Continuing the pumpkin theme... pumpkin ice cream

Pumpkin pie ice cream

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons molasses or dark corn syrup
1-3/4 cups pumpkin purée (solid pack pumpkin)
1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2-1/2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup crumbled ginger snaps, vanilla butter cookies, or graham crackers


Procedure:
1) In a medium mixing bowl, use a hand mixer on low speed to combine the milk, brown sugar, and molasses until the sugar is dissolved, about 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the pumpkin purée, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.


2) Add heavy cream and vanilla. Turn the machine on; pour the mixture into freezer bowl, and let mix until thickened, about 20 to 25 minutes. Add the crumbled cookies during the last 5 minutes of mixing. The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture. If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and place in freezer for about 2 hours.


3) Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving.

Servings:


Makes about fourteen 1/2-cup servings


Nutritional Information Per Serving:


Calories 310 (52% from fat) • carb. 35g • pro. 3g • fat 18g • sat. fat 11g • chol. 62mg • sod. 134mg • calc. 100mg • fiber 1g

     Okay, I had to put this one in there because I just made it and I got a chance to use two new wedding present gifts; an ice cream maker and a hand blender.  My ice cream maker is not working right now because of a missing motor so I decided to put one on my wedding registry.  Thanks to the generosity of Elizabeth Janz, I now have a new Cuisinart ice cream maker!  It got really great reviews and is really easy to use.  But the best thing of all?  There is no ice and rock salt to deal with!  That is always the trouble with making ice cream; whenever you feel like it, you have to go to the store and buy the ice and rock salt.  And then there is all that leftover ice to use!  This one just has a "freezer bowl" that you just stick in the freezer and let it freeze.  You know it is done when the liquid inside is frozen solid (i.e., stops sloshing around).  How cool is that?  I decided to make pumpkin ice cream because of all the pumpkin-themed things I have around.
     There is one other awesome wedding item that I got to use; a hand mixer!  I have been wanting one of these for ages, as I absolutely hate whipping egg whites (or anything else, for that matter), by hand.  This one was given to Scott and myself thanks to the generosity of Jason and Leah Novak.  This is another Cuisinart (a 9 speed one) that is super easy to use.  I was so impatient to use it that I just put it together without reading the instructions.  Other than the fact that one of the mixers kept falling into my ice cream mix (because I didn't put it in properly), it was a breeze to use!  
     The ice cream itself was easy to put together and came out DELICIOUS!  Scott made some pumpkin waffles (from a waffle maker given to us from Thomas Durbin).  Topped with pumpkin ice cream, they were divine.  

Pumpkin pie ice cream picture taken about a year after the post.
With granola and graham crackers...

Wedded bliss and pumpkins

Well, you may have noticed that I have been gone for a good long while (since August, wow!).  What, you may ask, could possibly be a good enough reason to keep me away from my cooking blog for about two whole months?  Well, let me tell you...

I GOT MARRIED!!  Woo!!  That's right, I am now a married woman!  Between planning for the wedding and going on the honeymoon (a cruise to Hawaii, but more on that in later blogs), I haven't had to cook at all for a good couple of months or so.  My husband (!!) has wonderfully stepped in and cooked delicious foods at home when we have had to eat at home.  However, I did really miss cooking.  Even when I was on the cruise ship and eating delicious meals 24/7, I missed my kitchen and my home-cooked meals.  Especially now that I have all these new kitchen gadgets to play with from the wedding (are you surprised?).  So, I decided to finally have a cooking day yesterday.  And what better way to celebrate that than with....

PUMPKINS!

I bought a small little pumpkin at New Leaf's on friday.  When I bought it, the check out stand lady asked if I was going to carve it and I said, "Nope, I am going to eat it!"  I thought it might be fun to try making pumpkin soup and serve it in itself.  I have been craving spicy food lately, so I thought I would make curried pumpkin soup.  However, I just couldn't find any recipes at all for curried pumpkin soup served in itself (I am sure there is one out there somewhere).  So, I just made it up (with a little help from some other recipes I saw online).
     I remember from when I cooked a pumpkin last year that it was kind of a pain in the butt to peel and cook and that using canned pumpkin was just as great.  So I decided to use a combo of the both.  I cut off both ends of the pumpkin (so it would be flat), and then peeled it with a lovely new Cutco knife that I have from our wedding registry.  I then removed the seeds and cut it into slices.  I removed the guts on the slices and then cut into 1/2 to 1 inch pieces, which then got steamed for about 15 min or so.  And, voila, cooked pumpkin!
  I had Scott buy another pumpkin to serve the soup in.  Cut the top off, seed and gut it.  Rub the inside with butter, salt and cinnamon and bake with the top on in a 375 oven for about an hour until the pumpkin is nice and soft.

