Fall Comfort Food: Pumpkin Anything! Especially Pumpkin and Orange Muffins

I hate the fall. No really. I hate it. Aaron on the other hand loves it. Everything about it. The crisp air, the cozy sweaters and the deep sleep that comes with a cold night.

 I would way rather sweat it out in the summer. 

But I guess there are some good things that come with the autumn. Hot chocolate, my birthday, and soup. And one other thing that I've come to love about cooler days is being able to warm my house up with baking. Soon I will be back to baking bread every week and filling my house with cookies and brownies and treats. 

My kids have been asking to buy a pumpkin for a couple of weeks now.  Honestly, though, I'm not ready to give into autumn decor so I said no and then bought some canned pumpkin. There are tons of things you can make with pumpkin. Tons. In fact, I have a cousin who has had pumpkin potlucks. A bunch of people are invited and everyone has to bring a pumpkin dish. You would be shocked at what kinds of foods come to this potluck.  The year I went I brought a Pumpkin Chili, but there were so many other things.

I considered using my single can of pumpkin for Chili but decided one cool day this past week that I better make something good that I can send in Hazels lunch so I dug around for this recipe and was pleasantly surprised. These muffins were moist, light, and had a unique flavor that we have all come to love.

Pumpkin and Orange Muffins

1 1/2 cups of All Purpose Flour

1 tsp of Baking Powder

1 tsp of Baking Soda

1/2 tsp of Salt

1/2 tsp of Ground Cinnamon (I had no cinnamon so I threw in 2 tsp of All Spice instead of the cinnamon and the next 2 ingredients)

1/2 tsp of Nutmeg

1/2 tsp of Ginger

Raisins (OMITTED. I don't love raisins enough to add these to much of anything)

1 Egg

1/4 cup of White Sugar

1/3 cup of Cooking Oil

1 cup of Canned Pumpkin (I just threw in the whole can)

1/2 cup of Milk

1 1/2 Tbsp of Grated Orange Peel (my house smelled so good after grated this all up)

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl. Stir until just moistened. Pour into greased muffin tin (or silicone liners) and bake at 400 degrees for 18 or until toothpick comes out clean. 

Cool and enjoy! Like I said before, these have a different flavor but they are so so good! And pretty too!

Happy October! 

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Quinoa and Grilled Veggies; It may be fall but my BBQ is still getting well used!

Lets talk about trying something new. Well, maybe this isn't something new but lets chat anyway.

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wa) is a grain-like (not grain) crop that is delicious. So good. Its nutty and almost pops in your mouth. Its a great food to add to your diet because it contains things like iron, calcium and protein.   It is super easy to make (rice cooker anyone?), can be used in place of pasta. rice. or couscous, and I think it looks pretty. 

Now, I don't want you to be confused with couscous (speaking of). I like couscous but it is a completely different crop. Couscous derives from wheat and doesn't require the same cooking as quinoa. It is still considered a delicious and very healthy grain. It is full of good stuff that again we all need to eat. But...I just can't make myself eat it very often. 

Its not that I don't like, its just that when Aaron and I went to France for a summer so he could take some courses and I could have a 6 week French coast beach vacation (that trip was amazing) the university served a cheap meal everyday for lunch in the cafeteria. Because I had taken 6 weeks off work and Aaron was a student being cheap was our life so I met him everyday for lunch at the school. Every day they served couscous and I could never stomach it. Turns out I was a few weeks pregnant with Hazel and maybe I should have been eating the couscous rather than the fresh shellfish and soft cheeses I lived on that summer but there was something about the couscous that my baby making belly couldn't handle. And inst it funny that now 5+ years later I still associate couscous to that sick feeling I had when I walked into that little french cafeteria. 

The Kid who ruined couscous for me. Sweet trampoline hair hey?

So, though couscous is healthy and good and you should eat it I'm not going it. 

But I will eat quinoa forever more. 

