Fall has always been my favorite season, and coffee is always my drink of choice, so it’s no wonder I’m a big fan of fall-themed coffee drinks. This new coffee drink is inspired by a box of amazing maple syrup goodies that Mex’s mom sent to us last week. The maple hard candies were my favorite treat in the box: they taste exactly like a drizzle of maple syrup. I tried to capture some of that perfect maple flavor in this drink.

Along the lines of my Cinnamon-Swirl Latte, knew I wanted to doctor up my milk before I frothed it, and I figured that nothing screams fall like pumpkin, and voila! Maple Pumpkin Café au Lait was born. It’s much less of a sugar bob than Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte, which is far too sweet for my taste. I like maple syrup rather than sugar in this drink because it not only imparts sweetness, but it also has its own flavor. This is the same reason I often put bananas in my baked goods or oatmeal: it adds natural sweetness and also provides a flavor boost.

The difference between café au lait and a latte is that a latte uses espresso and milk, whereas a café au lait uses brewed (drip) coffee and milk. Of course you can substitute in espresso if you prefer,  I just assume that more of you have a Mr. Coffee laying around rather than an espresso machine.

Maple Pumpkin Café au Lait

Makes 1 drink. Multiply as necessary for more servings.

Adjust the amounts of milk, coffee, and maple syrup to your taste.

• Milk (low fat foams better)
• Brewed coffee
• 1 tbsp pumpkin puree
• 1-2 tsp pure maple syrup
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg

Fill a mug about 1/3 of the way with milk. Microwave for 30 seconds on high. Add 1 tbsp pumpkin puree, 1-2 tsp maple syrup (to taste), and a dash of cinnamon to the milk.

Froth the milk with a handheld frother, a whisk, or a blender.

Pour hot coffee to fill the mug. Sprinkle with a bit more cinnamon or nutmeg and enjoy!

A quick post for a quick recipe. This Triple Berry Banana Bread is so satisfying and so pretty to look at. Aside from the taste I think the parts of the loaf where the berries burst out are my favorite thing about this loaf. What can I say? I have a thing for jewel tones.

It also has no added fat (greek yogurt instead) and is fairly low on added sugar (the bananas act as the main sweetener)-if you’re into that sort of thing.

I hope you try it. (With a pat or two of butter on it.)

What?! The bread has no added fat! and it’s lowish in the sugar department! You can totally have some butter.

Or a lot of butter. I won’t tell.

Triple Berry Banana Bread

Wet Ingredients
3 very ripe bananas
1 egg
1 egg white
1/3 cup nonfat plain greek yogurt
3/4 cup granulated sugar

Dry Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 cups frozen mixed berries (use fresh if you have them)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a loaf pan.

In a large mixing bowl mash the bananas until smooth. Then, whisk together with the remaining wet ingredients. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Do not overmix.

In the dry ingredients bowl, add the berries and additional flour. Mix together. Add the berry mixture to the muffin batter and mix briefly to combine.

Pour the muffin mixture into the prepared pan and smooth out the top. Bake for 1 hour.

I’ve never been great at following directions in the kitchen. I’m not a very creative person in my everyday life, but when it comes to cooking, for some reason my inner artist tends to come out. I tend to use recipes as inspiration rather than instructions, borrowing flavor combinations or techniques, but always putting my own spin on the dish. When I tell most people this, they are usually impressed and say hings like “Wow! You must be a great cook!” or “I’m not brave enough to do that!”

The problem with these reactions is they they suppose that my recipe tweaks always work out well, which they don’t! Lately I’ve been having some difficulty coming up with great meat-based dishes on my own. I am not great at knowing when a piece of meat is cooked properly, and have been erring on the side of over-cooking my meat, which usually results in a disappointing final product.

So, I figured I’d trust the experts at Bon Appetit magazine to show me how it’s done. The cover recipe of the October 2011 issue, Prosciutto-Wrapped Pork Loin with Roasted Apples, might have been a bit advanced for my skill level, but I figured if I could just follow the directions, I’d end up with a great meal.

Yeah, not my finest photography work. What can I say? I was hungry!

I was half right.

The only real problem I had with the recipe was with butterflying the pork loin. The instructions said that you could ask the butcher to butterfly it for you, but I skimmed over that part of the recipe. Again I figured if I followed the directions, I could do it myself.

Womp womp.

I ended up making the butterflied pork loin much too thick, which meant that it was nearly impossible to roll the stuffed loin. In hindsight, I should have reserved some of the stuffing and served it alongside the pork. Ah well, it still tasted fine. Also, since the pork loin was too fat, the prosciutto didn’t wrap around the loin completely. The other mistake I made was not reading the ingredients list carefully enough. I didn’t see the part that listed ground pork as part of the filling! I thought it was jut a vegetable stuffing. I ended up using ground turkey instead, which didn’t add any flavor at all to the dish.

Parting Thoughts

I’m so glad I followed this recipe! The results are impressive looking and great tasting. I would definitely serve this to company.  In fact, I think it would make a great alternative to turkey at a Thanksgiving meal, or be wonderful for any holiday dinner. That being said, of course there are a few things I would do differently.  Next time, I will skip the ground meat in the filling all together. It just doesn’t need it.  I will also swap out the prosciutto for bacon. The prosciutto got a bit too crisp in the oven and dried out a bit. The roasted apples were my absolute favorite part. They absorbed a lot of the pork flavors but were still sweet and tender. Awesome. The sauce was fantastic as well. A note of caution: lining the pan you roast the pork loin in is essential! My pan required a long soak before it came clean.

You can find the recipe for Prosciutto-Wrapped Pork Loin with Roasted Apples here: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/10/prosciutto-wrapped-pork-loin-with-roasted-apples

I’m at Foodbuzz Fest in San Francisco learning more about food blogging. I’m feeling like a fraud since I haven’t blogged in months so I thought I would throw up a quick post. This is my first post from my iPhone, so please bear with me I the formatting is wonky or if there are autocorrect mistakes.

Here are some teaser photos of one of the best meals I’ve ever made. It’s the cover recipe from Bon Appetit. It was as much work as you would think the cover recipe of Bon Appetit would be. I’ll tell you about the process in my next post.

I’ve been gone from the blog for a little while. It’s not that I haven’t had anything to blog about. Quite the opposite, really. But I’ve been short on time with my new job. And my new puppy. Between 6am dog walks, commuting via bus to downtown LA, and commuting home again to do more dog walking, I haven’t had a lot of time for blogging. Frankly, this post is even a bit of a cop out. I’m just going to share some of the photos I’ve taken recently, some of food, and some of my sweet puppy.

I’ll be back soon though. Once I get used to my schedule. Promise.

My beautiful rescue pup, Tikka

Homemade Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Pretty Tikka. Aren't her eyes amazing?

Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Italian Sausage and Garlic

Pesto Roasted Salmon Sandwich

The Day We Met: Love at First Sight <3

Tuna Sandwiches on Homemade Mini Pretzel Rolls

Fancy Ramen Noodles

Greek Turkey Burgers and Roasted Zucchini

Barbecued Chicken Salad with Chunky Guacamole and Baked Tortilla Chips

Oven Fried Catfish, Local Corn on the Cob, Stuffed Clams

Mango Pineapple Smoothie. I just bought a Magic Bullet. I'm blending everything in sight.

Fish and Chips

Whole Wheat Chicken Gyro and Greek Salad

Chicken Pot Pie with Homemade Whole Wheat Biscuits

Watermelon, Basil, and Cucumber Agua Fresca

Early For Work

Our First Dodgers Game

Dodger Pretzel > Dodger Dog