Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin and mildly sweet winter squashes are a few of my favorite winter vegetables - soups, poduthuvals, dals, risotto - I like to add them to dishes as often as I can. Pumpkin is a rich source of nutrients, high in fiber with an inherent mild sweet taste that goes well with most dishes, including sambar and pachadi - South Indian staples.

Pumpkin Pie, Apple Pie, Moo-less Chocolate Pie, Banana Cream Pie (and any sortof smooth-textured pudding-like pie filling), Strawberry Pie Glace are some of the kids' favorites, Cherry Pie being the least favored one.

I don't make pies often. Typically, something about the Holiday Season, with shorter days and colder weather inspires me to bake cookies, breads, and pies more often.

We made a Pumpkin pie during the Thanksgiving holidays recently. The recipe is the classic one found on the label of Libby's Canned Pumpkin.

The only simple changes I make to this famous recipe (as I have a chronic inability to follow a recipe exactly) are:

1. substitute brown sugar instead of sugar
2. only ½ cup of brown sugar instead of ¾ cup
3. use ready-made Pumpkin Spice mix

If making pie shell from scratch, I follow the standard single-crust pie pastry recipe, cook it, cool it before filling it and baking the Pumpkin pie.

Green Bean Casserole

Green bean casserole is one of my favorites, especially for Thanksgiving dinner. However, this year, I have made it quite a few times in the last few months, not just on Thanksgiving Day, possibly because casseroles are a great alternative to soups for quick and easy weeknight dinners.

Nothing special about this recipe - very much like what comes on the label of Campbell's™ soup cans. I change the seasoning a bit, and prefer Cream of Asparagus soup rather than Cream of Celery.

Frozen French cut green beans and canned soup makes for a quick meal that cooks under 30-35 minutes. If in season, fresh green beans cut into 1" pieces and blanched, along with a creamy sauce from scratch is a nice alternative (adjust cooking time as needed).

While Green bean casserole is typically served as a side dish, I make it a main meal especially on cold fall and winter nights. Seasoning and flavors can be adjusted to taste - I keep it fairly simple for the kids, and add a few drops of Tabasco™ sauce or Franks™ Red Hot for myself and D.

Ingredients
16 oz of frozen French-cut beans, thawed
1 can (10¾ oz) Cream of Asparagus (or Broccoli or Potato) soup
6 oz evaporated milk
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp lemon thyme seasoning (optional)
1 Tbsp French Onion Dip mix
2/3 can of French fried onions (about 4 oz)

Preparation

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375°F; reserve half of the French-fried onions to use as topping at the end
2. In a 9-inch square baking dish, combine all the ingredients, stir well and bake for about 25 minutes till bubbly; if preferred, use about 4oz of evaporated milk (+ a few Tbsp water) instead of 6oz, for a thick casserole
3. Top with the reserved French-fried onions and bake another 3 or 4 minutes to crisp the French-fried onions, taking care not to char them
4. Serve warm

Brown Rice Vegetable Soup

The weather being chilly and wet, I've been making soups, casseroles, breads for dinners. Soups are a good way for me to use up leftover barley or quinoa or rice , along with a favorite combination of vegetables and spices.

Thai soup spices is my default flavoring, but, this recipe has a tomato base with a small amount of evaporated milk for creaminess. We had harvested the last of cherry tomatoes from the home garden a while back.

And now that cold has set in, we harvested the green tomatoes as well, which probably wouldn't turn ripe red anymore...

