Pumpkin Soup

Two things take over my taste buds this time of year - the desire for a warm, comforting bowl of soup, and the desire for PUMPKIN-FLAVORED EVERYTHING. Today I combined those two desires in this delicious pumpkin soup. This recipe is non-dairy, but real milk or half-and-half could easily be substituted for the coconut milk that I used. I do, however, think the coconut milk added a flavor that would be missed if you used cow's milk.

Ingredients:

4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 15-oz can pumpkin
1 can (1 3/4 cups) coconut milk
1 t cinnamon
1 t ginger
1 t salt
1/2 t black pepper
1 bay leaf

2 cups water
Fresh sage for garnish

Combine broth, carrots, pumpkin, coconut milk, carrots and spices (except sage) in large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for at least an hour, stirring often to prevent burning. If you are using regular milk, save it and wait until close to the end of cooking to add it.

After an hour has passed, remove the bay leaf and discard. DO NOT FORGET TO REMOVE THE BAY LEAF. You do not want it blended in with your soup. Strain carrots from soup and add carrots to blender with 2 cups of water. Blend until smooth. Add carrot mixture back to the rest of the soup. If you are using regular milk, this is a good time to add the milk. Heat until just bubbling, then remove from heat. 

Serve garnished with diced fresh sage and with fresh, crusty bread on the side. I found beer bread went perfectly with this recipe. I only wish I had some pumpkin beer for making the beer bread, but alas, we drank it all recently during a particularly bad Browns game.

References:
http://www.againstallgrain.com/2011/11/01/paleo-and-scd-pumpkin-soup/

Dairy-Free Berry Gelato

This recipe has been a favorite of mine the last few weeks. I always crave ice cream when I don't feel well (I'm sure some of you can relate), but since we think dairy might be causing my migraines, ice cream is an unfortunate no-no. I started munching on frozen berries as an alternative, and eventually this recipe was born.

Ingredients:

2 cups frozen berries (I prefer raspberries)
1/2 cup vanilla almond milk
1 T flaxseed oil

Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Eat immediately. I must admit, I've been known to remove the blade and eat this directly from the food processor (unplugged, of course).

You can leave out the flaxseed oil if you don't have it, but I find it adds something to the flavor that definitely wasn't there when I was just using berries and almond milk. I think it adds that creamy, fatty flavor that real ice cream has.

Almond Milk

I haven't been blogging lately due to some health issues. I went on a pretty strict diet for a few weeks to try to identify what was causing my headaches. Initially, I thought this meant no fun food at all, but of course I eventually found ways to be creative in the kitchen despite my new-found dietary restrictions. Look for an abundance of healthier and/or dairy-free recipes to follow.

My first fun dairy-free foray was to make my own almond milk. The store-bought brands are chock full of ingredients I can't pronounce, and I'm trying to avoid processed foods like that right now. A little internet research helped me realize that almond milk is insanely easy to make. After a few weeks of trials, I have perfected this recipe as a safe, yummy, easy alternative to cow's milk.

No, the cookie isn't dairy-free... but at least it was homemade!

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted almonds*
3 cups water
1/4 cup honey**
1 t vanilla

* I know almonds can be expensive. I found the bulk trail-mix section at Whole Foods to be the cheapest option for almonds in my neighborhood.
** I am lucky enough to have a brother with bees who provides me with awesome honey. For those of who aren't that lucky, I recommend finding a local honey at a farmer's market or higher-end grocery store. It's worth the extra money.

Soak almonds overnight in enough water that they are covered.

After soaking overnight, drain and rinse almonds. In a blender, combine almonds, honey, vanilla, and 3 cups of water, and blend for a few minutes until there are no large chunks of almonds left.

Use a strainer or cheesecloth to separate the liquid from the almond meal. I pour the milk into a strainer over a bowl and let it sit for a few minutes to drain. Store in a quart jar in the refrigerator. Use within 48 to 72 hours (never a problem in my house; I drink it all within 24 hours!).

The leftover almond meal can be used for other recipes. Apparently there are also special cheesecloth bags made specifically for making your own nut milk, but I haven't taken time to look for these yet.

References: 
http://www.choosingraw.com/raw-101-homemade-almond-milk/
http://thisiswhatwemade.blogspot.ca/2012/03/almond-milk-vanilla-almond-milk.html
http://naturesnurtureblog.com/2012/06/08/homemade-almond-milk-almond-meal/

Shrimp and Red Pepper Bisque

My cousin Rebecca sent me a recipe for roasted red pepper soup and asked me to give it a try. I thought it sounded a little bland (sorry Rebecca!), so I spiced it up a little and ended up with this flavorful dish. I knew it was a success when James went back for seconds.

