A Random Recipe Post

Since I haven't had time to write about anything interesting lately, I thought I'd at least share a couple of recipes that I'd been meaning to post about.  They are both "my own" although originally adapted or at least inspired by other sources. 

(Completely random aside: I'm writing this while I watch my daughter play contentedly in the bathtub beside me.  We got her one of these for Christmas, and it entertains her so well that now I tend to give her a bath when I just need a couple of minutes to sit and relax.  Of course I have to sit right next to the tub to keep her safe, but it still allows a few minutes respite)

Anyway.  Back to the recipes.

The first is a granola recipe that I've adapted from the King Arthur Flour "Vermont Maple Granola" recipe that I found at The Floured Apron.  The first time I made it basically as she suggested, but I've been gradually making it my own since then; some of the alterations are for flavor, and some for cost.  I usually make a full batch at the beginning of the week, and it lasts my cereal-crazed (seriously - as a bachelor, he used to eat unbelievable amounts of cereal, and he'll still happily eat 2 or more bowls in a day) husband about a week.  Also, don't be put off by the long list of ingredients.  This is SO easy to make, and so worth it, because it lacks all those weird additives, and you can adjust the fat and sugar as need be.

Modified Maple Granola

• 7 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup coconut (just the regular sweetened, shredded stuff - no need to toast it first)
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1 cup other chopped nuts (I use whatever I have on hand - walnuts, pecans, and hazelnuts all work equally well)
• 1 cup wheat germ (not something I generally had on hand, and pricey, but it does add flavor and more importantly, a lot of nutritional value)
• a couple good dashes of salt 
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup brown sugar (adjust to your own sweetness preference)
• 1/2 cup maple syrup (again, adjust according to your preference.  I made this adjustment primarily for budgetary reasons - I LOVE maple syrup, but until my father gets his sugaring rig up and going again and starts giving it to us for free, the $5/cup sweetener has to be used more sparingly)
• 1/2 cup or so unsweetened applesauce (this adds flavor, moisture to replace reduced syrup, and all-importantly, makes the granola clump better than in the original recipe)
• cinnamon to taste (can also add vanilla, if you so desire, but it isn't 100% necessary)
• a cup or so of dried cranberries
• a cup or so of raisins

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.  Combine all dry ingredients except for the dried fruit (raisins and cranberries) in a large bowl.  Heat the coconut oil in a small bowl (if necessary to get a liquid consistency - probably not necessary in the summer, but at this time of year mine is solid), and add the maple syrup, stir a bit, then pour over the dry ingredients in the large bowl.  Add the applesauce, and stir until well combined.  Pour the whole mixture onto two lightly greased cookie sheets, and bake (stirring every 15 minutes or so - the parts around the edge and at the bottom cook faster) until crispy and golden brown, around an hour and a half or so.  Mix in the dried fruit, cool completely, and enjoy.

The second recipe is "my own" - I put it together using trial and error, after having a very similar pumpkin soup at a restaurant in Rhode Island a couple of years ago.  We were visiting with friends at the time, and they insisted we try this "out of this world" soup - like pumpkin pie in a bowl, they said.  It was really, really good, and when I came home I tried and tried to find a recipe for it, but couldn't seem to find one anywhere.  Most of the pumpkin soup recipes on the Internet are for savory soups rather than sweet, and the one sweet one I tried (and posted about, previously) really fell short of what I was looking for.

So, here it is: it's sweet, creamy, and yes, like pumpkin pie in a bowl, but it also packs a nutritional punch with all of that yummy pumpkin.  Thus it is currently a great way to sneak veggies into my toddler, who will pack it away quite happily.  For little ones like her, I suggest adding a couple of tablespoons of oat or rice cereal, to thicken it up for better "spoonableness" (and doing so also adds iron).

Abby's Pumpkin Pie Soup

• 1 can pumpkin puree (15-16 oz)
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream, + 2 tbsp for thickening
• 2 tbsp (or a bit more) flour (for thickening)
• +/- 2 tbsp brown sugar (adjust to your sweetness preference)
• 1/8 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• dash of salt

Combine pumpkin, milk, sugar, vanilla, and spices in saucepan, stirring until well mixed.  Cook until almost simmering, then turn heat to low.  Stir in cream.  In a small bowl (a jelly jar or glass works great), combine about 2 tbsp of cream and 2 tbsp of flour.  Whisk this mixture into the soup, and heat gently until thickened (can repeat this step with more cream and flour for a thicker soup).  Serve and enjoy.

I hope you all try and enjoy these recipes.  In other news, stay tuned for an upcoming post on the re-purposed play stove top I've been making for my toddler!

Pumpkin deliciousness

I only have a minute, but I wanted to share a fabulous recipe that I heard about on the radio the other day, and which I made for our dinner tonight.  I try not to post recipes unless they are really dynamite ones - ones that I would make regularly because they are just that good, or ones that have some sort of special significance (like the St. Lucia day bread I'll post a link to in a couple of weeks), but trust me, this pumpkin recipe is worth a try.  It's not for the diet conscious, and is rich enough that you wouldn't want to eat it every week, but it's going into my repertoire for "special fall foods".

