Something About Pumpkins

What is it about Pumpkins?

Is it because it's SEASONAL that we like them so much?  At our house, we are into them. I love to look at them,  decorate with them, carve them, bake with them, cook with them, even drink them!

And pumpkin stuff only comes once a year...it's an Autumn tradition!

I think we connect pumpkins with the turning of colorful leaves, the cooling weather, pulling out sweaters, and anticipating the holidays.  

kind of fuzzy photo of the cool pumpkin branches
at Trader Joes

The other day, I walked into Trader Joe's and saw these Mini Pumpkin Branches.  How terrific are they?! I wish I had an event to justify purchasing them for an arrangement!  They are real (though they look almost fictional).  In addition to these beauties,  there was a food rack with all manner of pumpkin items including: pumpkin butter, pumpkin spice bread mix, pumpkin spiced tea, and even pumpkin spice granola.

The farmer's market is brimming with pumpkins, gourds, squashes and mums...of all shapes and sizes.

And then, there are Pumpkin Spice Lattes.  I imagine they top the list of Pumpkin Favorites for most people.

On September 4th, Starbucks sent out the word (via signs, tweets, etc.) that Pumpkin Spice Lattes were back.  I think for some people, this announcement meant that the season of autumn officially began.  People flooded the stores evidently, because the news reported last month that the onslaught of customers caused a shortage of Pumpkin Spice Syrup at many Starbucks stores. Customers were despairing!

The Jam's Pumpkin Pie Latte

My friend Melissa sent an Instagram of the Pumpkin Pie Latte that she had at the Jam (a local coffee/tea shop near Belmont) a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't get it out of my mind.   I made my way there a few days later and the sign on the counter said, "Pumpkin Pie Lattes are back: Made with Real Pumpkin...Epic".  I have to agree.  Theirs are EPIC.






Last fall, my friend, Sharon, made  pumpkin syrup for some home-made lattes at a gathering and it was delicious! I was inspired to try to make some myself, so I started digging around on Pinterest to find a recipe for homemade Pumpkin Coffee Syrup. I found a lovely one on Annie's Eats (always a lovely BLOG to peruse).  I made a batch, tried it out, approved it, and then filled a glass bottle with it to give as  an October birthday gift.

I made a latte for Asher, at his passionate request, who loves a coffee drink whenever he's "allowed".  He gave it a thumbs up.  (Of course he loved the whip and extra pumpkin pie spice sprinkled on top!)

Pumpkin Spice Syrup

borrowed from Annie’s Eats

1½ cups water


1½ cups sugar


4 cinnamon sticks


1 tsp. ground nutmeg


½ tsp. ground ginger


½ tsp. ground cloves


3 tbsp. pumpkin puree

Combine the water and sugar in a medium saucepan and heat over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has completely dissolved.  Toss in the cinnamon sticks and whisk in the remaining spices and the pumpkin puree.  Continue to cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, without letting the mixture come to a boil.  Remove from the heat and allow it to cool for 10-15 minutes. (Annie says to strain syrup through fine mesh, but I didn’t have to do so). Pour in your container of choice.  Store in the refrigerator.

To make a pumpkin spice latte: combine 2 ounces of hot coffee or 1 shot of hot espresso (about 1-1½ ounces) with 5-6 ounces of steamed low-fat milk.  Stir in 1½-2 tablespoons of the pumpkin spice syrup.  Taste and adjust amounts accordingly.  Top as desired with freshly whipped cream, ground cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice. (You can even drizzle with caramel sauce)!

(If you need a jar and you live in Nashville, my husband would love for you to have one of our jars.  I have a thing about keeping jars for repurposing, and the space under the kitchen sink is teeming with them!)

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October
O hushed October morning mild, 
thy leaves have ripened to the fall; 
Tomorrow’s wind, 
if it be wild, 
Should waste them all. 
The crows above the forest call; 
tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild, 
begin the hours of this day slow, 
make the day seem to us less brief...
 - Robert Frost

(thanks to Margaret for this beautiful excerpt 
that you shared this week via your blog... I just had to pass it along)

In Memory of My Beloved 3rd Grade Teacher

This week I got the news that my beloved 3^rd grade teacher, Mrs. Stookbury, died after a valiant fight with cancer.  It saddens my soul that this bright shining light in the world has passed on.  I know her family and close friends must be aching with loss.  I heard that her last months were painful and debilitating.  And in light of this fact, I am glad that she no longer has to suffer.  I'm so thankful that I got to be one of her many, many students in her years as an educator.

I have been thinking about her all day.  I have only fond memories of her.

