Lazy Blogger

I confess to being a lazy blogger these last few days.  I have been cooking and baking, but neglecting to write it up, so I apologize.  Don't worry: I am about to make it up to you with some really great recipes!

First, on Wednesday I went out to eat with my mom, Kenzie, Mark, and his parents.  We went to Joey's and had a really fun night, not to mention amazing food.  For dessert, Mom got gingerbread cake, which was probably the last thing I would have ordered, but you know her and her weird tastes!  She loved it and started saying that I had to make her some gingerbread ASAP.  By the time I got home from work Thursday, she already had this ancient (1974) Betty Crocker cookbook of my dad's sitting on the counter, open to a stained and wrinkled page, which means Dad cooked this recipe often: gingerbread.  It was actually very easy and quick to make; you know how much I love when you can make a whole recipe in one bowl!  I was able to make the whole thing in the mixer.  I actually decided to double the recipe so I could bring one to a party I was going to Friday night, and I had two gingerbreads in the oven in no time. 

In addition to the cake, Mom said I had to make the sauce that Dad used to make to go with the bread: lemon sauce. To me, lemon and gingerbread sound kind of weird together, but hey, if Dad made it, then it must have been good.  Mark was my lemon zester and juicer, and two whole lemons were needed to make enough zest and juice, so I knew this was going to have a good lemony taste.  When it was done, I cut hunks of the gingerbread and ladled the sauce on top.  I was told I wasn't giving enough sauce, so I put even more on the pieces of bread and added some on the plate to dip.  Let me tell you something: if you like gingerbread, you need to make this recipe, and you cannot skimp out on the lemon sauce.  I know it sounds weird, but it works.  It makes the bread all soft and gooey, and the lemon brings out the ginger flavor and makes everything all warm and happy.  Mom is a big fan of this recipe and we're currently eating our second gingerbread, since not all of it went at the party.

Yesterday Tuck and Linda were coming to visit, so I finally got around to making what Linny had been begging for: olive bread.  Months ago, I made rosemary olive bread, which I liked, but didn't go over too well with most other people.  This time I decided that I wanted to showcase the olives themselves; I love rosemary, but it can be a bit bossy, and this round I had real fresh kalamata olives rather than canned black ones, so they needed to be the star.  I had to pit and chop them but it was worth it to use those amazing salty little bundles of goodness!  This recipe makes a gorgeous round bread with  an interesting pattern; you let it rise for the last time upside down in a bowl that is lined with a towel; so when you transfer the dough to its baking sheet, it has the marks of the towel you used.  In my case, it was a waffle-print towel.  I think it makes the bread look pretty.  Anyway, besides looking good, it tasted good!  The consistency of the bread was perfect - brown crispy outside and soft white inside, with bites of olive sprinkled throughout.  It was a big hit, and almost all of it went - which does not happen always with my breads!  Maggie and Linny especially loved it, and I let Linny take home the last little stub that was left.

Since Linny was getting her special bread, I needed to make Tuck something special too, so I made the pumpkin bake I made him last time.  It's low carb and made with Splenda, so he can actually have dessert with us, and he loves it!  Of course, when I asked Kenzie to buy a can of pumpkin for me, she bought pumpkin pie mix, so I ended up having to make my own pumpkin puree first, which is frankly starting to become a routine around here.  Once I got it roasted and pureed (and my new food processor really made that part a breeze!), the pumpkin bake was fast.  Probably what took the longest was opening the 24 packets of Splenda!  In the end, Tuck loved his dessert and took the leftovers home.  It's basically pumpkin pie without the crust, and without sugar or flour!  Make this for your favorite diabetic this Thanksgiving ;)

before going in the oven

Lastly, I made a dessert for the non-diabetics in the house.  Linny had requested something apple-y, and I asked Kenz to help me choose a recipe or I would have sat all morning Googling apple recipes (this happens to me often).  She told me to make an apple tart.  I typed that in, and the first recipe that popped up with Ina Garten's French apple tart.  I love her, and the tart looked beautiful and easy, so I decided to give that a try.  I was able to make the pastry crust in my food processor, which was pretty easy compared to using a pastry cutter!  Then thin-slicing the apples was honestly the longest task for me; it called for 4 Granny Smiths, which I did slice up, but I probably only used 2 1/2 apples; we ate the leftover slices with  peanut butter!  Once the apples are all layered on the dough, you sprinkle on a half cup of sugar and a half stick of diced butter; I was worried this was going to be way too sweet, but it wasn't; the apples release their juices and some of the sugar seems to run off and caramelize the bottom of the dough, which is incredible.  After it bakes, you brush it with a mixture of apricot jam and rum.  This dessert is to die for.  I ate three pieces, and I am not a sweets kind of person.  I just can't get over how to top of the tart is so fruity and sweet, and the dough is flaky and almost caramelized on the bottom from the running apple juices and sugar and butter... oh man.  I would be lying if I didn't tell you that I may or may not have snuck a piece for breakfast today, although it is certainly not breakfast food.  Trust me: this tart is easy and really, really good.

finished product!

