Sister #3 is a member of GLEE (Girls Laughing, Entertaining and Eating) and last year they decided to dress up for Halloween and enjoy some scary and delicious treats.  The tastiest was this Martha Stewart pumpkin chocolate cheese cake made by the talented Kathy T.

Pumpkin Chocolate Spiderweb Tart
Makes 1 10-inch tart
Crust

1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 cup (1 stick, 8 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 large egg

4 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

Filling

1 can (15 ounces) unsweetened pumpkin puree

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1 cup sour cream

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Topping

2 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

Crust:
Whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, salt, cinnamon, and cloves in a bowl. Add butter. With an electric mixer on low speed beat until butter is the size of small peas, about 5 minutes. Add egg, mix until ingredients form a dough. Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to just more than 1/8-inch. Press dough into bottom and up sides of a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Trim excess dough flush with rim. Pierce bottom of shell all over with a fork. Refrigerate or freeze until firm, about 30 minutes or up to 1 day.

Place tart pan on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until dry, about 15 minutes. Immediately sprinkle the 4 ounces chocolate evenly over crust; let it begin to melt, then smooth with an offset spatula.

Filling:
In a medium bowl, whisk together pumpkin, brown sugar, sour cream, eggs, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt, and cloves until smooth. Pass mixture through a fine sieve into a clean bowl, discard the solids. Pour filling into prepared crust, just to top edge.

Bake at 350 degrees until filling is set, about 40 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool at least 30 minutes.

Topping:
Place the 2 ounces chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 15 second bursts, stirring between bursts, until melted and smooth. Transfer chocolate to a resealable bag with a tiny hole cut in one corner. Pipe about 15 evenly spaced lines radiating out from the center of the tart. Pipe curved lines around the perimeter of the tart, connecting each spoke. Continue piping curved lines, spacing them closer together as you near the center. Refrigerate until set, 1 hour or up to 2 days.

Kath’s quote:  “Pumpkin pie, if rightly made, is a thing of beauty and a joy – while it lasts…..Pies that cut a little less firm than a pine board, and those that run round your plate are alike to be avoided. Two inches deep is better than the thin plasters one sometimes sees, that look for all he world like pumpkin flap-jacks. The expressive phrase, ‘too thin’, must have come from these lean parodies on pumpkin pie. With pastry light, tender, and not too rich, and a generous filling of smooth spiced sweetness – a little ‘trembly’ as to consistency, and delicately brown on top – a perfect pumpkin pie, eaten before the life has gone out of it, is one of the real additions made by American cookery to the good things of the world. For the first pumpkin pie of the season, flanked by a liberal cut of creamy cheeses, we prefer to sit down, as the French gourmand said about his turkey: ‘with just two of us; myself and the turkey.'”-The House Mother

 

There was a time when these words would strike terror into my heart.  This was the “super”-mom time in my life when I worked outside the home and had three very busy kids that needed my lunch making, teaching assistance and chauffeur skills.  I was also overly concerned about what other people would “think” about my contribution and would work hard to find the perfect treat-nutritous yet practical and delicious. 

I have mellowed as I have matured and was flattered when Daughter #2 asked for my contribution to help raise funds to get her to a university conference on social justice and humanitarian assistance.  I peered in the pantry, saw that we had coconut, raisins, pecans and lots of brown sugar and made a bold decision-butter tart slice it is! 

I am fond of mixing ingredients up but not of rolling, shaping, pressing, etc. etc.  I love recipes where you get out your biggest mixing bowl-stir it all up and pour it in a pan.  Such is the case with these (recipe is very easy to double):

Crust:

1 c butter

2 c flour

1/4 c sugar

pinch salt

Filling:

1/4 c butter

3 beaten eggs

2 c brown sugar

1 T baking powder

pinch salt

3/4 c coconut

1 t vanilla

1 c raisins (I always soak mine first)

1 T flour

1 c coarsely chopped pecans

Crust

Cut butter into dry ingredients with pastry blender until crumbly,  Press into an ungreased 9 x 13 pan.

Filling:

Melt butter, add eggs and remaining ingredients.  Mix and pour over crust,  Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.  Cut when cool.

I left them uncut for Daughter #2 to decide if she wanted to package them up by the half dozen or cut and wrap big individual pieces.  Turns out that the way to go now a days is the latter-you sell a large wedge to have with coffee and ask for a donation.  They made close to $300 this way!  That’s my girl.

Kath’s quote:“Eat butter first, and eat it last, and live till a hundred years be past.”- Old Dutch proverb

Perhaps the food with the potential to hold the most love is… pie.  D and I sing a silly song about pie that goes like this:  “gonna make a pie from heaven above, gonna be filled with (butterscotch) love”.  In the song, butterscotch can be changed to any ingredient and in this case it would be sausage and spinach and ricotta cheese.

When I am writing here, I refer to the beau of Daughter #2 as the Frenchman.  I know that he is proficient in the kitchen because he whips up amazing things at our place with whatever ingredients he can muster up in the fridge.

This dinner was an invitation to see his newly shared house.  We had set the date more than a week in advance and I think that he used the entire time to plan the evening.  This meant calling his Mom back home for a family recipe, taking the bus to shop and borrowing pans and bowls from our place. 

The meal itself was absolutely wonderful and you could literally taste the love and attention that was baked into the main course pie.  Here is his Mom’s recipe.  It was in my email “in” box even before I had arrived home. 

Italian Pie

The crust:

5 c of flour

¾ c of butter

pinch of salt

1 egg

½ c of sour cream or plain yogurt

½ T of  lemon juice

1 t of sugar

Mix flour, butter and salt together.  Add the egg, the sour cream, lemon juice and sugar. Delicately mix together and add warm water until a ball can be formed. Make sure you don’t work the dough to much or it will become hard when it bakes. Roll out.  Makes enough for the bottom, sides and lid.

