Pumpkin Bread

Of all the things I have cooked or baked, this is by far the most intimidating. My mother-in-law is practically famous for her pumpkin bread and Matt absolutely loves it. She bakes it in a coffee can and it is always super moist and really yummy. We had some pumpkin muffins at my parents house this past Sunday and he mentioned he wanted pumpkin bread. My mother gave me two cans from her pumpkin stash and that was that. Matt would get his pumpkin bread.

I looked at a few different recipes, trying to find one that looked good, but was also a little different from my mother-in-law's. I settled on this one, which I found on Deborah's blog. It used applesauce instead of oil, which also appealed, since all this recent baking has made my pants shrink a little. It was a good bread, but Matt still prefers his moms. He called it a pumpkin cake instead of a pumpkin bread and claimed the pumpkin flavor didn't shine. Every one's a critic. I guess I'll keep looking for a recipe that compares.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

from Deborah's Culinary Confections

2 c granulated sugar

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree

3 eggs

1 c applesauce

1/4 c water

2 1/2 c flour

2 t ground cinnamon

1/2 t ground nutmeg

1 1/4 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1 c mini semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9"x5"x3" loaf pans. (I halved the recipe since I only have one loaf pan.) In a large mixing bowl beat sugar, pumpkin, eggs, applesauce and water until well combined. In a medium mixing bowl combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture until just combined - do not overmix. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour evenly into prepared loaf pans and bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center of bread comes out clean.

Feels Like Fall!

I think my menu may have been inspired. The first night the temperatures fell enough to finally feel like fall, I had chili cooking in the crockpot. It was perfect. The chili recipe was the same as I always make, but this time I decided to make something other than traditional cornbread as a side. I saw this recipe in September's Cooking Light and just had to try it. They were so good! I will definitely make them again. They were perfect with the chili and took almost no time at all to put together. I highly recommend them!

Cornmeal, Jalapeno, and Fresh Corn Scones

from Cooking Light, September 2007

1 3/4 c all-purpose flour

3/4 c cornmeal

1 T baking powder

4 1/2 T chilled butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 c fresh corn kernels (about 1 ear)

2 T finely chopped seeded jalapeño pepper

1 c nonfat buttermilk

Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in corn and pepper. Add buttermilk, stirring just until moist (dough will be slightly sticky).

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead lightly 2 or 3 times with lightly floured hands. Pat the dough into a 9-inch circle on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Cut dough into 12 wedges, cutting to, but not through, dough. Bake at 400° F for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

Yummy Pizza!

My first homemade pizza was a success! I really enjoyed this crust; it was recommended by the ladies on the What's Cooking board and it did not disappoint! I was a little nervous since yeast is not usually my friend and then I forgot to add 2 ingredients (the salt and the olive oil) until after I started kneading the dough. It turned out perfectly, though. I even made my own pizza sauce for the pizza. I was so domestic, my new name is now Martha.

Jay's Pizza Crust

from All Recipes

2-1/4 t active dry yeast (1 packet)

1/2 t brown sugar

1-1/2 c warm water (110 degrees F / 45 degrees C)

1 t salt

2 T olive oil

3-1/3 c all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit 10 minutes. Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution. Mix in 2-1/2 cups of the flour.

Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise until doubled in size; approximately 1 hour. Punch down the dough and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax a little before rolling out.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, you may place your toppings on the dough, and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza in a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise 15-20 minutes before topping and baking it. Bake pizza in preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.

**Makes 2 large pizzas

Pizza Sauce

from me

1 can tomato sauce

2 t dried oregano

2 t dried basil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 T olive oil

salt

pepper

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and heat on low for about 8 minutes. Let cool slightly before spreading on crust.

I topped the pizza with green pepper, red onion, black olives, pepperoni, provel cheese and parmesan.

Crying?! There's no crying in baking!

Biscuits. I was terrified to make them and I think they knew. I pulled out my Alton Brown cookbook to find the perfect scientifically based biscuit recipe. I found it. He promised me I would have award winning biscuits. He has yet to fail me, so I jumped in. I froze the butter. I grated it into the dry ingredients. I rubbed in the butter instead of cut. I bought an enormous tub of plain yogurt because he said it makes them fluffier. I mixed. I turned it out onto floured waxed paper. And this is what I got:

Which turned into this:

And finally this:

I was incredibly frustrated in the kitchen and my husband had to yell from our dining room in progress that they were only biscuits. He just has no idea. I hate kitchen failures! Once I decided to just throw the mess away, I looked in my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook for another biscuit recipe. Turns out I didn't have enough flour to try again because I had wasted two cups on this disaster. Sigh. I ended up walking to Aldi's to buy buttermilk biscuits in a tube and a bag of flour. I'm not seeing another biscuit attempt in my near future, but at least now I have the flour.

While the biscuits may have been my greatest cooking disaster to date, my sausage gravy and eggs turned out quite yummy. I used a recipe I got off the Nest a long time ago, I think from nestie TexasSmith (It was Krashed24, from this blog. Sorry Amber!). It turned out much better then the darn biscuits. The eggs were nothing special, but I did snip in some chives and I always whisk in water, not milk, to make the eggs super fluffy. While my "breakfast" wasn't actually finished until 1:15 in the afternoon, I at least got to eat some pretty tasty gravy. It was even made with fresh from the hog sausage. My mother-in-law sent us home with a few pounds of a friend's pig, so I figured gravy was the way to go. Very tasty.