I have some ideas for today's culinary adventures; stay tuned!

Recipes:
Mediterranean black olive bread
pumpkin puree
French apple tart

gingerbread
from Betty Crocket's Desserts Cookbook, 1974!

Ingredients:
2  1/4 cups all-purpose or cake flour (I used all-purpose)
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup dark molasses
3/4 cup hot water
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1)  Heat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease and flour square pan, 9 x 9 x 2 inches. 

2)  Measure all ingredients into  a large mixer bowl.  Blend 1/2 minute on low speed, scraping bowl constantly.

3)  Beat 3 minutes on medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally.  Pour batter into pan.  Bake until wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, about 50 minutes.  Serve warm with lemon sauce!


lemon sauce
from Betty Crocket's Desserts Cookbook, 1974!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup water
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Instructions:
Mix sugar and cornstarch in small saucepan.  Gradually stir in water.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils.  Boil and stir 1 minute.  Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients.  Serve warm or cool (I recommend warm!)


low-carb pumpkin bake
from http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/pumpkin_bake.html

Ingredients:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
5 eggs
1 cup granular Splenda (24 packets)
15 ounce can pumpkin
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Put the cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and beat well. Pour into a 6x8" greased glass baking dish. Bake at 350º about 40 minutes or until the center feels firm and a knife inserted in the center comes out relatively clean. Cool, then chill before serving.

Squashes and Pumpkins

Today was a day of fall-ish things; we went to get pumpkins, stopping at two different places to get them. Kenzie and Nick bought enormous ones at Wildwood Farm, and I picked up four more sugar pumpkins to make more pumpkin puree.  Then we went to DD Farms to pick up a few more pumpkins, and I spotted a spaghetti squash, which got me pretty excited because I have wanted to try them out.  No pumpkin carving for me tonight - I had far too much to cook and bake!

First I dealt with my spaghetti squash.  Basically all I had to do was cut it in half, salt and pepper it, and bake it for an hour.  Then I took a fork and scraped out the insides.  It was actually really fun, because it was so cool to see the squash coming out in spaghetti-like strands!  I am not sure what to make with it yet, but I am excited to give it a try.  Do you have any great spaghetti squash recipes that I should know about?


looks like spaghetti... but it's squash!

Then since everyone else was carving their pumpkins, I tossed two of my sugar pumpkins in the mix and had them cut them for me.  I scraped them out and saved the seeds, and then I roasted the pumpkins to make another batch of my own puree.  I used the last of my last batch in the next recipe, and I really think it makes a difference to use real fresh pumpkin as oppsed to canned.  It's so easy to do that it seems ridiculous to use a can. And the difference in color is enough to prove that the canned stuff is just not good enough.  

We of course also saved all our pumpkin seeds from the billion pumpkins we carved.  They are currently in the oven after getting tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  They smell delicious!

 My baking of the day, as I said previously, used up the rest of my first batch of pumpkin puree.  I asked Kenzie to choose a recipe for me, and she chose pumpkin cream cheese muffins.  This sounded very similar to my inside-out carrot cake muffins, which I loved, so I gave them a try.  The cream cheese filling was an interesting experience; you mush together cream cheese and confectionary sugar, and then put it on plastic wrap and roll it into a long, thin log.  It has to be frozen for two hours.  I did not wait the full two hours, and it was quite obvious when I took it out of the oven and started to cut it into 24 discs to put one in each muffin.  It didn't slice at all; it just mooshed.  But it was okay, I just scraped it up and schlepped it into the muffin tins.  They were a bit more work than normal muffins, what with the muffin batter, the cream cheese filling, and the cinnamon-butter topping, but they seem to be worth it: they are a huge hit.  Gram said they were delicious, and one of my sisters - can't remember who - said it was my best.  Mark loved his, and Rachael was so eager to eat one that she ate it steaming out of the oven and burned her mouth! Beware: the cream cheese turns molten and will nearly kill you.  I tried to get my family to wait, but that did not go so well :)

Recipes:
roasted spaghetti squash
pumpkin cream cheese mufins


homemade pumpkin puree
adapted from the Pioneer Woman

1)  Use two sugar pumpkins. Cut the pumpkins in half. With a spoon or a scoop, scrape out the seeds and pulp from the center.  Place all the seeds into a bowl (you can roast them later like we did!) Repeat until all the pumpkin pieces are largely free of seeds and pulp.

