Roasted Pumpkin & Coconut Soup for #SundaySupper

Oct 7, 2012 by lovelypantry

Its Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada and my family and I are having a great time celebrating family, birthdays and friendships. We have so much to be thankful for!

Earlier this week while I was preparing for the weekend meals, I picked up some pumpkin…without knowing what I was going to make with it. I came across this recipe and I was sold! I don’t make soup very often but I surprised myself with this one. It was simple, awesome and perfect for #SundaySupper. This weeks #SundaySupper theme is All Things Orange, showcasing some wonderful Autumn recipes from some of our fabulous food bloggers. Look out for a wonderful selection of recipes using ingredients like pumpkin, sweet potatoes and butternut squash, to name a few. I’m so excited to see all the wonderful creations! This is my first season actually cooking with pumpkin so I know I’m going to be inspired. This is truly my favourite season!

This weeks host is Pam from The Meltaways! As always, please be sure you join us on Twitter throughout the day for #SundaySupper. We’ll be meeting up at 7:00 pm EST for our weekly #SundaySupper live chat where we’ll talk about our favourite recipes featuring our favourite fall colour. All you have to do is follow the #SundaySupper hashtag, or you can follow us through TweetChat. We’d also love to feature your recipes on our #SundaySupper Pinterest board and share them with all of our followers, too.

I hope my Mother is reading this post. She will be pleasantly surprised to know that I actually cut up and roasted pumpkin. *gasp* Ok so I didn’t do all the work. I bought a piece of pumpkin weighing about a kilogram. I removed the skin, chopped it into cubes, then roasted it. Originally, I was going to use the canned pumpkin puree but I really wanted to cook with the real thing. It may have taken me a few minutes longer to prepare, but I believe it was worth it. The flavour says it all!

 

 

 

I picked up this piece of pumpkin at the Asian supermarket. It happened to be labelled “Jamaican Pumpkin” so that I would pick it up. I prefer buying pumpkin pre-cut anyway. Less chance of me wasting it. This portion was just right for what I needed it for.

 

I liked the simplicity of this recipe. I loved the use of coconut oil as well as coconut milk. This soup is just bursting with goodness. I really missed the presence of chicken or even yellow yams and dumplings in my soup. Perhaps that addition will be made after my next visit to the Asian supermarket.

 

 

This could be the perfect appetizer for an Autumn dinner, and a great choice for entertaining.

 

 

A warm crusty bread, like Ciabatta is a lovely compliment to this soup.

 

 

 

Here’s the lineup for this weeks #SundaySupper:

 

Sunrise  (Breakfast and Brunch)

• Paula from Vintage Kitchen Notes is bringing her Orange Ricotta Pancakes
• Erin from Dinners Dishes and Desserts is baking up some Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
• Heather from Girlichef is bringing Pumpkin Doughnuts with Spiced Buttermilk Glaze
• Nicole from Daily Dish Recipes is making Pumpkin Donut Puffs
• Patti from Comfy Cuisine is bringing  Classic Orange Marmalade
• Sunithi from Sue’s Nutrition Buzz is making Spiced Pumpkin Ricotta Muffins with Craisins and Walnuts
• Wendy from The Weekend Gourmet is cooking up some Pumpkin Maple Oatmeal
• Jamie from Mama Mommy Mom is bringing Butternut Squash Butter
• Chelsea from Chelsea’s Culinary Indulgence is bringing Pumpkin Spiced Donuts with Chai Icing
• Kris from In The Kitchen With Audrey and Maureen made Sweet Potato Pancakes 

 

High Noon (Soups, Salads and Sandwiches)

• Renee from Magnolia Days is serving up some Butternut Squash Soup
• Beate from Galactopdx is bringing her Carrot Ginger Soup
• Jen from Juanita’s Cocina is making some Curried Sweet Potato Salad With Cranberries and Pecans
• Megan from I Run For Wine is making Skinny Roasted Butternut Squash and Italian Sausage Soup
• Sarah from What Smells So Good is filling our bowls with some Spicy Sweet Potato and Coconut Soup
• Alice from Hip Foodie Mom is coming with her Roasted Carrot and Red Quinoa Salad
• Susan from The Wimpy Vegetarian is making Cider – Spiced Sweet Potato Soup
• Tora from Tora’s Real Food is bringing Butternut Squash and Tomato Soup
• Melanie from From Fast Food to Fresh Food is making Monty’s Pumpkin Soup
• Lyn from The Lovely Pantry is bringing Roasted Pumpkin & Coconut Soup
• Kim from Cravings of a Lunatic is whipping up some Mandarin Chicken Salad

