Look at the size of those muffins.

Having to cut wheat of your diet is really obnoxious. On one hand I do feel better and my blood sugar is at a constant level, on the hand I am having to learn how to bake again. This is very frustrating as I used to be able to whip up delightful baked goods without thinking about it. Now I have to research and test and hope and most of the time just fail.

I bought two gluten free cookbooks. They are clearly for beginners, which is what I am all of a sudden. Neither of them focuses on healthy cooking, just delicious cooking. I am all for that, and GF breads cannot be made just whilly nilly, as it turns out. However, I cannot be consuming giant sugar filled muffins if I want to fit into my pants!

I have had some triumphs: I can make pizza dough (hooray), rolls, cupcakes, muffins and hopefully soon: sandwich bread. I know you can buy these things, but honestly, they suck. They're dry and really expensive. They go bad quickly and they come in the smallest sizes. Five dollars for what is basically 2/3 of a loaf of bread, that's dry before you get it. Blah. I'd rather go without.

I made some pumpkin muffins today, based on a recipe in one of my cookbooks. As I was looking at the recipe I was shocked. It makes 12 muffins with like 1 1/2 cups of flours! I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but GFs go a lot farther, you need less of them to make the same amount of a wheat flour recipe. The recipe also had 2 cups of sugar in it! TWO! oof, they must be the sweetest muffins ever! I halved the sugar and they were plenty sweet, I think two cups would be over kill. Then the author goes onto say that these muffins are a 'snack'. Phhhhhffft! Snacks are not sugar- fat laden carb balls!

Now I don't know if I have the smallest muffin tin known to man, or other people are on purpose buying giant muffin tins, but whenever a recipe says it makes 12 muffins, I usually find that I can make 18 with that amount of batter. Who are these people and where are they buying their muffin tins?

I say to those of you who have to be gluten free - rise up! Make better for you baked goods. Just because something is GF doesn't mean it has to be bad! It also doesn't mean that it has to be super bad for you. We can have balance too! Force your gluten free prowess on others and make them tell you your GF products are delightful, without saying 'for a gluten free product'.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins
makes 18 muffins
4 WWPP

Ingredients:

1/2 cup oat flour**
1 cup rice flour*
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup unbleached sugar
2 Tbs molasses
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin

Topping:
1/2 tsp cinnamon in a tea steeper

Method:
Heat oven to 350, and prep muffin tins with liners. Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Stir well. Whisk together all the wet ingredients in a different bowl. Add the wet to the dry and mix well by hand, being careful to not over mix. Fill muffin cups 1/2-2/3 full and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar in your tea steeper over the tops of the muffins. Bake for 20 minutes or until just done. Remove from oven and cool on rack.



* a quick note about rice flours. If you want finely ground, non-gritty rice flour you must buy it from an Asian grocery store. The Thai brands are the best, they are very finely ground, more finely ground than any American product. I know it's not local, but you need a quality product for this. They aren't gritty at all. The brand with the elephant on the front is the best.

**Also a note about oat flour. If you want a more ... stone filled whole wheat like texture feel free to follow directions from the internet about using your blender to make oat flour. I found this to be gritty and horrible, though quick. I'm going to call that the quick and dirty method. If you want a finely ground flour that feels like whole wheat flour use a mill. I have one for my stand mixer, truly an investment for any cook who cares about the quality of their oat flour.

Things inside of pumpkins.

I know it's the new hotness, cooking things inside of pumpkins, but I never said I don't like jumping on band wagons. It's nice to serve up a filled pumpkin and have everyone go 'oooooh' and feel really appreciated for what you've done.

I had a pumpkin, and decided I would try this new thing, and I failed. I was going to cook up a 'risotto' inside a pumpkin, and it didn't work. I found out that you have to cook the rice before you put it in the pumpkin. Hours later, we had half cooked rice, and as it turns out the pumpkin is not an even cooking vessel.

I went and bought another pumpkin and I would try again. I will not be defeated by a pumpkin! Down with the horrible pumpkin regime, I will prevail!

As I opened my pumpkin and was scooping it out, I noticed a bad spot, it went all the way through. Well beep. I already had my rice ready, what was I gonna do? For a brief moment I almost thought about being one of those weird people who returns food. But then, I had cut the pumpkin and scooped most of it out. I rallied my spirits, cut the pumpkin in half, put it in a bowl and then cut up the half with the bad spot and saved what I could. It actually worked really well. The bad spot was on the bottom, so that made it easy, I just had a bowl of a pumpkin. The rest I cubed, mixed in and covered it all with foil and it worked so well! It also made it easy to add cheese at the end.

