Welcome to my Kitchen

Bleak January weather invites warm savory cooking, and the season of

Bowl Games calls for flavorful menus. Canned or frozen pumpkin forms the

base for this week’s menu. Pumpkin can thicken a soup or add creamy

texture to desserts and bread.

Johnsonville French Toast Bake is a great way to start out a game

day brunch or buffet meal. A fruit salad makes a colorful refreshing

side for this dish.

Johnsonville

French Toast Bake

1 package (12 ounces) Johnsonville Brown Sugar and Honey Breakfast Links

12 eggs

1 can (30 ounces) pumpkin pie filling

1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

15 slices white bread, cubed

Powdered sugar

Cook sausage according to package directions. Cool slightly; cut

into 1/4 inch slices.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, pie filling, milk, cinnamon and

vanilla.

In a very large bowl, combine sausage and cubed bread. Add pumpkin

mixture; stir to coat evenly.

Transfer to a greased 13x9 inch baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for

35-40 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Dust with powdered sugar. Serve with syrup. Yield: 12 servings.

Pumpkin Corn Chowder is a quick-to-fix savory soup to start a meal

or serve as a main course. Adding sausage, diced chicken or ham, and a

diced jalapeño pepper, turns this into a spicy meal in one dish.

Pumpkin Corn Chowder

2 Tbsp butter

1 small onion, minced

1 package (10 ounces) frozen whole kernel corn

1 can (16 ounces) solid pack pumpkin

1 1/2 cups water

1 Tbsp granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

2 chicken flavored bouillon cubes

2 cups Half and Half

1 Tbsp chopped parsley for garnish

In a 4-quart saucepan over medium heat, in hot butter, cook onion

until tender, stirring often. Add frozen corn; cook 2 to 3 minutes until

corn is tender. Stir in pumpkin, water, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and

bouillon until blended and mixture begins to boil; cook 5 minutes to

blend flavors. Stir in Half-and-Half; heat through. (Do not boil after

adding Half-and-Half or mixture will curdle.)

To serve, ladle into bowls and garnish with chopped parsley. Yield:

6 1/2 cups soup.

Pumpkin Yeast Rolls are good with any soup and they rise quickly,

requiring only about an hour and a half until baking time.

Pumpkin Yeast Rolls

6 1/2 to 6 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 packages regular yeast

1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

2 cups pumpkin puree

1 cup milk

1/4 cup butter

In a large mixer bowl combine 2 cups of the flour, yeast, brown

sugar, salt and spices. In a 2-quart saucepan, combine pumpkin, milk,

butter and water; heat until hot (120 to 130 degrees).

With mixer at low speed, add hot pumpkin mixture to flour mixture;

beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. With a wooden spoon, gradually add

enough of the remaining flour to make a stiff, not sticky dough.

On a lightly floured surface, knead dough until smooth and elastic,

about 5 minutes. Place in a lightly greased bowl, turning dough to bring

greased side up. Cover with towel, let rise in a warm place until double

in bulk, 30 to 40 minutes.

Lightly grease two large baking sheets. Turn out dough onto lightly

floured surface. Cut dough into 24 equal pieces and form into rolls.

Place on prepared baking sheets and press down firmly to flatten a bit.

Cover and let rise about 30 minutes or until doubled. Bake in pre-heated

400 degree oven for 18-20 minutes. Yield: 24 rolls.

Merleen Smith shared the recipe for the Pumpkin Crunch Cake that was

served at the Community Christmas Dinner. The recipe comes from her

daughter, Randi Miller. Keep the ingredients on hand to be prepared to

provide a quick dessert for any menu.

Pumpkin Crunch Cake

1 box 2 layer yellow cake mix

1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree

1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom of a 9x13 inch

baking pan. Mix pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a large

mixing bowl. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Sprinkle with dry cake mix,

top with pecans. Drizzle melted butter over cake mix and pecans. Bake

50-55 minutes until set.

Creating new recipes is something I enjoy and often these recipes

show up in quilting patterns I design. The title of the recipe Punkins’

Cheesecake Pie, is credited to our cat, Punkin the Terrrible, manager of

the business operations, fitting for a ginger tabby cat.

Punkins’ Cheesecake Pie

1 prepared graham cracker crust

16 ounces, cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 Tbsp sour cream

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Beat cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Beat in vanilla

and eggs.

Place about 1/3 of the mixture in graham cracker crust. Reserve 1/2

cup of remaining cream cheese mixture, set aside.

Add pumpkin and spice to remaining mixture and spoon over cream

cheese mixture in crust, smoothing with a spatula.

Stir sour cream into reserved 1/2 cup mixture and drizzle over

pumpkin layer in strips. Bake 35-40 minutes until center is almost set.

Cool at room temperature, then refrigerate 2-3 hours or overnight before

serving. Yield: 8-10 small servings.

Share your favorite recipes by sending them to: Welcome to My

Kitchen, c/o The Odessa Record, P.O. Box 458, Odessa, WA 99159, email

therecord@odessaoffice.com or drop them in the Welcome to My Kitchen

mail tin in The Odessa Record office. Now is a good time to stir the

garden compost.