Happy Halloween - Pumpkin Seeds

Surprise, surprise - we all LOVE pumpkin seeds!  We carved nine pumpkins, yes nine, so we had plenty of seeds.  Here's Gus and Greta carving away:

Harvesting the Seeds

We made three types of seeds:  cinnamon, regular, and spicy.

Here's a picture of regular roasted pumpkin seeds, with the picture taken on my Grandma's platter:

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin Seeds

2 cups pumpkin seeds rinsed and blotted dry
3 T of vegetable oil
1 T of garlic salt

Toss the pumpkin seeds to coat and spread on a cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 for an hour or until crunchy.
Stir about 1/2 way through and add garlic salt if needed.

Next we made the most delicious dessert:  Cinnamon Pumpkin Seeds!  We all LOVED these.

Cinnamon Pumpkin Seeds

Here's the recipe:  Cinnamon Pumpkin Seeds


And last but not least, I made a few SPICY pumpkin seeds for the adults in the house and they were also good.  Here they are in my Grandma's bubble dish:

Mix 1 cup of dried pumpkin seeds with 2 tsp. of chili powder and 3 shakes of Tabasco.  Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.  Enjoy!

It seems you can't go wrong with pumpkin seeds.  Happy Halloween!  I'm looking forward to trick or treating with the kids.

Kristin :)

American Club, Craisins and Aunt Paula's Famous Flapjacks!

Even though it's 7 hours away, the American Club is like a home away from home for me.  During this visit, I experienced periods of deep inner peace.  Granted, this was my first quiet period away from the kids since my trip to Utah last October (my trip to NYC this summer was awesome, but not exactly quiet), so that could explain the blissful feeling.  I've had a headache for about a month and when I was there I was "headache free."  Twelve hours of being home, and my headache is back, but it was nice to have a breather.

American Club, picture taken with my phone

And, I didn't leave the campus much, so instead enjoyed many of their different restaurants on site.  Here's just a little sample of the grounds (taken with my phone).  Keep in mind, we haven't had live plants or leaves on the trees since early September, so what a treat to see some live vegetation again.

American Club Grounds

 



My room-service meal was out of this world, but my outing to the Immigrant Room was by far the most amazing meal of the week (possibly best of my life).    Here's a sample of the what the table looked like:

First Round at the Immigrant Room

And, the food:

Course 2 - Sushi!

I could go on and on about this place.  If you know me, and see me, ask me for the details because I love to talk about this place.  The only other place that runs a close second (IMO), is Sundara in the Dells. 

But, onto my cooking in the moment!  When I got home Graham helped me make craisins with my remaining cranberries.

Craisin Making Graham

SUGAR-FREE CRAISINS

I boiled 2 cups of cranberries with 1 cup of sweetener (I used agave nectar, steevia and honey).  Barely cover the cranberries and sweetener with water and boil for about 7 minutes until the cranberries "pop".  You'll hear it / see it happen, it's kinda' cool.  After I popped them, I baked them for 8 hours on 170 degrees.  Yes that's right, 8 hours.  Easy - yes, takes a long time - yes, but we have wonderful CRAISINS.

With the craisins we made my Aunt Paula's famous pancakes and famous syrup.

Aunt Paula's Famous Cakes and Syrup

BUTTERMILK PANCAKES

2 Eggs

2 Cups Buttermilk

4 Tbsp Vegetable Oil

2 Cups Flour

2 Tbsp Sugar

2 Tsp Baking Powder

1 Tsp Soda

1 Tsp Salt

Mix all together. May need to add more buttermilk. Makes 8 large

pancakes. I add cranraisins or blueberries

And, here's the yummy syrup recipe:

SPECIAL SYRUP

1 Cup Butter

3 Cups Brown Sugar

1 Cup Maple Syrup

1 Cup Whipping Cream

Melt butter in saucepan over low heat, blend brown sugar until syrupy.

Simmer over low heat 5 minutes. Stir in maple syrup. Blend in whipping

cream until smooth. Best served warm.

 HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Eeek, this next picture even scares me - and it was taken of me at the American Club.  Spooky......

Happy Spooking,

Kristin

Mr. Cranberry, Meet Mr. Pumpkin

Just when I think I'll be short on ideas, I have a FLOOD of inspiration.  I love it!!   This weekend I made an out-of-this-world cranberry salsa, pumpkin curry soup, and I was able to combine pumpkin and cranberry and make a great pumpkin cranberry bread!

Here's the cranberry salsa recipe:  Cranberry Salsa

I brought this to our neighbors house for a bon fire last night, and I heard Stu say, "this is good, I don't really like cranberries, but this is good."  That's what I like to hear!   Not only is this SUPER good, it's SUPER easy!

