Dinner in a Pumpkin

This meal is a fun way to send your trick-or-treaters out in to the cold with full tummies. My mom made it for me every Halloween and now I make it for my family. It's a fun, nutritious way to start the festivities. Plus, if the kids get to pick out, gut and decorate the pumpkin, they will be more likely to give it a try.

Dinner in a Pumpkin

1 small to medium pumpkin

1 onion, chopped

11/2-2 lbs hamburger

2 Tbsp brown sugar

4 oz  can of sliced mushrooms (drained)

1 can cream of chicken soup

11/2 cup cooked rice

18 oz can sliced water chestnuts (drained)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Cut a hole in the top of pumpkin (do this at a slight angle tilted toward the stem. If you cut straight down, your cap will fall in while baking)  and remove seeds and fibers. If you wish, draw a face on the outside of the pumpkin with a black sharpie (the pumpkin shrivels when it bakes, so scary faces work best). Brown meat and onions, drain off drippings. Mix all ingredients in the pumpkin and cook at 350⁰ until the pumpkin is soft (usually 1 to 2 hours). Make sure when you serve it that you scrape some pumpkin off the sides for each serving. It's yummy!

Taste the '80's

If decades had flavors, the 1980's would taste like these marshmallow brownies. They were at every picnic, party and family gathering of my childhood. I ate (and stole) as many as I could every time Mom made a batch. The flavors are simple and the texture is really really chewy. They are not sophisticated by any means, but I love them none the less. Besides, how often do you get to use a jelly roll pan to bake brownies? Seize the chance!

 

Mom’s Brownies

2 cubes butter (room temperature)

2 cups sugar

1/3 cup cocoa

11/2 cup flour

1 tsp vanilla

4 eggs

Marshmallows (enough to spread on top)

Icing:

¼ cup melted butter

2 Tbsp cocoa

2 Tbsp milk

½ tsp vanilla

11/2 cups powdered sugar

Dash of salt

Combine butter, sugar, cocoa, flour, vanilla and eggs in a bowl until smooth. Pour batter on a greased jelly roll pan or cookie sheet.  Bake at 350⁰ for 25 minutes. Remove brownies from oven and turn off the heat. Immediately layer marshmallows on top and place in the still warm oven until the marshmallows begin to look puffy (watch carefully so as not to overcook). Remove from the oven and spread the marshmallows with a spatula until the brownies are evenly coated. Add icing on top and refrigerate 30 minutes before serving.

Freezer Corn Tutorial

3 for $1 is an average price for sweet corn. 4 for $1 is really good and 5 for $1 is amazing. If you happen to see that kind of deal, you can't pass it up. Free up some space in your freezer if you can, because you will be thanking yourself when you are eating farm fresh corn in January. The taste is amazing and much better than canned corn and even the freezer aisle stuff.

Items needed:
Bundt pan
electric knife (try to get one with a bottom squeeze trigger if you can. Thumb triggers will tire you faster)
stock pot
Jelly roll pan
Ziplock freezer bags (I use pint sized)
Tongs
1 cup measure 
Big bowl

Ingredients:
Butter (optional)
Salt (optional)
Pepper (optional)
30 ears of summer sweet corn

Directions:

Preparation
Fill stock pot 2/3 full of water and boil on high. It will take twenty minutes or more for this much water to reach a boiling point, so you have plenty of time to husk your corn cobs while you wait. Remove all leaves and as much silk as you can. I like to stack my cobs on a jelly roll sheet so they are easy to move from the prep area to the cooking area.

Boil
My stock pot fit 15 ears of corn in each batch. You may get more or less depending on the size of your pot. Using your tongs (carefully!) place the ears in the pot. Leave a good three inches of headspace between the water level and the top of your pan so you don't over boil. The corn will drop the temperature of the water so you will have to wait a bit before it returns to a rolling boil. As soon as it does, set your timer for 6 minutes.

Blanche
Fill a clean sink with cold water and ice cubes. When the boiling time is up move the corn from the pot to the sink and let soak until they are cool enough to handle. The cold water stops the cooking process and helps seal in the color and nutrients.

