Friday Firsts - KitchenAid mixer

Happy Friday everybody! (Click the image above for more information.) This week flew by for me, but I'm glad because I'm excited about a party we're going to Saturday and next week is MY BIRTHDAY. (does a little dance)

When people ask me my favorite holiday I always say "my birthday!" Only the ones that don't know me well reply with "um.. birthdays aren't holidays." That depends on how you celebrate, my friend.

Last year I celebrated with a giveaway. Who knows, perhaps there will be a repeat this year? It was fun to spread the birthday joy!

Before I share my first I have a confession to make. I was in line for the deli, holding my little ticket (number 19 if you were curious) when I spotted it. Head cheese loaf. I walked closer and stared at this fascinating selection, with hunks of all different shapes, colors, and textures, floating suspended in a clear gelatin of sorts. With a determined act of bravery I thought "that's going to be my Friday Firsts this week!" As I waited for the clerk to slice the orders I'd already given her, I leaned in closer for a look at the ingredient list. Oh. Em. Gee. Tongues? Brain? May contain feet??? I guess I expected cheeks, which are good. But what do you want with a name like "head cheese" anyways? (shudders) So I chickened out.

Instead, my first for this week is my new (to me) KitchenAid mixer!!! Last weekend I spotted it in a thrift store for $39 and pounced! It's pretty grimy and I haven't cleaned it yet, so it hasn't been used but still - it's mine! Mine, mine, mine! I never thought I'd own a KitchenAid mixer of my own. Perhaps if I were to get married I could put it on a registry as a long shot, but really, who buys somebody a $400+ wedding gift?


Now it's your turn to tell me about your first! To participate in Friday Firsts create a blog post featuring a "first" of yours. Next, link that blog post below and tell us about it! If you don't have a blog or a specific post to link to please tell us about your first in the comment section! Any and all participation is welcome!



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**Edited to add** - I finally did something with Dinner at Christina's Facebook page. Click here to like me, or use the box on the sidebar! Thanks!

Pumpkin Seed Brittle

As I said, my dinner party had a theme of late summer-early fall. I knew I wanted to make a pumpkin tart, and Johnny would want to make an ice cream. But both are so gushy, what to do for some texture? Then it hit me - pumpkin seed brittle! I found a simple peanut brittle recipe and just substituted in pumpkin seeds. It worked out perfectly.

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup water
1 cup pre-toasted pumpkin seeds
2 Tbsp butter, softened
1 tsp baking soda

Grease a large cookie sheet and set aside. In a large saucepan, bring the sugar, corn sugar, salt, and water to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Stir in the pumpkin seeds and affix a candy thermometer. Continue cooking and stirring until the temperature reaches 300°, or the hard crack stage.

Remove from the heat and immediately stir in the butter and baking soda. Pour at once onto the cookie sheet. Use a butter knife to help spread the mixture to about 1/4" thickness. Cool completely and then twist the pan to help remove. Snap into pieces and store in an airtight container.

Pumpkin Tart

You won't find any canned pumpkin in this recipe! No sirree, this is real pumpkin, roasted whole and scooped out! A little more work, but a lot more taste. Nothing but the best for my dinner party guests! (By the way, the above photo is for you, Mara! No pumpkin shortage in my local grocery store!)

For the pie:
1 pie pumpkin (3 cups, cooked)
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 1/2 cans (12 oz.) of fat free evaporated milk

For the crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp shortening
1/3 cup butter
1/4 cup cold water

Hack the pumpkin into 8ths, removing the seeds and guts. (Reserve the seeds for toasting if you know what's good for you.)

Spray a baking pan and the pumpkin with Pam and roast at 425° for about 45 minutes, until soft. Let cool enough to handle, then remove the flesh from the skin.

Using a pastry cutter, mix the crust's flour, sugar, and salt with the shortening and salt until it resembles peas. Add the cold water until a dough forms. Turn out onto a floured surface and roll into a large circle. Transfer to a 10" tart pan, pressing dough into the ridges and removing any excess from the edges.

In a large bowl combine the pumpkin and all of the remainging pie ingredients and blend until smooth. The mixture will be runny, like a loose pancake batter.

Pour into the tart crust. Any additional filling can be baked in a well-greased dish alongside. Bake at 425° for the first 15 minutes. Then lower the temperature to 350° and continue baking for an additional 45-60 minutes. A knife entered into the center of the pie will come out clean.

