Starring: Pumpkin

I have liked pumpkins ever since Cinderella's turned into a magical carriage and chauffeured her to the best night of her life. Just kidding. But seriously. It was no joke this gourd was chosen for that fairy tale... armed with antioxidant superpowers, pumpkin packs a huge amount of beta-carotene and carotenoids, powerful nutrients which protect the body's cells from aging and disease, including a variety of cancers. Among these phytonutrients, you'll find fiber and iron in pumpkin as well. And the seeds contain iron, protein, and healthy fats! Pumpkin is totally great, and much more versatile than just in pie form. Canned pumpkin contains all of the nutrition in fresh, and is the edible form of pumpkin we know best. I love adding pumpkin puree to oatmeal or risotto. But what about the pumpkin sitting on your porch? Here are some other ideas for this wonderful cucurbit...

Exhibit A: The pumpkin which has sat on our porch since 1 week before our wedding. We picked it at a local pumpkin patch, and it has surely brought seasonal joy and happy thoughts to all of our neighbors for the past month.

Exhibit  A: Pumpkin

Now, to cook. This pumpkin was rather large, so I wouldn't have attempted cutting it if I didn't have a heavy, newly-sharpened chef's knife. (And you shouldn't either, unless you want to lose your hand.)

Exhibit B: Our pumpkin, cut open with sharp knife, guts exposed.

Exhibit B. (The labels are so you don't get lost.)

Then I scooped out those precious seeds and... did not a thing with them. Oops! If I had, I maybe would have followed Emeril's family recipe for roasted pumpkin seeds.

I roasted half of the pumpkin face-down at 350 for 45 minutes, until the pumpkin flesh was soft when pierced with a fork. (Exhibit C) The other half I peeled with a knife and diced into 1-inch pieces, roasting those at 425 for 20 minutes, turning once, then for another 15. 

Exhibit C: Roasted pumpkin half

Once the pumpkin half was cooled, I scooped out the flesh and pureed it in a food processor until smooth. It made almost 4 cups of puree!  I used 2 cups to make Caramelized Pumpkin Butter, recipe courtesy of Vegetarian Times.

Caramelized Pumpkin Butter
Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
2 Tbs. lemon juice

Directions:
Combine sugar and 2/3 cup water in a saucepan until sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil over high heat. Boil 7-9 minutes, or until sugar turns a pale amber color. Remove from heat, and carefully add pumpkin puree (mixture sizzles, don't freak!). Stir in the lemon juice. Return to a boil over medium heat and cook 5 minutes, or until thickened and glistening, stirring often.

If you are a canning whiz, unlike me, you will surely know how to seal this jam into jars and give as adorable gifts with a tag that reads: "Spreading Love and Thanksgiving From Our Family to Yours" (I won't tell that you got that phrase from me.)

Caramelized Pumpkin Butter

Another brilliant use for pumpkin puree is soup. My mom makes a very special pumpkin soup that I've asked her to share with me for this post. She can't get canned pumpkin in Germany, so every season she spends time cooking whole pumpkins, pureeing, and freezing the puree for soups, muffins, and more.

Spicy Pumpkin Soup
Recipe courtesy of CinCin
Ingredients:
4 tbs. butter/ olive oil combined
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper
2 tsp. curry powder
1/2 tsp. coriander
3 cans (15 oz.) pumpkin or 6 cups cubed pumpkin
2 smaller potatoes, diced
2 carrots, diced
4-5 cups broth
1-2 cups milk
3 tbs. brown sugar
1 cup evaporated skim milk

Directions:
1) Melt butter & oil. Saute garlic & onion. Add spices.
2) Add pumpkin, broth, veggies and simmer 20 min.
3) Puree with immersion blender (cool first if desired).
4) Reheat, add sugar. Slowly add milk, stirring to desired consistency.  Add cream (evap. milk) and adjust seasonings to taste.

Cindy's Spicy Pumpkin Soup, photo taken in Cindy's kitchen in Germany

Now, what about those roasted pumpkin chunks? Try my recipe for...

Pumpkin and Black Bean Stir-Fry with Spicy Peanut Sauce
Stir-fry (read: small amount of oil, medium-high burner, constant stirring) onion, broccoli, and red pepper until brown, 4-5 minutes. Add in previously roasted pumpkin chunks (any squash will work) and cooked black beans, stirring until heated through, 2 minutes. Top with Spicy Peanut Sauce, and remove from heat. Serve with brown rice.

