Well, I just had the family over for supper, and it was something else. I actually made a plan, and a schedule, and printed up all the recipes and put them in a little plastic sleeve to keep them clean. Most of the stuff I made was new to my recipe repertoire, and it came out pretty well...pretty, pretty, pretty well. I would happily make any of this stuff again, though I don't think I'd do it all in one night, as it was pretty hectic and I made an enormous mess (thank you DaddySutra for getting a start on the dishes for me!!). You might think from the roasted pumpkin seeds recipe that we carved our pumpkins tonight. Uhhh, nope. I cleaned the pumpkins, and I thought we were going to carve them tonight, but everything went late and the girlies needed to get to bed, so we'll carve the pumpkins...soon? Tomorrow, by Monday for sure.
Artichoke Dip (Everyday Food, May 2007)
2
(14 oz) cans artichoke hearts, rinsed, drained, coarsely chopped
½
c. light mayo
¼
c. plus 1 tbsp. grated parm
1
tbsp fresh lemon juice
1
garlic clove, coarsely chopped
Preheat
oven to 450. In
a food processor, place half the artichokes, the mayo, ¼ cup
parm, lemon juice, and garlic. Process until smooth. Add
remaining artichokes, pulse once to combine.
Transfer mixture to a 1 quart baking dish. Top with remaining parm. Bake until golden and bubbling, 30 to 35 min. Serve with crudites or pita chips.
I think this originally called for scallions as well, but I left them out.
Autumn Salad with Red Wine Vinaigrette (Cooking Light Oct. 2007)
2
tbsp. olive oil
2
tbsp. red wine vinegar
½
tsp. sugar
½
tsp. minced garlic
¼
tsp. paprika
¼
tsp. dry mustard
1/8
tsp. salt
pinch
of dried basil
pinch
of ground red pepper
5
cups mixed salad greens
4
cups torn romaine
2
½ cups cubed Asian pear (1 large)
2
cups chopped Granny Smith apple (1 large)
¼
cup crumbled goat cheese
Mix up the dressing stuff and pour it on the lettuce and fruit and cheese stuff. I thought we had pears in the house, but we didn't, so I substituted craisins. Also used baby romaine instead of the suggested salad greens.
Baked Sweet Potatoes
Scrub,
brush with oil, bake in 450 oven for 35 -45 minutes
Pumpkin Bread Pudding from Smitten Kitchen
1½ cups whole milk
(Or 1 cup heavy cream plus ½ cup whole milk)
¾ cup
canned solid-pack pumpkin
½ cup sugar
2 large eggs plus
1 yolk
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½
teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
Pinch of
ground cloves
2 tablespoons bourbon (optional)
5 cups cubed
(1-inch) day-old baguette or crusty bread
¾ stick unsalted
butter, melted* (can skip this step if using the second set of
instructions)
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.
Gourmet’s Instructions: Whisk together pumpkin, cream, milk, sugar, eggs, yolk, salt, spices and bourbon, if using, in a bowl.
Toss bread cubes with butter in another bowl, then add pumpkin mixture and toss to coat. Transfer to an ungreased 8-inch square baking dish and bake until custard is set, 25 to 30 minutes.
Alternate, Come On, Be Lazy With Me, instructions: While preheating oven to 350°F with rack in middle, melt butter in bottom of a 8-inch square baking dish. Once it is melted, take it out of the oven and toss bread cubes with butter, coating thoroughly. In a separate bowl, whisk together all the remaining ingredients. Pour them over buttered bread cubes in baking dish, stirring to make sure all pieces are evenly coated. Bake until custard is set, 25 to 30 minutes.
I used raisin pecan bread from the grocery store, bought it today, let the cubes sit for a couple hours to make them a little stale. I think I used too much bread, but that wasn't a big problem. I also used whole milk, no cream, 3 eggs because I am too lazy to separate eggs. Omitted the bourbon. Used the cheater instructions. Almost burst because I ate so much of this stuff.
Baked Pumpkin Seeds
Remove from pumpkin, clean off, toss with olive oil and salt, bake in 300 F oven for 45 minutes.
Used too much oil, so they're a little slippery. Also added some salt and pepper.
Slow Cooker BBQ Beef
Put one roast and a small bottle's worth of sauce in slow cooker. Cook 8-10 hours on low or 4-5 on high.
I've made this before and it gets all soggy and shred-able. This time it was more like a solid bbq flavour pot roast, so I sliced it up and it was fine. I think it was because I used a leaner cut of meat; I'm not really a meat expert.
