Pumpkin Cornbread with Cinnamon Honey Butter

Another recipe from my annual pumpkin dinner party. I also loved this one a lot, but I like cornbread and I think everything tastes better when made from scratch.


Ingredients:

Cornbread

1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup sour cream
2 large eggs

Whipped Cinnamon Honey Butter

1/2 cup salted butter
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp cinnamon


Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2. For the cornbread: In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves for 20 seconds. Make a well in the center of flour mixture then set aside.

3. In a seperate bowl, add brown sugar and break up sugar with fingertips until no clumps remain. Add in melted butter and pumpkin and whisk to combine.

4. Mix in sour cream and eggs until well blended. Pour mixture into well in flour mixture then fold with a rubber spatula just until combined and no streaks of flour remain.

5. Spray an 8x8 inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray and pour batter into pan. Spread batter into an even layer.

6. Bake in preheated oven until toothpick inserted into center comes out free of batter, about 25-30 minutes. Cool slightly on a wire rack then cut into squares.

7. For the cinnamon honey butter: In a mixing bowl (or using a stand mixer) whip butter with an electric hand mixer until smooth.

8. Add in honey, powdered sugar and cinnamon and mix on low speed until combined, then increase to high speed and whip until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.

Pumpkin Curry Soup

Made this soup for my pumpkin dinner party this year and it was so good that as I was eating it I was thinking about how excited I was to make it again. If you like Curry, I'm pretty sure you will love this soup. It was a hit at the party.

Ingredients:

- 2 tsp coconut oil (or extra-virgin olive oil)
- 1 1/2 cups chopped sweet yellow onion (I actually left this out and still really loved the flavor)
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp minced fresh ginger (I didn't have any of that so I actually just used the dried spice)
- 3 tbsp Thai red curry paste
- 2-3 cups low sodium vegitable broth (or chicken broth)
- 2 tbsp almond butter (or peanut butter)
- 2 cans pure pumpkin puree (15 ounce cans) not pumpkin pie filling
- 1/2 tbsp coconut sugar ( or light brown sugar- which is what I used)
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/8 to 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 can light coconut milk
- For topping chopped roasted peanuts or pipits


Instructions:

1. In a large pot or dutch oven, melt the coconut oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and ginger and cook 1 additional minute, until fragrant. Stir in the Thai curry paste.

2. In a small bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together 1/3 cup of the vegetable broth and the almond butter or peanut butter until smooth. Add the mixture to the pot. Add the pumpkin, coconut sugar (or brown sugar), cumin, salt, pepper, cayenne, and 1 2/3 cups of the reminaing vegetable broth. Stir until well combined.

3. With a blender, puree the soup until completely smooth, adding a little of the coconut milk if it is too thick to blend smoothly.
Alternatively, you can ladle the soup carefully into a blender ot food processor and puree it in small batches. Stir in the remaining coconut milk. If the soup is too thick for your liking, add additional vegetable broth until you reach your desired consistency.
(I actually didn't have to mix in a blender because I didn't have the onions. My soup was already smooth as is, so I just added the coconut milk while the pot was on the stove)

4. Taste and add additional salt, black pepper, and or cayenne pepper as desired. Serve hot with deseired toppings.

Peach Cobbler

It's peach season! That means peach cobbler!


Ingredients:

* 4 cups fresh peaches
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1/4 cup brown sugar
* 1 tsp lemon juice

Topping:

* 1 cup flour
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1 tbs baking powder
* 4 tbs butter melted and cooled to room temp
* 1 tbs vanilla extract
* 3/4 cup milk


Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Add the slived peaches to a 3 qt ceramic baking dish
Add the sugat, brown sugar and lemon juice. Stir to coat the peaches in the mixture.
Bake for 10 minutes
While the peaches bake, in a medium size mixing bowl add the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Stir to combine.
Pour in the milk, melted butter and vanilla.
Remove the peaches from the oven and spoon the batter over the top of the baked peaches.
Continue to bake at 375 for another 35 minutes untilt he top is crispy and golden brown.
Serve cobbler warm or room temperature.

Apple Crisp

We have grew so many apples on our tree this year and they are SOOOO good that I had to try making apple crisp for the first time!

Turned out great so I of course am going to share the recipe.


Ingredients:

Topping
* 1/2 c Flour
* 1/2 c Old Fashioned oats
* 1/2 c Brown Sugar
* 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
* 1/4 tsp Cinnamon
* 1/4 tsp Salt
* 1/3 c Butter - diced into small cubes

Apple Filling
* 2 lbs Apples
*3 Tbs butter - melted
* 2 Tbs Flour
* 3 Tbs Water
* 1 Tbs Lemon juice
* 1/2 tsp Vanilla
* 1/4 c brown sugar
* 1/2 tsp cinnamon
* 1 pinch of salt


Instructions:

- Preheat oven to 375 and position oven rack on level below the center. Butter an 8 by 8 inch baking dish (or smaller casserole dish with a similar size) set aside.