Here's the link (and the name really does tell the whole story):

"Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good" (from NPR)

To whet your appetite just a little: think bacon, cheese fondue, and roasted pumpkin, all in one.  Yum.  For bonus points, the whole thing took me less than 20 minutes to throw together, then went in the oven for two hours, at which point I just pulled it out and served it.  Little mess, and less fuss.

I have a theory, which I plan to test at some point, that it would make a fabulous dessert as well, if made sweet instead of savory with cinnamon raisin bread, cranberries, walnuts, and lightly sweetened cream cheese...

It's also a great way to use up leftovers for a cheap and fabulous meal: I used the stale remains of a loaf of french bread (from a spaghetti dinner earlier in the week), half a package of bacon that we'll have with "brinner" on the weekend (which would otherwise sit in the fridge and go bad, because we don't use bacon that much), and the tail end of a brick of cheddar cheese.  Definitely seems like a recipe that would well accommodate many different sorts of leftovers, though.

Anyway, try it!  Bon appetite!

A quickie recipe I thought I would share

Last night I was tired, not in the mood to spend much time at the stove, and didn't have much food in the house.  This is a combination that, to be honest, most often results in a pizza being magically delivered to our door.  But in the interest of frugality, I whipped together the following instead.  Husband pronounced it good, and I thought I would share :)

Ravioli with Brown Butter Sage Sauce

Frozen ravioli (I used a spinach/ricotta stuffed variety, but just cheese stuffed is good as well, and I bet pumpkin ravioli would be awesome)

Handful of fresh sage leaves (we harvested straight from the garden = super fresh and delicious)

Several tbsp of butter (adjusted based on how many you're serving)

Parmesan cheese

Garlic salt

Prepare frozen (or fresh, but if you're short on time, the former is a lot easier) ravioli according to package directions.  I use about 1/2 a bag for two of us.

While ravioli is cooking, put a couple of tbsp of butter in a frying pan, and melt on med-high heat.  The sage soaks up some of the butter, and you want enough extra floating around to well coat the ravioli when you are done; I used about 3 tbsp or so for the 1/2 bag, so use more or less depending on how much ravioli you are cooking.

Once the butter is melted, throw in your washed, dried, fresh sage leaves.   Sprinkle with garlic salt to taste, and then stir while cooking over med-high heat.  As soon as the sage starts to curl and get crispy, remove sauce from heat and set aside - it will continue to cook and crisp a little once off the heat, so make sure you don't overcook it.

Drain ravioli, toss with sauce to coat, and finish by grating some fresh parmesan cheese over the top.  Do not remove the sage leaves - these are the tastiest part!

Serve with a side salad (we had yummy fresh lettuce from the garden, plus tomato and cucumber from the store), and a loaf of crusty bread; make a dipping sauce for the bread by grating fresh garlic into a bowl and pouring some olive oil over it.

Tada!  Dinner ready in 15 minutes or less.  Beat that, Rachael Ray :)

What about you all?  Any good, quick, go-to meals for those nights when you are just so tempted to do takeout?

Tut tut, it looks like rain...

It's raining lightly here, which is a welcome reprieve from the hot weather earlier this week.  I'm hoping it'll let up later so I can put my pepper seedlings in, but if it doesn't, no harm; sometimes it is nice to be out in rain.  I'm finding that having this garden is so good for my mental health - there is something very calming about being with the plants, and I find myself going out in the morning just to check and see how they are doing.  It's very Zen, for lack of a better word.

In other news, my to-do-list today is really long, and therefore my time is really short.  We're having LW's first birthday party tomorrow (so that family and friends can come) although her *real* birthday is tuesday; I can't believe a year has flown already!

In honor of the event, I need to bake a double recipe of Sweet Potato Cake with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting, then frost and decorate it, and clean the house (we've reached a good state of controlled chaos, but as my grandmother would say, "the Davis's are coming!" which really meant a panicked cleaning was in order).

Also, some enjoying of the Saturday needs to take place.  So a happy weekend to all - pictures of the cake to be forthcoming if it turns out ok :)  I haven't decorated a cake in a good long while, but hopefully (yet again!) the 4-H skills will come right back.

A homesteading Saturday

What a beautiful day in our neighborhood!  Warm, sunny, and best of all, my husband let me sleep in this morning and promptly removed the early bird LW from the bed, and hence my productivity when I did get up was quite high :)  Jim had to work (he's a cemetery superintendent, which unfortunately equals some Saturday work, especially in the summer) for awhile, so it was a great time to busy myself with the Rhubarb Marmalade that a friend sent me the recipe link for:

I should note that I'm ridiculously thankful to my parents for both instilling canning skills in me (yay 4-H!) and also for setting me up with some of the tools of the trade.