Cranberry Salsa

This is taken on my Grandma's platter, but I'm adding to my wish list a salsa and chip dish.  I make a ton of salsa, and I'm always improvising on the dish.   Another must have..

Thanks to my cousin Erinn for the idea of Pumpkin Curry.  Who doesn't love curry, and I certainly LOVE pumpkin, so I had to give this a try.  And, it's super simple!  I had just baked pumpkins yesterday with the intention of freezing the pulp, so I had the pumpkin ready to go (which made this super simple). And it's so good!

Here's the recipe:  Pumpkin Curry

Pumpkin Curry Soup

And, this recipe inspiration came from the website Pinterest.  If you haven't joined this website, I would encourage you to leave my blog NOW and sign up.  It's the coolest thing since sliced bread.

Last but not least, I was able to combine pumpkins and cranberries to make cranberry bread.  Here's the link:  Pumpkin Cranberry Bread

I added walnuts to the bread, because I love nuts in my bread, and it baked 13 minutes longer than the recipe stated.  Everyone LOVED this bread, including my children.  That's a good thing.

Cranberry Pumpkin Bread

And now I'm preparing for a "blog-cation" as I prepare for a "work-cation".   No cooking, no cleaning, no car-pooling, no laundry, dang I'm so disappointed that I need to leave (ha!).

I also need to get back to my kids, they are making a gingerbread haunted mess or a gingerbread haunted house, depending on how you look at it.

Gus making his haunted mess

Happy Cooking,

Another Haunted Mess

Kristin
(Go Packers!)

Crazy for Cranberries

Until this week, I was not really crazy for cranberries, but through some fun new recipes I have a new appreciation for this awesome fall fruit.  In fact, I'm NUTS about cranberries now.    Thanks to Kara for the cranberries!

Cranberries are uber-healthy for us.  They are work as an anti-inflammatory (especially the urinary tract), they help prevent cancer, and they have the highest anti-oxidants of almost all other fruits.  Reason enough to figure out how to enjoy this seasonal fruit.

I made a huge batch of cranberry tea today, and it's almost gone.  Yes, it's that good (who woulda' thought?).

Cranberry Tea in my Grandma's Tea Cup

After we were sick of drinking it hot, I put it in the fridge and we had great, healthy cranberry juice!  Most cranberry juices you buy in the store are full of sugar.  I used a combination of honey, agave nectar and steevia as the sweetening agent.

Here it is steeping.

I boiled 2 quarts of water with 1 1/2 cups of cranberries.  Once it boiled I added 1/2 cup of honey, 1 Tsp of steevia, juice of one orange and one lemon, and 3 cinnamon sticks.  Let steep for one hour.  Delish!!

I decided to give this cranberry salad a try too, and everyone LOVED it!  Here's the recipe:   Creamy Cranberry Salad   

Awesome Cranberry Salad pictured in my Grandma's Glass Bowl

For breakfast today, I made some cranberry scones.  Of course the scones were delicious.  The caloric content is on the high side, but I guarantee you that they are delicious!

Cranberry Scone pictured in my Grandma's dishes

I'd better go check to see how my little vampires are doing!

Happy Halloween from the Vampires!

Happy Cooking!

Kristin

More Squash

Here starts my third squash blog in a month and I still have a ton left.  After this week, I plan on steaming what's left and freezing it.  We're getting squashed out!  But squash is so good for us, because each squash is  full of carotenes which offer protection against cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

Here's Penne Squash with Greens recipe.  I had some more swiss chard to use up, so this was perfect:

Penne with Braised Squash and Greens

I loved this recipe, yum, yum!  I found this tablecloth today at Ventures Thrift Shope, isn't it pretty?

Penne with Braised Squash and Greens



Kathy Greschner shared some spaghetti squash with me, so I had to try Spaghetti Squash Parmesan.

Spaghetti Squash Parmesan

Spaghetti Squash Parmesan

I only took one picture with my phone (I was crunched for time), but I assure you that it's super good!!


Up next:  Squash Macaroni and Cheese!

Chad and I both LOVED this recipe (he did not even ask if there was squash in it), but since I used 100% whole grain gluen-free noodles, the kids turned up their little noses.  Here's the recipe I used:  

Squash Macaroni and Cheese

Squash Mac and Cheese

Squash Mac and Cheese

I'd recommend this recipe!
Since I'm all-squashed out, I'm super excited for my Cranberry Bog, I mean Blog!   

Thanks for reading!
Kristin

More Pumpkin Recipes

Mmmmmm, mmmmmm, mmmm, I love anything pumpkin.  This week I made a Pumpkin Spice cake that was easy and looked beautiful!   Everyone loved it!

Pumpkin Spice Cake - pictured on my Grandma Evelyn's platter

Here's the recipe:

PUMPKIN SPICE CAKE

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg.

