Autumn Harvest Soup With Pumpkin Dinner Rolls

With an abundance of winter squash puree on my hands, I decided to come up with a meal that is good for you and packed with flavor.
This soup has been one of my favorites for a long time. The addition of apples helps give it a touch of sweetness.
The pumpkin rolls were a huge hit! I reinvented my favorite dinner roll recipe to include pumpkin. The pumpkin made them very moist. They were as soft and delicious on day 3 as they were when they were fresh. Pumpkin Dinner Rolls

1 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 c. Earth Balance, melted and cooled (or butter)
1/3 cup honey
2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 tsp. yeast
2 Tbsp. Vital Wheat Gluten (helps whole wheat breads rise)
1 cup warm water
4 1/2-5 1/2 cups White Whole Wheat Flour (you may need more or less depending on humidity)

-In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients except the flour. Stir well to combine.

-Mix in the flour until the dough comes together without being too sticky or too dry. When in doubt, put in less flour. A dough that is too dry will be hard to work with and not as tasty to eat. You can always mix in more flour as you knead if it's too sticky.

- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 10 minutes dusting lightly with flour to keep it from sticking to the surface and your hands.

-Put dough into an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap sprayed with Pam or a damp kitchen towel. Set in a warm place to rise until about doubled in size (about 90 minutes).

- Preheat oven to 350*. Grease (spray well with Pam) an 11"x18" pan or two 9"cake pans. Form about 18 rolls equal in size (about the size of a large egg,but round)and place in the pan(s). Let them rise until almost doubled in a warm place (about 45-60 minutes).
Place in the preheated, 350* oven for 35-40 minutes or until a digital thermometer inserted into the center of a roll reaches 190*.

-Turn the rolls out onto a cooling rack and brush the tops of the rolls with melted Earth Balance. Enjoy warm or at room temperature.



Autumn Harvest Soup

4 cups butternut squash puree
1 large onion, diced
2 Tbsp olive oil or Earth Balance
2 medium apples, diced (not Granny Smith)
1 quart chicken stock (homemade preferred but LOW sodium if you buy it)
salt

1. In a large pot, saute onions and apples in oil or Earth Balance on medium-low heat until VERY soft. They need to be very soft or they won't puree into a smooth soup. Don't let them brown.

2. Puree onions and apples in a food processor or blender until very smooth. Add back to the pot and turn heat to medium. Add butternut squash puree and chicken stock. Add salt to taste.
(The amount of salt will vary greatly depending on your broth. Store bought broth has so much salt that you may not have to add any additional salt. I use homemade stock without any added salt so I use close to 1 1/2tsp. of salt to my soup. )

3. Let soup simmer until heated through. Taste to be sure any onions were well pureed. If you taste tiny bits of onion, let the soup boil for about 15-20 minutes to fully cook the onions. Check seasonings. Serve. Serves approx. 6 large adults.





I'm excited to enter these recipes in the Naturally Frugal Food Challenge. Wish me luck!

Dairy-Free Pumpkin Pie

I have baked 3 pumpkin pies in the past 2 weeks in preparation for the big day. With Thanksgiving only 2 days away, I'd like to share my pumpkin pie recipe that I think is better then the traditional pumpkin pie and it happens to be dairy-free.

I am in charge of bringing desserts to our Thanksgiving at Mom and Mark's this year. I had so much fun deciding what desserts to bring. Here's the final dessert menu:
Apple Slab
Pumpkin Cheesecake (I'll share that recipe soon)
Pumpkin Pie
Buckeyes


I wanted to be sure that any adjustments that I made to the recipes would be delicious so I decided to have some pie trial-runs. The pumpkin pie on the left is made with almond milk and the one on the right is made with coconut milk.

The reverse is true in this picture. The pie made with coconut milk is on the left and the one made with almond milk is on the right.

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Both pies were good. The one with almond milk was clean and refreshing tasting. It's texture was softer. The one made with coconut milk was creamier, smoother, and held up beautifully. The coconut milk pie was the clear winner. I don't think anyone would have been able to tell it wasn't made with dairy cream.

