I am so awesome. Max "hates" pumpkin, unless it is baked into a pie (or maybe some kind of sweet bread). Yet I made a soup tonight that he says tastes delicious!
Stuff:
6 small yellow potatoes
1 smallish pie pumpkin
1 yellow onion
1 can coconut milk
spices/herbs:
salt & black pepper
dried cilantro
dried basil
garam masala
allspice
star aniseed powder
smidgen chipotle powder
smidgen sriracha sauce
Do it like this:
Gut & peel the poor defenseless pumpkin (throw the seeds outside for a lucky squirrel to find). Chop it into small cubes. Wash the potatoes & chop into small cubes. Dice that onion up coarsely. Set about 1 cup of the pumpkin aside.
Put the rest of the pumpkin, the potatoes, and the onion into a crock pot, and add about 2 cups of water. Turn it on high and leave it alone until everything is almost completely cooked (I think it took about 2 hours?), then add the can of coconut milk & stir well. In a frying pan, saute the remaining pumpkin in a little oil, along with some salt and garam masala powder. Get it nice and brown and a bit soft.
Add the salt/pepper, herbs & spices to the crock pot-- to taste. I mean it. Just stir and taste until you think it tastes good. Go easy on the chipotle, or the soup will end up tasting only of smoky hot. Mash everything up coarsely while it's in the crock pot, then add the sauteed pumpkin and stir. It should be super thick and lumpy.
Max thinks we should have pureed it, but thick soups like that always remind me of baby food and are a little boring, in my opinion.
OK, so as delicious as this is, Max had an incredibly good idea-- serve it in bread bowls & sprinkle Fontina cheese on top. That kid is so smart. We're going to do just that tomorrow for dinner. You know what I love about the crock pot? I put the insert into the fridge, and then put it back in the heaty part when I want to get dinner ready. I already made dinner for tomorrow night!!
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Candied yam pie.
We had lots of leftover candied yams, so turned them into a pie.
What you need:
Leftover candied yams (ours have brown sugar, ginger, cardamon, cinnamon, allspice, the kitchen sink) that still have some bits of marshmallow on top.
Ginger snaps, butter, brown sugar
3 eggs
Marshmallows
How you do it:
Turn the oven on to 350. Crunch up the ginger snaps (NOT IN YOUR MOUTH), mix them up with some butter and brown sugar (I'm sorry, I just don't measure-- maybe one day?). Mix it all up really well. Spray a pie dish with that awesome pan spray stuff, then press the ginger snappy stuff into the bottom and up the sides, pressing in really well. Put the dish into the oven, then turn it OFF. Leave the crust in there while you make the filling.
Whisk those three eggs up super well, then whisk in the yams, plus add some more brown sugar (and spices if you want it more spicy yum). Pour into the pie crust, smooth it out, and bake for awhile at 350. I say awhile, because my oven is a bitch and sometimes is super hot and cooks things really fast. It might be 30 minutes, it might be 45? I forgot to look at the clock too. I would suggest that you look at a recipe for yam or pumpkin pie...
Anyway, when the edges are cooked, and the middle is almost cooked, cover the entire thing in marshmallows. Don't put them too close to the edge, or you will be peeling marshmallow off your oven for awhile (ahem). They will slide as they heat up... Let the pie bake just long enough for the marshmallows to puff up and start to brown a tiny bit. Not melt and slide off your pie (ahem).
Cool that pie on a rack until you don't get boiling sugar burns from the marshmallows, but do eat it warm. It's really good warm. It is also good at room temperature. It was all gone before we could put it in the refrigerator, so I don't know what it tastes like cold. Prolly really good.
What you need:
Leftover candied yams (ours have brown sugar, ginger, cardamon, cinnamon, allspice, the kitchen sink) that still have some bits of marshmallow on top.
Ginger snaps, butter, brown sugar
3 eggs
Marshmallows
How you do it:
Turn the oven on to 350. Crunch up the ginger snaps (NOT IN YOUR MOUTH), mix them up with some butter and brown sugar (I'm sorry, I just don't measure-- maybe one day?). Mix it all up really well. Spray a pie dish with that awesome pan spray stuff, then press the ginger snappy stuff into the bottom and up the sides, pressing in really well. Put the dish into the oven, then turn it OFF. Leave the crust in there while you make the filling.
Whisk those three eggs up super well, then whisk in the yams, plus add some more brown sugar (and spices if you want it more spicy yum). Pour into the pie crust, smooth it out, and bake for awhile at 350. I say awhile, because my oven is a bitch and sometimes is super hot and cooks things really fast. It might be 30 minutes, it might be 45? I forgot to look at the clock too. I would suggest that you look at a recipe for yam or pumpkin pie...
