A Little Bit of Pumpkin (Cake)

So last week was about soups and some other fall weather favorite meals. But it dawned on me the other day that here we are, more than midway through October, and I have not eaten or made anything pumpkin.

Hmm...

Time to remedy that. 

Actually, I've shared this recipe before and I really do love it. First, it's delicious. And it's small, only an 8x8 or 9x9 pan's worth. Meaning you're not munching on cake for the rest of the week.

Here's what you'll need for this Pumpkin Cake:

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup softened cream cheese
• 2 Tbs butter, softened
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium to large size bowl, beat the sugar and eggs until well combined.

Add pumpkin and oil.

And beat a medium speed to combine.

Love that color.

With your mixer on low, add flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

And beat for one minute.

Yes, the batter will be thick.

Spread batter into greased 8x8 or 9x9 baking pan.

Bake until cake is set and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 25-30 minutes.

Allow cake to cool, then make your frosting.

In a medium size bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until creamy. Add powdered sugar and vanilla.

And beat until fluffy.

Spoon frosting onto cake.

And spread evenly, using knife or offset spatula.

Delicious!

A taste of autumn in every bite. And what's not to like about that.

We've had a pleasantly cool and rainy week here in south central Texas. Perfect weather to stay inside and finish the second book in my current contract. I'm excited about the way it turned out. Those characters can sometimes throw you curve ball, but it usually makes things turn out better. Now it just needs a little spit-shine before I send it off to my editor.

So what are you up to this week? Writing? Reading? Making the most of autumn before winter sets in?

Three-time Carol Award finalist, Mindy Obenhaus lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, the youngest of her five children and two dogs. She's passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more at www.MindyObenhaus.com 

Why Do We Do What We Do?

Jan here, continuing with a theme I started on Seekerville last Monday. (You can read that post here.)

Why have I been thinking about goals and planning for the future so much lately? I was going to blame it on age, but then I realized that our family has gone through huge upheavals in the past few years - most of them very good - but all of them stressful to some degree or another. When you add it all up, I don't wonder why I have trouble sleeping sometimes. :-)

The defining moment in that process of change came when we met with our financial planner last spring. We were going through our retirement goals (yes, it's that time of life,) and he went through the list of dreams most people have. But none of those normal goals got to the heart of what we have been dreaming of for years.

We don't want to go on lovely cruises, or take a trip around the world.

We don't want to build a dream home in some exotic location like Florida or Hawaii.

We don't want to try to come up with new hobbies to fill our time.

And we certainly don't want to sit back and do nothing!

Except when we've reached the end of the
trail in Custer State Park!

No. When we think about retirement, we think about doing pretty much what we're doing now, but at a different elevation.

You see, when our financial adviser asked what our retirement dream was, we hesitated. Not because we weren't sure what it was, but because it has been such a long-held dream...could we really achieve it? Could it be?

His response was: Why not?

So we've started searching for that little place. A cabin in the woods. A spot in the Hills. Land. Trees. Wildlife. Stars. Quiet.

A place we can share with friends and family. A place that will fill our days with the joyful pleasure of God's creation.

This poem sums it up quite nicely:

A Little Home

by Florence Bone

God send us a little home;

To come back to when we roam.

Wooden floors and fluted tiles;

Wide windows, a view for miles.

Red firelight and deep chairs;

Small white beds upstairs.

Great talk in little nooks;

soft colors, rows of books.

One picture on each wall;

not many things at all.

God send us a little ground;

Tall trees stand 'round.

Homely flowers in fertile sod;

Over head, thy stars, O God.

God bless thee when winds blow;

Our home and all we know.

When work gets toilsome, life's pressures mount, and things don't seem to be going the way I thought they would...when I start wondering why do I do what I do?

That's when I read this little poem again, and remember that there is a goal and a plan...in God's way and in God's time.

Have you thought about what you do? Why do you go to work each day? What goals do you have for your future? What are you working toward?

Share them here, if you'd like to!

Jan Drexler lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her husband and growing family. When she isn't writing, she loves hiking in the Hills or satisfying her cross stitch addiction.

You can find Jan on Facebook, Jan Drexler, author, or her website, Jan Drexler.com.

In Keeping with the Soup Theme...

Missy Tippens

It is FINALLY cool enough in Georgia to eat soup! :) So yesterday, I made bean soup.

Talk about a low cost meal! About $3 for the beans, $3 for the smoked sausage, plus probably less than a dollar for the vegetables. I think the batch will probably make about 8-10 servings.

