Chickpea, Lentil, Spinach Stew

It's 2 in the morning and I haven't eaten properly all day and (thankfully?) there are no unhealthy-yet-convenient foods available (i.e. frozen stuff). Being a vegetarian who has diabetes, eating should be something that I pay a lot of attention to, but several parts of my life have been upside down the past 6 months or so. Which would also be the reason I haven't been writing much. I held a part time job over the holidays in addition to school work, I just lost my very dear uncle, and now I'm desperately looking for work again. But, I cannot say I am poor, because poor people do not have cabinets full of food bought with spare money. Tonight I needed to put something healthful, filling and warm into my tummy, so I stared at some lentil soup recipes and came up with this!

Chickpea Lentil Spinach Stew
2 T olive oil
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1/4 medium red onion, chopped
4 roma, plum or campari tomatoes, sliced
2 T diced poblano pepper
2 large handfuls of fresh spinach or 3/4 cup frozen spinach
6 cups warm water
1/2 cup lentils
1-2 cups egg noodles or other pasta
1 can of garbanzo beans, drained, rinsed (cheating, I know!)
Salt, black pepper, spices to taste
Optional: cheese, just because it is awesome.

Directions: Heat oil in pan on medium heat. Add garlic, onion and poblano pepper, cooking until they begin to soften. Add tomatoes and spinach. Simmer a little while longer, gradually turning up the heat until almost no tomato juice is left. Once everything is coming together, add the lentils and 6 cups of warm water, then bring it to a low boil. Add the pasta and cook a little while longer, reducing the heat a bit, if necessary. Add the can of beans and cook until pasta is al dente (Or however you like them. My housemate likes them soft. Bleh.) For seasonings, I added about a teaspoon of oregano, a dash of celery salt, paprika, chili powder, and garlic salt, and a good teaspoon each of salt and fresh ground pepper. Because cheese is like crack for vegetarians, I sliced some monterrey jack for the top of my nommy bowl of soup. But, do what you wish with spices and toppings... with the whole thing, even!

Pros: Garbanzos and lentils are SO good for us, lots of healthful fiber and a wee bit of protein. Garlic is a powerful super food that is part of my wellness arsenal (it's ok cooked but it's like the Terminator against colds if taken raw, minced in a tablespoon of honey and a big gulp of water - sounds gross, but I swear by it!). Spinach is a super food, too, as are most deep green veggies. Peppers and spicy food in general is great for boosting metabolism, too.

Cons: There is probably too much salt. And I'll probably eat too much of it because it is so delicious. Does that count as a con?

So what's "femme" about this soup?
There's not much femme about the soup, unless you're a housewifey femme who likes to throw things together from items already in one's cupboards to create a flavorful, healthful meal. What's femme about the process of cooking is that when I concocted this soup, I was taking care of my #1. Last year I renewed my vow to always do what is best for me, because that is what is best for everyone around me. I am a rescuer but somehow I always wind up rescuing others but not myself, which is what got me into my current financial trouble. A woman taking care of herself? Preposterous. But that commitment is the most important one you'll ever make. Make it a ritual, write it on your mirror in red lipstick, put a reminder in your calendar for next month and make health-related appointments as soon as possible. Drink more water, eat whole fruits and plan therapeutic dates with friends, even if it's just popcorn and a movie at home or a walk in the park. Practice telling yourself that you are beautiful, valuable and unique - and meaning it. Put down some manageable goals and a positive, concise mantra on paper and keep it near you. It is not selfish to do whatever it takes to make your own wellbeing your top priority. It is essential.

Okay, I think I've made my point. Time for bed! Just be good to yourselves, okay?

All my love.

Technorati Tags: cooking, food, health, soup

I threw this together last night and it was pretty dang yummy, to my surprise! 

