Spicy Pumpkin Soup

Yep, I’m still on my pumpkin kick. Sorry for the redundancy but I just cannot get enough of the stuff. But I think you’ll really like this one.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 2 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
• 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup sweet corn
• 1 can Rotel (or salsa)
• 1 TBSP minced garlic
• 1 TSP chili powder
• 1/2 TSP ground cumin
• 1/2 TSP cayenne pepper
• Optional toppings: sour cream, greek yogurt, shredded cheese, guacamole

Directions:

Spray a medium pot with nonstick spray and bring to medium heat. Place garlic in pot. Stir and cook for about a minute. Add broth, chili powder, ground cumin and cayenne pepper. Bring to a simmer.

Add pumpkin and mix well. Add remaining ingredients, stir, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Top with any of the optional ingredients before serving.

Makes about 4-6 servings.

Meet Griffy

Happy Friday, everyone. I know I’ve talked a bunch about the pup, but never introduced him. Well, it’s time. And I know I’m totally going to get teased about this by certain people but, well, Griffy deserves an intro.

Griffy is a male Lhasa Apso and was born on March 25th, 2009. He was born in Maine to his parents, Lily and Benji. I went up to visit him once before I could bring him home and he was so tiny, I compared his size to a hamster. His eyes weren’t even open yet and he couldn’t walk! The last weekend in May, I was able to bring him home.

Initially Griffy had a lot of black on his face but as he got older and began getting groomed, the black disappeared. Nowadays, his hair is a very light tan.

Griffy loves to play AND he loves to nap. Often he can go from full speed to crash in the span of just a few minutes. He has a stuffed dog, which we refer to as “baby”, that he loves to drop at the feet of house guests. “Baby” makes every trip to Maine with us (to visit my parents) and sleeps by Griffy’s side.

Griffy likes to cuddle, be picked up and held (kinda weird, I know) and runs around in circles when I correctly guess what he wants (a drink/food/potty trip). He is scared of crunching leaves, the hairdryer, our basement and squeaky toys. He loves socks and will run off and hide them whenever he finds an opportunity. His favorite foods are… well pretty much anything the humans around him are eating. He also thinks that ice cubes are the best.treats.ever. Griffy gives lots of kisses and loves to keep me company in the kitchen.

So happy that you’ve all now “met” the pup that I’m always mentioning!

Pumpkin Wontons with Pumpkin Mascarpone and a Vanilla Bean-Cinnamon Maple-Syrup Glaze for Joanne’s “Recipe Impossible Challenge”

Several weeks ago, Joanne of Eats Well With Others announced that she was having a Recipe Impossible Challenge sponsored by Marx Foods. The challenge was to use a winter squash as well as at least two mystery ingredients (contributed by Marx Foods) to create a recipe to help Joanne attain an “orange hue”. Well, if you are a reader of my blog, you know that I LOVE LOVE LOVE winter squash and when she mentioned this challenge, I wanted in. And for some crazy reason, she picked ME to participate.

In a tiny, unassuming box from Marx Foods, I received product samples of the following:

• Aji Panca Chilies
• Pasilla Negro Chilies
• Maple Sugar
• Coconut Sugar
• Ginger Salt
• Espresso Salt
• Fennel Pollen
• Madagascar Vanilla Beans

It was a tough choice, but I went with these three gems for my recipe…

And since I seemingly cannot get enough of the stuff, I picked pumpkin for my squash.

And the recipe was born.

Pumpkin Wontons with pumpkin Mascarpone and a vanilla bean-cinnamon maple-syrup glaze (A Lemongrove Avenue Orig.)

Ingredients:

• refrigerated wonton wrappers
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree plus 2 tbs
• 3 tbs maple sugar
• 2 tbs coconut sugar
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
• canola oil (for frying)
• granulated sugar (for dredging)
• 1 egg (for egg wash)

Make it:

Bring to a boil maple syrup, vanilla bean (cut lengthwise, scooping seeds into syrup and then placing bean into syrup) and 2 cinnamon sticks. Be careful it does not boil over! Reduce to a simmer for a few minutes and then turn off heat and let it cool completely.

In a medium mixing bowl, mix pumpkin puree with 2 tbs maple sugar, 2 tbs coconut sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon. Put filling in piping bag or plastic bag with corner cut. Squeeze puree (just a dollop) into middle of wrapper. Lightly brush all four edges with egg wash. Fold into triangle, making sure to smooth edges and remove air pockets.

