Cooking with Abandon

Okay, last one from recipezaar. This one is supposed to be like candy pumpkin seeds. I thought I would add it since I plan on carving another pumpkin tonight and I'll have excess seeds.

SERVES 4

INGREDIENTS

1 cup pumpkin seeds (from 1 medium pumpkin)
5 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 ground ginger
1 pinch cayenne pepper, to taste
1 1/2 tablespoons peanut oil

DIRECTIONS

1 Preheat oven to 250°F.

2 Remove and wash seeds from pumpkin.

3 Spread seed on cookie sheet bake for 1 hour stirring occasionally, about one hour.

4 Combine in bowl 3 tablespoons sugar, salt, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, cayenne.

5 Heat peanut oil in large skillet over high heat.

6 Add pumpkin seeds and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar.

7 Cook until sugar melts and seeds caramelize (about 45 seconds).

8 Transfer to bowl with spices and coat well.

9 Let cool.

10 Store for up to 1 week in airtight container.

This one is also from recipezaar. Again, another soup, but I love anything tomato basil.

Posted by recipezaar member Tish.

SERVES 4 -6

INGREDIENTS

1 small pumpkin
7 tomatoes, skinned and chopped
4 cups chicken broth
8-10 carrots, peeled, sliced, diced
1 medium onion
2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup mushroom, sliced
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 pinch ground pepper
1/4 cup cream
1 teaspoon sugar

DIRECTIONS

1 In a large pot, put Chicken Stock, pumpkin and carrot.

2 Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer for 1/2 hour.

3 Put butter in a frying pan and sautee onions and mushrooms until browned.

4 Add tomatoes and continue to fry for 5 minutes.

5 Puree all ingredients in a blender. Place pureed soup into the soup pot.

6 Add spices, sugar and cream at this time.

7 Simmer for 10 minutes.

8 Serve with fresh croutons.

I'm on the lookout for recipes to use tomorrow at our Halloween dinner party. I'm going to be pastry-ing it up tonight, but I also need to come up with some things for dinner too.

This soup comes from recipezaar. It was posted by a user called English_Rose from Cheshire, England. It is something I would like to consider if I can find a good pumpkin (and also learn how to prepare one).

SERVES 4

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 1/2 lbs pumpkin, roughly chopped
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
2 pints water or vegetable broth
1 cup milk
4 tablespoons cream

BROOMSTICKS

4 part-baked breadsticks
2 tablespoons olive oil

DIRECTIONS

1 Heat the olive oil in a large pan, add the onion and garlic and cook for a few minutes to soften.

2 Add the pumpkin and sweet potato and cook for a couple of mins, then add the water or stock. Season with salt and ground black pepper, cover and bring to the boil, then simmer for 25 mins until the pumpkin and sweet potato are really tender.

3 Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400°F Cut the breadstick dough in half lengthways, then make several cuts one third of the way up the length to look like broom bristles. Repeat with the other bread, put onto a large baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 5-8 mins until golden.

4 Stir the milk into the soup, whiz everything together in blender or processor in batches until smooth.

5 Return to the pan and gently warm through. Pour into bowls and finish with a swirl of cream.

From How It All Vegan!

This is a new favorite of mine even though I smelled like garlic for literally four days. I can't really speak for Brett, but I think he likes it as well.

Spicy Garlic Toss for Noodles
4-6 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup water
2 tsp Braggs or soy sauce
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/2 dried thyme
1/4 dried pepper
1/4 tsp salt
dash of cayenne pepper

In a small saucepan, sauté garlic in one (1) tablespoon of oil on medium-low heat until garlic is translucent, taking care not to burn. Add the water, remaining oil, Braggs/soy sauce, basil, thyme, pepper, salt, and cayenne pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer for 8-15 minutes. Toss with noodles of your choosing and serve with veggies & tofu, by themselves, or whatever you like.

Makes 2-4 servings.

Modifications

I added about 1/2 teaspoon more of extra virgin olive oil, used fresh ground pepper, and added more basil and thyme just because I like a hearty flavor. I also used chili powder in place of cayenne pepper since that's all I had on hand.

Brett and I picked up some Chinese style noodles from the produce section in the grocery store. Definitely worth the find because that really made the meal.

We also got some egg roll wrappers, a pre-prepared cabbage mix, and some duck sauce and fried our own veggie egg rolls.

