Halloween and yummy foods

This past weekend was insane. Plain and simple.

Saturday- make 5 course meal for Mystery Dinner
Sunday morning- make 2 different baked goods, a protein dish and 2 fruit dishes for church food table
Sunday night- dinner for friends coming over for Halloween Hullabaloo
Tuesday-working the polls for election day-6am to 10:30pm-need food for myself all day

It was busy. And I survived it! And now I have a few more great recipes in my clutches for this season! *bwahahaha*

Saturday was fun. Plain and simple. My friend was hosting a Mystery Dinner, and she wanted to have a 5 course meal with it. Small problem is, my hubby and I were both going to go, and we have all these food allergy problems. Soo, I volunteered to "cater" it and make food there at the party. So much fun. We had aioli dip with roasted potato slices and carrot sticks, a lovely green salad, pumpkin soup, cranberry chicken with rice and green beans, and an asian apple tart. The tart and soup were my favorite. And this is coming from the girl that has texture issues, didn't like pumpkin for so many years, and couldn't stand cooked fruit dishes. Yeah. Life changes.

That soup. Oh, that soup! New favorite for our house. It is amazing. Plain and simple. The ailoi dip, the pumpkin soup and the tart recipe all came from Gluten Free Girl and the Chef's cookbook. Amazing book-if you have gluten allergies-GO BUY THIS BOOK NOW! Or, better yet, TELL YOUR FAMILY YOU WANT IT FOR CHRISTMAS!!! No joke-best birthday gift I got this year. I use this book so much!

The great thing about the recipes in the book-as long as you follow it and don't make a ton of changes to the recipes, it'll turn out amazing. Everything I've made has been delicious. Even with me needing to alter it for dairy avoidance. Amazing food. Amazing!

 Anyways, back to that night. It was great, I made the tart crust the night before, because the dough needed to be fridged overnight. Prepped as much as I could for all the different aspects I was going to be making. Made the dip a few hours before. Cooked the crust and tart there. I had so many lovely ladies helping in the kitchen to prepare! So many thanks to them! I had one friends slicing potato's into little wedges for the appetizer, another helping with dicing up onions for the soup, and then various floaters who would open the oven door for me when needed and stir this and that when needed. Amazing team effort. I made the tart, got that baked, cooled and put in the fridge to chill. Then focused on the soup. And it was worth it. Every minute spent working on that soup was worth it. My oh my. I had been nervous-THREE recipes I had never tried, but was going to making for a crowd. Why did I worry? Why worry when it's recipes from GFGirl? Seriously, silly me!

Creamy. Chunky. Spicy. Sweet. Smooth going down. A warm, hearty soup that sings of autumn leaves and scarves and evenings with family. I could eat bowls of this all day. Perfect for this weather!

Try it. You won't be disappointed. And if, somehow, you are-then call me and I'll pick it up and eat it for you. But if you follow this recipe, I promise you won't be sad.

One 5-pound sugar or pie pumpkin

6 TBSP EVOO

kosher salt and cracked pepper
1 large carrot, peeled and large diced
1 red onion, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, large diced
5 cloves garlic, smashed into smaller pieces (and peeled, of course)
1 TBSP chopped fresh sage (I only had dry, used the same amount)
1 medium sweet potato, peeled, quartered and medium diced
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (or, like me, powdered)
1 bay leaf
2 quarts chicken stock
1/2 cup coconut milk (or heavy cream, for you dairy people)
2 TBSP butter

2 tsp pumpkin seed oil (or EVOO)

1.  Preheat the oven to 450. Cut the tops off the pumpkins and slice into quarters. Scoop out all the pumpkin guts-but save the seeds for later. Arrange pumpkin flesh side up on baking sheet. Brush on EVOO and salt/pepper mix. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the flesh is soft. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
2. You can use the same sheet if you want, but either way, lightly coat the seeds with oil. Toss in the oven for about 5-10 minutes, until the start to brown ever so slightly. Season with salt and set aside to cool.
3. Scoop the pumpkin flesh from the skin. Dispose of skin. Break/cut the pumpkin into smaller pieces-about the size of chunks you wouldn't mind on your spoon in a soup.
4. Set a large-ish stockpot over medium heat and add the last of the EVOO. Add carrot, onion, celergy, garlic and cook, stirring until the onion turns translucent. Maybe 10 minutes or so. Add sage and cook until you start smelling the herb.
5. Add in the sweet potato. (yay!) Toss in nutmeg an bay leaf. Pour in the chicken stock, and add the pumpkin chunks. Bring it to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for about 15 minutes, or until that sweet potato is tender.
6. Find and remove the bay leaf-it has done its job well. Puree 3/4 of the soup and add it back to the chunky soup. It will create a lovely cacophany of texture. Taste the soup and season with salt and pepper.
7. Add cream/coconut milk and butter. Bring to a boil then again reduce to a simmer for about another 10 minutes. We're thickening it a bit, and giving it a few minutes to fully blend and incorporate. Stir it frequently through this time.
8. Ladle the soup into bowls, and garnish with pumpkin seeds a little dash of pumpkin seed oil. Serve.

 Serves 6-8. 322 calories and 35 carbs

I think I prefer my soup without the seeds added to it-I prefer munching on them while cooking and mingling. A delicious little snack. (I say this as I'm sitting here typing and munching on them)

Best soup ever!

Next time I make the apple tart I'll take pictures and post the recipe. (unless you want the recipe now?) Just know it tasted great. So very great!

I'll post one more recipe for now, then I gotta run a few errands for work. (yay work!) The protein dish I made for Sunday. I've never made an egg casserole before, and I felt a bit intimidated when I realized that all recipes for egg casseroels have cheese in them. I mean, an egg casserole without cheese? Would that even taste good?

MMmmm...yes!

May I emphasize this as a protein dish?...

3 sausage
4 bacon
1/2-1 cup sweet potato
6-8+ eggs
1/2 cup+ coconut milk
chili pepper

Cooking the sausage, break into small bits. Dice the sweet potato and add to the sausage. Season kinda heavily with chili powder. Once it's cooked, spread into the bottom of the baking dish, reserving a small amount. Beat eggs and milk, and pour into pan, enough to cover sausage and potato. Cook bacon and break into small bits. Sprinkle 3/4 of the bacon over the egg. Add the last of the egg and sprinkle with remaining sausage/potato/bacon. Bake in oven at 350 for about 30 minutes. Serve.

Sooo good!