Remove from the oven and cool on a rack. Then refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight. Serve with homemade cinnamon ice cream and pumpkin seed brittle (recipes in next 2 posts).

Thrift Share Monday

This Saturday we had another "drywall party" at our house. Also known as free labor. Also known as Johnny's siblings coming over to help us try and get the house renovation done sometime this decade, since it didn't happen in the last decade.

Johnny's sister, Di, sister-in-law, Kelly, and I weren't much help in this department so we decided to bake cupcakes and go thrift store shopping.

I had the thrift store score of a lifetime, just in time for an early birthday present to myself!


A Kitchenaid stand mixer in "avacado" (slightly faded in areas) with glass bowl and whisk for $39 and YES it works. I know!!!! I could barely keep it together while I was checking out at the consignment store and burst through the front door to show Johnny and immediately called my mom to gush about it.

I also found another Fire King piece, to add to my small collection I've acquired the past couple of weeks. I'm now up to 5 pieces, which I just listed on eBay. They're beautiful, but I'll see if anybody else wants them before I resort to using them myself.



I'm linking this up to April Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday and Coastal Charm's Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays, weekly collections of thrift store finds.

Wine Fig Sauce

In planning my dinner party menu, I knew I needed a sauce to accompany the duck. I was trying to stick with a late summer-early fall theme and thought figs, since they are a favorite of mine.

I'm not a huge fan of fruits being used in savory dishes, so adding wine and stock help balance this without making it a sweet sauce.

1 carrot
1/2 small onion
1 stalk celery
olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 bottle red wine
3-4 cups vegetable stock
2 cups figs, quartered (fresh or dried)
2 Tbsp butter

Begin by mincing the carrot, onion, and celery to make a mirpoux. Cook in olive oil with salt and pepper until soft. Add the red wine and reduce. Add the stock and figs, continuing to reduce, stirring in more stock as needed.

A few minutes before serving, whisk in the butter to finish the sauce and give it a nice sheen.

CSN winner

Gah! random.org was down and kept giving me this:


After searching for another way to find the winner and re-checking random.org a billion times it finally spit out a winner!!




Congratulations Sophia! If you get your tea set, I expect an invitation to a tea party! I'll pass your information along to CSN and they will email your $75 code over! Thanks for participating everybody!

Whole Roasted Duck

I had originally wanted to serve duck breasts for my dinner party, but after visiting Orland Meat Market & Deli, I learned there's quite a price difference between the breasts ($14.99/lb.) and the whole duck ($2.99/lb.) so I changed plans.

The owners Spyros and Helen talked me through it and gave me the confidence I needed to tackle a whole duck. I have never cooked duck, much less a whole one, so I was nervous.

I found some simple instructions online and talked it over with my brother to tackle it low-and-slow for the best results. Ducks are water fowl, so they have an extra layer of fat between their skin and the meat. This fat needs to be rendered off, so it's best to cook for a long period of time at a low temperature.

2 ducks, approximate 5 lbs. each
Kosher salt
black pepper
fresh garlic

Begin by removing the neck and giblets from the duck's cavity. Using kitchen shears, cut off the wing tips and any large gobs of fat around the cavity openings. You can save all of these things to make stock later.

Rinse the duck in water, and then pat thoroughly dry using paper towels. The trick to crispy duck skin is starting with a dry bird. Using a very sharp paring knife, make diagonal slits all over the bird. Take special care across the breasts and thigh areas. Do not pierce the meat or it will become dried out during cooking. (I'm sorry I did not get a picture of this step!) Rub the cavity liberally with salt and pepper, and stuff with several minced cloves of garlic.

Edited to add: Video below of the process to slit the duck's skin to help render the fat.



Put the duck breast side up on a rack over a roasting pan. Place in a 300° oven for 4 hours. Every hour, remove the pan and flip the ducks over. Using a turkey baster, remove the duck fat from the pan each hour, reserving for later use. Removing the fat will help with splattering and smoking in the oven.

I opted to carve the duck traditionally, as one would with a chicken. Breasts, wings, legs, and thighs were portioned with each guest getting a piece on their place. It was phenominally juicy and tender, with a crispy, roasted skin.


I'm pretty sure this was my first time eating duck (besides stealing a bite off of Johnny or my dad's plates) and it was definitely my first time cooking it.


I have to say it was another success. It turned out better than I anticipated and most of my guests had never had duck either. Everybody seemed to like it, and one guest even named it as their favorite dish of the evening!