Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Ahhhh Fall.

I am not a Halloween fan, never have been. I do, however, really get into Fall. I love the colors, the smells and cooking (and eating) Thanksgiving dinner. The tradition which rings in the Fall cooking season for me is roasting pumpkin seeds.

You either like them, or you don't. I am the latter, obviously. I have a friend who says that pumpkin seeds "taste like a farm smells" but I don't agree.

I think the key to perfectly roasted pumpkin seeds is slow roasting until they are golden brown but not burnt and just a bit of seasoning. Sometimes, a recipe will have a ridiculously short roasting time and it makes the seeds chewy and nasty. To get them just to crispy without burning them, I roast them on 275 for about 2 hours (give or take). Sometimes, the seeds will start making a popping sound in the oven and when that happens I will take them out.



Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Seeds from a pumpkin with as much of the guts removed as possible
2 Tablespoons olive oil - just enough to coat all of them...depending on how many
1-2 Teaspoons seasoning - I use the one we make at home (it's on the blog somewhere..search for it) or really any kind from salt and pepper to season salt

Preheat oven to 275
Dry off seeds as best as you can. Add oil and mix to coat. Spread out onto a rimmed baking sheet and sprinkle with seasoning.
Bake stirring every 30 minutes or so until golden brown.
Cool on wire rack covered in paper towels to get any extra oil.

Tub of Pasta

I suppose there is a fine line between a "hoarder" and one who simply "stocks up" on things. I have seen hoarders on the Oprah show. I am not that, however, I do like to have extra items on hand that I use all the time. That part of my personality comes from a childhood in which I didn't know when I would get another..whatever it was, and from the fear that I will need something and have used the last one. I am sure it is a disorder either way you look at it. I just find something very comforting in opening up a cupboard and seeing it full of toilet paper from Costco.

Back to it.

One of the things I choose to stock up on is pasta. Seriously, can you ever have too much? I guess we will get to that in a minute, but it is a good pantry staple item to have on hand for last minute dinners or whatever. Before I got married I had a pretty well stocked pantry which I was quite proud of. Some would say that it looked like my very own mini-mart...but it made me feel secure (note sentence above on childhood).

Flash forward to getting married and moving in with Chris. Our first house was this rambler which he was remodeling and planning to sell. Not a permanent address by any means. The kitchen really didn't have much in the way of storage so we did a make shift pantry slash storage area in the garage. Oh, two things about the garage 1. There was veeeeery little light out there 2. There were critters at one time enjoying my supply of pantry items so I had to put everything into Rubbermaid totes (important fact to the story).

Rubbermaid totes are opaque. Who knows what is in there? Frankly, if I can't see it I must not have any, right? Welllllllllll.

Flash forward again to the kitchen being complete and Chris, being the over organizer that he is wants to organize my mess of the garage pantry into the kitchen so I can find my stuff. I just hate doing that kind of crap. I want it organized but I want someone else to do the organizing. So we are going along and the very last thing was this big Rubbermaid tote buried under piles of pots, pans and whatever. I had already gotten the lecture about having too much of certain things. In my defense, I had such a hard time finding things that I assumed I needed more.... That is the set-up.

We get to this tote and he goes "what's in here?". I casually say "I don't know" and really, by that time my tone was more like "who cares". I was over it. Over digging through crap in the garage and carrying it into the house, over being lectured about over purchasing pantry items, just over it. "How many (insert pantry item here) do we really need Jannell?". Well gee, obviously I felt we needed 5 cans of each since that's how many we have! I ran out of responses after awhile so I just stopped responding. Back to the tote. He opens the lid and no lie, there must have been 20 bags and boxes of pasta in there! It was absolutely stuffed full. I started laughing so hard I was snorting because no sooner had the last lecture ended we opened this tote and it was so full of pasta it was comical. Comical to me anyway.

I didn't have to buy pasta for a long time and to this day, I get reminded of it.

Cook-A-Thon

I had a cooking marathon yesterday that I wanted to share. Picture this: Husband gone on an overnight bachelor party to Levenworth...no kids..bad weather..what does a food nut job such as myself do? Hello? Cook of course!

I planned ahead and did all the shopping on Friday so I wouldn't have to leave the house Saturday unless I absolutely had to, or wanted to..I guess.

