Roasting Pumpkin Seeds

How the Jack-O-Lantern Came To Be.

The story goes that a crafty and stingy man named Jack was approached by the Devil and told that it was his time to die. As a final request, Jack asked the Devil to get him an apple from the top is his favorite tree, which the Devil did. The crafty man quickly carved some crosses around the tree, trapping the Devil. In exchange for allowing him to get down, Jack made a deal with the Devil that he wouldn't take his soul.

A short while later Jack fell out of that same apple tree, hit his head on a rock and died. Being a wicked man Jack was turned away from the gates of Heaven, but because of his deal with the Devil, he couldn't go to Hell either and was cursed to wander the earth as a spirit in torment.

Without a light to guide him he asked the Devil for one final favor, an ember from the fiery underworld to guide him on his way. Jack carved out a turnip (later transferring it to a pumpkin as he came to America) and placed in inside. On dark fall nights, people would often see the light floating down the lane with the horrible images Jack had carved out and cry out, "Beware of Jack of the Lantern (Jack-O-Lantern)".

Carving pumpkins is one of my favorite things to do at Halloween time and is a fun way to spend time with my kids. But I hate wasting anything, especially food. I have in the past used the pumpkin pieces and trimmings for things such as pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie and my kids favorite, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. But I had always thrown away the seeds.

Last year that changed. After seeing the outrageous price of pumpkin seeds in the store, I decided to make my own. Roasting pumpkin seeds is one of the easiest parts of the Jack-O-Lantern process. I decided to post the process here in tribute to one of my customers (if she reads this she'll know who she is) who was carving pumpkins with her own children and asked about me about it. So here goes.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Pumpkin seeds have a nutty flavor and makes a health addition to salads, topped on soups or mixed in or on top of your favorite breads. Salty or Savory, Spicy or Sweet you are only limited by your imagination when you follow these three easy steps.

1. Rinse the seeds under cold water removing the pulp and strings. (This is easiest when the seeds are fresh).

2. Place the seeds in a single layer on an oiled baking sheet and coat the seeds completely. (You could also spray the seeds with a non-stick pan spray).

3. Salt (or season) and bake at 325 degree until toasted (about 25 minutes). Cool and store in an air tight container.

Season options I have tried or will be trying this year: Salt, Cinnamon and Sugar, Salt and Pepper, Dill (soak briefly in a dill pickle brine if you prefer), Salsa or Taco seasoning, your favorite dry BBQ rub blend, etc.

Have fun and enjoy.

Orange Cranberry Cheesecake

From Executive Chef to Executive Producer.

What's your favorite TV channel? I think mine is the Food Network. I especially love Good Eats with Alton Brown. I can spend hours watching Iron Chef American, Good Eats, and Chopped. But my love of cooking programs goes back much further. I remember watching "The Frugal Gourmet" and "Yan Can Cook" ("If Yan can cook, so can you!") back in my teens. Those shows (and my Dad's flair for making tasty meals out of whatever was in the cupboard) were some of my early inspiration and one of the reasons I became a Chef. Eventually, I might even like to have my own cooking show. Maybe something built around outdoor camp cooking or "The Victory Garden" meets "Good Eats", but for now my creative outlet is limited to a little known blog and a family who gets to sample my treats.

Today's recipe was inspired from a watching a Ocean Spray commercial while reading an article in Cooking Light (Frozen Orange Torte). I put the elements for both together with my desire to perfect my cheesecakes and this is what I came up with, Orange-Cranberry Cheesecake.

Orange Cranberry Cheesecake

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Ingredients

Crust

1/2 package Graham Crackers, crushed (about 6 crackers)

1 oz Semi-Sweet Chocolate

3 oz Unsalted Butter

Filling

3 (8 oz) packages Cream Cheese (regular or reduced fat), softened

3/4 cup Sugar (I used Splenda)

2 Tbsp AP Flour

3 Eggs, lightly beaten

1/3 cup Dried Cranberries

1/4 cup Orange Juice

1 Tbsp Orange Zest

1/4 tsp Orange Extract (or 6-8 drops Wild Orange Essential Oil, I get mine for my DoTerra)

Compote

1 (12 oz) package Frozen Cranberries

1 cup Sugar (or Splenda)

1 Tbsp Orange Zest

3-4 drops Wild Orange Oil or 1/8 tsp Orange Extract

1 package No Sugar Added Pectin

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Melt butter and chocolate together. Combine with crushed Graham Crackers and press into an 8 or 9" springform pan; cover and set aside.

2. In mixing bowl beat cream cheese, sugar and flour on medium speed for 5 minutes. Mix in eggs one at a time, orange zest, orange extract and juice until combined. Fold in cranberries and pour into crust lined pan.