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Last week I made pumpkin pie one more time just to be sure. Yeah, that's why I made it again. It sure wasn't because I just had a hankerin' for pumpkin pie.

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Dairy-Free Pumpkin Pie

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1 unbaked pie shell (I use this recipe but only use half the recipe per pie) in a lightly greased pie plate

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

2 large eggs, beaten

15 oz. can of pumpkin puree or almost 2 cups of homemade, well drained)

1 1/2 cups coconut milk (can be found at most supermarkets near the Asian foods)

1 tsp. vanilla

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Preheat oven to 425*.

Mix all ingredients (except the pie shell) until they're well combined.

Pour into the pie shell.

Bake at 425* for 15 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 350* for 50 minutes or until the center of the pie isn't very jiggly when you give the pie pan a little nudge.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The End of the Marching Band Season

I'm only a few weeks late with this post. This past week I've been sick with an upper respiratory virus and haven't felt up to blogging. I'm going to try to catch up this week.

The kids and I went to see Jon's band compete in their last competition. It's so much easier to take them along now that they're older.

Snacks are essential to waiting patiently.

Lots of snacks!

My mom and Mark met us at the competition. Can you tell where Charlotte got her coloring? I never thought I'd have a blonde haired, blue eyed child.

Jon got a chance to sit with us for a while. He steals the kids whenever he gets a chance.

Jon invited Charlotte and I to go out onto the field to wait with his student leaders during the awards ceremony. Evan stayed back with Nana and Grandpa since he wouldn't be able to stand still that long.

We're not even paying attention, are we? Charlotte thought it was pretty cool that we got to stand on the field with the big kids.

I loved watching the band this year. They did very well. I have to say though that I'm so happy the season is over for this year. I'm happy that Jon's 70 hour work weeks have come to an end. The kids and I have missed having him around in the evenings.

I won't tell you that he's already started sketching the Marching Band show for next year.

I'm A Bird Watcher, I'm A Bird Watcher, Everyday....

Can you tell I've caught a few episodes of Wheel of Fortune lately?

My mom has always had more bird feeders then anyone can count. She loves nature and being able to watch it right outside her window. The number of birds, squirrels, and chipmunks that visit her house is amazing. They're such fun to watch when I visit. I'm not sure why I've never had a bird feeder. Maybe because so many beings are depending on me for nourishment and care that I didn't feel like adding any more to the list. Now that I don't have any "babies" anymore, the thought of feeding birds sounds pretty fun.
My mom and Mark got me a large bird feeder, a big bag of seed, a hanger, and a suet feeder for my birthday. I was so excited to hang it all up, plus a smaller feeder I already had, and see what would happen. It took the birds a day or two to find the feeder but once they did....

it was as if I had just opened the most popular restaurant in town! The birds would wait on the ropes above the feeders just waiting for a "seat" to open up.

The kids love to watch for the birds to come eat and yell out "BIRDS!" so we'll know they're eating and run to come watch.

Last weekend we bought two other smaller feeders to put closer to the windows in the living room and kitchen. The cats think it's the best thing to happen around here in a LONG time. Luckily for the birds, the cats watch from the inside of the house.

In just the last two weeks I've learned little things about the birds. I learned that they don't come to the feeder all day. They tend to all want to eat around mid-late morning. Then there will hardly be a bird around for hours. Right before dark they all come for a snack before bed.

I've also learned the funny little flight of a Tufted Titmouse. He kinda bounces when he flies.

So, once again, thanks Mom for inspiring me to take up another hobby! Those little birds are such fun to watch!

Charlotte's Watermelon

At some point during the summer we were eating watermelon. Charlotte asked what would happen if she planted one of the seeds from that watermelon. I told her that a watermelon vine might grow and that she could go plant a few seeds in the digging area in the backyard. I promptly forgot about that conversation.

About a month later, I wondered why we had what looked like a watermelon vine growing in the digging area. Charlotte said, "Remember those seeds I planted?" I think I may put Charlotte in charge of my garden next year. She must have done a great job planting that seed.

