National Pizza Month

I just read that October is National Pizza Month - Who Knew!!!!

It's probably a good thing I just found out. If I knew earlier in the month I would have been eating pizza every day just to celebrate.

Don't fret, if you are a pizza lover there are still a few more days left to honor your favorite style pizza.

To celebrate you might want to share a toast with a glass of wine amongst friends. Here are a few wine pairings for some specialty style pizzas you might want to try just for fun.

• Pepperoni pizza -- Pinot Grigio has the acidity to cut through the spicy heat of the pepperoni, then making each bite taste like the first.
• Mushroom and olive pizza -- The earthy mushrooms and the olives are a perfect match with with Pinot Noir.
• Hawaiian Pizza with pineapple and ham - Sauvignon Blanc has the acidity and tropical fruit flavors that will be delicious with the pineapple and surprisingly great with the ham. Also try an off-dry Riesling which is always a good match for the saltiness of the ham as well as the sweet and fruity pineapple. 
• Traditional Cheese Pizza -- the classic Italian Chianti is a good match or try Sangiovese which is the same grape used to make Chianti.

Have fun and enjoy the Pizza Party!


Salute!

Winelady Cooks

Pumpkin Cookies

This is the time of the year when there is an abundance of recipes using pumpkin.

I enjoy most everything made with pumpkin so I'm adding an easy cookie recipe that's just in time for Halloween.

These cookies are sooooo good with tea, coffee or a cold glass of milk. You can bet I'll be eating these before the kids get to them.




Oatmeal Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup quick cooking oatmeal
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup pure pumpkin
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees - Grease cookie sheets or you can line them with parchment paper.
2. Combine flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in medium bowl and set aside.
3. In large mixing bowl beat the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add the egg, pumpkin and vanilla extract and mix well then add the flour to the mixture and blend well.
4. Using a cookie scoop drop onto prepared baking sheet and flatten slightly into a circle.
5. Bake 14 to 16 minutes or until cookies are firm and lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

You can decorate the cookies for Halloween (my decorating skills could use practice) or leave them plain.   They are great for dunking too.




I've shared this with:

Friday Food Recipe Linky at Momtrends.com

Happy Halloween

Mangia!
Winelady Cooks

Happy Fall and Halloween

A warm welcome to Fall!

The weather is so beautiful and it's perfect weather to enjoy the bounty of the harvest at the local farm stands and the wine harvest across the country.

With Halloween on the horizon, I was out looking for interesting wine labels that might be fun for the season.

Two labels caught my attention. One was Werewolf and the other was Scary Scary Night (sorry, no photo on Scary Scary Night, it came out very blurred).

There is no better time than now for a little scary fun and trying a new wine called Werewolf. If you are out and about and in an adventurous mood pick up a scary labeled wine.

I could be adventurous at times, so I picked up this Chardonnay for $7.00. It was worth a try for my scary Halloween meal. Who can resist a Werewolf on Halloween!!

Salute!
Winelady Cooks