Pumpkin Bread

I needed to use up a can of pumpkin puree, whole wheat flour, wheat bran, yogurt, and dried cherries, so I made some pumkin bread using a pumpkin muffin recipe. The bread was delish! Probably would have been even better as muffins, and adding some oats to the batter could have been interesting. Make sure to bake until toothpick/knife comes out completely clean when testing to see if it's done.

Pumpkin Muffins (with my modifications):

1 can pumpkin puree

2 large eggs, lightly beaten (I added an extra)

1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt

1/2 cup canola or safflower oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup natural bran

3/4 cup granulated white sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

pinch nutmeg, pinch ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup raisins or dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (or 350 if baking bread). Place rack in the middle of the oven. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners or spray with a non stick vegetable spray.

In a medium sized bowl mix together the pumpkin puree, eggs, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla extract. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, bran, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt. Add the milk and egg mixture to the flour mixture. Stir until just combined. Fold in the raisins. Do not over mix the batter or the muffins will be tough when baked.

Fill the muffin cups with the batter using two spoons or an ice cream scoop. Place in the oven and bake for about 18 - 20 minutes (or at least 50 mins for bread), or until firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place on a wire rack to cool.

Makes 12 regular-sized muffins.

Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/muffins/PumpkinMuffins.html#ixzz0afjwZPFu

Avocado Salsa and Chocolate Hazelnut Thumbprints

With my avocado from the Fruit/Veggie Co-Op, I improvised a little guacamole/salsa out of apple, red onion, feta, cilantro, lime, salt and avocado. I ate it right out of the bowl the first day, and inside an egg white omelet the next day!
I had leftover egg whites because these hazelnut thumbprint cookies called for egg yokes only. I made them for the reception of my chamber ensemble concert, and they turned out pretty good, except I could tell they would have been a lot better had I used an electric beater instead of a wooden spoon....on that note, I think it's pretty awesome that we made it through the whole semester without the help of a kitchenaid or hand mixer!

Persimmon Bread

Fat free and vegan and really good! Just sweet enough, and no one at Thanksgiving dinner could believe the bread only had two tablespoons of oil. It was a great way to use up our persimmons. It would have been better in a taller pan. Recipe from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen

Eggplant Parm

This recipe from my new Mark Bittman book, How to Cook Everything, was super easy and delicious. Simply slice eggplant, dredge in flour and fry in olive oil over medium heat, about 4 mins on each side. Grease a baking dish and layer it with sauce, eggplant, parmesan and mozzarella cheese, and then basil, as many times as necessary to fill the pan and use up the eggplant. Bake for about 25 mins at 350 until the sauce is bubbling.
We ate it with whole wheat spaghetti and a baguette.

Goat Cheese Quesadillas with More Apple Salsa

Simple, quick Goat cheese quesadillas with mushrooms, onions, spinach sauteed in olive oil and then plopped onto a whole wheat quesadilla with a good amount of plain goat cheese. Yum.
I repeated this apple salsa from before because it's so delicious and simple!

Pasta Risotto with Chicken and Mushrooms

This was a Mark Bittman recipe that Jen found. We couldn't find gemeli so we used large shells instead, which were perfectly acceptable. This meal was pretty easy and delicious when it was hot but didn't keep well. It had a strong chicken noodle soup resemblance and it was extremely comforting on a cold night.

Thai Acorn Squash Soup

This soup recipe had all of my favorite things, so I wasn't surprised when it turned out amazing. I made some chicken sausage stir-fry with spinach, garlic, onions, and sesame seeds on the side.


Adapted from 101 Cookbooks:

2 acorn squash
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 14-ounce can light coconut milk
about half a small container of red Thai curry paste
water
2 teaspoons salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and place the oven racks in the middle.

Cut squash in half and slather each piece of squash with butter, sprinkle generously with salt, place on a baking sheet skin sides down, and place in the oven. Roast for about an hour or until the squash is tender throughout.

When the squash is cool enough to handle scoop it into a large pot over medium high heat. Add the coconut milk and curry paste and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and puree with a hand blender if needed (we didn't need to), you should have a very thick base at this point. Now add water a cup at a time pureeing between additions until the soup is the consistency you prefer - a light vegetable stock would work here as well. Bring up to a simmer again and add the salt.

Serves seven.

Thanksgiving Leftovers! Southwest Turkey Soup, Sweet Potatoes and Stir-Fry

I'll let Jen write about her wonderful Southwest Turkey Soup.

I was in charge of side dishes for this meal. Again, some sweet potatoes with marshmallows to get rid of our last couple of yams from the veggie co-op and some leftover marshmallows from rice krispy treats ages ago...

Inspired by Andrew's contribution to pot-luck thanksgiving, I made a soy sauce, asparagus, edamame, sesame seed stir-fry.

Adventures with Wild Rice

So while I was sitting in class on Tuesday, trying to figure out what to make for dinner, I remembered that I had purchased an acorn squash from Stop & Shop that needed to be eaten. So then it was just a matter of what to stuff it with. I found this recipe on epicurious and was intrigued because I had never made wild rice before. It turned out that the week that followed included many one-person meals, so I slowly made my way through an entire bag of wild rice.

The week began with this recipe for acorn squash stuffed with wild rice, craisins, and nuts. I added feta and mushrooms as well.

The next day for lunch, I remade the squash stuffing mixture with the leftover rice and added a poached egg, cucumbers and strawberries on top.

For a quick dinner, I made fried rice with the wild rice, asparagus, mushrooms, onions, sesame seeds, soy sauce, a couple of eggs and some agave nectar for sweetness.

Finally, I was delighted to discover this recipe for a dish that I had with my mother in downtown Minneapolis two and a half years ago at a restaurant called Hell's Kitchen. It's called Mahnomin Porridge. You simply mix cooked wild rice with heavy cream (I used half and half but it was still way too rich), maple syrup over medium heat until warm, and then add chopped, toasted hazelnuts and dried fruit. Optional: fresh fruit on top (although they don't serve it that way at the restaurant) - I added blackberries which were excellent. Unfortunately, I halved the recipe but forgot to half the amount of nuts, so it was a very crunchy dish, but delicious nonetheless.

It's Been Awhile, I'm Aware...

Here are some pics from our beautiful Thanksgiving in Quogue.

Our plates- I got made fun of for the size of mine :)

Mom and Lu made the mashed. Peg made the gravy.


Peggy's beautiful 18-lb turkey.

I made this Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie recipe, which I won't link becuase I wouldn't recommend it. It turned out beautiful but I don't think I would make it again. A lot of people said it didn't need the chocolate, but I like the concept of Chocolate Pecan Pie, so I might just find a better pecan pie recipe that doesn't involve bourbon next time.
Sweet Potatoes with marshmallows- A classic Flaum tradition- we took a few wrong turns on this recipe though....Make sure you roast the sweet potatoes in their skin...i'm an idiot. We ended up supplementing them with some canned candied yams, which gave it a fake sweet taste that I didn't really like.

It was a classy spread.