Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I find it very easy to not get sucked in to the pumpkin flavored everything frenzy which occurs every autumn. While I like pumpkin pie with loads of fresh whipped cream and the occasional piece of pumpkin cake slathered in cream cheese frosting, I've never had a pumpkin spice latte or a pumpkin spice Oreo. I just don't see (or maybe it should be "taste") the appeal. Perhaps it's because I prefer smaller quantities of the warm spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves; I think they can quickly become overpowering in a recipe and many people don't understand that in some cases, less of something is actually better. It's also entirely possible that I'm too stubborn to give into the pumpkin spice trend.

Despite my adamant food beliefs, I have many people in my life who adore pumpkin desserts and drinks. I love these people so I make them what they desire. I'm willing to admit that this cake is one of the exceptions to my rule. It's moist, not cloyingly sweet despite the amount of sugar nor is it too heavily spiced. And it's covered in cream cheese frosting. I love a good cream cheese frosting.

I slightly adapted the following recipe from a "Taste of Home" recipe for a family dinner last year. It's a quick cake to make, no fancy ingredients, and no special techniques.

Ingredients for the CAKE:

4 eggs
1-2/3 cups sugar
1 cup melted butter
1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin puree
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Dash of nutmeg
Dash of allspice
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Ingredients for the FROSTING:

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons milk

MAKE THE CAKE:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9" by 13" baking dish.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, butter, and pumpkin until well-blended.

In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients, and add slowly to the wet ingredients, mixing well.

Pour batter into the prepared baking dish.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes.

Let cool completely before frosting.

MAKE THE FROSTING:

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter thoroughly, then add the powdered sugar and beat until fluffy.  Add the vanilla extract and 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk, adding more milk for a thinner consistency as desired or adding more powdered sugar for a thicker frosting.

Cook's Notes:

1. You can certainly add up to a cup of "extras" (raisins, craisins, walnuts, pecans, chocolate chips) to the batter if you'd like.  I recommend toasting the nuts before adding them to either the batter or scattering over the top of the frosting.

2. Have we ever talked about having your ingredients at room temperature before baking? Butter and eggs both benefit from sitting on the counter for about 15 minutes and warming up before you incorporate them in the batter. Softened butter creams with sugar better and more quickly; you want the end result to be super fluffy and very pale. At room temp, eggs are more easily mixed into your cake batter. Eggs are hardier than we give them credit for. Technically, as long as they're stored in a cool location and used promptly, they don't even need to be refrigerated. Modern fridges are kept much colder than they really need to be. So, before you preheat the oven and start assembling the rest of your ingredients, pull the eggs and butter from the fridge and let them come up to room temp.

3. You can add spices to the frosting if you want to; a sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg. Just remember you can always add more spice but you can't remove it, so start with a very small amount and taste as you go.

The cake tastes even better the day after and if you miraculously have leftovers, it remains moist up to a week later.

Mexican White Bean & Chicken Soup

Rain has returned to the Pacific Northwest in full force. It's not particularly cold but it's back to being gray and wet all day long, which means it's soup weather. Soup is miraculous; you can make it out of anything, extend it with more stock or veggies if you end up with a crowd, it warms your body and soul, and it makes your house smell amazing! I've made cream of celery soup when I was gifted with several bunches of celery. I made turkey stock from the carcass of the bird my grandma roasted for Thanksgiving. I developed my borscht recipe as a result of someone giving me beets (see a pattern?).

In this case, no one gave me any of the ingredients. I was trawling through the fridge and the pantry, looking for inspiration, and my eye was caught by the green chilies and the white beans. I remembered I had some chicken in the fridge I needed to use up and I realized I could make a Mexican seasoned soup.

Ingredients:

About a pound of boneless, skinless chicken breast or thighs, cubed

One onion, diced

A teaspoon or so of minced garlic

1 small can of minced green chilies

2 cans of white beans

About 8 cups of chicken stock

Cumin, oregano, chili powder, salt and pepper, to taste

Fresh lime juice, to taste

Sour cream on the side for garnish

In a large stockpot over medium high heat, heat a little oil and saute the chicken with the onion, until the chicken is lightly browned and the onion is translucent. Add the garlic and about a teaspoon each of the cumin and oregano, a sprinkle of chili powder and a pinch or two of salt (you'll taste and adjust the seasonings after the soup has simmered and before serving).  Add the canned chilies and canned beans, including the liquid and then add the chicken stock. Bring the soup to a simmer--don't boil it.  Let it simmer for 10 or 15 minutes and then taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking. Let simmer for another 10 or 15 minutes. Add fresh squeezed lime juice immediately before serving.

Serve tortilla chips and sour cream on the side as a garnish. 

