The Cookies That Started It All

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My mom sent me the best package the other day. It was full of chestnuts, K cups, soft pretzels, and a real batch of Mammy’s pumpkin cookies! Now you can see what I meant when I said that Mammy’s cookies have delicious, crunchy peaks on them. She uses two spoons to scoop them out, and they look much more rustic and taste even better. They set a high bar! Yum 🙂

Also, it seems truly incredible to me that I started this blog as a way to procrastinate during finals last year. I have no idea how that was possible. Please pardon my possible sparse posting in the coming weeks. Thank you!!

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Pumpkin Chicken Thighs

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Don’t worry! Pumpkin chicken thighs aren’t a strange, physical disorder. They’re just a delicious dinner! And a good way to use up some pumpkin purée if it’s taking up too much space in your freezer.  I tried turning the purée into a pumpkin soup, but it didn’t turn out so good. Fortunately, my soup failure makes a great sauce for roasting chicken ! This chicken should remind you of man pleasing chicken because it’s cooked using the same method, but the results are much different (although it still pleased David). This chicken is sweeter and has a less intense flavor.

UPDATE: You may have noticed that this recipe went missing while I worked on improving it. The wait was worth it. Click through for Pumpkin Chicken Thighs: Back By Popular Demand!

To start, preheat your oven to 450ºF. Then, place boneless, skinless chicken thighs in a baking dish and season them with salt and pepper.

In a side bowl, whisk together 1 cup of pumpkin purée, 1 cup of chicken stock, 1 teaspoon of brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of maple syrup, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon of garam masala (or curry powder), salt, and black pepper. Phew. Pour the mixture over the chicken.

Bake the chicken for 20 minutes, baste it with more sauce, rotate the pan, and bake it for another 20 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked. Let the pan rest for a few minutes after you remove it from the oven. Spoon some of the pumpkin sauce over the chicken thighs to serve. The chicken smells so good as it cooks, and it tastes great too. Now, does anyone have a proven recipe for pumpkin soup?

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Thanksgiving in Jamaica, Mon

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Thanksgiving in Jamaica is full of delicious food. First, there is the jerk chicken. It sends my taste buds to a magical place. For some reason, eating spicy food on a hot beach just feels so right. This chicken was marinated and doused in a special sauce, and it was grilled to perfection amid smoking pimento leaves. The meat was tender, and the skin was deliciously crisp. Even the fishies swimming just off shore wanted a nibble of this chicken. But they couldn’t have mine because feeding chicken to fish weirded me out on a fundamental level. Do any of you have a tried and true jerk chicken recipe? I need to recreate this goodness immediately.

Another great thing about Thanksgiving in Jamaica is getting to drink fresh coconut water. This stuff is the real deal… better than anything you can buy in a package. The coconuts were chilled, so they were perfectly refreshing and re-hydrating on the hot beach. This coconut was more mature, so it had a lot of coconut meat on the inside. What a bonus! I nibbled those coconut edges and then scraped out as much tropical flesh as my straw and little hands could reach.

The third good meal on Thanksgiving in Jamaica was me… for the fishies. When they couldn’t get a bite of my jerk chicken, they started taking bites of my toes! Maybe they’re attracted to red nail polish because they nibbled at that first. Then they moved on to my toes, and my heels, and my legs too. But I don’t think I got any fish cooties, they were pretty cute. I just got cuties. Ha?

But seriously… any jerk chicken recipes? My unfulfilled cravings are starting to send me into a cold, shaky sweat.

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