I cannot guarantee that your pumpkin will have a bad spot, so I'll give you directions for a non-defective pumpkin.

Pumpkin Risotto

Ingredients:

1 C. brown rice
3 morningstar vegetarian sausage patties
1/2 C. sweet onion
1 Tbs. minced garlic
2-3 tsp herbs de provence
1 Tbs. Organic chicken Better Than Bullion base
1 Tbs. unfiltered apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper
1/4 C. non-homogenized cream
truffle oil
low fat mozzarella cheese
1 scooped out sugar pumpkin

Method:

In a pan cook the onion and garlic. Combine in a rice cooker: rice, appropriate amount of water, chopped sausage patties, herbs, chicken base, vinegar, salt and pepper, onions and garlic. When the rice is done (being brown rice, it will hold up to the cooking, if you use white rice, only cook for 15 minutes), mix it with the cream and a little more water. Mix in the cheese, cut into cubes. Fill the pumpkin and drizzle a little truffle oil over the top. Place top on pumpkin and bake 350 for about an hour and a half. Be sure to bake in a dish. To serve, scoop out some of the pumpkin with the rice and if desired sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

The most comforting of foods.

When I was a child my mother used to do what all frugal moms do. She made bread pudding. She said that it was you did when you had old milk, old bread and lots of eggs.

I loved those bread puddings, it is still one of my favorite desserts. The crusty top and the soft middle. The plump raisins soaking in the syrup that always forms at the bottom of the pan. There is no greater comfort food. Except for mac and cheese. It's a close call.

One of the reasons my mom's bread pudding was so good was she made it in a big bowl. No, wait that's two reasons! It's in a bowl so you get a nice moist middle (there's nothing worse than dry bread pudding) and then it's in a big bowl, so there's lots of it! It never lasted in our house, with three kids and two adults that pudding never made it past day two.

I have a friend who makes a good savory bread pudding, and that's also quite tasty. I don't make bread pudding like my mom, though mine's real good. She has a standard method, and I think she's lying about the proportions she actually uses. She claims that it's one slice bread, one cup milk and one egg. This can't be true, because I've seen her bread pudding and I think she does what I do.

I recently made a pumpkin bread pudding and it was ... amazing. I've tried chocolate, and that's not so hot. I suppose you could put whatever you want in it, but apart from the pumpkin one, I always stick to the basics. The classic bread pudding has white bread, or whole wheat, whatever, milk, eggs, sugar, raisins and cinnamon in it. Perhaps a bit of vanilla. I like to make a simple syrup and add rum to it to serve with the pudding.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

4 slices of good white bread
3 large farm fresh organic eggs
2 C. organic milk
1/2 C. buttermilk
1/2 C. organic sugar
1 Tbs. TJ's pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. vanilla
3.5 oz organic canned pumpkin
1/2 C Raisins
1 C. hard apple cider
1 C. Sugar

Method:

Cube bread into 1 inch cubes. In a oven proof bowl mix milk, buttermilk, sugar, eggs spices, vanilla and pumpkin. Mix in raisins and bread until soaked through. Bake 350 for 12 minutes. Stir up the pudding and bake another 12 minutes. Stir and then bake until done, about 20 minutes.

In a small pot mix the hard cider and sugar together. Heat until it boils and let boil for about a minute. Cool.

To serve pour a little syrup over the bread pudding. Serve warm.

Pumpkin, it's a fall thing.

I'm on a pumpkin kick. It's widely avaliable in fall, and it makes great food. Through the years I have made pumpkin breads, cookies and cakes. These are all well and good, but I'm looking to branch out.

I have seen the so called pumpkin bisque in the stores to purchase, and even sampled some, and they are good. I decided though, that they don't have to be nearly so bad for you.

I started out with a mild failure. My husband, upon sampling my creation look at me and said it was grainy. He then proceeded to tell me that I was lacking in the amount of cream I used.