Cut
This is the fun part. Place the tip of the corn cob in the center of the bundt pan. Hold the corn vertical with one hand and with the other hand slice down the sides of the corn with your electric knife. Try to stop before you reach the the end, or you will nick your pan and dull your knife (obviously I learned the hard way. Poor little pan!) When your pan fills up, dump it out in your collection bowl. Also, don't cut too deep, or you will get tough chewy stuff in your corn.

Season
I prefer to leave my corn plain and season it when I serve it, but if you know that you will always want butter on your corn, this is the time to do it. Melt your butter in your microwave. I'd do one cube per thirty ears but you can do more or less depending on how buttery you like your corn, and maybe a tablespoon of salt and and a tablespoon of pepper, but it is really up to your discretion. Coat evenly.

Measure
I used three cups per bag, because that's an ideal serving size for my family. 30 ears of corn gave me nine bags, but it will be different every time based on the size of the cobs you find.

Seal
Squeeze out as much air as you can and seal tightly. A food vacuum would be ideal for this, but I've had freezer corn last in regular ziplocks for an entire year without freezer burn.

Freeze
I like to stack my bags flat on a cookie sheet so they freeze in manageable shapes. As soon as they are frozen you can stack them them on their ends to make more space in your freezer.

Pico De Gallo

Pico De Mayo. That's what my Spanish-inhibited better half called this. I think he's confusing his holidays with his food, but at least he's in the right genre. I watched an acquaintance make this at a luncheon last summer. She didn't have a recipe, just fresh ingredients from her garden and a lime juicer. Here's my attempt at recreating her magic.

Pico De Gallo

10-15 roma tomatoes
1 large white onion (must be white. Yellow onions are too pungent to eat raw)
1/2 bunch of cillantro
2-3 limes
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Prepare romas by washing them, slicing them down the middle and squeezing the seeds out under running water. Once cleaned, cut the ends off and dice. Place in bowl. Next dice your white onion and add to the bowl. Wash your cilantro and cut the stems off before chopping finely and adding to the romas and onions. Slice your limes length wise and squeeze over the other ingredients. Discard lime when finished. Salt and Pepper. (I use sea salt for this, and liberally. It's hard to over salt a raw tomato in my opinion. I probably use two or three teaspoons by the time I'm done.) Refrigerate.

This should be eaten within a few days. The salt draws the juices out of the tomatoes and it can get soggy and limp after a while.

Simple and easy, right? I like to eat it with tortilla chips or use it as a topping for tilapia or burritos. It makes for a fresh summer snack or even a light lunch.

Grandma's Frog Eye Salad

Because it is summer.
Because it is delicious.
Because it's awesome to tell your kids mid bite what it's called.
Because calling it a salad makes it healthier. Psychologically.
Because it tastes good, that's why.
How many reasons do you need?
I don't need anymore. I'm taking this good stuff to an end of summer bash a few hours from now and my only regret is that I'll have to share it.
Love this stuff.

All credit for this recipe goes to my grandma, and my mom who dictated it to me from my grandmother's stained and tattered original recipe card. I love that food can connect people like that, and I want copy of that card, Mom.  

Grandma's Frog Eye Salad

Ingredients

1 cup sugar

1tbs flour

1 3/4 cups pineapple juice (drained from the 2 pineapple chunk cans)

2 1/2 tsp salt, divided

2 eggs, beaten

1 tbs lemon juice

1 tbs cooking oil

1 pkg acini di pepe (16oz)

2 cans mandarin. drained

2 cans pineapple chunks. drained

1 can crushed pineapple. drained

9 oz non dairy whipped topping

1 cup colored miniature marshmallows

1 cup shredded coconut

Directions

Combine sugar, flour, 1/2 tsp salt, pineapple juice and eggs. Cook over medium heat, stirring until thickened. Add lemon juice. Cool mixture to room temperature. Bring water, 2tsp salt and oil to boil. Add acini di pepe. Cook at rolling boil until it is done. Drain. Rinse with water and drain again. Cool to room temperature. Combine egg mixture and acini di pepe. Mix lightly but thoroughly. Refrigerate overnight in an air tight container. Add remaining ingredients. Makes about 25 servings. 