Heat oven to 350.  Beat butter, sugar and eggs. Add buttermilk, pumpkin and vanilla.  Combine flour baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg and stir into batter.  Pour batter into prepared bunt cake pan.  Bake for 30 minutes.  I then added white frosting (1 cup powdered sugar, 3 T of milk). 

I LOVE it when I have a recipe where I can use my Grandma's old Cuisinart mixer - 65 years old and still works great!

Next I experimented with some pumpkin waffles.  I'm not going to lie, they weren't that great so I won't bother with the recipe.

Pumpkin Waffles - on my Grandma's platter and with her butter dish

I got the idea for Banana Pumpkin Bread from my sister-in-law Tracy.  This recipe is fantastic!

Here's the recipe:  Pumpkin Banana Bread

My friend Kara Breitenfeld lives on a cranberry marsh so she had some cranberries to share (how lucky) but I'm not sure what to do with them all.  Any ideas?

Got Cranberries?  I do!

Thanks for reading,

Kristin

Sweet Potatoes In Season

Because of my LOVE for sweet potatoes (otherwise known as yams) I planted some this year and had marginal results.  They were a little small but still delicious.  Next year I am going to try to grow them in sandier soil (I think that's the ticket).  Sweet potatoes are so great because they taste like dessert but they are so healthy.  One sweet potato will provide all the vitamin A you need for the day and 1/2 the vitamin C.  Gotta' love that!!

This week I made a sweet potato dessert, appetizer and salad.   Life is short, so I'll start with dessert first.

Here's Sweet Potato and Apple Cobbler:  Sweet Potato and Apple Cobbler

Sweet Potato Apple Dessert

This was a GREAT way for me to use up the rest of my apples and it was a tasty treat.  We all loved it, except for my oldest who ate it but gave me the sweet potatoes.

Next I made this fantastic Sweet Potato and Quinoa Salad shared to me by Kathy Bergin.  Happy Birthday Kathy!

Kathy's Sweet Potato Quinoa Salad
3/4 cup quinoa
1 TBS. Olive oil
1 C diced onions
1/2 tsp salt
2 C diced, peeled sweet potatoes
1 2/3 C water
Our favorite elaboration
2 c lightly packed finely chopped fresh spinach
2 TBS toasted pine nuts (I used sunflower seeds)
1/4 C currants (Used craisins)
1 TBS minced scallions (I used red onion)
1 TBS lemon juice
Salt and pepper

1. Rinse and drain quinoa in a fine-meshed strainer.
2.  Warm oil in a covered saucepan.  Add the onions and salt - cook low
heat, stir now and then until onions are transparent about 8 min.  Add sweet
potatoes, water and drained quinoa, cover, bring to a simmer.    Lower the
heat and simmer for 15 to 20 min. until sweet potatoes are tender and the
liquid has been absorbed.  Remove from heat.  Stir well add salt and pepper.
3.  Just before removing from the heat stir in spinach, pine nuts, currants,
scallions, and lemon juice.  Let sit for 5 min.  Season to taste with salt
and pepper.
 Enjoy, Kathy

Kathys Sweet Potato Quinoa Salad

Dang, this woulda' been BEAUTIFUL if I wouldn't have forgotten the craisins at the store (I forgot my list) but it sure was delicious!!!!   This salad is displayed in my Grandma Johnson's dish.

Here's a copy of the list that I forgot.   On the top Chad added a few unnecessary comments (crossed out lol) and the kids added TOYS.  I thought it was cute!

Mom's Friday Grocery List

I'm guessing that you can make hummus out of almost any vegetable, but this one is especially good.  Soon I will blog on all my hummus recipes.  I'm a sucker for a good hummus recipe.
Here's the recipe:  Sweet Potato Hummus

Greta and I LOVED this hummus recipe

One recipe that I make ALL year is sweet potato chips.  I cut the sweet potatoes super thin, drizzle with olive oil and salt and bake them at 350 for one hour.  Greta and I usually are fighting over the last one, they are that good.  \

Sweet Potato Chips

Sweet potatoes are on the Dirty Dozen list, meaning it's one of those foods you'd be wise to eat organic unless you like a mouth full of chemicals.  I buy about 50% organic, but I always keep the dirty dozen list on hand while shopping.  When I did eliminate the dirty dozen from my diet, I can tell you that I felt better and lost weight.   Certain pesticides in foods have been proven to raise our estrogen levels making us hungry.  I'm hungry enough so reason enough for me to give up the dirty dozen!

I can't wait to share my next pumpkin blog.  I made something pretty cool and I can't wait to share.

Thanks for reading!

Kristin

Three Simple Pumpkin Recipes

Pie pumpkins are so awesome!  They look great around the house before you bake them, and they are delicious!!   

