Home » Archives for Mary | Just Take A Bite » Page 120

Author: Mary | Just Take A Bite

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Rebecca and I also made a batch of pumpkin cookies yesterday. Another easy pumpkin recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod. These are more cakey than most cookies. But still very good. They got 2 thumbs up from the 3 of us. And great reviews from my parents as well! Plus I like that they are a little healthier than a lot of cookies…whole wheat, oats, applesauce, pumpkin…not bad. So far so good with my pumpkin experiments. I haven’t made anything I don’t like yet. These were very easy to make. I used half semi-sweet and half white chocolate chips. And I had to bake mine a little longer. Just depends how big you make the cookies and what kind of pan you use. Some took about 12 min. Some took more like 15 min. I didn’t use silpat or parchment paper (I forgot) and they came off the pan no problem at all. I got 32 cookies out of this batch.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1/4 cup applesauce
¾ cup pumpkin
1 egg
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. all spice
¾ cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cup oats
1 cup chocolate chips
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream the butter with the sugars until soft and creamy, using a mixer.
3. Add in applesauce, pumpkin, egg and vanilla.
4. In a separate bowl combine the salt, baking powder, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice, and flour. Whisk the ingredients together.
5. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients, with the mixer on low. Mix until blended.
6. Add the oats and briefly mix. Stir inthe chocolate chips.
7. Scoop tablespoons of dough onto a baking sheet that has a Silpat or parchment paper. 8. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes! Let cool on a rack.

Pumpkin Graham Crackers

Yesterday Rebecca and I were in a baking mood. And I still have pumpkin to use. I thought I’d experminet a little and try something new…pumpkin graham crackers! I just used my usual graham cracker recipe, but replaced some of the butter and water with pumpkin. It worked great! You really can’t taste the pumpkin. And the grahams turned out as good as ever. So I took out some of the fat and added in a few extra vitamins. Sounds good to me 🙂 The grahams have an ever so slight orange tint…not quite the same color as usual. But you’d never guess if nobody told you what was in them. Maybe I’ll make them this way more often. I’ll have to experiment with other fruit/veggie purees.

Pumpkin Graham Crackers

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rapadura (dehydrated cane sugar)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
4 Tbsp. honey
1/8 cup water
1 tsp. vanilla
6 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/2 cup pure pumpkin

Heat oven to 350. Melt butter in sauce pan or microwave. Stir in the pumpkin. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add the liquids: honey, water, vanilla, butter, pumpkin. Stir well until a nice ball of dough is formed. Divide into two balls. Cut 2 pieces of parchment paper the size of a cookie sheet. Put one piece on the cookie sheet. Put ball of dough on the paper. Lay the other piece of parchment on top of dough. Squish the dough down a little with your hand. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough between the parchment paper. Roll until the dough covers the whole cookie sheet. Remove the top piece of parchment paper. Repeat with 2nd ball of dough. Cut into squares or shapes. Separate the dough a bit if you’re cutting out shapes. Bake for 13 minutes. Turn off oven, but leave crackers in to get crisp. Remove after 30 min. Break crackers apart (if you just cut the squares and left them close together). Store in airtight container.

Pumpkin Pie Muffins

Yesterday afternoon Rebecca and I made some pumpkin pie muffins. I had pumpkin and buttermilk to use up after making the pumpkin scones. And I’ve been wanting to make these for a while. I found the recipe a couple months ago when I read through my Ellie Crieger cookbook. Plus it’s one more attempt at pumpkin. These are very easy to make. And they taste great! Since Rebecca thinks everything tastes better with “coca chips” I let her sprinkle some mini chips on a few of the muffins 🙂 They are good with the chocolate added. Some dried fruit or chopped nuts would be good too. The recipe says it makes 12 muffins. I made 16. And they took a little longer than 20 min. to bake for me. And I didn’t add the pumpkin seeds.

Pumpkin Pie Muffins

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-grain pastry flour or whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar (I used light brown…that’s all I had)
3 Tbsp. unsulphered molasses
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
1/4 cup raw, unsalted pumpkin seeds

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and whole-wheat flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.

In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, molasses, oil and 1 egg until combined. Add the other egg and whisk well. Whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla. Whisk in the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Whisk just until combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan and sprinkle with the pumpkin seeds. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of 1 of the muffins comes out clean.
Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the muffins to loosen them and unmold. Cool completely on the rack

Pumpkin White Chocolate Scones

Last night for dinner I made quiche. And I always like to make scones when I make quiche. I saw a recipe for pumpkin white chocolate scones recently on Two Peas and Their Pod, and I knew I had to try them! These were so good!!! All 3 of us loved them. Simple to make, like most scones. I love that. Plus I had some buttermilk to use up. I didn’t add the glaze last night. I might try that tonight or if we have them for breakfast some day this week (**Update…the glaze is awesome!!! I didn’t think they could get any better…but they did 🙂. I got 8 scones out of the dough. I baked 3 and froze 5. I’ll bake another 3 with dinner tonight and save 2 for a breakfast. Some dried cherries might be good in these, but definitely not necessary. The chocolate chips added just the right amount of sweetness. There aren’t enough to make them super chocolatey. But you get a little hint of chocolate in most bites. I bet milk chocolate would be good too in place of the white. Definitely a keeper recipe. And that’s one positive pumpkin experience for me. Hopefully there will be many more this month 🙂
Pumpkin White Chocolate Scones

Scone Dough:

2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/3 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp. pure vanilla
1 Tbsp. cream
Turbinado sugar for sprinkling on top

Spice glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. cloves
sprinkle of nutmeg
milk
Add as much milk until desired consistency. Drizzle or spread over cooled scones.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and place rack in middle of oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat.In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. I use my hands! The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. Stir in the white chocolate.

