Pumpkin Bread Pudding Recipe

One of the things I’ve been doing this holiday is cook up a storm.

I broke out some old magazines because the other thing I was doing was trying to clean and consolidate. Cooking was easier. Inside an Better Home and Garden from December 2008 (yes, it’s been that long) was this pumpkin bread pudding recipe. The husband is a huge bread pudding fan so I thought I’d try it.

It was delicious.

I brought some to Neighbor Yvonne last week and she said her son loved it and she wanted the recipe. Kids like it too, it must be good.

I thought I’d post the the recipe. Cook it today. You’ll make someone in your family as well as your neighbor’s kid very happy.

Wait – before you tackle this. Please know that you cannot leave out the cardamon. It’s expensive yes. But it’s worth it. I made some saffron rice for Neighbor Sue’s Christmas party so I have some of that laying around as well. If we ever get robbed, the three things I will hide are my grandmother’s earrings, the cardamon and the saffron. And my hard drive of photos.

That’s four things.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups whipping cream
1 cup milk
4 or 5 large croissants or 10 oz. egg bread (about 6 cups)
3 large eggs
1 egg yolk
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 lb. roasted pumpkin flesh or hard squash flesh, mashed (2 cups) or one 15-oz can pumpkin
1 1/4 cups dried currants or golden raisins
3 tbsp. butter, melted
1/2 tsp. ground cardamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
Seeds of one vanilla bean *or 2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 recipe Molasses Cream (included below)
Fresh thyme (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Butter a 2 1/2-to 3 -quart casserole; set aside. In large bowl combine whipping cream and milk. Add torn croissants. Gently press until everything is covered by the milk mixture. Let stand while preparing custard.

2. For custard, combine eggs, egg yolk, sugars, pumpkin, currants, melted butter, spices, and vanilla in the top insert of a large double boiler (or in a large heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure bowl does not touch water). Place double boiler over medium heat and stir constantly until mixture is warm and sugars have dissolved. Fold into croissant mixture. pour all into prepared casserole. Bake, uncovered, 50 minutes or until set. Serve warm with Molasses Cream and thyme. Store any remaining bread pudding in refrigerator up to 2 days.

Make 12 servings.

Molasses Cream – In a large bow whisk 1 cup whipping cream until it starts to thicken. Gradually whisk in 1 tbsp molasses, sorghum, or honey. Serve at once.

Notes:

I don’t have a double broiler. I used a wok over my sticky rice boiler. It’s odd but it works.

Enjoy and bon appetite!

The Easiest & Most Delicious Steak Marinade

I long, long time ago, I was deployed to Bitburg Germany.

This fact is pertinent because it was the first time that I remember someone asking me about this marinade. I was slightly taken aback because I didn’t consider myself a good cook. Frankly I never thought I had a cooking technique that anyone might be interested in. I was young and just out of college and trying to live on Ramen soup and Korean street food. It wasn’t until I moved to Germany that I started cooking for myself in the same vein as my mother because with the exception of fests, there is no such thing as German street food.

On this deployment, we had a little grill and our  small group of deployed and sad individuals – me included – would on occasion cook something other than MREs. Everyone brought their own steak to grill I, being the lone female in a group of men, brought enough to share.

I marinaded my steak in this simplest of  recipes and the guys were gaga over it. I was close to having several marriage proposals that night because of my steak. But I was already engaged.

Anyway . . .

Here’s the marinade that made the men go crazy. And it’s so simple.

You will need three things:

1. Soy Sauce

2. Lemon Pepper

3. A steak

Pour the soy sauce over the steak to cover. Sprinkle lemon pepper on both sides to cover.

Let stand for about 10 minutes.

Grill to your liking.

That’s it! Simple! And delicious. Much better than MREs!

Bon appetite!

Thai Red Curry Chicken

Even in our multi-cultural society, certain ingredients that are necessary to make the foods that are indigenous to many countries are scarce.

It bugs me.

One of our favorite things to eat is Thai curry. You can put anything into your curry that you want so it’s a very versatile ingredient. Here is what I put in mine . . .

1.8 lbs of chicken breast sliced into small pieces
2 small eggplants
3 red peppers
3/4 cup Thai Red Curry Paste
1/2 cup coconut milk
water
fish sauce
vegetable oil

Neighbor Kathy gave me two eggplants.

I cut them up into bite size pieces to use.

She also gave me a bunch of jalapeno peppers. I cut those up and threw them into the mix.

I then cut up the peppers from my not-so-big garden. These aren’t spicy but they will add good flavor.

I then cut up the chicken but no pictures of that thank goodness.

I heated the oil and put the red curry paste in. Stir for about 1 minute on high heat.

Reduce the heat and put in the coconut milk.

Stir well for about 3 minutes on medium heat.

If the curry is too thick put in some water to thin it out and keep stirring.

