I have finally found a pumpkin pancake recipe that I like! I’ve tried mixes, I’ve tried making them from scratch…and generally the pancakes come out flat and gooey. Cate’s preschool recently made pumpkin pancakes and shared the recipe they used…and they’re perfect! Yea for preschool teachers!

Please note: The recipe below uses Krusteaz Buttermilk Pancake mix. If you have Bisquick, please click her and use the modified version of this recipe. Thanks!

Pumpkin Pancakes

 

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Easy, fluffy pumpkin pancakes, using Krusteaz pancake mix. Adapted by me from a recipe on FoodNetwork.com

Author: Jane Maynard

Recipe type: Main Dish, Breakfast

Ingredients

• 3 cups buttermilk pancake mix (like Krusteaz mix, where the box instructions tell you to just add water)
• 2 cups cold water
• ⅔ cup canned pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger

Instructions

1. In a medium/large bowl, whisk all the ingredients until just blended (batter should have lumps). Spray heavy griddle or skillet with nonstick spray and heat griddle over medium heat. Spoon 2 tablespoon (I did ¼ cup) batter unto griddle to form each pancake. Cook until edges are drying and bubbles start to pop, turn and cook a few minutes longer. Serve with lots of butter and maple syrup!

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I know, I know…another soup recipe! Apparently there is a theme to my cooking lately…an unplanned theme, but a good one nonetheless. Tonight I made cream of mushroom soup. This is one of my favorite kinds of soup, and this recipe was perfect.

Quick note, all of the soups I shared this week can easily be made vegetarian by substituting in vegetable broth.

Anyway, I’m sure you want the recipe, so here goes! I found it on Simply Recipes…Elise is one of my blogging buddies whom I have had the pleasure of actually spending some time with. She’s a gem. And so is her soup.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

 

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Modified from a recipe by Elise Bauer on Simply Recipes – I modified based on what I had in the kitchen tonight, but it was really yummy so wanted to document exactly what I did

Author: Jane Maynard

Recipe type: Main Dish, Soup

Ingredients

• 1 pound regular white mushrooms, cleaned, quartered or sliced (2/3 of my mushrooms were white, ⅓ were mini portobello)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1tablespoon butter
• 2 finely chopped shallots (the recipe only called for 2 TBSP”¦I misread it, but the flavor was actually really lovely with two whole shallots, so there you go!)
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme (I only had about ¼ tsp of thyme left in my shaker, but the soup still tasted great!)
• ½ bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1½ cups chicken broth
• 4 tsp Wondra (or flour could work) dissolved in 2 Tbsp water

Instructions

1. Coarsely chop mushrooms and lemon juice in a food processor.
2. Melt butter in (4-5 quart) sauce pan and lightly sauté shallots on medium heat. Add mushrooms, thyme and bay leaf, sauté over moderate heat for 10-15 minutes, or until the liquid that is released from the mushrooms disappears.
3. Add salt, pepper, cream and chicken stock and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Add flour slurry and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.

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I will share the following delectable soup recipe with you under one condition: You are not allowed to think about the amount of fat present in the soup when you eat it. It is worth every last calorie. That said…I wouldn’t recommend eating this soup every day. Neither would a cardiologist. But, oh my goodness, you’re going to like it.

Without further ado…the best broccoli cheese soup recipe around! Oh wait, a bit more “ado”…it’s easy to make with a short list of ingredients and quite fast. However, there is a lot of standing at the stove and whisking involved. Make sure you have some tunes or an episode of This American Life playing when you start cooking. I even do leg exercises while I whisk away…just a little preemptive strike on the butter, cream and cheese.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

 

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Creamy, cheesy, and delicious! From my friend Elizabeth Paul

Author: Jane Maynard

Recipe type: Main Dish, Soup

Ingredients

• ½ C butter
• ½ C flour
• 1 Quart Half & Half
• 3 C cheddar cheese, grated
• 3 C broth (chicken or vegetable)
• 1 pkg frozen broccoli (or 2 small heads fresh broccoli chopped into bite sized pieces)
• 1 tsp salt

Instructions

1. Combine broccoli, broth and salt – bring to a boil, simmer until broccoli is cooked.
2. Melt butter over medium-low heat. Add flour gradually, whisking. Simmer and whisk for a few minutes. Add half & half four times, whisking constantly (make sure it gets thick before each addition of half & half).
3. Add cheese.
4. Add broccoli/broth/salt mixture and stir.

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It is pouring rain today, which means two things. First, I am in heaven. Second, it’s time for a cozy bowl of soup.

