Pumpkin Alfredo Tortellini with Sweet Italian Sausage

Helllloooooo!

Yes, I'm back.  It only took me a year and a half! In all seriousness, it's not that I wanted to stop posting on this blog, I just honestly haven't had the time. Between starting a new job, traveling a ton for work, and regular life getting in the way, this has just fallen by the wayside.  In the past, Eric would be working until 10 PM, so I'd have hours by myself to just cook and blog. Now, there's this fun thing called "spending time with your favorite human".  It's pretty sweet.

So! In the interest of actually keeping up with this, I have decided that the best way to keep myself motivated about posting is to keep it simple, stupid.  I don't have time to stage innumerable photos for every. single. step of the cooking process, or the time it takes to edit them, blah blah blah.  Which means that each post will likely only feature one picture of the final product, unless there's an intermediate step which is dying for a picture due to its complexity, or just my boneheaded screw-up.

Without further ado, here is my most favorite recent meal:

Pumpkin Alfredo Tortellini with Sweet Italian Sausage (modified from here)

What You'll Need

• One bag frozen cheese tortellini
• One package Sweet Italian chicken sausage (typically 4-5 per package)
• 15 oz. can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 1/4 cup shredded or ground Parmesan cheese
• 3 cloves garlic (or 1 tsp. garlic powder)
• 1/2 cup light cream or fat free half and half
• 1 cup low sodium vegetable or chicken broth, more as needed to thin the sauce
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp Italian seasoning
• Salt and pepper to taste

What To Do

Heat a large skillet on medium heat.  Using a sharp knife, slice the casings of each sausage open lengthwise and add the meat to the skillet. Discard the casings. 

On a separate burner, bring a large pot of water to boil. 

Cook the sausage for 5-7 minutes until it is evenly browned, draining any fat that comes out of the meat. Use a spatula to constantly chop the meat into small crumbles. 

While the meat is cooking, finely dice the onion.  After the meat is browned, add the onion to skillet and cook for another 3-4 minutes, or until the onion is translucent.  Add the pumpkin, broth, cream, and spices to the pan, mixing well to incorporate everything. More broth can be added as needed to bring it to your desired consistency. 

At this point the water should be boiling. Add the tortellini and cook according to the instructions on the package.  If you start them at this point they will be finished right when the sauce is completed. 

Cook the sauce for another 4-5 minutes until the sauce mixture is lightly bubbling.  Add the cheese and mix vigorously to help it melt. Serve immediately.

I served this with fresh steamed green beans. It may look like a steaming pile of orange cat food, but let me tell you - it. was. AMAZING.

I am a HUGE fan of pumpkin, especially in savory dishes, and as I've said before on this blog, I think it's highly under-appreciated.  I kept this sauce fairly thick, which worked well with the tortellini that have lots of nooks and crannies for it to disappear into.  This was my first time making it, so I followed the recommended amounts for the cinnamon and nutmeg, but after tasting it, you could definitely be more liberal with them without them getting overpowering. I think Eric was a little skeptical of how this would taste at first, but he cleaned his plate very quickly with lots of om nom nom noises, so I know it was a big success.  Another big plus is that this is a great meal to make on a busy weeknight as everything comes together in about 25 minutes.  Enjoy!

You say Pirogue, I say Pirohi!

Growing up, one of my all-time favorite foods was pirogues, or, as I grew up saying with my Czech/Russian side of the family, “pirohi”. You might know these from the ever-popular Mrs. T’s brand, but I was only used to eating ones homemade by my Aunt Julie, who made them once a year for Russian Orthodox Christmas. They are a staple of the traditional meatless Christmas Eve meal, as they are stuffed with potatoes and cheese and are served in mass amounts of liquid butter with chunks of onions. Nowadays, I eat the frozen brands more frequently, and have discovered a fresh version you can buy in the refrigerated section at most grocery stores. Although I love them, as do all of my other relatives, none of us ever knew the recipe or how to make them! I decided it was high time that the recipe be passed on to the younger generations, and convinced Aunt Julie to give us a master class. Here are the results…

