Bacon topped Roasted Pumpkin and Cauliflower Soup

This soup was so easy and delicious I have to write down how I made it so that I can make it again next winter! It all started because I didn't cook a meal I had planned which left me with half of a pumpkin and a head of cauliflower that really needed to be used.  I didn't really have a piece of meat or any potatoes to go with them so a roast was not on the table.  I didn't want to go to the shops ... you know, it was one of those days!  We all have them, right?! So, I scrounged around and this is what I came up with.

1/2 of a Kent pumpkin

1 head of cauliflower 

1 head of garlic

A couple of onions

I chopped the pumpkin and cauliflower, peeled and quartered the onions, and just peeled the garlic.  I put all of that in a large baking dish (lined with baking paper of course) and coasted with olive oil.  I roasted them in the oven on like 180C (350F) until the pumpkin was soft and the cauliflower was starting to brown. 

I put all of that into my blender, added a bit of chicken stock and blended it to a thick soup consistency. 

We love toppings on our soups too so while the veggies were roasting, I chopped up the following.

1 small onion

A couple cloves of garlic

A few rashers of bacon

I fried them all together ... starting with the bacon because it takes a bit longer ... then adding the garlic and onion and cooking til garlic is not longer bitter and onions are soft.

I served the soup in a bowl, sprinkled with the topping. 

I had intended to grab a few chives out of the garden as well to sprinkle on the top, but I forgot!  Oh well ... next time!

Pumpkin Pom Salad

 

Oh yum!  I want to make this again.  It sure was tasty!

I found this recipe on pinterest.  They used sweet potato but my husband prefers pumpkin and I love both so no biggie!  I didn't really measure the salad ingredients.  I just grabbed a big plate and piled stuff on.  Is there really any need to measure when good, wholesome, salad ingredients are involved?!

kent pumpkin (I just roasted a bunch thinking I'd keep the leftovers, there were no leftovers!)
baby salad greens (baby kale, spinach, rocket (arugula), etc.)
pomegranate seeds
crumbled feta
pistachios, toasted & chopped
coriander (cilantro), chopped
2-3 chopped spring onions, white and green parts



I did the dressing just as the recipe called for, adjusting just a little bit to taste:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 clove minced garlic
2 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon sherry vinegar or white wine vinegar
salt & pepper, to taste
 
Preheat your oven to 400F/200C. Chop the pumpkin into bite size pieces. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast in the oven for 20ish minutes.  I just keep tasting after 20 minutes til they are the consistency I like. (possible reason there were no leftovers?!)

Mix all dressing ingredients.  I just threw them all in a mason jar and shook it up.

Assemble salad.  I started with greens and coriander (which is technically a green), then added the pumpkin, pomegranate seeds, spring onions and feta.  Top with dressing and pistachios.

Pumpkin Dessert Squares

This is Uncle Larry's current favorite dessert. I chose it for my birthday "cake" this week.

For crust: 1 pkg yellow cake mix (take out 1 cup)
1 egg
1/2 c melted butter

For filling: 1 can (about 1 1/2 cup) pumpkin
3 eggs
1/2 c sugar
2/3 c evaporated milk (I use fat-free)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

For topping: reserved cup cake mix
1 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp melted butter
(optional) 1/4 c chopped pecans

Grease bottom of 9" x 13" pan. Mix crust ingredients and press mixture into pan.

Beat filling ingredients together. Pour over crust mixture.

Combine topping ingredients until crumbly. Sprinkle over filling layer. Bake in preheated 325 degree oven about 45 minutes.


Adapted from Jana Brummett's recipe in Loaves and Fishes and Other Fancy Dishes, cookbook of the Greencastle (IN) Christian Church.

Pumpkin Salad w/ Lentils and Brazillian Beef

I found these recipes in a magazine.
Of course, I changed them just a bit to suite our tastes ...

For the salad:
1 kg chopped pumpkin
3 small onions, peeled and chopped in 1/2
ground cumin
400g can lentils
dried cranberries
pepitas (pumpkin seeds), toasted
fresh lemon thyme leaves
baby rocket (arugula) leaves
lemon

Coat pumpkin and onions with olive oil then sprinkle with ground cumin. Bake on 200C for about 30 minutes ... In a bowl, make your salad. Throw together a few handfuls of rocket leaves, a few sprigs of lemon thyme leaves, a handful of dried cranberries, and the same of the toasted pepitas. Grind in the rind of a lemon and then squeeze it's juice on top. Rinse and drain the lentils, add them. When the pumpkin and onions are cooked, add them too.

Super simple and I LOVED THE TASTE of this salad !!

For the Meat:
1 kg beef rump steak chunks
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup orange juice (I used the pulpy kind)

Mix everything but the steak in a big glass bowl. Then add steak. Let marinate for a few hours. I only had about an hour last night and it was delicious even after that amount of time. You can thread these onto skewers and BBQ them but last night I just did them in a hot non stick fry pan. I pretty much just cooked one side, flipped it and cooked the other side.

