Pepitas! aka Pumpkin Seeds

Submitted by Marcia Van Camp
from: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/10/pepitos/









Ingredients:
Pumpkin seeds from a carved pumpkin
Olive Oil
Salt (table salt)

Directions:

As you gut the pumpkins, keep all the seeds—and guts—in a bowl.

Throw them into a colander and rinse them under cold water, pulling away the chunks of pulp as you go (you don't have to be extremely thorough)

Spread the rinsed seeds out on a baking sheet.

Allow the seeds to dry several hours or overnight. And beware: they’re quite sticky/slimy, so don’t place them on paper towels! Just leave ‘em on the baking sheet and they’ll be fine.

When they’re nice and dry, go ahead and preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

Begin by drizzling the seeds with a couple teaspoons of olive oil.

Use your fingers to toss the seeds around to coat.

Then salt and season the seeds to taste.

Pop ‘em in the oven for an hour or so, until the seeds are light golden brown.

Let them cool for a few minutes…then let the snacking begin!

Pepitas need to be stored in an airtight container if they last beyond the first day.

Puff Biscuits

Submitted by Marcia Van Camp

Ingredients:
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup flour
Salt
Pepper
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2. In a medium bowl, beat together the eggs and milk
3. Add 1/2 tsp salt and 1 pinch of pepper
4. Gradually stir in the flour so that it does not clump...a whisk helps!
5. Get a cupcake pan. Take a small section of a paper towel and dip it in vegetable oil, and coat each of the 12 sections evenly with oil. This will help the lil' guys puff up!
6. Pour the batter into the sections, about half way
7. This makes about 24 puffs total

Notes: Even if the puffs are cold and you want them the second day, they are still so good! You can eat them cold with jelly or toast them...they are not as puffy the second day but they are yummy!

Pus ‘n Chunks

Submitted by Marcia Van Camp from Jayne Carlton
(see my notes at the bottom)

Ingredients: 1 lb. Link Sausage
1 onion, chopped
1 ½ cups celery, sliced
½ lb. Mushrooms, sliced
2 med. Potatoes (already cooked and cut into pieces)
2 cans Cream of Celery Soup
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
Milk (to think soup if needed)

Directions: Brown in a Large Pot:
1 lb. Link Sausage, cut into 1” pieces, remove from pot
Sauté in the drippings until barely soft:
1 onion, chopped
1 ½ cups celery, sliced
½ lb. Mushrooms, sliced

Add:
2 med. Potatoes (already cooked and cut into pieces),
or 1 can potatoes, cut into ½” pieces
2 cans Cream of Celery Soup
Heat through, but do not boil

Add:
1 cup grated cheddar cheese (or can be served on the side)
Thin with milk as needed

Notes: Marcia = I usually use 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup and 1 can of cream of celery soup...I usually don't add onions but I always put in chopped carrots!

I also really like to have biscuits of some sort served to soak in the soupy goodness...especially Puff Biscuits!

Pad Thai

Submitted by Linda Peterson

(I usually double it for 8 servings! But don't double the eggs).

Ingredients:
4 cups water
1 package (6 to 8 oz) rice noodles (the thick kind)
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1/3 cup water
3 Tbl packed brown sugar
3 Tbl fish sauce or soy sauce
3 Tbl soy sauce
1 Tbl rice vinegar or white vinegar
3/4 tsp cayenne pepper
3 Tbl vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup finely chopped dry-roasted peanuts
3 cups fresh bean sprouts
4 medium green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup firmly packed cilantro leaves
*Plus: 12-16 oz of tofu, frozen cooked shrimp, or chopped cooked chicken

Directions:
1. In 3-quart saucepan, heat 4 cups water to boiling. Remove from heat; add noodles (push noodles into water with back of spoon to cover completely with water if necessary). Soak noodles 3 to 5 minutes or until noodles are soft but firm. Drain noodles; rinse with cold water.

2. Meanwhile, in small bowl, stir lime juice, 1/3 cup water, brown sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, cayenne pepper, and 1 tbl of the oil until well mixed; set aside.

3. In non-stick wok or 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat remaining 2 Tbl of oil over medium heat. Cook garlic and shallot in oil about 30 seconds, stirring constantly, until starting to brown. Add eggs, Cook about 2 minutes, stirring gently and constantly, until scrambled but still moist.

4. Stir in noodles and lime juice mixture. Increase heat to high. Cook about 1 minute, tossing constantly with 2 wooden spoons, until sauce begins to thicken (sometimes I add a little cornstarch+water to thicken). Add tofu, chicken, or shrimp. Cook 2-3 minutes, tossing, until noodles are tender. Serve with chopped peanuts, bean sprouts, green onions, and cilantro. Additional lime wedges are also nice.