The next morning I strained the soup and it did help, he was right it was grainy. I thought this weird, and it brings me to something that I should have realized a while ago. My food processor is not new. I've had it for over ten years. The same blade for all those years, it is probably time to get a new blade. I'm not going to buy a whole new processor, they may look more chic, but they don't really look much different and they cost $200. Not only that I do have a large guilty feeling of getting rid of a perfectly good item, just because it's not in style. Manufacturing these machines isn't the most earth healthy thing. Pitching on into the trash isn't the green thing to do. I know I could take it down to the Goodwill and feel better about myself, but I still feel like it's just tossing crap because it's 'old'.

Well so the blade doesn't puree things anymore, just finely chops. I have found that my blender (with easily replaceable parts) also does a fine job with soups. Blenders are good things to have around. You can get universal new blades for a few bucks, new o rings come in multi-packs and cost around three bucks! My sister in law recently got her first blender, and this prompted a discussion in the family.

How many speeds do you need on that blender? I say two: on and off. I don't ever use the slower speeds, which is good because my blender has two speeds. If you say "oh the splattering that happens" you are overfilling your blender. Start with half of what you think should go in there, just a little, blend it up and then add more while the blender is running. I have also found, that for safety, a kitchen towel thrown over the lid of the blender and held down keeps all splatter at bay.

This is a recipe that seems to have unnecessary steps. Don't doubt me, you need to do them all.

Creamy Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients:

1 Tbs. butter
1/2 roasted sugar pumpkin
1 large sweet onion
2 honey crisp apples
2 tsp Organic Better Than Bullion Chicken base
6 C. water
2 tsp. TJ's pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp. garham masala
pepper and a pinch of salt (maybe 1/2 tsp)
1 C. organic non-homogenized 1/2 & 1/2
1/3 C. buttermilk
Creme Fraiche
several slices of cooked bacon, crumbled
honey chevre (if you can't find it to buy take a bit of honey and mix it into your goat chevre)

Method:

Cut your pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds and roast for about 20-30 minutes at 450.

In a large soup pot melt the butter, roughly dice the onions and apple. Add these to the pot and cook for about 12 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the pumpkin, roughly chopped and the water along with the chicken base and some pepper. Cover and simmer for 12-20 minutes. In a food processor or blender puree a bit of the soup. In a separate bowl, run the puree through a fine mesh strainer or cheese cloth, pressing the mixture into the sides of the strainer. Discard anything left over from the mixture. Continue this way until you have pureed and strained all of the soup. Wash the original pot and return the soup to it.

Over the lowest heat possible, add the spices and test the flavor. If needed add up to 1/2 tsp salt. In a bowl mix together the half and half, buttermilk, and a few spoonfuls of creme fraiche. Cook the bacon until crisp, pat dry and crumble.

Put a few spoons of the hot soup into the cream mixture, and stir quickly, repeat until you have added 1 C. of hot soup to the cream, tempering it. Then add the cream to the soup. Do not boil or simmer! Once you have added the cream to the soup, you cannot ever heat it quickly, you will ruin the soup. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle a bit of bacon and chevre onto the top. Serve with salad and french bread.

Pumpkin on the go!

Just before this past Halloween I stole a party from a friend and invited people over for pumpkin treats and pumpkin carving. It was a byop party, so I only provided pumpkins for my husband and myself. I ended up with about seven pumpkins on my porch.

In an attempt to create a themed party I thought long and hard about the various things you can do with pumpkin. I scoured the interwebs and looked through cookbooks. I finally came up with a plan: caramel corn - while not pumpkiny, it is a fall classic; pumpkin cupcakes, pumpkin curry empanandas, and a pumpkin pie martini.

The day started out well, it was pleasant enough outside, and I cleaned and cooked while my husband worked on various things. It was when I was making the caramel corn that the weather changed, and I realized I had made a tragic mistake. As I was stirring the corn I noticed that it wasn't very crisp, and wasn't getting any better. I thought that perhaps I hadn't cooked the caramel long enough, so I turned the oven up, just a bit and cooked it a little longer.

It was when I was giving up that I realized it was raining outside and told myself how stupid I am. You may not be aware, and my husband thinks it's silly, but you can't make candy in the rain. I don't know exactly why, but I have a theory. If you have ever bought brown sugar, which comes in the stupidest packages, you will notice that in a few weeks it's a hard little brick. The reason powdered sugar contains corn starch is to keep the sugar from absorbing water from the air. Sugar pulls moisture in from the air. Normally you keep your sugar in an airtight container, When it rains outside, the air is fully saturated with water. It's very humid. If you don't believe me that's fine, but you should try making candy in the rain and deal with the resulting mess. The best days to make candy are cold dry winter days.