Traditional Pirohi

What You’ll Need

Potatoes

• 8 large Idaho potatoes
• 3 slices regular American cheese
• Turmeric

Dough

• 9 + 1 cups sifted white flour
• 3 eggs
• 3 cups water
• 1 tbsp heaped with regular sour cream
• Salt
• Extra flour (for dough or dough board, if necessary)

Toppings

• 1-2 sticks unsalted butter
• 1 medium white onion, diced

What To Do

Peel all potatoes and cut into rough chunks. Cook in boiling water until tender enough to pierce with a fork. Drain and let stand for 3 minutes to cool off. Transfer the potatoes into a large mixing bowl and beat until smooth. While beating, rip slices of American cheese and add to bowl so that the heat of the potatoes will melt the cheese and it will be incorporated. Once potatoes are smooth, add turmeric until mixture has reached a bright yellow color to your liking (the spice is more for color than flavor, so it’s a personal preference).

Once the potatoes are made, let them sit uncovered so that they reach room temperature.

In the meantime, start making your dough. Sift 9 cups of flour into a large pot. Add the 3 beaten eggs, water and sour cream and mix with a wooden spoon.

If the dough is stick, gradually add flour from the extra sifted cup until it reaches a proper dough consistency. Flour a large, flat surface, preferably a wooden cutting board or a clean table. Put your dough ball on the board and cover.

The dough needs to stand for about half an hour. While it is resting, bring a large pot of water to a slow boil. Put a stick of butter into a small pot on a nearby burner but without heat – the warmth of the boiling water will melt the butter. Add about half of the diced onion into the butter pot, as it will soften slowly over time while being continually heated.

After the dough has rested, it should be a large puffy ball that is ready to be cut and rolled out.

Cut a small hunk off of the main dough ball and place it onto your floured board. Using your floured hands, knead the dough for 1-2 minutes to test its consistency. The dough may be very sticky, so add flour minimally as needed. Once it is no longer sticking to the board or your hands, reflour the board and roll out into a ¼ inch thick circle.

Make sure that you can lift the thin dough circle off of the board – if it is getting stuck, scrape the stuck part off with a knife and add more flour to the board.

Once the dough is evenly rolled out, use a small circular mold or the floured rim of a juice glass to cut the dough into small circles.

Using a teaspoon, put small mounds of potato into the center of each of the dough circles. Try to keep the potato tightly packed and towards the center so it will be easy to seal the dough in the next step.

Fold the edges of the dough and pinch them together until it is totally sealed. You can dampen the edges with a small amount of water if the dough is dry and isn’t sticking together well.

Lay the finished pirohi on a cookie sheet. Once the sheet is full, you can cook a large batch at once. Place all of the pirohi into the pot of slowly boiling water, and add a few pinches of salt. Since the dough is uncooked, they will all sink to the bottom. The nice part about cooking pirohi is that you don’t need to time them – as soon as they pop up and rise to the top, they’re done! This usually takes about 5-10 minutes but it all depends on your dough, and how many you have in your pot.

Place the cooked pirohi into a large Pyrex dish and cover with the melted butter and chopped onions. Go back to your dough ball, cut another hunk, and start the process again!

I dare you to restrain yourself from popping at least 2-3 of these in your mouth as soon as they come out of the pot. It’s impossible.

You don’t have to go as crazy and use as much melted butter as this recipe calls for, but man, it really does make them incredibly delicious. I usually make Mrs. T’s pirogues by boiling them and then sautéing them with a SMALL amount of butter (1-2 tbsp) and a lot of caramelized onions. This makes the dough slightly golden and crispy on the outside, and the potato warm and melty on the inside, so I can only assume that these would be equally yummy prepared in that fashion. You can also reheat these as-is in a microwave, but I prefer an oven so that the dough doesn’t dry out. The recipe makes about 100 pirohi, but these freeze really well, so you can stick them in a Tupperware and reheat on an as-needed basis. It may seem like a lot of work, but this is an inexpensive, delicious homemade dish that is worth every second of the effort, even if you only do it once or twice a year. I’m so glad that I was finally able to learn all of the tricks of the trade from the Master Chef herself, so big thanks to Auntie Julie for teaching us and for allowing her hands to be featured in all the photos!

