Pumpkin Cupcakes (in rainbow colors)!

Ingredients

-1 cup of pureed pumpkin
-1 box yellow cake mix
-1/2 cup of water
-1/3 cup of vegetable oil
-4 eggs
-spices (ex: cinnamon, ground ginger, allspice, nutmeg, etc)
-white store-bought frosting
-food coloring (optional)
-about 3 packets of Pop Rocks (optional)

Yields 22 cupcakes that will blow your mind.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium-large bowl, whisk the eggs together, and add the oil and water. Mix in the spices to ensure even distribution. About 2 teaspoons of spices total should be used. Add pumpkin. Incorporate yellow cake mix into the bowl and continue stirring until smooth.

Line cupcake tins and fill about 2/3’s full with batter. If orange cupcakes are desired, add 1 drop of red and 1 drop of yellow food coloring into the batter (or more if needed). Bake for 20 minutes or until a knife is inserted into a cupcake and comes out clean.

Wait for the cupcakes to cool, and then frost them! Use the food coloring to make cool colors as shown above. Sprinkle on Pop Rocks generously if desired.

Original recipe here.

We made pumpkin cupcakes to use up some of the pumpkin that we had leftover from making the pumpkin pie. Ideally, frozen pumpkin should be defrosted in the refrigerator and later on the counter at room temperature, but microwaving and draining excess water worked for us. The amount of spices you add is totally subjective; we used about 3 teaspoons but would’ve liked to add more.

I don’t think anyone can say no to rainbows and cupcakes.

Pumpkin Pie (from scratch, no canned pumpkin gunk!)

Time: 3 hours

Ingredients

For the crust
-2/3 cup cold butter, cubed
-2 cups flour
-1.5 tsp sugar
-1.5 tsp salt
-6 tbsp cold water

For the filling
-1 pumpkin (preferably very small)
-3 eggs, beaten
-1.5 tsp cinnamon
-0.5 tsp nutmeg
-0.5 tsp allspice
-0.5 tsp salt
-1 cup heavy cream
-0.5 cup brown sugar
-0.25 cup granulated sugar

To make the crust , pulse butter, flour, salt, and sugar together in a food processor or blender until the butter is broken up into smaller pieces (the size of peas). Add 1 tablespoon of cold water at a time until the dough starts coming together. Knead a few times, then roll into a ball and chill for 30 minutes.

To roast the pumpkin, cut it across horizontally and scoop out the seeds and insides. Ideally you should remove as much stringiness as possible. Place the two halves on a baking sheet (or two) cut side down and roast at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes. The pumpkin is done when it is soft when poked with a fork. After it is done cooling, peel off the skin and scoop out the inside. Cut into small pieces and process until smooth. Do several small batches (this is the most time-consuming step). Set aside 2 cups of this mash. Save the rest for another recipe (or for making more than one pie).

Remove the dough from the fridge. Roll it out and fit it into a 9” pie pan. Bake the empty crust at 375 degrees for 25 minutes, 20 covered in foil and 5 without. Remove and lower temp to 350.

In a large pot and with the stove off, whisk together eggs and spices. Add cream and sugars, whisking until smooth. Add pumpkin mash and stir to arrive at an even consistency. Turn the stove on to medium-low heat, and cook mixture for 8-10 minutes, stirring constantly, until it thickens. Pour entire mixture into crust, and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

If you end up having more filling than your crust can hold, you can pour it into a little ramekin and bake it for a pumpkin “custard.” Don’t forget to save the seeds so you can toast them later.

Well, it was pretty rewarding to be able to make a pumpkin pie without canned pumpkin. And now I have loads of more mash to use for other things. So pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread, and pumpkin cookies are all serious possibilities that might make an appearance on this blog sometime soon. I recommend everyone make this at least once.

some more macaroni I made. started out with just a regular box, and then I prepared a creamy filling mixture similar to Hollandaise sauce (egg yolks and butter) to hold it all together. I add tomatoes, jalapenos, garlic, and sage for a little bit of a veggie feel, and then I also added some chicken because I roasted a whole one the night before. for cheese I mixed in some shredded cheddar, some cubed pepper jack, and then cut thin squares of Muenster for the top. broiled it for five minutes for the nice crispy topping.

