Pumpkin Orange Ribbon Cake

I was looking in making a pumpkin bread or cake with some kind of cream cheese filling.  I was craving the nuttiness of a pumpkin but also the sweet and savory taste of cream cheese filling.  

As I was looking through my cookbooks (and I have tons of them) I came across a card of pumpkin ribbon bread, that if I recall correctly, came through the mail with something but I don't remember what. That was when we still lived in Canada.  I kept the recipe card because the picture  looked good.  I had never tried to make it before.  There is no  name on the card from which cookbook or cookbook author came from so I really cannot give any credit to whoever came up with the idea of a pumpkin ribbon bread.  Needless to say I tried it first as the recipe ingredients and measurements requested.  I was a bit disappointed though when the recipe asked for two loaf pans and (I did use two) but the batter and the cream cheese filling was not enough to fill the loaf pans or enough batter to cover the cream cheese filling.  However, it tasted good.  But the presentation was not so great.  So I had to try and make it again.  This time I changed the amount of the ingredients.  I used a bit more of cream cheese and went with the less fat cream cheese, I used the whole can of pumpkin pie filling instead of a cup, added a bit more orange zest in the cream cheese filling and a bit more spice in the batter.  I also used a Bundt cake pan and let it bake for 1.5 hours.  It came out moist and delicious (the original recipe being a "bread" came out quite dense and didn't look like it was cooked through for the cooking time the recipe requested).  And the cake was quite photogenic, if I say so myself .  It's a nice fall or winter cake.  Enjoy!

Ingredients (Makes 30 servings)

Cream cheese filling

8 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1 tbsp flour

1 egg

2 tsp grated orange peel

Pumpkin Batter

15 oz   cooked pumpkin

3/4 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 3/4 cups sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

Directions

For filling:

Beat together the cream cheese, sugar and flour. Add the egg and orange peel. Beat well together till creamy. Set aside.

For the pumpkin batter:

Beat together the pumpkin, oil and eggs. Add the sugar, flour, salt, cloves, cinnamon and baking soda. Mix well. Grease a Bundt cake pan. Pour 1/2 of the mixture in there. Spread the cream cheese mixture and finish with the remaining batter. Bake in a preheated 325-degree oven for 1 1/2 hours or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan.  Sprinkle with icing sugar and decorate with orange slices.  The cake stays well in room temperature.  But after a day or two, store in in refrigerator.  Or you can store in refrigerator and decorate with icing sugar just before serving.  

I was also able to freeze part of the cake.  A few days later when I needed it, I let it defrost at room temperature, sprinkled it with icing sugar and served it.  It was still moist and tasted well.  

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1 serving (53.1 g) appr. 2 oz each serving

Amount Per Serving

Calories 155

Calories from Fat 67

Total Fat 7.5g

Saturated Fat 2.1g

Trans Fat 0.0g

Cholesterol 21mg

Sodium 121mg

Potassium 44mg1%

Total Carbohydrates 21.1g

Dietary Fiber 0.7g

Sugars 14.9g

Protein 2.0g

Roasted Balsamic Brussels sprouts

Oven roasted brussel sprouts in balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. 

Here is a dish that I make quite often to accompany fish, chicken pork or meat.  Sometimes I will sprinkle the brussel sprouts with walnut halves or quarters and let them caramelize in the oven along with the brussel sprouts.  Other times I will substitute the balsamic vinegar with lemon juice and olive oil.  It tastes equally good.  Or I will add some broccoli to the mix.  

You can substitute frozen brussel sprouts instead of fresh, but you will have the thaw them out before putting them in the oven, as with any other frozen vegetable.  They will caramelize better when they are thawed out.  Enjoy!

Makes 6 servings approximately 6 oz.

2 lbs fresh brussels sprouts
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Clean and wash the fresh Brussel sprouts. Toss them in the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. Coat them well. Place them in a cookie sheet in one layer and bake them in a 450° oven for about half hour, till caramelized.

