Dear Fans of Hounds Who Cook,
It's a real halloweeny day with winds and leaves flying and a kind of irrevocable chill where it's not too cold yet, but you know there's no more Reprieve coming. Such as an Indian Summer day where a dog could lie in the sun in the grass and wonder about rabbits. No more of those days.
Our girl was carving pumpkins for the trick or treaters who will come tonight. She saved the seeds for us - froze them raw and will dole them out in our food (ground up) as the months go by. They are full of nutrients. So we came to have a source of Pumpkin. Some of the jack-o-lanterns had light colored and somewhat lightweight insides. Others, though, had a dense, dark orange meat with more sliminess to it and we knew that was the good cookin kind.
We have had in mind The Pumpkin Cookie for some days, so now we find ourselves with pumpkin to make them and all that we need. Here's the recipe we found which we have altered to our hound tastes. The original is at recipezaar.com.
Eli's Pumpkin Cookies for Reformation Day (also Halloween)
1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup fresh pumpkin puree, drained (or use canned)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or use white)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon mace
Penuche Glaze
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2-2 cups powdered sugar
Cream butter and the sugars together until light and fluffy. Blend in pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract.
In separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Mix flour mixture into butter-sugar mixture.
Drop tablespoonfuls 3 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes until golden around the edges. Transfer cookies to racks. Let cool completely for a least one half hour, then drizzle with glaze.
For Glaze: In a medium saucepan, heat butter and brown sugar over medium heat until bubbly. Cook, stirring constantly, for one minute or until slightly thickened. Beat in the milk. Blend in confectioner's sugar until the glaze is smooth and spreadable. Drizzle over cookies. Glaze will harden quickly - keep the saucepan warm to prevent it from hardening.
Notes from Elias: This is really my recipe as I am the dog who eats the most pumpkin. Pumpkin is good for dogs. We baked up our pumpkin (instead of boiling, which just adds more moisture, we presume), took off the peel (which we dogs ate right up), and ran it through a food mill to puree it. Then we let it sit in a sieve to drain extra juice (which we dogs also ate right up). Canned pumpkin might make a denser cookie, but not, we believe, a better cookie.
31 October 2009
12 October 2009
Healing Chicken Soup Reprise
Dear Fans of Hounds Who Cook,
We dogs were most surprised when we ran out the door this morning and found...snow. It is only October and we think we will break the all time record for snow on Oct. 12. The record is from 1909 or so - 1.7 inches.
So, as is obvious, what with early snow, it was a day for chicken soup making. We are bringing back our favorite recipe from last year with some updates for 2009. You can read the original to find out how this is a soup scientifically proven to help you heal. (Or, read the Actual Study.)
This will help you heal faster if you're sick and boost your immune system if you're feeling fine, to keep you feeling fine.
We found a big 10 pound pack of chicken quarters on sale and it turned out that all of the packs of parsnips and turnips and the like were double what we needed - so we doubled the recipe and used all 10 pounds of bird. We also had just harvested the celery and parsley from our garden (before the snow) so we used homegrown. Mmm. Fresh. Our batch made about 8 quarts of soup for freezing.
With this recipe, you end up with extra cooked vegetables for another use and extra chicken for another use...but include the full quantity for the broth to fill out the flavor and make it extra healthy. Some people discard the extra veggies. You could mash them for a yummy side dish, or feed them to your pups if you leave out the onions.
Here's how we did it:
Healing Chicken Soup
Me's Independent Rating: 3 of 3
10 lbs. of chicken
6 cloves of garlic (or more - it's all we had)
1 small pumpkin (or 2 sweet potatoes) (= 1 lb)
20 oz. parsnips (its the size of our bag...use whatever you have, a pound or so)
20 oz. turnips (ditto)
1 lb. carrots
3 lbs of onions
1 bunch celery (with leaves)
2 bunches of parsley
1/2 ounce Hiziki (or other sea vegetable...this is like seaweed or kelp)
1 Tablespoon salt
1 Tablespoon pepper
Soak the chicken in salt water 20 minutes and pat dry. Or skip the salt water and just rinse the chicken. Place in a big electric roaster. Cover the chicken with cold water. Bring to a boil. Meanwhile peel the pumpkin, parsnips, turnips, carrots, and onions. Leave them whole or in large pieces. Add to the chicken and boil 30-45 minutes, just until chicken is cooked.
