Food Fun: A Day Of Pumpkin!

I just made my very first pumpkin puree!  I have shied away from pumpkin recipes because I don't like using canned foods if I can avoid them.  Now that I know how to roast a pumpkin and make fresh organic pumpkin puree, the opportunities are endless!  I decided to take a day and have a little bit of pumpkin at every meal.  It is jam-packed with vitamin A, beta carotene, B complex, calcium, potassium, and dietary fiber.  It certainly makes for a good addition to your balanced diet.  :)

To begin our pumpkin day, I served about a cup of organic slow-cooked oatmeal with a 1/4 C of my pumpkin puree, a drizzle of raw organic honey, and a sprinkling of organic cinnamon.  My daughter LOVED it!

For snack, after eating a banana, I served her some of my first roasted pumpkin seeds.  We tossed them in a bit of melted butter and seasoned them lightly with salt and garlic powder.  It was so easy and fun to show her how to use all parts of the pumpkin!

Along with her lunch, I included some pumpkin yogurt parfait.  I took her organic vanilla yogurt, added some of my pumpkin puree, and served it in layers with my homemade granola.  It was like having dessert with lunch!  She couldn't get enough of it!  :)

Finally, to round out our day of pumpkin, we enjoyed some delicious Spiced Pumpkin Soup.  It was my first time making a pumpkin soup and I was very happy with the results.  We paired it with a fresh kale salad to make a healthy meal.  There you have it.  Our fun day of pumpkin recipes was a success!  My daughter can't wait to do it again!

Crock Pot "Refried" Beans

I am always looking for ways to cut back on pre-made foods be they canned, bagged, boxed, or jarred. In my family, we go through our fair share of beans.  Our favorites include black beans, pinto beans, and chickpeas.  One thing I had relied on for many years was canned refried beans.  I figured it would be WAY too hard to "re-fry" beans at home.  Boy, was I wrong!

This technique is so incredibly simple, you will wonder why you ever bothered buying canned beans before!  All you need is a crock pot and a food processor or blender.  That's it!  There is no frying involved, and most of the work is done overnight while you sleep.  Isn't that the best type of cooking?  :)  Seriously, the hardest thing about this is just remembering to cook them the night before you need them.  But once you make it a habit, it just becomes part of your regular meal planning.

Ingredients (makes about 2 C)

1 heaping cup dry pinto beans
1/4 onion in a large wedge
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
dash of cumin
1/8 - 1/4 jalapeno, seeded

Directions

1. Rinse the dry beans under running water to clean them.
2. Place the beans, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, and jalapeno into a crock pot (I use a small one, but a larger one is great if you are making a bigger batch).  Fill with water allowing space for the beans to double in size and stay submerged.  Turn on low and cook overnight or about 8 hours.  
3. Drain the beans, reserving the liquid.  Discard onion.  Pour the beans into a food processor adding 4 Tbsp cooking liquid back in.  Pulse until a good consistency adding more water as needed.  Taste and adjust salt and seasonings as needed.  

Food Fun: Pumpkin Harvest Bites

Here is a super fun snack idea for fall!  It is so simple.  Just begin by slicing a carrot into about 1/2 inch rounds.  Then take a toothpick and pierce any green herb you might have.  We used parsley but chives would also be cute - whatever you have on hand!  Finally, pierce the side of a carrot.  Place all the "pumpkin carrots" on a bed of hummus!  What a delicious, healthy, and fun snack for kids of all ages!

Food Fun: Color-Themed Dinners

I am starting a new feature on the blog called Food Fun where I will share some of the ways I make food entertaining for my kids.  Let's face it, if kids are having fun, they are more likely to try new things.  By making healthy foods more of an activity, they will hopefully become adventurous eaters who are open to a wide variety of tastes, colors, textures, and experiences.  

This week I wanted to share with you my color-themed meal.  Occasionally, I will pick a color (with the help of the girls) and plan a meal consisting entirely (as best as I can) of that one color.  It is so much fun for the kids!  For this dinner, we went with an orange theme.  The meal included tomato soup, roasted carrots, grilled cheese panini, and cantaloupe for dessert.  This is a wonderful way to get your kids involved in meal planning.  

Homemade Granite Cleaner

I am someone who spends a ridiculous amount of time in the kitchen (making a mess!), so if there is one thing I have learned, it is how to clean a counter!  Sure you could buy a granite cleaner, but do you have any idea what chemicals are in them?  There are a number of nasty ingredients that you would be spewing onto your counter (where you prep and serve food!) and into the air in your home.  That "clean" smell?  Yup, it's a chemical derived scent.  Since when does clean have to smell like a pine forest?  That's not clean!!

