Pumpkin Roll

I have been on a pumpkin roll lately (no pun intended)! This recipe has been saved away for a while and I thought it was finally time to try it. Even though I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, I still make mistakes frequently. I know the importance of reading a recipe all the way through before starting to make it and I will be the first to admit my mistake when made.  I misread this recipe and purchased two 8 oz package of cream cheese instead of two 3 oz packages of cream cheese…yikes! When I was rolling up the cake, I was a little disappointed it wouldn’t roll as tight as I wanted it to and when I sampled the cake, my first thought was…that’s a lot of cream cheese. All that to say, next time I will know exactly how much cream cheese to use, but even with all the cream cheese, the cake turned out to be really good. It reminded me a lot of a carrot cake, only with pumpkin!

Pumpkin Roll

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Vegetable cooking spray

3 large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2/3 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted

2 teaspoon lemon juice, divided

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, divided plus more for dusting

6 oz cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Coat bottom and sides of 15 x 10 inch jelly-roll pan with cooking spray, and line with wax paper. Coat wax paper with cooking spray; set aside.

Beat eggs at medium speed with an electric mixer 5 minutes or until thick and lemon-colored; gradually add granulated sugar, beating until combined. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, ginger, salt, and nutmeg. Gradually add to egg mixture, beating well. Combine pumpkin, pecans, and 1 teaspoon lemon juice; gradually add to mixture, beating well. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Sift 1/2 cup powdered sugar in a 15 x 10 inch rectangle on a clean,dry dish towel. Run a knife around edges of pan to loosen cake and turn cake out onto prepared towel. Peel wax paper off cake. Starting at narrow end, roll up cake and towel together; place,seam side down on a wire rack to cool completely.

Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add remaining 1 cup powdered sugar, beating until smooth. Stir in vanilla and 1 teaspoon lemon juice.

Unroll cake; remove towel. Spread cream cheese mixture on cake, leaving 1-inch border around edges. Re-roll cake without towel, and place, seam side down, on a serving platter. Cover and chill at least 3 hours. Garnish, if desired.

Source: MyRecipes.com

Ginger and Orange Chicken with Broccoli

I’ve been having fun looking for Chinese take-out dishes and re-making them at home. I have found that the chicken is tender, moist, and juicy as opposed to some take-out where the chicken might as well be cardboard. All the ingredients are fresh, with no added preservatives and they are fairly easy to re-make at home. This particular recipe is something that I’m sure you could find on a menu, but what really caught my eye was the words “ginger and orange” chicken. All the ingredients work well together and are quite good for you too. The recipe calls for cutting the chicken into thin strips. I took some chicken out of the freezer and let it sit out for a couple of hours (until it was semi-frozen). I used my mandolin slicer to cut thin strips of chicken and it worked out great. If you want some added texture, I’m quite certain cashews would add an extra crunch that would also work really well in the dish.

Ginger and Orange Chicken with Broccoli

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4 (6 oz) skinned and boned chicken breast halves, cut into strips

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 pound broccoli, cut into florets

3 tablespoons cornstarch

Vegetable cooking spray

1/2 small sweet onion, diced

2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

1 teaspoon grated orange rind

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper

1 teaspoon dark sesame oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup orange marmalade

2 large oranges, peeled, sectioned, and coarsely chopped

Place chicken and soy sauce in a shallow dish or heavy-duty zip-top plastic bag. Cover or seal and chill for 15 minutes.

Cook broccoli in boiling water 3 minutes; drain. Plunge into ice water to stop the  cooking process; drain. Set aside.

Drain chicken, reserving soy sauce; dredge chicken slices in cornstarch.

Brown chicken, in batches, in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat 1 minute on each side or until done. Remove chicken from skillet, reserving the drippings in skillet; keep chicken warm.

Add reserved soy sauce, onion, ginger, orange rind, red pepper, sesame oil, and garlic to reserved drippings in skillet, sauté 2 to 3 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Add chicken broth and marmalade stirring until marmalade is melted. Return chicken to skillet. Bring to a boil; stir in broccoli and orange sections and serve immediately.