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 6.004 oz (170.2g)
Amount Per Serving
Calories 139
Calories from Fat 80
Total Fat 8.9g
Saturated Fat 1.4g
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 38mg
Potassium 595mg
Total Carbohydrates 13.9g
Dietary Fiber 5.7g
Sugars 3.3g
Protein 5.2g

Koulourkakia Portokaliou-Greek Easter Cookies

Koulourakia Portokaliou - Greek Easter cookies

These cookies are a very traditional treat for Greek Easter. But they are also good for any other occasion or even year round. In Greece while I was growing up, these cookies were only made during Easter to be eaten on Greek Easter Sunday and for the next 50 days until Holy Pentecost. Nowadays, the bakeries in Greece, sell these cookies year round and the locals buy them to offer them to company with an afternoon coffee.

I used to have these cookies for breakfast, dipping them in my milk, while I was growing up in Greece. They usually went quite fast. All of us in my family loved these cookies, and on occasion, my mother would have to bake another batch to offer to visitors while they came over for coffee.

I continue this tradition in my family as much as I can, making them during Greek Easter. They last for about 3 months, but in most cases, they are gone before the time is up. They are called Koulourakia portokaliou (pronounced = koo-loo-rάhk-yah por-toh-kahl-yoo) =  cookies with orange.

Enjoy!

Makes 82 servings (approximately 0.5oz each)

½ lbs. butter
1 ¼ cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tbsp. grated orange peel
¼.cup orange juice
1 tbsp. baking powder
4 ¼ cups flour (keep the ¼ cup for kneading)
2 tbsp. melted butter
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp. water
¼ cup slivered, raw almonds chopped

Bring the butter at room temperature. Don't melt it in the microwave or over the stove. For the cookies to come out well and be pliable, the butter needs to be at room temperature.

Save ¼ cup of the flour for kneading the dough later. Sift the rest of the flour with the baking powder.

In a stand-alone mixer, beat together the butter with the sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat well together. Add the orange rind and the orange juice. Beat well together. Add the flour and beat well. The dough will be a bit sticky. Remove it from the bowl and flour a clean surface with a little bit of the ¼ cup flour. Knead the dough with the remaining flour until the dough doesn't stick to your hands. Place the dough in a bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Butter the cookie sheets with the 2 tbsp. butter. When the dough is cool, take about 1 inch balls with your fingers, and roll it out into a strand, fold it in half and twist it. Continue until all the dough is done. Mix together the egg yolk and water and brush the cookies. Sprinkle with the chopped almonds. Bake at 375 degree oven for 20 minutes until lightly browned. Cool and store in an airtight container. They can last up to 3 months.

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 serving (16.0 g)
Amount Per Serving
Calories 63
Calories from Fat 27
Total Fat 3.0g
Saturated Fat 1.7g
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 15mg
Sodium 21mg
Potassium 32mg
Total Carbohydrates 8.3g
Dietary Fiber 0.2g
Sugars 3.2g
Protein 1.0g

Smyrneika Soutzoukakia in Domatosaltsa - Sausages from Smyrna in Tomato Sauce and as appetizers with Tzatziki sauce

Smyrneika soutzoukakia or sausages from Smyrna is a very traditional dish in Greece. Its originality comes from Smyrna thus the name Smyrneika. Smyrna – which is now called Izmir - is situated in the outskirts of Turkey across from the island of Chios, Greece. You can get to Smyrna from Chios by ferryboat in only 30 minutes. The dish is brought to Greece by Greek refugees from Asia Minor in the early 1920’s when the Greek and Armenian genocide took place.

Smyrneika soutzoukakia are served, traditionally, over rice, mashed potatoes or French fries and are usually made with ground beef. My mother and sister in law used to mix the rice with the ground beef. I have a Greek – quite old cookbook - that states the same. In this recipe, I decided to omit the rice, and instead of serving them over rice, I served them over orzo. I also used ground turkey instead of ground beef. You can use ground beef if you would like. It tastes equally good.

You can serve the soutzoukakia (sausages) with tzatziki sauce as an appetizer, with my domatosaltsa (tomato sauce) that I specifically created for them, or you can cook them in the domatosaltsa (tomato sauce) and serve them over orzo, rice, mashed potatoes. I have also served them in the past with gluten free orzo, and instead of regular breadcrumbs in the meat mixture I used gluten free breadcrumbs. The sausages can also be fried once you lightly coat them in flour.  I don't usually fry any foods, so these ones I baked them in the oven.  Enjoy!