With oil heated to appropriate frying temperature, place wonton (one at a time) into oil using tongs. Depending on depth of your oil (mine was not that deep), you may need to flip a time or two. Remove when it starts to turn light golden, it doesn’t take long at all. Dredge in powdered sugar mixture. *I made powdered sugar using 1 tbs coconut sugar and 1 tbs maple sugar and processing it to a fine powder. I added a bit more granulated sugar to the other two sugars.* Let cool.

For pumpkin mascarpone, add mascarpone cheese to bowl as well as 2 tbs pumpkin puree. Add another 2 tbs or so of vanilla bean-cinnamon maple syrup. Mix together. Put in piping bag or plastic bag with end cut off and squeeze a dollop onto serving plate.

Arrange wontons on serving plate. Garnish with cinnamon stick and vanilla bean if desired. Drizzle glaze on top of wontons. Devour.

And there you have it. Possibly one of my favorite things I have ever made. Not to mention eaten. I may or may not have eaten all of these by myself. Not to mention a few that were freshly fried (obviously for quality control purposes).

I had so much fun coming up with an idea and executing it. And I am extremely pleased with the way it came out! Thanks Joanne and Justin at Marx Foods!

On November 1st (mark your calendars NOW) you will be able to see my recipe and the other entries at the Marx Foods site. If you like what you see here, and let’s be honest… these look pretty damn good don’t they?, then please please PLEEEEAAASE vote for my entry.

Weekend Update

On Saturday morning, I packed up and hit the road for a weekend visit to my parents’ in Maine. Even though we got a later start than I had hoped, we made great time and arrived early afternoon. After a bit of relaxing, we took off for an early dinner.

A new restaurant just opening in town, Rooster’s. They boast coal fired pizza and 20 beers on tap.

And the beer can be poured into a silo, complete with tap, so you can refill your frosty glasses tableside! Dad and I shared a 1/2 silo of Gritty’s Red Claw.

How awesome it is to be able to refill your glasses at your own table. And the material the silo is made out of is twice as thick as a typical beer pitcher so it keeps the beer nice and cold. Win.

We ordered the “Cheeseburger in Paradise” pizza to share. It was made on honey whole wheat dough and had a layer of ground beef, cheddar, tomatoes and shredded lettuce on top. In the little dishes there were pickles and Heinz 57.

The pizza was tasty and the beer was great. I’d say they might have some “kinks” to work out being a new place and all but they JUST opened so that’s to be expected.

Today I whipped up some of IGE’s Buffalo Chicken Dip for us to enjoy during the Patriots game.

 

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Ingredients:

8oz Low-Fat Whipped Cream Cheese

6oz Plain Greek Yogurt

10oz shredded chicken

1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons Frank’s Buffalo Wing Sauce, divided

3/4 cup Mozzarella cheese, divided

1 1/2 Tablespoons Ranch Dip Mix

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, Greek yogurt, chicken, 1/2 cup buffalo sauce, 1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese and ranch dip mix. Spread mixture in an 8×8 glass dish and top with remaining Mozzarella cheese and buffalo sauce. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

I served it up with some blue corn tortilla chips and carrots. Both were equally YUM with this decadent dip. There may or not be any left ;)

Spinach Orzo Salad

We made it!!! Well, almost. Thursday night always seems a bit more relaxed to me. I enjoyed a glass of wine with dinner, cleaned the dishes and am currently working on cleaning up my DVR a bit. All I have left to do is fold some laundry (seems like this is always on my to-do list) and start getting stuff ready to pack up for our weekend trip to Maine.

Dinner was easy but delicious. I always like a meal that can be cooked in one pan. Because I detest doing dishes. Thankfully we have a dishwasher but it still seems like there are always so many dishes to do. Ick.

Spinach Orzo Salad

• 1 cup orzo
• 6 oz fresh spinach
• 15 oz can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
• extra virgin olive oil
• feta

Make it:

Cook orzo according to package directions. Once cooked, add to pan where olive oil has been heated on med-low heat. Add spinach and mix with orzo, keep mixing until spinach is wilted. Add can of tomatoes. Continue to stir over medium heat. Add feta once salad has been removed from heat. Salt and pepper to taste.

