Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

There is something about PUMPKIN and CHOCOLATE -- I LOVE THEM TOGETHER!!! I have mixed the two in several recipes but not since limiting the grains in our house. I have made bread, cake, cookies and pie with them!!! This year I had not had the chance to work with the two to create a yummy cookie, until now!!! 

Let me tell you --- 

It is not too late to make these easy grain-free delicious cookies!!!! 

It is a simple recipe and luckily I had everything on hand!

 I love when that happens!!!

These cookies were so yummy I could have eaten them all myself! :) 

The Ingredients:

1 cup almond flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 TBSP cinnamon

1 egg

3 TBSP pure maple syrup

1/4 cup coconut milk

1/3 cup crushed dark chocolate pieces (I used some 85% and some 65%, both dairy and soy free)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup pumpkin puree 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400. In a mixing bowl combine the almond flour, baking powder and cinnamon. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the egg, maple syrup, vanilla and coconut milk. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in the pumpkin and chocolate pieces. Spoon onto a nonstick cookie sheet. Bake for approximately 20 minutes. Enjoy the sweet, moist, chocolatey-ness! 

ENJOY!!! I think I am off to create a pumpkin and chocolate bread for tomorrow morning!!! :) Hello, late pumpkin and chocolate late kick! :) 

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Starbucks has several speciality drinks throughout the year that get all the RAVE... Pumpkin Latte is one of them!!!! It is delicious but expensive. Instead of going to "five bucks" make a huge (crock) pot of pumpkin latte. It is just as good and really makes the house smell wonderful!

This was a huge favorite last year for us... I have not gotten around to make it as much as I would like this "pumpkin" season. 

The Ingredients:

2 cups milk 
2 TBSP canned pumpkin
2 TBSP white sugar
2 TBSP vanilla (not a typo. it asks for tablespoons)
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
OR: 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp cloves, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, and a teeny tiny pinch of ground ginger
1/2 cup brewed espresso or 3/4 cup strong brewed coffee
garnish with whipped cream (optional)

The Directions.
This will make enough for 2 people to have a big mug with a bit leftover. If you are having friends over, adjust the recipe accordingly. I used a 4-quart crockpot, but as small as a 1.5 quart will work with these amounts.
Add the coffee/espresso and milk to the crockpot. Whisk in the pumpkin, spices, sugar, and vanilla.
Cover and cook on high for 2 hours if everything is cold. Whisk again. Ladle into mugs, and garnish with whipped cream and additional cinnamon. I added a cinnamon stick to be fancy.

Pumpkin Puree - Crockpot

curious about my easy pumpkin puree recipe... it is a crockpot easy! here it is!!! 

Slow Cooker Pumpkin Puree

1 pie pumpkin, small enough to fit into your slow cooker (mine was just a bit too big, so I simply cut it in half)

1) Poke the pumpkin a few times with a fork and place in the slow cooker. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until quite soft.

2) Remove from the slow cooker and scoop out the seeds and discard or roast. Scoop out the pumpkin flesh and puree in a food processor, using a hand blender or regular blender until well blended. Use in recipes as desired.

Pumpkin Squash Soup

Vacation is quickly approaching. Dinner ingredients are disappearing and I am struggling with planning and preparing meals, since I do not want to have food go to waste.

I am getting creative with dinners. Mixing things, I might have never mixed. And they are coming out great! 

Pumpkin and Vegetable Stir-Fry on brown rice with a Pumpkin Naan

Pumpkin Squash Soup

When hubby saw this meal, he asked, um is this the baby's food? That is kind. When describing the meal to a friend, I said, it looked like vomit... 

It tasted AMAZING... surprisingly!!!

That was totally lucky! The ingredient list may be shocking but TRUST me --- GOOD GOOD GOOD!!!

