With our crazy weather, many days lately have been "Soup Days". You know those days, don't you? When you are thinking about what you would taste good, soup is what comes to mind. So I was really excited when I was checking out the new Amish cookbook Friend Jean found for me, and saw several soups that looked interesting.
This recipe for Chicken Chowder was contributed by Ella Miller of Fresno, OH in Wanda E. Brunstetter's Amish Friends Cookbook. I followed the recipe exactly, but as Wayne and I were enjoying our first bowl, we both agreed it would probably be a good way to use some leftover turkey after Turkey Day. I cooked one chicken breast and it was just a little over 1-1/2 cups cut up. I just added the last few cubes.
Click here for a printable version of just the recipe.
CHICKEN CHOWDER
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup chopped onion
1-1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken
1-1/2 cups diced carrots
1-1/2 cups diced carrots
1-1/2 cups diced raw potatoes
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 cups water
3 tablespoons flour
2-1/2 cups milk
Melt butter in 3 - quart saucepan. (I used a stock pot.) Add onions and saute until tender.
Add chicken,
carrots,
potatoes,
bouillon cubes, salt, pepper, and water.
Cover and simmer until
vegetables are tender.
Combine flour and 1/2 cup milk in a jar with a lid.
Shake until blended.
Add to vegetables along with remaining 2 cups milk.
Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly,
until mixture thickens.
Yields 1-3/4 quarts.
I hope your Thanksgiving was blessed. We enjoyed turkey with our MO family and then our two families Facetimed with each other. So good seeing the CO family while with the MO family.
You still have time to make this Amish Pumpkin Roll for your Thanksgiving feast, if you like! Make it today and store it wrapped in the refrigerator to serve tomorrow. It is sure to be a hit!
It was definitely a hit yesterday when I took it to Hillcrest Thrift Shop for the volunteers. It was really good news for me. You see, it was my first ever Pumpkin Roll to make. I was hesitant to make it because I was afraid it would fall apart or something worse. BUT it didn't and it was so pretty when I cut it. One thing I didn't do because the recipe didn't say to do so and as I said it was the first one I have ever made, but next time I will sift powdered sugar over the finished roll before I cut it and serve it.
The recipe came from a new Amish cookbook that Friend Jean found at the thrift shop and saved it for me. It is called Wanda E. Brunstetter's Amish Friends Cookbook and was contributed by Elizabeth Borntrager from Brown City, MI.
PUMPKIN ROLLS
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup pumpkin
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
FILLING:
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened (1/2 stick)
6 ounces cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10 x 15 - inch pan. Set aside.
Beat eggs in mixing bowl on high
for 5 minutes.
Beat in sugar.
Stir in pumpkin and lemon juice until
well blended.
Combine the dry ingredients with a whisk and
fold into pumpkin mixture.
Spread in pan. Batter will be thin in pan.
You will need to carefully spread it out to evenly cover the whole pan.
Bake for 15 minutes.
Remove cake from oven.
Run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen it from the edges and then
turn onto a clean linen towel dusted with powdered sugar.
Roll the towel and cake together from the short end. Cool completely.
Prepare the filling by blending the cream cheese and butter together until smooth.
Sift the powdered sugar and then
stir in powdered sugar and then add vanilla.
Unroll cooled cake and
spread with the filling.
Then roll the cake back up. I gently ran my fingers down the cake to remove it from the towel.
I wrapped mine in wax paper and taped it together to hold the cake together. (I also had some cracks when I rolled it back up and I thought the wax paper would help "glue" the cake back together - which it did.) Store in the refrigerator overnight.
This Pumpkin Date Bread is called a quick bread. I guess I never thought about why some people call some breads "quick" breads before. I don't know why I started thinking about it as I sat down to write this post. Just did, I guess. Here's what I came up with.
When most people think of breads they are talking about yeast breads. Yeast breads take a while to make because you have to allow the yeast to work/rise. The other kinds of breads that contain fruits, nuts, etc don't contain yeast and are faster to make - thus the name quick breads. What do you think? Sounds reasonable to me.
Whatever. Who cares? I admit most of the time the breads I make are quick breads even though they might be called that. I feel they are usually better if you wrap them in foil while still a little warm and not cut them to serve until the next day. I store them in the refrigerator.f
I especially liked this Pumpkin Date "Quick" Bread because it contains dates. I LOVE dates - as I have said many times here. I also like pumpkin but Wayne - not so much. Any way I can make my pumpkin recipes and sorta disguise the pumpkin with something else, it often works. Sometimes I think it is the spices in pumpkin dishes that he doesn't really like. He doesn't like cloves or allspice so I really have to be careful using those. Years ago I found a pumpkin pie recipe that he will eat. Honey Pumpkin Pie contains pumpkin pie spice but I think the honey overpowers it.
I made this bread mainly for us, so I replaced the 2 cups of sugar with 1 cup of pyure organic stevia blend. Actually the 2 cups wouldn't have been so much since the recipe made two large loaves. You could probably reduce the 2 cups because it is plenty sweet using the stevia. The topping is an added treat. As I said it made two large loaves so it could be baked in the mini loaves and you could treat 5 - 6 friend/family with a delicious baked loaf for the holidays.
Click here for a printable version of just the recipe.
PUMPKIN DATE BREAD
1 cup applesauce
1 cup canned pumpkin
2/3 cup oil
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3-2/3 cups flour
2 cups sugar or 1 cup stevia blend
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup chopped dates
1 cup chopped pecans
TOPPING
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray two 9 x 5 - inch loaf pans or five to six mini loaf pans with cooking spray. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the applesauce, pumpkin, oil, eggs, milk, molasses, and vanilla;
mix well.
Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking powder with a whisk.
Gradually add dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and
stir well with a wooden spoon.
Stir in dates and pecans.
Divide evenly between the loaf pans.
Combine the topping ingredients (brown sugar, pecans, and cinnamon) using a fork.
Sprinkle over the batter.
Bake for 55 - 65 minutes or until they test done (for the larger loaves). Check the smaller mini loaves after 45 minutes.
Cool in pans on wire racks for 15 minutes before removing to finish cooling on wire racks. Wrap in foil and store overnight for best results.
Melt butter in 3 - quart saucepan. (I used a stock pot.) Add onions and saute until tender. 
Add chicken,
carrots,
potatoes,
bouillon cubes, salt, pepper, and water.
Cover and simmer until
vegetables are tender.
Combine flour and 1/2 cup milk in a jar with a lid.
Shake until blended.
Add to vegetables along with remaining 2 cups milk.
Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly,
until mixture thickens. 