I know several of you are chomping at the bit for my Broccoli Cheese Soup recipe. The recipe is coming this week, I promise. I just need to take a picture. Until then, I hope my most favorite soup recipe EVER will suffice.

Butternut Squash Soup

 

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A cozy delicious soup! From my friend Sarah Covert, with my commentary in italics

Author: Jane Maynard

Recipe type: Main Dish, Soup

Ingredients

• Soup:
• 1 large butternut squash, about 3.5 lbs.
• 1 large leek
• 2 T unsalted butter
• 4 tsp. grated fresh ginger (you can use ground ginger – I think about 1 tsp should do it)
• 5-6 cups chicken stock
• Salt
• Freshly ground pepper (this last time I used fresh ground black pepper and 2 shakes of cayenne)
• Peanuts:
• (optional garnish that I never make b/c I don’t like peanuts”¦but those who do love these spiced peanuts on top)
• 1 1/12 C roasted peanuts (not dry-roasted)
• 2 T peanut oil
• 1½ t. ground ginger
• 1 T finely chopped garlic
• 2 t. finely chopped fresh cilantro
• ½ tsp. Chinese five-spice powder (in bulk at Henry’s)
• ¼ t. cayenne pepper

Instructions

1. I roast the squash, cut in pieces & wrapped in foil, in my oven at 375 for 40-60 mins. That said, here’s what the recipe tells you to do. With a large heavy knife, cut the squash in half through the stem and discard the seeds. Brush the cut sides with olive oil. Grill, cut sides down, indirectly over medium heat until the skin can be easily pierced with the tip of a sharp knife, about 1 hour. Remove the squash from the grill and cool”¦ with a large spoon, scoop the flesh from the squash and discard the skin.
2. Cut off most of the tough green top from the leek. Cut the leek lengthwise and wash under cold running water to remove any dirt trapped. Cut crosswise into ½-inch pieces.
3. In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add leek and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, until the looks are tender, about 5 minutes. Add 5 cups of the chicken stock. Bring to a boil and carefully add the squash. Recude the heat to very low and cook, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Puree the soup, in batches in a blender. Return soup to saucepan. If it seems thick, use remain stock as needed. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm, garnished with peanuts if desired.
4. For the peanuts: In a small bowl, combine the peanuts, peanut oil, ground ginger, garlic, cilantro, five-spice powder and cayenne. Toss well to coat the peanuts evenly, then transfer to large sheet of aluminum foil. pull the corners of the foil together and close the pouch. place the pouch over indirect medium heat for 5 minutes. Carefully remove pouch and allow to cool.

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Have you met Katie from goodLife {eats}? I have, and she’s lovely. And she has a delicious food blog. Thanks to her I have a new favorite recipe…Butternut Squash Risotto! It was so good Cate told me to make it every day. Coming from a 4-year-old, that says a lot. And in this case, the 4-year-old actually knows what she is talking about.

Chicken & Butternut Squash Risotto

 

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Adapted from Katie Goodman at goodLife {eats}, who in turn adapted it from Rachael Ray

Author: Jane Maynard

Recipe type: Main Dish, Rice, Poultry

Ingredients

• 1½ cups roasted butternut squash (if you can find a 12 oz can of squash, go ahead and use that!)
• 1 chicken breast, seasoned with salt & pepper, cooked (I sauteed in olive oil) then cut or shredded into bitesized pieces
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (Jane note: I used my garlic press)
• 2 cups arborio rice
• 1 cup dry white wine
• Dash nutmeg
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
• 2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
• Heaping teaspoon of fresh thyme leaves
• ½ C water (may not need)

Instructions

1. Cut up a butternut squash into 8 pieces. Wrap in foil and roast in 375 degree oven for about 45 minutes, or until very soft. Scoop flesh out of the skins. One squash will yield more than 1½ C, so save the rest for another recipe or freeze for later. Have the squash and cooked chicken breast ready to go before proceeding with the next steps.
2. In a large saucepan, bring the chicken broth and 1 cup water to a boil over medium-high heat, then turn the heat to low.
3. In a large skillet, heat the oil, 2 turns of the pan, over medium-high heat. When the oil is rippling, add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 2 minutes. Add the rice and toast (and stir occasionally) for 3 minutes. Stir in the wine and cook, stirring occasionally, until mostly evaporated, 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Add 2 ladles of the warm chicken broth to the rice and stir until the liquid evaporates. Add the chicken stock, 2 ladles at a time, stirring almost constantly and waiting for the stock to be absorbed before adding more. This process should take about 20 minutes. (I ended up having to add an additional ½ C water at the end to get the rice soft enough. If you need to add much more than ½ C, I would use broth as opposed to water to maintain flavor.)
5. During the last 3 minutes of cooking, stir in the squash; season with nutmeg, thyme, salt and pepper to taste. During the last minute of cooking, stir in the cheese and butter then add the cooked chicken.
6. You can leave the chicken out to make a vegetarian dish”¦it still tastes great!

