Pumpkin Oatmeal Bread

A chilly fall day calls for a bit of bread baking...is there anything like the smell of bread in the oven?  Out popped one of my favorite cookbooks: Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.  I still love this cookbook...it makes bread baking so easy.  Not that bread is all that difficult for lazy butts like me.  I do 5% of the work and let my friend do the rest...

Even so, if you can make bread even easier than throwing it into the KitchenAid, I'm game.  This recipe for Oatmeal Pumpkin Bread did call for a bit more effort than previous recipes.   It all started with a little pumpkin.

This little sweet pie pumpkin about killed me.  Step one instructs one to "split pumpkin in half."  Much, much easier said than done.  I gave it a try with each and every knife in my arsenal to no avail.  I couldn 't even pierce the outside.  In the end, it was pumpkin vs. concrete patio floor.  Sadly for the pumpkin, it lost this battle.  A bit of roasting, mixing and rising and into the oven the bread went.  Fall + baking bread = happiness indeed.

This wasn't the typical bread bread recipe from the cookbook but was every bit as tasty.    This was that soft smooshy white sandwich type bread--the one that mom was always pulling out of the oven when you got home from school.  A bit of butter and honey, and I swear I felt like I was 7 again.

On a different note, this is the face of sadness.  We learned that her boyfriend was eaten by a coyote.  We've all been there...it's just not an easy time.  Sad.  He had such passion and confidence in his pursuit of her, he often picked her fresh birds from the sky.  A girl doesn't get over a boy like that easily.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Bread
Adapted from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

1 pie pumpkin
2 cups lukewarm water
1½ Tbs granulated yeast
1 Tbs kosher salt
5 Tbs unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup agave nectar
½ cup old-fashioned oats
¾ cup whole wheat flour
¾ cup rye flour
4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
neutral- tasting oil for greasing the pan
egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 T. water)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Split pumpkin in half starting at the stem and place cut side down on a silicone mat or a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 45 minutes. The pumpkin should be very soft all the way through when poked with a knife. Cool slightly before scooping out the seeds. Scoop out the roasted flesh of the pumpkin and mash it with a fork or puree it in your food processor. Set aside 1 cup for the dough and reserve the rest for other recipes that utilize pumpkin puree.
2. Mixing and storing the dough: Mix the yeast and salt with the water, melted butter and honey in a 5-quart bowl, or a lidded (not airtight) food container.
3. Mix in oatmeal, pumpkin, and flours without kneading, using a spoon, a 14-cup capacity food processor (with dough attachment), or a heavy-duty stand mixer (with a dough hook). If you’re not using a machine, you may need to use wet hands to incorporate the last bit of flour.
4. Cover (not airtight) and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours. (I moved mine to a clean, lightly oiled bowl and covered it with a dish towel).
5. The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 9 days.
6. On baking day: lightly grease 9×5x3-inch nonstick loaf pan. Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1½ pound cantaloupe-sized piece Dust the piece with flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all sides, rotating the ball a quarter- turn as you go.
9. Using a small amount of flour, form the dough into a loaf shape. Place the loaf in the prepared pan and allow to rest and rise for 2 hours (or just 40 minutes if you’re using fresh, unrefrigerated dough).
10. Twenty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 350°F., and place an empty broiler tray on any other shelf that won’t interfere with the rising bread.
11. Just before putting bread in the oven, brush the loaf with egg wash  and place it on a rack near the center of the oven. Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray and quickly close the oven door. Bake the loaf for 45 to 50 minutes, until deeply browned and firm.
12. Allow to cool before slicing or eating.

Tapioca Pudding...Or Not

I 've had a bit of a chia obsession lately.  It's a fascinating little seed really.  Who knew that the same seed that gives us this....

also apparently has the following nutritional value:

2 times the protein of any other seed or grain
5 times the calcium of milk
2 times the amount of potassium as bananas
3 times more iron than spinach
and of course, copious amounts of omega-3 and omega-6

Or so they say...whoever they are.  Seriously though--anyone who can use the word "copious" to describe food, has this girl's attention.

