Hey Pumpkin

Pumpkin Muffins

I don't have to tell you that the days are getting shorter and the air is getting chillier. It's harder to get out of bed. You definitely need something to look forward to in the morning, and these moist, decadent muffins will do the trick. Normally I avoid recipes that call for things like buttermilk, because I never have it on hand. Ever. But I found this recipe on the Fresh Direct website, and since I was already shopping, I could just order it. I've altered it- of course, I am compulsive like that! But it really had way too much pumpkin pie spice in the original. However, I'd like to note that I was using brand-new pumpkin pie spice. If yours is infrequently used, then you might want to bump it up a bit.

Makes 18 muffins

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (unless it's been sitting around since last Thanksgiving, then 1.5-2 tsps!)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mini chocolate chips (I really prefer mini- they add a bit of chocolate to each bite!)
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup molasses
2 large eggs
18 baking cup liners! Don't forget these- we had to run out in our aprons to get some.

1. Preheat oven to 400° F.
2. Stir together the dry ingredients:  flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Stir in the chocolate chips.
3. In a separate mixer bowl, beat the brown sugar, pumpkin, buttermilk, vegetable oil, molasses, vanilla extract and eggs. Add the pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture, stirring only until moist.Don't over beat them- they get tough.
4. Fill the 18 lined muffin cups about 3/4 of the way up. Bake for 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
5. Remove muffins from pans immediately and cool on a wire rack before serving.

Creamy Tomato Soup

Got a few too many of these bad boys? Well, luckily I am back and ready to help. Last week, I could not resist this display (on the left) at the farmer's market. I realized after a few days that I was going to have to make a big move, and fast, if I didn't want a pile of wasted tomatoes on my hands.

I pondered my dilemma. Should I make a mariana sauce? Meat sauce? But for some reason I just wasn't feeling it. Part of my issue is that I want my girls to expand their repertoire of foods, and they already eat those things. Then I figured yes, tomato soup! They already eat chicken soup, and various tomato sauces. And so I made this delicious tomato soup, which was so good I almost fainted. This soup makes about 4 servings.



You will need:
1/2 large yellow onion, diced
3 tablespoons of butter (or a mix of butter and olive oil)
1 carrot, peeled and diced
4 cups of cored, peeled, seeded and chopped tomatoes
2 sprigs of thyme
1 cup of chicken stock  (I used low sodium canned)
1 cup heavy cream
2 tsps of sugar
salt and pepper

Take a big soup pot and put it over medium heat.  Throw in the butter and melt it. Then add the carrot and onion. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the onion is soft.

Add the tomatoes and the sprigs of thyme and cook for 10-15 minutes, until the tomatoes break up.  Add the sugar and stir in. Remove the thyme sprigs.

Add the cup of chicken stock to the soup. Add the cream. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Please don't eat all the soup during this process. Carefully transfer the soup to a blender and process. Reheat if necessary.

You are done! This only took me about 30 minutes start to finish, including peeling and chopping tomatoes. It also would be a great thing to pack in a thermos for school lunches.

Hearty Corn Pudding

My sister, who is an accomplished cook, made this corn pudding as a side side for Thanksgiving. Yes, I am aware that was a long time ago, but really, I am doing the best I can over here. Now, I may have been dubious about this dish if I had heard of it before seeing and tasting it. What? Hot corn pudding? Sounds bizarre. Let me tell you- it is nothing short of heavenly. Although I am not in the business of making guarantees about what kids will eat, you can tell your kids it is corn mac 'n cheese and they may eat it as well. Mine did.

Makes about 8 servings.

Ingredients
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 5 cups fresh yellow corn kernels cut off the cob (6 to 8 ears), or frozen
• 1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 onion)
• 4 extra-large eggs
• 1 cup milk (Low-fat is fine.)
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup ricotta cheese (Low-fat works fine. I would not try fat-free.)
• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 6 ounces (3/4 cup) grated extra-sharp cheddar, plus extra to sprinkle on top

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease the inside of a 2 to 2.5 quart baking dish (such as Pyrex or Corning Ware). Now, melt the butter in a very large pan. Add the corn and onion and sauté over medium-high heat for 4 minutes. Let it cool slightly.

Your children can help with this part. Mine are excellent at whisking! Whisk together the eggs, milk, and half-and-half in a large bowl. Slowly whisk in the cornmeal and then the ricotta. Add thyme, sugar, salt, and twist or two of pepper. Add the cooked corn mixture and grated cheddar.  Pour the mixture into the baking dish. Sprinkle the top with more grated cheddar.