The Ingredients:

2 Delitaca Squash (winter squash), peel, seed, chopped
1 can pumpkin (I wanted to use real puree but used it all)
1 cup sweet corn
1 cup spinach, chopped
4 cups vegetable broth
salt and pepper
curry powder (I used about 1/2 - 1 tsp)
1/4 cup plain Chobani yogurt
1 squirt or two of Soy Sauce or Braggs


The Directions:


Saute the Delicata Squash (if using real pumpkin - add it here too!) in Olive Oil over Medium High Heat. I browned them real good. Some pieces may have even been burnt. Once tender and the color you desire add 1/2 cup vegetable broth. The squash is going to just drink it all up. Slowly add the rest of the broth. Bring to a boil. Add Curry powder, Salt and Pepper and Soy Sauce.


Into a food processor add the squash and just enough liquid to puree. Add back to the pot. Add canned pumpkin, yogurt (or sour cream) cooked squash and corn. Heat and serve!


ENJOY!!!

Pumpkin Oatmeal

I think I have a problem. I have an obsession. I am obsessed with my homemade Almond Butter. It is delicious. It is creamy. It is almost gone. I want to add it on everything. 

The main difference I have noticed with my Almond Butter and sore bought -- It is not hard as a rock, when scooping out. It is smoother. It does not melt down as well as store bought but maybe that is because I didn't add a lot of oil. Or maybe I didn't keep it in the food processor long enough. 

This will remain a mystery until I am able to make another batch of Almond Butter.


Pumpkin Oatmeal topped with Cranberries and Almond Butter

The Ingredients:

1 cup oats

1 cup milk (almond milk)

1/2 cup pumpkin puree (I only had 2 TBSP's of Pumpkin)

1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/4 cup raisins or cranberries

Dash of salt

maple syrup & almonds (optional)

The Directions:

Mix together oats and milk in a small saucepan. Cook on medium high heat for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring once. Stir in pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice. Heat through, and serve. Top with maple syrup and almonds.

Pumpkin NAAN

• 1 cup bread flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 TBSP Pumpkin Puree
• 1 pinch salt
• 2/3 cup water
• extra flour for rolling

The Directions:

1. Whisk together the bread flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl.
2. Add the water, 2 TBSP pumpkin and stir. Then knead with your hands for a minute or two. If dough is too sticky, add a bit more flour.
3. Dough should be smooth and elastic. Divide into 4 balls.
4. Roll out each ball until it is about 5 to 6 inches in diameter.
5. Spritz a frying pan with olive oil and heat over high heat. When hot, place one of the pre-naans on it. Press down a bit with your hands or a utensil. Cook until golden.
6. Then flip and cook until golden. Repeat with remaining pieces.
7. Use a pizza cutter to cut each piece into 4 triangles.
8. Serves between 2 and 4 people.

Pumpkin Spice Almond Butter

We do not use Peanut Butter in our house... That may be hard to believe since we have a 3 year old but peanuts are sprayed heavily with chemicals. 

Instead of Peanut Butter we use Almond Butter! I love Almond Butter!!!! I am sure you have noticed a few of my recipes have had it in it. It just has a great taste. 

But none compare to HOMEMADE Almond Butter! Yup, I made Almond Butter!!! Almond butter takes a little more lovin’ than the peanut butter.  However, it is 100% worth the effort. This nut butter is thick + creamy with a slight crunchy almond texture.  It’s very spreadable but not drippy like the peanut butter.  While there is no actual pumpkin in it, it definitely has that pumpkin spice flavor. It is delicious. It is creamy. This jar will not last long!

The Ingredients:

2 cups raw almonds

2 TBSP maple syrup

1 TBSP maple syrup

1.5 TBSP molasses

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp pumpkin spice

1/4 tsp ginger

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 TBSP coconut oil (you may decide to add more)

The Directions:

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Spread the almonds on parchment, on a baking sheet. Pour on 2 TBSP maple syrup + 1 TBSP molasses.  Stir.

Roast for 30min, stirring once every 10 minutes.

Take out of the oven and let cool for about 30 minutes. Dump into your food processor and turn on.