Oh, and I can’t forget dessert. Pumpkin muffins. Because there hasn’t been enough pumpkin in my life lately. I made these last night so it’s a miracle they are still around today.

I’ll post the recipe at another time, but know that I will never make pumpkin muffins without cinnamon chips EVER AGAIN. They are amazing. DO IT.

Pumpkin Curry Couscous

If you can believe it, this meal was initially inspired by the leftover piece of whole wheat naan from last week’s butternut squash naan pizza. Like I mentioned yesterday, my goal is to use up stuff in the fridge and pantry rather than do a full-blown grocery shopping trip. So far, doing pretty good. And the pumpkin, well aside from the fact that I’m practically o’ding on it, I had some leftover from muffins. Everything else was in my pantry!

I found a recipe on Angela's blog for Pumpkin Curry Quinoa and went with it. Here it is:

Pumpkin Curry Quinoa Couscous

[Sauce recipe adapted from here which was adapted from here]

Ingredients:

• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 2 T olive oil
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup coconut milk (refrigerated kind)
• 1.5 cups canned pumpkin
• S & P
• 2 heaping teaspoons curry powder
• unsweetened coconut flakes to garnish
• Cooked couscous

Directions for sauce:  In a medium-sized pot or large frying pan, sauté garlic and onion in olive oil 3-5 minutes. Reduce heat to low, and add vegetable broth, milk, pumpkin and curry powder. Stir gently to combine ingredients. Allow to simmer until flavors are well combined, about 8-10 minutes. Add salt and pepper, stirring to combine, then remove from heat.

Pioneer Woman’s Corn Chowder with Chilies

I don’t know what my ish has been this week but I’m just not having it. It could be the return of the 5-day work week after one shortened by a long weekend… or that it’s too cold for me to willingly get out of bed in the morning. The promise of pumpkin spice coffee (all ready to go thanks to the program feature!) isn’t even helping the situation. The most likely reason though, is that I am so excited to head out of town and up north this weekend to Maine to visit the fam and friends.

In the mean time though, I guess we’ll keep trucking along. Due to our upcoming travels, dinner has been concocted using whatever can be found in the fridge and pantry (I just wrote panty!). Last night was some sorta homemade hamburger helper situation (coined so by my roommate) with roasted acorn squash thrown in the mix. I guess that was my attempt at “adultifying” (totes a made up word) a dish where 1/3 of the ingredients was velveeta cheese. Yep.

Tonight though, after a quick stop at the store for essentials (spinach and bacon), I whipped up the Pioneer Woman’s Corn Chowder with Chilies. Yum. Despite the onset of heartburn (I was a little heavy handed with the chipotle peppers), I am still thinking about the deliciousness I just consumed.

Timber. Whoa… such a country bumpkin I am. It looks like my bread is about to go for a swim. The stuff you see floating on top of my chowder is cheddar cheese and fresh ground black pepper.

My chowder was SO not being cooperative with my camera tonight. Whatevs. I swear it was pretty. Not as pretty as hers, but still mildly attractive.

Corn Chowder with Chilies adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

• 2 slices Bacon, Cut Into 1/2-inch Pieces *I used turkey bacon
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1/4 red onion, finely chopped
• one bag of frozen corn, thawed and drained
• 4 whole Chipotle Peppers In Adobo Sauce, Finely Diced
• 1 whole 4-ounce Can Diced Green Chilies
• 32 ounces, fluid Low Sodium Chicken Broth
• 2 cups coconut milk (no not the canned kind, the refrigerated unsweetened kind… doesn’t taste like coconut I swear)
• ½ teaspoons Kosher Salt (more To Taste)
• 3 Tablespoons cornstarch
• ¼ cups Water

Instructions

Add bacon pieces to a pot over medium heat. Cook for a couple of minutes. Throw in diced onion and stir, cooking the onion for 3 to 4 minutes. Add butter and melt. Add corn. Stir and cook for one minute. Add both kinds of chilies and stir.

Pour in chicken broth and milk. Add salt. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low.

Combine cornstarch with water. Stir to combine, then pour into the chowder. Cover and cook for 15 minutes over low heat. If chowder needs more thickening, add another tablespoon of cornstarch mixed with water. Cook for another ten minutes.

Serve with crusty (or toasted!) bread and enjoy!