Who Wants Pumpkin Pie?

That is the question I may be asking all winter! Some friends gave us a GIANT pumpkin! It weighed more than my 6 year old, and was not much shorter than my 2 year old! It sat in my kitchen floor for a couple of weeks. I finally worked up the willpower to get started on it. I knew it would be an all day process. I cut into it at 10:00 am and finished rinsing the last dish at midnight. Jonathan and I took turns working on it. There was some sit and wait time, but the project took over my kitchen for 14 hours!

How do you prepare that much pumpkin? In pieces. Slowly. With lots of patience.

Step 1: Cut and seed the pumpkin. I did this in stages. We only cut up what we could fit in the oven. It took six batches to get it all roasted.

Step 2: Place in a roasting pan coated with vegetable oil. We had a large and a small pan. So we were able to do quite a bit in each batch.

Step 3: Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 60-90 minutes. A small batch in one roaster takes about 60 minutes. With both pans we needed up to 90 minutes. You want the pumpkin to be soft through to the skin.

Step 4: Remove from pan and cool. (If I was just doing one small pumpkin or a butternut squash, I would let it cool in the pan; but I wanted to get the next batch in the oven!) It took about an hour to be cool enough to pick up.






Step 5: Scrape the flesh from the rind. I used my Pampered Chef Scoop Loop to both seed the pumpkin and scrape the flesh out. It worked much better than anything I have tried before!




Step 6: Place the flesh in the food processor and puree.














Step 7: Place the pureed pumpkin in a strainer lined with flour sack cloth or other similar lint-free cloth.








Step 8: Squeeze as much water as you can from the pumpkin.

Step 9: Measure and bag the pumpkin. We did some 1 cup bags and some 2 cup bags because those are the measurements the recipes I use call for. Package the pumpkin according to the way you think you will use it.

Step 10: Freeze!

What did we end up with? 27 cups of pumpkin puree! My pie recipe calls for 1 cup of pumpkin. A batch of pumpkin bread (2 loaves) takes two cups. The soup recipe I found takes 2 cups. We still have 4 winter squash in our own garden that we need to process. We will have our fill of pumpkin pies, cakes, breads, cookies, and more!

My Monday Munchies - Yummy Spanish Rice!

I have been trying for years to make a decent Spanish or Mexican rice to serve with our tacos, enchiladas, or fajitas. It never turned out the way I wanted it. I tried other people's recipes. I made up my own. I bought mixes. Nothing has satisfied my taste buds.

Until tonight! I finally got it just right. And it was so easy!

What do you need?

1 cup white rice (or brown)
2 cups water
1 jalepeno
1 medium white onion
2 cloves of garlic
salt to taste
broth from the meat you are serving
1/2 cup-1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes

What to do?

Dice the onion and mince the jalepeno.

Bring your water to a boil.

Add the rice, jalepeno, and onion. Cook UNCOVERED. This is opposite of what your rice instructions probably say. It will ensure that all the water cooks away quickly so you can add the broth at the end.* Be sure to stir the rice a few times.

Let the rice cook.

Quarter your tomatoes.

When your meat is done cooking and the liquid has boiled off of the rice, add 3/4-1 cup of broth to your rice. Cook until the liquid is gone again. Your rice should be the perfect consistency. Mine cooked for a total of 20 minutes.(If the liquid boils off of the rice before the meat is done, turn off the heat and let it sit. You don't want it to burn!)

Toss your tomatoes in just before serving.

The rice was tender and full of flavor. The tomatoes gave it just a little kick!

*Why did I add the broth at the end instead of cooking in the broth the whole time? I wanted the juices from the meat I was serving. This made the rice mesh well with the rest of the meal because the seasoning was the same. Had I waited for the meat to be done before starting the rice, I would have had cold chicken. Another option is to start with chicken, beef, or veggie broth instead of water and cook according to the directions on the package.