Quinoa and Grilled Veggies

1 cup of Quinoa (Costco has one of the best prices for this not cheap grain, better usually than bulk barn even)

2 cups of water or broth (I like to cook mine in broth because it adds some flavour)

Now, since this is my blog I get to tell you how I make it but if you don't have a rice cooker you make this on the stove top the same way as you would rice, or just follow the directions on the packaging. 

So, I put my quinoa and my broth (or water) into my rice cooker (don't have one? you should get one) and turn it on. When it turns itself off telling me that its ready I stir or fluff it up and its ready to go. 

Easy.

Now for the grilled veggies. I made these the same way as when I posted the recipe for Smoky Peppers on the BBQ but I added some zucchini.

3 Peppers cut in half with stems and seeds removed. (Get colorful! I used Red, Yellow and Orange Peppers)

2 Zucchini cut in half.

Brush the veggies with Olive Oil and sprinkle with salt (Salt is a must to help the peppers get juicy!)

Place on a hot BBQ for approx 8 minutes on each side or until tender. 

Once the veggies are cooked (and you can really use any veggies you want) cut into bite sized pieces and mix into your quinoa. I like to add a few shakes of Mrs. Dash and voila, you are ready to eat. 

This dish can be served as a side or even part of a main course. 

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oh, and we ate all of it before I could take any pictures so how about one of my cute family?

Family wrestling on the tramp

Getting Ready for Fall: Crock pot Chilli and Baked Pita Chips

I'm in mourning. I've come to a sad realization over the past couple of days and it makes me so sad. And yes, I'm perhaps being a little melodramatic, but, still...

The thing I've realized is that my cooking habits have got to change. I love our new city but I spend my entire day driving. Well, maybe not the entire day but a lot of it. And the reason that I have to change my cooking habits is because I have to get Hazel off the bus then I have 40 minutes to make dinner and get to the college to pick Aaron up. We then come home and everyone is starving (and if you have seen someone related to Aaron hungry you will know it is scary) and we need to eat pronto.

This means I won't be able to try 3-4 new recipes a week. This means I cant spend a late afternoon in my fabulous new kitchen chopping veggies or sautéing tofu. This means I have to start making crock pot meals, having freezer meals ready, and have lots of quick solutions pretty much everyday.

Now, I want you to know that I love freezer meals but I also love the chopping, and cooking, and seeing it all come together, not just throwing it in a casserole dish and walking away for a few hours.

So, here is the first of the hopefully lots of quick and easy meals to help me get through this year (if we last that long living with only 1 car). This meal was something I threw together with things I had, including the chips.

This meal was delicious, hearty and everyone bowls were empty at the end of dinner.

Vegetarian Crockpot Chilli and Baked Pita Chips

1/2 a chopped Onion

2 tsp of minced Garlic

1 can of Diced Tomatoes (but, I didn't have any so I just chopped 3 fresh tomatoes and threw them in)

2 chopped Zucchinis (I love squash season)

1 can of Chick Peas

1 can of Black Beans

4 tbsp of Tomato Paste (but I didn't have any so I just threw in a can of tomato soup)

1/2 a cup of Salsa

1/2 tsp of Salt

1 tsp of Curry Powder

2 tsp of Basil

2 tsp of Thyme

So...since this is a crock pot meal you really just throw everything in the crock pot, turn it on. High for 3-4 hours or Low for 6-8. Serve hot with buns, or tortilla chips or a favorite around here, Baked Pita Chips.

Baked Pita Chips

This is a super easy and fast 'recipe'. We eat a lot of wraps but sometimes we don't eat them fast enough and they get a little dry and then they don't wrap properly. When I get like this I turn them into chips to eat with hummus, or salsa or chilli.

Cut your wraps into triangles. Arrange on a baking sheet (I always put parchment paper down first) and bake at 350 for about 8 minutes. Turn them over and bake for an additional 6 minutes or until they are golden brown. Serve.

I have never seasoned these but I'm sure you could brush them with Olive Oil and sprinkle sea salt on them for a little splash of flavour.