*If using tofu, stir-fry in wok before adding the eggs, then set aside. Proceed with the recipe.
If using shrimp, make sure it's cooked, peeled, deveined medium shrimp and that you thaw it beforehand.
If using chicken, stir-fry it separately with a little basil and garlic, then set aside.

A couple other notes: Don't double the shallot. don't double the cayenne. if you make a single recipe of this, i recommend cutting the cayenne in half, unless you really like spicy. I usually don't include the green onions or cilantro cuz nick isn't a big fan of those things, but I'm sure they'd be delicious! read the instructions on your rice noodle box, because they might be different from what the recipe says. also, I usually add a little corn starch+water mixture to help thicken the sauce a little bit. once you have the sauce and noodles ready, this recipe cooks up really quickly and it's SOOO GOOD. enjoy!

Blueberry Bars

Submitted by Marcia Van Camp
From: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/blueberry-bars/detail.aspx

These are so so delicious! Jessica Hubbard Stacy made some and they tasted like a cloud made out of blueberries!










Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
3/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
6 tablespoons cream cheese softened
1 teaspoon almond extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)
Grease a 9 inch square baking dish.

To make the crust:
Cream shortening, sugar, one egg, milk and almond extract in a large bowl
Mix in flour and baking powder, stirring constantly
Spread crust evenly in baking pan
Top with blueberries.

To make the topping:
In a medium bowl, beat two eggs, and cream cheese until smooth.
Stir in powdered sugar and almond extract.
Spread over blueberries.
Bake 55 to 60 minutes, or until firm to the touch.
Cool in pan before cutting.

Potato Salad

Submitted by Marcia Van Camp per Bob Van Camp

Ingredients:
Vinegar
Vegetable Oil or Olive Oil
Cumin
Mustard
Mayo
Potatoes
Red Pepper
Celery

Directions:
1. Boil the potatoes with salt and pepper (don't over boil, check at 10 min)
2. Cut up the celery into small pieces
3. Combined potatoes, celery and all other ingredients to taste.

Since Bob Van Camp doesn't measure anything this is the best I could add for now but once I try this out I will add more exact measurements.

Irish Michaelmas Pie

Submitted by Marcia Brisson
http://www.littleshamrocks.com/Irish-Pie-Recipes.html#IrishMichaelmasPie

Ingredients:
12 oz. all purpose flour, sifted
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 oz. vegetable shortening
3 oz. chilled butter, diced
3 fl. oz. chilled water
pinch of salt
2 lbs. cooking apples
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. ground nutmeg (I didn't have this so I just added more cinnamon)
12 oz. blackberries (I cute each blackberry in half)
1 egg, beaten

***FYI 8 ounces is 1 cup

Oven 350F

Pastry Directions:
1. Prepare the pastry.
2. Place the flour in a large bowl and stir in the cinnamon and salt.
3. Rub in the butter and shortening with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
4. Make a well in the center and add the chilled water.
5. Bring the mixture together using a round-bladed knife.
6. Once it has come together, knead for a brief moment and place in a plastic bag and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Filling Directions:
1. Peel and core the apples.
2. Cut into large chunks and place them in a saucepan with the sugar, cloves and nutmeg.
3. Cover with a lid and gently cook for 5 minutes or until the apples have softened. Fold in the blackberries and remove the saucepan from the heat.
4. Cool completely. (I put mine in the fridge)

Make the Pie:
1. Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll out 2/3 on a lightly floured surface.
2. Line an 8 inch metal pie plate.
3. Strain the fruit but keep the juice. After all the fruit is in, pour back in the juice but only enough to cover half the pie. Otherwise, the juice will pour out the pan and into your oven.

I also took some of the juice and added it to the crust but then of course I had to add more flour to make the dough back to it's originally consistency. You don't have to do this but I thought it was a great way to flavor the crust. If you still have remaining juice, just keep it because you can use it later when serving to pour over the pieces if you want. It is really tasty!

4. Roll out remaining pastry and lay over the fruit.
5. Lift back the edge and brush the base with a little egg and seal the edge. Trim and crimp the pastry edges.
6. Brush the surface with the remaining egg and make a couple of slits in the top.
7.Scatter a little more sugar over the pastry and bake for 35 minutes. (I cooked mine longer because I like harder crust)

Serve hot or cold with ice cream or fresh whipped cream.