Awesome Pumpkin Oatmeal Everything Cookies

So the pictures on here are from the 5th batch of these cookies I have made this year. They turn out slightly different each time as I have a tendency to use what is on hand and thus sometimes swap out ingredients sometimes. But the last 3 times I have made them the same, so this has become my “standard” version. Adapted from several other similar recipes.

Ingredients:
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter; softened
1/2 cup cinnamon apple sauce (homemade if you have it)
3/4 cup brown sugar (fair trade)
3/4 cup granulated sugar (florida crystals)

1 cup pure pumpkin puree (puree your own pumpkins and have plenty to go around- I freeze mine in 1 cup portions)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 ½ cups old-fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup walnuts

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Cream together soft butter, applesauce, and sugars.

3. Beat in the egg, pumpkin puree and vanilla.

4. Add the dry ingredients on top of the wet and fold in until all are combined.

5. Fold in the extras: cranberries, chocolate chips and walnuts (or any combination thereof).

6. Drop by the spoonful onto baking sheet.

7. Bake each tray on the middle rack for 12-14 minutes.

8. Cool slightly and enjoy.

This recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Merry Christmas!

Pumpkin “Nutella” Oatmeal

Let me preface this by saying that at the beginning of October, I got two little organic pumpkins from Cane Creek Farms. I roasted them in the oven, and then pureed them and froze the puree (in mason jars which cracked as the puree froze and expanded). So I have been defrosting one jar at a time and making all things pumpkin.

This week I made pumpkin swirl brownies (gluten free- by using all purpose GF flour mix instead of regular flour) and pumpkin nutella bread (from Two Peas and Their Pod). I also tried my hand at a DIY version of the famous Pumpkin Spice Latte.  For something more savory, I made some pumpkin soft pretzels. All of these using my homemade pumpkin puree in place of “canned pumpkin” in the recipes.

Most of these pumpkin recipes only become  ”mine” by the adaptations that I make to them- mainly by using fresh pumpkin. But this one I didn’t get from a recipe, I made it up on the fly this morning…

Pumpkin “Nutella” Oatmeal (for one serving)

Ingredients:

1 cup water

1/2 cup rolled oats

a dash of pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon and nutmeg)

1 tsp “nutella” (I actually used an organic, ie non-hydrogenated oil version of a chocolate hazelnut spread)

1-2 Tbsp fresh pumpkin puree (or canned, plain pumpkin)

Method:

1. Bring water to a boil over the stove top.
2. Add the oats, and boil for about 4 minutes, stirring consistently.
3. Add in the pumpkin pie spice, “nutella” and pumpkin puree.
4. Continue to cook for another 1-2 minutes until the oats have thickened and everything is mixed together thoroughly.
5. Cool for a few minutes, then enjoy!

So sorry that I didn’t take a picture of this deliciousness, but you should definitely try it anyways!  It makes for a yummy breakfast (and probably a pretty good mid afternoon snack too).

I’ve still got 2 quarts of pumpkin left (and might get some more this weekend)… so if you have a favorite pumpkin recipe, please post it in the comments here. I am willing to try pretty much all things pumpkin:)

Saving the Summer

The way I see it, there is exactly one way to keep the yummy freshness of summertime around for the rest of the year: Canning and Freezing!

Jacked this from cyber-space; so appropriate!

Last year, we did some canning, but did not have much freezer space.  Some things just don’t can well, so freezing is better.  So this year, the goal is to freeze, can and otherwise preserve as many fruits and veggies as possible.

Things we have frozen:

2 gallons of local, organic strawberries (from Volmer Farms & Cane Creek Farms)

2 gallons (plus some used already) of local, organic blueberries (from Cane Creek Farms)

1 gallon of peach juice (cubes) local peaches (mostly from a NC research station)

1 gallon sliced local, organic raw okra (Cane Creek Farms)

1 gallon peeled, cubed local sweet potato (from an NC research station)

1 quart local tomatillos (Lyon Farms)

1 gallon (minus some used) of local, organic roasted sweet corn (Cane Creek Farms and Earth Fare)

10 cups (1 cup portions frozen in individual bags) shredded squash & zucchini, local, organic (Cane Creek Farms)

Freezer fruits and veggies, awaiting the perfect time to devour!