 

Sunset (Dinner and Main Dishes)

• Sarah from Crispy Bits & Burnt Ends is offering up some Pumpkin Ravioli
• Shelia from Pippis In The Kitchen Again is serving her Roasted Squash and Ricotta with Honey
• Pam from The Meltaways is making Spooky Stuffed Peppers
• Patsy from Famfriendsfood is bringing her Carrot Souffle
• Laura from Small Wallet Big Appetite is bringing Chicken and Sweet Potato Fritters
• Mehereen from Chattering Kitchen is making Sichuan Orange Glazed Chicken with Toasted Sesame Seeds
• Tammi from Momma’s Meals is making Hearty Pork Stew
• Kristin from Kwistin’s Favorites is making Orange Chicken
• Soni from Soni’s Food For Thought is cooking up some Rigatoni with Pumpkin Ricotta Sauce
• Shelby from Diabetic Foodie is cooking up some Moroccan Vegetable Stew
• Dara from Generation Y Foodie is bringing Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese
• Brandie from Home Cooking Memories is sharing a DIY Baked Sweet Potato Bar
• Amber from Mama’s Blissful Bites  is bringing Rice and Fig Stuffed Mini Pumpkins
• Valerie from Val’s Food and Or Art made Double Stuffed Roasted Acorn Squash

 

By The Bonfire (Sweets, Snacks and Sips)

• Brie from Brie’s Bites is making Peanut Butter Pumpkin Bites
• Carla from Chocolate Moosey is making Pumpkin Tiramisu with Pumpkin Butter Caramel Sauce
• Heather from Hezzi D’s Books and Cooks is offering up some Pumpkin Cake Truffles
• Shelia from Cooking Underwriter is bringing Sweet Potato Bacon Beet Salsa
• Anne from Webicurean  is making some Drunken Pumpkin Bread
• Karen from In The Kitchen With KP is making Oven Baked Sweet Potato Chips
• Leslie La Cocina De Leslie is making Sweet Potato Atole
• Seet Fei from My Trials in The Kitchen is bringing Sweet Potatoes Mini Balls
• Tara from Noshing With The Nolands is bringing Oranges En Suprise
• Susan from The Girl in The Red Kitchen is making Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Scone with Pumpkin Glaze
• Conni from Mrs. Mama Hen is making Orange Glazed Poundcake
• Isabel from Family Foodie is baking up Moist Pumpkin Bread
• Cindy from Cindy’s Recipes and Writings is baking up a Vegan Pumpkin Orange Cake
• Brenda from Meal Planning Magic is whipping up some Creamy Pumpkin Dip
• Laura from Family Spice is making some Unprocessed and Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread
• Kathya from Basic and Delicious is baking up Butternut Squash and Carrot Bread
• Liz from That Skinny Chick Can Bake is serving up Pumpkin Roll with Cream Cheese Filling
• Stephanie from The Cookie A Day Challenge is whipping up some Pumpkin Ice Cream Sandwiches
• Katie from She Like Ruffles, He Likes Truffles is bringing Pumpkin Harvest Cookies
• Nancy from Gotta Get Baked is baking up some Orange Macadamia Dark Chocolate Cookies
• Angie from Big Bear’s Wife  is bringing Orange Soda Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes
• Katy from Happy Baking Days is bringing Carrot Cake with Orange Glaze
• Sandra from Midlife Road Trip is bringing Orange ya glad it’s fall! Hungarian Apricot/Walnut pastries

 

 

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Coconut Jam Muffins

May 28, 2012 by lovelypantry

Recently, I’ve developed this fascination with coconut products that are out there. There are a lot of course, jumping on the coconut health food band-wagon. The use of coconut and its by-products has been well established in the Caribbean. I have only been using Coconut Oil and Coconut Milk for the past few months due to my growing interest in all things “natural” and healthy. Recently, I attended the Good Food Festival in Toronto and found the best thing I’ve ever tasted!! Okay, perhaps I’m going a tad bit over board. But I can honestly say I love what I found. I had no idea that it existed.

