Quick & Easy Pumpkin Soup

Winter is approaching and nothing says winter better than a great soup. This pumpkin soup is sweet and tangy at the same time. It will keep you warm and satisfied. 

Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients

1/2 of small onion (minced)

2 tsp butter

1 tsp garlic (minced)

1 tsp curry powder

1 tsp ginger powder

2 cups pumpkin puree

1 1/2-2 cups water

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Mince onion and garlic. Set aside. Heat pan. Once pan is hot add butter to hot pan. Then add onions. Cook onions for one minute. Then add minced garlic, curry powder and garlic powder. Cook for two minutes, while stirring. Add pumpkin puree and water. Stir. Add salt and pepper to taste. Allow soup to come to a boil. Then simmer for 15 minutes on low heat.

Serves 6

Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's official! My favorite cookie is chocolate chip. After searching and tweaking recipes I finally have the one that I absolutely love. Now that I've keep it to myself for a few days I'm willing to share it with you. 


Enjoy!

Ingredients


2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 cups semisweet chocolate chunks
1 cup white chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
4. Bake for 15 - 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chapati... in The Bahamas?

I was first introduced to Chapati in Africa. I was out with some friends in Kigali, Rwanda when I tasted this simple yet delicious, flour tortilla like food. I asked what is was and a friend of mine said, "You don't know Chapati?" Chapati, I'd never heard of it. It looked similar to a flour tortilla, but it was more delicious. You could eat it alone if you wanted to. I did some research and found out that it is an Indian dish. It was so popular in Rwanda though, I think they've adopted it to be one of their own.

While in Rwanda I would walk quite a distance to the market to buy Chapati, which was sold 6 for about $1. It was great alone, but I decided I wanted to "take it up a notch". So I got together with two friends and we made a curry cabbage filling for the Chapati and called it a wrap. It was great.

I've been back in The Bahamas for a while now, but the taste of the Chapati is on my taste buds. I didn't have to make the Chapati in Rwanda because it was readily available already prepared everywhere. I decided I would take a stab at it and make Chapati at home and instead of a cabbage curry I made a chicken curry for the filling.

So here it goes:

Chapati Recipe

2 cups        All purpose flour
3/4 cup      Hot water
1 tsp          Salt
3 tsp          Olive Oil
8 tsp          Butter

In a bowl combine the flour, salt, hot water and olive oil with a wooden spoon. As it comes together begin kneading the dough with hands until smooth. Set aside. Flour a clean surface and divide dough in 8-10 pieces on the floured surface. Allow dough pieces to rest briefly. Set medium skillet on high heat. Allow pan to get extremely hot, almost to smoking point. While pan is heating, flour rolling pin and begin to roll out pieces very thinly. (See photo below.) Spoon 1 teaspoon of butter into hot skillet. Once butter has melted add 1 rolled dough to heat. Cook for 30 seconds on each side. Remove from heat and set aside. Repeat with 1 teaspoon of butter and then 1 rolled dough. Continue to repeat until 8-10 chapatis are completed. Set aside.

Curry Chicken Recipe

2 lg        Cooked Chicken Breast (shredded)
2 tbs       Curry Powder
1 tsp       Chili Powder
1/2 stick  Butter
2 cups     Shredded Cabbage
1 sm       Onion (chopped)
2 clove   Garlic (minced)
3 tbs       Flour
2 cups    Water
              Salt and Pepper to taste

In a large skillet melt butter. Once butter is melted reduce heat to medium and add chopped onions. Sweat onions for one minute and then add curry powder, chili powder and garlic. Mix ingredients together and then add water to mixture along with the cabbage. Cover and allow mixture to come to a boil. Season to taste. In a small bowl add 3 tablespoons of flour and 3 tablespoons of cold water. Mix with fork into a paste. Spoon 6 tablespoons of hot curry mixture (no cabbage) into paste. Make sure no lumps are in the mixture. (Spooning the hot curry liquid brings the paste to the temperature of the curry mixture before adding it the sauce to thicken it). Stir mixture into curry sauce to thicken it. Reduce heat and add cooked chicken. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Adjust seasoning as needed. Serve hot with Chapati.

