Pumpkin Custard Cups.

I had some leftover pumpkin from a pumpkin creme roll cake I made this weekend for friends, (which I unfortunately forgot to photograph), and so Hubby and I decided to make this classic-with-a-twist that his mom makes nearly every year for thanksgiving.  This recipe is easily adjusted to your tastes, as you can take the same idea and use your own recipe if you wish!  The idea is that you make pumpkin pie, but without the crust, and pour the filling into ramekins instead.  Delicious, especially with whipped cream!

Pumpkin Custard Cups

Ingredients:

1 15 oz. can pumpkin

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice

2 eggs, lightly beaten

3/4 c. half-and-half, light cream, or evaporated milk (I used half-and-half)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

In a large bowl stir together pumpkin, sugar, and pumpkin pie spice.  Add eggs; beat lightly with a fork until combined.  Gradually add half-and-half.  Stir with a fork until just combined.  Pour filling into ramekins.

Place ramekins on jelly roll pan, (or any pan with a good edge to it,) and fill the pan half way with lukewarm water.  Carefully place the pan into the oven and bake for approximately 35-55 minutes. (Mine took 45 minutes.  At the 35 minute mark, you just have to check, and watch them closely.)  Done when a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack for to 2 hours.  Cover and chill to store.  

Enjoy!

Succulent Pasta.

My apologies to my readers for the recent "radio" silence.  I assure you that I will do my best to get onto a more regular schedule, but, as you all know from past experience, this may take a bit. Please bear with me. Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming. :)

Succulent Pasta.  Doesn't it just sound delicious?  I love this recipe because it is relatively flexible, simple, and fun.  Just be sure you've got a glass of milk handy to cool the burn...

Succulent Pasta

Ingredients:

4 T. Basil, dried (you can try different herbs here, if you want, but the basil is actually not overwhelming, despite the quantity)

1 T. pine nuts, minced (I forgot to buy more, so this time I made it sans pine nuts)

1 T. olive oil

3 oz. sun-dried tomatoes

1/8 c. olive oil (that's 2 T. if you don't want to dirty another measure) :)

3 cloves garlic, minced

8 oz. fresh mushrooms, sliced

OR (for those of you who dislike mushrooms, like me)

8 oz. (1 large) zucchini, sliced (mushrooms aren't easily substituted, but I think this works well)

1/2 t. salt

1 t. cayenne pepper (VERY spicy! I reduced this to 1/2 t. and it was still spicy, but manageable)

1 16 oz. package bow tie (or your preference) pasta

Directions:

Combine basil, pine nuts, and 1 T. olive oil in a small mixing bowl. Set aside.

Blanch sun-dried tomatoes for 30 seconds in boiling water. (To Blanch "means to plunge foods into boiling water for a few seconds or a few minutes, then remove and place in ice water. This process sets the color of vegetables, lets you easily peel fruits, and slip the skins off nuts. The food does not cook all the way through, so crisp texture is preserved." Thanks About.com! This recipe does not say to place in ice water, and I never have, and it still works.  I wouldn't worry about that extra step.) Drain tomatoes well and slice into small pieces.

In a large skillet over medium heat, add garlic and 1/8 cup olive oil.  Sauté for one minute.  Stir in mushrooms or zucchini and sauté until tender.  Add the basil mixture, salt, cayenne and sun-dried tomatoes.  Reduce heat to low and let the mixture simmer.

While your sauce simmers, cook pasta according to package directions.  When your pasta is done, toss with the sauce till it is evenly coated.  TOSSING IS IMPORTANT.  I didn't toss the first time, and instead simply put sauce on top of the pasta.  I'm surprised my mouth isn't still burning from that!  

This is a spicy recipe (if you hadn't gathered that already!) but it is so delicious!  Try this soon, and you won't be disappointed!

Spicy Black Beans and Rice.

My apologies to my readers, as I've put off posting for a bit.  I'm still cooking, just haven't stopped to photograph often.  I do have some photographs on reserve though, recipes I made awhile back and haven't gotten around to posting yet.  Here's one of my favorites.

I had been seeking a great black beans and rice recipe for awhile now, ever since a trip to mexico in high school.  For dinner one night we were served from a big bowl of rice, and a large bowl of beans.  That was all. I thought I was doomed.  Then I tasted it.  Delicious!  From that point on, I wanted to learn how to make the dish.  The ladies who cooked the meal tried to explain it to me, but the language barrier proved to be too difficult.  

Now, years later, I found a recipe in a newly purchased cookbook by chance, tried it, and here we are.  It's not quite like that delicious meal I had in Mexico, but it's delicious in its own way.  Even my Hubby, who is hesitant about such things, enjoyed this meal.  I hope you do too!

Spicy Black Beans and Rice

Ingredients:

1 med. onion, chopped (approx. 1/2 cup)

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 T. olive oil or cooking oil

1 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 14 1/2 oz. can mexican style stewed tomatoes

1/8 to 1/4 t. ground red pepper

2 c. hot cooked brown or long-grain rice

1/4 c. chopped onion (optional)

Directions:

Prep all ingredients before beginning to cook.