Stuffed Belle Peppers

Time: 40 minutes
Serves: 2 hungry beezies

Ingredients
-2 big fresh green belle peppers
-1/2 a cup of rice, cooked
-1 serving size of veggie crumbles (imitation meat, we used Smart Ground Mexican style, 1/3 of a cup)
-1/3 of an onion, diced
-1/3 cup of corn
-1/2 of a tomato, diced
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-4 tbsp tomato sauce (this blog is a proud sponsor of El Pato)
-cooking oil
-seasonings: chili powder, cumin, salt, house seasoning (in the absence of black pepper)
Optional, toppings
-1/3 cup of cheddar cheese
-sour cream

Cut off the tops of the two belle peppers. Scrape out the insides and the seeds. Cut the little green edges off of the tops and dice into small pieces. Discard stem.

Heat some oil in a medium-sized pan and over medium heat saute the onion and garlic. After two minutes add the veggie crumbles, corn, and belle pepper top pieces. Season generously, particularly with with the cumin and chili powder. Once the onions have finished browning and the crumbles seem cooked, add the tomatoes. If any oil remains, drain. Add the tomato sauce and stir constantly for a few minutes. Turn heat off and stir in rice. Spoon mixture into each belle pepper.

Bake peppers upright at 400 degrees for fifteen minutes. If desired, sprinkle cheese over the tops after ten minutes of baking, and bake for the last five, ensuring the cheese is bubbly but does not burn. Garnish with sour cream if desired.

I don’t have an original recipe for this one, because I just winged it. I looked up some recipes online but they all seemed either overly and unnecessarily complex or so straightforward that it would be impossible to mess up. This is actually really easy to make. Next time I’d like to try making it with red or orange belle peppers since they’re a bit sweeter, and might try varying the sauce and vegetable stuffings. Also, this dish can be easily made vegan, without the cheese and sour cream of course. I personally don’t really mind veggie crumbles, they’re not my favorite but they’re okay, and in this dish there are so many other things going on that you can get the taste without realizing it’s not actual ground beef. I’ll be playing around with this dish again in the future.

well now that I have plenty of time on my hands and access to the Internet, I guess I’ll post some pics of stuff I’ve made in the past but never got around to uploading on here.

this is a scallop. I had never had one before; I had only seen them on shows like Top Chef or heard about them, blah blah blah. I seared it for a little bit with some butter and salt and pepper. it was okay. it smelled great, it was soft, okay, but for the hype (and the price) I wasn’t super impressed.

Alternate Chimichangas

Rather than the traditional Hispanic version of the chimichanga, which is usually a fried burrito stuffed with meat (or maybe frijoles) and then topped with the traditional sour cream, salsa, lettuce, and maybe cheese, I tried a different version.

This one is made out of a flour tortilla stuffed with creamy mashed potatoes and seasonings, and then topped with feta cheese, lettuce, lemon juice, and a little sour cream. Kind of “Greek” I suppose, maybe? Next time I will try to push it a little more and maybe come up with a side dish for it.

Easy “Garden” Macaroni

Ingredients:
-1 package thick and creamy macaroni and cheese
-2 tablespoons butter
-1/4 cup of milk
-1/3 cup shredded cheese (I used mozzarella)
-4-6 slices of cheese (I used pepper jack and provolone)
-1/2 tomato, diced
-2 jalapenos, seeded and sliced
-2 teaspoons ground dried sage
-Salt, pepper, seasonings, etc

Time: 30-40 minutes
Yields: 3-4 servings

Over high heat, boil the pasta from the macaroni package. When tender, remove from heat and remove water. Reduce to medium heat, return the pasta to the heat, and stir in the milk and butter until butter is melted.  Season with salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place cooked macaroni in a casserole dish and mix in tomatoes, jalapenos, sage, and shredded cheese until evenly distributed. Place sliced cheese on top (I sliced the slices into long rectangles and wove them into each other so that the cheese would distribute itself properly, but it obviously doesn’t matter because the cheese melts.

Bake for ten minutes. Broil for an additional five at 500 degrees. The broiling is just to get a crispy topping; if you don’t want it, skip it.

So I thought of making this because I didn’t feel like cooking up a storm and using a million pans (extra dishes, no thank you during the week) but really didn’t want the same old ramen or macaroni. The “creamy” sauce holds it together well, and the vegetables are a nice change. And it was quick and easy to make because of the use of macaroni from the box.