To prepare pie pumpkins, I cut them in half and place them on a cookie sheet.  Scoop out the seeds, add 1 cup of water and bake at 350 for 1 hour.  The pulp scoops right out and it's easy to freeze.

For some reason, I was only able to add 20 seconds of  video, but you'll get idea.  I love to fool around with technology, but I never make it the full distance.  And for the record, I'm still grieving over Steve Jobs.  Bummer.

This week I have three pumpkin recipes:  pumpkin bars, pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread.

Who doesn't LOVE pumpkin bars.  Oh my, these are sooooooooooooooooo good! I'm embarrassed to admit that I had to try not one, but two to make sure they were good.  Yes, they were good.

Pumpkin Bars

Pumpkin Bars


Next up, I made pumpkin pie.

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Pie





And last but not least, but standby Pumpkin Bread recipe.  This is sooo good and gets better as it ages.  I make this a ton because everyone loves it for an "on-the-go" breakfast before work or school.

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Bread

Loving this weather!  I'm still able to blog in my screened in porch.

Thanks for reading,

Kristin :)

Brussels Sprouts and Fried Green Tomatoes

I've never had brussels sprouts until yesterday, and I thought they were out of this world good.  Delish!!

Brussels Sprouts

And one little bit of information, brussels sprouts should always have an S on the end (brussels sprouts, not brussel sprouts). 


The brussels sprouts and recipe came from the Berlage farm.

The Silver Spoon

1 1/2 pounds brussels sprouts, trimmed

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup blanches almonds

1 garlic clove

Thinly pared rind of one lemon, chopped

1 1/2 teaspoons bread crumbs

Salt and pepper

Cook brussel sprouts in salted boiling water for 5 minutes,

then drain thoroughly. Place on serving dish and

keep warm. Heat half the butter in a skillet, add almonds

and garlic and stir-fry for a few minutes. Add

lemon rind, season with salt and pepper, and remove

from heat. Remove and discard garlic. Melt remaining

butter in a small pan and stir-fry the bread crumbs until

golden, then stir into the almond mixture. Spoon this

over the brussel sprouts and serve.

I used only 1 tablespoon of butter and walnuts, and it was super-delicious.   I'm already looking forward to next years sprouts

Fried Green Tomatoes

Green tomatoes were staring me in the face, so I decided to try my friend Sooz's Fried Green Tomato recipe.

Fried Green Tomatoes
11/2 pounds green tomatoes cored and sliced
2/3 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 egg
2 cups oil

Place tomatoes on paper towel and let sit for 20 minutes, pat dry.  Combine dry ingredients.  In a separate bowl whisk in buttermilk and egg.  Dip tomato in buttermilk and then cornmeal.  Fry tomatoes in oil about 3 minutes per side. 



I also made my last batch of fresh salsa yesterday.  Oh fresh salsa, how we will ALL miss you.

Fresh Salsa

My whole family LOVES this salsa - from the end of July until October you can find this in our fridge, or on our counter.

FRESH SALSA

5 fresh tomatoes
1/4 cup cilantro
1 onion
5 cloves of garlic (we're garlic freaks)
1 packet of salsa seasoning mix


Yum-O!!

Look at these wonderful squash!!!  But, I need recipes.  Please let me know if you have a good squash recipe....I need a couple.

Thanks for reading,

Kristin

Canning Tomatoes and Sauce

What a terrific day I had canning with my friends Sooz Diedrich and Kristy Harrison!!!  This was my first time canning so I learned a lot.



Sooz Diedrich, Me, and Kristy Harrison



The first day we used Kristy's squezoo machine to turn 70 of our 90 pounds of tomatoes into juice.  The remaining 20 pounds we left out to can whole.

The Squeezo Machine turning tomatoes to juice

To can whole tomatoes, you first steam them whole until they split.  Next dip them in cold water and remove the skins.  From there you stuff the jars full and then add a bit of water to the bottom lip of the jar.  We pressure cooked them for about 10 minutes (Kristy is really the expert here, I'm just paraphrasing what went down).

Here's the whole tomatoes in the pressure cooker while we are cooking down the sauce.

Canning whole tomatoes and boiling down sauce

Here's the recipe we used for the tomato sauce which we plan to use for chili, lasagna, etc.

70 pounds of tomatoes turned into juice
10 cups of onion
20 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of salt
2 T of sugar (we added more later)
4 cups of chopped basil

We boiled this down for 5 hours until it thickened up. 

When it thickened up we ladled the sauce into the jars, we capped and then added used a pressure canner for about 15 - 20 minutes. 

Sauce

And in the end, we were left with beautiful jars of tomatoes and sauce.  Not to mention some great memories of a day and a half spent with some great friends. 

Tomatoes and Sauce

Thanks for reading my blog.  I'm off to my favorite place - LAMBEAU!!
Kristin