Chapati Rolled Thin

Cooking Chapati in Hot Skillet

Completed Chapati

Curry Chicken

Curry Chicken

Curry Chicken and Chapati

Truckin'

I've heard the saying for years, "When America sneezes the Bahamas catches a cold!" It's definitely true when it comes to our eating habits. You'd be surprise to know how many fast food restaurants are in Nassau, the capital city of The Bahamas. They're a number of Wendy's, Mc Donald's, KFC, Burger Kings, Domino Pizzas and countless Chinese take-aways, just to name a few.  You can visit a different one each day of the week. My grandmother called going out to buy fast food "truckin". Growing up we'd do a lot of "truckin" because my mother worked full-time. So we'd eat out almost every evening.

Now a days I don't care for fast food as much, but I do get the occasional cravings. Today was no exception. I just had to visit one of my favorite Chinese restaurants for fried rice and honey garlic chicken wings. As I was thoroughly enjoying my meal I began to think about the food I ate on my trip to China. I was amazed that there wasn't any pork fried rice, kingdom ribs or fortune cookies. Then the thought came to mind, "Does anyone really know what Chinese food is?" because the food I grew up eating and loving wasn't real Chinese food. That made me realize something else my grandmother said about "truckin". She said we should stop "truckin" and start eating "real food". Fast food to her wasn't real food. She preferred cooking and eating at home, and would always cook special dishes for us. Our favorite was her Peas Soup and Dumplings. I didn't want to accept it, but what she was saying was true. As years went by there were rumors that KFC didn't serve real chicken and Mc Donald's chicken nuggets were ground chicken feet. "Real food" I think not! I keep these things in mind when I encourage myself to eat "real food", home cooked food and stop "truckin". I give in to the temptation less as time goes by and I truly enjoy the creations that are manufactured in my kitchen. I encourage you to do the same.

Guava Cupcakes

Baking is so much fun. I wanted to do something a little different today so here's what I came up with. Guava Cupcakes with a Rum Butter Glaze. 

Guava Cupcake with Rum Butter Glaze

Guava Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups      Flour

1/8 tsp            Nutmeg

1/8 tsp            Cinnamon

1/8 tsp            Cloves

1/2 tsp            Baking Soda

1/2 cup          Butter or Margarine (softened)

1 cup             Sugar

2                    Eggs

3/4 cup         Guava Puree

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners and set aside.

Combine flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside. In another bowl cream butter and sugar. Once light and fluffy add eggs one at a time. Alternately between flour mixture and guava puree, combine with butter and sugar mixture. 

Spoon cupcake batter into cupcake liners until it is 2/3 filled. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. 

Cool 5 minutes in pans then remove and place on wire racks to cool completely. Once cupcakes are completely cooled, frost with Rum Butter Glaze. 

Rum Butter Glaze:

2 cups        Powdered Sugar

1/4 cup       Butter

1 tbs           Nassau Royale (or whatever rum available)

1 tbs           Vanilla

1 tbs           Guava Puree

In a mixing bowl mix all ingredients until smooth. 

Sweet Treats!

I absolutely love desserts. I believe you should have one everyday. Making desserts are fun to me and I can dabble in flour all day. Here are a couple of desserts I made last week. Enjoy!

Bread Pudding with Raisins

Bread Pudding with Raisins

 Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies

Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies

Guava Duff

Guava Duff

Guava Duff with Rum Butter Sauce

Guava Duff with Rum Butter Sauce

Late Night Snack

It's 1:30 am, I'm wide awake and I'm hungry. Most nights I am awake around this time. I like to watch the cooking shows that I've missed during the evening. That's enough to make a person hungry and in need of a late night snack. I guess for some reason I'm filled up by what I see on the show that I never need a late night snack. Tonight I am not even watching the Food Network, but boy am I hungry. I'm not one for snacking, but I'm so tempted to head to the kitchen.

Food that I would like to eat started popping in my head. What could I whip up in a flash? I didn't come up with anything quick. So I don't know if this snack is going to get off the ground, but here's what I've been thinking about.

Just the other day I cooked a delicious Jamaican meal: jerked chicken, bean and rice, steamed cabbage, and tossed salad with a homemade thousand island dressing. I'm wishing there were some left overs!

What I really like is French fries and coleslaw. Here's another take on fish and chips. Deep fried whole jack fish, golden French fries, coleslaw and biscuits. Delicious!

I don't think any of these are really fit for a late night snack, but boy I feel really good thinking about them.

I think I'm going to bed now. In a few hours it will be morning and I can prepare another fabulous breakfast!

Good Night and Good Morning!

It's Chicken Week!

     Enjoy the menu! I'll be cooking along with you!

