Golden Harvest Pumpkin Pie

Happy Thanksgiving. Many are walking up early this morning to put turkeys in the oven and put the last touches on a plentiful meal. We have much to be thankful for.
Today I will not be preparing a family dinner, but instead helping with a community dinner, that will be a later post. This morning I share a pumpkin pie recipe that a good friends of mine brought to a church dinner earlier this year and I made for our church's Fall Festival. It is similar to the traditional recipes I've used in the past but the nut topping adds extra taste and an attractive look.

Festive Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

¾ cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 ¼ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 ½ cups canned pumpkin

1 ⅓ cups evaporated milk

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell

Nut Topping:

½ cup nuts, chopped

1 tablespoon margarine

2 tablespoons brown sugar

 1 ½ teaspoons grated orange rind

Directions:

Mix brown sugar, flour, salt, and pumpkin pie spies. Stir in canned pumpkin, evaporated milk, and egg. Stir until smooth. Pour into pastry lined pan. Bake in an oven preheated to 375 degrees for 45 minutes, remove pie from oven and spoon topping mixture around edge. Bake 15 minutes longer.

Cranberry Ginger Pear Crisp

Fall flavors include both cranberries and pears. Pears are an often overlooked fruits, many times overshadowed by their cousin, the apple. However, in history pears are found to be a common theme and in ancient times were considered a better fruit than the apple. Pears were introduced to the United States in 1629.
Perhaps one of the difficulties of pears is that there seems to be one good day for a fresh pear. If you don't eat it on that day you've missed it. In anticipation of this recipe and a couple of others, I purchased several pears. And I missed the day for some of them, so they all ended up in this dessert. So I used about 6 pears instead of the 3-4 called for, but I think it made the crisp even better.
I also liked this recipe because it uses Cranberry Pear White Balsamic Vinegar. I like shopping for flavored vinegars and oils but sometimes I'm unsure when and where to use them. Olio's Market in Wichita now has an east location, so I'll be buying more frequently, good to have recipes for ideas of using these ingredients. I found the recipe in the Wichita Eagle's Holiday Recipe section.

Cranberry Ginger Pear Crisp

Ingredients:
1 1/2 - 2 pounds Bosc pears (about 3-4) (or more!)
1/4 cup sugar
Grated ginger (use a piece approximately .7 oz)
2 tablespoons Cranberry Pear White Balsamic Vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (I like Vietnamese Cinnamon)
topping:
3/4 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 pound cold unsalted butter, diced

Directions:
          Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8x8" glass baking dish or a 9-inch pie pan. Peel, core and cut the pears into thin slices. In a large bowl, combine the pears with sugar, ginger, Cranberry Pear White Balsamic Vinegar and cinnamon. Combine well and allow to sit while you make the topping.
         For the topping: Combine the flour, sugars, salt, oatmeal and butter in a bowl. With an electric mixer or with a pastry blender, cut in or mix until crumbly. Don't over mix. The clumps of butter should be about pea-sized.
        Layer the pears in the baking dish, making sure you include all the juice from the bottom of the bowl. Spread the topping mixture evenly over the pears. Place in the oven for 50 minutes or until the top is golden brown and slightly bubbly. It is best served warm, and maybe with a scoop of ice cream.

Favorite Flavors - Chocolate & Peanut Butter

It's been a month of pumpkin tasting, and I have lots of recipes to post and will try to get to those soon. But yesterday was a day to take a break from pumpkin flavors and stir up a recipe for a no-bake cookie bar that combines two favorite flavors - chocolate and peanut butter. That it also contains our favorite cereal is a bonus.

Honey Nut Cheerios Peanut Bars

Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar
1 cup light kart syrup
1 cup peanut butter
6 cups honey nut cheerios
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional but very good!)

Directions:
Butter (or spray with non-stick coating) a 9x13 dish and set aside.
In a large pan melt sugar and kart syrup over medium heat until it barely comes to a boil Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter. Add cheerios, 2 cups at a time and stir until fully coated.
Press cheerios into the 9x13 pan.
Optional: melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips in the microwave for 1 minute and drizzle chocolate (or smear, mine didn't 'drizzle' well) over top of the bars.
Store in an air-tight container for 3 -5 days - if they last that long!

