Pumpkin Time

Its fall and that means that its time to enjoy pumpkin again.  I found a sugar pie pumpkin and decided to give fresh pumpkin a try.  First I made an attempt at making raw pumpkin cookies but the pumpkin was a little bit bitter and the cookies were too squishy so I ended up baking them in the toaster oven for a few minutes to firm them up.  Hopefully there is a dehydrator in my future so that I can make raw "baked goods" a bit easier.  With the second half of my pumpkin I decided to stay in my comfort zone and bake the cookies.  Since my friend Sarah, who is allergic to wheat,  is coming over to baby sit tonight I made these gluten free.

 

Gluten Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Cookies

2 cups oat flour*

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 egg

1/4 sup light olive oil

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup fresh sugar pie pumpkin (bake at 350 for about 15 minutes)

1/2 cup palm sugar

3 squares Lindt 85% dark chocolate chopped into small chunks

Combine first four ingredients.  In another bowl combine egg through palm sugar.  Then pour into the dry into the wet and mix, then fold in chocolate chunks.  Bake on 350 for 20 minutes. 

*I put rolled oats in my grain grinder to make the oat flour but you can also make oat flour in an electric coffee grinder (wipe out the coffee) or a food processor.

I have developed a love of parchment paper.  No more cookies ripped apart during pan removal, and no need to scrub my cheap rusty cookie sheets.  And you can use it multiple times or even flip it over.

I decided to make some tamari pumpkin seeds with the seeds from my pie pumpkin.  I just tossed the seeds in enough tamari to lightly cover them and baked in my toaster over for about 20 minutes.

They were pretty yummy but after they cooled I thought that they could be a wee bit crunchier so I put them back in the toaster oven.  Then the dreaded "whats that burning" smell hit me.

Blerg.  Maybe next time.

Here's a fun thing.

Some time ago I decided that I was sick of throwing away so many aerosol cans of cooking spray, there had to be a reusable solution.  Enter Misto.  It is a refillable oil sprayer.  No chemicals or propellants added just a little bit of elbow grease.  You put the top on and give it a good 10 pumps to fill the bottle with air and blamo, a mist of oil.  The choice of oil is up to you.  Right now I have Filippo Berilo olive oil in mine.  I buy it in bulk in the pretty yellow can that you see behind my misto.  I use this oil to bake and pretty much anywhere that I don't want to waste my good cold pressed extra virgin.

This is not my mother's spaghetti.

When my mother would make spaghetti it meant ground beef and canned tomatoes simmering for hours with a bay leaf.  And it goes without saying that it was served on top of plain old white flour noodles.  I must say it was never my favorite meal.  But now I'm in charge and it's a different story.

Here we have whole wheat angle hair pasta (with Jerusalem artichoke flour, which is high in potassium, iron, fiber, niacin, thiamine, phosphorus and copper or so says wikipedia).  On top I start with a lovely sauce from Muir Glen (tomato basil).  To that I have added yellow and red onion (both, only because I had half of each in the fridge), red bell pepper, kale, and zucchini; all from my local farmer's market.

I chop up all of my vegetables and lightly saute them in some extra virgin olive oil, then add the sauce and heat until warm.  I try to cook the veggies for as short a time as possible to keep those valuable nutrients intact. 

Here's a little tip: after you dump out the sauce there is always a good amount clinging to the jar.  Pour in some balsamic vinegar, juice, or wine, put the lid back on and give it a good shake.  Dump the resulting mixture in with rest of the sauce.  Voila.  You get your moneys worth out of that jar of sauce.  And less to clean out of the jar before putting it in the recycling.

I always keep pasta and a jar of sauce on hand and there is always some vegetable or other around that I can throw in to make a delicious and nutritious dinner.

I can eat pasta without feeling guilty if it is whole wheat and I have more veggies than noodles.

Bunny in a Bun

When traveling it is not often easy to stick to one's healthy diet so compromises must be made in order to not get so hungry that you pullover at the nearest gas station and load up on moon pies, Doritos, Starburst, and beef jerky. This past weekend found the family on a day trip to the Charleston, SC area and a stop at Jack's Cosmic Dogs, a space themed hot dog stand with giant rockets on the front of the building and a fifties spin.  I was a little concerned that I would be eating a but full of mustard a sauerkraut.  This establishment however catered to my non meet eating sensibilities with this:  The Bunny in a Bun: grilled carrot with blue cheese slaw and sweet potato mustard.

