasty, easy meal with very little prep-work.

Spices may be modified by adding more or less Cajun seasoning, or adding crushed red pepper or cayenne. You can also add your own touches, such as diced green pepper (with the onions), fresh chilies, or other items. Feel free to improvise and let us know how it turns out!

Spicy Cajun Beef Recipe
Here's a recipe for you with only 5 ingredients!!! 5 ingredients to a fabulous meal!!! It's a spicy cajun beef recipe for the crockpot.. Have a stress-free meal with your family... Enjoy!!!


More recipes can be found here, or in the cookbooks below:

Related Easy Recipes:

• imabonehead: Make-Ahead Cajun Chicken and Mushrooms (salad-in-a-jar.com)
• Wintertime Chili (Spicy!) (segwayne.com)
• Weekend Menu Planning: Use a CrockPot (Slow Cooker) to Help Cook Thanksgiving Dinner (blogher.com)

Methods of Cooking

For the beginning cook, the terminology used in the preparation of food can seem daunting. While one may know the basic terms, such as boiling, or frying, there are other cooking methods that may not be so well known for the novice. Here is a breakdown of some of the main preparation methods you will use as a cook, and that will be mentioned in the recipes and articles here on this blog. Some of this is a bit scientific, but it can be interesting to learn about the different methods in detail, and may help your understanding of cooking.

Cookery is the art of preparing food for the table by dressing, or by the application of heat in some manner. A proper source of heat having been secured, the next step is to apply it to the food in some manner. The principal methods commonly employed are roasting, broiling, baking, boiling, stewing, simmering, steaming, and frying.

Roasting is cooking food in its own juices before an open fire.  Broiling, or grilling, is cooking by radiant heat. This method is best adapted to thin pieces of food with a considerable amount of surface. Larger and more compact foods should be roasted or baked. Roasting and broiling are allied in principle. In both, the work is chiefly done by the radiation of heat directly upon the surface of the food, although some heat is communicated by the hot air surrounding the food. The intense heat applied to the food soon sears its outer surfaces, and thus prevents the escape of its juices. Care should be taken to frequently turn the food so that the entire surface can be evenly heated, while the interior of the mass is cooked in its own juices.

Baking is the cooking of food by dry heat in a closed oven. Only foods containing a considerable degree of moisture are adapted for cooking by this method. The hot, dry air which fills the oven absorbs a lot of moisture, and will take from every moist substance to which it has access a quantity of water proportionate to its degree of heat. Foods containing but a small amount of moisture, unless protected in some manner from the action of the heated air, or in some way supplied with moisture during the cooking process, will come from the oven dry, hard, and unpalatable.

Image via WikipediaBoiling is the cooking of food in a boiling liquid. Water is the usual medium employed for this purpose. When water is heated, as its temperature is increased, minute bubbles of air which have been dissolved by it are given off. As the temperature rises, bubbles of steam will begin to form at the bottom of the vessel, and expand as they rise. Water boils when the bubbles thus rise to the surface, and steam is thrown off.

The mechanical action of the water is increased by rapid bubbling, but not the heat; and contrary to what you might think, to boil anything violently does not expedite the cooking process, save that by the mechanical action of the water the food is broken into smaller pieces, which are for this reason more readily softened. But violent boiling occasions an enormous waste of fuel, and by driving away in the steam some of the volatile and savory elements of the food, renders it sometimes less palatable and flavorful, so it is a good ideal not to boil most items at a hard boil.

The liquids mostly employed in the cooking of foods are water and milk. Water is best suited for the cooking of most foods, but for such foods as rice, macaroni, and farina, milk, or at least part milk, is preferable, as it adds to their nutritive value. In using milk for cooking purposes, it should be remembered that being more dense than water, when heated, less steam escapes, and consequently it boils sooner than does water. Then, too, milk being more dense, when it is used alone for cooking, a little larger quantity of fluid will be required than when water is used. (Milk can also curdle when boiled, especially if it is not fresh, or if there is acid present, so use caution when boiling, or add milk towards the end of the cooking process.)

Steaming, as its name implies, is the cooking of food by the use of steam. There are several ways of steaming, the most common of which is by placing the food in a perforated dish over a vessel of boiling water. For foods not needing the solvent powers of water, or which already contain a large amount of moisture, this method is preferable to boiling. Many foods can also retain more nutrients when steamed, as not quite as much of them are lost in the water. Another form of cooking, which is usually termed steaming, is that of placing the food, with or without water, as needed, in a closed vessel which is placed inside another vessel containing boiling water. Such an apparatus is termed a double boiler. Food cooked in its own juices in a covered dish in a hot oven, is sometimes spoken of as being steamed or smothered.

