Happy Birthday Dusty!

 November 2nd is a very special day here in Denver, especially at Valdez Elementary. As you may have guessed by the title of this blog, it's Dusty's birthday. And since I still have so much pumpkin puree, why not make her a nice loaf of homemade pumpkin bread? That's exactly what I did!

I tasted the batter and it is even better than the batter I made yesterday for the pumpkin muffins I made. I had some extra batter so I made 3 muffins so we'll see how they taste!



Foolproof Pumpkin Bread--this recipe makes 2 loaves

http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=5803.0

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups flour (1/2 all-purpose, 1/2 whole wheat)
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves--nope
1/4 teaspoon allspice--instead I used ginger
1 cup applesauce (or oil)--oil
2 cups canned pumpkin--homemade pumpkin puree
1/2-2/3 cup water--skipped
substitute equivalent of 4 eggs
1 cup chopped nuts (optional--I like pecans)--didn't use

Directions:

Mix flour, vegan sugar, salt, baking powder, and spices. Add pumpkin, apple sauce, water, egg substitute (I like Ener-G) and mix well. Add nuts if desired. Pour into a greased bread pan and bake for about 1 hr at 350 degrees.

It is important to make sure the batter is not too runny--if it is the bread will not bake completely! Can add more flour to soak up extra liquid or use less applesauce/water. I also like to add more baking powder to make the bread rise well. Enjoy!!

Preparation time: 1 1/2 hour



Final conclusion on the muffins: SUPER DARN TASTY! Even better than the muffins that I made yesterday. I only hope that Dusty's cake turns out as great. I might have overbaked it...who knows?!



Britney and I went to pick up David from the airport this afternoon and decided to give him a few festive surprises. First we picked him up together, it was supposed to be just Britney. Second, we wore our costumes! Britney was a ninja turtle and I was a butterfly in my red spandex unitard and some cardboard wings I made earlier this week. Third and lastly, we brought him this Halloweenee treat of two pumpkin muffins wrapped up!! I don't know how much he loved it but Britney and I sure enjoyed ourselves!!

Happy Halloweeeeeeen!!!

Booooooo....can you hear the haunted noises all the way over there? I bet you can it's so spooky here! This little ghost was gifted to Britney yesterday at her soccer game, one of her little 5 year old players gave it to her as a Halloween treat.


What a beautiful stack of pumpkin pancakes on Halloween morning. No tricks, just treats over here at 245 Bannock, Apt #305!!

I woke up this morning, hungry. I remembered it's Halloween and this is the day to celebrate with as much fall festivity as possible. I knew I had lots of pumpkin puree in my freezer and since I'm babying my sickness I wasn't going to the gym. Why not make a nice Halloween breakfast? Pumpkin pancakes maybe?? Totally!!

I quickly learned I filled my pumpkin puree jar too full and one of them cracked in the freezer, which was not too big of a deal. I just poured it into a bowl and threw away the jar. Then I made the vegan pumpkin pancake recipe below.



This is what happens when the jar breaks, the inside is still frozen, and the outside is warming up because it's been in the microwave for so long!


After the first few pancakes I remembered my long-lived issue: I'm not too good at making pancakes. They get burned, undercooked, too small, too thin, etc. So I switched pans but that didn't work. I went back to my original pan and added more oil to the pan so they wouldn't stick. Here are a few lessons I learned with pancakes:

1. Be patient: let the pan heat up and don't be afraid to fool with the temperature. You want the pan hot but not too hot.

2. Use a little oil to keep the pancakes from sticking.

3. Wait until the pancakes have formed a little hard surface before trying to pull them loose from the pan to flip.

4. No matter what they look like, they still taste yummy!!


The batter is ready to be made into little cakes.



The first two in the pan, let's see how they go!


The beginning pile...


The pile continues to grow...


And growing...


And another one hits the pan!


And keeps growing...


The end pile of pancakes, darn tasty regardless of their burntness or thinness or undercookedness....!


The perfect pancake--seriously, the best one I made! On both sides, no burntness.

Pumpkin Pancakes

http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=27671.0

Ingredients:

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups vanilla non-dairy milk (I use soymilk)
1 (15-ounce) can pureed pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon praline extract
maple syrup (optional)
pralines, chopped (optional)

Directions:

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices (cinnamon, ginger, pumpkin pie spice, and salt).

2. In a separate bowl, vigorously whisk together non-dairy milk, pumpkin puree, brown sugar, vegetable oil, and praline extract until well emulsified.

3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix (but don't overmix, small clumps are good).

4. Brush a large nonstick skillet with canola oil or spray with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking.

5. Working in batches of two, pour about 1/4 cup batter per pancake onto the hot skillet and cook on each side for about 2 to 3 minutes, or until undersides are golden brown. Serve with maple syrup and chopped pralines.