Process + scrape down bowl as needed, until it butterizes. About 15 minutes.  [Past the stage where it has formed a large ball of dough]

Add in 1/2 TBSP molasses, 1 TBSP maple syrup, 1 1/2 TBSP coconut oil, all spices and salt. Process again until smooth consistency is met.  For another 5 - 8 minutes.  

Seriously ---  this is sooo good this jar will not last long. 

 I added my pumpkin cranberry bread right into the food processor! Couldn't waste even one drop! 

Pumpkin Cranberry Bars

Being the week before Thanksgiving week (and I will be in Cabo Thanksgiving week!) I am going THANKSGIVING... Well - sorta! I am going to try to make something pumpkin everyday this week! 

I love cooking with pumpkin. It makes the house smell amazing!!!! 

But when mixed with cranberries --- SUPER AMAZING!!!! 

Instead of making tradition pumpkin bread, I decided to make this recipe into bars. Although they did not come out how I imagined they would - still good! Nothing is wrong with them just not what I thought! I guess I forgot to take into consideration that the pumpkin puree would rise a bit and make the bars fluffy - bread like!


Oh well - you win some. you lose some! :) 


These are not really a loss though. The bar (bread) is moist and the flavor is great! 


Here is what I did!!! :) 


Pumpkin Cranberry Bars (bread)
The Ingredients:
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1 tsp Pumpkin Spice
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Nutmeg


1/2 cup palm sugar
1/2 cup Applesauce
1/2 cup RAW butter (I wanted to use coconut oil - but didn't have enough)
3/4 cup pumpkin puree (canned or fresh)
3 eggs
2 TBSP Almond Milk


1/4 cup cranberries
1/4 cup walnuts
1/2 cup oatmeal


The Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a square pan (or round) with parchment paper.


In a bowl mix flour, baking powder, salt, pumpkin spice, nutmeg and cinnamon. 


In another bowl mix sugar, applesauce, pumpkin puree, almond milk, butter and eggs with a hand mixer. Mix for 2 minutes. Add the flour mixture. With hand mixer, mix for 3 or so minutes. Fold in the cranberries, walnuts and oatmeal. Pour mixture into lined pan. 

Bake for 30 - 35 minutes at 350 degrees. Allow to cool for 30 minutes before removing from the pan. 

Thai-spiced pumpkin soup

Yesterday I was in a PUMPKIN roasting mode!!!!! I roasted a pumpkin for my Pumpkin Walnut Bread and then mid-afternoon I decided to roast another one! This time for a soup. I took the Thai-spiced squash soup and changed it to a pumpkin soup! 

Since I had a carving pumpkin (which is considered to be like feed corn) it was a little more watery than I wanted. I decided to add 3 small acorn squash and a butternut squash. The family enjoyed it!

The Ingredients:

3 acorn squash

1 pumpkin

1 butternut

3 TBSP RAW butter

14 oz RAW milk (I used 5 oz coconut milk and RAW milk for the remaining)

3 tsp red Thai curry paste

sea salt

The Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and place the oven racks in the middle.

Carefully cut each squash/pumpkin into halves (or quarters). Slather each piece of squash with butter, sprinkle generously with salt, place on a baking sheet skin sides down, and place in the oven. Roast for about an hour or until the squash is tender throughout.

When the pumpkin/squash are cool enough to handle scoop it into a large pot over medium high heat. Add the coconut milk and curry paste and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and puree with a hand blender, you should have a very thick base at this point. Now add water a cup at a time pureeing between additions until the soup is the consistency you prefer - a light vegetable stock would work here as well. Bring up to a simmer again and add the salt (and more curry paste if you like, I used just shy of 6 teaspoons but the curry paste I use is not over-the-top spicy).

(I added 1 vegetable bouillon cube. )

SPOILER ALERT---- Enjoying Healthy Foods will be having giveaway!!!! Something adorable and sweet for that beautiful little/big girl of yours!!!! Wife, Daughter, Niece, Friend.... YOU WILL LOVE IT!!!! COMING SOON!!!!  

