Chipotle Cranberry Sauce

So I know I haven't updated in awhile. It's not that I've stopped cooking, just this past week I made garlic crusted steak and shrimp scampi. I just never think of updating here. However, I am going to try and do better and get back to at least once a week. This weeks recipe I found at Epicurious. I'm taking this to my families Thanksgiving celebration,but since I work on Wednesday I figured I would make this tonight as it said it can be made up to a week in advance.

Chipotle Cranberry Sauce

2 dried chipotle chilies

12oz fresh cranberries

1 1/3 cups sugar

3 TBS lemon juice

1 small garlic cloves chopped 

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1. Place chilies in medium saucepan covered with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat  and simmer 1 hour, keep enough water in pan to cover chilies. Drain

2. Combine chilies, cranberries, sugar, and lemon juice in saucepan and stir over medium until sugar dissolves and cranberries begin to pop.

3. Stir in garlic, cinnamon, and cumin. Simmer until sauce thickens. 

4. Remove chilies. Stem and seed. Mince chilies.

5. Mix minced chilies back into cranberry sauce and chill. (can be made 1 week ahead, keep chilled.)

I am really looking forward to eating this Thanksgiving. I did save a spoonful out for me to try and I thought it was amazing. There was just a slight kick at the end, but not really spicy. Next time that I make this I'll probably add two or three more peppers to it. 

Cranberry Crème Brûlée Tarlets

Well it's been a long week. Thankfully rather slow at work, which scares me about how busy it will be tomorrow. I have made myself a few pumpkin smoothies from the recipe last week, and they have all been very good. I'm loving having a blender! This weeks recipe comes from the Holiday 2009 BJ's Journal. This is my first foray into deserts, other than things like pies and cookies, and that disastrous taffy that Rachel and I attempted to make.

Cranberry Crème Brûlée Tartlets
~Betty Crocker Test Kitchens
Crust
1 Pkg Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crust
Cranberry Filling
1/2 cup cane sugar
1/3 cup water
1 cup fresh cranberries
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Cream Cheese Filling
12 oz cream cheese, softened
2 TBS heavy cream
1/2 cup cane sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
Caramel
1/2 cup Werther's Original hard candies, crushed



1. Heat oven to 450. In a 1-qrt saucepan, mix cranberry filling ingredients; heat to boiling. Cook over medium heat about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened, cool.
2.Unroll pie crusts on work surface. Flatten each crust slightly with a rolling pin. I didn't have a rolling pin, so I used a plastic cup. Got terrific results! With 31/2" round cutter, cut 8 rounds from each crust. I actually got 9 from each, again with the cup that I used as a rolling pin. Press rounds in bottoms and up sides of muffin cups, with edges extending slightly. Bake crusts 8-10 minutes or until light golden brown.
3. Reduce oven temperature to 350. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, cream, sugar, eggs and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. I do not own an electric mixer so I beat mine by hand, and not with one of those newfangled hand mixers either. Nope by hand with a fork!
Spoon about 1 heaping tsp cranberry filling into each tartlet;
top with the cream cheese mixture.4. Bake 10-12 minutes or until center is set. Sprinkle each tartlet with crushed caramel candies. Bake 3-5 minutes or until candy is melted. Cool on cooling rack about 1 hour.
Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled (about 2 hours) before serving. Store in refrigerator.

So right now the Crème Brûlée is cooling in my fridge. I can't wait until I'm able to eat it. Hopefully it will be yummy.

Pumpkin Smoothies

Well this week has been stressful, started Monday morning having to get my car towed to the garage and have it fixed. I do have my car back and running now after having the clutch slave cylinder replaced, which thankfully does not involve having to remove the transmission. But because of the unexpected payments that I had to make for both the tow and to have it repaired I was a little short on cash. So this weeks recipe, brought to us by Betty Crocker; is quick, easy, and most of all inexpensive to make.

Pumpkin Smoothies
BettyCrocker.com
1 1/4 cups vanilla soy-milk
1/4 cup cold canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
6 oz French vanilla yogurt
1 Tbs honey
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp vanilla


1.Place ingredients in blender or food processor. Cover; blend on high speed about 1 minute or until smooth.

2.Pour into 2 glasses. Serve immediately.

As i am typing this up I am enjoying my delicious pumpkin smoothie. It is a liquid pumpkin pie! Which in my mind makes it more enjoyable since it does not have the weird texture that the pie generally has. This is definitely something I will enjoy time and time again. I may have to start keeping pumpkin in my fridge. I would totally recomend this as a wonderful drink to get you in the holiday mood.

Parmigiano Pumpkin Soup

To start out with I want to just say that my Texas Caviar did turn out. I enjoyed immensely. And amazingly enough it is all gone. Thanks of course to Stacy taking some of it off my hands. Also I must say that it was a remarkably easy dish to make. And probably one I'm going to make numerous times. I now have a new dish to take to parties!

Now for today's recipe. Parmigiano Pumpkin Soup. I have never had this soup before, I found the recipe in American Lifestyle, the magazine the Mrs. Kimball sends out. I was flipping through the October/November issue and the photo of the soup just made me hungry. And reading over the recipe made me even hungrier, so I decided to go ahead and try it.

Parmigiano Pumpkin Soup

Art of the Slow Cooker- Andrew Schloss ( Chronicle Books, 2008)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, cut into thin strips

1 large onion, cut into 1/8 inch dice

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 can ( approx 28 oz) 100% pure pumpkin
2 quarts vegetable or chicken broth

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1.4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 cup cream ( at least 10% fat)

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian ( flat leaf) parsley

Heat the oil in a large deep skillet over medium high heat. Add the prosciutto, and saute until crisp and frizzles. Remove with slotted spoon, and reserve. You can also substitute 3 slices of bacon cut into small strips. I did not do this step as I neither like ham nor bacon, but I can see where the addition of the meat would just top off the flavor.

Reduce the heat to medium, add the onion to the skillet, and saute until tender (do not brown). Add the garlic, and cook for a few seconds, until aromatic.

Stir in the pumpkin, broth, nutmeg, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil. Transfer to a 5-6 quart slow cooker, cover, and cook for 3 to 4 hours on high, or 6 to 8 hours on low. When I was doing this I do not have a slow cooker so I cooked it for 3 hours of medium low heat on the stove.

Stir in the cream and Parmesan, and heat through, about 5 minutes. Stir in the parsley and serve.

So I have been taking this soup to lunch with me for the past two days. And it is REALLY good. It definitely is not sweet, so if you are looking for a soup that resembles pumpkin pie this definitely is not it. This soup is closer to a squash flavor then the stereotypical pumpkin. Also I have to say it does travel and reheat very well. My microwaved soup lunches taste just as good as the first time I tried this soup. I don't know that I liked how long this soup took to make, possibly because I don't have a slow cooker, but I did feel the need to check on it about every 20 minutes just to make sure it wasn't burning. So I would definitely leave this for a day when you are willing to stay at home and watch it. All in all I give the soup 4 stars!