Ingredients:

2 T Cooking Oil (I used EVOO)

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup chopped bell peppers (any color)

1/4 cup chopped green onions

2 1/2 cups cut carrots

4 small cut potatoes

1 large can 100% Pure Pumpkin

2-15.5 oz cans Garbanzo Beans (Chickpeas)

Handful of pine nuts, pan toasted

1 Can of Coconut Milk

Combine olive oil, garlic, peppers. pine nuts and green onions and brown them in the bottom of a large pot to bring out the flavors. Add the carrots and then quickly dump 1-2 quarts of water into the pot and bring to a boil. Cook the carrots until they are soft enough to blend. Scoop into the blender with a slotted spoon and add some of the carrot broth to the blender. Let them cool for a few minutes and then pulse the blender until the puree is complete. Return the puree to the pot and add the potatoes, can of pumpkin, the garbanzos and the coconut milk, stirring after each one.  Cook on medium heat until the potatoes are cooked.

This soup has no animal products, and therefore is completely vegan and super delicious! I know this is two recipes in a row, but culinary fabulosity is something I consider to be integral to my own femme identity. Once again, this can also be separated into individual portions and refrigerated or frozen for meals to take to work with you.

Technorati Tags: comfort foods, cooking, femme, foods, recipe

My mother gave me a recipe book including all of my family's favorite dishes as a gift for my graduation from college (last week!). Tonight I made "Spanish Bean Soup" (alternately, Garbanzo/Chickpea Soup) in less than an hour. As I understand it, the soup originated in Tampa at Columbia Restaurant which features Spanish cuisine in a historic building. Their website says that the chef

took the classic cocido madrileno, a boiled Spanish equivalent of French pot-au-feu. Cocido was traditionally served in two steps, first the broth, then the main course of meats, garbanzo, and potatoes. He came up with the idea that all should be served together. That’s what became Spanish Bean Soup. It’s from Tampa. You cannot order Spanish Bean Soup in Spain. They don’t know what it is. Today Spanish Bean Soup is a favorite dish found in all six Columbia Restaurants located in Florida. This was created circa 1910.

As you can see from that link, their recipe is somewhat more complicated than ours, but I think they taste about the same! One ingredient to this recipe that you will likely have to forgo if you do not live in sunny, happy south-central Florida will be the Cuban bread. Ohhh Cuban bread. When Grandma first took me to North Carolina as a 12 year old, I wanted to pick up some Cuban bread while were at the grocery store. "Honey, they don't have Cuban bread here" she said. I was shocked and appalled. My mother and grandmother beg me to bring C bread every time I visit them in North Carolina. It's just that good. Day old french bread will do, but there's nothing like the crunchy on the outside, soft and light on the inside goodness of Cuban bread. Without further adieu, Mom's recipe!

Spanish Bean Soup
2 cans Garbanzos/Chickpeas
1 lg onion cut into one-inch pieces
Potatoes, cut in one-inch pieces (1 large Russet, 3 mediums or 5-6 new)
1 Package chorizo sausage, sliced (includes 2, or Soyrizo for the non-meat eaters)
1 Vigo Yellow Rice Seasoning (a tiny envelope with saffron, paprika, etc)
1 ham slice cut in one-inch pieces (can be omitted or replaced with a meat substitute)
Cuban bread and butter
salt and pepper to taste

Method of Preparation: The fast way!
Use a large pot with lid. Combine all ingredients with a generous covering of water and cook on medium until heated and potatoes are done. Mom says at least one hour, I say cook it on almost-high with PLENTY of water so stuff won't stick to bottom. Don't add too much water or your soup will be all broth.

Method of Preparation: The slow way!
Place all ingredients in a crock pot with water and cook on low for 4-5 hours keeping the liquid at a good soupy level.

Method of Preparation: The extra really slow, but good way!
Use dry garbanzos/chickpeas and soak them in the refrigerator overnight. Drain, then cook in the crock pot all day. She specifies all day otherwise they could be crunchy. Add the potatoes during the last 1-2 hours of cooking so they don't get mushy! Add water if it starts looking like stew instead of soup.

Serve with Cuban bread or toast and butter! Like I said, I made this in a pot on the stove with canned beans in less than one hour - it's a great meal when you're hungry but don't want to eat something overly starchy that came out of a mystery box. Really. And this can totally be frozen in individual portions to take to work for a filling, energizing lunch.

Bon apetit!

Technorati Tags: comfort foods, cooking, food, recipe

Whenever I mention I am going to make curry bake on twitter I always have people asking me about what's in it and how to make it, especially after I made it for Kyle and he raved about it on his blog (it may be the cure to hangovers according to him).

