As dinner was in the final stages of prepping my guests began setting the table, a concept that has become foreign to me in our "lap room only" apartment! It's nice to be formal sometimes.

The table is set.

The burgers are done.

Goat cheese is ready, and the cake is iced

Bon Appetit!

A few bites in and I'm already sold, the butter has perfectly dispersed throughout the burger, the goat cheese is crispy on the outside, and melt in your mouth delicious on the inside.

Cheers to a lovely Saturday

Now it's time for dessert !!

I'm not really a cake person - usually find myself craving pie, my grandma's pie specifically, but pumpkin cake? Done and done! I looked up a number of recipes for pumpkin cake, but nothing really tickled my fancy. Instead I opted to use half a box of Betty Crocker's Super Moist yellow cake, and then half a recipe for vanilla cake from scratch. With a little pumpkin, nutmeg, cinnamon and a dash of cloves I topped off the mix Autumnally. I found a recipe for cream cheese maple syrup frosting from one of my favorite blogs, Smitten Kitchen.

Some of us were not too happy about the cake wait...

The coolest new oven, digital temperature!

Let the mixing begin.

Someone wanted a little taste....

Pumpkin cake is amazing, but paired with the tartness of craisins, even better!

I made two pumpkin cakes, a single layer sheet cake, and a double layer with craisins.

YUM YUM YUM!

To accompany the salad I decided to take advantage of the grill out back and make some burgers!

Food Network magazine does one of my favorite things every month, they compile a top 50 list. Top 50 paninis, burgers, breakfast foods, etc. Job well done FNM.

This particular recipe called for herbed butted patties to be placed in the middle of the burger pre-grill. Melted butter in your burger, Umm I'm down.

I had some thyme leftover from parmesan and thyme crackers I made (pictures and recipe of that coming soon) and saw some "Gourmet Garden" italian blend spices in the fridge. Gourmet Garden products are great in a pinch

With butter already softened / melted I started to mix in the greens

Once mixed, I poured small dollops on wax paper, covered with another sheet, and placed in the freezer until it was burger prepping time (About 5 hours from now...)

There was a time lapse between the butter and the onions, at which time I did as promised and force fed my friends copious amounts of food.

As dinner time rolled around I sliced up some onions with a little olive oil - the perfect topping to any burger

I began patting out the burgers...

Next, I placed a piece of frozen butter in each burger

Covered up that butter

And hit the grill

The reason I was home! He was the real grill master.

Per dad's advice - one flip!

Instead of hamburger buns we purchased english muffins and lightly toasted them on the grill!

Scrum-dittily-umptious!

Fall cookfest 2010!

I headed home to my parents house this weekend to dog sit and play around in their new kitchen. Construction is still under works, but the kitchen is finished, and spacious, and the complete opposite of what I've been working with.

I've learned most of my cooking methods, recipes, and tricks from my mom. She taught me that cooking is more about a feeling than an exact science. (Thank you Mom!) So with that in mind and recipes in hand I headed home with two friends and the promise of force feeding them for 48 hours.

Woody, my sous chef.

For Saturday night I made a craisin, walnut, and fried goat cheese salad.

The goat cheese needs to freeze before frying, so I prepped that first.

Ingredients: 2 eggs, goat cheese, flour, Panko bread crumbs, and dental floss (for prep work, you wont be eating it)

With a glass of wine in hand, and my apron on I whipped the eggs

First, slice the goat cheese with dental floss. Sounds weird, but using a knife makes the cheese crumble.

All I could find in the house was mint floss, so had to revert back to the knife. No one wants mint goat cheese...

First dip the cheese slice in the flour, then the egg, and then the Panko bread crumbs. Place in a container and freeze!

Later in the evening I prepped the lettuce, it was a mesclun mix (bagged). Simple enough.And for the dressing just tossed together a fig balsamic vinegar with dates and avocado olive oil.

Thanks friend for the help.

Right before dinner was served I took the goat cheese from the freezer and placed each slice in a hot skillet with olive oil.

The outside is crispy, the inside, warm and delicious.

It appears the salad was a success!