Book of Yum

I love pumpkin season, and whenever pumpkins start appearing at the Farmer’s Market and grocery stores I am always tempted to bring some home with me. For me, pumpkins are like the puppies of the vegetable kingdom- I just can’t resist them! When I first started bringing pumpkins home, I didn’t quite know what to do with them. I started by making gluten-free pumpkin pies from scratch, which I enjoyed. But according to Cook’s Illustrated and other experts, apparently homemade pumpkin puree doesn’t make that much difference to the final pie, so I wondered if it was worth the effort. So, I moved on… I tried pumpkin ravioli (yummy), pumpkin lasagna (also yummy), and even grilled pumpkin. Recently, I came up with a hypo-allergenic pumpkin kabocha soup that captures the joys of the season perfectly, even if you are on a very restricted allergy diet.

I’m entering this recipe in The Whole Gang’s Gluten-free Progressive Dinner Party event as an appetizer…

Where to Stop Next
Don’t forget to stop by the rest of our blogs this week for the more of our Gluten Free Progressive Thanksgiving Dinner Party. Here’s the schedule.

Ali and Jean will be serving DRINKS on Monday, Nov. 16 at The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen and Gluten Free Organics.

Karen, Jean and I will be serving APPETIZERS on Tuesday, Nov. 17 at Cook4Seasons, Gluten Free Organics and Book of Yum

Ali and Shirley will be serving MAIN COURSE on Wednesday, Nov. 18 at The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen gfe-gluten free easily

Diane, Stephanie, Ali and Shauna will be serving the SIDE DISH/SALAD on Thursday, Nov. 19 at The W.H.O.L.E. Gang, A Year of Slow Cooking, The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen and Gluten Free Girl

Karen, Jean and Ali be serving DESSERT on Friday, Nov. 20 at Cook4Seasons, The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen and Gluten Free Organics

Dairy, Nut, soy free pumpkin kabocha soup recipe Soup  Vegetables  American

Ingredients 1 small kabocha squash (Japanese pumpkin) 1 small pie pumpkin (American) 1-2 tbsp. olive oil 2 leeks, chopped 1 carrot, chopped 1 celery stick, chopped 2 cups gluten-free vegetable broth (from bullion, fresh, or carton) 3-5 cups water as needed poultry seasoning salt pepper paprika Directions Heat oven to 425F. Cut kabocha and pumpkin in half and scoop out seeds. Cut once more so they are cut into fourths. Place cut side down on a large baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes, checking and turning at that point if they aren’t thoroughly baked. Put back in oven again for another 15 minutes, check. Put in for another 15 minutes if needed or leave out to cool. When cool enough to handle, remove skin and chop. Heat olive oil in large stock pan on medium and sautee leeks. As they soften, add carrot and celery. Sautee and then add your vegetable broth. Let simmer for 10 minutes or so and then add your chopped, cooked kabocha and pumpkin. Add water to cover and let simmer for another 10 minutes or longer if desired. Add seasonings (poultry seasoning, salt, pepper, and paprika) and simmer for another ten mintues, adding any extra water you need. Taste liquid and add more seasonings if you like. When pumpkin and kabocha is thoroughly softened, blend soup with an immersion blender until you have a nice, thick, creamy consistency. Enjoy!

Rating:  8 Original Source:  The contents of my brain, do not replicate anywhere without permission. Recipe ID:  1464 Added:  October 13, 2009 Last Modified:  November 13, 2009

Gluten-Free soft foods: 1. Microwaved Sweet potato with butter, salt, pepper and lot of yogurt in a mash, sauteed tofu with cheese and guacamole. 2. Sauteed tofu scramble with nutritional yeast/ground almond not-parmesan and mushrooms 3. After mostly Recovered- Corn Tortillas stuffed with fresh corn, beans, salsa, and cheese.

My apologies for my absence for the last two menus of the week. I always try to post a menu on Sunday and then twice during the week, but with spotty internet service as we moved to a new apartment, I just wasn’t able to. And, unfortunately, it just didn’t make sense to do a menu plan as meals have largely been consisting of restaurant fare and frozen gluten-free Amy’s meals.

