Deer Hunt to Shrimp Dinner

Not the deer that netted the shrimp, but a photo of what we might
see in Greenwood County. 

Who would think that a deer hunt would produce a dinner of Shrimp Gumbo? That's what happened when we allowed a hunter from Louisiana to hunt on our property. (We only allow a few bow hunters, those the Rancher thinks can respect the property and the deer). After a successful hunting trip, the hunter returned to pick up his blind from where he watched for deer and brought us some bags of frozen Louisiana shrimp. This is a real treat, we've only had shrimp that was purchased from the store or served at a restaurant.
After searching and considering recipes, I decided a Shrimp Gumbo would be good on a cold damp winter day. Maybe we can pretend we are in the sunny south! This recipe is from Betty Crocker, but I've made some changes, adding more veggies and different seasoning. We enjoyed it over brown rice and it was both warming and filling.

Shrimp Gumbo         

Ingredients:

¼ cup butter or margarine

1 large onion, sliced

1 medium green bell pepper, cut into thin strips

2 cups sliced celery

2 teaspoon minced garlic

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 cups beef broth

2 dashes red pepper sauce

1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1 box (10 oz.) frozen cut okra, thawed and drained

1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 pound uncooked peeled and deveined medium shrimp, thawed if frozen and tails peeled

3 cups hot cooked rice

Directions:

In a 4-quart Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Cook onions, ball pepper, celery, and garlic in butter 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in flour. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly , until bubbly; remove from heat.

Stir in remaining ingredients except shrimp and rice. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer uncovered 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir shrimp into gumbo. Cover and simmer about 5 minutes or until shrimp are pink and firm. Serve soup in bowls over rice.

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.