Portland Seafood Company

The Gorgonzola Fries I've talked about....

All that was left afterwards...

The Seafood platter - fish, shrimp and clam strips

Maple Walnut Pumpkin Pie

As soon as Autumn comes around and canned pumpkin hits the shelves I start stocking up. You can't find it any other time of year. So the first shopping trip I saw pumpkin on the shelf I bought a few cans. Tonight I made a variation of traditional pumpkin pie. 

Instead of simple evaporated milk I used sweetened condensed milk. 

Instead of a traditional crust I used graham cracker crusts. 

And to top it off a brown sugar walnut crumble top. 

Yum.

Yum. 

*               *               *

Ingredients

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
1 (14 ounce) can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon maple flavoring
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Walnut Topping:
1 (9 inch) Graham cracker pie crust or unbaked pie shell
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

In large mixing bowl, combine pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, cinnamon, maple flavoring, ginger, nutmeg and salt; mix well. Pour into pie shell.

Bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes. Reduce oven to 350 degrees F; continue baking 30 minutes.

In medium mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, flour and cinnamon; cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in nuts.

Remove pie from oven; top evenly with crumb mixture. Return to oven 10 minutes. Cool. Garnish as desired. Store covered in refrigerator.

Win a Cookbook!!

Alright there Food Fans! We're having a "Favorite Food Foto" contest on the facebook group "Leave me alone, I'm eating"

So here it is!!

All you have to do to win is:

1) Post a photograph of food to the wall of this event (click here to go to event wall). The photograph must be one you took but the food does not have to be home cooked.

2) Have friends and family "Like" the photo...strangers can like the photo too of course. :)

The person(s) with the MOST likes in exactly 1 week (ending November 1st)  will get a FREE copy of Pampered Chef's Season's Best (featuring chocolate)!! Thanks to Jason, our very own Papered Chef host!



So on your mark..... Get set.... Start Cooking and Photographing!!

*one photo per person

365 Day Photo Challenge

I've been feeling a tad stagnant in my artistic side lately and have been toying around with the idea of a 365 day photo challenge. I recently completed a 30 day challenge on facebook and found it difficult to post a picture based off the assigned "theme" as it were. But leaving it as open ended as "just take a picture" wasn't what I was looking for either.

So why not combine my fascination with food and this idea of a 365 day photo challenge? So I thought I'd use this blog as a basis for posting the pictures.

Don't worry. I still plan on posting reviews, photos, recipes, etc. But will now (also) be taking a picture every day of a meal, beverage, food at the store, etc. And posting it here. Understandably there will be (for a while) some gaps in days. Since my only computer (with photo editing options) is at work the weekend pictures won't be edited and posted until Mondays.

So here's my first day photo challenge. I was running late this morning so instead of my normal Starbucks run I grabbed an Adina organics iced coffee from the bookstore (it was better than yesterdays other organic coffee drink I had from them).

Since this is the only thing I've consumed today (that was around for me to take a picture of) here we go:

 

photo editing done on picnik.com

Bridal Shower Pictures

This past Sunday I threw a Bridal Shower for my sister and her partner. I spent two months planning, organizing and test running the menu. And then cooked Friday night, all day Saturday and the better part of Sunday morning putting the final touches on everything. I was so busy cooking I didn't have much time to stop and take pictures. Here is what I did manage to capture on film.

We adapted a few recipes from here - including the Asian style meatballs

I also made 3 types of cupcakes

Mexican Hot Chocolate Mini Cupcakes

 

Vanilla cupcakes with a strawberry filling

Angelfood cupcakes with a lemon curd center and coconut/almond tops

Since my sister is vegan I tried to make food for her too.

Sauted Veggie wonton cups

Cashew Mushroom Pate

Martha's Pasta Crunch (<big bummer)

The food came out beautiful as did the decorations and table settings:

 

Review: Kinara

went apartment hunting and had dinner at a great little thai place.