2) Place pumpkin pieces on a baking sheet and roast in a 350-degree oven for 45 minutes, or until pumpkin is fork-tender. They should be nice and light golden brown when done.  It usually takes me longer, more like an hour.

3) Peel off the skin from the pumpkin pieces.  Throw in a few chunks of pumpkin into the food processor at a time.

4) Pulse the pumpkin until smooth. If it looks too dry, add in a few tablespoons of water during the pulsing to give it the needed moisture. (Note, if the puree is overly watery, you should strain it on cheesecloth or over a fine mesh strainer to get rid of some of the liquid.)

5) You can either use this immediately in whatever pumpkin recipe you’d like, or store it in the freezer for later use. To store in the freezer, spoon about 1 cupful of pumpkin into each plastic storage bag. Seal the bag with just a tiny bit of an opening remaining, then use your hands to flatten out the pumpkin inside the bag and push out the air. Store them in the freezer until you need them.

Pumpkin Kick

Sorry for the lack of updates this week.  The short work week felt incredibly long.  I actually did do some cooking and baking Tuesday night, but then went out to meet some work friends before I could blog it.  Then my other excuse is simply that I'm lazy and it's cold outside, so it's too tempting to go to Panera and rush to bed early!  But I promise I will be better :)

So, Tuesday: I made dinner.  It was just me and Mom, so I took advantage of the opportunity to use the jar of mushroom marinara sauce that I got for sale a week ago.  I knew anyone else would whine!  Mom has been begging for my stuffed shells, so I whipped up my most commonly used recipe: spinach and ricotta stuffed shells!  The only weird thing was that I realized I had no regular mozzarella cheese... but I did have smoked mozzarella!  So it made for a bit of a different flavoring on top.  In fact, Mom asked if there was bacon in it! Haha.  It was still good though; we both ate lots, and I took more for lunch today.  This is just a recipe that never goes wrong.

I also decided to make a batch of pumpkin cookies.  I had spotted the recipe when looking for good pumpkin things on Annie's Eats, and when I saw a pumpkin oatmeal cookie, with dried cranberries and white chocolate chips, I was pretty pumped.  It sounded like something that Kenzie would love (she loves pumpkin and chocolate chips) and Mom might even eat (she loves oatmeal and cranberries!).  The recipe makes a huge amount of cookies, so it took a while rotating my two pans, but luckily making tons of cookies was not a bad thing. These are actually really good.  They are really flavorful, with spices like cloves and cinnamon and ginger and nutmeg.  The pumpkin mixed in with that, and the oats and cranberries and white chocolate.... they are good.  I am not even a cookie person, and I will confess to taking them to work with me every day this week :)  And for a recipe that makes about 3 dozen cookies, it looks like we have about 8 left.  That's huge for this family!  In fact, I already got another request for these for a baby shower next week.

...which brings me to my mini project tonight.  I somehow got the idea in my head that I needed to make my own pumpkin puree.  I had read on another blog that it really does taste much better than the canned stuff, and it didn't sound too hard, so I figured, why wouldn't I? I have been on a bit of a pumpkin kick lately (in case you didn't notice) and if making my own puree will make my stuff taste that much better, then bring on the sugar pumpkins!  I bought two, chopped off the tops (and gave one to Neely... how adorable is he!?), cut them in fourths, and roasted them.  The "recipe" I found said it takes 45 minutes, but mine took closer to an hour and a half.  When they are done, you know it, because the skin gets all bubbly and easy to peel off.  The hardest part, frankly, was pureeing the pumpkin since my food processor, as you all know, is older than I am.  Still, it got done in the end, and I officially have a Tupperware full of homemade pumpkin puree sitting in my fridge.  What should I do will all this pumpkin!? The options are overwhelming.  What is your favorite thing to do with pumpkin? 

Recipes:
spinach and ricotta tuffed shells
pumpkin oatmeal cookies
homemade pumpkin puree