3. Place springform pan on baking sheet and fill baking sheet with water. If your springform pan is not sealed (waterproof) fold two layers of heavy alumin foil around pan. Bake 35-40 minutes or until 2 1/2 inch area around edges appears set when gently shaken. Turn off oven and let cool (in oven) for 1-2 hours).

4. On stove top combine cranberries, water, zest and orange oil and bring to a rolling boil. Add pectin and boil 1 minute longer. Let cool slightly. Spread compote over cheesecake, cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving. Makes 10-12 slices.

Enjoy

Apple Butter Baked Oatmeal

If Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, why does it seem like the busiest day of the week? Between choir practice, getting kids ready for church, church, church meetings after church, home (and visiting) teaching appointments, and family dinners it seems like it's go, go, go, with no rest for the Saints. (By the way, a good friend of mine, Cory Milligan, posted the other day about what a Latter Day Saint really is... a Latter Day Sinner who keeps on trying). So in the spirit of D&C 59:13 "...only let thy food be prepared with singleness of heart" I give you this recipe, Baked Oatmeal.

When you think of oatmeal what comes to mind? The slimy, soggy hot cereal you mom made you eat with milk and sugar? The slimy stuff that comes in those flavored packets loaded with preservatives and ingredients you can't pronounce? Or something different?

For the first 19 years we were married, my wife would make the first and occasionally we would would relent and get some of the second. She would add all kinds of things to get the kids to eat it, apple pie filling, cherry pie filling, peaches with whipped cream on top, pumpkin, cranberries, etc. You get the idea; it would all end the same. Our children would eat a few bites, pronounce they were full and the throw the rest away.

But in going through a new cookbook I got for my wife last year for her birthday she found this recipe for Baked Oatmeal. Not only did the kids devour it, but they wanted more. It was easy, just combine the ingredients, put in a cake pan in the oven and walk away (don't forget to time it or you'll have blackened oatmeal). We still add different things to the oatmeal, but now it's easy, fun and the children eat it.

Baked Oatmeal

1/2 cup Melted Butter

3/4 cups Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

2 tsp Baking Powder

1 cup Milk

3 cups oatmeal (old-fashioned, not quick cooking)

1 tsp Salt

Opt. your own "secret ingredient(s)" like dried cranberries and apples, cinnamon apples, peaches, cherries, blueberries, strawberries (I use freeze dried), etc.

In a large bowl mix oil, sugar, and eggs. Add remaining ingredients and pour into a greased 9 x 13 can. Baked at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Serve hot with with milk. Serves 5-6. We double when all six of our children are home. Enjoy.

(The recipe originally came from "Worldwide Ward Cookbook, Secret Recipes, by Deanna Buxton". The recipe was submitted by May Fitzgerald, Taos Ward, Santa Fe New Mexico Stake, Angle Fire, New Mexico). She writes, "This is the only way we make oatmeal at our house...[This] is a time saver and tastes so much better tan making oatmeal on the stove or in the microwave..."

English Scones

My youngest daughter has been asking me to make scones for breakfast for several days now. She's wanting the American / Mexican variety also know as Indian Fry Bread, Fried Scones or Sopapillas. However, I don't want to deal with the greasy mess frying up scones produces, so I opted for the English variety. This type of scone is more closely related to a biscuit (and in fact uses the biscuit method to mix) and in England is commonly found during tea time served with Clotted Cream or Jam.

We used to offer these on our catering menu and they were a big hit. Back then we could produce several hundred at a time for a large gathering, and so, we would buy them pre-made (but uncooked) and bake them as needed. So, of truth, I've never made these from scratch. But like many things we as a society now buy in a box or jar, they are actually very easy to make, taste better and take just about as much time and effort as the boxed mixes.

English Scones

Yield: 1 Doz Scones

Prep time 15 Minutes, Baking time 10-15 Minutes, Total time 25-30 Minutes

Ingredients

2 cups All-Purpose Flour

2 Tbsp Baking Powder

1 pinch Salt

1/4 cup Butter (1 stick), cubed and cold

2 Tbsp Sugar

1/2 cups Milk

2 Tbsp Milk (for brushing the scones).

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F and Line a Baking sheet with parchment paper

1) Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl

2) Cut in the butter until it resembles fine breadcrumbs (Biscuit Method)

3) Stir in the sugar and enough milk to mix to a soft dough

4) Turn onto a floured surface, knead lightly (don't over knead or they won't rise or be flaky) and roll out to a 3/4 inch thickness.

5) Cut into 2 inch rounds, triangles or squares and place on prepared baking sheet.

6) Brush with milk to glaze.