Baked Oatmeal Cups

I’m sure you’ve all heard the old adage “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” For most of my life, I ate little or nothing for breakfast, especially when I was in college and couldn’t be bothered to drag my butt out of bed and to the dining hall early in the morning. As I got older, and especially now that I’m a regular working stiff, I can’t possibly make it through the morning without eating something substantial. However, this is tempered by the fact that I am still a lazy bum and want my breakfast to take as little time as possible. Usually I eat cereal with bananas, but in the winter it’s always comforting and satisfying to eat something hot. These baked oatmeal cups can be stored in the fridge and/or freezer, allowing you to make a big batch ahead of time and pull one out each morning. They are best served warm and are a great way to start the day!

Baked Oatmeal Cups (adapted from here)

What You’ll Need

• 3 eggs
• 2 ½ cups skim milk
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 banana, sliced
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 5 cups old fashioned oats
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup fresh/frozen fruit or chocolate chips

What To Do

Preheat your oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, applesauce, and vanilla.

After these are well-blended, add the brown sugar and banana. If you are using another fruit as your filling, add it at this step. If you are using chocolate chips, add them last.

Mix until the sugar is uniformly combined with the egg mixture. I will say that it seemed odd to me to leave the bananas in slices, but the original recipe did not call for them to get mashed or otherwise worked into the liquid, so I left them as is. The final product tasted great so I think this is more of a personal preference than anything, but I will probably mash them the next time around.

In a separate large bowl, mix the oats, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

(I forgot to take a picture. It looked suspiciously like oats in a bowl.)

Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture, and stir until blended. Add your chocolate chips if you are using them.

The original recipe tells you to add the milk AFTER you have mixed the wet and dry ingredients together. I completely glossed over the fact that milk was not included in the list of wet ingredients, and had added it when making the egg mixture. I don’t think it made a lick of difference.

Spray 2 12-cup muffin tins with cooking spray, or line with cupcake liners. Note: the original recipe also tells you this makes 18 muffins, which is a dirty lie. I used a 6-cup and a 12-cup muffin tin and had a bunch left over, so go with the 24 cup total. Scoop the mixture evenly into the cups, and bake for 35-40 minutes.

The muffins are done when a knife or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  After removing from the oven, let them cool for 15-20 minutes. They may be eaten while warm or stored in the freezer in freezer bags until future use.

My hubby thought these were for dessert, and honestly they could easily be a healthy dessert alternative. We had them for breakfast the morning after I made them, and they were absolutely delicious. I heated mine for 1 minute in the microwave, then topped with some vanilla almond milk, and I just about thought I’d died and gone to heaven. The one pictured in the ramekin above is about twice the size of the actual muffins (it was made from the extra mixture), and I was stuffed after eating it. I had a single muffin this morning and remained full straight through to lunchtime. It’s easy to forget that these little guys pack a potent punch of fiber because you’ll feel so decadent eating one with chocolate chips for breakfast. Next time I plan on trying these with blueberries, mango, or cranberries. Breakfast really can be exciting!

Moraga Pear Pie

When Eric and I were visiting my family the weekend after Thanksgiving, my dad realized that he had forgotten to make one of the desserts he’d been most looking forward to (I know where my absent mindedness comes from…hi Dad!). We ended up whipping this together in no time flat and it came out of the oven just as we were getting ready to leave. It was torture having this in the car with us on the way home and not being able to eat it! Pears aren’t in season right now but this came out delicious anyways. I wouldn’t recommend making it with canned pears as they are too mushy.

According to the original cookbook, this recipe was created by an 82-year old woman who won Moraga, California’s pear recipe contest. The town of Moraga was developed on Bartlett orchards, and they celebrate their heritage by hosting an annual pear festival.