Delicious. Even Alia and I, who don't generally go for steak, loved this.

Serve with lemon wedges ... but I squeezed them onto my salad rather than onto the meat ...

Pumpkin Salad

Whipped this little beauty up for dinner tonight.

Whole little potatoes onto a baking sheet, covered in olive oil ... on a hot oven (200 C) ... I think they took about an hour to bake. When they came out of the oven, I sprinkled with a chunky salt.

Chopped up some pumpkin, cooked it coated in olive oil in the other half of the baking tray I used to make the roasted cauliflower. Took about 45 minutes ... in the same oven as the potatoes. I turned it down to about 180 when I put the pumpkin/cauliflower in.

The salad was spinach, rocket, pine nuts, avocado, feta cheese, & red onion. Then the pumpkin. Then some nice balsamic vinegar. And then some crunchy fried noodles.

Easy peasy. Done. Delicious.

Pumpkin Lentil Salad - UnP Version

So ... I've posted this recipe before ... but last night I made it with a couple small modifications to suit our Unprocessed Year requirements ... It was just as good. If not better ...

1 kg pumpkin ... I like kent or butternut but any that is good for roasting would be fine.

1/3 cup fresh squeezed orange juice - I used my citrus juicer & small oranges ... took 30 seconds !
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp honey
2 tsp Moroccan seasoning
1/2 a red onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 can lentils
spinach and rocket mixture
feta

So .... spray your pumpkin with olive oil and roast in bite size pieces in a 200C oven - 20 minutes or so.

Make dressing by combining orange juice and 1/2 the olive oil, honey and Moroccan seasoning.

Heat remaining oil in a frying pan over med heat. Cook onion and garlic for a couple of minutes ~ until soft. Add lentils ... heat through.

In serving bowl, combine lentil mixture, pumpkin, greens, and feta. Top with dressing.

I served this with whole wheat foccacia (recipe coming tomorrow), olive oil and dukkah for dipping.

Pumpkiny Fritters

I got this recipe from one of my favorite cooking blogs. Possibly my favorite. I changed it very very little. Like not really at all ! Here's what I did ....

2 cups grated kent pumpkin

1/4 cup fresh herbs - I used parsley and garlic chives
a couple spring onions - chop 'em up
1/4 cup crumbled feta
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons oil

Mix all ingredients minus the oil ... I accidentally mixed the oil in and it was fine so don't worry if you make that mistake too ! Heat the oil ... if you haven't mixed it in ! And then scoop the mixture into the pan and cook til golden brown on both sides. He said about 4 minutes each side but mine took a bit longer than that ... just watch 'em so they don't burn !

Serve with Tsatsiki ....

Pumpkin Scone

I admit it. I went to Starbucks yesterday and had this...and ate the whole thing...well, all of it but 2 bites..two very small bites...okay, two crumbs...
But anyway I came home and remembered I had pureed the last of my pumpkins and needed to use it. I hadn't froze it because there wasn't enough to mess with.

So I googled "Starbucks Pumpkin Scone" and there were about 236,000 results. I chose a recipe from RecipeZaar again since I have had luck with those before...Here is the recipe

Scone

2 cups flour
7 T sugar
1 T baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1/4 t ground cloves (I use less as the cloves can be a bit overpowering)
1/4 t ground ginger
6 T cold butter
1/2 c pumpkin puree
3 T half and half (I used 1% because that is what I have)
1 large egg

Spiced Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar
2 T milk
1/4 t cinnamon
1/8 t nutmeg
1 pinch ginger
1 pinch cloves
(I just used my "Pumpkin Pie Spice" and just shook a bit into the bowl as I was mixing it)



Preheat oven 425F
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices in a large bowl.
Using a pastry knife cut butter into the dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly and no chunks of butter are obvious. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, milk and egg.
Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients.
Form the dough into a ball (good luck with that as it is very sticky and wet)
Pat dough out onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a 1-inch thick rectangle (about 9 inches long and 3 inches wide).
Use a large knife or pizza cutter to slice the dough twice through the width making 3 equal portions.
Cut those 3 portions diagonally so that you have 6 triangular slices of dough.
Now, my scones turned out HUGE so if you can manage I would even cut those 6 triangles into 2 so that you have a total of 12 scones.
Place on cookie sheet (lined with parchment or lightly oiled)
Bake 14-16 minutes.
Scones should turn a light brown.
Place on wire wrack to cool.

To make the glaze

Mix powdered sugar, spices and milk until smooth.

Once scones are cooled drizzle with glaze.

