Pumpkin – A Super Food!

Think of the word pumpkin and images of jack-o-lanterns and whipped cream covered Thanksgiving pies will probably pop into your mind. Pumpkin is traditionally considered a holiday food and is a staple in our kitchen pantries and freezers during that festive time of the year. However, did you know that pumpkin now heralded as one of the ‘Super Foods?’

According to Dr. Steven Pratt, author of SuperFoods Rx: Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life, “Well, pumpkin is one of the most nutritionally valuable foods known to man. Moreover, it’s inexpensive, available year round in canned form, incredibly easy to incorporate into recipes, high in fiber, low in calories, and packs an abundance of disease fighting nutrients.”

What exactly makes pumpkin so super? The powerful antioxidants known as carotenoids give this food its super status. Carotenoids have the ability to ward off the risk of various types of cancer and heart disease, along with, cataracts and macular degeneration. Dr. Pratt mentions many other disease fighting super foods in his book as well, but we are most interested in pumpkin because of the year-round availability and ease of use in canned form.

How can we add this wonder food to our diets through out the year? Take advantage of the benefits and great taste of pumpkin with the following delicious Pumpkin Recipes.

Any day Pumpkin Pancakes

2-1/2 cups flour

1 cup of buttermilk

1 tsp. salt

2-1/4 tsp. soda

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup of pumpkin

Measure flour into bowl and add dry ingredients. Stir in buttermilk and add pumpkin. Mix Well. Cook on hot griddle or skillet until golden brown.

Pumpkin Spiced Muffins

1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 cup pumpkin

1/4 cup milk

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl cream butter with brown sugar. Beat in eggs, then pumpkin and milk. In a small bowl combine flour, baking powder, spices, salt and baking soda. Add to the creamed mixture. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

About the author:
Sherry Frewerd publishes ‘Family Crock Pot Recipes’ and ‘Recipes to Live By’, both sites offer free and delicious recipes that your family will love. Visit today at: familycrockpotrecipes.com and theres-more-to-life-than-food.typepad.com/recipes_to_live_by
Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com

Recipe - Shepherd’s Pie

Traditional nursery food has made a come back in our family recently. I haven’t bothered making shepherd’s pie (or cottage pie, as it is also known) for ages, as the children just used to eat the potato from the top and leave the mince. Mince in general has been rejected too. If I use the same minced beef to make meatballs or burgers the kids devour it, but they hate picking out all the little bits of vegetables that I hopefully put into it, when I make the shepherd’s pie, in the hope of smuggling a few vegetables into their diet. Anyway my son actually requested shepherd’s pie the other day, so yesterday I made it and they gobbled it up, vegetables and all, several servings each, so I’ve gained one more dish for the regular list.

Recipe for Shepherd’s Pie - to feed four:

500g/1lb good quality minced beef or lamb (hamburger beef)
1 onion
2 carrots
1 stick of celery
1 clove garlic
2 large fresh tomatoes or half a tin of tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
a dash of wine
a few drops Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
water or stock
potatoes
small piece of butter - about 20g/1oz and milk to mash with

Finely chop the onion and saute over a low heat in the olive oil until soft and translucent. Add the carrot, celery and garlic also finely chopped. Saute all together for five minutes. Turn up the heat and add the meat, breaking up the lumps and cooking until it has just lost the raw redness. Don’t overdo it at this point. Add the splosh of wine, (white or red, whatever you have open. If you don’t have any it’s not essential) and stir till it has evaporated the alcohol. Add the tomatoes skinned and chopped. Now put in the rest of the seasonings and pour in enough water or stock to only just cover the meat. Bring to a simmer, put on a lid and leave to cook at a simmer for 1-2 hours.

The quantity of potatoes depends on how many you have to feed, you can have a thin layer of potato topping or if you need to stretch the meat to feed lots of people, a really thick layer of potato, which is what the children prefer anyway. Peel the potatoes and boil them till soft. Then drain and mash them with the butter, milk and salt and pepper until they are soft, but not too runny, mashed potatoes. In a roasting dish or any ovenproof but not too shallow dish, put the cooked meat in a thick layer, then top with the mashed potatoes. Smooth them out with a fork, so there are lines and swirls and peaks of potato that will brown nicely and put the dish into a preheated oven 200C/400F for twenty minutes or until the top has browned to golden. If the meat and potatoes have only just finished cooking and still hot you can just brown the top under the grill. This can all be assembled and kept in the fridge until needed too, then it would need at least thirty minutes to cook through again.