Moraga Pear Pie from The Great Book of Pears by Barbara Jeanne Flores

What You’ll Need:

• 1 unbaked, premade pie shell (or 2 shells for a covered pie)
• 5 to 6 Bartlett pears, peeled, cored and sliced
• 1 cup sugar
• ¼ cup butter, melted and cooled
• 4 tbsp flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

What To Do:

Preheat your oven to 375°F.

After preparing the pears (pre-pear-ing?), lay them in a regular pattern in the pie shell. I started out by fanning them in a tight spiral, but eventually you will have to just fit them in wherever you can. Also, be aware that the pears will decrease in size while baking, so you want the pie to be liberally mounded over the edge of the pie shell.

[I would insert a picture of this step here, except I forgot to take one. Use your imagination.]

In a mixing bowl, beat together the sugar, flour, eggs, and vanilla. Pour this mixture over the pears. I recommend doing this with the pie on a foil-lined baking sheet as it will likely splatter all over the place.

Bake the pie for 15 minutes. After that, reduce the oven temp to 350°F and continue baking for 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes, cover the pie loosely with foil to prevent overbrowning. Bake for an additional 30 minutes (i.e. your total bake time is 75 minutes.)

I guarantee that this is unlike any pie you’ve ever had. The consistency is completely different due to the liquid mixture that is poured over the fruits – it is almost like a pear custard. Normally I am not a huge fan of pears (gotta be honest – the gritty texture kinda freaks me out) but I will gladly eat them this way any time! You can easily switch the pears for any other fruit you’d prefer, including apples, peaches, or plums (I plan on trying this in the spring.)  Have fun experimenting, and enjoy!

Pumpkin Crunch Bars

You totally doubted me, didn’t you? You all thought I’d renege on my promise to post again so quickly!

As an inspiration for my recent pumpkin fixation, I have to show you this video. Although it’s intended for Halloween, it’s still fitting for Thanksgiving, and holy hell it is HILARIOUS. We get to slicey dice, to makea da poompkin gooch!

Bork bork bork! Can you tell how excited I am to go see the Muppets movie? SO. FREAKING. EXCITED.

This is going to be a quick post because I’ve got lots to do to get ready for the holiday, as I’m sure everyone reading this does. This is a super quick, super easy, and super delicious last-minute addition to any meal, Thanksgiving or not.

Pumpkin Pie Crunch Bars (adapted from Duncan Hines)

What You’ll Need

• 1 pkg yellow cake mix
• 1 16 oz can solid pack pumpkin
• 1 12 oz can fat free evaporated milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 ½ cups Splenda (or sugar)
• ½ cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
• 4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• ½ tsp salt

Preheat your oven to 350°F, and grease a 9x12 pan with cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl, combine the pumpkin, milk, eggs, Splenda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.

Blend well with a fork or whisk until the mixture is smooth, then transfer into the baking pan.

Cover the surface of the pumpkin mixture with the yellow cake mix so that no pumpkin is visible and the cake mix is in an even layer. Next, scatter the chopped nuts over the cake mix.

Drizzle the melted butter over the surface of the cake mix.

Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until the surface is golden brown and the cake mix has slightly puffed.

Let this cool until it is just warm, and serve plain or with whipped cream.

This is, essentially, a delicious, non-fruity version of a dump cake. This is almost an upside-down pumpkin pie, and I love the way the nuts add a nice bit of crunch to the overall soft texture. As much as I love pumpkin pie, I love that this takes only 10 minutes to put together but ends up tasting just as great!

And with that, I’m signing off until after the holiday. On Thursday, while in the midst of your food comas, please remember that Thanksgiving is truly about how lucky we all are to have friends, family and loved ones by our side, and a bounty of food to share and enjoy. Now go eat your hearts out!

Gobbles!

