Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Now that the weather has finally (FINALLY!) turned cool, and seems like it might stay, I’m all about the soups. Not only will it warm you up on a cool night, I just love that soup yields a ton of leftovers. I’ll make a soup Sunday or Monday, and then eat it for lunch and/or dinner for many days to come! This soup, though I’ve not tried it, I think would even freeze well.
With this being a vegetarian soup, I was really glad Nathan and I were both able to get filled up. He’s always a bit weary when I proclaim there’s no meat in our dinner. Served with avocado, crispy tortilla strips, a maybe a dollop of sour cream, this soup has quite a variety of flavors. In case you couldn’t tell from the recipe title, this soup has PUMPKIN in it! 😀 That alone makes me very happy. The pumpkin, like in many recipes, is more of a background player here than the standout star. It adds a little thickening, to help plump it up. And of course, it adds a ton of nutrients! This soup will definitely remain in our soup rotation. With a quick glance at my soup tag, there’s a lot in there I really love, and I’m glad to add another to the all-star lineup!
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Pumpkin Tortilla Soup
Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients:
12 (6-inch) corn tortillas
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium white onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup finely chopped cilantro, plus more sprigs for garnish
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Chile pequins, other dried hot peppers, or cayenne pepper to taste*
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree or canned pumpkin
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
5 cups unsalted vegetable stock
1/2 teaspoon salt
Vegetable oil for deep-frying
1-2 ripe avocados, peeled, pitted, and cubed
Directions:
Cut 6 of the tortillas into 1/2-inch squares.
Heat 4 tablespoons olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add onion, garlic, cilantro, and chopped tortillas and cook, stirring frequently, until onion is soft.
Add cumin and crushed peppers or cayenne and sauté for another minute.
Add pumpkin, tomatoes, vegetable stock, and salt and stir to combine. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for one hour.
While the soup is simmering, cut the remaining 6 tortillas in half and then into 1/4-inch-wide strips. Heat 1/2 inch of vegetable oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat until very hot but not smoking. Fry tortilla strips in two batches until crisp and light golden (about a minute). Using a slotted spoon, transfer tortilla strips to towels to drain.
To serve, ladle soup into bowls and garnish with tortilla strips, avocado, and cilantro.
*You can tailor the type and amount of hot pepper to your own tastes. We usually make this with a couple of crushed chile pequins but have also used cayenne pepper, which is more readily available. If you're not sure how much to use, start with 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne, taste the soup after it has simmered for awhile, and then add more if desired.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
I think I need to start a new category in my blog. “Fugly but Tasty” Just in case you’re unaware of the term “fugly”, I’ll give you the PG version: freaking ugly. It saddens me when I make something and it’s really delicious, but also really ugly. This meal was SO easy to prepare (especially if you use a bag of pre-cut collard greens). My only prep was chopping the onion & celery, then slicing the sausage. I love that this recipe utilizes the slow cooker to cook dried beans, instead of using canned. I don’t use dried beans as often as I’d like, and I love that they are even more economical than canned beans.
We really enjoyed this meal, and it also yielded tons of leftovers! I served ours with cornbread, but the original recipe called for breadsticks.
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Slow-Cooker White Bean Soup With Andouille and Collards
Yield: 6 servings
Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 8 hrs
Ingredients:
1 pound dried white beans (such as cannellini or great Northern)
1/2 pound andouille sausage links, halved lengthwise and sliced crosswise
1 large onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
4 sprigs fresh thyme
8 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 bunch collard greens, stems discarded and leaves cut into bite-size pieces (about 8 cups)
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
kosher salt and black pepper
olive oil (optional, for serving)
bread of your choice for serving
Directions:
In a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker, combine the beans, sausage, onion, celery, and thyme. Add the broth and stir to combine.
Cover and cook until the beans are tender, on low for 7 to 8 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours (this will shorten total cooking time).
Twenty minutes before serving, discard the thyme stems, add the collard greens, cover, and cook until the greens are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Add the vinegar and ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper.
Drizzle with the olive oil and serve with bread or cornbread.