Ingredients
Vegetables: baby corn, snap peas, bell peppers, onions, cherry tomatoes, carrots, lima beans
1½ to 2 cups cooked brown rice
6-8 cups water or vegetable stock
2 Tbsp lemon juice
¼ to ½ cup evaporated milk (optional)

½ medium onion finely diced
2 Tbsp tomato paste
2 Tbsp sambal oelek
2 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp brown sugar (more if preferred)
2 Tbsp canola oil
salt to taste

Preparation

1. Heat the oil in a pan, add the onions, garlic and tomato paste, stir and cook till onions are translucent and tomato paste turns darker and aromatic, then add sambal oelek and brown sugar
   
2. Add the vegetables, stock, brown rice, some salt, stir well, cover and allow to simmer till it all comes together
3. Stir in the lemon juice, taste and adjust flavors if preferred; off-heat stir in the evaporated milk for a creamier texture
   

Buckwheat Soba, Teriyaki Chicken and Blanched Green Beans

This Buckwheat Soba, Teriyaki Chicken and Blanched Green Beans is a simple meal combination, another one of D's favorites.

Soba and the green beans are flavored with a dash of Ponzu sauce after cooking and draining. Teriyaki chicken is very much like the usual recipe I follow, nothing new.

Ingredients
for the Teriyaki sauce and glaze:
¼ cup shoyu, or dark soy sauce
¼ cup mirin (or, sherry, if mirin is not handy)
¼ cup sake
1 Tbsp brown sugar (or, superfine caster sugar, if handy)

2 medium frozen skinless boneless chicken breasts, thawed
1 Tbsp sesame oil, or canola oil

Garnish: strips of nori, toasted sesame seeds

Preparation

1. Heat the teriyaki sauce ingredients gradually till sugar dissolves; off heat, let it cool
2. Cut the chicken breast into bite size pieces and marinate in some of the cooled teriyaki sauce, for about 15-20 minutes
3. Heat the oil in the pan to high heat, drain the marinated chicken pieces, toss them into the hot pan and stir them around; alternately, pre-heat grill or broiler and grill or broil the chicken; I prefer to pan-fry
4. Toss around, turning all sides, over medium high heat, adding teriyaki sauce a little at a time to glaze the chicken pieces; cook till chicken is done, still juicy and tender; usually close to 170°F

Oven-roasted Kale

Kale koottu/dal, Kale soup, sautéed Kale (much like radish greens), marinated Kale salad, Kale pasta, Kale with Cannelloni beans (much like collard greens), Kale paruppusili, even as pizza topping, not to mention just tossing it in with other suitable recipes, this nutritious greens is a favorite, much like collard greens, spinach, mustard greens and chards.

This oven-roasted kale is quite easy to make and can be snacked on as-is, or served as a side. The spices can be adjusted to taste.

Ingredients
1 bunch kale, cleaned and chopped
2 Tbsp Olive oil
1 or 2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp salt (more if preferred)
½ tsp cumin powder
½ tsp coriander powder
½ tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

Preparation

1. Pre-heat oven to 350°F
2. Toss the ingredients together, spread on a cookie sheet to a flat thin layer
3. Bake in the 350°F oven for about 15 to 20 minutes, checking once or twice for crispness
4. Top with toasted sesame seeds, or popped mustard seeds (much like in tempering

Pimientos y Pollo con Tortilla

While Pimientos y Pollo con Tortilla is just a Spanish translation of the primary ingredients, it somehow sounds more exotic than Chicken and Bell Peppers with Tortilla :)

And, that's all this recipe is. Much like a wrap. We simply call it fajitas at home for convenience even if it is technically incorrect as it refers to a specific cut of beef that was originally used to create this dish.

Cooked on a cast iron skillet, with a couple of drops of Liquid Smoke (I use Wright's Hickory Seasoning) and spicy McCormick's™ Taco Seasoning, these bell peppers and chicken and onions make a wonderful filling to wrap in a tortilla and enjoy.

I like to start the chicken and onions first on the skillet and add the bell peppers when chicken is nearly cooked so they can all finish together. While corn tortillas are traditional, I like the high-fiber (low-carb) wheat tortillas for the wraps.

We've been enjoying more of the usual soups with home-made dampers and breads, South Indian rasam with Poduthuvals and home-made pizzas for the last few weeks - just quick meals - nothing elaborate, nothing new and exciting to share here...