1 Dozen Hearty Pumpkin Muffins

When you're a small family like the doctor and myself, you definitely need muffin recipes that only make a dozen.  It's just SO NICE to a) not use up a ton of ingredients at one time, b) not eat whatever type of muffins for days and days and days and days, and c) do a one-bowl, one-pan operation that is faster to bake and faster to clean up!

I adapted this recipe from this website I just found that I will be frequenting!  Looks like the author posts a ton of great stuff! :)  

**Please note that my heart in adapting this recipe was to make them healthy-- I cut down on the sugar, I substituted coconut oil for the butter, didn't use all-purpose flour and subbed whole wheat white plus ground flax seeds (SO GOOD for your heart!).. added more spices for flavor, etc... So when you take a bite of these and they don't knock you over the moon with their sugary-sweetness, don't be disappointed!  Just pat yourself on the back that you made something GOOD for you-- and treat yourself to a second muffin, guilt-free! ;)

And yes, I know it's springtime and 60 degrees Fahrenheit outside... and I should be posting recipes like "Citrus-Marinaded Chicken" or "Asparagus and Pea Shoot Linguine" or springy-sounding things.... But this is one of many posts dedicated to *cleaning out my freezer* from last summer/fall's bountiful harvest.  Today, I wanted to use up some of the AWESOME pumpkin puree I have.... so here goes!

Hearty Pumpkin Muffins (makes 12 regular muffins)

*Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

*Line a 12-cup muffin pan with liners. (Lately I've been using fancy parchment cupcake liners and they are divine! SO worth the money!)

Ingredients:

1/4 C coconut oil

1/3 C dark brown sugar

3/4 C (heaping!) pumpkin puree

1/4 C milk (can use whatever kind you want! almond, rice, soy, etc. if you want dairy-free!)

1/4 C brewed coffee (could use water OR extra milk if you hate coffee!--- but I don't know how anyone could hate coffee.....?) :)

2 eggs

1 C White Whole Wheat Flour (I just bought some at Trader Joe's and I am IN LOVE!)

1/2 C ground flax seeds

1/2 C oat bran (NOT oatmeal!-- but oat bran!)

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. (heaping!) ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

couple shakes of ground nutmeg

couple shakes of ground gloves

Mix oil and sugar.  Carefully beat in pumpkin puree, milk, coffee, and eggs.  In the same bowl, carefully scoop out all the dry ingredients, (just go down the list!), and add them right on top of the wet mixture.  Mix all the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.

I used a large cookie/cupcake scoop to scoop out the batter into the 12 muffin cups... but if you don't have on in your kitchen, just use a big spoon or a clean 1/4 cup measuring cup! :)

Before I popped them in the oven, I sprinkled each scoop of batter with some Caramel-Cinnamon Sprinkles my Mom got me.  If you don't have those, you could either 1) leave them plain 2) sprinkle with cinnamon and "sugar in the raw"-type Turbinado Sugar 3) make a streusel topping with flour/butter/brown sugar/cinnamon 4) sprinkle walnuts or pecans... etc.. the possibilities are endless! :) 

Bake at 375*F for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean!

ENJOY!  These mighty muffins are PACKED with GREAT ingredients you can really feel good about eating!!!! :)

grandma vera's dutch apple pie

every grandma has "her best" pie/cookies/way to cook a roast/whatever.

this is my sweet buddy's grandma's best. 

enjoy. :)

grandma vera's dutch apple pie

pie ingredients:

1 unbaked pie crust

about 6 cups apples, peeled & sliced (this is about 6-8 apples, depending on how big they are)

3 Tbsp. butter, melted

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

crumbly topping ingredients:

3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/3 cup softened butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

Place sliced, peeled apples in a large bowl. Pour melted butter over apples, stir in sugar and cinnamon.  Place apple mixture in unbaked pie crust. Mix the topping ingredients together until crumbly (you might give yourself a good 5 minutes to really get everything incorporated and crumb-like).  Gently pour crumbs over top of apples, sprinkle with a little extra cinnamon. :)  Bake at 425 degrees F for 20 minutes, THEN turn down the oven to 350 degrees and bake for 30 more minutes.

 

 

 

YUM!!  Enjoy all by itself-- (it can stand alone!) OR with vanilla ice cream and perhaps a mug of coffee. :)

a walk in the park

bud and i took a walk in the park on wednesday; it was GORGEOUS.  ptL we got to experience the warmth of the sun and some of (the remaining!..) fall colors before the wind blows all the trees leaves away into the winter bareness.

enjoy a few pictures (taken with our new camera!... which i still don't know how to use, lol... but i did my best). :)  enjoy!

lovely colors!

i absolutely **love** a river in a park. :)

i love how these two trees are growing together... AWWWW.

a fully uprooted fallen tree. whoa.

the flood plain!

oh, hello there. a 10(?)-point-buck!

sweetheart.