Anyway, when the edges are cooked, and the middle is almost cooked, cover the entire thing in marshmallows. Don't put them too close to the edge, or you will be peeling marshmallow off your oven for awhile (ahem). They will slide as they heat up... Let the pie bake just long enough for the marshmallows to puff up and start to brown a tiny bit. Not melt and slide off your pie (ahem).
Cool that pie on a rack until you don't get boiling sugar burns from the marshmallows, but do eat it warm. It's really good warm. It is also good at room temperature. It was all gone before we could put it in the refrigerator, so I don't know what it tastes like cold. Prolly really good.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Buffet Day.
We don't celebrate Thanksgiving. But I don't like the kids to miss out on a feast day... So every year we celebrate Happy Buffet Day!
This year, I had to make a blow by blow list to help my poor befuddled brain work. And Dora totally kicked butt in the kitchen slicing, dicing, mashing, mixing and generally saving my weeny ass. This isn't really instructions for anyone else to follow, but I think it's funny that I had to write out every step.
This year, I had to make a blow by blow list to help my poor befuddled brain work. And Dora totally kicked butt in the kitchen slicing, dicing, mashing, mixing and generally saving my weeny ass. This isn't really instructions for anyone else to follow, but I think it's funny that I had to write out every step.
BUFFET DAY 2010:
DICE A TOTAL OF 5 ONIONS
roast wheat gluten 45 minutes
dice & saute onion, garlic, & spices
mix with wheat gluten in bowl
add broth & oil
form into roast, put in pan, cover & bake
mashed cheesy tatoes 1 hour
dice & boil potatoes & onions
drain, mash with garlic, cheese, etc.
stuffing 45 minutes
toast bread & cube
dice & saute onions & celery
toss in with bread & broth
put in pan & bake w/butter on top
candied yams
put yams into baking pan & mash up with spices
sugar & marshmallows on top & bake
shahi tofu w/rice 45 minutes (while foods roasts)
dice & saute onion
drain & saute tofu w/onion
add cashews & raisins
add sauce & simmer
microwave rice 10 minutes while shahi cooks (we had cooked rice in the fridge already)
cranberry sauce w/apples & oranges 45 minutes
chop apples & oranges, plus some orange zest
add to pot w/cranberries, spices, sugar & water & boil
broc & cheese 10 minutes
microwave & put in bowl (YES! I bought frozen cheesy broccoli! Yay!)
gravy 10 minutes (while broc cooks)
melt butter in pan, add broth, whisk in starch & spices until thick
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Really good stuff...
Verbatim from my notebook:
"Really good stuff:
saute thick sliced onions & potatoes until browned-- sprinkle w/kosher salt-- pour water over & cook 'til soft-- add thick sliced portabellos-- sprinkle w/chopped parsley, a little hot sauce & lemon juice-- add a little honey-- stir in cooked quorn tenders & simmer"
And another one:
"cut cucumbers in big chunks, sprinkle w/kosher salt, dill weed & sushi vinegar"
Apparently I was on a dill kick for awhile.
"Really good stuff:
saute thick sliced onions & potatoes until browned-- sprinkle w/kosher salt-- pour water over & cook 'til soft-- add thick sliced portabellos-- sprinkle w/chopped parsley, a little hot sauce & lemon juice-- add a little honey-- stir in cooked quorn tenders & simmer"
And another one:
"cut cucumbers in big chunks, sprinkle w/kosher salt, dill weed & sushi vinegar"
Apparently I was on a dill kick for awhile.
Tangy green beans.
Simmer a bag of frozen french cut green beans until bright green and just cooked. Drain, then add 4 TB mayonaisse, 2 TB of lemon juice, 1 TB horseradish and about a teaspoon of dill weed. The amounts are approximate, because my notebook just has the ingredients listed. I don't measure stuff. Maybe I should so I can recreate recipes better...
Tatoes smashed and bashed.
Anyway which way you make mashed potatoes is going to be great, but this mish mash I made one night was uber awesome.
You need:
potatoes
onions
cottage cheese
butter
lemon juice
milk
dill weed
nutmeg
salt
You need to decide how much of everything you need, based on how many mountains of potato deliciousness you want.
Dice potatoes and onions and boil until tender. Drain, add all ingredients (milk last) and mash the heck out of it. Adjust the amount of ingredients to your mouth.
You need:
potatoes
onions
cottage cheese
butter
lemon juice
milk
dill weed
nutmeg
salt
You need to decide how much of everything you need, based on how many mountains of potato deliciousness you want.
Dice potatoes and onions and boil until tender. Drain, add all ingredients (milk last) and mash the heck out of it. Adjust the amount of ingredients to your mouth.
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