Source of recipe: This recipe was inspired by the pumpkin waffle recipe from Isa Moskowitz' Vegan With A Vengeance cookbook.

Makes: 12 to 14 pancakes, Preparation time: About 5 minutes, Cooking time: 15 minutes


Festive, fall, flavorful, fun, fancy, fantastic food! Dig in!!

And now, for something spooky...

Scrambled eggs!!

Britney wanted more food for breakfast and she had lots of eggs to use before they went bad, so we got working:


Britney decided this morning was a good time to learn how to make scrambled eggs. While I don't eat them, I know how to make them so I helped her accomplish that goal for a tasty treat this morning!...along with the pancakes of course.


The eggs, scrambled in the pan. Good job Britney!!! :)



Crackin' the eggs, huntin' for egg shells, gettin' ready to scramble!

Chickpea and Lentil Stew

This recipe was my first chance to use Britney's Crock Pot (also known as a slow cooker, which I learned today)! I've had it cooking since 10AM this morning and it supposedly should be done around 8PM tonight. Since I babysit at 8, I'll turn it off before then. The only changes I added to this recipe were an Indian masala stewing sauce I bought at Whole Foods, omitted the yogurt and also the sesame seeds. I tried a little of it and thought it was a bit spicy so I added more water. Oh and speaking of water, in general, whenever a recipe calls for vegetable broth, I almost always use water because it's free and we're shopping/cooking/eating/living on a budget here!

Chickpea and Lentil Stew

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/2325

Serves 6
This hearty stew offers rich flavor at an approachable price. Warm pieces of naan bread make the perfect accompaniment.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil*
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 chile pepper, such as serrano or jalapeno, stemmed, seeded and chopped, more to taste
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons garam masala--used the jar of stewing masala instead
1/4 cup sesame seeds --didn't use, they would get lost in the soup I felt
2 (15-ounce) cans garbanzo beans (chick peas),* drained and rinsed
1/2 cup dried red lentils
1 (28-ounce) can tomato puree
2 cups vegetable broth --skipped
1/4 cup pitted black olives
1/2 cup yogurt--skipped

Method
Heat olive oil in a pan and sauté the onions. Add peppers, garlic, garam masala and sesame seeds and cook until peppers begin to soften. Combine everything except the yogurt in the slow cooker and cook on low 8 to 10 hours. Add yogurt about 15 minutes before serving.

Nutrition
Per serving (about 15oz/429g-wt.): 250 calories (90 from fat), 10g total fat, 1g saturated fat, 5mg cholesterol, 680mg sodium, 33g total carbohydrate (8g dietary fiber, 9g sugar), 11g protein

Soup with polenta rounds for dinner Saturday night!

Pumpkin Muffins

Here is the recipe for the pumpkin muffins I made today from the homemade pumpkin puree I made! My favorite addition to this recipe was the use of my homemade pumpkin seeds that have the pumpkin pie spices on them--they really added a special touch to the muffins if I do say so myself! :)

Maple Pumpkin Oat Muffins

http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/food/cooking-recipes/2010-10-26-recipe-pumpkin-muffins_N.htm

Ingredients:

3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour (or substitute whole-wheat flour)

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup quick-cooking oats

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 large egg--I used Ener-G, an egg substitute

2 tbsp. canola oil

1/3 cup pure maple syrup

1 tsp. vanilla extract--Vanilla is EXPENSIVE! ($6/bottle) so I didn't buy any at the store and decided to make the muffins with out it!

1 cup canned 100% pure pumpkin puree

1/2 cup skim milk--soy milk

2 tbsp. raw unsalted pumpkin seeds (or substitute raw or roasted sunflower seed kernels)--used roasted, pumpkin pie flavored seeds instead

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375. Coat a standard 12-cup muffin pan with oil spray. If you choose to use muffin liners, use foil liners misted with oil spray to prevent the muffins from sticking to the liners.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the egg, oil, maple syrup and vanilla. Add the pumpkin and milk and whisk to combine.

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients, and using a rubber spatula gently fold the ingredients together until just combined. Don't worry about leaving a few lumps in the batter.

Divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups, filling each cup about two-thirds full. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with the pumpkin seeds.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely in the muffin pan before handling.

Servings: 12, 1 muffin

Nutrition per serving: 154 calories; 4 grams of fat; .5 grams of saturated fat; 4 grams of protein; 27 grams of carbohydrates; 2 grams of fiber; 15 milligrams of cholesterol; 125 milligrams of sodium.

Pumpkins Galore!

