Ciao Bella Gelato

I love a good cookbook, and the Ciao Bella Book of Gelato and Sorbetto is definitely one of my favorites. While some people in my family like to stick with the same ol', same ol'...I love to mix it up and have the flavors of the gelato or sorbetto compliment the meal, much like a glass of good wine. With this recipe book, I always have just the right flavor to go with a meal.

The first flavor I tried was a blackberry cabernet sorbetto. Not being able to have raw alcohol, this was a real treat for me. I chose one of my husbands favorite cabs and cooked it up with the blackberries. The flavor was outstanding. There is something about the headiness of the cab simmering, it made the whole house smell like the crush season.  This was the perfect flavoring to go with a nice barbecued tri-tip meal and was very refreshing in the heat of the summer. (We get a little hot here, and it was 107* the day we first tried it.)

A few days later I made up some of the cinnamon caramel gelato. It too, had wonderful flavor and texture. I found it to be light and not too sweet, which was a nice surprise. A lot of people at the neighborhood BBQ really liked it and gave it a lot of compliments.

The last flavor I tried in that short time was the plain old chocolate. My brother-in-law had brought me some nice Swedish chocolate bars, so I decided to put them to good use. WOW!  It was like eating a frozen brownie. The flavor was intense and the texture was beyond creamy. Every spoonful was a little bite of chocolate heaven.  

As time goes on I know I will continue to rely on this book for some new flavors to match the meal or season. I have tried the pumpkin spice (WOW!) but I'll save that for another day.

You can trust me...there's no way I'll ever be a skinny cook!

Another Thanksgiving Gone

The smell of fresh baked bread, spiced cider and turkey wafting through the house, now that's what I call a holiday. There's something about the culinary smells that send my senses on a magical journey this time of year and I have to say I love it. I wait all year for Thanksgiving, you can have your Christmas with the stress of presents and decorating, I'll keep Turkey Day and the joy of the food and family that come with it.


As long as I can remember, Thanksgiving meant traveling to my grandparents house through the fog to spend the day with my father's side of the family. My grandmother was never the "best" in the kitchen, but her stuffing, known as "snotty dressing"to us kids, was always the highlight of the meal. Now that we have kids, my husband and I have taken on the responsibility for the Thanksgiving meal. There is no more driving through the fog to get to grandmother's house, but it's still foogy out and I still serve her stuffing.

This year we had a friend visiting from England and celebrating his first American Thanksgiving. For 2 days Les had to sit and watch as I baked and prepped. I'm sure he would have much rather have been out sight seeing, but he sat in the kitchen a bit and it was nice to have the company.  I think he enjoyed the meal and the company that came with it.  It was definitely an international affair as we also had a Canadian with us. Each year we invite our adopted players from the Stockton Thunder Hockey Team to join us. While my parents' player (Jim McKenzie) was from Minnesota, our player (Bretton Cameron) was from the Calgary area of Canada. It was interesting to learn how Canadians celebrate their Thanksgiving in October and it seems it is much like ours.

I have to say, Jim made my whole holiday. He ate 2-3 servings and for dessert he had a sample of EVERYTHING!  Apple pie, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake, cinnamon gelato, and vanilla gelato, he had it all. He loaded me up with the compliments on all of them, too.What good sports they were and they brought some nice bottles of wine with them, as well.

SO... now on to Christmas. I'm not really looking forward to the season. There's so much to do at work and all I really want to do is stay home and bake and cook and bake and try new recipes. I guess I really need to get going on my cookbook and see where it leads. I would love to find a job working with food and creating....not reading essays and half-hearted attempts at reports and assignments. I guess this is what will follow my Christmas blog-- my new year's resolution. Soon....trust me, I'm not a skinny cook!

Here is the recipe for the pumpkin cheesecake I used. It came out creamy and smooth. I added a bit more pumpkin to the mix, about 1/4 cup, and it didn't affect it at all, just gave it a more pumpkiny flavor.  It comes from the Joy of Baking web site: 
http://www.joyofbaking.com/PumpkinCheesecake.html