An individual Pumpkin Crème Brûlée. Photo
courtesy Spice Islands.

While pumpkin can (and should) be enjoyed year-round, Pumpkin Crème Brûlée is a delicious Halloween dessert or Thanksgiving dessert.

The recipe, for individual dishes of crème brûlée, is courtesy Spice Islands, which has been searching the world for the highest-quality, most flavorful herbs and spices since 1941.

Prep time is 35 minutes, bake time 40 to 45 minutes, chill time 2 hours.
RECIPE: PUMPKIN CRÈME BRÛLÉE

Ingredients For 8 Servings

Preparation

1. PREHEAT oven to 325°F.

2. SPLIT vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape vanilla bean. Place in heavy saucepan. Add cream, pumpkin and syrup and whisk together; bring to a simmer over medium heat. Whisk egg yolks and pumpkin pie spice in a separate bowl.

3. ADD the hot pumpkin mixture slowly to the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Add 1/4 cup pecans and 1 tablespoon crystallized ginger. Pour mixture into eight 6-ounce ramekins. Place ramekins in a hot water bath.

4. BAKE 40 to 45 minutes, or until a knife inserted in center of custard comes out clean. Transfer ramekins to a rack to cool completely. Chill, covered, until cold (at least 2 hours).

5. COMBINE sugar, 1 teaspoon crystallized ginger and 1 tablespoon pecans. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons evenly over each ramekin. Broil until topping is caramelized. Serve.

RECIPE: PUMPKIN PIE SPICE

Unless you use a lot of it and like the convenience, there’s no reason to buy pre-blended pumpkin pie spice. It’s easy to mix it from other spices you already have.

Ingredients For 2 Teaspoons

 
Blend together.
  

We have a new favorite crispy snack to enjoy with beer, wine and Martinis. We love them with soup, too. And for general crunching.

Harvest Snaps are a line of gluten-free snacks made largely from peas (70%) or lentils (65%). Both legumes are packed with nutrients: calcium, folate, iron, potassium and vitamin B, plus highs level of protein and dietary fiber.

Harvest Snaps have 50% less fat, lower sodium and more fiber than regular potato chips.

And they have more pizazz. Harvest Chips are deftly seasoned for a sizzle that goes well with a drink. Flavors include:

Lentil Snaps

 
If you “Like” the brand on Facebook, you’ll receive a buy-1-get-1-free coupon.

That’s agricultural poetry!

WHERE TO FIND HARVEST SNAPS

Harvest Snaps are available at the national’s top retailers:

Albertsons, Andronico’s, Basha’s, BJ’s, Bristol Farms, Costco, Dominick’s, HEB, Ingles, Kroger, Lucky, Publix, Raley’s, Ralphs, Safeway, SaveMart, 7Eleven, Smart&Final, Spartan Stores, Sprouts, Stop & Shop, Target, Von’s, Walmart, Wegnan’s and Whole Foods Market, among others.

If you need help finding them, here’s the store locator.

Retail buyers are notoriously tough; but all they needed to do was taste Harvest Snaps. They’re probably as hooked as we are.

Discover more at HarvestSnaps.com.

Our favorite packaged sweet snack, Bare Fruit apple chips has expanded the line to two new “flavored” chips. The lineup now includes

They’re as satisfying as candy—in fact, much more so, since they’re a guilt-free, all fruit and just 50 calories per bag. Each bag is the equivalent of eating an apple, so you also contribute to your recommended daily fruit and fiber servings.

Caramel Apple is perfect for Halloween; all varieties of these naturally sweet chips (no sugar added but a special baking process caramelizes the apple’s natural sugar) are great for:

Since October is National Pasta Month—and October 17th is National Pasta Day—today’s tip, from Care2.com, dispels those myths. (Here’s the entire article, which covers other cooking myths, as well).

Myth: Put Oil In Pasta Water So It Doesn’t Stick

Reality: If you remember grade school science class, oil and water don’t mix! When you add oil to pasta water, it floats on the top, away from the pasta. So how can it prevent the pasta from sticking together?