I used a bag of dried soup beans with 15 different varieties!

Sorry it came out sideways!

This particular mix was Cajun flavored and came with a seasoning packet.

On Wednesday night, I put the beans in my Dutch oven and soaked them all night. The next day, I poured off that water and added 8 cups of fresh water.

Then I simmered them for about 2 hours. Be sure to turn down the temp to very low to simmer in a Dutch oven. I had mine a little too high and the water boiled over (creating a starchy mess).

After the 2 hours, I put some olive oil in a skillet and sautéed a chopped onion, chopped garlic, two chopped carrots and a package of Butterball smoked turkey sausage (cut into bite sized pieces). Once everything started to caramelize a bit, I added it to the soup pot along with half of the seasoning packet (I didn't want it too spicy).

I simmered 30 more minutes or so until beans were tender. I was supposed to add some lemon juice but forgot. I did add a little salt to my bowl because I like beans to be salty. (According to my taste buds, there are just some things--like beef, potatoes and beans--that should be a little on the salty side!) :)

This turned out so good! Very healthy with all the fiber. As much as I love summer and warm weather, I have to admit it's nice to enjoy soup again. :)

www.missytippens.com

Chicken and Veggie Pot Pie

This recipe was inspired by the chicken pot pie I've gotten at "Stout", a fun, sports-themed bar-and-grill in Lower Manhattan. I've been there a few times and being a creature of habit...

SHOCKER!!!! :) (Is this where I admit to binge listening to my favorite CDs and playlists over and over and over again??????)

I've ordered it each time and I love it. New York restaurants do not overfeed you. Unlike our Western New York counterparts, the servings in Manhattan are that little bit smaller in lots of places. And they don't even have to be fancy places... but at Stout it's just good food, a normal serving and New York sports all around you, so that's  party bonus! :)

They serve the pie in a good sized ramekin bowl, deep dish style. It's not topped with pie crust or biscuits, but puff pastry, and I love working with puff pastry. Puff pastry is so stinkin' versatile that I can create amazing desserts and main dishes with it. So that was another bonus.

And on those busy nights, if you've got leftover cooked chicken, this is a quick meal. I popped the puff pastry out of the freezer and let it thaw a little while I was making the other stuff.

I didn't have cooked chicken so I coated three chicken breasts with garlic, salt and fresh-ground pepper and baked it for about 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Gravy:

4 cups water
3 large bouillon cubes OR 1 1/2 TBSP chicken base
1/3 cup flour 
1 cup water

Whisk flour into one cup of water. Heat the four cups of water in large saucepan and whisk in the chicken bouillon or the chicken base. Heat. Whisk in the flour/water mixture. If you have drippings in the chicken pan, sure... throw those in, too. If not? No worries!

Now some folks add cream here and that's fine... if you want a creamier gravy. I wanted a more old-fashioned taste and so I left the cream out.

Use two or three leftover potatoes, chopped to bite-sized pieces or cook three potatoes and drain them when fork-tender.

One small package (10-12oz) of mixed vegetables.

Make gravy.
Add chicken.
Add veggies.
Add potatoes.
Pour into 13 x 9 pan.
Top with one sheet of thawed puff pastry.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 30-40 minutes.

Serve.

Enjoy!

So we're winding things down at the pumpkin farm... here am I with Cinderella, because of course Cinderella should visit a pumpkin farm in honor of her coach! :)

And this is my "pig pot" flower holder... it's a genuine cast iron pot that was used to scald the hide of butchered hogs so that you could scrape the bristly hair off.... My use for it is much more decorative. Isn't this gorgeous? These are "Big Red" begonias, and they make such a show that people keep commenting on them! I have them in my window boxes and the big planters. Big Red and Big Pink have much bigger leaves and flowers so they fill the flower pot areas quickly... and by October, they're overflowing with color!

This is almost my height. Half pot... and more than half flowers. A great thing to look for next spring for your summer gardens, and you can see that it's not "worn" like so many of the summer blooms are by this time. It's positively happy! Glowing!!!

Speaking of glowing, this was a weird morning. I was working in the kitchen. It was just about seven o'clock and the sun wasn't due to rise for another ten minutes so everything was still dark and dusky... and a huge, black storm system was moving in from the west. I could see that out my west-facing windows and the sun should have been rising soon from my east windows....

And then the yard filled with this amazing amber light.... a golden light just flooded the yard, a totally out-of-this-world experience. I think I stood there, staring, wondering if aliens were landing and if so... what would I feed them????

