Pumpkin Take 2

OK, we've already established that I'm a pumpkin freak. And way back in one of my first posts on this blog we established my love of Yorkshire pudding that I inherited from my grandmother. I discovered a way to combine the two.

I love Dutch babies. They are basically a light, fluffy, baked pancake. They are NOT anything I invented. Sometimes I follow a tried & true Dutch baby recipe because I'm craving their Yorkshire pudding like texture. I've also been known to have my regular pancake batter all mixed up and literally just throw it in the oven so I don't have to stand there flipping pancakes (you know those mornings where you can't even find time for THAT!)

I've been making Dutch babies a lot recently and changing them up each time. Sometimes I throw a couple handfuls of fresh or frozen blackberries or blueberries (or both!) into the pan right before I cook them. I've also mixed applesauce and cinnamon into the batter. Sometimes I make a plain one and then use homemade sauteed cinnamon apples as the "syrup". I've even been known to throw in a few chocolate chips. Once I did a bananas foster Dutch baby. Yeah, all it needed was a scoop of ice cream to make a fabulous dessert! Like with most of my inventions, I just take a recipe that sounds good and make it my own. And as I've said before, I never miss an opportunity to add fruits or veggies to something my kids like to up the nutritional value.

But I have discovered my new favorite breakfast.......PUMPKIN SPICE DUTCH BABIES! Yum. I had opened a big can of pumpkin (yeah, shoot me, I'm out of my stash that I roasted and froze back in the fall!) the day before to make pumpkin spice muffins. I had quite a bit left and didn't want to forget about it, so I was thinking of what else I could do with it for Sunday breakfast. I was craving a Dutch baby, but I really wanted to use up the pumpkin. So I decided to try my hand at a pumpkin one. I still can't believe how incredible it came out!

If you've ever been tempted to have a slice of pumpkin pie for breakfast, but just couldn't bring yourself to do it, this is the perfect breakfast recipe for you!

Pumpkin Spice Dutch Babies

2 eggs

1/2 cup of milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg (fresh grated preferably!)

1/4 tsp cloves

Pinch of salt

2 tbsp butter

1/4 cup maple syrup

Directions:

1) Spray oven safe skillet (cast iron or stainless) with cooking spray.

2) Put the butter in skillet. Place pan in oven and preheat to 375.

3) Mix all ingredients together in a blender. Let sit for about 10 minutes while the butter melts and your pan gets good and hot.

4) Remove skillet from oven (careful, it will be HOT!) and pour batter into the pan. Return

skillet to the oven.

5) Bake for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

6) Remove pan, slice and serve warm.

7) Serve with hot maple syrup (or what I did was pour the maple syrup over the whole thing

before slicing, and let it sit for about 10 minutes before a cut into it.)

Note: This recipe has more flour in it than a traditional dutch baby recipe. I've used less, but I like the consistency that the extra flour and the pumpkin gives it (not to mention I'm feeding 5 mouths that LOVE Dutch Babies!) Feel free to use less flour if you want a more traditional, lighter result.

My only regret is that I didn't think to take pictures! I promise one of these days I'll plan ahead and start taking pics of my food! And maybe even throw in a few of my kids helping! :)

Enjoy!

Life, excuses, and bread!

I know, I know. I keep saying I won't slack on this blog. I keep posting statuses on Facebook to discuss what I'm cooking, then fail to share the recipe. That's what happens when you get busy. I keep my phone charging next to the stove. So I can spare a minute to let you know what I'm cooking, while I wait for water to boil or butter to melt or for my daughter to dump a cup of flour into a bowl. I can't always spare the time to come share some heartfelt back story to how or why I came up with the recipe that sounds good in my status, but may have actually end up burnt or lacking salt because I was actually too busy to keep an eye on the food.