My Monday Munchies - Our Favorite Potatoes!

Today's recipe is one of our favorites! Jonathan maintains a good sized garden in our backyard. We have 2 4x8 beds of potato plants (about 70 plants!) He recently brought in the first harvest of potatoes and we cooked them up for dinner.

What you need: 

A couple lbs of potatoes, diced (I had about 6 cups diced)*

1-2 large onions (if you like a lot of onion, do 2)

6 cloves of garlic (we really like garlic, if you do not like a lot of garlic I would do 4 cloves)

1 stick of butter

1-2 cups of fresh chopped herbs

Salt and Pepper

 1. Chop your potatoes and onions.

2. Melt the butter over medium heat. (You can use your favorite oil if you want. We have used olive oil before. We just prefer the taste of butter. If you use oil, heat it until it sizzles when you put the garlic in. I usually test it with a wooden spoon first.)

3. Press your garlic into the butter. (You can mince it, but I prefer my Pampered Chef garlic press!) Saute the garlic for a minute to flavor the butter.

4. Pour in the potatoes and onions. Cover and let sit on medium heat for about 15 minutes or until the potatoes start to soften. 

5. While the potatoes cook, chop your fresh herbs. I used basil, oregano, thyme, and chives. I ended up with over two cups. I really don't think you can have too much!

6. Stir, and then continue to cook uncovered until the potatoes are the desired tenderness and starting to brown.

7. Add your fresh herbs, salt and pepper to taste. Toss and let cook for another minute or two.

These are very flavorful potatoes. They take about 30 minutes. I always make enough to have leftovers for breakfast!

*Don't use store bought Russet Potatoes. That is all I had on hand one day, so I diced them and cooked them up. No amount of seasoning and butter helped those potatoes! I love Russets for baked potatoes and mashed potatoes; but this recipe just needs a different texture of potato. The Russets did not hold the flavor like a red new potato, Yukon Gold, or fingerlings. Pick a good potato and you will get the best results!

My Monday Munchies - Grandma Long's Famous Never Fail Chocolate Cake!

My Dad's Mom was a chocoholic! For birthdays, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving - any holiday or sometimes just because - my Dad gave her a box of Russell Stover Dark Chocolates! She would share. Sometimes we each received half a piece, but usually a whole piece of Grandma's candy.

Both of my grandmothers cooked the most delicious meals. Each had their specialties. Grandma Skelton has the best chicken and dumplings recipe and a yummy sheet cake (among other things too numerous to list!) Grandma Long made us amazing spaghetti and meatballs and my favorite chocolate cake - she loved chocolate and would only serve the best, richest chocolate cake! She made the cake for birthdays. We all loved it.

After she passed away, my Aunt Shirley (my mom's sister) started making the cake for birthdays. Then, after I graduated from college and got married, my mom let me copy the recipe into my recipe book. I started making it for birthdays too.

What I have discovered is that this is the most flexible cake recipe I have ever made. You can make it whatever you want!  I have no idea where she got the recipe. It was written on a card, in her handwriting. I do not know if she created it or copied it from somewhere else. But it is amazing!

The Basic Recipe

Ingredients:
1 boxed cake mix
2 small instant puddings
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 package (2 cups) chocolate chips

Grease a bundt pan with Crisco or a floured baking spray.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix all ingredients, pour into greased pan.
Bake for 1 hour. Check with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, it is done.
Let it cool for 5 minutes and remove to cooling rack, or right to the serving plate!
Store covered to maintain the moisture

What Flavor Do You Want?

Notice - I did not list flavors of anything. Why? You can do whatever you want. You can make this cake any flavor you like and it will come out great! (As long as you pick good flavor combos). Here are a few I have tried.

