Holiday Rewind: Pumpkin Pie

The last two recipes I have to post for the holiday rewind are both pumpkin based desserts: pumpkin pie and pumpkin dip. I know it seems a bit funny to do a post on pumpkin pie considering that nearly every can of pumpkin comes with a printed recipe for pie on its label. But the recipe I am posting today has a very minor but noteworthy alteration.

Every year I have followed the recipe for pumpkin pie off of the can label and I never had any complaints. The pie was good and tasted like classic store-bought pumpkin pie. But this year, since I was hosting Thanksgiving for the first time, I wanted to give my pie that little extra sparkle. So I went on a recipe hunt, looking through dozens of variations of pumpkin pie to find any tips that could give my classic recipe a small face-lift. I didn't want anything to be drastically different since I still wanted it to taste like a traditional pumpkin pie. But I was hoping to find a way to give the flavor more depth. Finally, I came across a suggestion for creating a more rich-tasting custard. And you know what the grand old secret for a better tasting pumpkin pie was? Adding more eggs. With the addition of a couple extra eggs, the pumpkin pie filling was noticeably more rich in flavor and it gave it a moist, thick custard texture that really did make a difference. I honestly wasn't expecting that the addition of a couple more eggs would make any difference at all. But it really did. And the best part was, it didn't change the overall classic taste or look of pumpkin pie.

This recipe yields two pies.

Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:
two 9 inch pie crusts
6 eggs
1 can (29 oz) solid-packed pumpkin
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 cups evaporated milk

Beat eggs in a mixing bowl. Add pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon, salt, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger; beat just until smooth. Gradually stir in milk. Pour into pastry shells.

Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees; bake 40-45 minutes longer or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.

Holiday Rewind: Sweet and Spicy Cranberry Sauce

Okay. Post two of the holiday rewind. Today's post is about cranberry sauce. It's sad that, more often than not, cranberry sauce is depicted by this can-shaped gelatinous blob that you cut into slices and mash onto a piece of turkey during Thanksgiving dinner. There is nothing saucy about it. So this year, I was set on making an actual cranberry SAUCE that could reinvent the expectation of this holiday classic.

The great twist to this sauce is that it has a bit of a spicy kick to it. But of course, if you're not a spicy fan, you can follow the recipe the same way but omit the cayenne pepper. I made both versions (spicy and non) for Thanksgiving and they were both a hit!

Since the holidays are long gone, please don't feel like you have to use this sauce in the traditional Thanksgiving way. You can also use this sauce as a glaze for chicken or a pork roast. Or you can use it like jelly in a sandwich. Really, the possibilities are endless! After the holiday, I mixed some of the cranberry sauce with some cream cheese and plain yogurt to make a sweet and tart crepe filling. It was delicious! So please, don't restrict this recipe to your holiday dinners only. Enjoy this recipe for the whole season.

Sweet and Spicy Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:
3/4 pound fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 whole cloves
1/3 cup water
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons lemon juice
a dash of salt

In a medium saucepan, bring cranberries, brown sugar, cloves, and water to a rapid simmer over medium heat. Cook until berries burst and mixture becomes syrupy--about 10 minutes. Stir in cayenne pepper and lemon juice. Season with salt. Serve at room temperature.

Holiday Rewind: Sausage Pecan Turkey Stuffing

Even though the holidays are over, I still want to post a few of the recipes I found particularly delicious this holiday season. As I mentioned in the last post, I hosted Thanksgiving for the first time ever. And as if hosting for the first time wasn't pressure enough, I decided to be crazy and try all new recipes and make it all completely from scratch. Because of this, I wasn't just cooking on Thanksgiving day, I was cooking my pretty little head off for nearly two weeks leading up to the holiday. Yup. You read that right. Two weeks. Why? Simply because, if I could make it ahead of time and freeze it, I did. Pumpkin pie? I made two and froze them a week ahead of time. Homemade sourdough bread for stuffing? You bet! Baked, cubed, and stored in the freezer. In retrospect I sound insane. But the end result was completely worth it! Not only did the food taste amazing (given that it was all home-made and from scratch which makes anything taste better in my opinion), but I had enough leftovers to feed my family for the whole week after. And trust me; after cooking so much the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, I was happy to have a break from the kitchen.