This recipe could easily be made vegetarian by leaving out the shrimp.

Ingredients: 

5 red bell peppers
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 lb cheese or spinach tortellini
1 t sugar
1 t smoked paprika
3/4 cup half and half
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
1 cup basil, loosely chopped
1 T olive oil
1 1/2 T Cajun spice mix
1 lb shrimp, peeled and veined

The most difficult part of this recipe is roasting the red peppers. The goal is to roast the peppers on a grill or under the broiler until they are partially blackened on all sides. In my stove, this took about three minutes per side, turning the peppers with tongs every three minutes until all sides were blackened and wrinkly.

Immediately place the blackened peppers in a paper grocery bag, clamping the bag shut and leaving to steam for 10 to 15 minutes. I used a pair of hemostats to clamp it shut (you'd be amazed how much these come in handy in the kitchen), but I suppose a clothespin would do if you don't have access to hemostats.

Remove stems, seeds, and skins from peppers. I found it was easiest to pull a chair up next to the trash can for this. The stems pulled off easily, and the seeds and skin are easily scraped and pulled off if you cut the peppers in half lengthwise. Slice one of the peppers into thin strips and set aside. The other four peppers will be used for the main content of the soup.

Bring broth to a bowl in a large pot. Add the four unsliced peppers and cook for five minutes. While peppers are cooking, combine shrimp, one thinly sliced pepper, olive oil, and Cajun spices in a bowl and mix well. Heat a frying pan to medium-high heat and add this mixture to frying pan to sauté, stirring occasionally, while you work on the rest of the soup.

Not the most appetizing step in the meal - raw shrimp isn't pretty.

When peppers have cooked in broth for five minutes, remove peppers and some of the broth to a blender and puree until smooth. Repeat this until soup is one uniform texture and no chunks of pepper remain. Return pureed red peppers to soup pot and bring to a boil. Add sugar and paprika and mix well. Add tortellini and cook for 10 minutes, or until tortellini is soft.

When tortellini is cooked, add grated Romano cheese and stir until melted. Add half and half and basil, stir until mixed, and remove from heat. When shrimp is cooked through (opaque and easily cut), add shrimp mixture to the rest of soup and stir until mixed.

Serve hot with a dry white wine. Serves four to six people... or two if you live with a guy who just got home from the gym.

References:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Roasted-Red-Bell-Pepper-Bisque-with-Shrimp-and-Romano-Cheese-103119
http://www.foodrepublic.com/2011/11/04/how-make-roasted-red-peppers

Pancetta Gnocchi

This is a twist on an old family recipe. Gnocchi was a favorite meal of my grandpa, Walter Rozanski, who is pictured below making it. His daughter, my aunt Rita, requested that I figure out how to make bacon gnocchi, and this recipe was born.

(On an unrelated note, I just discovered where my nose comes from!)

Gnocchi ingredients:

2 medium potatoes
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
1/2 pound pancetta (Italian bacon)

Alfredo sauce ingredients:

Fat from cooking pancetta
1 T butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 T flour
1 cup milk
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
1/2 cup grated asiago cheese
1 t black pepper

Peel, cut, and boil potatoes until soft and easily mashed. On my stove, this took 25 minutes from the start with hot water. Drain water and mash potatoes until smooth. Stir in 1/2 cup grated Romano cheese. Set bowl in refrigerator until cool.

While potatoes are cooling, dice pancetta and sauté on medium-high heat until crispy. Remove pancetta, reserving juice/fat in pan. Set this aside for sauce. Let cooked pancetta cool for a few minutes, then mince/crush until there are no large chunks of meat.

Remove potatoes from refrigerator. Add egg, mixing well with a spoon. Add flour and mix well. Add pancetta last, mixing well.

Fill a large pan half full with water and a few dashes of salt and put on the stove to boil at this point.

Spread some flour on a table or cutting board to prevent dough from sticking. Knead gnocchi minimally until it is a uniform ball of dough. Cut this ball into four pieces. Take one quarter of the dough at a time and roll into a long snake of dough. Using a sharp knife, slice dough into pieces 1 inch wide or less. Take each piece individually and roll on a fork so the sides are grooved. Place gnocchi on a plate to rest while making remaining gnocchi.

