The Pumpkin takeover 2016...and Lolek

Every year in the fall this amazing and sprawling plant brings forth it's fruit:  the pumpkin.  In recent years the retail world has commandeered this massive orange squash in a variety of ways that has snowballed into nothing short of a massive takeover this year!  What began as a fresh fall idea for all beer drinkers a few years ago has ballooned into a frenzy with nearly no limitations!  From pumpkin spice tea, donuts, and lattes to a more aggressive takeover of the well-known and loved original cereals of Shredded Mini Wheat, Special K Crunch, and Life, not to mention the unheard of pumpkin-flavored(gulp) baking chips, marshmallows, cookies, granola, and.......eh...imitation instant pudding?!  I thought I had seen everything until, alas, the Blue Dog Bakery came up with pumpkin flavored dog treats.

I'm a cookie butter fanatic and there is always a jar of Biscoff in the pantry, but the pumpkin flavored cookie butter made by some other company is completely gross, so I won't mention their name.   Actually, the biggest surprise on my pumpkin discovery was the tortilla chips, they were actually very good.  They are not sweet, rather salty and crunchy with a pumpkin hint in the background.  So, to my surprise, they were a success.

I asked the grocery manager at the Food Lion near me how many people buy the pumpkin flavored baking chips, she didn't think they moved at all.....no wonder...yuck!  I did not dare try the pumpkin spice instant pudding.....we just couldn't do that to our taste buds, I am a scratch cook for heaven's sake!   This discussion does not cover the complete list of "gone pumpkin" favorites, but just the tip of the iceberg, I tell you, beer varieties abound and so does the donuts, air fresheners, and tea and coffees along with cookies, on and on.  I even saw that Triscuit had a pumpkin spice cracker and I thought, if they pumpkin-fy my kid's beloved goldfish crackers...well there is no telling where my crazy would go.

Anyway, to be completely honest here, my most favorite orange treat in my world is my beloved little ginger, Lolek.  He is the sweetest feline buddy I know.

Lolek

King Arthur Flour's October Bakealong

 Oh this one was a breeze!!  I haven't used my french loaf pans in ages, so what a sweet opportunity it was!

These are the Everyday Whole-Grain bread that is the October bakealong challenge from King Arthur Flour company.   This bread worked up beautifully, with little effort. 

This recipe makes two loaves and as many bread dough are, it is versatile.  This time around, I made it in my French loaf pans, but next time I am planning on baking them in standard loaf pans so I can slice them for sandwiches and toast.  It is that good!!

The recipe is on the website, and there is a step-by-step link as well...here's the link from their site. 

The dulcimer is my birthday gift from my husband last year.....now I have a violin, mandolin, both a saprano and alto recorder, and a dulcimer.....and a piano, but our youngest is the master of that instrument.   I, however, an the master of none of these, but I love playing them when I have time.  Isn't it a pretty instrument, my dulcimer?

Anyway, I found it looked kind of traditional, basic, and old-timey at the same time with the lace tablecloth.

Well, I hope you will try the bread and enjoy it as much as we did.  I served this first bake with chili and it was fabulous!

If you make it, I'd love to hear about it.  Comment below and share your pics!

Until next time!

A Hubby surprise and Ginger Pickled Carrots.....YES!

The best part of being married to an open-minded eater, is being able to experiment with all kinds of recipes and getting his honest opinions along with watching him enjoy the fruits of your labor.  I am such a lucky girl.  Recently, I had the surprise of receiving a gift I truly didn't expect, my husband is a home-brewer hobbyist and is always looking/ordering/finding ingredients for his next batch of beer..usually online.  Well, I had put a few cookbooks that were new and upcoming, but not in print yet in the shopping cart on amazon, but didn't buy them yet and then forgot about them!! 
Crazy...I know. 

Anyway, he was hunting some beer ingredients this one day and discovered my books in the cart and decided to purchase one of them for me.  Super!  Not your momma's Canning Book...and what to make with them is that book!   I have been looking at this book for a couple of months and low and behold, it showed up on my porch the other day!

Immediately, I dug into it and discovered a few things I wanted to make....one being these lovely ginger pickled carrots.   The recipe is in this book and it couldn't be easier!  My hubby loves them....along with my son-in-law, so it's a win-win!  It made three jars of carrots and to be honest, I didn't use anything other than my favorite chef knife and me.   It's a stress reliever to just sit and julienne carrots...it was soothing, actually.

My next project will be mustard...but I am having trouble finding brown mustard seeds...if anyone has a suggestion, please let me know.

Thanks!

King Arthur Flour's September BAKEALONG Challenge

Inside-Out Pumpkin Muffins

King Arthur Flour's September Bakealong challenge was fun and I learned something in the process!

The neatest thing about any recipe I find is learning something new, a skill, an ingredient, or even a different way of manipulating ingredients to obtain the same result...or even better!  This is one reason I wanted to accept these challenges, because I knew that there would be some challenges that may challenge me!  I'm no expert, but I've learned a few things along the way and always happy to learn more to share with you!