The recipe I am posting today is one for Sausage Pecan Turkey Stuffing. Every year come Thanksgiving, my husband and I would have our annual debate about stuffing. I always thought stuffing was moist, flavorful, and rather enjoyable. My husband on the other hand found stuffing to be, as he would put it, "meh." So this year it was my challenge to make a stuffing my husband would actually enjoy. And if you knew my husband, you would know that the mere fact that this recipe contains sausage instantly upgraded his opinion on the matter. I wasn't sure if sausage was going to make the stuffing too heavy in texture and flavor but I was pleasantly surprised. With the addition of apples and pecans in this dish, it helped to balance out the weight of it all creating an overall blend of sumptuous flavors. Even my husband was won over, altering his opinion on stuffing from a "meh" to a "hmm...that's good!"

Although Thanksgiving is long gone, the winter season is still in full swing. So if you're looking for a hot dish to serve up with dinner, I highly recommend giving this recipe a try.

Sausage Pecan Turkey Stuffing

Ingredients:
9 cups soft bread crumbs
1 pound bulk pork sausage
2 cups chopped onion
1/4 cup butter
3 unpeeled tart apples, coarsely chopped
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
1-1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon ground sage
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup apple juice
chicken broth

Place the bread crumbs in a large bowl. In a large skillet, cook sausage and onion in butter over medium heat until meat is no longer pink and onion is tender; do not drain. Add to bread crumbs. Stir in apples, pecans, parsley, thyme, sage, salt and pepper; stir in apple juice and enough broth to moisten. Transfer to a greased 3-qt. baking dish. Cover and bake at 325 degrees for 60 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 minutes longer or until lightly browned.

A New Start

With the start of a new year, I am forced to look back into the past before I continue forward. When I started this blog I was living in a small apartment, pregnant, and looking for some way to spend my free time. I was posting at least ten blogs a month, and baking enough to feed an army.

Then my world was swept out from under my feet.

Two weeks after giving birth to my son, we found out we could not afford to stay at our apartment anymore. Thanks to the apartment complex hiking up rent by an additional $250 a month right as I was recovering from a c-section, and our newborn son wasn't even a month old, we were faced with the mind-numbingly difficult task of packing up our entire life and moving into my parent's house. Due to my recent surgery, I had to sit there on the couch and watch as my son's nursery was packed away before he even had a chance to use it. I watched as my clothes and belongings were shoved into boxes. And yes, I even watched as my trusty kitchen, my source of inspiration and stress relief, was taped shut into a cardboard tomb.

In the year that followed, we lived in a single room together. Albeit, the room was more like a small studio apartment, but regardless; it was too small for comfort. Forced to share a room with our newborn son, my husband and I had no privacy whatsoever, nor did we get much sleep. We couldn't so much as whisper to each other without the threat of waking up the baby. Our bathroom was reduced to a single standing shower crammed next to a toilet. And the kitchen...oh the kitchen. It was originally built to be a small bar, not a working kitchen. We had a mini fridge and a bookshelf we converted into a pantry shelf. The only stove/oven I had to use was in what we called the "community kitchen." The "community kitchen" was the actual kitchen space in the house (not in our little room) but was therefore first and foremost my parent's kitchen. Graciously they shared the kitchen with us when we needed it, however; scheduling out cooking times and meal times between two different families can be harder than you think. There were often times where there really were too many cooks in the kitchen. Most of the time I tried to work wonders with my small electric skillet and a microwave. But it clearly limited my cooking options. Needless to say, the number of food blogs I was writing began to drop more and more. With a newborn to take care of, a small room to convert into a temporary home, and a house to hunt for, cooking and blogging became the lowest of my priorities.

Days, weeks, months passed and my passion for cooking began to fade. My whole life was consumed by the need to find a home. I was tired of the embarrassment of needing to live with my parents. I was heartbroken that my son didn't even have a room to call his own. And I was fed up with trying to get by. I wanted more. Pretty soon cooking in that sad excuse of a kitchen, that little bar, only drove at my every nerve. Even though our last apartment had a closet of a kitchen, it was at least a real kitchen!