She was SUNSHINE at Sequoyah Elementary School.  She was an ANCHOR in my childhood.

Mrs. Katherine Stooksbury

Now that I am a mom and have had children this age, I feel even more indebted to Mrs. Stooksbury.  What a significant influence teachers are in the lives of children!!  

Chicken Bryan A.K.A. a party in your mouth

At the beginning of my blogging adventure, two years ago, I wrote about a tradition of ours called "The Celebration of Daves". It's a celebration meal honoring Dave Hunt and David Thomas – two incredible, food-loving men, prepared by their food-loving, food-preparing wives.  This tradition has stood the test of time.  (We think it's been about 14 years). The four of us (David, Connie, Dave and I) are all highly motivated to continue this sweet annual ritual. We love this tradition because it is food and friends, period. We don't get to spend much time together, especially as couples.  And we all love good food, so this dinner is one we cherish and anticipate all year long.

connie and me a decade ago
aproned and cooking for the
Celebration of Daves

(In addition, Connie and I love to work together in the kitchen and it's such a rare treat).  We most often hold this celebration in late July or early August.  However, this year, with schedules and an early start to school, we just finally had our dinner last week!


When Connie and I were on the phone discussing menu options, we were tired and stumped about what to make.  We decided to ask our honorees if they had any requests.  When I asked Dave, he said, "Oh, it doesn't matter!" and then, "What about Chicken Bryan?"  I said, "Oh that would be delicious and special, however, it requires grilling, which I fear will be tricky for us to pull off with all of the rest of the cooking inside without someone to monitor the grill."  (I wanted to protect him from managing the grill on his birthday celebration meal.)

A Girl in love with Puppies!

Our friend Amy has been talking to our kids about getting a dog for years!  I remember her telling Lucy that she was going to get a dog sometime and Lucy took that as, "Amy's getting us a dog".  How do you break the news to a 3 year old that that dog will be Amy's dog not her dog?  That was a couple of years ago.  There has been countless online searching for dogs, video watching of dogs (on Amy's iphone), dreaming about "the day", thinking about breeds and sizes and colors and names.  Ironically, since the beginning of this Amy-dog pursuit, we got our first family dog, Scout, and have entered the world of dog-love.  So, the time finally came for Amy and her sister, Ashley, to get that long-sought after puppy.

They found the breeder and decided on the dog, and then we all waited for this puppy to enter the neighborhood.  Amy decided on the name Patsy Cline for her girl Golden Doodle puppy. It really is the perfect name.  Amy, lover of country music, farm girl at heart, clever in all she does, named her puppy Patsy Cline.  Well, Lucy had to have a quick education about this name sake.  So one Sunday afternoon, we had a Patsy Cline YouTube overview and spent some time seeing, hearing, and singing some Patsy.  Lucy studied her outfit and tried to replicate it.  She began to dream about the day she and Patsy would meet.

Anniversary Lemon Berry Poundcake

My husband and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary last week.

I have never been good at keeping up with people's anniversaries, celebrating people's anniversaries, (even my parents), or even doing a great job with my own anniversary-honoring.




However, there have been a couple of people in my history who have honored my anniversary in really special ways.  On our 2nd anniversary, our friend, Candy, left a gift on the door step of our house to help us celebrate our anniversary.  It was a Scrabble game and a handmade "Anniversary Quiz".

Spent, Yet Filled Up

I returned from my trip to India spent and yet filled up.  

I was utterly exhausted from the 2 days of travel including riding down a fog-filled mountain to a train station, 

a look out the train door

riding on an old train for 7 hours, 

spending a few hours in Delhi- eating, shopping, riding in a rickshaw “auto”, 

savoring our last day with our friends – and then boarding a plane for the next 15 or so hours (India’s night through America’s night), 

and then a connecting flight from Newark to Nashville.  We were spent.

me and the girls

And yet, I was filled up.

Being with a family that I adore and dear friends,

having a ball with sweet, sweet girls,

exploring a far-off land,

listening, loving, taking in the tastes and sights.

Melinda buying mangoes for us

And then upon arriving home in the morning, I faced life:  piles of laundry, duties, busyness, and unfortunately some funky stomach thing.  

I had great aspirations of blogging about Indian food and non-Indian food we experienced on our trip.  My co-traveler, Matt, even suggested I devote the next month to writing about food from our trip. 

But the stomach bug, and jet lag, and re-entry has not brought the opportunities to create Indian dishes to share with you….yet.  I haven't had the stomach or the time to attempt making curry potatoes, dosas and chana paneer.