Calories 393; Fat 8g; Sat Fat 4g; Cholesterol 28mg; Sodium 670mg; Protein 30g; Carbohydrate 51g; Sugar 4g; Fiber 14g; Iron 9mg; Calcium 212mg
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Well the competition has ended, and results are in. I did not win. I did not place. This didn’t surprise me. 🙂 But, I did have a LOT of fun, and got to see a lot of my bloggy friends. I was glad to be paired up at a table with Vivek of Vivek’s Epicurean Adventures, as we had a lot of fun. Some of my friends that stopped by include Tabitha of Life a la Mode, Mindy of I Want Your Blog, and Lannae of Lannae’s Food & Travel.
I also got to briefly talk with some of the chili eaters. I found out there are a handful of pumpkin lover’s out there like me. I gave out a lot of my blog business cards to tell people how to find the recipe. So… if you’re looking for the recipes you sampled here they are! I went with recipes I already have tried & loved, and guess what, they’re already on my blog.
For the chili, I used my Turkey Bean Pumpkin Chili. I also kicked it up by using Star Hill Pumpkin Porter, per Nathan’s suggestion. And I baked up two batches of the oh so easy Beer Bread, which was a BIG hit! I had one guy offer to buy an entire loaf off me! haha… I’m telling you, nothing is as easy to make, and tastes better with chili than beer bread. Oh, and I used Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale in the beer bread, even though you can’t taste the pumpkin, by golly it made me happy.
Here’s some of my instagram photos from the event.
Secret ingredients.
Vivek & I ready to compete!
My Turkey Bean Pumpkin Chili!
Lil of this, lil of that, and of course Beer Bread!
Ole Smoky Moonshine‘s Apple Pie variety. Tastes like Apple Cider! They were with Yazoo in the beer garden.
To everyone who cheered me on, or liked my chili & beer bread, THANK YOU! 😀
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
If there’s a will, there’s a way. If I can find something new to put pumpkin in, by golly I’ll try it. These Pumpkin Snickerdoodles have been in the back of my mind for many autumn seasons, but always seemed to get pushed aside. Then for some reason this year, a bunch of other bloggers seemed to be making them to. So I figured it was high time for me to finally get around to it too.
In my opinion, I think I might like these better than the original Snickerdoodle. As you might know, when you add pumpkin to a cookie (like in these Pumpkin Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies), it tends to make them puff up a bit. In these Pumpkin Snickerdoodles, that was perfect. It created a puffy, but chewy cookie. These were like eating little pillows of pumpkin & cinnamon goodness! The pumpkin flavor is not heavily pronounced, but more of a hint. If you’re wondering what the big flakes are, it’s just large pieces of cinnamon. After flattening, before baking, I sprinkled these with a bit of cinnamon sugar from my McCormick grinder. I think it gave these some extra pop! These are just perfect for any fall gathering! Or, perfect to bring to a new mother as she brings home her own little pumpkin. I brought these over to my cousin, when we went to visit her new baby!
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Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Yield: 3 dozen
Prep Time: 25 min + 1 hr chill time
Cook Time: 10 min
Ingredients:
COOKIES:
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
3/4 cup pure unsweetened pumpkin puree
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
ROLLING SUGAR:
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice
Directions:
In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream the butter until fluffy. Add sugar and pumpkin puree and beat well. Mix in egg and vanilla, scraping down sides of the bowl to incorporate all of the ingredients.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and ground cinnamon. Beat flour mixture into liquid mixture a little at a time just until incorporated.
Cover dough with plastic and chill at least an hour, or until dough becomes slightly firm.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper (or spray with nonstick spray). Mix rolling sugar ingredients in a small bowl.
Remove cookie dough from refrigerator. Use a medium cookie scoop (1 1/2 Tablespoons) or a large spoon to scoop out dough and roll into balls. Use your hands to roll the balls in the cinnamon sugar and make sure they're coated really well. Place 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Use a glass with a nice, flat bottom to dip in sugar and flatten the balls.
Bake at 350°F. for 10 to 14 minutes, or until they are slightly firm to the touch. Let cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes or so, then remove them to a wire rack to cool completely.
TIP: *Store in an airtight container. These cookies freeze well too. Place them in freezer zip bag and remove from freezer when the craving hits.
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