Pumpkin Muffins for my Pumpkin

Remember when you were in college and you woke up the next day feeling like the world was kind of moving in slow motion, and all you wanted was coffee, some more sleep, and for everyone to just stop yelling?  Yeah, that was our house last week.  We were all moving around one another like a bunch of hungover college kids, 24/7.  Just when we thought the sickness induced hangover was finally done, our kid woke up with almost 103-degree fever on Thursday morning, giving me the biggest heart attack I've had since bringing Laela home from the hospital when she was born.

After a few sleepless nights of calming our sick baby and making sure she was breathing when she was sleeping (in case you didn't know, paranoia sets in after you don't get a certain amount of sleep- and when your baby feels hotter than your hot blooded spouse), I decided I needed some therapy..er, I mean I wanted to bake.

Laela LOVES pumpkin anything- ravioli, smoothies, cream sauce, bread, muffins, breakfast bars, pie, custard- if it's pumpkin, she'll eat/drink it.  After purusing our pantry, I discovered that I had all the ingredients for this awesome pumpkin muffin recipe by Bethenny Frankel.

Kyle kind of grimaced when he saw that the ingredients were healthy, but then he and Laela proceeded to devour them everyday for breakfast until there weren't any left!

I made a few modifications (I made some without cranberries or nuts because Kyle won't eat either in baked goods.  I also made some with chopped pecans because they're what I had on hand.)

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Ingredients:
•3 cups oat flour

•2 cups raw sugar

•2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

•¼ cup vegetable oil

•1 egg

•1 ½ cups canned pumpkin (puree not pie filling)

•½ cup water

•1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

•1 teaspoon baking soda

•1 teaspoon salt

•1 teaspoon cinnamon

•½ teaspoon nutmeg

•½ teaspoon cloves

•1 teaspoon vanilla

•1 ½ cups dried cranberries

•¼ cup unsalted walnuts

•24 muffin cups

Instructions:
 
1.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine raw sugar, vanilla, melted butter, oil, eggs, pumpkin and water. Beat for 90 seconds, or until well mixed.

2.  Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices, stirring until no streaks remain.

3.  Combine flour mixture and pumpkin mixture. Stir in nuts and cranberries; stirring only until all ingredients are mixed.

4.  Cover batter and allow to set at room temperature for 60 minutes.

5.  Preheat oven to 350°F.

6.  Place muffin cups in muffin holders and fill 2/3 of the way full.

7.  Bake for 40-45 minutes or until muffins tops spring back when lightly touched.

8.  If the muffins will be frozen, allow to cool for 1 hour, then tightly wrap in plastic wrap; store in freezer zipper bags.

9.  To reheat, wrap loosely in foil and bake for 5-10 minutes at 350°F. Or they may be reheated in the microwave wrapped loosely in a damp paper towel.

On Bethenny's website she said that this yielded 12 muffins, but I found that it made 24 normal sized muffins.

Laela really enjoyed hers with a side of vanilla yogurt to dip it in!

*Cough*Sneeze*Whimper*

We've been sick for over two weeks, and just as we were all getting better, our poor little girl woke up with a terrible fever.

So long as my peanut is better, I'll share a great roasted pepper soup recipe, as well as a super delicious pumpkin muffin recipe.

Doh!

Boredom and toddlers do not mix.  So what does Mommy do when the whole family is sick and the sick toddler wants to play?

Well,  she makes some good old fashioned play dough.

All you need is:

• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup water
• Big dash of salt

Mix it all together and shazam!  Instant non-toxic, super fun play dough!  Some people say that it'll only last an hour or so, but it stayed doughy for about 8 hours.

Here's what we made!



Happy Valentine's Day!

Kyle was away for two weeks and of course, as soon as I started to drive to the airport to pick him up, I started to feel like I'd been kicked in the head, chest and stomach.  Needless to say, our "romantic" reunion consisted of a lot of Nyquil, cold medicine, and of course, some very sexy Vicks Vapor Rub.  To top it all off, the baby got sick at the same time as me, which resulted in the three of us passed out on the couch watching Disney movies.

Eh, could be worse.  At least we were together!

So for all of you healthy people out there, this one's for you.

Before I met Kyle, I boycotted Valentine's Day.  I hosted an "Un-Valentine's Day" party at my house with my girlfriends, or we'd go to one of my favorite places- Swanky Bubbles.  The important part was having yummy bubbly cocktails, and delicious "girl food".  You know what I'm saying, most things that you dip, such as fondue (what is with guys not wanting to dip things?  IT'S AWESOME!) or Greek food, which for some reason, most guys I know just don't like the stuff.  Since most girls I know do like Greek food, I'm going to give you a super simple way to make spanakopita, my most favorite food ever!

