Roasted Butternut Squash

I'm roasting butternut squash right now in a 400 degree oven. Peeled, cubed and tossed in canola oil, salt and pepper. After a half hour it's not caramelized yet, just leaking juices and the thick pieces are not tender. I let it in another 20 minutes to see what happens. I plan on ricing it with my hand ricer when it cools and then freezing it.

Vegetable Soup

I have a pot of Vegetable Soup cooling on the stove right now. It has the Merepoix base- (onions, celery and carrots) in 4 cans of chicken broth...then I added a cup of white potato cubes, a cup of frozen green beans and about 2 cups of Yams or Sweet Potatoes. I plan on pureeing the soup once it's cool. I know I am going crazy about the pureed soups but it really does help my digestion. If I were to add chicken to it, I would NOT puree it. I'd add it last and let the chicken pieces float in the puree.

Roasted Sweet Potatos for Thanksgiving

Peel a sweet potato or two and cut into 3/4 -1 inch cubes. Toss with 3 TB Canola or Olive oil, salt and pepper and bake on a jelly roll pan at 425 degrees for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and flip the potatoes over and bake another 15-20 minutes to help caramelize the potatoes.

This is a favorite IBS menu item.. it's full of antioxidants and soluble fiber.

Pumpkin Bars

4 Eggs

1 and 2/3 Cups Sugar

1 Cup Veg. Oil

2 Cups Pumpkin

2 Cups Flour

1 tsp B. Soda

1 tsp b. Powder

1 and 1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Ginger

1/8 tsp Cloves

1 tsp Lemon Juice

1/4 tsp Salt

Combine eggs, lemon juice, sugar, oil, and pumpkin until light and fluffy.

Mix flour, b. soda and spices. Stir into wet ingredients. Bake in 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes. Or 25 minutes approx. for cupcakes.

NOTE: Cream cheese icing is a great on this. I usually leave baking powder out of a recipe and use baking soda and an acid such as vinegar or lemon juice instead.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

8 OZ Cream Cheese

1 stick Butter

2 tsp Vanilla

3 Cups 10X Sugar

What is VOSK?

When my mother was a young girl her mother made a salad dressing and they called it VOSK which stood for equal parts of Vinegar* Oil* Sugar* Ketchup. My son had some at my parents and liked it so I made up a bottle of my own (which has yet to be used). You see it's VERY sweet. It would taste much better with balsamic vinegar to give it some depth and with only half the sugar and even then it's still going to be sweet.

Friday Pizza

We usually have pizza on Fridays. Since we are budgeting I make it myself. I'm not too sure this saves us any money you know? So anyway after work today I'll come home and make the pizza dough and brown the sausage. Since my husband is on a badly needed diet I won't be making sausage pizza anymore. Even my son says his jeans are getting tight around the waist. I'm the only one in the family who lost weight recently. I'm down 3 pounds. I weigh 180 pounds naked, on a good day. That's much better than the 195 I weighed over a year and a half ago when diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

So I can start making less goodies. Less cakes and cupcakes and brownies for the guys to snack on. Yes I eat them too but much smaller pieces and less often. Of course I'm gonna be making Thanksgiving pies next week. I'll have to thaw out my pumpkin puree.

My birthday is Black Friday this year! Will you catch me shopping? NO WAY! I won't go downtown for the next month unless my son is driving me.

A Treasure in the Fridge?

I was cleaning out my fridge a little today.. you know to make room for the grocery order tomorrow?.. Well... what I thought was an old bowl of New England clam chowder was really a small bowl of Sausage gravy I made Saturday! I plan on having it over English muffins for breakfast tomorrow and Friday! Happy, happy , joy, joy!

The Power of Black Pepper

Just remember.. if you put too much black pepper into a pot of soup you can't take it out if it's too spicy! I ruined a pot of Puree of Carrot soup that way recently.