Spicy Peanut Sauce
Combine:
1/4 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup coconut milk
2 Tbs. brown sugar
1 Tbs. lemon juice
1 tsp sriracha (hot chili sauce)
1 tsp tamari (or soy sauce)
1 tsp sesame oil (optional)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbs. chopped cilantro

Pumpkin and Black Bean Stir-Fry with Spicy Peanut Sauce

easy to make, easy to eat

I hope for your sake you didn't take your porch decoration to Punkin' Chunkin' so that you can make one of these delicious recipes. Have a happy and healthy holiday!

It's Chocolate Time!

Lucky me! A friend's birthday and Valentine's day fell just a few days apart last week... giving me an even better excuse than usual (life) to bake my most favorite chocolate cake AND try my hand at chocolate truffles. So, needless to say... last weekend was... the... best.

First, the cake. It's Crazy Chocolate Cake, people! The BEST! Growing up, my mom often made this cake on snow days. In college, I made it for Mark and I on Valentine's Day (which is why I made it last week! I was nice enough not to eat it in front of him on Skype.) Once my college roommate Erica caught a whiff of this cake, she fell in love with it and made it for simply any and every occasion for the rest of the year! Oh, it's your friend's brother's birthday! Cake. It's Wednesday! Cake. You finished your grad school applications! Cake. You got a B on a test! Cake. Though I must say, the cake I made last week was one of my best yet...

Thank you to my Mark for these lovely flowers!

No icing necessary... we've got a sugar and chocolate crust.

Love!

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Recipe: Crazy Chocolate Cake

1. Mix these in a bowl:

• 3 cups flour (Last time I used 1 cup whole wheat and 2 cups white... and then laughed at myself for trying to make a chocolate cake healthier.)
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder (Hershey's makes a dark cocoa powder that has a really deep, yummy flavor!)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp baking soda

2. Add these and stir:

• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• 3/4 cup oil (I use 1/2 cup applesauce and 1/4 cup oil. This is a worthy substitute! You can save quite a bit of fat and keep the moisture here.)
• 2 cups water  

3. Pour into a greased pan. Top with these:

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup chocolate chips (This last time I used Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips. Do it!)

4. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.
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I could probably eat this cake exclusively to satisfy any chocolate craving... but I did try a brand-new chocolate treat in honor of a friend's birthday and girls' night! (Thanks Kelly W. for being born!) Chocolate Ganache Truffles... you can find the recipe here, courtesy of Vegetarian Times. They were surprisingly easy to make (no double-boiling anything!) and were QUITE the hit with the girls. But really, if you doubt their deliciousness, just look at the list of ingredients. I am almost certain you can't fail here! *Note* I did follow the recipe closely... yes, I did use Kahlua; yes, I did use heavy cream; yes, I did use instant coffee (Starbucks Via, in fact); no, I didn't use corn syrup, I used honey instead because that's what I had. 

How the pros captured Chocolate Ganache Truffles

And... mine!

Let me tell you, it was a real shame there were still some left over and they sat in my fridge for a few days. (OK, a day.) A realllll shame.

To end on an even sweeter note... it's no secret that dark chocolate has been shown to have plenty of nutritious health benefits, thanks to their antioxidant-rich properties! Many studies have shown a link to decreased blood pressure, decreased platelet stickiness (i.e. decreased risk of heart attack and stroke), decrease risk for diabetes, and possibly a link to decreasing cancer risk! The darker the chocolate (over 60%) the better the antioxidant punch. Check out what the Cleveland Clinic has to say, or a researcher at Penn State.

I have a feeling I don't really have to convince you to make one of these recipes. Now get yourself some chocolate!

The Best Christmas Cookie You Aren't Baking

The cookie swap is a cool new thing to do with a bunch of ladies. Everyone brings a ton of cookies and their recipes to a party, and then you divide up the cookies amongst yourselves! And you go home with even MORE cookies than you brought (miracle), and you eat them uncontrollably for days, putting yourself in a prolonged state of hyperglycemia! (Nutrition term for... back away from the cookies.)