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These cucumber sandwiches are one of my sister-in-law Cora’s favorite recipes, so we made them for her baby shower last week. They were mighty delicious and very easy to throw together, so thought I better share the recipe with you! Great for parties, and nice and light in the summertime.

Featured Recipe: Cucumber Sandwiches

 

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From Cora Wallin

Author: Jane Maynard

Recipe type: Main Dish, Sandwiches

Ingredients

• Sliced cucumbers (pretty thin, with skins ON)
• Cream cheese
• Package powdered italian dressing mix
• Bit of milk – about 1 Tbsp
• Party-sized pumpernickel (I just learned about this bread – they come small and square like this, in the bread section at the store”¦the brand we bought was called Wild’s Party Pumpernickel)
• Dill (dried is fine)

Instructions

1. Soften cream cheese at room temp, mix in salad dressing mix and enough milk to make the cheese spreadable. Spread on bread, top with sliced cucumber. Sprinkle with dill. Voila!

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My little sister just returned from spending two months in India. Last night she and her friend Kristen cooked us a vegetarian Indian dish called Gobi Matar Sabzi. It was awesome. I can’t wait to try cooking it myself when I get home and maybe even trying some other Indian recipes. By the way, for you parents out there…both of my girls gobbled this dish up!

Featured Recipe: Gobi Matar Sabzi

 

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Original recipe from my veggie world – Anne and Kristen changed it up

Author: Jane Maynard

Recipe type: Main Dish

Ingredients

• 1 big onion ground to a fine paste
• 1 big tomato pureed
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder (or minced fresh garlic, 1-2 cloves)
• 1 teaspoon green chili paste
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• 1 cup fresh or frozen green peas
• 1 cup cleaned cauliflower florets
• salt to taste (between 1 tsp and 1 TBSP)
• pinch of turmeric
• ¼ teaspoon red chili powder
• 3 teaspoon garam masala powder
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1 tablespoon oil
• chopped fresh cilantro

Instructions

1. In a large skillet, heat oil (mediumish heat). Add onion paste and fry till cooked or until raw smell disappears. Add ginger, garlic (if using fresh), green chili paste and saute for one minute. Add tomato puree and cook till paste is thick. Add powdered spices and salt. Stir then add vegetables. Cover and simmer over medium heat until cauliflower is tender. Add chopped fresh cilantro prior to serving.
2. Serve with basmati rice, with fresh cilantro added to the rice just prior to serving.

Notes

Jane note: this dish would be good with more kick, as well – I liked it mild, but I want to experiment with making it spicier some time

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Remember the amazing ribs Nate cooked on the 4th of July? The recipe is from the Weber’s Way to Grill cookbook that I {stereotypically} gave to Nate for Father’s Day. Hey, it worked, I’m already benefiting from the book!

Anyway, the recipe for cooking the ribs is LONG and involved, so I’m just going to share the wonderfully delicious sauce that went with the ribs. I will give a quick overview of the process…the ribs cooked on the grill for HOURS, Nate put a divider in the grill with water under the ribs and coals on the other side, he added hot coals throughout the cooking and he used hickory wood chips for smoking. As for the sauce, when the ribs were cooked, he took them off the grill, laid them on foil, smothered them in the sauce and wrapped the ribs up in the foil for about 30 minutes. Delish!

Soo-Wee Sauce for Baby Back Ribs

 

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Sweet and spicy sauce for ribs!

Author: Jane Maynard

Recipe type: Main Dish

Cuisine: American

Ingredients

• 1 C apple juice
• ½ C ketchup
• 3 T cider vinegar
• 1 T soy sauce
• 2 tsp molasses
• ½ tsp pure chile powder
• ½ tsp granulated garlic (garlic powder)
• ½ tsp dry mustard
• ¼ tsp kosher salt
• ¼ tsp freshly ground pepper
• ~1 T honey (this is our secret ingredient”¦we added to thicken AND sweeten the sauce)
• RUB
• 2 T kosher salt
• 2 T paprika
• 4 tsp granulated garlic (garlic powder)
• 4 tsp pure chili powder
• 2 tsp dry mustard
• 2 tsp freshly ground pepper

Instructions

1. Mix ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Simmer for about 5 minutes (we simmered longer). Remove from heat, add salt and pepper to taste if needed. This is NOT a thick sauce, but it was perfect for the ribs.