- In a mixing bowl whisk together 1/2 cup flour, the oats, 1/2 cup brown sugar, the baking powder, 1/4 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp salt for 30 sec.

- Add diced butter and using clean fingertips, rub butter into dry mixture until it comes together into small crumbles. Transfer to refrigerator to chill while preparing filling.

- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together melted butter and flour until well blended, then mix in water, lemon juice and vanilla. Stir in 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and pinch of salt.

- Place apples in a large bowl then pour butter mixture over apples and toss to evenly coat, then pour apple mixture into prepared baking dish and spread into an even layer.

- Remove topping from the refrigerator and sprinkle into crumbles evenly over top of apples.

- Bake in preheated oven until top is golden brown and apples are tender when pierced with a toothpick, about 35 minutes.

- Remove from oven and allow to rest 10 minutes before serving. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream and salted carmel sauce if desired.                                                                                              

Parmesan Zucchini

When you have a TON of zucchini growing in your garden, you need to think of all the ways you can use it. At first I was just making zucchini bread and adding it to my adds... but then I decided to make zucchini sticks & zoodles. This parmesan mix was so delish on BOTH


Mix together:

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste


If you are putting on zucchini sticks, preheat over to 350 degrees... place on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil then sprinkle mixture on top and bake for about 15 minutes. Once it comes out of the oven you can garnish with chopped fresh parsley leaves if you wish. I hate mine with a portobello mushroom with melted cheese on top.

If you are putting on zoodles, drizzle zoodles with olive oil and then put parmesan mixture on top and  cook in frying pan until zoodles look done. I also cooked mine with already cooked shredded chicken.  Doesn't take long at all. Once I put it on my plate I added more parmesan and added some garden tomatoes and avocado (because I believe acovado makes everything taste better. ha ha.

Both were deliciouse. Both I would recommend.

Grape Juice

I love having an amazing garden in my backyard. Who knew I would love the country life so much?! But I do. One of my favorite things about the garden is the gazebo entrance that is covered in grape vines. Once they are ripe, you can smell the grapes. It is devine.

Now first I would like to say that I hate grape juice... store bought grape juice that is... but once I tried the juice from these grapes, it was a game changer. So much better than store bought grape juice and you don't even need to add sugar!

You just need the right tool to make the grape juice. Thankfully my sister, Kristy, does. So she let me borrow it and I gathered a ton of grapes and juiced a good amount to stalk up until next summer. My mom did the same and there are still SOOOOO many grapes on the vines. So our lucky chickens get a handful of grapes everyday.

Normally the juice is just white, but I added some of the purple eating grapes & some currants to give it some color. Turned out perfect!

Peanut Butter Nice Cream

I have been seeing a lot of pictures of Nice Cream.  It looked so good and a healthier version of Ice Cream... so I decided to give it a try. Getting the right consistency is pretty tricky, but I got close...


Peanut Butter Banana Nice Cream:

* Frozen sliced bananas
* Natural Peanut Butter
* Unsweetened Almond Milk
* Mini Chocolate chips


Instructions:

Step 1
Freeze sliced bananas: Simply slice bananas evenly and place ona baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Place the entire sheet in the freezer for at least 30 minutes. When you take your nanners out of the freezer, you will just need to scrape them off the parchment paper and place right in the blender (if you are making this peanut butter banananice cream right away), or into a ziploc or stasher bag to keep in the freezer for later use. Freezing the sliced babanas on a baking sheet will prevent your bananas from sticking together when you place them in a bag.

Step 2
Place all ingredients in a high speed blender or food processor. Measure out your frozen sliced bananas, natural peanut butter and almond milk and place in your high speed blender. You will want a serious blender for food processor for this step to ensure all the bananas are blended to perfection and not left as small chunks. It's the bananas that give this nice cream it's perfect ice cream consistency, so you will want to make sure they are blended fully. If you use your blender for smoothies with frozen ingredients, you are good to go here.

Step 3
Blend up all your ingredients until smooth. Deoending on how frozen solid your banana slices are, you may need to thin out your healthy ice cream with almond milk. We recommend thinning it with a tbsp of almond milk at a time until you get your desired consistency. At this point, you will want to grab those mini chocolate chips. Add them to your blender and pulse until they are folded into the nice cream.

Step 4
Because your banana slices were frozen when you started this recipe, the consistency of your nice cream should be perfect to serve up and enjoy immediately if you like the consistency of soft serve. But if you are making this ahead of time, or want a more traditional ice cream consistency, line a loaf pan with parchment paper and pour your nice cream into the pan. Store covered in your freezer and enjoy at your leisure.

