Pioneer Woman cooks

[Possumpoint]

Quote:
Yes, another wonderful fall soup! And yes, the venison sausage is wonderful with the wild rice. If I'm using the links, I slice and saute them with some chopped onions and mushrooms in a little butter, but I have made it with the ground venison as well. I just cook the onions and mushrooms with the meat as it's browning.

Something else that's really good too, is to brown ground vension sausage (or pork) and
then add some yellow rice mix and cook till the rice is tender. Serve with some garlic green beans, sliced tomatoes & cukes, corn bread or biscuits, and sweet tea of course, LOL.

Oh, and you can do the same using the Zatarain's Dirty Rice Mix as well. It calls for ground beef, put we love it with sausage.

Jenn, the kitty in your avatar looks alot like our Willie. Is it a boy or girl kitty?

Ya know, I dont think I've ever eaten a clam! Plenty of oysters, but no clams.

 

[redhead83402]

Pumpkin Soup

serves between 7 & 9 (kids eat less, adults eat more)

INGREDIENTS
6 cups chicken stock (if vegetarian, can be veg. stock) ~
2 teaspoons sea salt (I like RealSalt, but reg. salt will do) ~
4 cups pumpkin puree (can be canned, fresh is better) ~
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley ~
1 cup chopped onion ~
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme ~
1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary ~
1 clove garlic, minced ~
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream ~
5 whole black peppercorns ~


DIRECTIONS
Heat stock, salt, pumpkin, onion, thyme, rosemary, garlic, and peppercorns. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes uncovered.
Puree the soup in small batches (1 cup at a time) using a food processor or blender.
Return to pan, and bring to a boil again. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for another 30 minutes, uncovered. Stir in heavy cream. Pour into soup bowls and garnish with fresh parsley.

If you aren't into calories you can do without the heavy cream, but....
Also, sometimes I use 1 tblsp of pre-minced garlic to every clove of whole garlic ~ timesaver, not quite as fresh.
I highly reccomend the fresh herbs, but again, sometimes if you don't grow your own, or they aren't in season, dry will have to do.

Also, I like to take the fresh hollowed out pumpkin, with a lid cut off the top, bake it whole, then scoop out the cooked meat for the soup, leaving enough to make sure the walls are thick, but removing the better portion. Then, once the soup is done, add the soup back into the pumpkin! To keep it warm, just pop the lid back on, ( I also cut out a little hole for the serving ladle). If you really want to get creative, get as many little pumpkins as you have guests, do the same thing, and serve them their soup in their own personal pumpkin! ~

This is fantastic served alongside sweet cornbread, ( I add cinnamon, nutmeg & sugar to any regular cornbread recipe), hot buttered corn on the cob (picked in the morning, makes it sweeter), & unsweetened concord grape juice.
~Red

 

[Acre of Blessings]

Thanks Possum, just made my favorites list longer.

I like reading cookbooks to, I was thinking I was loosing it.

 

[JennsPeeps]

Quote:
That's Rudy. I got him about 10 years ago from the friend of a coworker. He was about 6 months old and his "mom" was a stressed out grad student who was allergic to him and only scratched him with her feet. He had a foot fetish for YEARS! He's a fantastic cat, though. As I type this, he's plastered to my left side, keeping me warm. Rudy is a big baby, weighing around 18 lbs.

Here's the full pic from which the avator was created. It was sooooo funny! My 3 girls were having their first dust bath at about a month old. My 2 cats were watching intently. I just happened to snap the shutter when Rudy licked his nose. The girls (there are now 4 as I got a banty on Craigslist about 2 weeks after this pic was taken) now pester the poor cats incessantly.

Oh, and how sad you've never had clams! Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, some of my happiest childhood memories include going clam digging with family and coming home in the evening to have a big pot of steamed clams dipped in butter.

 

[Possumpoint]

Redhead, your pumpkin soup recipe sunds wonderful. I've got to try it soon since I have everything except the pumpkin, and I think I'd like to use a fresh one. How long would you bake the pumpkin? Just until the pumpkin meat is tender? Thanks for posting the recipe.

Acre of Blessings, glad to help. Most of my dishes are mainly inspired by what I happen to have in my pantry and freezer at the time and mostly it's just simple dishes. I grew up in a Southern kitchen with a mom and grandmother who could take a little of this and a little of that and turn it into a wonderful feast and feed a crowd without ever cracking open a recipe book. I don't ever remember leftovers being thrown out or going bad at our house either, it just wasn't done. I've learned to duplicate many of their dishes simply by remembering how they tasted, and for the life of me, I can't write down how much of this or that to add. My mothers coleslaw, Thanksgiving dressing, baked beans, meatloaf and sweet potato casserole are five great examples. Either people can't make it taste the same, or they are litterly scared to add that much pepper or butter, LOL. I'm not bragging, but every year, I'm offered money to make dressing and sweet potato casserole for people, and I'm always told to bring the slaw and baked beans when invited to a BBQ, and for a potluck, I have to make at least 3 meatloafs. One time, I was asked to make five. They paid for the ingredients, so I made five. But, I think everyone has dishes that only they can make. I make a good potato salad, but I can't make it like my Pastor's wife. And her hot wings are to die for, but again, I can't make them like she can. I've even stood in the church kitchen side by side with her, duplicating her every step and ingredient, and it's just not as good as hers.

Maybe we should start a thread on everyone's specialty dishes that can't be duplicated. I know every cook has them.

 

[Scrambled Egg]

Thanks for the recipe link!! The olive cheese bread and the onion strings are on my list for sure!! Thanks again

 

[Possumpoint]

Jenn, LOL, glad you posted the full pic. Looks like Rudy is checking out the chicken buffet there. Willie loves to lay out in the shade under the big live oaks here during the day and cat nap. Oce he starts dreaming, his tail (which is black and grey striped with a black tip) looks like a big worm to the bantams, and they stand there and peck it. One afternoon, I looked out the kitchen window to see one of the bantam hens perched on top of him while he was sound asleep, LOL. He also goes into the run with me every morning when I throw the scratch for the big chickens. As soon as I let them out of the coop though, he climbs the fence and hangs there until I'm ready to come out, and then I walk over and retrieve him before leaving. I've tried to go in without him, but he pitches a hissy fit. He will turn 10 this July, but he still acts like a kitten.

I'll have to learn to post pics and post one of him. They could almost be litter mates.