On the agenda for today:
1. Potato Lefse
2. Chicken Stock
3. Roasted Vegetable Soup
4. Crepes
5. Tomato and Goat Cheese Tart
6. Olive poppers
7. Moroccan Chicken (for the weeks lunches)
8. French Chicken in a Pot
9. Wild mushroom and Gorgonzola turnovers

I am pretty pleased with myself for making everything BUT #9. I don't usually cook with wild mushrooms but, I wanted to try this Portabello app that my fellow food nut job, Laurie, told me about but I had some dried wild mushrooms and thought I could make the substitution. That would be a negative. News flash - wild mushrooms stink! They smell so gross that once I re hydrated them...the smell was so nauseating that I tossed them and omitted the entire #9 item. I still have the Gorgonzola cheese so next week, a portabello mushroom I will buy and make the recipe correctly. Incidentally it took awhile for the residual funkiness to leave the kitchen. Blech.

Let the cooking begin!

First on the agenda was to boil the potatoes and prep them for the lefse and then to reuse the same stock pot for the chicken stock. The chicken stock rendered the stock pot useless for the next 4 hours (simmering time) so I needed to make sure I didn't need it for anything else - drama! I have other stock pots but all the others are about 5 qts and this one is bigger so when you need it, you need it. Now, I have not made potato lefse before. My husband is from Norwegian decent and it is something he grew up eating. My neighbor, Amy, is also of the same and was kind enough to teach me AND bring over her mom's lefse making tools! Thank you Mary! And a big thanks to Chris' mom, Carol for the recipe.

So by the time Amy came over, I had the potatoes boiled, riced (in my new potato ricer) whipped with cream, butter and salt...and totally cool in the refrigerator. Chicken stock was simmering away on the stove and the house smelled delicious!



If you haven't had the pleasure of potato lefse..basically it is a potato dough rolled very thin with a special rolling pin with a teeny tiny waffle pattern on it and then cooked on a lefse grill at the temp of 500 degrees. It only takes a couple of minutes and you eat them warm with either butter and cinnamon sugar or I guess whatever you want. They are pretty tasty!


While the chicken stock simmered away, I roasted off the veg for the roasted vegetable soup. This is one of my favorite soups because it is easy, healthy and very comforting. Perfect for Fall, but truthfully you could make it anytime. You roast off carrots, potatoes, leeks, tomatoes and zucchini in the oven. You first toss them in a bit of olive oil (I refuse to call it EVOO) salt and pepper and that is it for seasoning. The flavor that roasting the veg brings out lends all the complexity to the soup which is pretty cool. It is the kind of soup that would be really good for a farm to table meal. Then, it is a matter of pureeing it with stock (either veg, or chicken) and that's about it. So yummy. It reheats very well and although I haven't ever frozen it, I imagine it would work ok.



Crepes. Not as easy as I thought. The batter was easy enough, and I know how to make pancakes so aren't these just a thinner version? They are not.

I made the batter in the blender and chilled it. Now, it took both Amy and I to figure out the best way to flip these things while not burning our fingers (which we both did do). My thought is that having a crepe pan would come in handy as I did not. These were ok, but looked too much like a thin omelet for my taste. And I thought they were just "meh".

The tomato and goat cheese tart was, I think, one of the highlights of the day. So simple it seemed too good to be true almost... sauteed onions, garlic, thyme and dry white wine that had been cooked down were put onto puff pastry and topped with goat cheese, tomato and basil. They tasted fresh and light. The only tricky part is making sure your puff pastry has thawed. These were one of the last things I made (around 7pm) because my puff pastry took forever to unthaw. Note to self - put it in the refrigerator the night before.


Oh yah, olive poppers. I got this recipe from "Sonjas Kitchen" which is another blog I follow. They are green olives with a dough of cheese, flour and butter wrapped around them. You bake them and they come out crispy on the outside and salty and warm on the inside. Yum, yum, yummy!

French chicken in a pot is essentially baked chicken. I made this because I had to buy 2 whole chickens (Costco of course) and figured that I could pick the meat off to try another kind of puff pastry thingie today. The Moroccan chicken I am making today to be eaten during the week.

It was a fun day of cooking, chatting and eating. What's not to like?

