The Dead Game!

Check out my Mom's blog for a frightful delight!
The Dead Game, where the dead walk at night.
Check it out HERE

Pumpkin Biscotti

It’s almost Thanksgiving, and this weekend I did a bit more pumpkin baking.  I baked pumpkin bread to bring to the Thanksgiving meal, chocolate scones for snacks for the week {I will share my recipe adaptation to my pumpkin scones hopefully later this week} and my new obsession, pumpkin biscotti.

It’s still fall here, but it is undeniable that winter is approaching.  As I was baking, grey clouds crept across the sky, and the chilly wind was howling outside my window scaring the leaves right off the trees.  This is the kind of weather where you just want to stay in, snuggled under a warm blanket with hot cocoa and some freshly baked biscotti. What else?

My biscotti are packed with flavor and hints of warm spices, and great for dipping!  

While in the oven, they made the house feel so warming and rustic.

My recipe is very adaptable, swap out the pumpkin puree for chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit, or any other flavor you are craving.

Baking Tip: When swapping out the pumpkin puree, use less flour as it will be drying without the moist pumpkin puree.  When making my chocolate chip biscotti, I used 2 cups of flour instead of 2 ½ cups.

What you will need:

2 1/2 cups of flour

1 cup of sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Pinch of salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 cup of pumpkin purée

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl add flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, and spices.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, pumpkin purée, and vanilla extract.

Pour the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture.  Give it a quick stir to incorporate all of the ingredients, the dough will be a little crumbly.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Form the dough into a long log, roughly 16 inches long by 6 inches wide.  The log should be relatively flat, only about ½ inch high, otherwise you will have really big sliced of biscotti. 

Baked for 20-25 minutes at 350°F, until the center is firm to the touch.

You can also make two smaller logs for mini bite-size biscotti, just cut the baking time down to 15-20 minutes.

Let biscotti cool for 15 minutes.  Use a serrated knife cut the log into 1 inch wide pieces. 

Turn the oven to 300°F and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool completely.

Biscotti may be still be a little moist and chewy, so if you prefer it crisp let it sit uncovered overnight in a dry space.

Enjoy!

Crockpot Chicken Stoup

What is a stoup you may ask? It is not quite a stew, but thicker than just a regular soup. Thus the T placed oh so nicely in the middle of the soup to represent its thick yummy goodness!  Sure to warm your body as it starts getting colder out!

I came up with my version of a stoup from an adaptation that my mother would make growing up and my father’s cholent {Jewish meat and bean stew, literally everything but the kitchen sink} he would make for holidays.  My stoup is super thick, creamy, and just what the doctor ordered for the cold season.

During the week I tend to be a very lazy cook.  I always try to find ways to make the quickest dinner when I come home from work, while still being able to go to the gym and do whatever else needs to be done.  That is where my stoup comes in.

I prepare my stoup the night before we plan to devour it {ahem, I mean my husband does.} Then the next morning before I leave for work, I just take it out of the fridge, set, and forget.  Then, right when you walk in, BAM you smell it!  I don’t think our dog likes it very much, being stuck with this smell all day and not being able to have some.  But, we add the cow knuckles just for him, and that keeps him occupied for hours!

The photo really does not do this stoup justice, but I was in a rush to snap one before it was all eaten up!

What you will need:

Chicken- as much or as little as you would like, and any part of the chicken bone/boneless

Beef bones- for a richer flavor, and so our dog gets to take part in this

1 onion

4 potatoes

1 cup baby carrots

2 tomatoes

1 scallion stalk

1 cup barley pre soaked

1 cup kidney beans pre soaked

1 head of broccoli (I use the stem as well)

1 cup mushrooms

4-6 cups good H2O

Seasonings:

½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. cajon seasoning

3 tsps. garlic powder

3 tsps. paprika

2 tsp. onion powder

½ tsp. ground black pepper

1 tsp. ground tumeric

The first thing you want to do is to start soaking your beans and barley, each in a glass of water.  Even though everything is going to be cooking all day in water, for some reason if I forget to soak them before they are always crunchy! {not what you want} So this step is crucial to your bean consistency.