Many people refer to spanakopita as a "spinach pie".  I think that's just because they can't pronouce span-a-koh-peet-ah.  Spanakopita!

Don't fear the filo!  Rock out this recipe!

Spanakopita

• 8oz chopped spinach (I use frozen)
• 8oz feta cheese, crumbled
• 1Tb dill
• Salt and Pepper (to taste)
• 1/2 sweet onion, chopped and carmelized
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• Filo dough- defrosted (most packages come with 2 rolls of it.  You need one roll.)
• 1 cup butter (melted)
• 1 egg

Defrost and drain your spinach.  Toss in a bowl.  Add dill, salt, pepper, nutmeg, feta, egg, and onion.  Mix well.

Lay out 3 or 4 sheets of filo on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with baking spray.  Using a pastry brush, paint on some butter.  Spread some of the spinach mixture onto the middle of the filo, leaving about 1 1/2 inches around of filo.  Layer 3 or 4 sheets of filo on top of the mixture.  Paint butter on the filo.  Leave about 1 1/2 inches of filo surrounding the spinach mixture.  Continue to do this until you run out of mixture.  Then top the last bit of mixture with 5 or 6 sheets of filo.  Wrap it around the entire stack of filo/mixture layers, so that it is completely covered.  Tuck the filo underneath so that it looks like a nice, neat rectangle, or square.  Then pour the remaining butter on top, spreading it all over the filo.

Bake at 350 degrees.  Cover with foil for 20 minutes.  Take the foil off after the twenty minutes, and cook uncovered for 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown.

*Note- If you are super fearful of ripping apart filo, you can cook this like a lasagne- use a lasagne pan, and just follow the directions.  Don't worry about tucking or making it look nice.  Just top it with the 5 or 6 sheets of filo, pour the remaining butter, spread it out, and bake according to directions.

In case you were wondering, this is also a great dish to use to sneak in some spinach...my daughter LOVES this!

Leftovers Kicked Up a Notch!

Kyle and I went on a hot date at the Melting Pot the weekend before he had to leave for London, and if you've ever been there, you know that you go home with a TON of leftovers.  We had enough pieces of chicken, filet mignon, shrimp, salmon, and duck leftover to make a hearty dinner for the three of us, plus a huge lunch for Kyle to bring to work.

Best part?  It takes ten minutes, and you should have all of the ingredients ready to go in your fridge.

Ingredients:

• (1) package chow mein noodles. (Although, any kind of asian noodles are fine.)
• All of your meat/poultry/fish leftovers. (This works for ANY kind of protein.  You can even use eggs if it really blows your hair back.)
• Mixed veggies- I always have a bag of asian mix in my freezer, but any veggies will do. (enough for 4 people.)
• (3) Tb Soy sauce
• Ginger (fresh is always better, but if you don't have it, just use any kind you  have in your spice cabinet)
• Pepper
• Cayenne Pepper
• (3) Tb honey
• (2) Beef boullion cubes
• (2) Tb flour
• (1) Tb onion powder
• (1) tsp crushed garlic

Directions:

• Cook your noodles according to the package instructions, with beef boullion in the water.
• Dump all of your protein into a bowl and toss in the flour.  Make sure each bite is lightly coated in flour.
• Put the pan on medium high heat.  Pour the protein and any remaining flour into the pan.
• Ladle one ladle-full of the noodle broth into the hot pan.
• Add in the honey and soy sauce.  Add a few good shakes of pepper, cayenne (depending on how hot you like your food), and ginger (again, some like more ginger, some like less- remember that you can always add more).
• Cook for two minutes, keeping the protein moving.
• Stir in the veggies.  The sauce will cook them quickly. 
• Lower your heat to medium low heat.
• When the noodles are done cooking, rinse them well and toss them in the pan.
• Stir the noodles into the mixture.
• Cook for one minute, stir occasionally.
• Serve! 

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did!  I made it a little spicy, and was pleasantly surprised to find that my little girl loved it too!!

Lentil Soup with a Dash of Love

Whenever I hear someone mention lentil soup, I think of two things- the worst soup I've ever had, and the best soup I've ever had.  One of the first times I had it, I swear it was cooked in water with salt and pepper.  It had NO love in it whatsoever.  The first time I remember really remember LOVING it was this older Greek woman's soup that was garnished with red peppers and had a faint taste of red vinegar.  I've tried my damnedest to make her recipe, and I've just never been able to figure out what she did to make it so amazing.