Put the chicken in and stir occasionally until the chicken is cooked through.

After the chicken is done cooking, put in the vegetables.

Stir until the vegetables and covered and al dente, which is how I like them.

After you take the mixture off the heat, put in some fish sauce and stir.

Like I said, you can use any vegetable or meat that you want. Beef or pork is excellent with it. Just make sure the vegetable will not wilt or get too soft so no spinach or kale or anything like that.

I get my Thai ingredients at several Asian or Thai stores around the Washington DC area. However, if you do not have the luxury of a Thai market near you, you can order these ingredients online. Be aware! It’s expensive. This container of curry paste was $9.47 at Amazon, I nearly fainted.

You can try this resource, importfood.com. The prices are better but unfortunately the shipping is a bear. You can get this coconut milk at your local market though, it is in mine.

But if you want to try it every so often for a treat then I think it’s worth the price. I’m hoping most of you are close enough to a Thai place to get some of this stuff.

Bon appetite!

La Fungus A La Scampi Gozaimasu

I understand that the title is a total bastardization of three great world languages.

Here’s another culinary question. What kind of mushrooms are these?

Hint: They don’t come from the ocean as their name implies.

I made this dish with these little mushrooms. When we lived in Japan, we drove from our little Japanese town to the next big town over for pasta. We loved Japanese food but it was a nice change every once in a while. However, it was Japan and there was an unusual twist to the scampi. I don’t know what really was in it, but below is my take or as close as I can get.

Japanese Style Scampied Scallops with Pasta

2 lb sea scallops (I used frozen)
3 tbs olive oil
4 tbs butter
3 garlic cloves
a handful of fresh mushrooms – the kind above
3 tbs soy sauce
salt
pepper
wheat pasta – it’s my new favorite thing

Slice the mushrooms into medium sized slivers and set aside.

Heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat. Put in the crushed garlic and stir until the butter melts. Put in the scallops. Cook the scallops thoroughly in the scampi sauce. Put in the soy sauce. Stir. Now put in the mushrooms. Stir. Eat. Yum.

It’s umami. And it’s Foodie Friday.

January 29, By Any Other Name

Is still a rose.

So my week?

Recently, I felt I needed a change. The urge was very strong at the begining of the week. I couldn’t articulate it. It was just a nagging feeling, no details, no specifics, no direction.

The middle of the week brought more conversation, more counseling, more discussion.

And ahhh…now the end of the week. Nothing’s changed. At least not yet.

And I’m happy about it. For I wouldn’t be able to hang out here as much if it did.

There is still a nagging in me for change but there’s also peace in knowing that I like where I am.

Except…

Though it wasn’t easy, I was successful in eating only salads on Tuesday. I was starting to get grumpy toward the end of the night. The husband reminded me that I told everyone in blogland my frugal diet plan so I was bound to commit to it.  To which I responded from the open refrigerator door, “So what?” Then I slammed it. Perhaps a little too hard. Hey, I was hungry.

But…

I lost TWO pounds this week. Now there’s a change. So that’s “so what” and it’s so satisfying. Two pounds a week is the recommend weight loss rate according to the AMA, AFAA, Congress and me.

And…

That Mediterranean fare from yesterday? It’s a pickled caperberry. Here’s a not-so-good photo of it after I’ve chomped on it. It was delicious. I don’t know why it’s not more mainstream Jodi, people are missing out!  It is not a caper I’ve ever seen before. I’m only familiar with the small-ish kind. My mother bought these, Lord knows how much they cost.

I apologize for my manicured nails. Or rather, lack of…

Here’s a quick lemon and capers dish.

1 lb thinly sliced pork loin
4 tbs fresh lemon juice
2 tbs capers
1 garlic clove
2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs butter
salt
pepper
your choice cooked pasta

Squeeze lemon over the pork. Add salt and pepper. Set aside. Heat olive oil and crushed garlic clove in a sauce pan. Once it’s hot, place pork into the pan. Put in the butter to melt, add in the capers. Turn over the pork and cook on the second side until done.

Serve over your pasta.

You can certainly use the capers that you are familiar with. These are big and pickled and may not be as accessible.

Bon appetite!

I’ll see ya tomorrow bloggie peeps.

January 28, Mediterranean Fare

Are you ready? Do you have your culinary hats on?

What is this?

Here’s a close up.

No prize or anything…sorry. Just some fun guesses…

Posted on Foodie Friday, when it finally rolls around. Come on Friday!

Cody Cooks, Simple Stir Fry Steak & Peppers

My last post of Cody cooking brought so many nice comments and encouragement for Cody. He’s definitely going to make some girl happy with his cooking prowess. And I’m more than happy to help in that category. But not too soon…he’s only 13 years old ladies.

Today, Cody is making stir fry beef and peppers. I wanted to do a meal that is very easy to prep. I also wanted to teach him a few things, like how to chop meat.