Grandma's Standard:
fudge or chocolate cake
2 chocolate puddings
semi-sweet chips

My Favorite - Super Dark Chocolate:
devil's food cake
2 fudge or dark chocolate puddings
dark chocolate chips

My Mom's Favorite - Chocolate Covered Strawberry:

strawberry cake
2 vanilla puddings
dark or semi-sweet chips (I tried white chocolate chips, but they sank and created a crust on the top when you dumped the cake out. They did not taste very good either.)





*This version makes great presentation if you drizzle the top with melted chocolate chips and cover the serving plate and hole in the cake with chocolate covered strawberries!

My Aunt Shirley's Holiday Experiment:
chocolate cake
2 chocolate puddings
crushed peppermint instead of chocolate chips
(she said they sank and stuck to her pan and made it hard to clean, but it was yummy!)
*A second option would be to add a few drops of peppermint oil and keep the chocolate chips. I have crushed peppermints and mixed them with whipped cream as a topping and it worked out well for flavor too.

Can It Be Any More Flexible?

Yes!

This cake makes great cupcakes and mini-cakes too. The cooking time needs to be shortened. I made flower shaped cakes for my sister's wedding. They were small single serve cakes, a little bigger than a cup cake. They needed about 30 minutes. Be sure to test with a toothpick!

Now It Gets Really Fun!

I have been playing around with this cake for years. I decided I wanted to really test it out. Here is my recipe for my most recent experiment.:

1 yellow cake mix
1 vanilla pudding
1 banana pudding
1 cup pureed banana and strawberries (I used 1 ripe banana, like you would use for banana bread and a handful of frozen strawberries.)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
dark chocolate chips (I did not have quite 2 cups, but close.)

I knew the consistency the batter needed to be, so I added the cup of fruit and the oil, then added the water a little at a time until the consistency was just right. What I discovered is that the fruit replaced the water. You can do any fruit you want! Just consider the water, fruit, and oil as wet ingredients and they need to add up to 2 cups.

Puree the fruit.

Mix all the ingredients.

Pour in greased pan.

Bake for an hour.

And you get this!

How to Serve the Cake

My favorite way to serve the cake is with homemade whipped cream! Cool whip and ice cream are also excellent choices. If you want to frost it, I recommend a whipped frosting. This is what I have done for birthdays when the kids want a decorated cake.

Under that Kirby, there is a chocolate cake!

I have done a butter cream on it and it tastes fine, but the cake is so rich and beautiful on it's own it really does not need frosting. This is one of the biggest benefits for me. As you can tell - my cake decorating skills are greatly lacking. A cake that looks beautiful and tastes great without frosting is perfect for me!





Why Never Fail?

Well, it is just that! I have over cooked it and it still came out moist and rich! I have cooked it in pans of different shapes and sizes. I have made mini-cakes, cup cakes, layer cakes, a Care-Bear cake, and the usual bundt cake. It is equally good in each pan. If you want a soft, moist, richly flavored cake that takes little work - this is the cake for you! What other cake batter transfers so well to a cupcake? My experience is that they come out dry and crumbly. Not this one!

Also - the brand/price of the cake mix and pudding don't seem to matter. I have used the more expensive "pudding in the mix" cakes and the cheaper off brand cakes. Same with puddings. I even used a "cook and serve" pudding rather than instant (because that is all I had) and it worked fine.

You can make this cake for less than $5 and less than 10 minutes prep time.

Make it the day of or a few days in advance. I have been eating on one cake for 3 days and it is still just as soft and moist as on day one!

My Challenge to You

Make this cake. Use one of the variations I listed, or create your own. If you create your own variation - share it in the comments and let me know how it worked out. I am always looking for new varieties. I have a bag of cinnamon chips in the pantry - I wonder what they would taste good with?

My Monday Munchies - Making Ground Beef

My aunts gave me the most amazing wedding gift - a Kitchenaid Stand mixer! For someone who likes to bake, this is a great addition to your kitchen. While shopping one day shortly after we were married, I noticed all the accessories for the mixer - juicers, meat grinders, and pasta plates. How cool to be able to make homemade pasta! That one went on my Christmas list. My mom gave them to us, but none of us read the part that said you needed the meat grinder to use the other attachments. Oops!

