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Pumpkin Pecan Ice Cream

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Equipment Ice cream maker 1 large and 1 medium bowl Glass or stainless steel bowl or measuring cup that can hold at least 1 quart Fine mesh strainer (sieve) Access to plenty of ice Cooking thermometer (optional) Quart size mason jar or similar container with lid Medium saucepan Medium skillet Wooden spoon or silicone (heatproof) spatula Plastic measuring cup (around 1/2 cup) for scooping Ingredients 2 cups heavy cream 1 cup canned pumpkin (chilled) ¾ cup agave or sugar Pinch salt ½ tsp cinnamon ¼ tsp nutmeg ¼ tsp ginger ⅛ tsp cloves ⅛ tsp allspice 5 egg yolks ¼ tsp vanilla extract 1-2 Tbsp or a shot glass of rum (preferably spiced dark rum) 1 cup raw pecans (heaping if you like a lot of nuts) ¼ cup unsalted butter 1 tsp salt Before you start Salt: Don’t use regular table salt. It’s far too harsh. Use either Kosher salt (widely available), Maldon sea salt, or fleur de sel. Pumpkin: You can use fresh cooked, pureed pumpkin if you prefer it to canned
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Spinach Fettuccini Carbonara

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Let's get one thing out of the way. True carbonara is not a cream sauce. True carbonara has only these ingredients: eggs, hard cheese, bacon or pancetta, black pepper, and water. It's quite simple to make, but takes a little practice to get the texture right. This is a dish my boyfriend and I like to make. It's pure comfort food. He makes the pasta from scratch and I make the sauce. If you can, use fresh pasta. Soon we'll share a recipe for that. For now though, if you don't make your own pasta, use fresh or dried pasta from the store. We like this dish best with spinach fettuccini, but you could use any long stringy pasta. Carbonara is traditionally made with spaghetti. It doesn't work well with tubes or chunky pasta because it's too hard to get the egg mixture to coat it evenly. When you make carbonara, you rely on the heat of the pasta to gently cook the eggs. Now let's talk about pork. Use either bacon, pancetta, or a combination of both
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Brussels Sprouts with Maple Toasted Pecans

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Ingredients 3 lbs. brussels sprouts 2 cups raw pecan halves 2 Tbsp. maple syrup 1/2 cup olive oil Salt and pepper White wine vinegar (optional) Roast the Sprouts Preheat the oven to 410 degrees. Get a large baking sheet ready. Line it with parchment paper to make it easier to clean later. Rinse the brussels sprouts and trim off the ends. Slice them in half, or quarter them if they're the really big ones. Toss them in a big bowl with the olive oil. Drizzle it all over and toss together to evenly coat the little gems. Spread them in a single layer on the baking sheet (which if it isn't lined with parchment, should be oiled). Sprinkle all over with salt and a little pepper. Pop into the oven and set the timer for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, make the pecans. After 30 minutes, stir the sprouts and then roast them for another 10 to 20 minutes, whenever they look golden brown but not burned. After the first 30, I set the timer for 10 and then another 5 and 5
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Resurrecting my Food Blog

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Wow. Have I really not posted anything here in four years? Hmm. It's probably not coincidental that four years is how long I've been at Salesforce. I guess I've been busy. But I'd like to get back to dabbling in a little food writing, or something like it.
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Cheeseless Pizza? Challenge Accepted

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A photo of a delicious looking cheese-less pizza that I found on the Internet I can't decide which I miss more: ice cream, or cheese. At least with ice cream, there is a reasonable alternative that is cold and sweet: sorbet. There really is no good substitute for cheese. Oh, there is, you say? No. No, there is not. I have yet to try to make a cheeseless pizza, since I've been forced to give up dairy, because it just seems too sad. Today, however, I was slightly encouraged by a delicious slice of veggie cheese-free pizza I had at Whole Foods. Tomato sauce and vegetables and a heavenly crust. I am inspired. There is hope. So, I don't actually have a recipe to share just yet. I'm open to ideas. I'm searching the internet. And when I next have time to cook, I intend to experiment with some pizza dough, tomato sauce, pesto, sundried tomatoes, pepperoni, garlic, and other vegetables and meats. I'm annoyed by most of the dairy-free pizza recipes I find
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Saturday Breakfast on the Patio

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  On weekdays, I usually don't have time for breakfast, at least not before I'm out the door. Typically I eat at my desk when I get to work, and then it is a bowl of cereal. Since breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, I make a point of doing it right on the weekends. This breakfast is actually quite simple and didn't take that long to make. The oatmeal is from a bag of quick oats from Trader Joe's that takes about 10 minutes on the stove or 2 minutes in the microwave. Fraternizing with the raspberries and blackberries are sliced mini kiwis I picked up from Whole Foods last night. I didn't add any sweetener, but almost added a drizzle of the ginger syrup I also picked up from Whole Foods last night. I wanted to keep this breakfast sugar-free.  That, in itself, is probably a big enough breakfast. But I'm going for a bike ride this morning and I want lots of energy. Thus, the chicken apple sausage with kale and green onions, sauteed in coconut oil.
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Raspberry Sorbet with Coconut Cream

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I am currently dairy-free, most definitely NOT by choice, so I'm doing what I can to fill the sad ice cream void in my life. I liked sorbet before I went dairy-free, but always thought of it as a decidedly different food than ice cream. That is still true, but I've become a little creative with toppings to get closer to that ice cream happy place. This is just a scoop of raspberry sorbet topped with coconut cream and raw chopped walnuts. Coconut cream is basically coconut milk but the creamy, higher fat part of it. It comes in many brands, and is sometimes labeled as coconut milk or culinary coconut milk. Just make sure it has around 14 grams of fat per 1/3 cup or something like that, and it only takes a drizzle to make this deliciously rich and creamy. Well, at least for me, on my sadly dairy free diet! I have yet to appreciate the soy, rice or other dairy alternative ice creams. Maybe that will come with time. For now, they just taste like impostors. Chocolate chi
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