Begin cooking rice, if using slow-cooking rice.  If using minute rice, prepare when needed.

In a medium saucepan cook 1/2 cup onion and garlic in hot oil until onion is tender.

Carefully stir in the drained beans, undrained tomatoes, and red pepper. 

Bring to boiling; reduce heat.  Simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.

To serve, mound rice on dinner plates; make a well in the centers.  Spoon black bean mixture into centers. If desired, sprinkle with 1/4 cup onion. Makes 4 servings. Enjoy!

Butter-Sugar Crepes.

Hubby and I made this recipe for brunch. It would have been for breakfast, but I forgot about the 1/2 hour chill time. Oh well. They were delicious! We topped them with whipped cream and enjoyed them while watching The Office.

P.S. This recipe came from the new software I mentioned yesterday. It's like having a whole new cookbook!

Butter-Sugar Crepes

Ingredients

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled, divided
1 cup whole milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
6 tablespoons sugar, divided

Directions

Reserve 1 tablespoon melted butter for brushing skillet.

Blend milk, flour, eggs, 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons butter, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a blender until smooth, then chill, covered, 30 minutes.

Lightly brush a 10-inch nonstick skillet with some of reserved butter and heat over medium heat until hot. Pour in 1/4 cup batter, immediately tilting and rotating skillet to coat bottom, and cook crêpe, turning once, until just set and golden, about 1 minute total. Transfer to a plate. Make 7 more crêpes, stacking them.

Brush each crêpe with 1 teaspoon butter and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sugar, then fold twice to form a triangle.

Heat 2 teaspoons each of butter and sugar with a pinch of salt in skillet until sugar has dissolved, then cook 4 crêpes, turning once, until golden brown. Repeat with remaining butter, sugar, and crêpes. 

Pierogis.

One of the foods my husband introduced me to, back when we first started dating, was the pierogi.  (My mom probably had made them at some point, but I just don't recall.)  My first memory of them was being over at a mutual friend's home, and his dad making them for all of us.  I was so disappointed to only get three!  They were large, and very filling, but so good I just wanted more.  Since then, we've bought the frozen variety at wal-mart, and have been satisfied, but when I came across this recipe for Quick Potato Pierogis, I knew we had to try it.  We varied it slightly, and will change it more in the future, but as for now, here's how it goes together.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds baking potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks (we used about 2 pounds)
4 to 5 tablespoons unsalted butter + a little extra to melt and drizzle over the dumplings
3 onions, finely chopped (food processors are great for this, or else it takes forever)
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 to 2 packages of gyoza (pot sticker) wrappers (we didn't even use a full package, but it had 60 wrappers in it)
3 to 5 green onions, thinly sliced or 1/4 cup chopped chives or 2 tablespoons chopped parsley or additional fried onions, to serve (we did butter and parsley)

Directions:

Put a pot of salt water on to boil, and prepare your potatoes while it heats. 

When the potatoes are tender, (stick a fork in one, and if it goes in very easily, it's ready), strain the water out and set aside.

Chop your onions while the potatoes are boiling.  You can either mince them by hand, or employ the use of a food processor.

When the onions are all minced, melt the butter in a large saucepan.  Once it is completely melted, add the onions and sauté until they are tender and begin to turn brown. 

Once the onions are sautéed to your liking, pour them, butter and all, into a mixing bowl with the potatoes.  Mash them all together, and season with salt and pepper.  Hubby and I decided to add a bit of cheese in as well. (The last of what we had in the fridge, a bit of shredded Co-Jack, and a bit of shredded Mozzerella.)

You are now ready to start filling your wrappers.

Give yourself a generous supply of water to help with this process.  Normally at this point you'd take a cookie cutter or something along those lines to cut the wrappers into nice circular shapes.  Unfortunately, my cookie cutters are still lost with the mysterious missing kitchen box, the only box we lost in our move at the beginning of summer.  Suffice it to say, Hubby and I made geometrically-shaped pierogis. 

Dip your finger in the water and run it along the outer edge of the wrapper. Spoon some of your filling onto the center of the wrapper.  Be careful not to put too much!

You'll figure out the perfect amount, but it is best to err on the side of too little filling, as too much keeps the pierogi from sealing completely.

Fold the corners, (or edges, if you cut yours into a circle) together. Press your finger firmly along the edges, to seal it.  Try to expel any air that you can from the inside as you do this.

Your pierogi is complete!  Rinse, repeat, until all filling is used up.

Once the pierogis are complete, you can either freeze them for later use, refrigerate them for later that day, or you can cook them immediately.  If you're going to freeze them, do so in a single layer, as if you do not, they will form a giant frozen ball of pierogi.  

If you want to cook them, you can either boil them in a single layer in a pot of boiling salt water for 2-3 minutes per batch, or you can sauté them in butter (still single layer batches,) until they begin to brown, then add 1/4-1/2 in. of water in the pan, cover, and cook for 3-4 minutes. When the water evaporates, the pierogis are tender and not mushy, they are done.

When they are cooked, you can garnish with what you will. (See above ingredient list.)  We chose to garnish ours with melted butter and parsley. MMMMM!