Image via Wikipedia
Stewing is the prolonged cooking of food in a small quantity of liquid, the temperature of which is just below the boiling point. Stewing should not be confounded with simmering, which is slow, steady boiling. The proper temperature for stewing is most easily secured by the use of the double boiler. The water in the outer vessel boils, while that in the inner vessel does not, being kept a little below the temperature of the water from which its heat is obtained, by the constant evaporation at a temperature a little below the boiling point.

Frying, which is the cooking of food in hot fat, is a method not typically recommended for the health-minded. Unlike most other food elements, fat is rendered less digestible by cooking, and also less healthful. Doubtless it is for this reason that nature has provided those foods which require the most prolonged cooking to fit them for use with only a small proportion of fat, and it would seem to indicate that any food to be subjected to a high degree of heat should not be cooked with a lot of fats.

Recipe - Big Charlie's Gumbo

Image via Wikipedia
If you're looking for fall comfort food, a big bowl of spicy gumbo is sure to hit the spot! Here is a great recipe I found - it's a little different than others I have tried, as it calls for beef instead of chicken.
However, you can certainly substitute chicken or other meat, and while the list of ingredients is rather long, it's actually a pretty simple dish to prepare. The file powder is optional, and actually I have never used this when I've made gumbo, and it has always turned out great, so if you can't find it or don't have it on hand, don't worry about it.

Enjoy, and feel free to post comments and let us (and others) know how you liked it!

Big Charlie's Gumbo Recipe - Allrecipes.com
A roux cooked to a deep reddish-brown is what gives gumbo it 's distinctive flavor. This gumbo incorporates andouille sausage, cubes of beef, crab and shrimp in a highly seasoned stew with okra.
Publish Date: 02/15/2009 22:17
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/big-charlies-gumbo/

Here are some others you may want to check out:

Related Gumbo Recipes:

• Gumbo for Dumbos (Or, DON'T BURN THE ROUX!) (planejaner.wordpress.com)
• Recipe: Seafood Gumbo (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• imabonehead: Wild Game Gumbo Recipe - A Recipe for Wild Game Gumbo | Hunter Angler Gardener Cook (honest-food.net)
• Cajun Chicken Gumbo (notecook.com)

Fight Stress With Healthy Eating

Whenever we get too busy or stressed, we all tend to make poor food choices that will actually increase stress and cause other problems. To get the most of your healthy eating and avoid stress, follow these simple tips.

Always eat breakfast
Even though you may think you aren't hungry, you need to eat something. Skipping breakfast makes it harder to maintain the proper blood sugar levels during the day, which can lead to fatigue, distraction, and ultimately, stress, so you should always eat something in the morning before beginning your day.

Image via WikipediaCarry a snack
Keeping some protein rich snacks in your car, office, or pocket book will help you avoid blood sugar dips, the accompanying mood swings, and the fatigue. Trail mix, nuts, dried fruit, granola bars, and energy bars (all-natural, of course -- we love Lara Bars - only a couple of ingredients, 100% natural, and SO yummy) all have the nutrients you need to keep going through that mid-afternoon lull.

Healthy munchies
If you like to munch when you're stressed out, you can replace chips or other non healthy foods with carrot sticks, celery sticks, dried fruit, or even sunflower seeds. Crunchy things such as nuts or seeds or veggies are good foods to eat when tired or bored for a pick-me-up, while chewy or creamy snacks such as dried fruit, yogurt, or cheese help when you are stressed and need to calm down.

Bring your lunch
Although a lot of people habitually grab fast food for lunch, you can save a lot of money and actually eat healthier if you take a few minutes and pack a lunch at home. Even if you only do this a few times a week, you'll see much better energy and health over eating junk food.

 Stock your home with good stuff Image via Wikipedia
As important as it is to get the bad food out of your house, it's even more important to get the good food in! The best way to do this is to plan a menu of healthy meals and snacks at the beginning of the week, list the ingredients you need, then go shop for them all at once. This way, you'll have what you want when you need it and you won't have to stress over what to eat. (It will also save money if you avoid multiple shopping trips and their accompanying temptations.)