The sauce is rich, thick, flavorful, and creamy. The vegetables perfectly paired and the cheese adds a strange but delicious accent to the already delicious curry. It is one of our comfort foods and perfect for a casual or fancy dinner at home, to make for one, two, many, or to take to a potluck and, of course, the more you make the more meals you can enjoy it for. It doesn't usually last long in our house, though.

It's really very simple, the recipe is one I got from a very dear friend and have made it many times over the last few years. Both my partner Onyx and I are big fans of curry and this is our favorite home-made curry dish.

The only problem with sharing the recipe is that I don't measure the ingredients! I put in enough veggies and quorn to fill the dish, make enough sauce to coat it all, and flavor the sauce to taste, so this will be less precise cooking and more whatever works for you. It's easy to add things like different veggies I haven't listed, I sometimes include zucchini for example, or you could omit something that you don't like.

Ingredients:
1/2 a Yellow Onion
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Potatoes (red, yellow, and gold - or whatever you prefer)
Quorn Chicken Tenders (real chicken would probably work fine, though I've never made it with it and you might then want to cook it first?)
1 can Coconut Milk
1 to 2 cups vegenaise
Curry Powder
Salt and pepper
Cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large baking dish (I usually use a 13 x 9 x 2 glass/pyrex dish) combine veggies cut into small pieces and frozen quorn chicken, approximately equal amounts of chicken, broccoli, cauliflower, and potatoes though you can add more/less of some if you wish. I usually use a somewhat equal amount of red, yellow, and gold potatoes with skins for added color, usually one or two each depending on how big they are.

In a bowl combine can of coconut milk with vegenaise and whisk to combine. Mixture should be fairly thick. Vegenaise encourages the sauce to thicken when baked, though I'm unsure what could be substituted for vegenaise.

Add curry powder, salt, and pepper to coconut milk/vegenaise mixture to taste. I use approximately 1 1/2 or 2 tablespoons of curry powder and a dash of salt and pepper. The more curry powder used the stronger it will taste, obviously. Can also add garam masala, garlic powder, or some cayenne pepper to give it a bit of kick. The flavor is completely up to you, so I suggest you play around with it.

Cover veggies and etc. with the curry powder sauce, stirring once to be sure to coat everything.

Bake in 400 degree oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes stir it carefully and test potatoes for firmness. Cook until potatoes are done or easily pierced with a fork (usually about 15 minutes longer).

Cover with a sprinkling of cheese, I usually use cheddar or a cheddar/pepperjack mixture from Tillamook. Wait for it to cool a little, and enjoy!

This recipe can easily be made vegan by omitting the cheese and quorn chicken (has rehydrated egg white in it) or using vegan cheese.

-Scarlet Lotus

Technorati Tags: baking, comfort foods, cooking, culinary comfort, curry, edible alchemy, femme, food, home, recipe

Sometimes we need to nurture, comfort and care for ourselves if we hope to serve the world to our fullest.  A lot of femmes I meet seem to fogret this fact- we are the lover, parents, warriors and poets upon whom Atlas' load is balanced.  Without us the world would crumble and fall, without us we have this feeling the turning would stop and gravity would let everything we care about fly away into the ether.

One of my comfort foods is what I have deemed Comfort Garlic Toast.  I have made variatons of it since I was a child.  Powdered garlic, shredded cheddar and cheap bread were all it took for my mother to make me smile on a day someone had been mean to me or when I'd not aced a test.  But I've grown up and the idea of a pool of cheddar grease leaves me wanting.  This is my version of this treat and sometimes side dish to italian, french, or american cuisine... with a bit of grown up and a lot of childhood memory.

Ingredients needed for this recipe:

- 3/4 stick of butter (or an equivalant of margerine for my femme allies on a diet)

-5 cloves of garlic

-Italian spice blend (there are tons of great options out there)

-A few slices of wheat bread (or some other healthy-ish bread... the more texture the better in my opinion)

-12 minutes (20 for me, see below)

-Shredded Asiago Cheese (I get mine at Fresh&Easy in a round tub and keep in my fridge to use as a condiment; Parmesean, Romano, or other hard cheeses will also work, and for the flavor adventurous, you can use a blue crumble cheese or feta but use less garlic in my opinion).

-Cutting board

-Paring knife (this all black one was a recent gift from my mother as part of my housewarming package)

-A happy thought somewhere in your heart

Pour yourself something to drink that makes you smile.  I chose to make mint drinking chocolate using nonfat milk, and my lips, tongue and belly was delighted.

Remove butter from the fridge, and cut it into cubes, tossing it into a microwavable coffee mug.  Mine matched the one I was drinking choclate from, another thing to make me smile   Brek it up with a butter knife a bit, venting agression stored in your muscles, then set it in the microwave.  Hit the "Express" button twice, totalling 1 minute on 80% or so.  Check consistency.  Can you push the butter around without it being runny?  Perfect.  If your microwave runs hot, then do 30 seconds, check, etc.

Once the butter is pliable, grab the garlic and do not despair on how to peel it.  Schuck off the obvious dead stuff that you see in the top right of this image- the part where the tendrils and roots ran into the ground.  This was once a flowering plant, and you are eating its bulb. By consuming bulbs we are absorbing the potential to be flowering beings ourselves, harnessing our ability to grow by spreading roots between our friends and loved ones, and reading towards the skies to show our potential.  We become grounded in the bulb inside us, and for this we celebrate.  So pull off the tendril sction with your thumb, having the individual cloves fall away- or cheat!  Take the paring knife and just cut it off!  That will remove the hard section from the bottom part of each clove, and take some of the skin away with it.  Instead of fiddling with each piece, you can expose their naked pearls in one speed-strip.

Look at how cute they are as bottomless.  Bottomless and ready to be consumed, or bottomless potential... either way.  Both are very sexy.

Now pick up a clove, and either slide the tip of the paring knifein the space between the dead skin and the pearly white beneath- or if you are rocking long nails, that is even better.  Slide in slowly, then twist- the skin pops away... about half the time.  To gaurantee it, use a meat tenderizer to help separate the skin, but if you are lazy, just try again on the other side.

You now have naked pearls of garlic, and your kitchen is smelling of your endeavors.  Remember the last time you had a good date at an italian restraunt.  Remember the taste of marinara or alfredo sauce.  Remeber the love that goes into hand-pressing olive oil, and the love you are pouring into your own creation.  Now to mince! Start by lining up each clove one after another and slice them thin.  Do all of them.  By turning it into a repetitive motion you save time and are more likely to create something consistent.

Look down and *look*.  Snowflakes each.  You can stop here if you like huge chunks of garlic, but most folks prefer smaller pieces.  ow we go from slicing to mincing.  Put all of the sliced garlic in a pile and begin doing downward pressure strokes with the whole knife at one time.  One hand is on the handle, and the thumb and index finger on your other hand are holding the tip.  Lift together, push down together.  Note the line created.  Repeat.  Over and over and over again.  Every 10-20 strokes, wipe off the blade, pile it all back up, rotate the cutting board one quarter, and do it again.  Keep repeating until you are happy or have totally tranced out and snap back when the song on the iPod changes.

Add minced garlic to the coffee cup of butter.  Mix with the butter knife.  Knock over your beverage.  (Optional).  Curse yourself loudly at having forgotten it was there and reach for kitchen towels to start mopping thedrinking choclate off of your foot, the floor, the counter, the cutting board.  Throw it all in the sink and be annoyed for a moment until you realize it is an opportunity for self-compassion.  Shit happens.  Dishes are washable, kitchen towels cleanable, and there are worse things for your floor to smell like.  Fess up to yourself that you were daydreaming about the guy you played with last night who was really hot who you'd had a minor crush on for years.  Shake head in amusement and move on.

Add two large pinches of shredded cheese to the mix.  Blend.  Close tub quickly for fear of dumping it over too.  Open up mixed italian seasoning, turn it over the coffee cup, and pat it 6 or 7 times like it was being lightly spanked.  Blend.  If it doesn't look like enough of either, add more to your taste, but this is usually about right.  Set seasoning down to put lid on it an note that the top looks like a flower, a reoccuring universal theme from this toast lesson, and meditate on it.

Blend one last time and the start buttering toast with the mixture you have created.  Not too much, but enough to cover the whole piece of whole wheat.  Note the connection between whole piece and whole wheat, and reflect on how whole you are being in your life.

Turn on your oven to Broil (and Broil on the other dial- make sure it says so on both lest your stove get confused and look at you funny).  Set the buttered bread on the rack not on the very top rack slot possible but one down from there.  Push the rack in and laugh about the word "Rack".  Close door to oven 75% but not all the way.   Wait 2 minutes and peek because you're nosy.  Shake head at dishes and decide to do them a bit later.  Come back a minute or so later.  Remove when it looks perfet to you.

Put on a plate.  Serve.  Love yourself.  Sit down and enjoy.  Put the leftovers in a tupperwre and store in the fridge for easy comfort a few days from now.  Feel free to double the batch or triple it for speed comfort for the coming weeks

If you are not craving garlic, consider replacing the garlic with 1/3 of a tart apple (Granny Smith works well) or pear, the cheese with shredded coconut, and the italian seasonings with cinnamon-sugar.  Its a really great dessert for folks on a budget.

Enjoy the Alchemy.  May the Philosopher Stone of your life unfold before you, and may you enjoy the journey, and the matching flaatware, along the way!

Technorati Tags: cooking, DIY, edible alchemy, how-to, meditation

I personally believe that cooking is more than an act that enables us to feed our bodies. It nourishes our souls, allows us to offer love to our partners, connect with our friends, and dance in the decadence between the bites. We are questing magi with olive oil and garlic in hand, shamans armed with flour and nutmeg to ward off angry spirits.

Thus I believe in the art of edible alchemy. We have the power to transform base ingredients to a higher purpose, and in my recipes I prefer to thus share more than the ingredients that went in. This first recipe in the Edible Alchemy series thus came to me when given an opportunity to sustain the lives, friendships and joys of friends and more of mine in Maine.

Needed for this recipe:

• 30 minutes (or an hour if you will be reading a book or simultaneously dealing with email while doing the initial food prep)

• 3 people whose hearts and lives you want to feed (hopefully including yourself)

• 6 asparagus stalks (7 if one of them reminds you of an ex-boyfriend that you once had back in London... long, hard, straight...)

• 3 slices of smoked bacon (best if obtained from a corner shop where people know your name, and if not possible, drooled over for a few days so that the potency of your desire for more tasty bacon is boiling in your blood)

• 6 eggs from happy chickens

• One tomato

• A handful of cilantro

• Bag of mixed spring greens

• Sourdough bread leftover from last night's feasting

• Parmesean cheese

• 3 splashes of milk

• Olive oil

• Applewood smoked sea salt

• Cracked black pepper

• 2 cloves fresh garlic

• One nonstick saucepan

• One nonstick frying pan with lid

• One mixing bowl

• One garlic press

• One slotted wood spoon

• One whisk

• One flipper/turner

• a heap of love and sense of humor

Wander into the kitchen while your friends who have been hosting you for the week are upstairs packing their bag for the conference you are all heading towards. It is best if you packed your bags the night before so that after breakfast you can do the dishes and they can continue their panic with full bellies and full hearts. Once in the kitchen get yourself a beverage of your choice (I recommend Moroccan mint tea) and take a deep breath. Absorb one last day in their space and say a prayer under your breath for coming back to Maine and visiting them again. Obviously, if you are not in Maine, insert a location that gives you pleasure... especially if it is your own home- for our own homes should give us pleasure.

Clear off the food prep space and set dirty dishes in the sink to do later. Or do them now, but if so, adjust cooking time above. Run your fingers over the wood cutting board and thank the tree that gave its life as you set out your ingredients and begin your work.

Cut the bacon into small chunks. Bite-size or smaller. This is an art, not a science. As it sticks to your fingers laugh under your breath at the voices upstairs asking where the books that need to be taken were stored. Peel the garlic and set them aside.

Heat up the saucepan with some drizzled olive oil in it to some middle temperate and be amazed at how nifty their flat topped stove is. Press the garlic into the heated oil and mix it around with the wood spoon, being delighted as the garlic hits your nose and the folks upstairs proclaim “yum” within seconds of oil and garlic sensually embracing each other in the pan. Toss in the bacon once the garlic is tan like the girl you had that secret crush on back in Austin. Enjoy the crackle of their threesome, stirring regularly.

While the bacon crisps, start cutting up the asparagus into chunks that make you happy. Be amused about the one that looks like your ex boyfriend. Cut it up anyway. Toss it in with the bacon/olive oil/garlic to create an orgy for the senses.

Put a lid on it, adding a splash of water as you do so to help steam the asparagus while it fries. Keep the eyes on the back of your head on it to make sure nothing sticks or burns to the saucepan... you will have to use that spoon and mix it up from time to time.

Slice up the tomato. Rinse and mince up the handful of cilantro. Slice the 3 pieces of bread from the sourdough round and set these all aside. Check on the orgy.

In the mixing bowl, crack two eggs and add a splash of milk. Make cute patterns in the milk if it makes you happy.

The add some flavored salt. I prefer the Applewood Smoked Salt, but any flavorful smoky salt will work. Brands I enjoy include Artisan Salt Company in Washington and Auntie Arwen's in Connecticut.

Whisk with abandon. Take the orgy off of heat and let it lay in its own afterglow.

Heat up the frying pan to medium heat. Pour in the egg mixture so that it is even across the base. Let it bubble a bit. Put some water in the edge of the lid (not much at all) then pour it slowly down the side of the pan and quickly put the lid on top. This steams the eggs.

Once the eggs look firm, Take the slotted wood spoon (to drain off the oil) and take about a third of the asparagus bacon mix to put on the left side (right side if a lefty) of the omelet. Add a few pinches of cilantro. Add some slices of tomato. Add some Parmesan cheese. Take a picture (optional).

Grab the flipper and slowly slip it under one side, make an offering to the universe to have this go well, and fold the omelet. I tend to break one out of five or so... so have the broken one be yours when you sit down to eat. Its just as tasty.

Lay out your plates, put on a handful of salad on each, and slide the first omelet onto the first plate. Accidentally drop the bag of salad as you try to put it back in the fridge and have the dogs descent upon it all. This is of course when one of your hosts will come in and let out a howling laughter at it all. Curse it all and ask him to grab a broom. While you repeat the omelet making steps above (minus dropping the salad as that is all done)- bowl, whisk, pour, steam, layer, fold, plate- let him know that its his job to make coffee if the house wants it as he has the coffee magic. Put laughter in kitchen on repeat.

Plate the 2^nd and 3^rd omelets. While the 3^rd one is steaming, throw the bread in the toaster. Set the flavored salt and the pepper on the table and do other table prep. Tell everyone that food is served in 1 minute. Correct yourself and say 2 minutes.

Tell them out loud how much they mean to you. Smile and consume each others joy between bites of asparagus bacon omelet. Leave with a full belly and a full heart.

Technorati Tags: cooking, DIY, edible alchemy, home, how-to, meditation, recipe

Image from my own batch, Thanksgiving 2007

Inspired by Essin' Em's post on how to make pumpkin pancakes, I thought I'd share one of my favorite recipes, also fall- and pumpkin-related, delicious pumpkin cinnamon rolls. Although I'm not quite as obsessed with pumpkins as Essin' Em admits to being, I do love pumpkin, especially these and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (which I may also post a recipe for!), and I'm definitely going to be making the pumpkin pancakes she gave us the recipe for.

I found this recipe last year via the Vegetarian community on LiveJournal, just in time for Thanksgiving. That was the first time I made them, and let me say, they made Thanksgiving last year. They are amazingly delicious, if you like cinnamon rolls or pumpkin you will love these!

