The Mennobrarian

A Few Favorite Fall Recipes

12:34, Thursday, October 30, 2008 .. Posted in Recipes .. 1 comments .. Link

My mother is always e-mailing me recipes, especially pumpkin ones at this time of year. What is funny is that most aren't recipes that she has actually made, or is even requesting that I make them, but are just ones she thinks "look good" and so she passes them on to me. Last week it was a pumpkin bread pudding recipe, that turned out to be a saving grace in the face of some almost stale, crusty bread I wanted to use.

PUMPKIN BREAD PUDDING
1 cup heavy cream (3/4 cup milk plus 1/3 cup butter as substitute)
3/4 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs plus 1 yolk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
Pinch of ground cloves
5 cups cubed (1-inch) day-old baguette or crusty bread
3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.

Whisk together cream, pumpkin, milk, sugar, eggs, yolk, salt, and spices in a bowl.

Toss bread cubes with butter in another bowl, then add pumpkin mixture and toss to coat. Transfer to an ungreased 8-inch square baking dish and bake until custard is set, 25 to 30 minutes.

To be fair, the same night I also made some pumpkin bars that did not turn out at all. Bar cookies are always a challenge to me, so it's hard to tell if the recipe was just bad or whether it was something I did. Anyway, the "bars" ended up as a big pumpkin pudding. Of course, it tastes good anyway.

My favorite side dish during this time of year is Roasted Grapes with thyme and honey. This is so delicious served with meat, and so fast and easy to make. Not to mention, it makes good use of all the seasonal seedless red grapes that are on sale right now:

1 pound red seedless grapes, rinsed and stems removed
1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, stems removed (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 Tablespoon honey

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, gently mix the grapes with the olive oil, fresh thyme leaves, salt and pepper. Arrange the grape mixture on a large baking sheet in a single layer. Don't overcrowd the grapes on the sheet.

Bake the grapes at 400 degrees F, shaking the baking sheet occasionally until the skins begin to split, about 15 to 18 minutes. Remove the grapes from the oven and drizzle them with the honey. Serve the grapes immediately or let them stand at room temperature until you're ready to serve them.

Autumn musings

02:30, Friday, September 19, 2008 .. Posted in Recipes .. 1 comments .. Link

"Your toes are going to freeze today," said my friend as she glanced down at my summer-worn sandals.

"It's still summer!" I reminded her, and lifted a box of Jonagold apples into the trunk of my car, an action and item which of course practically invalidated my point.

We agreed that, it is still officially summer, and we are both stubborn enough to hang on to every last ounce of our favorite season. But as I let go of carefree sunny days, garden hoses, flip-flops, and a million other warm weather things worth loving, I make a good-faith effort to retune my senses. I will try to be grateful that, at least, cooler weather gives us a time to slow down and spend more time getting things done indoors. And lets face it, it's only another three months before seed catalogs start filling the mail box again.

Here are some minor (yet important) things I'd like to accomplish this Fall. Maybe some of you can find common ground with this list:

Make a cup of hot tea, sit down, and drink it while reading something.
Reorganize the pantry (really just some shelves in the kitchen) and the kitchen cabinets.
Sew at least one new dress for winter.
Make jelly for Christmas gifts.
Return the phone calls of out of state family members who called me back in August to wish me a happy birthday and never got a return call. (partially because we were so busy, and partially because I dislike talking on the phone. It is much more likely I will send you a note rather than call you.)
Go back to practicing my Bible memory verses more consistently.
Enjoy our new wood stove, which is all ready for pick up, and we hope to get out there in the next few weeks to get it and bring it home.
Spread some wildflower seeds and plant some daffodil bulbs.
Give that stove one last thorough scrub down when the bulk canning is done.

Last night, after accidentally greasing the wrong sized pan, I decided to use the pan for making Apple Goodie. There is nothing better this time of year than a warm apple dessert. My recipe is a slightly modified version that comes from the good old Mennonite Community cookbook. This is a close copy:

Ingredients:

1/2 c. sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 qt. sliced apples

Mix together sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon and apples. Press into a cake pan.

