Pumpkin Corn Chowder

This week for the Caribbean Cooking Challenge, I cooked with pumpkin twice!  First the scones, and now the real pumpkin recipe: Pumpkin Corn Chowder.

Ingredients

via All Recipes

• 2 cups onion, diced
• 2 cups green pepper diced
• 2 cups red pepper diced
• 1/3 cup jalapeno pepper diced
• 2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
• 4 cups pumpkin peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes                                {I used half pumpkin and half potatoes}
• 2 tablespoons garlic, minced
• 4 cups vegetable broth or chicken stock
• 1 pound cut corn (fresh or frozen)
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 3 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 cup milk
• 1/3 cup freshly chopped cilantro {i wish!}

Directions

1. In a large pot, saute the onion and all of the peppers in butter 5 minutes to soften.
2. Add the pumpkin and garlic and saute for an additional 5 minutes stirring often.
3. Add the Imagine Organic Vegetable Broth and bring the mixture to a boil. Cover the pot, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 25-30 minutes or until the pumpkin is just tender.
4. In a food processor (or blender) place 3/4 cups of the cut corn, add 1 cup of the cooking liquid from the pot, and process to form a chunky puree.
5. Add the pureed mixture, the remaining corn, chili powder, cumin, Hain Pure Foods Iodized Sea Salt, and pepper to the pot, and simmer the soup an additional 5 minutes.
6. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well to combine.

= happy camper husband

Cooking with Avocado

My good friend Clare was so sad that the 10 Days in Dominica challenge ended that she came up with her own challenge. In the Caribbean Kitchen Cooking & Blogging Challenge, we are supposed to use one local vegetable a week for the next 6 weeks to create an island inspired recipe.  

This week the special ingredient is avocados. As a Californian and Mexican food enthusiast, I already have a good handle on how to cook with avocados. This week I'm going to share my easy guacamole recipe with you along with the recipe for the carnitas that I served it with.

Start with the garlic, jalepenos and onion.  

In the land of plenty America there would be cilantro.

Cut your avocado in half, lengthwise.

Then use a spoon to make hash marks through the fruit to the skin.  

Finally, use the spoon to scoop out all the goodness!

Add some salt and lime juice.

Mix carefully, so it ends up chunky!

Now, on to what I made to go with this: Carnitas. I adapted what I made from a recipe I found here. Basically, I rubbed boneless pork chops down with salt, pepper, cumin, and chile powder. Then I grilled them lightly in olive oil with loads of garlic and onion inside a big metal pot. I added lots of lime and lemon juice and enough water to cover the meat and let it cook until all the water was gone (about 2 hours). I let them keep cooking until they were nice and browned.

Once the pieces of pork sit for a few minutes they should shred easily.

Serve the carnitas with cheese, sour cream, taco sauce, and of course guacamole!