Remove the chicken and large vegetables from the roaster and set aside. Skim fat from the broth, or pour in batches through gravy separator to remove the fat. Add the celery, parsley, hiziki and salt and pepper to the broth in the roaster. Dice about half of the vegetables and add to the roaster. Save the remaining vegetables for another use. Simmer soup 30 minutes.
Remove chicken meat from about half of the chicken. Save the remaining chicken for another use. Dice chicken meat and add to soup. Season with additional salt or pepper to taste. Heat through and serve.
Notes from Elias: For the sick and ailing, strain all of the veggies out and serve plain broth. Puree the veggies for a delicious side dish for later. Use the remaining chicken for chicken enchiladas!
Notes from Gute: We dogs love this day because we are allowed a lot of scraps and licking of pans when it's all over.
Post Script: Now, only 3 days later, all 8 quarts are gone. We fed soup to loggers clearing brush in the back yard, sent some home with two sick people, and had a little ourselves...
We dogs were most surprised when we ran out the door this morning and found...snow. It is only October and we think we will break the all time record for snow on Oct. 12. The record is from 1909 or so - 1.7 inches.
So, as is obvious, what with early snow, it was a day for chicken soup making. We are bringing back our favorite recipe from last year with some updates for 2009. You can read the original to find out how this is a soup scientifically proven to help you heal. (Or, read the Actual Study.)
This will help you heal faster if you're sick and boost your immune system if you're feeling fine, to keep you feeling fine.
We found a big 10 pound pack of chicken quarters on sale and it turned out that all of the packs of parsnips and turnips and the like were double what we needed - so we doubled the recipe and used all 10 pounds of bird. We also had just harvested the celery and parsley from our garden (before the snow) so we used homegrown. Mmm. Fresh. Our batch made about 8 quarts of soup for freezing.
With this recipe, you end up with extra cooked vegetables for another use and extra chicken for another use...but include the full quantity for the broth to fill out the flavor and make it extra healthy. Some people discard the extra veggies. You could mash them for a yummy side dish, or feed them to your pups if you leave out the onions.
Here's how we did it:
Healing Chicken Soup Me's Independent Rating: 3 of 3
10 lbs. of chicken
6 cloves of garlic (or more - it's all we had)
1 small pumpkin (or 2 sweet potatoes) (= 1 lb)
20 oz. parsnips (its the size of our bag...use whatever you have, a pound or so)
20 oz. turnips (ditto)
1 lb. carrots
3 lbs of onions
1 bunch celery (with leaves)
2 bunches of parsley
1/2 ounce Hiziki (or other sea vegetable...this is like seaweed or kelp)
1 Tablespoon salt
1 Tablespoon pepper
Soak the chicken in salt water 20 minutes and pat dry. Or skip the salt water and just rinse the chicken. Place in a big electric roaster. Cover the chicken with cold water. Bring to a boil. Meanwhile peel the pumpkin, parsnips, turnips, carrots, and onions. Leave them whole or in large pieces. Add to the chicken and boil 30-45 minutes, just until chicken is cooked.
Remove the chicken and large vegetables from the roaster and set aside. Skim fat from the broth, or pour in batches through gravy separator to remove the fat. Add the celery, parsley, hiziki and salt and pepper to the broth in the roaster. Dice about half of the vegetables and add to the roaster. Save the remaining vegetables for another use. Simmer soup 30 minutes.
Remove chicken meat from about half of the chicken. Save the remaining chicken for another use. Dice chicken meat and add to soup. Season with additional salt or pepper to taste. Heat through and serve.
Notes from Elias: For the sick and ailing, strain all of the veggies out and serve plain broth. Puree the veggies for a delicious side dish for later. Use the remaining chicken for chicken enchiladas!
Notes from Gute: We dogs love this day because we are allowed a lot of scraps and licking of pans when it's all over.
Post Script: Now, only 3 days later, all 8 quarts are gone. We fed soup to loggers clearing brush in the back yard, sent some home with two sick people, and had a little ourselves...
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