How NOT to bake a big cookie

So here's what just, and I mean just happened:

I am baking a big cookie for the family dessert. Don't even get me started, I know! So this cookie that I have made before (really I have) is baking and I did everything I thought I was supposed to. Did I use my "big cookie directions"? - well, what do YOU think? Direct your attention back to the title of this blog for your answer. Again, the lesson I can't seem to learn would be to always - always use your directions. Especially for baking (stupid precise cooking method).

So the cookie looks done. Key word - looks. I let it cool, and cut into it. Now, I have a "big cookie pan" for said cookie. I can't actually tell if it's done or not but hey - letting it cool on the wire rack will allow it to cook a bit more right? Kind of like letting meat rest before you cut into it. Never compare cooking to baking.

I cut into the cookie while the family gathers around because after all, who doesn't get excited about a big cookie for dessert? I cut the first slice only to notice that it is raw in the middle.

Raw!

Back into the oven it goes. Oh, by the way...never put it back in the oven. Baking is a one shot deal. There is no "cook it for a bit more" with baking. Therefore no room for error. And I errored huge.

After more minutes in the oven I pull it out and again, family gathers around (like cats hearing you open the cat food). "Is it done?" a voice calls from my crowd....I check and - no. It is not done. It is, however, burnt. Well that's just great.

The crowd scatters.

Luckily, my big cookie pan doesn't hold a full recipe of cookie dough and I have the extra in the refrigerator. I spoon several actual normal sized blobs of dough onto a cookie sheet and bake them off. They are cooling right now.

The moral of the story is two fold.
1. Always use directions when baking
2. If you want cookies, just make cookies. Don't try to cheat with a big cookie or the result is a disappointed family. I should know.

Where is the big cookie now? Where ruined food belongs....the garbage disposal of course, where it can mock me no more.

Cheesy Comfort

Does macaroni and cheese say "I love you" or what? But you know what really says it? Homemade macaroni and cheese, that's what. It's not as hard as you may think either.

Seriously, I could make this each and every night and I wouldn't get any complaints. I would be the one complaining that they should want to try something new! Making the same dinners over and over gets old......it doesn't translate to eating the same old dinners over and over I guess.

This is about the easiest recipes known to man! I got it from my "mom" Karla :) I learned how to make this particular recipe a few years back and continue to make it once a week to this day. This night, in fact. I am to the point where I don't need a recipe to make it. It has a really good consistency and is also good for leftovers. I would advise baking this in the deepest dish you have to keep it as moist as possible. The secret ingredient is the yellow mustard - don't omit it, just trust me.

I love dinners that don't have any drama attached to them. There are enough of those already in my life.


Macaroni and Cheese

3 ½ cups elbow macaroni (or 1 small bag or box of Mission brand or whatever. It should be about 1lb)
1 squirt yellow mustard
5 cups grated cheese (I use bagged Colby Jack and Cheddar from Costco)
3 ½ cups milk
4 tbl butter
4 tbl flour

Cook macaroni in boiling water, uncovered until al dente (you don’t want it all the way cooked). Drain

In separate pot…Melt butter in a saucepan over med low heat. Whisk in flour. Cook the flour for a minute or two. Whisk in milk and yellow mustard. Cook over moderate heat stirring constantly until sauce is thick and smooth (coats the back of a wooden spoon).

Remove sauce from heat. Add cheese and stir until melted and blended. Combine sauce with cooked macaroni. Pour into a baking dish and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.

Meat and Potatoes

I ended up doing two things this last weekend; trying a new recipe and making scalloped potatoes. I usually try to experiment with new recipes a couple of times a month and it was a perfect weekend for it!

Chris and I don't eat red meat anymore (gasp) so I try to keep chicken, turkey and pork fresh with new recipes. Not as easy as I thought it would be. I miss steak, but I don't miss feeling sick afterward. I haven't made a pork roast in forever so I was on the lookout at Costco during my weekly pilgrimage. I ran across these smaller pork roasts (can't remember the cut) but they are even leaner than a regular pork roast. Sold!

Now, what to do with it?

I have this roasted pork roast recipe with a soyish sweet glaze recipe that has been waiting in the wings for some time. It seemed pretty easy just as long as you make sure that you don't overcook the pork or you will have a large dry hockey puck on your table. Having an instant read thermometer comes in SO handy in these circumstances. I think what makes this recipe so good is the combination of rub before you roast it and then the glaze at the end. A perfect mix of sweet and savory.