It was served in a white bread bun probably riddled with high fructose corn syrup, and the cole slaw was made with less than desirable mayonnaise.  All of that aside, it was pretty good.  I am now trying to figure out how to translate this into a raw hot dog-ish type treat.  Perhaps I can marinate the carrots and make raw slaw with no mayo.  But what to do for the bun?  Maybe if I ever get a dehydrator a flat-bread will suffice.  I will let you know if I come up with something brilliant.

Fresh Pizza

There is a new pizza chain in town that supplies you with a bake-it-yourself pie.  The praise that I hear is that their toppings are so fresh.  I have tried this pizza, it was alright but it doesn't replace the fresh deliciousness of making my own pizza at home.  It just takes a bit of forethought to get the dough in the bread-maker so that it is ready come dinner time.  

This particular pie really expresses my difference in diet to my husband.  His side has full pepperoni coverage and a sprinkling of veggies while my side replaces the meat with sliced fresh tomatoes and a layering of bell peppers (from my garden) and thin slices of collard greens. I then shredded goat milk mozzarella over the top. It was delicious.  And so was the salad on the side.

Savory Muffins and a Ruined Picnic

We love to listen to The Splendid Table on the way home from church on Sunday afternoons.  Of course they are always talking about some really delicious thing that we do not have in the house as we drive toward our lunch of frozen fish sticks and peas.  Don't get me wrong, I really do enjoy my guilty pleasure of Mrs. Pauls (whole fillet not minced, as the commercial says) fish sticks with ketchup (organic, no high fructose corn) and Tabasco as well as the frozen store brand peas.  Any who... This past Sunday someone called about some kind of savory muffin that they had enjoyed in Australia and their quest to either find it or make it here in the good ole U.S. of A.
This got me thinking about how delicious a savory muffin could be and I wanted to give it a try.  So here it is.

Savory Sun-dried tomato and Kalamata Olive Muffin with Mozzarella Cheese

1 1/4 cups fresh ground soft wheat flour
1/4 cup flax meal
1 tsp baking soda
1/3 tsp sea salt
2 cage free or free range eggs
4 1/2 tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tbs honey
1 cup milk
1 1/2 tbs Kalamata Olive tepanade or chopped olives
1/4 cup Sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme
shredded mozzarella Cheese, enough to top muffins
Combine all dry ingredients in one bowl.  Beat eggs.  Add remainder of wet ingredients (evoo, honey, milk).  Mix wet and dry ingredients and fold in remainder of ingredients, except cheese.  Pour into oiled muffin pan.  I made nine nice sized muffins or you could make more smaller.  Top with cheese.  Bake on 375 for 20 minutes.
Prep time: about 2 1/2 hours but only if you are chasing after a potty learning 17 month old while trying to bake.  For others it should only take about 20 minutes.

We included these muffins in our picnic today along with carrots, red bell pepper, balsamic vinaigrette for dipping, an avocado, dried cranberries (apple juice sweetened), sardines for the husband, a banana, fruit leather, and fiddlesticks.  As we sat atop our tapestry, that a friend brought us back from India, our picnic came to a sad end when we were asked to move so that they could spray the grass with chemicals, pesticide or fertilizer I know not but either way a picnic downer.

Hot Cakes

I promised our Friday night dinner guests pancakes but that was before I knew that the air conditioner was going to stop doing its job to make our house hospitably cool.  But alas I stood over a hot stove and flapped some jacks anyway.  I got all of the cooking done before our guests arrived hoping that the kitchen would begin the cooling process.  It was still sweltering.  

