Autumn Pumpkin Pancakes and Cookies

It feels like autumn, so this morning we started off with Pumpkin pancakes.  I happened upon this sisters recipe blog and found the recipe. Our kids really liked them and want them on Halloween morning too.  I served them with applesauce and cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top.  

Since I had to open a can of pumpkin and didn't use it all, my son is making Pumpkin cookies for FHE.  My son and his friend are baking them.  I found it on one of those sister's linked blog of recipes with other friends.  

It's so handy to have the internet to look up recipe ideas from. 

The cookies called for pumpkin spice, which I didn't have, so I googled for a substitute and found this 

Pumpkin Pie Spice Substitute
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon plus 1/4 teaspoon ginger and 1/8 teaspoon EACH nutmeg and cloves can be substituted for 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice.

In search of buttermilk pie

This caught my eye this morning. I just love "Magelby's" Buttermilk Pie and since I no longer live nearby where I can get it, I occasionally wonder if I can find a recipe like it or not. Well this morning an ad popped up and I found

. . . one of Colonel Harland Sanders' favorite recipes. It's for Buttermilk Pie, a Kentucky specialty. And, of course, it goes great with fried chicken.

Buttermilk Pie

Beat 4 eggs and 3/4 cup sugar together until light and lemon colored. Add the flour and beat more.

2 Tbs. Flour
4 Tbs. Melted Butter
Grated Rind of 1 Lemon (yellow part only)
1 1/2 Cup Buttermilk (churned buttermilk is best)
1 Tsp. Vanilla
3 Tbs. Lemon Juice

Sprinkle a little Cinnamon on top after filling is in the crust.

Mix butter, vanilla, lemon juice, rind and buttermilk. Add it to the egg mixture; pour into baked but not brown pie shell. Cook at 375 degrees 20 to 30 minutes. (Overcooking makes it tough.)

At Magelby's, I'd get the raspberry sauce over it. I think I'll give this a try.

Sunday Dinner

It's so nice to have help with the Sunday meal by everyone in the family.  Today I had help with the Pork Roast and gravy by my hubby.  When I was eating it I suddenly realized it tasted so familar. It was!  He'd snuck onto our RS Blog to get the recipe used for Kahlua Pork. 

Dessert, fruit salad, veggies, and biscuits were made by our kids and I did the mashed potatoes.  Our guests set the table.  

Since it was "Fast Sunday", where we fast for 2 meals and give the money we would have used for those meals to the Bishop, who gives it to those who need it as a "Fast Offering".   I didn't want to make rolls, because of the smells, before church, so we tried Drop Biscuits. Here is the recipe we used.    

Drop Biscuits<-----click here to go to the link

2 cups All-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup shortening
1 cup milk
Preparation:

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture is course. Add milk, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened. Drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 425 degrees for 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes 1 dozen.

Our  youngest did a great job making his 1st fruit salad all by himself, as neither I nor Dad had much extra time to do much other than answer questions like, "Do we have more pears?" or "Can I add another banana?"  He was so proud of his combine fresh and canned salad of whatever we had on hand.  It was so worth the stickiness and peels on the table and floor:)

And the Asian Recipe Winner is Nasi Lemak

My Maylasian friend sent me an authentic recipe.  I'm not sure if I will find everything or how it will turn out, but I'm going to give it a try today. 

Soon Heng Lim says, "One of the easier to make Malaysian recipes is Nasi Lemak, together with Roti Canai, the National dish of Malaysia." 

Nasi Lemak

Ingredients:
300g long grain rice
2 shallots
2 slices ginger
1/8 tsp fenugreek seeds (halba)
1 tsp salt
375-400ml coconut milk (from 1/2 a grated coconut)
2 pandan leaves, knotted (Not sure if you're going to find this in the US! Maybe find a substitute...a fragrant herb) The local Thai restaurant  had this!

Method
Wash rice until clean then drain. Put rice, shallots, ginger, fenugreek and salt in a rice cooker. Pour coconut milk over the rice. (The level of the coconut milk should be 2cm above the level of the rice.) Cook rice until dry then use a wooden laddle to loosen the grains.