Here’s the tricky part. Place the dish in a much larger pan. (Make sure the larger pan is big enough so you can easily pull the hot pudding pan out of the other pan without burning your hand when it is done.) Now fill the larger pan 1/2 way up the sides of the dish with hot tap water. DO NOT fill the larger pan first, like I did one time. This is a bad idea, trust me. Bake the pudding for 40 to 45 minutes until the top begins to brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm, and enjoy.

Happy Eating! (P.S. You can add a little ham and it’s enough for a main course).

Monster Cookie

Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies

I must confess while I do love chocolate, it's not to the exclusion of other desserts. At restaurants I find myself choosing peach crisp with vanilla ice cream, or cheesecake over chocolate cake. My girls, on the other hand, are chocolate fiends. So when we were discussing what to bake for the Valentine's Day bake sale, I was thinking shortbread hearts or lemon bars. I was thinking wrong. My kids very clear that we would be making something very, very chocolately. I thought of those huge double chocolate cookies and knew it would hit the spot. I dressed them up with some cute heart baking decorations I found at Crate and Barrel to give them a little seasonal flair. The coffee's influence is light, but adds a little more flavor.

Please note that while you may think I am horribly bourgeois for using shortening for part of the fat in this recipe, really big cookies hold up better if they aren't all butter. I promise you they taste amazing. Also, I have always cooked them on a silpat mat. This is also very helpful for monster cookies. The mat allows you to cook them through without burning the bottom. You can get them at Williams Sonoma, Amazon, or any cooking shop, and I think they make cookie baking much easier. 

You will need:

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

1/2 cup vegetable shortening (Crisco) 

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

2 tablespoons instant coffee, crushed to a powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

12 ounces milk chocolate chips

1 cup raisins (or walnuts. we've got nut allergies in the house)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Put a silpat mat on a cookie sheet. 

Beat the butter, shortening and sugars together well. Add both eggs and the vanilla and beat until all incorporated. In a separate bowl, combines the flour, cocoa, coffee, salt, and baking soda. Stir flour mixture into the butter mixture, and when well blended at the chocolate chips and nuts/raisins and stire. 

Take a 1/4 cup measure, and scoop out the batter. Place on the silpat mat/cookie sheet and flatten the dough a bit. Bake the cookies 12-15 minutes (really depends on your oven, but don't overcook). You'll know they are done when they are puffed up and cracked, but still give a little when you touch them in the middle. Makes about 18 huge cookies. 

Valentines Day Bake Sale Treats

You may be thinking WHAT? right now. After taking almost two months off from blogging, why is she posting two days in a row? I suppose it's because I've gotten most of my apartment unpacked by now from our December move. Regardless, I should really learn to pace myself. This is not the right time for pacing though, because next week is Valentine's Day, and at my kids' preschool that means the Valentines Day Bake Sale! Hooray! I love to bake. Love it. But there is the whole issue of eating the goodies afterward and health of my children and the size of my rear end to be considered, so sadly I don't do it very often. Bake sale day is awesome, because then I just donate the goodies and don't have to worry about giving my children heart disease before they hit elementary school.  Last year I made these little babies for the sale. I even have a picture of them, I was so proud of how I packaged them. There is nothing really special about the recipe. I just used a basic chocolate cookie chip bar recipe and substituted the special red and pink M&M's they sell around Valentine's day for the chocolate chips.

I'll include the recipe here. And I might even post what I decide to make this year as my next entry!


Ingredients
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for the baking sheet
4 cups flour
2 tsps baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
12 oz of M&Ms (or to your taste)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. A note about this: when you are baking it is really important to preheat the oven. Make sure it is actually 350 degrees when you put in the cookies. Butter a 12-by-17-inch rimmed baking sheet. You can also use cooking spray, but the butter works a little better. Put the sheet aside. Combine together flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set that aside as well.
Cream butter and both sugars together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla; mix until well combined. Add flour mixture and beat until they are just combined- you don't want to overbeat or they get a little tough. Stir in most of the M&Ms by hand so you don't break them. Leave some for putting on the top.
Put the raw dough into the baking sheet, and smooth it so it's even. Lick spatula. Add the remaining M&Ms to the top wherever things look sparse. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, depending somewhat on your oven. I recommend taking a peek halfway through and rotating it around so it bakes evenly. Yummmmmm!

Chicken Chili

Despite living in NY for 10 years now, I can't muster up anything but benign apathy for the Giants. Sorry Giants, but when you grow up in Steeler country you are a Steeler fan for life. So the Superbowl was not as exciting for me as it was for many of my fellow New Yorkers. The bright side is that no matter how indifferent you are to the actual game, Superbowl food is always awesome. One of the main features of Superbowl fare is classic meat chili. I love it, but I make a different version that is a little healthier. I think my version is even tastier with big juicy chunks of veggies and chicken, almost like a stew. I suppose in this way it is doing double duty as chili and stew. It is spicy and filling like chili, and healthy like stew. Almost like if Tom Brady could throw the ball and catch it too. It's easy to make and freezes well.