Grease the bottom of the crockpot, I swear cleanup is so much easier after.

Dice up your potatoes, add to the crock.

Next, dice up your scallion, carrots, and tomatoes and dump them on top of the potatoes.

Next up, the onions and mushrooms!  Onions always make my eyes tear beyond belief, so I started to wear my swimming goggles while dealing with them.  Not the most attractive, but boy do they really work!

For my broccoli, I use both the head and long stem.  Usually I just toss the huge stem, but that is the bulk of the broccoli when you buy it. So I just went all in and decided to throw it in my stoup.  Once cooked, it sort of has the consistency of a parsnip or a potato and takes on the flavors of the rest of the ingredients.

Any part of the chicken will do.  If using boneless chicken breast {was on sale that day} dice it up. Another time I made this; whole chickens were on sale, so I just cut the chicken up in eighths. I find that the whole chicken works best for the flavor of the stoup.

I also added 2 cow knuckles {found them totally by accident in the stew section of my grocer’s meat dep’t} which gives my stoup a richer, heartier flavor.  

Once you have all of your veggies and protein in the crock, add your seasonings, and as much or as little of your sauces you would like.  For my sauces I really didn’t measure them, but I used roughly ¼ cup of each.

Next, add your soaked beans and barley to the mix.

If you are going to start cooking your stoup now, add your 4-6 cups of good H2O. {enough to fill your crock just about to the top}

Or, if you are preparing this the night before like I did, just cover with your crock lid and leave in the fridge overnight.  This also allows all of the spices and sauces to merry together with all the veggies and chicken.

Then, in the morning add your water and set to low and forget.

12 hours later it looks like this.  You can cook for less time on a higher setting, but I am gone for 12 hours, so I just set it on low for that time.

This one crock lasted us all week! 

If you don’t want to use it all at once, wait for it to cool and transfer to freezer-safe containers or Ziploc bags.

Another way to serve this stoup, boil up some of your favorite noodles, drain.

Add some of your stoup to your drained noodle pot, and reheat. If you want more of a chicken noodle soup consistency, add some more water while it is heating up. Voila! Chicken noodle soup!

Enjoy!

Guilt Free Apple Crisps

The weekends are my typical DIY/bake/try.something.new days {and where we try to clean up the house!}  So this weekend I was going through the fridge to see what looks like it needed to be eaten/cooked ASAP or what needed to be thrown out like yesterday! I stumbled upon two lonely apples in the back of the fridge {like the kids who get picked last in dodge ball in school} that we had forgotten about from apple picking a few weeks back. 

These two apples still looked fresh and delicious, ready to eat. I decided to do something different with them. I absolutely love apple chips, but they are usually the cost of a pound of apples for a small 1 ounce bag, so I attempted to make my own. I mean, how hard could it be? They were actually quite easy to make, and make a great healthy snack alternative while satisfying my sweet tooth without the guilt! 

What you will need: 

1 tablespoon granulated sugar or vanilla sugar 

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

2 apples 

 Heat oven to 250 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. 

 In a small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon. Wash apples. Using a mandoline or sharp knife, slice apples and pears about 1/8 inch thick. Arrange slices in a single layer on baking sheets. Sprinkle the spiced sugar evenly over apple slices. 

 Bake for 1 hour, then flip over and sprinkle more spiced sugar on other side. Continue to bake until slices appear dry, around another 30 to 40 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave apple crisps in for another hour. This step will dry the slices even more and help them get crunchy. 

 At this point the whole house smelled absolutely A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! The aroma of the baked apples and strong cinnamon flavor with the sweetness of the sugar, really made it feel like Fall in the house! 

 Store apple crisps at room temperature in an airtight container. I chose a mason jar, since those really seal well, and you can see the beautiful color and texture of the crisps.

Enjoy!

Dreamy Pumpkin Bread

Have I said lately how much I love pumpkin? In case you missed it…I LOVE PUMPKIN! I don’t think I will ever get sick of it.

