Thanksgiving Fanatic Friday Contestant #1: Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins
I love this idea from Marci H. Personally, I never think about breakfast the morning of Thanksgiving, too excited for that turkey! Anyway, and growing up my mom definitely didn’t, too busy working on that turkey! I love that these can be prepared the night before and then baked the next day. What a wonderful idea! (Especially, since I’ve tested it and you can definitely enjoy more (READ: eat more) thanksgiving dinner if you’ve eaten breakfast…c’mon, by now you all should know I’m a little obsessed with food…and eating it!)
Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins
1 ¼ c whole wheat flour
¾ c quick oats
1/3 c brown sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
¾ tsp baking powder
½ tsp soda
½ tsp salt
2 eggs (2 T. dry egg powder + 1/4 c. water)
1 c pumpkin
1/3 c veg. oil
1/3 c honey
Mix dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and mix until moist. Spoon into muffin cups. May be refrigerated overnight and cooked in the morning.
Bake 400º for 15-20 min.
Want to enter the Fanatic Friday recipe contest? December will be all about Neighborhood gifts. There’s no better way to make sure your neighbors AREN’T knocking down your door for food storage…and that’s by getting them hooked! Share what you’ve done and can do to try and get your neighbors excited about food storage through a neighborhood gift! Please share it with us at fanaticfridays@gmail.com! For more information on the contest click HERE. The winner will receive 2 Conversion Chart Magnet sets…perfect for Christmas!
Fanatic Friday Contestant #4-Pumpkin Bread Bowls with Witches Brew…more food storage recipes!
Thank you so much for sending in your recipes for this month’s Fanatic Friday Recipe Contest! Here is the last contestant for this month’s Fanatic Friday’s contest. Mirien C. sent this to me and it looks fantastic doesn’t it?
Pumpkin Bread Bowls
Mirien C.
Makes 4 medium bread bowls—I double this recipe for our family
Ingredients
2 T. instant yeast
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups warm water
4 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup oil
6 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I use white wheat)
Yellow, red, and green food coloring
Instructions: It seems like a lot of steps, but these are really pretty easy. They can be made the day before you use them. I use my Bosch mixer, knead for 10 minutes, and skip the first rise in #3. But for those who don’t have bread mixers, follow the steps below.
1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water. Add the salt, oil, and flour and combine.
2. Knead the dough on a floured tabletop, adding more flour if needed, until it is smooth and elastic but not sticky or soft.
3. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, turn it over once, then cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise just until it has doubled in bulk (about 1 to 1 1/2 hours).
4. Punch down the dough. Divide the dough into four portions, and remove a small piece of dough from each portion for the stems.
5. Shape each pumpkin by grasping the dough from the bottom, stretching it upward, and gathering it on the top. Repeat this process until you have a uniform ball. Then firmly pinch together the gathered dough in the center and turn over the ball. Now gently squeeze the middle of the pumpkin to make it stand as tall as possible.
6. Place the pumpkin on a parchment-paper-lined sheet pan. Grease one end of a toothpick and insert it into the dough stem so that it protrudes an inch from the top. Stick the other end into the pumpkin top. Then cover each pumpkin with plastic wrap and let it rise to twice its size.
7. Uncover the risen dough. Holding the stem, slowly twist the toothpick to loosen it but don’t remove it.
8. In a small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of water with 30 drops of yellow and 6 drops of red food coloring. Transfer a half teaspoon of the mixture to a small saucer and stir in a drop of green food coloring.
Use a small pastry brush to paint the stem green (the brush should not be too wet). Gently apply a coat of orange to the globe using a larger brush and long, soft strokes. Let the paint dry for about 2 minutes.
With a sharp knife, lightly score the dough to create the pumpkin’s vertical grooves (adults only).
9. Heat the oven to 375 degrees and bake the bread until it sounds hollow when you tap the crust, about 35 to 40 minutes.
10. Set the pumpkin on a cooling rack and twist the toothpick to remove it. If the crust seems soft, cool the bread completely, then bake it for another 5 to 10 minutes.
Before serving, slice off the top of the pumpkin and pull out the bread from the inside, leaving the bowl about 1” thick on the sides and bottom. Fill with thick soup.
Note: I’ve tried coloring the dough orange with food coloring before baking, but I’ve found that painting it on before baking looks much better.
Witches’ Brew (Split Pea and Barley Soup)
Mirien C.
My kids love this soup—maybe because we’ve always called it witches’ brew. It’s warm and filling—perfect food to eat before trick or treating. It’s so easy, too. Just put everything in the crockpot and forget about it until it’s time to eat.
INGREDIENTS
1 onion, chopped
1 bay leaf
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups dried split peas
1/2 cup barley
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
9 cups water or chicken broth
3 carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
3 potatoes, diced (I don’t peel them!)
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley or 2 T. dried
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
DIRECTIONS
Place all ingredients in a large slow cooker and stir until well combined. Cook for 3-4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low. Add more water if soup is too thick. Serve in bread bowls.
TIME TO VOTE!