No, that is not the gobbler that I will be happily feasting on all weekend. This big guy, along with two of his other buddies, resides on the grounds where I work. Since we are approaching our national Annual Turkey Massacre, these 3 plucky fowls have decided it is high time to assert their presence and remind me of their cuteness by stalking around the parking lot, flapping their wings, and looking generally disgruntled. Guilt. It’s what’s for dinner.

^{Gobbles? (This picture, and this post’s title, will make no sense until you watch this piece of genius from South Park.)}

So! Thanksgiving is in 4 days and I CAN’T WAIT. I looooove Thanksgiving. What’s not to love about a whole day celebrating mashed potatoes (heavenly), butternut squash (highly underrated), stuffing (aka thigh padding), and PIE?! Yes, I am thankful for all of the many blessings in my life. But without fail, every single year, I am especially thankful that I have free rein to eat pumpkin pie for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I am not kidding.

No, this is not a recipe for pumpkin pie. Everyone has a family recipe that they follow, or a version of the one on the cans of pumpkin, and they are all equally delicious. Like butternut squash, though, I think pumpkin is an underrated vegetable that should be utilized in more dishes.

Since I had a craving for pumpkin-related foods, I decided to make a soup and a non-pie dessert (I am saving myself for my beloved). This soup is incredibly easy, and whether or not you choose to include it in your holiday dinner, it would go great with those leftover turkey sandwiches everyone looks forward to the day after Thanksgiving.

Curried Pumpkin Soup (recipe adapted from Panera)

• 2 large carrots, chopped
• ½ white onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 15 oz. cans of 100% pumpkin puree
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 cups (or 1 15 oz. can) light coconut milk
• 1 tbsp butter or margarine
• 1 tbsp canola oil
• 1 ½ tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp ground (or 2 tsp minced fresh) ginger
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp sugar

Peel then roughly chop your carrots, onion, and garlic (evenness in size/shape doesn’t matter, since you’ll be blending it later). Heat the butter and oil on medium heat until they get hot, then add the veggies, ginger, and curry powder. Mix well so the spices evenly coat the veggies, and cook for about 8 minutes or until the carrots start to soften.

After the carrots soften, add the vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer while covered for about 10 minutes.

At this point the broth will have cooked down a bit, and the color will have richened from the veggies breaking down into the liquid.

Next, add the pumpkin, coconut milk, salt, and sugar.

Mix well, then continue cooking on medium-low heat for about 3-4 minutes, or until the contents are thoroughly hot.

At this point, you can either transfer your soup to a blender or food processor, or puree it using an immersion blender. I used my immersion blender and the soup reached an even, rich thickness after blending it for about 1 minute.

Heat this for another minute or two, then serve immediately with fresh, crusty bread.

If you want to get all fancy, you can top this with some crème fraÎche, roasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds), or minced red bell peppers. Personally, I was barely able to restrain myself from shoving my face in the bowl, so the foo-fah was unnecessary.

Eric proclaimed this to be the best soup I’ve ever made. With the exception of my tomato basil bisque, it was also the easiest. Without using too many snooty foodie terms, this soup has an amazing depth of flavor. The first taste has mild pumpkin overtones, but each successive bite has layers of vegetables and spices that meld into one un-frickin’-believable meal. We both had large bowls of this for lunch and our plates were literally wiped clean by the time we finished 2.3 minutes later. I cannot recommend this enough – it’s by far my favorite recipe that I’ve made in many months!

Stay tuned…tomorrow (or, knowing me, possibly a day or two later in the week) I’ll post a simple recipe for Pumpkin Crunch Bars that will knock your socks off!

Indian Lentil Pilaf

OH HAI! Remember me?! Yeah, it’s been awhile. I left my job of 5+ years, moved, and started a new job. All within 3 weeks! Cue mental breakdown (not really, but oh so close!).

I’m still settling in, still searching through boxes for all those scraps of recipes that I stashed wherever I had space while I was frantically packing. In the midst of the 3 days I had in between leaving my old job and moving day, I decided a really spectacular use of my free time would be to cut out all the recipes I wanted from the STACKS of food magazines I had accumulated over the years. I made this Indian salad from one of those recipes, and it comes from Vegetarian Times.