Mirepoix Soup?- IBS Friendly

Mirepoix (pronounced /mɪərˈpwɑː/ meer-PWAH, French pronunciation: [miʁəˈpwɑ]) is the French name for a combination of onions, carrots, and celery (either common pascal celery or celeriac). Mirepoix, either raw, roasted or sautéed with butter, is the flavor base for a wide number of dishes, such as stocks, soups, stews and sauces. The three ingredients are commonly referred to as aromatics.

Similar combinations of vegetables are known as holy trinity in Creole cooking, refogado in Portuguese, soffritto in Italian, and sofrito in Spanish.

NOTE: The above definition was taken from Wikipedia.



I made some delicious BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP last weekend. I made a nice Mirepoix soup base and added some pototoes to the broth also as the recipe called for. The thing is, when I pureed the veggies they tasted delicious and I wanted some mnore but I had to use it for the Butternut Squash Soup. Today I decided to make some MIREPOIX SOUP out of the classic trio plus adding potatoes. So I have just that simmering on the stove right now. Except I added lots of extra carrots since I love them so much. Maybe this is really CARROT SOUP!

1 Large Onion chopped

3 Stalks celery chopped

2 Pounds carrots Chopped

3 Medium Potatoes Peeled and cubed

3 Cans Chicken Broth

1 tsp Mrs. Dash Original

Salt and pepper to taste

After the veggies are tender I will puree the soup. I can't help it! I like pureed soups and it's better for my digestion if I do since I have IBS-C.

Sausage Pizza

I'm making sausage pizza tomorrow evening. It's not cheap to make! $5.00 for one pound of store brand whole milk mozzarella cheese, $4.00 for a pound of Bob Evans Sausage, (I prefer Hatfield but I 'm giving Bob Evans a try). And then there's the makings for the pizza crust which isn't too expensive. So I figure it's costing me $10.00, not counting the gas for the stove to brown the sausage and the oven.

Butternut Squash and/or Sweet Potato Soup- IBS Friendly

5-6 Lbs Butternut Squash, peeled and seeded and cubed

1 or more Sweet Potatoes, peeled and cubed  (Optional)

1 Large Onion, chopped small

2 small stalks of Celery chopped small/sliced thin

2-3 Tb Canola Oil, Olive Oil or Butter if you prefer

10 Cups Chicken Broth or  3 TB Better Than Bouillon Chicken and 10 cups water
                                  
1 clove of Garlic minced (optional)

1 tsp Salt, pepper to taste

Set a 6 Qt crock pot on high and add the broth, then peel, seed and cube the butternut squash and peel and cube the Sweet Potatoes- add to the pot. Sometimes I make a whole pot of Sweet Potato Soup using the same recipe.

You can saute the onions and celery together, and add half to the pot if you wish, but the celery will not be very soft unless it cooks in the broth, so I caramelize the onions separately and save half to add back in after I puree it. I love biting on a caramelized onion while eating it.

After about 5-6 hours of cooking on High, the squash and sweet potatoes should be tender enough to puree, I use a heavy duty blender. If the soup is too thick add a cup of broth, if too thin, it will thicken as it sits in the fridge and some of the liquid evaporates. I can eat this all week on my soup diet and the soluble fiber is great for people with IBS, and it's full of antioxidants..

I serve with a pat of butter, or add a few TB  of butter while reheating a large amount of soup. This recipe makes 4 quarts of soup. I always freeze some in single portions,.

Turkey Burgers

I turned 1 and 1/2 pounds of 85/15 ground turkey into 7 turkey burgers this morning. Today I didn't have the Mrs. Dash Original so I used Mrs. Dash Italian Medley in the mix. I added Panko bread crumbs just to use them up. I hope they soften well. As usual I added an onion chopped and 5 cloves garlic minced, and about one egg white for each 1/2 pound of turkey. I omitted the milk this time and formed the burgers on a greased jelly roll pan. Using my food scale for approximate 1/4 pound burgers. Here's my now revised recipe:

TURKEY BURGERS

1 & 1/2 Pounds Ground Turkey

1/2 tsp Mrs. Dash Original or any other seasoning you prefer.

