Photo: Flickr/Dr.Bacchus

I love the days when beautiful cookbooks and glossy food mags grace my mailbox. Yankee Magazine‘s latest installment of “Best New England Recipes” is no exception. Available now on news stands, here’s one of the yummiest recipes we could find — Pumpkin Whoopie Pies.

Tell me you can’t keep on reading.

Amy Traverso, Senior Lifestyle Editor at Yankee, says that while “Pennsylvanians may claim whoopie pies as their own, we know they’re a New England thing. ”

And how to make a whoopie pie even more New England? Traverso explains that Yankee “replaced the usual chocolate in the cakes with native pumpkin, giving [the pies] a warm spice flavor and further bragging rights to one of the greatest culinary invention ever:  a cake that eats like a cookie.”

So, without further ado, here is the recipe.

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Photo: Courtesy of We Are Not Martha

Usually I’m not a fan of pairing ingredients besides butter and olive oil with scallops. A fresh scallop is so simple, with a natural sweetness and richness, that it seems almost blasphemous to perfect it with odd seasonings or sauces. At restaurants, I assume that complicated preparations are a mask for scallops not fresh enough to stand alone.

However, We Are Not Martha’s scallops with apple cider glaze over spinach with apples is poised to become the dish that breaks me of this unwarranted scallop snobbishness. The sweetness of the scallops balanced by the tartness of the cider and the simpleness of the spinach and apple sauté add, not detract from the scallops themselves.

Mostly, there is no longer a reason for my scallops to remain unimaginative and plain.

Not to mention, bay scallop season is right around the corner! The Nantucket Bay Scallop is smaller and more tender than a sea scallop, and by many opinions, richer in flavor as well. So more than just championing simplicity, this dish can celebrate the best of the fall season, both from the land and sea. Dive in!

Photo: smreed/Flickr

LOCAL TREATS:

Smokin’ Out

Think smoked ribs are the only way to go?  If so, make sure you’re at the East Cambridge Association’s Smoke This Rib Fest 2011 this Sunday, Oct. 9, 12-4pm on Cambridge Street between Fulkerson and Fifth.  For the day, the roads will be transformed into a haven of all-thing-ribs from a variety of Boston-based restaurants.  Make sure to get your tickets to this unique festival before Oct. 7 here.

Farmer for a Day

Step into the world of an actual farmer for a day with Appleton Farms’ Farmstead and Old House Tour, this Sunday, Oct. 9, 3-5pm.  Take a leisurely stroll through the grounds while hearing exciting Appleton family tales before visiting the dairy during milking time – an event not ordinarily open to the public.  Trustees of Reservations has everything you need to know for this day of family fun.

Playing Chicken

Spend your Sunday evenings with a plate of comfort food at Chef Todd Winer’s weekly Sunday Chicken Dinners, starting this Sunday, Oct. 9 at The Metropolitan Club.  Feast on a hearty meal of salad, followed by your choice of chicken, (fried, barbequed, or roasted) and a delicious side dish.  Call 617-731-0600 to reserve your spot.

Top Dish

Enjoy an exciting evening with Exhale Magazine, TV Diner’s Billy Costa and Jenny Johnson, and Boston’s top food editors and supporters to celebrate local chefs and producers at Top Dish on Friday, Oct. 15 at the Epi Center.  The night will be filled with celebrity chef demonstrations, samplings of incredible food, and chance to vote for your favorite recipes, chefs and restaurants.  Read all about it and get your tickets here.

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A Friendly's in West Springfield, MA. Photo: Flickr/Rusty Clark

It’s been a ripe week of food and fitness coverage on WBUR.

Here & Now reported on a new law in Finland called “Health In All Policies,” which asks legislators to consider how each of their decisions may impact residents’ health. For example, local officials are urged to plan developments that encourage people to exercise.  Does that mean bike lanes only? Listen in to find out.

Speaking of combatting obesity, the nation’s thinnest state is losing it’s edge. NPR reports on Colorado’s efforts to combat its growing waistline.

And finally, Friendly’s. Those who love those smiley-faced ice cream treats may be shedding a tear. NPR reports that the Wilbraham-based food restaurant chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday morning. So what does this mean for the Bickford’s, Denny’s and Cracker Barrel’s of the food world? Time will only tell.

