Saturday, November 16, 2024

Traditional Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

 1/2 cup butter 
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 cup cooked/canned pumpkin puree
1 teastpoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour (can use a blend of whole wheat)
1 teastpoon baking powder
1 teastpoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup diced roasted almonds or walnuts
1 cup chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, pumpkin and vanilla. Mix (and sift) flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmet and cinnamon. Add nuts and chocolate pieces. Mix thoroughly all cookie ingredients.

Drop by teaspoon measure onto well-greased cookie sheet (or flat stoneware). Bake at 350 for 15 min or until lightly browned. Remove from cookie sheets while still warm and cool on racks. Makes 6 dozen. These cookies stay soft so store them in a covered container with waxed paper between rows or else they will stick together (if they last that long).

Crock Pot Ratatouille

 I consider eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes are kind of core vegetables for this, but feel free to add whatever vegetables you have that need to be used.

1 eggplant (about a pound) sometimes I use more
2 tsp salt, divided
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 onion, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 tablespoons tomato paste (or I use Costco pizza sauce)
4 cloves garlic
2 red, yellow or green peppers, chopped up
2 zucchini (about 3/4 lb) cut into 1 inch pieces, or I use my wide slot slicer on my mandolin
2 yellow squash (about 3/4 lb) cut into 1 inch pieces, I also use the Mexican squash, especially if it's cheaper
2-3 tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons olive oil

Some recommend cutting up the eggplant and sprinkle 1/2 tsp salt on it and toss it in a colander while you chop up the rest of the veggies.

Layer half the vegetables in a large crock pot in the following order: onion, eggplant, zucchini/squash, garlic, peppers, tomoatoes. 

Sprinkle wiht half the spices and dot with half of the tomato paste/pizza sauce (which already has some spices).

Repeat layering process with remaining vegetables, spices and tomato paste. Drizzle with olive oil.



Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours.

We do several things with it and you may use it warm, cool or chilled. Sometimes I put it on top of some rice and toss in some cooked garbanzo beans. It's great with Parmesan and/or feta cheeses. Sometimes I add it to a variety of breads or crackers with a smear of hummus and top with some feta.

Laura Nielsen's Pumpkin Casserole

 When we were first married we met approximately monthly with other newly married couples for Family Home Evening (FHE), it was a great transition from singles ward FHE to family FHE. We took turns meeting at different homes and had dinner, study and activities together. It was awesome. Some couples came in and out, but the core couples we met with are Chris and Laura Nielsen and Pat and Jill Crist. At an FHE in October/November Laura made this and I have made it every year since. 

A word on pumpkins: my favorite pumpkin for this is what Trader Joe's called a "Cinderella Pumpkin" it is kind of funky-looking and like a sat-on sphere, but when you cut it in half you end up with 2 rounds that I bake and put the casserole in one half and use the other half for whatever I want pumpkin for.


2 1/2 pounds hamburger 
2 cups celery, chopped
2 cups green (and/or other colored) peppers, cupped
1 Tablespoon salt
2 cups onion, chopped
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups rice, cooked
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 can mushrooms (I usually don't have this and just omit it, or perhaps use freshe mushmooms)
1/4 cup soy sauce (we have been appropriately schooled and so use Aloha shoyu, of course)
1 (or 1/2 in this case) pumpkin

Cut and clean out the pumpkin and bake, I bake both halves of our Cinderella pumpkin on different bun pans for about an hour at 350 degrees. You can cook the rice and prep the veggies and such during this time.

Brown and drain hamburger and add mix in all the other ingredients (other than the pumpkin). I like to prick the pumpkin skin with a fork (or my tomato/onion holder for slicing) it helps you know if the flesh is ready and I think it helps the pumpkin absorb more of the flavor. Fill the pumpkin half with the mixture--it can be a rounded mound--and put it back in the oven to bake, you probably only need about 30 min more or so to make sure everything is warm and ready.

You can serve the pumpkin on the bun pan, or if you're fancy put it on a big tray. Serve it with a big spoon with somewhat sharp edges so you can scoop out some of the pumpkin with each serving.

For 12 servings approx: 430 Calories, 13 g fat (will depend on the amount of fat in your hamburger), 16 g protein, 63 g carb, 38 mg cholesterol, 1400 mg sodium