So, yes, I'm busy. For those of you who don't know, we just spent the last 2/3 of a year building a brand new house. We moved in a week before Christmas. Let me state for the record, moving into a house the week before Christmas when you LOVE a decorated house and have 3 little kids is a task. It barely leaves time to breathe, let alone find time to share the recipe for the awesome rib roast you pull off for Christmas dinner or the Christmas cookies that surprising turned out really well at an altitude of 7000 feet.

We had enough time to move about 85% of our belongings and get the tree up. Then I spent hours unpacking so I could find the necessities to live life and have a nice Christmas. Once Christmas was over, we had 6 days --- 6 very short, very busy days --- to get everything out of our rent house and get it cleaned up so we could surrender the keys by the 31st. Unaddressed Christmas cards sat on the desk (where they still sit......so yes, if you didn't get a card from me and were expecting one, I haven't forgotten you!!) and my new house got stacked floor to ceiling with boxes that I had no desire to unpack since I had just spent countless hours taping them up. My cooking slacked.......as least the the point where I didn't feel anything I made was special enough to share the recipe. (Of course, now I need to go back and rethink that since in my intro post I told you that one reason I wanted to do this blog was to share all my quick & easy meals for those of you who think you don't have time to cook!)

Then the new year hit. I realized I hadn't actually sat down except to drive between the new house & the rent house, or to eat a meal with my family. My body longed to just sit, but my brain was too sleepy to form coherent sentences. In fact, it was still too sleepy to come up with fancy recipes. School was back in session and it was time to get used to our new schedule. Our schedule that actually allowed me 3 extra hours a day to think about what to cook. And blogging about what I cooked. But more importantly, time to unpack, organize and think about paint colors. Three things I'm still doing and obviously, by the look of my house, not doing enough of. Because those were also 3 hours a day that I could allow myself time to do the stuff that I needed to be doing in my life the last 5 months but didn't have time. Like sit down and do puzzles with my 5 year old. And plan & make healthy after-school snacks instead of grabbing fries in the McD's drive-thru since school doesn't get out til almost 4 and we still had the long car ride back to the rent house. And write......

Yes, I've been cheating on this blog......errrrr....writing something else. A story. No clue if it will become a novel, or a movie, or simply just my random thoughts on paper where I can sit down and re-read them when I'm 80. But hopefully someday I'll have something more than recipes to share with you all. Maybe. We'll see. But that's a tangent I'm not ready to discuss.

Back to food. I've statused (is that a real verb yet? LOL) about my honey-oatmeal-flaxseed bread quite a bit recently. I LOVE fresh bread. And I really love it when I come up with a good bread that is both good broken into pieces and either covered in butter or dipped in a good soup AND also works as a good sandwich bread. And I have found it in this bread.

Several of you (and yes, I still know who each of you are!) have asked for the recipe. I apologize for not immediately taking time to just comment on my status with it, but I knew it would work as a good recipe for this blog.....when I found the time. And hopefully, I will finally get back to blogging regularly! So without further delay.......

Honey-Oatmeal-Flaxseed Bread

(Bread Machine Recipe)

1 1/4 cups lukewarm water

1/2 cup honey

2 tbsp canola oil

2 cups bread flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup oats

1/2 cup wheat germ

3/4 cup whole, dry roasted flax seeds

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

Place ingredients in order into your bread machine pan. Back on basic (or regular) setting.

Please note, getting the dough right at this altitude and/or dry climate has proven difficult. I've tried following a few exact recipes and have needed a good 1/2 cup extra liquid. I'm posting this one because I have now had it work out perfectly several times and the quantities are still somewhat close to other recipes I have success with at normal altitudes. Hopefully it works for you. But please remember to check the dough after 5 minutes for consistency. You may need an extra teaspoon of flour or water.

The Perfect Autumn Breakfast!

Hi! I'm Cyndi, and I'm a pumpkin freak!

I always have been, always will be. I LOVE all things pumpkin. I don't think I've ever met anything pumpkin I didn't like. Heck, I've even started making my own pumpkin spice lattes at home which involves LITERALLY putting pumpkin in your coffee. Sounds gross, but tastes delish! And I've been eating the heck out of the pumpkin salsa I found at Whole Foods a few weeks back. I may even try to come up with my own homemade version!

