Frugal Wife » cooking

Pumpkin Time!

frugalwife — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 16:04:35 +0000

We got a Pumpkin in the last CSA box of the year. In doing a little research, I decided I was going to cook it and make fresh Pumpkin puree. I mean, that has to be better than the canned stuff right? I also ended up making Roasted Pumpkin Seeds. I figured, why waste it! Plus, I love roasted Pumpkin Seeds.

I ended up with 1 1/2 cups of Pumpkin Puree when all was said and done. I used 1 cup of it in Pumpkin Bread. I used the recipe in my trusty Red “Better Homes and Gardens” Cookbook but had to halve it because I didn’t have enough pumpkin for a full batch. I substituted directly for the canned pumpkin and the bread turned out excellent. The recipe ended up making 2 loaves so one will probably end up in the freezer for now. The other 1/2 cup of Pumpkin is probably going to go into the freezer as well. We’ll see how it turns out when I go to use it. I’m thinking I may make a Pumpkin Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Icing (once again from my BH&G Cookbook) for Thanksgiving. I’ll try to write an update with how the freezing goes and how the cake turns out.

The following recipes are available after the jump: Pumpkin Puree and Pumpkin Seeds.

Pumpkin Puree
1 Pumpkin (not a Jack O’ Lantern)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut the Pumpkin in half, stern to base. Remove seeds and pulp. Set on cookie sheet, cut side down. Cover securly with tin foil. Bake 1 hour, or until tender.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
I followed the instructions here: http://www.pumpkinnook.com/cookbook/recipe03.htm

Extract sees from pumpkin.
Separate and discard pulp.
Thoroughly wash seeds in warm water.
Spread seeds out onto a cookie sheet.
Sprinkle generously with salt.
Put into oven and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 20 minutes.
Check every five minutes and stir, adding more salt or to taste.
Check seeds to see if they are done by taking a sample out, allowing to cool and tasting. If the insides are dry, they are done.
Allow to cool and serve.

Recipe: All-American Mini Meatloaves

frugalwife — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:52:16 +0000

I made these totally awesome Meatloaves the other night. I wanted to try the recipe because it claimed that you could have meatloaf in 30 minutes and that greatly intrigued me. Most recipes I’ve seen take an hour or more to put together and bake. I haven’t eaten meatloaf in a great while because of that. This recipe lived up to it’s claim. It was ready in 30 minutes time.

My Recommendations

Freezability: A double-batch of these can be made to freeze for later. These reheat, after being frozen, extremely well. My only recommendation would be to make a half batch of the glaze to put on the meatloaves at the diner’s discretion after they have been reheated. I reheated them in the microwave and so they retained some of their moisture.

Cooking Notes: When browning the second side of the meatloaves, I would recommend not browning them too much. My loaves continued to brown as they are baking in the oven.

The Recipe

Recipe from The Best 30-minute Recipe from the Editors of Cook’s Illustrated

Serves 4

MEATLOAVES

17 saltine crackers, crushed fine (about 2/3 cup)

1/4 c. whole milk, plus extra as needed

1/3 c. minced fresh parsley

3 T Worchestershire sauce

1 large egg

1 1/2 T Dijon mustard

1 t onion powder

1 t garlic powder

Salt and ground black pepper

1 1/2 lbs. meatloaf mix

2 t vegetable oil

GLAZE

1/2 c. ketchup

1/4 c. packed light brown sugar

4 t cider vinegar

1. Heat Oven: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 500 degrees

2. Mix and Shape Meatloaves: Stir cracker crumbs, milk, parsley, Worcestershire, egg, mustard, onion powder, garlic powder, 1 t salt, and 1/2 t pepper together in large bowl. Add meatloaf mix and combine until uniform. Press mixture into 4 oval loaves.

3. Brown Meatloaves: Heat oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Brown meatloaves well on one side, 3 to 5 minutes. Carefully flip loaves over and tidy up edges using a spatula.

4. Top with Glaze and Bake: Meanwhile, mix glaze ingredients together until smooth, then spoon over top of loaves. Transfer skillet to oven and bake until centers of loaves register 160 on instant-read thermometer, about 15 minutes. Serve.

How I Cook

frugalwife — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:13:14 +0000

Before I post my first recipe to the site, I thought I’d expain a little bit about my methods. I’ve got 2 things I generally keep in mind when I cook.

First, the recipe has to be fairly simple (especially if it’s a weeknight). This means that it has to have simple instructions and the majority of the ingredients are items I already have in my cupboards. I like to have dinner ready in 30 minutes during the week and try my hardest to find recipes that allow for this. Also, I’ve found that I tend to skip parts of instructions if the recipe is complicated or contains things that I’ve never done before. That also means that most of the recipes I make are pretty easy to do as well. I grew up with a mom that has the knack for throwing a bunch of stuff in a pot and having it taste awesome. I did not receive that gift. I’m one of those people that can only make delicious food if it’s a recipe from a source that I know is not going to steer me wrong. For that reason, you’ll probably see quite a few recipes from the folks at America’s Test Kitchen/Cooks Illustrated. They have a tendency to be pretty reliable in the flavor of the food and also the instructions are usually pretty thorough.

Second, since there’s only 2 of us to cook for I like to be able to freeze part of the food that I’m cooking and save it for another day. I also feel that it’s a good idea to make a double-batch and freeze some if you’re going to all the trouble of cooking anyway. I’ll probably go into this more in another post. I’ll try to give instructions in each recipe for how well they’ll freeze and recommendations for how to reheat them. I do have a knack for reheating foods and I’ll try to explain how I do it with each recipe.

Now, on to the first recipe.