If you don’t remember the other three, you can check them out below…
Contestant #1: Pumpkin Sloppy Joes
Contestant #2: Jock-o-lantern Pot Pie
Contestant #3: Chili Getti
Remember, you’re deciding which dinner MY FAMILY should eat for Halloween and the winner gets “Deceptively Delicious” (one of my favorite cookbooks!). It’s easy to vote, just leave a comment for which recipe my family should eat! (If you missed the story, my husband and I “debate” every year about what the “proper” Halloween Dinner is-either Spaghetti or Chili Bake…so this year, I’m brining it to the masses and letting you decide with a third party option!)
Want to enter the Fanatic Friday recipe contest? November will be all about Thanksgiving favorites. Did you know that even the Pilgrims were counseled to have a year supply of food? There’s no better way to celebrate them than to make things for Thanksgiving that use items from OUR one year supply. Have a food storage recipe that would be perfect to serve on Thanksgiving? Please share it with us at fanaticfridays@gmail.com! For more information on the contest click HERE.
Fanatic Fridays Contestant #3
Our third contestant in the “What in the world should Crystal’s family eat for Halloween” is Heidi, this is what she had to say…”Since you like spaghetti and your husband likes chili bake, I thought it would be perfect to share a recipe from my grandma called Chili Ghetti. It hasn’t been a yearly Halloween dinner, but I think it would be great to start making it a tradition. I always loved when my mom made this growing up. Enjoy!”
Chili Ghetti
1 lb. hamburger, browned and drained
2 15 oz. cans chili
3 1/2 c. tomatoes, chopped (or 2 15 oz. cans stewed tomatoes, chopped)
8 oz. spaghetti, cooked and drained
3 c. grated cheddar cheese
1 c. sour cream
3/4 c. chopped onion ( or slightly less than 1/4 c. dry onion)
Mix all ingredients together and pour into a 9×13″ pan. (You could also just mix them together in the pan to save a bowl.) Bake at 350 degrees for 30 min. or until warmed through.
Want to enter the Fanatic Friday recipe contest? November will be all about Thanksgiving favorites. Did you know that even the Pilgrims were counseled to have a year supply of food? There’s no better way to celebrate them than to make things for Thanksgiving that use items from OUR one year supply. Have a food storage recipe that would be perfect to serve on Thanksgiving? Please share it with us at fanaticfridays@gmail.com! For more information on the contest click HERE.
Contestant #2-Halloween Food Storage Dinners
I got this from Jennifer W. and I’m just amazed at how creative all of you are! Here is contestant #2 for the Fanatic Friday contest. Remember you’re deciding what I’ll be eating for Halloween!
Jack-o-Lantern Chicken Pot Pie
1 Heaping cup potato, diced
1 cup onion, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 cup carrot, diced (you could try using dehydrated carrots- I have not, but I bet it might work)
1/3 cup melted margarine
1/2 cup all purpose flour (I used half white, half wheat)
2 cups chicken broth (boullion works fine)
1 cup half and half
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 8 oz can of corn
4 cups chicken, cooked and chopped (a great way to use canned/bottled food storage chicken)
a pie crust (either your own or store bought, but here’s a great pie crust recipe at the end)
Directions
1- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2- If using raw chicken, boil it in water (I boil it in extra chicken broth) for 15 to 20 minutes until white. Let cool, then chop or shred.
3- Meanwhile, saute onion, celery, carrots, and potatoes in butter for 10 minutes.
4- Add flour to sauteed mixture, stirring well. Cook one minute, stirring constantly.
5- combine 2 cups broth and half and half
6- gradually stir into vegetable mixture and add DRAINED can of corn
7- Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened and bubbly.
8- Stir in salt and pepper; add chicken and stir well. Pour into shallow 2 quart dish (or divide between personal sized ramekins) and top with pie shell. Cut in slits for the steam to escape, just little lines around the face to make it look like a pumpkin.
Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly and cooked through.
******Perfect Pie crust:
1 cup wheat flour
1 cup white flour, sifted
3/4 cup shortening
1 tsp salt (use garlic salt for the chicken pie recipe, regular salt for dessert recipes)
4 Tablespoons ICE COLD water
Measure flour and salt in a bowl; combine. Add half of shortening with a pastry cutter. Cut through. Add the remaining shortening; cut through.
Sprinkle in the water, 1 Tablespoon at a time, and mix it with a fork after each tablespoon until the dough holds together. DO NOT BE IMPATIENT AND ADD EXTRA WATER!
Press into a ball and divide the dough in half. Roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper to make a two crust, 9″ pie (or just leave it as one thick pie crust for the top, which works well for this chicken pie recipe- its just personal preference). If using many little ramekins, divide crust between number of ramekins used.
For chicken recipe, after crust is rolled flat, remove top parchemnt paper and use a knife to carve a face in the middle, taking care to remember that the face will be put on upside down when placing it on the pie and peeling the bottom parchment paper off.
Want to enter the Fanatic Friday recipe contest? November will be all about Thanksgiving favorites. Did you know that even the Pilgrims were counseled to have a year supply of food? There’s no better way to celebrate them than to make things for Thanksgiving that use items from OUR one year supply. Have a food storage recipe that would be perfect to serve on Thanksgiving? Please share it with us at fanaticfridays@gmail.com! For more information on the contest click HERE.