I've been making pumpkin pancakes for as long as I can remember. Pancakes are great -- add pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, & ginger and they are even better. In the beginning, it was a dollop or 2 of pumpkin added to good ole Bisquick pancake batter, and then seasoned to taste. It wasn't wasn't very special - Bisquick did all the hard work.

Occasionally, I made my own pancake batter, but I usually started with a mix. It left less room for disaster. If I started off with a tried and true mix, the only thing that could go wrong was not having enough spice, or having too much. And then there was always the fact, that for whatever reason, pumpkin added to your pancake mix makes it take twice as long to cook. I can't explain it and I still don't really have a magical fix for that. One time they turn out perfect and the next I feel like I have to overcook them on the outside in order to have the middles done.

After I had my first child, working extra fruits & veggies into just about every single meal became priority number one. Adding pumpkin to just about everything I baked was an easy fix for that. So what was once something I did about half the time in the fall, became something I did every time I made pancakes. Zach loved them, and I loved that he was getting the extra nutrients. It was a win-win.

Once he got a little older, I started calling them "pumpkin pie pancakes". Granted, he ate every last bite when I left the word "pie" out. But something about being a mom and making breakfast sound like dessert was so much fun! To me they sounded more appetizing to a 2 year old. And from there the old standby of Bisquick with a couple spoonfuls of pumpkin thrown in at the last minute....evolved.

If I was going to call them "pumpkin pie pancakes", they should at least have all the same ingredients, right? I mean, would pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving taste just as good if it were made out of skim milk instead of evaporated milk? And it would have to be brown sugar instead of white. And I always prefer my pumpkin pie to be a little heavier on the ginger than the other typical spices found in "pumpkin pie spice". So shouldn't MY pumpkin pie pancakes be a little gingery?

My recipe has probably changed as least half as many times as I've made them. As most of you know (and as I've even stated in this blog), I'm horrible about measuring stuff. I'm even worse about writing down what I did and keeping it in a safe place so I can recreate any dish that my family ends up going ga-ga over. In fact, a lot of you have asked for this recipe. And I bet between all of you who have it, there is at least 3 different variations going around. It's the way I roll. I try to perfect stuff and I give out the latest version. My apologies for not passing out versions 1.2 and 1.3 to those of you who were giving the original.

And just like many cooks today, I have made efforts to make things healthier. I'm always searching for ways to get more nutrients into my family, while cutting out calories and fat. And most importantly, without sacrificing taste. I do all I can to make my cooking healthy, but at the same time I whole-heartedly believe in "all things in moderation".

Since we've been having autumn weather for over 2 months now, the pumpkin pie pancakes have been made many a time recently. So I've had plenty of time to tweek. And plenty of time to keep track of the ingredients, and even the quantities I used! So here is the latest version of the recipe. Feel free to tweek it yourself. I probably will next weekend. You can always ask me if I've made any changes for the better!

Pumpkin Pie Pancakes

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup quick cooking oats

1/2 cup wheat germ

1/4 cup flax seed

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp cloves

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 cup evaporated milk

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup melted butter

In a large bowl, mix together flour, oats, wheat germ, flax seed, baking powder, spices, and brown sugar.

In another bowl (or what I usually do, is measure the milk into a large 4 cup measuring cup, then mix the rest of the ingredients into the measuring cup. This way, you can use the measuring cup to pour the ingredients on to the griddle!), mix together the pumpkin, milk, egg, vanilla & butter. Combine wet & dry ingredients (you do not need to mix until there are no lumps!)

Melt a pat of butter on griddle over medium-low heat (or spray cold griddle with non-stick cooking spray). Pour about 1/4 cup of batter at a time onto the heated griddle (I usually make about 4 pancakes at a time). Let cook until bubbles form on the top of the pancake, then flip. Cook another 2 minutes.