Source: MyRecipes.com

One Year Ago Today: Shrimp Burgers

French Onion Soup

 

French onion soup is the one request my husband has made over and over again, practically begging me to make it. I have had an eye out for a good recipe for a while and I’ve also been waiting for the weather to get a little cooler before setting out to make the soup. I have actually never had French onion soup from a restaurant before. I think I was always afraid I would make a mess of myself with all the gooey cheese! The soup itself is a labor of love. The recipe is not demanding, but it is time consuming. Due to the time needed to caramelize the onions, I made the soup on a Sunday night (knowing that I had the time), placed the whole pot in the fridge and heated it back up on Monday evening before ladling into soup bowls and finishing off with toast and cheese. The end result was a satisfying soup that my husband and I both loved. The layers of the soup start with a cheesy crust that forms on top, followed by the crispness of the baguette, and then you reach the flavors of caramelized onions and broth that brings you pure comfort.

Henri’s French Onion Soup

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3 pounds yellow onions

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more as needed

1 pinch sugar

8 cups water, plus more as needed

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 sprig fresh thyme

1/4 cup dry white wine

1 baguette

8 oz Gruyere cheese (or Swiss cheese)

Cut the tips off the onions and slice them in half lengthwise pole to pole. Peel off the outer layer and the skin and cut each half in half lengthwise. Slice each quarter crosswise into 1/8 inch slices. As you get close to the roof, flip each piece onto the other flat side and continue slicing. Melt butter in a large Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat. Once it has stopped foaming, add onions, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and sugar. Toss to evenly coat. Cover and cook 10 minutes. Remove cover, and cook stirring frequently until the onions begin to brown lightly (this took about 30 to 45 minutes). Now stir every 5 minutes and add a couple tablespoons of water whenever the bottom of the pan crusts over. Continue to cook as directed until the onions are an even dark walnut color, an additional 30 to 45 minutes longer.

Add the flour and stir for two minutes. Add eight cups of water and thyme sprig to the onions and bring to a boil. Lower heat to maintain a lively simmer and cook for 20 minutes. Add white wine and simmer 10 minutes longer. Taste for seasoning adding salt as needed. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 325 degrees and adjust a rack to the upper middle position. Cut the baguette into 3/4 inch slices and arrange on a single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake until the bread is dry, crisp and very lightly colored at the edges, about 10 minutes. Remove bread slices and set aside.

Heat broiler and place 5 or 6 heatproof bowls in a baking sheet. Feel each bowl with 2 cups soup. Top each with two baguette slices and evenly distribute grated cheese over the bread. Broil until well browned and bubbly, about 10 minutes. Cool for five minutes before serving.

Source: The Curvy Carrot, Originally from Cook’s Illustrated

One Year Ago Today: Pumpkin Muffins

Starred Recipes Recap

• On our visit to the apple orchard a few weeks ago, we tried hot apple cider donuts with a cinnamon sugar coating. The Craving Chronicles posted a recipe for Bake Pumpkin Spice Donut Holes that look just as good as what we sampled.
• I have tried a few recipes with butternut squash and I’m hoping to try a few more this season. Simply Recipes posted a recipe for Butternut Squash with Walnuts and Vanilla that is roasted in the oven and seasoned with grated ginger, vanilla extract, lemon juice and thyme.
• My Baking Addiction posted an Apple Cinnamon Cheesecake recipe that made me want to reach into the computer and grab a slice! A gingerbread crust filled with cheesecake and topped of with cinnamon-sugar sautéed apples.
• I have my go-to pancake recipe, but in the spirit of Fall and all things pumpkin, I would love to try the Pumpkin Spice Pancakes posted by Pennies on a Platter.
• Another donut recipe that also caught my eye is the Baked Caramel Apple Donuts posted by Shutterbean. Baked apple donuts topped with a caramel sauce sounds a lot more tempting than a caramel apple!

One Year Ago Today: Sticky Buns

Football Fridays: Spiced Pumpkin Dip

 

My family loves ginger snaps and pumpkin, so the thought of both of them together sold me on this dip. Our football Saturday was a little rough last weekend. I tend to head right for the food when games start going down hill..so this dip became my comfort food this past weekend. I don’t know if the dip complimented the ginger snaps or if the ginger snaps complimented the dip, but together they matched up well. The dip had all the flavors associated with pumpkin, with the added benefit of cream cheese and powdered sugar! The recipe yielded enough dip that we ran out of ginger snaps first…so next time I will make sure to buy two bags of gingersnaps, just in case!

Spiced Pumpkin Dip

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1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree

8 oz package cream cheese, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

In a large mixing bowl, combine canned pumpkin, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and pumpkin pie spice. Mix well. Serve with ginger snaps.

Source: Annie’s Eats, originally from The Fresh Market

One Year Ago Today: Sloppy Joes