I did manage to post two recipes somehow:
Japanese-fusion Avocado Onigiri Rice Triangles
and
Fresh Pineapple Spring Roll, Soy-Free Garlic-free Peanut Sauce and Nut-free Sweet Chili-garlic sauce

One of my favorite people, Cheryl of Gluten-free Goodness, is hosting the gluten-free menu of the week and the ingredient of the week is garlic. Unfortunately, somehow pregnancy has made me very sensitive to garlic (even though I formerly loved the stuff) and it just isn’t agreeing with me. I look forward to seeing what others do with this ingredient, though, and maybe I can join in after Baby Yum joins us and pregnancy is no longer playing havoc with my taste buds and constitution. The sweet chili-garlic sauce recipe I made for my gluten-free potluck above is perhaps the only valid entry I have for her theme… Here’s my sadly garlic-light menu for the week:

Monday: American
Homemade Cream of Tomato Soup
Homemade Gluten-free bread

Wednesday: Mexican
Vegetarian Enchiladas

Thursday: Chinese
Veggie Stir Fry

Friday: Italian
Veggie Pizza

You can find more great menus with Org Junkie.

If being 8 1/2 months pregnant, moving, and celebrating the forth of July weren’t enough this year, I also had an unfortunate incident involving a very painful cracked tooth that took real food off the menu when I suddenly had to have the tooth removed. EEK! Luckily I have the best husband in the world that kept me well supplied in hot (lukewarm) GF cereal, smoothies, ice cream and yogurt. Kozy Shack Rice Pudding went down very nicely, and I also enjoyed many a mashed sweet potato and even some nice sauteed scrambled tofu. I asked the DH to make me a soup, and fresh corn in the grocery store inspired him to channel a favorite in Japan- Cream of corn soup. Because he is my hero, he decided to try making it in the pressure cooker to soften the potatoes lightening-fast. He also pureed it to create one of the silky-smoothest vegetarian soups I’ve ever had. Because there is sodium in both creamed corn and bouillon, do be cautious when adding salt. I recommend adding any salt AFTER the soup is pureed. Naughtiness with sodium aside, this is one of the tastiest soups I have had in a long time and it made me love our pressure cooker and my wonderful DH all the more. Hungry yet?

Japanese-Style Cream of Corn Soup in Pressure Cooker Recipe Soup  Vegetables  Japanese  European

Ingredients 1/2 stick butter 1 onion, sliced 1/4 cup sweet rice flour 4 cups water 1 can (15 oz) cream style corn kernels from 2 ears of fresh corn 2 cubes Gluten Free Not-chicken bouillon 2 potatoes, peeled and diced 2 cups lowfat milk (we use Organic 1%) Parisien Bonnes Herbes (Penzey’s Spice Blend including chives, dill, basil, tarragon, chervil, and white pepper*) to taste salt and pepper to taste (cautious with the salt- between the cream corn and bouillon it is easy to over-salt� perhaps best to season at the end) Fresh basil to garnish (optional but adds delightful flavor) Directions Fry onions and butter on low heat in a pressure cooker with the lid off. Add flour and stir for a few minutes to make a nice roux. Add remaining ingredients to pressure cooker and bring to a boil. Put the lid on the pressure cooker, reduce the heat to low, bring it up to pressure and let it cook for 6-10 minutes. Release the pressure using the quick release, season as needed, make sure the potatoes are cooked through. If they are not soft, simmer soup until they are soft. If you like, for a very smooth, creamy soup you can then let it cool slightly and then blend in a blender. Notes *if you don’t have this herb blend, use another green dill-based blend you like or any of these dried herbs listed to taste.

Rating:  8 Original Source:  My DH’s creation. Please do not replicate anywhere without our permission. thanks! Recipe ID:  1432 Added:  July 4, 2009 Last Modified:  July 5, 2009