Serve with REAL maple syrup. It is SO worth it. :)

Yes, I realize the sight of brown sugar, REAL BUTTER, and even eggs may make some of your hearts go pitter-patter. And I also realize that some of you would never eat "health food" like wheat germ and flax seed. Believe me, there isn't much you can do to this recipe to either make it healthier or less healthy that I haven't done. So let your imagination run wild. You can simply omit the "healthy" stuff, just note you will probably need a little less evaporated milk. And yes, the brown sugar can be substituted with white, or even honey, Splenda or omitted entirely. The butter can easily be replaced with applesauce (which I do a lot, especially if the dinner the night before was a little high in cholesterol!) The egg can even be omitted (you may want to add extra baking powder, or a little baking soda.) If you want a more normal pancake consistency, you can use just 2 cups of flour and no oats. Or 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose, and 1/2 cup of whole wheat (or even 1 cup of each!)

Since I want the masses to enjoy my recipes, I posted the version that comes out the tastiest, while still having some of the healthy stuff that is important to me. Feel free to adjust the recipe as you see fit. Most importantly, have a great autumn morning!

Healthy Muffins

I've been thinking about posting the base muffin recipe that I've been using recently for a long time. But today, I actually had TWO different friends ask for muffin recipes, so I figured what better time to blog!

There really isn't a backstory to this recipe, with the exception of me wanting a healthy breakfast choice for my family since I make muffins at least twice a week. So this post will be short & sweet.

I'm not even sure where I got the original recipe, as I've been using which ever one I found and tweeking it for years. I have added bananas and fresh/frozen berries to this recipe and it always comes out great.

You can easily substitute whole wheat flour (I often do, or at least substitute half whole wheat/half all purpose). But note, you will need some additional liquid (either another splash of orange juice or a little milk.)

Enjoy!

Orange Honey Muffins

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 ground flax seed
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 large egg
• 3 Tablespoon vegetable or canola oil
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Prepare a regular 12 muffin tin with muffin papers or a light coating of cooking spray.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the flour, oats, flax seed baking powder, and salt.

In a small bowl, beat the egg and add to the dry ingredients. Add juice, honey, oil and vanilla. Mix ingredients until just combined and moistened.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full.

Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out dry

Gyoza!

OK, I feel a little silly talking about Japanese dumplings on Cinco de Mayo, but I got a request so here goes!

Japanese potstickers, or Gyoza, have been one of my favorite foods for as long as I can remember. Fortunately, my kids and husband love them too. They have become one of my favorite things to cook with the kids. They love mixing up the filling and even making the dumplings themselves. Granted, they don't end up being the fanciest looking little things when they are done, but they are still VERY tasty.

Like I'm sure you're figured out about me, I don't always follow the recipe. I have the ingredients memorized, but sometimes I just throw them together using varying amounts. And you can easily eliminate some of the ingredients if you're not a fan of certain flavors.

Here is my base recipe. It is a culmination of 2 recipes -- one that was in a cookbook that I received from a Japanese friend and another was given to me by a friend. And then I tweeked it a little to my own tastes. This recipe is heavier on the ginger & green onions than either of the two original recipes and I know garlic isn't a very common ingredient in gyoza. So again, feel free to adjust or eliminate ingredients to suit your own tastes:

• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 3/4 cup Napa cabbage, shredded
• 1/2 cup carrot, shredded
• 2 green onions, diced
• 2-3 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled & grated
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, grated
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
• gyoza or wonton wrappers (typically 30-40 are needed for this recipe)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil for frying (additional may be needed)
• 1/2 cup of water, plus 1-2 teaspoons of soy sauce per cooking batch

Prep:

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Blanch the shredded cabbage for 3-4 minutes. Remove and place into a bowl of ice cold water, remove once cooled and drain on paper towels.

In a bowl, combine the ground pork, cooked cabbage, carrot, green onion, ginger, garlic, egg, soy sauce, and sesame oil.