Have you ever heard of Coconut Jam? If you are familiar – kudos to you. If you are like me, and this is a new phenomenon to you… welcome! From the moment I tasted the samples at the booth, I knew I found something really cool. It comes in a few flavours – plain, vanilla and mango. The difference was really subtle between them, but I  went with the mango. I’ve had it on toast and english muffins, but I wanted to do something extra special so I adapted a basic muffin recipe and created my very own Coconut Jam Muffin. I should actually call it Triple Coconut – Jam Muffins because I used some Coconut Flour. And some Coconut Milk too. This is my first time cooking with coconut flour as well as the coconut jam. It came out very well. Certified AWESOME. I need to contact the company and secure some more of this good stuff. I’m hooked!

 

 

 

I need to contact these people. We need to be friends. VERY good friends.

 

 

I used some teaspoons to drop a small amount into the batter. I like that a little goes a long way. This jam smells so good. The kids loved it too – on toast, on crackers, in a sandwich and in muffins!

 

 

I placed a dab of jam in the centre of the batter… just like this…

 

 

Then I covered it with more batter, then sprinkled it with my topping of preference if I am not using a streusel ~ Raw Sugar! I love that little crunch!

 

 

This one is mine!!!

 

 

Allow muffins to cool for a few minutes because the jam will be hot. Don’t ask me how I know this.

 

 

 

Aside from the amazing aroma these muffins gave my home, I really love a few things about these muffins. Just looking at them, they look like ordinary muffins. Nothing special, at a glance. A few crunchy bits on the top, and a tender but firm exterior. But then there’s that one muffin where the jam started to ooze out. That is what drew me to that muffin, that slight difference. A slight imperfection, perhaps? Many times, there is goodness in the ordinary. We just have to take a chance and dig deep. See beyond what is right before us. Only then, will we see and experience that beautiful sweetness and goodness that a muffin can offer.

 

 

Biting into that jam was the business! LOL! Happy Monday everyone!

 

~Lyn

 

 

 

 

 

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Chicken Rundown

Feb 6, 2012 by lovelypantry

 

 

Today’s recipe came to fruition from a simple request from a friend on Facebook. “Lyn, do you have a recipe for Rundown?” I love questions like this. Really I do.

I’ve only had Rundown twice in my life. It was Mackerel Rundown. And it tasted so GOOD. I had it with boiled dumplings and boiled green bananas. It wasn’t an attractive dish, but it was very nice. Which explains why I had it a second time. Rundown always seemed to be an exotic dish in my eyes. It was not a dish that was prepared in my own home growing up, and I had not met anyone who made it until I was an adult. Furthermore, I thought there was only one type of Rundown ~ Mackerel. As I jumped into my research, I found out that Rundown itself is in fact the sauce (Coconut Milk) in which the mackerel is cooked in. It only stood to reason that you could use Chicken. Right? I did see some recipes out there on the internet but they did not seem to be exactly what I wanted to do. So I just did it how I felt comfortable. As long as the basic ingredients are present, I’m quite happy to call my dish Chicken Rundown. Thanks to “Farmgirl” for asking me and getting my creative juices flowing!

It tasted good. Yes, I’ll make it again. I’ll even make it with scotch bonnet pepper! Maybe.

I served it with rice because I felt it paired better than if I tried to serve it with boiled dumplings.

 

 

 

I think this came out quite well. I’m toying with the idea of a vegetarian version using root veggies. Hmmmmm….

 

Happy Monday! Have a splendid week 🙂

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Curried Tofu & Green Beans

Jul 11, 2011 by lovelypantry

 

Tofu is a food item that many vegans choose to consume. I am not a vegan however, I do have days where I choose not to eat meat. I got this recipe from Everyday Food, and I was so glad that I tried it. Of course I had to put my own personal spin on it. The original recipe used water instead of broth, and also tomatoes. I didn’t have any tomatoes so I used chickpeas and carrots. I love the taste of curry and this recipe inspired me to try tofu. Since then, I have prepared it for a few family members and shared the recipe too. Preparation of tofu is easy once you know how to do it. Give it a try and leave a comment, or share your experience on my Facebook Page.

 

 

Ingredients:

1 Packet Extra Firm Tofu (350g)

2 Tblsp Olive Oil for browning

1 Onion, thinly liced

4 Cloves Garlic, minced

1 Tsp Pimento

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 Tsp Oregano

1 1/2 Tblsp Curry Powder

1/2 Cup Light Coconut Milk

1/2 C

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