Recipe: Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin Soup tonight!

Here's what I put together, in case anyone wants a pumpkin recipe:

1 tablespoon butter (could use olive oil or broth)

about 1/2 cup each or more of the following chopped veggies:

white onion

red and yellow sweet peppers

zucchini

green beans

about 1/2 cup or more frozen peas (thawed)

1 large stalk of celery, sliced thin

about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of canned pumpkin (NOT seasoned for pie filling)

about 1/2 cup rice (I used instant, but any kind would do, as long as you cook it long enough)

I 1/4 lb frozen turkey patty, thawed and partially cooked in microwave (or freshly-ground turkey, partially cooked)

about 1 quart of water

about 1 heaping teaspoon of Penzey's Chicken Soup Base

about 1 1/2 tablespoons (or to taste)Penzey's Northwoods Fire

about 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of Penzey's Four Peppercorn Blend

about 1/8 teaspoon Penzey's Kosher Flake Salt

about 1/8-1/4 teaspoon Penzey's # Roasted Garlic (regular garlic would work fine)

I thawed the peas and beans (because I cheated and used frozen green beans) in the microwave while I stir-fried the onions, peppers, and zucchini in butter in a 6-quart pan.

I then added the peas and beans to simmer in butter while I heated the water in the microwave and dissolved the soup base in it. I added the seasonings to the veggies in the pan while I cooked the turkey patty and broke it into chunks.

I then mixed the turkey and broth into the pan with the veggies and butter and let this cook on medium for about 15 minutes.

At that point, I added the rice and stirred in the pumpkin. I found I needed more water, so I added a little at a time.

Once it was boiling, I turned it to medium-low and let it simmer about 30 minutes to blend all the flavors. It got a bit too thick, so I added a little more water again and let it heat a bit before serving.

This could easily be made as a vegetarian dish by using olive oil instead of butter, omitting the turkey, and using Penzey's Vegetable Soup Base instead of the chicken soup base.

I suppose you could make it with spices that didn't come from Penzey's, but why would you? ;)

Penzeys.com (or they have a store in Draper, for my Utah friends)

Chocolove Chilies and Cherries in Dark Chocolate: Homemade Version

A few months ago, while at the grocery store, I noticed this in the candy aisle:

Yes, folks, someone at the Lindt company had taken the idea of Mexican mole sauce and turned it into a chile-chocolate candy.
Mind- blown.
Whoa.
I bought one for some outrageous price, and life was good.  :D

Then, last week I went down to Cedar City, Utah, again to take an acting class at the Shakespeare Festival.  (Note: Utah teachers must continually jump hoops to prove we are qualified, and I'd rather see Shakespeare plays than sit in boring middle school conferences to earn my "points.")  One morning on my way to a dance/movement class, I cut through the gift shop and found THIS:

Holy mother of Aztecs, Batman!  Chiles with chocolate AND cherries?  Had I died and gone to heaven?
Well, at $4.25 + tax for a single bar, I was not in heaven, but it was close.  (The Aztecs called chocolate the food of the gods, you know -- and that was before anyone ever added sugar to it!)
The Chocolove bar listed among the ingredients both ancho AND chipotle chiles, and that made so much difference!  The Lindt bar just did not have the depth of flavor, nor did it have the sweet/sour cherries.  (When you eat this, you get the chocolate taste and the cherries, but after you swallow the bite, you get the slight lingering warmth and taste of the chiles.  It's marvelously addicting.)
Naturally, when I got home, I wanted to see if I could find this candy anywhere.  Well, no local store had it, and online, the cheapest I could find was a pack of 3 bars, which, when shipping was added in, came to slightly over $20.00.
Uh, no.
No freakin' way am I paying that much for candy.
Bummer.

But then it occurred to me that I always keep several kinds of dried chiles on hand, and among my two favorites are anchos and chipotles.
I could SO make this candy!

And tonight I did indeed create a very passable version of the Chocolove bar.  And it's easy!
(OK, I had to work with the amount of chile peppers a bit, using the amounts necessary for a pot of chili as a basis, but I finally got it just right.)

Here's the recipe:

2 bags of Nestle's Toll House dark chocolate chips.
1 bag Craisins cherry-flavored dried cranberries.  (You can use real dried cherries if you can find/afford them.)
2 rounded tablespoons Penzey's dried, ground ancho peppers.  (Use the good stuff.)
1 rounded tablespoon Penzey's dried, ground chipotle peppers.

In a microwave-safe mixing bowl, pour in one bag of chocolate chips, then sprinkle with all the ground chiles and pour in the other bag of chocolate chips.  Do NOT stir yet or all the chiles will fall to the bottom of the bowl.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave until soft and gooey.  (I have an older, less-powerful microwave, and this took 3 minutes.  I suggest you start with less time and add more as needed.)
Remove from microwave (it will be HOT), and stir the chocolate and chiles with a rubber spatula/scraper until very thoroughly mixed and until no chips are left unmelted.
Add the dried, cherry-flavored cranberries and mix again until the cranberries are thoroughly coated.
Drop by spoonfuls onto a jelly roll pan which has been lined with wax paper, and put the whole pan into either the fridge or the freezer until the candy hardens.

That's it.  No candy thermometers.  Nothing hard.  Just good stuff very fast.  And, because of the wax paper, the clean up is really just the mixing bowl and spatula/scraper.

In the photo, you can see all the ingredients I used next to the pan with the candy on it.

Happy candy making! :)