Whole Lotta Pumpkin: 5 Things To Make With Pumpkin

    I have a HUGE pumpkin carved in my yard.  Although I do like to bake pumpkin seeds, I don't tend to use the pumpkin itself.  I find the canned pumpkin very convenient.  I buy the plain pumpkin without the spices.  Since it is pumpkin season, what do you do with that canned orange stuff?

1. Pumpkin bread/muffins

2. Pumpkin seeds

3. Pumpkin Pie

4. Pumpkin Oatmeal

5. Pumpkin Harvest Pudding

Pumpkin Harvest Pudding

    After opening up the can for our new recipe pumpkin oatmeal, I had A LOT leftover.  I could just let it sit on the back of the shelf and grow mold, tsk tsk, or find a use for it.  So in the most unlikely of sources What To Eat When You're Expecting I found a pumpkin recipe that used up my pumpkin and my dwindling pile of apples.
   I didn't have frozen apple juice so I substituted unsweetened applesauce.  I was out of pears, so I doubled up on apples and threw two extra in since they were on their way to rottensville. I raided the raisins from the kids snack shelf and I skipped the wheat germ and cranberries since I didn't have any.  I threw in two eggs instead of egg whites, though I did manage to separate them by dropping one on the table. We had some mixed nuts which my little helper enjoyed preparing with a bag and a spoon.
   It took a little work to put together, but it was good!  The recipe said to enjoy it for dessert, snack or topped with yogurt for breakfast.  It was even tastier cold. The crumb topping would make a nice crumble for an apple crisp or granola starter.  I'm not waiting until Thanksgiving for my pumpkin fix!
 



Harvest Pudding from What To Eat When You're Expecting

2 cups canned unsweetened solid-pack pumpkin
1 1/3 cups apple juice concentrate
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 egg whites
1/2 cup raisins, chopped
1 medium apple, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped
1 medium pear, peeled, cored, and freshly chopped
1/2 cup fresh cranberries (optional)
1 2/3 cups rolled oats
6 tablespoons wheat germ
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place pumpkin, 3/4 cup of juice concentrate, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and egg whites in a bowl; beat together until well blended. Stir in the raisins, apple, pear and cranberries. Combine remaining juice concentrate, cinnamon, oats, wheat germ, butter and nuts in another bowl; blend until crumbly. Stir half the oat mixture into the pumpkin mixture. Transfer the pumpkin mixture into a 9-inch baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture evenly over the top. Bake until crumbs are light brown and pudding is set, 30 to 40 minutes. Serve warm or cold.

Lucky Seven

Lego cake for a lucky 7-year-old

    I had a request for a Lego cake.  I pulled out my favorite cake recipe.  It is made with carob, but comes out moist and rich and nobody guesses it isn't chocolate!  I have tested the recipe out, unlike my interesting results in Dinosaur Delights.

   Two things, I need to share with you.  First of all, the cake serves 12 so I figured I needed to double the recipe.  The original recipe was for a double layer round cake.  The doubled recipe produced so much batter that I made two sheet cakes.  That was on Wednesday. I froze both cakes.   I learned the hard way that it is easier to shape cakes when they are frozen. The first cake became the party cake.  The day before the party, I mixed up my favorite frosting and added giant mega blocks in the shape of a seven.  I had found interesting Lego cake ideas, but this one came to me and I stuck with my idea.
   
   The second detail  worth noting is that I usually use oat flour to create a gluten-free cake.  I have tried brown rice flour, but it doesn't seem to raise well.  This time I used regular flour and the cake was drier than I expected.  I may have to go back to oat flour only or try a mixture of flours.

 
   The second cake stayed in the freezer for school visit day.  I mixed up a fresh batch of frosting and iced the cake, adding mini-marshmallows to each piece to create Lego blocks.  Note to self: cupcakes are easier to serve at school, since you don't need to slice and serve.  It would also eliminate the need to bring forks and plates.

   This recipe is time consuming compared with a box mix or calling the grocery bakery.  I really like knowing that my kids are eating a caffeine and sugar free cake that is a wonderful treat for their special day.  By baking the cake on Wednesday, I was able to make my mess ahead of time and that freed me up to get the activities (and cleaning) prepped for the party.

   The last time I made this recipe it got smudged with carob powder.  This time I learned my lesson and cut and pasted it to fit on one page.  Then I add I plastic sheet protector.  This time I got to keep my copy, although I did have to sponge it down!