I went out and took a couple of pictures, wanting to capture whatever was happening. (Yes, I could have been stolen by aliens, but I WASN'T, so that's okay, right????)

Here's the dark storm front:

And this is the yard, filled with golden light although the color doesn't come through here:

Remember... the sun wasn't up yet! It was dark and then all of a sudden this light bathed the yard, the trees....

You can see how dark things were with the storm front picture...

I found out later that day that the sunrise (which isn't visible because of trees in my yard and all of the northeast, by the way) was like this huge red ball, peeking up. That must have bounced light from the sun to the clouds and then it was reflected back to the yard as amber.....

Because once the sun rose, it was just regular old light again!

But above those trees I watched a double rainbow appear. Almost over my head because the sun's angle was so acute. (notice I got a little math talk in there, because it's all mathematical, right???)

I used the panoramic setting on my camera which I've never done and it kept scolding me.... "move camera more quickly. Move camera more smoothly. Move camera in the direction of the arrow..."

But I finally got it! And you can see that bright spot in the middle is where the sun's light was being reflected onto the earth below.

I have no idea how many people got the blessing of the golden light, but it's a sight that amazed me and I absolutely had to share it with you!

And look what came to my house this week!!!!!

A 2-in-1 duo with Gail Gaymer Martin! Her award-winning "Christmas Kite" and my "The Lawman's Holiday Wish", a beautiful story of a woman who's made mistakes and a man who needs to learn a valuable lesson about forgiveness.

I've got a copy to give away today, so if you leave a comment I'll put your name in the Christmas stocking! :) Or the Halloween candy bowl???

I'd love to know what you like more? Old-fashioned chicken pot pie or a little flower fun on the farm? Or both?

Multi-published, award-winning inspirational author Ruth Logan Herne loves God... her family... her country.... chocolate, coffee and dogs! She's thrilled to be living her dream job of writing sweet stories that make folks laugh... and cry. Visit her on facebook, stop by her website ruthloganherne.com or follow her on Twitter. She loves to hear from readers and other writers!

Comforting Carrot & Garlic Soup

I had a post all planned for today, but...
                                                                            life happens.

Long week at work.

Maybe a dog with fleas.

But maybe means you treat it anyway, because to ignore would be inviting chaos.

So I have no energy left.

And, Jan and Mindy started a soup week....

So isn't it simply time to remind you of the goodness that is soup?

Originally, I was going to share my apple pumpkin lentil soup recipe, but all my photos disappeared from that post, so instead, I thought I'd remind you of a wonderful soup from one of our wonderful guest chefs.

Michelle Karl shared this recipe with us a year ago March, so I figured it was worth a retry.

 Comforting Carrot & Garlic Soup

Everyone is busy. You’re busy, I’m busy, we’re all running around flailing and wondering when things will stop getting so busy, but sometimes it’s hard to see an end in sight. And I don’t know about you, but when I hit a busy season, one of the first things to get shoved aside is meal prep and healthy eating.

Making healthy food takes so much time, not to mention needing to go out and shop for ingredients, too. Maybe you’re better at preparation than I am, but I don’t tend to keep a lot in my fridge because I hate food waste, so I try to only buy what I need to prepare meals. But if I’m not preparing meals, I have nothing in the fridge, and… well, it becomes a vicious cycle.

Enter: the soup I’m sharing today.

It’s fast, it’s incredibly cheap, it’s ridiculously flavorful, it takes only a few ingredients, and—this is my favorite part—the main ingredients are the kinds of items that we all tend to have in our fridge and pantry, even when there’s “nothing” there, because they last so very, very long.

Do you have a bag of carrots? A bulb of garlic? Then you’re all set! I’ve made this recipe with fresh carrots and with carrots that have been sitting in my fridge for 6 months and were trying to take root inside the bag (uh, it’s possible I may also have a “cleaning out my fridge” problem…). It tasted great both ways!

Notably, it’s not my recipe, but comes from a blog called A Teaspoon of Turmeric(https://www.arvindas.com/arvindas-blog/2013/9/29/soups-on-carrot-garlic-curried-soup), which is run by a mother and daughter team who own the company Arvinda’s, which sells spice blends. That said, the version of this recipe up on their blog right now is a little different from their original one (which I use), so I feel comfortable replicating it here!

Carrot & Garlic Soup

It’s also worth noting that, depending on how much time you have, you could make this soup in two stages. If you’re short on time in the morning, or have extra time in the evening to prep and cook the carrots, do that. It will make for a quick “fresh” meal when you’re ready to eat.