Katie's curried pumpkin soup served in itself

Ingredients:

pumpkin (from 1 can and 1 small pumpkin)
small yellow onion
coconut milk (1 can plus about 1/2 carton)
butter
salt
cinnamon/sugar spice grinder
pepper
fiery pepper grinder
hot sauce
nutmeg
curry powder
paprika
allspice
garlic salt

Procedure:

1) Prep the eating pumpkin and the serving pumpkin as noted above.
2) Cook the onion in the butter until soft  (I realized in retrospect I should have cooked mine longer as it was still quite crunchy)
3) Add the pumpkin and the coconut milk.
4) Spice it until it is hot/tasty enough to your liking.  I wish could give specific amounts, but I just kind of added in stuff until it tasted good.  It took me a good ten minutes to get it just right.
5) Use an immersion blender until it is nice and smooth.
6) Serve in the hot pumpkin from the oven

     I definitely recommend cooking this soup, however you want to make it.  It tasted like spicy delicious pumpkin pie.  Plus, serving it in a pumpkin is awesome!  I served it with a simple salad and pumpkin ale (of course!)and cooked some bread to serve with it as leftovers (alas, the bread was not ready in time for dinner).  Use the seeds to make fiery pumpkin seeds (see last year's Halloween post).  And, above all, enjoy!!



Curried pumpkin soup in pumpkin




What better to go with pumpkin soup than pumpkin ale?




Scott unveils the soup



That pumpkin kept the soup warm for hours...

White chili with chicken and white root vegetables

So lately I have been having digestion and energy issues.  Basically, I am not digesting my food well and am getting very tired (probably because of this).  So, I thought it might be back to go back to basics and start eating more vegetables (again!).  I borrowed Food Matters from Mark Bittman from the library and decided to make this recipe, as I had leftover root vegetables in the fridge.

White Chili with Chicken and White Root Vegetables



Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 oz ground chicken or turkey
Salt and black pepper
2 leeks, trimmed, well rinsed and chopped or 2 onions, chopped
4 parsnips, chopped
1 celery root, chopped
1 large or 2 medium turnips, chopped
2 all-purpose potatoes, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage, or 1 teaspoon dried
1 bay leaf
1dried mild chili (like ancho) or 1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
Grated zest and juice of one lime
2 cups any dried white beans, rinsed, picked over, and soaked if you like
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish
1/2 cup chopped scallions for garnish

Procedure:

1) Cook the ground turkey until it has lost its color.
2) Remove and add onion and sauté until softened, about 3-5 minutes.
3) Add all the remaining ingredients and the chicken (except the lime juice and cilantro) and put in a slow cooker.
4) Stir together, then add enough water to just cover.  Cook on low for 8 hours or so. 
5) Right before you serve it, add the lime juice and the cilantro. 
Enjoy!

I used dried cannelini beans for my white bean.  Since I was using them dried, I decided to experiment with cooking the whole thing in a slow cooker (especially as I always have so much trouble with dried beans cooking through!).  It came out really delicious and lasted me quite a few meals!  The only trouble I had was that it wasn't spicy enough for me!  I ended up adding a little cayenne pepper in at the end.

White chili with (turkey) and white root vegetables

 

Gluten-free crackers

This week at Renaissance camp was food week.  All the lessons I taught were somehow related to food.  The lesson I taught on Wednesday was about bread; specifically, the science behind bread.  You may wonder what in the world I am doing talking about bread when the title of this particular blog states crackers.  Well, alas, one of the students had a gluten allergy.  After trying for an hour or so to figure out a way to make him gluten-free bread, I decided to try to find a simpler recipe.  Crackers seemed to fit the bill.  So, here you go! 

