Catch up, Must herd and Ketchup

Catch up ...
Hey there! Well I have some admin to do over here. Sometimes days go by faster than I can chronicle them here on the blog. Last week I filled in for Kim Fernandez on Martha Stewart Radio's morning show, Morning Living with Betsy Karetnick. This was my second time filling in, but I've visited the show in the past to talk about Cooking for Real and food, of course :-). Each time they ask me to fill in I put my radio hat on and it fits nicely with my home cook apron :-). I never over step my welcome by suggesting instead of hosting, I actually do some cooking. Cool thing is, they always ask so I never have to push it and this time the producer suggested Wednesday that I prepare something for Friday's show. Cool thing is, just the day before, a radio friend in Philadelphia asked if I'd provide a backstage/green room treat for the performers at her radio station event! She already gave me tickets and a great experience for the same concert last year, so this was an easy "yes" for me. I quickly got into catering mode from my old days and decided on something that would work for both occasions. My Mini Pecan Pumpkin Pies! Here I am Thursday night working on my masterpieces ...
I had to make enough for 10 performers' gift bags at the concert, 5 people in the studio and extra for people along the way, because I'm a giver :-). I only had one mini-muffin tin at home because I keep losing my kitchen in my various moves around Brooklyn. Somewhere out there is a box with my rice maker and waffle iron in it :-). Anyway, so after I left radio Thursday at 10AM, I headed out to a kitchen store and then to the grocery store in search of pretty pecan halves, then I made a trip to the florist to buy some cellophane to wrap the boxes and a final trip to another store for colored tissue paper and ribbons. I didn't get started until that evening, but the recipe is pretty easy, as are all of mine, so I was done in no time! This is proof you can make 100-plus mini pies on a week night! If I can do it, you can do it! Here they are all lined-up after I placed them in some cute little Halloween cups I found at the kitchen store ...
I made four batches and ended up with a half can of pumpkin puree, so I improvised and came up with a new recipe for Pumpkin Hummus. Just that day I was looking around the internet at Halloween decorations and saw someone put hummus in the hollowed out core of a pumpkin, but it was just hummus. Here I was hours later with the perfect chance to go the extra step, so I did. It was tasty and the recipe is on Martha Stewart's Radio blog somewhere, but I can't find it. Actually before I could even pass out the chips to dip, the producer finished his bowl off with just a spoon! So, here it is ...

Pumpkin Hummus

Recipe provided courtesy of Sunny Anderson, 2010

1 15.5-ounce can garbanzo beans (chick peas), drained

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons tahini

3 garlic cloves, peeled

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1 pinch freshly ground nutmeg (5 swift scrapes on a grater)

1 pinch ground allspice

2 tablespoons lemon juice, plus more to taste

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

salt, to taste

Place garlic and olive oil in a ramekin and place in oven for 20 minutes, making sure garlic does not begin to brown, but just turns a light golden color. Remove from oven and add garlic cloves plus 2 tablespoons of the oil from the ramekin to a food processor along with the garbanzo beans, pumpkin puree, tahini, cinnamon, cumin, nutmeg, allspice, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and a nice pinch of salt. Blend until smooth, scraping the sides with a rubber spatula if needed. Then add a bit more olive oil to smooth out the texture. Taste and add a bit more salt and lemon juice, to taste. Spoon into a bowl and pour any remaining olive oil over the top, cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours. When ready to serve, Add pumpkin seeds and a pinch of salt to a saute pan on medium high heat. Toss while toasting until seeds are fragrant and develop a bit of a sheen, about 4 minutes. Sprinkle toasted pumpkin seeds over top of hummus and serve cold or at room temperature.

Yield: 2 cups hummus

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 24 minutes

Inactive time: 2 hours

Oh wait, I forgot to tell you! I wasn't just tired from the radio show hours that Thursday I stayed up late to bake, but I also made a quick trip to a co-worker's new set that day after the radio show to say hi! I actually had to pass at being a guest on his show because I was already booked to fill-in on the radio show, but that didn't mean I couldn't stop by to spread some smiles. Lucky for me I got there right when it was time to eat! Check out my spread and the chef that made it ...Can't see him waaaay in the back? It's Big Daddy aka Aaron McCargo Jr. on his new set! Am I breaking news here?!?! *giggle* Yes, a new set!!! Well, the set is really nice and after looking around for a second I realized I'd been there before. Remember the cookie swap video we shot last year? Yup! Same set! Just different design elements to make it his own. I can't tell you what was on my plate from his show because it hasn't aired yet, but it was tasty and hit the spot! There it was 11-something in the morning and I was drinking a fancy cocktail, I had to be a good guest right? Way better than the "5-o'clock somewhere" excuse. :-) Here we are right before he went back to work on his second show of the day ...

I headed out from there to get my act together for a bake fest!

