Pumpkin Squares

As you may have noticed from my last few posts, I am very excited for fall. I know I'm jumping a head of myself, school just started. But the flavors of fall are so warm and delicious I can't help it! I had some pumpkin left over from the waffles I made last week. I didn't want it to go to waist so I made these pumpkin bars. They turned out incredible! The original recipe comes from one of my old collage friends, Michele Fluckiger. I did make a bunch of changes including a different frosting, but I think the changes were delicious. I also love this recipe because it's quick, easy, and it makes tons so I was able to share it with a few neighbors. Enjoy this wonderful fall treat.

Pumpkin Bars

Ingredients

2 cups caned pumpkin

1 1/4 cups evaporated cane juice

4 eggs

1 cup applesauce

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

2 cups whole wheat flour, or Barley flour

1/2 teaspoon xantham gum (if using barley flour)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350*F. In a small bowl mix together pumpkin, evaporated cane juice, eggs, and applesauce. In a separate bowl combine baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, flour, and xantham gum. Add wet ingredients and combine well. Pour into greased and floured sheet cake pan, or cookie sheet that has high edges. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool, frost with Clove Spiced Glaze, and sprinkle with extra cinnamon and nutmeg.

Clove Spiced Glaze

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups organic powdered sugar

1/2 tablespoon coconut oil, solid form

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1-2 tablespoons rice milk

Directions

In a medium bowl combine all ingredients well. Spread very thinly over pumpkin squares and sprinkle with ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg before glaze dries.

Garlicky Butternut Squash

How is your garden doing? Mine is doing awesome! I have so many squash that are coming, but not quite ready. I'm getting so excited for more experimenting with them! I loved this recipe. My kids liked it too. My little 2 year old would ask for more and more. I was reluctant to give him more because I wanted to have left overs. :] I took it as a compliment that he liked it so much, and yes I did give him as much as he wanted. This really does have a perfect blend of garlic without taking away from the squash itself, and very easy to make for a side dish. You can cook your main dish while this is baking. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!!

Garlicky Butternut Squash

Ingredients

2 tablespoons dried parsley leaves

3 tablespoon butter, melted (ICBINB)

1 tablespoon dried minced garlic

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes, 1 medium or 1/2 of a large squash

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese, optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 400*F. In a large bowl, combine the parsley, butter, garlic, and salt. Add squash and toss to coat. Transfer to a shallow parchment lined 2-qt. baking dish. Bake, uncovered, for 40 minutes. At 20minutes remove from oven and stir gently. Put back in oven and continue cooking for remaining 20 minutes or until squash is just tender. Top with cheese, serve warm and enjoy!

Fun Food Find Friday!!

Our fun food find for today is another meal bar, PRO BAR. I know what you are think, why another meal bar? Well I'll tell you. It's because they are so healthy for you and they are great to take in the car, in your purse, the diaper bag, camping, hiking, 72-hour kits, really there are so many reasons to have a few laying around. Besides variety is always good. These bars are a little different than the others that I've shared with you. For one they are bigger, so more calories. This whole berry blast is 370 calories, so perfect for your 72-hour kits! They have a few more nuts in them so more sustainable energy. In fact this bar has 720 mg of omega 3 fatty acid and 1530mg of omega 6 fatty acid. Extremely important to your health, especially if you are stranded or in an emergency situation. The fruit in these bars is a little more chunky. So that can be a good thing or a bad thing. I like it, my little 2 year old picked out the papaya. These are a little more expensive but it is a little bigger of a bar.

You can find these at any grocery store by the protein bars. Costco just started carrying them too, but I haven't compared prices yet. Happy Healthier Eating!

S'more Cupcakes

These were so extremely delicious!! The idea comes from Wendy Paul and her cook book '10 Gourmet Cupcakes in 10 Minutes'. I think the funnest part about these cupcakes is to see how impressed the adults are and how excited the kids are to eat them. It makes me happy just thinking about their excitement. I hope you have as much fun as I did with this recipe. It's worth it, trust me!

S'more Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup evaporated cane juice

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons LG Flour Mix
1/2 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons GF cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon xantham gum

2 eggs

1 cup rice milk

GF graham crackers, broken into squares

Homemade marshmallows

1 recipe Carob Ganache, cooled so it is thick

Directions

In a large bowl, combine evaporated cane juice, flour, salt, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and xantham gum. In a separate bowl whisk eggs and rice milk together. Add three cups of the cocoa mixture to the egg mixture and combine.

Preheat oven to 350*F. Pour 1 tablespoon of batter into paper liners in cupcake tin. Place one small sized homemade marshmallow into center. Press the marshmallow down slightly. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until the cupcake springs back when touched. Let cool.

While cupcakes are cooling, place squares of the graham crackers on a cookie sheet. Put one medium sized homemade marshmallow on center of each square. Put cookie sheet into oven. Cook until marshmallows double in size, this will only take one minute. Watch very carefully. On the other squares of graham crackers spread a little of the carob ganache. Place a carob ganache covered square on top of each of the marshmallow covered squares.

When the cupcakes are cooled, spread a small amount of ganache on top of each cupcake (this will help the s'mores to stay put). Then place one s'more on top of each cupcake, serve and enjoy!