Old English Pound Cake

As a child, growing up, every time a birthday came around I looked forward to going to Kelly's Bakery with my parents to order a cake. It didn't matter if it wasn't my birthday. All that mattered is that I would be getting a piece of cake. My parent's loved the Old English Pound Cake and I love sweets!

Although there was nothing light or fluffy about the cake, it was probably the best pound cake every created. It was firm. You could hold it in your hand like a piece of bread and didn't have to worry about it falling apart. I realized just how heavy it was when I decided I wanted to change up the usual family order. I wanted my birthday cake to have chocolate cake on the bottom and pound cake on the top. The baker said that I can have both, but I needed to have the pound cake on the bottom because if it goes on the top it would crush the chocolate and sink the entire cake. I understood and agreed. Wow! What a heavy cake I thought.

My Dad celebrated his birthday just a few weeks ago. Kelly's Bakery is no longer in existence, but the taste of those cakes still register in my family's taste buds. So I thought to myself, why not recreate "the cake". I don't know their recipe, but I am pretty good at tasting food and then recreating it. My cake is much smaller than Kelly's Bakery, but it was enough for five and for a fabulous Happy Birthday.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 3 tablespoons of almond extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x9 inch pan.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth. Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. Cake is done when it springs back to the touch.

Caribay Approved!

After seeing my recipe for Chicken Souse, my sister goes ahead and follows my recipe step by step. Here's the result. It works! The proof is the pudding... no I mean picture. 

Chicken Souse & Johnny Cake

Breakfast was great!

Saturday Morning

I've been up now for about two hours. The first hour I spent fighting to get out of bed so that I can begin breakfast. I grew up having a hot, homemade breakfast and that's something that has stuck with me from my child hood. I guess the fighting to get out of bed was passed on from my dad as well as the hot, homemade breakfast. He would get home from work sometimes as late as two in the morning and still get up to take my mom to work at 6:30 am. Then when he got back home it was time to get the me, my sister and brother ready for school, which always included a hot breakfast. Sometimes we'd have French toast or "panny cakes". All I know is that once you told my dad you liked something he was always delighted to prepare it for you... over and over and over again until you decided you liked something else. Thanks Daddy! Now I'm excited every day I get to make your breakfast. It's true in life you reap what you sow.

In a few minutes we'll be having breakfast together, my mom, dad and I. We're having Chicken Souse and Johnny Cake. Can't wait! I just finished checking the Johnny Cake in the oven. It's almost ready and it's smelling great. Oh I hear the timer going off! I've gat to run...

Chicken Souse

I can't wait until breakfast! I am looking forward to cooking my chicken souse. If you were following this week's menu you'll see that I saved this for Saturday, which is usually the day that most Bahamians eat souse. I don't know why, but it's almost like it is some type of ritual. It doesn't have to be chicken souse either, so long as it's souse. Some people like pig feet souse, turkey souse or even sheep tongue souse. I love chicken wing souse and not chicken foot souse, which I know some people run after. Ew! Chicken foot?

Chicken Souse is very simple, yet absolutely delicious. Here's what you need for four persons:

2 pounds          chicken wings (cut into portions)

1 large              onion (peeled and chopped)

2                       carrots (peeled and diced)

2 medium         potatoes (peeled and diced)

2 large              limes

1                       bird pepper minced or 1 tsp of crushed red pepper

2 tbs                 allspice

                        salt to taste

Prepare onions, carrots, potatoes and peppers as described above. Then set aside. Wash and clean chicken wings thoroughly. Add them to a large pot. Then add onions, juice of limes, pepper, allspice and salt to pot. Add enough water to the pot to cover chicken completely. Set range on high and allow ingredients to come to a boil. Once boiling allow to cook for 20 additional minutes. Adjust seasoning at this time to desired taste. Then add carrots and potatoes to pot. Continue to boil for 15 minutes. Then reduce heat to low and allow souse to simmer for an additional 15 minutes. 

So there you have it, chicken souse. Easy isn't it?

Now if you get up early enough, I know it's Saturday, we can make breakfast together. Besides I'll know by then if I am really going to make Johnny Cake to eat along with the souse or am I going to cop out and make biscuits. 

