Cooking up a Storm and a new Nephew. (Not Cooking the Nephew, Greg)

We headed to Garmisch yesterday to stock up on essentials, including a game of Rummikub, umpteen boxes of American cereal and Thanksgiving-type food (we haven't found acorn squash, sweet potatoes, or fresh spinach on the economy here but they're in the fridge now!). Greg has master-minded downloading NPR's MP3 files and using the transceiver to broadcast our MP3s on the radio in the car. Ingenious, because it allowed us to listen to up-to-date programming in English during the drive, something I don't often have time to do.

During the drive I also found a couple of recipes in November's Family Circle I wanted to try. Both were awesome!

Dessert first, of course:

Turtle Pumpkin Pie

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping
• 1 (6 ounce) Graham Pie Crust
• 1/2 cup Pecan Pieces
• 1 cup cold milk
• 2 pkg. (4 serving size) Jello Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 (8 ounce) tub Whipped cream, thawed, divided
• 2 tablespoons caramel ice cream topping
• 2 tablespoons Pecan Pieces

DIRECTIONS

1. Pour 1/4 cup caramel topping into crust; sprinkle with 1/2 cup pecans.
2. Beat milk, dry pudding mixes, pumpkin and spices with whisk until blended. Stir in 1-1/2 cups whipped topping. Spread into crust.
3. Refrigerate 1 hour. Top with remaining whipped topping, caramel topping and pecans just before serving. Store leftovers in refrigerator.

Pictured above is my finished result. The recipe made extra, so I used custard cups. It was a little sweet, so next time I'd omit the second Jello packet. I volunteered to make it for a Thanksgiving fest, so I'll try it again soon.

Spinach- Souffle- Stuffed Mushrooms
Makes: about 2-1/2 dozen stuffed mushrooms Bake: 25 minutes
Prep: 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1/2 pound Havarti cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 pounds medium-size white mushrooms (about 30), stems removed and caps cleaned
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Put spinach, Havarti, Parmesan, eggs, milk, garlic powder, oregano, pepper and nutmeg in processor. Pulse until cheese is finely chopped. (This part was painful for the blender. Greg, who is more patient, took over pulsing.)

2. Place mushroom caps on 11 x 15 x 1/2-inch baking pan. Coat mushrooms with cooking spray; sprinkle with salt. Fill each cap with 1 level tablespoon spinach mixture. (Can be made a day ahead; refrigerate, tightly covered.)

3. Bake in 375°F oven 25 minutes or until the mushrooms are tender and the filling is set.

(I divided the mushroom by three for us, but this made extra spinach stuffing anyway, which we're using in an omelet. Greg has requested a repeat for the mushrooms already.) We served it with sweet potato fries sprinkled with Old Bay.

Another high note: I'm an aunt (again)! Our newest nephew, Benjamin, was born on Thursday and weighed in at a healthy 8 pounds. His mom and dad are doing great and went home from the hospital yesterday. We thought it was really cool that the hospital posted these pictures online of him on his birthday: