Pumpkin Bread

…yes, I know, pumpkin bread is out of season for June.  I’ve been cleaning out my freezer lately, and found some frozen leftover pumpkin puree that I had used part of in this recipe.  It was still good from January, so I thawed it out and used it to make a quick bread.  It ended up making 3 loaves total–two regular-sized and one mini loaf.  So, I’ve now put the other two loaves in the freezer as I use this one.  Freezer cleanout fail.  But, recipe win!

I got this recipe from my edition of the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book (2006).  They provide a rather extensive list of different loaf sizes and cooking times, but I’m only including here the baking time that I used for my 2 regular sized loaf pans (approx. 9×4) and one mini loaf pan.  The mini pan took about half the baking time than the regular sizes.

Pumpkin Bread (p. 132 in Better Homes and Gardens 2006 ed.)

3 cups sugar

1 cup oil

4 eggs

3 1/3 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 ½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

2/3 cup water

1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease bottom and ½ inch up the sides of 2+ loaf pans.  Beat sugar and oil, add eggs.  Alternately add dry ingredients and water to sugar mixture.  Beat in pumpkin.  Bake 50-55 minutes.  Cool in pans 10 minutes (at least), remove from pans, cool completely before slicing.

The recipe doesn’t call for it, but next time I’d add toasted chopped nuts, such as pecans or walnuts, to the batter.  Also, I say “at least” 10 minutes for cooling because these loaves are heavy and very fragile, since they’re so soft.  Quite different from what I’m used to when making banana nut bread.  I took one out of the pan a bit soon, and inverted it to take it out, but it ended up breaking apart–so be careful when you remove them from the pan.  If they’re too hot, they’ll tear into pieces.

I found that the bread worked out better in the small loaf pans instead of the regular size pans.  Because it’s such a dense and heavy loaf, but also a fragile loaf, it’s easier to manage in small loaves and slices than large ones.  So I’d definitely choose to bake this in my small loaf pans and end up with half a dozen loaves than use my regular size pans and have only two loaves.

This, in all, was pretty good for a pumpkin bread.  It had the right level of spice, and the texture was soft and moist.  I think I’d try it again, and possibly add nuts and dried cranberries like in this recipe.

Fail: Crock-Pot Chicken Curry

I have a rather large container of curry powder I used for a previous recipe, and ever since I’ve been trying to find a better recipe for chicken curry.  That recipe didn’t work out so well–the chicken was excellent, but the sauce was too thick and strong of yogurt.  So, I hoped that this recipe, one that cooks in the Crock-Pot, would be better.

I was wrong.

I won’t bother to share the recipe here, other than to mention that the sauce was mainly cream of chicken soup–an ingredient that should have been a red flag.  Somehow, though, I thought the curry powder would be enough to cut the cream soup flavor.  Unfortunately, no.  The sauce comes out with a rather strong taste of cream of chicken soup.  It’s fine; if I had intended to mix together cream soup and cooked chicken, then it would have been OK.  But in this recipe, the curry flavor and cream of chicken clash.

So, I’m still looking for a good chicken curry recipe.  Suggestions would be appreciated!

Chicken curry mixed with new potatoes

French Bread

I’ve recently been going through my recipe clippings, and found this one from a past issue of Taste of Home magazine.  I always like trying new kinds of bread, so this one seemed pretty easy to make.  And it was.  The issue was that I ended up being busy with other things during rising, and the loaves ended up over-rising the second time (which explains why they grew into each other during baking).  Next time I’ll pay closer attention to this, so it doesn’t spread out too far.  Also, I’ll add more flour, as this dough was unusually sticky, no matter how much flour I added.  I had thought that 2 cups liquid was an awful lot, and I was right.  When I do this one again, I’ll make sure I have more flour on hand than I expect to use.

French Bread

2 Tb. active dry yeast

2 cups warm water (110-115 degrees)

2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. sugar

4 ½-5 cups bread flour

1 tsp. cornmeal

Dissolve yeast in warm water.  Add salt, sugar, and 2 cups flour.  Beat until smooth.  Stir in enough flour to make a soft dough.  Knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes.  Place in a greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.  Punch dough down.  Divide in half.  Shape into 12-inch long loaves.  Place seam side down on greased baking sheet, cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.  Sprinkle with cornmeal.  Make four slashes across top of loaves.  Bake at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until browned.

I will definitely make this recipe again, since my fiancé complimented it.  It’s his favorite loaf I’ve made.  He said that I could just feed him that bread, and he’d be happy!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprints

I love chunky peanut butter.  I guess it’s because I like being reminded that it came from peanuts, so I like biting into the actual peanut when eating it.  Even if a recipe (like this one) calls for creamy peanut butter, I ignore it.  The recipe is always better with the chunky version.