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Greek Food, Belly Dancers and Pizza

I used to spend a lot of time in a Greek restaurant. I had a good friend Chuck who's step dad owned a Greek restaurant in the community I grew up in . We used to go and eat, break plates, and sometimes some of us would get hit on by the belly dancers who worked there. Such fabulous fun times. It was during those times that I fell in love with Greek food. I want tzatziki just thinking about that. 

Anyway, lets get to the pizza part. I love pizza. I could eat pizza every week. I'm usually a pepperoni and mushroom kind of girl but when I was making pizza the other night I suddenly had a craving for Greek so I put it all together, and satisfied my need for feta.

Greek Pizza

Crust: 

Simple Scratch Pizza Dough

Mix: 

1/2 cup of Warm Water

1/2 tsp of Sugar

3 tsp of Instant Yeast

Add:

1 cup of Hot Water

1 Tbsp of Vegetable Oil

1 tsp of Salt

Flour; enough to make a soft dough (about 3 1/2 cups) (I used whole wheat to give this pizza a healthy boost)

That is it, knead this all together and voila! you are ready to roll it out

Now time to add some Greek toppings:

I substituted tomato pizza sauce for tzatziki, threw on some tomato, onion, green pepper and feta. The only thing I was missing was spinach but even without the green stuff  this pizza turned out so good.   

 Okay, so bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through and then eat up!

*To make thick chewy crust: stretch dough to 1/2" thickness and let it rise slightly before baking.

*To make a thin, crisp crust: use cold dough, roll it to 1/4" and bake while the dough is still cold.

Mango & Sweet Pepper Sauce (use on everything)

I live with a little bit of a foodie. Not crazy but he does like food and especially likes trying new foods which is good for me because I love trying new recipes. We do have our favorites (and this is now one of them) which I fall back on often but I like to pull out a new recipe at least once or twice a week. 

Some recipes are a total flop. Awful. Toss in the garbage and order pizza kind of bad. Not often though I'm happy to report. Usually they are pretty good, and sometimes perfect. 

This is one of those perfect recipes. I like it most because it has kept Aaron guessing every time I have used it (3x this week). I also like it because it is so versatile. It is meant as a grilling sauce for any type of meat but we have been eating it on all sorts of things and in all sorts of ways; on grilled meats, tofu, rice, and in wraps. Also, it was so easy to prepare and I love being able to make something like this from scratch since I know exactly what is in it (yup, I'm a little controlling about my food) He likes it because of the blend of flavours. He still doesn't know what is in it which is also fun for me because it is driving him a little bonkers. Maybe he will read this and learn something new. 

Mango & Sweet Pepper Sauce

1 ripe mango

1/2 of a small onion

1 sweet red pepper (I only had orange so my sauce is super orange and bright and fun!)

1 Tbsp of oil (I use olive)

2 Tbsp of white vinegar

Pinch of Salt

First, cut the mango into two long flat halves around the stone inside. Pull the two halves apart and discard the stone. Scoop out the flesh with a spoon and place into a blender (or...peel your mango then cut the flesh off on the stone and toss it in the blender. It really doesn't matter how you do it just get that mango in the blender)

Chop the onion and sweet red (or orange) pepper, and sauté over medium heat in your oil. Sauté until the onions and peppers are soft, about ten minutes.

Add these sautéed onions and peppers to the blender with the mango flesh and add your 2 Tbsp of vinegar.

Purée the mixture until smooth.

Add  salt and taste. You want the sauce to be sweet and tart and savory, without being noticeably salty. If you think it is a little bland, add another pinch of salt, and if you think it is too sweet, add a little more vinegar.(I didn't have to add anything else after it was blended together) Most mangoes are sweet enough already, but if your sauce tastes too sour, you can mix in a little sugar to sweeten it up. . Serve anywhere.

Remember, you can use this sauce for anything. It is so delicious and the mix of sweet and savoury is 

perfectly matched. I'd love to hear if this sauce is a hit at your house too! Happy cooking!

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