Things we have canned:

2 quarts + 2 pints (plus more already gone) Kosher dill pickles from local, organic cucumbers (Cane Creek Farms)

6 quarts pickles okra, local, organic: Garlic (4) and Hot (2) (Cane Creek Farms)

1/2 pint pickled jalapenos (from the Love Chapel Hill Community Garden)

Pickles, Okra, Pickled Jalapenos... oh my...

2 half pints strawberry jam, local, organic (Volmer Farms)

5 pints (plus 3 that went to other homes) peach preserves, local (NC research station/Earth Fare)

Strawberry Jam, Peach Preserves, ect...

4 half pints muscadine grape jelly,  local (Lyon Farms)

2 half pints plain apple sauce; 9 half pints + 2 pints of cinnamon apple sauce, local (Random NC research facilities)

Muscadine Jelly, Test batch of Apple Sauce

Cinnamon Applesauce!

13+ quarts Crushed Tomatoes, local, organic (Cane Creek Farms)

5 half pints tomato juice, local, organic (Cane Creek Farms)

Crushed Tomatoes, Tomato Juice

Other Things we have saved:

3 quarts, local, organic cherry tomatoes (Cane Creek Farms, plus some from Lyon Farms- not organic) “Oven-dried” dehydrated- became about a pint and a half once dried; put some in oil and other in the freezer.

Cherry Tomatoes!

Starting to Dry

"oven-dried" tomatoes

Today I broke out the first of the frozen strawberries for my smoothies over the fall/winter.  Over the fall,  I will also get some pumpkin to roast, puree and preserve and use into the winter, but from here on out, we’ll see how far all of this saved produce gets us.  Hoping and praying that there will be tomato product to last us into the spring of next year!

Good-bye summer, hello fall- let the yummy local life continue!

Veg*n Chili

One of the awesome parts of having a hubby who works with plants is that during field season, he often comes home with A LOT of whatever crop they were examining that day.  They came home with a 5 gallon bucket of blueberries one week; a paper grocery sack full of peaches another week, and last week…

…approximately 30 pounds of sweet potatoes…

So yes, I know it is the middle of summer and over the winter I was quite bored of sweet potatoes, but currently it is a game of figuring out which  summer veggies can be paired with the never-ending sweet potatoes.

I had some shelled purple spotted peas that I got from Bobby this week, and I wanted to make chili.  I figured with a little over a quart of these peas, there was no reason to add meat to the chili, so I set out for a vegetarian chili recipe.

The recipe I found was Mark Bittman’s “Espresso Black Bean Chili” which I used as a loose guide for the recipe that follows.  I cooked this in the crock pot for about 6 hours on high (which produced a chili veggie soup consistency) so I then allowed the crockpot to cook on low overnight and into the next afternoon (when I got home from work there were no more worries about it being thin). Bittman’s recipe was a stove top recipe, but quite frankly I didn’t have 2-to-god-knows-how-many hours to stand around the kitchen.  So here’s what I did:

Espresso-Chocolate Vegan Chili with Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (to coat bottom of crock pot)

2 onions, chopped (from farmer’s Fred and Bobby)

2 Tbsp garlic, minced

3 cups tomatoes, fresh, chopped (from my friend Leah’s garden)

1 bell pepper, chopped (from Bobby at Cane Creek Farm)

1 Anaheim pepper, chopped (from Lyon Farms)

1 jalapeno, minced (from the Love Chapel Hill community garden)

1 quart spotted purple peas, shelled (thankfully by Bobby’s shelling machine and not by hand, which is a royal pain…)

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped (from the NC research station)

1 cup brewed coffee (from Muddy Dog Roasting Company)

2 tablespoons of chili powder (homemade)

1/4 sucanat (organic, fair trade)

1 oz chocolate (unsweetened)

kudzu root, corn chips or in this case both (as needed for thickening agent)

salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Turn on crockpot to the setting you will use, if you can let it go all day, this is ideal.
2. Coat the bottom of the pot with EVOO.
3. Chop and add all of the vegetables.
4. Add the sucanat, coffee and chocolate (if you don’t have unsweetened chocolate you can cut out the sucanat; obviously please don’t use chocolate if you are allergic to that).
5. Add water until everything is just covered.
6. Cover. Wait all day. Enjoy.
7. If it is not thick enough add either some kudzu root or corn chips (or just do like we did and let it keep cooking overnight and into the next day). You can’t over cook this.