Ingredients
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 tblsps olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 yellow bell peppers, cored, seeded, and large-diced
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more for chicken
1 14.5 oz cans whole peeled tomatoes, undrained
1 14 oz can of chicken broth (I use the reduced sodium kind)
1.5 cups of frozen corn
1 can of kidney beans
12 ounces of chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces (note: you can use raw or leftover chicken)
3/4 cup of salsa
Freshly ground black pepper
For serving:
Chopped onions, corn chips, grated cheddar, sour cream

Directions
Cook the onions in the oil over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the bell peppers, chili powder, cumin, and cayenne. Cook for 1 minute. Crush the tomatoes by hand or in batches in a food processor fitted with a steel blade (pulse 6 to 8 times). Add to mixture. Add broth. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
Add the frozen corn, chicken, salsa and beans. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, for 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Add pepper to taste.
Serve with the toppings, or refrigerate and reheat gently before serving. It's great with crusty bread and salad, or on top of rice

Christmas Activities- Chocolate Dipped Pretzels

Hi everyone! Here is an article I recently wrote for the BoweryBabes newsletter and thought my non-NYC friends might have a little fun with it as well.

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I have fond memories of making chocolate dipped pretzel rods with my mother at Christmastime.  I was always so amazed at how gorgeous and impressive they looked. So when I was asked to share a festive cooking activity, I immediately thought of the rods.   They are easy! They are delicious! They are so incredibly beautiful!  It’s going to look like a real cooking magazine! I was very pleased with myself. 

This morning I tested out the recipe with my girls, age 2 and 4.  They donned their aprons and carefully dipped and sprinkled, all the while licking “Christmas sticks” (aka candy canes).  They had a wonderful time doing it, and the rods tasted really good. Perhaps the visual results were not identical to a real cooking magazine…..but we can pretend, right? Originally I was going to suggest making some extras for your friends, but after witnessing some of the unsanitary production conditions with my small workers (No! You can’t lick it, then dip it!), I think maybe it’s best to keep these all in the family. So here we go:

Ingredients:

½ cup of white chocolate melts, or white chocolate chips (or regular chocolate, although it isn’t as pretty)

10 pretzel rods

Green and red sprinkles

3 candy canes

And for the preparation:

A plastic bag and a rolling pin or other object for crushing the candy canes

A double boiler or a microwave

A plate that is bigger than the rods, but that has a bit of a lip so that the sprinkles and crushed candy canes don’t get everywhere.

A pyrex cup or small container to hold the melted chocolate. You want it to be deep and skinny, so that you don’t have to melt a ton of chocolate.

A mug filled with rice or one of those snack cups for babies with the flaps in the lid. This will be your pretzel cooling station.

A spoon for catching drips, and generally managing the melted chocolate

I find that to make this an activity a true success, its best to have the children help you with the preparations, and also to have everything ready to go before you melt the chocolate. The children can help you open the bag of pretzels, and select which pretzel rods to use. They can help you set up the work area with plates, and pour the sprinkles onto the plates. They can pour the rice into the container (which will be where you cool the pretzels).

Now the real fun begins. Put the candy canes in the plastic bag. Crush the candy canes with the rolling pin. (My 4 year old was drunk with power during this activity, while my 2 year old stared on in a mix of alarm and envy).  Put the crushed candy canes on a plate.

Melt the chocolate. If you are using a microwave, it takes about 2 minutes on high. I suggest that you only microwave it for about 30 seconds at a time and stir. Then do another 30 seconds, and stir, repeating until it is melted.  It turns out the warning on the formula can is right- microwaves do heat a bit unevenly and you can end up with burned parts.  If you are using a double boiler, fill the bottom with water and bring it to a simmer. Put the chocolate in the top part, and stir it while it melts.  Quickly bring the melted chocolate to your working surface. Have the children dip and twirl the rods into the chocolate.  CAUTION: You must watch the children very carefully at this stage, so they don’t lick or touch the hot chocolate!!!! Please be careful. Once some chocolate is adhered to the end of a rod, they can stick the rods into the sprinkles or crushed candy canes.  Place them in the cup filled with rice, making sure they don’t touch, and put in the fridge to harden. Voila!  You are the proud owner of several beautiful chocolate pretzel rods. Don’t eat too many at once.