Autumn Pear and Pumpkin Soup

On Tuesday, we had a church activity called a Souper Supper.  We talked about making soups with the things we had stored in our homes.  For dinner, everyone was to bring their favorite soup.  I decided it was a good chance to try out another new recipe.  I had found this recipe and thought it would be the perfect fall soup, plus we had fresh pumpkin.  The flavor was really great.  You start out by cooking onions in some chicken broth until tender.  My dad suggested adding celery and maybe some more onions.  

Once the onions are tender you puree them with the pumpkin and toss it back in the pot with the pear nectar, cream or half and half and the spices.  

The spices are very simple, ginger and white pepper, but someone at the activity suggested curry might be a fun spice to add.  I also added a little cornstarch to thicken it up a bit.  It was a big hit at the activity.  Recipe says to garnish with fresh pear, if you like.

This really is the perfect fall soup.  Check it out and Happy Cooking!

Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies...Yummy!

Today was the perfect rainy fall day to spend baking pumpkin spice whoopie pies!  For those who don't know what a whoopie pie is imagine an Oreo, but bigger, with a cake like cookie and a plethora of flavor options.  This recipe calls for pumpkin mixed with a spice cake mix.  The filling is a spiced marshmallow creme filling.  I found the recipe here.  

The filling is really heavenly...cream cheese, butter, and marshmallow creme, how can you go wrong. 

 I wrapped each pie individually in wax paper and placed them all in the freezer.  They were fantastic out of the freezer.  They weren't exactly frozen, just slightly chilled.  Super Yummy!

There were also cinnamon sugar roasted pumpkin seeds and salted pumpkin seeds made today and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.  Sorry no photos of the cookies.  I'll get some up another time.

Coming soon Autumn Pear and Pumpkin Soup.  Happy Cooking!

Biscuits and Potatoes

Biscuit attempt number 2 went better, but they still didn't rise very much.  I think I may still be rolling it out thin.  My dad's other thought was that the self rising flour is old.  The biscuits still taste good and are still fluffy in the middle.  If anyone has any other thoughts on why the biscuits aren't rising, please make a comment or send me a message.

If you've never heard of or seen a purple potato before than you're in luck.  

As you can see, the potatoes aren't so purple on the outside and speckled once they're peeled.  My parents and I have been informed that they make the best mashed potatoes and that they're super creamy.  I didn't notice any difference in flavor between the purple potato and any other potato.  I will say that once mashed it is one the least visually appealing foods I've ever seen in my life.  You judge for yourself.

Always fun to try something new.


Happy Cooking!

Fall is in the air...

Fall is definitely in the air here in Oregon and the smell of cooking pumpkin is in the kitchen.  The pumpkins are here and this was the first of many pumpkin recipes that will be made this fall.  My dad picked about 20 pumpkins a few days ago and so I decided it was time to start making some delicious pumpkin dishes.  My first project was homemade pumpkin butter.  My friend Katie recommended an excellent recipe.(http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/10/pumpkin-butter-and-pepita-granola/)  I essentially followed it, but I made my pumpkin puree from scratch.  Thankfully my dad peeled and cleaned out the 20 pumpkins form me.  I then chopped them up and boiled in some water until they were tender.

Once the pumpkin is soft and tender, I threw it in the blender and food processor and pureed it until smooth.

The great thing about this puree is that it can be frozen and used for ANY dish that calls for a can of pureed pumpkin.  There are no spices, so it can be used for a savory dish like a soup or something sweet like a pie.  Once the pumpkin puree was ready I followed the recipe from smittenkitchen.com.

Pumpkin puree with sugar, spices, and apple juice

Cans in a hot water bath  

The final product

**Important Note:  In all of my research for a good pumpkin recipe, I discovered various means of preserving it.  Some recipes suggested a hot water bath.  Others suggest putting in air tight containers and storing in the fridge for up to three weeks or in the freezer up to a year.  According to multiple recipes, the USDA now suggests that you should not traditionally can pumpkin or squash puree.  They say that it is too thick and not enough acidity.   They also say that a hot water bath or pressure cooking doesn't get it hot enough to prevent botulism.  My opinion is that people having been making pumpkin butter for decade. I've had pumpkin butter before and never had any problems.  I guess what I'm trying to say is do what you feel most comfortable with.  

Purple mashed potatoes, biscuit attempt number 2 and more pumpkin recipes to come.

Happy cooking and enjoy the fall! 

Dinner Party (Part 2)

So I've covered the side dishes from dinner in August, but now it's time for the main protein of the meal and dessert.  I have a new love of pork tenderloin.  It's a great cut of meat and when cooked right stays very moist and nice and tender.  With 11 of us at this dinner party, I got a HUGE tenderloin from Costco.  The pork alone was good, but the glaze that I put on it was AMAZING!  I made a rhubarb glaze.  The rhubarb was fresh from the garden.  The sauce also had cran-apple juice in it.  It is my new favorite glaze/sauce.  It's a sauce that I think you could use on pork, ham, chicken or maybe even turkey.  I forgot to take some pics of the glaze during the cooking process, but there are some of it over the tenderloin.