But then the day came. My husband went with the realtor to look at a house. As soon as he got there he sent me a text. It was a single picture with a caption that read: "we have to put a bid on this house!" And there it was, the picture of my dreams. He had sent me a picture of just  the kitchen and with that I was won over. It was a bigger kitchen than I had ever had. A center island, cabinets and cupboards galore. Dual stacking ovens. And best of all, a skylight and a bay window for lots of natural lighting. I knew then that it was going to be our house.

It's funny how a single picture of a kitchen could offer so much excitement and hope. But that picture was a huge turning point for me. It was the first picture I saw of our soon to be home. And every day that I have worked in our new kitchen I thank God for giving me such a wonderful space. I went from a closet kitchen, to a tiny bar, to finding myself standing in a gloriously open and inviting kitchen.

Although moving and the holidays still kept me from having the time to revive my blog, I still had the great pleasure of testing out my new kitchen to its full extent. For the first time ever I hosted Thanksgiving and, despite messing up on the gravy and thus creating a very memorable gelatinous blob, the dinner turned out fabulous! The turkey was falling off the bone it was so moist, and the fact that I made nearly everything entirely from scratch left me feeling particularly proud.

But now that the holidays have come and gone and, for the first time in a long time, I have the space and time to cook again; I have strapped on my apron and I am ready to get back at it! So my fellow foodies, I thank you for so patiently waiting for me and I look forward to starting off new this year. Here's to new beginnings, great company, and good food!

Before (2011 in our apartment)

After (2012 in our home)

Before (2011 in our apartment)

After (2012 in our home)

Vegan Caramel Corn

This year I am hosting Thanksgiving dinner for the very first time! So consequently I am extremely busy this week getting ready for the holiday. That means, I don't really have time to type much about this recipe. I will say, however, that it is surprisingly easy to make. Also, if you're looking for some good ideas on holiday goodies to make for friends and family, this caramel corn makes for a fantastic gift. (Not to mention, you can make way more caramel corn for a fraction of the cost of pre-made caramel corn bought from the grocery store. Plus it tastes much better homemade!)

Additionally, if you're looking for a light dessert to make for Thanksgiving day to follow up your hefty holiday meal, this is a great alternative to the traditional heavy Thanksgiving desserts.

I warn you though, this dessert is EXTREMELY snackable! My husband and I had to fight ourselves from eating the entire batch in one sitting.

Vegan Caramel Corn

Ingredients:
14 cups popped popcorn
1 cup dry roasted peanuts (optional)
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup non-hydrogenated, nondairy butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Lightly grease a shallow pan, such as a roasting pan.

Place the popped popcorn in the pan. Add the peanuts, if using, to the popped corn. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring enough to blend. Once the mixture begins to boil, boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove from the heat, and stir in the baking soda and vanilla. The mixture will be light and foamy. Immediately pour over the popcorn in the pan, and stir to coat. Don't worry too much at this point about getting all the popcorn coated.

Bake for 1 hour, removing the pan every 15 minutes and giving the popcorn and nuts a good stir. Line the countertop with waxed paper. Dump the popcorn out onto the waxed paper and seperate the pieces. Allow to cool completely, then store in an airtight container or resealable bag.

**Tip: Give the popcorn an entire hour in the oven, stiring every 15 minutes, otherwise the caramel will be too sticky and difficult to eat.

P.S. Love the vegans in your life. Since Thanksgiving is known for not being very vegan friendly at all, you can at least offer them a delicious dessert!

Corn Dog Muffins

Corn dogs. One of the most popular meals on a stick. Next to Mac & Cheese, it is a favorite dinner among children everywhere. Plus, parents love them for their quick and easy preparation. In nearly 20 minutes, without any effort at all, dinner can be on the table and mom and dad just saved themselves the hassle of making dinner after a long and busy day.

But in this day and age, parents are becoming more aware and concerned about what their kids are consuming. Organic, low sugar, low sodium, whole wheat, fair trade, no aspartame, low fat foods...it's enough to make a parent go cross-eyed when they are grocery shopping. But it doesn't have to be that complicated. Sometimes, the easiest thing you can do for you and your family is to start off with small steps. And one of the best ways to do that is by some good ol' fashioned home cooking. Rather than deep fried frozen meals, a homemade meal can make all the difference nutritionally.