Personally I like to add a huge dollop of sour cream and some cheddar cheese to the top of my chili, which I am highly aware negates it’s vegan-ness, but in all honesty it was an accident to discover that this was indeed a vegan recipe: I didn’t actually notice until I went to type this up… But I am sure the vegans out that can use their fake-y cheeses and it will be just as yummy

I am excited that this recipe would be good for nearly anyone to eat.  Save from the rare odd-ball allergy this recipe is a safe bet being dairy, soy and gluten-free! So try it, or tweak it and let me know what you think!  Keepin’ it local and yummy this summer, sweet potatoes and all…

Anniversary Dinner at Market Restaurant

So I know I haven’t been updating this very often recently. Life has been crazy, but summer time is definitely here and in full swing. I’ve got some recipes that we’ve done coming soon, but this blog will be a bit different. A friend of ours, Chad, recently opened a new restaurant called Market Restaurant here in Raleigh. As the name implies, many if not most of the food products at the restaurant are procured from local growers/sellers.

In other words, without even going- THIS is my dream restaurant!

So the hubby and I went this year in order to celebrate our 3 year wedding anniversary. I took pictures of our food and would just like to take you on a little tour now:

We started with a pitcher of White Sangria, that was made with peach juice:

As an appetizer: Tempura Fried Asparagus with Wasabi Creme Fresh; I must say this was an excellent idea.

I ordered the Mushroom and Goat Cheese Tamales as my main course (Which on this particular day also included locally harvested wild chanterelle mushrooms!)

The hubby ordered Sauteed Prawn with Chorizo (seafood from the NC coast, and humanely raised meats served here!)

After Dinner, Chad brought us out this delicious concoction called Coconut and Avocado Gelato (don’t knock it til you try it- AMAZING!)

The hubby also got some coffee to go with dessert (they bring the french press carafe TO your table!)

The ambiance of Market is simple, open and cozy.

There is an open kitchen and you can see everything that is going on (and even spot a chef in a cowboy hat!)

I didn’t get pictures, but Chef Chad is also growing a lot of his own herbs, tomatoes and peppers on the patio and there are BEES on the roof working hard to make some honey for the restaurant as well. You can get any more local than that!

In conclusion- Market is an excellent example of how local, whole, humanely raised foods can be served in an upscale way. There are also plenty of vegetarian and even vegan menu options available. The only sad part is that the menu changes as the seasons do, so don’t get too attached to any one item. I would highly recommend my friends and family to hit this place up whenever they are in town, and plan on it being on of our go-to restaurants when we want a nice local meal that I didn’t have to cook myself.

Thanks to Chef Chad and the rest of the staff who were at Market on June 16, 2010 for making our 3rd wedding anniversary memorable and yummy!

Strawberry-bread Bread Pudding

So in my last post I told you about all of the beautiful strawberry things that were going down in my kitchen.  On of the things I made was strawberry bread, which was okay, but needed to have MUCH more strawberry in it to be delicious.  I had also made some strawberry scones, which also needed more strawberries to be completely yummy.

So with all of this bread lying around, in addition to all of the eggs and strawberries that need to get used, I decided to try to make a bread pudding out of it all.  I have made savory bread pudding before, but never a sweet one before so this was a bit of an experiment.  It turned out to be VERY delicious and very strawberry tasting!

Strawberry-Bread Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

Strawberry bread, scones, or whatever leftover sweet bread you have; cut into 1 inch cubes (about 6 cups- enough to fill a square baking dish)

4 eggs, farm fresh (from Rare Earth Farms)

2 cups whole milk, organic

1/2 cup sugar, raw (or less if your bread is very sweet)

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups fresh strawberries, chopped (organic, from Cane Creek Farms)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Mix together eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla.
3. Pour over the bread cubes, stir gently.
4. Carefully stir in the fresh strawberries.
5. Pour entire mixture into a square baking dish, spreading evenly.
6. Bake for 45-60 minutes, until most of the liquid is absorbed and the top of the bread springs back under your touch.  It will also be golden brown and delicious looking.
7. Let cool slightly then serve while still warm.