Oh wow, --- wait ... can I back this up again? This is starting to feel like that Seinfeld episode that was told from end to beginning. Thursday during the show Amanda Freitag came by to hang out and I thought it was our first meeting, but she promptly reminded me I shoved some red velvet twinkie-like cakes at her in the hallways of Food Network in a blaze of glory! Long story short, I went down south and found these cute little bites at a convenience store and had enough will to not buy one at the time, but when I got home and blogged about it, something in me woke up and said "hey wait-a-minute, you won't at least TRY one?". So, I went on a mission and with some help, tracked down a way to order them by the case. I bought enough to share with the crew when we taped Season 8 of Cooking for Real, but I had a case leftover. Needless to say the teeny cakes were and still are burning a whole in my red velvet pocket! If I keep them all, I'll eventually eat them all, which isn't good. I decided one day to take them to work and just hand them out randomly. That's when I first met Amanda Freitag and I didn't stick around, I just said hello and "would you like to try some of these red velvet teeny cakes?" lol. I didn't even stick around for an answer, I was seriously unloading them and getting away before I could second guess myself, that's how moist and equally spongy they were. Evil, in a sweet little package. Here we are after our second, less calorie-filled meeting ...Turns out she wasn't the only one needing to hand-off the tasty bites, she passed a couple on to a chef friend of hers and they too, fell in love. I gotta unload these babies, I still have a few boxes left.

Must Herd ...(get it? mustard?) :-)
Well, Friday after finishing up a week of co-hosting with Betsy on Martha Stewart's Morning Living radio show, I herded into a train for Philadelphia to deliver my back stage treats to the artists performing at that night's Powerhouse 2010. I catered plenty in the radio business when I was a DJ, so this was familiar territory for me the only difference is I didn't know any of the performers. Years ago, I knew plenty of the current artists, so I also knew what they ate and what they liked. I settled on the Mini Pecan Pumpkin Pies because they were sweet small bites and seasonal. Then, because I partnered with Lipton this summer, I threw in some of my favorite Lipton products, the To-Go packets you add to water. I also measured out and bottled a mass amount of my house seasoning for them to use at home. The idea was to Eat for real, Drink for real then Cook for real :-). I did all the assembly in the hotel and took this picture right before I closed up the boxes and covered them with tissue and clear cellophane ...The final boxes were cute. I put purple tissue on the inside, then placed the pies in a ceramic dish I bought at the store and the seasoning/rub was sealed in a tiny glass with a plastic lid. As soon as I looked up from finishing the ribbons on the last box, the time was 5PM and I had to be there in an hour! I made a quick change and headed out to deliver the goods. The show was at the Wachovia Center and the performers included Drake, Ne-Yo, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, Bobby V, Lloyd and more. Here I am with one of my box recipients and Powerhouse performer, Rick Ross ...Just after we took that picture he went on stage to perform and I got a chance to chat with someone I worked with at HOT 97 here in NYC ...
It's Miss Jones, most people simply call her Jonesy. She went from being the co-host in the morning to hosting the show when we worked together in NYC, she also had a short stint during that time in Philadelphia. So now she's back in Philadelphia loving it and sounding great. I ran into soooo many people that night that I haven't seen in years. Pretty nice. The show was great too, I was soooo tired and only on maybe 4 hours of sleep, but I managed to keep my eyes open for Nicki Minaj and Ne-Yo ...
Nicki Minaj reminds me of so many great traits in so many artists, I really like her. I can see big sales and things for her, one of those feelings I'd get about new artists that were going to "stick" happened when I watched her stage show. And then Ne-Yo had a great show ...
He had dancers and live instruments to go with what was a pretty polished show. He sings a song I really like called Miss Independent and when it came on I thought, this was worth staying up for! Take a listen and look ...
Great song and performer.

Ok, if you read here often, you'll know I have an obsession with cheesesteaks at this one place in Philadelphia called Max's on Broad Street and Germantown Avenue close to Erie Street. Well, after the show I went, I saw, I conquered. It was 1AM and there was police tape everywhere, but I walked right by the lights and sirens right into cheesesteak heaven. I was just too tired and distracted for a picture to share. Sowwy, I'll leave you with something sweeter ...

Ketchup ...
The next morning I headed back to the train station for a trip back up to NYC. I stopped at the food court in Philadelphia's 30th Street station and got some seasoned hash browns to go with my coffee. I sat down at the little iron tables in the food court and opened my bag to find the cutest little packets of ketchup ...
Can you see them? Totally worth a click to enlarge. Really cute! Ok, that's it. Catch up, Must Herd and Ketchup ...Stick around for more sharing :-) and thanks to every one that tuned in last week on Morning Living. Plus a special hi to the girls I met in the audience at Powerhouse, thanks for watching!!!