And don't forget toppings! You could serve with extra chocolate chips and drizzle of peanut butter or whatever your heart desires.

I ended up trying this again except instead of peanut butter I put in some different fruit!

Ice Cream Maker

I went to Smith's a couple of weeks ago to buy food and some other random stuff. While looking around I found this cute little ice cream maker! Just enough for one. That's me! Forever a lone.

So I bought it. It was super cheap and how nice to easily make a small serving of ice cream. It comes with a recipe book... but I didn't even follow it exactly. I didn't have milk because I rarely buy it anymore. I just had almond milk. I did have half and half because I needed it for another recipe, so I threw that in there instead of heavy cream. So it ended up being a healthier ice cream... which.. nothing wrong with that!

It's done in an hour and then you stick it in the freezer until you want to eat it. Since it only makes a little... you can't go overboard eating it until you want to make it again! Kind of perfect for me. ha ha.

Satisfied customer right here!

Quiche with Crust from Scratch

Since we have chickens... we have a lot of eggs. So I thought I would try making  quiche from scratch for the first time. And when I mean from scratch... I was even making my own crust. It turned out AMAZING... so I had to keep the recipe here for future reference.

 

Crust

Ingredients:
- 1 large egg
- 2 1/2 tbs ice water
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 10 tbs butter, sliced into small cubes

Instructions:

- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the egg and ice water. Set the bowl aside.

- In the bowl of a food processor (I used my blender) add the flour & salt. Pulse briefly until mixed. Add in the cubed butter pieces and pulse until the micture resembles coarse meal. Add in the egg/ ice water mixture. Pulse again until a lovely dough forms.

- Transfer the dough onto a lightly-floured board. Roll out the quiche crust so that it fits the measurements of your quiche pan or dish. Lay the rolled out dough into place. With a paring knife, slice off any extra dough that's hanging over the rim of the pan or dish.

- Stick the quiche pan with the dough into the freezer for approximately 20-25 minutes (but if you leave it in a bit longer, that's fine too). For a flaky quiche crust it's important that the crust is cold when it's filled and cooked.

- Your cold quiche is ready to be filled and baked.


Quiche

Ingredients:

- 6 large eggs
- 3/4 cup milk
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese

And anything else you want! I added tomatoes from the garden and shredded zucchini from the garden. I didn't add any meat this time... but I will definetly try it with sausage int he future.

Instructions:

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

- Pull pie crust out of the freezer

- In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, salt & pepper.

- Sprinkle filings on pie crust and 1 cup of cheese. Pour the egg mixture over top. Sprinkle remianing 1/2 cup cheese on top of egg mixtures.

- Bake for 35-40 minutes until the center is completely set. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Red Currant Jam Recipe

I have decided this summer that I want to make jam out of all the fruit growing in the garden and then at the end of the summer make some homemade bread and sample all the jam and make a little party out of it.

So it doesn't get more simple than this currant jam recipe. Just add water and sugar!

Ingredients:

* 1 quart ripe red currants
* 2 1/2 cups of sugar
* 1/4 cup water

Directions:

Wash the currants and remove them from their stems.
Put the red currants and water in a large, non- reactive pot (no cast iron & no aluminum)
Gently crush the currants with a potato masher.
Add the sugar.
Cook mixture over medium-low heat, stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar.
Once the sugar is completely dissolved, raise the heat to high and boil, stirring often, until the jam reaches the gel point.
Remove the red currant jam from the heat and skim off any foam that has formed on the surface.
Ladle the hot jam into the jar and let cool before storing in the refrigerator.

Savory Sweet Potato Waffles

Saw my friend post her dinner of sweet potato waffle with an egg on top and it looked so good I had to find a recipe and make it too. I found this one and liked it a lot.


Ingredients:

1 cup cooked sweet potato
1/2 cup rolled old fashioned oats
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 egg white
1 whole egg
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cumin

Instructions:

Combine cooked sweet potato and oats in a blender. Blend until well combined.

Whisk eggs into almond milk. Pour egg and milk mixture into the blender with the sweet potato and oat base. Blend until well combined, and add the rest of ingredients. Blend until fully pureed.

Spray waffle iron with cooking spray. Pour 1/3 cup batter into waffle iron. Cook for 4-5 minutes. Let waddles cool on baking rack.

While waffles were cooking, I fried an egg and cup up 1/4 an avocado to put on top of my waffle. SO GOOD!

Fresh Strawberry Pie

This was definitely delish ... especailly with our homegrown strawberries from the garden. I will be making this again for sure.