In a separate bowl mix together the buttermilk, pumpkin puree and vanilla and then add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture. Mix just until the dough comes together. Do not over mix the dough.Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead dough gently four or five times and then pat the dough into a circle that is about 7 inches (18 cm) round and about 11/2 inches (3.75 cm) thick. Cut this circle in half, then cut each half into 3 pie-shaped wedges (triangles) (I cut it into 8 triangles). Place the scones on the baking sheet. Brush the tops of the scones with the cream and sprinkle a little Turbinado sugar on top.Place the baking sheet inside another baking sheet to prevent the bottoms of the scones from over browning. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool and drizzle scones with the glaze.

Beer Bread

I guess I’ve never actually posted the recipe for beer bread even though I make it all the time. I posted the link a long time ago…I got it from my cousin’s wife, Melissa. This is about as easy as it gets. Always a good option when you want fresh bread but don’t have time to deal with yeast, rising, etc. Rebecca could even help me make it 🙂

Beer Bread

3 cups self-rising flour
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 (12 oz) bottle or can of beer

Mix all ingredients. Put in large bread pan. Bake at 350 for 45-50 min.

*I ususally sprinkle some coarse salt over the top before baking. Gives it a nice flavor.

A Healthy Lifestyle Does Work

A little over 2 years ago I had some bloodwork done and it showed that I had hypothyroidism. I was put on medication to correct the problem. At that time I was taking 125 mcg a day. While I was pregnant with Rebecca things imroved slightly (pregnancy can affect your thyroid) and it was lowered to 112 mcg. I had been at that dose for a long time…until about the beginning of July this year. I had my anual check up and more bloodwork. My level was running high, so they lowered my dose to 100 mcg. I was retested in August. It was still high. So they lowered my dose to 75 mcg. Last week I had my level checked again. And it is still high! So now I’m down to 50 mcg. I get retested again in December. I firmly believe that changing my diet, eating habits and overall lifestyle have made the difference. When you take care of your body it works the way it’s supposed to. No wonder I was so thin for a while…taking such a high dose of medication when I didn’t need to made me hyperthyroid instead of hypothyroid. If this trend continues I may be able to stop taking medicaiton all together. Like I’ve said before, I feel healthier now than I have my entire life. And I want to keep my whole family strong and healthy. So I will continue to work hard to provide healthy, homemade food and promote a healthy overall lifestyle. A healthy lifestyle does work!

Black Bean Burgers

I’ve only ever tried making one non-meat burger. And Justin didn’t care for it too much (I really liked it :). Last night I tried another, very different from the walnut burgers I made in the past. I got this recipe from A Good Appetite. So simple to make. And quite good. Justin definitely liked this burger better. It had good flavor (I modified the original recipe a bit, so I’m not sure how the original tastes). The texture was a little on the soft side. Maybe next time I’ll try to cut back on the moisture. And if I shape them differently, maybe a litttle thinner, it should help. I cooked them longer than the the recipes says so that they at least got a decent crust on the outside. Otherwise they would have been totally mush. I used a grill pan. Maybe just a regular griddle would have been better for this type of burger. Definitely a keeper recipe. I’ll have to keep experimenting with it. But a great alternative to meat burgers. And a very easy, healthy dinner. And clean up is pretty simple too. You can mix it all in one bowl 🙂 I served them with the usual burger toppings and sliced avocado. I’ll add my mods in ().

Black Bean Burgers

1 14oz can black beans, rinsed & drained (organic)
1/3 c red onion chopped (I subbed red and green bell pepper (from our garden), finely diced)
1/4 c bread crumbs
2 T Bacon Chipotle Sauce (or your favorite salsa) (I used half and half homemade chili sauce and homemade salsa, chopped a bit since both are kind of chunky…and I added a little of extra liquid from the salsa…maybe I’ll skip that next time)
1 t ground cumin

Smash the black beans with a fork or potato masher. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Form into 2 or 3 patties (I made 4 burgers out of this and they were plenty big…2 burgers would be gigantic!). Cook on a well oiled grill or griddle 3 minutes per side (I did at least 5 min. per side). The burgers should be warm through.

Baked Egg Puffs

These baked egg cups use cooked squash as a thickener. It works so well! They are sort of like mini souffles. There was no way I would have  known that there was squash in the eggs. Definitely a keeper! I love that we got some extra veggies. 