I have tried a couple of the the "non-Indian" dishes we enjoyed there: cabbage salad and the baked oatmeal that we ate at the Snader’s house in India, but my attempts weren’t yummy enough to post.  They tasted much better there and I must have done something wrong with the oatmeal, because Brent's was superb and mine was crumbly.  I will keep working on that recipe and will hopefully post it soon.

In the midst of trying to get my head back on straight and adjust to life on this side of the world, Dave had a birthday, Dave’s dad came for a few days to visit, my kids started school and I am preparing for my classes to begin in the coming days!  I was thinking about what to post first. I have been daydreaming of recipes and photos and stories intermittently while I have been tediously constructing syllabi and course assignments. 

Before it’s too far gone, I think I must share with you the treat I made for Dave’s birthday.

I made him Red Velvet Cake…of course. (If you haven't read about our Red Velvet Relationship and you want a laugh READ HERE).

I gave him the chance to opt for Coconut Cake this year, but he stuck with his regular.

He decided he really wanted it 2 days old.  It gets mushier and the frosting soaks in more after a couple of days.  So 2 day old Red Velvet was what he got.

His birthday landed on the "Meet the Teacher night", which was not that honoring to him.  So, I invited a few of his pals over for some late night snacks, cake, olympic watching and Farkle-playing. 

Farkle is one of the things I learned in India that I have brought back with me.

Have you ever played it?  It’s not an Indian game.  (You can buy it at Target.)  But my young friends, Asha and Anna taught us how to play, and the adults and children had a ball playing intense and fun-filled Farkle matches! It was a highlight of our trip and I knew my family would love the game too. It's a simple game of dice, counting, chance and strategy. A new favorite for us!

For Dave's gathering, I made:

Brazilian Limonada

Bruschetta

Guacamole with Chips & Salsa

Hanky Panky 

& Cake

I have posted about most all of these items except the Hanky Panky. 

I have to say, it’s pretty GROSS, in the yummy kind of way.

It is ugly, and fatty, and men LOVE IT (unless they are vegetarian, that is).

It’s a recipe my mom got when I was in high school from friends in Cleveland, Ohio.  They got the recipe from the Cleveland Newspaper.  Mom started making it as a party food.

It’s a meaty, cheesy bready appetizer.  It has a weird name: Hanky Panky. Scandalous, I know!

Dave looked up the definition of Hanky Panky and found that it is defined as:

1. questionable or underhanded activity

2. sexual dalliance

So, I’m not sure how this recipe fits this definition.  I guess it is a questionable activity to brown sausage, ground beef, velveeta cheese and mushrooms and pile it on rye cocktail bread. 

As I was doing some online searching for the reason for the interesting name of this recipe, I found this on about.com:

“Hanky Pankies, made with sausage, cheese, and a touch of Worchestershire sauce, have been a staple at Cleveland parties, tailgating events, and outdoor get-togethers for decades. Ask any Northeast Ohioan to name a quintessential Cleveland party food and you'll most likely hear 'Hanky Pankies.'

For an upscale variation of this sandwich, try the ones served at 87 West 2 at Crocker Park. They use chorizo and goat cheese.”

So…maybe it’s an Ohio thing.

And chorizo and goat cheese…yes! YUM!

I must try that!

Hanky Panky

1 lb. ground beef

1 lb. HOT ground pork sausage

1 lb. velveeta cheese, cubed

1 small can of sliced mushrooms, drained and chopped

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/4 tsp. onion powder

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

cocktail rye bread (40ish pieces)

Brown meat.  Drain. Add cheese – stir until melted. 

Add remaining ingredients.

Spread a blob on cocktail rye.

Broil until melted and fully warmed.

 As I was making these, I kept saying, “I love you, Dave”.  I said, “this goes against what I believe in”. “Processed Cheese Product and 2 logs of meat all melded together”, “the things you do for love”. 

Of course I ate 2 of them, and they are really tasty, just not my typical fare.

  

One of the perks of this recipe is that you can make them ahead of time, freeze them on baking sheets, then pile them in Ziploc bags and pull them out to broil when you want to serve them.

I guess you do all kinds of things for love:  

like travel across the world,

or make cheesy-meaty snacks and Red Velvet cake,  

or pitch in to take care of kids to free your friend, or spouse, or daughter, or sister to go on an international trip (like my family and friends did),

or contribute financially to support a costly trip to India  (like so many friends did).

I am so grateful, so spent and so filled up.