Carob Ganache

Ingredients

1 cup low fat heavy whipping cream

1 1/2 cups carob chips

Directions

Put carob chips in a bowl. In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, heat whipping cream until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and pour over carob chips. Stir until chips are melted and mixture is combined well. For thicker Ganache place in fridge to cool. Or just drizzle over desserts.

Wisdom Wednesday!!

Stress

School started today for my children. I'm not usually a basket case, but I have been the past few days. I'm usually not stressed either. But I have been the past few days too. With me I don't notice that I'm stressed until it's like this picture and I'm pulling the world behind me, or at least I feel that way. Stress is a funny thing. It really does affect our health a lot more than most people give it credit. Now don't get me wrong some stress is good. Having a little stress gets us to accomplish tasks, finish projects, and so on. What I'm talking about it having too much on your plate. Having to deal with more than what you are used to for a long period of time.
When you are stressed out your body acts like you're in danger and releases hormones that make you breathe faster, increases your heart rate, and gives you that burst of energy you need. The problem comes when that is happening all of the time. If you are stressed for long periods of time it can cause headaches, back pain, intestinal problems, stomach problems, trouble sleeping, and can cause a weakened immune system. If you are already suffering from a health problem increased stress can make the problem worse. Also when you are stressed you make poor judgement choices in the food you eat.
If you have more stress than normal there are ways to help calm your body down. I personally like to take long warm showers. I just sit there with the warm water running on my back, take deep breaths, and think about all of the blessings I have. Take some time for yourself. This is an important one because really if you are stressed out you need to find out why. Figure out where the extra stress is coming from. If you know where it's coming from then you can better problem solve to fix it. Write in a journal. Start a hobby or pick up a old hobby, as long as it's relaxing. Meditate and exercise. Drink more water. Ask for help and talk to someone. Find a way to serve someone. It's amazing the joy that can come from helping others and that helps to relieve your own stress. If one of these doesn't help, try a different one. Just keep trying. Trying to relax and trying to de-stress is the most important thing. So here's to happy healthy de-stressing!!

Sources:
www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/stressmanagement-topic-overview

Pumpkin Waffles

I woke up this morning and my kids declared it was waffle day. I thought they had made it up, but sure enough when we turned on the T.V. a kids show was saying, "Happy Waffle Day". So what did we do? We made pumpkin waffles for breakfast. I love these waffles. My mom used to make them on special occasions when I was young. This morning when I was eating them it made me nostalgic for fall. Combined with the apple cinnamon syrup you really can taste the essence of fall. They are so delicious, and very low fat. I know you'll love them!

Pumpkin Waffles

Ingredients

3 cups barley flour, or whole wheat flour

5 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon xantham gum (only add if using barley flour)

3 eggs

1/3 cup organic brown sugar

1 cup pumpkin

1/2 cup applesauce

2 1/2 cups rice milk

Directions

Preheat waffle iron. In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and xantham gum if using barley flour. In a separate bowl, beat eggs with organic brown sugar. Blend in pumpkin, milk, and applesauce. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture and stir just until ingredients are moist. Do not over beat. Bake in waffle iron for about 7 minutes. Serve with hot Apple Cinnamon Syrup.

Apple Cinnamon Syrup

Ingredients

1/2 cup evaporated cane juice

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup apple cider or apple juice

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon butter

Directions

In a saucepan, stir together evaporated cane juice, corn starch, and cinnamon. Then stir in apple juice and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat until mixture begins to boil. Boil until the syrup thickens. Remove from heat and stir in the butter until melted. Serve over pumpkin waffles.

For the original syrup recipe go here.

Stuffed Green Peppers

I loved this recipe and so did my children. My 6 year old doesn't like green peppers but he ate this and really liked it! I thought today would be a good time to post this recipe because of all of the peppers that should be ready about now in your garden. And if you didn't plant any they are getting cheaper to buy in the grocery store. Just thinking about this recipe makes me want to make these again for dinner tonight. :] With stuffed peppers I've seen them cut both ways. I think that cutting them lengthwise, like I did in this picture, was the easiest way to stuff and cook them. Just be careful when removing the top of the pepper so you don't remove too much of the pepper. If you remove too much then it won't be in a bowl shape and it won't hold the stuffing as well. No matter what way you cut them they are very delicious.

Stuffed Green Peppers

Ingredients

1 cup water

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

2 teaspoons better than bullion

3 large green bell peppers, halved and seeded

1 small onion, diced

1 15 oz can diced tomatoes with garlic and onion

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

2 teaspoons butter

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon Chile powder

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1/3 cup Parmesan cheese

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Directions

In a medium saucepan combine water, quinoa, garlic powder, and better than bullion. Bring to boil, and then simmer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400*F.

In a large saucepan over medium heat cook onion in butter. Then add diced tomatoes, cumin, Chile powder, oregano, salt and pepper. Simmer until thick, stirring occasionally.

In a pot bring 2 inches of water to a boil. Blanch peppers for 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside in a 9x13 inch parchment lined baking dish.

When tomato mixture is thick add Parmesan cheese and cooked quinoa and combine. Spoon combined mixture into each half of the green peppers. Cover with tinfoil and bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 15 minutes or until peppers are al dente. Remove from oven and sprinkle Cheddar cheese on top of each pepper. Return to oven just long enough for cheese to melt, about 5 minutes. Remove and enjoy!