Traditionally shepherd’s pie was made with minced lamb and cottage pie with minced beef but my family has always called both shepherd’s pie. It also used to be a dish to use up leftover cooked meat from a roast, rather than starting fresh with raw mince, but we like it like this - comfort food for winter.

Copyright 2006 Kit Heathcock

About the Author:
Kit Heathcock - worked and travelled in Italy for many years, is passionate about food and loves being a fulltime mother. Co-creator of http://www.aflowergallery.com home of original flower pictures and http://www.food-and-family.com
Article Source: www.iSnare.com

Simple And Delicious, Check Out Some Excellent Christmas Recipes!

Whether for parties and family gatherings, or for the delight of your own household, these Christmas recipes will be a great success! Tried and tested—and decreed to be absolutely delicious!

1. Holiday Cheese Ball

Ingredients
3 tablespoon finely chopped pecans
1 package (8 ounces) Neufchatel cream cheese (at room temperature)
3 green onions (finely chopped with tops, 1/3 cup)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper sauce
1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese (4 ounces)
1/4 cup minced parsley

Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 350° and spread out the pecans in a small pan. Bake, tossing once, for 8 minutes or until toasted. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, place the cream cheese, onions, mustard, red pepper sauce, and garlic. With an electric mixer at moderate speed, beat for 3 minutes or until well blended. Stir in the cheddar cheese. Wrap the mixture in plastic wrap, shape into a 4-inch ball, and chill for 15 minutes.

Step 2:
On wax paper, toss the toasted pecans with the parsley. Unwrap the cheese ball and carefully roll it in the parsley mixture, coating it completely. Rewrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until time to serve. Place the ball on a serving platter and surround with an assortment of crackers.

2. Macadamia Biscotti

Ingredients
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut up, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a baking sheet.

Step 2:
In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on high, beat the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in the eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Blend to combine. Stir in the nuts.

Step 3:
Halve the dough and, with lightly oiled hands, roll each half into a log about 2 inches thick and 12 inches long. Place the logs on the baking sheet and bake in the center of the oven for 25 minutes, or until golden.

Step 4:
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and place on a rack to cool.

Step 5:
Transfer the logs to a breadboard. Using a serrated knife, slice them about 3/4 inch thick at a 45 degree angle. To avoid crumbling, use firm, decisive strokes. Place the slices flat on a baking sheet and return to a 350°F oven for about 10 minutes, turning once, to dry them.

Step 6:
Cool on a rack. The cookies will keep in an airtight container for two to three weeks.

3. Chilean Christmas bread from Chile

Ingredients:
2 cups SR flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
100 grams glaced cherries
1 teaspoon cognac or brandy
1 cup plain flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup sultanas and chopped almonds (mixed)
1/2 cup glace fruit
2 eggs
115 grams butter
grated rind 1 lemon

Steps:
1. Sift flour.
2. Cut butter into pieces.
3. Cream butter and sugar, add eggs and mix well.
4. Add sultanas and almonds, glace fruit, lemon rind, vanilla, cherries, and cognac to flour.
5. Mix well and pour into a buttered mould.
6. Bake at 150 celcius for 1 1/2 hours.

4. Candy Cane Sugar Twist Cookies Recipe

Ingredients:
1 C. butter, softened
1 C. confectioner's sugar
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. peppermint extract
2 1/2 C. sifted flour
1/2 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
1 t. cream of tartar
2 T. of red food coloring (for Candy Cane Sugar cookies only)

Steps:
Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and almond extract. Set aside. Mix the flour, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar together. Stir into the butter mixture. Divide the dough in half and add the red food coloring to half the dough. Refrigerate dough for one hour.

Take one teaspoon of each color of dough and roll out into 4 inch long strips. Lay the strips side by side and twist together to make a red and white striped rope. Place the dough on an ungreased cookie sheet. Turn the end into a curve to make the canes handle. Repeat this procedure to make 12 canes.