Being the week of Halloween, we were able to do a few activities at work with the Dreamers that were festive and Halloween-centered. The students didn't have school on Thursday or Friday because of teacher-parent conferences, so we held a Dreamer Camp Day on Thursday. The Dreamers arrived at 9:30 and we started with a literacy activity where they were given a list of fall/Halloween adjectives and then had to use a thesaurus to find synonyms to those words. Each Dreamer was assigned a word that they then had to act out and have their peers guess their synonym. After that activity we got to carve pumpkins! David had cut the tops off of the 25 pumpkins (that we had bought at Whole Foods a week earlier for $1/pumpkin) and the kids were able to carve jack-o-lanterns, after they cleaned out the gunk inside of course. We served them a festive lunch of (all orange foods): mac and cheese, carrots and ranch, Clementine oranges and Funfetti! Halloween cupcakes they frosted afterwards.

We had bought 25 pumpkins but ended up only having about 20 Dreamers attend camp. Dusty offered David and I a pumpkin or two at the end of the day and I happily took two, along with two baggies of gunky pumpkin seeds (a lot of the Dreamers expressed interest in taking pumpkin seeds home with them. We had initially planned on baking them with the students but ended up running out of time so we just divided up the seeds into Ziplocs. Some of the Dreamers didn't want any seeds though so I was happy to take them home instead).

When I got home Thursday night I thought that I could roast one of the pumpkins like you do with butternut squash. I looked up stuff online but wasn't certain how it would turn out. I ended up just cutting it into chunks, sticking into the oven at about 350 for over an hour on 3 baking sheets (with a little water in them so the skin wouldn't stick to the pans) and hoping for the best. I didn't season them at all because I didn't know if they would turn out. Luckily they did, unfortunately they were super bland. No worries though, I ended up eating one with some leftover sauce, Indian-seasoned. I ate another one with some vegan butter, salt and pepper on it that was really tasty. And I ate a third plain, on my way home from snowboarding with David on Friday. The only complaint I had, besides them being a bit bland, was the consistency reminded me an awful lot of the innards of pumpkins when you are carving them, which is an obvious statement for sure.

Today I woke up with the second pumpkin waiting for me, in addition to the pumpkin seeds I'd cleaned and dried. I scooped out the innards and baked the second pumpkin just like the first, but for much longer, about an hour and a half. I decided I was going to make homemade pumpkin puree, and I wanted the pumpkin to be really easy to take the skin off of. While waiting for that to bake, I seasoned the seeds with the sweet flavoring: butter, pumpkin pie spices; that is my favorite of the three I have made this fall.






The pumpkin puree was super easy and now I have 3 jars full, which when I bought a can of it last week cost about $2 so I feel pretty stinkin' loaded right now (just kidding!!). All I did was peel the skin off the pumpkin chunks, stick them in my all time favorite kitchen tool, the food processor, and pureed. I then put the puree into left over jars I had previously used and stuck them in my freezer.







Since I had so much puree, and since Dad had shared a few pumpkin recipes with me in an USA Today newspaper article, I was inspired to use some of that puree today! And I did! I made some hearty pumpkin soup and some maple-pumpkin oat muffins. The soup's recipe is listed here and the muffin recipe is in the following blog post. I was careful with the soup and made sure not to add any spicy seasoning in it, which fortunately the recipe didn't call for any. I wanted Britney to be able to eat it after last week's curry coconut pumpkin soup she couldn't enjoy. I tried just a little of it after taking it out of the food processor and I think she's going to really like it. It is even a little sweet since it calls for some maple syrup. I ended up adding a bit too much of pepper though so hopefully that won't scare her away from it!


Harvest Pumpkin Soup

http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/food/cooking-recipes/2010-10-26-recipe-pumpkin-soup_N.htm

This soup recipe is sure to warm anyone up when the air turns crisp.
Ingredients

•2 tbsp unsalted butter

•1 medium onion, minced

•2 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 2 tsp)

•½ tsp ground cumin

•½ tsp ground coriander

•¼ tsp ground nutmeg

•3 cups low-sodium chicken broth, plus extra as needed

•2 cups water

•1 (15-oz) can pure pumpkin (not pumpkin-pie filling)

•¼ cup maple syrup

•½ cup half-and-half

•Salt and ground black pepper

Directions

Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the garlic, cumin, coriander and nutmeg and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Stir in the broth, water, pumpkin and maple syrup, scraping up any browned bits, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the flavors have melded, about 15 minutes.

Working in batches, purée the soup until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Return the soup to a clean pot. Stir in the half-and-half and additional broth as needed to adjust the soup's consistency. Heat the soup gently over low heat until hot (do not boil). Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Servings:

4 to 6 generous one-cup servings.

Nutrition per serving: 140 calories; 7 grams of fat; 4 grams of saturated fat; 3 grams of protein; 18 grams of carbohydrates; 4 grams of fiber;15 milligrams of cholesterol; 300 milligrams of sodium.