I have a wonderful alternative to clean your granite counters.  It is a simple mixture of water, isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol), and dish soap.  That's it!  And it does a fantastic job!  I use an old spray bottle and just keep refilling whenever I run low.  I hope you give it a try and get one more conventional cleaning product out of your house.

Homemade Granite Cleaner
1/2 C water
1 C isopropyl alcohol
15-20 drops of dish soap

Combine these ingredients into a spray bottle.  I give it a little shake each time before I use it.

Product Spotlight - Imagine No Chicken Broth

When I decided to take the leap to vegetarianism, I did it for ethical reasons.  I had struggled with reconciling my deep love of animals and a meat-eaters diet for many years, but upon learning more about factory farming and other egregious agri-business practices, I became a more conscious consumer.   I have been a vegetarian for almost 6 years now, and there are still a number of foods I miss.  One dish in particular is my husband's perfected chicken noodle soup.  I am telling you, this soup is the best soup I have ever had!  But how could you possibly make chicken noodle soup for a vegetarian and make it taste like the original version?

Then I found this amazing product - Imagine No Chicken Broth.  So many recipes call for substituting vegetable broth for chicken broth, but it is just not the same!  You can always tell it is just vegetable broth.  This no-chicken broth is different.  I have used it for soups, sauces, pastas, and casseroles and they all taste amazing!  I love that it is organic as well.

Now, it may be a little hard to find.  I have only been able to consistently find it at Whole Foods, but you can buy it online form their website, and I have seen it on Amazon as well.  If you are able to find it, I urge you to give it a try!  You won't be disappointed!  :)

Image Credit

Fresh Idea - Let The Little Ones Help!

Does this sound familiar?  You get home from picking up your CSA box or visiting your local farm/farmers market, and you are overwhelmed with the amount of produce that needs to be cleaned and prepped for the week to come.  It's not like the stuff comes shrink-wrapped from a store shelf!  At least I feel that way every time I come home with my veggies!  It is so easy to have the kids go play or distract them with something else so you can get through all that work as quickly as possible, but don't do it!  It's amazing what little kids can do!

My daughter has been helping me with my weekly produce prep since she turned three.  She is great at helping with herbs like parsley, cilantro, and basil.  She also loves taking the tops off cherry tomatoes and shucking corn!  Sure the process goes a lot slower than if I did it on my own, but it has so many advantages!  It is a wonderful time to talk and learn together.  She gets very excited about the vegetables and is more willing to try them when she has a hand in preparing them.

Even though you have so much to do (and never enough time to do it in), give your young children the chance to be involved in the kitchen.  It will end up being a cherished memory for the both of you!

Product Review

Amy's Quarter Pound Veggie Burger

Having been a meat eater for about a quarter century before becoming a vegetarian, not just any veggie burger will do for me.  For years I had searched high and low for the best veggie burger I could find.  The common complaints I had were the texture and the size.  Can someone please tell me why most pre-made veggie burgers are so small!?!?  After much trial and error, I have found the best frozen veggie burgers!  Amy's Quarter Pound burgers are so delicious!  And as you can see from the photo below, they fill an entire bun!  The texture is the truest I have found, and even my beef-eating husband enjoys these!

These patties can easily be cooked on a skillet or a BBQ.  There is no thawing involved, so they are ready whenever you are!  An important point for me is that Amy's does not use any GMO soy in this product.  In my area, I have only consistently found these at Whole Foods, but they are well worth the extra trip.  If you have been looking for the best veggie burger, or been considering giving it a try, go for the Amy's Quarter Pound burger.  You will not be disappointed!

Friday's Food for Thought

Victory over the picky-eater!

Parents often talk about their children being picky eaters and how hard it is to make different foods for everyone in their household.  I have to say, there is an easy way around that problem...don't be a short-order cook!  Make one meal for everyone.  That's it!  There will be a few times where your children will push you and not want to eat what you have prepared.  Resist the urge to give them something else.  If they are hungry enough, they will eat.  Worst case scenario, they will wake up very hungry for breakfast.  But that is OK.  They will not suffer or have lasting emotional scars from this.  They will simply learn the consequences if they choose not to eat the family meal.  Parents often choose the path of least resistance as a way to get through the day (believe me, I completely understand the urge!).  But if you are willing to put in a little more effort in the short run, your life will get much easier much faster.