2-on-Tuesday: Pummmmpkin Pecan Oatmeal

This is soooo not what I had planned to post, but was such an easy and seasonal breakfast celebration for National Oatmeal Day! Are we goofy Americans or what?

By the way, I'm a sucker for food porn -- lovely photographs of wonderful food! We feast with our eyes, right!? I imagine the wonderful pix I could really post if I had a real camera. Until then, I'll just keep snapping a picture with my old-version iPhone and use various photography apps available.

Pummmpkin Pecan Oatmeal
(as if you needed a recipe)

For an individual serving:

1/2 to 2/3 cup Old Fashioned Oats (because some days I'm hungrier than other days)
Almond Milk (enough to cook the oats in + enough to add afterwards)
2 tablespoons 100% Pure Pumpkin (not the pie filling)
Ground Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Allspice
Agave Nectar (or maple or honey)
Pecans Halves

• When preparing oatmeal for just me, I opt for the microwave. The oats and almond milk go into a microwaveable bowl and cook for just a quick bit--enough time for the milk to heat and oats begin to bubble.
• Remove and stir in pumpkin and additional almond milk.
• Sprinkle spices. Drizzle sweetener. Add pecans.
• Thank the Lord for a beautiful autumn day with healthy nutritional choices!

HAPPY NATIONAL OATMEAL DAY!

2-on-Tuesday: Pumpkin-Butterscotch Fudge

Don't even snarl your nose or stick out your tongue!  This recipe uses Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin Pack (in a can), but the flavor that comes through is the buttery taste of butterscotch! Mmmmm! 

Pumpkin-Butterscotch Fudge

3 cups Sugar
3/4 cup Butter
1 5 oz can or 2/3 cup Evaporated Milk (NOT Sweetened Condensed Milk)
1/2 cup Solid Pack Pumpkin
1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 12 oz pkg Butterscotch Morsels
1 7 oz jar Marshmallow Creme
1 teaspoon 
**(optional) 1 cup Pecans, chopped and toasted

• In heavy saucepan combine sugar, butter, milk, pumpkin and spice
• Bring to boil, stirring constantly to 234-240 degrees on candy thermometer. May take 10-ish minutes for proper consistent
• Remove from heat, stir in butterscotch morsels, marshmallow creme, nuts and vanilla
• Mix well
• Pour into 9x13 baking dish, spread evenly and allow to cool before cutting

2-on-Tuesday: Pumpkin Crunch

It's PUMPKIN MONTH! If you love all things pumpkiny, this is a #pumpkinchunkin must-try for you!

PUMPKIN CRUNCH

1 pkg Yellow Cake Mix
1 16 oz can Solid Pack Pumpkin
1 12 oz can Evaporated Milk (NOT Sweetened Condensed Milk)
3-4 Eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups Sugar or 1 cup Monk Fruit Sugar
4 teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoons Salt
1 cup Pecans, chopped
1 cup Unsalted Butter, melted

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Combine pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, spice and salt and pour into 9x13 baking dish
• Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over pumpkin mixture
• Top with pecans
• Drizzle melted butter over entire mixture
• Bake for 50-60 minutes until golden brown and not jiggly in the center

Super easy, this recipe is like a mouthful of autumn! Enjoy! 

2-on-Tuesday Recipes: PECANS!

Pecans are the South's favorite tree nut. The pecan groves or orchards of the deep, Dirty South are gorgeous with neat rows of gnarly ancients standing guard. Occasionally you will see the breeze catch Spanish Moss hanging from branches looking like the eerie setting from an old movie.

I've never made a pecan pie. There's no need because at Christmas, my sister-in-law, Renae Allen-Elmore, makes a mean pie loaded with pecans! Sometimes, there's one for me with chocolate chunks added! 

Dane using
Pappau's gadget

My "Pappau," W. A. Chisholm, would go out toward Monroe, Louisiana, to either "shake and pick up" Paper Shell Pecans or, as he got older, purchase a brown paper sack full. A carpenter by trade, he constructed a nut cracker out of machine parts and would sit for hours cracking pecans. Pappau was a master artist when it came to skillfully pulling the meat out in one whole piece! My family still uses his little invention.

Spiced or Frosted Pecans

1 cup      Sugar
1/2 cup Water
1 tsp       Cinnamon
1/4 tsp   Salt
1 tsp       Vanilla Extract
2 1/2 cups Pecan Halves

• Combine first four ingredients in saucepan cooking over medium heat until candy thermometer reads 232 degrees OR until mixture spins a thread
• Remove from heat and add vanilla and pecans
• Stir until pecans are coated and mixture begins to seize (crystalize) or look creamy
• At this point, you decide to keep stirring or tumble the coated pecans onto a cookie sheet

If the weather is humid or rainy, you can slide the coated pecans on the cookie sheet into a 350 degree oven. Don't leave! You'll have to babysit the pecans so they don't scorch. Break pecan clumps up with a wooden spoon or fork.

Cajun or Creole Roasted Pecans

3 cups   Pecan Halves
1/4 cup Butter, melted
1 Tbsp   Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp       Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning

• Stir together all ingredients and spill onto a large cookie sheet
• Bake at 250 degrees for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes
• Blot on paper towels or newspaper

These recipes are great for gift-giving in seasonal tins or Mason jars tied with ribbon or raffia. OR...be totally selfish and keep the batch at home to enjoy watching football or movies. To purchase or for more pecan recipes, click or copy this link, http://www.louisianapecanshelling.com/,  into your browser.

~"Sam"