This go around, I asked my good friend, Dawn, to give me some tips on how she makes her soup so yummy.  Her family makes "lucky lentil soup" that is made for the first day of the New Year, and if I'm guessing correctly, whomever receives the bay leaf is to have good luck that year.  (I grew up with that same tradition, except the bay leaves were in spaghetti sauce..but that's a post for another day.)

Anyway, Dawn recommended some pureed celery and carrots (Can you say yum?  And sneaking in veggies!  I'm in!)  She also recommended sun-dried tomatoes, which sounds super awesome, but I didn't have any on hand, so I just had to improvise with a fresh tomato.

Here's my twist on lentil soup..

Ingredients:

• (1/2 lb) Dried lentils
•  (3) Carrots
• (1) Celery stalk
• (1) Medium Tomato
• (2) Boullion cubes (I used vegetable, but I'm sure chicken or beef would be good too)
• (4) Cups water
• (2) Tb Crushed garlic
• (1) Tb Onion powder
• (1) Bay leaf
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

• Measure four cups of water and pour it into a medium soup pot.
• Chop the celery and carrots.  (I used the celery leaves as well.) 
• Add the celery and carrots to the boiling water.
• Boil for ten minutes.
• While the veggies are boiling, slice up the tomato.
• Sprinkle some olive oil in a medium-high skillet.  Salt and pepper both sides of the tomato and place each slice in the skillet.  Lower the heat to medium heat.  Cook for two or three minutes per side.
• DO NOT DISCARD THE VEGETABLE WATER.
• Use a slotted spoon to take out the vegetables.
• Put the carrots, tomato and celery in a food processor or blender and puree.
• Rinse the lentils.
• Pour the rinsed lentils into the vegetable water.
• Add the pureed vegetables.
• Add the crushed garlic and onion powder (if you want to use fresh onions, just sautee them and puree them.  I used onion powder because I didn't have onions on hand.)
• Add the boullion cubes.
• Bring to a boil.  Once you have brought the soup to a boil, lower it to a simmer and place a lid on the pot.
• Cook for 20 minutes.  (This is one of those dishes that tastes better the longer you cook it.  I let mine simmer on low heat after the twenty minutes were up for an extra hour, for a total time of 80 minutes.  The rule of thumb with sauces and soups (and food in general, really) is that if you put a little love in it, it'll taste like it.  So if you have the time, definitely take it.  If not, it'll still be a pretty darn delicious soup!

Oh, and as you can see from this picture, Laela really loved this soup!!

I know that it seems like there are a lot of steps in this dish, and it may not be the simplest recipe I've posted...but it really isn't too difficult, and it's definately worth the effort!

*This soup will freeze for 6 months in a normal home freezer, and 1 year in a deep freeze.

Oatmeal Crumble with a Side of Missing Dada

It's been a difficult week.  Kyle's in London for two weeks, and while it's hard for me because I miss him, it's particularly hard for the tiny human running around the house.  She looked at me earlier in the week, grabbed me by the cheeks and said "Mama?"  "Where Dada?"  It was like she has been trying to figure out how to ask this all week, and finally found her words.  What's worse, is that instead of being consumed with the normal pride I feel when she learns a new word or phrase, I wanted to cry.

Instead, I made her an ice cream sundae.  I know.  Shoot me.  I fed my kid one scoop of vanilla ice cream topped with homemade oatmeal crumble and cinnamon sprinkled on top.  But what else was I supposed to do?

I think people that don't have kids really don't understand how difficult it is to parent alone.  They don't realize that it's exhausting to always be emotionally and physically "on"- which would be why so many people that Ky and I know that don't have kids or never had a traveling parent, think it's so cool that he's traveling so much lately.  They also don't think about the fact that there's a little person who loves their Dad and depends on his being there.  They just think about the glamour, which in reality isn't so glamourous.

I'm starting to realize that there are some dividing lines among friends that are single and married.  Single people get sick of being asked when they're going to get married and have children and "grow up".  Maybe they don't want to get married.  Maybe they already feel like they're grown up.  Or maybe they do want to get married, but the idea of children seems like the black plague to them.

Married people get sick of being asked when they're going to have kids, or if they already have one, when they're going to have one more, two more, five more.  Maybe they don't want children, or they only want one.  Maybe they need to wait to have another baby.  Maybe all of these decisions, wait for it, are private decisions that people need to stop asking about. 