Serve baked egg puffs with your favorite veggie and some homemade bread for a complete meal.

Baked Egg Puffs
 
5 large eggs
1/2 cup butternut or buttercup squash, pumpkin, or sweet potato puree
2 Tbsp. shredded cheese
2 Tbsp. tapioca flour or white rice flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
bacon, ham or sausage (optional add-in)
cooked broccoli or spinach (optinal add-in)
2 Tbsp. non-fortified nutritional yeast
 
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat 4 (1/2-cup) ramekins or coffee cups (I used my little glass pyrex dishes) with butter and set on a baking sheet.
 
In a large bowl whisk all the ingredients until combined. Divide the mixture among the ramekins or cups and bake until the tops are puffed up and the eggs are no longer runny in the center when pierced with the tip of a knife, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Relationships

Today we had our 2nd MOPS meeting of the year. It was great! Our focus is on building relationships. Which happens to be so fitting for me (funny how God does that, huh?:). Over the last few years I have been through a lot of ups and downs (see the sidebar for some details). Unfortunately the things I was dealing with forced me to isolate myself and focus on myself. As someone that has been a life-long people pleaser it was not pleasant at all…to put myself first. Initially I couldn’t even handle asking my husband for help on a simple task. That would be a burden to him. I had a hard time changing my mindset. But I had to. It was the only way to heal and grow and get better. And now that I’ve been working on overcoming the OCD for a while I feel like I’m ready to let people into my life again. I haven’t had a close friend in many years. I haven’t even been close with my family in a long time. And I want that to change. I have been a perfectionist all my life. But I’m learning to drop my guard and let people see that I am FAR from perfect. This blog has been a big help in putting myself out there…telling my story and sharing a lot of personal stuff. But now I need to take it a step farther. I need to share myself in person, not just in writing. I have always had a hard time admiting mistakes and seeing my own faults (although somehow it seems easy to notice other people’s faults…). But I’m getting better at it each day. As I try to teach Rebecca that it’s ok to make mistakes I’m also teaching myself. I can laugh at myself a lot more easily. And I’m not as concerned about what others think of me. I still have a ways to go, but I’m getting there. Our speaker at MOPS today was Amy Kuncaitis, author of “Joy in the Morning.” She talked about building relationships…with your spouse, your family, your friends and your community. It was exactly what I needed to hear. I have some relationships that need mending. And I also have relationships that are just budding. And I want them all to grow strong. We met our small groups today that we’ll be a part of for the rest of the year. I’m excited God has provided me with an opportunity to build new friendships and just be me. It has taken a long time, it’s been a long, hard journey. But slowly my focus is shifting from inward to outward. I need to let others in. I need to be accepting and forgiving of others. I need to be accepted and forgiven. I need to be who God made me. And know that that is perfect. We face challenge after challenge in this life. And I’d rather have people to support me in my struggles instead of being on my own. I’ll close with a part of what I read today in “The Pilgrim’s Progress” where Christian is continuing on his journey on the narrow path towards eternal life, through the Valley of Humiliation. I want friends to accompany me into the valleys too 🙂

“Then he began to go forward; but Discretion, Piety, Charity and Prudence, would accompany him down to the foot of the hill…Then said Christian, As it was difficult coming up, so (so far as I can see) it is dangerous going down. Yes, said Prudence, so it is, for it is a hard manner for a man to go down into the Valley of Humiliation, as though art now, and to catch no slip by the way; therefore, said they, are we come out to accompany thee down the Hill. So he began to go down, but very warily; yet he caught a slip or two.”

Chocolate Graham Crackers

Yesterday I tried making chocolate graham crackers. This isn’t a new recipe. It’s my same graham cracker recipe. But this is the first time I added cocoa to make them chocolate. I made the dough, then took out half, then added cocoa to half. After mixing it in I realized it’s probably better to add the cocoa at the beginning, with the rest of the dry ingredients. Oh well. They look like marble grahams 🙂 But they still taste chocolatey.

*Edited 9/6/10 – Made another batch this morning…adding the cocoa into the dry ingredients. Works MUCH better : P

Chocolate Graham Crackers

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rapadura (dehydrated cane sugar)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
1/3 cup cocoa
4 Tbsp. honey
1/4 cup water (I usually have to add more than this to get a good ball of dough)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 stick butter, melted (or 1/2 butter, 1/2 coconut oil)

Heat oven to 350. Melt butter in sauce pan or microwave. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cocoa. Add the liquids: honey, water, vanilla, butter. Stir well until a nice ball of dough is formed. Use silpat or line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Put half of the dough on each baking sheet. Use another piece of parchment on top of dough. Squish the dough down a little with your hand. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough between the parchment paper. Roll until the dough covers the whole cookie sheet. Remove the top piece of parchment paper. Cut into squares or shapes. Separate the dough a bit if you’re cutting out shapes. Bake for 13 minutes. Turn off oven, but leave crackers in to get crisp. Remove after 15 min. Let cool completely. Break crackers apart (if you just cut the squares and left them close together). Store in airtight container.