Dirty Dozen: Chicken Pot Pie

All the credit for this dish goes to my good friend Juile. When I was a new mom, she took me under her wing and showed me how to can peaches, introduced me to real vegetables, and was even brave enough to swap meals with me a few times a week for over a year (I still feel guilty about that nasty chicken-wild rice-green-bean slurry. Julie, if you are reading this, I am will be sorry until my death for trying a new recipe on you without testing it first. We're still friends, right? Right?). Anyway, this dish was one of my favorites from her and I've made it a main stay in my pantry, and it is one of the dirty dozen I mentioned in my first post. I highly, highly recommend using the homemade cream soup for this. The flavor is subtle yet surprising, and I mix it up in big batches so I always have some on hand.

Chicken Pot Pie

Filling

2 medium frozen chicken breast pieces

1 Can cream of Chicken or 1/4 cup Cream Soup mix with 1 cup cold water*

2 cups water with two cubes bullion

1 bag frozen peas and carrots

½ tsp tarragon

½ tsp parsley

½ tsp sage          

½ tsp rosemary

Biscuit Topping

1½  C flour

3½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

½ C  melted butter

1½  C Buttermilk **

Directions
Preheat oven to 350⁰

Boil chicken in water/bullion mix until cooked through and set aside. Do not drain the water, as this is the base for your filling. If you are using the homemade soup, mix it with 1 cup cold water before whisking into the base. Stir over medium heat until mixture thickens. If you are using canned soup instead, just dump it in and stir it up.  Cut up chicken into bite sized pieces and add it along with the frozen peas and carrots to the base. Remove from heat.

Mix biscuits.

Pour filling into a greased 9x13 pan and dallop with biscuit mix. It doesn't matter if it is lumpy, as it will even out while baking, but try to distrubute evenly so the top is mostly covered.

Bake at 350⁰ for 1 hour.

**If you don’t have butter milk on hand, you can substitute using plain yogurt or 1½ C Milk mixed with 2 T lemon juice or vinegar. Let it stand for 5 minutes to thicken up before mixing in.

This recipe freezes really well. To reheat at 350⁰ until warm (about an hour).

Cream of Whatever You Want It To Be Soup

½ C  nonfat dry milk

2 T cornstarch

2 ts chicken bouillon

¼ tsp onion powder

⅛ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp basil

¼ tsp thyme

¼ tsp white pepper

9 oz cold water

Heat to boil, stir frequently. For cream of celery use ¼ cup celery, for cream of mushroom use ½ C mushrooms.

And just because this post isn't long enough, here's the measurements for a batch of ten:

Cream Soup Batch of Ten

5 C  nonfat dry milk

1½ C cornstarch

⅓ C chicken bouillon

2½ tsp onion powder

1 ¼ tsp garlic powder

2½tsp basil

2½ tsp thyme

2½ tsp white pepper

Mix ingredients and divide into 10 Ziploc bags (a heaping ½ Cup for each bag). Seal and store until you are ready to use them! When you are ready to use one, just mix with 9 oz. cold water and heat to a boil.

 

Hawaiian Haystacks

There are as many ways to build a Haystack as there are people, which is why it's such a great crowd-pleaser. Also, this is a meal in and of itself (carb. check. veggie. check. protein. check) so you don't really need any side dishes, but I do occasionally serve mine with a side of red grapes.

Ingredients:
6 cups cooked white rice
1-2 broccoli crowns
2 cans mandarin oranges
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can pineapple (fresh pineapple would be AMAZING in this dish, but it's rarely on sale)
1 cup sour cream
2 grilled chicken breasts
Sliced green onions
shredded coconut
diced tomatoes
dry chow mien noodles
Salt and pepper
Shredded cheddar

Directions:

Start your rice. I use an old Aroma rice cooker, and I'm happy with the results every time. I use the steamer insert to cook my broccoli at the same time.

While rice is cooking, grill or saute your chicken until it is no longer pink and juices run clear. Wash your hands before you move to the next step. Raw chicken has some bad juju in it and you don't want to spread it. When chicken is cool enough to touch, cut into cubes or strips.

