Saturday Trip

This Saturday I took a trip with a friend and a group from her church to Branson. The destination was the Sight and Sound Theater presentation of the Bible story of Jonah. I've been hearing about this theater and was looking forward to the trip. The lunch stop was planned to be at Lambert's Cafe in Ozark, MO. I'd also heard of Lambert's - "Home of the Throwed Rolls". This, I thought, would be interesting, but not a place that had been on my 'bucket list'.
I was pleasantly surprised! The food was very good, the atmosphere fun and very few rolls landed on the floor. It seems the tradition begin when the cook was too busy to pass rolls around with a nice "would you like a roll?", and a customer said "just throw me one". Now the wait staff throws rolls to diners from across the dining room, or if you're not so adventurous, just across your table. And the rolls are piping hot as well as delicious. As if there aren't enough calories in the large servings you'll get later, a server comes by with a bucket of sorghum molasses to pour on your roll.
I felt like I was in deeper south than north-west Missouri with a look at the menu of chicken fried steak, fried catfish, hog jowl, country ham steaks and more. Besides the generous servings, there are pre-meal, meal, and post meal offerings of 'pass-arounds', as servers come by each table with kettles of fried okra, black-eyed peas, fried potatoes and onions, and macaroni and tomatoes. If your plate is full, just tear a brown paper towel from the roll on the table.

I had Chicken Tenders with beets and chunky applesauce.
More than I could eat!

My friend had the Chicken Fried Round Steak-
'Hen' size (not 'Rooster') was 'only' 11 oz. 

We left the restaurant with no plans or needs for a supper stop after the show. In fact, many left with carry-out boxes of leftovers. This was a fun and filling lunch stop, I'd recommend it whether that's your 'bucket list' or not.

Taste of Kansas - Butternut Squash Soup

One of the things I like about living in Kansas is the changing seasons. Usually this is gradual and allows us to enjoy the cooling (or warming) days and anticipate the coming season. This year it seems like we've plunged directly into winter. But the recent "From the Land of Kansas Blog" featured five recipes of fall produce from Kansas.

The first recipe I tried is for Butternut Squash. I've seen these pretty produce items in the store but never bought and cooked one, so this was a new experience. And it turned out to be a good soup and easy to prepare. The original recipe was for 2 pounds of squash, the one I purchased was 1 ½ pounds, so I've modified the recipe for that amount. This is also a better quantity for a small family - about 5 servings.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

1 ½ pound peeled, cubed (or mashed) butternut squash
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ - ½ cup chopped onion
freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon minced ginger
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:
The original recipe instructed to peel and cube the squash, then bake with olive oil, salt and pepper for 50 minutes. They must have had more muscle and sharper knife than I had! I found the instructions on the squash itself to work better - cut squash in half, scoop out seeds and lay cut side down in a baking dish. Add a little water and bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes (or until softened). After cooling, scoop out the pulp and mash.
In a large pot, melt butter. Saute onion in butter until translucent. Add minced ginger, roasted squash, and stock. Simmer 20-30 minutes. Blend with a hand blender or food processor until smooth.

I found it easy to cut the squash in half and scoop out seeds.
No need to peel and cube a hard raw squash! 

Bake in a baking pan with a little water.

Scoop out softened pulp of squash. 

Apple-Butterscotch Brownies

As dessert, warmed in the microwave oven
and topped with whipped topping
and a sprinkle of apple pie spice

There are many favorite fall flavors, apples may be close to pumpkin in popularity at our house. So when I requested a bucket of hedge apples for fall decor, the 'payment' was a batch of cookies.

cookies were payment for
fall decorations gathered

I chose to try this bar cookie recipe, but I'm not sure if it is closer to a brownie, bar cookie or cake. It is very moist and we are storing it in the refrigerator, it's great warmed a bit in the microwave oven.

Apple-Butterscotch Brownies

1 cup chopped pecans
2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup butter, melted
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
3 cups peeled and diced Granny Smith apples

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan 8 to 10 minutes or until toasted and fragrant, stirring halfway through.
Stir together brown sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla extract.
Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to brown sugar mixture and stir until blended.
Stir in apples and pecans. Pour mixture into a greased and floured 13-x9-inch pan; spread in an even layer.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely (about 1 hour). Cut into bars.

Treats for the Seasons

Trick or Treat time was last week, but a couple of treats I made for the special neighborhood goblins would be good food gifts for the upcoming holidays. I often watch people buy the giant bags of purple popcorn at K-State football games and wish I could make that at home. After trying several recipes, one of which turned our lips bright purple, I think this Kool-Aid recipe is one that can be used with many colors and flavors. For Halloween, I used orange Kool-Aid and the color and flavor worked well. I'm anxious to try it with grape/purple.

Kool-Aid Popcorn                                   

3 qt (12 cups) popped corn
1 cup sugar
½ cup light corn syrup
⅓ cup butter
1 envelope (0.13 oz to 0.23 oz) Kool-Aid unsweetened drink mix, any flavor
½ tsp. baking soda

Heat oven to 225 degres. Spread popcorn evenly into the bottom of a large pan (I used the bottom of the broiler pan).
Bring sugar, corn syrup and butter to a boil in medium saucepan on medium-high heat; cook 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Add drink mix an baking soda; mix well. Pour over popcorn; stir gently to evenly coat popcorn.

Bake 10 minutes. Remove from oven; stir. Repeat 3 times for a total baking time of 40 minutes. Spread onto a large sheet of waxed paper sprayed with cooking spray; cool completely and break into pieces.

