in the kitchen with dinah

this weekend was perfect for trying new recipes. football on saturday prompted me to make smittenkitchen's stuffed mushrooms (so good that i ate them all a few hours before people arrived - josh helped!). i also used the stuffing for the mushrooms to make crostinis, which were ok, but not stellar. the bread needed to be softer. in that vein, i made bruscetta (but that is old hat).

i also BAKED for the first time in a while. another smittenkitchen recipe - chocolate stout cake. but as i am without bund(t-t-t-t-t-t-) pan, i made cupcakes and brownie-esque squares with a mocha ganache (see picture). i also made the barefoot contessa brownies, which came out REALLY good. they haven't invented the words in english to describe them. they almost made me want to ressurect the holiday party...:)

i also finished the fat fallacy - a book about how french people eat and why we are fat and they are not. a few things i took away from the book: 1 - eat slowly and put the fork down between bites. 2 - do not snack in between meals. 3 - it is ok to eat bad for you foods in moderation. they are better than eating ok for you foods in excess. 3 - do not eat foods where chemicals are the ingredients. i am going to try really hard on that one. it is how i ate growing up (freshly made indian food all the time). no more mac and cheese powder sacks! i will try and put this into practice and see how it goes. it is all sound advice and the author was very down to earth - not like the why french women aren't fat author. she is kind of snotty.

ok here is the guinness cake with mocha ganache and a few coffee beans for decoration:)