Topping:

1 c. oatmeal
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. flour
1/4 tsp. soda
1/3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. butter

Mix dry ingredients and cut in butter. Put on top. Bake at 350° until nice and brown. Serve warm with ice cream.

Raisin Pie

11:02, Friday, March 28, 2008 .. Posted in Recipes .. 4 comments .. Link

My Grandparent's generation called it "funeral pie" since it always appeared at funerals, likely because it can be made on a moment's notice since it uses things common to a lot of pantries. Since it was always appearing at funerals, no one bothered to make it at any other time. You knew two things in life were certain: Death, and raisin pie at the funeral.

1/2 cup sugar
2 T cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup water
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/4 cup sorghum or molasses
1 T lemon juice
2 tsp. butter
1 and 1/2 cup raisins

Combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a saucepan. Stir in water, corn syrup, and molasses or sorghum until blended. Add raisins. Bring to a boil, then cook while stirring for just a couple minutes until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and butter. Add filling to unbaked pie shell, and cover with top crust. Don't forget to cut vents in your top crust. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 375 for about 30 minutes. Let cool.

I love lemons

03:09, Tuesday, February 5, 2008 .. Posted in Recipes .. 7 comments .. Link

Don’t you just love lemons? So fresh, so wholesome, so clean.

My friend was paging through a decorating book and asked me if I had lemons in my kitchen. Well, there is one rind-less lemon hardening in a plastic container in the fridge. That wasn’t what she meant. She was, of course, envisioning one of those decorative bowls of perfectly shaped lemons sitting on the counter, just waiting for some nationally acclaimed home and garden magazine to come photograph them. We shared a good laugh. I pointed out that lemons would take up precious space, and besides, they are eighty-nine cents each. She sighed and pointed out that you buy fake ones. She said they have fake ones that even smell like lemon.

Oh, stop. Now I never would have thought of that.

Anyway, I had been intending to do a post pointing out all of the great things lemons (real ones) have to offer, such as all of their deodorizing and cleaning abilities. Back when I lived some place that had a garbage disposal (now those were the days!) it was the occasional frozen slice of lemon that kept it clean and fresh. More commonly I use it for whitening in laundry, cleaning the cutting board (we are onion-intensive) and keeping guacamole green. Supposedly, lemon juice also repels ants if you rub the juice all over the doorways and toss some slices outside the front and back doors. Come ant-season, I’ll be desperate enough to try it.

But my favorite thing to do with lemon is make this easy no-bake pie, which is just delicious. My husband, who likes tart things, finds it tart enough, while my preference for things to taste sweeter are met with it. Also, you can take the leftover lemon and place it in a dish to make your refrigerator perfectly odorless!

Easy Lemon Pie

1 cup sugar

3 ½ T cornstarch

1 cup milk

3 egg yolks

Grated rind of one lemon

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

¼ cup butter

1 cup sour cream

Combine sugar and cornstarch in pan. Add milk. Beat egg yolks, then whisk into pan with the sugar/starch/milk mix. Add lemon juice and rind. Cook over medium heat until thick. Add butter, and cool. When completely cool, stir in sour cream and pour into baked pie shell. Tastes great with or without whip cream, and can be dressed up with lemon twists.

Smells like winter

09:27, Saturday, January 26, 2008 .. Posted in Recipes .. 3 comments .. Link

I love this muffin recipe. It smells so good coming out of the oven, and I like that it gives you the opportunity to cook something once, and then eat it two different ways. In this case, sweet potatoes. Just make them along with dinner and reserve one to mash up and use to make this muffin treat:

1 3/4 cups all-purp flour
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

3/4 cup mashed cooked sweet potato, cooled
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
3 Tablespoons canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375. Coat your muffin pans with no-stick spray. Mix your dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl stir together the eggs, potato, milk, oil, and vanilla. Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients and add the milk mixture. Stir just to combine. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Love that gingery sweet-potato smell!