I don't think I have ever ranted about my experience with scalloped potatoes - or any kind of augratin potato dish from scratch. I have a really, really bad memory. Those of you who know me are silently agreeing right now (I see you). The common thread in my experience with those kinds of potato dishes is that the recipe outright fibs regarding how long it actually takes to bake (and be done). I seriously cannot count the times dinner has been held up waiting on a crunchy potato dish! I am getting all worked up just thinking about it. Last night, while the pork was getting cold waiting on said potato dish I even texted another crazy food friend of mine, Laurie, with the phrase "when will I learn?". Seriously, when? Obviously..not yet. Maybe, not ever.

Luckily for me, it was just Chris and I. No guests this time. Not like the infamous "crock pot scalloped potato" incident of 2008. A recipe which cooked for 10 hours in a crock pot only to STILL be crunchy! It may have even been last Christmas. I couldn't say for sure as I have tried to block it from my memory. It was a serious baked ziti moment where I completely lost it - in front of the whole family. The main course is just about done when I finally decide (why did I wait?) to check on the crock pot scalloped potatoes. A new dish, mind you. I know, don't even get me started. I stick a knife in the top layer of the potatoes and they aren't just "not done" they are SO not done....that the potato slice actually won't come off the knife and I am left standing over the crock pot holding a knife with a raw potato on it. So of course, I am all "(insert loud gasp)" the potatoes are RAW! I think Chris and his dad were within earshot and Chris just steps away from the kitchen slowly while his dad is attempting to make me feel better. His attempts, while chivalrous, are well know in my household to have absolutely no affect whatsoever on me. I am sure you can just imagine the rest of the evening from there......Let's just say that a little part of me died that day. Joking! (but not really).

Back to the latest dish to hold up dinner. This recipe was the least offensive of all the scalloped potato dishes that I have made. I even bought a little hand held cheap slicer to cut the potatoes with. I have always wanted a french mandolin, but I have a hard time coughing up the money for something I wouldn't use very often. $20.00 works for me! I think that having such a gadget is really key to the success of this dish, although, there is a fine line between mashed potatoes and scalloped. That difference lies in the thickness of your potatoes. Too thin, mashed - too thick - crunchy.

As it turned out, the dish really only needed 30 or so more minutes to cook past what the recipe stated and since the pork was actually done earlier than I had planned...it was cold by the time the potatoes were done. Both were very good and definitely are keepers. Maybe next time, I will make the potatoes the day ahead. If any of you are wondering, the brown on top of the potatoes is this yummy crust made by adding Parmesan toward the end of cooking. Mmmmmmmm.

Herb Roasted Pork
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon rubbed sage
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 clove garlic, crushed - I used 4 just because I love garlic.
1 (5 pound) boneless pork loin
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup vinegar - I used white.
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce

What to do:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. In a bowl, combine sage, salt, pepper, and garlic. Rub thoroughly all over pork. Place pork in an uncovered roasting pan on the middle oven rack.
3. Bake in the preheated oven approximately 3 hours, or until the internal temperature reaches at least 150 degrees F, depending upon your desired doneness.
4. Meanwhile, place sugar, cornstarch, vinegar, water, and soy sauce in a small saucepan. Heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture begins to bubble and thicken slightly. Brush roast with glaze 3 or 4 times during the last 1/2 hour of cooking. Pour remaining glaze over roast, and serve.

Scalloped Potatoes
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1 pint heavy cream
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced - I just used a garlic press
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese - I used Cheddar Jack from Costco
4 slices provolone cheese - I used a bit of shredded mozzarella I had
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

What to do:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease a 1 1/2 quart or larger
casserole dish with butter or nonstick spray.
2. Layer half of the potato slices in the bottom of the casserole dish. Dot with half of the butter cut or pinched into small pieces. Arrange half of the garlic slices over the potatoes, then pour half of the heavy cream over. Sprinkle one cup of Cheddar cheese over the layer, and season with salt and pepper. Repeat layering of potatoes, garlic, cream and Cheddar cheese, then top with the slices of provolone cheese. Season again with salt and pepper.
3. Bake for 1/2 hour in the preheated oven, then sprinkle the Parmesan over the top. This will create a semi-hard cheese crust. Continue baking uncovered for another 30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender when tested with a fork....which, in my case was a total of 1.5 hours, so plan accordingly.