And if you’re making this for more than a few people—double it! Or triple it! It will also depend on the size of your carrots.

Ingredients:

4-5 large carrots, peeled, washed and cut into small pieces (size needed will depend on your blender strength & how much cooking time you have!)

4 cups water

1/2 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. olive oil

3 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped (or more)

1.5 tsp turmeric

salt to taste

1 tbsp. parsley flakes (or fresh parsley)

Instructions:

1. Place carrots, salt, and water in a large pot. Cook until carrots are fork-tender. Allow to cool slightly (this is for your own safety before step 2!).
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Using either a hand blender or a high-speed blender, blend up the carrots. I prefer mine with texture, so I only pulse it a few times in the blender.
   
   
   
   
   
3. In another pot (or the same one, if you’ve blended the carrots up in a blender), gently heat your olive oil. Add chopped garlic and saute until fragrant.
4. Add turmeric to garlic and stir frequently, allowing spice to cook for about a minute.
5. 
   Add carrot mixture to garlic and turmeric. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.
6. Stir in parsley flakes and serve hot! (Or ladle into bowls & garnish with fresh parsley.)

I love that this recipe is so simple that it can be easily done in stages, and that it’s not difficult to double, triple, or—yes, I’ve done this for a church potluck—quadruple! And for such a sparse ingredient list, the amount of flavor here is incredible. I’ve had folks ask what’s in it, and watched their eyes nearly bug out when I answered, “really, it’s just carrots and garlic, and a bit of turmeric!”

Also, if you’ve not worked with turmeric before, this is an excellent way to ease into it. Unlike many herbs and spices, the health benefits of turmeric have been widely studied for decades and peer reviewed by scientists and health professionals. And in this recipe, it’s so subtle that you won’t even taste it. I promise! (Well, unless you’re a supertaster (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supertaster) , in which case I can’t promise anything…)

Thanks for having me here today! And I hope you get a moment to, well, slow down and enjoy this dish.

Bio 

Michelle Karl is an unabashed bibliophile and romantic suspense author. She lives in Canada with her husband and several critters, including a co-dependent cat and an opinionated parrot. When she’s not reading and consuming copious amounts of coffee, she writes the stories she’d like to find in her ‘to be read’ pile. She also loves animals, world music and eating the last piece of cheesecake. Visit her atwww.michellekarl.com and on Twitter @_michellekarl_.

Falling for Soup

Fall in Texas. You never really know what you're going to get. Just last week, we were in the 90s. Kids were hanging around in the backyard. 

Then the 80s arrived, making walks in the woods/pastures much more inviting. Recent rains made it easy to see signs of wildlife. There were deer tracks.

Wild hogs had been on the move.

As were racoons.

And the pastures are filled with goat weed and bitterweed. 

But now... Fall has arrived! It's goodbye 80s and 90s, hello 50s and 60s. And that means my cravings for soup can finally be fulfilled and thoroughly enjoyed.

Yes, I have literally been craving this Southwestern Chicken Soup for weeks.

But soup just isn't the same when it's hot outside. At least not for me. 

It was only January when I first shared this recipe, but since we haven't thought about soup in months, I thought it was worth sharing again.

Here's what you'll need:

• 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I used 3 this time)
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 - 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper 
• 1 - 28 oz can diced tomatoes (I used the petite diced)
• 1 - 10 oz can Ro-tel diced tomatoes with green chilies (they have original, mild and spicier varieties; I use original, but it you want the flavor but not the spice, use the mild)
• 3 cups chicken broth (I prefer the low-sodium variety)
• 1 - 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup tomato paste
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1-2 cups frozen corn

Place the chicken breasts in the bottom of a CrockPot or slow cooker.

Sprinkle with chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper.

Add tomatoes, Ro-tel, chicken broth, black beans tomato paste, onion and bell pepper.

Stir, trying not to disturb the chicken.

Cover and cook on high for 5 hours or low for 8 hours.

See, I told you it was easy. Now you have the rest of the day to knockout your to-do list.
Approximately and hour to an hour and a half before cooking is done, stir in the frozen corn.

You could add it at the beginning, if you prefer, but I like a little crunch to my corn.

When cooking time is up, remove chicken breasts and shred the meat.

Return meat to slow cooker, stir and serve.

Perfect for a cool fall day or a bone-chilling winter night.

Now it's your turn. What's cooking in your neck of the woods?

Three-time Carol Award finalist, Mindy Obenhaus lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, the youngest of her five children and two dogs. She's passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more at www.MindyObenhaus.com