Smyrneika Soutzoukakia - Ground turkey sausages from Smyrna

Makes 30 servings (approximately 1.3 oz each)

2 lbs ground turkey
½ cup shredded onion
2 tsp. crushed garlic
½ cup bread crumbs
½ cup chopped parsley
1 tsp. cumin
½ tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tbsp. olive oil
½ tbsp. olive oil to coat the cookie sheet

Peel and shred the onion and the garlic. Set aside. Wash and chop the parsley.

In a large bowl, mix together the ground turkey, the bread crumbs, the parsley, the shredded onion and garlic, the cumin, nutmeg, salt and pepper and the 1 tbsp. of olive oil. Mix well together and shape into 3" long sausages. About 1.3 oz each.

The sausages (soutzoukakia) before they go into the oven

Preheat oven to 400° F. Use the ½ tbsp. of olive oil and brush a cookie sheet. Place the sausages on the cookie sheet and bake for about 40-45 minutes turning around in between, till lightly browned. Remove from the oven and serve.

After they come out of the oven

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1.284 oz (36.4g)
Amount Per Serving
Calories 74
Calories from Fat 38
Total Fat 4.2g
Saturated Fat 0.7g
Cholesterol 31mg
Sodium 124mg
Potassium 97mg
Total Carbohydrates 1.7g
Dietary Fiber 0.2g
Sugars 0.2g
Protein 8.6g

Domatosaltsa For Smyrneika Soutzoukakia

Tomato sauce specific for Smyrneika soutzoukakia to dip or to serve with the soutzoukakia over rice, orzo or mashed potatoes.

Makes 6 servings (approximately 8.3 oz each serving)

¼ cup olive oil
1 ½ cups chopped onion
1 tbsp. chopped garlic
14 ½ oz diced tomatoes
15 oz tomato sauce
1 cup tomato sauce
1 cup chopped parsley
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
¼ tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp. cumin

In a large saucepan, sauté the diced onion in the olive oil. When the onion is transparent, add the diced garlic. Sauté for a minute or two, but don't burn it. Add the diced tomatoes, the tomato sauce (the can and the cup) and one cup water. Bring it to a boil and reduce the heat to simmer. Add the cumin, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and parsley. Add the oven baked cooked sausages.  Cover and simmer for about 1 hour. Serve over orzo, or rice or mashed potatoes.  Or serve the domatosaltsa (tomato sauce) on the side as a dipping sauce for the soutzoukakia.

Served over orzo in domatosaltsa (tomato sauce)

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 8.148 oz (231g)
Amount Per Serving
Calories 131
Calories from Fat 80
Total Fat 8.9g
Saturated Fat 1.3g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 983mg
Potassium 643mg
Total Carbohydrates 12.8g
Dietary Fiber 3.6g
Sugars 7.9g
Protein 2.8g

Tzatziki Sauce
Makes 28 servings (approximately 2 tbsp. each serving)

16 oz reduced fat sour cream
8 oz Greek, Non-Fat, Plain Yogurt (oz)
1 cup chopped cucumber
1 tsp. garlic
2 tbsp. dill
2½ tbsp. red wine vinegar
4 tbsp. olive oil
¼ tsp. salt

Blend all ingredients together, refrigerate.

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 serving (31.4 g)
Amount Per Serving
Calories 43
Calories from Fat 32
Total Fat 3.6g
Saturated Fat 1.4g
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 6mg
Sodium 30mg
Total Carbohydrates 1.3g
Dietary Fiber 0.1g
Sugars 0.4g
Protein 1.4g

Served with Tzatziki sauce and with the Tomato sauce as appetizers

Note:  The sausages freeze well by themselves.  The same with the tomato sauce.  You can freeze them if you are making a big batch of either of these dishes (except of course the tzatziki sauce).  I froze them in the past and heat them up in either the microwave or in the oven.  Or I would defrost the sausages and the tomato sauce and then cook them in low heat till heated through.   

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