Fanatic Friday Contestant #4-Pumpkin Bread Bowls with Witches Brew…more food storage recipes!

Thank you so much for sending in your recipes for this month’s Fanatic Friday Recipe Contest! Here is the last contestant for this month’s Fanatic Friday’s contest. Mirien C. sent this to me and it looks fantastic doesn’t it?

Pumpkin Bread Bowls
Mirien C.
Makes 4 medium bread bowls—I double this recipe for our family
Ingredients
2 T. instant yeast
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups warm water
4 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup oil
6 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I use white wheat)
Yellow, red, and green food coloring

Instructions: It seems like a lot of steps, but these are really pretty easy. They can be made the day before you use them. I use my Bosch mixer, knead for 10 minutes, and skip the first rise in #3. But for those who don’t have bread mixers, follow the steps below.
1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water. Add the salt, oil, and flour and combine.
2. Knead the dough on a floured tabletop, adding more flour if needed, until it is smooth and elastic but not sticky or soft.
3. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, turn it over once, then cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise just until it has doubled in bulk (about 1 to 1 1/2 hours).
4. Punch down the dough. Divide the dough into four portions, and remove a small piece of dough from each portion for the stems.
5. Shape each pumpkin by grasping the dough from the bottom, stretching it upward, and gathering it on the top. Repeat this process until you have a uniform ball. Then firmly pinch together the gathered dough in the center and turn over the ball. Now gently squeeze the middle of the pumpkin to make it stand as tall as possible.
6. Place the pumpkin on a parchment-paper-lined sheet pan. Grease one end of a toothpick and insert it into the dough stem so that it protrudes an inch from the top. Stick the other end into the pumpkin top. Then cover each pumpkin with plastic wrap and let it rise to twice its size.
7. Uncover the risen dough. Holding the stem, slowly twist the toothpick to loosen it but don’t remove it.
8. In a small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of water with 30 drops of yellow and 6 drops of red food coloring. Transfer a half teaspoon of the mixture to a small saucer and stir in a drop of green food coloring.
Use a small pastry brush to paint the stem green (the brush should not be too wet). Gently apply a coat of orange to the globe using a larger brush and long, soft strokes. Let the paint dry for about 2 minutes.
With a sharp knife, lightly score the dough to create the pumpkin’s vertical grooves (adults only).
9. Heat the oven to 375 degrees and bake the bread until it sounds hollow when you tap the crust, about 35 to 40 minutes.
10. Set the pumpkin on a cooling rack and twist the toothpick to remove it. If the crust seems soft, cool the bread completely, then bake it for another 5 to 10 minutes.
Before serving, slice off the top of the pumpkin and pull out the bread from the inside, leaving the bowl about 1” thick on the sides and bottom. Fill with thick soup.

Note: I’ve tried coloring the dough orange with food coloring before baking, but I’ve found that painting it on before baking looks much better.

Witches’ Brew (Split Pea and Barley Soup)
Mirien C.
My kids love this soup—maybe because we’ve always called it witches’ brew. It’s warm and filling—perfect food to eat before trick or treating. It’s so easy, too. Just put everything in the crockpot and forget about it until it’s time to eat.

INGREDIENTS
1 onion, chopped
1 bay leaf
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups dried split peas
1/2 cup barley
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
9 cups water or chicken broth
3 carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
3 potatoes, diced (I don’t peel them!)
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley or 2 T. dried
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS
Place all ingredients in a large slow cooker and stir until well combined. Cook for 3-4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low. Add more water if soup is too thick. Serve in bread bowls.

TIME TO VOTE!

If you don’t remember the other three, you can check them out below…

Contestant #1: Pumpkin Sloppy Joes

Contestant #2: Jock-o-lantern Pot Pie

Contestant #3: Chili Getti

Remember, you’re deciding which dinner MY FAMILY should eat for Halloween and the winner gets “Deceptively Delicious” (one of my favorite cookbooks!).  It’s easy to vote, just leave a comment for which recipe my family should eat! (If you missed the story, my husband and I “debate” every year about what the “proper” Halloween Dinner is-either Spaghetti or Chili Bake…so this year, I’m brining it to the masses and letting you decide with a third party option!)

Want to enter the Fanatic Friday recipe contest? November will be all about Thanksgiving favorites. Did you know that even the Pilgrims were counseled to have a year supply of food? There’s no better way to celebrate them than to make things for Thanksgiving that use items from OUR one year supply. Have a food storage recipe that would be perfect to serve on Thanksgiving? Please share it with us at fanaticfridays@gmail.com! For more information on the contest click HERE.