Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Despite the heat wave outside on the East Coast right now, fall is coming and one of the perks if you like pumpkin is it's a great replacement for oil.  You might already be familiar with a Weight Watches recipe where you pretty much dump a can of pumpkin into a box of spice cake mix and voila.... cupcakes with no oil or butter (aka fewer calories).  Last fall I found a blog that took that recipe and added oil and an egg to it, probably in response to comments I have seen that the WW cupcakes are dry. 

But doesn't adding oil defeat the whole purpose of using pumpkin?  So this is my take on merging a few different recipes together.  If you don't have pumpkin pie spice in your rack, it's pretty easy to mix up your own using cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.  Also I have made both cream cheese and cinnamon frosting for these cupcakes and either one tastes great.

Cupcakes:

1 box spice cake mix

1- 15 ounce can of pumpkin

1/4 cup plain, nonfat Greek yogurt

2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2.  Mix together all the ingredients.

3. Line 24 cupcake pans and fill approximately 2/3 of each with batter.

4. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Iced with cream cheese frosting dusted with cinnamon

Bacon Bourbon Chocolate Chip Cookies

The first time I made these cookies was over the holidays.  My work was having a bakeoff and I knew I wanted to compete.  I spent awhile researching something new, I work with a lot of very manly men so I figured baking with bacon would make a lock for winning. I found this recipe on the Maker's Mark website and I knew I had to make them.  Sure enough my Bacon Bourbon Chocolate Chip Cookies won the competition.

I actually found a different recipes and experimented with them.  I like the one from Maker's Mark because it's similar to the classic Tollhouse recipe that I make all the time.  I also experimented with both milk and dark chocolate and it was decided dark chocolate is definitely the way to go.  I also added a little extra bourbon.  They are definitely special occasion cookies because frying a pound of bacon and cooling the lard takes time and isn't cheap.  Plus in case you weren't paying attention there is bacon lard in it!

Makes 3 dozen cookies

1/4 cup bourbon

3/4 pound bacon

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup reserved bacon fat, chilled

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

8 ounces dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces (I just used chocolate chips)

1) In a large sauté pan, cook bacon. Remove the bacon pieces from the fat and drain on a paper towel. Strain the fat through a fine sieve and measure out a 1/2 cup of bacon fat and chill the bacon fat until it congeals and is set.  I fried my bacon a few days before I made the dough.

Bacon and lard before it goes in the fridge

2) Preheat the oven to 375°F.  Cut the bacon into a variety of diced and larger pieces.

3) Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl.

4) Beat the butter, chilled bacon fat, granulated sugar, light and dark brown sugars, vanilla and bourbon in large mixer bowl until it is well combined.
5) Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; gradually beat in the flour mixture.

6) Stir in the cooked bacon pieces and chopped chocolate bits. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto parchment-lined baking sheets at least 3 inches apart.

7) Bake in the oven for 9 to 11 minutes until the edges start to brown. Let stand for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. 

Day 12: Our Day in Palermo

Palermo, the capital of Sicily, was the only part of our trip that we went to out of necessity.  Originally we had talked about making our way back to Rome to head back to the States, but while researching our options, we realized it'd be easier and cheaper to fly out of Palermo.

 By the time we arrived in the city we were in our fourth hotel (not including the night on the ferry) and had traveled hundreds of miles.  We were ready to go home.  The trip had been amazing but we missed our pup and our couch.  Luckily there was not much we felt a need to do in Palermo so we could just relax.

After a lovely breakfast at the hotel we retrieved the car and returned it.  Driving in Palermo was a lot less stressful in the daylight but I was still glad we were finally dropping off the Panda.  I have never been so happy to see an Avis sign.  

After the car was finally taken care of, we decided to head to the local market.  A real Sicilian market was the one thing my husband really wanted to see while we were there.  It was everything we imagined.

While wandering the streets through the market, we found a little bakery where I was able to get a fresh cannolo.  It was awesome.

From there we continued our meandering and saw some of Palermo.  First we came upon the Palermo Cathedral.  We didn't feel like waiting for the next tour so we didn't see much of the inside, but it's a beautiful old building.

We kept moving through the city and I was struck by how many abandoned buildings are still damaged from the Allied bombings.

The other thing my husband really wanted to try was Sicilian street food.  He had read about a restaurant that served only street food.  We tried a little bit of everything, including several variations of their rice balls called Arancina and a spleen sandwich!

Most of the rest of the day was spent wandering through the shopping district and getting gelato.  That evening for our last real meal in Italy we went to a restaurant that we had seen on Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown.  He had done an episode on Sicily right before we left that we of course had to watch.  It was good food and a busy restaurant.  The husband ordered pasta with ink of the squid (as seen on the show) which is something for which Sicily is known.  We also had fresh seafood as an appetizer and the Sicilian Cassata which is made from ricotta.

As seen on Parts Unknown

Fresh off the boat

Real squid ink

Cake made from cheese-- yum

After we finished our last meal in Italy we headed back to our hotel to pack and head back to reality.

Corn Bar

Ever since fresh corn appeared in the grocery store, the husband and I have been obsessed with it.  We are grilling a lot to enjoy our patio and the beautiful weather and corn is something we can season and throw on the grill (wrapped in tinfoil of course).  This past weekend we had family in town, my great aunt and uncle from Oklahoma and my aunt and her kids from Alaska.  My parents hosted a cookout so we decided to bring a corn bar.  It was easy for us to put together and something fun for people to do.

Before we left, we cut up basil, cilantro and lime to use.  We also gathered some spices including Old Bay, chipotle seasoning, salt and pepper.  Since corn is best with some sort of fat, we brought butter and olive oil.  There was a roll of aluminum foil that everyone could tear a piece off, add their own seasoning to the corn and roll it up to be grilled.  We used a sharpie to write everyone's name and the time before it was popped on the grill for 10-15 minutes.  There were a lot of good combinations but lime and cilantro with olive oil is my favorite.

Corn bar!