Dec 24, 2010

Cheesecake (Blackberry and Cinna-apple-walnut)

Ingredients (for one cake):

Crust
*1 cup graham cracker crumbs
*2 tablespoons white sugar
*1/4 cup melted butter

Cake
*2 (8oz) packages of cream cheese
*1 cup sour cream
*3/4 cup white sugar
*1 teaspoon vanilla
*2 tablespoons of flour
*4 eggs

Blackberry Topping
*1 can of blackberries, juice reserved
*1 cup water
*1 cup sugar
*3 tablespoons cornstarch

Cinna-apple-walnut Topping
*3 apples (preferably Fuji or other sweet kind), peeled and thinly sliced
*1/2 cup white sugar
*1 teaspoon of cinnamon
*1/4 cup chopped nuts

Time: This is the holidays. You have nothing but time. Don’t lie.

Start off with the crust. Crush all of the graham crackers. Melt the butter. Mix crumbs, butter, and sugar and press into a 9” pan.

For the cake: mix all of the cream cheese together until it is lump-free and smooth (I used a hand-mixer). Beat in the remaining ingredients except for the eggs, starting with the sour cream, little by little. Then beat in each egg, one at a time. After making sure it is completely lump-free, pour into crust.

If making the cinna-apple-walnut, mix all topping ingredients until apples are throughly coated, and then place on top of cheesecake.

Bake at 325 degrees for an hour. Refrigerate.

For the blackberry, boil the water and dissolve the sugar. Stir in juice from blackberry can. In a small cup, mix the cornstarch with cold water. Once cornstarch has completely dissolved, stir in to boiling juice. Once jelly has thickened, stir in blackberries. Take off heat and pour over cheesecake (obviously using a pan with higher sides is recommended). Refrigerate again before serving.

My first attempt(s) at making cheesecake, and they turned out pretty good. A lot of people liked them. I also made a plain one (three fucking cheesecakes, yeah, a lot of holiday baking).

All three of the cheesecakes cracked, meaning the top portion had little “splits.” I read online that biggest cause of this was stirring the batter too much, but I did the absolute minimum on the last two, and they still cracked. My solution? PUT A TOPPING ON.

Suggestions? Requests? Here.

Dec 24, 2010

Braciole (Rolled, stuffed carne)

Ingredients:

*3lbs thinly sliced meat (skirt steak? I don’t know)
*8oz of feta cheese (two small containers, but the more the better)
*2 tomatoes, diced
*3 big handfuls of spinach, washed and chopped quickly
*2 eggs
*2 slices of bread (any kind)
*6 cloves of garlic, minced
*a little bit of dill
*1 packet of “dried” onion dip/seasoning
*olive oil
*seasonings, extra herbs etc
*30 toothpicks

Yields about 30 small rolls
Time: 30 min prep, 25 min baking

You will probably need to work on the stuffing in two batches. Begin by cracking one of the eggs into a blender or food processor, and then break off one of the slices of bread into several pieces. Blend all together. On a separate plate, mix the chopped spinach with one chopped tomato, half of the minced garlic, some dill, and half the feta. Mix in the egg and bread crumbs so that all ingredients are evenly spread throughout.

The meat should already be somewhat thinly sliced. Whether it is in a big slab or in smaller, odd-shaped pieces, you want a somewhat similar shape for all the pieces that will be rolled. Cut them so that they are around 2x4”. We want individual pieces, rather than one long roll that is cut later because it helps cut down the cooking time, and it is easier to cut now than later when it is already stuffed.

Place a generous amount of stuffing on the laid out piece of meat. Roll it. There should be enough stuffing that the amount of meat that is on the inside (that is, not directly the outer layer) is minimized. So, STUFF it. The spinach shrinks when it is cooked, so it eventually becomes more manageable. Secure the loose end with a toothpick.

Continue until you run out of the stuffing. Make the other half and then continue stuffing in a similar fashion.

In a large and deep pan, heat up a little bit of olive oil over high heat. Place enough rolls on the bottom of the pan to cover it. Sear on all sides. Remove and repeat with all pieces. Be careful to try to keep each roll intact. I used tongs, and grabbed the pieces with the two parts covering the “open” ends of the roll.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange seared pieces in a baking dish. In a small bowl, mix Italian herbs, onion packet of seasonings, some sage, and extra black pepper. Spread seasoning over rolls.

Bake for twenty five minutes.