5 large cloves of Garlic minced

3 egg whites

Small Onion finely chopped

1/2 Cup Italian Bread Crumbs


Mix all the ingredients and form into burgers on a oil sprayed jelly roll pan. The meat mixture is so soft I have to do it that way and then freeze them before I Freezer bag them.

NOTE: Although I'm pretty laid back when it comes to the rest of my life, I like to measure things when I cook and bake. I have an 11 Pound food scale I use for weighing ingredients for my handmade soaps and I like to use it to make sure all my burgers weigh 4 ounces approximate.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza on the Menu for Sunday

Tomorrow I plan on making Buffalo Chicken Pizza. I already cut two boneless breasts in half lengthwise and tenderized and baked them in Balsamic Italian Salad Dressing for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Tomorrow I will soak the chicken sliced thin, in the hot sauce for at least an hour while I prepare the pizza dough.

Apple Pies for the Church Dinner Tomorrow

Every year I make pies for the church's Thanksgiving type dinner in November. It's not like I go to the Methodist church I was raised in- (much to my parent's disappointment), but I still bake for all their church dinners. I live in a very small town of 95o or so residents, and I'm kinda famous for my pies. I can't help it.. I use Aunt Annie's pie crust recipe and her method for making it so it's very flaky! Here's Aunt Annie's pie dough recipe:

AUNT ANNIE'S PIE DOUGH

2 Cups Flour (I use unbleached all purpose)

3/4 Cup Crisco

1 tsp Salt

6-7 TB Ice water (loosely) I like a wet dough and may add more.

Aunt Annie always instructed me to stir in the salt to the flour and then add half the Crisco to the flour and rub it between your fingers until you can barley tell it's there. Then add the remaining Crisco and again rub between the fingers until it forms pea sized clumps. The ice water and TOSS loosely then check for wetness.. if it seems too crumbly add a few more Tb water. Then I run my fingers through the mass to see how wet and pasty it looks. Then I divide into two equal balls and place on plastic wrap THEN fold one side over and flatten into a nice disc. After that I wrap up the rest and form solid edges on the discs. Then I refrigerate for at least an hour before I roll out. Of course I have to have the filling prepared before rolling out the dough.

NOTE I usually end up making large 10" pies so I use this recipe I created for Aunt Annie's:


LORRAINE'S LARGE PIE DOUGH RECIPE

3 Cups Flour

1 slightly rounded tsp salt

1 Cup Crisco plus 2 TB

3/4 Cup Ice water (approx.)

Prepare the same way. And make sure you make some nice Pie dough cookies with the left over dough.

PIE DOUGH COOKIES

Take a ball of left over pie dough and roll out to a thin rectangular shape. Spread some soft margarine or butter on top and sprinkle liberally with very strong cinnamon sugar then roll up and cut like you do cinnamon rolls and place cut side down on a well greased glass dish and bake about 25 minutes or so until the center is baked.

Yeast Pancakes

1 Egg

1/2 tsp Salt

2 Tb Sugar

1 tsp dry Yeast

1/2 Cup Milk (lukewarm)

1 & 1/2 Cups Flour- plus a TB if batter seems too thin

2 Tb Shortening or Vegetable Oil

Beat egg and sugar, oil with mixer or by hand- add warm milk.

Proof yeast in 1/2 Cup warm Water with a tsp sugar stirred in.

Pour both mixtures in bowl and add flour and salt and beat at low speed until smooth batter forms.

Allow to rise 45 minutes or until bubbly.

Stir down batter, and let sit 20 minutes then cook on hot greased griddle as usual.

Store in fridge 2-3 days.

NOTE: You will need to double this recipe for a large family. Remember to use a large bowl as the batter will rise.

Creamy Fish Chowder

1 Envelope Leek Soup Mix

2 Cups Water

8 OZ Cod or Haddock or Canned Salmon

1 and 1/2 Cups Half and Half or a Can of Evaporated Milk

Mix soup mix and water in a crock pot and cook on High for one hour.

Add fish and cook another hour on high. Add half and half and any seasoning you prefer.

Let it cook another 1/2 hour or so before serving