Whats on the platter:  Sausage links are Shelton's Turkey Breakfast Sausage. 
Patties are Morning Star Farms Maple flavored Breakfast Sausage.
Pancakes:
1 1/2 cups fresh ground soft white wheat
1/2 cups oat groats ground into flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 free range eggs
1/4 cup light olive oil
1/4 cup local honey or white grape juice concentrate
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups organic milk
1-2 ripe bananas mashed
Combine all dry ingredients.  Beat eggs.  Beat in remainder of wet ingredients, except banana.  Combine wet and dry, mix well.  Fold in mashed banana.  Lightly coat large hot pan with light olive oil.  Pour, flip, repeat.
I use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to pour the batter out in equal amounts.  Serve with real maple syrup.
We also enjoyed a fruit salad of mango, papaya, and kiwi.
After chatting and sweating for a while we decided to make nice cold cherry-peach smoothies to cool off. 

It Worked.

I cleaned the kitchen and look what happened to the glass of wine.

There were still some live ones swimming around in there so I added some dish soap, water, and agave.  Those that had just stopped by for a swim are now visiting Davey Jones Locker.

There is a plague upon my kitchen.

The truth is that I am not the cleanest of kitchen keepers.  In addition to the fact that I compost so it can happen that a bowl of vegetable matter is commonly upon my counter.  But oh the fruit flies.  It is so disgusting.  How do I get rid of them.  My husband would say that I need to keep the kitchen clean and take the compost out immediately, but I have a toddler and it is often a miracle to get my self fed much less rush out to dump the remnants into the composter.  I have seen containers for this specific purpose with charcoal filters.  But would this reduce my fruit fly problem or just the smell.  A friend told me to put a glass of wine out for them, the idea being that the little fellas would fly in, have a sip, and drown in a drunken stupor.  The glass has been out for a couple of days and as you can see (lower left) we have only two victims.  Fly paper works fairly well but the above sample is a few months worth and a small percentage of the population.  Any brilliant ideas would be appreciated.

Edit:  I did find this helpful page.  Although it does involve me having to scrub my entire kitchen. Oh bother. 

Brunswick Stew: Raw

Last Night I attempted to make a raw version of an old favorite, Brunswick Stew.  The traditional recipe includes lots of pork and chicken which my raw version, of course, did not.  I started off with the Hickory Barbacue recipe from Ani's Raw food Essentials then added more whole tomatoes, onion and some chopped up raw okra (from farmer Joe).  I added some sunflower seeds and red bell pepper to mine where as my husband warmed his up and added some brown rice.  I am not going to give you the recipe for this one just yet because I would not describe it as a complete success and who wants a not so good recipe.  Next time I think that I will add some honey to sweeten up the sauce, less onion and garlic, some fresh corn and maybe some lemon juice.  Any other suggestions?

By the way, fresh okra makes good snacking.

Plums

This morning my daughter Viola enjoyed her first plum as a whole fruit.  It was not blended, or cut up into bite size pieces with the skin removed.  She bit right in with juices dripping.  This reminded me of trips to the farmers market when I was a little one growing up in Mississippi.  The lady who ran the fruit stand would always give me a plum just for being adorable, and I would bite right in, juices dripping.  I remember this taste with great detail, there is no sweet or candy with an equal place in my recollection.  I hope that my own little one will have such fond plum memories.

Rose Hip Sun Tea

Our lovely neighbor Mary Jo gave me some rose hips from her garden to make tea with on Saturday.  Excitedly I put some water in the kettle and turned it on.  Then a little bell in my head went ding.  I should make this tea in the sun.  I promptly turned off the stove, dumped said water, still cold, out of the kettle and into a large glass jar (that was just vacated by some oats).  Into the garden it went to await the warmth of the sun.
A taste test on monday proved the tea to be weak so I gave it another day and by tuesday morning it was tea.  A mild flavor, made a bit more satisfying with the addition of some agave nectar.  If only you could lick the photo to have a taste.  I think that I will make a tea that I am more familiar with the next time I make sun tea, that way I'll know if it tastes right.

The Forsyth Park Farmers Market

We love the farmer's market.  It has become a Saturday morning ritual for me and Viola.  I strap her on my back in the Boba carrier (which I highly recommend) and we mingle through the other fresh fruit and veg seekers. Not only is it locally grown but mostly organic too.  It doesn't get much better than that.

This week we got some okra from Farmer Joe (left) along with peaches, heirloom tomatoes and green beans.

No divas, goddesses, or experts here.

I am starting this blog to share with you the food that I eat, make, and buy.  Hopefully you will find it helpful or at least mildly entertaining.