Pumpkin Bread

15 ounce can pumpkin
4 eggs
1 cup oil
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup milk
3 1/2 cups flour
2 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1 1/2 t nutmeg
1 t cloves
1/2 t ginger

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour 3 small pans or 2 regular pans.

In large bowl mix together the eggs and sugar until light yellow. Add the pumpkin, sour cream & milk and mix well. Add the oil and mix well. Mix in the soda and salt. Then the spices. Add the flour one cup at a time, only mixing until just blended.

Pour into pans. Cook the smaller pans for 50 minutes and the regular pans for one hour.

Notes: I love this bread a little warm with cream cheese frosting on it. I also make a compound butter bay taking a stick of butter 1 T cinnamon and 2 T sugar and mixing well and chilling. Spread that on the warm butter is wonderful also!

French Onion Soup

3 T butter
3 pounds yellow onions, sliced
1 t sugar
2 T flour
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups beef broth
2 T dry white wine
2 T brandy
1 1/2 t dijon mustard
4 1/2 inch thick french bread slices
4 slices swiss cheese
4 slices mozzarella cheese

Melt butter in heavy large pan over medium heat. Add the onions, sugar and pinch of salt. Stir well. Cover and cook until onions are very soft (20-30 minutes), stirring occassionally. Uncover and increase heat to high. Saute until onions are golden brown, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle flour and stir for 2 minutes, until well mixed. Add the wine & brandy and scrape the bottom of the pot (all the good stuff is stuck there!) Add the broths and mustard. Salt & pepper to taste. Bring to a biol, stirring frequently. Cover and cook on low heat for 20 minutes.

Toast the slices of bread. Pre-heat the broiler. Ladle soup into deep broilerproof bowls. Top soup with 1 slice of bread and 1 slice of each cheese. Broil until cheese melts and begins to brown.

Notes: Perfect with a green salad and a nice glass of wine on a cold evening. Can you feel fall approaching?

Fried Raviloi

1 package ravioli with any kind of filling
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups italian bread crumbs
olive oil
marinara sauce
parmsean cheese

Heat about 1 inch of oil in a pan to medium heat. To test the heat, a 1 inch pice of bread should toast lightly in 1 minute. Dip the ravioli in the buttermilk then in the bread crumbs making sure they're coated well. Dip all the ravioli at once and set aside. Start frying6-7 at a time. 1 to 1 1/2 minutes on one side then filp and the same on the other side. Take out of the oil and lay on papertowels to drain. Immediately sprinkle with parm cheese. Serve with marinara sauce.

Notes: This was really really good. I'm assuming that it's really bad for you though! I can't wait to try it with different kinds of ravioli.

I love my little garden. Although it's had some tough times this year, there are still some good tomatoes out there. And my favorite thing to do with fresh tomatoes is to make marinara sauce. And with this I have to tell you that I am very much a "throw it in until it looks right" kind of cook. I add and taste until it suits my taste. So this receive is as close as I can come to writing it down.

marinara

4 cups of chopped tomatoes
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3/4 cup pitted kalamata olives
2 T rinsed capers
1/2 cup red wine - nothing too fruity
1 green pepper, diced
2 T mined fresh basil
1 T minced fresh oregano
salt & pepper

1/2 pound any pasta, cooked for 3 minutes less than the package recommends

In a large non stick frying pan on medium heat, add 2 T good olive oil. Add the peppers and the onions and cook for 1 minute. Add the garlic and cook for 2-3 more minutes until the peppers and onions start to become soft. Season with salt & pepper. Add the tomatoes (carefully) and stir. Cook for 5 minutes stirring several times so the tomatoes don't burn. Add the wine, capers and olives. Cook for 5 minutes. Immediately add the cooked pasta and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the fresh herbs and salt & pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Notes: I sometimes start the pan off with sliced hot italian sausage and fry that until it's cooked through. Then I take it out of the pan and start the sauce. When I add the wine, capers & olives I add the sausage back in. It also works well with chicken.