At the end of the day, a lot of these issues are no one's business.  You never know what it's like to walk in someone else's head, or marriage, or life- sometimes even when you try.  Learning this through my friendships and relationships has really helped me with parenting...it's given me the ability to admit that sometimes I just don't know what to do.  When Laela misses her Daddy, I just don't know what to do.  So I keep her on schedule, I take her on toddler adventures to museums and playgrounds, and we paint, sing, laugh and play.  I do my best to make her realize that Momma's not going anywhere, and that when Dada's gone it means fun, not just missing Dada.

Dada is not going to stop traveling anytime soon, so if it means my kid has a few sundaes here and there, well, I guess that's how it's going to be.

So make yourself a sundae.  And if you're feeling crunchy, try this yummo oatmeal crunch to top your yogurt, ice cream, or fruit.

Oatmeal Crumble

For this recipe you're just going to eye it up. 
Put some brown sugar (a tablespoon or two), a few good shakes of cinnamon, a big handful of oatmeal, and a tablespoon or two of butter and mix together.  when it all sticks together well, put it in the oven at 350-degrees, cook it for ten minutes, or until golden brown. 
You can store any leftover in an air tight container for about a week and a half.
*If you're a nut lover, feel free to add some chopped/crushed/or halved nuts to the crumble before you bake!

Cheese Souffle Julia Child Style

On a cold wintery morning, there's not much better than a crispy cheese-topped, ooey-gooey, eggily delicious souffle.  There's something so special about the smells of nutmeg, cheese, and cayenne pepper wafting through the house.  It's so tempting to open the oven to get a peak at the home of the comforting smell, but at the same time, there is something exciting about not being able to see it until it is truly and absolutely done.

I'm not going to lie to you, this recipe is not for the impatient or faint of heart.  With many of my recipes, I have found ways to make the recipe more accessable and less time consuming.  Unfortunately, this is not one of those recipes, but I do promise you, it is not as difficult as it looks, and it is totally worth it.

Here is Julia Child's Cheese Souffle recipe, also known as Souffle Au Fromage:

serves 4

The souffle base sauce:

Ingredients:

A 6-cup souffle mold (a 3 1/2 inch high, 6 cup mold)

1 tsp butter

1 Tb grated Swiss or Parmesan Cheese

3 Tb butter
A 2 1/2-quart saucepan
3 Tb flour
A wooden spatula or spoon
1 cup boiling milk
A wire whip
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
A pinch of cayenne pepper

Pinch of nutmeg

4 egg yolks

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Measure out all your ingredients.  Butter inside of souffle mold and sprinkle with cheese.
• Melt the butter in the saucepan.  Stir in the flour with a wooden spatula or spoon and cook over moderate heat until butter and flour foam together for 2 minutes without browning.  Remove from heat; when mixture has stopped bubbling, pour in all the boiling milk at once.  Beat vigorously with a wire whip until blended.  Beat in the seasonings.  Return over moderately high heat and boil, stirring with the wire whip, for 1 minute.  Sauce will be very thick.
• Remove from heat.  Immediately start to separate the eggs.  Drop the white into the egg white bowl, and the yolk into the center of the hot sauce.  Beat the yolk into the sauce with the wire whip.  Continue in the same manner with the rest of the eggs.  Correct seasoning.
• *May be prepared ahead to this point.  Dot top of sauce with butter.  Heat to tepid before continuing.

For the egg whites and cheese

Ingredients:
5 egg whites
A pinch of salt
Coursely grated Swiss, or Swiss and Parmesan Cheese- 3/4 to 1 cup (3 to 4 ounces) depending on its strength

Directions:

• Add an extra egg white to the ones in the bowl and beat with the salt until stiff.  Stir a big spoonful (about one quarter of the egg whites) into the sauce.  Stir in all the rest of the egg whites.  Be careful not to over fold. (It's better to not have the sauce and the whites totally mixed together than to flatten the whites).

Baking: 

• Turn the souffle mixture into the prepared mold, which should be almost three quarters full.  Tap bottom of mold lightly on the table, and smooth the surface of the souffle with the flat of a knife.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
• Set on a rack in middle level of preheated 400-degree oven and immediately turn heat down to 375. (Do not open door for 20 minutes.)  In 25 to 30 minutes the souffle will have puffed about 2 inches over the rim of the mold, and the top will be nicely browned.  Bake 4 to 5 minutes more to firm it up, then serve at once.

*This recipe is from "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by Julia Child, Simone Beck, and Louisette Bertholle, pgs 163-165

Take the plunge!  It's one of the most delicious things you'll ever eat, and it is truly worth the effort.