Put some water in a finger bowl. Put one gyoza wrapper on prep surface in front of you. Wet all the edges with water. Place about a teaspoon of filling in the middle of the wrapper. Fold the sides up, and then pinch the edges to seal. If using gyoza wrappers you'll have semi-circles, and if using wonton wrappers, I usually just pinch all four corners together making a little purse. Continue with the rest of the wrappers until the filling is gone.

To cook, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a heavy frying pan over medium-high heat. Add approximately 12 gyoza and cook for 2 minutes, or until golden brown on the bottom.

Add 1/2 cup of water & 1-2 tsp of soy sauce to the pan. Cover the dumplings and let simmer until the water is absorbed (5 to 7 minutes). Repeat until all gyoza are cooked.

One shortcut I have found I like better is to put the carrot, green onion, ginger & garlic into the food processor and grind it all up together. It saves the hassle of grating/shredding/chopping everything individually. This mixture mixes in with the ground pork more smoothly in my opinion.

These dumplings are awesome served with a Thai Peanut dipping sauce.

Enjoy!

Greens the kids will love!

All 3 of my kids like vegetables (for the most part). I've never had a problem getting them to munch on fresh veggies, especially with some yummy dip. While each has had their moments where they don't seem to want a certain veggie, it's not a general dislike for vegetables. The boys have each had a phase where they flat out insisted they didn't like a vegetable: Zach hated peas from birth until very recently; Gabe quit liking cooked carrots about the time he turned 3 1/2.

Zach also had a major dislike for all things potato (with the exception of french fries, of course) from birth until just the last 6 months or so. And Gabe, being the perfect little brother, has decided that sounds like a cool dislike to pick up right where Zach left off. Words cannot describe how aggravating it is for Mommy to have to sit and watch him push what used to be one of his favorite foods around his plate, refusing to even try it. Grrr.....

But fortunately, my kids have veggies they absolutely LOVE. Funny enough it's the veggies that most kids don't like til they are adults, if even then. All 3 go nuts for roasted asparagus, which surprises me to no end (I know some kids like them, but as a collective whole I hear about kids that won't touch any veggie at all except raw carrots & celery, so it surprises me to know end that all 3 love them!) And they will all ask for spinach. Yes, spinach. And without Mommy having to mention Popeye's name (ok, bad example, I doubt they'd even know who Popeye is!) They love creamed spinach and especially something we call "Spinach Squares".

Spinach Squares are something I discovered long before I had kids, and are without a doubt one of my favorite ways to get my greens. A co-worker brought them to a potluck, and they reminded me of something that I'd made before (but had lost the recipe). They were such a hit at the potluck, I think everyone demanded the recipe.

Over the years, I have changed up the recipe slightly to fit my own tastes (would it be on my blog if I hadn't changed it up a bit???) and I've made several variations over the years to fit the menu. But one thing never changes, all 3 kids will eat way more than their fair share. And it does my heart good to see the veggies disappear!

Spinach Squares (original recipe)

1 stick of butter or margarine, melted

3 10oz packages of frozen, chopped spinach, thawed & drained

1 pound of jack cheese, shredded

1 cup of all-purpose flour

1 tsp of baking powder

3 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients well and put in a greased 9x13 casserole dish. Bake for 35 minutes. Let cool 30 minutes before cutting. Cut into 2 inch squares.

Now, like I said, I change it up a little to suit my tastes. I never make them without a little fresh ground black pepper - I'm not really sure why it wasn't included in the regular recipe. I always add some fresh ground nutmeg, something I always do with spinach or cheese dishes. And I have found I actually prefer the flavor if there is some cheddar in there. I've made them with the mexican blend shredded cheese (usually the cheddar/jack blend), all sharp cheddar (probably my favorite), 1/2 a pound of jack & 1/2 a pound of cheddar, all colby jack, and even mozzarella. You really can't screw them up.

If I'm taking them a potluck or serving as an appetizer or buffet item, I typically cut them in bite size squares. I also have a tendency to throw in a little crumbled bacon if I've taking them to a party/bunco, just to get that little extra yumminess!