Place one inch apart on baking sheet. Bake at 375° F. for 10 minutes. Cool on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

About the Author:
Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for websites on gardening, parenting, recreation, education and décor. Her background includes teaching and gardening. For more of her articles about holiday meals and sweets, please visit Christmas Recipes.
Article Submitted On: November 07, 2006
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Spanish Food - How To Make Spicy Gazpacho Soup.

Home-made soups are so good for you - all that nourishing stock and chock-a-block full of vitamins and minerals.

But ... who on earth could face boiling bones for hours on end during the scorching Spanish summer weather, not to mention preparing the soup once the stock is made? I don´t think it would tickle anybody´s fancy to then have to tuck into a piping-hot soup!

For this reason, the Spanish came up with their wonderful, ice-cold soup - gazpacho - beautifully colorful, packed with goodness, cheap and simple to prepare, no cooking and ... most important of all, an absolute delight to drink.

Traditional gazpacho originates from romantic Andalucia - that large, exotic southerly region of Spain which is home to such extensive Arabic influence.

The chilled, raw soup was originally made by pounding bread and garlic with tomatoes, cucumber and peppers but, nowadays, your electric blender renders this effortless! Olive oil endows it with a smooth, creamy consistency and vinegar adds a refreshing tang - just what you need when life gets too hot to handle!

The spicy soup should be served in true Spanish style with small bowls of accompaniments - finely chopped peppers, cucumber, onion ... even hard-boiled eggs and croutons, if you feel up to it! Guests will then sprinkle what appeals to them on the soup.

Traditional gazpacho is tomato-based, with most Spanish families having developed their own, unique recipes. However, nowadays, you will also find gazpacho recipes that have nothing to do with tomatoes - white, almond-based gazpachos, fruit-based gazpachos, etc.

Do you suffer from insomnia? Could be that drinking gazpacho is the answer, for in Pedro Almodovar´s 1987 film "Mujeres Al Borde De Un Ataque De Nervios", various characters help themselves to the soup and promptly fall asleep!

However, don´t fall asleep just yet as you haven´t read over the recipe!

Ingrediants for 4 servings:

- 4 ripe tomatoes
- 1 onion
- ½ red pepper
- ½ green pepper
- ½ cucumber
- 3 cloves garlic
- 50 g bread
- 3 dessertspoons vinegar
- 8 dessertspoons olive oil
- Water
- Salt/pepper
- ¼ chilli pepper (optional)

Garnishings:

- 2 hard-boiled eggs
- ½ finely chopped onion
- ½ finely chopped red pepper
- ½ finely chopped green pepper
- ½ finely chopped cucumber

Method:

1. Break up bread and soak in water for 30 minutes.

2. Skin tomatoes, remove seeds and stalks from peppers.

3. Peel cucumber, onion and garlic.

4. Chop onion, garlic, tomatoes, peppers and cucumber.

5. Place in electric blender.

6. Squeeze out excess water from bread and add to blender.

7. Add oil and vinegar.

8. Blend well.

9. If necessary, add sufficient water for soup-like consistency.

10. Pour into a bowl with ice cubes.

11. Fridge for a couple of hours.

12. Serve in bowls, with garnishings in separate dishes.

Gazpacho is best enjoyed sitting in the shade, looking out onto an azure sea, blue sky and golden sun and sands!

About the author:
Linda Plummer is webmistress of the site: http://www.top-tour-of-spain.com which provides a wide range of information regarding Spain and the Spanish language.
Circulated by Article Emporium

Delicious Christmas Cookies Recipe

Keep your kidsbusy during Christmas break baking cookies to give as Christmas gifts. Below are some common Christmas cookies that aren’t too hard to make and are great for Christmas sharing.

Shortbread Cookies

Shortbread cookies are classics that will melt in your mouth. You can roll the dough out and use Christmas shaped cookie cutters or simple roll the cookies into balls and then roll the balls in a festive topping like crushed almonds or coconut. These cookies are easy and fun to make.