Lemon Berry Trifle: A Mother's Day Tribute

I have been baking and cooking a good bit lately and have had a hard time knowing what to post about this week.  I thought maybe a dessert, since it has been a few posts since I’ve written about sweet stuff.  I also thought I might write about something Mother-inspired.  Then it hit me – I have to write about the Lemon Berry Trifle! 

Trifles remind me of my mom.  And the making of this special trifle was done with a young friend who has a great mom.

Trifles are redemptive.  Trifles can be made out of broken brownies or torn apart cakes, or overdone cookies, or dry muffins, (or a freshly baked cake).  But when put in a pretty dish and layered with a little love and yumminess, something beautiful and delicious is created.  Mothers have the ability to do this too.

My mom has a trifle philosophy in life: When your cake sticks to the pan and falls apart, make a trifle; when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When you are feeling left out, include someone else. When you know how to do something, teach someone else (don’t keep it to yourself).

These philosophies have shaped me and on this day, I celebrate the impact that she has had on my life!

I was brainstorming with my friend Amy G. a couple of months ago about how I might could earn some extra money for my upcoming trip to India.  (I am preparing to go see some friends who live there with a small team from my church).  As we were brainstorming she asked if I would be willing to do a private baking lesson with her 10 year old daughter, Mary Grace, as a fundraiser.  I said I would love to do that.  I told her to talk to M.G. about what she might like to bake and to have her email me.  She is very into baking and watching cooking shows on TV (especially the cupcake ones).  When I got her email I was tickled and amazed at her culinary ambition.  She wanted to make red velvet equestrian cupcakes and a fruit trifle with a berry compote, “whatever that is”, she said. 

It was a good thing we had several hours, because we got serious.  We made both of these requested desserts and had a grand time.  Mary Grace is a great cook and was excited to try some new techniques.  (I think zesting was her favorite.  We zested the lemon for the pound cake and she enjoyed it so much she wanted to zest other things.  We ended up using it to shave chocolate for top of the cupcakes. She called it chocolate zest).

For the trifle, I suggested we make a pound cake and flavor it lemon.  She agreed.  So, we used my standard sour cream poundcake recipe and substituted a carton of lemon lowfat yogurt for some of the sour cream, and added the shaved zest of one lemon.  The cake was DELICIOUS! M. G. had seen her mom slice open the cake horizontally when making a shortcake, so we did that, and then broke the cake into pieces.

 

Meanwhile, we made a compote.  We did some researching about compotes and which would be good with this combination of flavors.  We decided on a blend of blueberries, strawberries and lemon. (P.S. it's strawberry season, make the most of it).

Then we made some fresh whipped cream and sliced some strawberries. 

And then we worked together to layer. 

It was a lovely trifle.

My mom’s trifles usually have a layer of pudding.

I have made trifles with a layer of yogurt blended with sweetened condensed milk.  You really can’t go wrong.  You just need some kind of bready/cakey layer, some kind of gooey layer and some whipped cream. It is versatile and beautiful and can be decadent (with chocolate and candy bars) or light (with fruit).  It has lots of textures and its own kind of serving dish.  What’s not to love about a trifle?

When I was talking to M.G.’s mom about this experience, she said as much as she likes to cook and contribute to her daughter’s cooking skills, M.G.  sometimes wants to go “beyond her ”.  She said, that’s where she benefits from having others get involved who enjoy this more and are skilled in a different way than her.  I so appreciate that and agree.  There are times you need another personality or skill-set to come in and invest in your child.  I believe that is a great strength in parenting – when you can see the gaps you have and seek others to supplement.

I am thankful to those women who have done this for me with my kids and continue to do so.  I believe it takes a village.

Happy Mother’s Day! Today I am thankful for my mom, who poured her life out for my sister and me, and continues to generously give us so much of herself.  I am thankful for my grandmothers from whom I learned much about loving and serving people.  I am thankful for Dave’s late mother who taught him how to love and serve – for that my children, I and so many others are blessed. And I am thankful for all the other women who have filled in the gaps and have invested in my life and the lives of my children... even with our broken pieces.

Party Chicken and Rice – Easter Main Dish

Is "dinner" the evening meal or is it the mid-day meal?  Or is the BIG meal, regardless of what time the meal is served?  At our house, dinner is the evening meal, and although it is not formal, it is the larger, hot meal of the day.  I guess you can call that supper.  Though we never do.  Some people talk about “coming over for Sunday Dinner” and they mean the mid-day meal.  When we have a holiday meal, we tend to call it dinner regardless of the time at which it is served.  At Christmas and Thanksgiving, that is oftentimes 12, or 1, or 2 in the afternoon.  I prefer to have Easter dinner at lunchtime so that friends can linger into the afternoon, we can hunt eggs in the yard and the work of the meal and dishes are done by afternoon.  It is tricky, though, when you are trying to race from an Easter Sunday church service, to get home, and get things cranking for the meal.   And if you are the guest at someone else's home where you are bringing a dish, you have to swing by your house to pick up your items, or have them in the car, in a cooler, or a keeper to have them ready for the meal.  This is all complicated.