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The Weber cookbook is a great resource for grilling…click here to check it out!

Cannelloni is one of my favorite things to order at an Italian restaurant.  Which means I had to figure out a way to make it at home, of course!  I gave it a try this week and it was so so yummy.  Here’s what I did!

Cannelloni

 

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Author: Jane Maynard

Recipe type: Main Dish, Pasta

Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients

• FILLING: will fill ~8 cannelloni, maybe up to 10
• 1 chicken breast, cooked & shredded
• ¼ C fresh, shredded parmesan cheese
• 1 C ricotta cheese
• ½ C shredded mozzarella
• 1 Egg, beaten
• 1 garlic clove, minced or use garlic press
• 1 T chopped fresh basil (maybe a little more than 1 T)
• ¼ t pepper
• ½ t salt
• SAUCE:
• 1½ C jarred marinara (you could make your own, but this is faster and tasted great)
• ½ C cream
• 24 grape tomatoes, smashed up a bit (I pulsed in the blender a few times)
• ¼ – ½ C shredded asiago cheese
• SHELLS:
• Ideally I suppose you make your own pasta, roll it into thin sheets and cut into rectangles. Yeah, THAT’S gonna happen around here”¦.so, I tried two readily-available pastas.
• Barilla No-Boil Homemade Style (Flat) Lasagna Noodles: These were PERFECT. Boil 3 minutes, CAREFULLY remove from the water (it’s easy to crack them in the middle, so be gentle!). Filling them is a cinch”¦just lay the rectangle out portrait (you know, tall-wise), lay your filling across the noodle near the end, then roll up! (I had a few cracks when I took them out of the water, but the noodle overlaps itself when you roll it up, so it wasn’t a problem) Pictured RIGHT.
• Manicotti Shells: I also tried manicotti shells. They didn’t taste quite as good, and they’re harder to stuff. So, I will definitely do the flat, no-boil lasagna noodles from now on. Pictured LEFT.

Instructions

1. Mix filling ingredients.
2. Mix sauce ingredients and warm on the stove (doesn’t need to cook too long or get too hot).
3. Spray a rectangular casserole dish or metal cake pan with spray oil. Stuff cannelloni (see noodle descriptions above). Place stuffed cannelloni in the pan. Cover with sauce.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Mangia!

Notes

Makes approximately 8 cannelloni”¦Nate and I each ate 2, and the girls had 1 each. Fed our family of 4 with 2 cannelloni left over.

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Happy St Patrick’s Day!  I had visions of turning all of our food green today, but Cate wouldn’t have it.  When I offered green pancakes or oatmeal this morning she replied, “I had green eggs and ham at school and it wasn’t good.  No thanks!” So much for being a fun mom.

I promised corned beef recipes, so here we go!

Straight-Up Corned Beef

 

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Delicious corned-beef hoagies with melted cheese!

Author: Jane Maynard

Recipe type: Main Dish, Beef

Ingredients

• 3 – 3½ lb corned beef
• 2 bay leaves
• 12 black peppercorns
• juniper berries
• seasoning packet
• mustard
• brown sugar

Instructions

1. Rinse meat under cold water. Place in large pot – cover with 6 in cold water. Cover pot – bring water to boil. Pour off water. Put 6 in cold water back in pot. Bring to boil covered. Repeat if want less salty taste.
2. Skim off scum. Add spices (p.s. I always forget to buy juniper berries, but the little spice packet that comes with the meat seems to be enough) . Lower heat, cover and simmer til very tender but still holds together, ~1 hour per pound.

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Corned Beef and Glaze

 

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From my mom-in-law Pat”¦who is a McCarthy, so I would trust her with an Irish recipe. She says this is a yummy way to get corned beef down the throats of the non-Irish.

Author: Jane Maynard

Recipe type: Main Dish, Beef

Ingredients

• 1 or 2 point cut briskets
• large can peaches(mashed up)
• dark brown sugar
• butter
• OJ
• marmalade
• maple syrup

Instructions

1. Cover the briskets with water and boil, then simmer for 3 or 4 hours. Take outta the water and save water to cook your cabbage, carrots and potatoes in. Heat oven to 425 or 450. Put brisket on a broiler pan. Mix above ingredients so they hold together as a glaze. (Add OJ last to see if too watery – and sorry there are no measurements!) Put glaze on top and baste again every 20 minutes or so. Then reduce oven to 325. Glaze some more, every 25 minutes or so, till the fat drains through the broiler pan. Total bake time is about 1-1/2 to 2 hours – a big commitment – but yummy.

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