For dessert, I attempted a mixed berry cheesecake.  I had tried this cheesecake recipe once before, but used frozen berries.  The first attempt was a flop because I was too lazy to let the berries thaw all the way, so I when I say it was a flop it really was.  When I pulled the springform off the pan it literally oozed all over the counter.  It tasted fine and was more like a cheesecake flavored pudding.  On attempt number two, I used fresh berries and tried to try as much of the juice out as I could.  This time it held up pretty well except the middle fell apart.  I'm not sure what my problem is because I've made this recipe before in mini form and didn't have a problem.  

Proof that I can make the cheesecakes in mini form

Knowing that I had problems with this cheesecake before, I decided I should make a second dessert just to be safe.  I decided to make a mixed berry cheesecake with some of the extra berries and sauce that I used for the cheesecake.  It was essentially a strawberry shortcake, but it had strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries.  It was super yummy and very pretty to look at.  

Happy Cooking!

Dinner Party (Part 1)

In the middle August, I decided to undertake the task of making a whole meal by myself.  There are four couples here in Salem that my parents are good friends with.  They often spend their Friday evenings together having dinner and playing cards.  Plans were made for everyone to come over with instructions not to bring anything to contribute to the meal.  This is especially difficult for my mom since she struggles with staying out of the kitchen when someone else is cooking, a trait she has passed on to me.  She was told that she could be my sous chef and do all of the mundane tasks like chopping and cutting, but nothing else.  Not wanting to do those tasks, she respectfully stayed out of the kitchen.


The menu consisted of a rhubarb glazed pork tenderloin, herb roasted potatoes, tomato and feta salad, roasted green beans, rolls with rosemary butter (Thank you Amy for the idea), a mixed berry shortcake and a mixed berry cheesecake.  I'll admit the rolls were not from scratch and the cheesecake was an absolute flop (no photos of the flopped cheesecake).  None of the recipes were originals, but I tweaked most of them to add my own twist to them.  


Here's some photos of the finished table:

The salad was not "baked, bubbled, or broiled," but it was my favorite thing on the menu that night and it was so pretty.  The lettuce, green onions and cucumbers came from my dad's garden and the heirloom tomatoes were from a local market.  It's a very simple recipe with garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, and feta.  Toss, chill and enjoy!

The potatoes were super easy and just your basic roasted potatoes.  The herbs and potatoes came from the garden.  I used fresh thyme, fresh rosemary, salt, pepper and some olive oil.

I had planned to do really simple green beans, a little butter, salt and pepper, but the day before the dinner I found a recipe for roasted green beans in the local paper that sounded tasty.  I've made it a second time and tweaked the recipe even more than I did the first time.  The green beans and tomatoes came from the garden.  It also has bacon (yum) and slivered almonds.  The original recipe says to roast the beans and bacon together in the oven, but I felt that the bacon didn't keep crispy enough.  On the second attempt, I cooked the bacon separate from the beans.  I also roasted the tomatoes and toasted the almonds.  The beans were roasted in the oven at a very high temp.  Mix it all together a sprinkle with some fresh grated parmesan cheese.  I'm still perfecting the recipe, but all of the components together are super yummy!

Stay tuned for the rhubarb glazed pork tenderloin (super yummy) and mixed berry shortcake.  Also coming in the next few days attempt number 2 of the biscuits, purple mashed potatoes (!?!?!) and pumpkin butter.


Happy Cooking!

Pesto, Pasta, and Pork Loin

One of the best things about living at home is having access to my dad's fabulous garden.  The garden has been very productive this summer.  We've had asparagus, radishes, swiss chard, zucchini, squash, lettuce, cabbage, beets, rhubarb, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers (bell and hot), green and yellow beans, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, grapes, corn, blueberries, pears, peas, carrots, onions, dill, basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, and pumpkins.  The list alone is very impressive, but he also knows how to get all of these plants to produce.  Just an example of that would be the 40+ GALLONS of green and yellow beans he picked.  Needless to say the summer has been spent freezing, canning and cooking with these goodies.


One night this summer I decided to take the fresh basil and other herbs to make us dinner.  I made a yummy pesto sauce with the basil to go over some pasta.

I didn't have pine nuts, so I used walnuts instead

This picture doesn't do it justice, but it was a beautiful and tasty

I also roasted some cherry tomatoes (not from the garden) to go in the pasta.  Roasted cherry or grape tomatoes is one of my new favorite things.  Season them with a little salt, pepper and olive oil and roast in the oven for just a bit.  You just want them slightly cooked.  If they've              burst, then it's too long.  You want them to burst/pop we you bite into them.

To accompany the pasta, I made a tasty herb crusted pork tenderloin.  I used fresh thyme and rosemary.

Here are some pics of the finished meal

Look forward to future posts featuring pumpkins from the garden.


Happy Cooking!!