For many, many years, Dave has had responsibilities at church on Easter morning, helping with the music for the services.  Which means we don’t travel on this holiday to visit family.  Instead, we stay in town and it has become a friend holiday.  We started a tradition years ago to ask around to see if there are people without a table to join for the holiday, and invite them to ours.  It has been interesting to see who comes and what the mix of people is.  It is sometimes full of college students, sometimes not.  Some years, people know each other, other years it is a mish-mash of our worlds colliding.  But the food is always yummy and it feels like a special celebration.

We usually provide the main dish and cold coconut cake (our favorite Easter dessert) and then people bring the rest (depending on how many people come – sometimes we do more of the providing, if there are less guests.)  One of our favorite main dishes for this meal is Party Chicken.  This was the “special occasion main dish” at my house growing up.  After all, the name is party chicken!  Mom said she got this recipe 40 years ago.  It was printed on the Georgia Power and Light (utility company) bill, of all places.  They had a recipe printed each month on the bill and she remembers keeping it and trying it, because the list of ingredients looked so tasty to her.  Never underestimate the source of a good recipe!

Water chestnut rice

It is a great dish, and you can alter it as you like.  I remember her often serving it with Water Chestnut Rice – which could be called Party Rice, in my opinion.  The Rice is actually my very favorite part of the dish! It’s a savory, moist, highly flavorful rice pilaf with a crunch of water chestnuts.  My mom got the rice recipe from a friend during the same era in which she got the Party Chicken recipe.  She said she had it at a friend’s house for dinner one night.  The host gave a disclaimer that the first time her husband had it, he said, “he liked it, but the potatoes in it weren’t cooked!” There are no potatoes in this dish.... it was the water chestnuts.  Mom wrote down the recipe and has been making it ever since. She even made large quantities of it for groups when she was doing food service for her church, altering it a little to simplify it.

The Rice dish would also be good on a non-holiday with a piece of grilled meat.

So now that Easter is 2 weeks away, we are starting to think about what to eat and who needs a table to join.  I tend to revert to the same menu repeatedly.   

My favorite Easter menu is:

An appetizer (so people can lightly munch while the meal is being put together – maybe nice cheese and crackers)

A green salad with strawberries, nuts, feta, etc.

Party Chicken

Water Chestnut Rice

Fresh Green Beans (or Asparagus)

Rolls or Sweet Potato Biscuits

Fruit Tea

Dessert: Cold Coconut Cake and any other goodies people want to bring!

My friend Melissa and her family usually share this meal with us.  She and I split what's left on the menu after our other guests have signed up.  She also oftentimes brings a dessert: sugar cookies, M & M cookies or tea cakes for the kids to enjoy…and she sometimes brings beautiful flowers for the tables!  It is a beloved tradition in our home!

Party Chicken


6 chicken breasts (pounded until uniform thickness)
12 slices dried beef (canned)
3 slices of bacon (to be cut in half)
1 (10 oz.) can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup (8 oz) sour cream

the can of dried beef and the cool jar
you get to keep- see above as a vase
for a daisy!

A handful of slivered almonds


Place individual slices of dried beef side by side in baking pan.  


Flatten chicken breast, place a slice of dried beef in "rough" side of chicken and roll up.  


Place 1/2 slice bacon around outside of roll and place seam side down in pan.  


Place a rolled breast on each piece 
of dried beef. (All of this can be prepared ahead and refrigerated or frozen). When ready to bake, add combined soup and sour cream and pour over each breast.  


This will seem thick, but the juices from the chicken will dilute it.  Bake at 350 for 1 hour OR 250 for 3 hours (if you want to slow-cook it). Add almonds on top and bake an additional 10 minutes or until toasted.  

done!

Water Chestnut Rice


5 Tbsp. butter
1 onion, chopped finely
1/2 cup canned mushrooms, drained and sliced
8 oz. can water chestnuts, chopped
1 cup white rice, uncooked
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
2 cups water
1 tsp salt
Melt butter in casserole.  Add all other ingredients.  Gently stir together. Cover and cook 1 hour at 350 degrees, or until rice is completely cooked.  (I have made this with brown rice and it works, it just takes much more time!
Also, it easily doubles or triples!)

Dinner time!