Again, she attempts to bake.

Gougeres. Um, what?

Translation: Cheese puffs. You fill em, you know? They can be savory or sweet (cream puffs from Costco anyone?).

These were for appetizers. Now, I can not state emphatically enough how much I hate to bake. However, I do love to eat, so sometimes you gotta do..what you gotta do.

Gougeres are a egg dough of sorts. I don't think that you can make these without a food processor but what do I know about baking? You start by cooking on the stove top - butter, milk, salt and flour. Once it comes to temp you transfer that into a food processor and while it's running add an egg mixture. I just realized that there is no leavening agent in these so it is strictly the cooking process and extra egg whites in the recipe that makes them puff up. Once that is done you add cheese and either pipe them onto a parchment lined baking sheet or drop them out by teaspoonful. Can you take a guess which one I did?

You bake them and when they are done and golden brown (not very golden brown as mine were) you cool them and fill with whatever you want. I made a chicken/artichoke filling of sorts and they were too big to be bite sized so they ended up more like finger sandwiches. They were good, not great.

And no, your computer is not having technical difficulties...you don't/won't see a picture of the finished product. For obvious reasons.

Would I make them again? Yes. And if they turn out, you may even see a picture.

Ingredients:
2 large eggs , plus 1 large egg white
6 tablespoons water
5 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 10 pieces
2 tablespoons whole milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (2 1/2 ounces), sifted (or just lightly scooped into your measuring cup as I don't own a sifter)
3 ounces Gruyère, Emmentaler, or Swiss cheese , shredded (about 1 cup) - I used sharp cheddar that I had on hand.
Pinch cayenne pepper

Directions:
1. Beat eggs and egg white in measuring cup or small bowl; you should have 1/2 cup (discard excess). Set aside.

2. Bring water, butter, milk, and salt to boil in small saucepan over medium heat, stirring once or twice. When mixture reaches full boil (butter should be fully melted), immediately remove saucepan from heat and stir in flour with heatproof spatula or wooden spoon until combined and mixture clears sides of pan. Return saucepan to low heat and cook, stirring constantly, using a smearing motion, until mixture is slightly shiny, looks like wet sand, and tiny beads of fat appear on bottom of saucepan, about 3 minutes (paste should register 175 to 180 degrees on instant-read thermometer).

3. Immediately transfer mixture to food processor and process with feed tube open for 10 seconds to cool slightly. With machine running, gradually add eggs in a steady stream. When all eggs have been added, scrape down sides of bowl and add
Gruyère and cayenne to food processor. Process for 30 seconds until a smooth, thick, sticky paste forms. (If not using immediately, transfer paste to medium bowl, press sheet of plastic wrap that has been sprayed lightly with nonstick cooking spray directly on surface, and store at room temperature for up to 2 hours.)

4. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray large baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray and line with parchment paper; set sheet aside.

5. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto lined baking sheet into evenly spaced 1-2 inch mounds. Use back of teaspoon dipped in bowl of cold water to even out shape and smooth surface of mounds.

6. Bake 15 minutes (do not open oven door), then reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees and continue to bake until golden brown and fairly firm, 12 to 14 minutes longer. Remove baking sheet from oven. With paring knife, cut 3/4-inch slit into side of each puff to release steam; return to oven, turn off oven, and prop oven door open with handle of wooden spoon. After 10 minutes, transfer puffs to wire rack. Serve warm. (Gougères can be cooled completely and stored at room temperature for up to 24 hours or frozen in zipper- lock plastic bag for up to 1 month. Before serving, crisp room-temperature gougères in 300-degree oven for 5 to 8 minutes; crisp frozen gougères for 8 to 10 minutes.)

Artichoke/Chicken Mixture

1/4 to 1/2 Finely diced cooked chicken. I used rotisserie.
1/2 tsp finely chopped green onion
3 marinated artichoke hearts finely chopped.
2 tablespoons cream cheese
1 tsp mayo
salt and pepper to taste.

Mix and microwave just until heated through. Mixture goes into finished cheese puffs.