Libby's Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin. Sometimes you just want to transform it to the simplest of pumpkin pies. Here, I've mixed together pumpkin and eggs as a base for the classic recipe from the back of the can of pumpkin you find at the grocery store:
The pumpkin I used here was from a cheese pumpkin that I sliced, cooked, pureed and then stored in my freezer so that I could make pumpkin pie as soon as I felt a chill in the air.

The full set up, before the addition of the evaporated milk:

And once I had given that a good stir, I poured the filling into the graham cracker crust I made earlier and pre-baked:

The finished pie was the perfect classic, aside from a few burnt edges - I had neglected to protect the edges of my pie with tinfoil. oops.

Welcome to My Kitchen: Pumpkin Carving

Happy Halloween!

I'm not much of a traditional pumpkin carver. I like to heat up my oven as I slice a pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds, and place my pumpkin cut side down on an aluminum foil lined sheet:

And forty-five minutes to an hour later at 375 degrees:

I let my pumpkin halves cool, and scoop out the flesh:

Once it's been run through the blender, I'm really ready for pumpkin pie season:

And I usually have a few extra cups of puree that get frozen for my next pumpkin pie fix:

Cheddar Biscuits

Cheese, specifically, sharp cheddar and freshly grated parmesan:

Cheese, added to a biscuit base of flour, cornmeal and leavening cut with butter:

The result: Cheddar Biscuits:

I made these from the recipe above, though I skipped the scallions as I didn't have any in the fridge. A drop biscuit method made the savory treats a nice, quick addition to dinner.

Pizza

Pizza just tastes better coming from your own oven:
I decided to try the King Arthur Flour recipe for pizza crust this time. The recipe offers a number of variations for different styles of pizza, and I thought a deep dish crust was just what I needed.

So, this is what yeast looks like when you let it sit 15 minutes in water and flour to bubble. yum!

Combined with the rest of the ingredients, it looks a bit more appetizing:

This dough kneaded nicely and formed a nice, smooth ball, smoother than I expected from the way the recipe was written:

Halfway through rising:

And ready to shape!

I stretched out the dough and placed it into my large rimmed cookie sheet:

And was surprised at how much it puffed up in this second rising:

A pre-bake and some toppings later (chicken sausage on one half, extra cheese on the other), it was dinnertime:

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bread

I usually spread my peanut butter on bread after it's baked:
But I found this fun looking recipe on King Arthur Flour and decided to give it a try.

The recipe had an oatmeal bread base, which was mixed into a flour, honey, water and yeast mixture:

More flour and whole wheat flour are added until a nice soft dough is formed:

Quite a bit of flour had to be added while kneading to get this dough smooth and ready to rise:

Once the bread rose, it was time for some fun:

I split the dough in half and rolled it into a rectangle, similar to how a regular loaf of bread is made. But This is then spread with a bit of peanut butter and then jelly (I used a fig jam), and rolled up for a swirl of tastiness:

Once these loaves rose:

I baked them into an unusual sandwich bread:
Another time I'll roll my dough a bit thinner and attempt a bit of a tighter loaf for a better spread of the peanut butter and jelly - but this bread was still a big win.

Sour Cream Pumpkin Pie

It doesn't take much of October to pass before I feel the need to make a pumpkin pie:

For a custard filling like this, I usually blind bake the crust, filling the aluminum foil lined pan with pie weights:

Then, the pumpkin:

This particular filling was a bit tangy and very smooth and rich from the added sour cream:

And the slightly pale finished pie didn't last long in the fridge:

Summer Bounty

I've made a ton of stuff this summer with vegetables and fruit from my CSA, but I don't usually bake with vegetables:
So here are a few things from the summer that have gotten overlooked.

Pizza, this time with fresh arugula scattered on top:

Mustard greens sauteed with garlic and onion, served with italian sausage:

A garlic scape pesto, with pecorino cheese and pecans:

roasted beet salad, with plenty of goat cheese:

Potato salad with lots of fresh dill:

And a chicken from Awesome Farms, ready to be roasted with red skinned potatoes, onion and garlic:

Oatmeal Toasting Bread

It comes as no surprise that I found another recipe for an oatmeal bread to try - and it is the best recipe thus far:

It starts with the oatmeal:

Which eventually gets kneaded from a gloppy, sticky dough to a nice, smooth mass:

After a first rise, I rolled it into a loaf and set it to rise again:

This dough really rose beautifully:

The finished product was perfectly toasted, light, and made delicious sandwiches:

Popovers and Boeuf Bourguignon

I've seen and heard a lot this summer about Boeuf Bourguignon, but I had never attempted the dish. A few Sundays ago, I decided that I would try this recipe, a version that doesn't include peeling any pearl onions, and realized that the perfect side dish would be popovers. I tried a new recipe for those as well, from King Arthur Flour:

The finished Boeuf:

I had to start the Boeuf Bourguignon hours before dinner, with bacon and onions:

Meat was browned and coated with flour, and then stock and red wine were poured over and a bouquet garni was added to the mix:

Three hours and a handful of chopped mushrooms later, the pot of the stove had perfumed the apartment and we were very much ready to eat, even though this stew wasn't about to win any beauty pageants:

With dinner almost ready to serve, I mixed my popovers: room temperature eggs, milk and melted butter, mixed with a bit of flour:

Until it resembles thin pancake batter. I poured the batter into a well buttered muffin tin and left the drips to show just how thin this batter should be:

Fresh out of the oven, they were the perfect light, eggy choice for the rich beef stew: