Honey-Glazed Roasted Harvest Vegetables

INGREDIENTS:

·         4 parsnips, peeled and sliced 1/2 inch thick

·         4 carrots, peeled and sliced 1/2 inch thick

·         4 turnips, peeled and cubed 1/2 inch thick

·         2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed 1/2 inch thick

·         2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cubed 1/2 inch thick

·         1/2 cup honey

·         1/2 cup oil (vegetable, canola, or your favorite)

·         2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

·         2 tsp powdered ginger

·         Salt and freshly ground pepper

·         1 or 2 dashes of Chinese 5 Spice

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 425°.

Toss vegetables with oil, honey and spices.

Divide into 2 large baking dishes or roasting pans and cover with foil.

Roast for 40 minutes, stirring half way through cooking time.

Cook until the vegetables are tender.

Remove the foil and roast for 10 minutes longer, until glazed.

Honey-Glazed Roasted Harvest Vegetables

Bloody Mary Soup (For Halloween)

This is just a fun name for a kicked up tomato soup that is great with "Grizzled Cheese SandWitches" during the Halloween season.  The Worcestershire and Tobasco can be increased or decreased to suite your taste.
Ingredients:
   1 can Tomato Soup + 1 can milk
   1 can Tomato Bisque + 1 can milk
   1 can Diced Tomatoes
   2 Tbls Worcestershire (or more or lesst to taste)
   6 drops of Tabasco Sauce (more or less to taste)
Directions:
   Simply mix all the ingredients in a pan and heat over medium until it reaches desired temperature.

   Serve with grilled cheese sandwiches or your favorite crackers.
   Once soup is hot, you can also hold at "keep warm" temp in your crock pot.
   NOTE:  If you want to try this with vodka, substitute the milk with V8 juice or water.

Crystallized Ginger

Crystallized ginger is one of the main ingredients in my ginger snap recipe below.  If you buy it in the store, it can be very expensive...over 5 dollars per ounce.  Save money by making it yourself for just pennies an ounce.  You can find fresh ginger root at your local Asain market.  Crystallized ginger can settle an upset tummy or just be a zesty, sweet snack.  Finely minced, it gives a real kick to pumpkin pie and those tasty ginger snaps.

Ingredients:

·        1 cup peeled ginger cut into 1/4 inch dice
           (or cut 1/8 in thick slices, if you prefer)

·        3 cups water

·        1 cup sugar

·        Additional 1/2 cup of sugar to coat pieces(optional)

Preparation:

Bring water to a boil.

Add the ginger pieces and sugar.

Cover and reduce heat to simmer for five minutes.

Remove from heat and allow it to sit for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.  

Spread ginger in a glass baking dish.

Place the dish in the oven until ginger is almost dry but still chewy.

Remove from oven and allow it to cool for about 10 minutes.

Toss ginger with additional sugar in a zip lock bag.

Shake off excess sugar and spread out on cookie sheet
Air dry for several hours

Store the crystallized ginger in an airtight container for up to two months.

Friendship Bread

Friendship Bread - Dough Starter Recipe and Bread Recipe

This is a great recipe that is very versitile.  One of our neighbors gave me a starter and a loaf of bread as a thank you gift for watching their puppy dog over a weekend.  The bread was absolutely delightful.  I tended the starter as called for in the recipe for days 1 through 10 and instead of loaf pans, I use my patterned bundt pans when it was time to make the bread.  The sugared pan gives this bread a wonderful crispy crunch to the outside of the moist, tender inside. 

 

DOUGH STARTER RECIPE     

      DO NOT USE ANY METAL UTENSILS.

Use a glass bowl and wooden spoon.
DO NOT REFRIGERATE

     Ingredients

·    1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

·    1/4 cup warm water (110° F/45° C)

·    1 cups all-purpose flour, divided

·    1 cups white sugar, divided

·    1 cups warm milk (110°F/45°C), divided

Directions
    In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Let stand 10 minutes.

    In a 2 quart container (glass), combine 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar.  

    Mix thoroughly or flour will lump when milk is added.

    Slowly stir in 1 cup milk and dissolved yeast mixture.

    Place in a 1 gallon zip lock bag and let stand at room temperature.
    Mixture will be bubbly.

    This begins Day 1.

TENDING ROUTINE

Day 1 to Day 4

“Burp” bag (release the air) reseal and knead bag several times.

Day 5:    Stir in…

·      1 cup flour

·      1 cup sugar

·      1 cup milk

Day 6 to Day 9

“Burp” bag (release the air) reseal and knead bag several times.  

Day 10

·      Place the starter in a non-metal mixing bowl.

·      Stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk.

·      Using 4 zip lock bags, place a cup of the starter in each bag.
·      Keep one bag for yourself.
·      Give the other three to friends along with the recipe. 
·      Now, begin the Day 1 through Day 10 routine.

·      There should be about 2 cups of starter left in the bowl.
That’s what you will use to make your bread recipe below.

BREAD RECIPE
    DO NOT USE ANY METAL UTENSILS.
    Use a non-metal bowl and plastic or wooden spoon.

    Ingredients

·      1 to 2 cups of dough starter left in the mixing bowl,

·      1 cup oil

·      3 large eggs

·      1/2 cup milk

·      1 teaspoon lemon flavoring

·      3 Tablespoons poppy seeds

·      2 cups all-purpose flour

·      1 cup sugar

·      1 large box instant lemon pudding powder (or 2 small)

·      1/2 teaspoon salt

·      1/2 teaspoon baking soda

·      1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Directions
      Preheat oven to 325° F

Grease 2 loaf pans - (I use cooking spray and bundt pans). 

Then dust the inside of the pans with regular sugar.

Combine the above ingredients and mix well.

Pour equal amounts of mixture into the 2 greased and sugared pans.

Bake at 325°F for 1 hour if using loaf pans (40 to 50 minutes for bundt pans) or until knife inserted comes out clean.  Cool for about 15 minutes and remove from pans.

VARIATIONS:

Variations are as endless as your imagination:

·      Coconut Pudding, add coconut and well drained pineapple tidbits

·      Chocolate pudding, add chocolate chips and nuts

·      Banana pudding, add some ripe, mashed bananas

·      Vanilla pudding, add 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 cup nuts and dust pans with
cinnamon sugar