Pumpkin Soup

I don't cook winter squashes, but I thought it would be good to try. Since the only pie I like is Atkins Farms pumpkin pie, I thought making a pumpkin soup would be a good place to start. Here's the ingredients.

1 cooking pumpkin
3 carrots
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
Sriracha
Salt
1 tbsp butter
5 cups of chicken stock
1/4 cup milk or lactaid

Peel the carrots and cut them into big pieces. Cut the pumpkin into big chunks and roast them in the oven at 350 degrees with the 3 peeled garlic cloves and carrots for 30 minutes.

Dice 1 onion and sweat them with some oil and salt to taste. Add the butter, chicken stock and roasted veggies. Bring it to a boil and then simmer for 25-30 minutes. Turn off the heat and puree in a blender or use a hand-held blender. I prefer the hand-held blender, since I don't have to transfer the soup. Once the soup is blended, you can add 1/4 cup of milk or heavy cream. It's optional, but it does add some richness to the soup. Let it simmer for 10 minutes and serve.

Tonight I served it with my Turmeric Vanilla loaf. Both the soup and bread were orange color. Surprisingly, the turmeric vanilla loaf complemented the soup perfectly.

Orange Mango Cinnamon Loaf

This recipe is a variation on my orange cinnamon loaf. I was curious to see how it would taste with more cinnamon and orange juice. I know that cinnamon is sometimes paired with mango, so I thought maybe orange mango juice would go well with cinnamon.

3 cups All purpose flour
1/2 tsp yeast
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1.5 cups Florida natural orange mango juice

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and stir until it's mixed. Heat 1.5 cups of Florida natural orange mango juice in the microwave for 30-45 seconds. You want it to be warm, not cold. Pour the juice into the flour mixture and stir until it forms a wet dough.

Let the dough rise over night. For into a loaf and let it rest for 45-60 minutes. In the meantime heat your dutch oven at 500 degrees. Bake the loaf at 500 degrees covered for 30 minutes. If you like a hearty crust, bake uncovered for 5-10 minutes.

When it is done, let it rest for 30 minutes before eating. What does it taste like? Since it has more cinnamon than my orange cinnamon loaf, you can smell the cinnamon right off. The orange flavor is present, but not overwhelming. The mango flavor is subtle and isn't immediately obvious. The cinnamon enhances and changes the mango flavor. I like to slice it up and spread some cream cheese on it. Tastes savory and yummy.

Gooey chocolate chip cookies

Tomorrow is Covac century with the guys and I decided to make some treats for after the ride. Last year was a lot of fun and we averaged over 21mph. I did some googling and saw lots of different recipes for gooey chocolate chip cookie. This is my own variation based on several that I saw.

Ingredients
1 1/2 sticks of butter
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups King Arthur all purpose flour
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Before you start mixing the ingredients, preheat your oven at 375.

1. 30 minutes before you're gonna bake, take out the butter and let it get to room temperature

2. Using a spoon or spatula cream the butter. Add the brown sugar and stir until well mixed.

3. add egg and vanilla and mix for 2-3 minutes

4. add flour, cornstarch, baking soda, salt and mix

5. when the flour is thoroughly mixed, add the chocolate chips and fold. I prefer dark chocolate chips, since it has less sugar. Use what ever chocolate you like most.

6. line your baking sheet with parchment paper

7. make golf ball size ball of dough and press it lightly on the baking sheet. You want the cookies to be thick, so they stay soft

8. bake for 10 minutes. You want the bottom edge to be brown, but the top should be white.

When they're done, remove them to a cooking rack and let them rest for 15 minutes before eating. Get yourself a glass of milk or lactaid to go with the cookies.

Banana nut no-knead bread

3 ripe bananas
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp yeast
3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup warm water
1 tsp salt

Mash the bananas. Add sugar, salt and yeast. Give it a quick stir and add 3 cups of all purpose flour + walnuts. Add 1 tsp vanilla to 1 cup of warm water. Pour the water into flour and mix until you get a wet no-knead dough.

After 12 hours, form the dough into a loaf and let it rise for 45-60 minutes.

While the loaf is rising, preheat your dutch oven at 500 degrees. Bake the loaf covered in the dutch oven for 30 minutes.

Orange cinnamon quick bread

Last nite as I was falling asleep, I thought about what to make for breakfast. At first I thought about making a carrot bread, but changed my mind. Instead I figure I'd play with the orange cinnamon idea and make a quick bread.

1.5 cups kamut flour or all purpose
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp butter
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven at 375 degrees.

Combine eggs, honey, orange juice, water, and butter. Stir until it's mixed. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Mix and then add the wet mixture. Fold the mixture until it's combined, but don't over mix.

Pour the mixture into a oiled loaf pan and bake for 35 minutes.

Let it rest for 10 minutes before serving. The flavor combination sounds odd and weird, but it is surprisingly good. My kids asked "what flavor is it?" I didn't tell them and asked them to guess. Some of the guesses were lemon, lime, pumpkin, and zucchini. It really doesn't taste like orange or cinnamon, which makes me smile. Even though I use the same amount of cinnamon as my cinnamon raisen loaf, you don't consciously taste it. Something about the combination of orange and cinnamon transforms the flavor of both.