Prep the toppings. Tomatoes are diced and green onions sliced. Open and drain fruit cans. Set out cheese, coconut, and chow mien noodles. Since I serve my haystacks buffet style, I put each topping in it's own bowl and lay it out on the counter.

The last thing you do is make the sauce. You can do this over the stove, but I prefer the microwave. Heat cream of chicken soup in a glass bowl on high for 2 to 3 minutes. Add sour cream and stir until blended.

My husband swears there is only one way to build a perfect haystack: lay down the rice, spread a few dollops of sauce over it, salt and pepper, and then layer on cheese, chicken, broccoli, onions, tomatoes, oranges, pineapple, chow mien (in that order) and then finally a sprinkle of coconut.

Chicken Fajitas

Not everyone is a pepper fan, I know. But even if you think you hate them, you need to try these Chicken Fajitas at least once before you write them off for the rest of your mortal existence.

 
Ingredients:
2-3 bell peppers, any color of your choice
1/2 red onion
2 chicken breasts
2 Tbs Fajita mix*
olive oil- enough to coat pan

Directions:

Prep vegetables. Cut the center out of the peppers, remove all seeds and cut into quarter inch strips. Slice onion into strings (slice into rings and then cut those in half). Set aside.

Even if you hate 'em, you've gotta admit they're pretty.

Next, I grill chicken on my trusty George Foreman and cut when cooled. If you don't have an easy way to grill, just cut raw chicken into strips and saute with a little bit of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat until cooked through. Drain and set aside.

In the same pan, saute onions and peppers until soft (about five minutes. You want them to be slightly firm, but not crunchy). Add in chicken. And fajita mix (2tbs mix plus1/4 cup cold water) and return to the heat. Cook until the mix thickens.

Serve on warm tortillas with sour cream and shredded cheese with a side of red grapes. Yum!

* I mix this up ahead of time in large batches so I always have some on hand. It is cheaper than packet mixes and I know it doesn't have any chemicals I can't name in it because I mixed it myself. It's a win-win.

Freedom Fruit Skewers

In a fit of patriotism, I bought a bag of Jet-Puffed Star Mallows. I didn't know what I would use them for, but what's more American than impulse shopping? That's right. Impulse shopping for sugar stuff at Wal-mart. So into the cart they went with the strawberries and cherries. And this is what became of them.

Freedom Fruit Skewers

Ingredients
Bamboo skewers
Kraft Jet-Puffed Star Mallows
Strawberries
Cherries

Directions
Prep fruit by washing, rinsing and drying. Cherries should be pitted and strawberries should be de-greenified. Set aside. The fruit juices make the mallows squishy, so hold off skewering them until right before you serve them. Start and end with a marshmallow. They are a little sticky, so they keep the fruit from slipping. The pattern I used was red star, berry, white star, cherry, blue star, berry, red star, cherry. Yes, some are red and some are blue some are old and some are new. This one has a little scar. My, what a lot of stars there are!......

Greek Chicken Stuffed Pitas

I did the previous post just so I could do this one. We ate these on the hottest day of the year. They are filling and refreshing, and if you remember to turn the oven off after you bake the pitas, you won't warm the kitchen up too much. I, sadly, did not do this. I remembered to turn off the oven light, but I guess my button-pushing brain cells were all used up by then. Yeah. Moving on.

 Greek Chicken Stuffed Pitas

Ingredients

1 6oz container of PLAIN greek yogurt
2 Tbs olive oil
2 tsp dried dill
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cucumbers, seeded and diced
2 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/4 cup sliced olives
2-3 Grilled chicken breasts, cut in 1/4 inch strips
Crumbled Feta
Salad Greens
8 pitas

Directions
Grill chicken breasts. I use a greasy, ancient George Foreman. It's not pretty, but it does a really great job. I sprinkle the chicken with McCormick Montreal Grill Mates, Shut the lid and let it do it's thing until the chicken is cooked through, usually 4-5 minutes, depending on the thickness of your chicken. Slice into 1/4 inch strips.

While the chicken is cooking, make dressing by whisking together yogurt,olive oil, dill, salt and pepper until well blended. Then stir in cucumbers, tomatoes and olives. Set aside.

