life with monkey

have i mentioned how much i like the angry chicken blog? well, i do. last night, i finally got around to making pumpkin muffins, using the recipe posted at angry chicken, and i have to tell you, they are DELICIOUS. they are also delectable, delightful, decadent and divine. oh! and yummy! very yummy.

(how’s that for a crappy phonecam shot! wooo!)

i made a dozen muffins, using my silicon muffin forms, and i made very soft and chewy cookie-ish bits with the leftover batter (see the top photo). the recipe was super easy and i had everything on hand. yes, i keep cans of pumpkin and bags of chocolate chips on hand at all times. one never knows when one will need those things! and goodness knows i loves me some pumpkin and chocolate chips.

i’m sure i’ll end up making another batch soon.

sometimes i find the yummiest inspiration in my rss feeds. for instance, yesterday i was browsing my feeds and this Angry Chicken post got my mouth watering. MONKEYBREAD! why had i never heard of this stuff before? it’s got everything i like: sugar, bread, nuts, and (hello!) it has “monkey” in the title. what’s not to love?

a quick look at my pantry told me that i had everything on hand, except for the milk. my husband and i braved the elements (the winds been blowing fiercely around here) and walked to the store to pick up the milk. several hours later, this was our reward:

it was night, and the light in our kitchen pretty much sucks, so the pictures aren’t as delicious-looking as i’d hoped for. but the monkeybread? oh, it was delicious.

sweet and gooey and ever-so-slightly decadent.

after we each had a piece, i boxed it up and set it aside to take to work and share with my coworkers. there’s no way we were allowing that yummy dessert to stay in our kitchen. that would mean we’d have to eat the whole thing, just the two of us…

ohhhhh, and now i kind of regret not leaving some at home for tonight.

inspired by these general directions at Chowhound, we made a “meatless loaf” for dinner last night. i didn’t take a picture of it, because it wasn’t terribly photogenic. not that it was a big pile of mush or anything, but c’mon – it’s meatloaf. and i’m pretty sure everyone knows what meatloaf looks like by now, right? we kind of winged it, and it turned out surprisingly well. it stuck together nicely and wasn’t too dense or heavy. in fact, it was pretty light, and very tasty.

Monkeyhouse Meatless Loaf

1 biggish white onion, chopped into tiny bits
3 cloves garlic, mashed
2 medium tomatoes, chopped into smallish bits
2 packages Yves veggie meatless ground
1.5 cups bread crumbs
.5 cup quick-cooking oats
two eggs
veg worcestershire sauce [we didn't measure, but it was probably a couple of teaspoons]
tamari (soy sauce) [same lack of measurement here!]

preheat oven to 400F.
take the meatless ground out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter to warm up a little.
saute onions and garlic in olive oil. season with salt, pepper and paprika.
once the onions have softened and become translucent, add the tomatoes and simmer until most of the liquid cooks off. set aside to cool.
grease a 8″ X 8″ square baking dish [we used a glass dish].
place the cooled onion mixture in a big bowl, and add the remaining ingredients.
squish it together using your hands [just like kindergarten play-dough time, remember?], being sure to mix it together thoroughly.
transfer the mixture to the pan and bake 45 minutes. the top will be a little crusty, but the inside should be moist and yummy.

and… enjoy! it’s especially good with ketchup. or catsup, if you prefer.

the oven repairman arrived promptly at 08:00 saturday. who knew that an arrival time window of “sometime between 08:00 and 12:00″ really meant “08:00 on the dot”? color us surprised, but in a very good way. the repairguy diagnosed the problem, discovered the part needed for the repair was no longer available, then figured out a way to bypass that part altogether. the only caveat is that we can no longer use the self-clean feature. big whoop! that’s a big waste of electricity, anyway.

i christened the newly-repaired appliance on saturday by baking a loaf of pumpkin bread (from a mix) and an acorn squash, though not at the same time.

then sunday, i baked up yet another loaf of no-knead bread:

i used 2/3 all-purpose flour and 1/3 spelt flour. and this time around, i baked it in the 3-quart dutch oven instead of the 5-quart. i ended up with a round, slightly taller loaf.

i think i went a little crazy with the flour, but i really didn’t want the dough sticking to everything this time around. the inside wasn’t dried out or anything, so it worked out.

it also helped to use a floured silicon mat as my prep surface instead of a plastic cutting board. i’m learning more with every loaf.