Butternut Bread with Walnuts and Chocolate Chips

Ingredients:
*1 cup butternut squash purée
2 eggs
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp orange extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease (vegetable shortening or butter) and flour one 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl (KitchenAid mixer with paddle attachment), mix together the butternut squash puree, eggs, oil, water, orange extract, and sugars until thoroughly combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Stir the dry ingredients into the butternut squash mixture in two additions. Combine just until incorporated; do not over mix. Mix in walnuts and chocolate chips gently.  Pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 65-75 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

*I prefer to roast my own honeynut butternut squash for the best tasting bread.  Those little dickens can be hard to find, so you can substitute canned butternut, pumpkin, or sweet potato puree with similar, delicious results.

Pumpkin Sage Biscuits

• Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup pumpkin or butternut squash purée
• 2 cups unbleached white flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 Tbsp cane sugar
• 1/2-1 tsp salt (I used 1/2 tsp because I'm trying to lower sodium in our diets)
• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, frozen
• 1 1/2 tsp dried sage (or go fresh!)
• 3/4 cup heavy cream or whole milk (I used milk)
• For the egg wash:
• 1 small egg
• 1 Tbsp milk

How to:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.  Using a box grater, grate the butter into the flour mixture.  Place this mixture in the freezer, bowl and whisk, while you prepare the wet ingredients.
2. In another bowl, mix the chilled milk/cream, pumpkin/squash purée, and finely chopped sage. Whisk together until smooth. In a third bowl, make the egg wash by beating the egg and 1 Tbsp of milk together.
3. Remove the dry ingredients from the freezer.  With a pastry cutter or your hands, make sure the grated butter is fully incorporated into the flour (it should look like bread crumbs).  Gently add the pumpkin/squash mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring just until the dough starts to come together. Using your hands, lightly knead the dough in the bowl, until uniform, but avoiding overhandling it.
4. Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour and press the dough out to 3/4 inch thickness. Using a 2 1/2 inch round or square cookie cutter, cut out the biscuits.  Place on a lightly buttered baking sheet.  Brush the tops with egg wash.  Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in a 400F oven, until golden on top.  Transfer the biscuits to a cooling rack and serve warm.

This should make about 12 biscuits.  Mine were a little thin and I got 15.  Make sure your baking powder and soda are fresh to get nice, tall biscuits.  Also -- handle the biscuit dough as little as possible -- the butter staying cold is also what makes great biscuits. 

I enjoyed these warm with turkey and white cheddar cheese as a sandwich, and also warm with butter and blackberry jam.  DIVINE.

Turkey Chili with Pumpkin and Black Beans

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped (5-6 pearl)
• 1 medium sweet yellow pepper, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
• 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained, or 1 small can tomato paste
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1-2 tablespoons fresh chopped flat parsley
• 1 Tbsp chili powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Cubed avocado, shredded cheddar, sour cream, or thinly sliced scallions, optional for serving

Saute onion and pepper over medium-low heat til softened and slightly browned.  Add garlic and cook all for another 2-3 minutes.  Push all veggies to side of pan, heat to medium, and brown the ground turkey in the pan, occasionally breaking apart the turkey and stirring the vegetables in.

When turkey is browned completely, stir in beans, pumpkin, tomatoes or paste, and chicken broth.  When well combined, add seasonings.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.  

Serve over rice with desired toppings and a side of cornbread.  For extra heat, top with your favorite hot sauce or buffalo sauce.

• 
  

Fall Time Is The Best Time

Well hello!  It's been a nice four month break!

Since last posting, I have been busy.  Busy doing too many things other than cooking and baking!  So now that all that nonsense is basically over, we're now in a rental house that has a really big kitchen.  It's the biggest kitchen I've ever had in a house.  There are so many cabinets, literally every kitchen gadget/appliance/pan that I own fits somewhere.  This is a new feeling for me and I enjoy it.

I bought a new fall cookbook -- $3.99 from Ollie's -- "Quick and Easy Autumn".  I want to say these are the same authors that put together the crock pot cookbooks that are spiral bound.  I used them a lot growing up, because my mother loves a good crock pot recipe.  ANYWAY.  My four-year-old loves all the illustrations in this book and really really really wanted to make something.  Disclaimer -- almost nothing in this book is healthy, which is okay for today.  Page 40 of the "Snacks and Appetizers" section was a winner for limited ingredients and no actual cooking or baking -- Creamy Pumpkin Spread!

Creamy Pumpkin Spread
(I would rather call it Pumpkin Cookie Dip)

8oz cream cheese softened
7oz marshmallow fluff
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Mix all these things together.  I put it all in the mixer because cream cheese can be lumpy and the fluff is sticky.  I even have a silicone spatula and STILL the fluff was getting the best of me.  But in the end it was all okay, and it was fluffy, creamy, orange, and speckled with cinnamon and nutmeg.  It may also be a little soupy, so chill it in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours before you eat it.

And what do you eat it with?

COOKIES.  Shortbread, ginger snaps, and graham crackers!  I thought this would be a good time to look at the fancy cookies in the grocery store, the stuff no one seems to buy.  I found some great ones.

Verdict -- the ginger thins are my favorite because they are delicate and crisp.  My husband loves crunch of the French shortbread.  But overall, we love both cookies with the pumpkin spread.  Feel free to spread or dip!  My husband suggested making them mini ice cream sandwich-style and freezing them.  He's a genius.

Also good dippers could be Biscoffs, waffle cookies, anything almond, something with caramel, and definitely graham sticks or crackers.  And now that I'm thinking about it, you could literally go nuts with this recipe and add nuts or chocolate chips.  My favorite chips for baking are the Enjoy Life semi-sweet mini chips:

We don't have allergies, we just love them.  Excellent flavor, perfect teeny size.

Enjoy!