I always learned these things by watching my mother and then by doing. It was a little odd to try to articulate it. It’s a good thing that Cody’s a quick study.

I taught him how to peel and chop garlic. I see this chopping technique used a lot on the food network and though I don’t always chop this way, I showed him how. He’s pretty good that kid.

So here’s the stir fry recipe. It’s vewwwy, vewwwy, easy.

Start with:
2 pounds flank steak
3 large green peppers
2 large garlic cloves
2 tbsp vegetable oil

For steak marinade
2 large garlic cloves
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp corn starch
1 tbsp vegetable oil

For stir fry sauce
1/4 cup oyster sauce
2 tbsp mushroom soy sauce (or any dark soy)
2 tbsp rice wine
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
black pepper to taste

Slice the steak thinly, like Cody did. Poor kid, took him forever but he did it! Once the steak is sliced, put in the steak marinade ingredients and set aside. Slice the green peppers in half and take out the seeds. Slice the peppers into think slivers, but not too thin. This was an art but Cody got the hang of it!

Chop up 2 large garlic cloves and place into a heated pan. But the oil in and heat through, stirring the garlic. It should start smelling grand!

Put in the steak on one side and cook. I like it a little bit rare but not too much. Once it’s cooked to your liking, turn it over to the other side. Now mix the stir fry sauce all together and pour it in slowly which the meat is cooking on the second side. Now this is where you have to watch. If you put too much for the sauce in, it will get soupy and I don’t like soupy stir fry. I like a well coated but dry stir fry.

But that’s just me.

In other words, use your discretion here!

Throw in the peppers. And are you ready? Stir, stir, stir. Don’t over cook. I take out a pepper after about 4 minutes and try it. If it’s done but slightly crunchy then it’s perfect.

What a great job that Little Cody did. He made this same dish a month later for his family and it was a hit. Of course, his mother Miss Karen called me once, or twice, or rather five times to get the directions again. That’s precisely why I’m writing them down…

So enjoy! Get your 13 year old in the kitchen today!

See more food and foodies at Design by Gollum.

One Cook – Six & A Half Dishes

How many dishes can one cook do in three hours?

Seven! That’s how many.

A few weekends ago, I was participating in two parties…and I was to bring food to both.

So I made:

• Tuna salad
• Egg rolls
• Crab dip
• Crab cakes
• Fried Rice
• Jalapeno poppers
• and finally, I started a pork salad but didn’t finish. By then I didn’t want to ever see my oven again.

So it’s technically six and a half dishes.

I started the pasta for the tuna salad and while it was cooking, I started on the egg roll mixture.

Here’s my Egg Roll recipes (there’s two posts, don’t forget)…I wrote it a while back. And here’s the ponzu sauce that goes with it.

I alternately shredded veggies for the eggs rolls and chopped celery for the tuna salad.

Here’s my Tuna Salad Recipe…

1. One box pasta…I like to use penne.
2. two cans of drained tuna
3. three celery stalks, chopped
4. salt
5. pepper
6. 1/2 cups mayonnaise

Easy peasy.

I then started the crab cakes…once the crab cake mixture was done, I hollowed out the bread for the crab dip. I placed the first batch of crab cakes on the stove and I finished chopping the onion for the egg rolls.

And now my crab dip recipe…

1. 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2. 1 cup shredded fontina cheese
3. 20 ounces cream cheese
4. bread bows – I found the perfect size at Giant
5. 1 pound crab (I used backfin)
6. 1/3 Worcester sauce
7. tabasco sauce (to taste)
8. salt
9. pepper

Mix all together. Place first in a  casserole dish and heat throughly. Hollow out bread and place inside. Bake the bread with the crab dip at 400 for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly.

By now, everything is a mess, including me.

My crab cake recipe is here…it’s hot, you have to have some taste buds to eat them…by now I’ve cooked three batches of crab cakes.

Whew, are we done yet? No, there’s the poppers.

The recipe for jalapeno poppers were from the Pioneer Woman’s site…

1. Japaleno peppers, seeded and hallowed
2. cream cheese
3. shredded cheddar cheese
4. bacon

I put cheddar cheese in mine since we can’t make up our minds which one we like better, the cream cheese or the cheddar cheese. So I put in both.

I wrapped mine very tightly and put them on a grill with a pan under it to catch the bacon grease. I didn’t wear gloves but if you are making a lot, you definitely should or else your hands will feel like balloons for a week. I cooked mine on 400 degrees and turned them once so both sides will cook.

My fried rice recipe? By the time I got through making the above, I don’t remember. I was on overdrive at this time…I’ll post a couple of fried rice recipe sometime…I also didn’t finish the ground pork salad. I wrapped it up half done and place in the fridge for another day.