In this recipe, I learned about boiled cider, of which I shared prior to this post and I wanted to let you know how absolutely delicious this ingredient is.  These muffins are great and the pumpkin flavor really stands out.  So, here is the recipe for you to make yourself, if you don't have boiled cider, or care to boil your own apple cider, you can  purchase boiled cider from King Arthur Flour's website here.  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did!

Till next time!

Boiled Cider: a new OLD pantry staple

The September King Arthur Flour's bakealong challenge has an ingredient that got my interest piqued.  I have never heard of boiled cider, absolutely love apple cider, but boiling it down to a thick syrup?  No, have not heard of it....until now.  In the challenge recipe this month, there are alternatives to this ingredient (such as molasses, brown sugar, etc), but says that boiled cider is really the preferred choice, and that you had to buy it from them, you can't just boil apple cider......  Oh, yeah you can, I did some research.

The best recipe and description of boiled cider that I could find was from Rebecca, over at her blog: "Foodie with Family", she has a great recipe and some background about it.  Yes, you can buy it, but it wouldn't be true to myself if I did that, without some investigating.

OK, so what is boiled cider and what do you use boiled cider for? Well in the bakealong with King Arthur Flour, you add a quarter cup of this syrup to the batter for a more heightened pumpkin flavor, you can add this syrup to apple pie filling to bring about a stronger apple flavor.  Tasting it, I can see it as a syrup over pancakes, ice cream, and Rebecca at Foodie with Family, also suggests over ice with seltzer water.  It's a syrup, so use your imagination!

According to Ark of Taste in the USA they report about it and Cider jelly as a ..."relatively little known except as a cultural artifact, and certainly underappreciated."  I have to agree!  Yes, it takes a few hours to accomplish from boiling apple cider, but the results are dripping with flavor and benefits!   Give it a try!

Here's how:

In a stainless steel, non-reactive stew pot, stock pot, what ever, I used one gallon jug of apple cider.

1 gal Apple Cider
other ingredients to each is own:
Cinnamon, ginger, vanilla bean, allspice, etc.    I didn't do it this time.

Boil down to 1/7th of it's original amount.*

*My husband is a scientist and gave me the exact measurment in meters.......I with a glazed-over-face, I got a popsicle stick from my craft stash and measured the before amount in the pot and divided up the eights on the ruler and did it that way and made my mark there as well.  It took about 2 hours on medium heat on the stove for the total reduction, and OH how the house smelled!!

Some time later, you have a nice thickening apple syrup!

Cast-Iron Potatoes

Obsessed is the word I'd use to describe how I feel about my cast iron skillets.  I have 3 right now, an 8", 12" and the square grilling skillet.  All three have never disappointed me or my family.  (However, I do have to admit that the grilling pan is harder to clean.)

Clearly, you can cook anything in a cast iron skillet and I have found some great recipes that I would not have thought of.  Pie for one!  Macaroni and cheese for two.  Both are absolutely delicious.

We grilled some steaks the other day and I was in charge of the sides.  It was just the two of us, so I could add onions. HA!

The nice thing about cast iron, is that it keeps the heat even throughout the pan surface even after you turn off the burner.  The caramelization that happens to the potatoes is great.  I just sliced the potatoes rather thin along with the onions.  For the oil, I used vegetable oil in the pan and added some unsalted butter, just a tablespoon or so, for flavor.  The seasonings are simple, pepper, kosher salt and garlic powder.

King Arthur Flour's August Bakealong Challenge

Summer, ah, the long hot days of summer when the days are hot, humid, and.....hot and humid.  I'm a autumn girl myself, so I endure the summer to get to the fall with all the colors and the cooler air, brisk breezes and spicier foods.  You knew I was going to get to the food part...at least I hope you did.

So, I follow King Arthur flour on both Instagram and Facebook and get their weekly newsletter via my email box and they have a challenge that sounds interesting.  A Bakealong!  I'm in and will be sharing my results with you.  The first challenge is the Pane Bianco loaf, which is filled with fresh basil, tomatoes, garlic and cheese!  YES!

Here is the picture of my dough as it is pre-proofed on the left and then here is the second stage of the shaping process.   After rolling the dough out to a 22x8.5" rectangle, you put the filling on and roll it up long wise.  Then with seam side down, you cut through the layers from 1/2 inch from each end..not to the bottom, however.

 Now that is is shaped, the right side is the pre-proof stage and the left is the finished risen stage, ready to bake!  I rarely follows rules to the T, and today is no different, I didn't have the ingredients for the filling, so I used the leftover tomato paste from my cast-iron pizza, and dried basil.  It still turned out absolutely wonderful....like a pizza bread.

 Now baked, it smells heavenly.  I tented it after about 20 minutes as suggested and the golden crust came out perfect.  The slices were beautifully soft and evenly distributed with the filling.

This challenge was so easy and delicious!!  Try it!

ENJOY!