Gluten-free Crackers



Note:
Crackers are ridiculously easy to make, and once you produce your first batch you'll have little trouble figuring out how to create your favorites. Sprinkle them with salt, sesame seeds, or poppy seeds; work a tiny bit of garlic or herbs into the dough; or substitute whole wheat or rye flour for some or all of the white flour.


Yield: about 4 servings


Ingredients:
1 cup (about 4 1/2 ounces) gluten-free all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
About 1/4 cup water, plus more as need


Procedure:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.


2. Place the flour, salt, and butter together in a large bowl or in the container of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Blend with a fork or pulse, until the flour and butter are combined. Add about 1/4 cup of water and blend, then continue to add water until the mixture holds together but is not sticky.


3. Roll out on a lightly floured surface until 1/4 inch thick, or even less. Don't worry about over handling-add flour as needed, and keep rolling. Score lightly with a sharp knife or razor if you want to break these into nice squares or rectangles later on. Bake on a lightly floured baking sheet, or directly on baking stones, until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Cool on a rack; serve warm or at room temperature , or store in a tin.

I am quite proud of the way these came out.  I used Bob's Mill gluten-free All purpose baking flour and it worked fine.  The dough definitely had a different consistency than regular AP flour.  It was actually easier to roll out.  Since these crackers didn't have to rise, I didn't have to worry about the lack-of-gluten rising problem.  If you want to make these just normal crackers, just use regular AP flour.  The one problem that I have always had with this recipe is that the outside parts of the crackers turn brown and crisp but the inside is undercooked (not crisp). What it occurred for me to do (after the fact) was to just cut the dough into cracker shapes ahead of time.  Well, even the softer middle parts were still quite good!  I think my student liked it, too!

Gluten-free crackers.  You can see how the outside gets crisp
but the inside is still slightly underdone

Warm lentils with bacon

This is one of my favorite recipes of all time.  Period.  It is DELICIOUS, nutritious and it has bacon it in!  What more could you ask for?  Every time I make it, it comes out amazing; even when I substitute 5 year old split peas for the lentils!

Warm lentils with bacon

Note:
This dish is largely dependent on bacon for its flavor, so use the best you can find. It is also good with kidney or other red beans; cook them until nearly tender, then drain before adding them to the onion mixture.


Ingredients


•1 tablespoon olive or other oil
•1/4 pound slab bacon, more or less, cut into small cubes
•1 medium onion, chopped
•1 carrot, peeled and diced
•3 to 4 cups chicken, beef, or vegetable stock, or water; or use 1/2 water and 1/2 red wine
•2 cups lentils, washed and picked over
•Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
•1 bay leaf
•2 or 3 sprigs fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
•About 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar, or to taste
•Minced fresh parsley leaves for garnish

Procedure:1) Place the oil in a medium saucepan and turn the heat to medium. Cook the bacon in the oil, stirring occasionally, until nicely browned, about 10 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving the fat in the pot.


2) Cook the onion and carrot in the rendered fat over medium heat until the onion softens, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add 3 cups of liquid and bring to a boil over medium‐high heat. Stir in the lentils, salt and pepper, and the bay leaf and thyme.


3) Cover partially and cook over medium‐low heat, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are nice and tender, 30 minutes or more; add additional liquid as needed, but do not let the mixture become too soupy.


4) When the lentils are soft, raise the heat and boil off any excess liquid if necessary. Stir in about 1 teaspoon vinegar; taste and add more if necessary. Remove and discard bay leaf. Stir in the reserved bacon just before serving, then garnish and serve.

I definitely recommend adding in the red wine vinegar; it makes a difference.  However, if you don't have any it is still very good without it.  You can substitute in split peas and it turns out just as well.  I can never find slab bacon so I just use the best bacon I can find.  This time around I used turkey bacon which didn't leave a lot of fat behind for the onion to cook in but still tasted great!  This recipe is one of my treats that I fall back on every once in a while.  I would definitely like to make it more often!

Warm (split-peas) with bacon

Homemade granola bars

This recipe is thanks to my friend Keri.  Every time I visit her, she always has the most delicious and healthy snacks.  One thing that really struck my fancy was her homemade granola bars.  These were delicious, satisfied the sweet tooth and, best of all, good for you!