I had the pasta plates for years before we found the meat grinder brand new and in the box, at a garage sale for $20! I have had the meat grinder for 5-7 years now and have never used it - until today!

We have a grocery store chain in Oklahoma called Crest. Once a month they have a huge meat sale. I can spend $200 on meat and come home with enough meat to feed our family for 2-3 months. 

During one of my last shopping trips I ended up with 3 roasts (the have bags with a variety of cuts - I had 3 ground beef, 2 steak, and 3 roasts). I already had a pork roast and a beef roast in the freezer at home. I also had stew meat. 

When I checked the freezer this week, we still had two roasts! They need to be used soon and I don't really want roast and potatoes in this heat. I hate to spend money when we have food in the freezer. So I decided to test out my meat grinder.

I had no idea what to do! So I Googled "Make your own ground beef" and I found this site. It's so easy! I already have everything I need. So I thawed the roast and got started.

I assembled the meat grinder and attached it to the mixer according to the directions.

I sliced the meat into thin strips. From what I read on the other site, it might be easy to jam my meat grinder, so I wanted to be careful. My Kitchenaid instructions said partially frozen, or really cold meat worked best. Mine was still slightly frozen when I started.

I ran the strips through the grinder with the coarse grind plate. This was quick and easy! (All of the recipes in my instruction manual said to use speed number 4, so that is what I did.)

I changed the plates and reran all the meat through on the fine plate. This took a little longer and I had to use the meat stuffer to press it all through. I was very happy with the results!

I weighed out the meat. I had a little over two pounds. I cooked and seasoned half of it for tacos and froze it. I don't know when we will eat it and I did not want the meat I worked so hard for to go bad! The other pound will become spaghetti sauce for dinner tonight.

Here are some helpful hints from my first experience with the meat grinder:

1. Clear a 2-3 foot radius on your counter. It spits. I had cleared a good space, but I had to wash the knives and knife block, the stove, and a few other things that were not far enough away!

2. Wear an apron. You don't want your clothes covered in meat.

3. If you want great taco meat, grind it twice. For hamburgers, I might just run it through once with the coarse grind plate. 

Will I do this every time I need ground beef? Probably not, but the next time I get a good deal on roast I will be stocking up!

Weekly Feature - My Monday Munchies

I have decided to start a weekly feature for - My Monday Munchies! I will share recipes we like - things we create, things we find, methods for stretching leftovers, ways we save money - maybe it will inspire you as you make your meal plan for the week.

One of my favorite things to do is cook. We do all kinds of cooking at our house. Some days we cook for hours to create huge and delicious meals. Some days we go for the quick and easy meal or leftovers. Some days I fill the crock pot and leave it until dinner time.

Cheese burger, potato salad, cole slaw, and cucumber salad.

It is all about balance. I balance the heavy and exhausting cooking days with the quick and easy. If I cooked for hours everyday, nothing else would get done and I know I would grow to dislike the task. If I only do the quick and easy, I start to hate it as well. I get bored, and it feels like I am cheating on our meals.

My weekly plan usually includes some of the following:
1-2 big cooking meals
1-2 crock pot meals
1-2 of our go to quick meals (spaghetti, tacos, etc) - these take 30 minutes or less
2 medium preparation meals - these may take an hour to cook, but take minimal prep time
A meal of "planned overs" - a planned reworking of leftovers

When I actually take the time to sit and plan a full week of meals, I try to plan one new meal a week. If I am in a hurry, I just use our old standby meals.

 I will share a little bit of everything! 

I am not a trained chef. I have never taken a cooking class. I learned to cook from my mom, my grandmothers, my aunts, my mom's friends, my friends, cookbooks, and cooking shows.

I am no expert, I am just sharing what I do to keep my family well fed.