You would think that because chia sprouts all green and sprouty looking, that the recipes out there would be mostly savory.  Wrong.  While the seeds can be added to breads or sprinkled on salads, most recipes I came across were for chia pudding.  It's so different...how could I not try it?

These little guys can absorb "copious" amounts of water. One tablespoon in 1 cup of water starts out like this....

And a mere 15 minutes later, looks like this....

My mom used to make a Thai version of tapioca pudding when we were growing up--I was taking that concept for my chia pudding.

The basic recipe is super easy--just two cups of a coconut/almond/soy milk product, add 1/2 cup unsalted cashews, 1 tsp vanilla extract and agave nectar to taste.  Blend in blender until smooth.  Pour into a mason jar, add two tablespoons chia seeds and shake.  Refrigerate for at least one hour to allow seeds to fully hydrate.  Pour some in a bowl, chop up a bit of fresh papaya or mango and it's the perfect breakfast to grab on the way to work.

I started wondering though, about how all the recipes out there seem to be for a raw and vegan chia pudding.  I am obviously not a raw foodie, and truth be told, I'm a bit of a dairy whore. Could you make a cooked pudding out of chia? Hmmmm.

I grabbed my favorite lactose filled bevarage and gave it a try, starting with one cup of milk and 2 tablespoons chia seeds set off to the side to hydrate for 15 mins.  Add another 1 cup of milk to a pan with 1 egg, 2-3 tbsp agave nectar (or any sugar), 1 tsp vanilla extract and the seeds of half a vanilla bean  (thanks Shannon for the vanilla).

Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until pudding thickens. Remove from heat and mix in milk and chia seed mixture.  Refrigerate until chilled. Much more delightful way of getting omegas than a big spoonful of flax seed oil...iron, potassium and protein are on the house.

Scrumptious

The whole concept of the jelly roll is intriguing.  Gorgeous fabrics all precut and ready to go?  That's way better than the edible kind. What to do with all the yumminess?

Just a Little Snow

Okay, maybe more than a little. It has been here for two days. Two fabulous, snowy, white days.

Now that it's leaving, I'm guessing I have to go back to the office. I will miss the ability to work while spending quality time with my good friend Tyler.  We didn't get to spend that much time together as he was on mute the entire time.  But I got to watch the boy chop.  For those of you who drove into your office and think I'm a wimp...perhaps.  But why spend all that time driving when you can VPN?  I heart VPN.  It's amazing how much more productive you can be without people popping into your cube every 5 minutes. 

Working from home is not without its dangers though.  There's a potential for deadly situations when you are distracted by work.  Say hypothetically that you put on a pot of espresso, but forget to put water in the pot.  Then say you go join a conference call and completely forget about it.  Say it explodes from the pressure and the heat, and you let out a scream worthy of any horror flick on the conference call for all the vendors and coworkers to hear.  Well, that's just not good.

Luckily the mailman is not put off by the snow.  He is out and about delivering joy in the storm.

This surprise little treat was from Random House.  They send me early releases and copies of books every few months, but this time there was an extra treat....

I was little concerned about the Hershey's at first; I'm a Dove dark chocolate girl through and through.  I've tried others, some fancier, some darker, and some much more expensive but I always come back to Dove--it's the perfect chocolate.  Could Hershey even hold a candle? Who cares.  A girl knows to be grateful for a gift. Thanks Random House--we are looking forward to the book and the chocolates.

You Capture--Autumn

Capturing Autumn usually looks something like this...

or this...

or even this....

But this is Colorado, where you keep your flip flops right next to your boots, all year long.  Capturing autumn today looks a bit more like this....

For some fabulous You Capture posts or to join in the fun, hop over to the You Capture fun at I Should Be Folding Laundry.  She had me at "Laundry."

Cookbook #57 Silver Palate Cookbook

One mother, and a birthday cake required.  Being the only daughter who lives in town, somewhere along the line, it was just assumed that I was the cake person.  No worries...a million cookbooks and very few opportunities to make cake.  I have been in need of a reason to bake a cake.