The recipe is for vegan pumpkin cinnnamon rolls (use Earth Balance or another vegan margarine), but you can (of course) make this non-vegan by using regular milk and vegan or non-vegan margarine. I made it vegan, though I'm not vegan but vegetarian, but I don't really do milk and I already had soy milk, so it was just due to not wanting to buy cow's milk. I'm sure it's delicious either way.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Dough:
1 package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1/4 cup warm water
3/4cup Pumpkin Puree
1/4 cup soy milk (or cow's milk if you prefer)
1/4 cup margarine, melted
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 t ground ginger
3/4 c all-purpose flour
1 T vegetable oil

Filling:
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons chilled margarine, cut into small pieces

Glaze:
3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 tablespoon hot water
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl, combine the warm water with the yeast and whisk together with a fork, let stand for 5 minutes. Add the pumpkin, milk, melted margarine, and sugar in with the yeast, and lightly mix. Sift in the first two and a half cups of flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Take the remaining 3/4 cup of flour and use it to flour the top of the dough and your surface a tablespoon at a time, as needed to keep the dough from getting sticky as you knead it. Knead the dough for about ten minutes, the dough will be elastic but soft and still a little sticky to the touch without being floured.

Place the dough in a large bowl coated with oil, turning to coat the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, for 45 minutes or until doubled in size.

Punch the dough down; cover and let rest for 5 minutes.

Combine the sugar, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut in margarine with a fork until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Roll the dough into a 12 x 10-inch rectangle on a floured surface. Sprinkle with brown sugar mixture. Roll up the rectangle tightly, from the long side, pinch seam and ends to seal. Cut roll into 12 (1-inch) slices. Place the slices in a 9-inch square or round baking pan coated with cooking spray. Cover and let rise 25 minutes or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 375°.

Bake the rolls for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 15 minutes in pan on a wire rack.

Sift the powdered sugar into a small bowl. Add the water and vanilla, and whisk until smooth. It should be thick, but easy to drizzle. If it’s too thick, add another 1/2 teaspoon of water.

-Scarlet Lotus Sexgeek

Technorati Tags: cooking, Fall, pumpkin, recipe

While I cannot define it as a true fetish (I don't NEED it to get aroused/get off), I have what most people would call a pumpkin fetish.  I LOVE pumpkin EVERYTHING.  Pumpkin scented candles, pumpkin bread, pumpkins to carve (I have one in my car named Antwone just waiting to be carved up), roasting pumpkin seeds, pumpkin smoothies, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin chai, pumpkin covered nail polish, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cake.  It sounds like an obsession...and to be perfectly honest, it kind of is.  Nothing is better and more delicious than pumpkin.  For a last cute present before we broke up, one of my ex's gave me a jar of pumpkin pie spice...to flavor my pumpkin soy milk (OH MY GOD SO GOOD!).

But most of all, more than ALL those other pumpkin things, I LOVE pumpkin pancakes.  I started eating them fall of my sophomore year of college. IHOP (international house of pancakes) has them seasonally, and my nerdy group of friends used to go to IHOP every Saturday night after Rocky Horror Picture Show, and the Tuesday each block before the end of the block.  And I discovered pumpkin pancakes.  Over the years, I've had them add chocolate chips, I've tried them with various syrups, whipped cream, powdered sugar, you name it.  They are amazing. Here is a picture from senior year, eating them with friends:

Yes, they're that good.  These particular ones are with chocolate chips and whipped cream.

After I left Colorado, I decided it was high time I learn to make my own damn pumpkin pancakes. And so I did.  I cooked them for myself, for friends, with my ex, you name it.  Over time, I have perfected my recipe. And today, because I love Femmes as much as I love pumpkin pancakes, I share it with you.

First, mix these dry ingredients together in a bowl:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie seasoning

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

 Once you'd done that, in a separate bowl, mix together these wet ingredients:

1 cup milk (I use skim)

¾ cup canned pumpkin puree (unsweetened)

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 egg

After that is all nice and mixed, fold mixture into dry ingredients, and stir a lot to get all the clumpage out.

You can use a pan or a skillet - I have a pan, so I use that. I've experimented both with olive oil and melted butter as my base for non-stickage - both work fine, so choose which ever you prefer.  You can make BIG pancakes, or little dollar pancakes or anything in between.  About 2-3 minutes per side - don't forget to check them and flip them.  I like to serve them with either powdered sugar or whipped cream...my current partner likes them with maple syrup - it's up to you.  Makes enough for 4 people (or two people who are holed up having sex for 24-hours). They re-heat well AND taste good cold.

So happy fall season!  Enjoy the blessing o' pumpin!

-Essin' Em

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