Baking

I'd cut up and cooked our Halloween pumpkin (it hadn't been carved, just used as a porch decoration, so it was still good and firm), and got 8 bags of (2 cups each) pumpkin puree for the freezer. I was going to make a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, but decided I wanted to do some real baking (pies are too easy!), and went looking on the Internet for some good pumpkin recipes. I found a wonderful web site I'd never been to: http://www.verybestbaking.com/ and found a recipe for a carrot cake (which we love) that incorporated pumpkin. I baked it this afternoon, along with 6 cupcakes (so the cake would actually be UNcut on Thanksgiving Day!), and it is WONDERFUL. I especially like the hint of orange flavor to the cream cheese frosting. Of course, you can use canned pumpkin in place of fresh. This cake would be very suitable for any occassion. It's rich and a bit more dense than a standard cake, with nice small chunks of nuts, carrots and pineapple. I think the only change I would make if I bake it again would be to add about 1/2 cup of raisins and just a hint (1/4 tsp.) of cloves.

Pumpkin Carrot Cake

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups pumpkin
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 can (8 oz.) crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup (about 3 medium) carrots, grated
1 cup coconut, flaked
1 1/4 cups nuts, chopped, divided
Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

Directions:PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Grease two 9-inch-round cake pans.
COMBINE flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in small bowl.
Combine milk and lemon juice in liquid measuring cup (mixture will appear curdled).
BEAT eggs, pumpkin, granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil, pineapple, carrots and milk mixture in large mixer bowl; mix well. Gradually add flour mixture; beat until combined. Stir in coconut and 1 cup nuts. Pour into prepared cake pans.
BAKE for 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 15 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.
FROST between layers, on sides and top of cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. Garnish with remaining nuts. Store in refrigerator.

FOR CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:COMBINE 11 ounces softened cream cheese, 1/3 cup softened butter and 3 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar in large mixer bowl until fluffy. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2 teaspoons orange juice and 1 teaspoon grated orange peel; beat until combined.

I also baked an apple pie for dinner. I used a combination of granny smith and braeburn apples. The granny smith have the tart taste I like in an apple, and the braeburn has a milder flavor but more juice. I'd prefer to have a fresh New England macintosh, but they're not available here, so I have to do with what I have! Tried to post a picture of the completed pie, but Blogger doesn't want me to.

So I've gotten a lot done today, more to do tomorrow but it's mostly quick cleaning and general straightening and picking up, so that won't be too bad. We have to work our Thanksgiving dinner schedule around Brayden's nap, so we won't eat until 3pm or so on Thursday, so I'll have Thursday morning to get more prep work done.

Now if only JJ and Lisa could be here with us, it would be a wonderful holiday!

Lots to do

I'm a bit behind on my preparations for Thanksgiving. Brayden's had another cold (poor guy), Mary's been sick, and now Jeff and I are fighting it. I know it's from Brayden going to day care and picking up the germs, then coming here and/or home and spreading them around. He was very sick over the weekend and Mary wasn't far behind him. I went over on Saturday and babysat so Mary could get to the store for what she needed to get them both through another bout of sickness. I tried hard to stay back from him when he coughed, I washed my hands frequently, stayed conscious about putting my hands near my eyes, mouth or nose... but at 3am this morning woke up thinking "uh oh... I'm coming down with a cold"...sigh. Just what I need when I'm already behind on Thanksgiving prep. My turkey (24 lbs) is out of the freezer and I cut up our Halloween pumpkin and cooked it for pumpkin pie filling. I've also made cranberry muffins with a cream cheese center, and those are in the freezer. The majority of grocery shopping is done, but I do have a few last minute things to pick up today. Today will be a busy day. My To Do list is as follows:

• Small grocery shopping of last minute items - done
• Go to library to return due books - done
• Take all china out of hutch and run through dishwasher - done
• Dust interior of china cabinet - done
• Vac downstairs
• Dust dining room, my office
• Finish cleaning my office - done
• Get Thanksgiving candles, etc from basement - done
• Wash and iron linens for table
• Clean kitchen, wash kitchen floor
• Get turkey roaster from basement and wash - done
• Plan what serving bowls I need and make sure they're available - done

Tomorrow will be a cooking day:

• Make apple and pumpkin pies
• Make stuffing
• Put green bean casserole together
• Make cream sauce for onions

Now see? Now that I've written it all down, that doesn't look as bad as I thought it was going to be. Also this year's cooking will be a little bit easier because I have the new warming drawer in my stove. I can cook things ahead (such as the rolls) and just keep them warm in the drawer, rather than fight to get everything done at the same time!

You have to wonder...

if the environment would be a better place if we, the children of the 70's, had stuck to our guns about pollution, environmental controls, loss of the rain forest, etc. We knew about it then and we said so. But we didn't try hard enough. We didn't boycott products enough. Our voices were heard and then forgotten. Here it is the 30 years later, and it is suddenly trendy to "go green". If you haven't watched Ed Begley's show on HGTV, "Living with Ed" -- watch it for some great ideas on small things you can do around your house to both save the environment and save on your energy bills. And aw shucks, Ed's just a cutie, so watch for that! Jeff and I have made changes here. We are consciously trying to make good decisions that cut down on the amount of water we use, energy we use, etc. Ninety-percent of our home is now furnished with the new eco-friendly light bulbs. We had our furnace tuned. We installed a new storm door. We're shutting off the hot tub for the months of January thru April. Just little things, but it's something that we can do. So, here's one more we can do without drastically changing our way of life. I can boycott Kimberly Clark products. They will no longer enter this house until the company stops using fibers from the endangered forests. Did you know that it takes 90 years to grow a box of Kleenex? That's right, every time you use a Kleenex tissue, you are blowing away ancient forests. And every time you use Scott or Cottonelle toilet paper, you’re flushing old growth trees down the toilet. That's because Kimberly Clark, maker of these products, all but refuses to use recycled paper in its products. So here's the list of products that will no longer come in this house:

• Kleenex
• Scott
• Cottonelle
• Viva
• Kotex
• Depend
• Huggies

There are plenty of other companies that make similar products that do not refuse to use recycled materials in their same products.

It's that easy to make a difference.

Three kitchen items I can't live without

There are three items in my kitchen (aside from the obvious pots & pans, dishes, basic utensils, etc.) that I just can't live without or that make cooking so much easier that I would go out and buy a replacement immediately. They are:

1. Pam Spray - I'm not sure I even know how to cook without it anymore. What did we do before it was invented?? I use it on so many things -- meatloaf pans, cookie sheets, muffin pans, regular fry pans and more. It's like "Non-stick in a bottle".
2. My small food processor/chopper. I use it to chop onions, green peppers, carrots. I use it to make tuna, ham or chicken salad. I use it to chop nuts during Christmas cookie season. So much faster, easier and less messy than using a knife and cutting board!
3. My fry pan splatter screen. Being low-carbers, I tend to cook bacon, sausage, hamburger a bit more than most. My extra-large splatter screen fits over any fry pan I have in the house. Not only does it save me a lot of grease-splatter clean up, but it also saves my clothes from grease splatters and saves my hands and face from nasty splatter burns!

Recently my kitchen shears broke. Although I'm not going to run and out replace them immediately, I am surprised to find how often I miss them. I use them to de-bone chicken, remove chicken skin, open packages of food, trim wicks on candles and more! I find myself reaching for them quite often. A good pair of kitchen shears are actually a bit expensive, so a replacement will have to wait until after Christmas, but I do miss them!