You’ll need the following:

2 cups flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 pound unsalted butter
pinch of salt

To make the cookies mix the ingredients well and then roll out to ¼ inch thickness and use cookie cutters. Or make small balls out of them and roll the balls in nuts or coconut. Place on a greased cookie sheet and then flatten lightly with the bottom of a glass

Bake at 300° F. for around 20 to 25 minutes.

Secret Kiss Cookie

These fun cookies have a chocolate kiss treat inside!
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 bag chocolate kiss candies, unwrapped (7 ounces)
powdered sugar

Cream the butter, vanilla, and sugar. Blend in the flour. Wrap a tablespoon of the dough around a chocolate candy kiss. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350° for approximately 15 minutes until the dough has set but is not brown. Then while still warm, roll each cookie in powdered sugar.

The recipe above makes about 2 to 3 dozen cookies.

Thumbprint Cookie

This is a colorful and fun cookie that kids love to make with a thumbprint.

2 1/2 cups flour – add more if dough is too thin
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons vanilla
Chopped nuts
Jam

Use an electric mixer and beat the butter at medium speed until creamy. Then add sugar and flour, vanilla and almond extract, blending well. Chill the dough for 2 ½ hours then form it into small balls and roll them in the nuts. Place the balls on a lightly greased cookie sheet then make an indentation with your thumb and fill it with jam. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes until firm and light brown on bottom. Bake at 300°.

About the Author:
Marianne Jackson is a staff writer at Christmas Gazette and is an occasional contributor to several other websites, including Family Review.
Article Source: www.iSnare.com

Recipe - Baking Bread

Fresh bread is one of the simple joys of living: the appetising smell of it baking, then with the loaf fresh out of the oven, the temptation of tearing a hunk off the loaf before it has even had time to cool down. Riding home in the car from a bakery, or even a supermarket, with a warm, new loaf in a brown paper bag, you have to have an iron will to get home with that loaf intact, especially with children in the car with you too.

Baking bread at home can be fun, if you are not under pressure. It is a task that children can help with, kneading alongside you. When you are forming the loaves you can section off some dough for them to make their own sculpturally shaped rolls, which they can take to school proudly in their lunch boxes the next day. Then you get to fill your house with the scent of baking bread, making it feel warm and welcoming on even the most dismal winter day.

Breadmaking machines, of the sort that you feed it the ingredients then it spits out a ready baked loaf a few hours later are a boon to those with no time to bake for themselves - you get the pleasures of waking up to bread wafting through the house, without any of the labour to produce it. If you have time though, making bread is not hard. It can be a relaxing, meditative experience. As your hands rhythmically knead the dough, you can let your mind wander and feel the link with all the men and women who have gone about this daily task over the centuries.

If you have never tried making bread before, try this simple recipe for a plain white loaf first. Nothing fancy, just plain, delicious white bread with far more chew and texture than shop bread could ever have.

White Bread Recipe

1kg/2.2lbs white bread flour 15g/4 ½ teaspoons instant yeast 1 tablespoon salt about 700ml/ not quite 3 cups water

You need a large mixing bowl or you can heap the flour onto a clean surface and make a well for the water. I use a bowl and mix the flour and salt, make a well for the yeast, then pour the water in, gradually stirring with a knife. Once it has come together into dough, tip it out onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, sprinkling on more flour as you go, when it gets too sticky.

Knead by holding the dough with one hand and stretching it away with the heel of the other, fold it back on itself and repeat. It will start off sticky and lumpy and gradually become smooth. After 10 minutes it should feel springy and rise up again if you dent it with your finger. Put it in the bowl again, cover with a plastic bag or clean cloth and leave in a warm place away from draughts for an hour and a half, till it has doubled in size. If you are in the depths of winter and no warm places are available, it will still rise, just taking longer. Go by the doubling in size rather than the length of time it takes.

Knock the dough down - squashing all the air out of it again - then shape it into two loaves, which can be round, long, plaited or sculptural! Put the loaves onto a floured or lightly oiled baking tray. Leave to rise again for 3/4 of an hour, again covering with a plastic bag or cloth, then bake at 200C/400F for 30 minutes. (If the kids make small rolls they'll be done sooner, check after 15 minutes). The bread is done when it sounds hollow as you knock on the bottom of the loaf.