I wondered why I was so tired that weekend. All that cooking and a couple of mojitos really did me in, I tell ya. I hope I’m not invited to another party any time soon, I can’t take it.

I hope you made it this far in this frenzied post. Because I wanted you to know, this is my one year bloggy anniversary month. I’m going to join the rest of the blogging world and do a giveaway next week.

The details are still rattling around in my head but basically it’s this. There will be a food competition. And a vote. And a great prize. I don’t know what the prize is yet, but it will be great I tell ya. I’ll post details this week. So please check back next Friday, and get your recipes ready to link!

I’m excited and nervous too…

Update: Alrighty now, I just fixed all my typos since I wrote this right before running to do my step class and my proofreader is fishing. And I also forgot to tell you that this is posted on Designs by Gollum. Sorry Ms. Gollum.

The Great Crab Cake Cook-Off

Last weekend, I had the honor of competing in the First Annual Great Crab Cook-Off. Of Smithville.

The competition was pretty tough, Neighbor Ted brought out the big guns, capers. I think he was trying to be Vanna White with the hand waving.

Anyway, Neighbor Yvonne was hosting it at her place, bless her.

There were some challenges getting the judges together. And not all of the crab cakes were ready at judging time, so in my opinion, they should have been disqualified. Neighbor Ted and I were the only ones who were ready, and he was no competition. And I had mine there on time despite having to cook six other dishes that day…more on that later.

But I was at a big disadvantage. And the reason was this…these guys were the panel of judges. And none of them are mine.

My kids refused to take part. The boy doesn’t eat crab cakes and the girl was with a friend and way too cool to be on a panel with a bunch of boys. There’s Neighbor Drew. He’s getting big too…

And this kid, Neighbor Garret…although he’s a star pitcher on his little league team…and he has cute cheeks…he’s my nemesis. For you see, I put green curry in my crab cakes. And he doesn’t like hot food.

This is his score sheet. Do you see where I am? Dead last. A 4 for taste? Come on! And I had a mint flower as garnish, I should have gotten at least a 9 for presentation. That’s the last time I pinch those cheeks again.

But wait, Neighbor Nick was also on the panel. He likes me so I have a fighting chance still.

Then there’s Joe P. I just met him that day and he cooked his crab cakes without a shirt on. Ummm…I think he wins.

But no, it’s Pretty Andrea who’s the winner. She won by a landslide actually. I don’t have her recipe, it’s probably a secret, but here’s what’s in mine. Bad English, sorry.

• 1 lb crab
• 1/4 cup green curry
• 3 tbs soy sauce
• 3 tbs rice vinegar
• salt
• pepper
• 3 tbs flour
• additional flour for cooking

Mix together all ingredients. Roll the crab mixture into a ball and flatten. Then coat each side with flour and saute for approximately two minutes on high heat on either side.

On the other hand, if you don’t like hot food, leave out the green curry. But then it wouldn’t be my extra extra special Asian crab cakes. I made up the recipe that day but it’s now forever immortalized in my blog.

Bon appetite!

It’s Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum. It’s just Thursday night but I have another big day tomorrow so I have to do this early.

21 Salute Dressing & Spicey Shrimp

The pretty Miss Shannon is also a fantastic cook. I gave her a little Iron Chef challenge and put some jumbo shrimp in front of her.

She looked up a recipe on the internet called Spicy Grilled Shrimp.

Here are the ingredients.

• 1 large clove garlic
• 1 tablespoon coarse salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 2 pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 8 wedges lemon, for garnish

I didn’t have coarse salt or the paprika but I think she found everything else.

Press the garlic and marinate the shrimp in all the ingredients for a few minutes. Then grill. But I didn’t know how to start my grill so we broiled it instead. It was awesome!

And now the recipe from the talented and technically gifted virtual assistant Miss Karen. The cat would not leave her alone. He followed her every where and stayed at her feet all night. She apparently charms kitties too.

I’m going to call her special dressing “The Virtually Delectible Tamari Dressing with a Special Secret Herb Blend.” Catchy I know. She just made up the recipe so perhaps she’ll have a better name.

The ingredients:

• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 4 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 4 tbsp tamari sauce
• 2 tsp of 21 Seasoning Salute
• Generous squirt of Dijon mustard

Add together and mix well. It was really good and since Miss Karen was on a low calorie, low gluten diet for a while, it’s also good for you. We baked some salmon which we put over some Asian greens (in a bag not out of the garden) and an orange pepper. Delicioso.

Here is the seasoning that Miss Karen bought from Trader Joe’s. Apparently it’s the only place that sells it…I’m going to experiment with the jar she left me. Maybe I can bake a cake with it.

Enjoy the recipes and eat well this weekend! That’s what weekends are for!

I wrote about our night yesterday. Thanks for coming ladies!

Visit Designs by Gollum for other recipes. So much food, not enough time to exercise.

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