Johnny Cake 3 cup   Flour 1 tbs    Baking Powder 1.5 tsp Salt 4 tbs    Sugar 1/2 cup Shortening/Margarine/Butter 2/3 cup Milk  Preheat oven 350 F. Lightly grease a 9x9 pan. Combine dry ingredients in bowl. Then cut shortening in flour until mixture is sandy or flaky. Add milk gradually. Knead dough and then rest for 10 minutes. Put in pan and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven. Sprinkle with water lightly. Continue to bake for additional 5 minutes.

Chicken Souse

Johnny Cake

Cookie me kindly

A cookie is like an omelet, but I would say for some it would be a little easier to make because there is no need to flip a cookie. Think about it for a moment an omelet has a basic ingredient an egg, but then you can put just about anything you can think about in it. Now you may say well what if it doesn't taste good, but that's totally up to you. If you don't like tomatoes then don't think you're going to like it in an omelet.

Ok so the cookie has a basic ingredient, which is sugar. You may say well I thought cookies have flour, but I've had a very delicious cookie that was flourless. You may say cookies need butter or shortening, but that's not true either. There are some cookies that use oil or peanut butter. Then many of us make the traditional oatmeal and raisin cookie or the infamous chocolate chip cookies, but there are endless possibilities when it comes to the cookie. Be creative!

Just the other day my mother wanted some cookies. I am always baking something and now I believe she expects homemade dessert every day. Her favorite is my oatmeal and raisin cookies. I didn't have any oatmeal and I wasn't about to make just a raisin cookie. So what am I to do? I stood in the kitchen thinking about what I had in the pantry and what I liked. I took out pineapple juice, raisins and coconut flakes. I said to myself, coconut and pineapple works well together in a pina colada so why not in a cookie. I mixed the batter, added in the coconut and then I said why not some raisins for my mom and some white chocolate chips for myself. I liked it so much I decided to call it "Juicy Fruit". Why not? It has three different fruits in it.

Now what creative cookie can you come up with? Cookie me kindly!

Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies

2 1/4 cup        Flour
1 tsp               Baking Powder
1 tsp               Baking Soda
2 cups            Rolled Oats
1 cup             Coconut Flakes
1 cup             Raisins

1 cup             Butter

1 cup             Brown Sugar

1/2 cup          White Sugar

2                    Eggs

2 tsp              Vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

In mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, rolled oats and coconut flakes. Set aside.

In another mixing bowl cream butter and sugars together with mixer on medium speed for two minutes. Mix in eggs one at a time and then mix in vanilla. Mix dry ingredients with wet ingredients until cookie dough is fully combined. Mix in raisins. 

With 1 tsp cookie scoop, scoop cookie dough on to cookie sheet leaving about 1 1/2 inch between cookies. Bake for 13 minutes. Remove cookies from cookie sheet on to cooling rack. Allow to completely cool before serving. 

The Perfect Solution!

I don't make mashed potatoes often, but when I do I like for them to be rich and smooth. I was taught how to make the most delicious mashed potatoes while I was doing a culinary internship at the Ritz Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, Florida. You would expect great top quality food to come from the Ritz Carlton and trust me you won't be disappointed.
So here I go all ready to make the most delicious mashed potatoes. Well guess what? I didn't have any milk and I was not about to go to the store. I said to myself, hmmm, what could I use in place of the milk. Well I could used some chicken bouillon that I saw in the pantry, but that idea didn't stick. Don't even know how that got there because that's something that I don't use. Chicken Bouillon is very salty in my opinion. Then I thought, ah ha, I have the perfect solution. I remembered a powered coconut milk that I bought and figured that would give me the taste I was looking for to go with my sticky wings and glazed carrots. Now who would have thought of that, but I figured if you can add coconut milk to rice and it's great, why not potatoes?

Ah! What am I going to eat today?

It is so important to plan ahead. We plan our work schedules. We plan our vacations. We plan for family activities. So why not plan our meals. If you are not familiar with doing this it may be a bit challenging at first, but in no time it will be a normal part of your routine. If you still don't get it. I'm always glad to help. It's something that I like to do.

I've already planned this week menu. I went to the grocery store with a $40 budget on Saturday and believe you me we are going to have some great meals. There are going to be three persons eating from this menu, expect on Sunday there were 5, for the week and my main ingredient is cross-utilization. You may be wondering what is "cross-utilization"? This is when you use the same ingredients in different preparations and/or on different days. In food menu planning this is important. It helps you to save money and prevents waste.

