Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Dinner in a Pumpkin

Family, I noticed this beloved recipe wasn't on the blog so here is my version of the original Marilynn creation:

Cut up 2 chicken breast into bite sized chunks.  In a large ziplock bag add 2 Tbsp flour, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1 tsp Lawry's seasoned salt. Add chicken to bag and shake until all the pieces are coated.  Set aside.

In a large sauce pan, while you're cooking the veggies and chicken, cook 2 cups brown or wild rice in 4 cups of chicken broth and 1 Tbsp of olive oil. Simmer until fluffy.

Chop up 3 stalks of celery, a box of mushrooms, 1 large onion, 3 cloves garlic.  Sautee all the veggies in about 3 Tbsp olive oil until fork tender.  Add the chicken and cook until it is cooked through and golden.  (If you want it to cook faster, you can take the veggies out, then cook the chicken till it's almost done and then add the veggies back in to finish them both off together.  If you do that, just make sure you add more olive oil to the pan before adding the chicken.)

After chicken is all cooked through, add a little more olive oil and then sprinkle about 3 Tbsp flour over the veggies and make a paste.  Then add 1/2 cup white cooking wine, or if you don't want to use wine, just add 1 1/2 cups chicken broth (if you want to use the wine add 1/2 cup wine and 1 cup chicken broth).  Simmer until the liquid thickens about 5 minutes.  Then remove from heat and toss the veggies, chicken, and rice all together in a large bowl.  Stir in 3/4 cup of sour cream to the mixture.  Season with Lawry's seasoning salt, pepper, garlic salt, onion powder, and poultry seasoning to taste.  The mixture should be creamy and not watery.  If it isn't thick enough, add some more sour cream or some heavy cream.  Place mixture into a cleaned out salt and peppered pumpkin.  

Place pumpkin, with lid on, in the center of a large baking sheet with about 1/2-1 inch of water.  Bake for 2 hours at 350 degrees or until pumpkin is brown.  

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Pumpkin Chocolate chip cookies

I found this recipe online and tried it but it wasn't quite right so I tweaked it a bit and then it was amazing!  I added more spices and I added some wheat flour and a little more flour overall so the consistency would be more cookie like.  Enjoy.

1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup cooked or canned pumpkin
½ cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2-1 cup chocolate chips (I used 1 cup but if you don't want them that chocolatey just use 1/2)

In a mixing bowl, beat together sugar, pumpkin, oil, and vanilla. Sift together dry ingredients and add to mixture. Stir until smooth. Blend in chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls on greased baking sheet. Bake at 350° F for 12–15 minutes. Makes 3–4 dozen.