Pumpkin Bread - by Summer

One of my favorite things about fall is pumpkin!  I love pumpkin-stuff and only discovered it as an adult.  I'm always searching for new recipes that include pumpkin - cakes, cookies, pies . . . so I was thrilled to make this pumpkin bread recipe.  October is the perfect time for pumpkins!

Stirring the flour mixture

This recipe was really easy to make.  I have canned pumpkin on hand, so I didn't have to make any additional purchases for this recipe. My little guy loves baking, so he helped me make the bread!  It's super easy to pull everything together.  The recipe called for mini-chocolate chips, which I didn't have.  I thought about putting in regular chocolate chips, but my husband likes his quick breads (banana/zucchini) plain, so I omitted them. 

Mine baked for about 60 minutes.  My pan was slightly larger than 9x5, so I think it could have been pulled out a couple of minutes sooner.  I really like the flavor of this bread.  I think the ground cloves is what made the difference.  I will definitely be making this bread again and again.  As my son would say - "Yummy!"

Cherry Clafouti - by Lisa

In an effort to get a better start on the baking for this month, I have completed recipe number one before the last week of the month! Woo hoo! I decided to start with the Cherry Clafouti (pronounced clah-foo-TEE in case you were wondering). I wish I had started it earlier in the day because this would have made for a really yummy brunch treat!

This came together really easily. So easy in fact that I was able to simultaneously feed my one year old his lunch while working on this dish without messing anything up. :) The ingredient list was clean and simple. The only things I didn't have on hand were the frozen cherries and half 'n' half. I also got a chuckle out of a couple of Beth's parenthetical comments in this recipe. (Use the egg whites for breakfast tomorrow! Use the whole egg, but not the egg shells, of course!) I like recipes that liven things up a little. :)

I baked this for a little over 40 minutes in my smaller convection oven. The finished product came out looking very similar to the photo in the cook book, so it was easier to know when it was done. After letting it cool for about 10 minutes, Hubby and I each had our slice. We both agreed that it was very reminiscent of pancakes. I mentioned to him that it was meant to be like a cross between a pancake and a custard. I was a little weirded out by the texture, but I got over it fairly quickly. It will be neat to try this again with different kinds of fruits.

Before

After

Cool Blueberry Soup - by Summer

I guess I should have held off on this pick since blueberry season is over with this year.  But like Lisa, I went the frozen blueberry route and I think it turned out fine.  I was intrigued by this recipe because I have never heard of blueberry soup before and I have never had Greek yogurt either.

As Lisa mentioned, this was very easy - you throw into a pot and let it cook.  I do not have any sort of wine collection, so I just picked a pretty cheap white wine out.  I also decided to cut the recipe in half so we wouldn't have a ton of leftovers.  I decided to forgo the food processor and just used my hand masher to mash the blueberry mixture.  It worked great and there were still a few lumps. 

I really liked this soup a lot.  While I was eating it, I thought about how it sort of tasted like a sauce and then had a brilliant idea.  I took some leftover pound cake and had that with the soup - very, very tasty!  I would definitely make this again!

Strawberry Ice Cream Cupcakes - by Lisa

Man am I lucky these were easy recipes this month! I was a damn fool for saving them all for the end of the month, especially after our summer break! Next month I will be doing a much better job of managing my time!

This one was so simple to put together, I decided in the middle of dinner that it would be dessert tonight. I even used it as leverage to get my 3 year old to eat all his dinner! :)

There isn't much to analyze in this recipe, except to point out that I still can't make a decent scoop of ice cream to save my life! LOL! And yes, even though I *did* spend a couple of years working at Swensen's Ice Cream parlor, I was never a conehead! LOL! Anywho, this treat was a big hit with with my husband and older son. They loved it, and I thought it was pretty tasty too!

Coconut Rice Pudding - by Lisa

So this was one of my "get it out of the way" picks as I am not a fan of rice pudding. I do however, like coconut, so I thought maybe this one would win me over in the taste department.

I bought all the ingredients a couple weeks ago, but didn't have the chance to actually make it until last night. As I was getting thru all the steps, I thought I ran into a snag. I noticed one of the cans of coconut milk wasn't shaking up too well. When I opened the can, I saw this:

I don't do to well when I expect food items to look one way and then they look like something else. I was a little panicked and also annoyed at the prospect of having to go back to the store on an emergency run. But Hubby came to the rescue when he discovered that all the liquid was trapped on the bottom. After stirring up the can a little, it looked totally fine. Whew!

The "hardest" part of this recipe was essentially babysitting the pudding as it cooked. Otherwise, it was a really easy one to put together. I also got to toast coconut for the very first time. Never knew it was so easy!

I honestly wasn't looking forward to tasting this one. I have a very strong reaction to certain textures in food. Unfortunately, this was one of them. I thought the flavor was awesome, but the rice in the pudding just did not sit well with me. Maybe I could try it again one day and strain out the rice at the end? :) Hubby however, really enjoyed it! So at least he and they boys can enjoy it this weekend while I'm visiting Summer! :)

Strawberry Ice Cream Cupcakes - by Summer

I have to admit up front that I did no baking for this dessert.  I was running out of time this month and this recipe actually doesn't say that you have to bake the pound cake for these cupcakes, so I didn't.  In fact, I didn't even whip my own cream.

That said - I loved these!  I would totally make these for a birthday party or just when having a bunch of people over.  It's quick, fun and tasty!

Here are my ingredients assembled.  I actually decided since I had some homemade raspberry jam from my mother-in-law, I would make them with a raspberry flavor.  When I was at the store, I bought some raspberry gelato instead of ice cream.  I think the next time I would do the same thing but use chocolate cake - yum!  I loved these!  So easy and oh so good!!!

Cool Blueberry Soup - by Lisa

Lucky for me, the recipes this month are pretty straight forward. This one requires little more than placing all the ingredients in a sauce pan, cooking it down, pureeing, and then chilling. I did have to go on a hunt thru our wine collection for a dry white. I settled on one from the Whidbey Island Winery which is just north of Seattle; not far from where we used to live. :)

Since blueberry season is pretty well over, I opted to go with the frozen berries. I also included the cinnamon stick. The only thing I needed to pick up from the store were the blueberries themselves! This was really easy to make and simply required some time committed to stirring and watching the stove top. I opted to let it sit overnight and we enjoyed some today for an early afternoon treat.
 

I wasn't sure what to expect at all, but as I was stirring in the yogurt, I realized it looked an awful lot like a smoothie. And since I pureed it in the Vitamix, it turned out with a pretty smooth consistency. I decided to pour it into a glass and drink it thru a straw. :)

My husband tried it first, and found he really liked it! I tried mine next and found it to be delightfully tart yet sweet at the same time. This would be a neat appetizer to serve for a dinner party, tho I would probably opt to leave it a little chunkier to give it more of a "soupy" quality. It would also be fun to try it with different kinds of wine to see how the flavor changes.