I'm preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner, which you will see in the menu below.  Yesterday we already went over Sunday's dinner. I know some people don't like eating the same thing twice in a row and you don't have to. You can always freeze or refrigerate some food and eat it a day or two later. In my family we can stand to eat the same thing up to three times in row. Sometimes I switch it up, but it all depends on the time we eat and their reaction to what I cook. Which by the way is usually great!

Remember if you plan ahead you would be able to save in so many ways. You would even be able to take lunch with you to work. You'll have quality food, you don't have to have drive anywhere for lunch and stand on a line, and you would pay a fraction of the costs.

If you have any questions on how to create your weekly menu or on recipes please add it in the comment  area and I'll get back to you.

A Wise Foodie!

Today I was talking to my sister on the telephone while was in line at Wendy's ordering lunch. I heard her say what when the cashier told her that her total was $8.18. She ordered a chicken sandwich, French fries and iced coffee. When she told me that I said "what!" I told her that I cooked Sunday dinner for five for less than that. So you may be wondering what did I cook.

I always look forward to Sunday dinner from a small child, this past Sunday was no exception. I prepared roasted chicken, pigeon peas and rice, coleslaw, mixed vegetables and pineapple lemonade. Now doesn't that sound delicious. It was not only delicious, but affordable. So how did I do it? Well let me take you through Sunday's dinner in Caribay's Kitchen. First let's start with the protein, the main item. I purchased a ten pound bag of leg quarters. There's about ten whole leg quarters in each bag. I cut them in half separating thigh from leg. So that gave me twenty portions instead of ten. Those portions are pretty big, even the leg, but for Sunday I keep the thighs and put up the other pieces. More importantly I cleaned and seasoned all of the meat before separating them into meals. Now when I go back to the freezer for the other pieces I only need to defrost and cook.

The chicken was $9.99 for 20 servings, which is $0.49 per serving and $2.49 for Sunday dinner protein for five. Next I prepared the rice. I used about 2 cups of rice and quarter can of green pigeon peas with the coconut milk already added. Five pounds of rice equals 10 cups of rice and 1 cup of raw rice yields about 4 servings of cooked rice. However, I always cook plenty of rice. So if I buy five pounds of rice for $2.50 I can prepare one serving of plain white rice for about $.06 per serving. The can of peas was $1.35 and I used a quarter cup so that costs me $0.34. When we are all done totaling the major ingredient cost, I am going to show you how to account for the minor items like seasoning and gas or electricity depending on what type of range you have.

Right now our Sunday dinner is up to $2.89 for 5 persons. Next is the coleslaw which the major ingredients are cabbage, carrots and mayonnaise. This week's cabbage market price was $0.49 per pound. I used about a quarter pound of cabbage. Remember cabbage when shredded is very light and it's just an accompaniment so you don't need to over do it. The carrots really give the slaw a vibrant color so we don't need much of that either. With about 3 tablespoons of dressing we are good to go. The cabbage ended up costing us $0.12 and the carrots were about $.50 each. You can use a half of carrot grated. Next we have the mixed vegetable that I got for $5.99 for five pounds. Vegetables are expensive so I would say I used about a pound of veggies which would have costed me $1.20 per pound.

Our meal right now is up to $4.46 for 5 persons. Wow! The beverage of the day was my homemade pineapple lemonade. I bought the 64 ounce can of pineapple juice for $.99 on special. Fresh limes were added with sugar and of course water. The sugar and limes that were used costed roughly $.81. I would say $.50 for the limes. They were in the store for 6 for a dollar and I used 3 for the gallon. I used 1 cup of sugar which sugar is about $2.50 for 4 pounds so that $.31 for the cup. Now like I said that for a gallon. I served my juice in an 8 ounce glass which is 6 oz of juice with some ice. So my gallon of juice was $1.80 and $.08 per serving. How did I get this total? There are 128 ounces in a gallon. So $1.80 divided by 128(ounces in one gallon) multiplied by 6(ounces in one of my serving) equals $.08. Great isn't it! Our beverage total for Sunday dinner is $.40.

Now let's tally up our entire meal. The roasted chicken is $2.49, pigeon peas and rice $.40, coleslaw $.37, mixed vegetables $1.20, and pineapple lemonade $.40. That gives us a grand total of $4.86. Then to account for seasoning and gas you add 3% to your grand total. If you are heavy handed you can add 5%. So let's go with the 5%. That gives us a grand total of $5.10, which is $1.02 person. Looks like you still have room for dessert. Let's go out there and become wise foodies and get the best for our buck!