I like the appearance of a thumbprint cookie–I think it’s the mini-tart look of it, a cookie crust with jam filling, that I like.  I found this recipe in a 2007 issue of Cooking Light and had intended to make it in time for a Christmas party… in 2007.  Looks like I missed that.  I had been browsing through my recipe clippings recently, and remembered these.  The combination of peanut butter cookie and red raspberry preserves works well together as a cookie.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprint Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour

¼ tsp salt

¾ cup brown sugar

2/3 cup granulated sugar

½ cup chunky PB

¼ cup butter

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Oil

7 Tb seedless raspberry preserves

1 Tb lemon juice

Cream sugars and butter, add eggs and vanilla, add flour.  Rub oil on hands, shape into balls (2 ½ tsp).  Place balls 2 inches apart, press thumb into center of ball to make an indent.  Chill 1 hour.  Bake at 350 degrees for 14 minutes.  Warm preserves and lemon juice in microwave, stir until smooth.  Spoon ½ teaspoon of mixture into the center of each cookie.  Makes 3 dozen.

I think next time I’d put the preserves on before baking–that’s what’s normally done with thumbprint cookies, anyway, so I’m not sure why this recipe would be any different.  That might also help to keep the cookies from rising too much–I found that despite me pressing down in the center with my thumb before baking, the cookies rose enough during baking that there was hardly enough of an indent to put preserves into.  I really liked the “rub oil on hands” idea, as a way to avoid having to put extra flour in the dough or roll the balls in sugar (like usual for peanut butter cookies).  I’ve never thought of it before, but the next time I’m making chocolate cookies I’ll definitely try it, as chocolate dough is notorious for being too sticky and messy.  I loved this recipe, it was easy to make, and I will make this recipe again for sure.

Lentil Soup

Everyday Food‘s first cookbook, Great Food Fast, is quickly becoming my favorite cookbook, as every single recipe I’ve tried from it has ended up fabulous.  Their Sloppy Joes, which I tried earlier this year, are also great.  I had some leftover dried lentils that I wanted to use up before winter was over and it would be too hot to eat soup.  I used half of the package a while ago to make an average-tasting Crock Pot vegetarian lentil soup, which used a beef stock base and had onion, carrots and celery in along with the lentils.  It cooked all day, as Crock Pot recipes tend to do.  When it was done, the lentils had completely broken down and the soup was an odd shade of tan.  It tasted fine, though the texture (and especially the color) was rather suspect.  I didn’t want to make that same recipe again, so I found this recipe in my cookbook and thought it was rather unique, as lentil soups go.  It had bacon in it, which for me is always a selling point 🙂 and also had just enough tomato paste to make it a tomato stock base.  These interesting changes made me curious to try this recipe.

I don’t need to give the entire recipe here (honestly, you should just go and buy the book), but it is on page 263 and contains bacon, onion, carrots, garlic, tomato paste, lentils, thyme, chicken broth, and then a bit of red wine vinegar and salt and pepper to taste at the end step.  It’s especially good because a small amount of the bacon grease is used to saute the onion and carrots (and I also threw in some celery because I had it left over from the chicken soup).  Once that’s in, the garlic is put in quickly and after it gets fragrant, tomato paste, lentils, thyme, and broth are all put in, and it simmers until the lentils are done.  Not broken down, but just until they are tender.  That’s another thing I like about it–the recipe doesn’t cook the heck out of the lentils.

I have to say this is the best soup I’ve made so far this year.  It’s completely delicious.  I would absolutely make this for others, and even if they didn’t like lentils they would like this.  I recommend it.

Comfort Food, Pt. III: Chicken Noodle Soup

Back in February, I was sick with a cold.  As I lay on my couch (pretty much because that’s all I had the energy to do), I wished I had some chicken noodle soup.  Of course, in that state I wasn’t about to make any from scratch, so I had to wait until I was better to do so.  I also wanted to make the noodles from scratch too, so I had to wait until I had an afternoon free.  This time finally came a couple of weeks ago (yes, I know; I’ve got a backlog of posts), after I had completed a major project and needed some down time.  So, I turned on the Netflix (Weeds, Season 5) and set to work.

I had a whole broiler/fryer chicken (3-4 lb.) so I boiled it in my Dutch oven according to the recipe below.  As it was boiling, I made the noodles and set them to dry.  Then, once the chicken was cooked, I pulled it out and took the skin and bones off, and pulled it into small pieces.  Then, in another stock pot, I put in a container of Root’s seasoned chicken broth (I highly recommend the local company for any of their products; they specialize in chicken and related items.  An excellent place for quality chicken if you’re in or near the Fremont, OH area).  Just one container wasn’t quite enough for the stock the recipe called for (I needed about two of their containers, diluted 1/2), so I added in again the stock made by boiling the chicken.  Then, I continued with the recipe and finished it soon after.