Healthy eating can be easy if you plan ahead, and can help reduce stress in many ways - both budgetary, and time and health-wise. Following these tips can help you stick to your healthy eating plan, as eating well becomes easier and less stressful.

Related articles on Healthy Eating:

• Healthy Snack Options For Children (brighthub.com)
• List of Healthy Holiday Snacks (brighthub.com)
• Eat Your Way Through Stress, the Healthy Way (geteconow.com)
• Healthy Eating at the Office (joelcomm.com)

Recipe-Chicken Pot Pie

Image by Kristin Brenemen via Flickr
This great recipe is a bit more challenging, but not difficult - it's actually pretty easy though the ingredient list is long, and there are several steps. I would classify it as "intermediate", but it's definitely worth the effort. Nothing goes with these long, cool fall evenings like a hot, gravy-filled, buttery-crusted pot pie!
You and your family are sure to love this one!
Chicken Pot Pie Recipe | sonsiLiving
This simple and impressive dish can be prepared up to a week in advance, frozen and popped in the oven at party time. It truly recreates what most of us think we remember from childhood.
Publish Date: 01/05/2010 3:00
http://sonsiliving.com/blog/blog/chicken-pot-pie-recipe
Keep an eye out for more fall and winter recipes coming soon, and be sure to visit our holistic living website for the proper cooking tools and utensils so you'll be prepared and ready to cook!

 

Related Pot Pie Recipes:

• Tentacle Pot Pie (notmartha.org)
• Chicken pot pie (without the pie) (celebrategreen.net)
• Pumpkin curry chicken pot pie (for the busy) (salon.com)

Video-Slicing Like a Pro!

This short video gives a great demonstration on how to slice vegetables like a pro - that is, evenly, quickly, and efficiently, making the most of your time in the kitchen. He explains some tips, as well as demonstrating a couple of different techniques with several different vegetables.

Looks so fun, now I want to go slice something!

Thrifty Cooking: How to Slice like a Pro and Free up Time
www.thriftculturenow.com Learning proper knife skills is the best way to speed-up food preparation. It's thrifty to save time; the more time you save preparing meals, the more time you have to be productive somewhere else.



For more cooking from scratch tips and resources, visit http://www.newholisticliving.com/cookingfromscratch.html.  (Below are some of the knives he recommends in the video.)



 














(You can also find more MAC knives on Amazon.com.)

Recipe - Thai Chicken Coconut Soup

If you've been reading this blog for a while, and are beginning to get a bit more adventurous, here is a great one to try! It's very easy, and SO good, if you like Thai food (which I love). This is a good one to impress guests with!

Image via Wikipedia
 This is one of my favorite recipes, and I make it often -- it is just as yummy winter and summer, but fall and winter for me are always "soup season", so that's probably when I make it the most. Most recipes (including the one below) call for galangal - a root similar to ginger which can be found in some Asian markets.

I rarely  have it on hand, as it can be hard to find, so I usually substitute fresh ginger root, with great results (make sure it is fresh - the outside should be firm and non-wrinkled, and it should have a slightly yellowish tone if possible - then peel and slice -- 4-6 slices are usually sufficient; you will remove these before eating).

Enjoy!

Easy does it: Thai Chicken Galangal soup
Chicken galangal soup. This is one of my favorite thai soups. I learnt to do it a long time ago, when I was taking Thai cooking classes. The recipe stayed with me and I cook it regularly. It's very delicate and quite easy to make, ...
Publish Date: 10/20/2010 13:57
http://easydoesitrecipes.blogspot.com/2010/10/thai-chicken-galangal-soup.html




 

Healthy Homemade Soups on the Go

In this day and age it can be hard to eat healthy. With your busy schedule, especially if you have children, many people find it easier to grab whatever is available and the quickest and deal with the health consequences later. With the following tips for soups on the go you’ll learn how to make sure that the food you grab is of the healthy variety.

The problem with dealing with the consequences of unhealthy eating habits is that later is actually closer than you might think. Later is right now. Sadly, we are a nation of obese adults and just as many, if not more, obese children. Our unhealthy eating choices have caught up with us. You might be asking yourself, “How can I eat healthy when I’m crunched for time already?”

Image via WikipediaOne way is to make foods that can be taken with you on the go. One of those foods is soup. Soup is tasty, filling, and good for you anytime, but especially on a cold fall or winter day. There are hot soups and believe it or not even cold soups. Many of the warm soups are even good eaten cold or lukewarm.