Garlic Bread

1 loaf italian bread
1 large head of garlic
1/2 cup soft butter
olive oil
1 T fresh italian parsley
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Done ahead of time: Heat oven to 375. Cut the top 1/2 inch off the whole head of garlic. Toss the top. Make a foil pouch to hold the head of garlic. Pour 1 T olive oil in the garlic. Season with salt & pepper and close the pouch. Bake for 1 hour. Pull it out and let it cook for 2 hours. Note: your whole house will smell like garlic, but it's good!

When ready to make the bread, slice the loaf at about 3/4 inch, somewhat on the diagonal to make the pieces bigger. Line up the sliced as one loaf on a sheet of foil big enough to go around the whole loaf. Take the cooled head of garlic and squeeze out the individual cloves. They will be soft & mushy and easy to get out of the head. Mash those in a bowl. Add the soft butter, herbs, salt & pepper and cheese. Spread the slices of bread with the mixture and wrap up the loaf well. Put back into the 375 degree oven for 20 minutes or until the bread is warmed through. YUM!

Taco Soup

1 pound ground beef
1/2 pound chirizo, taken out of the casing
1 onion, diced and put into 2 equal piles
1 can black beans
1 can chili beans
1 can corn
1 can diced tomatoes for chili or rotel tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes
8 ounces tomato sauce
8 counces water (or more)
4 ounce can diced chilis
2 packages taco season mix
1 can sliced black olives
1/2 cup sliced green olives

green onions, cilantro, tortilla chips, sour cream, shredded cheese to top it

In large crockpot, empty all the cans of items. Add the liquid with all the items also. Add the water. Stir in the olives, 1 packet of taco seasoning and 1 pile of onions. In fry pan, add the ground beef & chirizo, breaking up as it cooks. When it's half way cooked, add one of the piles of diced onion and 1 package of the taco seasoning. When it's cooked through, add it to the crockpot.

Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours. You can add more or less water to make it more like a soup or stew. Serve with cilantro, diced green onions, broken tortilla chips, sour cream and cheese.

Notes: Now that the weather is not so hot, I'm really craving crock pot meals again. As evidenced byt he last 2 entires! You can take the leftovers of this an freeze them for a later date. It's also really good if you use a slotted spoon to scoop out the mixture and add to soft taco shells.

Crock-Pot Stroganoff

1 pound lean stew meat cut into chunks
1 medium onion, diced fine
2 cloves garlic, diced fine
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 basket baby bella mushrooms
1 can golden cream of mushroom soup
2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup plus 1/2 cup white wine
1 cup low sodium beef broth
4 ounces cream cheese

2 T flour
1 T of your favorite steak grill seasoning
salt & pepper

In a 2 quart or larger crockpot, add the soup the beef broth, 1/2 cup wine and the worcestershire sauce on low.

Heat a medium sized pan over medium heat with 1 T olive oil. In the quart sized bag, add the flour and the seasonings. Put all the meat in the bag and toss until the pieces are well coated. Take the piece of meat out, leaving the excess flour in the bag. Sear the outsides of the pieces of meat for 1-2 minutes on each side. When all sides are brown, add to the crock pot.

Place the pan on the heat again, this time low to medium heat and add 1 T oil. When hot, add the onions then the garlic. Sweat the two until the onions are translucent. Turn heat up to medium high and add 1/2 cup wine. Scrape the bottom of the pan with a spoon to get all the bits loose into the liquid. Simmer for 3-4 minutes stirring freqently. Add this mixture to the crockpot.

Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours.

Then add the cleaned, sliced mushrooms and cook on low for 1 hour. Check the liquid. If it's getting too thick, add more beef broth.

Cut the 4 ounces cream cheese into a small dice and add one at a time to the crockpot. Stir several times to make sure the cheese is mixed in well. Cover and cook on low for 30 minutes. Don't cook much longer as the cheese will begin to break down and separate.

NOTES:
The cheese acks as a thickener much like the typical sour cream does.
You can also use red wine instead of white wine to give the stroganoff a more beef burgandy flavor.
If you don't want to add the wine, use all beef broth.
Serve over mashed potatoes, egg noodle or rice.

I am constantly trying new recipes. I get them from cookbooks, friends, the internet, my internet friends. I thought I needed a place to start documenting my recipes.