Anyway... there were PLENTY of fantastic cookies to choose from (and I did, multiple times). Here were some of my favorites:

• Peppermint Bark Chocolate Chip
• No-Bake Oatmeal PB Chocolate
• Chewy Molasses Crinkles
• Snickerdoodles
• Classic Sugar
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls (NOT Buckeyes)
• Chocolate Mint
• Oatmeal M&M
• Pretzel Snaps with a Hershey's Kiss and an M&M (especially addicting)

 The cookies I baked for the swap are a recent favorite in my family. We love them for three reasons:

1. They only take about 30 minutes, start-to-finish.
2. They are SO DELICIOUS!!!
3. They are wheat-free... for the glutard in your life- love ya Mom!

 So do something wonderful for you and your loved ones this holiday season... bake Flourless Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies (affectionately known as Peanut Butter Bombs). You probably have all of the ingredients already in your house!

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Flourless Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter, smooth or crunchy

1 egg

1 1/3 cup sugar, divided

1 tsp vanilla

Hershey’s Kisses, unwrapped (dark chocolate is best!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a large baking sheet.
2. Combine peanut butter, egg, 1 cup sugar, and vanilla in mixing bowl and stir well.
3. Roll small dough balls in remaining sugar to coat. Place on baking sheet and bake 12 minutes.
4. When removed from oven, immediately top each with a Kiss. Wait 4-5 minutes until Kiss is melted, then smooth down with a knife or back of a spoon.

Yield: 18 cookies

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You simply MUST bake these! (Unless you are allergic. Duh.)

Special thanks to Mrs. Karen Bassett for hosting the Cookie Swap! Your Molasses Crinkles were to-die-for!

With love- Lentils. xoxo.

It's snowing today!

What a perfect opportunity to share an inspiration for a yummy lentil soup. Lentils are a scrumptious, high-protein, easy, and versatile legume that you simply must try. I was so in love with this concoction, I even ate it for breakfast the next morning before work at the high school cafeteria. At 5:30 am. And you know what, it kept me full much longer than a bowl of cereal does!

I used brown lentils, which tend to hold their shape more than red or orange lentils. First, I sauteed diced onion, celery, and carrot (if you want to be snooty, you can call that 'mirepoix,' pronounced "meer-pwah") along with garlic on medium heat for a few minutes. I added in about a cup or more of chopped mushrooms. Next, one of the crucial ingredients... 1/4 cup red wine. Let that simmer uncovered for 3-5 minutes... you will be glad you did! Then, I added in my next crucial ingredient... 1 tablespoon maple syrup! That bit of New Hampshire's maple goodness brought through just a teeny bit of sweetness that changed the flavor composition of the whole pot. I added about 3 cups of vegetable stock, and about 1 cup of lentils (rinse those first). Simmer and simmer for about 1 hour. The good thing about brown lentils is they cook in basically 20 minutes, so you don't have to let the soup simmer for an hour if you don't have the time. Before you dig in... stir in handfuls of torn fresh spinach leaves. (Or cooked collard greens, if so inspired!) Oooo my is this one tasty and amazingly healthy soup!

So steamy!

Last week was a special week, 1) because I made this soup and ate it for breakfast; and 2) it was my friend and fellow intern Fionna's birthday; and 3) it was Pumpkin Fest here in Keene! Any special week (and any week at all, really) calls for one of my all-time favorite snacky snacks, Sugared Walnuts. I got this recipe from my mom, but she makes it with pecans. (Pecans are not my favorite nut. And I also don't like that they can be pronounced 2 very different ways. But feel free to use them if you so desire!) Some of the interns had a birthday party for Fionna and pumpkin carving party last week, so I made a batch. They vanished. Here's the recipe:

Sugared Walnuts
Beat 2 egg whites until frothy. Add 1 tablespoon water, beat in. In a separate bowl, mix 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp salt. Toss 1 lb walnuts in the egg white mixture and toss to coat. Then, toss egg-y walnuts in the sugar mixture, stir to coat. Spread nuts on a greased baking pan, and bake at 275 degrees F for 45-60 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.

YUMYUMYUMYUMYUM

I hope you enjoy these tasty fall treats. Both have helped feed my body and brain through the first 9 weeks of my internship! Tomorrow is my last day of my food service rotation. This week I have been waking up at 4:00 am to get to work at a preschool nutrition site in Manchester! (Note- human beings were NOT meant to wake up at 4 am for anything, especially work, which is perhaps why I accidentally missed my alarm by 2.5 hrs and was significantly late today. Oops.)


Next week, I move into many months of my community rotation, until I start clinical in April. More adventures to come! Now go cook something delicious!