At the end step, noodles boiling in the soup, just ready to serve

Egg Noodles (Betty Crocker Cookbook, New Edition, 2005)

2 cups all-purpose or whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

3 egg yolks

1 whole egg

1/3 to ½ cup water

Rolling out the dough--see my new rolling pin? It's from Williams-Sonoma

Noodles drying on the counter

Chicken Noodle Soup (BHG New Cook Book, 2006)

1 whole chicken

8 cups water

1 onion

2 tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

1 bay leaf

1 cup carrot

2 stalks celery

1 ½ cups egg noodles

2 Tb. Fresh parsley

Simmer 1^st 6 ingredients about 1 ½ hours or until fully cooked.  Remove chicken from broth, remove bones and skin, cut into bite size pcs, remove bay.  Skim fat.  Boil broth, add carrot and celery, add noodles, add chicken and parsley.

I have no idea what made this recipe take so long.  It doesn’t seem like it should take very long, just reading it.  But, somehow, it ended up taking about 4-5 hours!  I was very hungry when I finally sat down to supper at 9pm that night.  I’m sure it wouldn’t take nearly as long next time, since I wouldn’t be reading the recipe so much.  Also, I’d plan to make the noodles the night before.  Even though it said the noodles would be dry in 30 minutes, that’s not true.  Of course I also probably rolled them a bit thicker, but still.  I left them out overnight.  (I also froze the rest, as it seemed to make twice as much as necessary.  We’ll see how those frozen uncooked ones fare when I remember to take them out and use them again.)

The taste of this soup was…well, a bit flat.  It needed more salt, or a stronger chicken flavor, or something.  The egg noodles were good, though next time I’d roll them thinner because they don’t have a lot of flavor just biting into them.  Also, I’m not sure if I should have let the soup cook down more, even though the recipe didn’t say  to do that.  In any case, next time I’ll be sure to make some changes.  It was good overall, though not good enough to serve to company.

Somehow I was able to hold off my hunger (It's after 9pm now, you realize) to snap this photo. It looks a bit watery in this picture, too. Note the Jello salad in the upper left corner 🙂

Fun with Jello: “Poke” Cake

Every family has different food traditions.  Previous to meeting my fiance Bobby, I had always assumed every family served a Jello something at each meal.  I mean, to my family, it just isn’t Christmas/Easter/Thanksgiving/Birthday without a Jello salad.  Though I don’t own one right now (and I plan to remedy that soon), most of my family members own a Jello cookbook.  To me, Jello is its own food group.  It’s kind of like ketchup…goes with everything.

But when I met Bobby, Jello is rather foreign to him.  He’d had it before, but not for almost every meal.  And, he had never made Jello before.  I once suggested he bring a Jello salad to a potluck, and he looked at me and said, “Jello what?”

I still remember that Jello was the first thing I ever made in the kitchen.  And I was very proud of it!  So I’ve always made sure to have a box (or two or ten) in my kitchen.  It’s such a flexible food.

For this recipe, I needed to make a dessert that was not chocolate since Bobby was visiting for Spring Break and was giving up caffeine for Lent.  So, I had a box of strawberry Jello and a white cake mix, and decided to follow the Raspberry Poke Cake recipe in my Betty Crocker’s Ultimate Cake Mix Cookbook.  A poke cake is really neat, because it is very easy to do and looks pretty.  Plus, it makes a Jello-flavored cake.

Raspberry Poke Cake

1 package white cake mix

1 package (4-serving size) Jello (I used Strawberry)

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup cold water

2 cups Cool Whip (I sweetened it up with some sugar and vanilla, that’s because I don’t like the plain taste of Cool Whip)

Grease bottom only of pan.  Bake cake as directed on box (I made it in a 9×13 dish).  Cool completely.  Pierce cake every 1/2 inch.  Stir Jello and water together, pour over cake.  Chill in refrigerator 2 hours.  Spread Cool Whip over cake.

Pizza Crust Yeast

When I was in the baking aisle recently, I noticed that Fleishmann’s now makes a special yeast for pizza.  So, I decided to try it to see if it really was as “fast and easy” as the package claimed.  It has a recipe on the back to use, to show just how easy it is–no waiting for the dough to rise.  Just mix, press in pan, and top with ingredients and bake.  Here’s the recipe:

1 3/4 to 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 envelope Fleishmann’s Pizza Yeast

1 1/2 tsp sugar

3/4 tsp salt

2/3 cup very warm tap water

3 T oil

Pizza sauce and toppings

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Mix first 4 ingredients together, add water and oil.  Add extra flour if needed to make into a ball.  Knead about 4 minutes.  Press dough into greased pizza pan.  Top with sauce and toppings.  Bake 12-15 minutes.