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Crust

• 1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 6 tbsp melted butter
• 1/4 cup sugar

Cream Cheese Layer

• 8 oz Cream Cheese at room temperature
• 2 tsp Vanilla
• 1/4 cup sugar

Strawberry Jello Layer

• 1 3/4 c water 
• 1 c sugar 
• 1/4 c corn starch 
• pinch salt
• 1 3oz pkg Strawberry Jell-O (Substitute with peach Jell-O when using peaches) 
• 3 +C sliced fresh strawberries (for two 8 inch pies double this)
• Whipped Cream for topping

Instructions

Graham Cracker Crust

1. Mix your graham cracker crumbs, butter and sugar together until all ingredietns are incorporated and wet. Press into 9 inch pie pie pan and bake at 375 for 6-7 minutes. Allow to cool.

Jello Layer

1. In a saucepan combine water, sugar, cornstarch, and salt.
2. On medium-high, cook until thick and clear.
3. Add Jell-O packet and stir well.
4. Take off heat and let cool.

Cream Cheese Layer Instruction

1. Whip cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in a stand up mixer until creamy and smooth.

How to assemble the pie.

1. Spread cream cheese into pie crust.
2. Pile sliced strawberries on to cream cheese layer. 
3. Pile them as high as you can.
4. Pour cooled jello mixture over strawberries, until it reaches just below the top edge of the crust.
5. Refrigerate 4-6 hours to set. Top with Cool Whip to serve! Enjoy!!
   
   
   
   
   

Milo & Me

So I did a thing... I bought a puppy!

To a lot of people... it seemed random. However... I have wanted a dog for a long time. I have always been an animal lover. I wanted the companionship. I knew I couldn't get one for a long time though. I had roommates for a long time and was renting. Also I worked full time and traveled a lot. When would I have time? It wouldn't be fair to the dog. Also I am a total neat freak and couldn't handle having an indoor dog that shed. So many factors.

Well... over a year ago I moved to Mapleton and have a yard now and live by myself... and even more recently (like a couple of months ago) I quite my job and now work from home for my dad and do massage therapy from home and occational photography gigs.

One day I was at my friend Marci's house and she has a very cute and cuddly King Charles Cavalier. I fell in love right away and told her how much I would love having a dog. She told me that I deserved a dog and pretty much convinced me to get one. I told her all of my concerns about getting a puppy... which there were a lot and she told me all the reasons why I should and that it would be ok and I would love being a dog mom.

Then she went puppy shopping for me on KSL and found this adorable litter of puppies that were a mix between a King Charles Cavalier and a Maltese. Now Marci knows WAY more about dogs than I do... but she told me all the reasons why this mix of breeds would be the perfect dog for me. One of the big reasons and main sellers for me was no shedding!! So I was really sold on the idea. So I text the lady on KSL to ask if I could come see the puppies and ask her a bunch of questions about the puppies. She wrote back and told me that she wouldn't sell to anyone that she didn't meet first. Her puppies were not going to go to just anyone. So I set up a time to meet the puppies and ask her a ton of questions. Well... I instantly fell in love. I mean... just look at these puppies! I was having a hard time deciding which one I would even want. When she was telling me about the mom... she pretty much described everything I wanted in a dog. So I was even more sold. I loved the runt and the biggest of the litter the most. I wanted the most cuddly which was the biggest of the litter and I held him and loved him but she told me he was already taken. So I left undecided.

A little over a week later... I decided for sure I was going to buy one of the puppies. I was committing to be a dog mom. Which was a HUGE decision. I didn't even know how to take care of a puppy. When I went to go pick one I saw the cuddly one and wished I could have him... and asked her, that one is still taken right? She told me the family that was going to buy him backed out... and I could buy him if I wanted. I was so excited. So I left with him and named him Milo. Marci had driven me to go pick him up to make sure I left with the right paperwork and so that I could hold him on the way home. We picked up a crate and dog food and then she dropped me off at my house and it was just me and Milo and I had to figure out how to take care of a puppy. Marci told me that Spring is the best time to get a puppy because you can spend time outside while you are potty training. But it has been a very cold and wet Spring! Still... It really is the best time to get a puppy. It takes a lot of time... and there are frustrating moments... but I am SO glad that I got Milo. He makes me smile everyday and I love cuddling with him. He is so sweet. I don't know what I am doing... but we are figuring it out together and I have had great support.

Marci told me she wanted to do a photoshoot of the both of us because dog photoshoots are her favorite. So here are the pictures she took. Spring is such a beautiful time to take pics too. Thanks Marci.

So here he is! Meet Milo! My new furry side kick. He is the best cuddle buddy and with how much he loves to explore the outdoors... he is going to make the best adventure buddy.