Pumpkin Blossoms

Fall is not the usual time for blooming flowers, but mums are always a pleasant last bit of color before winter mutes the landscape. This year I splurged (with a gift certificate to help) on a large mum from a big garden center in the city. It is called Pumpkin Pie and is as beautiful as the clerk promised.
While we're enjoying the pumpkin color at the back deck, a recipe of Pumpkin Blossom cookies has also been a favorite. They are made similar to Peanut Blossoms that are popular at Christmas time with peanut butter cookie and chocolate candy kiss in the center. These are made in a mini-muffin pan and you can use a chocolate candy kiss or a pumpkin flavored one. I think the pumpkin flavor really accents the cookie/muffin pumpkin flavor.

Pumpkin Blossoms                                                         

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1 large egg

pinch of salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

24 Hershey Kisses, any variety, unwrapped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a mini muffin pan with baking spray. Set aside. 

2. In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar, butter, pumpkin, egg and salt until combined. Add flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Blend completely for 1-2 minutes. 

3. Using a small scoop, fill muffin pan until all the batter is used. Evenly distributing the batter. (the recipe makes 24, be sure to fill the muffin cups well.

4. Bake for about 18 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a Hershey Kiss in the center of each blossom.

5. Allow to cool in pan about 10 minutes. Remove from pan and enjoy. Stop in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days. (if they last that long!)

Batter mixed and ready for mini muffin pans.

Use a full scoop of the small scooper

Add the candy kisses while still warm

Pizza Day

Everything Pumpkin

I love Pumpkin Spice season! October and November bring lots of reasons and recipes for making pumpkin flavored foods. This was a good year for growing pumpkins, the largest pumpkin at the Kansas State Fair weighed in at 1034 pounds, setting a new state record. I prefer to get my pumpkin for cooking in a can at the grocery store and appreciate the efforts of those who helped get it there. In fact, with the seasonal predictions of a 'shortage' of canned pumpkin, I'm picking up a couple of cans each time I buy groceries.
The fresh pumpkin that I do buy are for decorative purposes. While you can cook your own pumpkin puree for recipes, I find it much more simple and not too expensive to buy the canned. We may wonder why this gourd that most of us won't cook, which came from humble beginnings when it was the food grown by poor farmers in desperate times, became so popular. It may be attributed to it's image of American heritage and representation of a more idyllic rural life. It is one of the few foods most associated with our American forefathers. And, after all, didn't the pilgrims and Indians have pumpkins at the first Thanksgiving?

Kansas State Fair winner - 1034 pounds!

The variety for pumpkin spice flavored foods grows each fall, with what has been called "pumpkin creep", as the foods are introduced earlier each year. One source said that 70% of pumpkin sort of flavors are purchased September - November. (That is the season most of the 'limited edition' foods are sold). Since Starbucks introduced the pumpkin spice latte 10 years ago and begin the pumpkin panic, this has truly became the flavor of fall.
I enjoy the variety of pumpkin flavored food products this time of year and admit to trying many of them. Coffee and coffee creamer are still my favorites, closely followed by baking mixes, cream cheese spread, and of course the many home baked recipes of pies and quick breads. But, I'm not so sure of, and not so anxious to try, some such as potato chips.

My favorite muffin recipe was even transformed by pumpkin. The original recipe is with bananas, but using the same amount of canned pumpkin make a tasty fall treat. I first posted this in a blog of May 20, 2012 and it has remained one of my favorite recipes, so quick to prepare and bake 12 muffins for a quick family or friend mid-morning treat.

WHOLE GRAIN PUMPKIN MUFFINS

 1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup quick-cooking oatmeal

½ cup packed brown sugar

⅓ cup chopped pecans

2 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg

½ cup milk

1 cup pumpkin puree

¼ cup canola oil

        Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly spray muffin tin with nonstick spray. Mix flour, oatmeal, sugar, nuts and baking powder in large bowl.

      In another bowl, beat egg and mix in mashed banana, milk and canola oil. Stir in to dry ingredients and mix lightly. Bake 18-20 minutes or until muffin tops are browned. Loosen muffins and serve warm.

Makes 12 medium muffins.