My pizza turned out great–I topped mine with chicken and parmesan and cheddar cheese.  I plan to use this kind of yeast again to make my pizzas, as the crust is just as good as any other I’ve made from scratch.

Comfort Food, Pt. II: Meatloaf

This is the classic comfort food dish.  I can’t believe I’ve never made it myself until now.  My grandpa has his own recipe for it, and always makes a special sauce to go both in and on the meatloaf.  This recipe isn’t his, as I live 600+ miles away and forgot to ask for the recipe last time I was there, but this recipe is still pretty good.  It’s kind of hard to screw up meatloaf, anyway.  Plus, the possibilities are endless, when you can mix in Italian sausage or bacon or other ground meat, like turkey, ham, or pork.  As for this recipe, I made it as close as possible to what’s called for, and next time I’d definitely use this as a basic recipe for meatloaf, and add in different ground meats and seasonings.  I didn’t have breadcrumbs, but used saltines instead.  However, I think I’d either use more saltines next time or just use the breadcrumbs, as it seemed a bit too juicy.  Or, I could  just use a leaner ground beef.

This recipe is from p. 377 of the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book (2006 ed).

Meatloaf

2 eggs

3/4 cup milk

2/3 cup fine dry breadcrumbs or 2 cups soft bread crumbs

1/4 cup onion

2 T fresh parsley (I used dried)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp dried sage, basil, or oregano

1/8 tsp pepper

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef, lamb, or pork

1/4 cup ketchup

2 T brown sugar

1 tsp dry mustard

Mix all but last 3 ingredients together, pat into 8x4x2 loaf pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 to 1 1/4 hours.  Mix together last 3 ingredients, spread over meat.  Bake 10 minutes longer.  Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing.

Comfort Food

Sometimes, the best part of my day is spent in the  kitchen.  I know that whenever I have a tough day, or am feeling down, I can temporarily forget about it when I’m making something good to eat.  And, as long as the recipe comes out well, I can enjoy it for several more meals too.

Today was one of those days.  A Monday in Wednesday’s clothing, I guess.  And even though I didn’t make this soup today, I found it comforting nonetheless.

When I made this soup last week, I was still trying to finish up the rest of a really good ham I had been using in several recipes prior.  The recipe asked for a ham bone, but I didn’t have that.  Instead, as I did for the split pea soup, I just added extra diced ham.  I think the flavor was still excellent, so I don’t believe I was missing anything without the bone.

I used the Ham and Bean Soup recipe from p. 558 of the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book (2006 ed), and modified it to fit what I had.  I didn’t have the cup of navy beans, but did have 3/4 cup of mixed soup beans and 1/4 cup of lentils, so I soaked those (not the lentils) for 8 hours.  I should have soaked them longer, though, or cooked them longer–the larger beans weren’t completely cooked.  I also added carrots to make up what I lacked in celery, as I only had two stalks left.

I used my new Calphalon dutch oven!

Here’s the recipe:

1 cup dry navy beans

4 cups water

1 to 1 1/2 lbs meaty smoked pork hocks or one 1 to 1 1/2 lb meaty ham bone

1 T butter

3 stalks celery

3 medium onion

3/4 tsp dried thyme

1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 bay leaf

4 cups water

Rinse beans, soak in water 8 hours or overnight.  Drain.  Brown meat in butter in Dutch oven.  Add vegetables and cook until tender.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Bring to boiling, reduce heat and simmer, covered, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.  Remove meat bones, cut meat off bones.  Stir in meat, remove bay leaf.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

This was a simple recipe, especially after my experience with my split pea soup that burned my brand new pan.  I made sure to keep the heat very low, and even though it took longer than expected to heat up, it was very efficient and I didn’t need to turn it above level 3 or 4 on the stovetop.  I was impatient to try the soup, otherwise I would have added a bit more water and kept it cooking to soften the beans some more, but next time I’ll know to expect a longer cooking time.  Or, just buy navy beans next time too.  I have about another 1 1/2 cups of dried lentils to finish in some other recipe, and then I’ll consider again what dried beans to buy for soups.  I like the dried bean concept–easy to store, not much work to prep, plus they’re so much cheaper than canned beans to buy.

It’s a great soup with many different flavors and textures that work well together.  Nice for a cold day, and comforting for a tough one too.