Cook's Notes:

1. Let's discuss body part: chicken thighs versus chicken breasts. Chicken thighs are less expensive and they're more flavorful and more moist. Chicken breasts are more expensive, don't have as much inherent flavor and they dry out more quickly. If you don't know how to properly cook chicken breasts, you end up with dry, flavorless chicken jerky. Ick. However. I like chicken breast meat in soup and if you gently saute the cubed chicken and then let it simmer in well seasoned liquid, the chunks should be tender and flavorful. 

2. Make sure you don't over-salt the soup. Cans and cartons of stock and paste and cubes of bouillon tends to be quite high in sodium. Look for low-sodium options and then taste BEFORE you add more salt.

3. I gave you general guidelines for the amounts of cumin, oregano, and chili powder. Taste is subjective. I may have said that before and I know I'll repeat myself in the future. Start with less because you can always add more. That goes for the lime juice and the garlic as well. 

4. Unless I'm making a salad of some kind, I don't rinse canned beans since the liquid is starchy and it helps thicken the soup. And yes, I use canned beans. I know cooking my own from "scratch" is probably less expensive but I have extremely limited counter space and storage areas at this point in my life. If you watch the sales, you can find great deals on canned beans and stock up.

I hope you like the soup. I initially made it for my previous meal clients and they enjoyed it so much that she called me in the middle of their dinner to compliment me and then texted me later for the recipe so she could pass it along to her stepfather. Add a green salad and fresh cornbread to make a simple, delicious meal.

Teriyaki Meatballs

Meatballs are probably one of the most perfect foods and one of the most versatile. You can use any type of ground meat or even a combination of meats for more flavor, you can season them up any way you want, and you can use them in pasta dishes, soups, sandwiches, or simply serve them as appetizers. 

I created this recipe a couple years ago. I was tired of making teriyaki chicken (which, to be fair, is not difficult, just boring) and I thought, well, why not use ground chicken instead and make meatballs? I wanted the meatballs to have a lot of flavor, so I included the traditional Asian seasonings of garlic, ginger, sesame oil, and scallions. With the addition of bottled teriyaki sauce (don't judge me!), both in the meatball mix and then as a glaze before baking, I ended up with a flavorful alternative for dinner.

Ingredients:

2 pounds ground turkey or chicken

1 bunch of scallions, chopped

1 inch chunk of fresh ginger, peeled & minced

4 garlic cloves, peeled, mashed & chopped

2 TBSPS sesame oil

3 TBSPS teriyaki sauce

1 egg

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly.  Form into balls (I used my portion scoop and they were about 2 inches).  Place in a large baking dish and then add some more teriyaki sauce over top, maybe a 1/4 cup or so.  Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. After you remove them from the oven, leave the foil on and let them sit while you make some roasted broccoli with sesame oil (roast at 350 for 20 minutes). Serve with brown rice.

Cook's notes:

1. If you have never cooked with sesame oil, DO IT. But do not buy those teeny overpriced bottles at your regular grocery store. You can buy higher quality oil in larger amounts for less money at any Asian market, such as Uwajimaya or H-Mart. Sesame oil is used in marinades, dipping sauces, and it's added at the end of cooking or as a garnish. Otherwise, the lovely nutty flavor cooks out in high heat and you've essentially wasted the oil.

2. Homemade teriyaki sauce isn't difficult to make and I really should make my own. But instead, I reach for the bottle (so to speak). Because I patronize Asian marts, I can buy great tasting teriyaki sauce. Use whatever brand you like and don't feel bad about it!

3. Fresh ginger root. I am in LOVE with fresh ginger. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love it: the spicy scent which stays on my fingers long after I've peeled and grated chunks for a dish, the warming flavor which adds so much depth to a dish or jazzes up a plain chicken stock, and even the medicinal aspects of taming nausea and soothing sore throats. I suffer from migraines and motion sickness, so I keep ginger candies on hand for those times when I'm nauseated. Which is probably more than you need to know, but hey. No one is forcing you to read this blog. Or if someone is forcing you to read it, they're guilty of human rights violations.

I'm thinking that I'll need to do more recipes on meatballs in the future. I've made koftas, which are Middle Eastern flavored meatballs; I've made Italian seasoned meatballs for pasta dishes; I've even gone the retro route and simmered meatballs in a mixture of chili sauce and grape jelly (hello, 1960s!). Those were a huge hit, prompting someone to ask me for the secret; I was almost ashamed to pass along the "recipe".

Vegetarian Borscht

I don't like beets at all in any form, so I find it quite amusing that this borscht is one of my most requested recipes. Since I created the recipe from an amalgamation of a dozen or so that I had read, I didn’t have measurements for the ingredients. I've tried to recreate it here for you and I think I've got it down. I've also included two methods to prepare the borscht, both of which I've tried with great results.