Vegan Carob Cake with Fudgy Carob Frosting
alteredplates.blogspot.com
Serves 12

Cake Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup carob powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup oil (I used grapeseed.)
2 cups agave nectar (I know this sounds like a lot, but the original called for 3 cups of maple syrup -- an expensive recipe, for sure. Still, it's a LOT of cake.)
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar (Don't omit this ingredient, whatever you do!)
2 tablespoons vanilla
2 cups filtered water



Cake Directions:

1. In a large bowl, sift together all the dry ingredients. Give them a stir for about 2 minutes, until all the ingredients are evenly distributed.
2. In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, mix the wet ingredients for 3 to 5 minutes, until they are well combined.
3. Stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture. Here's where things are very weird. It's going to be extremely lumpy. Don't overmix this no matter what your head tells you. Mix until the dry ingredients have been moistened -- about 3 minutes.
4. Let the cake batter rest a few minutes while you preheat your oven to 325 degrees F and oil and flour your two 9-in. cake pans. You definitely want to line the bottoms of your pans with a circle of parchment paper as well. Trust me on this. The cakes WILL stick if you don't.
5. When the pans are prepared, pour the batter into the pans. Don't be concerned that there is a lot of batter, it won't over flow. However, feel free to put the pans on top of a cookie sheet with a lip.
6. Bake the cakes for 35 minutes or until a tester comes out with just the barest of crumbs. Do NOT open the oven for the first half hour. This important for the lump-killing abilities of the cider vinegar. You will regret it if you don't leave the layers alone.
7. Cool the layers completely before frosting.
 
For my favorite buttercream frosting, I use salted butter, rather than adding salt at the end.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
 from www.madhavasagave.com

1/2 cup unsalted butter
6 tbl Agave Nectar
1 cup nonfat dry milk
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
4 tbl whole milk
pinch of sea salt

Cream the butter with an electric mixer until light in color. Slowly add the agave nectar and beat until fluffy, about one to two minutes. Gradually add the dry milk and beat again.  Add the salt, turn the mixer to high speed, and beat about two minutes, or until very fluffy.  Makes 2 cups. Store in refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

Sweet Hearts

   I found this recipe for a Valentine's day treat a while back and decided this was the year to make it.  The directions said to shape the treat like a Hershey's kiss using a funnel.  I thought I had a few funnels around the house, but all I could find was a really big one.  I opted to use some heart shaped pans instead to create two large rice krispie treats . 

Peanut butter crispy rice treat

   I used natural peanut butter since I prefer the sugar free, no corn syrup brands.  It may turn out differently with regular peanut butter with no oil separation.  I also used Erewhon Crispy Brown Rice Cereal since it is gluten and sugar free.

  We liked the results so much that I made them again the next day, this time using a cookie cutter to shape them like hearts.  This created 2 dozen tiny cookies. It was a very sticky job, but fun!

 Crispy-Rice Kisses
from: A Year of Fun Just For Four's

Mix together 3 tablespoons each peanut butter and honey, and 2 cups crispy rice cereal. Pack some of the cereal mixture into a small funnel to mold it. Carefully remove the cereal "kiss" shape. Continue making kisses with the rest of the mixture. Freeze kisses until firm, about 2 hours. Keep frozen until served.

Crantastic

Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Take the picture quick before it's all gone.

   As I look forward to the holiday with family this week, I am feeling truly thankful.  First of all, we get to spend time together.  Secondly, we all live near each other so nobody has to make the effort of huge travel arrangements.  Most important of all we are going to my sister's house so all I have to do is bring a dish to share.  Now that is good news to me! 
   Last year I happened upon a book called The Thanksgiving Bowl by Virginia Kroll.  The bowl gets left out after the holiday dinner and ends up traveling about the neighborhood animals before making it back to Grandma's house.  Everyone fills the bowl with "I am Thankful for" slips of paper then takes turns guessing who's slip of paper it is.  We tried this and it was fun to see all the different answers.  The kids were thankful for food or toys, but the adults had more wistful and profound gratitude for family, new opportunities and the simple joys of life.  It is easy to get caught up with the prep and busyness of the holiday season.  Taking time out to appreciate the ones we love, the roof over our head, wonderful friends and the start of each new day is more important to me than all the trimmings on the table
    I whipped this cranberry sauce recipe up while we were watching the parade.  Yeah, less time in the kitchen and more time to relax and enjoy the holiday! I've never been a big fan of homemade cranberry sauce, preferring the canned over the lumpy kind as a child.  This recipe is made using canned apple juice for sweetener.  I used the entire 12 ounce can and skipped adding sugar.  I threw it in the food processor and blended until smooth before chilling. This one was hugely popular with the kids' table.  They even asked for seconds!
    
Cranberry Apple Sauce II
 http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cranberry-apple-sauce-ii

12 ounces fresh or frozen cranberries
6 ounces unsweetened apple juice concentrate

Directions:

In a sauce pan, combine the cranberries and apple juice. Cook over medium-low heat until berries burst. Additional sugar may be added if desired. Mix well, chill and serve.