Spooky S'mores

Who doesn't love S'mores? They are tasty treats for any season. I made s'more kits for the Halloween visitors, but this idea could be used with any holiday. The new bags of special shaped marshmallows that many stores offer will make this treat special for any holiday.
In a clear gift bag or sandwich bag, place the ingredients of a couple of s'mores. I used:
4 graham cracker sheets
4 mini Hersey bar (or you could use a full sized bar)
a handful of specially shaped marshmallows (I found ghost shaped ones in various colors)
You can print a special gift tag to attach. The reference I found had a link to one that printed "What do ghosts and chocolate have in common? S'more than you know".
When the little goblins visiting saw the marshmallows and started to dive into the bags for them, I send the rest of the original bag home with them to enjoy!

Pumpkin Bread

There aren't enough days to try all the yummy sounding pumpkin recipes in the magazines and Pinterest! I've not only gotten behind on baking, but also on blogging. Hopefully, in the next few weeks leading up to Thanksgiving I'll find many days for kitchen time.
Quick breads are a favorite for us and this recipe is, as the title claims, healthier and very good. To make it as healthy as you can, use the substitutions and instead of chocolate chips, add chopped walnuts. I liked the easy mixing and clean up of this recipe - just 2 bowls, measuring tools, a whisk and spatula to wash.

Health and Delicious Pumpkin Bread

3 cups flour (blended whole wheat/all-purpose) or 2 cups all-purpose and 1 cup whole wheat

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking power
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup brown sugar
1 ½ cup white sugar (could substitute with Stevia)
6 ounce container vanilla greek yogurt
3 eggs, slightly beaten
15 oz can pumpkin puree
½ cup canola oil (could substitute with apple sauce)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine flour, cinnamon nutmeg, cloves, salt, baking soda and baking powder in a medium sized bowl.
In a separate mixing bowl, combine both brown and white sugar. Add yogurt, eggs, pumpkin, oil, and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth.
Slowly add dry ingredients to wet and stir until combined. Stir in chocolate chips or nuts. Divide between two 9x5-inch loaf pans (sprayed with non-stick spray) and sprinkle a few extra chocolate chips or nuts on top. Bake about 50 minutes or until lightly browned.

Pumpkin-Pecan Spice Cookies

For Pumpkin Season, my goal is to try a new pumpkin recipe each week. This week's recipe is from Betty Crocker and I've made a few changes in the preparations. These cookies are soft  yet held their shape well in baking. BC suggests a candy coating  drizzle for added flavor and decor. I didn't think they needed that as they are tasty and moist without it.

Pumpkin-Pecan Spice Cookies

1 ½ cups packed light brown sugar

½ cup butter or margarine, softened

2 eggs

½ cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

3 teaspoons (1 Tablespoon) vanilla

2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

⅛ teaspoon ground allspice

⅛ teaspoon ground cloves

pinch ground cardamon

½ cup finely chopped pecans (I reduced this from the original recipe)

1 cup white vanilla baking chips ( increased this and used pumpkin flavored baking chips)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease baking sheets or cover with parchment paper. 

2. In a large bowl beat brown sugar and softened butter on medium speed. Add eggs, pumpkin, and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking powder and spices. Stir in pecans and baking chips. Drop dough by tablespoons onto cookie sheet. 

3. Bake 12 minutes (between 10-14 minutes) or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. 

4. For candy coating drizzle, soften vanilla-flavored candy coating (almond bark) in a resealable plastic bag in the microwave. Gently squeeze bag until coating is smooth; cut off tiny corner of bag and squeeze bag to drizzle coating over cookies. Let stand until set. 

Look what I found at the big-city store - Pumpkin
Spice flavored baking chips!

Pumpkin Season

Is it really October? I think this month should be called "Pumpkintober". We celebrate the fall season with all sorts of pumpkin recipes. I love the pumpkin flavored recipes and have a grown son and son-in-law who claim pumpkin as their favorite flavor of treat (or maybe they're just 'tricking' me to bake more).
Pumpkins were also a favorite through history and story book times - "Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater", "Cinderella", and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" all wove pumpkins into their stories. The love and lore of pumpkins is repeated in history many times. The  Native Americans grew Three Sisters Crops of pumpkins, corn, and beans; the Irish created Jack-O-Lannterns to celebrate what later became Halloween; and the European settlers scooped out the insides to mix with cream, eggs and sugar for the first pumpkin pies.
Pumpkins are usually about 15 - 30 pounds, but can grow to hundreds of pounds. Pumpkin Weigh-Offs are held throughout the United States to record the largest pumpkins of the season. This year's Kansas State Fair winner at 457 pounds wasn't a record setter, that was set in 2007 at 976.2 pounds.

Here's the recipe I made last week when Son was visiting. I was also able to save some for Son-In-Law that we visited later in the week. It is moist, and stayed moist for several days (after I hid it in the refrigerator so it wouldn't be eaten too quickly).

For the glaze, I softened commercial canned frosting in the microwave enough to drizzle over the top.

Moist Pumpkin Bundt Cake                                      

When alternating wet and dry ingredients, always start
and end with dry ingredients. This method ensures that
ingredients are well blended without overbeating. 

 Ingredients

2 ½ cups sugar

1 cup canola oil

3 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

1 can (15 oz) solid pack pumpkin

(I also added 1 tsp. vanilla extract to enhance the flavors. You could use 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice instead of the individual spices)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine sugar and oil until blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and cloves; add to egg mixture alternately with pumpkin beating well after each addition.

Transfer to a greased 10-inch fluted tube pan. Bake 60-65 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack. Remove pan and cool completely. Dust with confectioners’ sugar or glaze.

Yield: 12-16 servings.