I have cooked these in a throw away pan and taken them to friend's who have had a baby more times than I can count. And as some of you know, this is the perfect freeze-ahead item when you are having a baby! Those of you who have been pregnant with me, know that I make about 12 batches of these and freeze them so I've got ready made side-dishes for when I'm too busy with a newborn to care about cooking! And even if you aren't expecting, they are a great addition to your meal plan if you like to freeze ahead. (Note: When I freeze ahead, I typically split the recipe into two 8x8 throw away pans so we don't have quite so many to eat at once.)

The possibilities are endless! Hope your kids (and you) enjoy them as much as my family does.

A little Irish for St. Patty's Day.....

Sorry for neglecting the blog. Between illnesses and house-hunting, I haven't been doing a lot of fancy cooking. When I'm always throwing stuff in the crockpot or cooking my easy, standby meals, it's hard to find inspiration to share with all of you. But I've been meaning to get back on track!

I've had several requests for my corned beef & cabbage recipe in the last couple weeks. I think most of my friends know that I always make corned beef for St. Patrick's Day and New Years Day, as well as several other times a year. It's without a doubt one of my favorite meals. And with the exception of Gabe possibly having a "I don't like cabbage day" (thankfully those are rare), all 3 of my kids will even ask for seconds when I fix it.

Now for the record, I'm not Irish. At least not much. My great-grandfather's last name had a "Mc" in it, so quite possibly there is a little in the mix. But not enough for me to claim Irish heritage. My love of corned beef comes from my grandmother from England -- "Nanny" -- as I discussed in the yorkshire pudding post. Or maybe my mom. Which ever one first decided to make corned beef the traditional New Year's meal in our family.

Sorry to disappoint, but I don't usually corn my own beef. I have before. And I probably should every time (to eliminate preservatives, nitrates and all that yucky stuff). But I don't. One of two things happens when I buy a corned beef: I either forget to buy one til the last minute (when it's too late to do one myself) or I find one on really good sale. The latter is the case this year. Whole Foods had theirs on sale last week for a too-good-to-be-true price last week. And with the 'no preservatives', 'no nitrates', 'no growth hormones', 'no antibiotics' label, I figured it was a great alternative to trying to have my own done in time. Especially when St. Patty's day falls on a Wednesday this year.

Corned Beef & Cabbage

1 3-4 lb corned beef (including the spice packet)

10-12 red potatoes, cubed

1/2 pound of baby carrots (or regular carrots, peeled & cut into sticks)

1 small onion, diced (optional - I've left it out and didn't really notice a difference)

1 small head of cabbage, cored & chopped

First I trim off quite a bit of the fat. You certainly don't have to, but I figure I'm not going to eat it, and it is just as flavorful without letting the meat & veggies boil away for hours in all the excess fat. Give the beef a good rinse (if using a prepackaged one, it will be covered in this hot pink colored jelly stuff that, believe me, you won't want to cook). Put beef in the bottom of a good stock pot (I use my good Le Creuset pot). Add cold water to cover the beef. Add the seasoning packet (note: you can use less if you like your veggies a little less flavorful or you can leave it out entirely if you like a little bit easier clean-up!) Bring to a boil. Let it cook at a heavy boil for about 10 minutes, then use a spoon to skim off the "stuff" that cooks out of the meat. Then reduce heat, cover, and let cook for about 2 1/2-3 hours (or recommended time on our package). Remove meat and place it on cutting board. Add cabbage, potatoes & carrots, and cook until potatoes & carrots are fork tender. Slice corned beef. If you want the meat HOT, place the meat back in the broth with the veggies til ready to serve.

Yes, it's that simple. :) Without a doubt to easy to not enjoy it several times a year.

I have corned my own beef a couple of times. The last time I used Alton Brown's recipe from Food Network http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/corned-beef-recipe/index.html It was long enough ago that I honestly don't remember if I eliminated or changed any ingredients. But I do remember that it was a really good alternative to going the easy route.

Enjoy!