Pie:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix 5 eggs, 500 gr of Ricotta cheese, 1 c of Mozarella cheese and 1 c of Parmesan cheese.  Take the skin off of 3-4 Italian sausages, break apart and brown in pan. Cool and add to mix. Add 1 cup of defrosted and drained frozen spinach, and 1 c of Italian ham like Prosciutto. Add the mix in the pie crust and place the upper crust on top. Put of a bit of yellow egg on lid and Parmesan. Bake for 1 hour. 

He even sent extra pie home with us to feed Daughter #3 who is under the weather.  Yes, he’s a keeper.

Kath’s quote:  “Pie, pie, gonna make a pie, gonna make a pie with a heart in the middle.” -from The Waitress

My children are very innovative gift givers and they know that I treasure experiences more than things.  This year for Mother’s Day, my youngest gave me a Mother/Daughter Cooking class.  I eagerly anticipated our samosa making adventure which she booked through the City of Winnipeg Leisure Guide.

Unfortunately, I did not know in advance that I would require special permission to take photos during the class and so all I have are the end results.  The photos would have been fun because all 11 of us took turns rolling out, shaping, filling and browning 2 varieties of samosas along with the preparation of Tamarind Chutney.  Some of us were more proficient at this process than others-but they all turned out delicious in the end.

I can’t wait to make these for a special event.  Like perogies or Chinese dumplings there are many steps and a considerable time commitment, not something you would just whip up for a snack. 

Here are the recipes that we used:

Potato with Pea filling

4-5 large potatoes

4 T oil

1 t cumin seeds

2 t salt

1 t red chili powder

1 t roasted cumin powder

1 T fresh ginger (grated) or powder

2 handfuls of frozen green peas

1/2 c lukewarm water

Half boil potatoes, strain & let cool.  When cooled, dice into small pieces.  Heat the 4 T of oil in a frying pan over medium heat.  Add the cumin seeds & fry until they are lightly browned.  Remove from heat; add ginger to fried cumin , mixing well.  Place the pan back on medium heat, add potatoes & other ingredients, mix well, then add water, cover & let cook for approximately 20 minutes,  When vegetables are soft add the roasted cumin powder, mix well, remove from heat & let cool (make sure all the water is evaporated). 

Meat with Mixed Vegetable filling

400 grams ground meat, we used chicken

2 c mixed vegetables

1/2 thinly sliced onion

1 small thinly sliced tomato

2 T cooking oil

1 T grated ginger

1/2 t garlic powder

1 1/2 t chili powder

1 1/2 t salt

1 t cumin powder

1/2 c water

1 t roasted cumin

oil

Heat oil in frying pan on high heat.  Add onion and chili powder,  Reduce to medium heat when onions are limp, add tomato and stir fry.  Add ground meat; mix very well with onion and tomato.  When water has evaporated, let cool on low heat for 15 to 20 minutes.  Make sure all water has evaporated sand meat is fully cooked.  Add roasted cumin powder and mix well.  Set aside mixture to cool.

The Dough

3 c flour

1/2 c cooking oil

1 t salt

1 cup warm water (added 1 T at a time if mixture is too dry)

Mix oil & salt in flour.  Slowly add water to the flour, knead well to make dough.  When this is ready, form into 12 balls.  Using a little flour on a cutting board or clean level counter top, roll it out to thin round circles.  Cut circles in half.  Take one half in your hand, close the edges together of the cut side with a little water.  You should now have a cone in your hand.  Put 1 T of the filling inside the cone.  Using a little water close the open edges tightly.  Continue the same process with the rest.  Heat the oil in a deep fryer on high heat.  Once the oil is heated reduce to medium heat and place 4-5 samosas in the oil.  Fry on medium heat until golden brown.  Drain oil.  Makes 24 pieces.

 

Tamarind Chutney

1/2 c tamarind concentrate

1 c sugar

1 t salt

1/4 c cooking oil

1 t chili powder

1 c water

1 t roasted cumin powder

Mix all the ingredients (except for the cumin powder) together in a saucepan on medium heat.  Bring to a boil stirring constantly.  Once a thick consistency has been reached the sauce is finished.  Remove from the heat & add 1 t roasted cumin powder.  Let cook & serve with samosas.  You can store the sauce in a jar in your fridge for a few months. 

Kath’s quote: “Playwrights are like men who have been dining for a month in an Indian restaurant. After eating curry night after night, they deny the existence of asparagus.“-Peter Ustinov

 Thank you Boo-love you forever.

 

 

 

When I was a Weight Watcher I was thrilled to discover this awesome soup was worth 0 points, so I could eat it whenever I was hungry. Here are some of the great things this soup has going for it.

1. Most importantly, it is delicious!
2. It takes about 5 minutes to prepare and only another 20 minutes to cook.
3. It contains things I almost always have in my cupboard and fridge. 
4. It’s full of nutritious veggies.
5. If I am missing any of the veggies, I can substitute with another or leave it out all together and it still turns out great.
6. It only has 61 calories a cup.

Garden Vegetable Soup
3 cups beef broth
2 garlic cloves minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cups chopped cabbage
1/2 cooking onion
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup green beans (I use frozen)
1/2 cup chopped zuchini
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
salt & pepper to taste

Spray pot with non stick cooking spray saute onions carrots and garlic for 5 minutes.
Add broth, Tomato paste, cabbage, green beans, basil, oregano and Salt & Pepper to taste.
Simmer for a about 10 – 15 minutes until all vegetables are tender then add the zucchini and simmer for another 5 or so minutes.  Enjoy!

Kath’s quote: “An old-fashioned vegetable soup, without any enhancement, is a more powerful anticarcinogen than any known medicine.”-James Duke