When your plate is full and water is boiling, drop the plateful of gnocchi into boiling water and set a timer for five minutes. More gnocchi can be rolled out and sliced while the first batch is cooking. After five minutes, remove gnocchi from water with a slotted spoon and leave to drain in a colander.

Continue above steps until all dough is used and all gnocchi is cooked. Drain water and use the same pan for the sauce. Use a rubber spatula to drain the fat from cooking the pancetta from the frying pan into the larger pan. Heat this fat and one tablespoon butter on medium heat. When butter is melted, add minced garlic and saute for a few minutes, stirring often to prevent burning. After a few minutes, add wine and cook for a few more minutes, again stirring often. Add flour and use a wire whisk to mix well, making a rue. Cook only for a minute or two, stirring almost constantly to prevent burning.

Add milk, again using wire whisk to mix well. Continue cooking and stirring often until sauce starts to thicken. Add cheese about 1/3 cup at a time, mixing until melted. Add pepper last. Stir in cooked gnocchi to coat with sauce. If gnocchi has cooled, cook until warm.

This recipe serves four to six people and goes well with pinot grigio. I think this is one of the tastiest recipes I've ever made, and I plan to make it often in the future.

Blueberry Coffee Cake

I was recently asked to make a coffee cake for a wedding shower. I was surprised to realize I have never made anything like this, so I was excited to find this recipe online and see that it had excellent reviews. The recipe was a success; it disappeared so quickly at the wedding shower that I wished I had doubled it.

Ingredients: 

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature

Zest from 1 whole lemon

7/8 cup sugar*

1 egg

1 t vanilla

2 cups flour

2 t baking powder

1 t salt

2 cups fresh blueberries

½ cup buttermilk

* 7/8 cup = 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons

Before starting, allow butter and eggs to come to room temperature. Tip - if you want to speed up the butter warming from frozen or refrigerated temperatures, slice it into a bowl and it will thaw/soften faster. Putting it in the microwave is not the best idea, as this will effect the texture and fluffiness of your final product.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Toss blueberries with 1/4 cup flour and set aside. Combine remaining flour (1 3/4 cups) with baking powder and salt and mix well with a wire whisk.

Combine butter, lemon zest and sugar and beat until creamy. Add egg and vanilla and beat well until mixed. Add flour and buttermilk slowly, alternating between the two ingredients and mixing well. Add blueberries last, folding into dough with a large spatula or spoon.

Grease a 9x9 pan or similar size pan with butter. Spread dough into pan and sprinkle sugar over the top. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool before slicing.

I am also thinking this recipe would make great blueberry muffins too... maybe next time I will try that.

References:
http://www.alexandracooks.com/2011/06/29/buttermilk-blueberry-breakfast-cake/

Cucumber-Cream Cheese Pinwheels

I was notified late Friday night that we (I) needed to make an appetizer for James' company party on Saturday afternoon. These were easy to throw together at the semi-last minute, and fun to make. They were a big hit, and I am proud to say there were no leftovers.

Ingredients:

16-oz cream cheese (at room temperature)
1 lb thin-sliced deli turkey
1 package tortillas
1 cucumber (or 2 cups diced)

Plan ahead to leave cream cheese out of refrigerator for an hour or two before you start. Use fresh, soft tortillas that will not break when you roll them up.

Spread a thin layer of cream cheese on one tortilla, covering with at least an 1/8-inch layer right up to the edges. Sprinkle diced cucumber over the tortilla, covering less than 50 percent of the cream cheese.

Add a thin layer of turkey, ensuring to leave areas of cream cheese peeking through so the ingredients will stick together when you roll up the tortilla.

Starting at one edge, roll the tortilla and all filling very tightly until entire tortilla is rolled up. Repeat these directions until you have used all of the cream cheese and/or tortillas. I used two different flavors/colors of tortilla to make it look pretty, so I only used half of each package.

Wrap 2 to 3 tortilla rolls together in aluminum foil, making sure they stay tightly rolled. Refrigerate for at least one hour before slicing. After an hour, use a very sharp non-serrated knife to slice each roll into 1/2-inch slices. Do not saw at the tortilla with your knife or it will come unrolled.

Each tortilla makes about 8 pinwheels. The inch to two inches at the end of each tortilla are not nice enough looking to serve at a party, so I set these parts aside for pre-party snacks.

References:

http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-search/fast-recipes/turkey-wrap-with-cucumber-cream-cheese