the reason he was hanging around.... :)

look at this sweet, younger little mister. doesn't he have sweet eyes? :)

Suzi Takes The Wheel

"why the weird title?" you ask. 

it could be the name of a new book i just finished and adored.

it could be a song title that i'm currently obsessed with. 

it could even be a blog title that i've recently started stalking/reading. 

but no------------ none of the above!  in fact, it's the name of a nail polish. ;) 

OPI's Fall 2011 collection includes an "American Touring" line up that has such hip, trendy, fun, absolutely yummy new colors.  slate grays, cameoflagey-greens, cheery salmons, and deep diva-ish purples are only some of the colors in this au courant color cornucopia.

i just got my hair cut (only 3 inches.. but still a big change for me)! :) and just like any brilliant marketing scheme: the OPI dazzling collection was featured right by the cashier. 

i couldn't resist!  after much deliberation, i decided on "suzi takes the wheel" - a gray with a hint of green-- and almost a tiny hint of blue in there, too!  isn't art (even nail art) fun?  it boggles me mind how a neutral color like gray can be infused with green and blue--- to the point where it's noticeable!  amazing.

check it out!  i'm in loooooove.

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p.s. again, my dig. camera is still broken... those so aren't my acrylics above.  but my little natural nails are totes cute though, if i do say so myself. ;)

p.s.s. OMGOODNESS do you hear those jams pumping?  i try to update my playlist regularly. playlists are one of the thousands of things in this world that bring me joy. know what else tickles my fancy? dance parties.  so go.  let rihanna's beats pump through your veins.  get off your booty. and shake & bake it!!!!!!!! :)

Homemade Pumpkin Purée

finally: it's officially fall.

**sigh** :)

'Tis the season of butternut squash soup, apple crisp, chili & cornbread, pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin cake, pumpkin cookies, oh wait, I see a theme.... PUMPKIN.  Mmmm. :)  One of my FAVE fall flavors.

I've been desperately trying to find cans of good old "Libby's Pure Pumpkin" in the stores now for some time, and to no avail, there.. just... isn't any. :(  (I've checked Meijer, Kroger, you name it!)

from Meijer's website. Look: it even says "out of stock"!!!

So instead of just giving up... I just figured I could do it myself.  We made homemade pumpkin purée in Rome, where there is like... NO canned pumpkin whatsoever (except *very expensive* cans imported from the States!)--- and we used to make something like 16 pumpkin pies for a massive Thanksgiving outreach party for all our Italian friends!  So why not turn around and use the knowledge I gleaned in Italy right here in the U.S.? :)

I started with purchasing 2 "Pie Pumpkins" from local Michigan farms at Meijer... (again, my dig. camera is *still broken* --- wah wah! --- so I'm having to borrow other people's lovely pictures). 

The pie pumpkins looked like this:

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Notice how pie pumpkins aren't as small as the cutesy ones people use to decorate... but at the same time, they aren't as big as the "jack-o-lantern" type pumpkins that people carve!

After researching several recipes, I decided upon the roasting method (rather than steaming or boiling them on the stove top).  One probably isn't better than the other, I just didn't have a lot of time/energy to stand by the pot and babysit the boiling pumpkins, so sticking them in the oven felt more freeing for me.

Here are my 10 Easy Steps for Pumpkin Purée:

1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees F... and get out a baking sheet and your carton of aluminum foil.

2) Wash dirt off outside of pumpkin.

3) Carefully cut stem/top off, discard.

4) Cut pumpkin in half, from top to bottom.

5) Everyone has their own preferred "de-pulping" method, but my favorite is to first, take out all the seeds (using my fingers)... Then use a combo of a serrated knife and big serving spoon to cut/scrape out every last string I can get to.  In my opinion, it is so worth it to spend a lot of time getting the strings out.  Who wants stringy purée?  Not this girl. And probs not you, either.

6) When you're done, you'll have 4 pumpkin halves, de-seeded and de-stringed.  Cover each pumpkin half with a piece of foil.

7) Bake in oven till tender (check on them like you would a baked potato)... Let them go for at least an hour, mine probably were in there 1 1/2 hours.

8) Let cool for 15 or so minutes.

9) Scrape out pumpkin flesh from the skin.

10) Time to purée: I **tried** first to put my pumpkin chunks into our blender (the awesome KitchenAid one I wrote about a few posts ago), but something just wasn't meshing between the blender and pumpkin... it just didn't work.  SO I changed direction and put the pumpkin in a plastic container that came with our immersion blender, and puréed the chunks until smooth.  This worked out PERFECTLY and if I ever roast pumpkins again, I will skip the big blender altogether and just stick with my immersion/hand/stick blender.

OR, if you have a food processor, obviously that would be a great kitchen tool for processing your pumpkin.

Voila'!  10 Easy Steps to taking a whole pumpkin and ending up with perfect purée!

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Happy Fall to All--- the season of pumpkiny goodness! :)