She really loved checking on her baby watermelon and watching it grow. Unfortunately the watermelon could have really used a few more weeks on the vine but the frost recently ended it's growing season.

We brought in her watermelon and cut it open. It was a lovely shade of light pink. Too immature to eat but lovely to look at.

I haven't blogged about my garden in a very long time. That's because there is no garden to speak of right now. We traveled 4 out of 8 weeks this summer so it was hard to keep up with it's maintenance. It was also a very hard, hot summer for gardens so that made it even harder to keep up the motivation to fight a losing battle. I'll soon gather up the courage to show you the current state of my garden and hopefully give you progress reports as I try to return it to it's usual productivity by springtime.

Apple Slab - Silly Name, Delicious Pie

Jon has decided that this is his new favorite dessert and all other apple desserts are a waste of time. I think I agree. This is a big apple pie with a slightly tart filling and a delicious, apple cinnamon icing on top. The great thing is that it's a BIG apple pie so it will serve a crowd. This pie is best within the first day or two after it's baked because the crust tends to get soggy after the second day so be sure to eat it fast... not that that was an issue in this house.

Before the icing

Apple Slab (dairy-free alternatives in blue)


Crust

2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (you could use all-purpose)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup cold lard (or butter)
10 Tbsp. cold butter (Earth Balance)
1 tsp. vinegar
6-7 Tbsp. ice cold water

Filling

10 cups peeled, cored, and sliced Granny Smith or other firm, tart apples (the icing will make the pie way too sweet if you use sweet apples)
2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/3 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla


Icing

2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed
1/2 tsp. cinnamon


Directions:

-Make crust: In a food processor, blend flour, salt, baking powder, sugar until well mixed. Add lard and butter (Earth Balance) and pulse until the mixture is crumbly. The lard and butter chunks should be the size of a small pea. Add the ice water and vinegar and pulse just until the dough starts to come together into a ball. Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide the dough into 2 pieces... one slightly larger then the other. One ball being about 60% of the dough and the other 40% of the dough. Pat the dough into flat rectangles, wrap in plastic wrap, and put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

- Preheat oven to 350*

- With the larger rectangle of cold dough, on a lightly floured surface, or between two pieces of plastic wrap, roll out the dough until it's about 11x15". Don't worry if the dough is rough around the edges. This pie is very forgiving.

-Place the dough into a 9x13", ungreased baking pan. Let the dough come up the sides of the pan, pressing them gently into place. It's fine if the sides aren't completely covered but patch any holes in the bottom because you don't want the filling leaking out.

-Mix together all filling ingredients in a large bowl until the apples are all coated in the other ingredients. Dump the filling gently into the pan lined with dough being careful to distribute the apples evenly.

- Roll the remaining cold dough into a rectangle large enough to cover the top of the pie. Lay the crust on top of the apples. It's fine if the dough doesn't reach the sides of the pan but try to get it close. Cut 6 or 8 slits in the top of the crust to let steam escape while cooking.

- Place slab in the 350* oven and bake for one hour. Remove from oven. It should be golden brown and bubbling around the edge. Allow to cool completely before adding the icing.

- Stir together all icing ingredients and drizzle over completely cool apple slab. Serve!

Yields 12-16 pieces depending on how you slice it.

A Day At The Stadium

On October 23, Jon and I got to spend the day by ourselves. Jon was able to get nosebleed discount tickets to see the Carolina Panthers play the 49er's in Charlotte, NC. We dropped the kids off at Nana and Grandpa's and headed off to have a day together. It's rare for us to be able to have this time in the middle of the craziness of marching band season. I couldn't have been more excited about it. It was a gorgeous day to visit Charlotte (the city, not the daughter).

Ahhh!!! Scary Panther statue outside the stadium! There's a matching one on the other side of the entrance looking just as dangerous.

We got there pretty early so we went out to see the field only a few rows back (okay, a few was probably more like 40). I was shocked by how small the field looked. On TV it looks like the players run forever to score that touchdown but in person it didn't seem that far.