First, choose your favorite soup. A popular choice of many is the infamous chicken noodle soup. There’s nothing better when you are under the weather than the warm chicken broth soothing your throat. Campbell’s has a wonderful soup in a microwave container perfect for eating on the go, but we are going to make our own soup for an even healthier choice.

The one thing that is best about homemade food is that you know what is and is not in it. Since we are concerned with health, preparing your own soup creations at home is the best way to go. No matter which type of soup you choose to make, be sure to use fresh ingredients. The other items you’ll need are plenty of cups with lids and a blender.

Image via Wikipedia
 Now it’s time to actually create your time saving soup. A good soup always starts with the stock. For chicken soup, make the broth by boiling the remains of the chicken you had for dinner. Add the herbs and seasonings of your choice and boil until the chicken bones come out clean. Any remaining meat will be included in the broth. Once the broth cools completely, ladle it into air-tight jars or containers for storing.

If you’re more of a beef and vegetable soup lover, you can use commercial canned broths or bouillon cubes for the base of your soup (but keep an eye on the sodium if this is an issue for you). Season the stock really well and boil before adding any other ingredients. Once the stock is ready, all that is left to do is toss in your favorite veggies. Again, wait until the soup is completely cooled before pouring into storage or serving containers.

Now, what about that blender? It’s a bit difficult to eat soup the traditional way while driving and if you are serving to your kids, the combination of a car and soup in a bowl is a disaster waiting to happen. Here’s where the blender comes into the picture.

Pour some of the soup into the blender and blend until the pieces are small enough for you to swallow easily. You can even puree the soup completely if you’d prefer. For a thicker texture, add a bit of cream soup.

Now your soup is ready for distributing in your to-go cups. The ideal cup would be a coffee mug with a lid. These types of cups have a wide opening perfect for drinking soups from. Be sure to prepare enough soup for the entire week. You can take the soup with you while you’re out shopping, working in the garden or to work. A cup of soup is packed with healthy nutrients and it won’t mess up the car or cramp your busy lifestyle. The next time you don’t have time to eat, reach for a cup of healthy homemade soup instead of pulling into that fast food drive thru.

And check back soon for some yummy fall and winter soup recipes - we'll be posting some here later this month!

 

Related articles on Soups:

• Vegetarian Bean Soup and Butternut Soup with Cream (suite101.com)
• Use homemade broth for pilaf, chicken soup, chicken and noodles: Cleveland Cooks (video) (cleveland.com)
• Laksa to Locro: Spicy Soups from Around the World (thekitchn.com)

   

Halloween Recipe: Pumpkin Bread

Halloween may be over, but what about all those leftover pumpkins?  Perfect for fall, this easy and delicious recipe will please your whole family.

Image via Wikipedia
 You can use pumpkins, pie pumpkins, or even butternut squash for this recipe. While you can certainly use canned puree, of course we here at Cooking From Scratch don't recommend it! It's surprisingly easy to make your own.

Here are the instructions, since the recipe doesn't cover it:

1. Wash pumpkin thoroughly. Cut around stem and remove, as if getting ready to make a Jack-o-Lantern. (If using squash, simply slice off the stem end.)
2. Cut in half length-wise using a large sharp knife.
3. Scrape out seeds and inner membranes.
4. Place cut-side down on a foil-lined baking sheet, and bake at 350-degrees for about 1 hour, or 'til soft.
5. Let cool until able to handle. Then scrape out pulp and mash with a fork, or process in food processor until smooth.
6. Use in the following recipe, or for pumpkin muffins, pie, or a hearty fall soup.
7. Enjoy!

Cooking from Scratch: Pumpkin Bread for Halloween and Beyond ...
Cooking from Scratch: Pumpkin Bread for Halloween and Beyond.
Publish Date: 10/31/2010 8:00
http://www.self-reliance-exchange.com/?p=10503

 

Related articles on Pumpkin Recipes:

• Pumpkin Recipes / Halloween Recipes: 4 Quick and easy recipes......Pumpkin Bread Recipe, Pumpkin Soup Recipe, Pumpkin Pie Recipe, Pumpkin Pudding Recipe (notecook.com)
• How to get rid of your post-Halloween pumpkin (theprovince.com)
• Weekend Menu Planning: Pumpkin Recipes for Cupcakes, Cookies, Cakes, Bread, and Muffins (blogher.com)
• Cooking with Pumpkins (greenandcleanmom.org)