Pumpkin (Tofu) Cookies

We've been trying to watch what we eat in our home the past couple months so when Starbucks brought out their "Holiday" pastries and beverages last week I was pretty sad. I've been craving one of their pumpkin scones for awhile. Normally I would just get one with my coffee and then be good for the rest of the season. Well...not this year. So when I ran into this "Fat-free Pumpkin Cookie recipe" I got pretty excited. Well not too excited but thrilled enough to give them a try. And they satisfied my sweet tooth for the moment. If you are feeling healthy and generally just want to try something different this might be right up your alley...if not just head over to Starbucks and pick up a 400+ calorie pumpkin scone...and have a bite for me.


I found the recipe here on FatFree Vegan Kitchen. And I took her recommendation to exchange half the tofu with margarine to make the cookies a little lighter...and tastier.

I want to try her Yellow Split-Pea Soup with Sweet Potatoes and Kale next.

Pumpkin Carrot Cream Cheese Swirl Bars

I snuck up on my husband eating one of these and he said sarcastically, "Too bad these didn't turn out very good." :) It's a good thing we are sharing them with friends tonight or we might eat the whole pan - just the two of us.

Pumpkin Carrot Swirl Bars

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg whites
1 can (15 oz.) LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 cup finely shredded carrot
Cream Cheese Topping (recipe follows)


Directions:
PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan.

COMBINE flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder and baking soda in small bowl. Beat granulated sugar, butter and brown sugar in large mixer bowl until crumbly. Add eggs, egg whites, pumpkin and carrot; beat until well blended. Add flour mixture; mix well. Spread into prepared pan. Drop teaspoonfuls of Cream Cheese Topping over batter; swirl mixture with spoon.

BAKE for 25 to 30 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

FOR CREAM CHEESE TOPPING:
COMBINE 4 ounces softened light cream cheese (Neufchâtel), 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon milk in small mixer bowl until thoroughly blended.

I doubled the cream cheese topping. Why not!?!


I got the recipe at verybestbaking.com

Australian Roast Veggies - with a Bonnie Twist

We loooooooooooove veggies done this way !
Super easy. I had some ham steaks in the freezer. Pulled them out to serve with the veggies.
Just heated them up. Made Mom's Pineapple Sauce.

For the veggies :

Cut up whatever you like and lay on baking paper lined cookie sheets ( or baking dish ) I usually do one tray of potatoes and one tray of the rest, since the potatoes take longer to cook. What have I got there ? Potatoes. I slice them about 1/2 an inch thick. Pumpkin. (you could do sweet potato) I do largish pieces. Carrots. I half them and then cut the halves lengthways so thy are flat on one side. Onions, peel and chop in half. Garlic, cut off end but leave in skin. They just pop out once cooked ! ( but if you cook them without the skins, they will burn ) I lay them flat ... not overlapping at all. I rub with olive oil and cook in a hot (180/200 C) oven. I usually do the potatoes for about 15/20 minutes before putting the other veggies in. Then do the rest til they are done. (maybe another 20 minutes but you'll have to play, depending on your oven !!)

The greens. This time I just threw garlic, onion, asparagus into some sesame oil, added bok choy at the end with some soy sauce. Once wilted, I added a bit of balsamic vinegar and pine nuts. Delicious !

Some times I serve the veggies with a bit of Allioli ...

Allioli (from all i oli, Catalan for "garlic and oil", Spanish Ajoaceite from "ajo y aceite" or Alioli) is a typical paste of the Balearic Islands, Valencia and Catalonia. It is made by pounding garlic with olive oil and salt in a mortar until a smooth texture is obtained. It differs from Provençal aioli in that it does not use eggs, although normally a small quantity of egg is added to allow a faster and easier mixing. The mix of eggs, oil and garlic is pejoratively referred as mayonnaise with garlic.

An easy way to make it ... a big blob of mayo with a spoon full of crushed garlic ( I use the stuff in the jar for this quick easy Allioli !! )

And now ... I must go start the day. It's Friday ... grocery shopping day ! Need to get my menu planned and my list made !!

Dahl - Spinach and Pumpkin

I loved this !! So easy. I got it out of a free magazine that I picked up at the health food store but I ( as I do ) changed it a bit while I was cooking it !

• olive oil ( for sauteeing)
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 2 (or more !) cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp fresh ginger - grated
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 400g pumpkin ( butternut squash in the states ?) - bite sized pieces
• 3/4 cup red lentils
• 250g ( box) frozen spinach
• 1/4 cup fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped
• 3 cups water
• pinch sea salt

1. Saute onion, garlic, ginger and spices in oil 5 minutes - stir constantly. Add pumpkin, lentis, spinach, coriander, salt and water. Cover and simmer 1 hour. I set my timer and came back to stir it every 10 minutes. ( was necessary ! )
2. Serve with rice and poppadams. ( how do you spell that !!?? )