Sausage Gravy

from Amber

1 lb pork sausage

2 T chopped onion

6 T flour (I used more since I used skim milk)

4 c milk

1/2 t sage (I used poultry seasoning because some caterpillar decided to eat my fresh herbs)

1/4 t salt

black pepper

In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the sausage and onion until sausage is no longer pink. Drain, reserving 2 T drippings (my sausage didn't get any drippings, so I melted in some butter). Stir flour into sausage and drippings until blended. Cook and stir until light golden brown. Add seasonings, then gradually stir in milk. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir until desired consistency.

A Lovely Saturday Morning Suprise

While most of the kitchen duties are mine, my husband has decided that he needs his own "specialty" that I am not allowed to make. One of these "specialties" is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, though I have informed him that something a toddler can make is not a specialty. I am, however, quite fond of his other speciality- weekend pancakes.


Early in our marriage, he became fascinated by pancakes and started tinkering in the kitchen on Saturday and Sunday mornings. He had a few minor disasters, but has since come up with a wonderful "secret" recipe for very tasty pancakes. Using either a box mix or Alton Brown's recipe for pancake mix, he adds orange juice in place of some of the milk. The exact measurements are top secret, either because he doesn't want to share or he doesn't know because it is never the same twice.


This particularly morning I woke up to this fabulous spread on our kitchen table (please excuse the mess; we are still working on the sun room).




As a fun bonus to this morning's pancakes, he added some fresh berries for a lovely presentation. Mine had blueberries:




His had strawberries:





My handsome hubby/chef!

Not a summer dish, but so tasty!

Tonight I decided to make Swedish Meatballs. I found the recipe when I was sorting through a bunch that had no home. I have about 9 pounds of ground beef in my freezer (it was on sale), so I figured this was as good a way as any to use up some meat.

I also had my first baking experience in my new kitchen. I had saved a recipe for Bacon, Cheddar and Green Onion Scones from the What's Cooking board on thenest.com and decided to try them tonight. I think it was originally a Rachel Ray recipe, but I'm not positive. All my bacon was frozen and I didn't think far enough ahead to get it out, so I just left it out of the scones. I have to say, they were pretty darn good. My baking skills tend to be hit or miss, but this one was definitely a hit. I'll probably make these again.

Swedish Meatballs

1 2/3 c evaporated milk (I used skim)

2/3 c chopped onion

1/4 c fine breadcrumbs

1/2 t salt

1/2 t allspice

dash of pepper

1 lb ground beef

2 t butter

2 beef bouillon cubes

1 c boiling water

1/2 c cold water

2 T flour

1 T lemon juice

chopped parsley

Combine 2/3 c evaporated milk, onion, crumbs, salt, allspice and pepper. Add meat; mix well and chill. Shape mixture into 1 inch balls. In large skillet, brown meatballs in butter. Dissolve bouillon cubes in the boiling water; pour over meatballs and bring to boil over medium heat. Cover; simmer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, blend together cold water and flour. Remove meatballs from skillet; skim fat from pan juices and reserve juices. Stir 1 c evaporated milk and flour mixture into pan juices in skillet; cook, uncovered, over low heat, stirring until sauce thickens. Return meatballs to skillet. Stir in lemon juice. Remove from heat and stir in chopped parsley. Serve with cooked noodles and sprinkle with more parsley.

Bacon, Cheddar and Green Onion Scones

3 c. flour

1 T baking powder

1 t salt

1 T black pepper

1 stick unsalted butter, chilled, cut into small cubes

1 1/2 c grated cheddar

4 green onions, sliced

10 slices bacon, chopped into 1 inch pieces

3/4 - 1 1/2 c buttermilk

1 large egg

2 t water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a mixer, combine flour, baking powder, salt and black pepper on low speed. With mixer running gradually add cubes of butter until the dough is crumbly and studded with pea sized bits of flour and butter. Add grated cheese and mix until just blended. Add green onions, bacon and 3/4 c buttermilk to flour and cheese mixture. Mix by hand. If dough is too dry to hold together, use remaining buttermilk, adding 1 T at a time, until dough is pliable and can be formed into a ball. Stir as lightly and as little as possible. Remove dough to a lightly floured surface. Pat dough into a ball. Using a well-floured rolling pin, flatten dough into a circle about 8 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough into 8-10 equal wedges depending on size scone you prefer. Whisk egg and water in a small mixing bowl. Brush each wedge with egg wash. Place on lined baking sheet and bake 18-20 minutes or until golden brown and no longer sticky in the middle.

**My notes: As I said before, I omitted the bacon because I didn't have any available. I also used 1 c of buttermilk. I would also recommend cutting it into 10 wedges because the 8 wedges were huge. I had to bake mine for 22 minutes, but I'm still getting used to the heat settings on this stove, so that may have had something to do with it.**