Now comes the fun part. Lay out a pita if you like to eat it like a Gyro, or split it open if you like it stuffed (I prefer the stuffed, probably because it's more of a challenge to get my pitas to puff the right way and I always feel triumphant when it works out).  Lay down a layer of salad greens, a scoop of the cucumber mix, a handful of chicken strips and then sprinkle with feta. Viola! I'd serve this with grapes or watermelon and a tall glass of water.

Puffy Pitas

I adapted this recipe from Farm Girl who adapted it from Bernard Clayton. My version makes a bigger pita which you can fold over taco style or slice in half and down the center if you want to stuff it. Just a warning, you will never buy pre-made pitas again. They will be ruined for you. I cannot apologize.

Ingredients
3 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup wheat gluten
1 Tbs salt
2 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs active dry yeast
3 Tbs olive oil
1 1/2 cup warm water
4 squares aluminum foil

Directions
Mix dry ingredients together and add water and olive oil. Mix until dough cleans off the side of the bowl and knead for five minutes at medium speed. I use a Kitchen Aid to do this. If you don't have one, ask Santa. If you don't believe in Santa, then you can knead by hand for six minutes.

Dump dough out onto a floured surface and form into a ball. Divide eight ways (I use a pizza cutter, but dental floss or a knife will work too) and let rest under a towel for about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 500.

Roll out dough until it is about six inches in diameter and place on a foil square.

Bake for 5-8 minutes until they start to puff and turn golden on top. I cook mine four at a time in two rounds.

If you are stuffing them, wait until they can be handled and then cut them in half, and then split them open.

Spaghetti Bacon Alfredo

Techically, I can't call this Fettuccine Alfredo. It's more like...Spaghetti Alfredo. Hey! This meal was an exercise in making due with what I had on hand and putting dinner on the table, fast. I'd frozen the cooked noodles from a spaghetti night a few weeks earlier, the whipping cream was begging to be used again after a tasty experience with some Indian Butter Chicken a while back, and the bacon, well, I can't waste bacon. That's criminal! So the contents of my fridge called for this creation. Spaghetti Bacon Alfredo. Tada!

Ingredients
1 stick butter
1/2 cup whipping cream
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
2 Tbs dried parsley
cooked and diced bacon
cooked & drained spaghetti noodles

Directions
Melt butter in sauce pan over medium heat. Add whipping cream and simmer for five minutes until sauce starts to thicken (should coat the spoon. Drips are okay). Add in Parmesan and spices and stir until cheese is melted. Pour over warm spaghetti noodles and sprinkle with bacon.

Serve with a fresh salad or a side of grapes and some crusty bread.

Left Over Pot Roast? Chimichunga Night!

I  usually buy a bigger roast than my family will eat because I like to have leftovers handy. These Chimichungas are one of my favorite things to do with those leftovers.

Ingredients
1-2 cups Canola oil (enough to cover half of a chimi in a frying pan)
10 flour tortillas
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
2 cups cooked and shredded beef
1 cup diced red oinion
1/2 green pepper, diced
1 garlic clove, minced or 1/2 tsp pre-cut garlic
1/4 cup chicken broth (or water and bullion)
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a saucepan, saute onions, pepper and garlic in a Tbs of oil until softened. Add in shredded beef, broth, tomatoes and seasonings and simmer on low for 10-15 minutes to allow the flavors to meld.

2.Meanwhile, heat oil over medium heat. Test oil readiness with a tortilla strip. You should immediately see little bubbles around the tortilla strip, and it should brown up quickly.

3. Microwave tortillas for 30 seconds so they will be warm and pliable.

4. With a slotted spoon, scoop out a portion of the beef mixture, making sure to drain as much of the water off as possible. It will spit when you add it to the oil, so the drier the better. Lay it down the middle of the tortilla in a strip and add a sprinkle of cheddar.

5. Fold burrito style (two opposite sides folded 1/4 of the way in and then rolled) and gently place in the oil with tongs. Be careful! Oil burns hurt. A lot. Fry chimi on one side until it is golden brown, approximately 30 seconds depending on how hot your oil is, and then flip and do the same with the other side. Drain on paper towel.

6. Top with sour cream and shredded cheese. Serve with rice and beans and a side of red grapes.