This is a great yummy way to use up leftover bread and fruit. Might be good with some vanilla ice cream, but I haven’t tried that yet.  Also I’m sure this would be yummy with other berries, leftover banana bread and such.  If you try any  yummy combinations, let me know how they turn out!

STRAWBERRIES ARE HERE!

So this past week, I went to the North Raleigh Farmer’s Market (by myself, with $60 in my pocket) to get the majority of our food for the week.  If you know me, you know that the fact that I am now easily able to spend $60 a week at the market makes me a very happy person.  I love the freshness of the local produce and am majorly loving the large amount of variety compared to the greens and potatoes that seemed to drone on through the winter months.

A couple of weeks ago, strawberries started to fill up every market stand.  The first week I got a large basket (about 3 quarts I would guess) for $12 from Lyon farms.  I thought this was a brilliant price for the amount of strawberries I got.  Then the next week I decided to try out Bobby’s (from Cane creek farms) organic strawberries (2 quarts for $4 a piece) to see if they were any better.  I know that the organic ones are supposed to be healthier since there is no fumigation going down in their growing, but let me tell you that these strawberries lasted at LEAST twice as long before they were at the point where they needed to be frozen.

So then it was decided: get as many organic strawberries as possible, every week until blueberry season starts full swing.

So this past week, I go up to Bobby’s stand, and am about to buy two quarts again, when he says “Do you want a flat of strawberries for $10?” Let me think about this very hard: 2 quarts for $8 or EIGHT quarts for $10. The only catch is that a few on the top are smooshed so you have to sort through them (for the record there were about 4 in the entire flat that were bad/unusable- the rest just needed trimmed).

So of course I bought the flat of strawberries, and this week has been a strawberry extravaganza.

Here are all of the things I have made with my strawberries, just this week:

• smoothies (see recipe example below)
• strawberry jam (Jamie Oliver’s recipe- I added lemon to be safe)
• strawberry bread/muffins (double batch-I would at least double the strawberries next time)
• strawberry martini’s (large batch: hubby made this one actually)
• strawberry juice (which got mixed into some experimental fruit/veggie juices as well)
• strawberry butter
• strawberry steel-cut oats
• strawberry french toast (on local challah bread from Great Harvest Bread Company – which is totally worth the $6.50 you’ll pay for a loaf)
• strawberry/balsamic salad
• frozen strawberries for continues smoothie usage (to the tune of a gallon so far)

Yay for strawberries! They are so yummy and I am completely NOT sick of them and ready to buy another flat again tomorrow- I probably will do it too!

Anyways, so as not to disappoint; here is an example of what one of my smoothies might look like:

Ingredients (for one large glass):

5-8 frozen, whole strawberries

1 scoop of chocolate protein powder (or just powdered chocolate milk mix would work too)

1/4  cup of nuts (this week I had walnuts)

~1 cup of whole milk (I need the calories, but obviously any type of milk would do)

Method:

Put everything into the blender and pulverize!

Pour in to a glass, add a straw and enjoy the yumminess!

Asparagus Frittata with Mushrooms and Spring Onions

Spring has officially begun in my book because there is asparagus at the farmer’s market!  I have gotten 2 bundles of these delicious, tender and nutritious greens for the past two weeks.  The thing about asparagus is that if you want to get it locally, the season is SHORT- 3-4 weeks at the maximum.  So this is definitely a get it while you can commodity when eating locally.

Frittatas are an easy omelet to make because there is no flipping involved.  Once you pour the eggs into the pan, you basically let the heat take care of the rest.

