Life is Better Pumpkin Flavored

I'm a serious pumpkin addict, every autumn. I love pumpkin coffee, beer, bread, cake, milkshakes, you name it. And considering the retweets and likes I got from when the title of this post was used on my Facebook and Twitter, I can tell that women love pumpkin everything too. That's good enough to share two recipes I played with this past week.

When my friend @musenews posted on Twitter that she was eating pumpkin pretzels, I became obsessed. I found a few different recipes online, but adapted them to what I had in the pantry. They turned out amazingly. I hope you try these.

You'll need:
1/4 - 1/2 cup of warm water
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 package of active yeast
1 cup of canned pumpkin puree
4 cups of flour
dash of salt
teaspoon of olive oil
8 cups of boiling water
2 tablespoons baking powder

Got a big bowl? Not the smoking kind, hippie. Put the warm water and stir in the sugar. Add the yeast and let it activate. This takes a couple of minutes. Then stir in the pumpkin. Now add the flour and salt. Beat the crap out of this mix until you have a nice dough. Feel free to add more water if it's too stiff. (That's what she said.) Keep kneading for like, 10 minutes. Brush that ball of dough with the olive oil. Now wrap it lightly in plastic wrap and a warm, damp towel. Let the dough rise in a warm place for about an hour.

Here comes the fun. Preheat an oven to 475. Bring the water and baking soda to a boil. Cut your dough ball into 6 to 8 even chunks. Roll out each chunk and shape your pretzels. Get creative! I tried to make jack-o-lantern shapes. Boil those bastards for a minute on each side, one at a time. Place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt and then bake.

I drizzled my finished pretzels with melted semi-sweet chocolate chips. I think chocolate cream cheese dip would have been ideal. I toyed around making a pumpkin frosting. Really, the choices are endless.

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So, for the pretzels, I'd opened a giant can of pumpkin puree, and was trying to think of something non-sweet to use the rest on, since I had a bunch of sweet pretzels to eat already. The pumpkin worked so well in dough form, and I'm a good Italian boy, so I made pasta. It. Was. Awesome.

2 cups of flour
dash of salt
1/2 cup of pumpkin
teaspoon of olive oil
teaspoon of water

Like any good fresh pasta, be prepared to play with the flour and water amounts to get it right. Use your hands to toss all of this stuff together until you have a nice, firm ball. (That's what she said.) Roll dough into a warm, damp towel, and let it sit for about 20 minutes. Shape how you see fit. (I rolled it out and cut little moon shapes.) Boil for about 2 minutes, give or take based on thickness of your pasta shapes.

For sauces, I personally just tossed it in a little olive oil and salt and pepper. I think a nice cream sauce would be elegant as well. Maybe something sweet? It'd be fine with just marinara or Alfredo too. Iz good shite. I promise.

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Always a Place in Her Heart AND Her Stomach

I sort of let this blog go, but it just came up in conversation for about the 5th time this month, so I thought I'd add a post. It isn't that I don't still love to cook and want you all to know how to do so. I very much do. It's just that my heart wasn't behind the seduction aspect of things anymore. I'm personally looking for something more "real" in my life.I mean, to the point that I had dreams of holding hands last night. If I can't be with someone I care about, I don't want to settle for second best. But enough of my sappy, I'm done with cheap thrills crap. You came here for sweet, sensual food.

An earlier post to this site about how to make soup was based on an ex writing to me saying that even after many years, she still craved it. Well, today she contacted me, begging for the recipe. I remembered the Bachelor Pad Kitchen and sent her the link.

It made me think that the Bachelor Pad Kitchen may still be able to fit into my new way of life. I mean, this wasn't some cheap seduction. We were so very much in love then. She worked in film and I was going to school, hours apart from each other. We found a weekend to escape together to her parent's lakeside cabin. It was all very sweet, which I will now ruin the image of by telling you that I got more head for this soup than most men get in their entire relationship. But hey, this is the Bachelor Pad Kitchen. That's the sort of thing I need to divulge.

This isn't a healthy soup, by any means. But it is absolutely delicious. And simple. She wants to know how to make the basic Cream of Mushroom. Which today I would suggest adding a dash of nutmeg as a garnish, and maybe a little shaved apple. But, this soup can be adapted readily to any cream soup. I recently made it with crab. I'm considering trying a pumpkin curry variety this week. You can adapt it so very many ways. The original recipe post is here. May your kitchens be warm with love.
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