Author: rang2015

Kandy & Ginny’s Pumpkin Pie Squares

A few weeks ago I was tempted by some custardy-looking bars on the table after the first service at church. When I asked Pat, who had volunteered to host the coffee and snack table that day, she told me that they were pumpkin pie squares. I bit into a bar and was pleasantly surprised to discover that one could enjoy a piece of pumpkin pie while watching one’s diet. Pat had cut her squares into inch and a half pieces, so I assumed that each piece had only a few calories.

Since Jerri and I usually sit near the front of the sanctuary, we are nearly always among the last people to shake hands with the pastor and head to the coffee table. Looking around, I did not see anyone heading for the snacks, so I asked if I might take another of the half dozen remaining bars. I’m sure that the two bars still had a lot fewer calories than a piece of pie with whipped cream.

I was hooked by those tasty morsels and asked Pat for the recipe. “It’s in the church cookbook,” she told me. “It’s Kandy Schaffer and Ginny Hoogheem’s recipe, and we like it a lot. You must have a copy.”

So I went home, found A Little Taste of Heaven, published in 1990 by the United Methodist Women of our church, and made Pumpkin Pie Squares. Unless you hate pumpkin pie, this is a recipe you will want to add to your repertoire of desserts.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin
1 can (12 to 13 oz.) evaporated milk
2 large eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 T softened butter

PROCEDURE:

Preheat the oven to 350º and lightly grease a nine by thirteen-inch baking pan. Use a fork to mix the flour, oatmeal and brown sugar in a mixing bowl. Soften the butter and cut it into the dry ingredients. Pat this crust mixture into the bottom of the pan and bake for fifteen minutes.

While the crust is baking, beat together the pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, salt and spices with an electric mixer. Pour the pumpkin batter into the crust and return the pan to the oven. Bake for twenty minutes.

Stir the pecans, brown sugar and softened butter together in a small bowl. Sprinkle the nut mixture over the partially cooked pumpkin and continue baking for about thirty to thirty-five minutes or until done. Check for doneness with a table knife inserted near the center of the pan. If the knife comes out clean, the bars are done. If not, bake another five minutes and check again.

NOTE: Kandy and Ginny both died within the last few years and the list of those who contributed recipes to A Little Taste of Heaven when it was published in 1990 includes many more who have passed away. I think this little cookbook is a memorial to those women (and a few men) who cooked and loved their families, church and God. Every time we follow one of their recipes, we affirm that those who are gone are not forgotten.

Stealthy Turkey Swedish Meatballs

Growing up in northern Wisconsin, I have eaten my share of Swedish meatballs. Long before I ever saw a ball of meat swimming in a spicy red sauce, I had already eaten scores of those ping-pong-sized morsels floating in a pool of whitish gravy next to the mashed potatoes, green peas and cranberry sauce at Lutheran Church dinners. Though many people say that Swedish meatballs are bland, I think it is more accurate to say that they have a subtle flavor instead of the aggressive spiciness of Italian meatballs.

Traditional Swedish meatballs are made with beef or a combination of beef and pork mixed with bread or breadcrumbs, egg, milk and spices. This recipe substitutes ground turkey for the beef and pork. They are as good as any Swedish meatballs I have eaten in a long life. My family was founded by immigrants from Germany, so my tastebuds may not be as sensitive to authentic Swedish cuisine, but I really doubt you would suspect that these meatballs came from a turkey rather than a cow.

They really are stealthy. Try them on some unsuspecting guests or your family. I’ll bet that they will ask for seconds.

INGREDIENTS:

For the meatballs:
1/4 cup minced onion
1 minced garlic clove
2 T olive oil
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. lemon pepper
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. cardamom
2 T chopped parsley
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
2 lbs. ground turkey

For the sauce:
4 T unsalted butter
5 T all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. white pepper
Dash of nutmeg
1 cup water
1 tsp. instant chicken bouillon
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream

PROCEDURE:

Clean and mince the onion and garlic. Put two tablespoons of olive oil in a small frying pan and sweat the minced vegetables on low heat until they have softened.

Blend together the breadcrumbs, salt, spices, onion, garlic and chopped parsley. Mix the egg, milk and ground turkey with the dry ingredients until you have a uniform meat mixture.

Preheat the oven to 400º and line a large baking pan with parchment paper. Set a bowl of cold water next to the bowl of meat and the baking pan. Use spoon or other small scoop to measure meat to make one inch balls.

Wet your fingers and form the balls. Place them about a half inch apart in the pan and bake them for about twenty minutes until they are slightly browned. You will have about two dozen meatballs. If you want to check for doneness when you take them from the oven, an instant-read thermometer should register 165º. Simmering the meatballs in the sauce will guarantee that your meatballs are well done. Make the sauce while the meatballs are cooking.

Melt the butter over low heat in a Dutch oven or saucepan large enough to hold all the meatballs with the sauce. Add the flour, salt and pepper and stir the mixture to make a roux. Raise the heat to moderate and stir continuously until the roux is a light brown.

Light Brown roux

Stir the chicken broth, water and instant bouillon into the roux and keep stirring until the sauce thickens. Reduce the heat and stir in the heavy cream. Put the meatballs into the sauce and allow them to simmer for about fifteen minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning before serving.

Swedish meatballs are usually served alongside potatoes or over noodles. If you prefer noodles, you can cook them while the meatballs are simmering.

NOTES: Use ground turkey thigh instead of turkey breast. Ground turkey breast is rather dry, so you might want to add a little extra olive oil to the meat mixture if you use turkey breast. Incidentally, ground turkey thigh is on average nearly twenty percent lower in calories when compared to eighty-five percent ground beef.

Omit the salt in the sauce if you use salted butter, but taste and adjust the seasoning before you add the meatballs to the sauce in case you think it needs a little more salt.