So where do corndogs come in? Well, my family is big into corndogs but unfortunately corndogs are far from healthy. Battered, deep fried, frozen little weenies of mystery meat placed conveniently on a stick for quick consumption. But they taste so good! I knew I had to come up with a way to still enjoy the corndog taste without all the processing in between.

Now, don't get me wrong, this recipe isn't what I would call healthy. However; it is at least good middle ground. My family can still have their delicious corndogs, I still get the convenience of a pre-made meal, and it doesn't involve a deep fryer. For those of you with busy lives, I highly recommend making this recipe ahead of time and freezing it. Just like regular corndogs, you can simply reheat them in the oven for a nice easy meal. But the best part is: it's still a home cooked meal!

If you look at the list of ingredients you will see that there is bacon fat in the recipe. Obviously that doesn't scream "healthy", however; it does add a fantastic smokey flavor. You can, of course, use butter in place of bacon fat. But, in my opinion, fat is fat. Either butter or bacon fat, the nutritional value isn't much different. Might as well go with the one that adds a nice smokey flavor to your corndog muffin.

Anyway, if you try this recipe out, let me know what you think!

Corn Dog Muffins

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
2/3 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons bacon fat (the following link will tell you more about the glory of using bacon fat in your cooking: http://thetastyspoon-gingerales-kitchen.blogspot.com/2011/05/fat-can.html)
1 egg
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
6 hotdogs cut into fourths (you'll have 24 hot dog chunks total)
Honey

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Grease 12 muffin tins and set aside.

Combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.

Add the bacon fat, egg, and buttermilk to the flour mixture. Using a submersion blender or a food processor, blend until smooth.

Pour the batter into the muffin tins, filling only half way. Then place two hotdog chunks into each muffin tin. Pour remaining batter over top of the hotdog chunks until completely covered.

Bake for 15 minutes.

When done baking, allow the muffins to cool on a wire rack. As they are cooling, brush honey over the tops of the muffins.

Serve warm.

Vegan Sweet Potato Bread

I am back from the great wild yonder! Boy have I missed blogging. But I am happy to say that my absence has been due to the fact that we bought a house and moved in! For the first time ever I have a real kitchen to work in. No more tiny closet size apartment kitchens. So consequently I have a backlog of recipes that I need to post since I have been testing the limits of my new kitchen.

As we were moving, I noticed that I still have a surplus of leftover jarred baby food that my son no longer eats. So I decided to set to work on finding creative ways to cook the baby food into our meals so it wouldn't go to waste. But since we had just moved and I hadn't gone to the grocery store yet, we were running a little shy on baking supplies (ie: milk, eggs, butter...). Well, if you've read my previous posts you would know that any time you are out of milk, eggs, or butter, it is a perfect time to try a vegan recipe since it doesn't require any of those ingredients.

What I came up with was a dense, delicious sweet potato bread that eventually condensed into what tasted more like cake with each passing day. And best of all, I was able to use up quite a bit of baby food! Of course, most people don't have baby food sitting around their house so I will make note of what you can use instead. But seriously. As a salute to fall and as a gift to your taste buds, you've got to give this recipe a try. Not to mention, when you bake it, your house is going to smell heavenly.

Vegan Sweet Potato Bread

Ingredients:
4 1/2 teaspoons Ener-G Egg replacer (equivalent of 3 eggs)
6 tablespoons water
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce (I used baby food apple sauce even though it was sweetened)
14-ounces jarred baby food sweet potato (or a 14-ounce can of sweet potato puree)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly oil two 8-inch loaf pans.

In a small bowl, whip together the egg replacer and water until creamy.

In a large bowl, stir together the sugar, applesauce, sweet potato puree, and egg mixture.

In a medium-size bowl, stir together the flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Thoroughly combine the dry ingredients, then add them to the wet. Stir until just combined.

Spoon the batter into prepared loaf pans. Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let the bread cool for at least 20 minutes before removing from the loaf pans. This is important, as the bread is still baking and needs time to coalesce in the hot pan.