Here's the soup in a tupperware container. I've found it difficult sometimes to take pictures of soup, especially pureed soup.


Here's a close up shot of the pureed soup, not the best shot but just imagine how tasty it is!!

Dinner Party Saturday October 23rd

Britney and Lindsey's spooky jack-o-lantern. Sadly it was the only one outside our door because mine was so moldy I had to throw it away on Friday. It lasted 2 weeks but it couldn't make it to Halloween.

You're cordially invited to our first dinner party on Saturday, October 23rd at 6:30 PM. (Well to hear about it and look at the pictures from it, because obviously the party is over!)


I love bonding with coworkers!


Beautiful friends, Lindsey and Britney, South Carolina girls! The party couldn't have been if it had not been for you two girls, for many many reasons!


Crazy coworkers: David and me--blurry :(


Britney's friend Lindsey and kooky ol' me!


The girls: Britney, Melissa (to the left), Patrice, Alexis and Felicia.

Yup, it's true. This was my first official dinner party and it turned out WAY BETTER THAN I COULD HAVE EVER ANTICIPATED! I was a bit nervous and stressed. I babysat Saturday from 11-8PM so I couldn't be there right at the beginning and I had to have the food ready on Friday and Saturday morning so Britney and Lindsey (Britney's friend from South Carolina who was visiting this past week) could just reheat things and enjoy.

The menu changed a lot. Last weekend I'd planned a lot of different menu items that I later changed. As I mention in another post, after making my homemade pesto on Thursday night I realized (with Lindsey's excitement over my pesto) that it would be a nice, easy and cheap idea to serve pesto pasta for dinner instead of some other seasonal dish. Considering the basil was harvested on Wednesday, I can't think of any other dish that would be as seasonal, local and affordable (we are living on a budget here).

So here was the final menu:

Appetizers:
Britney supplied chips and dip: the dip was not vegan but everyone enjoyed it (minus me and my vegetarian coworkers). It was a velveeta dip that she put in her crock pot to keep warm. She used tortilla chips for the dipper.


Britney's best food offered at the party: the dip, which she is clearly stoked about in the photo...or in the middle of a convo, who knows?!


Homemade pumpkin seeds. Britney and Lindsey carved their pumpkin on Friday afternoon, so I had them fish out the seeds which I dried that night. Saturday morning I made my two favorite flavors of seeds (the rosemary garlic variety and the sweet seeds with the pumpkin pie seasonings).

First course:
Pumpkin curry coconut soup. I got two rolls of fresh French bread from Whole Foods (99 cents/loaf) on Friday that I cut up and had Britney head in the oven before serving.


Creamy coconut curry pumpkin soup, a bit spicy for some folks but darn tasty nevertheless (at least I thought so!)


Bread ready to be reheated!

Second course:
Pesto pasta!


Creamy and oh so vegan, on whole wheat pasta too!

Dessert:
Pumpkin bark. Mom sent this to me in my Halloween care package and I decided it would be a very festive, easy and FREE thing to serve for the party. It was such a rich, decadent food that I didn't mind sharing it around. Plus Jonathan's (my coworker) girlfriend Diana really was into the container the bark came in (she's really crafty) so I gifted the tin and a bit of the bark to her at the end of the night.


Thanks Mom!!!

M & M's: Britney and Lindsey supplied some blue M & M's in a little candy dish.

Assorted cookies: Patrice (another coworker) surprised us by bringing a bag of assorted German short cookies that were tasty and popular while we hung out and had some fun.

Overall, it was a phenomenal party. Everyone was able to come except for Travis, who we knew wouldn't be able to come from the beginning of the planning of our party. Even Jennifer said she wouldn't be able to come but then made a surprise appearance in the middle of the party. And Jonathan and Diana surprised us by showing up, since they had been deciding between our party and a concert.

Dance Partay!!


Jonathan knows the moves and Diana knows how to sway to the beat!


Melissa always knows how to get down and funky, don't ya girl?!


A little dance lesson going on in the kitchen. You got it Britney!!


Melissa and Alexis = crazy funny and such talented dancers too!!

Some pics from the night:


Never have I ever hosted a dinner party before!!


Kyle, Alexis' husband, chillin' in my comfy pink butterfly chair (thanks again Mom) and David's hand just sayin' HI!


Straight up chillin.


We knew it would be an awkward angle, didn't we Alexis? Ha


Jennifer made it!!


Diana, Jonathan and David hanging out on the couch watching some sports game. Sorry it's blurry.

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR COMING AND ENJOYING THE FESTIVITIES! More parties to come!! :)



A lovely note was left on our board beside our front door! Thanks Felicia!!