The tip was originally suggested by a vegetable oil company, to get people to use more oil. (A similar trick was devised by the shampoo company that originally advised women to lather, rinse, and then do it again! That’s just a waste of shampoo!)

Enamel stock pot from Tramontina.

But worse, the oil that gets onto the pasta when you drain it prevents the sauce from clinging.

There’s really only one benefit to adding oil to pasta water, says Care2: It will stop the water from boiling over if the pot is too short. If you use a stock pot to cook your pasta, all you’ll be doing is wasting oil.

The real key to keep pasta from sticking: Use the largest pot, with lots of water.

Reality: If you want the pasta to stick to the sauce—that’s the way it should be, people—don’t rinse it after you drain it. Rinsing removes all of the starch, which helps the sauce cling.*

Pasta pros also add a tablespoon of the pasta water to the sauce. The starch that has leached from the pasta into the water helps it cling to the pasta.

Tip: For the best pasta-sauce marriage, finish cooking the pasta and sauce together in a skillet. This gives the pasta the most opportunity to absorb the sauce.
 
*One exception to this myth is if you’re cooking the pasta for a cold pasta salad. A lower starch content may be desirable, so if you get instructed to rinse it, do it.

ONE LAST TIP

Be sure to add salt to the water. Some people never learned to do this, or omit it due to a desire to cut back on salt.

But unless you’re on a serious salt-free diet, salt gives the pasta (and rice, and potatoes) necessary flavor. Without salted water, the pasta is bland.

Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of salt to the rapidly boiling water.
 

HOW TO COOK THE PERFECT AL DENTE PASTA

MORE PASTA COOKING TIPS
  

We love Mimosas: champagne and orange juice. We love blood oranges.

So when this recipe arrived for a Bloody Mimosa [photo #1], we thought: This is it for Halloween.

Not only does the “bloody” orange juice make a much better-looking Mimosa; a few chips of dry ice give the drink a spooky smoking effect.

The original recipe, from Mionetto “IL” Prosecco, follows.

For a traditional Mimosa [photo #2], just use regular orange juice. Fresh-squeezed is the best, of course: the drink is half juice.
 
 
RECIPE: SMOKING BLOOD ORANGE MIMOSA

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. FILL a flute or other glass halfway with the sparkling (tip: to conserve the bubbles, tilt the glass as you add the wine). Slowly add the juice.

2. SHAVE off several small chips of dry ice, using an ice pick or sharp knife. Add just enough to start the smoke effect [photo #3]. Serve immediately.
 
 
SMOKIN’ COCKTAILS

Here’s the full recipe, along with more tips to make the perfect Blood Orange Mimosa recipe.

More about blood oranges.
 
MORE HALLOWEEN COCKTAILS
 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE MIMOSA COCKTAIL

The Mimosa, a cocktail composed of equal parts of orange juice and Champagne or other dry, white sparkling wine, was invented circa 1925 in the Hôtel Ritz in Paris, by bartender Frank Meier.

Served in a Champagne flute, it is believed to be named after the the mimosa evergreen shrub (Acacia dealbata), which bears flowers of a similar color to the drink.

The optional addition of a small amount of orange liqueur like Grand Marnier complements the juice and gives the drink more complexity.

Because of the juice component, the Mimosa is often served at brunch. A Grapefruit Mimosa with grapefruit juice is a popular variation.

A related drink, the Buck’s Fizz†, has two parts Champagne to one part juice—and sometimes a splash of grenadine. Created at London’s Buck’s Club by bartender Pat McGarryhe, the Buck’s Fizz predates the Mimosa by about four years.

[1] Bloody Orange Mimosa cocktail, with a color perfect for harvest season (photo © The Chubby Spoon).

[2] A conventional Mimosa cocktail (photo © Drink Skinny [now closed]).

[3] Make a Halloween drink smoke with dry ice chips (photo © Mionetto).

[Source]
 
________________

†Buck and mule are old names for mixed drinks made with ginger ale or ginger beer, plus citrus juice. They can be made with any base liquor. Why buck? Why mule? That answer is lost to history, but here’s a detailed discussion.