What I would soon learn is that the field looked MUCH different once we got to our seats.

Most of you know that we're both die hard Steeler's fans and we were devastated last year when we missed our chance to see them play before Christmas. I was hoping the Steeler's wouldn't mind too much that my first NFL game ended up being a Panther's game. Forgive me, Polamalu!

The air was much different up here... and we were still had to climb about 50 stairs to get to our seats. I'm not usually afraid of heights but I have to admit that I was very freaked out by the way the seats in front of me seemed to want to pull me down. The seats up there are stacked so steeply. I swore I was going to suddenly fall out of my chair and roll down the hill of seats. I told Jon that I wished that our seats came with seat belts. He just laughed.
Luckily I felt much better after people filled in the seats below us. At least the people would cushion my fall if I suddenly started tumbling down the hill.

Did I mention that we were 6 rows from the very top? Did I mention how steep the stairs were to get there?

Look at all of the empty blue seats. I love this picture.

So, after we saw the view from the mountain top our seats, we went in search of stadium food. What we found instead of the great food served at our minor league baseball stadium, was over-priced fast food. They had Wendy's and Bojangles set up inside almost every booth inside the stadium. A Frosty was $5! And that was the small size! A quarter-pounder was $5! Yikes. I finally settled for a hot dog and a bottle of water.....

Guess how much my bottle of water was? $4!! Apparently this water was very special water that was harvested from the spring where unicorns drink.

But you know what? Even though the food was over-priced and no better then bad fast-food, Jon and I were still having a great time. It was so exciting to see something in person that I had only seen on television.

It surprised me that the field is covered with people and players before the game. They warm up and just generally mill about before the game starts. I guess I just assumed everyone stayed in the locker room listening to motivational speeches while they waited for the game to start. Too many movies, I guess. They did eventually leave the field. Maybe they listened to speeches, after all.

Once the game started, the star players re-entered the field one at a time to music and flame throwers. It was very exciting.

The stands looked much different with people in the seats.

Jon bought me an Italian ice at some point during the game and it was by far the best thing I ate all day. I want another one just looking at this picture.

The game continued on.... I tried my hardest to concentrate but we were really far away and there was no announcer telling you what was happening and when to look. I find TV football much easier to follow.

So, after a very exciting last 2 minutes of the game, the Panther's won their first game of the season! I think we were good luck charms for them.

What a great day. I got to spend time with my wonderful husband and we got to have actual conversations... without kids interupting. Thanks Nana and Grandpa for keeping the kids so Jon and I could have such a fun day.

Of Pumpkins and Candy

Last week Evan helped me buy two local pumpkins. The one on the left is a pie variety that I bought from a farmer close to Jon's school. Every year he piles pumpkins on his front lawn. Each pumpkin has a little tag on it with the price and there's a mason jar sitting next the pumpkins for the money. I'll be turning this pumpkin into lots of pumpkin puree to put in the freezer for this year's pumpkin pies, muffins, and all other things pumpkin flavored.... but that will be a job for this weekend.

The typical, bright orange pumpkin is from the farmer's market. Evan picked it out. This is the pumpkin that was the star of the show this past Sunday.

So, under our shade sail on the back patio, we set out to carve a jack-a-lantern. Charlotte never got tired of saying "Ewwww...." even though she was more then willing to reach her hand in and grab seeds.

Jon was the photographer and he always surprises me with such fantastic pictures. I love Evan in the shadows of this one.

Everyone helped scrap out the goo. Goo is the technical term, right?

Great job, Charlotte!

Jon's extreme close up of me carving the eye of the pumpkin.

I swear, the knife was not that close to Evan's face.

Ta-da!

Here is our silly jack-a-lantern all aglow.

We went to our friend's house to trick or treat and have dinner.

Charlotte was a princess. She picked out her own outfit from her dress-up box.

Evan was Winnie The Pooh.

The kids loved trick or treating with their friends.

It was a great night. We called it a day after about 10 houses. That was plenty of walking for the little ones.

I hope everyone had a great Halloween!