Since this was a family cake, there could be no tricks.  Broccoli or spinach would be rejected, beets would have been immediately identified and I would have been cast out of the party.  But as it turns out, I'm pretty sure carrots are veggies, and carrot cake would be well received.  Ignore the amounts of sugar and oil this recipe calls for.

Silver Palate Cookbook doesn't really need an introduction.  A cookbook doesn't get to celebrate twenty five years in print without being a winner.  I actually had an older version, well used, well loved and definitely beat up.  When this new version came out, I waivered.  Well loved cookbook has sentimental value, but this version had photos.  Food photography eventually won out over sentimentalism.  The recipes are easy to follow,  and while the cookbook is known for introducing the home cook to more gourmet cuisine at the time, the ingredients are pretty mainstream and easy to find for today's cook.  It's definitely a keeper.

This carrot cake called for cooked and pureed carrots which I'd never done for a carrot cake.  I reduced by a bit and threw in some grated carrots for good measure.  What's a carrot cake without visible carrots?

It was also a busy cake...lots and lots of stuff in this cake....carrots, pineapple, coconut, walnuts.  I thought to ask my mom which of the add-ins she wanted and made it per her specs.  Too bad I forgot to take it over to her house for her birthday dinner.  My coworkers got this birthday cake. 

Dear Mom, the above photo is of your birthday cake.  Hope you enjoy the photo.  Happy Birthday, loves and kisses.  Mary.

Silver Palate Carrot Cake

Ingredients
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups oil
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups shelled walnuts, chopped
1 1/2 cups shredded coconut
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 cups pureed cooked carrots
3/4 cup drained crushed pineapple
Cream Cheese Frosting


Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease two 9-inch springform pans.
2. Sift flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and cinnamon into a bowl. Add oil, eggs and vanilla. Beat well. Fold in walnuts, coconut, carrots and pineapple.
3. Divide batter between prepared pans and smooth tops with a rubber spatula. Set on the middle rack of the oven and bake until edges have pulled away from sides and a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 50 minutes.
4. Cool 15 minutes, then remove sides of pans and place layers still on pan bottoms on cake racks to cool completely, 3 hours.
5. Gently remove layers from pan bottoms and use Cream Cheese Frosting to fill cake and frost the sides. Dust top of cake with confectioners' sugar. Serves 10 to 12.

Goodbye My Love...

The journey is over...at some point you just have to cry "uncle."  What started out as a old sweater from the Goodwill, turned into an Earth Day recycling project and then into a beast of another sort  before reaching its final destination as Big Montana.  In this house at least.  I could frog it again, but this time it's going into the donation pile. Such is the way with about 80% of my knitted clothing.  Scarves, easy.  Blankets, easy.  Clothing that needs to fit right and curve in and out in just the right places?  Not so much. 

I have to admit to a certain amount of sadness.  I love the pattern and I love the vest concept.  I adore the big cowl neck.  I even saw it all the way to the end.  What I don't love is the outcome: bulky, wrong, misfitted.  Sad. Very, very sad.

Looks harmless enough laying flat.  I wondered as it progressed if it still wasn't too big.  I wondered if it really should flare out quite so much at the waist.  My concern was not misplaced, it just did not fit my body.  It was shapeless around the middle, dipped down too much below the lace and felt a little too square.  I think I would benefit from learning how to knit short rows for bust shaping before I ever attempt another sweater.  It should be mandatory in patterns really.

And that's not even mentioning the little big mistake I made in the cowl neck. See the front of the stockinette stitch visible when the cowl is turned over?  Yeah, it should have been the back of the stockinette stitch so that it matched the purl stitch visible on either side of the lace panel.   The thing that gets me though, is that I had it right the first time.  I second guessed the pattern because it seemed wrong and ripped it all out and started again.  If only I'd trusted the first time.

Look at the sad curl of that cowl...It would have curled differently if I hadn't reversed it.  It definitely wanted to curl out instead of in.

 

I'm more sad that it didn't fit right than I am over the time it took to knit. I absolutely love, love, love a great cowl...even if my brothers said it made me look like a Star Trek character.  That's why a girl has brothers  really, to keep it real.  And look at the fabulous inset lace pattern...sniff, sniff.