• 3 or 4 carrots, peeled & sliced
• 3 or 4  stalks of celery, sliced
• 4 or 5 waxy potatoes, cubed or 1 large russet, peeled & cubed
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 to 4 beets (depending on what size you can get), peeled and cubed
• 1 large can diced tomatoes
• 1 head of cabbage, shredded (optional)
• 2 quarts vegetable stock
• 2 TBSPS butter, melted
• sea salt & pepper to taste
• dried dill weed to taste
• A couple large dollops of sour cream (optional), to be served on the side

Option #1: 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Place the cubed beets in a large dutch oven and drizzle with butter.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and stir.  Roast, uncovered, for about 30 minutes or until the beets are tender when pierced with a fork.  Carefully remove the dutch oven from the oven and place on cook top over medium high heat.  Add the remainder of the veggies & canned tomatoes, the vegetable stock and cabbage, if using, and simmer for 15 minutes or so until the tomatoes break down and the cabbage is soft. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Option #2: 

Heat butter in a large stockpot & briefly saute the onion, beets, carrots, and potatoes with a sprinkle of salt. Add the canned tomatoes, vegetable stock, and cabbage (if using). Taste and season with the salt, pepper, and dried dill. Bring soup to a low boil then cover and immediately turn down to simmer for a couple hours or until the veggies are soft enough to pierce with a fork. Taste again and adjust the seasonings as necessary. 

Recipe Notes:

1. The amount of vegetables to use is up to you and how many people you’ll be feeding; that’s the great thing about soups–they’re guidelines!  You could include parsnips as well since they’ll caramelize nicely when roasted and add an extra dimension of flavor.  Same with the amount of stock; it’s equal to 8 cups of liquid which will make a large batch.  If you use less stock, it’ll be a thicker soup.  Up to you!
2. Cabbage is traditional in Middle European dishes and I’ve run across several other borscht recipes in which it’s an integral ingredient.  I happen to like it but I know that not everyone does. You can just use a prepackaged bag of the angel hair coleslaw mix sold at grocery stores.
3. Beets.  If you buy young or small beets and then roast them which causes the sugars to caramelize, you end up with a completely different and more complex flavor than the more earthy flavor with which you may be familiar.  Beets WILL stain your hands and clothes and counter tops and cutting boards; peel them over some old newspapers, wear disposable gloves if you have them and don’t wear a favorite shirt.  If you use an acrylic cutting board, scrub it down with a handful of salt after cubing the beets and let it soak in a mild bleach water solution.  As for your hands; I just read a tip that if you soak your hands in Polident (or a generic brand), it will even get the stains out from under your nails.  I don’t worry about my hands because by the time I get done in the kitchen, I’ve washed so many pots and pans, the color’s all but gone by then.
4. Dill is a traditional seasoning used in the European cuisines of Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Serbia. It can be overpowering if you're not used to the taste, so add it in small quantities; you can always add more but you can't remove it.

Serve your borscht with slices of rye bread and cured meats or as a starter to a meal of beer braised short ribs and mashed potatoes. 

Welcome to my new food blog, Enhance + Enrich.

Well, hi there! I've had a few people ask me repeatedly if I had a food blog. Yes and no. I have tried this blogging thing a few times in the past; a personal one, a garden one, and my previous NiteOwl food blog and I've let them all lapse for various reasons. The personal one? I'm not a sharing type of person. The garden one? I'm not involved anymore. The NiteOwl one? I loved it, but a friend was maintaining the fees for the site and we decided to just let the domain name lapse. I'm totally fine using a free blog platform. At any rate, you may run across the first two defunct blogs here on Blogger; ignore them. I may bring over some of my posts from the NiteOwl blog at some point, so keep an eye out for them.

I chose the name, Enhance + Enrich, because both words refer to learning and to seasoning foods. I love to read about and research food--the history of cuisines, different techniques, seasonings and ingredients. I also have a passion for educating people about food. There is so much to know and so much new information which comes out about nutrition, new varieties of produce, different cuts of meat, obscure seasonings from around the globe, and new super-foods as well as basic techniques for those who are not as confident in the kitchen.

Cooking doesn't need to be a big production with dozens of ingredients and unfamiliar terms. It should be (relatively) relaxing rather than stressful. It should be a celebration of a few good seasonal ingredients or a bubbling casserole of comfort food. As much as I admire molecular gastronomists, I have no desire to cook like them; I cook like me. And that's what I want to teach you; how to cook like you, according to your tastes, your preferences, and your dietary needs.

So, to that end, I want you to ask me cooking questions. I want to teach you how to be a more confident cook and to rely on your instincts. I want you to try a new recipe and make it your own. I want to show you that veggies can be amazing and not just boring after-thoughts to a meal. I want you to be inspired and I want you to enjoy your food.

In the meantime, let me leave you with one of my favorite quotes from the incomparable Julia Child; "People who love to eat are the best people."