The great thing about bread is that it'll be edible even if you over-bake it, just crustier. My only failure with this recipe was the first time I made it. I made one huge loaf with this quantity and the centre was a bit underdone, but even then we could eat the rest of it.

Cool your loaves on a wire rack and try not to scoff the lot while it is still warm...

Once you've had a few tries with this recipe, and convinced yourself you can bake, it is no great leap to try out other yeast breads. The process is the same for most of them. The only danger is that once you start baking your own bread, your family won't let you stop!

Copyright Kit Heathcock 2006

About the Author:
Kit Heathcock - worked and travelled in Italy for many years, is passionate about food and loves being a fulltime mother. Co-creator of A Flower Gallery, Food and Family & Great Books Reviewed
Submitted: 2006-10-24
Article Source: GoArticles

Amazing Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

This is our families secret chocolate chip recipe. We have a large family so this one makes over 4 dozen chocolate chip cookies. You can experiment with most cookie recipes to adjust to your own taste. Remenmber the more brown sugar you use the more chewy type cookie you create. I don't think this one needs much adjusting. First we will start with ingredients.

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
1cup butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups yellow cake mix
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4cup sour cream
3 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions to cookie recipe.

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Melt butter and unsweetened chocolate together.
3. Sift cake mix, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together.
4. In a large bowl, beat sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
5. Stir the chocolate mixture into the eggs.
6. Stir in the sifted ingredients with sour cream.
7. Mix in chocolate chips.
8. Drop rounded tablespoonfuls cookie sheets.
9. Bake for until edges are starting to turn dark brown.

Enjoy these wonderful cookies at any occasion. They disappear very quickly at family events. You might notice my secret ingredient. It is the boxed yellow cake mix. Cake flour gives the cookie a little more body than the regular unbleached flour.You may use any of your favorite brands. If you are making smaller cookies don't forget that the baking time goes down. Many ovens produce heat from the bottom of the oven, so as not burn the bottom of the cookies many times I will double pan the cookies before I bake them. Baking is similar to a gigantic chemistry experiment. The best way to get the experiment right is to keep experimenting. Once you have found the best combinations of ingredients and procedures, stick with it. Enjoy!

About the Author:
Jeffrey Dorrian is the owner and publisher of American-Recipes.com.
He has been a professional baker for more than 17 years and now shares his best recipes with us.
Free Recipes
Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com

Cranberry Pistachio Chocolate Drops Recipe

The cranberry pistachio chocolate drops recipe combines green pistachio nuts and dark red cranberries for the perfectly colored holiday cookie!

Ingredients
2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened baking chocolate, melted
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup pistachio nuts, toasted, chopped
1 cup dried cranberries

Drizzle Topping:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons orange juice

Hardware
Whisk
Large bowl
Medium bowl
Small bowl
Small microwave safe bowl
Cookie sheets
Mixer

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Step 2: In a small microwave safe bowl, on high setting, microwave chocolate for 2-3 minutes or until melted and smooth; set aside.
Step 3: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda; set aside.
Step 4: In a large bowl, combine butter and both sugars. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy.
Step 5: Add melted chocolate, eggs, and vanilla extract; continue beating until well mixed.
Step 6: Reduce speed to low on mixer; gradually add flour mixture until well mixed.
Step 7: Stir in pistachio nuts and dried cranberries.
Step 8: Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
Step 9: Bake for 11-13 minutes or until set. Immediately transfer cookies to a cooling surface.

Drizzle Topping:
Step 1: In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar and enough orange juice for a desired drizzling consistency.
Step 2: With the tines of a fork drizzle over top of cooled cookies.

Makes 72 cookies.

For more information on baking procedures and hardware used in this recipe see our Baking Tips section.

Important: Feel free to republish this article on your website. However, you are not allowed to modify any part of its content and all links should be kept active.

About the Author:
Griffin Wetzstein
For more great Christmas cookie recipes visit http://kicked-up-cookie-recipes.com/christmas-cookie-recipes.html
For some great tasting oatmeal cookie recipes visit http://kicked-up-cookie-recipes.com/oatmeal-cookie-recipes.html
For cookie baking tips and a wide selection of recipes visit http://kicked-up-cookie-recipes.com/
Article Submitted On: November 03, 2006
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/