Saturday Playdate and Sleepover

I had a little friend over for a playdate today....

And now we are having a sleepover.  Or rather, I want to sleep.  Peanut, well not so much.

Roasted Hatch Green Chili Goodness

Is there anything quite like the scent of freshly roasted Hatch chilies? Once you get over the initial fumes that have you coughing and sputtering, you can really hone in on that fresh chili goodness.  When Whole Foods was roasting them onsite, well I was right there waiting for them to finish up a batch.

And what about this concept?

I found this spice at the Savory Spice Shopa couple of weeks ago and was intrigued.  I had a little southwestern brekkie planned for both of these chilies....

No recipe needed really.  Take a basic homefry recipe and throw in some freshly chopped green chilies.  For the eggs florentine, take any hollandaise recipe and add 2 tsps of the green chili powder.  Tried and true recipe with a bit of southwestern flair.

The other beautiful thing about green chilies, is that they really are working girl friendly.   Throw the ingredients for a green chili into the crockpot before work.

Come home after a long day and just start pulling out some leftover grilled veggies or whatever fresh veggies you want, open a can of beans, and grab some tortillas.

Top your "leftovers burrito" with some fresh chicken green chili and cheese it's like you made a homecooked meal just that day.  All courtesy of fabulous Hatch green chilies.  Versatile little suckers.

Chicken Green Chili

Ingredients:

1 pound boneless chicken breast
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 finely diced green tomatillas
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 can chicken broth
2 cups freshly roasted green chilies, cleaned and diced
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds, crushed
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
3 tablespoons lime juice
freshly ground black pepper

1. Place all ingredients in a crockpot and cook for 8 hours.
2. Remove chicken and let cool slightly before shredding
3. Use stick blender to puree half of the chili mixture (or add half to a blender)
4.  Return shredded chicken to pot and serve

Butternut Squash and Apple Bundts?

Yep.  Indeed it's true.  Really though, if I can add spinach to blueberry bars, then what's a little squash in your cake?  Aren't squash and pumpkins really the same thing?  And we make a myriad of desserts from that squash.  Mock me if you like, but it was fabulous. Think autumny spice muffins.

I made these with a combo of applesauce and fresh apples.  You could grab a jar of applesauce, but even better is making your own...five apples finely diced and sauteed with cinnamon and a squeeze of fresh lemon, cooked for 10 minutes until soft and then pureed, makes perfect applesauce.

Butternut Squash and Apple Mini Bundts

Ingredients

1 cup flour

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsps cinnamon

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1 egg

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 cup applesauce

2/3 cup cooked and mashed butternut squash

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup lowfat or nonfat milk

1/4 cup canola oil

2 medium apples, peeled and finely diced

1. Preheat ove to 400 degrees and grease and flour 6 mini bundt pans.

2. Combine oats, flours, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl and whisk to combine and remove lumps.

3. In another bowl combine the remainder of the ingredients to make a wet mixture, mixing thoroughly.

4. Slowly add flour mixture and apples, stirring until just combined and taking care not to overmix.  Batter will be slightly lumpy.

5.  Dived batter among the bundt pans and bake for 18-22 mins.

6.  Turn muffins onto a cooling rack and serve warm

Sundried Tomato Risotto

Summer's over and produce is sadly missed.  Gone are the days of fresh local vine ripened tomatoes.  But each season does bring its own culinary excitement.  What would Laura Ingalls do with fresh non GMO tomatoes dwindling?  Probably buy up a stash and dry them for the long hard winter.  That's the name of one of her books...just in case you aren't quite at the same level of fanhood that I'm at. 

So phenomenal...

After sitting overnight in a 170 degree oven, they look more like this...

I've been a little lazy to look through my cookbooks.  You'd think I'd use them more than I do, but whenever I do find a recipe, I don't seem to have the ingredients.  By the time I remember to buy the ingredients, I forget what recipe I wanted to make...it's a vicious circle really and the reason for the lack of cookbook posts.  I have to make a concentrated effort at some point to sit down with a pad and paper and list the recipes and ingredients.  That is not happening this week.  What is happening though is some Sundried Tomato Risotta. 