With that said, I want to share my pumpkin bread recipe. It started out as my banana bread recipe when I first made it a few years ago. This weekend a light bulb went off in my head as I was trying to think of new ways to incorporate pumpkin in my life….I can substitute mashed bananas for my pumpkin puree! I absolutely love Starbucks pumpkin bread, but at $2.25 a slice and some 300+ calories later I always regret it. My version has less than half the calories per slice and I can eat it more often {more pumpkin=more happy.} 

What you will need:

1 ½ cups flour
1 ¼ tsps. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. salt
2 slightly beaten egg whites
1 cup pumpkin puree
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup canola oil
Nonstick spray
8x4x2” Loaf pan

 
In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

In a large mixing bowl whisk together egg whites, pumpkin, sugar, and oil. 

Stir flour mixture into pumpkin mixture until well incorporated.

Liberally spray a loaf pan with nonstick spray {you do not want your bread to stick to the pan, so really spray it!} Spread batter into pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let the bread cool in the loaf pan for 10 minutes to set up. It was so hard not to take it out and have a taste of it at this point!

Remove from the pan and let cool thoroughly. Wrap in plastic wrap for storing.

Enjoy!

Thankful Pumpkin Pie

Thanksgiving is coming in just over 2 short weeks! What better way to get in the spirit {and tune out the way too early Christmas music} than getting the house to smell like warm spices and homemade pumpkin pie. I spent a good part of the weekend baking and DIY-ing cheap thrift store finds {which I will share within my next few posts}

I always make 2 pies at a time and freeze one for the next week {such a time saver.}

What you will need:

2 cups of pumpkin puree {recipe here} or canned pumpkin puree

1 ½ cup heavy cream or 1 12 oz. can of evaporated milk

½ cup packed dark brown sugar

¼ cup flour

2 eggs plus yolk of a 3^rd egg

2 tsps. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. ground nutmeg

½ tsp. salt

2 good graham cracker crusts {or any good crust of your liking, I personally like the texture of the graham crumbs against the smooth pumpkin filling}

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugars, salt, and spices.

Beat the 2 eggs and yolk of a 3^rd egg in a separate bowl, then incorporate into the dry ingredients bowl.

Stir in the pumpkin puree.  Stir in the cream/milk.  Whisk the whole mixture together until well incorporated.

Pour half the mixture in each pie crust.

Optional- add some brown sugar crumbles to the tops of each pie for a more caramelized coating.

Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes, reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake another 40-50 minutes, or test readiness by inserting a toothpick {if it comes out clean, it’s ready!}

Let cool for 2 hours.

Enjoy!

Bakery Hack ~ Pumpkin Scones

I know what you’re thinking, scones sound so fancy and foreign they must include tons of ingredients and a thousand steps to the finish line…That’s what I thought as well when I first heard them…Well I was completely WRONG! They are actually quite simple and require only a few ingredients that you probably already have.

I also wanted to prove to my husband that they are dirt cheap to make, so I calculated the cost of my ingredients used per batch, it came to roughly $3 for a batch of 8 scones…that’s only 38 cents per scone! WHOA!! Bakeries charge like $4 a pop, they ain’t going to fool me twice!

Printable Recipe

What you will need:

½ cup packed light brown sugar

2 tsps. baking powder

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

½ tsp. salt

2 to 2 ½ cups flour, plus more for dusting

6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

½ cup roasted pumpkin puree {recipe here}, or canned pumpkin puree

1 large egg

½ cup milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a medium bowl combine the dry ingredients; sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

If using roasted pumpkin {recipe here}, add 2 ¼ cups of the flour; if using canned pumpkin puree, add 2 cups of the flour.

Cut in the butter into the dry ingredients using a bowl scraper until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.

In a separate bowl combine the wet ingredients; the pumpkin, egg, and milk.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet mixture. Fold until just combined. (If using roasted pumpkin you may need to add up to ¼ cup more flour to prevent sticking.)

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Form into a flat disc, about 8 inches wide. Cut the disc like a pie into 8 pieces and place on a parchment-lined sheet.

Bake until golden brown, roughly 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet.

Enjoy!