Piece of Cake



Dan's Birthday Cheesecake

      I know I should know better.  I actually thought of making things easy on myself.  I told myself it was okay to pick up a cake for my husband's birthday this year since it was in the middle of the week and he had a meeting that night so we weren't going to have much time for a big celebration that night.  I was out at lunch with a friend on Friday and saw that our local coffeehouse sells cheesecakes.  I e-mailed them to see if I could order one.  In the meantime, I remembered that I had a healthy recipe for cheesecake in a cookbook at home.  I decided to go ahead and make the effort to have a homemade cake.  Plus, I googled the Cheesecake Factory and I could make this whole cake for the price of one slice of theirs. 
     The cookbook suggested a cranberry-raspberry sauce, but I wasn't sure how that would be received.  I decided to save my fresh cranberries for Thanksgiving and made a strawberry-raspberry sauce variation instead.  I used regular cottage cheese instead of lowfat. I opted for the food processor rather than the blender. My cake baked up shorter than I expected, but I used a wider springform pan than recommended in the cookbook. The cake was very popular.  I had to grab the last slice off the table to share over tea in the morning with my favorite blogger: http://cleaninguptheclutter.blogspot.com/.

Cheesecake
from: Fat Flush Cookbook by Anne Louise Gittleman

1 pound 2 percent cottage cheese
1 cup mashed ripe banana
2 packets Stevia Plus
Juice of 1 lemon
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preaheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cottage cheese in a blender and blend until smooth. Add mashed banana, lemon juice and Stevia Plus and blend until mixed. Beat eggs one at a time and add to the mixture, blending well after each addition. Pour the mixture into a lightly greased (use butter), 8-inch springform pan. Bake for 35 minutes. Remove from oven and loosen cake from sides of pan with a knife. Cool and then chill for several hours or overnight before serving.

Quick Cran-Raspberry Sauce (also from Fat Flush Cookbook)

1/2 cup cranberries
1/2 cup raspberries
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
3/4 teaspoon Stevia Plus

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Heat in a saucepan for about 2 minutes or until hot. Serves 1.

My Stawberry-Raspberry Sauce
2 cups frozen raspberries
2 cups frozen strawberries
2 packets PureVia (Stevia)
3 Tablespoons Orange Juice

Thaw berries for 2 minutes in the microwave. Blend all ingredients in the food processor adding just enough orange juice to moisten the berries. Place berry sauce in pastry bag and dot on plate for serving or decorate cake.  This produced a large quantity of sauce to use up on another project later.






Go Bananas!

   The weekends were made for a leisurely breakfast.  If you need a gluten-free recipe for pancakes, look no further.  It's also nice to use this simple back up recipe when you find you are out of pancake mix.  With very few ingredients you can whip up these delicious, from-scratch pancakes in a jiffy. It's a great way to use up those aging bananas in the fruit bowl.  The bananas add their own sweetness making syrup unnecessary.  The recipe makes one serving so make sure to repeat for everyone in your house.

Banana Pancakes
2 eggs
1 spotty banana

Mash the banana with a fork.  Scramble the eggs over the banana.  Melt a pat of butter in a skillet over low heat.  Pour the batter into the skillet and cook until the edges solidify. Flip the pancake.  Put a pat of butter on top so it starts to melt.  Sprinkle the pancake with cinnamon.  Cook until firm. Serve with a pat of butter.  Makes 1 serving.

Eggplant "Parma"-yum!

My version of Eggplant

   My latest favorite recipe did not come from my mountainous pile at all, but from my experiments in the kitchen.  After a trip to the market one Sunday afternoon I was inspired to whip up eggplant parm.  Without any bread crumbs in the house I made up my own concoction using oat flour and spices.  I served it over leftover brown rice the first time and you can see it pictured here over sauteed spinach with garlic.  The third time I felt it was ready for company so I made a huge batch and served it over brown rice spagetti for a gluten-free meal.  I served it dairy-free, but add your favorite mozzerella if you have it. Frying the eggplant gives it a meaty texture so it's great for company.  I used the leftover egg mixture to make "protein nuggets" and served them in the sauce.  They were such a hit I made them again a week later and let the kids dip them in mustard like chicken nuggets.   If you have eggplant growing in your garden, this is a wonderful dish and don't forget the delicious ratatouille recipe featured in my prior posts.

Eggplant Parma-yum

1 large eggplant (I used 2 when we had company)
2 cups oat flour
1 tbs oregano
1 tbs seasoned salt
2 eggs

    Scramble the eggs in a bowl.  Add flour and spices to a second bowl.  Peel and slice eggplant in circles.  Dip eggplant in egg, then in flour.  Fry eggplant in hot skillet with olive oil for 3 minutes on each side.  I like to cook them until they are firm, but not mushy.  Cook in batches until all the eggplant is cooked, setting aside the fried eggplant covered to keep warm.  Serve with spagetti sauce over pasta, rice or my favorite fresh spinach sauteed in garlic. 
    To make protein nuggets, add the leftover flour to the beaten egg.  Mix well.  Pour in the skillet and let set.  When it gets firm, flip it like a pancake.  Let the other side brown and cut into strips or small squares.  These are great for dipping or adding to the spagetti sauce.