Sundried Tomato Risotto

Ingredients
1- ounce sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 cup white wine
2 1/4 cups chicken broth
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup arborio rice
1/4 cup freshly grated pecorino
fresh basil

Directions
1.In a large saucepan cook the onion and the garlic in the oil over moderately low heat, stirring, until they are softened, add the rice, stirring until each grain is coated with oil, and stir in the tomatoes.
2. Add the white wine and cook until liquid is absorbed, stirring constantly.
3. Add 1/2 cup of the simmering liquid is absorbed. Continue adding the liquid, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly and letting each portion be absorbed adding the next, until the rice is tender but still al dente. (The rice should take about 17 minutes to become al dente.)
4. Stir in the Parmesan and salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle the risotto with the basil.

Big Montana

Bozeman, MT has some of the best street names I've seen.  How can you not love a Fish Hatchery Rd? 

And in the midst of all of the uniqueness, there's even a bit of the familiar.

Any state that has a Maverick Tr. deserves a bit of a tribute...and what could be a better tribute than a sweet cowl neck sweater vest courtesy of this fall's Interweave Knits?  Doesn't the cover just make you want to grab some knitting needles and sit in front of a fire?

Yes people, it is the Big Montana Tunic.  Toasty oasty, and the perfect use for that yarn that's bested me in the past....

I'm going to have to confess though that while well intentioned, this yarn may have bested me again.  I began knitting the 34" size, only to find that it seemed ginormous.  Yes, I did a swatch and it was off by a quarter of an inch, but I thought surely that wouldn't make a huge difference.  So very wrong.  So the entire effort was frogged and begun again as the 30" version. I knit all of it minus the sleeve detail and the cowl, tried it on and was pretty sure that the made me look like I was sporting hockey pads.  Sometimes bulky looks toasty oasty, and sometimes, as seems to be the case with this yarn, bulky actually equals, well, bulky.  But alas, I'm too far gone to frog or even think about giving up.  Maybe the addition of the cowl will magically make sweater vest appear as sleek as it does in the photo. Here's hoping.

Mischievous

After a week at home, I came to realize that cats actually  sleep a lot.  A lot, a lot.  It's quite understandable though, especially when they cram so much mischief into the 20 minutes that they are awake. 

What always amazes me most though, is how even in their sleep, they can sense you are attempting a task that requires their hindrance assistance.  Exhibit A--blocking knit scarf:

Cat appearance from nowhere.

 

Or changing the sheets...the very sound of the first shake of a sheet will wake this cat from the deepest of sleeps...

Supreme cuteness makes up for a lot though.

Cleaning House

With my conversion project finito, I gladly took this week off for a bit of R&R.  It felt decadent to lunch and play tennis and be completely without a schedule. Bliss.  Who would have ever thought that getting to do things like run errands, clean the house and shampoo the carpets would feel like a treat?  But it did.  I feel like my home life is once again under a bit of control...until the cone of entropy that looms over it wins again.

Part of cleaning the house though, is running into UFOs--unfinished objects.  If it isn't enough that I have about 50 of my own, I found one that I took from my mom....six years ago.  My mom notoriously makes quilt tops and then moves on to the next project without finishing it.  She stacks them in the closet...kind of like what we all do with our UFOs.  I grabbed this Christmas quilt topper one from her with every intention of finishing it before Christmas.  It's the exact kind of quilt I would never make, and whose style, colors and even personality, reminded me of my mother.  Here, six years later in a cleaning frenzy, it reminded me of all my lofty and unrealized goals.  One week off, one little quilt needing a bit of finishing....surely it could be done.   I also had a little help.  

I should clarify really, what finishing means in my world today.  In yesterday's world, it would have meant that this was perfectly hand quilted, with quilting detail around each and every block.  In today's world, it means, that the quilt has a backing, the backing is attached to the topper, and there is a some quilting in random places to ensure it doesn't fall apart. There is no uniformity in stitch size, and the quilted areas leave a bit to be desired....but it's finished.  At least in my book...that's long before my goal of Christmas.  2003, 2009, whatever. Thanks Mom!