Kale & Mushroom Pumpkin Pasta

I love to stock up with tons of pumpkin during the fall.  Its not something thats easily available all throughout the year and so I make up for it when October and November roll around.  I probably have about 20 cans right now in my cupboard, uh a little too much?  nah what am I thinking you can never have too much of a good thing, and it dosen't hurt that it's healthy for you.  I usually use pumpkin in sweet dishes but being infected with the sickness and all (common cold) and not having much of a sweet tooth tonight...shocker I know.  I wanted too use up some of those 20 cans of pumpkin and I thought why not make a yummy creamy pumpkin sauce for pasta.  It was really easy and fast to make and you can use it for not only pasta but it would be great over ravioli or perhaps even rice.

Kale & Mushroom Pumpkin Pasta
Oishii Treat Original

Ingredients

10-13 ounce box of penne pasta
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 cup red onion diced small
1 cup sliced mushrooms
2 cups kale (ribs removed, washed and tear apart into bite sized pieces)
3/4 cups pumpkin puree
3/4 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup half and half
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
pepper
salt
1 cup white cheddar cheese shredded

Directions

- In a large sauté pan on medium high heat add you butter and let it melt
- Add your diced onion and garlic cooking for 2 minutes
- Add in the sliced mushrooms, stir around and cook for another 2 minutes
- Add in your kale stirring for about 2 minutes until in starts to wilt
- In a large pot of boiling water cook your pasta according to package directions
- In the large pan mix in the pumpkin, broth, half and half, basil and parsley. stir until completely combined
- Reduce the heat to medium low and cook the sauce while the pasta is cooking, about 10 minutes.
- Drain your past and add it back to the pot, add in your sauce and 1/2 cup of your shredded cheese and mix well.
- serve it up and if you like top with a little more cheese

I also linked up to a few new link parties over at Seven Alive, Mom on Time Out, Practically Functional, Two Yellow Birds Decor, Live Laugh

Apple Pie

There is nothing better than your house filling up
with the aroma of delicious homemade apple pie.  Oh man does it smell good in my house, forget about candles I'm just going to make pie whenever I want my house to smell like christmas.  So for this delicious apple pie, we  procured our apples from an orchard in Aomori Japan.  We recently went on an apple picking tour and had the chance to pick apples at a local orchard and eat as many as we could before our picking time was up.  I have no clue what's in the soil here in Japan. But these are some massive apples!
It took only 3 to fill the pie; talk about your giant apples.


Apple Pie
Adapted from Tikkido

Ingredients for Crust

4 cups flour
1 1/3 cups cold butter
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 table spoon cinnamon
12 tablespoons cold water
3 tablespoons vodka

Directions

- Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- Next using a sharp knife cut your butter into small grape sized cubes and add it to the flour mixture
- In a separate small bowl combine your cold water and vodka
- Using your hands mix and squish the butter and flour together for a couple of minutes.
- Add 2 tablespoons of water mixture to your flour and combine with your hands
- Keep adding water 2 tablespoons at a time until you start forming a ball of dough.
- You most likely will not need to use all of the water to make the dough, just keep adding 2 tablespoons at a time until the dough starts forming.
- Once you get a ball of dough, flour a flat smooth surface and divide your dough in half.
- Roll out half of your dough large enough to fill a pie pan.  cut away excess dough from the edge of your pie pan
- Save the other half of your dough when you are ready to add it to the top of your pie. put the crust and dough into the fridge until your ready to add your apples

Ingredients for Filling

3 large apples or if you dont have mutan apples like mine 4-5 apples any kind
1/2 sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons cold butter

Directions

- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees
- peel and slice your apples and add it to a large bowl
- Drizzle your lemon juice over apple slices and combine (i used my hands to mix the apples)
- add your sugars, cinnamon and nutmeg to the apples and mix
- add the flour and mix into your apples
- Add your apple mixture
- slice your cold butter and add it to the top of the apples
- roll out the other half of your dough and top your pie.
- cut off excess dough from the edges and using your fingers pinch together the top and bottom dough around the rim together forming a ruffle effect.
- Slice a few vent holes in the top of the crust to allow steam to escape while baking
- Bake for 40 minutes, once done allow to cool on a wire rack. once cool enough transfer to fridge to allow the juice to firm up and thicken.  serve with some vanilla ice cream and whip cream

Corn Chowder

Did you know that you can buy corn soup in a can from a vending machine on the side of a dirt road in Japan?  Well you can! and in the same vending machine you can buy your hot or cold coffee, tea, juice and soda.  The vending machines here are pretty awesome and there're everywhere....seriously everywhere!.... im really not kidding here you can literally drive within 15 minutes of any vending machine no matter where you are.  I even buy my eggs fresh from a vending machine outside the base gate near a traffic light.