7) Bake at 425 for 10-15 minutes than cool on a wire rack.

Serve with butter, clotted cream or jam.

Note: Feel free to add your favorite spices and fold in your favorite indredients like Orange Zest, Strawberries (dried work great), Apples and Walnuts, Chocolate Chips, Blueberries, Raisins, or Cranberries.

Enjoy

Pictured: Cranberry Walnut Scone, courtesy AnjasFood4Thought.com

Chicken and Dumplings

I woke up this morning to Fall. Despite what the calendar says today is the first day of fall in Richmond. I know, the leave began to turn a week ago and it has been getting cooler for some time, but today felt different. I cleaned out the chicken coop and put new bedding in and got the garden beds ready to cover so I can eek out a few more weeks of tomatoes (I expect our first frost on Friday or Saturday morning). Fall (and Winter) means more soup in our house. Not that we don't like soup in the summer (borscht, gazpacho, mint cucumber soup, etc are great cold soups) but a nice hot bowl of soup on a cool, crisp day is somehow warm and inviting.

So for my first hot soup of the season, I choose Chicken and Dumplings. No rhyme or reason, it just sounded good. This may not be an authentic dumpling but it was quick, easy, made from scratch and tasted darn right good. Just the thing for the first day of fall.

Note: This recipe is written just like I made it. There are not exact measurements, just like grandma used to cook. More people show up, add more water (and maybe a little more chicken base).

Easy Chicken and Dumpling Soup

8-10 cups water (just under the max fill line of your stock pot once all the ingredients are added)

3 - 4 lbs Chicken (older stewing chickens make the best soup, but I used frozen breasts, which once thawed, I diced up)

2 Tbsp Chicken Base

2 handfuls Diced Carrots

2 handfuls Diced Celery (I used Freeze Dried for convience and because it was what I had)

1 Red Onion, Diced

1 handful shredded yellow squash (it was there so I used it)

1 Tbs Minced Garlic

1-2 Tbs Fresh Tarragon

Salt and Pepper TT

Dumplings

(Becky made fresh bread today, so I used about a half of loaf of the bread dough cut into small pieces and flattened slightly)

1. Saute Onions, Carrots, Celery, Squash and Garlic until slightly caramelized.

2. Boil Chicken in the water with items from step 1 until the chicken is thawed. Dice up chicken and add back to the soup. If using fresh chicken just cook in the soup.

3. Add Dumplings to the soup and cook for 20-30 minutes, stirring the dumplings so they get cooked all the way through.

4. Add salt, pepper and tarragon for the last 2 minutes.

5. Ladle and serve.

Enjoy.

Becky's Slow-Cooker Chili

As many of you know, I was trained as a chef and owned my own catering company for over 10 years. I still love to cook (even more now that it's not a job) and my wife is often asked how nice it is to be married to a chef (assuming she doesn't have to cook much).

The truth is she does most of our cooking at home if for no other reason than I'm not home to do it most of the time. And another truth is that I didn't marry her for her cooking. But she has learned some basic culinary principles and has improved a lot over the last twenty years. She may not become the next "Iron Chef" but she also won't every appear on a season of "Worst Cooks in America" either.

With that said, one of the best dishes she makes is her chili. Chili is not difficult to make, but it can be difficult to make a really good chili and usually takes a lot of work and a lot of time. This recipe is an exception (although it still takes time). It is a homemade chili in every sense of the word. The easy part of this chili is that if you can chop up a few vegetables, brown off hamburger and open some cans you too can have really good chili.

This is made in a 5 quart or larger slow cooker and must be started hours in advance, but once it is going you can just about walk away and forget it. This is great for a day when you know you will be busy taking kids all over after school or in my wife's case, when you have some energy in the morning but knowing that you won't by afternoon.

Becky's Easy Slow-Cooker Chili

1 lb Ground Beef (can substitute chicken, steak or what ever meat you want)

1 Onion, chopped

1 Medium Green Pepper, chopped

1/2 tsp Salt

1 Tbsp Chili Powder

1 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce

29 oz Tomato Sauce

3 - 16 oz cans Kidney Beans, drained (feel free to mix up different beans)

14 1/2 oz can crushed or stewed Tomatoes

6 oz can Tomato Paste

4 oz Grated Cheddar Cheese

Sour Cream and Green Onion for garnish

1. Brown meat in skillet. Add onion and green pepper halfway through browning process. Drain. Put into Slow Cooker.

2. Stir in remaining ingredients except cheese and garnish.

3 Cover. Cook on High 3 hours or Low for 7-8 hours.

4. Serve in bowls topped with cheddar cheese.

Enjoy.

Note: This is wonderful to serve with fresh, homemade cornbread.