Rhubarb Oat Dessert

I really like the boxes of frozen fruit our church women's group orders each year, but sometimes 14 pounds of fruit is a lot to use. So I order my favorites each year - strawberries and rhubarb, and split some boxes with a friend - blueberries and pie cherries. Strawberry and rhubarb are popular dessert flavors with my family so I'm always looking for new recipes.
Here's the newest one I've tried. It is going to be a favorite also.

Rhubarb Oat Dessert

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ cups old-fashioned oats

1 cup packed brown sugar

½ cup chopped pecans

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup cold butter or margarine

3 cups sliced fresh or frozen rhubarb

1 ¼ cups cold water, divided

1 ½ cups sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon red food coloring, optional

Ice cream, optional (although my family will say ice cream is never optional!)

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, nuts, baking soda and salt. Cut in butter until crumbly. Press 3 cups into an ungreased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish; set aside.

Soak rhubarb in 1 cup cold water for 3 minutes; drain. In a sauce pan, combine sugar and cornstarch. Stir in remaining cold water (1/4 cup) until smooth. Add rhubarb, vanilla (and food coloring if desired).  Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 5 minutes or until thickened. Spoon over crust; sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture. Bake at 350° for 23-25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with ice cream if desired.

12 servings.

My tips: I usually 'short' the sugar measurement a little bit to reduce some calories. It is for flavoring in this recipe and a matter of taste. 

I used half margarine and half butter. 

I chopped the rhubarb slices into smaller pieces.

As I mixed the fruit ingredients together, the
rhubarb slices seemed to be too large

A quick spin in the food processor chopped them smaller
and I added a cup of frozen blueberries that happened
to be on the counter! 

Ready for the topping

Topped and ready for the oven. How did that
baby bottle cap get in the photo??

Baked Apple Streusel

Some recipes you save just because they came from a friend. Several years ago our P.E.O. chapter did a recipe collection as a fund raiser and I recently found a recipe from that I'd saved but hadn't tried. It is simple, used common ingredients, and turned out special - just like the person who's name is at the bottom of the card.
I took this Apple Streusel to a community club meeting and only one serving was left to bring home. It was simple enough to prepare the morning before another meeting and stayed warm in an insulated carrier until lunch time. Definitely a recipe good for fall flavors.

Baked Apple Streusel

4 medium apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced

1/2 cup brown sugar 

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 cup uncooked old fashion oats

3 tbsp margarine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together apples, 1/4 cup brown sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice; pour into a 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Cut flour, oatmeal, remaining brown sugar and margarine together with a pastry blender or fork in a medium bowl, sprinkle over the apple mixture. Bake until apples are tender and top is browned, about 45 minutes. 

All that I brought home - one serving! 

Kansas Fresh

The tastes of summer - beef from our Flint Hills pastures and veggies grown in Greenwood County. Although our garden didn't fill our plates, a local truck farmer who brings produce to town weekly supplied us with corn, tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe and green beens today. It is yummy, I hope their gardening harvest continues for a few more weeks.




The beef burgers are a new recipe. Shared by a friend who brought a slow cooker of smaller beef burgers to last month's quilt retreat. They made a great addition to the covered dish selection and after  time in the slow cooker were very tender. They can be prepared and baked in the oven as the recipe directs or cooked until just done (remember beef medium should be 160 degrees), with or without the sauce, and then put in a slow cooker with the sauce.

Barbecue Hamburgers

1 small can (5 oz) evaporated milk
3 pounds ground beef
2 cups old fashion oatmeal
1 cup chopped onions
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Mix ingredients and shape into patties. Large patties work well for family meals, or smaller ones for a covered dish dinner. Put on cookie sheet with sides (like a jelly roll pan) and bake at 350 degrees about 45 minutes. Check the temp with a meat thermometer to be sure of doneness. It is important to know the temperature readings for doneness:  medium done is160 degrees, well done is 170 degrees - and probably too long! It is not recommended to cook ground beef to rare (140 degrees) or medium rare (145 degrees) - save that for steaks.

Sauce:
2 cups ketchup
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoon liquid smoke
1/2 cup chopped onion
Mix together and pour over patties. I think you would want a good amount of sauce for simmering these in the slow cooker. For baking them in the oven, I just spooned some sauce on each patty and had lots of sauce left over. I also left out the chopped onion and reduced the brown sugar. 