Keri's granola bars

Ingredients:
1/2 cup nut butter
1/3 cup agave nectar or honey
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup rice crispies
1 cup fun goodies

Procedure:
1) Melt liquids in large pan.
2) Stir in dry goodies.
3) Press into glass baking pan and store in fridge.
4) Cut into bars. 

Super easy, super delicious!  A couple of notes from Keri and myself.
1) Serve these cold.  They tend to disintegrate when they warm up (still taste good, though!).
2) Fun goodies can be anything you want; dried fruit, nuts, chocolate chips, etc.
3) If you add in chocolate chips, wait for the liquids to cool or else you will make chocolate granola bars.  I just pressed the chocolate chips onto the surface of the granola bars once they had cooled a bit.
4) You can use 2 cups of whatever you want instead of the oatmeal and rice crispies.

I made mine with sunflower seed butter, agave nectar, dried apricots, sunflower seeds, chocolate chips, dried hibiscus and nuts.  Yum!




Keri's homemade granola bars



A little fuzzy close up of deliciousness

Cooking for friends (Chicken, Corn, and Chile Chowder and Four Fruit Crisp)

To me, there is nothing quite as rewarding as cooking for other people.  Cooking for myself is just too boring; definitely not worth the effort of making a fancy recipe!  I don't even like to eat alone if I can help it!  Alas, with all the wedding planning that I have been doing I have barely had time to cook for anyone!  This post represents two such times this month when I have!

Chicken, Corn, and Chile Chowder

Ingredients:

4 tbsp olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, finely chopped
2 cups corn, cut off the cob, or frozen (I just use a can of corn)
2 cups cooked chicken, boned, skin removed, and diced
2 long green chilies, roasted, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 dashes Tabasco Sauce (I use Cholula)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups chicken stock or broth
1 cup half and half

Procedure:

1) Heath the oil in a saucepan, add the onion, garlic, and celery and saute until limp.

2) Stir in the corn, cooked chicken, green chile, Tabasco Sauce, and chicken stock.

3) Cook over low heat until warmed through, add the half and half and continue cooking until hot- but do not let boil.

  A very easy recipe and one I've made many times.  This time, it was in celebration of my friend Nicole (Guinea Pig) coming over.  I had leftover half and half so decided to throw this together.  I was lazy and asked GP to bring over a whole rotisserie chicken.  Alas, they didn't have any at the grocery store so she brought over fried chicken instead.  Boy, did we have fun de-skinning that fried chicken and tearing the meat to bits.  Can we help it that some of it ended up in our mouth rather than in the bowl?  Quite an easy recipe.  Definitely make sure to use real green chiles; the canned stuff just doesn't cut it!

Guinea Pig enjoying a bowl of chicken, corn and chile chowder

A delicious and easy soup



Scott and GP


Four fruit crisp

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups each of four fruits (or use more of one kind)
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp oil
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Procedure:

1) Mix together the fruit and pour into a 10" pie pan.

2) Mix everything else together until crumbly.  Evenly sprinkle over the fruit.

3) Bake in a preheated oven at 375 F until fruit bubbles and top is golden brown, about 30 minutes; may take longer if using frozen fruit.

  I have been wanting to try this recipe ever since I read about it.  I figured it would be a perfect way to get rid of the spare berries from the farmer's market that I had sitting around.  When Scott and I got invited over to Amber Claunch's house, I knew this would be the perfect dessert to bring.  I used frozen blueberries, cut strawberries and blackberries for my fruits.  It took a little over 30 minutes (I'd say about 40 min) until it got to the color/consistency that I wanted.  All thought it was delicious!
  Notes from the recipe: Don't have four kinds of berries or fruits? Use more of the same kind.  This recipe works well with fresh, frozen or canned fruit.  Adjust the amount of sugar to the sweetness of the fruit.  List of fruits to use: raspberries, blueberries, marionberries, boysenberries, huckleberries, saskatoons, mulberries, strawberries, sour cherries, peaches, apples.  Another alternative to just mixing the fruit together: The fruits can be cooked with 1/4 cup water 1/4-1/2 cup sugar (depending on the sweetness of the fruit) and 2 tbsp. cornstarch to thicken before baking.

Four fruit crisp (okay, really three fruit crisp)

Scott, Amber Claunch and her boyfriend Dana