Chef Sewall of the Eastern Standard's Maine Lobster Sliders (photo: Elizabeth Hathaway)

This past weekend it seemed that all of Boston was abuzz with education about and support of the local food and sustainability movement. First there was the Boston Local Food Festival on Saturday, and then, on Sunday afternoon, the Chef’s Collaborative held their annual fundraiser, Grilling on the Green, in Cambridge.

The Chef’s Collaborative is a national organization that originated in Boston. The collaborative says it identifies chefs as leaders who can inspire investment in the sustainable food supply. They educate chefs on sustainable buying and menu creation with the hopes that an increased presence of local food on restaurant menus will help support local fisheries and farms and then inspire the general public to do the same.

Well, Sunday’s Grilling on the Green fundraiser certainly made a point about a chef’s ability to inspire. Twelve of the Greater Boston restaurant scene’s best know names convened in Cambridge’s Technology Square with samplings of their local food creations. Continue reading →

Photo: Buttercream Blondie

I’m not a great cook.

It’s actually not that I’m bad; it’s just that my experience is limited to pasta, eggs and cookies – simple dishes that leave little mess and can be created in the confined space of my dorm room kitchen.

My inability to create exciting and delicious meals really only brings me down this time of year – when the air has shifted to that ideal temperature of crisp and breezy, minus the bitter chill that will surely follow.  The aroma of pumpkin-spice-everything seeps from all corners and I nestle up in my cozy fall-themed sweaters and await my trip down south to feast on my grandmother’s famous pumpkin chiffon pie and more turkey than I can imagine.

To tide me (and others like me) over, Buttercream Blondie has offered up these Brown Butter & Pepita Cookies.  To my mind, the thought of any kind of food generously topped with a brown sugar glaze is enough to leave my mouth watering for a while. Yet this particular treat adds an extra layer of fall-themed-umph with the addition of pepitas and edible pumpkin seeds, all foods that perfectly reflect the autumn spirit.

More than that, the recipe doesn’t look impossible.

Could this be the dish that brings my cooking skills to a new level?  The thought of nibbling on these while sipping a pumpkin-spiced latte just might motivate me to add this to my repertoire.

So now, when my parents call to gloat about the loveliness of October in North Carolina, the leaves already changing and the perfect southern breeze, I won’t feel as bad.  No, not bad at all.

Scene from the Boston Local Food festival (photo: Elizabeth Hathaway)

Well, it looks like we weren’t the only ones in heavy anticipation of the Boston Local Food Festival! This past Saturday afternoon, the waterfront at the Fort Point Channel was awash with vendors, chefs, farmers, volunteers, bakers, fishermen, and waves of festival-goers who effectively wished the forecasted rain into a bright, warm, fall day. By the many accounts of festival-goers, with their hands full of produce, baked goods, warm fresh sandwiches, cups of chowder and sustainability literature, keeping off the rain was not the only success of the festival. Continue reading →

Photo: Chefdruck/Flickr

Even if you’re someone who, like me, enjoys delving into complicated recipes — sometimes, all you want is a grilled cheese sandwich. Sad? Tired? Overwhelmed? Here’s your prescription: Butter both sides of two slices of sturdy sandwich bread. With the burner on medium, place one slice on a hot frying pan. Cover with two slices of cheddar and the other piece of bread. Toast both sides until the cheese is melty and the bread is brown.

There. Thanks to some magic that lives in carbs and Cabot, you feel a little happier.

There are little things you can add to this mixture — things that, while they don’t improve the grilled cheese sandwich, do result in a new and interesting experience. Some successes I’ve had:

• Sweet pickle relish
• Granny smith apples & brown sugar
• Tomatoes & bacon
• Olive tapenade (especially good if you use mozzarella)

Today’s food therapy adds another, unexpected combination to this list: butternut squash and onions carmelized in a balsamic reduction. It’s more time-consuming than most grilled cheese sandwiches, yes — but picture your standard grilled cheese made gooier with squash, made sweeter with balsamic, made saltier with onions. It’s seasonal eating for when you’re tired of curried squash soup and Brussels sprouts — October junk food a million times better than candy corn.

Basically? Eat your heart out, Roxy’s.