Pumpkin Walnut Bread

I do not like to waste food. It drives me crazy. 

I like to carve pumpkins for many reasons. I like to make pumpkin seeds. My favorite is simple - Coconut Oil and Sea Salt. That is it! A close second Coconut Oil and Cinnamon! :)

I also like to use the pumpkin's and make them into a soup. I really do not like to waste. 

This time I made a puree and made this WONDERFUL bread! My house smells amazing!!!! :) 

Pumpkin Walnut Bread     makes 2 loaves

The Ingredients:

2 cups quinoa flour

1 1/2 cups spelt flour 

2 cups light palm sugar, packed

1/3 cups applesauce

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree, or just under two cups (I used fresh pumpkin puree)

1 cup coconut oil

1/3 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup water

1 cup chopped walnuts


1 TBSP Chai seeds


1 TBSP Flax seeds

The Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Place a rack in the center of the oven.  Grease and flour two loaf pans and set aside.  

In a large bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices.  

In a medium bowl, carefully whisk together pumpkin puree, oil, maple syrup and water.  

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and use a spatula to fold all of the ingredients together.  Make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl well, finding any stray flour bits to mix in.  Fold in most of the chopped walnuts, reserving some to sprinkle on top of the batter once in the pan. 

Divide the dough between the two greased pans and sprinkle with a few walnut pieces.  Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove from the oven.  Let rest in the pans for 20 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack.  

Serve warm.  Maybe even wrap one loaf up in plastic wrap and store in the freezer for future munching.

Pumpkin Stir-Fry

PANIC - Wednesday - FOOD SHARE DAY!!!! - I had a lot of vegetables left from the previous week. PANIC!!!!

Not really a PANIC but my fridge sometimes gets overwhelmed with vegetables!

I had this little adorable pumpkin (fall decoration) that I needed to use.

I decided to roast the pumpkin with a little butter in each half and then scoop little pieces of pumpkin into my stir-fry.

This came out great!!!! SO full of flavor and a great way to get lots of vegetables into one meal!!!! :) No longer - PANIC! :)

Please note this entire meal besides the pumpkin and seasonings was from our food share!

Pumpkin Stir-Fry

The Ingredients:

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Kale

Red and Green Peppers

Cabbage

Carrots

Parsnips

Pumpkin

Almond Butter

Soy Sauce

a little mustard

Pumpkin seeds

*** ground beef would be AMAZING in this! I just did not have any ready.

The Directions:

Cutting the pumpkin was tricky for me. I decided to cut the top off like carving pumpkins and then cut the pumpkin in half. This worked nicely!

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until the pumpkin meat is tender. Set aside.

In a Wok, add broccoli, cauliflower, parsnips and carrots with a little Olive Oil for about 5 minutes. Add the rest of the vegetables and cook for another 3 - 5 minutes. Then add a little water into the wok and cover the vegetables. This will soften the vegetables by steam!

Once the pumpkin is cooled scoop out the pumpkin meat. I cut the pumpkin into pieces and added it to the stir-fry. Next time I will puree the pumpkin with the seasonings. I think that this will add more of a coat and flavoring to the whole thing.

Since, I did not puree the pumpkin, I added little chunks to the stir-fry. I then added Almond Butter and Soy Sauce. I mixed the vegetables really good then added a little bit of mustard.

Like I said before this would be really good with ground beef!

ENJOY!

Pumpkin Cornbread

Fall brings TWO favorite ingredients into the house. APPLES and PUMPKINS!!!!

You will notice the next few weeks maybe month I will be posting a lot of recipes that involve one or the other! We just love them both!

I had some extra pumpkin in fridge and needed to use!!!!! I used my normal corn bread recipe and subtracted 2 eggs for 2 TBSP's of pumpkin.

This was a great way to use my leftover pumpkin.