Ready for the oven

Food Celebrates Friendships

Sometimes food shared with friends doesn't have recipes to share. Sometimes it doesn't even come from a home kitchen! But the celebrations can be just as special. Last week I enjoyed two special gatherings of friends and the food was delicious (purchased from local vendors and delis) and beautifully presented. These will be events to remember with the special feelings of friendship that was shared with the foods.


The first event celebrated a friend moving to another city after 25 years of teaching and being a part of the community. We are sorry to see her leave, but wish her well in her move to live closer to her daughter. The end of summer reception echoed the colors of summer with bright pink, lime green, and purple. The beautifully presented rack of cupcakes were from a local young chef who returned to her home community after pastry school. Cinnamon rolls were from the local restaurant that is known for the tasty treats. And a bountiful fruit platter was the center of the table. Candies and napkins in the summer colors accented the colorful refreshments. About 40 women, many of them teachers or fellow members of local civic organizations, gathered to visit and enjoy the morning.

The next day I traveled to Winfield for the annual gathering of retired Extension Family and Consumer Sciences agents. Only 15 of us were able to make the day, so the hostess chose to have us at her home instead of a church basement. Our treat indeed! Her home is decorated like Country Sampler with delights in every space. She used patrotic  colors to highlight the red and blue Fiesta dinnerware. And, the food was good - chicken salad from the deli of the grocery and frozen pies from the grocery also that would rival any homemade! She completed the menu with relishes, chips and jello salads. We had a great day visiting and planning for next year's trip to Salina for our gathering.

Fiesta dinner ware always looks festive! 

Friends visit and catch up

               I've been friends with each of these special
               ladies for over 40 years!

When Quilters Cook

When women who like to share recipes and ideas gathered last weekend for Quilt Retreat, it was three days of fun, food, and fabric. Quilters who frequent Needle in a Haystack came from all over Kansas and at least 3 other states to sew and share. Everyone brought dishes of food and projects and filled the lodge with the hum of sewing machines and laughter.

Here are a couple of the recipes from that weekend.

Cherry Clafoutis

A Clafoutis is an easy French dessert that can use fresh summer cherries and be served warm or cool, or even for breakfast. Traditionally the pits are left in the cherries to release an almond flavor, but I think this version with pitted cherries and almond extract is a better choice. Other fruits besides cherries can be used, and the dish is called a flagrance. Clafoutis means 'to fill' (implied: "the batter with cherries")

We had fun at Quilt Retreat saying the name - the correct pronunciation is ka-foo-TEE. 

 Ingredients:

20 oz. fresh sweet cherries, stemmed and pitted

2 tablespoons butter, melted

4 eggs

1 cup milk

¾ cup flour

¾ teaspoon salt

½ cup sugar

½ teaspoon almond extract

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1.     Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a round 10-inch baking dish with butter. Dust with about 2 tablespoons sugar.

2.     Arrange the cherries in a single layer, set aside until you prepare the batter.

3.     Mix eggs with remaining sugar and salt. Stir in flour. Add milk, vanilla extract, almond extract and mix well until well blended. Add melted butter and stir to combine. The result is similar to crepes mixture.

4.     Pour mixture over the cherries.

5.     Bake for about 40-45 minutes until puffed and golden brown. Cool on a rack for a few minutes while it deflates. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving. Serve warm or chilled.

This cake was a hit! Simple and light tasting, but with lots of flavor.

Pineapple Orange Cake                          

1 box yellow cake mix

4 large eggs

¾ cup oil

1 – 11oz. can mandarin oranges with juice

• Mix these ingredients together. 
• Bake at 350 ° for 25 minutes

Frosting:

1 box instant vanilla pudding mix

20 oz can crushed pineapple, drained (save juice)

1 small whipped toppiong

• Mix juice with pudding mix. Add drained pineapple. 
• Fold in cool whip. Refrigerate.

A 'deconstructed' Peach Melba
Fresh Colorado peaches, raspberries,
sponge cake and whipped cream.

A morning walk at the retreat center before a day of sewing.