At this point you might be wondering what I did with my grainy caramel corn. I served it anyhow. It tasted good, but wasn't as crisp as I would like, but I followed Julia Child's directions, and pretended like I meant for that to happen. Caramel clusters! yeah, that's it!

If you're going to make caramel corn I have one piece of advice for you. Use butter. Don't use margarine at all. Butter. Don't try to fancy it up, it's really good all on it's own.

The pumpkin empanandas were delicious, being that I cooked up a bunch of leeks in butter added canned pumpkin, buttermilk and garham masala. I also was a big cheater pants and used canned biscuits instead of making my own dough. I had enough to do without that.

My big success was the pumpkin martini. Let's talk for a minute about the so called 'pumpkin spice' crap that you see all over the place. Starbucks does it, you can buy liquor that is pumpkin spice, or candy, anyhow these things aren't pumpkin anything. They have a commonly used spice blend in them. Pumpkin pie spice is used in all kinds of things, it should just be called sweet mixed spices. I use it in zucchini bread, carrot cake, pancakes, green tomato cake, etc. etc. The word pumpkin is confusing, there's no pumpkin, or pumpkin flavor, in your pumpkin spice latte.


Anyhow when I looked on the interwebs for directions on how to make a pumpkin pie martini, I got a couple of suggestions: make pumpkin pie spice liquor, use Goldschlager, and the worst one yet: take canned pumpkin pie filling, mix it into your vodka and strain. Gross. I can't even imagine the nast that you would have to serve in a clear glass if that's what you did!

I went my own road and flew into a rage of cocktail making frenzy. I know, and some of you might, that canned pumpkin is not actually made from the pumpkin that pops into your brain when you hear the word. It's a similar gourd, but not the same. It's actually closer in taste to a butternut squash than to the pumpkins we see in the store. The reason for this is pumpkins in the store are grown for looks, and not taste. I even have my doubts about the flavor of sugar pumpkins. I think the canned pumpkin tastes much stronger than that from a 'pumpkin'.

Keeping this in mind I bought a butternut squash and went about the business of making my own cocktail. You will have to mix and taste to find the perfect combination, just as I did.

I am currently trying another batch made with sugar pumpkin, only because I'm wondering if I can up the pumpkin factor. Also I couldn't find a butternut squash at the store (weird I know). I don't think the color will be as good, and I think the flavor will be milder. The pumpkin has a lot more water in it than the butternut squash, so it didn't roast up so dry, and I think that was one of the reasons I got a good concentrated flavor, no added water.

It is important that you cook your chosen squash or gourd. The reason is, that you get that great cooked pumpkin taste when you roast the pumpkin. Fresh pumpkin, and gourds, have a distinct smell and taste. The reason pumpkin pie filling is so good on it's own is because it's cooked (come on, you know you always grab a spoonful.)

Pumpkin Pie Martini

Ingredients:

3 quarts of decent quality vodka (a big bottle)
1 butternut squash
1 whole nutmeg, cut up
7-9 allspice berries
1 pinch cardamom seed
9 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick or cinnamon oil
3 clean quart jars and lids
2 C. organic sugar
1 C. water
Baily's Irish Cream

Method:

Place all the spices into one jar and cover with 3-4 cups of vodka. Close lid and shake. Cut up the butternut squash, don't worry about peeling it. Remove all the seeds and roast at 450 for about 20-30 minutes or until the squash is tender and bit dry on the outside. Cut up the squash a bit and put into two jars. Cover with vodka. Place all your sealed jars into a dark place and shake them every day for two weeks. Strain and put into new jars. Let these sit for one week in a dark place. In a pan place the sugar and water and bring to a boil. Cool completely. Now comes the good part, using a tablespoon mix together varying amounts of the two vodkas, sweetener and Baily's until you get something that tastes like a pie. At this point write down how much of it you used. I would recommend that you put no more than one part vodka and one part Baily's together, as the Baily's will curdle if you use more vodka than Baily's. My proportions were: 1 part squash vodka, 1/3 part spice vodka, 1/3 sweetener. This I mixed and called the base mix. I then mixed a shot of this with a shot of Baily's. Garnish with nutmeg.

Note: I used cinnamon oil at the end to adjust the spice mixture, to ensure that it had enough of that ... cinnamon flavor infused.