Livin' the Life: 10/29/2012

Sandy's coming!

For those of you who may be living under a rock, Sandy would be that big hurricane coming toward us.  Well, technically it's not a big hurricane (it's a Category 1 out of 5), but it's big enough that NYC and NJ are freaking out and shutting ish down with a vengeance.  It took me over an hour to find a parking garage with an available spot in Hoboken today.  Let's not talk about it.

Let's discuss the awesome weekend I had in Philly.  I spent a few days visiting friends in the area and then went to a beautiful Citizen Cope show at the Electric Factory.

Bacon Avocado Omelette

I need to get back to my roots.  My roots include bacon.  And I can also never say no to avocado.

When it fell upon moi-self to whip up brunch this weekend, I set out to do two things:

1) Use up leftovers.  I have wayyyy too many leftover ingredients in this kitchen.  It's disgusting.  I need to eat more.

2) I'm back on my high-protein diet, so whatever I made needed to help out with that situation.

My roommate bought a crap ton of eggs so I snuck two of those to whip up an omelette.  Of course I have bacon in the freezer, Parmesan cheese in the fridge, and an avocado on the counter.  So we're going to add those into the mix as well.

Hello, fresh and healthy omelette. I like you.  I also threw in a side of mashed sweet potato.  Because I had some hanging around.  You know I can't quit that stuff.

Apple Picking at Terhune Orchards

'Tis the season!

Fall is my tippy-top favorite season of the year.  I can't wait to see the tree leaves changing colors.  I can't wait for any type of food that could potentially contain pumpkin.  I love slipping into my boots, a pair of leggings and an oversized sweatshirt.  So that's pretty much how I'm rolling around these parts.

Since I grew up in the Bahamas, it's pretty safe to say that there are no apple orchards there.  They may be one flourishing apple tree, but that would definitely be it.  So when I moved to Connecticut for high school (ahem...way back when), I was excited to be taken out for my first apple picking experience.  As expected, it was a ton of fun.  Since then I've been apple-picking a handful of times, but in the past year or so, I've promised to make this an annual habit.

Baked Sweet Potato Chips

There are few things that I get more excited about (food-wise) than sweet potatoes.  I eat them year-round, but there's something extra special about enjoying them during the fall months.  Every bite seems that much more enjoyable.

When it came time for this month's Secret Recipe Club, I confess that I totally did a search for sweet potato recipes.  I mean, fall IS in full swing, right?  So why not take advantage of it and whip up something containing one of my favorite vegetables?

This month, I was assigned The Tasty Cheapskate's blog.  In terms of concept, this blog really reminds me of my own.  I also think it's important to have tasty, fresh, and healthy (OK, so maybe that cupcake phase I went through wasn't entirely healthy) food in your home.  I wish I could have made several of the recipes I found there, but as I said before I was pretty focused on my sweet potato quest.  And thankfully, The Tasty Cheapskate came through for me!  Sweet Potato Chips.  Winner!

I can't even handle it.  I live for sweet potato chips.  I will eat them at a moment's notice.  And yet for some reason, I've never even thought to make them.  Let's fix that, alright?

Caramelized Onion, Chorizo & Goat Cheese Pizza

I've been running around like a maniac for the past week or three.  I seriously need a vacation like nobody's business.  But that won't happen soon.  And I was "persuaded" to take on another project that will finish up in November.  So until then, I'll once again be harried.  Story of my life.

Let's not dwell on that.  Let's dwell on something that I've never had on this blog before.  Pizza.  The main reason that I haven't made this food before has to do with the dreaded dough.  As I've mentioned in the past, I am not a fan of making dough so I don't do it.  I feel no need to challenge myself.  I'd rather get an extra workout in or grab a beer with a friend.  Facts.

After my trip to The Brooklyn Local last week, I found a package of flatbreads in my awesome gift bag.  At the event, these flatbreads were being used as wraps for cold cuts and cheeses.  I'm not such a fan of those but I decided that the bread would be excellent as a pizza crust.

Since I'm typically eating for one (or two when I'm just plain old starving), it's a pretty fair assumption that I have oodles of leftover ingredients hanging out in the kitchen.  That may be an accurate assumption.  I pulled together a few of my favorite ingredients to create this pizza.

Sweet Potato Pancakes

I need to preface this post by saying that I do not prefer pancakes.  To really emphasize this point, I will have you know I have not made pancakes since I was living at home.  In the Bahamas.  When I was 16.

I will eat pancakes, but usually they're stuffed with chocolate chips.  I like chocolate a lot.

Another thing that I'm not a big fan of is maple syrup, which makes the whole pancake thing sooooo much more difficult.

I sort of stumbled into making these particular pancakes.  I actually wanted to make waffles with leftover sweet potato puree.  However, such an endeavor requires a waffle maker.  That would be one of the items that is absent from my kitchen, so I decided I'd just convert my waffles into pancakes because really, it couldn't be that difficult.  And it wasn't.  The batter ended up making pancakes that smelled and tasted like spices and autumn.  The texture of the pancakes was light and fluffy, which reminded me of cake.  You all know how much I love cake...cupcakes specifically, but I'm not too picky.

I ate these for brunch.  I ate these again for dinner.  And then I ate them in between meals as a snack.  Since I've already mentioned my sort-of-dislike of maple syrup, I decided to drizzle these with honey.

DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS?

Who knew and didn't tell me?  Seriously.  Honey is the new maple syrup.  I can't go back.  I am in love with honey on any given day.  But when it's poured on top of sweet and savory pancakes...let's just say that things got real up in this kitchen.