Boy am I glad we got that spice rack (and other kitchen gadgets) as a wedding gift! It makes cooking so much more enjoyable and tons easier.

When baking vegan, you don't have any of the usual binders like eggs and dairy to make your baked goods light and fluffy.

Here are some tips to make baking vegan a happy experience (thanks to the ladies of How It All Vegan!):

SIFT
Using a sifter (FYI, I LOVE our sifter!!!) or a whisk to mix together all the dry ingredients helps keep things light. Always mix dry ingredients together first before adding anything wet.

DON'T OVERMIX
I have a problem with overmixing. When you do, your baked goods end up flat and heavy. Mixing with a wooden spoon or your hands until just mixed or blended is the way to go.

KEEP IT MOIST
Put a small pan of cold water in the oven while baking. I thought it was kooky at first, but it really works!!

DON'T EXPECT STORE-BOUGHT BAKED GOODS
Baking vegan is definitely an interesting experience with less-than-perfect results, but isn't that true about all baking? That being said, even though it doesn't look pretty, it doesn't mean it doesn't taste delicious.

Seriously. Best tip is the one above. There have been many times when I've made something and it looked gross and not pretty at all, but at the same time was one of the best tasting things I've ever made.

from How It All Vegan! by Tanya Barnard & Sarah Kramer

Charming Chocolate Cupcakes
1 cup molasses
1 cup soy milk (I used 1/2 cup plain, 1/2 chocolate)
2 cups chocolate or carob chips (use more if you like a really chocolatey cupcake)
6 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract (since I have a deep love of vanilla, I usually use twice the called for amount)
4 Tbsp cornstarch
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
cupcake liners

Directions: Preheat oven to 375˚F. In a small saucepan, whisk together the molasses, 1/2 cup of the milk, and the chips. Cook on medium heat until chips have melted, stirring constantly with a spoon. Add the oil, vanilla, cornstarch, and stir until well mixed. Remove from heat and set aside. In a medium bowl, sift the flour and baking soda together. Add the remaining milk and the chocolate mixture and stir. Spoon into cupcake paper liners and bake for 15-20 minutes (for me, it was closer to 15 minutes than 20, so start checking at 15 mins). Test with a knife to see if done. Cool and frost.

Other bits o' stuff: The original recipe says it makes 6 cupcakes, but it definitely made more like 20 for me. I'm pretty sure I followed the recipe perfectly except for the vanilla. If I had to, and probably will, do it again, I would definitely add more molasses and more chocolate chips (maybe even some cocoa powder). I'd also reduce cooking time since I burned half of them from cooking them 17 mins.

Now onto the frosting!

Nut Butter Icing (doubled)
6 Tbsp margarine
1 cup dry sweetener (I used sugar in a food processor to make powdered sugar. Sugar is a vegan no-no because it's filtered with animal carbon. I didn't have any other choice though since sugar was all we had. Boo.)
2/3 cup peanut butter or other nut butter
4 Tbsp soy milk
2/3 cup nuts, chopped (optional)

Mix together the margarine, sweetener, and nut butter. Add milk and mix well. Stir in nuts last, if using.

I used the whipping blade on my stand mixer to make it all nice and fluffy. And I usually have to play with the sweetener/milk combination a lot to get it the consistency and flavor that I like.

Final thoughts: I wanted to see how my father-in-law reacted to the cupcakes since he's already stated that he's not into vegan foods. So I didn't tell him they were vegan and let him help himself to the cupcakes. After he took a big ole bite and said that he thought they were really tasty, I said, "They're vegan! Woo!" He was surprised. Later he came downstairs and said, "You sneaked me that vegan stuff. It was pretty good though."

p.s. I'll add a pic of the cupcakes when the camera battery isn't dead! :(

I've been wanting to learn more about Blogger for a while. Livejournal isn't as customizable as I would like it to be (at least not for free). So instead of completely migrating over to blogger, I am starting a recipe blog. Valerie and I spent a lot of time cooking and trying out recipes. We have started working on vegetarian and vegan recipes to eventually adopt that lifestyle (if we like it).

This blog will mostly be for us to organize recipes we find and note if we tried them, what we changed, and what we like. Comments and suggestions are greatly welcomed.

I've chosen the name Cooking with Abandon because I stumbled on this quote by Harriet von Horne: "Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all." I found it fairly appropriate because experimenting with cooking is something we do together as a couple.

Also, I will note where all our recipes come from, because most likely, they will not be original for a while.