The finished product; 8.5 beautiful jars, and the fruit didn't even rise to the top.  I gave one to our landlords as a thank you for letting us harvest from their rhubarb patch, and the rest have been stocked away for yummy eating.  Unfortunately, the husband doesn't like rhubarb.. so I guess more for me :)

I also put in our tomato seedlings while LW looked on from the safety of her blanket, and then made some fantastic french toast with cinnamon swirl bread from Great Harvest for dinner.  LW had her first french toast (regular, not cinnamon bread), and dove in with great enthusiasm.

I have to say, I get so much enjoyment out of gardening and canning.  It feels good to work with my hands, and also to use the knowledge and wisdom passed down from generation by generation.  I always think of those who taught me the skills - my grandfather, my dad, my mom, 4-H leaders, etc.  For instance, Grammy Fenton (a woman who ran the canning dept. at our local fair for decades) would be proud :)

It is also fun to have mastered skills taught to you as a child to the point where you can confidently do them independently.  So many of the things that I learned growing up, I absorbed because "that was the way we did things."  Weekly church attendance, gardening, spinning, sewing, knitting, canning, baking, horses, sheep - I took for granted that this was the way most families were, but as I have grown I have found just how unique my upbringing was.  Not every ten year old is allowed to have their own fire, nor helped to start one in the winter (via a fatherly intervention with a blow torch); not every thirteen year old is given her own horse to raise and train.  I now know that my parents were sort of "Montessori" in their approach, though not strictly or even all that intentionally - but whatever you want to call it, it was a great way to grow up, and I hope LW can enjoy many of the same things.

Now, speaking of whom... time to get the baby ready for bed :)

Wednesday musings

It's been a busy day here. Woke up to rain, which made me very glad that I had done the laundry yesterday. My husband stayed home for an hour to play with LW while I got some work done; then she had a nap and he went off to work, while I did more work. We had some lunch (peas and yogurt for her, PBJ for me) while I made up the grocery list, then in to the office for a quick stop in to sign some papers (even more work) and make an appearance at the quarterly birthday party (side note: the y on our keyboard is acting up. I keep having to go back and hit it twice, so don't mind if you notice a word missing a y!) It was tough getting LW back down for a nap when we got back, as she took one of those dreaded 5 minute "car naps", but now she's sleeping and I finally have a few minutes for a post before my husband comes home and I head off to the grocery store.

Random musings for today:

- Our lettuce is up, and we should be eating it in another week, I think! Time now to plant the rest of everything. It is my first year of having a garden all my own; I did lots of gardening for 4-H growing up, but always with my dad's help. I'm getting a real kick out of raising the plants all by myself (yes, I'm pretty much that person who goes out and checks her plants every day, so excited to see them grow another half an inch)

- I'm loving not using the dryer. It feels so good to know I'm saving money as I hang stuff on the line. Plus it gets me outside on nice days, and is so much less hassle than I thought it would be. I'm hooked.

- I'm also getting hooked on other "green" things. As I said to my husband as we walked to the grocery store last night - I think I'm becoming a hippie. Not the stereotypical pot smoking, unshaven legged hippie; rather, going back to the earth, back to the way things used to be, choosing mindfulness rather than mindlessness.  It started out as a money saving adventure, but more and more I'm realizing that all of our time saving items can end up taking the joy out of life. For instance - dinner really does taste better on the good china, instead of paper plates.  And we appreciate clean dishes and clean laundry more when we've put a little work into it.  Somehow, I'm finding that my body and mind enjoy the real work of housework - scrubbing, folding, washing, etc, leave me more satisfied at the end of the day than a day on the computer or even relaxing watching tv would.  I think this has to do with the idea that our bodies are made to move.  So maybe not really a hippie, but rather, a pioneer woman?

- Also realizing how much the way I think has been influenced by the great writers I grew up reading. Tolkien, Lewis, Montgomery, and especially Madeleine L'Engle. I hope to meet them in heaven, and say thank you.

- Planning to make some creme brulee for dessert tonight. Another thank you to L'Engle for that - because of her, I first dared to make creme brulee:

"Mother was in the kitchen cooking creme brulee. 'I'm like my mother,' she said. 'I cook for therapy. And it's as much of an art form, I believe, as painting or writing or making music.'" - A Ring of Endless Light

Definitely an art form, but also super easy.  We received a lovely little creme brulee torch and ramekins for a bridal shower gift, and I've finally been enjoying putting them to use.  If anyone out there hasn't ever tried creme brulee - here is the super easy recipe that I follow (I halve it, as there are only two of us, which makes four shallow ramekins worth or two deeper ones, and also follow "Chefpeon"'s modifications, on the first comment).  Make it.  You won't regret it :)

- Finally (so quickly, my blogging time has run out!), I've been thinking about how thankful I am for sites like Faith and Family.  Since getting married and having my first baby, I've found it really hard to find like-minded (or even just similarly occupied!) women; none of the local parishes have much in the way of moms groups (maybe that's my hint that I need to start one?), and it is just hard to find friends.  It is strange, how possible it is to live on a street surrounded by other people, and yet never know them by name... makes me kind of want to revert to an Amish way of life.  Oh, to live on Walton mountain..

With which thought, I am off to the grocery store.  Happy "hump" day to everyone!  The weekend is looming back into sight!