Asparagus Frittata with Mushrooms and Spring Onions

Ingredients:

6 eggs (from my dear friend Jeanine’s mom’s chickens)

2 T cream/milk

salt and pepper to taste

1 T EVOO

1 T butter

Asparagus, chopped into 1 inch pieces (Lyon Farms)

Spring onion, diced (Cane Creek Farms)

Mushrooms, medium dice (somewhere in PA)

Garlic, one clove, minced

Cheese, shredded, as much as you want (1/3-2/3 cup is usually good), we used raw milk cheddar this time

Method:

1. Preheat Broiler.
2. In a bowl, beat together eggs, milk and salt and pepper.
3. In a medium to large skillet, melt the EVOO and butter.
4. Add veggies to the pan, and saute. (I would add everything other than the asparagus first and then add the asparagus for only the last minute or so, so that is stays bright green and crisp).
5. Put the heat to medium-high, pour in the egg mixture.  Cook for 2-3 minutes.
6. Spring the cheese evenly over the eggs.
7. Reduce heat to medium low and cook for about 2 more minutes, until the bottom has started to set (the top will be runny still)
8. Broil for about 5 minutes- until the top is set and golden brown and delicious looking.
9. Remove from oven, and let stand for about 2 minutes.
10. Carefully flip onto a plate and then cut into slices to serve. (Or if you break it like I did, just serve in clumps, it’ll still  be just as yummy)

My frittata (before I flipped it out of the pan) while it was still pretty and whole!

Frittata is a great yummy choice for all seasons; if you use the freshest produce available it will always be so yummy!

Fig and Blue Cheese Appetizers

At  the farmer’s market, during the summer, you may go one Saturday and find that the berries you thought you were going to buy are no longer available.  Fresh fruit is always on our list, but buying locally, I have definitely branched out on the fruits I will try.

We were pleasantly surprised a few weeks last summer when Lyon Farms had fresh figs available.  The only way I had ever had figs before was inside of a fig newton so I was game to try them. Figs are quite yummy, we found.

When we find a fruit that we like, we buy double and freeze some.  This is a good thing now, in March, while we are running out of canned foods and there are still a couple of weeks before the markets are back in full swing.

Last night we went to wing night at a friend’s house, and made these fig appetizers out of some of the figs we had still frozen.  Because I make tend to food the “Tom Sawyer” way, I also made my own French bread, but as that takes about 2 hours one day and 5 hours the next, well I realize not everyone has that kind of time. By all means, buy the bread, but definitely try this appetizer!

Fig and Blue Cheese Appetizers:

Ingredients:

1 loaf of French Bread baguette

Fresh *frozen* figs, halved, thawed (from Lyon Farms)

1/2 Cup Blue cheese crumbles

1/2 Cup Walnut pieces

Honey/Agave nectar, to taste

Method:

1. Cut the French bread into slices that are about 1/4 inch thick.  Line up on a baking tray.
2. In a small bowl,  mix together the blue cheese, walnuts and just enough honey or agave to hold them together.
3. Scoop about a tablespoon of this mixture onto each piece of bread.
4. Place 1/2 of a fig on top of each piece of bread.
5. Drizzle the top with more honey or agave.
6. Broil just long enough for everything to ooze together.

Yummy, healthy and local snack or appetizer: you must try this!

Chipotle Roasted Mashed Sweet Potatoes

So it is spring, and SOON very soon the Farmer’s Market will be in full swing and I will have fresh local produce that is NOT a potato. But until then, there are still potatoes and sweet potatoes a plenty. Yesterday I made dinner for my husband and the side dish was these sweet potatoes. A few people have asked for the recipe, so here it is.

Chipotle (Roasted) Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

2 medium sweet potatoes (cane creek farms)

1 chipotle in adobo + 2-3 tsp of the sauce

1 T butter

2 T orange juice

1 T milk (I used goats milk this time)

EVOO

Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Chop the sweet potatoes into quarters.
3. Place on a sheet tray and drizzle with EVOO.  Then sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
4. Roast in the oven for 20-30 minutes (until you can stick a knife in them without resistance).
5. Remove from oven and let cool slightly.
6. Chop the chipotle into small pieces.
7. Scrap the potato guts out of their skins in into a small bowl.
8. Add chipotle, adobo sauce, and butter. Smash (or whip if you want them smoother).
9. Add in the OJ and milk.  Mix in to get a creamier consistency.
10. Enjoy the yumminess!

P.S. Happy birthday to my favorite set of twins: Casey and Courtney!