Sprinkle the rest of the coconut milk over the rice. Give it a stir with a pair of chopsticks to distribute the milk evenly. Stand for 10 to 15 minutes to allow the rice to absorb the coconut milk. Keep rice warm before serving with other condiments.

Sambal Ikan Bilis: OPTIONAL (Soon Heng says, "I suggest you serve the rice with just the Rendang below. After all you are providing just a taster, right?") I'm not making this tonight.

1 bombay onion
1/2 cup dried ikan bilis (anchovies)
1 clove garlic
2 tbsps tamarind juice
4 shallots
8 dried chillies
Prawn paste (belacan) (Optional)
Salt and sugar to taste

Method
Fry the ikan bilis until crisp and put aside. Grind the prawn paste together with shallots, garlic, deseeded dried chilies. Slice the bombay onion into rings. Heat 2 table spoons oil in a pan and fry the ground ingredients until fragrant.

Add in the onion rings. Add tamarind juice, salt, sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally until the gravy thickens. Add in the ikan bilis and mix well. Serve with steaming hot Nasi Lemak.

Beef Rendang (Beef Chunks cooked in coconut milk)- DO THIS ONE

Ingredients:
600g beef topside, cubed

Grind together:
4 tbsp chilli boh
7 shallots
5 cloves garlic
4cm piece ginger
2 onions
4 stalks lemon grass, finely sliced
3cm piece galangal (blue ginger) The local Thai restaurant had this too! 
1 tbsp cumin powder
1 tbsp fennel powder
1 litre thick coconut milk (extract from four grated coconuts)
1 litre water
1/2 cup kerisik (pounded dry-fried grated coconut)
1 tbsp finely-shredded daun limau purut (lime leaves)

Seasoning:
1 tsp salt or to taste
1 tsp brown sugar or to taste

Method
Combine beef, coconut milk, water and ground ingredients in a deep saucepan. Simmer over low heat for one and a half to two hours until beef turns tender.

Add kerisik and continue to cook until the gravy turns thick and dry. Add seasoning and daun limau purut. Cook until beef is almost dry.

GOOD LUCK!

It turns out our hostess and her husband had lived in Maylasia for 6 months while he taught some Finns from Nokia. They both seemed to think it tasted authentic and were excited to eat it again.

To see what everyone else brought go to this site  or to see pictures of it go to this site

Casserole of Rice and Beef

I had a pound of hamburger thawing out in the refrigerator and with a green pepper from my neighbor's garden, and some food storage, I made a casserole dish my Mother often made us growing up.  She got it from Joyce, her neighbor during their Army days, and it's one I've always liked and that kids usually like as well.  

Casserole of Rice and Beef

1/2 cup dry rice

2 cups canned diced tomatoes or tomato sauce or a mixture of the two

3/4 to 1 lb. ground beef

1/2 green pepper, diced

1 medium onion, chopped (dehydrated can work as well)

dash of black pepper

1 tsp. salt

2 cans water from tomatoes

Sort rice, but do not wash.  (I love these older directions).  I also have heard now that you should wash the rice so that the arsenic comes off of it!  Melt 2 T butter (I still use this even in this Pam or EEOV era) in a frying pan.  Add dry rice, chopped onion, diced green pepper, salt, pepper and hamburger.  Brown to a rich golden brown.  Add tomatoes and water.  Let simmer in the covered frying pan (I only use cast iron nowadays) for 30 minutes.  Watch it so it doesn't dry out.  Serve with a dollop of sour cream.  

It also goes nicely with corn I think and/or green salad.

I given this recipe with canned goods when it is "food storage" bridal shower.  I give rice, canned tomatoes or tomato sauce with the recipe for their food storage.  Often I buy tomatoes that have diced green peppers in them so I can make it without buying a fresh green pepper. I've even given them canned corn too, so they'll have a side.  

NOTE:  Nowadays I like to make the rice in a rice cooker or use leftover rice.  I also often use already fried hamburger.  Just fry the rest together and then add in the rice and hamburger at the last.