Pumpkin Pound Cake

Here's a great seasonal recipe I got from Country Living magazine's November 2012 issue. You can use mashed sweet potatoes OR pureed pumpkin, so it's a great way to use up leftovers if you have just a bit left after opening a can or making a recipe.

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

non-stick baking spray OR vegan margarine for greasing the pan plus flour

1.5 c. all-purpose flour

1 t. baking powder

1 t. ground cinnamon

1/2 t. ground nutmeg

1/4 t. baking soda

1/8 t. salt

1 stick vegan margarine (I prefer Earth Balance brand.), at room temperature

3/4 c. granulated sugar

1/4 c. brown sugar

1/2 t. vanilla OR almond extract

1 c. leftover mashed sweet potatoes OR pureed or canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

2 large eggs, at room temperature (vegans can try substituting Ener-G Egg Replacer)

1/2 c. chopped pecans

Method:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9-inch loaf pan.

In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt together. (Use a fork to fluff them together if you don't have a sifter.)

In a large bowl and using an electric mixer at medium speed, cream butter, sugars, and flavoring extract until light and fluffy. Blend in sweet potatoes or pumpkin puree, then eggs one at a time. With mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in thirds. Blend until just combined.

Spoon batter into the greased and floured loaf pan. Sprinkle with pecans, and bake until the cake tests clean when a wooden skewer is inserted into the middle, 65 - 75 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool for about 15 minutes. Release cake from pan to cool completely.

Makes about 8 servings.

Warm Kale and Butternut Squash Salad

I based this recipe on a Martha Stewart recipe. Mine is simpler.

I contributed this dish to my mom's Christmas Day dinner. It's perfect for a Christmas dinner, because kale is still in season in the winter, and butternut squash is a seasonally appropriate winter storage squash.

Martha had it right when she included beans in her version of the dish to make a nutritionally balanced meal. You could definitely toss in a can of beans of your choice for a compact and balanced lunch, or you could serve beans on the side with both dishes playing their part in a larger meal.

1 butternut squash
olive oil
salt
1 shallot, finely chopped (optional)
1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
1 bunch kale, washed and de-stemmed, torn into bite-sized pieces

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Peel the butternut squash. Cut off the stem and blossom ends and discard. Using a spoon, remove the seeds and veins from the bulbous end of the squash. Cut the squash flesh into 1-inch pieces.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Put the squash on the paper, drizzle with a small amount of olive oil and salt to taste. Toss the squash to coat, then spread to a single layer. Bake 20 minutes, until the squash pieces are easily pierced with a fork. Set aside.

In a large skillet, heat 1 T. olive oil over medium heat. Sauté the shallot and garlic in the oil until the shallot is soft and translucent, if using, or skip this step if omitting shallot and garlic. Add the washed, torn kale to the pan, and toss in the oil to coat. Continue moving the kale over the heat until it is wilted (but stop before it browns, dries, or gets crunchy). Remove from heat, and salt to taste.

Toss the squash with the kale, and serve warm.

Roasted Winter Squash Soup

Few things put me in the mood to cook seasonally more than the new chill in autumn air, and today definitely took me there. Here are my modifications to Roasted Pumpkin Soup from the Oct 2009 Martha Stewart Living. And feel free to make your own modifications, too! This soup is savory, but it definitely has a special sweet undertone from the squash.

I feel so autumny!

 

Ingredients:

2 and 3/4 lbs. butternut squash, peeled, halved, and seeded (Martha's recipe said you could alternatively use the same amount of sugar pumpkins. I haven't tried that.)

1 large onion, peeled and quartered

1 oz. dried porcini mushrooms (note that Martha's recipe was for 2 shiitake mushrooms and 2 more cups of water...I haven't tried that way, but you can if you don't have or want to get dried porcinis.)

2 cups boiling water

1 garlic clove, peeled

1/4 c. extra-virgin olive oil

1.5 t. salt

freshly ground black pepper

3 cups vegetable stock (I used 2 cups vegetable stock plus 1 cup of frozen tomato water I'd saved from another time when I'd reconstituted sun-dried tomatoes.)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Cut the squash into 2-inch pieces. Put the olive oil and salt in a rimmed baking sheet, and toss the squash, onion, and garlic in it. (Martha's recipe had the 2 fresh mushrooms mentioned above included in the toss.) Spread the coated vegetables into a single layer, and roast them 15 minutes in the oven. (I noticed that the olive oil started bubbling and boiling.) Remove from the oven, toss the vegetables, and roast another 15 minutes or until the squash can be pierced with a fork.

While the vegetables are roasting, reconstitute the mushrooms in 2 cups boiling water. This can be cooling while the vegetables are roasting.

Working in batches, put vegetables in a blender with the stock, mushrooms, and mushroom water. Purée, and move the soup to a soup pot. Warm through, and serve with freshly ground black pepper.