Indian Lentil Pilaf

What You’ll Need

• 1 cup lentils (I used greenish brown)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 large carrots, diced
• 1 cup basmati rice
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 14.5 oz can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
• 1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 ½ tsp garam masala
• 1 tbsp minced fresh ginger (or 1 tsp dried ground ginger)

What To Do

The name of my game when making this recipe was to explicitly NOT follow the directions.

The first thing the magazine tells you to do is rinse and sort the lentils. I summarily ignored this, and instead dumped them straight from the bag into 4 cups of water. Bring this to a boil, then turn the heat down to low and simmer for about 15 minutes. The recipe doesn’t say whether or not they should be covered while simmering. I left them uncovered and it was fine, so take your pick.

After 15 minutes of simmering, you’re supposed to drain the lentils and reserve ¾ cup of the cooking water, which is brown and looks like…well, use your imagination. I realized this mid-draining, so I only saved about ½ cup. The lentils then get stored in a bowl until you’re ready for them later.

While the lentils cook, dice your veggies and garlic. Add the oil and onion to your newly emptied pan and cook on medium for about 4 minutes.

I’m fairly sure the recipe intends for you to use a white/yellow onion because it mentions cooking until the onion turns translucent. I only had a mangy red onion, so that’s what I used, and it was fine.

After the onions cooked for 4 minutes longer than I intended because the damn carrots took longer to cut than I expected, I added the carrots and rice to the pot. My carrots were roughly hacked, not diced. Also, I didn’t have Basmati rice, so I used jasmine rice. TAKE THAT, RECIPE.

I stirred these around for about 3 or 4 minutes until the rice was nice and golden brown and toasted, and then I added the garam masala, ginger, and garlic. For those of you not familiar with it, garam masala is a spice blend comprised of coriander, clove, peppercorns, cumin, cardamom, nutmeg, and other spices, and commonly used in Indian cooking. It isn’t spicy, but its got a strong, distinctive flavor that, if you’ve ever eaten Indian food, you will recognize by taste. You can make your own based on the recipe here, or, like me, you may be able to find it in the international section of your grocery store (I scored mine at ShopRite, so it’s not that uncommon). Can you guess what I fudged at this step? Did you guess ginger? Bingo! I never buy fresh because the rest of the wonky looking tuber gets old and dried out in my fridge, so I guesstimated and subbed the 1 tbsp fresh ginger for 1 tsp ground ginger. That’s the benefit of making new things – you’ll never know how badly you screwed up the original if it tastes good at the end!

Once the spices had coated the contents of the pan, I dumped in the lentils, tomatoes, reserved poo water lentil cooking water, and veggie broth. I didn’t have veggie broth, so I used chicken broth. TAKE THAT, VEGETARIANS! And it wasn’t even the low-sodium version! TAKE THAT PART INFINITY, RECIPE! At this point, cover the pot, turn the heat way down to low, and simmer for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

 

After about 20 minutes, the rice will be nice and fluffy and most of the cooking liquid will be absorbed.

While it may appear as if there is a ghostly specter hovering over my lentils, it is only the copious amounts of steam that were pouring off of this bowl. In my opinion, this dish benefits greatly from a healthy dose of pepper and a little bit of salt, especially if you follow the recipe (HAHAHAHA) and use the low-sodium broth. Once seasoned, this is scrumptious. I served this when my mother-in-law came for lunch, and I was a little worried she wouldn’t like it because of the Indian flavors (not everyone shares my love of ethnic foods) but she devoured it. In fact, I think this could even use more spices than it calls for. Garam masala has an intense flavor profile but it’s slightly muted by veggies and other components of this dish, so I might use 2 or 2 ¼ tsp the next time around. Even though I served this as a side dish, you could also easily add some grilled tofu, chicken, shrimp, or fish to make this a main course. The recipe says this serves 6, and that’s being conservative. Like most salads, the more you let the flavors settle and meld the better, so you’ll enjoy any leftovers even more!