If you need a quick left over meal on those nights where you don't have time to cook, this corn chowder is great. I was able to reheat a bowl of chowder for me and the hubby 3 different nights in less than 10 minutes, before rushing off to night school or coming home late from work.

Corn Chowder
Adapted from Tyler Florence
Yields 8 servings

Ingredients

1 tablespoon salted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 springs fresh thyme, or 1/2 teaspoon dried
1/4 cup flour
6 cups vegetable stock
2 cups half and half
2 large potatoes peeled and diced
2 cups frozen corn
garlic salt and pepper
1/4 fresh parsley chopped

Directions

- Heat the butter and olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat.
- Add your onion, garlic, and thyme and cook until the onions are soft about 8-10 minutes.
- sprinkle the vegetables with flour and mix well
- Pour in the vegetable stock and bring to a boil
- Add the half and half and potatoes and let the soup boil for 10 minutes to help the potatoes break down
- Add your corn and season with salt and pepper and simmer until the corn is soft, about 10 to 12 minutes.
- stir in the parsley and serve

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

You know how many times I came close to stabbing myself when craving pumpkins.... ALOT.  Thats because I have no regard for my own safety sometimes when I become obsessed with trying to extract the gold from inside my pumpkin.   I don't crave my pumpkin for the decorative appeal, thats just an added bonus. I like to crave my pumpkin for its seeds.  There is nothing healthier, tastier and easier than making delicious roasted pumpkin seeds.  and there is nothing better than chowing down on them during a recent hiking trip through Towada Lake.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds with Garlic Salt

Ingredients

Seeds from your craved pumpkin
1/2 tablespoon Olive Oil
1-2 teaspoons Garlic Salt

Directions

- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
- Scoop out your seeds from inside your pumpkin and place in a small bowl, try to separate the seeds from the fiber/string of the pumpkin as best as you can aka the guts.
- Transfer your seeds to a colander and wash under cold water for 2-3 minutes, to remove any leftover fibers or guts of the pumpkin
- Pat the seeds dry on paper towels add to a medium bowl with the olive oil and mix well.
- Using a cookie sheet spread the seeds out evenly and sprinkle the seeds with your garlic salt
- Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally (I would occasionally check on the crunchiness of my seeds by periodically opening the oven during and stealing a seed to try it doneness.)

Artichoke, Kale and Cheddar Hot Pockets for 2

I love hot pockets but its hard to find vegetarian ones at the grocery store.  Most of the time everything has chicken or pepperoni in it.
      So what do vegetarians do when we want a traditional meaty comfort food?  We come up with a homemade version :)  It was a lot of fun coming up with different flavor combinations when making these homemade hot pockets.  I finally decided on white sauce, kale and artichoke that baked beautifully and was quite tasty! What flavor combo would you try?

Artichoke, Kale and Cheddar Hot Pockets for 2
Oishii Treats Original
Yields: 2

Time:
Prep 20 Min
Cook 20 min

Ingredients

1 can Pillsbury seamless dough sheet
1 cup Kale (washed and chopped roughly)
4 Artichoke Hearts (I bought canned artichoke, drained them of their water and chopped them)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup half/half
1 cup shredded white cheddar cheese
dash of pepper
dash of garlic salt
1 egg white

Directions

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- Place a small saute pan on medium high heat and spray with cooking spray
- Add you chopped artichokes and kale to the pan and saute for about 5-6 minutes or until kale is wilted sprinkle with a little garlic salt. Set aside
- In a small sauce pan on medium high heat melt your butter and add the flour, stir until completly combined.
- Pour in your half/half and whisk until thicken about 4 minutes.  add 1/2 cup of your shredded cheese, whisk until completely melted and combined.  You should have a nice thick white sauce.
- Roll out your dough sheet on too parchment paper- I had to re roll mine due to the packaging ripping the dough
- Evenly divide the dough into 4 equal rectangles

- Add about 3 tablespoons of the white sauce to the middle of 2 rectangles (keep the filling in the middle away from the edges so it can seal well), add 2-3 tablespoons of your artichoke and kale mixture, top with some extra cheddar cheese.

- Take your other rectangle half and do a light egg white wash on the seams of the dough, cover your filling and sealing the sides by using a fork to crimp down the edges. do a light egg white wash on the top of the dough and sprinkle with some garlic salt. transfer the parchment paper with your pockets onto a cookie sheet and Bake for 20 minutes .